May 10th Messenger v Ishikawa - This time Messenger does it all

Things are beginning to get a bit worrying. Messenger threw a complete game shutout but on 142 pitches. He threw 125 in his previous start and it seems that Tigers management are ignoring pitch limits for starters. It's all very well but with arms needed later in the season it is also a short-sighted policy. The season is a long haul but the management doesn't seem to realise this. Coupled with mediocre catchers whose poor calling wastes pitches and Tigers could well lose momentum in the final stretch. Komiyama has been dropped down to the second team with the inferior Imanari forming the third catcher. One shudders at the lack of imagination of the coaching staff. The rotation is full of veterans who are of dubious value - where are all the young pitchers? Coupled with that is the idea to remove the pitching limits on Fujinami in June and burn his arm out as well. A bit negative for a victory but honestly this was not a stellar pitching display. It was good but Messenger should have been rested after the sixth. It is an indication of the laziness of the coaching team as well - they can't develop a good relief team and so don't try. One can only hope that they get away with it but given previous performances one doesn't hold out much hope. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

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

Swallows
1. Hiyane (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Milledge (Left)
4. Balentien (Right)
5. Iwamura (Third)
6. Hatakeyama (First)
7. Morioka (Short)
8. Nakamura (Catcher)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

Once again and puzzingly Shunsuke was preferred at right to the hot Itoh. Fujii was moved to seventh in the lineup - a step fully justified by his batting performance. This game was poorly attended though and only 10,000 fans watched it. Most Tigers fans though looked on in askeance at the over-pitching of Messenger. Lazy and slack management here from a team of has beens. Tigers basically own Swallows and with Ishikawa struggling it was another victory. But it took a bit of time to generate the runs. Nishioka led the show off with a single to centre. He was bunted to second and the scoring chance disappeared. Then Toritani hit high to left where Milledge took a fine diving catch and was up in time to throw to second catching Nishioka off base for the final out. Messenger started poorly - with one out he gave up a single to Tanaka and then walked Milledge in four - runners on first and second. Swallows couldn't convert though and Balentien struck out swinging. Then so did Iwamura and the innings was over. Tigers second saw Murton ground out weakly to Ishikawa, Ryota line out but Arai worked a walk. Fujii though could only ground out to end the innings. With two out in Swallows second Nakamura singled making first safely when the ball bounced off second. The next batter was Ishikawa though and he grounded out. Tigers third was quiet and nothing of interest happened except that Ishikawa finished off the innings striking out Nishioka looking. Swallows third was more interesting with Hiyane hitting a line drive safely into right for a single. Swallows were then just as stupid as Tigers and Tanaka bunted him to second. Milledge hit a grounder to second which took the runner to third but this time Balentien snatched at the ball and flew out to Fujii to end the innings.

Tigers fourth started with Yamato striking out swinging. Toritani did the same and then Murton hit a grounder to second. Swallows fourth started well for Tigers but then the third out wasn't. Morioka walked. Messenger was a bit wild with his fourth pitch and Fujii missed it with the ball rolling away towards first. Morioka was able to take third in the confusion. A great chance but once again Swallows couldn't convert and Nakamura struck out swinging. Tigers fifth was fortunately the game changing innings otherwise Messenger and Fujii would have combined to lose the game if our brain dead coaching team hadn't managed it before. It started with Ryota leading off with a single. Arai grounded out to second but did more Ryota round to second base. Then Fujii hit to short. The throw was wild and instead of two outs and a runner on second Tigers had runners on first and second. This seemed to unsettle Ishikawa who sent down a hittable ball which Shunsuke drove into centre to load the bases. Still the next batter was Messenger. Nothing was supposed to happen from this but Messenger slammed his second pitch into the centre field over Hiyane for a bases clearing double 3-0 Tigers, runner on second. Nishioka singled left to put runners on the corner. Then Yamato doubled left into the corner to clear the bases once again 5-0 Tigers, runner on second. Toritani walked. Murton hit to second forcing out Toritani but the double play didn't come off. Yamato made it to third with Murton on first. Ryota flew out to right which brought the innings gratefully to a close for the Swallows. That was also it for the scoring. Mizuta (pinch hitter) led off Swallows fifth by flying out - Ishikawa having been replaced. Ogawa was wiser than Wada here. Hiyane also flew out and then Tanaka hit a weak grounder to Messenger. Arai led off Tigers sixth with a single off the Swallows new pitcher Shichijoh. Fujii struck out looking in three - a very nice series of pitches by the Swallows relief man. Then Shunsuke hit to short for a 6-4-3 double play and ended the innings. Still Tigers were enjoying a very nice cushion and didn't really need to worry. Milledge caused them a bit of worry at the start of Swallows sixth doubling to left centre to lead the innings off. Messenger's response was good - two strike outs and then Hatakeyama flew out to end the threat. Swallows were just over-awed by Tigers.

Tigers seventh was quiet but here was the surprise. Messenger led the innings off striking out looking. He was going to pitch Swallows seventh having already thrown 104 pitches. Truely it is said, our coaches have sawdust for brains. He got Morioka to ground out and then gave up a single to Nakamura. Ueda (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and then Hiyane flew out to end the innings. Oshimoto took over for Tigers eighth. Toritani hit to short but once again Morioka in what was a bad night for him made a mess of the throw and Toritani was safe on first. Toritani was pinch run for by Tagami - a move which was so pointless one doesn't know what to say. Murton grounded out which took Tagami to second and then Ryota grounded out as well. Tagami stayed on second. Finally, Arai struck out looking. Funilly enough, Wada's stupidity didn't matter; Swallows were beaten and had given up. Their third was quiet with all three batters had fallen in order. By now Messenger was up to 129 pitches. Tigers ninth was quiet - the pitcher was Shoda who had an easy ride with the final batter being Messenger who struck out looking. Swallows ninth was just a formality with the batters falling in order but the pitch count was appalling. Anyway Tigers victory.

Abysmal managment coupled with wasteful calling had seen a pointless complete game. There really was no need to have Messenger throw so many pitches. The game was over in the fifth and Tigers should have brought the relief into play after the sixth. Total idiocy is the only way to describe Wada's handling of this game. Tigers have now won four in a row but better management is sorely needed and a better starting catcher.