September 28th Fujinami v Cabrera - The worthless Hidaka

Way back in 2006 I went to the first series of the season at Jingu. The score was tied in the bottom of the ninth and their were runners on first and second. Kubota (who was the main closer then) was brought on to deal with the situation. He walked one batter to load the bases and then faced Gueil. Kubota was too low and stayed low. Gueil let the balls go and waited earning a walk - sayonara oshidashi. Now if Yano at the height of his considerable powers couldn't keep Kubota up what chance had Hidaka who at his best wasn't anywhere near Yano at his worst. The replacement of Shimizu this game was folly of the worst order from Wada. Not only was Hidaka unable to handle Kubota (and what was he doing pitching the ninth anyway?) he added runs to what was a tight game and basically blew Tigers chances of victory with his ineptness. Why he is in the top team instead of Komiyama is totally beyond comprehension but it does demonstrate Wada's complete worthlessness as a manager. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Shunsuke (Centre)
3. Murton (Left)
4. Toritani (Short)
5. Takahiro Arai (First)
6. Fukudome (Right)
7. Saka (Third)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Fujinami (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Fujii (Centre)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Morino (First)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Hirata (Right)
6. Takahashi (Third)
7. Tanaka (Catcher)
8. Naomichi Donue (Short)
9. Cabrera (Pitcher)

Tigers batting and pitching have basically collapsed and everyone is just marking time until the end of the season. This is another reflection on Wada who lacks the ability to motivate his team which is clearly dissatisfied with him and his team. This game was a case in point - against a non entity Dragons team with plenty of chances Tigers failed miserably. They started well with a Nishioka walk. Nishioka made second on Shunsuke's ground out breaking his bat and then with Muton out Toritani walked - runners on first and second. It needed something from Arai but he is pretty useless these days and struck out looking. Poor batting. Dragons also started well with Fujii leading off with a single. Fujii stole second and then advanced to third on Morino's fly out touching up well. Wada could only ground out though and the innings was over. Tigers second was quiet with the three batters not doing anything. The same applied to Dragons second - no one got on base. Tigers third started with Fujinami striking out - of course no one really expected anything else. Then Nishioka singled left off his first pitch. Shunsuke took a bit longer but singled right and Tigers had runners on first and third. It was a wild pitch which brought Nishioka home and allowed Shunsuke to move round to second 1-0 Tigers and a great chance. They blew it - Murton grounded out to short which kept Shunsuke locked on second. However, Toritani walked and then a wild pitch took the runners to second and third. Once again Arai struck out looking beating the ground in frustration and it was really poor batting from the Tigers No. 5 especially with the wild pitches in the innings. Dragons couldn't do anything in the third and no one made base. It was nice work by Fujinami.

Tigers fourth was depressing and it looked as if the batters were just pretending - they appeared to have no intention of winning at all. Neither Fukudome nor Saka covered themselves with glory and in lazy at bats both struck out. Shimizu was more committed and singled left but Fujinami wasn't able to do anything and the innings was scoreless. Fujinami had done well but couldn't do anything about Araki's lucky lead off hit in Dragons fourth. Morino's ground out took Araki to second and then Wada got a straight high in the zone which he hammered into the backscreen for a two run home run 2-1 Dragons. Hirata struck out and then Takahashi grounded out. Dragons had the lead but only a slender one. Tigers fifth saw no one reach base with Cabrera in control. Dragons fifth was the same and no runner reached base. Now we start to come to the strangeness. Surely a manager should be trying to win the game not trying to engage in worthless experiments? It is impossible to understand Wada's motivations in Tigers sixth unless the word "panic" is included as the adjective in front of each choice. Toritani led the innings off with a walk and then stole second as Arai struck out. Fukudome walked and Saka struck out. Here Wada had Shimizu pinch hit for by Imanari. Given that Shimizu had singled in the previous plate visit and Imanari cannot be guaranteed to hit or get on base it was an extremely stupid decision and panic is the only explanation for it. Imanari walked to load the bases and then Fujinami was pinch hit for by Hidaka. If the run was so important why use the useless Hidaka rather than Hiyama. The sheer lack of logic or even a modicom of sense in this decision is breathtaking. Hidaka flew out to right to end the innings without a run being scored. It had been mismanagement of the first order. Boyer took over for Dragons sixth and with two out gave up a single to Morino. This time Ohshima (replacement centre) popped up to third to end the innings.

Cabrera managed to finish Tigers seventh rather nicely retiring the batters in order. After Boyer had pitched the Dragons sixth, Andoh took over for the seventh and was immediately in trouble with Hidaka. Hirata led off with a double to left centre. Takahashi bunted him to third and then Wada, still in panic mode switched Andoh to Katoh. I don't know what he expected the latter to do especially pitching to Hidaka but then I don't think he knew either and this was just change for the sake of appearing to do something. Takehiro Donue (pinch hitter) was next and he walked - runners on first and third with one out. Hidaka was completely out of his depth and this wasn't helping Katoh. He was pinch run for by Iwasaki who stole second and then Naomichi Donue grounded out to short which gave the runner on third enough time to make home 3-1 Dragons, runner on third. Tanishige (pinch hitter) struck out swinging but Hidaka had screwed up. Having put themselves in a comfortable situation Dragons proceeded to mess it up completely in the eighth. Mutoh took over the pitching duties and stank. First Toritani singled left. Then Arai singled left (his sole contribution to the game). Fukudome went to bunt and luckily it surprised everyone rolling to third but Tigers runners were all able to reach base safely - bases loaded with no outs. Saka was next and he worked a walk from a by now thoroughly discomforted Mutoh - oshidashi 3-2 Dragons, bases loaded. Next was Hiyama who like Saka exploited the fact that Mutoh was trying to stay low and inside and not doing very well for another walk. Oshidashi 3-3 scores tied bases loaded. Here things went sour. Takagi switched pitchers and Tajima took over in an unenviable situation. However, he faced Hidaka who only needed to hit deep or work a walk. Hidaka was worthless swinging at almost everything and missing badly - he struck out for the first out. Then Nishioka hit to first where Morino fired to home for the force out bases loaded with two outs. Finally, Shunsuke grounded out to second. Tigers had failed but it had been up to Hidaka to do something useful whilst Tigers still had the edge. Not only had he been useless behind the plate but he was also useless with the bat. After all that Kubota took over for Dragons eighth. He retired the batters in order and things looked reasonable. Murton led Tigers ninth off with a single but immediately fell as Toritani hit into a double play. Shibata (replacement right) grounded out to first. Amazingly given recent experience in a tied game and given that it was his second innings, Wada brought Kubota back for Dragons ninth. One really did think he wanted to lose the match given the sheer stupidity of the decision. He just doesn't learn at all and has no conception of how to run a team. The Dragons ninth started badly with Ohshima walking. Hidaka was useless of course and as things got worse was even more worthless. Hirata got hold of his first pitch and doubled to left centre - runners on second and third with no outs. The game was basically over as Dragons would score from this position. The only faint hope was to switch pitchers and hope for strike outs. Wada didn't do it and Hidaka compounded things by deliberately walking Takahashi. What for? As stupid decisions go this really was the prize taker - bases loaded no outs. Kubota faced Matsui (replacement catcher). He tried to keep the ball low but was too low and Matsui watched as the balls accumulated deja vu sayonara oshidashi 4-3 Dragons, Dragons victory.

There is so much that is wrong with the current Tigers situation that it is difficult to know where to begin. It is as if stupidity and blind prejudice from inadequate know-it-alls rules. Tigers have now failed to win in the last 10 series and everything seems to have fallen apart. Of course anyone with any knowledge could have predicted this. The policy of giving berths to clapped out time servers who lack talent for the roles they are placed in is normal Tigers (and Japanese business) behaviour. Only occasionally do they manage to give a role to someone competent and then the management recoils. It short changes the fans and is poor business sense but lemming like the Tigers organisation is drawn to do this again and again.