September 17th Messenger v Ohtake - Over pitched again

One would have thought that with things getting tight Wada and Nakanishi would have learned about the value of preserving their pitcher's arms. It seems not. Messenger threw 150 pitches over his seven innings of work. All because Wada wanted to make him go seven innings and the suspicion exists that it might have been more had not a scoring chance come along. Messenger was visibly tired and really if MLB teams are interested in him it might be a very good move for him to take up one of the offers. He won't be over-pitched in MLB like he is at Tigers. This is wasteful, incompetent and lazy management at its best and Wada is the supreme proponent of it. A tight game which Tigers could ill afford to lose and despite his hard work Messenger saw the game squandered by terrible management decision making. If Tigers continue to play in such a way the Climax Series will be very short and remember this is a team which has the potential to take the pennant. Of course the issue was always going to be the manager and his band of non-entities. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

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

Carp
1. Maru (Centre)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Ka'aihue (First)
4. Eldred (Left)
5. Matsuyama (Right)
6. Soyogi (Short)
7. Kimura (Third)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Ohtake (Pitcher)

Nishioka started with a high bounce hit which ended up in the glove of Ohtake and with Nishioka out. Then Saka singled right but Murton hit into a double play to end the innings. Why Murton having been judged not suitable at No. 3 earlier was reinserted into that position is something that owes more to Wada's inability to manage. Carp started very well with Maru singling. This produced the inevitable bunt from Kikuchi taking him to third. Ka'aihue walked and then Messenger struck out Eldred. This was useful and gave him the momentum to strike out Matsuyama as well ending the innings and the threat. Arai singled with one out but as Fukudome struck out Wada signaled the steal. This was absolute suicide - Arai is not a stealing batter and was thrown out. Catchers are alert for this ploy and really the use of it so often indicates, like the bunt, the poverty of imagination which so often infects Japanese baseball management. Messenger struck out all three batters in Carp's second. Tigers bats went to sleep in their third and no one reached base - even with the pointless introduction of Itoh who hasn't shone so far. Carp's third was also quiet with no one getting on base.

Tigers fourth saw a quiet innings with less justification than Carp. Carp's fourth was different. With one out Eldred broke his bat as he swung but the ball rolled kindly and he was able to make first. Matsuyama walked and then Soyogi grounded out to second. This was the kind of grounder where Nishioka could only throw to first and the runners advanced to second and third. Next was Kimura who walked to load the bases. Ishihara swung and bounced the ball high to Nishioka who had to wait for it to come down. By the time he could collect the ball and throw Eldred had slid home head first for the run 1-0 Carp, bases loaded. Ohtake was the final batter and he flew out. This had taken Messenger 89 pitches and he should have been replaced. Tigers didn't do anything in their fifth - though Arai did come close with a deep hit to left which just failed to make the fence. Carp's fifth was quiet and Messenger's count was now 106. He wasn't having a good outing and only the sheer mediocrity of the Carp was helping. Mind you Tigers were just as bad. Tigers sixth and Itoh walked to lead off the inings. Shimizu blasted the ball to left to put runners on first and second but Messenger grounded out managing to move the runners round to second and third. Then Nishioka hit a grounder to second and Itoh was able to scamper home 1-1 scores tied, runner on third. Saka failed miserably striking out to end the innings. Eldred flew out to first in foul ground to start the Carp's sixth. Then Matsuyama singled. He stayed on first and Messenger's pitch count was now 134 pitches.

Tigers seventh was quiet with no one reaching base. Fortunately for Tigers so was Carp's with Messenger retiring the three batters and throwing 150 pitches. This was absurdly high and signals the paucity of management ability. It was all unnecessary as well. Ohtake continued pitching but his pitch count was lower than Messenger's and Tigers batters were giving him an easy ride. Two batters went down in Tigers eighth and then Shimizu tripled. A great chance and so Wada sent in Hiyama (pinch hitter) to drive him home. Hiyama failed and struck out swinging to end the innings. Murton had looked exhausted after finishing his seven innings and after he left Kubo took over for Carp's eighth. The suspicion remains that if Shimizu hadn't tripled, Wada would have put Messenger in for the eighth. This was a difficult innings for the tiring Tigers veteran who it must be said is fading. With two out he walked Eldred. Then Matsuyama singled right once again via a broken bat and another piece of luck for Carp - runners on first and third. Soyogi walked to load the bases and then Kimura hit to Toritani for the final out. Tigers ninth saw Ohtake continue and retire the batters in order. Ignoring the previous innings in a decision of stunning stupidity Wada put Kubo in for Carp's ninth. One cannot fathom what was going on in his mind but it can't have been anything perceptive. The first pitch of the Carp's ninth was a straight ball in the middle of the zone and was blasted into the stands by Ishihara for a sayonara solo home run 2-1 Carp and victory.

The over pitching of Messenger had been bad enough and he had done superbly well - the casual disregard for pitchers arms by this management team is little short of scandalous. However, what had been really mystifying was the decision to pitch Kubo in the ninth. It really smacked of incompetence given his shaky performance the innings before. Of course Fukuhara should have been used. He is the team's closer and in a tied away game you use your closer to get you into the extra innings. This is beyond Wada and Nakanishi's comprehension but even so Wada could have switched pitchers and gone with Katoh. It was a pressure situation - Carp were going for a win, it wasn't an ordinary innings. The gap between the certain to win the championship Giants and Tigers is now 12.5 games and the gap between Tigers and Carp is now 5 games. This has been wholly due to Wada's incompetence and inability to manage games and any aspects. His decisions have been consistently wrong when he has needed to take any kind of decision and he does need to be sacked or resign along with the rest of his useless team. Carp are a second rate team but they have managed to put together a 7 game winning streak; something Tigers have not done all season.