June 12th Andoh v Kikuchi - Back to the drawing board

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the woods - Tigers winning, batters hitting Fujii proving to be reasonably competent a piece of Mayumi idiocy blows it. Okazaki was always a mediocre catcher who initially was paired with Kubo for several games. They had played together at Matsushita Denki and this somehow was felt to be important. Okazaki still called like he was playing at Matsushita not in the big league. He was mediocre in the extreme and it was only once Kubo was paired with others that he shone. Of course, Okazaki being a mediocre catcher was never going to be a threat to Johjima and so he could stay a catcher. All would have been well if he had stayed in the second team but for some reason Mayumi decided to pair him with Andoh. Andoh himself wasn't ready and may never be a first team pitcher again. Okazake was worthless and succeeded in screwing up Enokida as well. One hopes Enokida recovers from his nightmare innings - even Fujii couldn't help him this time. The answer of course, children, is to bring back Kanoh when he recovers from his injuries. Okazaki can become the extra outfielder - he clearly cannot handle first team catching. Another problem that has reared its ugly head again is base running. Once again too many runners are being held up on third and not trying for home. This happened four times this game and given that Tigers out hit the Lions but scored 6 fewer runs may well be very significant. Nothing ventured - nothing gained and I would rather see base runners getting out trying for home than stopping on third and waiting for superannuated old batters to ground out. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0  5 12 2
Lions   0 3 0 0 4 0 0 4 X 11 11 0

Starting lineups

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

Starting pitcher: Andoh

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Centre)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Ishii (DH)
6. Asamura (First)
7. Hoshi (Left)
8. Ginjiro (Catcher)
9. Kumashiro (Right)

Starting pitcher: Kikuchi

Both pitchers were making their first starts of the season, for Andoh his first since 2010 and for Kikuchi his first ever. Both stunk and were replaced rather rapidly. Murton led off Tigers first with a hit - he is hot now. Hirano bunted him to second. Toritani walked on a 4-1 count and then Arai hit nicely to right. Murton was held up on third though when it would have been productive to try for home - bases loaded. Brazell struck out swinging but his third strike was a wild pitch and Murton used this to make home 1-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Sekimoto worked hard but grounded out to third. Tigers should have had more from the innings. Andoh wasn't impressive in Lions first. He used a lot of pitches and frequently missed the zone. He wasn't helped by Okazaki's calling which was also inept. Kataoka grounded out and then Kuriyama flew out to centre where Hirano was secure. Nakajime hit to left and then Nakamura walked, Andoh lacking the control to challenge the Lions third. Ishii was next and he struck out as suddently Andoh threw something special. Not a particularly auspicious start though. Kikuchi had a much better second with Kanemoto grounding out to him, Okazaki striking out and Asai grounding out to short but he also used a lot of pitches. Lions second was the nail in the coffin for Andoh. He started the innings by walking Asamura, Andoh had not been able to turn being ahead on the count into an out. Hoshi bunted Asamura to second and then Ginjiro dug one out and hit it over the infield to centre. Asamura was round the bases and home 1-1 scores tied. Okazaki advanced to take the throw and dropped the ball and Ginjiro was able to take second. Facing Kumashiro Andoh balked. This was a mystery as the TV coverage gave no indication where the balk happened but it took Ginjiro to third. Kumashiro then also hit to centre bringing home another run 2-1 Lions runner on first. Kataoka hit to second forcing out Kumashiro but making first safely himself. Then Kataoka stole second - this was telegraphed but Okazaki's throw was so dreadful the steal was a formality. If you're going to throw to one side of the base throw to the right side like Kanoh used to do not the left. Kuriyama punched the ball into left and Kataoka made home 3-1 Lions, runner on first. Nakajima hit to left - runners on first and second. This was the end of Andoh who was ejected from the mound to be replaced by Fukuhara. He had thrown 51 pitches and never looked remotely in control. Fukuhara looked rather puzzled by some of Okazaki's calls but retired Nakamura to end the innings. Tigers then did something they hadn't done for a long time, they bounced back. Murton led off with a bounce hit to short. Nakajima was rather slow and lumbering in taking the ball and in fact throughout the game did not look half the short that Toritani was. Once again he was bunted to second by Hirano - an even more stupid bunt than the one before. Toritani then punched a straight to right but once again Murton was held up on third. This set up the possibility of a double play - Murton should have been allowed to go for home. With runners on first and third Arai hit to right the ball landing just the right side of the base line and the runner was home 3-2 Lions, runners on first and third. Brazell then hit into right as well and Toritani was home 3-3 scores tied, runners on first and third. This was the end of Kikuchi who like Andoh wouldn't figure in the decision. This was in some way appropriate, both starters' pitching had been anonymous. Hirano took over. He faced Sekimoto and on a full count Sekimoto hit into centre - Arai was held up on third and this was begining to become frustrating. Kanemoto flew out to right but not far enough for a sacrifice and it looked like Tigers wouldn't score anymore. Still with Okazaki at the plate Hirano unleashed a wild pitch and Arai was able to finally make home 4-3 Tigers, runners on second and third. Okazaki grounded out to third to end the innings and even though Tigers had a lead they could have done more. Fukuhara returned for the Lions third and retired the batters in order but he still looked very puzzled.

Tigers fourth started with an Asai ground out but then Murton had his third hit of the game - a single to centre. He was forced out by Hirano's third ground out and then Toritani struck out swinging to an impressive pitch from Hirano. Fukuhara bamboozled Ginjiro at the start of Lions fourth to strike him out looking but was so pleased he took a bit of time to cool down and walked Kumashiro in four. Kataoka grounded out to short but Kumashiro made second. However, Kuriyama also grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers fifth saw them try to hit their way into a bigger lead but it didn't come off. Arai struck out and then Brazell launched into his fourth pitch. This looked a home run but died and was taken superbly by Kumashiro who jumped up right next to the fence to snag the ball. Sekimoto struck out looking. One thought that Fukuhara would return for Lions fifth but no Mayumi wanted to use Enokida. This didn't work out. Fukuhara had been puzzled by Okazaki's calls but had been able to pitch accurately. Enokida rapidly got into a mess trying to follow them. Nakamura worked a walk and then Nakajima took a dead ball on his foot. Runners on first and second. In a similar situation a couple of nights before Mayumi had replaced Kubota but he left Enokida in. Hara (pinch hitter) bunted the runners to second and third and then Asamura walked to load the bases. This brought a change of catcher - Fujii replacing Okazaki and the first thing he did was have a steadying word with Enokida. This didn't work, Enokida was beyond steadying and gave up a centre hit to Hirao (pinch hitter) bringing in two runs 5-4 Lions, runners on first and third. Hirao was pinch run for by Akiyama who stole second. Ginjiro tried the squeeze play and Enokida running in failed to pick up. Another runner home 6-4 Lions, runners on first and third. Kumashiro hit a fly to centre for the sacrifice 7-4 Lions, runner on first and finally Kataoka grounded out to Enokida to end the innings. If this doesn't end Okazaki's excursion to the top team I don't know what will. However, having given up two runs there was a good case to remove Enokida but it didn't happen. Tigers then failed to do anything in their sixth and the Lions were now comfortably in control. Watanabe pitched Lions sixth and was impressive. Fujii was certainly a better catcher than Okazaki.

Tigers seventh and once again Murton led off but this time he could only ground out. Hirano drove right where Kataoka fielded but Hirano beat the throw with a head sliding dive. Toritani also hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and second. It became bases loaded as Arai walked - Hirano was clearly tiring. He was replaced by Egusa (ex-Tigers). This was going to be an interesting challenge. Brazell took a swing at his first pitch and flew out to right - far enough for the sacrifice 7-5 Lions, runners on first and second. This was the end of Egusa - one pitch thrown and one out. He was replaced by Ming-Chieh who gave up a hit to Sekimoto and once again the runner was held up on third to load the bases. Here though it was probably justified as right was close in. Kanemoto then grounded out to second to end the innings. Watanabe pitched Lions seventh and got everyone to ground out and the innings was quiet. Tigers eighth was quiet and nothing happened. Mayumi decided to pitch Nishimura in Lions eighth and to accompany him with Shimizu - big mistake. Ginjiro hit to third and beat the throw. He was then bunted to second by Kumashiro. A pass ball took him to third and then Kataoka hit a single to centre. Runner home 8-5 Lions, runner on first. Kuriyama hit to right - runners on first and second. Nakajima hit left bringing home a runner 9-5 Lions runners on first and second. Nakamura struck out but then Fernandez (pinch hitter) hit a deep two base into centre and both runners were home 11-5 Lions, runner on second. Finally, Asamura grounded out to first to end the innings. Shimizu hadn't covered himself with glory either and Nishimura had pitched rather poorly. Ming-Chieh started Tigers ninth by walking Hirano but he could afford to with a six run lead. Toritani and Arai both flew out to right but then Brazell hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and third. Sekimoto though could only ground out to short to end the game. Lions victory.

Tigers poor base running had cost them - they spurned numerous chances to go for home and missed them. Lions took their chances and came away with 11 runs on 11 hits (though 1 run was the result of a sacrifice fly). Tigers had 5 runs on 12 hits and only two of those runs were due to hits (2 to wild pitches and 1 to a sacrifice fly). Andoh hadn't been ready by a long way and Okazaki had been worthless. One wonders why the latter was thought suitable to play and why Fujii didn't start the game. Enokida had a rather torrid innings and had been knocked around quite severely. Tigers winning streak was over and parallels with the 1990s were also easy to observe.