August 14th Iwata v Ohtake - Ineptness Part I

This game contained the latest Murton image in which the Tigers No. 4 could be seen to be using very un-christian language towards the plate umpire, who one must be honest is a total incompetent. The Kyocera Dome umpires are laughable in their ability to perform their jobs and this was just the latest demonstration. Murton was fined 100,000 yen for his outburst which was a bit stiff and probably because he is a foreigner. Tigers were embarrassingly bad this game against an Ohtake who barely registered as mediocre in this performance. Part of Murton's outburst may well have been his frustration over his poor performance recently but even so none of the Tigers shone. Still it was nice to see Fukudome back into the lineup even though he had a quiete return. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Carp    5 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 7 12 0
Tigers  0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  5 0

Starting Lineups

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

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

With Iwata starting Tigers changed their catcher and used Shimizu. This was not a wise choice and Iwata chose this game to pitch abysmally as well. Still Tigers could have done better. Iwata started by giving up a single to left to Lewis and it all went downhill from there. Kikuchi doubled to left off his first pitch setting up runners on second and third. Maru grounded out to third and Ryota threw to first to get the out but sacrificed the run 1-0 Carp, runner on third. Then Ka'aihue hit right to bring in another run 2-0 Carp, runner on first. Hirose hit his first pitch right - runners on first and second. Kokubo flew out to right and Ka'aihue tagged up and took third. Then Hirose stole second; one thing one can say about the Carp is that they are good at moving runners round - probably because they get so few. Dobayashi worked a full count walk - it was one of those days for Iwata - bases loaded. Then Ishihara singled right bringing in two runs 4-0 Carp, runners on first and third. The guaranteed out was anything but and Ohtake singled left bringing in a run 5-0 Carp, runners on first and second. Finally Lewis struck out swinging but it had been a disaster innings for Iwata. By contrast and given how poor Ohtake was Tigers first was quiet with no one reaching base. Thankfully so was Carp's second - Iwata managed to impose some measure of control and Tigers had a breathing space. Murton led Tigers second off with a single to left but immediately fell when Arai hit into an inept double play. Fukudome finally back walked and then so did Ryota - Ohtake was that bad. However, Shimizu flew out to right to end the innings. Hirose singled to lead off Carp's third but then Kokubo grounded out to short but avoided the double play forcing out Hirose. The very next batter, Dobayashi supplied the delayed double play and the innings was over. Tigers third was interesting. With Iwata out Saka singled right. Then Yamato singled left. Toritani walked to load the bases - a great chance for Tigers. Next was Murton - his first pitch he checked his swing but the first base umpire called a strike. This was more than harsh it was ridiculous - Murton had checked well before the cut off point. A ball was called, even the umpire couldn't doubt that and then Ohtake threw a low outside pitch. Murton checked but this was called a strike. Another terrible decision there was no way Ohtake was capable of a pitch of such finesse. Murton exploded and proceeded to give the umpire a mouthful. Players rushed to separate them but Murton continued to shout at the umpire. There is no way the latter could ignore that and so he expelled Murton who was eventually led off by Fukudome. This created a hole in Tigers lineup and Imanari was brought on to pinch hit for Murton. Imanari then proceeded to demonstrate just how inept Ohtake was by working a walk - oshidashi 5-1 Carp, bases loaded. Arai manage to spoil it all though by hitting into his second incompetent double play of the game and end the innings.

Carp's fourth was quiet and the bottom of the order didn't do anything. After the excitement of Tigers third the fourth was quiet and only notable for the sheer poor batting that players exhibited. Carp's fifth was also Iwata's traditional danger innings. Having given up five runs in the first he wasn't going to forego the normal panic and mess he usually makes in this innings. Kikuchi started by somehow managing to double to right centre. Maru grounded out to second which took Kikuchi round to third and then Ka'aihue drove into centre to bring the runner home 6-1 Carp, runners on first. Tigers chances were running out. Then Iwata walked Hirose to set up runners on first and second with one out. This was enough for Wada who replaced Iwata with a blast from the past - Kubota. He got Matsuyama (pinch hitter) to fly out to left off his first ball and then persuaded Dobayashi to fly out to Shimizu to end the innings. Still Carp had increased the margin and could be very happy. Tigers abysmal batting continued - Ohtake wasn't getting any better but the batting if possible was getting worse. Once again no one made base in the fifth. Having gotten away with using Kubota in Carp's fifth, Wada stupidly decided to use him again in the sixth. This was really tempting fate and he started by walking Ishihara on a full count. Ohtake bunted Ishihara to second - a wasted bunt as it turned out as Kubota dead balled Lewis with the very next pitch - runners on first and second. Shimizu seems to have problems with Kikuchi because the Carp second singled left this time bringing in Ishihara 7-1 Carp, runners on first and second. Finally, Maru managed to hit into a double play. Tigers sixth saw the first two batters go down but then Arai woke up and doubled. He took third on an Ohtake wild pitch but Fukudome wasn't timing well and flew out to centre to end the innings.

Carp's seventh was pitched by Kubota again and this time the batters fell in order. Still it hadn't been a particularly good display lacking finesse and speed. It had been merely average that is all. Tigers were still failing to get runners on and the seventh was quiet. They seemed to have given up and were batting even lazier than before. Tsutsui took over for Carp's eighth and had trouble working with Shimizu - real trouble. The innings started badly with Dobayashi hitting the first pitch of the innings to right for a double. This was lucky - landing safely when it could have gone foul. Ishihara grounded out which took Dobayashi to third. Then Ohtake flew out to centre but not far enough for the sacrifice. With things looking up Tsutsui dragged them down again walking first Lewis and then Kikuchi to load the bases. Thankfully Maru hit left and flew out to end the innings. Ohtake's final innings was just as inept as his previous seven and Tigers batting was on the same inconceivably low level. With one out Yamato managed a single and then was able to take second on a wild pitch with two out. However, Imanari managed to fly out and end that chance. Tigers have overturned this kind of margin against the Carp in the ninth before but the way they were playing this was a very remote possibility. Iwamoto (replacment first) led Carp's ninth off with a single. He stayed on first as the next three batters swung and flew out. Ohtake didn't pitch Tigers ninth - he took a rest and Socolovich took over. With Arai flying out Fukudome worked a walk. After this Wada went with pinch hitters to try and spark something but the spark was lacking and both batters failed to move Fukudome off first. Carp victory.

Carp had won the series against Tigers who really needed to take the chances they had been handed. Against a poor pitcher they hadn't even tried and no one had played well at all. They had failed to apply any form of pressure and let the Carp get away from them. Yes the umpires had been embarrassingly bad and this is common at Kyocera Dome but really there should have been more life and effort from Tigers against what was an ordinary opponent.