June 15th Messenger v Darvish - Slaying the dragon

After the win of the night before one didn't quite expect Tigers to beat Fighters again especially with the on form Darvish pitching. This is exactly what happened though. It was a hard fought victory but Tigers worked and ground out a victory coupled with an off day from Darvish and some substandard Fighters fielding. Perhaps the promise that players who helped turn the season round would not be forgotten when contract negotiations came around also helped. I like to think that Fujii has made a difference as well. Not because of his catching which isn't anything special but because of his consistent cheerfulness and chattiness. Talking with everyone and smiling and laughing have made the Tigers bench a much more happy place and players have begun to respond. Tigers are now five from six and have moved up the Central League table to fourth. Still B class but within vomiting distance of the Giants. Can they hold on to seize a playoff place? And if they do will we have to put up with another year of Mayumi? Scores

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

Starting lineups

Fighters
1. Tanaka (Second)
2. Imanami (Third)
3. Itoi (Centre)
4. Nakata (Left)
5. Hoffpauir (First)
6. Inaba (Right)
7. Kaneko (Short)
8. Ohno (Catcher)
9. Darvish (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Sekimoto (Second)
7. Lin (Left)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

Once again Kanemoto sat out the game and Tigers benefited from his absence. Messenger would pitch well but take more pitches than Darvish - a repeat of the previous night when Iwata also threw more than Takeda. This is one of Fujii's weaknesses - he uses too many pitches in his calling. Fighters started quite neatly. True the first two batters were out quickly but Itoi hit to centre. Then Nakata hit to left to set up runners on first and third. Next up was Hoffpauir who struck out looking with Messenger mixing his pitches up very nicely. Tigers first was encouraging, Darvish was not his usual dominant self. He too got the first two outs but then gave up a hit to Toritani. Arai hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and third. This time it was Brazell who was the final out - grounding out to second. Messenger's second was a lot more assured with the batters falling in order. Still the pitch count was 18 pitches (Kaneko having taken 10 to dispose of). Darvish only took 13 in the Tigers second but significantly gave up a right hit to Fujii with two out. Nothing came of this though but Darvish wasn't settling. Darvish was the first out of Fighters third but then Nakata drew a walk. He stole second and then Itoi took a dead ball. This is an inevitable result of Fujii using an inside line - it's effective and welcome but occasionally the pitcher will stray. Anyway runners on first and second with two outs. The third out was Nakata who struck out swinging at a high straight. Here Messenger had thrown 65 pitches - a rather high count for three innings. Tigers third started with Murton hittiing into centre. Itoi fumbled the take and Murton used this to make second. Hirano bunted him to third - a rare intelligent use of the bunt from Mayumi but Toritani struck out. Arai was next and Darvish let go a wild pitch which flew high and above the catcher. Murton was home 1-0 Tigers. Arai then hit a single to left - Darvish's wild pitch had deprived him of an RBI and finally Brazell struck out swinging. At this point Darvish had thrown 39 pitches.

Fighters were unable to do anything to claw back the lead in their fourth. Messenger controlled the action with two strikeouts and a fly out to right. Tigers fourth was also quiet with Darvish seemingly having recovered his poise. Both pitchers threw the same amount of pitches - 13 but Messenger was already nearing 80 pitches. Fighters fifth saw a much more reasonable pitching count - just 9 with Tanaka trying to bunt his way onto base and failing to become the final out. Tigers fifth was also quiet. Messenger returned for Fighters sixth and ran into trouble probably because he was tiring. With one out Itoi hit his first pitch to right for a single. Nakata flew out for the second out but then Messenger failed to find the zone and walked Hoffpauir - runners on first and second. Here it would have been a good idea to change pitchers for the final out but Mayumi left Messenger in. Inaba hit to Sekimoto who made a fine stop but couldn't make the throw - bases loaded. Next was Kaneko who hit into left bringing home a runner 1-1 scores tied, bases loaded. Still Messenger stayed on and luckily was able to get Ohno to ground out to second and end the innings. The lead was gone as was Messenger's chance of victory. Well done Mayumi especially as bringing on Enokida with only two runners on would probably have preserved the lead and Messenger's win. Darvish responded to the equalisation of the score by striking out two in Tigers sixth and not allowing a base runner.

Enokida made his appearance in Fighters seventh and got the first two outs before walking Koyano (replacment third). This could have been dangerous but Enokida showed he had recovered from his drubbing against Seibu and struck out Itoi looking with a superb piece of pitching. Darvish got into another mess in Tigers seventh. Sekimoto led off with a hit (pinch run for by Shunsuke). Then Lin hit to Kaneko who couldn't get the throw away in time. He was pinch run for by Shibata. Fujii hit into a double play - Ohno throwing to third for the force out and first to get Fujii. Shibata was safe on second. This looked to be the end of Tigers chances but Hiyama (pinch hitter) took a dead ball on his foot as Darvish's control deserted him - runners on first and second again. Murton hit into right and Shibata hustled home slidng in and dislodging the ball from Ohno's grasp to score 2-1 Tigers. Hiyama also tried to make home but was tagged out at the plate to end the innings. Tigers were back in the lead. Kobayashi is a much more confident pitcher now and he was chosen for Fighters eighth. He struck out Nakata and then got Hoffpauir to ground out to first. Finally he struck out Inaba to end the innings. Darvish gave up a one out hit to Toritani in Tigers eighth but Toritani didn't move beyond first as the next two batters fell. Fighters ninth and Fujikawa. He has struck up a good relationship with Fujii now and they talk and joke with each other quite naturally. Kyuji started by striking out Imanari (pinch hitter) but then gave up a right hit to Nioka (pinch hitter). Nioka was pinch run for by Murata who stole second. As is their wont Tigers ignored this. Yang (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and then so did Tanaka. Tigers victory.

A good win with great persistence and work by the Tigers. Darvish hadn't been at his best but had still been formidable. However, when it mattered he had made costly mistakes. Messenger had pitched well but had taken too many pitches too early on and struggled in the sixth. The relief were excellent and Kyuji picked up his 13th save. The worry is this rally might induce the management to retain the long past his sell by date Mayumi. One hopes this doesn't happen. Tigers now have a two day break before taking on Rakuten at Koshien. They can look forward to this series with a fair degree of confidence.