April 25th Andoh v Kisanuki - Wasted chances

Imaoka sat out this game on the bench as did Ford. Katsuragi replaced Ford at right but the surprising decision was Saka started at third. Why not Sekimoto who the night before showed his defensive qualities. Saka would show his lack of them. One has to ask what was Okada thinking? Andoh did not pitch well and coupled with poor fielding this made the Giants task easy. However, the Giants showed more drive and deserved their win. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 10 0
Tigers 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1  3 2

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Saka (Third)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Kamei (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (First)
4. Takahashi (Right)
5. Ramirez (Left)
6. Abe (Catcher)
7. Gonzalez (Second)
8. Kimura (Third)
9. Kisanuki (Pitcher)

Sakamoto the lead off batter grounded out to Saka. However, the next batter would see Saka make his first mistake. Kamei hit another routine grounder which Saka failed to take and it turned into a two base hit. However, Andoh kept calm to get the next two batters. Kisanuki started by walking Akahoshi (in fact he didn't pitch well either but was considerably better than Andoh). Hirano laid down a lovely bunt which got Akahoshi to second but also almost got him safe on first. Arai grounded out to move Akahoshi round to third and Kanemoto walked. Katsuragi though failed to convert Akahoshi and the score remained untroubled. The Giants second and Andoh managed to get himself into a real mess. The first two outs were OK but then he walked Gonzalez. Next up Kimura hit but the batter after that was Kisanuki. He also hit and the bases were loaded. Sakamoto though struck out swinging to end the innings. The Giants started the third very brightly. By now Andoh was pitching very badly and unsurprisingly Kamei hit. He was followed by Ogasawara who also hit - runners on first and second - no outs. Next batter Takahashi who hit. Kamei was home 1-0 Giants. Ramirez grounded out to third and Ogasawara moved round to third but Abe hit into a double play to end the innings.

Kisanuki then tried to demonstrate he could pitch as badly as Andoh. Firstly he gave up a hit to Akahoshi and then walked Hirano to set up runners on first and second with one out. Kisanuki then let go a pitch which went way over Abe's head and the runners advanced to second and third on the pass ball. Next up was Arai who struck out and then Kanemoto. He walked again to load the bases. Katsuragi though flew out to left to waste the chance. Giants fourth was quiet (Andoh actually pitched well) but Tigers fourth was also lively. Toritani hit and then Yano punched a two base along the left foul line. Runners on second and third with no outs. Saka grounded out to second and Toritani was home scores level 1-1. Yano moved up to third and would shortly make his first mistake of the night. The next batter was Andoh who to his credit battled hard with Kisanuki before hitting a grounder to second. Kamei dived to his left and snagged it but could only throw to first to get Andoh. Surely though Yano was home and the score 2-1? No - Yano had stayed anchored on third base. A certain opportunity to take the lead had been squandered by Yano. What was he thinking? Later in the match the Giants would demonstrate how it should have been done. The final batter of the innings Akahoshi grounded out to short. What a waste.

The Giants fifth started with a Sakamoto ground out and then a Kamei hit. Then Andoh threw a ball which bounced in front of Yano who deflected it behind him with his glove. Kamei took off and arrived at third. This was ruled a wild pitch but was Yano's second mistake - this sort of take should be bread and butter to a catcher of his class. Ogasawara walked - runners on first and third with one out but Takahashi struck out and Ramirez grounded out to Toritani to extinguish the chance. We moved to the Tigers fifth which was quiet, Kisanuki by now having recovered his rhthym retired the Tigers in order. Abe led off the Giants sixth and he hit. Gonzalez then swung wildly at a pitch which flew over Toritani and was just out of reach of his outstretched glove for a hit. Andoh must have been convinced it just wasn't his night. Kimura then bunted the runners round to second and third and this brought up Tani (pinch hitting for Kisanuki). He hit towards third. Saka got the ball but his throw to Yano at third was not good (too high and wide) and it pulled Yano off the home plate. This allowed the runner Abe home safely 2-1 Giants and a perfect demonstration of how to score from third - Yano take note. To add insult to injury Tani was safe at first having beaten the throw. Next was Sakamoto who received a rather tired 'given up' pitch from Andoh which he hit over Toritani into left field 3-1 Giants.

In the Tigers sixth, the Giants replacement pitcher Fukuda gave up a walk to Toritani who was then thrown out trying to steal second. Both sevenths were quiet except for a Akahoshi walk which came to nothing. The Giants eighth was Abe who gave up a hit to Gonzalez. He was bunted to second by Kimura but Abe efficiently kept him there and got the next two outs. That was it for runners on base. The Tigers eighth was pitched by Yamaguchi who had no problems then came the Giants ninth and the appearance of Nohmi. He was on form and struck out the three batters he faced. Finally, Kroon closed for the Giants and was just as successful striking out all three batters he face. Giants victory.

A poor pitching and fielding performance had seen the Tigers lose the game. Yano had had an off day but then so had others. The Giants proved more hungry for the victory and deserved their win. Maybe the marathon contest against the Dragons had tired the Tigers out but there was no excuse for wasting chances like they did.