July 28th Andoh v Terahara - Tigers just sneak in

BayStars suffered from their bullpen losing a close game. The result pushed Tigers to within half a game of Carp and a fourth place (top of B class). Finishing fourth might bring back Mayumi for another year as this would be the same situation as other recent managers. Still Tigers actually have to finish fourth and beating the bottom placed team by a sayonara hit isn't proof that they will be able to do so. Once again Mayumi shuffled the lineup and though it worked this game it looked to be rather a questionable decision. Toritani back at third, Arai back at fifth. Yano once again wasn't particularly good and seems to be fading as a catcher. Tigers do need to bring up their younger players rather than rely on their older veterans. Scores

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

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Centre)
2. Fujita (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Takeyama (Catcher)
8. Ishikawa (Short)
9. Terahara (Pitcher)

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

Andoh's first innings was abysmal and in fact the Tigers started in their koko yakyu mode. BayStars took full advantage of this, Shimozono walked and was bunted to second. Then a mistake by Kanemoto (more poor fielding from Tigers) allowed Uchikawa to escape a left fly and BayStars had runners on first and third. Murata hammered his second pitch into the left stand for a home run 3-0 BayStars. Saeki grounded out but both Yoshimura and Takeyama hit to set up runners on first and second. Luckily for Tigers Ishikawa struck out to limit the damage to only three runs. Terahara set about reducing this lead immediately. With one out Sekimoto hit to centre and then Toritani's two base set up runners on second and third. Kanemoto grounded out driving in a run 3-1 BayStars runner on third. Most of Kanemoto's runs nowadays seem to be via ground outs or sacrifices. He seems to have lost the impulse to hit. Arai then struck out to end the innings and despite his later RBI was pretty much his usual poor self. Andoh gave up a hit to Fujita in BayStars second but that was all. Terahara managed his best pitching in the bottom, striking out three batters whilst walking one. BayStars were more successful with hitting at least in their third. First Saeki and then Yoshimura hit to set up runners on first and second but they lacked the vital at bat to drive the runners in and that innings was scoreless. This allowed Terahara to reduce the margin further, he cannot get any consistency in his pitching and is rather like a cheaper version Nohmi. Akahoshi hit and then stole second - about time this happened - what took him so long? Toritani hit to left and Akahoshi was home 3-2 BayStars, runner on first. Kanemoto flew out when a walk might have been on and Arai grounded out weakly to Terahara to end innings.

Andoh's fourth was a nice piece of pitching, three batters, three retired with two strike outs. Tigers fourth saw Hirano hit but nothing came of this. Uchikawa started BayStars fifth with a hit and one instantly thought of Andoh's danger innings. Two outs followed and then a hit to Yoshimura. Once again BayStars would fall to the inability to drive in runs as Takeyama grounded out. Tigers fifth alas also showed an inability to drive in runs. Akahoshi hit and stole second again. Toritani's ground out took him to third and then Terahara walked Kanemoto. Arai was much easier to deal with and he grounded out to end the innings. BayStars sixth saw a Shimozono hit but this was not productive either. Perhaps unwisely, Terahara returned for Tigers sixth. Yano managed a hit and then Hirano bunted. Terahara messed the pick up and Tigers had runners on first and second. It was time to replace Terahara and Ishii took the mound. Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out and then Akahoshi hit again. This time Yano showed some speed to make home 3-3 scores tied with Hirano on third and Akahoshi on first. Sanada followed the unsuccessful Ishii and got the final out.

BayStars seventh was pitched by Egusa and coupled with Yano he produced some of the most spectacularly stupid pitching you could wish to see. Facing a known home run batter he threw three sliders in the 121 to 126 kph range then inserted a straightball. His next pitch was another slider which of course Uchikawa having got his eye in put into the left stand for a home run 4-3 BayStars. This seemed to wake Egusa up and he retired the next three batters in order. Tigers then proceded to waste another chance in their seventh. Maybe the BayStars pitcher Kosuke Katoh improves with runners on as he walked the first two batters he faced, Toritani and Kanemoto. He then retired the next three, Arai flew out to right but the runner on second failed to advance and the sacrifice fly chance was lost. The next two batters struck out to end the innings. Watanabe pitched the BayStars eighth and smoothly retired the batters. Katoh then gave up a lead off hit to Sakurai (replacement right) who was bunted to second by Kanoh (pinch hitter). Was Kanoh really brought on just to bunt? This is small ball with a vengance and is beyond words. Akahoshi struck out and Yamaguchi took the mound. He got the final out to end the innings and another chance went begging. Tsutsui took the BayStars ninth and was reasonable. He gave up a one out hit to Fujita and then walked Uchikawa. Murata flew out and Saeki struck out and that was the BayStars top of the order out of the way. Yamaguchi walked Toritani in Tigers ninth. A wild pitch took him to second but Kanemoto flew out. Arai was next and he managed to hit to right, Toritani motored home 4-4 scores tied but Arai was tagged out trying to go too far. Finally, Brazell struck out in what was a quiet game for him.

So with the scores tied would Tigers hold the position this time. To ensure that this was the case Mayumi sent Fujikawa to the mound. He struck out his first two batters and then got Ishikawa to ground out. BayStars pitcher for the 10th was Kizuka. Yano flew out - one down. Sakurai walked, this was not so good. Lin (pinch hitter) grounded out which took Yamato (pinch running for Sakurai) to second. Kizuka deliberately walked Akahoshi - perhaps treating him with a bit too much respect even though he had had a good game. Sekimoto was next and Kizuka took him on. Sekimoto hit a single over the head of second into centre field and Yamato sped home 5-4 Tigers sayonara victory.

BayStars had run out of pitching but had made Tigers fight all the way. In the end Tigers had just had enough but the changed lineup hadn't really shown itself to be any better than that used before the All Star break. Kanemoto still needs to hit as does Arai though his hit in the ninth was better. However, he spoilt it by getting out. The victory went to Fujikawa who now stands at 3-3.