August 16th Akiyama v Moscoso - On the other foot

Yes it can happen a competent side can suddenly switch to incompetent in the space of a day and an incompetent bunch of morons can suddenly become sharp and intelligent in their play. This is basically what happened this game. With the able pitching of Moscosco providing a firm foundation BayStars were inventive - a trifle lucky at times but above all able to seize and hold control. Tigers were bumbling and inept - Akiyama was hopeless and once again one wonders how it was that he was thought ready for the top team. He was rightly removed from the game in the third innings. Umeno caught the whole game and really was good - with the bat this time as well as behind the plate dealing with poor pitchers and poor fielding. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2  7 0
BayStars  2 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 X 8 13 0

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Imanari (Third)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Gomez (First)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Fukudome (Right)
7. Itoh (Centre)
8. Umeno (Catcher)
9. Akiyama (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Matsumoto (Centre)
2. Ishikawa (Second)
3. Kajitani (Right)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Baldris (Third)
6. Shimozono (Left)
7. Shirosaki (Short)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Moscoso (Pitcher)

Moscoso's start was innocuous - two outs to be sure but then a single to Toritani. However, Gomez grounded out to third. Akiyama's start went with a bang - the wrong way. Matsumoto singled to lead off the BayStars. Ishikawa flew out but then Kajitani got hold of a pitch and hit it into the right stand for a two run home run 2-0 BayStars. The next two batters also tried to hit deep but both flew out. Tigers second was even more disappointing than the first - no one reached base. BayStars second started with Shimozono singling to second. Then Nakahata came to the rescue - yes; stupid bunt time. The bunt took Shimozono to second which is where he stayed as the batters failed miserably to move him further. Tigers switched up a gear and Umeno led the third off with a nice well hit double to right. Time for a bunt from Akiyama which took Umeno to third. Moscoso clearly rattled walked Umeno and then Imanari stroked a loose pitch neatly into left to bring in Umeno 2-1 BayStars runners on first and second. Toritani was next but he hit pathetically back to Moscoso who threw to second for the force out with the double play being just a formality and the lead was still there though reduced by half. Then Akiyama went and blew all that nice work. Matsumoto led BayStars third off with an impressive double to left centre. OK one realised that the Tigers were in big trouble. Stupid bunt time again - Ishikawa bunting him to third and we could relax a bit. Next up was Kajitani who hit a fly ball to left. Here is where things get weird. Murton was running in and timing it right to take the ball when suddenly he jerked his head back and pulled away from the ball letting it bounce safely. By the time Tigers had retrieved it and thrown in Matsumoto was home 3-1 BayStars and Kajitani was safe on third. Whatever it was that caused Murton to pull away it blew the game open and not in a favourable way for the Tigers. Blanco swung (here is the little bit of luck I mentioned earlier) and popped the ball up but it landed safely between right and second for a single 4-1 BayStars runner on first. Baldris stuck out but BayStars weren't finished. Shimozono hit the disintegrating Akiyama into centre for a single - runners on first and second. Next Shirasaki - remember he was required to bunt by a stupid manager. He hammered his second ball into left centre for a timely double. In fact so timely that it brought in two runs 6-1 BayStars. This was the end of Akiyama who received a tongue lashing from Nakanishi. Whilst I am normally sympathetic to pitchers he did deserve it - he had been really poor. Watanabe took over and got Kurobane to ground out and end the innings.

One would have thought that this lead would have relaxed Moscoso but not so. Gomez led off Tigers fourth with a single to centre off his second pitch. Then Murton singled right off his first pitch - runners on first and second. Fukudome, of course, managed to fly out but Itoh also singled right off his first pitch Moscoso was serving up a lot of hittable stuff. Next in line was Umeno who hit deep to centre. The catch was taken but Gomez tagged up and slid in to home successfully 6-2 BayStars, runners on first and second. Wada sent Ryota Arai in to pinch hit and he hit beautifully to left. Shimozono tracked back and then with a superbly timed jump took a superb catch right by the wall to end the innings. He was justifiably proud of that effort. Tsutsui took over for BayStars fourth and immediately gave up a lead off single to Moscoso. However, Matsumoto hit straight at Uemoto for the double play. Ishikawa then flew out to right. With one out in Tigers fifth Imanari walked. Moscoso had settled though and he stayed on first as the next two batters failed to do anything impressive. BayStars fifth was quiet with no one reaching base but we did see some of Tsutsui's much missed fireballs which did completely fool the batters. Moscoso finally settled enough to dominate the proceedings. No one reached base in Tigers sixth. The same happened in BayStars sixth but they still held the four run lead.

Tigers seventh which should have seen a counter attack instead saw more of the batters under the thumb of the pitcher. No one reached base and time was running out for the visitors. Wada went with Kojima for BayStars seventh which is always a risky proposition. He has never fulfilled his potential and unlike Nohmi never looks like becoming confident enough to do so. It was OK at first, Yanagida (pinch hitter) struck out. Then Matsumoto doubled over Itoh's head. Next was Ishikawa who hit to centre once again and this time Itoh tracked back gloving but then dropping the ball. It was the sort of catch that a centre should take every time. The scorer generously ruled that it was a triple to Ishikawa not an error. This brought the runner home of course 7-2 BayStars. Kajitani grounded out but then Kojima let fly a wild pitch which was really wild giving Umeno no chance. Ishikawa seized his chance and was home 8-2 BayStars. Finally Blanco struck out to end the innings. Nakahata didn't try and push Moscoso too deep and for Tigers eighth brought on Hayashi. He did well retiring the Tigers batters in order. Umeno got Kaneda for BayStars eighth and Baldris led the innings off with a double to left. However, Kaneda teamed with Umeno is a much better pitcher than with other Tigers catchers this prevented BayStars from scoring. True Shimozono did hit to third but Imanari made sure that Baldris did not progress and set up the double play situation. Shirosaki flew out to centre but a wild pitch did take the runners to second and third. However, Kurobane lined out to Kaneda who threw to first to catch the runner off base and end the innings. Tigers ninth saw Soto take the mound. He got Murton and the useless Fukudome to ground out but then gave up a single to left to Itoh. Umeno was the final batter and was very neatly tangled up and flew out in foul ground to end the game. BayStars victory

So there you have it a story of lust and betrayal...well actually a very well worked victory by BayStars who had completely reversed the impression they created in the previous game. Good fielding and aggressive hitting had overwhelmed a Tigers team who had been taking game after game from the BayStars. Tigers best performer had been Umeno who had done wonders with the material he had. Tigers can lift their game and take the rubber but on the strength of this performance they are in for a battle (both managers being incompetents).