August 23rd Iwata v Gonzalez - Ineptitude to the nth degree

We had a classic example of Mayumi's inability to manage in this game. Both the lineup and the pitching were badly mishandled with Fujii putting in his usual mediocre performance behind the plate. It was decided to include Brazell in the side (he has performed poorly against Gonzalez) and this was the right decision. However, in running to first after hitting Brazell pulled a hamstring and had to be replaced. His replacement was Uemoto. You have to ask what? Uemoto batting No. 5 - the sheer absurdity of it all takes the breath away, Uemoto will never be a No. 5 batter. Mayumi doesn't have anyone of sufficient power to fit into that slot - he was stupid enough to send Ryota Arai and Lin back to the second team so he could fit more of his useless favourites in. Talking of batting Ryota's elder brother Takahiro was useless as well outperforming Kanemoto and wasting scoring chance after scoring chance. His performance was not what should be expected of a No. 4 batter.
The pitching mess up centred around a pointless change from Kojima in the seventh after Fujii had screwed up the innings and using Fujihara in the eighth. Having been just brought up from the second team one would have thought throwing him in for his first innings against a rampant Giants outfit was not the wisest of actions. Better to try him in an easier situation. The whole management of the pitching in the final third of the game smacked of panic. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Terauchi (Second)
3. Chono (Centre)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Takahashi (Right)
6. Ogasawara (First)
7. Abe (Catcher)
8. Furuki (Third)
9. Gonzalez (Pitcher)

Tigers first started quietly and it would be Gonzalez's only good innings - he had a really poor game after that and it was only Tigers poor batting that prevented more runs from being scored. Anyway, the Tigers first was quiet with the batters falling in order. Giants started much the stronger - with two outs Chono drove into right. Ramirez bounced one off Iwata for a single and Giants had runners on first and third. Already a problem but Takahashi tried to hit into centre where he was neatly caught by Toritani behind second to end the innings. Gonzalez's problems started in Tigers second. Arai led off singling to centre. Then Brazell hit deep and high to right centre. As mentioned he pulled his hamstring and had to be replaced by Uemoto as a pinch runner. Arai was safe on third with Sekimoto next. He hit to third but Furuki was only able to throw to first for the out and Arai was home 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Kanemoto flew out to right and then Fujii walked - runners on first and second but with Iwata next it was likely that the score would stay at 1-0. So it proved - Iwata struck out to end the innings. Iwata and Giant's second was a gem of an innings (well, from the Tigers point of view anyway). Iwata struck out two including a completely fooled Furuki to end the innings. Tigers third saw their first failure. Murton hit to left and in the traditional pointless exercise was bunted to second by HIrano. Then Toritani drew a walk - runners on first and second. Arai committed his first blunder swinging at a wide low pitch which was better left alone to strike out. Uemoto flew out easily to right to end the innings and the chance was wasted. Giants third was quiet - Iwata once again retiring the batters in order and protecting his lead very nicely.

The fourth and Tigers were still able to put runners on but still couldn't do anything about getting them home. Sekimoto grounded out to first and then Kanemoto flew out to second in a typical shot for him. Fujii hit but the next batter was Iwata again who flew out to right. This wasn't really a chance but it would have been nice for Iwata to have done more. Giants fourth was quiet with Chono getting the strike out looking ball this time. With one out in Tigers fifth, Hirano worked a walk. Then Toritani stroked the ball nicely into left to put runners on first and second. With Arai next there was a good chance here and Tigers needed the runs - a one run lead would not be enough you thought. Arai hit straight to Sakamoto for a simple double play. A dreadful mistake and one which allowed the Giants to escape the danger. Iwata's control then wandered and facing Ogasawara as lead off he hit the Giants first on the forearm. Ogasawara was pinch run for by Fujimura as it had been quite a painful blow. However, Giants couldn't move Fujimura off first. Abe flew out to Arai, Furuki struck out and Gonzalez grounded out. Uemoto led off Tigers sixth by striking out but then Sekimoto hit and made first. Gonzalez had tweaked a muscle though and had to be replaced. Tagaki took over and gave up another hit, this one to Kanemoto. He was pinch run for by Shunsuke but it was all academic as Fujii hit his first pitch straight to short for another double play. The abysmal shots were certainly flowing that night. Giants then showed how it should be done. Sakamoto hit left. He was bunted to second by Terauchi but it wasn't really an occasion to worry as Iwata still seemed to have things under control. He had been a bit wild at times but had managed quite well. However, his wildness returned at an inconvenient moment and he walked Chono. Ramirez was next and he drove nicely into right where the ball bounced and curved off into the corner - a two base hit. As the ball ended up in the corner, it gave Chono time to make home easily and Giants had two runs 2-1 Giants. With the way the Tigers were playing this looked a defensible lead. Takahashi grounded out to first which took Ramirez to third but then Fujimura struck out swinging. He seemed to by trying to hit the leather off the ball and missed easily.

Romero pitched Tigers seventh and once again struggled. With one out Murton hit to short and beat the throw. The steal was signaled but Abe was alert to this and threw Murton out. A waste as Romero proceeded to walk Hirano. This was the end of Romero who was replaced by Yamaguchi. He immediately gave up a hit to Toritani, runners on first and second with one out. Now if Murton hadn't tried to steal Tigers might have driven in the tying run. Once again Mayumi had gotten it wrong. Still a chance for Arai who hit a grounder to third and once again blew the chance. Giants faced Kojima for their seventh. He started by walking Abe who was bunted to second by Furuki. Still nothing to worry about especially as Kamei (replacement left) lined out to first. There was a question mark about this as the Giants thought that it had bounced first. The replays were inconclusive but if it had it was a neat payback for Chono's cheating earlier in the season. Then things started to get strange with two out Fujii decided to deliberately walk Sakamoto - what for? Then Kojima was replaced by Watanabe. This was unnecessary as Kojima had it in him to get the final out. Terauchi had been warming up and Mayumi thought that he would prove an easy out. However, he reckoned without Hara's ability to bring on a pinch hitter. This is exactly what Hara did and Watanabe faced Tani. Tani got an easy pitch for his third delivery which he hit nicely into centre bringing home another run 3-1 Giants, runners on first and second. Fujii then decided to walk Chono and load the bases and unlike the walking of Sakamoto this had more basis as the next batter was Yamaguchi. He flew out to right to end the innings but Giants now had a margin and Tigers had screwed up that innings badly. Yamaguchi returned for Tigers eighth and gave up a lead off hit to Uemoto. Sekimoto hit and set up runners on first and second. Shunsuke hit to third who threw to second for the double play but this didn't come off and only the runner going for second was out. Uemoto was home 3-2 Giants, runner on first, Next was Fujii who just to prove that lightning does strike twice hit into his second double play of the innings trying to bunt and bunting straight to Yamaguchi. Fujihara took over for the Giants eighth and proved to be a mistake. This was a predictable situation though and one would have thought that someone had more foresight than to commit him in this game. He walked Takahashi and clearly looked nervous. After Fujimura flew out Abe hit a two base into left centre - runners on second and third. Furuki flew out in foul ground but Kamei walked to load the bases. This brought a pitching change and Fukuhara took the mound. He was poor and Sakamoto hit into centre to bring home both runners 5-2 Giants, runner on first. Sakamoto then stole second and Tani walked to load the bases again. However, Fukuhara was able to get Chono to fly out to right and end the innings. Kubo pitched Tigers ninth and with two out walked Hirano who was able to reach second on a steal. However Toritani grounded out to second to end the game. Giants victory.

The incompetent handling of the pitching, the use of Uemoto at fifth, Arai's poor batting and Fujii's poor catching had doomed Tigers to defeat against a sharper and better managed Giants outfit. Painful though it is to admit Giants were better throughout the game - true their pitcher Gonzalez was vulnerable but Tigers batters didn't think and wasted the chances they created. Once Giants took the lead they were going to win, while when the Tigers held the lead you felt it wasn't enough. They were playing that poorly. Mayumi was abysmal and one wonders if he will ever learn. The batting lineup needs serious beefing up and the favourites need to be returned to the second team where they belong.