August 15th Shimoyanagi v Williams - This has got to stop

Tigers were at Kyocera Dome and once again were abject. The excuse that this is shi no rodo is no longer valid. A lot of fans spend a lot of money to support the Tigers and this kind of display short changes them. I doubt Tigers mangement read this blog but if they do maybe they could consider not paying the players during the time the High School baseball championship is held. If they win they get a bonus equivalent to the relevant portion of the monthly games they play. Thus if they have 20 games away from Koshien the win bonus is 1/20th of the pay they would have gotten. However, if they lose players would forfeit double their potential win bonus. It is time to end the rubbish of shi no rodo and start acting like professionals. The BayStars tonight were abysmal but the Tigers were worse. Poor batting and pitching combined in a display that was both embarrassing and stupid. The only compensation is that the Giants also lost so the Magic Number is still alive. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
BayStars 1 0 0 0 0 2 7 1 0 11 12 0
Tigers   0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0  4 12 2

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Takahashi (First)
6. Sekimoto (Third)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Shimoyanagi (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Third)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Yoshimura (Right)
5. Kinjoh (Centre)
6. Ohnishi (Left)
7. Ishii (Short)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Williams (Pitcher)

BayStars would start well and would exploit Shimoyanagi's early weakness nicely. With two out Uchikawa hit then Yoshimura hammered out a two base. Once again speed round the bases was the key and Uchikawa was home 1-0 BayStars. Tigers started with an Akahoshi ground out but followed with a Hirano hit. Then Toritani walked runners on first and second. The next two batters flew out in what was to prove a common pattern. Wasted chances with a pitcher who reached the level of merely ordinary. BayStars second was quiet and Shimoyanagi retired the side in order. With Tigers second Sakurai hit. A Noguchi two base drove him home 1-1 scores level. A wild pitch moved Noguchi to third but Shimoyanagi struck out and Akahoshi grounded out to end the innings. BayStars third also saw Shimoyanagi retire the side in order. In Tigers third Hirano hit again. He moved to second on a Toritani ground out but both Kanemoto and Takahashi flew out. This is not acceptable - with a pitcher as poor as Williams the batters must do more. BayStars fourth was also quiet, once again Shimoyanagi retired the side in order.

In Tigers fourth Sekimoto led off with a hit. He was out in a Sakurai double play but then Noguchi and Shimoyanagi hit. Akahoshi walked and the bases were loaded. Hirano flew out and the innings was over - another wasted chance. It really doesn't matter that Hirano had three hits - when he had the chance to put runners home he failed. In BayStars fifth Ohnishi walked and was bunted to second but the next two batters went nowhere. In Tigers fifth Toritani hit but received no support. In their five innings Tigers had generated 8 hits (yes 8) and two walks and only had one run. They had left 8 runners on base - truely dreadful batting. BayStars who were poor would make the most of their chances. In the sixth Ishikawa had a lead off hit. He was bunted to second by Nishi and then Uchikawa hit 2-1 BayStars. Yoshimura walked to put runners on first and second and then Kinjoh hit to move the runners round and it was 3-1 BayStars. The final two batters fell but the damage was done.

Amazingly Tigers did nothing in the sixth - a rare quiet innings. Okada decided not to continue with Shimoyanagi in the seventh and instead went with Resop who was dreadful (the Tigers relief in the seventh was just plain lazy). Resop started with a lead off hit to Bigbie (pinch hitter). He was bunted to second by Aikawa (replacement catcher) and then Ishikawa hit 4-1 BayStars and hardly an auspicious start. Resop continued to throw rubbish. Nishi reached first on an error and then Uchikawa walked. Resop then walked Yoshimura with the bases loaded 5-1 BayStars. Enough of Resop, Watanabe was next. He started by giving up a hit to Kinjoh 6-1 BayStars, then he walked Ohnishi 7-1 BayStars. A Ohnishi hit followed 8-1 BayStars. Bigbie grounded out but another run scored 9-1 BayStars. Aikawa hit 10-1 BayStars. Finally Ishikawa flew out and the innings was over. Normally Watanabe would have earned himself an extended trip to ni-gun with that performance and a paycut at the end of the year but Okada likes him and he can pitch well so he may survive. His pitching though was not of the standard expected from a first team pitcher.

Just to demonstrate that we were not dealing with a good BayStars side but an appalling Tigers performance the Tigers batting partially woke up in the seventh. The pitcher was Yuya Ishii and he started with a lead off hit to Akahoshi. Hirano hit and here Akahoshi should have made third but once again Wada held him up at second. Toritani walked and then Kanemoto walked 10-2 BayStars. Ishii departed and Oyamada took the mound. He immediatley allowed a hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter) but only one run was scored 10-3 BayStars. One cannot help contrasting the BayStars approach to base running with the Tigers - they should have tried for two runs. All of this was with no outs and the risk was well worth taking. Sekimoto was next and he hit into a double play 10-4 BayStars which just goes to show what can happen. Finally Katsuragi flew out and the innings was over.

BayStars eighth was pitched by Abe and if no one else put in any effort why should he. Actually he gave up a solo home run to Yoshimura - more poor Noguchi calling 11-4 BayStars but he got the other three batters. Okada should have used his younger catchers more. Noguchi may have a good arm but frequently is too predictable and doesn't have a clue. Yokoyama pitched Tigers eighth and with two out gave up a hit to Akahoshi but nothing came of this. In BayStars ninth Hashimoto gave up a lead off hit to Ohnishi but an Ishii double play ended that. Finally Tigers ninth was straightforward for Yokoyama - the batters were retired in order. BayStars victory.

There are no good points to this defeat. Tigers were not outclassed and BayStars remain a poor side with poor coaching. Somehow Tigers contrived to be worse both in batting (each team generated the same number of hits) and walks - not that the BayStars were good. It is not acceptable for the Tigers to dislike Kyocera Dome (they have lost the four games they have played there so far) - they are at home. Everyone underperformed and really they do not deserve to be paid for this debacle. Congratulations to the BayStars who took their chances but really Tigers need to take action to ensure that they do not repeat this kind of performance again. The only consolation is that the Giants lost and the margin between the teams remains at 8 games.

Would you mind explaining the magic number thing for me? I've looked around and seen lots of mentions, but no mention of what it actually is. Is this a reference to the number of wins needed to guarantee a playoff spot? Sorry for the stupid question; I've only been watching for about a year now.

The Magic Number is the number of wins a team needs to clinch the particular title. It is based on the number of games that they and their rival have to play and the mathematical possibility of the rival overhauling them. If both teams win or lose it falls by 1 but if the leading team wins and the rival loses it falls by two. There are two magic numbers one for the Central League pennant and one to reach the Climax series. I hope this helps.

I think that 19-2 win against the BayStars a week or two back kind of cursed us. It really woke the BayStars up and I don't think we've beaten them since. We need to play better against a team that has about the same number of team wins as Fujikawa has saves!

We've played the BayStars twice since the 19-2 defeat but its not just the BayStars. Tigers are currently 1 win and six losses since that game. I had thought that Okada had managed to overcome the shi no rodo effect but it seems to have returned with a vengance. However, there really is no need for it and no excuse. The authorities seem to have bent over backwards to mitigate the effects and Tigers have been given plenty of rest days as well as the games in Kyocera Dome.

I don't begrudge the BayStars their win but what I do find frustrating is the way the Tigers are losing. Their hitting is poor and the pitchers seem to be queueing up to melt down. Two of the runs in the seventh were walk-ins which given the quality of the Tigers relief should not be happening.

is your pitcher Resop any good or is he new and needs adjustment to Japanese hitters?

maybe too much rest for pitcher. Pitcher need to work all the time so they stay sharp. Too many off days hurts their concentration and precision

Resop is new and his debut was spectacular but which seemed to indicate that he would have no trouble fitting in. Maybe, though, he still needs time and my comments are a bit harsh on him. However, that doesn't explain the other pitcher meltdowns - Jim's comment has merit.

Bullpens are good but throwing to live hitters is totally different. Risoppu will be fine with more work. He has to throw more than a fastball....strike zone different in Japan, mound different and baseball is different....alot of getting used to in a short time...minor league work would be good for him right now

I agree that Resop will be a good reliever. Abe is also maturing well but Watanabe is worrying me. He is either very good or poor (at the moment he is mostly good) and I hope he doesn't turn into another Nohmi. With the fading of Jeff Williams (not so much but there are signs) and Kubota, Tigers do need to develop a new set of relievers. Atchison has looked impressive in his move to relief and Hashimoto is also better.

I think Resop was thrust into too important of a role too quickly. He had mediocre numbers in the States this year, yet he was brought over and expected to instantly become a key component of the Tigers bullpen. We have some good young pitchers we could have given more of a chance to.

I think that Colonel Sanders is trying to send Hanshin Fans a message/wake up call that says you WILL NOT win the Japan Series this year

I also like how you "conveniently" left out when Kanemoto struck out in the ninth, he flipped his bat high into the air while returning to the dugout and showed us why he has the nickname of a child.

He's done that sort of thing before - throwing his helmet on the ground etcetera. It's fairly common so we don't bother mentioning it.