June 29th Messenger v Ohtake - Sake o nomeru zo

The hero of he occasion was Yamato and for some reason Wada didn't seem overjoyed though this was another excellent result. Once again coming late; sayonara this time, it was welcomed not only by the Yamato fan club (which is extensive) but by the entirety of Tigers fans. Hidaka was catcher again and just as poor but this time batted eight - a position which was more in line with his abilities. The scoring at Koshien was terrible though - the Carp infield were just as poor as ever but somehow came away with no errors. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Carp
1. Lewis (Left)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Eldred (First)
5. Matsuyama (Right)
6. Soyogi (Short)
7. Dobayashi (Third)
8. Aizawa (Catcher)
9. Ohtake (Pitcher)

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

The game was immediately pear shaped for Tigers with Lewis leading off with a single to centre. Kikuchi walked as Messenger struggled to understand Hidaka's calls ( his performance this game despite the result would make one wish for Fujii). With runners on first and second Maru flew out to third and Eldred popped up to second. Messenger and Hidaka relaxed a little too much and Matsuyama doubled right bringing in both runners 2-0 Carp, runner on second. Soyogi struck out to end the innings but Carp were off to a good start. Ohtake started very impressively. Nishioka lined out to second, Yamato popped up to short and Toritani flew out to Lewis to end the innings. Carp's second was quiet as the batters fell to Messenger. Murton didn't do anything in Tigers second but Arai doubled to left Itoh's ground out took him to third and then Ryota flew out. Lewis came round for his second at bat in Carp's third. For some reason Messenger's second pitch was straight down the middle. It was hit hard but not well but still had enough behind it to clear the fence for a solo home run 3-0 Carp. The rest of the innings was quiet but Carp were sitting comfortably on a nice lead. This continued in Tigers third with no one getting on base. Ohtake and Carp looked to be in control and once again Tigers would have to come from behind.

Singnificantly, Carp's fourth was quiet - they had a lead but not much in the way of momentum. Two strike outs in the innings also indicated that they weren't having things all their own way despite the lead. Yamato led off Tigers fourth with a walk. Then with Toritani at the plate he stole second on the first pitch. It was a nice steal and when Toritani grounded out Yamato was able to take third. Murton was next and he hit into centre just putting the hit past Ohtake 3-1 Carp, runner on first. Arai popped up to second and then Itoh struck out looking. Whatever Itoh is, he isn't a No. 6 either and Wada's stubborn insistence in playing lesser batters ahead of Ryota is begining to look very stupid. Carp's fifth saw Aizawa and Ohtake fall but some incredibly poor calling by Hidaka saw Lewis walk. Lewis stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch but Kikuchi put his hit right down the throat of Itoh who didn't drop the ball. Ryota led Tigers fifth off with a line drive. Then Hidaka singled to centre - runners on first and third with no outs. Imanari who in a bold move was pinch hitting for Messenger swung and hit to first. Eldred threw to home and Ryota was caught between third home. Actually Ryota had set off and stopped half way down the path. He should have accelerated and charged the catcher if necessary rather than stopping. As it was he was sandwiched and run down. In the meantime though Hidaka took third and Imanari advanced to second. Next was Nishioka who hit back at Ohtake. Ohtaka fielded but couldn't hold and the ball bounced to Soyogi at short who dropped the ball. This error somehow went unrecorded. One Tiger was home 3-2 Carp, runners on first and third. Yamato was next and he decided to try a squeeze play. He laid the bunt perfectly into the gap between first and the mound. Eldridge did field and in cricket we have a term 'in hard' meaning a throw has to be hard and fast. Eldridge tossed the ball gently to Kikuchi covering first which meant that Yamato who is fast beat the throw to slide into first safely. Imanari was home 3-3 scores tied, runners on first and second. Toritani grounded out to short who was able to get the force out at second but not the double play. Nishioka made third. Murton grounded out to end the innings though but here Kikuchi also dropped the ball but recovered in time to pick up and throw to second for the out. Tigers were level but with Hidaka behind the plate this was not guaranteed to remain the case. Watanabe took over for Carp's sixth and walked Maru. Eldred hit nicely to left to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Carp could not develop this situation though. Matsuyama hit a fly to left and Maru didn't chance Murton's arm. Then Soyogi flew out to right which did take Maru to third. Dobayashi then flew out to right as well ending the innings. Tigers sixth saw Arai lead off with a neat single to centre. Itoh useless bunted him to second and then Ohtake walked Ryota - runners on first and second. Hidaka struck out as did Saka to end the innings.

Neither team having taken advantage of the chances in the sixth the action moved to the lucky seventh. Andoh pitched this innings for Tigers and with Hidaka took even longer than with Fujii. Still two batters down and Lewis singled between first and second. Kikuchi hit high to centre where Yamato took the catch refusing to yield to Itoh who had come round as well. Ueno pitched Tigers seventh and started well with Nishioka. Yamato though drove to left for a single. Next was Toritani who bounced his hit over Ueno where it was fielded by Kikuchi. As he took the ball Kikuchi touched second with his foot before throwing to first and ensuring the innings ending double play. This was a nice piece of fielding. Katoh pitched Carp's eighth and struck out Maru. Eldred swung and broke his bat the ball going to Ryota. Ryota's throw to first though was dreadful and Arai was pulled well off first - Eldred was safe on first. Matsuyama grounded out to second but ensured that Eldred reached second base. However, Soyogi flew out to centre to end the innings. Murton led Tigers eighth off with a single. Arai hit straight to Kikuchi for the double play. Here one saw what was possibly the reason that the Carp infield is so poor. Kikuchi jumped to take the ball in his midriff. He didn't need to and could have missed the take. As it was this time he didn't. Itoh also grounded out to second and the innings was over. Fukuhara took over for Carp's ninth and didn't really seem to agree with Hidaka at all. He retired the batters in order though which left Tigers faced with the chance of a sayonara victory. Hisamoto pitched the innings and got Ryota to ground out to short. Then Takayama (pinch hitter) somehow walked which given the way he was batting was a complete surprise. Wada had taken a bold decision to pinch hit for Hidaka. He was pinch run for by Araki who stole second buldozing Kikuchi's leg out of the way as he slid in. Sekimoto (pinch hitter also walked and Tigers had runners on first and second with only one out. Somehow they needed to get a runner round to third and here Wada should have had a pinch hitter for Nishioka. He struck out swinging misjudging completely. Two outs and runners on first and second with Yamato next. Yamato's second pitch was a high cutball which turned left. Lewis was standing in far too much and the ball looped over him giving him no chance for a double. Araki motored home 4-3 Tigers, sayonara victory.

Once again Carp had proven unable to hold a comfortable lead and Tgiers sayonara victory was almost inevitable. Wada seemed strangely subdued about the victory which had been mainly due to Yamato's initiative and individuality. Tigers if they are going to win the pennant need more of this sort of thing. It was nice to see Yamato notice that Lewis was too far in and hit over him.