September 4th Tsuru v Alvarado - Still on holiday

The folly of not postponing this game until six pm exposes the sheer stupidity of Japanese ground management. When it was scheduled, the scheduling authorities probably saw the temperature as being lower but Japan is suffering the hottest weather on record. To start a game like this in over 33 degree temperatues with humidity of 70% or more is just incredible. The game should have been put off until 6:00pm with refunds being offered to those fans who couldn't make it. Orix's GM made a similar point about playing these games in non-domed stadiums (thanks to Gen at Yakyu Baka for that gem). It is time for club management to show some sense - what is obvious for everyone else should also be obvious for them.
Hirano picked up another dead ball this game and is out for five days as a result. The reason he has picked up so many recently is that he has been playing against poor teams and does tend to stand close to the plate. If the pitcher tries to brush him back - the pitcher frequently isn't good enough to do that and a dead ball results. The answer here is for coaches to tell their pitchers not to try and brush back Hirano though the chances of this happening are remote.
Mayumi had harsh words for his pitching yesterday which failed to hold the lead. Of course pitfching Tsuru was asking for trouble, what promise he showed earlier in the season has long since evaporated but his point is valid. Several of his pitchers failed to apply themselves in diffcult situations and their pitching was worthy of a place in the Carp's roster not the Tigers roster. Mayumi doesn't get on with his relief but this time his complaints were justified. However, I would also add that the batting did not cover itself with glory - Alvarado was truely abysmal in the first innings and all Tigers generated was two runs. Brazell in particular was poor - hitting into a double play but Kanemoto was also poor, he takes far too many walks on a full count. Given how badly Alvarado was pitching at that time they should have done better. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tigers  2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 0
Carp    1 2 1 0 0 0 1 3 X 8 7 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. Tsuru (Pitcher)

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

Given how good Alvarado had been in his previous start against Tigers it was surprising how poor he was in their first innings. His first pitch dead balled Murton. His second pitch dead balled Hirano and meant that the Tigers second had to be replaced by Saka. Toritani walked and the bases were loaded with no outs. Arai was next and he drove nicely into centre bringing in two runs, 2-0 Tigers runners on first and second. So far so good - nice work by the Tigers. Brazell was next and he managed to hit into a second double play. Brazell has hit well and been an enormous contributor to Tigers success but even so one has to say this was very poor and betrayed a lack of thought. Toritani moved round to third which brought up Kanemoto who walked. Alvarardo then dead balled Johjima to load the bases again. Shunsuke Fujikawa was next but one wishes Tigers had a much better batter than him at No. 8. Mayumi, though, wants speed and mobility at centre but Fujikawa doesn't have the sheer ability to hit that Akahoshi had. Asai or Lin in this situation would have been much better. Fujikawa struck out looking to end the innings. Tsuru looked nervous and to honest was inadequate. He had a two run lead and proceeded to halve it. Soyogi is not the batter that Higashide is but still managed a two base entitled hit. Kimura bunted him to third and Amaya hit a sacrifice fly to left 2-1 Tigers. This wasn't very good at all. Kurihara then flew out to centre to end the innings. Tigers second saw more waste. Tsuru couldn't do anything of course and was out. Murton should have done more. Saka hit a solo home run to right centre 3-1 Tigers and a nice strike but then Toritani grounded out to first, this was not good. Alvarado was begining to discover his placement and location. Tsuru's pitching in Carp's second was a disgrace. With one out he walked Hirose (why?). Another out followed but then he walked Ishihara as well to set up runners on first and second. Still the pitcher is next, an easy final out. But no, Alvarado hits nicely to left centre bringing both runners home 3-3 scores tied, runner on second. This has happened too often with Tigers pitching and they need to address the coaching. What is going wrong that pitchers (ie non-batters) are hitting two base hits with runners on. Soyogi walked but then Kimura grounded out to short. Tsuru would be relpaced by Sajikihara for the next innings. He really needs to look at himself as he is failing both as a starter and a reliever. Tigers third saw Brazell hit with one out (great going - why didn't you hit with runners on last innings?). However, neither Kanemoto nor Johjima did anything and the innings was scoreless. Alvarado was beginning to re-establish himself. Mayumi switched to Sajikihara for Carp's fourth a stupid move if ever there was one. Sajikihara is best with runners on but Mayumi doesn't understand how to use the relief. Amaya walked and one can only say this was lazy pitching. Then Kurihara hit a two base hit but with Carp's speed this produced a run 4-3 Carp, runner on second. More lazy pitching - Kurihara is not a formidable batter at all nowadays. Two outs followed and then Sajikihara let fly a wild pitch to take Kurihara to third. Finally, Iwamoto struck out to end the innings but a strike out should have been the first out of Amaya. Too many Tigers pitchers shut the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Tigers fourth saw two outs and then Murton walked. This was immediately wasted by asking Murton to steal. He was thrown out - the decision defies logic. Mayumi was forced to turn to Watanabe who justified the faith placed in him in spades. Batters fell 1-2-3 in Carp's fourth and with a one run lead Tigers had a chance to bounce back. They failed miserably in the fifth. They had shown in the first and second that they could hit Alvarado but in the fifth reverted into a procession of unable tyros. No runners on base. In Carp's fifth Watanabe walked Kurihara with two out but of course had no trouble retiring the useless Shima to end the innings. Tigers sixth was a waste - Alvarado reverted to his first innings style giving up a hit to Brazell and then walking Kanemoto. Johjima hit into a double play, an aspect of his game he does need to improve and then Lin (pinch hitter) flew out to left. Poor batting and something Mayumi needs to note. Watanabe was pitching well and the batting was failing. Carp's sixth was quiet with the batters falling in order - really Watanabe had done very well.

Tigers seventh and with two outs Saka hit. This was the end of Alvarado who hadn't pitched so well but had been given an easy ride in the later innings. He was replaced by Ohshima who doesn't exactly put fear into batters but was successful in getting the final out. For Carp's seventh, Mayumi went with Fukuhara and one has to ask why. The game was close and to use this guy in this situation was asking for trouble. Trouble duly came. Ishihara led the innings off with a two base. Dreadful pitching. Soyogi bunted to first and then Maeda hit a sacrifice fly to centre 5-3 Carp. Why can't Tigers pitchers prevent this sort of thing? Amaya struck out to end the innings but once again this should have happened to Maeda. Ohshima pitched Tigers eighth and the lazy batters did nothing. They had given up. Uezono pitched Carp's eighth and one has to say that yes he has been badly treated but honestly it is time for him to grow up. His pitching was dismal. He started by walking Kurihara and then with one out gave up a two base hit to Hirose - runners on second and third. Huber (pinch hitter) followed and Fukuhara let fly a typical Fukuhara special brainless pitch. Huber put it into the stands for a three run home run 8-3 Carp. The game was finished as a contest and Tigers had blown another one. Fukuhara got the final two outs to end the innings. Tigers ninth was pitched by Yokoyama and it really is time that Tigers start to take runs off him. He really is no Iwase or Kroon. But he was successful and retired the batters in order. Carp victory.

So how did this game alter the balance of power? It didn't, Carp remained second rate just as before. Tigers hadn't played well or tried either in the batting or pitching departments and one doubts Mayumi's ability to motivate them. Carp had succeeded in embarrassing the better Giants and have done the same to the Tigers. But all the embarrassment is self-generated. Dragons beat the Giants so the gap between Tigers and Giants remains at two but the gap between Tigers and Dragons is now at 0.5. Some of the Tigers games are against the Carp and it is time Tigers stopped acting like a bunch of overpaid prima donnas and actually played baseball.