August 7th Shimoyanagi v Yamamoto - Another loss

Tigers batters seem to be embracing the shi no rodo slump with gusto. Once again the batting performance was poor and whilst there is some excuse against Yoshimi (who can pitch incredibly well) there is really no excuse against Yamamoto whom Tigers have figured out. The welcome news was the switching of Murton and Toritani - even with reduced opportunities Toritani was still driving in more RBIs than the American. It does make sense to put him back in the three slot. Now, if we could just get Kanemoto moved down the order....Once again Shimoyanagi had to be taken out early - in his last start he couldn't safely pitch beyond 71 pitches and this one he only made 65. The bottom of Tigers rotation is looking very weak. and the return of Nohmi is still several games away and Iwata perhaps not this season. Younger pitchers do need to be brought up rapidly and given a chance. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Hidenori (Centre)
3. Wada (Left)
4. Morino (Third)
5. Koike (First)
6. T. Donoue (Right)
7. N. Donoue (Second)
8. Oda (Catcher)
9. Yamamoto (Pitcher)

Murton started off his reaquaintance with lead off by hitting to third. Morino messed up and thanks to the error Murton was on first. Hirano bunted him to second but then neither Toritani or Arai converted and the innings was scoreless. Araki led off the first with a two base hit. After their desperation of Friday there batting was a lot more assured and comfortable. Hidenori bunted him to second and then Wada hit his first pitch into left for a sacrifice fly 1-0 Dragons. A sensible use of resources. Morino struck out to end the innings with a lead. Tigers second was just as dispiriting as the first - batters falling in order to a pitcher who is long past his prime (this describes Shimoyanagi rather well as well). In Dragons second Shimoyanagi started by dead balling the inoffensive Koike. He was bunted to second by T. Donoue - rather a waste of a No. 6 batter and then N. Donoue walked. Runners on first and second. Oda struck out which left Yamamoto who grounded out to second to end the innings. Tigers third ended quietly - not with a bang but with a whimper. In Dragons third Hidenori hit with one out. He stole second and then Wada walked - runners on first and second. Dragons were showing all the enterprise and making all the running. They were at home, it is true, but still Tigers have played much better at Nagoya Dome. The next two batters failed to do anything and the innings was scoreless.

Tigers first legitimate hit came in their fourth, from Toritani. Arai's ground out took him to second but then Brazell did nothing and the innings was scoreless. Shimoyanagi's fourth was abysmal. He started with a hit to T. Donoue and then the N version hit a two run home run 3-0 Dragons. Not very good. Two outs followed and then Araki hit to left. Araki stole second which brought up Hidenori who hit into centre bringing home the run 4-0 Dragons, runner on first. Wada flew out to centre but another failure beckoned. In Tigers fifth Asai hit with two outs but Kanoh (pinch hitter) grounded out to short and that was the end of that. Andoh took over from Shimoyanagi for Dragons fifth. He started with a hit to Morino. This time it was Koike's turn to bunt (your No. 5 batter bunts with a four run lead? Dragons really are lacking in ideas). Both Donoue's grounded out and Morino remained on second. Tigers finally got a run in their sixth. With Murton back on the bench, Hirano hit to third and beat the throw in his traditional way. Toritani grounded out but moved Hirano to second. Then Arai hit smoothly into centre and Hirano motored home 4-1 Dragons, runner on first. Brazell flew out to centre off his second pitch - waiting for a better one would have been the right choice. Oda started the Dragons sixth with a surprising phenomena - a double. Nomoto (pinch hitter) grounded out which took him to third and then Araki walked. Dragons couldn't convert this opportunity - instead of the fly, Hidenori grounded out to second and the throw went straight to Johjima who tagged his counterpart out at the plate - runners on first and second. Then Wada borrowed a page from the 'Tigers Guide to Batting Badly' and hit his first pitch straight to Toritani for the innings ending ground out.

Yamamoto was replaced by Takahashi for Tigers seventh, Ochiai deciding that his veteran had done enough. Tigers batting relapsed into poor mode and the pitcher had no problems retiring his three batters. Fujihara starte Dragons seventh and got the first two outs. He was then replaced by Watanabe for the final out. Musical pitchers again. The final out also fell and the innings was over. Asao pitched Tigers eighth and had no problems with the batters retiring them all in order. For Dragons eighth Mayumi used Kubota which was certainly more sensible than using him against the Giants. Kubota started by giving up a hit to the surviving Donoue - a two base at that. Oda bunted him to third which looked ominous but then Hirata (pinch hitter) flew out to short and then Araki flew out to centre. For Tigers ninth, Iwase took the mound and gave up a two base hit to Toritani. This could have generated something but didn't Iwase locked Toritani on second and retired the next three batters, end of game. Dragons victory.

Dragons had played well but had been helped by abject batting by the Tigers. Basically, the attitude was one of getting the game over as quickly as possible. No one really tried hard enough and shot selection was lamentable. Tigers can and have beaten Dragons at Nagoya Dome but they have done this with more application. This game and the last game they failed to apply themselves against pitchers they know and beat pretty consistently. They needed to make the pitcher work for his outs and they failed to do this and as a result failed to exert pressure. To some extent this is the batters fault but it is also the coaches and management as well as these are the guys who should be urging caution. Shi no rodo is actually a mental affliction not a real problem and the batters need to realise this - Tigers are a far superior team to the Dragons but are not playing that way.

Chunichi has been playing well against, Yomiuri and Hanshin this season. If you look at the record among the top 3 teams only in Central League. Chunichi comes out first and then Hanshin second and Yomiuri last. What this means is that in the Climax Series, Chunichi could very much have the edge over both Hanshin and Yomiuri. Chunichi has a worse record against the bottom 3 teams in the Central than Hanshin and Yomiuri. Thats why Chunichi is in 3rd place.

I love seeing Yamamoto pitch. Perhaps it would have been nicer for all of us if he what he did against the Giants and not the Tigers. Nevertheless, how old is he now? 45? If he can stay healthy he could be around for 5 or more years throwing sub 130 kilometers fast balls, change ups, curves, sliders and keep the batters off balance like he did on this day.

True Chunichi tries hard against Tigers and Giants but there is a certain lack of application from Tigers batters this series. Tigers batters are adopting a strategy of swinging as soon as they can - rather than waiting. It makes things easy for the pitchers and you will have seen the effects in the third game of the series - Nakata hasn't suddenly improved. Apply yourself against Chunichi and they are actually very ordinary. Don't apply yourself and they are very difficult.

I saw on Sporto last night on Fuji TV. They had a small report on Chunichi. Chunichi has an overall winning record against both Hanshin and Yomiuri. At Nagoya Dome this season Chunichi has only lost to Hanshin once. They are very strong at home to both Yomiuri and especially Hanshin. At Tokyo Dome and Koshien though Chunichi has a losing record against both teams. This means that having the home advantage will be crucial in the Climax Series.