April 21st Standridge v Kosugi - More of the same

Watching Kosugi one could understand why he hadn't had a win since 2010 - this was another mediocre pitcher. Still Tigers managed to make him look good. Wada's reasoning was that since Standridge hadn't prospered with Komiyama he should change the catcher. However, the problem with Standridge is Standridge. Okazaki was poor when paired with Kubo and it was only when Kubo was paired with Kanoh that he started winning. Okazaki has not improved at all and will never be a top team catcher. Whilst Shimzu is very much a work in progress he is the catcher that should be second string to Komiyama. Okazaki was poor and once again the BayStars were able to win though they needed a Murton error to help them do so. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Aranami (Centre)
2. Ishikawa (Second)
3. Nakamura (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Koike (First)
6. Morimoto (Right)
7. Watanabe (Short)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Kosugi (Pitcher)

Another of Wada's bright ideas doomed to fail, things started brightly with Standridge retiring the BayStars in order. Kosugi did the same but that would be the only bright point of his pitching. Tigers second started with Arai striking out swinging but then Brazell walked. Murton flew out to left but Kanemoto hit to right - runners on first and second. Okazaki picked up a dead ball to load the bases which left things down to Standridge. He grounded out to the pitcher and the innings was over. BayStars picked up their first base runner in their second with Morimoto getting a two out walk. Standridge had struck out the first two batters and then finished the innings by striking out Watanabe, the final batter. In Tigers third Shibata picked up a one out walk but Kosugi was able to keep him on first and retired Toritani and Arai. BayStars third was just quiet - maybe Standridge was pitching to his potential.

Things changed in Tigers fourth. Brazell led off with a single to centre. Next was Murton who hit deep into left centre. Brazell charged round the bases and showed very good enterprise in reaching home 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Kanemoto flew out to the catcher but Okazaki hit right - this didn't help as Murton stopped on third with Okazaki on first. Standridge tried to bunt and made a pigs ear of it being out. Hirano jammed the ball through the infield past Ishikawa's despairing drive to bring in Murton 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Shibata though lined out to right. Still Tigers had established a two run lead. Standridge couldn't hold and Okazaki couldn't call. Ishikawa led off the BayStars fourth with a single to centre. Then Nakamura hit to short where Toritani threw to second instead of first. Ishikawa was safe and so was Nakamura - a big mistake. Things weren't necessarily bad though - Ramirez cracked one into right and Murton went to pick the ball up and missed. This was an elementary mistake for which there was no excuse. The ball rolled all the way to the fence allowing both runners to make home and Ramirez third. 2-2 scores tied and no outs. Koike singled to centre off a particularly poor pitch bringing in Ramirez 3-2 BayStars who had taken an undeserved lead. Morimoto hit into a double play to end the innings. Toritani raised Tigers hopes in the fifth leading off with a two base. Arai grounded out to third but Brazell's ground out took Toritani to third. Murton needed to do something but all he did was fly out to left - poor batting by the Tigers. Tsuruoka flew out to start BayStars fifth and then Shimamura (pinch hitter) walked. More poor pitching. Aranami hit along the right baseline and Shimamura set off round the bases. As he slid in to home Okazaki blocked the plate well with his leg and applied the tag for the out - this was the only good part of Okazaki's game. Ishikawa picked up a walk and BayStars had runners on first and third. It didn't help them as Nakamura grounded out to second to end the innings. Kobayashi took over for Tigers sixth and gave up a two base hit to Kanemoto. He was replaced by Shunsuke who was bunted to third by Okazaki. This was a waste of an out - Johjima (pinch hitter) flew out to third in foul ground and then Hirano flew out to centre - the extra out would have been useful here. Watanabe took over for BayStars sixth and struggled with Okazaki's calling. Ramirez led off with a single to left. He was bunted to second by Koike - the only thing you can say about a manager who has his No. 5 bunt is that he is a moron. Still he had Okazaki to save him and after Morimoto's ground out to third pachimon Watanabe walked. By now Watanabe was a bag of nerves so when Tsuruoka took a swing and connected for a hit one thought uh-oh. Ramirez made home safely 4-2 BayStars but Watanabe coming in was blocked at home by Okazaki and tagged out. Still BayStars had the cushion of two runs and the way Tigers were playing this would likely to prove decisive.

Tigers seventh saw Shibata lead off with a single to left. Toritani hit straght back to Kobayashi who fielded, turned and threw to Watanabe at second. The double play was on but Watanabe dropped the ball - elementary idiocy and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. They then proceeded to waste the chance though to be fair Kobayashi was the only competent pitcher the BayStars had the whole series. He induced Arai to swing too soon and fly out. Then Brazell grounded out to first forcing out Shibata and moving HIrano to third. Finally, Murton hit a grounder to third - a very big chance wasted. Tsutsui took over for Tigers seventh and was immediately in trouble. Kinjoh (pinch hitter) singled left and Aranami bunted him to second - you relaxed after that piece of folly. Ishikawa got a dead ball on his hand which looked painful but he also made a huge meal out of it - the shade of Ishii still infects certain of the BayStars. Given that he was able to play today it wasn't as serious as the whimp made out. Nakamura struck out swinging and then Ramirez grounded out to end the innings. Kaga took over for Tigers eighth and struck out Shunsuke then got Sekimoto (pinch hitter) to ground out. He was then replaced by Shinohara who induced a fly out to short from Hiyama (pinch hitter). Tigers options were running out. Wada changed both his pitcher and catcher for BayStars eighth - Komiyama taking over and calling for Tsuru. This was effective with all three batters falling in order. The wobbly Yamaguchi appeared for Tigers ninth and with one out walked Shibata. Toritani flew out but Shibata stole second which brought up Arai. He drove into centre and Shibata raced home 4-3 BayStars. Arai was pinch run for by Yamato who stole second but Brazell grounded out to first to end the game. BayStars victory.

Amazingly this was BayStars first series win of the season. Tigers had been abysmal again and had failed to take control of the game or hold the lead. Against inferior pitching they had been far to casual but the use of Okazaki as catcher had been a mistake. An embarrassing series loss.