April 22nd Kubo v Asao - Okazaki is poor

Firstly, the news on Kevin Mench who has been deregistered. This is due to fatigue and kidney problems and there is no news on whether he will be back soon. If he does recover he will probably have a spell in the farm team first but it is looking very likely that he will not be asked back next year unless he can magic out a massive pennant winning performance from his hat. Kubo was not impressive but this was as much the catcher Okazaki as anything else. His calling was poor and one dimensional and he called too many repeat balls. Why Mayumi insists in pairing him with Kubo (who needs to adjust) is one of life's mysteries. Okazaki was not good with Abe either and it was interesting to see the contrast in innings when he was replaced by Kanoh. Because of the Mench problem, the team was reshuffled again with Sekimoto returning to second and Sakurai taking right. Hirano was dropped down to eighth batter again but really it all had the flavour of shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. Mayumi, at the moment, appears pretty clueless (why is it that Tigers cannot find a coach who delivers in his first season like Seibu?). Box scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2  6 1
Dragons  1 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 X 6 10 1

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Sakurai (Right)
7. Okazaki (Catcher)
8. Hirano (Second)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Araki (Second)
2. Ibata (Short)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Nomoto (Right)
7. Fujii (Centre)
8. Oyama (Catcher)
9. Asao (Pitcher)

Kubo would struggle but being saddled with Okazaki one could understand. The latter, on discovering a pitch that worked would call for it again and again allowing the batters to work the pitcher out. The lack of variation was very disappointing. Asao started by walking Akahoshi but Sekimoto hit into a double play to end that chance. Toritani hit but Kanemoto has now gone off the boil and he grounded out to end the innings. Kubo's first innings started with a hit to Araki. One out later he walked Morino to set up runners on first and second. Wada then drove a straight ball into left for a run 1-0 Dragons, runners on first and second. Kubo dead balled Nomoto to load the bases but struck out Fujii looking to end the innings. A very shakey innings not helped by the terrible catcher. Tigers second was quiet with the batters surrendering meekly to Asao. Dragons second was also quiet as Kubo managed to retire the batters in order. Hirano led off the Tigers third with a hit. He was bunted to second by Kubo and after Akahoshi had failed, Sekimoto hit to right to drive him in 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Toritani though failed to convert him. Dragons tried to hit back immediatley in the rather welcome form of a no out 2 base hit from Ibata. Morino struck out but then Kubo walked Blanco and Wada in succession to load the bases. He got Nomoto to fly out to short and Fujii to strike out and exit the innings but his pitch count was looking ominous.

Tigers fourth was quiet and all that happened in Dragons fourth was that Araki had a which resulted in nothing. Tigers fifth continued in the same vein but the Dragons fifth was different. Morino led off with a two base. A ground out by Blanco took him to third and then Wada walked - runners on the corners. Nomoto grounded out but this brought Morino home 2-1 Dragons runner on first. Fujii hit and Dragons had runners on first and second. Oyama hit to left but the throw from Kanemoto was so poor that both runners made home 4-1 Dragons, runner on third. Finally Asao grounded out. These five innings had taken Kubo 126 pitches and he had failed to dominate. He still needs to adjust but Okazaki's calling had played a big part in the count. Tigers response was quick. Akahoshi walked and made third on a Toritani hit. Kanemoto walked to load the bases and then Arai grounded out but this drove in Akahoshi 4-2 Dragons, runners on first and third. Hiyama (pinch hitter) next but he proved to be the final out and the Dragons retained a lead. With Kubo gone, Mayumi turned to Abe but retained Okazaki. Whilst, Okazaki had wanted straight balls from Kubo, he wanted changeups from Abe, too many it would prove. Abe walked Ibata with on out then got the second out. Here things went wrong. Blanco hit to left, Wada was next and he hit again driving in a run 5-2 Dragons, runners on first and second. Next Nomoto hit 6-2 Dragons, runners on second and third. Finally Fujii grounded out but the Dragons were well ahead.

Tigers seventh saw Asao continue and he had no problems retiring the side. For Dragons seventh, Okazaki was replaced by Kanoh as catcher and the difference was immediately noticeable. Abe retired the batters in order. Tigers eighth was pitched by Payano, Asao having retired after a very nice pitching display. Payano gave up a hit to Toritani and then walked Kanemoto, setting up runners on first and second. He exited to be replaced by Saitoh who promptly walked Arai to load the bases. Mayumi decided to go with Imaoka (pinch hitter) perhaps not the most sensible option and he struck out to end the danger. Dragons eighth saw Tsutsui make his first appearance of the season and he walked Morino with one out but nothing came of this. Saitoh got the first out in Tigers ninth and then was replaced by Takahashi. He got Baldris (pinch hitter) to ground out but Morino at third made his second error in as many games and Baldris was safe on first. Another out followed but Akahoshi hit to set up runners on first and second. This brought Iwase to the mound and he got the final batter, Sekimoto, to fly out and end the game. Dragons victory.

Neither Kubo, nor Okazaki had done well though the blame mostly rests with Okazaki who looks out of his depth. This is just an indication of how a camp evaluation can be misleading. Okazaki had very good ratings in camp but has failed to impress in matchplay. Kanoh didn't do so well but has been superb behind the plate. Mayumi needs to learn this and consider Komiyama or Shimizu as possible replacements. He also needs to stop trying to force his pitchers to complete full innings. The score might have been lower if Kubo had been pulled earlier especially with his high pitch count. Players may not perform well but the manager also needs to look to his performance.

"shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic"- I like it! I've been holding off on writing a piece bemoaning the slow disintegration of my favourite baseball team, for fear of seeming morbid.

Wouldn't it be great if we could get someone like Bobby V to come to Hanshin! I know it will never happen- our owners are too conservative- but it would be great nonetheless.

The spending policies of Hanshin are also a mystery to me- we must make a lot of money. We're one of the most over-merchandised teams I've ever seen, with everything from Hanshin ashtrays to Hanshin underpants. But we were so quiet in close season. Mench was the gamble that failed, but its better when you put your stakes on a number of horses, rather than one large American-shaped one.

Anyway, ganbare Hanshin! Let's avoid the whitewash tonight.

Kubo is looking like this year's Atchison--good for a few innings, but just doesn't have the stamina to make it through five or six innings. (Not to knock Atchison--they eventually realized he was better in relief.)
Mench is just the latest right field gamble, after the Spencer and Ford failures. Hanshin plays the lottery every year with this position, hoping they are going to magically land the next Randy Bass, instead of just letting promising players like Sakurai, Katsuragi, or Lin play there.

You probably know this already, but for the record, Mayumi puts in Okazaki to catch for Kubo because they used to play together when they were both at Matsushita Denki (2002?-2004).

Which doesn't mean that Okazaki should continue to call like they are still at Matsushita Denki. Kuboh is capable of pitching at a higher level and needs a higher level of catchter.

"a higher level of catchter."

and we could do with a higher level of spelling

It happens