May 3rd Messenger v Ishikawa - Feasting on Swallow pie

Mizutani, Tigers batting coach was interviewed in Daily Sports today and had nothing of value to say. The only thing worthy of note was the comment at the end - a standard Japanese proverb 'the nail that sticks out must be hammered down'. It seems that idiocy does not only encompass our manager. And talking of idiocy - Wada's decisions with regard to replacement fielders were strange. We saw Fukudome replaced by Itoh and Murton by Ogata. Imanari fielded first replacing Arai which I suppose is a good move for him as he's practically worthless as a catcher. Fujii wasn't particularly good and Messenger was poor but it didn't matter. Swallows were useless with Ishikawa being a shadow of his usual self. Tigers batters had a field day and in front of a capacity crowd posted a season's highest score.

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Swallows  1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  3  6 2
Tigers    2 0 6 4 1 0 1 0 X 14 19 1

Starting Lineups

Swallows
1. Tanaka (Second)
2. Hiyane (Centre)
3. Milledge (Left)
4. Balentien (Right)
5. Hatakeyama (First)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Morioka (Short)
8. Nakamura (Catcher)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

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

The rationale for the changed line up was obscure - Ryota isn't the batter one wants in any of the clean up positions but that is how Tigers started. Messenger started very well striking out Tanaka and then things went wrong. He walked Hiyane who stole second - the throw from Fujii being poor and too high. Milledge hit left bringing in the run 1-0 Swallows, runner on first. Balentien walked and then Hatakeyama hit deep. Fortunately it didn't go far enough and he flew out to left. No one tagged up and it was all up to Miyamoto who grounded out to second to end the innings. Nishioka started Tigers first with a lead off double. Then Wada being a fool had Yamato bunt him to third wasting an out. Toritani hit a weak infield grounder and Tanaka made sure that Nishioka stayed on base before firing the ball to first for the second out. It didn't look good but fate took a hand. With the count 3-1 Ishikawa let fly a wild pitch which took Nakamura by surprise and allowed Nishioka to make home 1-1 scores tied. Murton of course walked. Then Ryota walked as well - runners on first and second. Fukudome was next and he drove past Tanaka's despairing drive to bring in Murton 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and third. Arai was next and he hit nicely to left but Miyamoto was well positioned and took a nice catch to end the innings. Tigers though had seized the lead. Morioka led off Swallows second with a wild swing. The ball went straight up and came down in the infield with Ryota was under it. He dropped it - a sitter. Runner on first. Nakamura worked a walk and then Ishikawa bunted to Messenger who threw to first for the force out - a waste of an out as usual. Runners on first and second. Tanaka swung wildly and struck out. Then Hiyane popped up to Nishioka to end the innings. Swallows had messed up a nice chance. Tigers didn't mess up and took Ishikawa apart in the bottom of the second. Fujii led off driving left for a single. Messenger shaped to bunt and then changed and hit his third pitch left as well - runners on first and second. Nishioka hit over the field into centre to load the bases. Yamato singled left to bring in Fujii 3-1 Tigers, bases loaded with no outs. Toritani hit into right bringing in two runs 5-1 Tigers. Yamato slid into third and as he did so the throw from Balentien came whistling in and missed Miyamoto. Yamato was up and raced home 6-1 Tigers with Toritani on second. Murton hit left which put runners on the corners. Then Ryota hit deep to centre. Toritani tagged up and raced home Tigers, runner on first. Fukudome walked and you wondered why Ishikawa was still on the field - he was obviously useless. Arai hit nicely to left to bring home Murton 8-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Ths was the the end of Ishikawa who was finally replaced by Ohba. He struck out Fujii swinging but walked Messenger to load the bases again. This time Nishioka grounded out to end the innings with Tigers well in control. Swallows to their credit tried to fight back in their third. They were helped by indifferent pitching and calling but were too shell shocked to overhaul the huge deficit. Milledge led off with a drive to right. Then Balentien flashed to right as well - runners on first and second. Hatakeyama grounded out taking the runners to second and third. Miyamoto hit a weak grounder to Messenger who instead of throwing to first went for Milledge who was halfway off base. He was run down for the out with Balentien taking third and Miyamoto moving round to second. It looked like the danger was over but Morioka singled to centre bringing in Balentien 8-2 Tigers, runners on first and third. Nakamura hit a poor slider into centre to bring in another run 8-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. Ohba was the next batter and he struck out swinging. Ohba having been nominated to pitch Tigers third was rapidly in trouble. He walked Yamato and then walked Toritani - runners on first and second with no outs. Just to complete the set he walked Murton to load the bases. Ryota took a swing and put the ball high to right where Balentien took it and dropped the ball. This error brought home one runner 9-3 Tigers, bases loaded. For some reason - and one can only assume that Fukudome was injured - Itoh was the next batter. If Fukudome wasn't injured then the decision to replace him with Itoh is strange to say the least. Itoh grounded out with Tanaka throwing to home to catch Toritani for the force out. Next was Arai who showed how it should be done. A clinical drive to the sweet spot at right centre cleared the bases 12-3 Tigers, runner on second. Fujii followed and this time could only ground out to second but this took Arai to third. Messenger walked again and this was the end of Ohba who was replaced by Oshimoto. He got Nishoka to ground out again to end the innings.

Swallows fourth was a quiet innings but Messenger had really worked up the pitches throwing 94 over the four innings. Yamato led off Tigers fourth with a nice single to centre. Oshimoto didn't seem to be much of an improvement on the other two Swallows pitchers. Toritani flew out but Murton singled left - runners on first and third. This time Ryota hit nicely into centre to bring in Yamato 13-3 Tigers. Tigers were able to put runners on second and third but the lack of Fukudome was felt here with Itoh grounding out for the second out. Arai flew out to end the innings. Swallows fifth was amazingly quick by this game's standards. It took all of six pitches and none of the three batters reached base. It was a welcome relief for Messenger who despite the margin was having to work very hard. Tigers fifth saw two outs go down and then a single from Nishioka. Yamato singled to centre and one thought that more runs were coming but Toritani lined out to second to end the innings. Morioka led off Swallows sixth by grounding out. Nakamura singled to right but Iwamura (pinch hitter) hit deep where Murton took a nice catch by the fence. Then Tanaka grounded out; Messenger had thrown 113 pitches and would surely be finished. Kyuko took over for Tigers sixth which Murton led off with a double to left centre. He was pinch run for by Ogata who would replace him at left. One has to ask - why? Ryota struck out swinging - a rather stupid swing and then Itoh hit very nicely to left. Ogata raced home 13-3 Tigers, runner on first. Arai singled to put runners on first and second but Fujii could only fly out. It was far enough for Itoh to tag up and take third but you felt it was the wrong option at this stage. Next was Messenger and one was really surprised. Given the margin there was no need for him to pitch the seventh innings. This was just pure folly on the part of Wada. Messenger struck out looking to end the innings.

Messenger did pitch the Swallows seventh and started by getting Hiyane to ground out. Milledge struck out swinging and then Balentien flew out. This had added 13 unnecessary pitches to the count and one wonders at the mentallity of a coaching team who will not use their relief because their starters must pitch seven innings. It was pointless given that there is still a long way to go in the season. Saka took over from Nishioka at second and flew out to lead off Tigers seventh. Yamato worked a walk but Toritani flew out to centre. Next was Ogata who hit a grounder to the pitcher to end the innings. Kyuko fielded and threw to Hatakeyama at first. As Ogata ran passed his shoe raked Hatakeyama's heel which proved to be painful. Inadvertant but possibly a factor in Hatakeyama's poor at bat the next innings. Finally, we saw a new pitcher Tsutsui who does not like working with Fujii. He started by striking out Hatakeyama. Kawashima (replacement short) hit a grounder to Toritani for the second out. Finally, Morioka (moved round to third) grounded out to end the eighth. Swallows already miniscule chances of victory were disappering by the minute. Tigers eighth was supposed to be over quickly. Ryota didn't bother and struck out looking as did Itoh but Imanari (pinch hitter and replacement first) didn't read the script and doubled over Ueda (replacement centre) who rather messed up his positioning and misjudged the hit into the bargain. Next was Fuji who restored the balance by flying out to end the innings. Tamaki pitched the Swallows ninth and had trouble with Fujii who was abysmal. The low outside pitch returned and Nakamura walked. Takeuchi (pinch hitter) flew out to third. Then obligingly Tanaka hit into a double play to end the game. Tigers victory.

A stunning victory in which the mismanagement on the grand scale didn't matter. All the stupidity by Wada and his cohorts and cronies was swept away in an excellent batting display which tore apart a sorry Swallows side. Burried by the second innings the Swallows were constantly on the back foot against a Tigers side with the luxury of being able to do what they wanted. The only caution - after a victory like this Tigers bats normally go to sleep. Let's hope this time that they don't and Swallows receive another drubbing tomorrow. It is time for Tigers to develop some consistency and momentum.