August 26th Kubo v Muranaka - It's my work: Kanoh returns

"It's my work, he'd say and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way"

Kanoh started left field and to say he was unhappy is an understatement. He goes through the motions contributes but offers nothing extra - no smiles just a stony face. He has three children to support and has to accept the situation as it is - he does not want to be an outfielder but has to comply with Mayumi and his coaching team's stupidity and mediocrity. He was stony faced throughout the hero interview though his responses were respectful and the sort of things one wanted to hear but it is clear that he doesn't want to be there if he can't catch. He will do his job but don't expect anything extra. This situation rather sums up Japanese baseball management - mired in ordinariness and total inability to understand talent or how to use it. Head sliding, bunting, failing to charge the catcher all were on display in this game. Swallows, of course, lost - this was scripted and expected. Tiger return to Koshien, they win. Muranaka couldn't cope, Kubo could and Tigers bats had a nice night. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Swallows  0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4  6 1
Tigers    0 0 4 0 2 0 2 1 X 9 15 2

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Kawabata (Short)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Balentien (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Guiel (Left)
8. Aikawa (Catcher)
9. Muranaka (Pitcher)

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

With Yamato starting and Kanoh in left returning from back surgery Tigers had a new look. Kanoh's numbers in the farm team haven't really been spectacular and it is more than likely that Mayumi is trying to break Kanoh's desire to catch as quickly as possible. Yamato I don't mind seeing in the lineup - he is a useful player, it's Shibata who's not worth his place in the top team. Anyway with Aoki out Tanaka hit nicely to left for the Swallows. Kawabata struck out looking to a fine pitch - he generally had a poor game and then Hatakeyama flew out to right. Tigers first was also just as uninspiried. With two out Toritani drew a walk but Arai flew out to centre to end the innings. Balentien led off Swallows second with a hit to left. Miyamoto also struck out looking to a nice inside pitch. Even so Kubo and Fujii weren't exactly friends which is probably on Kubo's side as Fujii likes to be friends with everyone. Guiel got a nice low pitch to hit and hammered it over the right fence for a two run home run 2-0 Swallows. Aikawa struck out swinging and then Muranaka grounded out to second. Tigers second started with Murton flying out to right. Next came Sekimoto and it was his birthday so he got a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' to start his at bat. He hit to centre beating Tanaka's dive, Kanoh was next and just basically swung at everything with the result that he struck out swinging. Fujii followed and hit a two base to right centre over Kawabata. Sekimoto set off round the bases and continued round third as the throw came in. The relay was perfect and Aikawa received the ball perfectly positioned for the tage. Sekimoto's only option was to charge the catcher and dislodge the ball but Mayumi has banned this. Actually Sekimoto is rather successful at doing this but as per Mayumi's instructions tried to slide in and was tagged out. Does Mayumi actually want to win games? It was pointless for Sekimoto to try for home on a two base hit unless he was going to charge the catcher - just as it was pointless for Kanemoto to try for third against the Dragons. This ended the innings. Swallows third ended rather nicely with Kawabata striking out again. Kubo would collect 10 strike outs this game. Tigers third and Muranaka started to fall apart. He faced Kubo who did the usual pitcher's thing of swinging at anything. His third pitch was wild and so after his swing Kubo set off for first and made base safely. Mayumi in the usual style had Hirano bunt. A waste of time - Hirano bunted but in the air and Aikawa was quick off the mark and dived in time to take a fine catch. Kubo of course stayed on first but Yamato hit nicely to left - runners on first and second. Toritani struck out swinging which brought up Arai. He hit to left - it looked to be flying into Guiels glove but then died and landed in front of the Swallows left. Kubo was home 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and third, Yamato doing the head sliding bit to reach third. The base running coaches need to nip this practice in the bud. It's slower and dangerous than sliding in feet first but too many young players are doing it. Murton drove into centre which brought Yamato home 2-2 scores tied. Sekimoto walked as Muranaka found the zone difficult to locate - bases loaded. Next was Kanoh - again he swung at everything but after a few fouls drove into left to bring in two runs 4-2 Tigers, runners on first and third. Tigers had turned the game around. Fujii was the final batter of the innings and he flew out to centre.

Swallows found it difficult to get going after that and their fourth was a struggle in which no one got on base. Kanoh took a straightforward catch in left, Hirano in centre and the final out went to Arai for a ground out. Tigers fourth was a bit of surprise, Muranaka recovered his poise and pitched rather well. This time no mistake with Kubo and both Hirano and Yamato struck out in style. Swallows fifth was the same. Kubo had the satisfaction of striking out Guiel looking, ample revenge for the home run. No runners on base. Toritani led Tigers fifth off with a hit to left. Arai then hit straight to Kawabata at short who took the ball and threw to second missing Tanaka totally. The ball rolled away into foul ground and Toritani raced for home. Ballentien picked up and threw to third to try and cut off Arai - too late. Arai was safe and Toritani home 5-2 Tigers and a costly error. Murton took a swing and the ball came off his bat and flew along the first baseline past Balentien who was standing further in. It landed in play - rather lucky but was a nice two base. Arai was home 6-2 Tigers, runner on second. Kanoh grounded out to third, this at bat he actually left some balls alone and Fujii was deliberately walked to get at Kubo. He hit to second where Tanaka pulled off a fine diving take and throw to Kawabata for the force out. End of innings. Aoki who had a quiet game grounded out to short to start Swallows sixth. Tanaka worked a walk and then Kawabata managed a weak hit into infield. This was fielded by Kubo who threw to Sekimoto. Sekimoto allowed his foot to leave the sack as he stretched for the ball and Kawabata was safe. Swallows had runners on first and second and a great chance. They blew it. First Hatakeyama struck out swinging and then Balentien did the same. Great work by Kubo to repair the damage. Muranaka had surprisingly stayed on after his two run fifth but was replaced by pachimon Watanabe for Tigers sixth. Watanabe gave up a two out hit to right to Toritani but then Arai flew out to left to end the innings.

Kubo returned for Swallows seventh and immediately gave up a hit to Miyamoto. Guiel walked and Swallows were in an even more favourable situation than the previous innings. Runners on first and second with NO outs. Once again Kubo responded well using his low fork very effectively in striking out Aikawa and then Yuichi (pinch hitter). This left Aoki who grounded out to second. Once again Swallows had wasted a good chance but Kubo had pitched well and finished the game on 111 pitches. Hashimoto took over for Tigers seventh and was not able to establish any control. Murton hit to centre and then Sekimoto hit to left. Next was Kanoh but Mayumi decide to replace him with Shibata. Shibata is pretty much worthless but Mayumi, no doubt, hoped that his favourite would drive in runs. He did hit but it was a weak affair which loaded the bases. Fujii followed and drove straight into a double play which didn't prevent one run scoring 7-2 Tigers, runner on third. Kubo was pinch hit for Morita who does look very promising. He's big, powerful and fast and has a good eye. He chose his pitch well and hit to left centre for a timely two base hit 8-2 Tigers, runner on second. Finally, Hirano flew out to third in foul ground and the innings was over but the game was basically won. Kobayashi took Swallows eighth for the first time in a few games. The coaches hoped to ease him back into the swing of things. It started out well with Tanaka lining out to Sekimoto who took a sharp low catch. Then Kawabata hit to Arai. Arai fielded and threw - a bounce throw which Sekimoto who was stretching missed and Kawabata was safe. Another error. Hatakeyama walked as Kobayashi started to struggle, clearly rattled by the error. Fujii came out to the mound to say some encouraging words but Kobayashi and Fujii are not friends so it is unlikely that Fujii's nice gesture worked. Certainly not with Balentien who drove nicely to right centre for a timely two base 8-3 Tigers, runners on second and third. This was the end of Kobayashi who was replaced by Enokida. He hit into centre where Hirano dived and took a superb catch for the out. He couldn't get up in time to stop the sacrifice but locked Balentien on second 8-4 Tigers. Enokida then undid the work by firing off a wild pitch which took Balentien to third. However, Tigers weren't going to melt down and Guiel hit high to centre where Hirano took the catch to end the innings. Yamamoto pitched Tigers eighth and didn't prosper. Yamato hit to right and then stole second. It's better to have Yamato stealing than Murton, Yamato has real speed even though the throw from Nakamura (replacement catcher) wasn't very good. Toritani struck out and Arai grounded out to second taking Yamato to third. Next was Murton and he hit left bringing Yamato home 9-4 Tigers, runner on first. Finally, Sekimoto grounded out to short to end the innings. With a five run margin you didn't expect to see Fujikawa and sure enough Fukuhara took the mound for the Swallows ninth and Yamato moved to third replacing Arai who was felt defensively unsound. Nakamura led off with a hit to left. Kawajima (replacement short, Kawabata having moved over to third to replace Miyamoto) hit weakly to Toritani at short. Then Aoki hit his first pitch to first for a force out just beating the throw from second for the double play. This left Tanaka who struck out swinging to some fine pitching from Fukuhara to end the game. Tigers victory.

It had been a comprehensive win by the Tigers. It is too soon to say if Kanoh will fit in at left but the signs are not good. Fujii spoke to him after the game and was encouraging and friendly and also probably sympathetic but whether it will help is a moot point. The hero interviews were Kubo and Kanoh but even that did not improve his mood. Kubo has picked up his seventh win and pitched quite well getting out of difficult situations with aplomb. Tigers moved into second with this win but this is one of those seconds were a loss will move them to fourth - things are very tight at the top. If they can take the series against the Swallows they have to contend with a trip to Nagado next week. This will be the real test. Mayumi continues to be a fool but then that's nothing new. Interestingly it seems that the actor Ken Watanabe is a big Tigers fan to the extent of checking the games over the internet if he's not in Japan. He shares the general Tigers fan opinion of Mayumi as manager.