August 25th Standridge v Ono - Kanemoto loses his cool

The main incident of an incident filled game was Kanemoto getting angry about being tagged out at first. Suffice to say the replay showed Kanemoto to be wrong. We also had an example of stupid head sliding with Morita doing so to reach third and so missing out on the chance of an inside the park home run. Fujii was replaced again and Komiyama did well behind the plate. Still Tigers can be more satisfied with this result than the Giants who gave up a three run lead. True Tigers should have made more of Ono who was dismal but they showed nice application in getting to Giants relief to work the tie. Tigers remain in fourth and if they are to make a viable challenge for the pennant desperately need to boost their power output. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0  0 3 14 1
Giants  0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 3  6 0

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Shibata (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Murton (Right)
6. Kanemoto (Left)
7. Morita (First)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Standridge (Pitcher)

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Fujimura (Second)
3. Chono (Centre)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Takahashi (Right)
6. Abe (Catcher)
7. Ryall (Third)
8. Kamei (First)
9. Ono (Pitcher)

Mayumi reshuffled his lineup again, putting Hirano back at second and Shibata at centre. He obviously felt it was safe to trust Shibata and was vindicated as Shibata didn't do badly in centre. Morita started at first and wasn't so good but it's early days yet. Tigers should have made more of Ono though who was poor throughout the match. He started with a lead off hit to Hirano - who hit to first and was quicker onto the base. Shibata bunted him to second and then Toritani hit to left with Hirano only making third. What was the point of the bunt if the runner isn't going to try for home. Arai struck out swinging - poor batting here and then Murton grounded to short to end the innings. A one out, runners on first and third situation hadn't been used properly. Giants first was quiet and Standridge who would show good stuff throughout his session was in control. Tigers second was also quiet and the batters did nothing. As I mentioned Standridge showed some good stuff. Unfortunately, he also mixed it in with some very poor stuff. With one out in the Giants second we got to see the first example of this. Takahashi took a swing and hit to right for a solo home run 1-0 Giants. Abe grounded out but then Ryall hit to third. Arai spilled the ball in front of himself but was able to pick up and throw the ball to Morita at first. The ball bounced in front of Morita but it was an even bounce and Morita dropped the ball. Ryall was safe on first. Kamei hit a peeved Standridge to right and Giants had runners on first and second. The final batter was Ono though and he grounded out to short. Hirano responded in Tigers third, hitting to left but was forced out by Shibata. Toritani then flew out to end the innings. Standridge's troubles continued in Giants third. Sakamoto singled to left to start the innings. Fujimura bunted him to second. Chono hit to right to set up runners on first and third. Standridge was really struggling by now. Ramirez flew out to second which brought up Takahashi again. While he was at the plate Chono stole second - Fujii being unimpressive again - now Giants had runners on second and third. Takahashi hit to centre - it wasn't an impressive hit coming off the bottom of Takahashi's bat and evading HIrano's last ditch dive but it was effective bringing home both runners 3-0 Giants, runner on first. Standridge walked Abe in four and it looked like the Giants could be in for a big innings. However, Ryall struck out swinging and Tigers had escaped. Still the Giants looked to be in control with a three run lead and a reeling Standridge.

Arai led Tigers fightback in dramatic fashion leading off with a solo home run to start Tigers first. This was a nice smooth hit into the left stand 3-1 Giants. Then Murton hit to left and it looked like Tigers would organise a fightback. There then followed an unbelievable bit of stupidity which in the light of the previous game should never have happened. I have written before of Abe's awareness of Tigers runners trying to steal particularly on the strike out ball and once again we saw this in operation. Kanemoto was at the plate and struck out swinging at which Murton set off. Abe's throw was good and once again Murton was caught off base and tagged out. Don't they ever learn? It was a pointless out and completely destroyed the momentum of the innings. Morita was the final batter, flying out to third to end the innings. Mayumi or the coaches need to speak to the players and stop these pointless attempts at stealing. They have failed with Abe to often to continue. Giants fourth was quiet and Standridge was pitching with more confidence -- he allowed no base runners. With one out in Tigers fifth Standridge surprisingly hit to centre. Hirano forced him out grounding out to second but was safe on first. Then Shibata hit to centre - a kind of hesitant apologetic shot but safe - runners on on first and third. This was the end of Ono who had struggled throughout his session. He was replaced by Takagi who faced Toritani. Toritani hit to short where Sakamoto fielded and threw to second for to get the force out. Here, at last we saw a useful use of Shibata's speed. He was too quick and had slid in safely. Hirano was home as well 3-2 Giants, runners on first and second. Takagi was replaced by Nomaguchi and he faced Arai. He hit his first pitch to right centre - it was a fine shot but Takahashi running round took a fine catch to end the innings. That really was a fine piece of work to match Shunsuke's take of the night before. Standridge did well in the bottom, once again retiring the batters in order. Tigers were creeping closer and closer. In Tigers sixth Nomaguchi retired the first two batters but then Morita hit to right centre where the ball evaded Takahashi to hit the wall. Morita is fast for a big lad and rounded second heading for third. The relay came in as Morita dived head first to third and Ryall failed to take, the ball rolling away into foul ground. Morita could only lie there winded - if he had slid in feet first he would have been able to get up and make home. Tigers could have had the tying run in that innings. The next batter was Fujii but he was pinch hit for by Sekimoto. Fujii hadn't been calling well and Sekimoto was judged more likely to drive in Morita. However, he hit to first for a straightforward ground out and the Giants lead was still intact. Standridge started Giants sixth by walking Takahashi on a full count. However, Abe hit his first pitch into a double play and then Ryall flew out to Kanemoto to end the innings.

Standridge would not pitch the seventh and Uemoto took his place in the batting lineup. He grounded out to second and then Hirano lined out to short. Shibata hit to centre again, a much more confident assured shot but Toritani put the ball into orbit and it came down to land in Ryalls glove to end the innings. Watanabe took Giants seventh - he has been pitching well of late and deserved his chance. Kamei led the innings off and was in the mood to be aggressive hitting to right but Murton took an easy catch. Furuki (pinch hitter) followed and took a painful dead ball on his shin. Hara had Sakamoto bunt him to second which was a waste and practically killed the chance of a score. Even with Tani (pinch hitter) Giants couldn't do anything as Tani flew out to Hirano at second to end the innings. Romero started Tigers eighth and Arai led off with a hit to right. Then Murton hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second Kwith no outs. This was the end of Romero who doesn't prosper against Tigers. He was replaced by Yamaguchi. Kanemoto hit nicely to right and Arai charged round the bases to reach home safely 3-3 scores tied. Murton stopped safely at second but Kanemoto wandered beyond first. The throw came in and Kanemoto was a bit slow in getting started back to the base. As he ran back the short distance he gave a little jump which slowed him down when he slid. Kamei tagged him just before he touched base and he was out. He thought he was safe and protested but the umpire was adamant. The umpire then said something which incensed Kanemoto and if coaches and other umpires hadn't gotten in the way one wouldn't have given much for the umpire's chances. It was stupid by the umpire who was quite correct to rule Kanemoto out and also unnecessary. Kanemoto eventually returned to the dugout looking very displeased. Asai (pinch hitter) was next but he struck out with a foolish swing, Mayumi wasn't having much luck with his pinch hitters and finally Komiyama grounded out to short to end a timely innings for the Tigers. Enokida started Giants eighth and gave up a lead off hit to Chono. However, try as they might Giants couldn't get Chono off first. Ramirez was the first and he put the ball straight up where it came down into Komiyama's glove. Takahashi was next and this time it was Arai who too the skier, both he and Komiyama going for it and Komiyama ducking down to let Arai take it. Abe flew out to centre where Shibata took the catch. Yamaguchi gave up a lead off hit to Yamato (replacement first) and he was bunted to second by Hirano. Shibata grounded out to first which took Yamato to third and then Toritani grounded out as well to end the innings. As usual the bunt had wasted an out. Fujikawa pitched Giants ninth and made fools of them all - striking out Terauchi looking and then toying with both Kamei and Furuki before getting them to strike out swinging - a very fine innings.

Extra time was short. Kubo took the Tigers tenth and finished the innings striking out Hiyama looking. No one had made base but one can't really comment favourably about the use of pinch hitters by Mayumi. The best one can say was that it was amateurish. For Giants tenth the pitcher was Fukuhara who may be finding a new role as a relief pitcher. There is still quite a way to go but the signs are looking promising. He got Sakamoto to snatch at one and fly out to first and then struck out Ohmura swinging and Chono looking to end the game. Tied game.

Tigers could be more satisfied with the result than Giants. They had fought back from a three run deficit to tie the game. In fact they could have won it if Morita hadn't done a koko yakyu trick and slid in head first. Still he is young and one hopes will learn. Hirano will never learn but one has to accept this as one of his quirks for which he makes up in other ways. Mayumi had done well with the pitching and with the replacement of Fujii but his use of pinch hitters was abysmal. Still Tigers can return to Koshien now with a shi no rodo record of 9-9-2 and 1 postponed (not bad). They still do need to add power though.