April 30th Standridge v Shinoda - Carp are poor

At the risk of banging the drum again we had another poor catching display from our catcher - the sixth and ninth being particularly mediocre. However, the good news is that Carp were worse and in a display which reversed the ineptness of the previous game looked amateur and out of touch. Tigers batting came alive and we continually drove in runs against some very low level pitching. Murton hit well, Ryota continued his hot streak and Standridge generally showed some good stuff. It was a shame that the crowd was so low though - 46000 watched Tigers debacle on Sunday but only 30000 watched this game. Of course, other teams would die for such a crowd but compared with what Tigers used to be able to do it is a worrying factor. It is the price for using a hat stand as a manager. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Carp    0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0  3  9 3
Tigers  0 2 1 0 4 2 2 0 X 11 14 1

Starting Lineups

Carp
1. Lewis (Left)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Hirose (Right)
5. Matsuyama (First)
6. Dobayashi (Third)
7. Abe (Short)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Shinoda (Pitcher)

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

Carp got off to a nice start as Lewis singled. Thankfully of course Kikuchi bunted him to second. Maru flew out but Hirose walked. However Matsuyama also flew out to end the innings. All standard stuff. Nishioka drove into left - Shinoda would drift in this direction all evening. Yamato hit to short who threw to second for the force out. The next throw to first missed though and the double play did not come off. As first couldn't take the ball Yamato was able to take second safely. Toritani and Murton both flew out to centre though and Yamato didn't get much further. Carp's second was quiet - like the Tigers they were trying to get after the pitcher but not making it. Tigers middle order went after Shinoda in the second with Fukudome leading off with a nice single. Arai tried to hit deep and got a nice swing but it only carried as far as Lewis' glove. Then Ryota hit through a low straight ball driving it over the right field fence for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. Fujii grounded out and Standridge popped out to second to end the innings. Carp were caught a bit flat footed by this and they had no answer in their third - no one could get on base. Lewis thought he had done so - the throw from Toritani was good but a bit late. Replays showed that Lewis had indeed beaten the throw. Tigers in the meantime returned to the attack in their third. Two outs and Toritani singled threading the ball nicely between the pitcher, short and second. He then stole second as Shinoda drifted left and Kura couldn't quite hold the pitch. The ball landed unkindly allowing the steal to go through. Murton singled left into the gap and Toritani raced home 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Fukudome flew out to end the innings.

Tigers had built a three run lead but needed to hold it and in the past two games had shown themselves incapable of doing so. Maru resisted well but struck out to start Carp's fourth. However, Hirose and Matsuyama made up for it by falling quickly. Shinoda survived Tigers fourth - there is no other way to describe it. He was hopelessly off pace and had all sorts of trouble with his control. He walked Arai and then Fujii and walking the latter is a difficult achievement. Standridge went to bunt and at first bunted along the third baseline but this rolled foul. Yoshitake (third base coach) then wandered over for a word of advice. The result was Standridge bunted into centre field into the glove of Shinoda in fact. Shinoda threw to third for the force out of Arai though Standridge was safe - runners on first and second. Nishioka then popped up to second to end the innings. Abe singled with one out in Carp's fifth. He tried to steal second but the pitch he chose was perfectly positioned for a throw out. Fujii's throw was well positioned and Toritani tagged the runner out. Kura was the final batter and he struck out. Tigers took Shinoda apart in the bottom of the fifth. He had been lucky in the fourth but not this time. Yamato singled to centre and then in what was ruled a hit Toritani singled to short. What actually happened was Abe dived and fielded about a metre away from the sack. He went to pop the ball up to Abe but instead managed to toss it backwards. It didn't roll far and Abe stretched out to get it but had too take his foot off the sack and as he did so Yamato slid in safely - runners on first and second and no outs. Next was Murton who hit a straight high and to the left. The ball literally just cleared the fence for a three run home run 6-0 Tigers. If Lewis had been inclined a sombrero would have snagged the catch it was that close. Fukudome lined out for the first out but then Arai worked his second walk of the evening. Ryota singled to centre - runners on first and second. Fujii was next and he hit right which should have loaded the bases. Instead Hirose gloved the ball and then allowed it to spill. Arai hesitated as he rounded the bases but on seeing the spill raced home 7-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Given that the pitcher was reeling it was surprising that Wada had Standridge bunt - with a 7-0 lead as well. This moved the runners round to second and third but Nishioka flew out. Even when doing well Wada is clueless. Carp needed to hit back and this time they managed it in the sixth with some truely unimaginative and poor calling. The second batter of the innings Lewis singled to put a runner on. A line drive from Kikuchi put runners on first and third. Next up was Maru who hit to Arai at first. Rather than take the out at first Arai threw to Fujii at home to try and get the runner coming in. Apart from the fact that this was an unlikely possibility the throw to Fujii was so abysmal that he couldn't do anything about it 7-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. It is nice to want to preserve a clean sheet but with a seven run lead the out was probably the better option. Hirose dug out a slider and hit left to bring in another run 7-2 Tigers, runners on first and third. Matsuyama struck out but Carp hadn't finished and Dobayashi hit right to bring in Maru 7-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. This was all a bit embarrassing so it was a relief when Abe grounded out to end the innings. Shinoda had departed at the end of the fifth and was replaced by Fukui. He wasn't any improvement though and started Tigers sixth by walking Yamato. Toritani struck out swinging but Murton singled right - runners on first and second. Fukudome walked to load the bases. Arai hit to Kikuchi who threw to Abe at second which forced out Fukudome. However, the throw to first was very poor and Matsuyama missed it completely - the ball rolling away into foul ground. Yamato was home and so was Murton 9-2 Tigers, runner on first. This was Saka pinch running for Arai. Ryota hit to short but could only ground out to end another good innings for the Tigers.

Standridge returned for Carp's seventh and found Kura, the lead off batter a bit of a struggle. Finally, Kura singled but with the margin as it was the bunt had to be eschewed and Kokubo (replacement second) popped up to second. Then Lewis drove along the first base line where Ryota (replacement first) fielded superbly and stepped on the sack for the force out. He then fired the ball to second for the double play. Tigers seventh saw Fujii fall but then Itoh (pinch hitter) singled over the infield to centre. Nishioka was next and he hit deep and far into the right centre sweet spot neatly bisecting centre and right as well. Itoh did hesitate but then raced round the bases for another run 10-3 Tigers, runner on third. Yamato grounded out to second which brought Itoh comfortably home 11-3 Tigers. Toritani walked and then Murton singled left - runners on first and second. Finally, Fukudome went for a truly low pitch but only managed to ground out to a relieved Fukui. Katoh took over for Carp's eighth and struck out Kikuchi. Then Akamatsu (replacement centre) flew out to right and finally Hirose totally misjudged one and struck out looking. Tigers eighth was quiet but to be honest they had given up and weren't really trying. Neither Ryota nor Fujii made any real attempt to play the strike out balls and were just looking for the Carp's ninth. This almost ended up being an embarrassment. Tsutsui was the pitcher. Mukae (pinch hitter) led off with a single. Next was Dobayashi who hit along the third baseline. Sekimoto (replacement third) fielded and decided to go for the double play. The throw was too late to get Mukae sliding into second and Toritani wasn't able to beat Dobayashi either - runners on first and second. Kurihara (pinch hitter) singled into centre to load the bases with no outs. Carp weren't going to win but they had the chance of creating an ignominious finish. Here luck intervened. Kura swung nicely at a high straight but his bat broke as he did so and instead of flying away into left for a timely double the ball looped into Toritani's glove for the first out. Kokubo was next and he hit to right to fly out - the man on third didn't try for home now and the Tigers fans could start the ato hitori call. This was Lewis who hit deep to left where Shunsuke (replacement left) took the catch to end the game. Tigers victory.

Carp had struggled from the beginning and never looked like winning. Some poor calling in the sixth had gifted them their runs but neither of their pitchers had been able to restrict the Tigers batters. Thankfully Tigers fielding had been of a higher standard this game and errors were much reduced. Carp are intending to pitch Kenta Maeda in the final game of the series in the hope of taking the series. Tigers though have the better chance to take this series.