July 29th Kubo v Shimizu - Well played BayStars

It has to be said the BayStars did well. It is also clear that Obana their kantoku is a bigger moron than Mayumi. Leaving Harper out of the starting lineup for Nakamura can only be described as compelte folly. Neither kantoku comes of the the game with any credit though - Mayumi's continued insistence on playing Uemoto at second is completely unfathomable. Daily Sports writer Masaki Koyama also questioned the decision to leave Kubo in for the fifth innings giving the way he was pitching. He looked extremely rusty and coupled with a catcher such as Fujii had a hard time. One also must comment on the Koshien umpires again - once again they were tight and aware and their decision making was excellent. Lets have more of this from the others. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars  0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 4 12 0
Tigers    2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4  7 0

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Left)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Kinjoh (Centre)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Nakamura (First)
6. Naitoh (Right)
7. Fujita (Second)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Shimizu (Pitcher)

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

Kubo started poorly and would exhibit poor control particularly on the outside and bottom of the zone pitches. He led off BayStars first by walking Shimozono who was then bunted to second by Ishikawa. Kinjoh grounded out to second which took Shimozono to third. He then faced Murata who drew a full count walk. Next was Nakamura who bounced one weakly in front of him. Fujii was onto the ball and threw to first for the final out. Murton led off Tigers third by striking out but in fact Shimizu was rather out of his depth this night and didn't last more than three innings. Hirano hit to centre and then Toritani drove a two base hit over the glove of Fujita to set up runners on second and third. Arai was next and he hit one which bounced high and was taken by Shimizu. Shimizu felt that he didn't have time to throw to home and so went for the out at first 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Toritani had intended to take third but had slipped on the basepath and only just been able to get back to second safely. Still this was significant. Brazell was next and he drove nicely into right field. This time Toritani didn't slip and was home safely 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Asai then lined out to Fujita at second to end the innings. BayStars second was quiet and it looked like Kubo was getting back into the swing of things striking out two. Tigers second was also the bottom of the order and Shimizu dealt with the three batter he faced rather effectively. Kubo opened BayStars third making rather a mess of things. He faced Shimizu whom he seemed to have difficulty dealing with (though Fujii's calling was inept) and Shimizu singled to centre. Shimozono struck out looking to a fine inside pitch and then Ishikawa hit into an easy double play to end the innings. Murton led off Tigers third with a hit to left. He was bunted to second by Hirano - a waste of an out. Toritani grounded out to third which brought up Arai. He singled nicely to left bringing home Murton 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Arai then stole second. As he went for the steal Hosoyamada threw to Ishikawa who took the catch but fell over as Arai slid in. He didn't apply a tag and thus Arai was safe. Ishikawa looked aggreived at this saying I had the ball but he hadn't tagged. Shimizu then walked Brazell. Next was Asai who took a dead ball to load the bases. Truely stupid pitching. Uemoto followed and he seems to relish these situations, this time he hit over the infield into centre. Arai was home 4-0 Tigers. Brazell also tried for home but the throw was good (Kinjoh has a nice arm) and Hosoyamada was waiting for him. Brazell charged Hosoyamada spinning him round three times as he hit but Hosoyamada managed to hold onto the ball and Brazell was out. Still a 4-0 lead with BayStars seemingly in disarray - things looked good.

Kubo returned for BayStars fourth and with Kinjoh out faced Murata. Murata is basically a busted flush and he hit to left centre. Both Hirano and Asai went for it and Hirano called that it was his. Asai answered OK and slowed down. Hirano misheard him and thought that Asai had said he would take the ball so also slowed down. Result - no one took the ball and it landed safely for a two base hit - lucky Murata. Kubo then struck out Nakamura who looks totally out of it but then for some reason walked the ineffective Naitoh, runners on first and second. By now he was struggling and it was no surprise when Fujita hit to left to load the bases. Obviously Hosoyamada had suffered from the impact with Brazell because he was pinch hit for by Harper. Harper proved his worth, hitting along the first baseline though the ball landed just on the line for a two base hit bringing home two runners 4-2 Tigers, runners on second and third. Obana just to prove he isn't a complete chump made the sensible decision to replace Shimicu and brought on Shimamura to pinch hit. Shimamura hit nicely to Toritani for the final out. BayStars pitcher for the Tigers fourth turned out to be Fujie. He did well retiring the batters in order. Now for the controversial decision. Given that Kubo was not pitching well it would have been a good idea to replace him. However, Mayumi wanted to give Kubo the win and for that he needed five innings. Thus Kubo started BayStars fifth. Shimozono led off the innings singling to right. Then Ishikawa struck out but Kinjoh singled to left and BayStars had runners on first and third. Here Mayumi acknowledged the obvious and replaced Kubo with Watanabe - as he walked off the mound Kubo kicked the ground in frustration, he knew he hadn't done well. Murata hit to centre for a sacrifice fly - but to be honest there was more on here and he wasted the opportunity 4-3 Tigers, runner on first. Niinuma (replacement catcher) then hit a grounder to second for the final out but it was a bit lucky as Uemoto's throw was rather poor. Tigers fifth was quiet but with some nice fielding by the BayStars. Hirano led off the innings with a hit to centre which turned into a liner as Fujita took a magnificent diving catch for the out. Here things started to get a bit strange. Watanabe one would have thought would have pitched the BayStars sixth, he can easily go deep. Instead we saw Enokida who is supposed to be tiring. Possibly - possibly not. It is more likely that as batters get used to him they are able to hit him more. He has reached the point where he needs to move up a level and overcome his worries and nerves. He didn't do it this innings and Naitoh led off the sxith with a very nice two base hit. Fujita bunted to third and Brazell took the ball spun and threw to third to get Naitoh going for the base. The throw was good but Naitoh slid in just under the tag - safe. The replay showed this clearly and now BayStars had runners on first and third with no outs. Harper hit a grounder to short which Toritani fired back to Fujii. Naitoh had come off base and was caught by Fujii and tagged out. BayStars had runners on first and second. Yoshimura (pinch hitter) followed and he struck out. Two outs and the next batter Shimozono. With the count at 1-2 my friend and I debated what ball Enokida would throw next for the strikeout. I thought a high straight, my friend thought an outside slider. Enokida threw neither. The previous strike had been an in the zone fork which Shimozono had swung at and missed. Enokida threw exactly the same ball and Shimozono was waiting for it hitting over Toritani for a timely single. Fujita was home 4-4 scores tied, runners on first and second. This was unimaginative pitching and calling but well done BayStars. A wild pitch took the runners to second and third before Enokida finally struck out Ishkawa looking to end the innings. Inexperience rather than tiredness is the issue here.
Shinohara replaced Fujie for Tigers sixth and did rather well - Tigers sixth was rather an anticlimax with the batters falling in order.

For BayStars seventh Mayumi deployed Fukuhara. He gave up a lead off hit to Kinjoh and then got Murata to fly out to centre. Next was Niinuma who struck out looking to Fukuhara's slow curve. With two out Kinjoh stole second and then Naitoh walked. Fujii's calling really was poor. However, Fujita the next batter grounded out to third and the innings was over. Fujii led off Tigers seventh and struck out swinging to the pitching of Ejiri. Next was Sekimoto who battled and then hit nicely to centre. In an act of gross stupidity he was pinch run for by Shibata. Shibata did nothing - he didn't attempt a steal and stayed on first. This was a really stupid and unnecessary change by a clueless manager. The next two batters Murton and Hirano both struck out swinging, Hirano particularly was nowhere near the ball. BayStars eighth was pitched by Kobayashi. His strike out of Harper was rutheless - three balls was all that was needed. Inada (pinch hitter and replacement first) singled to centre but Shimozono hit his first pitch into a second double play. Once again there was an element of luck in this as Uemoto's throw was poor. Tigers eighth was pitched by Ushida. With one out he walked Arai. Brazell flew out but then Kanemoto (pinch hitter) also walked. Once again we saw the replacement with a useless pinch runner (this time Shunsuke) as Uemoto struck out swinging to end the innings. BayStars ninth was pitched by Fujikawa who wasn't at his best. Ishikawa led off with a single to centre. Then he tried to steal second but was thrown out. However, Kinjoh promptly hit a two base. Murata was deliberately walked which set up a double play and Niinuma obligingly hit into one to end the innings. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers ninth, Obana following the wisdom of using your star closer in the ninth in a tied away game. Tigers have not figured him out yet and today was no exception. Lin (pinch hitter) flew out to centre. Hiyama (pinch hitter) flew out to third, snatching too early. Murton did the same and flew out to second to end the innings. Tied game.

Because of the rules this year the game had reached its time limit and was over. Even though Tigers hadn't lost, BayStars could be happier with the result. They had managed to eliminate a four run deficit. Once again Tigers had suffered from a lack of power at the bottom of the order and from poor and predictable calling. The players who might have made a difference, the Sekimoto's were ignored and instead we saw Mayumi's favourites. For BayStars, Harper should have started and why they think that Nakamura is a reasonable substitute I will never know but I welcome it.