August 25th Andoh v Terahara - Sneaking in again

BayStars have earned their bottom place in the Central League. They really are very ordinary and even couldn't beat an undistinguished Tigers outfit. However, this time it was due to some poor management by Tashiro. Was it really necessary to pitch a tiring Terahara into the eighth? And was it necessary to pitch him the entire innings? This really lost the game for the BayStars as the Tigers took full advantage of this situation. Up until then Terahara had had very good stuff and the Tigers batters had had no answer to him. But signs of trouble were observable in Tigers seventh and BayStars needed to go to their relief. Tigers once they took the lead showed how to hold it and their endgame was good. Andoh was once again undistinguished - the Andoh/Yano pairing has only won one of their games since they were re-established this season and is not working. Andoh seems to have reverted to the form he showed as a reliever back in 2004 when he managed too many loose pitches that could be hit for home runs. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Centre)
2. Fujita (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Johnson (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Ishikawa (Short)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Terahara (Pitcher)

Tigers first was all they could wish for - a BayStars error and a run on the board. With two out Toritani hit his first pitch to right and then Kanemoto grounded out to first but BayStars messed this up and he was safe on first. Terahara then produced a wild pitch which took the runners to second and third. Arai hit to short and Toritani made home 1-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Brazell who made his return to the top team after his short rest struck out to end the innings. BayStars first was also all the Tigers could wish for, Andoh retired the batters in order. Sakurai led off Tigers second with a hit. One out later, Andoh bunted him to second but Hirano was having a quiet night and he lined out. Andoh started the BayStars second well enough getting Johnson (another quiet nighter) to ground out and then faced Saeki. A series of straightballs interspersed by the occaisional variation saw Saeki latch onto his eighth pitch and hammer it into the right stand 1-1 scores tied. The next two batters were out but Andoh had blown the lead with some poor pitching. Terahara settled down in the Tigers third and started pitching very nicely. Likewise BayStars third was quiet and the batters were out in order.

With one out in the fourth Brazell hit to Ishikawa who messed it up for another error. However, Sakurai then hit straight into a double play and that chance went nowhere. Uchikawa hit in BayStars fourth, putting the ball over the infield into no-mans land but didn't advance beyond first. Surprisingly, in Tigers fifth Andoh produced a hit. This ran nicely along the ground but still needed a poor throw to first from Yoshimura for Andoh to reach base safely. Hirano then hit straight into a double play to end that threat. BayStars fifth was quiet with the batters falling 1-2-3. Toritani then hit in Tigers sixth and stole second as Kanemoto struck out. The throw from Hosoyamada was poor and Ishikawa couldn't even hold it. Arai though grounded out to second and the innings was over. BayStars sixth saw a surprise for Andoh. With one out he gave up a hit to Shimozono. This brought up Fujita who took a swing at his first pitch. This looked like a flyball to left but surprisingly kept on going and just cleared the fence for a two run home run 3-1 BayStars. Uchikawa flew out to Arai but then Johnson walked. He was pinch run for by Yamasaki who stole second, Yano's throw being poor. So with a runner on second Andoh faced Saeki who couldn't repeat his run scoring efforts and grounded out tamely to second. Still BayStars were in the lead and in a very good position.

Terahara first ran into problems in the Tigers seventh and this should have been a guide for the eighth as well. With one out he walked Sakurai in four balls. Yano flew out to centre, hitting the first pitch he saw - hardly intelligent batting. Hiyama pinch hit for Andoh as Mayumi went for runs. Hiyama hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Hirano then tried a bunt hit but unluckily it didn't come off and he was out to end the innings. For the BayStars seventh Tigers pitcher was Kanemura. He started with a hit to Yoshimura. Then Ishikawa bunted along the third base line - a superb bunt and was able to beat Arai's throw to first. BayStars had runners on first and second with no outs and looked in a good position. They were to waste this situation. Hosoyamada bunted and Kanemura was quickly on the ball throwing to Arai at third for the out. BayStars then tried another bunt, this time Terahara. It was Yano who threw to third for the second out. So BayStars now had runners on second and first with two outs - they had made no progress at all. Here Mayumi changed pitchers bringing Egusa in for the final out. Kanemura wasn't happy as he felt he could get it but Egusa was effective and got Shimozono to ground out to Brazell to end the innings. BayStars had wasted a very good chance and it would cost them. Terahara returned for the Tigers eighth when he should have been replaced. Akahoshi hit nicely along the third baseline and reached second comfortably. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second and then Kanemoto hit hard and high to right. The ball hit about 50 centimetres below the home run line and bounced to Yoshimura who threw it to second. Amazingly, Tigers did not score a run - Akahoshi was held up on third even though for anyone watching it was clear that the hit was good. This was poor running and management by the base coaches. Akahoshi at the very least should have been home. Anyway the bases were loaded with no outs with Arai at the plate. He hit along the third baseline, a foul, but unfortunately caught Akahoshi on his knee which had the latter rolling around in pain. He recovered and Arai duly hit a sacrifice fly 2-3 BayStars runners on first and second, the BayStars fielders having closed off Toritani going for third. This was academic as he then made third on a wild pitch. Brazell struck out to some superb pitchng by Terahara and then Kanemoto stole second. BayStars were here a bit too casual as it put another runner in a scoring position. This would also prove costly. Sakurai was next and he hit straight along the third baseline through third for a two base timely hit 4-3 Tigers runner on second. Yano grounded out to end the innings but Tigers had benefited from some bad management by the BayStars. To hold the lead Mayumi sent Atchison to the mound. He got the first two outs but then walked Naitoh (pinch hitter). However, Saeki flew out to Toritani to end the innings. Tigers ninth was pitched by Kosuke Katoh who started well striking out Asai (pinch hitter). Then Hirano struck out swinging but Hosoyamada lost the ball and Hirano set off for first beating the throw. However, Tigers didn't benefit from this mistake as Takahashi (pinch hitter) hit straight to Ishikawa for the double play. The final innings and Fujikawa on the mound. Yoshimura flew out to Kanemoto. Ishikawa just to the left of Arai who made a superb diving stop and then was up quickly enough to make the throw. This time Ishikawa wasn't fast enough. The final batter was Morikasa (pinch hitter) who struck out swinging to a nice pitch down the middle. Tigers victory.

It had been close and the Tigers had had the help of some inept management by Tashiro but it was still a good victory. Fujikawa picked up his 16th save and looked good doing it. Both Arai and Sakurai drove in two runs apiece though Kanemoto was unlucky not have a couple of RBIs in Tigers seventh. The BayStars do struggle to hold leads against the Tigers who always seem to be able to work something.