July 27th Standridge v Randolph - Tigers on top!

It didn't take long for Tigers to move to the top of the Central League - Giants lost to Chunichi and Tigers beat the BayStars to put them 0.5 games ahead of the Tokyo outfit. This is the slimmest of margins and could change back again next game but its a start. Once again Standridge's pitching was excellent though perhaps not quite as good as his complete game shutout against the Swallows. He pitched seven sound innings and kept the BayStars to one run. Randolph, on the other hand, was a bit lucky up until the sixth when things all unravelled for him. Harper continued to impress and it could be that the BayStars have found another Tyronne Woods giving them some much needed power. His home run off Fujikawa was well struck. Tigers though were just too strong and with both Nohmi and Iwata possibly due back the only cloud on the horizon is shi no rodo. Scores

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

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Uchikawa (Right)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Harper (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Castillo (Second)
7. Shimozono (Centre)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Randolph (Pitcher)

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

Uchikawa started the BayStars off by grounding out. Ishikawa hit nicely to left but then Harper hit into a double play and the top of the first was over. In Randolph's previous start against Tigers (Opening Day) he had pitched nicely but disintegrated in the fourth. This time he would start in a similar vein and last longer. Toritani went for his first pitch and flew out - he was followed rapidly by Hirano and Murton and the innings was scoreless. Standridge retired the batters 1-2-3 in the BayStars second getting the first of his 11 strikeouts of the evening. His ability to throw for strikes is impressive and undoubtedly a great strength. In Tigers second Kanemoto hit nicely into right field but Johjima grounded out to second to end the innings. Standridge then unleashed his best innings striking out all three batters he faced in BayStars third. Asai led off Tigers third with a nice hit after a couple of wild swings. Standridge bunted him to second and then Toritani walked, Randolph's control being nowhere in this at bat. Hirano tried to hit his first pitch deep but only succeeded in flying out. This brought up Murton who hit sharply to right where a fine jumping catch by Castillo saved what would have been a certain run. No score so far.

Standridge was perhaps a bit complacent in BayStars fourth and his control wasn't what it should have been. Uchikawa led of with a nice two base hit. Ishikawa struck out and then Harper flew out to centre but the field kept Uchikawa on second. Harper had had a lucky escape when he had popped a foul fly up but Johjima had been unable to take and dropped the ball. This was ruled an error. So far so good - two outs but Murata next. He kind of poked a low slider into left centre - an interesting and clever shot. Uchikawa had plenty of time to amble home and it was 1-0 BayStars, runner on second. Standridge suffered control problems with Sledge being unable to find the zone and he walked in four. This brought up Castillo who was only able to ground out to short to end the innings. BayStars hadn't really made the most of a good chance but had a lead. Tigers tried to respond immediately. Arai took a dreadful swing at his first pitch and flew out to short - later he would wait and benefit enormously from his patience. Next up was Brazell. He directed his second pitch powerfully to left for a solo home run 1-1 scores tied. A nice hit and with things back level a big boost. Both Kanemoto and Johjima grounded out to end the innings but Randolph was not pleased with himself. Standridge then had another excellent innings, once again striking out the bottom of the BayStars order. Randolph somehow ran into trouble in Tigers fifth though. He walked Standridge in four, a sign that he was possibly tiring. Toritani was next and he hit to right but a bit too close to Harper who tagged first and then threw to second for the double play. A nice chance wasted. Standridge did well in BayStars sixth retiring the batters in order, he was now pitching well and was in dominating form. Hirano led off Tigers sixth with a nice hit - Tigers had decided to lift their game. As Murton struck out, Hirano stole second. The decision on the final strike looked a trifle harsh. This brought up Arai who this time battled Randolph determinedly working the count full and fouling anything that wasn't hittable. It was a fine at bat and one could see Randolph visibly wilting and Arai growing in stature and dominating the pitcher. The run was inevitable and it came with a nice hit to left which brought Hirano home 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Kanemoto followed and hit along the first baseline where Harper made contact with his glove but failed to take. Unaccountably, this was classified as a two base hit to Kanemoto not a first error but whatever the cause Arai was on first and Kanemoto on second. Johjima directed his first pitch into the gap between short and second for a timely hit bringing home both runners 4-1 Tigers, runner on first. This was the end of Randolph who was clearly tired out and had nothing left in the tank. Hata took the mound and struck out Asai to end the innings.

Standridge returned for BayStars seventh and looked very good. He struck out Murata and Sledge with a couple of fine pitches and then got Castillo to ground out. A fine session in which he had given up only one run on three hits and a walk. Up until this point the game had been fairly quick but BayStars coach Obana now contrived to slow it down with a series of rather pointless pitching changes. Hata faced Sekimoto (pinch hitting for Standridge) whom he struck out looking with a magnificent pitch. Then he was replaced by Shinohara who got Toritani to ground out. Hirano hit nicely to left and Shinohara left to be replaced by Sakamoto. He got Murton to fly out and end the innings. Of course Kubota pitched BayStars eighth and immediately ran into a spot of bother. Shimozono drove his second pitch into right field for a lead off two base hit. Nowadays, though, Kubota is of much sterner stuff. Johjima came to the mound and had a chat with him and then he started to show his stuff. Working up to a top speed of 155 kph (it has been some time since he has thrown that fast) he baffled the BayStars batters with his range. Kinjoh (pinch hitter) grounded out to first which took Shimozono to third. The sacrifice fly was on but Hashimoto got firstly a 154 kph straightball which shaved the zone and then a 137 kph slider which had him swinging wildly. Eventually he hit a soft grounder to Kubota who checked that Shimozono was going to stay on third before throwing to first for the out. Finally, Uchikawa who looked a bit befuddled by the variation grounded out to second to end the innings. Kubota had pitched well. Katoh of ill repute took the mound for Tigers eighth but was nothing like as nasty as before. He got Arai to ground out to short and then faced Brazell again. This time there was no trouble and Brazell got hold of a low pitch which kept on going all the way over the centre fence for a big solo home run 5-1 Tigers. Katoh struck out Kanemoto and then was replaced by Fujie in another example of musical pitchers. Katoh did not looked pleased at this and it is probably true that he could have gotten Johjima out but this honour fell to Fujie who got the Tigers catcher to fly out. Kyuji Fujikawa pitched BayStars ninth and didn't look on top form. Ishikawa grounded out but then Harper hammered a loose pitch into the right stand 5-2 Tigers. Murata was next and got hold of another one directing it to left but it didn't quite have the legs of Harper's blow and dropped into the glove of Shunsuke Fujikawa (replacement left). Finally, Sledge struck out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

A well worked victory here - BayStars had been unable to hold Tigers batting down. Brazell hit two home runs and is now tied with Ramirez at 32 with Abe one behind on 31. Standridge picked up his seventh win and is beginning to look like a dominating pitcher. BayStars weren't so much outclassed as beaten by a better team. They have talent but don't seem to be able to bring it out. Harper seems to be a real find and if he continues in this vein expect him to move to a different team in a season or two. Mayumi had handled the pitching well - Standridge was not over-pitched and the choice of Kubota and Kyuji Fujikawa the right one to ensure a comfortable victory. The home run Kyuji gave up whilst embarrassing did not have a material impact on the game and would not have done so in any case.