August 17th Sugiyama v Yoshimi - Almost shut out again

There were two different teams on the field - a mediocre bunch of no-hopers and a calm confident team taking its chances and controlling the game. The latter was not Tigers and the irony of the reversal was interesting. BayStars have no chance of a playoff place but remained in control and swept the leading team in the Central League. For Tigers the big question is what to do next - they have played appallingly recently and this continued. OK then they don't like August and even Hoshino's 2003 side faltered in August but then he had Kataoka (and to a lesser extent Hirosawa) who kept the momentum edging forward. In 2005 Okada had Sheets, Kanemoto and above all Imaoka to drive the team forward. This year there isn't anyone who can build the momentum. Kanemoto seems incapable of taking this role and Toritani is a failure as a number three batter. Maybe moving him back to six and Lin to three would help. Putting Sekimoto at five would also be a good idea - he may not be a no 5 batter but he connects more than the others and he likes to hit. Kubota it seems was hurried back to soon and has reverted to his run bleeding ways and there is talk of bringing Imaoka back which shows how desperate things are. Of course it is not all doom and gloom, despite losing 7 out of their last 8 games Tigers are still seven games ahead of the Giants. But they need to address this slump sooner rather than later otherwise they could become responsible for one of the most spectacular examples of bottling it in recent baseball history. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 5 14 0
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1  4 0

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Takahashi (First)
7. Baldris (Third)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Sugiyama (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Third)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Yoshimura (Right)
5. Kinjoh (Centre)
6. Saeki (Left)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Fujita (Short)
9. Yoshimi (Pitcher)

Tigers started brightly - Sugiyama retired the first three batters he faced. This was much more encouraging. For the Tigers first Akahoshi walked and was bunted to second by Sekimoto but then Toritani grounded out (moving Akahoshi round to third) and Kanemoto did nothing - striking out. I don't know what Tigers No.4 is thinking but it isn't how to score runs. Still only the first innings and Sugiyama's second innings was just as good as his first - no runners no score. In Tigers second Takahashi hit with one out but then Baldris hit into a double play - end of innings. The BayStars third demonstrated that Sugiyama's start was a false dawn. With one out Fujita hit a two base. Next batter was Yoshimi - he hit, his first of a three hit game. This is ridiculous and only goes to show how bad the pitching was. Anyway Fujita was home 1-0 BayStars. The next two batters fell easily and OK it was one run but it was only one run. Tigers though were all out in order and the action moved to the BayStars fourth. Here Sugiyama really went to pieces. Uchikawa hit - a two base. Yoshimura grounded out and Uchikawa was on third. Then Kinjoh hit 2-0 BayStars. Saeki was next and his second pitch was dispatched for his second home run of the season 4-0 BayStars and by now it was obvious that Sugiyama still had a long way to go. Aikawa hit but was extinguished by a Fujita ground out (Fujita though was safe on first) as Takahashi went for the double play. Next Yoshimi had his second hit of the night - he must have thought that he was in a koko yakyu manga - and BayStars had runners on first and third. Okada decided that maybe Sugiyama wouldn't get the final out and summoned Egusa who struck out Ishikawa to end the innings.

A four run lead in the fourth wasn't so bad given how Tigers can bat but this wasn't to be. Whilst in the past there would have been an immediate response this time there was no response. The dutifully filed up swung at this or that ball and were out and dutifully filed back to the dugout. Watanabe started the BayStars fifth with a lead off hit to Nishi. One out later he dead balled Yoshimura - what has happened to his control? That is not the right sort of thing to do.Another out with runners on second and third he walked Saeki. Finally he struck out Fujita with the bases loaded. BayStars had wasted that chance but it wasn't really anything to worry about, they were in control. So to Tigers fifth where Lin led off with a hit. He made second on a Baldris ground out but then Kanoh failed to drive him home and the innings was over. BayStars sixth was pitched by Kubota who, as I mentioned above, does not seem to have benefited from his stay in ni-gun. I'm seriously beginning to think that he is suffering from over-pitching. He got Fujita to ground out and then gave up a hit to Yoshimi (!!!) which was just poor pitching. Ishikawa hit and the BayStars had runners on first and second. Nishi hit a deep fly to centre and Yoshimi moved round to third. Uchikawa was next and stroked one to centre and Yoshimi was home 5-0 BayStars - runners on first and second. Finally Yoshimura flew out and another undistinguished innings ended. Tigers were retired in order in the sixth.

BayStars seventh was pitched by Atchison who got the first two outs and then dead balled Aikawa. Fujita hit and BayStars had runners on but this time Yoshimi grounded out. Tigers seventh was quiet again as the side were all out in order. Up to and including this innings they had generated all of two hits and one walk - truely dreadful batting. Atchison returned for the BayStars eighth and gave up a hit to Ichikawa who was thrown out trying to steal third. Uchikawa hit but Yoshimura in what was a quiet game for him flew out. Yoshimi returned for the Tigers eighth and Ohya obviously had images of a complete game like Kuwahara the night before. One out later he gave up a two base hit to Baldris. Kanoh hit and this was another two base 5-1 BayStars and Tigers first run in 19 innings. However, it was their only run as the next two batters did nothing. The surprise of the ninth was Williams taking the mound - perhaps he needed the practice. He got the first two batters to strike out and then walked Aikawa. The final batter, Fujita, grounded out and the innings was over. Yoshimi did not return to the mound but was replaced by Oyamada. He got Hirano (pinch hitter) to fly out and then in turn was replaced by Ishii. The last two batters were Toritani who flew out and Kanemoto who struck out swinging in what had been a lamentable display from him. BayStars victory and sweep.

The Tigers have played six games at Kyocera Dome in August and lost them all. These have not been against A class opponents but B class teams. They have pitched poorly, batted poorly and generally shown an all round lazy performance. For this Okada needs to share some of the blame - he cannot be held responsible for individual failures but his team should be working to stop this kind of play. Whilst one cannot expect the Tigers to win every game they should have at least won two games at home. His style is not motivational but he does need to find some way to motivate his players who quite frankly are not worth the money they are paid at the moment. BayStars started the series poorly and only won because the Tigers were worse but grew in stature as the series went on. It is a pity for them that they only discovered this, this late in the season when they have no chance of anything. The Tigers fans are very angry at the moment (though of course it will all be forgotten if the team starts to win again). Tigers have a day off before the next series when they play Hiroshima in Hiroshima. Lets hope they show more backbone than of late.