August 20th Messenger v Miura - Ineptness Part II

Sometimes it takes your breath away. A 7-0 lead blown against second rate opposition with the home team eventually wining by a sayonara single after the Tigers idiot catcher tried to set up a risky double play. Messenger showed clear signs of his over-pitching over the past few games. He found it impossible to locate his pitches properly and was punished as a result. Fujii as he is in these situations was no help whatsoever and it needed bold management to address the situation. It rapidly became clear that Messenger was in trouble but Wada who has the perception of a brick wall couldn't see this and put his starter in for a disastrous fourth. For those of us watching the game (in fact almost everyone except the Tigers management team) it was obvious what would happen. There is also the very real question about continuing to use Murton at No. 4. He was worthless - too scared to hit unless he had to and trying to work walks whenever possible. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    0 0 7 0 0 1 0 0 0  8 13 1
BayStars  0 0 3 5 0 0 0 0 1x 9 14 0

Starting Lineups

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

BayStars
1. Kajitani (Short)
2. Yamazaki (Second)
3. Morgan (Centre)
4. Gotoh (First)
5. Kinjoh (Left)
6. Aranami (Right)
7. Shirasaki (Third)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

Arai has been batting better recently probably because he has had decent support (Fukudome) behind him. It has enabled him to react instead of worrying about the makeweights Wada seems to like to use in the No. 6 position. Tigers actually started poorly against Miura, Nishioka and Yamato both striking out then Toritani and Toritani flying out. Kajitani got his sides first hit off Messenger. He was bunted to second by Yamazaki in the usual pointless display but Morgan flew out and Gotoh struck out to end the innings. Tigers second and Miura was still in control and pitching like the Miura of old. All the batters fell in order. Once again in BayStars second Messenger had problems with his first batter - this time Kinjoh led off with a single. Aranami grounded out to second forcing out Kinjoh but getting to first safely. The other two batters were well contained and Aranami stayed on first. Miura suddenly fell apart in the Tigers third. It didn't happen immediately - Saka struck out and then Fujii latched onto his first pitch and bouncing it off the wall for a double. Incidentally, the BayStars deep fielding near the wall was a disaster. All three outfielders were absolutely clueless. Messenger grounded out for the second out and it looked like Miura would ride out the double as a momentary blip. It wasn't to be. Miura fell apart from this point on. Nishioka singled to set up runners on first and second. Yamato walked to load the bases and then Toritani doubled to left centre - once again poor wall fielding was a factor. This brought in two runs 2-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Murton drew a walk which was fortunate for Tigers - bases loaded. Then Arai hit hard and deep bouncing the ball off the wall again for a double - neither Kinjoh nor Morgan initially knowing who should field the ball. It brought both runners home 4-0 Tigers, runner on second. Fukudome doubled into the right corner to bring in Arai 5-0 Tigers, runner on second. Saka singled - runners on first and third. This brought up Fujii who just to add insult to injury hit the ball between Miura's legs for another single 7-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Finally Messenger grounded out to short to end the innings. Game over - right? Miura was due to lead off BayStars third but of course he didn't - he was pinch hit for by Uchimura. This didn't make any difference Uchimura grounded out to second. Then Messenger unraveled. Kajitani hit over third into the space behind the base for a double. Yamazaki struck out swinging but what was worrying was this had taken a long time to achieve - Messenger was in trouble. He struggled against Morgan as well trying to get a strike out when a grounder or fly would do. Nothing he threw was inside either - all outside pitches which we can lay at the feet of Fujii. Morgan took a huge swing at a curve and lifted the ball up and just over the wall for a two run home run 7-2 Tigers. Gotoh followed and Messenger's first pitch to him was tired. This flew off Gotoh's bat into the right stand for a solo home run 7-3 Tigers. As Messenger's control deteriorated further he dropped a dead ball on Kinjoh's foot - runner on first. Finally, Aranami struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers still held a comfortable lead but Messenger had to go.

Kobayashi took over for Tigers fourth and initially looked to be a continuation of Miura. Nishioka singled right to start the innings but then stupid Wada had Yamato bunt Nishioka to second. One wonders what is in Wada's mind? Now was the time to turn the screw not let the opposition off the hook. Toritani walked and then so did Murton and the bases were loaded. Arai went for his shot and missed - he struck out. Then Fukudome managed to fly out to left and Tigers had missed a chance. So to the big mistake - the return of Messenger. The first base runner wasn't his fault - Shirasaki hit a grounder to Saka who missed the take completely and allowed the ball to dribble into left. Why he was preferred to Sekimoto is another mystery. The next hit wasn't a mistake as Tsuruoka doubled left. Murton didn't take well and Shirasaki was fast round the bases reaching home by the time the throw reached Fujii 7-4 Tigers, runner on second. Here we saw a bit of stupidity - the BayStars manager Nakahata had Kobayashi bunt Shirasaki to third. A waste of an out as Kajitani got hold of his first strike from Messenger and turned it along the right baseline for a two run home run 7-6 Tigers. Finally the penny dropped for Wada and he realised that he should remove Messenger. Tsutsui was brought on to replace him in a strange decision - Watanabe would have been a much better choice in this situation but he's not in the top team so failing that Kubo should have come on earlier. Tsutsui couldn't cope and neither could Fujii who was really out of his depth. Then Morgan swung and blooped the ball deep where it just landed fair. There was an element of luck with this hit but once again Kajitani was able to use his speed to round the bases and reach home 7-7 scores tied, runner on second. Gotoh flew out but then Kinjoh singled right to bisect first and second and Morgan raced home 8-7 BayStars, runner on first. Aranami then struck out to end the innings. Tigers had blown a seven run lead which is not something you see every day in a truly lamentable display of pitching, calling and management. With one out in Tigers fifth Fujii slammed a line drive to right but Imanari grounded out to short forcing out Fujii. He made first safely though but Nishioka struck out swinging to end the innings. Kubo took over for BayStars fifth and showed a cool head retiring the batters in order and taking a nice return catch from Nishimori to end the innings. Tigers were still in with a chance. Kaga pitched Tigers sixth and was immediately in trouble with Yamato singling to left. Then Toritani singled right but instead of reaching third Yamato was held up on second. The run to third was on and should have been taken as it would have increases Tigers chances. Murton struck out swinging which brought up Arai. Kaga tried to intimidate him by brushing him back but the only result of this was that Arai picked his spot and drove nicely into centre bringing in Yamato 8-8 scores tied, runners on first and second. Hayashi immediately replaced Kaga on the mound and got Fukudome to strike out. Then Sekimoto (pinch hitter and replacement third) grounded out to short to end the innings. Still Tigers were level. Kubo was able to hold this position. With one out in BayStars sixth Yamazaki singled. Then Morgan hit a liner straight to Arai who took the catch and stepped on first to catch Yamazaki off base and end the innings.

Yamaguchi started Tigers seventh and walked Fujii. Wada being a fool used Asai as a pinch hitter to bunt. He managed to pop the ball up and Gotoh took a fine sliding catch for the first out. Nishioka grounded out to second which forced out Fujii but left him safe on first. Nishioka then stole second and a wild pitch from Yamaguchi took him to third. This really was a great opportunity but Yamato failed miserably grounding out to short and ending the innings. Matsuda pitched BayStars seventh and retired the batters in order. He is probably the bright light of Tigers relief at the moment. Tigers eighth and another pitcher Ohta. He started by walking Toritani. Murton hit into a double play which wasn't what one wanted at all. Arai though hit nicely to left centre and reached second safely. Fukudome was deliberately walked to get at Sekimoto and here Wada could have employed Hiyama but instead stayed with Sekimoto who struck out swinging ending the chance. Wada decided to stretch Matsuda into another innings and almost came unstuck. Shirasaki flew out and then Tsuruoka popped up in foul ground. Then Tamura (replacement left) whacked the ball deep and off the fence for a triple. Kajitani was deliberately walked to get at the more docile Yamazaki which proved effective as he struck out looking. But Matsuda shouldn't have pitched that second innings. Tigers eighth started with Fujii grounding out. Ryota (pinch hitter) who should have been used earlier walked and with Nishioka out Yamato took a dead ball (he would be replaced by Shunsuke) - runners on first and second. Toritani did not rise to the challenge and struck out looking in a very poor batting performance. Andoh pitched BayStars ninth which should have been taken by Fukuhara on the principle of using your closer in these tied game situations. This would have taken the game into extra innings with the Tigers being more than likely to win. Andoh gave up a lead off single to Morgan who was bunted to second by Gotoh. This is where the stupidity of Fujii came in. Kinjoh was deliberately walked to set up runners on first and second and hope for the double play. However, it would have been far better to get Kinjoh out - two outs with one one is infinitely superior to one out with runners on second and third. Nakamura came through - singling left to bring in Morgan - sayonara victory 9-8 BayStars.

This had been a horrific display by the Tigers. They had taken a seven run lead and blown it through management ineptness by using and failing to spot a fading pitcher. Then the game had been compounded by the use of the wrong pitchers and wrong tactics. No doubt Wada is already blaming Messenger who is suffering as a result of the management's incompetence and inability to think about pitch counts. Tigers should have taken this game with ease but instead had ended up being embarrassed.