June 2nd Nohmi v Wolfe - Deja vu

Kyuji blew a victory at Sapporo Dome back in 2010. However, that time Tigers were able to hold on to achieve a tie. Here no such luck but once again Wada's incompetence was on full display. He took Fujii out for the the ninth and replaced him with Okazaki. One doesn't quite believe it - if you really need to replace Fujii (yes please) at least don't use a catcher so mediocre he makes Fujii look good. Imanari would have been the right choice here and the whole decision making process was flawed. Again Nohmi was over-pitched and the sooner Wada is dumped the better. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Tigers    0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 1 5 1
Fighters  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1x 2 7 0

Starting lineups

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

Starting pitcher: Nohmi

Fighters
1. Itoi (Right)
2. Koyano (Third)
3. Tanaka (Second)
4. Nakata (Left)
5. Inaba (First)
6. Yoh (Centre)
7. Nioka (DH)
8. Kaneko (Short)
9. Ohno (Catcher)

Kanemoto picked up an award for playing in his 2500th game - so what? He isn't driving in runs and is a complete waste of space. Tigers are regressing to the 1990s when worthless hasbeens are occupying places on the team and keeping run producers out of the lineup. Tigers first started quietly - Wolfe would actually have to work hard through his six innings but managed to survive with only one run damage. Anyway the innings ended with Toritani striking out looking. Itoi led off Fighters first with a walk and was stupid bunted to second. The next two batters did nothing and that innings was quiet. Kanemoto singled to start Tigers second but Murton lined out to second. Kanemoto was caught off base and was also out - poor work. Sekimoto struck out swinging. Fighters second saw Nioka single with two out but he went nowhere and the innings was quiet. Tigers then blew a big chance. Brazell led off with a single to centre. He was bunted to second in a waste of an out that was difficult to justify under any circumstances except Japanese baseball. Shibata walked and then Hirano took a dead ball to load the bases. Yamato hit to third and was able to beat the throw bringing home a single 1-0 Tigers. Toritani struck out swinging - a poor shot selection and so it was down to Kanemoto He grounded out to first - his timing has gone which is something he can't acknowledge. Ohno led off Fighters third with a walk. He tried to steal second but was thrown out by Fujii. Then Itoi walked and one out later tried to steal and was also thrown out. This had been very good work by Fujii who is not normally known for this throwing to second.

Brazell drew a two out walk in Tigers fourth but Fujii couldn't convert. With Tanaka out Nakata hit to Toritani who messed up. Nakata tried to steal second and this time was successful. Inaba struck out but Yoh hit to centre and brought in the runner 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Nioka flew out to left swinging at his first pitch and ending the innings. Two out in Tigers fifth and Yamato singled and stole second. Toritani could only ground out to short to end the innings. Fighters fifth was quiet. Tigers then lost out with another chance. Two out in the sxith and Sekimoto singled. Brazell walked to set up runners on first and second but Brazell allowed himself to be caught off first and tagged out to end the innings. Fighters sixth was quiet and one must say that Nohmi was pitching very nicely.

Fighters first pitching change came after the sixth. Kuriyama paid attention to pitching limits and Miyanishi took over for Tigers seventh. He had no problems dealing with the batters and the innings was over quickly. Nohmi continued for Fighters seventh which was the logical decision. He gave up a hit to Nioka but nothing came of this. Miyanishi was replaced by Masui for Tigers eighth and once again no Tiger got on base. Nohmi should have been replaced but once again Wada tried to extract another unnecessary innings from him. For Nohmi pitching limits don't seem to apply and this is more poor management from Wada. With one out Itoi singled and then with two out Tanaka singled to set up runners on first and third. Next was Nakata but he flew out to left and Tigers had escaped. Moriuchi then pitched Tigers ninth. He struggled walking Murton to start the innings. Sekimoto laid down the obligtory stupid bunt but then Brazell picked up another walk. Tigers had runners on first and second. Here Wada went to his pinch hitters both of whom failed. Then for Fighters ninth he brought on Okazaki - Imanari would have been the better choice, the latter has very recent experience of Fighters batters. The pitcher was also Enokida when he should have used Fujikawa on the principle that this is more likely to guarantee you won't lose. Inaba walked but was extinguished by a Yoh double play and then Nioka grounded out to second.

Takeda took over for Tigers tenth and walked Hirano. The bunt went down and Hirano moved to second. Toritani grounded out but Kanemoto walked. A wild pitch took the runners to second and third before Murton grounded out to short - once again a stupid bunt had cost the Tigers a scoring chance. Fujikawa pitched Fighters tenth and was immediately in trouble with Okazaki. With one out Hoffpaur hit to right for a two base. Itoi was deliberately walked - another stupid move and then Koyano also walked to load the bases. Okazaki and Fujikawa were really messing up. Tanaka hit hard just over Yamato who had to track back and the runner was home. Sayonara victory 2-1 Fighters.

Poor management by Wada who used the wrong players and then had the temerity to blame the team. Arai was again held out of the team but was used as a pinch hitter but didn't prosper.