September 30th - A grim night

The game was grim - it was a pitching duel with Messenger facing off against Yamaguchi. Wada used Fujii as starting catcher and this was a big mistake. The issue was holding the line in a tight game and this Fujii was totally incapable of doing. With bases loaded he could not get Messenger out of the situation and Messenger dead balled Yamazaki to give BayStars a 1-0 lead. Given this was BayStars only real chance we have to expect better from our catcher. Wada has used his 'experienced' catchers to the detriment of Tigers in several of the winnable BayStars games even to the extent of replacing his only competent catcher (the new but inexperienced Umeno) and blowing the game. Carp won their game with a come from behind effort which now makes Tigers chances of finishing second and preserving home advantage fainter. Tigers will play Carp in the final game of the season but Carp have a further game to play and Tigers can only draw level if they win. Interesting times ahead.

Haven't seen your favorite player Imanari (insert sarcastic tone) lately. Did he get sent down? Or is he injured?
And wouldn't make Fujii the scapegoat last night. When your starting pitcher only gives up 3 hits you should win 95% of the time. Just no offense last night.

Imanari has been injured for quite a while. It's nice when your pitcher has a quality start but what do you do when the opposition's pitcher also has a quality start? Then your battery has to be on the ball and Fujii is not good enough to handle these situations. He is put in the side because he is 'experienced' not because he has the ability to work his pitcher out of a difficult situation. Pitchers under Fujii's direction have been shedding runs at vital moments since his return and with long experience of Fujii - it is not really the pitchers fault. He is just not a good enough catcher to be playing for Tigers first team.

Thanks for the update on Imanari. I was out of Japan this summer and didn't know about his injury. Is he out for the year? Although he might not thrive enough in clutch situations, I'd still take his bat over Saka. If we make any progress in the playoffs, however, might go with the veteran Arai.

I agree about Saka who has never impressed. Imanari is very unlikely to be back for the year though.

Christopher, I think you might want to listen to the September 1 Japan Baseball Weekly Podcast. In it, Messenger specifically says that he prefers Fujii behind the plate when he throws. So I think that the decision to have Fujii catch was more Messenger's than Wada's in this case.

Actually he was talking about preferring Fujii for blocking grounders not overall but one can possibly extrapolate. He does work spectacularly well with Umeno. And this season Fujii has been truly poor. The decision to put Fujii in was totally Wada's though who desperate to get another contract brought back the 'experienced' catcher to save his bacon. It remains to be seen whether it will work.