August 7th Messenger v Sawamura - A ray of hope

Things may be finally looking up in Tigers land. There is going to be an emergency meeting in the next few days to discuss Wada and what to do about him. This has been denied by Sakai-owner but it will happen. One hopes they will decide that this season should be his last. Wada meanwhile is going to rely on the older players for longer despite the front office's preference for younger players. Plans are also afoot for another cull of older players at the end of the season - this will take the form of at least 10 players going rather along the lines of the 2002 and 2004 culls. Tigers managed a tie this game which for them in an away game is some achievement. True they were facing the Giants most ineffective pitcher, Sawamura (who has been so over-pitched it is unbelievable) but a tie is very welcome as it stops the losing streak. Neither pitcher was good but both batting lineups were strangely subdued. Apparently, Wada is thinking of using Zarate as the Tigers closer next season if Fujikawa goes to MLB. On what evidence it is difficult to say - he needs to demonstrate that he can pitch reliably at the top level first. Just another indication of the fantasy world that lives in Wada's head. Scores

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

Startling lineups

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

Giants
1. Tani (Left)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Abe (Catcher)
5. Murata (Third)
6. Takahashi (Right)
7. Edgar (First)
8. Furuki (Second)
9. Sawamura (Pitcher)

Two indifferent pitchers struggled their way through six innings. Both looked tired but Sawamura was really having to work hard. His pitch count was very high for his six innings - 129 pitches. At least he didn't have to contend with Fujii but he needs a rest. He started well striking out Hirano and Yamato and getting Toritani to fly out to right. Messenger started by walking Tani. Matsumoto tried to bunt but mistimed it and was caught by Fujii. Then Sakamoto and Abe also tried but got nowhere. Tigers second and Takahiro Arai led off with a single to left. This was the start of Sawamura's travails and he walked Kanemoto on a full count. Murton and Ryota Arai struck out which left Fujii who grounded out to short. Murata got hold of a loose pitch to hit a double to right to start Giants second. Murton slid in to try and take the catch but was unsuccessful. Takahashi walked and things looked ominous. Edgar managed to hit to Toritani for a double play which did take Murata to third. Furuki was deliberately walked to get at Sawamura. Furuki stole second and once again Fujii failed to even make a throw. Sawamura did what Tigers hoped and grounded out to short. Tigers third saw Hirano single with one out. Yamato flew out to first and Toritani picked up a walk. Sawamura could not generate any consistency. It was all up to Takahiro Arai who grounded out to second and ended the innings. Tani struck out swinging to start the Giants third and the next batter, Matsumoto singled. Sakamoto tried to hit left but could only bounce the ball into the infield. This was chased down by Fujii who threw to first for the second out but Matsumoto made second safely. Abe hit into centre but Yamato was comfortably under it.

Kanemoto started Tigers fourth by flying out tamely to Abe. Murton singled and then Fujii hit one over Sakamoto's jump to set up runners on first and second with two outs. The next batter was Messenger, surely the final out. Not quite - Sawamura just couldn't locate and Messenger walked to load the bases. This was a great chance for Tigers which Hirano blew by hitting a grounder to a very relieved Sawamura. It was a lucky escape for Giants. Giants fourth was quiet - the first 1-2-3 innings for Messenger. Sawamura continued to strive manfully to get through his session. With one out in Tigers fifth, Toritani singled right. Another out and then Sawamura walked both Kanemoto and Murton to load the bases yet again. This time it was Ryota Arai's turn to fail. He flew out to centre to end the innings. This should have been Sawamura's final innings but amazingly he turned up to bat in Giants fifth and even more amazingly managed a one out single. Tani, though, struck out swinging and Matsumoto grounded out to short. Tigers sixth saw yet another walk but this time Sawamura only managed one base runner - Hirano with two out. His pitching wasn't inspired by now. More running on spirit but Tigers batters weren't much of a threat. Anyway, Hirano didn't go anywhere. Messenger was another pitcher who perhaps shouldn't have had a sixth innings. He gave up a lead off single to Sakamoto - the very first pitch of the innings in fact. Abe walked and then Hara had Murata bunt the runners to second and third - a true waste of an out. Takahashi hit towards second where Hirano fumbled the ball and dropped it. He picked up and threw to first for the second out but Sakamoto was home 1-0 Giants, runner on third. Even though it wasn't recorded as an error this is what it was. If Hirano had taken the ball cleanly, it is certain that Sakamoto wouldn't have scored. Ishii (pinch hitter) then grounded out to short to end the innings.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Takagi. The difference a fresh pitcher made was amazing with Tigers batters not going anywhere and Kanemoto falling to a fine strike out looking to end the innings. With Sawamura gone, Wada also changed his pitcher and brought on Tsutsui. He started with a double to Chono (pinch hitter) which Shunsuke (replacement centre) tried to take but just couldn't reach. Yano (pinch hitter) in a standard waste of an out bunted Chono to third. Then Tani hit a grounder to third. Chono was caught off base and run down rapidly for the second out. Now Giants had a runner on first with two outs. Tani was pinch run for by Fujimura. He was caught off base by a good throw to first and also run down and tagged out to end the innings. For Tigers eighth the pitcher was Tahara. . The start was not auspicious - a dead balling of Murton who was pinch run for by Uemoto. Uemoto stole second nicely and was bunted to third by Ryota Arai. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) was next and he must be one of the candidates for the chop at the end of the season. He struck out swinging. Here Hara made a mistake he decided to change pitchers, rather than let Tahara get the third out. On came Yamaguchi who faced Hiyama (pinch hitter). He was too high and Hiyama drove his first pitch confidently into centre for a timely single 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Hirano then grounded out to short to end the innings. Tigers were level. They needed to hold the tie so for Giants eighth the pitcher was Fukuhara. He pitched to Komiyama which was an interesting change. The combination worked well this innings. Matsumoto grounded out to third - a nice bit of fielding by Ryota Arai. Sakamoto flew out deep to right and finally Abe flew out to left. A very good innings. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers ninth as well and this innings was much better. The innings took all of six pitches and the Tigers batters all looked pretty out of their depth. Kyuji pitched Giants ninth and it was nice to see that sense prevailed in this move at least - using your star closer in a tied away game. This was a long innings though as Fujikawa was not at his best. He started with a single to centre to Murata. Murata was pinch run for by Suzuki and so one knew that there was a steal planned. When this happened, Komiyama was ready for it and a pinpoint throw made the tag out by Toritani a formality. A great piece of catching and a vital out. Fujikawa did rather mess things up by then walking Takahashi. Ishii though was lured into striking out and then Chono hit a shallow fly to left to end the innings.

Giants ninth had been a long innings which finally ended just two minutes short of the 9:30 pm cut off point. That meant that there would be a 10th innings. For Tigers 10th, Giants pitcher was Nishimura. He started with Kanemoto grounding out to second. Then Uemoto flew out to centre and Ryota Arai struck out swinging. Tigers couldn't win but they could lose. By now though, Kyuji was warmed up and in his first two innings game for a long time gave a tour de force display. Working nicely with Komiyama he struck out Sanematsu looking. Then he moved on to Fujimura who struck out swinging. Finally, Matsumoto also went swinging. This was the end of the game as there wasn't time for an eleventh innings. Tied game.

In some ways a very good result for Tigers - they hadn't lost. However, they hadn't won and should have batted better against a struggling pitcher. Failing to take the chances with the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth was merely illustrative of Tigers inability to drive in runs. In some respects it was lucky that the Giants offense had an off day as Messenger wasn't particularly good either. Tigers need to build on this tie though (which mirrors the tie of April 30th also with the same pitchers) and generate the fire to produce wins away from home.