October 4th Messenger v Kiya - Blundering to victory

So the sad news is confirmed Wada the village idiot will be back in the driving seat next season baring a scandal with eight year old boys or something similar. One can always hope. The latest rumour links Tigers with Norihiro Nakamura. Now in his day he was a very good player but his day is past and Tigers do need to demonstrate the restraint of Okada who rejected Kiyohara's overtures a few years back. Let's have a genuine attempt to bring in new young talent and to find a foreign player with batting ability. Surely this isn't too difficult a task? Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R  H E
Tigers    0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  1 3 10 0
Swallows  0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  0  0  0 2  5 1

Starting Lineups

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

Swallows
1. Ueda (Centre)
2. Miyamoto (Short)
3. Kawabata (Third)
4. Balentien (Left)
5. Yuichi (First)
6. Matsui (Right)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Yamada (Second)
9. Kiya (Pitcher)

This game was played on a cold and wet evening which no doubt contributed to the low score but once again Fujii managed to blow the lead. It was disappointing to see him back in the side on a regular basis and merely confirms one's negative opinion of Wada's abilities. Kiya started with a strike out of Uemoto and then gave up a single to Shunsuke. Toritani flew out and then Murton grounded out and the innings was over. Messenger started better getting the first two outs but then giving up a single to Kawabata. Then Balentien put the ball high into foul ground where Imanari who is much improved at right took the catch. Balentien wasn't pleased. Imanari led off Tigers second and once again proved he is no No. 5. The next two batters did nothing and the innings ended in a whimper. With two out in Swallows second Matsui singled - Swallows didn't actually hit much this game - a situation which fully demonstrated their abject state. Yamada flew out and the innings was over. Fujii led Tigers third off with a single to centre. Messenger actually laid down a successful bunt; these have been in short supply recently. However, Uemoto managed to fly out in foul ground and Shunsuke struck out. Things were very much as normal. Swallows third was just quiet - the three batters were just mediocre.

Tigers fourth and something happened. Toritani led the innings off with a walk. Murton flew out but Imanari singled right - runners on first and second. Ryota flew out to right as well with Toritani touching up and making third. Even so things looked to be going nowhere. However, Morita hit to short and by the time Miyamoto had been able to throw Toritani was home 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Fujii was next and hit into right field where Matsui managed to overrun the ball. Imanari was home 2-0 Tigers. Morita tried to go too far and was tagged out to end the innings. Messenger then gave up a lead off single to Kawabata. But at the moment Swallows heart wasn't in it and Balentien hit into a double play. Then Yuichi grounded out to second to end the innings. With one out in Tigers fifth (Messenger) Uemoto doubled into left centre. Then in an act of incredible folly he tried to steal third. He was out and Shunsuke grounded out shortly after - that was poor play by the Tigers. Swallows fifth saw Yamada pick up a two out walk in four - one wonders what was going in Fujii's mind - it was an unnecessary walk but any damage was limited by the fact that the next batter was Kiya who struck out swinging. Tigers sixth and the three batters fell in order but Tigers were comfortable. However, trust Fujii to blow it and he did so in the sixth. Messenger also must share a part in the blame pitching far too complacently. Ueda led the innings off with a walk. He stole second - it is always good to chance Fujii's arm. He then took third on Miyamoto's ground out. Kawabata struck out swinging and this brought up Balentien. He got hold of a lose pitch in the outside of the zone and hit it just hard enough so that it cleared the fence in the right stand 2-2 scores tied and Balentien's 60th home run of the season. Yuichi struck out swinging to end the innings.

Tigers seventh was quiet with the batters falling in order. So was Swallows and it would be Messenger's last innings. He would retire having thrown 101 pitches - a rare case of not being over-pitched. Shibata (pinch hitter and replacement centre) led off the innings by grounding out. Then Uemoto singled left. Shunsuke bunted Uemoto to second as the stupid bunt started to become deployed by Wada - this is with one out remember and the chances of scoring from that situation are almost zero. With Shunsuke on second Swallows changed pitchers and Kyuko took over geting Toritani to ground out off his first pitch - end of innings. When you're bereft of ideas; bunt. Tamaki took over for Swallows eighth pitching to Shimizu, Fujii obviously not being trusted in such a tight situation. Which makes you wonder - if you can't trust your catcher in this kind of situation why do you use him? The Swallows eighth was quiet and the batters fell in order. Ishiyama pitched Tigers ninth and got the batters to go down in order as well. Swallows now had the chance to win the game by a sayonara hit. They got their first hit - a one out single to Miwa (replacement left). Miwa stole second and Shimizu decided to deliberately walk Yuichi - runners on first and second. Aikawa was lured into striking out swinging and then Matsui grounded out to short ending the innings.

The game went into extra innings and Yamamoto took over for Tigers tenth. Morita led the innings off with a single which Yamamoto could only deflect. Wada in a move of wonderful stupidity signaled the bunt from Shimizu. As Shimizu went to bunt Yamamoto was high and inside and hit Shimizu on the head. You will see on the Tsubamegun website an interpretation which suggests that the ball did not make contact with the head of Shimizu. This is absolute drivel and needs to be treated as the product of a diseased mind. Yamamoto was quite rightly ejected for his dangerous pitch and replaced by Barnette. Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. Now with an unwarmed up pitcher on the mound one would think the natural reaction would be to hit. Instead Wada for reasons known only to himself persisted with the bunt. As a tactical decision it was a disaster and Shibata the batter was out with three failed attempts. Are Tigers really going to ask someone as clueless as Wada to return (the answer is yes). Uemoto hit to short where Miyamoto was able to stop the ball but not to prevent the runners reaching base safely - bases loaded. Next Wada sent in Hiyama who received a wonderful welcome from the whole stadium. Barnette though was warmed up by now and struck him out. So to Toritani who struck out looking. Some excellent work by Barnette had denied Tigers the run but the idiot decsion to bunt with runners on first and second had been a big factor in the failure. Matsuda took over for Swallows tenth and given his performance of late it was a leap of faith to use him. However, he was pitching to Shimizu and not to Fujii and that is a big difference. He bundled the first two batters up in Swallows tenth getting them to fly out in foul ground and then struck out Ueda. Providing the Tigers coaches don't screw him up with 'improvements to his motion' he has a good career as an ace reliever ahead of him. Roman pitched Tigers eleventh and gave up a lead off single to Murton. The inevitable stupid and wasteful bunt took Murton to second and then a wild pitch took him to third. Ryota grounded out to third - hardly helpful and then Saka (replacement third) struck out swinging. Tigers were wasting their chances. Matsuda returned for Swallows eleventh and once again was much better with Shimizu getting another Swallows batter to fly out in foul ground to end the innings. Once again no one had gotten on base. Nishioka (pinch hitter) struck out to start Tigers twelvth. Then Roman walked Shibata. Next with nerves affecting him he walked Uemoto - runners on first and second. Hidaka (pinch hitter and replacement catcher) struck out swinging - at least this innings the bunt wasn't used. But it still needed a Swallows mistake for the Tigers to score. Toritani hit to first where Yuichi fielded and threw to Roman who had run over to cover. Unfortunately for Swallows the throw was not in the right place and Roman couldn't take with the ball rolling away and Shibata dashing home to score 3-2 Tigers, runners on first and third. Murton popped up to first in foul ground but the Tigers had taken the lead. They just needed to hold it for the bottom of the innings but with Hidaka behind the plate this was easier said than done. Luckily Fukuhara wasn't paying much attention to Hidaka's calls and pitching his own pattern retired the batters in order. Tigers victory.

It had been tight and long and Tigers had been tactically inept but they had had enough to overwhelm the incompetent Swallows. Tigers had crushed the Swallows in the season series 16-7-1 and had always dominated the Tokyo outfit except for the one short period in September. Matsuda picked up the win and the save was Fukuhara's thirteenth. He had done well. The next game is at Koshien - Hiyama's retirement game against the Giants. With the second spot and home advantage secured expect Hiyama to start at right.