August 24th Messenger v Bullington - Great Central Time

It is the 'Great Central' series of matches when everyone puts on their retro uniforms. Tigers were no exception and wore the old pinstriped hats. We had Fujii starting as catcher and then being replaced by Komiyama for the hold onto the lead stage in the ninth - interesting to say the least. Kanemoto is now out of action with back pain, more evidence that it is time for him to quit and retire. He has not been deregistered though and was given several days rest. Tigers managers really are a bunch of pussys. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Akamatsu (Centre)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Soyogi (Short)
4. Eldred (First)
5. Matsuyama (Left)
6. Dobayashi (Third)
7. Maru (Right)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Bullington (Pitcher)

The only thing one can say about Tigers lineup is that no one knows what they are doing. Players are switched and brought in on a whim and whatever logic is involved tends to be a kind of sentimental and bar-room type not really connected with the ability to put together a winning streak. Even if the incompetents running the show hit on a lineup that works they change it for spurious reasons. Tigers started this game quietly. Uemoto thought he could hit to centre; he couldn't. Hirano like so many others failed to read the zone properly and struck out looking and Toritani was tempted to hit high to right. Messenger had just as good a start. He collected two liners which showed that the Carp at least were looking to hit. Ryota Arai singled to start Tigers second but then Kanemoto struck out swinging. The next batter Saka hit his first pitch into a double play - a truely poor shot. Eldred worked a walk to start Carp's second and Matsuyama flew out. Dobayashi singled - and an unrecorded error allowed the runners to reach second and third. Maru hit deep to right and Eldred was home for the sacrifice fly 1-0 Carp, runner on third. Ishihara was deliberately walked to get at Bullington who grounded out to second. Bullington then held things very nicely retiring the Tigers batters in order to retain the lead. Carp tried again in their third. With one out Kikuchi singled. Soyogi's ground out took him to second and then Eldred walked again. This time Matsuyama was the final out flying out to centre and Carp had failed to advance the score.

Both Uemoto and Hirano tried to hit into centre in Tigers fourth. Both were caught by the indefatigable Akamatsu. Toritani singled to centre but then Ryota Arai flew out to centre as well. Dobayashi singled to lead off Carp's fourth. Maru managed to hit into a double play and then Ishihara flew out to centre. Carp were not able to push the score on. All this work, of course, gave Tigers the chance to fight back and even though it wasn't exactly classic they managed to do so in their fifth. Kanemoto hit to centre. He was bunted to second by Saka. Takahiro Arai took a dead ball - runners on first and second. Fujii singled to right to load the bases - one wonders why Kanemoto didn't try for home. If his back is giving him that much trouble why is he playing? Tigers cannot continue to play these superannuated old veterans at the cost of runs. Messenger was next and he hit deep enough to centre for the runner on third to score 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. Uemoto hit right and Eldred handling the relay threw dreadfully allowing another runner home 2-1 Tigers, runners on second and third. Hirano walked to load the bases but Toritani struck out swinging to end the innings. Still Tigers had the lead. Messenger responded well - he was facing Bullington and the top of the order but was able to keep the runners off base and Carp's fifth was quiet. Tigers sixth was quiet as well - the batters did nothing. By now Kanemoto was feeling the strain and was replaced by Shunsuke at left for Carp's sixth. Soyogi hit to Messenger who fumbled and flayed and allowed the runner on first. Eldred and Matsuyama did nothing and Soyogi took matters into his own hands stealing second. Unfortunately Dobayashi repaid this bit of enterprise by flying out to end the innings.

Tigers seventh can safely be termed a non event, in fact the whole seventh can be so described. Higashide (pinch hitter) did single in Carp's seventh with two out but of course nothing came of this. Yokoyama took over for Tigers eighth - Carp showing the perspicacity to change pitchers. Even so Yokoyama didn't have a smooth passage. He walked Uemoto who was wastefully bunted to second by Hirano. With another out Ryota Arai was dead balled by Yokoyama - Carp's dead ball policy seems to be emerging again. Yokoyama was replaced by Kawauchi who got Hiyama to strike out and end the innings. As for perspicacity Tiger showed non of this. Wada unimaginatively left Messenger in for Carp's eighth with Fujii as catcher. Kikuchi led off the innings with a single to short. Soyogi hit a grounder to first which took Kikuchi to second. Eldred struck out swinging but Matsuyama drove his first pitch to right for a single. No problem here of a Carp runner making home on a right single 2-2 scores tied. Matsuyama was pinch run for by Abe who tried to steal second and was thrown out to end the innings. Still the lead was gone and so was Messenger's victory. Tigers were not dead and buried though. The Carp's pitcher for their ninth was Imamura. He gave up a lead off single to Saka. The silly chump tried to steal second though and was thrown out. More thought please as Fujii managed another single. Imanari (pinch hitter) singled to right and exposed the major issue of Fujii as a base runner. He isn't very fast and if he exceeds his design speed has to be deregistered and rested. A faster catcher such as Komiyama would have reached third on that single. Uemoto walked to load the bases but then Hirano hit his first pitch to second to end the innings. It would have been great to have Yamato pinch hit here - he may not do it every time but he has the potential to drive runners in off a bases loaded situation. Hirano doesn't. Here the catching switch happened with Komiyama taking over - Fujii not being trusted. Interesting that and one wonders why? Good sense prevailing perhaps? Enokida started the Carp's ninth, always an interesting pitcher. He struck out Dobayashi swinging but then Maru hit a two base to left. Amaya (replacement centre) hit his first pitch into the glove of Shibata and Enokida was replaced by Fukuhara. Recognition perhaps that Enokida and the third out don't mix. Fukuhara struck out Kura (replacement catcher) to end the innings and ensure that the game would go into extra innings.

There would only be time for one extra innings and Tigers tenth was pitched by Mickolio. He blundered with his first batter, Toritani who slammed a double to left. Tigers fans got excited but everything after was an anticlimax. Ryota Arai grounded out to third not even moving the batter round. Then Shibata (what is he still doing in the side?) struck out swinging as did Saka. A chance wasted by poor batting. Kyuji pitched Carp's tenth and pitching to Komiyama was secure and confident. He retired the batters in order to end the game. Tied game.

Another tied game. Both sides had had chances but once again Tigers had failed to take theirs. One cannot comprehend the lineup changes made by Wada as being any practical use. A lineup is not allowed time to settle and even if it produces a good result one game is not allowed to continue the next game. This swapping and switching does not generate victories and merely shows incompetence and inexperience. Tigers do have the chance to win this series but need to be much more settled than they are at the moment. Currently their record for August is 6-12-3 a slight improvement on July but not exactly anything to induce confidence.