April 26th Messenger v Takasaki - Surprisingly an unsatisfactory affair

One would think - why unsatisfactory? Well BayStars were able to score 5 runs and even though Tigers had runs to play with and the result was never in doubt the sheer mediocrity of Fujii as catcher was once again exposed. BayStars were poor - there is no other way to put it. Even against a side with a manager who values mediocrity they are poor. There is a theory that Japanese companies don't really like star performers. Star performers are difficult and disrupt the harmony. Far better to have mediocre workers who keep things nice and smooth. Of course this doesn't quite work in baseball where you do need some talent but still has some validity. One thinks about the survival or Ryota Arai or Fujii and Hidaka. One thinks about Wada himself whose knowledge of management can be written on a postage stamp. One thinks about Tigers batting coaches, Mizutani, Sekikawa and Takahashi. In Japanese organisations it is also de rigeur to punish mistakes severely. Mistakes are not learning experiences but events which disrupt harmony. Thus it seems that Tagami who hesitated when Sekimoto hit to see if Sekimoto's blow was actually a hit and not a fly has been sent down to the farm team as a punishment. All this for a tying run - not a winning run. There is no guarantee that if that tying run had been scored Tigers would have won the game. Tagami is a young and inexperienced player - he made a mistake, so what. It's a learning experience except in Wada-land. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    0 0 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 10 14 2
BayStars  0 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 0  5 12 0

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

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Uchimura (Second)
3. Kajitani (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Ide (Left)
6. Kinjoh (Right)
7. Matsumoto (Centre)
8. Takajoh (Catcher)
9. Takasaki (Pitcher)

Tigers started getting on base almost immediately which is good as Messenger wasn't that good and Fujii was rubbish. With Nishioka out Yamato singled - a line drive to centre. Toritani flew out and then Murton singled to left runners on first and second. Yamato then tried to steal third but failed and was thrown out to end the innings. With one out Messenger walked Uchimura in BayStars first but then Kajitani hit into a double play to end that innings. It would be Messenger's only walk of the game but he would give up 11 hits. Tigers second saw Arai pick up a one out walk but nothing came of this as Ryota hit into a double play. Blanco started BayStars second spectacularly with a lead off double. BayStars would have plently of chances but waste them. He made third on Ide's ground out and then was forced to watch as the next two batters also grounded out to second preventing him from making home. Tigers third and Fujii led off with a line drive. It is a shame is calling is ridiculously bad as his batting is very impressive. Messenger failed with three bunts but Nishioka walked which pushed Fujii to second. Takasaki was by now beginning to disintergrate and Yamato doubled left to bring Fujii in 1-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Toritani grounded out to short forcing out Yamato but it was enough for Nishioka to scramble home 2-0 Tigers, runner on first and there was some nice running and enterprise going on here. Finally Murton flew out to end the innings. A good position for Tigers. Takajoh struck out but then Takasaki hit to left. Ishikawa hit to second where Nishioka messed things up which set up runners on first and second then Uchimura cracked a line drive to left to load the bases. Kajitani - who did not look a No. 3 at all flew out but not deep enough for the sacrifice. Finally, Blanco struck out. Tigers had escaped.

Tigers fourth started with Fukudome grounding out and then Arai hit a nice deep two base. His brother Ryota got hold of his second pitch - blasting over the wall for his first home run of the season 4-0 Tigers. Fujii cracked a line drive to left and was bunted to second by Messenger. Nishioka struck out but Tigers were now in a commanding position. Could they hold it though? The only reason they had remained ahead was BayStars inability to execute. The fourth was a crucial innings. True Matsumoto did single with two out but then Takajoh struck out swinging and once again the home side were scorless. Takasaki should have been removed after the fourth but was kept in for Tigers fifth. A big mistake. Yamato singled to start the massacre. Toritani blasted a two run home run into the right stand 6-0 Tigers. Murton hit right and Fukudome worked a walk - runners on first and second with no outs. Arai struck out looking and here Yoshikawa took over the mound duties. It didn't make any difference, Ryota singled to load the bases. Fujii drew a walk - oshidashi 7-0 Tigers, bases loaded. Messenger struck out looking, two outs. Up came Nishoka with a bases clearing double 10-0 Tigers. He was also able to take third but this time Yamato grounded out to end the innings. Tigers should have been able to shut things down and motor to victory. Instead they started to bleed runs as Fujii was unable to keep the BayStars off base. It started immediately with Gotoh (pinch hitter and replacement first) leading off BayStars fifth with a solo home run 10-1 Tigers. One out later Uchimura doubled into the left corner. Kajitani hit to centre to set up runners on first and third. Blanco hit deep to right which brought home Uchimura 10-2 Tigers, runner on first. Ide could only ground out and end the innings. Fujie pitched Tigers sixth and kept things quiet up until Murton hitting a single to short. With two out Arai took a walk and then so did Ryota to load the bases. BayStars were in trouble again. This time Fujii grounded out to short to end the innings. BayStars sixth and Kinjoh engineered a lead off single. Two outs later and Gotoh (again) banged a hit off the wall to bring in Kinjoh 10-3 Tigers, runner on second. Ishikawa popped up to second to end the innings but BayStars weren't quite dead yet.

Tigers seventh was amazingly over very quickly with the batters falling in over. Fujie had stemmed the run flow very effectively. BayStars seventh was also quiet - Messenger and Fujii actually managed a good innings. Tigers eighth saw Mishima take over. Frankly, he wasn't particularly good. He walked Murton with one out and then sruck out Fukudome. To compensate for this good fortune he walked Arai but managed to get Ryota to fly out to end the innings. We then saw the surpise of surprises, Messenger returned for the BayStars eighth. Why? He had thrown 104 pitches and not been particularly good, He had also given up three runs - it would seem that resting our starter was the logical move. Wada seems to have this stupid desire redolent of all worthless managers to work their pitchers too hard. There wasn't even a complete game shutout on here. Ide led the innings off by line driving to right over Nishoka's jump. Kinjoh doubled left - runners on second and third with no outs. Matsumoto blew it and struck out looking. Then Nakamura (pinch hitter) popped up to Toritani for the second out. Maybe Tigers would escape. But Messenger was finished and walked Gotoh to load the bases. This brought the Tigers pitching coach to the mound and Messenger admitted he couldn't continue. Still he should have never pitched the eighth. Tsutsui took over and responding to Fujii's call sent a high straight into the zone. Ishikawa cracked the ball into centre bringing in two runners 10-5 Tigers, runners on second and third. Uchimura managed to fly out to left and end the innings. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers ninth and with two out gave up a single to Nishioka who really is proving a superb lead off batter. However, Yamato was only able to ground out to first and end the innings. Andoh pitched BayStars ninth and had an easy ride retiring the batters in order to end the game. Tigers victory.

A 10-5 victory sounds good but it could have been 10-0 and poor pitching and calling had allowed the BayStars to take the gloss off the victory. Still a win is a win but the fact that the BayStars were so abject is more the reason for this. If their pitching had been a little better Tigers might well have lost this game and relying on an inadequate catcher is not a recipe for success. Messenger pitched poorly - 11 hits and a walk is not good but he got the victory and he will no doubt pitch much better in future.