June 4th Nohmi v Sugiuchi - Victory is theirs

Should Mayumi have gone with the relief for the ninth innings? Admittedly Nohmi was well under 90 pitches for his eighth innings but the ninth is always a different proposition. Furthermore, he didn't have a lead - Sugiuchi had been just as good if not better and the game was tied. In fact Akiyama pitched Sugiuchi for eight innings and then switched to his closer. This loss has to be abscribed to Mayumi reading the game wrong again. He should have been aware of the psychology but alas this is something Mayumi always misses. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Hawks
1. Kawasaki (Short)
2. Honda (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Kokubo (First)
5. Tamura (Right)
6. Matsuda (Third)
7. Hasegawa (Centre)
8. Yamazaki (Catcher)
9. Sugiuchi (Pitcher)

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

Nohmi would start dangerously with Kawasaki out, Honda hit a two base to left - well it is Kanemoto. He then stole third but was caught off base when Uchikawa struck out and was out. Tigers first was quiet with Sugiuchi notching his first strike out, that of Toritani. In fact this game was basically a pitcher's duel. Kokubo led off Hawks second with a hit but stayed on first as no one could move him round. Tigers second saw two more strike outs but no one on base. Hawks third had Nohmi's first strike outs, Yamazaki and Sugiuchi, both looking. Tigers third saw another two to Sugiuchi.

Kokubo managed another hit in Hawks fourth with two out - Nohmi was really pitching superbly. Unfortunately so was Sugiuchi. However, he did run into problems in the Tigers fourth. With one out, Murton striking out - Hirano hit to centre. HIrano was able to steal second and then Arai walked - runners on first and second with two outs. Brazell grounded out to Sugiuchi to end the innings. Hawks fifth was quiet and Nohmi collected another two strike outs. Tigers fifth was interesting - Kanemoto led off with a walk and maybe Tigers could have made something of this but didn't with the next three batters flying out. In Hawks sixth Kawasaki walked and was bunted to second by Honda. However, with two outs and Nohmi pitching as he was it was always going to be difficult to go further and Uchikawa's ground out ended the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet as Sugiuchi found his rythym once more.

Hawks seventh was quiet but Sugiuchi struggled in Tigers seventh. With two out Kanemoto hit to right. Johjima walked as Sugiuchi struggled with the zone and so it was also decided to deliberately load the bases to get at Nohmi. Shibata walked. Here Mayumi should have employed a pinch hitter - here he didn't and Nohmi struck out swinging. A rather elementary error - if Tigers had scored they could have held the lead and won. Stupidity from Mayumi yet again. Nohimi stated Hawks eighth with a hit to Hasegawa. Yamazaki bunted him to second and then Sugiuchi bunted him to third. It was a tight game and the Hawks were desperate for the win. Kawasaki though grounded out to end the innings. Tigers eighth was quiet. Now we come to Hawks ninth. Nohmi of course pitched though the eighth should have been a warning. Honda led off with a two base hit to left centre. Uchikawa grounded out keeping Honda on secnd but next was Kokubo. He hit to centre bringing Honda home 1-0 Hawks. He was able to make second and was replaced by Fukuda (pinch runner). Here was an opportunity for Mayumi to replace Nohmi and escape the innings with only one run damage. He didn't but kept Nohmi in. Tamura also hit to left centre - another two base and the runner was home 2-0 Hawks, runner on second. Matsuda walked and then Hasegawa grounded out to first taking the runners round to second and third. Ortiz (pinch hitter) deliberately walked to load the bases and then Nohmi got Cabrera (pinch hitter) to ground out to short to end the innings. But Hawks now had a precious two run lead. Mayumi's lack of understanding had cost his team the match. Mahara pitched Tigers ninth and with two out gave up a two base hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter). He walked Johjima, runners on first and second but the final batter Lin grounded out to end the game. Hawks victory.

This had been tight but Mayumi's concern about making his starter go deep had cost Tigers the game. Nohmi should have gone at the end of the Hawks seventh and Tigers should have gone for the runs from their bases loaded situation. This really was inept management - runs were not there for the taking, they were rare commodities but this wasn't appreciated by our stupid management. Hawks did appreciate this and so they ddin't try and push Sugiuchi too far. They walked way with the victory through better management and Mayumi in his blindness had handed a victory to the opposition.