September 25th Standridge v Mishima - I despair

I sometimes can't believe the stubborn headed stupidity that passes for management in the Tigers organisation. You have a pitcher who has complained of stiffness in his arm because of over-pitching. You drop him down to ni-gun (as a punishment) and then when you bring him back you try to push him over two innings again having learned nothing. Just to compound the issue you pair him with a mediocre time server as catcher. The idea of using the relief properly seems to be alien to Wada and Nakanishi. What was interesting about Fujii's return was that over six innings Standridge threw 116 pitches. In his last outing with Shimizu he had thrown 95 pitches at the end of six innings. Even though some of this may be due to the opposition the sheer difference in the number thrown is more indicative of catcher differences. Fujii has always been an unimaginative and wasteful catcher with fixed and predictable calling patterns and nothing it seems has changed. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 12 2
Tigers    1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2  9 0

Starting Lineups

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Second)
2. Aranami (Centre)
3. Kajitani (Short)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Nakamura (Third)
6. Kinjoh (Right)
7. Matsumoto (Left)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Mishima (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Shunsuke (Centre)
3. Murton (Left)
4. Toritani (Short)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Ryota Arai (Third)
7. Morita (First)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Standridge (Pitcher)

Ishikawa led the game off managing to fly out. Aranami singled into left though and then took second on a wild pitch. Standridge responded to this setback by striking out Kajitani looking with a straight in the inside bottom corner. This left Blanco who was persuaded to ground out to short and end the innings. Tigers first saw a quiet start from Nishioka and Shunsuke and then Murton singled. He also advanced to second on a wild pitch and then Toritani hit to second. Ishikawa made a fine stop but that was all he could do and Toritani was safe - runners on first and third. Fukudome went for the usual tempting hit into the outfield and flew out to left to end the innings. Things did not go well in BayStars second. Nakamura started the innings with a double to left centre hitting the fence. Nakahata had Kinjoh bunt Nakamura to third and then Matsumoto drove into right to bring in the run 1-0 BayStars, runner on first. It had been uninspired calling and pitching to say the least but the consolation was that unless things went really wrong it was the only run of the innings. And so it proved. Kurobane struck out swinging and then Mishima grounded out to second. Tigers second didn't muster much of a response. Two strike outs to start the innings and then Fujii grounding out to end it. Ishikawa led off the BayStars third with a single - what was noticeable was the ability of the BayStars to hit. He was forced out by Aranami who grounded out to short. Kajitani struck out and then Blanco walked - runners on first and second. A weak grounder from Nakamura ended the innings though - BayStars were struggling to put their runners away. Tigers third started with a shock - Standridge singled. Nishioka flew out but then Shusuke singled to centre to put runners on first and second. Murton walked to load the bases. Next was Toritani who hit to second where Ishikawa made a fine stop. Standridge was home but Shunsuke also tried for home. He slid in but was successfully blocked at the plate by Kurobane for the second out 1-1 scores, tied runners on first and second. Fukudome flew out to left again and this innings one could say that that Tigers should have made more of the opportunity.

BayStars couldn't get anyone on base in their fourth and it was a rare quiet innings. Ryota led off Tigers fourth with a line drive into centre. Morita then hit his second pitch straight at Ishikawa for a 4-6-3 double play. Then Fujii worked a walk but the next batter was Standridge and lightning didn't strike twice - he grounded out to third. Standridge returned the compliment of the previous innings in BayStars fifth issuing a lead off single to centre to Mishima. Two outs following the second being the force out of Mishima on Aranami's ground out. Then Aranami tried to steal second but for once Fujii's throw was good and he was tagged out to end the innings. Murton singled again with two outs in Tigers fifth but Toritani managed to strike out looking and nothing resulted. Standridge was tiring and Fujii was no help at all. BayStars sixth started badly for the Tigers pitcher with a single from Kajitani. Then Blanco singled as well - also to centre - runners on first and second. Nakamura struck out swinging which is common for him and then Tamura (pinch hitter and replacement right) flew out to right. Kajitani touched up and took third - Tamura had battled hard and Standridge was very tired. He still had enough in the tank to get Matsumoto to strike out and end the innings but wouldn't be able to pitch another innings. Fukudome led off Tigers sixth with a single into right field. We then had the absurdity of Ryota bunting Fukudome to second. His brother Arai (pinch hitter and replacement first) struck out looking but Fujii walked again. Hidaka (pinch hitter and not the person I would have chosen in this situation) then struck out swinging to end the innings.

Having opted sensibly to replace Standridge one couldn't quibble with Wada's choice of replacement, Boyer. The BayStars seventh justified this with Boyer striking out all three batters looking. Whilst one was Mishima the other two were nice scalps. However, it was the innings of someone not expecting to pitch more than one innings. Tigers seventh saw Nishioka ground out to second and then a fine diving catch by Ishikawa disposed of Shunsuke. Murton hit to Kajitani who fumbled and by the time he recovered Murton was safe on first. Toritani managed to avoid the strike out but only by flying out to centre and ending the innings. BayStars eighth went wrong for the Tigers almost immediately. Aranami led off with a single. Kajitani struck out and then Blanco hit into centre setting up runners on first and third. There was very little variation in what was being called for this innings and apart from one curve, every pitch was a straight ball. It was truly abysmal calling and the end result was almost inevitable. Tamura got a nice fat straight and slammed it into the back screen for a three run home run 4-1 BayStars. Amazingly the straights continued but with Matsumoto grounding out to the Boyer to end the innings. Fujii had blown it. Fujie pitched Tigers eighth and found that he had no problem in retiring Fukudome and the Arai brothers. BayStars were heading for a win. Andoh took over for BayStars ninth and gave up a lead off single to Kurobane which bounced off third base. He was pinch run for by Uchimura who was forced out two outs later by Ishiakawa's ground out. Aranami singled to centre to put runners on first and second but things worked out well and Kajitani grounded out to second to end the innings. Sosa took over for Tigers ninth and dealt successfully with Shibata (pinch hitter) and Saka (pinch hitter). Then Nishioka hit a dribbler infield and was able to take first. Shunsuke hit high to left and it looked like the final out but Matsumoto dropped the catch. This was a real error as Nishioka was able to take home and Shunsuke slid into third safely 4-2 BayStars. Was this the start of a Tigers revival. Sadly the days when Tigers could score five or six runs in the ninth are gone. Murton went for a big hit and struck out swinging to end the game. BayStars victory.

The causes of this defeat were fairly easy to understand. The reintroduction of Fujii and the management pettiness in wanting to pitch Boyer over two innings. Fujii's calling had been unimaginative and wasteful as per usual and Tigers had paid the price. It was very disappointing as well because BayStars made significant errors and Tigers failed to capitalise. Carp beat Dragons and are assured of a top three finish now. Tigers will face them in the first round of the Climax Series but there is still the venue to be decided. To be honest though it doesn't really matter the way the Tigers are playing. Tigers can still take this series by winning the rubber game but need to bring the runners home more frequently.