August 31st Nohmi v Chen - psychology again

Dragons managed to re-assert themselves against a poorly performing Nohmi who had an off day. Surprisingly he lasted longer than Fujii who was not effective. An ideal opportunity to use Kanoh as a replacement catcher but no Mayumi went with Komiyama. Kanoh is now an outfielder not a catcher. I often use judgmental languguage (mediocre, stupid, etc) to categorise Mayumi and his coaching team but this is the sort of decision that makes one use such language. An obviously talented and able individual is sidelined and shunted into a different role and lesser talents employed because they fit the manager's prejudices better. I do feel that it should be about using the best person for the job but this is not the way with Japanese management. The replacement catchers cannot be better or equal to Johjima and so the team suffers. No doubt this happens to some extent in MLB as well but I would suspect that it is not to the same extent. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Ohshima (Centre)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Hirata (Right)
7. Tanishige (Catcher)
8. Ibata (Second)
9. Chen (Pitcher)

Ochiai sensibly switched Morino back to third in the lineup and Hirata to sixth and Dragons seemed much more balanced than before. However, it was Tigers who started the better.They attacked Chen in the first innings and were rewarded with a lead off hit to Hirano. Amazingly, Yamato didn't bunt but hit to right on a full count setting up runners on first and third. Toritani hit a sacrifice fly 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Then Arai hit into a double play - this wasn't so good and being back at first has affected him. Dragons first was quiet and one had silent hopes that the game would be a repeat of the night before. A professional controlled performance in which Tigers pulled ahead against a weaker team. Sekimoto hit to left in Tigers second with one out but the following Kanemoto/Fujii team only functions rarely at best and this was not one of those times. Sekimoto stayed on first and the innings was scoreless. Dragons struck back in their second. Blanco led off with a hit to third - both Sekimoto and Yamato have found that it isn't such an easy position as Mayumi seems to think. Wada flew out to right but Hirata hit - runners on first and second. Nohmi was failing to place the ball correctly at all and his first pitch to Tanishige was hit into left bringing home Blanco 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. Ibata struck out looking and then Chen went swinging to end the innings. It was shaping up into a carbon copy of the night before. Tigers third was quiet, this time neither Hirano nor Yamato could hit. Dragons third saw Araki produce a lead off hit. He was bunted to second by Ohshima but Morino flew out and Blanco grounded out to third to end the innings.

Toritani led off Tigers fourth with a walk. He is one of the few batters in the Tigers lineup who consistently generates walks. Arai and Murton both swung wildly and flew out to first before Sekimoto flew out to centre. Things went wrong for Tigers in Dragons fourth. Nohmi's pitching had been giving worries and with the count full Wada led off with a triple to centre. HIrata flew out to right and the run didn't score. Tanishige walked - poor pitching and calling and then Ibata hit into right bringing home the run 2-1 Dragons, runners on first and second. Chen then grounded out to Nohmi and Tigers were able to catch the runner off base as well for a nice double play to end the innings. Dragons were ahead but this wasn't so much of a concern as Tigers could easily haul this back. Tigers fifth though was quiet - Chen was in control but one didn't expect him to tire so soon. Dragons fifth saw Ohshima hit with one out. He tried to steal second but was thrown out. However, Morino hit, also to left - mostly Dragons were able to hit Nohmi left. Blanco went left as well but grounded out to end the innings. Dragons were certainly swinging more aggressively and Nohmi was drifting too much. Tigers chance came in their sixth. Hirano had lined out to third when Yamato drove a two base hit to left centre. This was a great chance with a fast runner on second and Toritani and Arai next. They blew it - Toritani struck out looking and then Arai hit his first pitch to second and grounded out. Why didn't he wait? Hirata hit to centre in Dragons sixth but without any result.

Sekimoto drew a walk in Tigers sixth and was pinch run for by Shunsuke. Though with Kanemoto and Fujii next he might as well have stayed on. Except that Fujii was pinch hit for by Uemoto. This still didn't produce any change and Uemoto flew out to left off his first pitch. Too many Tigers batters were swinging anxiously at their first pitch rather than waiting. Dragons seventh was the coup de grace to Tigers chances. Komiyama replaced Fujii behind the plate but couldn't stop Nohmi issuing a lead off walk to Koike (pinch hitter). Araki bunted him to second and then Ohshima hit to left to set up runners on first and third. Morino grounded out to second with the throw going to Komiyama to get Koike and prevent the run. Nice work and there were now two outs with runners on first and second. Next was the feeble Blanco but Nohmi had also reached a similar state and Blanco hit to centre bringing in a run 3-1 Dragons, runners on first and second. This was all very poor pitching and Nohmi compounded it by walking Wada to load the bases. Enough was enough and he was replaced by Fukuhara. He didn't make much difference and managed to walk Hirata - oshidashi 4-1 Dragons, bases loaded. Finally, Tanishige flew out to short to end the innings. Ochiai had replaced Chen at the end of the seventh and so for Tigers eighth could use Asao. Tigers always struggle against him and this game was no exception. All three batters grounded out Shibata (pinch hitter) and Hirano to first and Yamato to the pitcher. For Dragons eighth Mayumi used Nishimura. He had a quiet innings with only Araki putting up much resistance for the third out. Tigers ninth was Iwase. Toritani led off with a hit but was immediately out when Arai hit into his second double play of the night. The final batter was Murton who grounded out to short to end the game. Dragons victory.

Nohmi hadn't pitched well, Fujii hadn't called well and Tigers had relapsed letting the Dragons beat them. They still need to figure out Chen at Nagoya but their problems are in the mind now not because Dragons are a superior side. The question is though does Mayumi have the management and motivational ability to get the players to realise this?