May 8th Standridge v Takasaki - Tigers swept

Well it had to happen. Mayumi persists in using other pitchers besides Fujikawa in tied away games going into the ninth despite the statistical evidence. But don't expect our beloved manager to understand this. His idea of good tactical thinking is to convert an excellent catcher into an outfielder. There was a certain amount of luck in the shot that beat the Tigers - Yoshimura is not exactly a batter to scare anyone but make no mistake BayStars fully deserved their victory and their sweep. They persevered despite an offensively challenged lineup whilst Tigers didn't despite supposedly having the best batting offense in Japan. Tigers batting wasn't any good and against a pitcher who can only be described as poor was lamentable. In the past two games they have out hit the BayStars but not made effective use of the hits. Of course this is a long haul but it is getting past time that the lineup was tweaked. Kanemoto though does need to go - he is not hitting effectively and is even less value than Yoshimura at six. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Watanabe (Second)
3. Sledge (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Harper (First)
6. Yoshimura (Centre)
7. Naitoh (Right)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Takasaki (Pitcher)

Tigers started as they would play the game - poorly. Murton struck out and then Hirano managed to fly out. Toritani though hit a two base to right and here Arai needed to do more than strike out. BayStars first saw Watanabe hit but then Sledge and Murata both struck out looking. Tigers second started with a Brazell hit but then the next three batters starting with Kanemoto all failed to move him off first. Harper led off BayStars second with a two base hit and the BayStars were to make more effective use of this. Yoshimura was another to strike out looking but Naitoh hit to right. This didn't score the run but left runners on the corners. Hosoyamada hit straight back to Standridge who went for the double play. Naitoh was out but Hosoyamada was safe on first 1-0 BayStars. The final batter was Takasaki who of course grounded out.
Tigers then threw another chance away. First batter was Standridge who struck out but then both Murton and Hirano hit to set up runners on first and second. Neither Toritani nor Arai converted the runners staying on first and second all the time. This against a pitcher who has already lost three games this season. Ishikawa started Yokohama's first with a two base hit to left. Watanabe bunted and Johjima threw to third to try and get Ishikawa - too slow! Ishikawa was safe on third with Watanabe on first. Sledge hit deep to centre for the sacrifice fly 2-0 BayStars, runner on first. BayStars hadn't had a clean scoring shot yet but now had a nice lead.

Tigers three batters in the fourth continued the poor form all getting out very straightforwardly. In BayStars fourth Hosoyamada hit but then Takasaki was out failing in his three bunt attempts. Ishikawa then struck out to end the innings. Tigers then proceeded to make even more of a mess of things. Shunsuke hit to short where Ishikawa made a mess of it. Standridge then made a mess of his three bunt attempts (Tigers pitchers are making a habit of this recently). Tigers though had another bite at the cherry when Shunsuke stole second but then Hirano struck out looking to end the innings. They couldn't even exploit an error and steal. BayStars fifth was quiet with no one getting on base. It was the same for Tigers sixth and really their batting was terrible. BayStars sixth was also quiet with the batters falling in order.

Tigers seventh saw a sign that the team might wake up. Kanemoto managed a hit to right. He was bunted to second by Ryota Arai (replacement first). Another bankrupt move wasting an out. Lin (pinch hitter) grounded out to first bringing the runner round to third. This brought on Hiyama (pinch hitter) who hit to left and Kanemoto was home 2-1 BayStars, runner on first. Hiyama was pinch run for by Asai who tried to steal second and was thrown out ending the innings. I have never really thought of Asai as a base stealer but unlike the bunt I think that this was a bold move and well worth a try. Fukuhara pitched BayStars seventh and retired the batters in order, striking out two, Standridge having reached his allotted number of pitches in six innings. Takasaki was replaced by Ejiri who immediately ran into problems giving up a hit to Murton. Exit Ejiri to be replaced by Shinohara - musical pitchers time again. He faced Hirano who bunted Murton to second and then Toritani hit into centre bringing home the runner 2-2 scores tied and Tigers were back in the game. Shinohara left the mound and Kaga took his place. Arai hit to third and Tigers had runners on first and second again. This brought yet another pitcher, Ohara, who induced a double play from Brazell to end the innings. The game was nicely poised. Given what happened the previous day it was unsurprising that Mayumi didn't go with Kobayashi for the eighth but used Enokida. He retired the three batters in order. Tigers ninth was pitched by Yamaguchi who once again was in control retiring the three batters in order. For BayStars ninth though Mayumi chose Kubota - always a risky proposition in connection with the ninth. He should have used Fujikawa but the level of analysis needed to understand the reasons for such a move are beyond his management skills (which are practically zero anyway). Kubota started by striking out Harper but then Yoshimura got a lucky swing and contact and the ball flew over the right fence for a sayonara home run 3-2 BayStars victory.

Tigers hadn't played well throughout the series and had allowed the BayStars mediocre pitching to dictate the course of play. Mayumi's general naivety and inability to understand anything beyond how to hit a ball had proven to be a big liability. The fact that he hasn't learned anything after three years is disturbing. Not only does it say very little about the manager but also about the people running the team who have so little understanding of managing a team that they choose someone like Mayumi who clearly cannot manage the talent he has. One has to say that this old boy stupidity has passed its sell by date and it is time for a change.