September 19th Messenger v Fujii - Tigers fall short

Sloppy play and poor pitching put Tigers in a difficult situation. Messenger was unlucky but also wasn't good enough. Some poor fielding also handed Giants extra runs. Murton didn't shine at left today either but this was generally indicative of a poor day in the field for the Tigers. Losing this game was almost inevitable - the Giants lead was just to great but it shouldn't really have been allowed to develop. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 13 0
Tigers  0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 4 11 1

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (First)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Yano (Right)
7. Edgar (Second)
8. Wakiya (Third)
9. Fujii (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Left)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Asai (Centre)
8. Shunsuke Fujikawa (Right)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

After his excellent start against Swallows, Messenger reverted to his lesser self. He threw pitches entirely in the upper part of the zone to Sakamoto which resulted in a hit. Matsumoto shaped to bunt but then hit to centre setting up runners on first and second. Both Ogasawara and Ramirez flew out without the runners moving round and Messenger faced Abe. Abe popped one up - a very deep fly to left and Murton ran round to take but as he neared the fence he slowed and the ball landed beyond him. Murton shouldn't have slowed - it was a difficult take but with these sort of situations you have to take the catch. Both runners were able to make home 2-0 Giants, runner on second. Messenger had been unlucky but allowed this to affect his pitching. Yano hit nicely to left to bring home Abe 3-0 Giants runner on first. Edgar hit to centre and Giants had runners on first and second. Then Wakiya hit to right centre - the ball just drifting away from Asai who threw poorly to Toritani for the transfer. In fact the throw was so poor it prevented the transfer and Edgar was also able to make home 5-0 Giants, runner on second. Finally Fujii flew out to left in what had been a terrible opener for Tigers. Fujii wasn't good either and Murton started with a hit to centre. Hirano hit nicely to right beating Edgar and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs, exactly the same situation as Giants. Toritani hit a deep fly to centre and Murton tagged up and took third. Then Arai flew out in foul ground - a very poor swing but things looked slightly better for Tigers than Giants. However, Brazell did not hit a fly but instead grounded out straight to Ogasawara. This was a chance wasted. Sakamoto started Giants second by flying out but Matsumoto hit a two base of which Shunsuke Fujikawa messed up the take. Ogasawara hit to right to set up runners on first and third and Ramirez hit to right for the sacrifice fly 6-0 Giants. Things did not look good for the Tigers. Abe struck out but this did not hide another bad innings for Messenger. With Johjima out in Tigers second, Asai hit to left. Wakiya (who would have a torrid game at third) dived and deflected the ball into foul ground allowing Asai to reach second. Shunsuke Fujikawa grounded out and then Uemoto hit to second where Edgar made a sharp take to end the innings. Fukuhara pitched Giants third, Messenger having been replaced after two innings. He got the first two outs and then walked Wakiya. However, he was able to strike out Fujii to end the innings - the first where Giants hadn't scored. Murton led off Tigers third spectacularly - hitting a solo home run to left 6-1 Giants. Hirano grounded out but Toritani walked. A wild pitch took Toritani to second and then Arai took a dead ball. Things looked promising for Tigers. Brazell flew out to centre which took Toritani to third but Johjima grounded out to short. Tigers had wasted significant scoring chances and batters who should have hit had failed.

Fukuhara returned for Giants fourth and soon got into trouble. Sakamoto hit and then Matsumoto shaped to bunt. What is the point of asking a batter to bunt with a five run lead? Eventually, he flew out in foul ground but the whole concept was wrong. Ramirez hit to centre and Giants had runners on first and third with Abe next. He grounded out to short to end the innings. Shunsuke Fujikawa hit to centre and then Murton hit again setting up runners on first and third. Hirano was next and he hit to short but was just unable to beat the throw to first and was out to end another chance. Watanabe pitched Giants fifth and was at his best. His brilliant pitching totally befuddled the Giants batters. He struck out two looking, Edgar being particularly aggreved about his decsion but did walk Wakiya. However, Watanabe struck out Tani (pinch hitter) to end the innings. Tigers fifth saw a new pitcher - Yamaguchi to replace the insecure Fujii. Yamaguchi retired the batters in order and looked quite good doing so. Watanabe returned for Giants sixth and weaved the same magic striking out two before walking Ogasawara. Then Ramirez fell swinging and the innings was over. Tigers sixth saw Johjima lead off with a hit. Asai flew out but Shunsuke Fujikawa hit a two base to left - another Wakiya deflection that rolled into the corners - runners on second and third and a great chance. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) followed and managed to ground out to first. Sekimoto does look fat nowadays. Johjima made home and Shunsuke Fujikawa third 6-2 Giants. The final batter was Murton who flew out to right to end the innings. Tigers hadn't really done well enough.

Nishimura pitched Giants seventh and with one out gave up a short hit to Yano. Neither of the next two batters did anything and the innings was scoreless. Unfortunately so was Tigers seventh. Two outs fell quickly and then Hara switched pitchers to Kubo. He got Arai to ground out to short for the final out. Furuki (pinch hitter) led off Giants eighth with a hit. The next three batters couldn't do anything and the innings ended quietly. Brazell led off Tigers eighth and hit deep and hard - a solo home run 6-3 Giants. The following batters were also disappointing and no one made base. Ramirez led off Giants ninth with a hit which saw the end of Nishimura who was replaced by the recently recalled Tsutsui. Tsutsui got Abe to fly out to left and then struck out Yano with a nice piece of pitching. Ohmichi followed and flew out to end the innings. For Tigers ninth, Hara went with Kroon on the grounds that even though he has squandered some leads he has not squandered a three run lead against Tigers. He faced Hiyama who unfazed hit nicely to right. Murton grounded out taking Yamato (pinch running for Hiyama) to second. Hirano struck out but then Toritani hit nicely over the infield bringing home Yamato for a run 6-4 Giants, runner on first. This was a great chance for Tigers with Arai next but he hit his first pitch to third. The throw was poor but Ogasawara managed to hold on for the final out. Arai should have waited but instead the game was over. Giants victory.

A game that Tigers could not afford to lose. Messenger's pitching had been poor and Giants had taken full advantage of this. Without the first two innings Tigers had kept the Giants bats pretty much under control. Tigers do need to tighten up their fielding, particularly the outfield which is a bit too loose at the moment. Murton had three hits and the Murton counter is now at 3 to go for 200. Toritani also hit and so the counter is now at 5 RBIs to go. Tigers desperately need to win tomorrow and so must up their level considerably over today's performance.