August 6th Messenger v Kenta Maeda - Wada blows it again

And yes - for the second game in a row Wada pitched Messenger into the ninth. This time Tigers didn't have a lead to protect them. They had stifled the Carp but had been stifled in turn by some fine pitching from Maeda. Here the Carp's manager showed better sense than Wada. His star pitcher was not pushed in the pursuit of pointless records but withdrawn after seven innings. Wada though has learned nothing and put Messenger on for the eighth and the ninth as if there was no such thing as a limit. The situation that Messenger found himself in, in the ninth whilst serious was not fatal but given how tired his arm was he was unable to get out of it and lost the game. A serious loss because it never needed to have happened. Given a manager of such short-sightedness and ignorance of the basics one can only hope for some scandal which makes the fool resign. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

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

Carp
1. Lewis (Left)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Ka'aihue (First)
5. Soyogi (Short)
6. Matsuyama (Right)
7. Dobayashi (Third)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Kenta Maeda (Pitcher)

A pitching duel dominated the game and no matter how well Messenger pitched he should have been replaced after the seventh. The arm is needed for bigger challenges than this game and if the over-pitching continues there won't be any arm. Maeda started with two outs but then Toritani hit left. Tigers would outhit Carp but be unable to take advantage of this situation. Then Murton singled to centre and Tigers had runners on first and third. Maeda rose to the challenge and got Arai to strike out ending the innings. Carp's first was quiet with the batters falling in order - Messenger was even better than Maeda throughout most of the game. Tigers start to the second and waste of the opportunity was even more spectacular in their second. Imanari led off singling along the ground to centre. Ryota hit left and set up runners on first and second. Fujii who may still be affected by his leg troubles then hit into a double play - a pretty disastrous move which did take Imanari to third. The problem was the next batter was Messenger who struck out looking. An inevitable result one felt and though I do not like the DH here I did feel that maybe it would have been useful. Two outs went down in Carps second and then Matsuyama hit to first where Arai fumbled and dropped the ball. Carp's first base runner. Dobayashi though struck out to end the innings and Tigers didn't pay for the mistake. Tigers third was quiet with Toritani the last out; falling to a fine running throw from Kikuchi. Carp's first hit came from Ishihara leading off the third with a drive to centre. Maeda went to bunt him to second but bunted straight at Messenger who threw to second for the double play. Lewis then grounded out to second to end the innings.

So far things had been tight with Tigers having the better of the game and wasting the chances they made. Tigers fourth saw no such chances and the batters fell in order with no one reaching base. Carp's fourth was also quiet. Like Maeda, Messenger was in control. Fujii worked a one out walk in Tigers fifth. With a runner on and the pitcher the next batter a bunt was inevitable and Maeda handled this well with Messenger falling with three failed bunts. Saka though singled right - Tigers still had the chance to make something of this - runners on first and second. Yamato swung and bounced the ball high but it was fielded by short for the final out of the innings. Carp's fifth saw the previously worthless Dobayashi burst into life. With two out he doubled right - the games first extra base hit. Ishihara walked - some very inept pitching and calling here but Maeda struck out to end the innings. The thing was the walking of Ishihara wasn't deliberate at all. One wonders why? No one made base in Tigers sixth and the innings was without interest. Likewise with Carp's sixth - no base runners just fine pitching like Maeda.

Tigers seventh was quiet with Ryota and Fujii falling to strike outs. Maeda had kept Tigers batting very nicely under control. Messenger finished Carp's seventh spectacularly striking out all three batters he faced swinging. He had thrown 106 pitches, Maeda 111 so honours were pretty even and it would have been a good point to replace him. Here Nomura made the sensible decision to replace his starter and Yokoyama took over for Tigers eighth. He started well but with one out Saka singled. Of course Wada had to have the bunt which moved Saka to second but was a waste and a stupid move. Then Toritani singled but Saka could only make third. Murton flew out and the innings was over. Messenger returned for Carp's eighth a move which was as stupid as it was unnecessary. It all worked out well with the batters falling in order but the pitch count was now 120 pitches. Mickolio started Tigers ninth and got the first two outs. Knowing how fragile he was Nomura then replaced him with Nakagawa for the final out. This was Arai who struck out swinging. Carp's ninth and a tiring pitcher facing Lewis. Lewis hit a dribbler into short and was able to make first safely. However, the throw was poor and as a result Lewis took second. A serious error but no problem to a fresh pitcher. Messenger wasn't fresh and so when Kikuchi bunted Lewis to third things looked dangerous. Still Wada didn't act and left his tired pitcher on the mound. He had to battle Maru quite hard but Maru stayed calm waited for the moment and hit the ball deep to centre. Lewis waited, tagged up and raced home 1-0 Carp, sayonara victory.

This loss had been almost predictable once Tigers had failed to score. The mishandling of Messenger is getting to epidemic proportions and Tigers management need to manage much better than they have been doing. After the fine series against the Giants we have been exposed to a slack and feeble performance by a management team who should know better. The gap between Tigers and Giants opened to 7.5 games again and whilst Tigers do have a chance to overhaul this they need to do considerably better than they have been doing.