July 28th Iwata v Soto - Mayumi mismanages.

First the sad news about Hideki Irabu who apparently hanged himself at the age of 42 in his Los Angeles home. He joined Tigers in 2003 and helped them win the pennant going 13-8 though he faded late season and failed in the post season. Injuries kept him out of the rotation in 2004 and he left the team under a cloud. Still it is sad to hear this news as at his best he was a truly excellent pitcher.
Last night's game was a typical Tigers affair - they meet an unfamiliar pitcher and haven't a clue what to do. This is despite out-hitting the Dragons and having more extra base hits. What happened to the days of meeting an unfamiliar pitcher and taking seven runs off him in the first innings (as Tigers did to the Giants once)? Dragons improved over their farcical showing of the previous game and returned to their practice of boring the opposition to death. We also need to highlight another Mayumi blunder - why did he insert Katoh in the Dragons ninth in what was a very tight game? There was a reason that BayStars let the guy go - he wasn't very good. This wasn't the time to use a pitcher of Katoh's quality; it needed someone of much higher calibre. As a result the game passed beyond the bounds of winnable. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Hirata (Centre)
2. Araki (Short)
3. Saeki (First)
4. Morino (Third)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Guzman (Right)
7. N. Donoue (Second)
8. Oda (Catcher)
9. Soto (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Asai (Left)
7. Uemoto (Second)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Iwata started the game very well - his pitching was assured and economical. Dragons first was quiet in what would be a quiet game. However, whilst Dragons torpidity was due to Iwata's good pitching, the Tigers version was due to not knowing the pitcher not because Soto was a particularly good pitcher. He started smoothly with the Tigers going down 1-2-3 in the first. Dragons second was quiet as well and in fact Iwata would carry a no hitter into the sixth. Tigers second saw a blown chance. With two out Asai a two base over Hirata. Then Uemoto picked up a walk - runners on first and second. Here one wished for Johjima because no matter how much Fujii has improved he is not one for driving in lots of RBIs and this was very much the case. He flew out to centre to end the innings. Dragons third was quiet with the batters falling in order. Tigers third saw a one out hit from Murton. However, HIrano hit into a double play which finished that chance. Still Tigers were generating hits so runs would come.

Dragons first brought their first base runner a one out walk going to Araki. He stayed on first though as neither Saeki nor Morino could generate any movement. Tigers fourth and Toritani led the innings off by grounding out. Then Arai hit a two base - once again over Hirata. This was an even better chance than before. Tigers fluffed it - Brazell grounded out to Soto and then Asai flew out to right. One really wished for Sekimoto in this situation but Mayumi's favourite Uemoto is in the second slot at the moment. Innings over, no score. Dragons fifth was quiet and once again the batters fell in order - one base runner, they were really struggling. Unfortunately so were Tigers. Uemoto led off Tigers fifth with a hit. Fujii bunted him to second but Iwata grounded out to the pitcher. Still the next batter was Murton but he guided the ball to second to end the innings. Dragons sixth and they were still struggling to get runners on base and had generated 0 hits. With two out Hirata hit to left centre for a two base. There was an element of desperation in the swing but it worked nicely. Next was Araki who took advantage of a lapse by Iwata to hit into left bringing the runner home 1-0 Dragons, runner on first. Saeki walked to set up runners on first and second but Dragons couldn't get any further and Morino struck out on a full count to end the innings. The lead was slender but it was there. Here Tigers blew their best chance. Soto retired Hirano and Toritani but then walked Arai. Brazell hit a two base to right to set up runners on second and third. I do think that Arai should have gone for home here but he stopped on third. Next was Asai - once again you wished for Sekimoto. Asai just isn't driving in runs and seems to have lost his big occasion flair. He hit his second pitch to centre and flew out to end the innings. Dragons had been let off the hook again.

Iwata pitched the Dragons seventh and with one out gave up a hit to Guzman. Nothing came of this and Guzman stayed on first. Tigers seventh was once again a wasted chance. Soto was replaced after the sixth - he had been quite lucky that he was unfamiliar to the Tigers batters as he had been hittable. The set up was Kawahara who gave up a centre hit to Fujii with one out. He was replaced by Kobayashi who faced Hiyama (pinch hitter) who hit to centre as well - runners on first and second. This brought about a panicked reshuffle in the Dragons plans and Asao took the mound. He was intended for the eighth but had to be brought in early. Murton struck out swinging and then Hirano flew out to left - another chance down. Watanabe pitched Dragons eighth and was secure retiring the batters in order. It was a nice pitching display and indicative that he is returning to form. Asao faced Toritani in Tigers eighth and gave up a lead off single. Two outs followed and then Toritani stole second. Another chance but Asai grounded out to Asao to end the innings. Here things got strange. So far the game was tight and the pitching selections had been sound - Iwata had pitched very well and so had Watanabe. This makes the next decision even stranger - Mayumi decided to use Katoh to pitch the Dragons ninth. Kobayashi would have been the logical choice here. It was almost as if Mayumi had decided to throw in the towel. He was not the right pitcher and he started with a lead off hit to Saeki. Then Morino singled to centre which put runners on the corners. This brought a pitching change and Fukuhara took the mound. He faced Wada who hit deep to left for a sacrifice fly 2-0 Dragons runner on first. Fukuhara then got Guzman to hit into a double play to end the innings but a 2-0 lead at that stage was decisive. The Tigers ninth was pitched by Iwase and he gave up a one out single to Sekimoto (pinch hitter). Komiyama (pinch hitter) was next but he hit his first pitch into a game ending double play. A truely inept piece of batting. Dragons victory.

It was probably inevitable that Tigers would not sweep the Dragons and that the series would go 2-1. However, it was disappointing that against a lesser pitcher they had failed to take their chances. Iwata had thrown a fine quality start and got no reward for it. Instead Tigers batting had failed to hit when needed and Soto was hittable - more so than Bullington. The inclusion of the inferior Uemoto in the regular lineup instead of Sekimoto was poor judgement on the part of Mayumi but here we saw both his failings displayed, use of pitching and an inability to construct a credible lineup. It can't be soon enough when Sakurai and Johjima become available and Tigers add some power lower down the order. In the meantime Tigers are still in second and retain a one game lead over the Dragons. The Swallows also lost last night so the games between them remain at 7.