September 11th Messenger v Roman - That kind of day

Tigers had targeted winning the next nine games but fell at the first hurdle in an inept display of wasted chances. Once again Ryota Arai raised question marks over his ability to hit with runners on. Certainly his brother Takahiro is not fit for the role at the moment but Ryota needs to perform better than he has been doing. This was a winnable game for Tigers particularly up until the eighth when they had three bases loaded situations, two with only one out. Given that Roman wasn't at his best either Tigers could have made more of the opportunity. Incidentally, this is the first time that Tigers have been shutout 20 times for 49 years - another depressing little record and one that will probably be broken. The crowd at Koshien was only 28300 - the lowest all season and further proof if that were needed that the Wada regime is losing the Tigers money. The bar on replacing Wada needs to be lifted and Tigers need to take immediate action to restore revenue. Of course, if this was a real company moves would be afoot to replace Sakai-owner and his team as well but this is a Japanese company and things work differently. After the glow of a series victory at Nagoya you would have thought sense would prevail but this is not the case. Iwamoto, the winner of the rubber game is being returned to the ni-gun side and Saiuchi brought up. Now, I agree that Saiuchi should have another chance but with a declared aim of winning a series of nine games surely the pitcher you want in your rotation is the one who pulled off a brilliant debut at a ground which has been the graveyard of Tigers ambitions for the past three years? One would have thought that using a pitcher Saiuchi who was nervy and lacked control in such a vital series was not the right way to go about things. It seems in Wadaland that this is the view that prevails - it may be that Saiuchi gets over his nerves but I would venture that you are more likely to get a win with the pitcher who has just won. And they wonder why they only get 28300 people at Koshien. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Hiyane (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Balentien (Right)
4. Milledge (Left)
5. Kawabata (Short)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Miyade (First)
8. Nakamura (Catcher)
9. Romano (Pitcher)

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

It could be expected that Tigers would have made more of what were very limited opponents but this being the Tigers, disappointment was in the wings. Things started brightly - Messenger following on from his superb performance the game before sailed through the Swallows first retiring the batters in order. Roman was immediately in trouble with with Uemoto hitting a double into left. Wada once again had to go and prove that he doesn't have a clue by having Yamato bunt Uemoto to third. It's the first innings not the eighth or ninth of a nil-nil tie! Toritani walked in four and Ryota Arai walked in five to load the bases as Roman found that the zone was no longer his friend. Murton screwed up - hitting his first pitch into first's glove for a line out. Then Brazell struck out swinging. A prime chance against a shaky pitcher had been wasted and wasted badly. Messenger didn't let it bother him and pitched superb ball, once again retiring the Swallows in order. Roman had an easier job with the bottom of Tigers order in their second. The batters went down one-two-three but the fact was the Tigers had recycled their lineup faster than Swallows who still had to get through the lineup once. Swallow's Kanemoto, Miyamoto led off the third by flying out and this signaled a general rush to get out for the batters. So far so good for Tigers. Uemoto led off Tigers first with a single but was forced out by Yamato. Yamato made second on Toritani's ground out. This brought Ryota Arai's first failure of the night. A fast runner on second, a pitcher not at his best and Ryota wanted to hit a home run. He flew out to left to end the innings.

Swallows picked up their first base runner in their fourth. Hiyane singled to lead off the innings. He was bunted to second in the usual waste of an out that passes for tactics here and Messenger struck out Balentien. Milledge took a dead ball which put runners on first and second but Kawabata hit a grounder to short to end the innings. Tigers fourth was quiet with Murton lining out again - this time to second. It must be said that by now Messenger was pitching as well as Roman - he walked Miyamoto to lead off the Swallows fifth. Miyade bunted Miyamoto to second and it was clear that this was Swallows game plan. Get someone one, bunt and hope. It hadn't worked in the fourth and it didn't work this innings either. Nakamura hit a grounder to third which locked the runner on second and then Roman grounded out as well. Tigers fifth saw Fujii and Messenger go down before Uemoto walked. Yamato singled left to put runners on the corner and then Toritani as he so often does in these situations walked to load the bases. Toritani should be Tigers lead off batter - he leads the Central League (not just the Tigers) in walks. He would certainly be a better choice than Uemoto. Another chance for Ryota Arai who this time grounded out to short to end the innings. All this wastefulness was going to create problems and it did so in the Swallows sixth. They tried their game plan again. Hiyane singled to lead off the innings. He was bunted to second by Tanaka. Balentien flew out in foul ground but Milledge walked. Once again the bunt had been unnecessary. The next batter was Kawabata who found it in himself to hit left through the infield. This was enough to bring home a runner 1-0 Swallows. Milledge tried for third and was tagged out to end the innings. A 1-0 lead to such a limited outfit was not ordinarily a problem except for the fact that Tigers had been wasting chances like anything. They did so again in their sixth. Murton led off with a single. Next was Brazell and you don't ask Brazell to bunt but he did ground out to first taking the runner to second. Hirano and Fujii were next and Hirano failed to do anything. Fujii hit right but flew out to an excellent catch by Balentien to end the innings.

Swallows seventh then reverted to the first third of the game - all the batters went down in order. Tigers blew another chance in the bottom. Kanemoto (pinch hitter and the rumours are that he is finally going to announce his retirement) singled to lead off the innings. It was wasted out time and Uemoto bunted the runner to second - the pinch runner being Tagami. Yamato took a dead ball first pitch as Romano played where's the zone? A wild pitch took the runners to second and third and then Toritani walked yet again! Bases loaded with one outs. Ryota Arai was next and this time the chump hit into an innings ending double play. The frustrating stupidity of the whole business is that if Wada hadn't signaled the bunt Tigers could have tied the game on the double play and then possibly broken open a tiring pitcher. Tsuru took over for Swallows eighth and Yuhei (pinch hitter) hit towards Toritani who dropped the ball to allow a runner on first. Faced with this windfall Swallows bunted - this time the bunter being Hiyane. Tanaka hit to right but could only put runners on the corner. Tsuru managed to leave one high enough for Balentien to hit a sacrifice fly to left 2-0 Swallows, runner on first. This given how many chances the Tigers had wasted was the killer run. Here Ogawa switched pitchers bringing on Yamamoto. He wasn't wonderful giving up a lead off single to Murton. Then Brazell hit into a double play which was about standard for the evening. Still Hirano singled left and Fujii singled left. Tigers had runners on first and second. Hiyama (pinch hitter) was next but he could only ground out to first to end the innings. Katoh pitched Swallows ninth with Komiyama taking over the catching duties, Fujii having been pinch run for by Shunsuke; another incomprehensible decision, why not Hirano?. Swallows three batters were blown away not having any real answer but still having the lead. Barnette closed out the game. He managed to walk Toritani with two out and once again Ryota Arai could not come up trumps, striking out swinging to end the game. Swallows victory.

Tigers had faced a limited side who had stuck religiously to their game plan and won. Tigers wasted opportunities were embarrassing with 8 hits and 6 walks and a dead ball but nothing to show for it. If anything illustrates Tigers problems with run production it is this game. Execution was inept in the extreme and Tigers if they still entertain hopes of over-taking the Swallows will have to sharpen up considerably. Fujii hadn't worked well with Tsuru in the eighth either but that is only to be expected. Toritani's role also needs further examination - he is walking too often for a No. 3 batter and he should be moved from the No. 3 spot if he doesn't hit. Tigers can still take the series though - Roman is basically Swallows best pitcher.