August 3rd Iwata v Ohtake - Goodbye Koshien

With the start of this series Tigers will not play in Koshien until August 31st. They do have two series in Kyocera Dome but all their other games are road games. A hard schedule. One notes though that if Tigers continue to waste scoring opportunities as they did in this game they are going to have a long tiring trip. Three runs on 12 hits is not adequate return given that the Carp were able to score four runs on only 6 hits. Tigers problem all season has been the inability to hit with runners on and this has to be laid at the door of the coaches who have fail to develop consistency and failed to focus on their RBI men. Brazell is now in ni-gun 'to work on his swing' but he is the second highest RBI scorer in the team. If he isn't playing he doesn't drive in RBIs. If Tigers don't score RBIs they don't win. The more people who can drive in RBIs play, the more chance of scoring RBIs there is. It all seems rather simple but it is something that Wada and co don't seem able to grasp. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 12 0
Carp    0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 X 4  6 0

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Amaya (Centre)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Soyogi (Short)
4. Eldred (First)
5. Dobayashi (Third)
6. Mukae (Left)
7. Hirose (Right)
8. Shirahama (Catcher)
9. Ohtake (Pitcher)

Tigers first opportunity to waste a scoring chance would come in the very first innings. Hirano led off with a single to left. The inevitable stupid bunt from Yamato followed taking him to second. Toritani walked proving just how pointless the bunt was - this happens fairly often. Arai struck out swinging but a wild pitch from Ohtake who was bending over backwards to help the Tigers took the runners to second and third. Here was a chance for Kanemoto and he blew it, flying out to centre. Iwata retired the first two Carp batters but then walked Soyogi. However, Eldred struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers second saw the second wasted chance. It happened like this. With one out Ryota Arai singled left. Fujii flew out and then Iwata hit a two base into left setting up runners on second and third again. This time Hirano blew it grounding out to second. Tigers really do need to take these chances if they want to win. Carp's first real chance came in their second. With one out Mukae walked and stole second. Hirose's ground out to third took the runner to third base with Shirahama, the last recognised batter, next. Of course he was deliberately walked to get at Ohtake who hit a grounder to short to end the innings. Finally in their third Tigers were able to get a run on the board. Yamato hit to third and beat the throw. Toritani singled right and Yamato used his speed to get to third. Takahiro Arai hit his first pitch to short and the temptation of the double play was just too much; Carp going for this option. This meant that Yamato was able to scamper home 1-0 Tigers. Kanemoto then grounded out to short but Tigers finally had a run. Carp's third showed them unable to respond. With two out Soyogi singled and then tried to steal second. This time Fujii got the throw right - an occaisional occurence and Soyogi was out to end the innings.

Tigers fourth was another example of what Tigers could do if they really tried though with a stupid bunt involved. Murton singled left and then Ryota Arai hit a two base which put runners on second and third. One almost gets the impression that with a team playing better Ohtake wouldn't have lasted two innings; he was that hittable. Fujii hit right bringing in a run 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Here we had the stupidity of Wada fully displayed. No outs and even a double play would have resulted in a run. Instead he had Iwata bunt. Fujii reached second and Ryota Arai stayed on third. A pure waste of an out. Hirano hit a grounder to short which brought home Ryota Arai 3-0 Tigers, runner on third. The final batter Yamato also grounded out to short ending the innings. The bunt hadn't even played a part in the scoring - it really was useless. Iwata then pitched very well, retiring Carp's four, five six in order to maintain a comfortable three run lead. Tigers fifth saw them take the foot off the gas. Whilst they should have been pushing to score more, they relaxed and all we saw was a two out single to Kanemoto. Nothing came of this. This proved to be a big mistake as Carp bounced back in their fifth. Hirose struck out but then Shirahama singled. Fujii's calls were dismal and Ohtake also singled - runners on first and second. Amaya grounded out to short who went for the runner going for third but Carp still had runners on first and second. Here Iwata intervened with a wild pitch which took the runners to second and third. Then Kikuchi showed how it should be done singling left on a full count and bringing in both runners 3-2 Tigers, runner on first. Remember Tigers wasted exactly the same situation in the first and second innings. Soyogi lined out but the game was close again. In Tigers sixth Fujii singled with one out and then was bunted to second by Iwata. Hirano just grounded out to second and the innings was over. Carp's sixth was quiet and for the second time in the game they didn't get a runner on base.

Tigers seventh was Ohtake's last innings and amazingly given how poor he was he had lasted seven innings and given up only three runs. This innings was also quiet and all batters fell in order. Iwata who had given up two runs and pitched much better still held a narrow lead and Carp's seventh was also quiet. Tigers eighth would prove to be their last wasted chance and they would pay for it. Kanemoto who had been dormant all evening suddenly errupted with a lead off double. He was pinch run for by Shunsuke who took third on a wild pitch from Sarfate, the replacement for Ohtake. Ryota Arai walked in four and then stole second. Things were nicely set up but Fujii struck out swinging - well he is only an occasional batter. Next was Hiyama (pinch hitter) who worked the count full and then took a dead ball. Bases loaded with Hirano next. He failed flying out to right to end the innings. For Carp's eighth Wada brought on Tsutsui who struggled with Fujii's calls walking Amaya. He was bunted to second by Kikuchi - and think, this guy has just driven in two runs and you have him bunt? Here though Wada panicked and switched pitchers bringing on Fukuhara. Carp could sense this and redoubled their efforts. Maeda (pinch hitter) tried to hit deep and flew out but Amaya tagged up and took third. Then Eldred whacked a nice double to left centre 3-3 scores tied, runner on second. Dobayashi drove his second pitch left bringing in Kimura (pinch running for Eldred) 4-3 Carp, runner on first. Finally, Mukae flew out to right to end the innings. Carp had turned the game on its head and punished the Tigers for their profligacy. Mickolio pitched Tigers ninth and got Imanari (pinch hitter) to ground out. Then Toritani grounded out to second. Takahiro Arai singled to centre but the next batter Sekimoto (pinch hitter) hit his first pitch to third to ground out and end the game. Carp victory.

An unlikely victory but one founded on taking your chances and not wasting them like Tigers. Tigers had three opportunities where they failed to score with runners in good scoring postions. Carp had one. Iwata had pitched well but the relief hadn't. Tigers coaching is really failing the players, batting, pitching, battery - it all isn't working and one cannot see Tigers winning many games this month either.