July 21st Uezono v Shinoda - The first half is over

Tigers enter the All Star break 0.5 games behind the Giants after failing to sweep the Carp. This was due to the failure of their starter, Uezono who didn't pitch well - totally lacking location. He was sent down to ni-gun after this start which was a certainty if he failed. Put in unprepared and set up to fail Uezono did need to pitch better to have any chance of survival and whatever the faults of the management in their treatment of him he did pitch very badly in this start. After Uezono, Carp were their usual ineffective and feeble selves and only managed one run. Tigers blew chances against a mediocre pitcher and a win would have given them the lead in the Central League. But they are nicely poised as Giants too are suffering from starter problems. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Carp    3 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 15 1
Tigers  0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 4  9 2

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Akamatsu (Centre)
4. Huber (First)
5. Hirose (Right)
6. Iwamoto (Left)
7. Ishii (Third)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Shinoda (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Toritani (Short)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Murton (Right)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Kanemoto (Left)
7. Johjima (Catcher)
8. Asai (Centre)
9. Uezono (PItcher)

Uezono messed up right from the start - in fact he rather resembled poor Tsuru on his first start, put in with no preparation. Higashide hit to second which Hirano stopped but couldn't get the throw away in time. He was bunted to second by Soyogi and a mistake allowed the runner to make third. Akamatsu hit to right to bring Higashide home 1-0 Carp, runner on first. Huber hit to left to set up runners on first and third. Hirose also hit to left and another runner was home 2-0 Carp, runners on first and second. Iwamoto struck out but then Ishii hit to right to bring in another runner 3-0 Carp, runners on second and third. More poor play had allowed the runners to get round into scoring positions. Kura was deliberately walked to get at Shinoda who struck out swinging to end a nightmare innings for Uezono. He had thrown far too much in the middle of the zone and paid the price for it. Tigers start was poor - both Toritani and Hirano going for their first pitch and then getting out. Murton took a bit longer but also grounded out. Uezono was only marginally better in Carp's second. He got Higashide to fly out but then gave up a hit to Soyogi - once again a pitch in the middle of the zone. A wild pitch took Soyogi to second but Akamatsu grounded out. Huber hit to right centre which brought Soyogi home 4-0 Carp but Huber tried to got too far and was out. Tigers second was also quiet and once again the batters really didn't try hard enough. Hirose led off Carp's third with a hit. Next was Hirose who hammered a pitch straight down the middle over the right fence for a two run home run 6-0 Carp. Two outs followed but Shinoda managed a hit. However, Higashide grounded out to end Uezono's nightmare. Tigers really needed to respond to this barrage and finally in the third the stopped messing around. With one out Asai hit to centre. Kanoh (pinch hitter) hit to right and Toritani walked to load the bases. Hirano hit to Shinoda who failed to grab and Tigers had a runner home 6-1 Carp, bases loaded. Murton grounded out to Shinoda who threw to first 6-2 Carp, runners on second and third. Finally, Arai grounded out to third in an attempt to force a low straight ball to left he should have left.

Kanoh had pinch hit for Uezono so Tigers needed a new pitcher and this was Nishimura. There was an instant change in quality with the batters falling 1-2-3 as the hittable pitches dried up. One hopes that Uezono will return soon and be able to pitch like this. However, even though the sixth place in the rotation is up for grabs there seems to be no move to bring back either Sugiyama or Fukuhara and for that we can be grateful. Tigers fourth revealed the full extent of Shinoda's mediocrity but once again Tigers failed to take advantage of it. Brazell hit to centre but Kanemoto flew out in foul ground. A wild pitch took Brazell to second and another one to third. Without help Shinoda had gotten himself into trouble. However, Asai grounded out to end the innings and terminate a nice scoring chance. With two out in Carp's fifth Ishii hit a two base to right. Once again Kura deliberately walked to get at Shinoda who flew out to second to end the innings. In Tigers fifth Toritani hit a two base and then Hirano hit to left. It was judged too risky to attempt the run for home and so Tigers had runners on the corners. Murton though hit into an easy double play to end the innings and the chance. Tigers had wasted two good opportunities and once again one must raise questions about Murton as No. 3 batter. He hits a lot and hits well but he might be better back at leadoff. For Carp's sixth Mayumi used Watanabe who has been reliable of late. This time though he was totally reliable retiring the batters in order. Tigers sixth saw Kanemoto walk with two out but Johjima grounded out to the pitcher and that was that. Tigers batters were still swinging too early.

Watanabe returned for Carp's seventh and gave up a two out hit to Iwamoto. Nothing came of this though. Asai led off Tigers seventh with a two base hit which was the end of Shinoda. He was replaced by Umetsu who got Sekimoto to ground out. After this mediocre right hander getting his out we went to Bale. Asai meanwhile had decided to steal third. This was successful and when Toritani grounded out to first he was home, 6-3 Carp. Hirano was the final out of the innings. Fujihara pitched Carp's eighth and with two out gave up a hit to HIgashide who reached second. Soyogi hit to right and a throwing error from Mruton took him to third. Fujihara didn't panic and got Akamatsu to ground out and end the innings. Carp now had a bit more of a cushion. Kishimoto pitched Tigers eighth and was quite successful getting the batters out without trouble. Fujihara returned for Carp's ninth and struck out Hirose before giving up a hit to Iwamoto. He tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings. Johjima hit to left in Tigers ninth and was pinch run for by Uemoto. Asai banged another two base out which brought the runner home 7-4 Carp, runner on second. Lin (pinch hitter) grounded out to second for the second out - there would be no repeat of the night before and finally Toritani flew out to right to end the game. Carp victory.

Carp had stopped their losing streak but without Uezono wouldn't have been in that position. After he departed they managed one run on five hits. Tigers to be honest failed to take advantage of their chances against a side which wasn't much of a threat. Uezono had a nightmare of a game and has regressed though one feels that the management bear some responsibility for this situation. Tigers can be happy with their first half of the season and if the pitching holds up can look forward to a successful second half. Mayumi may not learn how to handle his relief but if he can stop over-pitching Kubo that will be a blessing. Something to consider for the next half of the season is re-jigging the top of the order to HIrano, Murton and Toritani. It might also be advantageous to switch Johjima and Kanemoto and have the left fielder batting seventh.

It was disheartening to see Uezono have such a bad game after waiting so long to get a shot again. I definitely agree that the management is partly to blame. They've been so harsh with him that I think he was just under too much pressure to perform. I imagine it will be about three years before he gets another start? I'm only half-joking.

In either case, good to get another series win and go into the silly All-Star break with a good amount of momentum. A few weeks ago I never imagined us in this position, so I'd love to see a Tigers--Giants dogfight until the end. With the weird playoff system, it's vital to finish first, so hopefully we can pull it off. Just too bad we have to wait until next Tuesday to see real baseball again!

Nice post, Chris. The only thing I would say here is that I really like Hirano in the 2-hole in the Tigers' lineup - his speed and technical savvy make him a pretty much prototypical 2-hitter. My dream Tigers lineup at this point would probably be...

Murton
Hirano
Arai
Brazell
Johjima
Toritani
Kanemoto
Asai
Pitcher

...but things are still rolling along very nicely as they are, so I doubt we'll see any major lineup changes unless things start going south offensively.

"the silly All-Star break"

Couldn't have put it better myself. A couple of goofy, meaningless exhibition games in the heat of a pennant race. How anti-climatic!

Well, the All-Star games are good for the fans, but the break is excessive. It seems like we just finished the long break after interleague play, now another disruption to the pennant race. At least there isn't the ridiculous rule here giving home field advantage in the Japan Series to the league that wins!

Was only able to see the first All Star game on TV. Loved how Fujikawa was able to strike out 3 in a row with only his fast balls. He certainly got some pop left.

Word is he modified his delivery slightly specifically to allow him to throw more effective fastballs in the ASG. Apparently the delivery puts a lot of strain on his shoulder, so he'll be going back to his usual motion in the regular season. I'd love to see him switch back if we need a stop againt the Giants late-season or in the Climax Series, though. Those were three dangerous hitters he struck out.