September 3rd Kubo v Nakata - Tigers have a day off

Tigers ddn't play well this game and in fact blew the lead twice. In fact they didn't really have much oppostion Carp being as mediocre as ever. However, the Tigers batting was poor and scoring chances were recklessly squandered. We had one of Mayumi's mistakes as well - he had seen the game before, Nishimura's inability to handle a seventh at the moment. He had Watanabe or could have even started Kubota for the innings but didn't. Nishimura got into trouble and this time Kubota couldn't pull his chestnuts out of the fire even though Hirose was incredibly fortunate with his hit. Giants lost to Dragons but this puts the Dragons 1.5 games behind Tigers. Dragons though aren't going to win the Central League - both Tigers and Giants have games in hand over them, seven in the case of the Tigers mostly against mediocre opposition. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 10 1
Carp    0 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 X 5 12 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Kanemoto (Left)
7. Johjima (Catcher)
8. Shunsuke Fujikawa (Centre)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Soyogi (Short)
2. Kimura (Second)
3. Amaya (Centre)
4. Kurihara (Third)
5. Shima (Left)
6. Hirose (Right)
7. Iwamoto (First)
8. Aizawa (Catcher)
9. Nakata (Pitcher)

Nakata would start poorly and not pitch distinguishedly at all. Murton took a dead ball - its not often that happens. He was bunted to second by Hirano, the inevitable waste of an out (but Carp would be worse in this respect). Neither Toritani or Arai could convert and the innings was scoreless. Kubo had an easier job of Carp's first and was able to get all three batters out - its nice to have Amaya to face as your third out instead of Harper. In Tigers second Kanemoto picked up a one out walk. Johjima hit to left - a two base which put Kanemoto on third. Shunsuke Fujikawa hit to centre bringing home both runners 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Both Kubo and Murton struck out looking. Nakata did have some nice pitches and if he can weed out the rubbish will be a very good pitcher. However, with the Carp's organisation one cannot see this happening. The lumbering carthorse Shima managed a hit in Carp's second but went no further than first. So far Tigers had done well but it would all unravel in their third. Why so? The innings started with Hirano grounding out. Toritani hit a lovely solo home run to left 3-0 Tigers. Arai hit to right followed by Brazell - runners on first and second which became runners on first and third as Arai stole third. Then Kanemoto walked to load the bases all with one out. Here was were things unravelled. Johjima was next and struck out to a curve which he should have left - he was nowhere near it when he swung. Nakata looked as pleased as punch about this. He then proceeded to do exactly the same to Shunsuke Fujikawa and a great chance had been wasted. Nakata did have some good pitches. All Johjima had needed to do was to wait for the chance to hit a sacrfice fly. Kubo got the first two batters in the Carp third but then gave up a two base hit to Soyogi. It wasn't a particularly good hit but landed in the right spot. Kimura was next and he was just lucky swinging wildly at a pitch and getting a lucky fair bounce near the right baseline before the ball went foul. Soyogi was home 3-1 Tigers, runner on second. Amaya struck out to end the innings.

Nomura had decided not to pitch Nakata for a fourth innings a decision at which the young man looked most aggreived and possiblty with justification. His choice of replacement was Imai who ended up being an effective one. Still he was lucky in Tigers fourth giving up consecutive hits to Murton and to Hirano - runners on first and second with one out. Toritani then managed to hit into a double play to end the innings and the chance. Chances in consecutive innings had been wasted. Kurihara led off the Tigers first with a hit to first - once again this was lucky as Brazell threw poorly to Kubo at first and the runner was safe. Then Hirose hit into a double play but once again Brazell made a mess of the take and Hirose was safe on first though Kurihara was out. This was rather slack fielding and Tigers should improve on this. Iwamoto walked as Kubo began to panic but then Aizawa, always a relialbe out flew out to right. Tigers fifth was disappointing - the three batters were too careless and casual and Imai was untroubled. Kimura hit to centre in Carp's fifth, another lucky hit in which he got all tangled up but the ball landed safely. Tigers sixth was also quiet and the batting was a bit too lazy. Tigers were sitting on their lead too much and not pushing for a bigger margin. It would cost them. Kubo returned for Carp's sixth but was clearly tiring. Kurihara led off with a hit. Then Shima hit to second and Hirano made a brilliant diving stop and tried to pop the ball up to Toritani at second for the force out but couldn't get enough force on the throw. He was at full stretch. Kurihara was safe and so was Shima. Hirose bunted the runners to second and third - a move of real stupidity. He is the No. 6 batter for gods sake. Iwamoto struck out and suddenly there was only one out to go. Next was Maeda (pinch hitter) and Kubo let his nerves get to him spraying three balls around the zone. Very poor pitching which eventually got Johjima to take the fourth as a delberate walk to allow Kubo to recalibrate. This didn't help, the next batter was Ishii who should also have been an out. He hit nicely to left bringing home two runners 3-3 scores tied, runners on first and second, Kubo had blown his lead which he needn't have done. The final batter of the innings was Soyogi who flew out in foul ground to end the innings.

Chulk pitched Tigers seventh and was quickly in trouble but once again Tigers failed to take full advantage of the situation. With Murton out, both Hirano and Toritani walked. Arai managed to strike out, this wasn't one of his better games but Brazell hit nicely to left bringing home Hirano 4-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. Here the folly of having Kanemoto at six was exposed again as he flew out to second to end the innings. Mayumi as mentioned aboe went with Nishimura who like the game against the BayStars got the first out and then gave up two hits. He should have used Watanabe or even Kubota here but because of the Swallows game has a prejudice. So Kubota entered but this time after a long and difficult previous game and not as sharp. Even so he struck out Shima looking and maybe he would pull it off again. It was not to be, Hirose took a wild desperate swing and managed a very fortunate left hit which brought both runners home 5-4 Carp, runner on second. Once again Mayumi's decisions had blown a lead. Iwamoto flew out to second but Tigers had blown another lead. Kishimoto pitched Tigers eighth but there was no repeat of his earlier meltdown. He gave up a hit to Lin (pinch hitter) but Tigers batters failed to do anything and the innings was scoreless. Fukuhara pitched Carp's eighth - a sign that Mayumi had given up. He started with a hit to Ishihara (replacement catcher) who was bunted to second by Akamatsu (replacement centre). Fukuhara then surprised everyone by striking out Soyogi and Kimura to end the innings. But then it isn't necessarily surprising - this is the Carp remember. Tigers ninth saw Yokoyama and he gave up a lead off hit to Hirano. This was a big chance with Tigers clean up next. They failed miserably and the game was over. Carp victory.

Tigers had not done well but they have these off days on occasion. It is not possible to beat even second rate sides 100% of the time and this was one of those times. Tigers do need to pick up the pace though and play better in the next two games of the series. It wasn't so much Carp winning the game as Tigers losing it and that isn't really acceptable. Going down to a better opponent on the day is OK but squandering a victory is not. More application is needed.