August 14th Kubo v Miura - Nakahata blunders

Sakai-owner confirmed what everyone expected that despite the unsuitability of Wada for the role of Tigers kantoku, he would return next year. One actually wonders is Sakai-owner has any business knowledge or experience at all. Firstly, he insists on giving Wada a three year contract when a one year contract would have been a better option. That would have allowed Tigers to get rid of Wada easily and without too much cost at the end of the season or even earlier. Then his reasoning for not sacking Wada is because he has a three year contract. Never mind that Wada as kantoku damages the income making capacity of Tigers bringing a fall in season tickets, ticket revenue in general and merchandising fees. The logical move at this stage is to dump Wada for poor performance (but the contract probably doesn't have a clause that allows the organisation to do this) or buy him out and bring in a new manager. This is standard Japanese management - not taking a decision especially if it seems difficult or possibly controversial. Wada has a 3 year contract and thus must be retained for the duration of the contract. The front office is not even going to do anything about the abysmal coaching either until the season is over. Tigers have moved back into the 1990s and another lost decade is on the cards. We can race the BayStars for the bottom. Talking of BayStars it was nice to see the opposition blundering instead of Tigers. Miura no longer the Tigers killer of old but the decision to have him pitch the eighth was a blunder of the first order. This blew the game for the BayStars who up until then were in with a chance. Tigers gratefully took the chance and were able to weather the late challenge to claim the victory. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Aranami (Centre)
2. Uchimura (Second)
3. Nakamura (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Tsutsugoh (Right)
6. Watanabe (Short)
7. Gotoh (First)
8. Takajoh (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

The first game of the series was played in Nagano - the teams move to Yokohama for the next two games. Miura actually started very well - pitching confidently. No one got on base and Hirano lined out to first. Kubo's start was less confident. He doesn't really get on with Fujii though he can work effectively with the catcher the difference is there. With two out Nakamura hit into right field and then Ramirez walked. Tsutsugoh hit his first pitch to left and flew out - he might have prospered more if he had waited. Tigers second was just as dispiriting as the first - batters failing to come to terms with Miura and no one reaching base. Once again in their second BayStars generated a hit - this time Gotoh singling to centre with one out. This time Takajoh hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers third saw Miura complete the sweep of the Tigers lineup. No runners and three batters an innings. BayStars third started with Miura flying out to left. Then Aranami singled. Uchimura flew out and Nakamura hit a deep two base to left which was fielded at the wall by Kanemoto. Of course he has a worthless arm and threw to Toritani acting a relay. Aranami was tearing round the bases so Toritani's throw needed to be good and it was - the ball nestling comfortably in Fujii's glove as Aranami slid into home. Tagged out and the innings finished.

This shouldn't have affected Miura but it seems to have done so and he dead balled Uemoto with his first pitch of Tigers fourth. Hirano then laid down the obligatory wasted bunt to take Uemoto to second and Toritani walked. Ryota Arai punched his first pitch left and Uemoto charged home 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Kanemoto struck out swinging and Takahiro Arai grounded out to end the innings. BayStars seemed suddenly to be drained of fight in the fourth and they fell in order - the first innings that Kubo had managed to avoid a runner on. A very valuable innings. Murton singled to lead off Tigers fifth but was forced out by Fujii's ground out. Kubo bunted Fujii to second and then Uemoto struck out to end the innings. Miura wasn't giving up yet. Kubo walked Takajoh in BayStars fifth with one out. He was bunted to second by Miura and then Aranami grounded out to end that innings. We saw Ryota Arai pick up a walk in Tigers sixth but that was all. Miura hadn't collapsed and was dealing well with the Tigers batters. BayStars sixth was another quiet innings with no one reaching base. Kubo struck out Uchimura swinging which was also encouraging.

Things got a bit livelier in Tigers seventh. Takahiro Arai grounded out to third but Murton singled. He was pinch run for by Yamato who stole second. Fujii hit a fly to right deep enough for Yamato to tag up and take third. Here Wada brought on Hiyama (pinch hitter) to try and generate an extra run but the latter grounded out to second to end the innings. Katoh started BayStars seventh and got Tsutsugoh to fly out in foul ground. Then he was replaced by Tsuru who induced Watanabe to ground out. Gotoh walked but Takajoh was only able to strike out swinging and the innings was over. Here Nakahata made his big mistake and kept Miura on for Tigers eighth. He had already thrown 114 pitches and even though he was pitching well was tiring. Conditions were also very humid and sapping and it would have been wise for a reliever to be brought on. Wada had made the right move with Kubo at the end of the sixth though for different reasons (a desire to generate another run). It didn't take long for the folly of this decision to become clear; three pitches in fact when Uemoto slammed a triple to right. Hirano was next and his contribution was a timely double to left centre 2-0 Tigers, runner on second. A wild pitch took Hirano to third and then Toritani singled neatly into centre bringing in Hirano 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. This was the overdue end of Miura who was replaced by Kikuchi having gotten no outs in the eighth. Kikuchi set about rectifying this getting Ryota Arai to hit into a double play. Then Shunsuke (replacement left) flew out to centre. BayStars had been in with a chance up until the eighth but this was now gone. Fukuhara pitched the bottom of the eighth and showed good control. Kinjoh (pinch hitter) he got to strike out swinging and then the next two batters fell to ground out. Kaga pitched Tigers ninth and dealt successfully with the three batters he faced including Takahiro Arai who had a quiet night. No one really expected much to happen in BayStars ninth. It was a save situation and so Tigers pitcher would be Kyuji Fujikawa who would blow the batters away. It wasn't quite that easy. Kyuji and Fujii didn't work well together this game and Nakamura, always a difficult batter led off with a single. Then Ramirez singled right and BayStars had runners on first and second. Tsutsugoh grounded out to third which took Nakamura to third as well. Shimozono (pinch hitter) hit to centre to bring in a run 3-1 Tigers, runner on first and third. Tigers began to panic and Gotoh walked to load the bases. Nakahata sent Koike to the plate in place of Takajoh but Koike hit into a double play and Tigers escaped with the victory.

Kubo picked up the win - his fourth and the save was Kyuji's sixteenth. It wasn't exactly classic but had been secure enough and very welcome. The over-pitching of Miura worked very nicely to Tigers advantage as the extra two runs were definitely needed. If BayStars had used a reliever in the eighth Tigers might have ended up losing the game again. So luck did play it's part but any luck is welcome at the moment. Tigers have a chance to extend the winning streak tonight but do need more production from their batters.