May 28th Nohmi v Shiomi - What has changed?

I come back from holiday and I find that things if anything have regressed. Tigers performance is as dismal as ever and they struggle to beat even a pathetic Golden Eagles. Mayumi is still rubbish as a manager and his coaching team is so inadequate that it is unbelievable. Which moron decided that left handed pitchers weren't worth practising against and so condemned this batting lineup to failure against them? Why on earth is Kanemoto batting No. 5? Batting six was too much for him and despite everything he was elevated to a higher position? Despite his home run today he is not a No. 5 batter anymore but no one in the Tigers front office wants to address the fundemental problem, Mayumi and his coaching team. Old Kubo really does need to be put out to grass and the fielding coaching needs to improve out of all sight. Kanoh needs to be restored to catching duties on a 50/50 ratio with Johjima who needs to practice his batting more. Mayumi needs to fall on his sword. Both BayStars and Swallows kantoku's did so but then they had a measure of self-criticism. Mayumi lacks this and despite ample evidence that he can't manage continues to cling to the role. Sometimes, in the higher levels of Japanese companies a parasite will rise to a position of influence. Said parasite will then bring in its friends who have as little management ability as it does. This is what has happened to Tigers - it is what happened in the lost decade. A period of competent management (Hoshino) is then followed by old boys appointed not because of their management ability but because they are old boys. The team then languishes as more of them infect the organisation. Even a competent manager cannot change things because the front office has been infected with these parasites. This is the developing situation in the Tigers. A culture of winning is not important to the people running the company or the club - other lesser aims are more important. Tigers cannot cope with left handed pitchers - this is basic! No wonder the pitchers give up. Lets look at the scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Tigers         1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  0 2 7 0
Golden Eagles  0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1x 3 5 0

Starting lineups

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

Starting pitcher: Nohmi

Golden Eagles
1. Hijirisawa (Centre)
2. Teppei (Right)
3. Matsui (Short)
4. Yamasaki (DH)
5. Takasu (Second)
6. Nakamura (Left)
7. Kusano (Third)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Yokogawa (First)

Starting pitcher: Shiomi

Tigers would get to Shiomi from the first - Murton restored to first hit a nice two base. Why Murton had to move to third and fifth is totally beyond comprehension. He was always better at first but with a manager like Mayumi one must expect these stupidities. Case in point - with Murton on second Hirano is required to bunt. Can you believe it? Anyway the bunt was successful moving Murton to third but what a waste of an out. Toritani, happily restored to short struck out swinging but Arai drove nicely to centre for a timely hit 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Arai is Tigers best batter and it shows. The worthless Kanemoto (never mind the lucky hits) fails to move Arai round and the innings is over. Nohmi started well retiring the Golden Eagles batters in order. Tigers second is also quiet and this is worrying. Rakuten are deliberately employing left handed pitchers against our boys - the cursed fiends! Yamasaki led off Rakuten's second with a hit but stayed locked on first (he is not a fast runner) as Nohmi retired the next three batters. With one out in Tigers third Murton hit. Hirano grounded out to second forcing out Murton but then failed to steal second successfully being out by the proverbial mile. With one out in Golden Eagles third Yokogawa hit a two base. He made third on Hijirisawa's ground out but then Teppei hit to first to end the innings.

Tigers messed up their fourth. Toritani led off with a hit. Then Arai hit left to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Kanemoto (remember him, batting No. 5) flew out to first in foul ground - runners locked on first and second. Johjima flew out to right which at least took Toritani to third but then Brazell (who seems to have given up) flew out to short to end the innings. A promising start blown. Rakuten's fourth was quiet with the batters falling in order. Tigers don't deserve pitchers the quality of Nohmi. The Tigers fifth was also quiet with the batters falling in order. Rakuten's fifth was quiet - everyone 1-2-3 as was Tigers sixth but what induced Hirano to fly out first ball? Surely he can do better than this? Golden Eagles sixth was anything but quiet. Yokogawa led off with a hit but then the next two outs failed to advance him beyond first. Nothing to worry about. Then Nohmi walked Matsui and Yamasaki to load the bases - a real oops moment and what was he thinking. Still two outs and loaded bases surely Nohmi can get out of this? Well acutally no, the next batter, Uchimura, hit to left bringing home two runners 2-1 Golden Eagles, runners on second and third. Tigers had really screwed up. Nakamura followed and grounded out to first to end the innings.

Tigers seventh with two outs and Brazell at the plate. He went deep for a solo home run but really there needed to be a runner on base. Anyway 2-2 scores tied and an immediate response. Ryota Arai walked but Shunsuke struck out swinging to end the innings. Rakuten's seventh was quiet - whatever nerves had affected Nohmi had disappeared and the outs fell smoothly. Mima started Tigers eighth and Murton led off with a hit. One out later he was joined by Toritani who walked. Tigers had runners on first and second but once again failed to convert as Arai hit into a double play to end the innings. Rakuten's eighth was quiet - Nohmi in control. Speier pitched Tigers nineth and walked Brazell with two outs but nothing came of this. Nohmi pitched Rakuten's nineth and was secure. So far so good - admittedly Tigers batting had verged on the useless but at 2-2 they were in with a chance as the game went into extra innings.

Tigers tenth though was a wasted opportunity. The pitcher was Aoyama and with with one out he dead balled Murton. The next two batters were Toritani and Arai who both struck out and the innings was over. For Rakuten's tenth Mayumi picked his favourite, Enokida, who doesn't quite have the temprament for these clinch situations. He started by walking Kusano who was pinch run for by Nishimura. Nishimura was bunted to second by Shima and then Yokogawa drove to left on a full count bringing home the runner 3-2 Rakuten. Sayonara victory.

Tigers had outhit a rather poor side and managed to lose to them. This wasn't a very good performance at all and just merely contined the inept blundering of the Tigers. The problem is not the team per se but the coaching and even if the Tigers do improve under this management they are not going to win anything. Offering Ochiai an enormous contract might well help Tigers but this year is looking more and more like a B class finish. This is a pity as the team is worthy of a higher leve.