June 22nd Nohmi v Mima - Nohmi in trouble

This is the second game where Nohmi has left at around eighty pitches and as in the first he has been pulled because he is not pitching well. On both occasions he has been paired with the Fujii whose poor calling is becoming legendary. However, one cannot blame his struggles entirely on the fat one who is just a contributory factor. We have to look at other issues such as over-pitching and poor coaching as well. We saw the bizarre spectacle of Tigers elite relief being used to close out a game which was already lost. One thinks that Wada and Nakanishi really don't know anything about the capabilities of the players they are meant to manage. Instead they stubbornly cling to their outdated prejudices come what may.
The front office is also doing their best to appear stupid and is talking about hiring Tateyama. The recent shareholders meeting saw a shareholder complain about just this practice - hiring a over the hill free agent and then finding that they aren't able to compete. Once again we have Tigers in trouble and the management turn to an over the hill (soon to be) free agent to help them. The concept of developing younger players; and the Tigers have considerable pitching talent; does not occur to the management. Tigers coaching staff is out of its depth and needs replacing with a proper development path laid out and proper coaching and support.
The Rakuten game saw Tigers lose the series with the Golden Eagles. This has been a dreadful interleague campaign for Tigers and remember Shi no rodo is yet to come. Of the series Tigers won 0, of the rubbers they won 0. They tied series with Nippon Ham, Softbank and Marines. They lost series to Orix, Seibu and Rakuten. They could have done worse but it is hardly good stuff. Scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Golden Eagles  0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 0
Tigers         0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  7 0

Starting Lineups

Golden Eagles
1. Okajima (Right)
2. Fujita (Second)
3. Akaminai (First)
4. Jones (DH)
5. Lutz (Third)
6. Bowker (Left)
7. Makida (Centre)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Nishida (Short)

Starting pitcher was Mima

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Gomez (DH)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Imanari (Third)
7. Takahiro Arai (First)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Tagami (Right)

Starting pitcher was Nohmi

Once again Wada made the questionable decision to put Imanari ahead of Arai and once again it failed. The game started with little indication of what was going to happen. Nohmi faced the first three batters with calm and aplomb and retired them comfortably. Mima did the same to Tigers and by the end of the first no one had reached base. The Golden Eagle's second saw things unravel rather rapidly. Nohmi had difficulty with Jones and walked the DH to start the innings. Next was Lutz who got a high inside pitch which he drilled into the right stand for a two run home run 2-0 Golden Eagles. Here was Nohmi's contribution to the loss - he was consistently too high with his pitches. Bowker singled to centre and then Makida hit left - runners on first and second. Then Nohmi walked Shima to load the bases with no outs. Fujii was worthless here and had nothing to offer his struggling pitcher at all. Nishida hit to short and whilst Toritani threw to second for the force out there was never a double play on and Bowker was home 3-0 Golden Eagles, runners on first and third. Okajima hit deep into left where Murton made a fine diving catch but couldn't prevent the sacrifice fly 4-0 Golden Eagles, runner on first. Finally, Fujita popped up to short to end the innings. Even though the game was barely two innings old you already felt that this was the end for Tigers and that they wouldn't be able to come back from this situation. Tigers second started with a riposte from Gomez who singled left. However, Murton, then Imanari and then Arai fell to the pitches of Mima and Gomez had been stranded on first. Two outs went down in Golden Eagles third but then Lutz up for his second time round singled to left. This time Bowker popped up to Arai to end the innings. Tigers third saw Fujii work a lead off walk. The ball Tagami chose to swing at was just the perfect one for a double play and went straight to second who had an easy job initiating the double play. Of course, Fujii was never going to race between the bases but it was poor batting by Tagami. Uemoto went for a hit over centre but it had out written all over it as soon as it left the bat and that was the end of Tigers third.

Nohmi had rather ridden his luck in the third and this deserted him at the beginning of the fourth. His first pitch to Makida was hit back into the centre stand and even though Yamato climbed up the fence to attempt a sombrero the ball was well above the reach of his glove 5-0 Golden Eagles. Once again Nohmi had been too high. As if to emphasize his chagrin he struck out the next two batters but then walked Okajima. However, Fujita flew out to left to end the innings. Mima continued to control the Tigers batting though but with one out Toritani stroked a nice double to left centre. Gomez hit a liner straight to Fujita and Toritani had to hustle back to second though the throw was rather poor. Murton swung at his first pitch and flew out in foul ground. As they do when the panic Tigers batters were swinging wildly in the hope of something connecting. Nohmi didn't return for Golden Eagles fifth. He had been consistently too high and apart from the first innings had struggled. There had been no real communication between him and his catcher and Kaneda took the mound. He lived dangerously with Fujii behind the plate but generally did the job. Two outs went down and then Lutz hit to second and was able to beat Uemoto's throw. Then Bowker singled right - runners on first and second. Makida hit deep to left but flew out. In Tigers fifth Arai singled neatly to right but no one moved him round with Fujii showing the Tigers batters disease striking out with a particularly inept swing. In Golden Eagles sixth Nishida singled left but was forced out by Okajima who was able to beat the throw for the double play. Fujita hit to second though for an easy ground out. Mima had been comfortable and in control and faced Uemoto at the beginning of the Tigers sixth. His first pitch got away from him and hit Uemoto on his helmet. Watching the pitch it was just a case of Mima losing control and the ball flying away. However, in the Central League it is an automatic ejection and Mima left the mound and returned to the dugout. This threw a big spanner in Golden Eagles plans and Nagai had to be hurriedly summoned from the bullpen. Uemoto returned after being looked at by the doctor being non the worse for the experience. It had been just one of those things. Nagai faced Yamato who probably because of the margin didn't bunt but singled neatly to right - runners on first and second. It would have been nice to see Uemoto try for third as that was on but the base running veered to the over cautious this innings. Nagai struck out Toritani looking with a superb pitch and then Golden Eagles decided to switch pitchers. Maybe not the right move but Fukuyama, the new pitcher had a very formidable ERA. However, he was rapidly in trouble. Gomez hit to centre bringing in Uemoto 5-1 Golden Eagles, runners on first and second. Once again you felt that Yamato could have made third. Murton singled left and here was a clear scoring chance but Yamato was held up on third - bases loaded. Now we got an illustration of putting in Imanari ahead of Arai. Arai has already accumulated more runs than Imanari and has the temperament for these situations. Imanari doesn't and fell into the simplest of double play traps hitting his first pitch to short for the innings ending double play. Tigers had wasted the opportunity in a big way.

Andoh pitched Golden Eagles seventh and still had to work with Fujii though the catcher would be replaced the next innings. Akaminai drilled a lead off single to left but stayed on first as the Rakuten batters tried to hit over the field and failed. He did bamboozle his final out, Bowker though striking him out looking to end the innings. Shibata entered the frame in Tigers seventh with one out and drilled the ball into Fujita. Fujita couldn't hold and in fact it was a fielding error but was generously judged a hit. Shibata's running was good and as the ball rolled away from the prone Fujita he raced to second successfully. Tagami grounded out to second which took Shibata to third but Uemoto hit his first pitch to centre in usual Tigers pattern and was out. Fukuhara pitched Golden Eagles eighth with Umeno behind the plate. With two fairly straightforward outs under his belt he gave up a single to left to Nishida. Nishida attempted to steal second but was easily thrown out by Umeno. It's nice to have a catcher who can do this. This ended the innings. Saito pitched Tigers eighth and started well getting Yamato to fly out. Then he walked Toritani and immediately after this Gomez - runners on first and second. Murton went for a right hit and flew out but Toritani tagged up and took third. A nice situation but once again the clueless Imanari fell for the hit to second and grounded out to end the innings. Katoh pitched the Golden Eagles ninth and retired the batters in order. For Tigers ninth we saw Falkenborg take the mound. Arai went first pitch hitting to short to ground out. Shibata struck out swinging which brought up Umeno. He got a pitch which bounced and got away from Rakuten's replacement catcher Koseki. As he had swung he set off for first. Koseki retrieved the ball and threw to first but the throw was wild and Umeno made first safely. Okajima had come in from right to back up and so first was as far as Umeno could safely go. The camera showed a rueful looking Shima in the Golden Eagles dugout watching the incident. However, Golden Eagles were not going to be denied for long and the very next pitch Uemoto hit the ball into the glove of Bowker for the final out. Golden Eagles victory.

Another series down and one of the disturbing statistics from the game was that prior to the run in the sixth Tigers hadn't scored a run for 24 innings. Tigers had looked inept and clueless and whilst the reintroduction of Fujii has clearly been a disaster the batting hasn't been performing. The management doesn't seem to know what to do and they do need to get a grip quickly as Tigers are drifting down the table. The interleague saw an inability to construct a winning streak and Tigers were only able to win one game at a time. It should have been different for such a talented lineup.