June 10th Messenger v Ohba - A close game

After his outburst, Murton was benched for start of game. The same could not be said of Shibata and the replacement at right was Ryota Arai who like Tagami could not fill the place. Wada really has no clue - Asai would have been a better choice here. It was one of those games where nothing goes right, the other team's incompetence goes unpunished and their wild swings get rewarded. That is not to take anything away from Ohba who pitched really well and was better than Messenger. On Messenger was it really necessary to have him pitch the eighth innings? And why was Komiyama replaced by Hiyama for a useless at bat when Hiyama would have been really useful in the ninth. Wada still hasn't learned anything. Scores

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

Hawks
1. Honda (Second)
2. Imamiya (Short)
3. Uchikawa (Right)
4. Cabrera (First)
5. Matsuda (Third)
6. Pena (Left)
7. Hasegawa (Centre)
8. Hosokawa (Catcher)
9. Ohba (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Shibata (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Takahiro Arai (Third)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Ryota Arai (Right)
8. Komiyama (Catcher)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

The start was superb, first Honda then Imamiya fell to very fine strikeouts. Uchikawa was made of sterner stuff and singled to right. This brought up Cabrera and with three balls and a strke Uchikawa decided to steal. The throw from Komiyama was superb and Hirano had all the time in the world to make the tag - a mere formality to end the innings. Hirano lined out to second which almost bowled Honda over. Then Shibata hit to second and failed to make first safely despite his head sliding dive. Toritani hit to first where Cabrera fielded and was going to throw to Ohba but some confusion ensued and Cabrera ended up stepping on the sack himself to end the Tigers first. Cabrera then led off the Hawks second by grounding out to second. Hirano fumbled but had plenty of time to pick up and make the throw. Matsuda was next and he hit a fly to right. It wasn't an easy take but Ryota Arai got his glove on it at full stretch and allowed the ball to fill. Ryota fell over and was far too slow in getting up allowing Matsuda to reach third. A costly mistake and poor fielding by Arai's younger brother. Komiyama called for an outside pitch and Messenger who was a bit wayward all afternoon went inside instead. Pena pounced on this and hit past Toritani's dive for a timely single 1-0 Hawks, runner on first. Ryota Arai's mistake had been costly. Hasegawa flew out to centre and then Hosokawa struck out looking. A one run lead wasn't anything to get worried about and Kanemoto drew a walk to start Tigers second. This merely allowed Ohba to show his class though there was some noteably stupid batting from Tigers. Takahiro Arai was first swinigng at a low outside pitch even I would have left. Kanemoto used this opportunity to take second. Then Brazell struck out to a high one and finally Ryota Arai went swinging. Once again one wondered what he was doing in the side - his batting has been unspectacular to say the least. With one out in Hawks third Honda hit a two base into the right corner. Imamiya grounded out taking Honda to third and then Uchikawa was lured to swing at a high pitch and flew out to HIrano in foul ground. Nice pitching and nice calling. Tigers third saw more strikeouts and a ground out to short from Hirano. So far Tigers had not managed a hit.

The Hawks fourth was much better, Komiyama was marshalling Messenger well and both Matsuda and Pena were induced to ground out to Messenger. Cabrera had already gone to short. Tigers picked up their second walk in their fourth. With Shibata out of the way Toritani walked. He stole second, the throw from Hosokawa being poor and too high. A good chance and Kanemoto hit to centre. Here we saw some of the Hawks luck. Toritani set off from second thinking it was a hit but the ball was taken by Hasegawa who threw to Honda at second. An easy out but the throw missed the glove of Honda and Toritani was safe. It didn't matter, Takahiro Arai hit nicely to right but a superb sliding catch by Uchikawa grabbed the final out. Things got even more lucky in Hawks fifth. Hasegawa led off with a single and Hosokawa shaped to bunt. His first attempt was a failure and then with his second pitch he converted his bunt into a swing. He got all bundled up but swung to left and looped the ball high into the corner over Kanemoto where it bounced off the wall. A flukey shot but hey, he tried to hit and this is what happened. A lesson to Tigers and Wada - avoid the bunt. Kanemoto's throw of course was weak and Hasegawa was able to round the bases and reach home 2-0 Hawks, runner on second. Ohba then tried to bunt and Messenger picked up and fired the ball to third to get Hosokawa for the out - runner on first. It was a nice illustration, a bunt results in an out and failure and a hit results in a run. Honda struck out swinging and then Imamiya flew out to centre. Still Hawks has a two run lead. Tigers fifth saw their first hit - Brazell hitting right. Once again Ohba was equal to the challenge, strikiing out Ryota Arai, Komiyama and Messenger in succession. Hawks sixth was also quiet with Cabrera and Matsuda striking out swinging. Tigers sixth saw Toritani pick up his second walk with two out - he wasn't hitting Ohba but had his pitching figured enough to walk. Once again, Toritani stole second. This time the throw was much better but Toritani was quicker. The expectations were again on Kanemoto but he snatched at a pitch and flew out to second to end the innings.

Messenger faced Pena for the start of the seventh and once again drifted. Pena swung and hit left past Arai's dive for a two base. He was pinch run for by Kidokoro. Hasegawa bunted him to third and here Tigers almost blew it with Brazell and Messenger dithering about who was going to pick up the ball and throw. It ended up being Brazell. Things looked very dangerous but Komiyama and Ryota Arai came to the rescue. Hosokawa hit to right but not deep enough and Ryota Arai was able to come in slide and roll and get up in time (this time) to throw to home. The throw was wayward but Komiyama had anticipated this and was across to cover the ball and ensure that the run did not ensue. Ohba was pinch hit for by Matsunaka who was induced to fly out to Toritani to end the innings. Nice work by Tigers to get out of the bind. With Ohba gone and only a two run deficit they could hope to exploit the Hawks weak relief. Iwasaki took over for Tigers seventh and started by getting Takahiro Arai to line out to secnd. Then Brazell grounded out to second. Finally, Imanari (pinch hitter) swung at a tempting pitch and missed. So much for Hawks weak relief. Here we saw Wada's folly, he decided he could squeeze another innings out of Messenger. This was reckless and unnecessary - just plain stupidity. The first two outs went down quickly but with Messenger plainly tiring Uchikawa singled. He then had to battle Cabrera who kept on fouling off before slipping one through the Hawks first's guard and striking him out swinging. It had been good work by Messenger and Komiyama but sheer folly by Wada. Iwasaki pitched Tigers eighth and faced Murton (pinch hitting for Komiyama). Now consider this, you have just benched this guy and he is unhappy at the moment. Is he really the right person to pinch hit for your catcher who has been having a superlative game? Should you even be thinking of replacing your catcher given that your only option left is Okazaki? Apparently, in Wada's world the answer to both questions is yes. Murton duly hit his first pitch to third for the ground out and first out. Next was Hiyama - why not Sekimoto? Hiyama struck out swinging and then so did Hirano a wasted and mishandled eighth. Hawks ninth was pitched by Fukuhara who clearly did not relish pitching to Okazaki whom he evidently considers some kind of idiot. When your a pitcher with an average of 0.84 you are entitled to form some kind of judgement on your catcher and Fukuhara could be seen shaking his head four or five times on occasion and commenting in a derogatory way about the calls. He struck out the first two batters and then Hasegawa singled left. Next was Hosokawa who also singled left and Hawks had runners on first and second. Okazaki came up to the mound to have words with Fukuhara who paid very little attention and proceeded to strike out Tamura (pinch hitter) in his own way. It is rather lucky that it was Fukuhara as Okazaki had almost blown any chance Tigers had. Why Wada thinks he is a suitable catcher is a mystery. Morifuku pitched Tigers ninth and with one out managed to walk Toritani again. Next was Kanemoto who managed to fly out in foul ground this time - two outs. Then things began to unravell for Hawks. Takahiro Arai hit to short and beat the throw to set up runners on first and second. Admittedly, the Hawks short Kidokoro was rather slow to come in and pick up. Brazell was next and drove into centre which brought home Toritani 2-1 Hawks, runners on first and third. Now Hawks were worried but who was next? Sekimoto and here we had the folly of wasting Hiyama on an unnecessary at bat in the eighth. Hiyama has the temprement for this kind of situation whilst if Sekimoto hits it is through luck. This time Sekimoto hit to short for the final out and the end of the game. Hawks victory.

It had been a very lucky victory but Wada's inability to judge small things had ensured that the loss was inevitable. Yes the ninth was exciting but with Sekimoto at bat it was really hope rather than anticipation. Of course, Hiyama might have failed as well but there was more chance of him succeeding and this was the kind of situation that you use your best pinch hitter for. But then this is also indicative of Wada's approach using his best players in situations that don't need their talents and wasting them. One thinks of bringing Fujikawa on in non save games and his pointless changes to the batting lineup which neither add runs nor motivate the players. Hawks had looked much more organised throughout the game and with Ohba's pitching had always looked like they were going to win. Tigers had done well on just three hits and Hawks rather poorly on ten but Hawks had the victory and this is what counts.