July 30th Messenger v Nakata - Pointless records

This victory was marred by Messenger once again being over-pitched in pursuit of an unnecessary complete game. There was absolutely no need for it and one wonders what Wada is thinking - does he really have no understanding that Messenger is going to be needed at the end of the season and that too much pitching will reduce Messenger's accuracy? Messenger has already shown signs of the effects of over-pitching and really should have been replaced after the seventh with the relief taking over. Messenger's arm went in the ninth and he had to be replaced by Katoh. A typical demonstration of Wada's inability to manage. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Dragons
1. Ohshima (Centre)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Hirata (Right)
6. Clark (First)
7. Tani (Short)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Nakata (Pitcher)

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

Nishioka is now on the disabled list as his leg hasn't cleared up. Now fouling a ball off your leg shouldn't really be an issue with proper rest and recuperation but guess what happened? No proper rest and recuperation and a key player is out of action. It wasn't a perfect start for Messenger with Ohshima walking but you can always rely on a Japanese manager having his No. 2 bunt and this is what happened. You can also pretty much predict what will happen next and no run was scored. Nakata also started poorly with Saka tripling off the fence. This was a far more dangerous situation and Wada didn't call for the bunt - he has a little bit of sense. Instead Yamato hit a fly to centre but it wasn't judged far enough and Imanari stayed on third. Then Toritani hit a fly to right which was far enough and Imanari tagged u and was home 1-0 Tigers. Murton then flew out to end the innings. Hirata led off Dragons second with a single to left. Then Clark singled right - runners on first and second. Tani bunted the runners to second and third. Messenger walked Tanishige after a long battle - the bunt hadn't been inspired and neither was the walk - bases loaded. Dragons though blew their chance - it was Nakata but a sacrfice fly would have tied the scores. Instead Nakata hit to second for the innings ending double play. Once again the bunt earlier in the innings had failed to deliver a run. Arai led off Tigers second with a single. The change of opponent had revived the Tigers hitting power. A wild pitch took Arai to second but Imanari could only fly out this time. Ryota grounded out to second taking his elder brother to third. Fujii was deliberately walked to get at Messenger who struck out swinging. No score that innings. Dragons third saw the top three batters in the order go down without anyone reaching base. Saka and Yamato didn't do anything in Tigers third. Toritani managed a weak hit but was quicker than Nakata reaching first safely. Murton was lured into swinging just a bit too far and was out to end the innings.

The Dragons fourth saw Hirata single with one out but then Clark hit into a double play involving Arai at first. With two out in Tigers fourth, Ryota walked which is a fairly unique experience. However, Fujii flew out to right and so Tigers didn't take advantage of this unexpected bonus. Messenger hadn't really established a stranglehold on the game - Dragons were still getting runners on but they couldn't do much more than that. The fifth was a case in point with Messenger giving up a hit to Nakata - a slight embarrassment. With two out Ohshima needed to do more than he actually did which was fly out to centre. Tigers also hadn't found a way to break down Nakata yet either. They managed no base runners in their fifth. Things changed in the sixth though. Once again Dragons put runners on in their innings. Araki flew out but Morino singled centre. Wada flew out but Hirata also hit to centre - runners on first and second. Messenger stayed calm and struck out Clark to end the innings. Nakata didn't stay cool in Tigers sixth though. Like Messenger he started with an out, Toritani flying out to left. Then Murton singled. Arai worked a walk and the runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Nakata panicked and sent down an eminently hittable pitch to Imanari who cracked the ball right. This resulted in a timely triple 3-0 Tigers, runner on third. Imanari was pinch run for by Shunsuke and he was driven in by the next batter Ryota who hit left 4-0 Tigers, runner on first. At this point Oguma took over but gave up a single to Fujii - runners on first and third with one out. This was the high point of the innings though and Messenger struck out swinging for the second out. The final out was Saka who flew out to centre. Tigers were even more in control.

Messenger returned for what should have been his last innings and Dragons lucky seventh wasn't. This time they couldn't get any runners on base. Tsuji took over for Tigers seventh and was immediately in trouble. With one out first Toritani and then Murton walked. Arai doubled to left centre bringing in one run 5-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Incidentally, Murton had been pinch run for by Asai - why bring on a pinch runner for an uninjured batter if he's not going to add that bit extra round the bases? Shunsuke grounded out and even a wild pitch didn't actually bring any runs. Tigers were taking it easy. Sekimoto (replacement third) was next and he singled bringing in both runners 7-0 Tigers, runner on first. Sekimoto stole second and then Fujii hit left. Sekimoto made home safely 8-0 Tigers but Fujii tried to turn the single into a double and was thrown out to end the innings. Given that Tigers now had a commanding lead Wada decided that he was going to give Messenger a complete game. The rationale apart from sentiment is obscure and really we need a more intelligent approach to management. Going with the relief and giving them a chance to turn their arms over would have been a much better use of resources. Encouraging your leading starter to over-pitch himself in pursuit of a pointless record was amateurish in the extreme. Messenger got the first two batters in Dragons eighth to ground out but then Morino hit left. Wada grounded out and the innings was over. Kobayashi pitched Tigers eighth and also had a wobbly innings. With two out Yamato hit left. Next up Toritani also did the same and Tigers had runners on first and second. Murton flew out to right to end the innings. Dragons ninth started with Hirata hitting to Toritani who made a fine stop but couldn't complete the throw. Clark flew out and Nomoto (replacement left) grounded out taking Hirata to second. Then Matsui (replacement catcher) hit to centre to bring the runner home 8-1 Tigers, runner on first. Takahashi (replacement short) singled left to put Dragons on first and second. This finally caused Wada to replace Messenger who was obviously not going to get out of the innings. But this situation should have been foreseeable by a perspicacious manager. The pursuit of foolish records had just tired Messenger out for no reason. Katoh took over and didn't initially look the right replacement walking Ohshima to load the bases. However, Araki grounded out to second to end the game. Tigers victory.

A nice victory marred by the inexplicable mishandling of the pitching. There was no need for the complete game at all and wearing your pitchers arm out for no purpose is just so very poor. Messenger picked up his tenth victory which is quite an achievement but we do want him back fit and well next year. Wada needs to remember this and really should step down.