September 15th Shimoyanagi v Tanaka - Kanemoto dropped

Finally, Mayumi bit the bullet and relegated the non-performing Kanemoto to the bench. This was a long overdue move and will require some careful consideration about how to use the aging left fielder in the future. Unfortunately, the decision didn't help the Tigers - the abject BayStars took the series. Am I being unfair? - I don't think so, they faced a terrible Shimoyanagi. Before this start the coaches evaluating Shimoyanagi in a practice game said they liked his movement and location. Unfortunately so did the BayStars batters and Shimoyanagi was basically the reason Tigers lost. After the second innings BayStars generated no hits and had only one runner on base (a walk). For Tigers this loss was a really serious blow to their pennant hopes. Their seven games above the Dragons are now irrelevant and they have to hope the Dragons meltdown. Now just to emphasise the whole incomprehensibility of the whole business - Nohmi pitched out of the bullpen. Why wasn't he starting? If you have a better pitcher available than Shimoyanagi and Nohmi is now a better pitcher, surely you use him? He did well in his start against the Dragons - he would have been facing the BayStars - hardly a hard hitting team. It's not that the other teams are getting better its just that the Tigers are so incompetent at the moment. Management is really failing in a big way. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tigers    0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 8 1
BayStars  2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 7 6 0

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

Messenger was replaced by Asai before the game started

BayStars
1. Uchikawa (Right)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Harper (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Castillo (Second)
7. Ide (Centre)
8. Niinuma (Catcher)
9. Tanaka (Pitcher)

The Tigers were truely bad this game. There is no other way to describe it and they have now lost four winnable series against B class teams (Carp, Carp, Swallows, BayStars). The thing is all of these series were there for the taking with application and good management. Both have been lacking. Murton walked in Tigers first and was bunted to second by Hirano - once again the same old bankrupt ideas from the management. A wild pitch took him to third but Arai flew out to centre to end the innings. What to say about Shimoyanagi - abysmal from the start and not getting any better. Uchikawa hit to right and was bunted to second (the bunting disease is not limited to Tigers). A balk took him to third - Shimoyanagi was that bad. Harper grounded out but Murata walked. Next was Sledge who hit deep to left centre for a two base hit which brought home both runners 2-0 BayStars, runner on second. So far Shimoyanagi had thrown one strike facing five batters. However, he did induce a strike out from Castillo to end the innings. Brazell launched into his third pitch for a solo home run to start Tigers second 2-1 BayStars. Johjima freed from the need to be respectful of Kanemoto hit to centre and moved to second on a Shunsuke Fujikawa ground out but with the final batter being Shimoyanagi the outcome was never in doubt and the innings closed. BayStars second - the horror innings. Ide took a swing and got away with a lucky over hit. This was the only lucky hit - the rest was hitting poor pitching. Niinuma grounded out and then Tanaka grounded out but this time Johjima messed it up, his throw was very poor - a rare error but BayStars had runners on first and second. Uchikawa hit to centre to load the bases which brought up Ishikawa. Shimoyanagi's first pitch to him was a nice fat slow slider right in the middle of the zone. A terrible pitch and Ishikawa didn't waste the gift but banged it off the right centre wall for a bases clearing triple 5-1 BayStars, runner on first. Harper hit deep into centre for a sacrifice fly 6-1 BayStars and then Murata walked. This was enough for Mayumi who pulled Shimoyanagi and replaced him with Watanabe. Watanabe started his usual trick of walking the first batter he faced, Sledge which set up runners on first and second. He then shaped to walk Castillo until the BayStars second hit his fourth pitch to centre bringing home Murata 7-1 BayStars, runners on first and second and their last hit of the game. Ide flew out to centre to and the innings. Tigers needed to bounce back quickly but were so shell shocked they did nothing. All three batters fell easily against a pitcher who wasn't exactly one of the best. BayStars third was also quiet as Watanabe found his feet and retired the batters in order.

Arai led off Tigers fourth with a hit. Unfortunately Brazell's drive found the glove of Ishikawa and the double play was a formality. Johjima flew out to end the innings. Normal service had been restored and the BayStars were out smoothly in their fourth, no one troubling Watanabe. Tigers fifth was quiet as still the batters remained asleep. Mayumi switched to Fukuhara - it's amazing but he is still on the top team. He gave BayStars their only runner after the second innings, giving up a leadoff walk to Sledge. Ide hit into a double play to end the innings though. Murton led off Tigers sixth with a hit but didn't get beyond first. BayStars sixth was likewise quiet and the game was moving along quite quickly now.

Things started to go wrong for the BayStars in Tigers seventh. It had all been too quiet and Brazell livened things up by hitting to start the innings. Johjima hit a two base and suddenly there were runners on second and third with no outs. Tanaka was quickly replaced by Ejiri. He was bad the night before and didn't seem to have improved. Asai flew out but no one attempted to run on the take (neither Brazell or Johjima are particularly fast). Lin (pinch hitter) was next and he hit to right centre bringing home both runners 7-3 BayStars, runner on second. Ejiri exited to be replaced by Katoh who faced Kanemoto (pinch hitter) keeping the consecutive games record alive. Kanemoto grounded out to second demonstrating why he was benched. Katoh left in the usual musical pitchers game to be replaced by Sanada with a runner on third. Murton hammered his first pitch for a two base 7-4 BayStars, runner on second. Hirano was next and he also hit a two base 7-5 BayStars, runner on second. BayStars were running out of lead. Toritani walked which brought up Arai who tried to hit past short but grounded out. He should have tried to hit right. BayStars still had a lead. For their seventh we saw Nohmi. He has relief experience but should have started the game in place of Shimoyanagi. His three batters were easy victims as Nohmi topped out at 151 kmh. Ushida pitched Tigers eighth and was rather lucky to escape with no damage. His control was not wonderful and with one out he walked Johjima. Saka (pinch hitter) struck out and once again - why is Mayumi using him? Sekimoto is a much better choice for this kind of situation. Uchida then walked Lin to set up runners on first and second and earn his recall to the dugout. Yamaguchi took the mound for the final out which proved to be Hiyama (pinch hitter) grounding out. Kubota pitched BayStars eighth and retired the batters in order without any problems. Tigers ninth was straightforward. Murton lined out to second and both Hirano and Toritani grounded out in the same direction to end the game. BayStars victory.

This had been an awful performance by Tigers who had not batted well enough. Starting Shimoyanagi had been a stroke of incompetence especially as there was a better pitcher available. Tigers have now almost lost their chance of the pennant and for this we can only blame management incompetence. Tigers are now third behind the Giants who won. They have not shown the application and perseverance to deserve the top two slots and deserve third. Of the counters the Murton counter is now at 12 and he is now in third place on the Tigers all time list. Tigers need to play better to have any chance of the pennant and not to lose anymore games like this.