May 30th Iwata v Greisinger - Just another day at the office

We had the same old rubbish - now it may be thought that Tigers fighting back from a six run deficit to tie is a cause for celebration and in certain respects it is. However, the usual ineptness was prevalent and we cannot count on this being the start of something. After two games at No. 4 Murton was replaced by Kanemoto who was as ever useless. Fujii didn't get on with any of his pitchers and Wada made his usual stupid decision. Wada wants to continue with Kanemoto at No. 4 for the whole inter league at least and doesn't seem to be concerned about what this does to his credibility as a manager. Tigers also continue to struggle to hit home runs though one would have thought that this game was an ideal opportunity. Sadly, our opponents seem to have no such difficulty. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Marines
1. Okada (Centre)
2. Nemoto (Short)
3. Iguchi (Second)
4. Saburo (Left)
5. Kakunaka (Right)
6. Imae (Third)
7. Ohmatsu (First)
8. Satozaki (Catcher)
9. Greisinger (Pitcher)

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

The start of the game and Iwata had a fairly easy ride with the first innings. It was interesting to note though that the batters took progressively more pitches, Okada, 2, Nemoto 4 and Iguchi 6. Greisinger started nervously and Hirano led off with a single to left. Of course Wada was going to have Yamato lay down the stupid bunt but this proved difficult and with the count at 2-2 Yamato tried to hit moving Hirano to second. Toritani then got hold of straight ball and hit it smoothly into left centre for a three base hit - he would miss out on the cycle by a home run. Hirano was home 1-0 Tigers, runner on third. A sacrifice fly would have been nice but Kanemoto struck out swinging. Murton lined out to second where Iguchi would have a torrid game to end the innings. Marines second saw Tigers escape a dangerous situation. Saburo singled left and then Kakunaka hit to centre to set up runners on first and second. The next two batters Imae and Ohmatsu struck out swinging and then Satozaki was deliberately walked to load the bases and get at Greisinger. He struck out swinging and Tigers lead was intact. Tigers second saw Brazell and Arai down but Fujii singled left. Of course nothing came of this and Iwata flew out to left. Marines started to bust the game open in the third though. Okada bunted to Iwata who couldn't handle it and made first safely. Nemoto bunted as well and Iwata fielded but then his throw to second was too slow and missed. The runners used this to reach second and third. Iguchi singled to centre bringing in a run 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and third. Saburo hit into a successful double play this time but Nemoto made home safely 2-1 Marines. Finally, Kakunaka grounded out to end the innings. Tigers third saw Hirano managing to ground out to Satozaki - a rare feat and one which had you thinking it would be another inept performance by the Tigers. Yamato walked. Toritani flew out and Kanemoto had his second chance to do something useful - he flew out to second to end the innings.

If the Marines had seemed somewhat farcical, the fourth was worse. By now Iwata and Fujii were not communicating at all and the Marines took full advantage. Imae singled right and then Ohmatsu singled left to set up runners on first and third. Satozaki hit his first pitch right to bring in the run 3-1 Marines, runners on first and second. Greisinger bunted the runners to second and third and then Okada hit to first and beat the throw to load the bases. Nemoto hit to third and Arai went to home to get the runner - two outs bases loaded. Here Wada panicked and decided to change pitchers. He brought Kubo on as relief. Now Kubo and Fujii do not get on and Kubo also is struggling so to say the choice was inept is understating the matter by a long way. Kubo faced Iguchi and his third pitch was a straight ball down the middle of the zone. Iguchi slammed this into the centre left stand for a grand slam 7-1 Marines. Saburo grounded out to end the innings but the Tigers were dead and buried - well not quite. Greisinger then proceeded to play anything you can do I can do better. Murton singled right and then Brazell popped one up for Iguchi to take. He dropped the ball and Tigers had runners on first and second. Arai flew out to right which did take Murton round to third. Next was Fujii who swung and hit right bringing in the run 7-2 Marines, runners on first and second. Saka (pinch hitter) flew out and then Hirano walked to load the bases. Cue Yamato who does well in these situations with a nervous pitcher. He hit left and the ball landed just in front of Saburo. The runners set off round the bases and all three of them made it safely home with Yamato on second 7-5 Marines. Maybe Greisinger should have been replaced but he wasn't and Toritani stroked a two base to right 7-6 Marines runner on second. Finally, Nishimura acted and brought on Ohtani. This was another chance for Kanemoto who hit a grounder to first to end the innings. Tigers were still in with a chance. Watanabe took over for the Marines fifth and he also doesn't get on with Fujii. This manifested itself with Imae going left with one out for a solo home run 8-6 Marines and a two run margin restored. Ohmatsu singled but neither Satozaki nor Ohtani could move him off first. Tigers fifth was quiet - it looked like the fight back of the fourth was all going to be in vain. This impression was reinforced in Marines sixth. Okada hit to HIrano who messed up allowing Okada to reach first safely. A bunt was laid down taking the runner to second and this one worked. Iguchi singled to centre and the runner was home 9-6 Marines, runner on first. Fujii was really screwing up this game. Saburo struck out but Kakunaka walked. Finally, Imae grounded out to short. Nakaushiro took over for Tigers sixth and was poor. With Fujii out he walked Ryota Arai (pinch hitter). Hirano hit left and then Nakaushiro dead balled Yamato to load the bases. Another pitching change followed and Uchi took over. Toritani singled to centre bringing in a run 9-7 Marines, bases loaded. With one out another chance for Kanemoto and with pitching this bad surely he would do something this time. He flew out to right and then Murton grouned out to second to end the innings. Yet another chance wasted and more proof of Kanemoto's unsuitability for the No. 4 slot.

Fukuhara took over for the Marines seventh and with two out gave up a hit to Kanazawa (pinch hitter) This time Okada grounded out to second and NIrano made no mistake. Masuda pitched Tigers seventh and had no problems retiring the batters. Tsutsui was just as effective in Marines eighth and they struggled to get going. Still they had a two run lead. Masuda ran into trouble in Tigers eighth though. Shibata (pinch hitter) hit to centre. Hirano hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Then Wada had Yamato bunt the runners to second and third - a totally stupid move. When Yamato does drive in runs he drives in a lot. Here was a great opportunity for Yamato but Wada wasted the out. Toritani hit a sacrifice fly to left which brought in a run 9-8 Marines, runner on second. Next was Kanemoto who did manage a single but this only took the runner to third - a half failure. Then the big mistake. Murton grounded out to Iguchi who fumbled and failed to pick up in time. Hirano was home 9-9 scores tied and runners on first and second. Brazell's chance to snatch the lead but he grounded out to the pitcher. Marines had thrown the victory away. Tigers still needed to hold onto the tie and for Marines ninth we saw Fujikawa. He was in blistering form striking out all three Marines. Now Tigers still had an opportunity to snatch an unlikely victory. Yabuta was the pitcher and with Arai out Hiyama (pinch hitter) singled. He was stupid bunted to by Shibata which kind of reduced victory chances. Hirano was deliberately walked and Wada sent Sekimoto (pinch hitter) to the plate. He also walked and the bases were loaded. It looked like the Marines were going to commit collective suicide. Maybe Toritani could have worked an oshidashi but he hit to short for the ground out and the final out. Tied game.

Tigers had fought back well but one must think that the Marines had rather thrown the victory away. One hopes this result will motivate Tigers but one must be cautious as well. Poor management by Wada and communication problems are causing serious problems for Tigers and they won't always be this lucky. It is probable that for Iguchi's error in the eighth, Marines would have won. Tigers need to improve.