July 4th Standridge v Miyaguni - It's hard being an umpire

First the fluff - Wada our esteemed and pure coach has been having an affair with a 'talent' called Nana Hoshi. Tigers management rushed to deny the importance of the situation and it is interesting to contrast their approach with Giants. The latter team shipped Nioka off to Nippon Ham when he was revealed to be cheating. Wada found it in himself to protest a call by first base umpire this game which to be honest looked good. There were a lot of difficult calls in this game and one surprisingly thinks that the umpires did rather well and didn't need Wada trying to show he is the man. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Giants
1. Nakai (Second)
2. Kamei (Right)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Takahashi (Left)
5. Murata (Third)
6. Bowker (First)
7. Chono (Centre)
8. Sanematsu (Catcher)
9. Miyaguni (Pitcher)

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

Giants started well with Nakai doubling to left centre - hardly a good start by Standridge. Things the went Tigers way with both Kamei and Sakamoto grounding out but significantly Nakai staying on second. Then Tigers contrived to mess up. First Takahashi, then Murata walked to load the bases. This left Standridge facing Bowker who luckily struck out to end the innings. With one out in Tigers first Yamato hit to Miyaguni who could only deflect the ball into the infield allowing Yamato to reach first safely. Unfortunately it didn't last as Toritani hit into a double play ending that brief flowering. Miyaguni singled with two outs in Giants second - given how poorly Standridge was pitching it is surprising that the game was as tight as it was. Nakai went for the big one and struck out swinging to end the innings. All three batters fell without reaching base in Tigers second. Giants tried again in their third with Takahashi singling with two outs. Murata didn't do anything though and was out flying out to Imanari. Once again Tigers third was quiet with Standridge being the last man out.

Giants fourth was actually a good innings by Standridge - he struck out all three batters in a row. In Tigers fourth and after a drought we had a hit - a Toritani single to second who couldn't hold it but stopped the ball effectively enough. The last batter was Murton who grounded out to second though. Giants fifth saw another double. This one being the product of Kamei's bat. It was up to Sakamoto but the annoying little tick struck out swinging and things were safe for a bit longer. Tigers then contrived something interesting in their fifth. Imanari who is the apple of Wada's eye but lacks RBI ability singled with one out. He made second on Ryota's ground out and then Fujii walked. A wild pitch took the runners to second and third but Standridge could only ground out to short to end the innings scoreless. Then finally someone got on the scoreboard and unfortunately it was the Giants. Takahashi led off the sixth with a single. Hara was then going to have Murata bunt but thought better of this stupidity and let him hit. Murata singled right putting runners on first and third. Bowker was next and hit deep enough to right for the sacrifice fly 1-0 Giants. Chono singled left but Murata didn't have the pace to get to third and was tagged out with Chono on second. Finally, Sanematsu flew out to centre. Tigers response started with Nishioka striking out looking. Then Yamato singled left. He tried to steal second - a move that was well anticipated and he was out. Toritani managed a weak hit which was fielded by Sanematsu for the ground out.

Giants seventh was quiet and no one managed to reach base. Tigers seventh started with Murton singling left. He was out immediately as Arai hit into a double play but Imanari followed this up with another single. This was enough for Hara who decided that Miyaguni was too tired and he was replaced by Mathieson for the final out. This was Ryota who hit his first pitch to short for the groundout. Standridge who was quite scandalously overpitched didn't return for Giants eighth. He should have been relieved after the sixth at the latest. He was replaced by Andoh who retired the Giants batters in order and looked comfortable. Saka (pinch hitter) led off Tigers eighth with a walk and was pinch run for by Araki who stole second. With no outs it was a promising situation but Tigers failed to move him round to third Shunsuke (pinch hitter) stupid bunting out to Mathieson and Nishioka flying out. This did move Araki to third but was an out too late. Finally, Yamato swung wildly and flew out to first in foul ground. Giants ninth was pitched by Fukuhara who retired the batters in order but the game was looking more and more like a Giants victory despite the closeness of the scoreline. Yamaguchi started the Tigers ninth and got Toritani to line out to short. He was then replaced by Nishimura who got Murton to ground out. Arai singled left and then Hiyama (pinch hitter) hit to centre putting runners on first and third. Takayama pinch ran for Hiyama which seemed strange given that the former isn't particularly fast. Ryota though couldn't deliver and struck out swinging to end the game. Giants victory.

Giants had taken the series and emphasized their superiority over the Tigers. Once again the game had been ineptly handled and the failure to move Araki round had doomed the Tigers. They hadn't generated much in the way of chances but Giants had also wasted theirs. Still Giants had done enough to win and Tigers fans were disappointed again. To lose to the Giants at Koshien is doubly bad.