May 13th Messenger v Kuniyoshi - Good production

Did Messenger have an off day or did he fall victim to Fujii? Actually it was hard to tell this game certainly Fujii was his usual ininspired self but thankfully BayStars starting pitcher was even worse. He did have an off day and was removed after the second. By then Tigers were pretty much unassailable and given the strength of their relief it was almost certain that they would win despite Fujii. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Aranami (Centre)
2. Kajitani (Short)
3. Tsutsugoh (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Nakamura (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Salazar (Second)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Kuniyoshi (Pitcher)

After the sublime we had the ridiculous. Kuniyoshi was hopeless having no control and no idea of where the zone was. He started by walking Toritani on a full count - fair enough these things happen with leadoff batters. Hirano was next and after following Wada's direction to bunt changed direction and hit nicely to left. This put Toritani on third with Hirano on first and no outs. So much better than the stupid bunt which gives the opposition a breathing space. Murton then took full advantage of this and drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Next was Kanemoto and what would he do? Would he hit - unsurprisingly he did nothing and drew his usual walk but with the bases loaded it was an oshidashi 1-0 Tigers. Arai hit into centre but Hirano checked and didn't go for home - he should have. Asai hit weakly infield to third who threw to second for the first out but the double play didn't come off (in fact it was never really on) and Hirano was home 2-0 Tigers and runners on first and third. So with two outs and Brazell next Kuniyoshi could hope to get out of the innings relatively lightly. But things don't always work out as planned and Brazell hit powerfully into right centre to bring in both runners 4-0 Tigers, runner on second. Finally Fujii grounded out to end the innings but Tigers had started well. One hoped that Messenger would have an easy ride but he too struggled. Aranami singled to right but was forced out by Kajitani's ground out to short. Kajitani tried to steal second and with Fujii's throw being too high was successful. Tsutsugoh walked and things looked worrying. Ramirez came to the rescue though and flew out in foul ground. This left Nakamura who struck out swinging to end the innings. Kuniyoshi returned for his second innings which was really pushing someone's luck. Messenger he struck out but Toritani walked. Toritani then stole second rather nicely - the throw from Kurobane was very good but Toritani slid in nicely under the tag. Note - do not try to head dive - slide you have more chance. Murton walked which brought up Kanemoto. He hit a grounder to short which was fielded by Kajitani who threw to first. The throw was way too high and Nakamura had not chance. Toritani was home 5-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Arai walked to load the bases and this brought the decision from the Yokohama bench that Kuniyoshi had to go. Tanaka took over and faced Asai who hit past third where Kajitani fielded. His only option was to throw to second and he did so but the throw pulled Salazar off the base and Arai was safe. Murton, of course, was home 6-0 Tigers. The bases were still loaded but Brazell hit to first to ground out and end the innings. After all this excitement BayStars second was rather quiet and the worries that haunted Messenger in the first had been banished. The batters went down in order. Tanaka did the same in the Tigers third retiring the batters in order and this time getting Toritani to ground out to end the innings. Messenger though wasn't exactly pitching well and throwing to Fujii one can understand why. The calling was depressing at times. Anyway with two out in BayStars third Kajitani singled right. However, Tsutsugoh struck out swinging to end the innings.

Fujie took over from Nakata for Tigers fourth. He handled the innings well and retired the batters in order. BayStars fourth was perhaps Messenger's best innings. Ramirez did lead off with a single but Nakamura was induced to hit into a double play so simple it could have been a practice move. Then Messenger finished off the innings striking out Yoshimura looking with a very fine pitch. Tigers fifth was also quiet - after the shock of the first two innings, the BayStars relief was very ably keeping Tigers batters under control. In fact at this stage Tigers had generated a total of three hits only. BayStars fifth started quietly with Salazar flying out. Then Kurobane swung and hit infield. Arai ran in and fielded well throwing to Brazell on the bounce. For some reason Brazell didn't take - the ball was in the palm of his glove but he swatted it away and Kurobane was safe on first. Morimoto (pinch hitter) singled to left to set up runners on first and second. Next was Aranami who scooped one up which luckily landed just beyond Hirano. Hirano's throw to second was lightning fast but so was Morimoto and he was safe - bases loaded. Kajitani struck out swinging for the second out - a huge groan went out from the BayStars fans. Then Tsutsugoh hit right beating Hirano's dive and bringing in two runs 6-2 Tigers, runners on first and third. Ramirez was next and luckily he deflected the ball into right along the baseline for a two base hit. If he had aimed to hit there he would have grounded out. Still it brought home another run 6-3 Tigers, runners on second and third. Things looked really dangerous but Messenger was able to strike out Nakamura to end the innings. Tigers still had a comfortable lead. Kobayashi took over for Tigers sixth and retired the batters in order. Wada obviously felt that it was worth risking Messenger for another innings. This one proved fairly comfortable and no BayStars reached base.

Tigers seventh proved a bit of a struggle for Kobayashi. Hirano went fairly easily but both Murton and Kanemoto fought hard before succumbing. Tsutsui pitched BayStars seventh and was more aggressive. The first batter he faced Kinjoh (pinch hitter) was rather lucky in that his fly landed safely. Aranami and Kajitani were both blasted out Tsutsui style but Tsutsugoh took more work before flying out to right. Kikuchi pitched Tigers eighth and he had no problems with the batters, Arai, Asai and Brazell all grounding out. BayStars eighth saw Enokida who continued his newly acquired policy of ignoring Fujii's calls and retiring the batters in order. Yoshimura though did prove a bit hard to move. Fujii started Tigers ninth by flying out but then Sekimoto (replacement third) singled left. This saw the replacement of Kikuchi with Shinohara. This move smacked of panic and was probably unnecessary. He started well striking out Toritani looking but Hirano singled to centre to set up runners on first and second. Then Murton hit hard over Aranami who couldn't get back in time for a timely two base. This brought both runners home 8-3 Tigers. Kanemoto grounded out to first to end the innings. One gives him credit for the oshidashi but he still has to drive a run in since moving to fourth. Watanabe took over for BayStars ninth and he definitely doesn't get on with Fujii. He started the innings by walking Salazar. Both Shimozono (pinch hitter) and Koike (pinch hitter) flew out but Aranami managed a single to centre and BayStars had runners on first and second with two outs. With a five run lead though Tigers were never troubled and Kajitani was induced to ground out to second to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers had had rather an easy ride and had scored 8 runs on six hits - a very nice production rate. Of course withouth Kuniyoshi's terrible pitching they would have never made it but then you take your chances when you get them. Messenger picked up the win of course but despite bursts hadn't really impressed though this has to be attributed in part to Fujii's abysmal calling. If the latter isn't bleeding runs he's wasting pitches. BayStars had done well after Kuniyoshi but Tigers had proved too strong. On to the tedium of inter-league next.