May 22nd Messenger v Hoashi - A run

Filling in the blanks now and a delayed report on the game against the Lions. Tigers hadn't scored a run for 32 straight innings before this game and would need another five innings to get a rather interesting run. The game was lost in extra innings though. Even the 'black Tigers' uniforms failed to motivate the team who played like a bunch of demoralised lemons. Still they held their own reasonably well which shows just how much talent they do have. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Centre)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Fernandez (First)
6. Asamura (Left)
7. Akiyama (Right)
8. Sumitani (Catcher)
9. Hoashi (Pitcher)

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

Two struggling teams faced off with lots to prove. Messenger would start well retiring 1-2-3 easily but then Hoashi returned the complement. Nakamura led off Lions second by striking out looking but then Fernandez walked. Asamura struck out and as he did Fernandez tried to steal second. He was thrown out to end the innings. It is surprising to see Fernandez trying to steal, rather like - one would imagine - Brazell stealing second. Tigers second was quiet as the batters fell in order. The first serious threat came from the bat of Akiyama who hit a two base leading off the Lions third. He made third on Sumitani's ground out but then Hoashi failed to bring him home. There was still Kataoka but he flew out to end the innings. The Tigers third followed exactly the same pattern. Brazell led off with a two base hit. Uemoto's ground out took him to third and this time Messenger was the failing pitcher. Finally Shunsuke grounded out to end the innings.

Lions fourth started with a strike out looking for Kuriyama but then Nakajima walked. This was Messenger throughout the game, unable to maintain consistency. Nakamura struck out but Fernandez hit to centre - runners on first and second. However, Asamura grounded out to short to end the innings. Hirano led off Tigers fourth with a hit to right. Murton was next and hit into a double play to end that chance and then Arai flew out and the innings was over. With one out in Lions fifth Sumitani hit and was bunted to second by Hoashi. Kataoka walked but then Kuriyama hit a grounded to Hirano and that was the third out. Kanemoto led off the Tigers fifth with a hit but it was Johjima's turn to hit into the double play and then Brazell grounded out to second. So far things had been tight with both teams struggling to string anything together and being unable to convert runners. Things changed in the Lions sixth. Messenger had retired the first two batters and faced Fernandez. His pitch was not the best and was hammered into the centre stand for a solo home run 1-0 Lions. Asamura tried to follow suit but hit to right and flew out. Uemoto grounded out to start off Tigers sixth but Toritani (pinch hitter) hit to left. Shunsuke grounded out but moved Toritani round and Hirano hit to centre moving Toritani to third. With Murton at the plate - Hirano went for second to increase the chances of scoring. Lions were ready for this and went after Hirano giving Toritani the chance to go for home. This worked and even though Hirano was out Toritani made home safely 1-1 scores tied. This was very smart work by the Tigers and a bit careless by the Lions.

Enokida took over for Lions seventh and was secure only really taking a long time to dispose of Hoashi. Murton who hadn't been able to finish his at bat walked but then Arai hit the ball straight to Hoashi for a double play. Kanemoto flew out to first snatching at the ball in his usual way. The eighth was quiet - both pitchers getting the outs without too much trouble. Mayumi obviously gambled on a sayonara victory as he brought on Kyuji to pitch Lions ninth. The first stage worked nicely with Nakamura and Fernandez striking out swinging and Asamura flying out. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) led off Tigers ninth with a hit. He was pinch run for by Araki who was bunted to second by Uemoto. Lions decided to walk Hirano to set up the double play and here things began to go wrong for Tigers. Murton hit his first pitch to right but Araki didn't go for home and stopped on third - bases were loaded. It would have been a nice idea to try and chance right's arm - what is a pinch runner for? Arai major grounded out to second which stopped the run scoring and then Arai minor flew out to end the innings. Tigers need to take these chances and execute much better than they have been doing.

The game of course went into extra innings after Tigers failure to take their chance and Kobayashi took the mound for the Lions tenth. Sumitani hit with one out and was bunted to second by Hara. However, Kataoka struck out swinging and the innings was over. Tigers tenth was pitched by Graman who dealt with the bottom of Tigers batting order efficiently. So to Lions eleventh where Tigers received a lesson on how to execute. Kuriyama grounded out but then Nakajima hit to left. Kobayashi (for he was still the pitcher) went into his normal panic mode and threw a wild pitch. This took Nakajima to second but Johjima's throw was poor and he was able to make third on the error. Nakamura grounded out to short where Uemoto made sure that the runner didn't leave third before throwing to first for the out. Fernandez was walked which set up the double play. Next was Hirao (pinch hitter) who hit to left bringing the runner home 2-1 Lions, runners on first and third. This was the end of Kobayashi who seems to lack the nerve for difficult situations at the moment. He was replaced by Kojima who struck out Asayama to end the innings. Tigers still had the eleventh to redress the situation but managed to mess it up. Graman was the pitcher and wasn't secure at all. Hiyama (pinch hitter) drove his first pitch into centre. However, Lin (pinch hitter) chose the wrong pitch and hit into a double play. Still Lions offered Tigers another chance with Hirano working a walk but then Murton hit his first pitch into the glove of centre to end the innings. Lions victory.

This was all about execution. Tigers had had the chance to win the game but had failed to execute. Lions had wasted their chances as well but had managed to execute when it was needed. Tigers should have wrapped the game up in the ninth but instead had blown the chance and with it the game.