September 30th Messenger v Nomura - The long goodbye

Kobayashi will not be offered a contract for next season. Signed as a set up man he never prospered and never looked like he would. Yet another waste of money. With Twins releasing Nishioka, Tigers are going to go after him in a big way with a nice fat contract which is rumoured to be more for two years than the Twins paid him for three. Despite all the talk about new talent Tigers revert to the practice of throwing money at the problem. If Nishioka can reproduce the form he showed before he went to the Majors then it will have been a good investment. If not, well Tigers are fond of blowing money on lost causes though if this one doesn't pan out the Tigers management really must resign. Messenger was paired with Komiyama which was puzzling given that Messenger works well with Fujii. However, Wada has his own little ways which defy logic - he paired Iwata and Fujii earlier though this time the experiment (if that is what it can be called) worked. Tigers ended the month 11-12-2 which even though it is a dismal losing record is a lot better than previous months. They even won the series against the Carp 12-10-2. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Ryota Arai (Third)
5. Kanemoto (Left)
6. Morita (First)
7. Itoh (Right)
8. Komiyama (Catcher)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Ishii (Short)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Maru (Right)
4. Eldred (First)
5. Amaya (Left)
6. Dobayashi (Third)
7. Abe (Second)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Nomura (Pitcher)

This game was Ishii's retirement game and Kanemoto's last game against the Carp and so both started. The first was wobbly by both pitchers with Nomura walking Uemoto to start the game off. Yamato hit left and then Uemoto took third when Toritani flew out. Ryota Arai struck out swinging and Kanemoto could only fly out to centre to end the innings. A promising chance had been wasted. Ishii led the Swallows off with neat single to left. This went over the head of third. He was bunted to second by Akamatsu and then Maru singled right to set up runners on first and third. Eldred though was induced to hit into a double play and Tigers had escaped. The Tigers second by contrast was a quiet affair. Nomura settled down and the batters hit where he wanted which was to the fielders. Carp's second saw Abe walk with two outs but then Ishihara grounded out to second. Tigers third was good for Nomura - he struck everyone out. Admittedly one of these was Messenger but getting Uemoto and Yamato was good. Messenger tried to match this but could only strike out two in Carp's third. The final out was Akamatsu who grounded out to short.

Nomura started Tigers fourth by persuading Toritani to fly out in foul ground and Ryota Arai to fly out to centre. Then he unraveled. Kanemoto singled to centre. Morita hit a triple over the head of Akamatsu who couldn't get back in time to field and Kanemoto was home 1-0 Tigers. Itoh singled to centre bringing in another run 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Komiyama hit right to set up runners on first and second. Then Messenger singled left to load the bases. Next was Uemoto who with the count at 2-2 fouled a pitch off his groin - ouch!. This was bad enough for him to be stretchered off but it seems that no major damage has resulted. His place was taken by Shunsuke who finished the at bat by swinging and missing and ended the innings. Maru led off Carp's fourth singling to fourth which Yamato (replacement second) couldn't field in time. Both Eldred and Amaya grounded out forcing out the man before Dobayashi managed to single to third and beat Ryota Arai. Runners on first and second with the next batter, Abe. He grounded out to second and this time Yamato was able to make the throw and end the innings. Tigers fifth saw Ryota Arai single with two out. Kanemoto worked a walk but then Morita grounded out to end the innings. Ishihara led off Carp's fifth with his second single of the night. Here Messenger suddenly went off the rails and walked Higashide (pinch hitter) and then Ishii to load the bases with no outs. Tigers were in a bit of trouble but Komiyama to the rescue. Tomonori Maeda (pinch hitter) was persuaded to hit into a double play which did score one run but kept the lead 2-1 Tigers, runner on third. Maru tried to bring the runner in but struck out in three to end that chance. Tigers had held the lead. Nakazaki took over from Nomura who wasn't over pitched and he had a quiet Tigers sixth retiring the batters in order. Eldred led off Carp's sixth hitting to Ryota Arai who messed up as he does. Amaya struck out swinging but a wild pitch took Eldred to second. Here he stalled as Dobayashi struck out swinging and Abe grounded out.

Tigers seventh as quiet - once again the batters went down in order. In Carp's seventh Ishii singled again with two out but then Mukae (pinch hitter) grounded out. Imamura took over for Tigers eighth and gave up a lead off single to Ryota Arai. This was all he did as he dealt competently with the next three batters and kept Ryota Arai safely anchored on first. Messenger had by now thrown over 100 pitches and had done well so it was expected that Tigers would go to the relief. Instead Messenger, in a move that is diffcult to fathom, stayed on. He has come on a lot as a pitcher and now has more endurance but really this was unnecessary. There was no shut out on offer and a nice rest would have been a good idea. Wada just wasn't paying attention. He struck out Maru and Eldred but then gave up a single to Amaya. Amaya tried to steal second but was thrown out by Komiyama's powerful arm to end the innings. Tigers ninth was quiet and we saw Messenger strike out swinging - he was going to pitch the Carp's ninth. This was a tired innings helped by inept tactical management by the Nomura. Dobayashi led off singling to left. He was bunted to second by Abe. Then Messenger walked Ishihara on a full count to set up runners on first and second. The real mistake came with the very next at bat. Higashide bunted the runners to second and third. Two outs and one to go, this being Ishii who also had a chance to win the game. However, there was no way Messenger was going to give up his victory and he got Ishii to fly out to right and end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers had held onto a tight lead and walked away with a good victory but it was irrelevant. Kanemoto said goodbye to the Carp - his former team before Ishii's retirement ceremony. The season is almost over and Kanemoto will play in all three remaining games with the retirement game on 9th October. This game sold out in 30 minutes once the announcement was made. It should be quite and occasion even though Kanemoto does not want an over-elaborate ceremony.