August 27th Standridge v Utsumi - The magic is gone

This time the Standridge Fujii pairing failed to generate the previous success and Tigers struggled. Standridge looked very much off form and found location and precision of pitching hard to come by. He was removed from the game after the fourth but Fujii stayed. Fujii himself wasn't particularly good looking very ordinary and allowing a steal of third. Giants seemed intent on losing this game though as their tactical decision taking can only be said to have been totally ridiculous - to have your No. 8 bunt when the next batter is your pitcher is stupidity that defies belief but Hara did this twice. He also insisted on over-pitching Utsumi but Tigers were unable to take advantage of this. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  6 0
Giants  2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 X 4 11 0

Starting Lineups

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

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Kamei (Right)
3. Abe (Catcher)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Takahashi (Left)
6. Sakamoto (Short)
7. Lopez (First)
8. Terauchi (Second)
9. Utsumi (Pitcher)

As I mentioned above, Giants seemed determined to lose this game or at the very least play incompetently. Unfortunately, Tigers were not able to leverage this. Utsumi started by walking Nishioka. Imanari managed to hit into a 6-4-3 double play but Utsumi immediately walked Toritani to compensate. Then he walked Murton - runners on first and second. He got Arai to swing at one he should have left - it was a ball and struck the latter out. Utsumi would show a nice line in innings ending strike out balls but Tigers should have made more of the three walks that innings. Giants started aggressively with Chono blasting the first pitch to centre. Fukudome took the catch with ease though. Kamei worked the count full and it was immediately apparent that Standridge was going to struggle - his pitches really did lack location. Then Kamei singled right. Abe flew out to left but Murata also went left with a big two run home run 2-0 Giants. The ball was ignored by the assembled Tigers fans. Takahashi hit deep to centre but once again Fukudome had no trouble. Fukudome led off Tigers second with a single to right but then the next three batters could not do anything with it and the innings ended with Standridge striking out. Sakamoto led off Giants second with a bounce hit which looped over Standridge and was fielded by Toritani who threw to first. It bounced in front of Arai who couldn't take and Sakamoto was safe. This was generously called a hit. Lopez walked to set up runners on first and second and here came the first stupid bunt attempt. Terauchi didn't do well and eventually switched to hitting but struck out swinging. It had been a truly inept display. Then Utsumi bunted the runners to second and third. Chono allowed himself to be completely fooled and struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers third was quiet and it looked like they had already surrendered. Giants third was also quiet and no one reached base.

Tigers fourth started with Murton grounding out but then Arai worked another walk. Things would have been fine except that Fukudome struck out looking and Wada signaled the steal. Arai is no stealer and was easily caught by the throw from Abe. It was a pointless exercise and wasn't even surprising. The Giants were expecting it. Standridge was getting really loose now and Takahashi slammed his second pitch into the right stand for a solo home run to lead off the Giants fourth 3-0 Giants. Sakamoto hit left. Lopez walked again to set up runners on first and second. We had the second pointless bunt from Terauchi which moved the runners round to second and third. Of course Utsumi wasn't going to bunt and tried to hit grounding out to second. This was intercepted by Nishioka who threw to home to catch Sakamoto off base. Sakamoto was tagged out by Fujii and Lopez took third with Utsumi being able to take second. Chono walked to load the bases which brought up Kamei. He hit high into centre but safe, the ball bouncing well in front of Fukudome who let go a cannon ball throw. This restricted the Giants to one run only, 4-0 Giants, bases loaded. The final batter was Abe who struck out swinging to end the innings. Ryota singled left with one out but then Fujii hit straight to short. Sakamoto fluffed the take and though he was able to get the force out at second could not make the throw in time for Fujii to be out. Asai (pinch hitting for Standridge) struck out but Nishioka singled - runners on first and second. Unfortunately it was Imanari's turn to strike out swinging and end the innings. Boyer took over for Giants fifth and after getting Murata gave up a single to Takahashi. Sakamoto managed to hit into a double play and that innings was over. In Tigers sixth Murton singled with one out. Arai hit nicely to centre and fell to a fine catch by Chono with the innings ending quietly as Fukudome completely blew his swing and was thrown out by Abe. Murton had stayed on first all that time. Boyer started Giants sixth well striking out Lopez looking but then Terauchi who showed what he could do if he wasn't asked to bunt doubled left. This was dangerous and became even more dangerous when Terauchi stole third - Fujii's throw being really poor. Utsumi had been shaping to bunt and continued that way presumably to work a squeeze. Utsumi's second attempt ballooned up and not very far giving Fujii the chance to take the catch which he duly did. Terauchi wisely returned to third. Finally, Chono swung wildly and flew out to second to end the innings.

Tigers seventh was disappointingly quiet and no one got on base. It wasn't a lucky seventh at all. Giants wasted another chance in their seventh. Katoh took over the pitching and was a bit to fond of Abe's head as a target. One of these drifted and Abe singled right. Murata struck out but Takahashi hit to left where Ryota took it. Instead of throwing to second for the force out which was quite possible and the logical option, Ryota threw to first. The ball took too long to arrive and Takahashi was able to make first safely. As this was the innings ending out it was a stupid mistake by Ryota. Sakamoto also hit left and managed to beat Ryota. Toritani was covering but his throw to second was just to late to intercept Matsumoto (pinch runner and replacement centre) who slid in safely. Bases loaded. Katoh then had to battle his catcher and Lopez together to get the final out but he secured it in the end - a strike out. Once again Hara attempted to come to Tigers rescue and their eighth was pitched by a tired Utsumi who gave up a lead off double to Nishioka. Shunsuke singled to centre but Nishioka stopped on third. Toritani struck out looking and this was the point that Hara decided to replace his pitcher and so brought on Mathieson. He only needed to throw three pitches before Murton hit into an innings ending double play. Kubo pitched Giants eighth and retired the batters in order. For Tigers ninth the pitcher was Nishimura. He disposed of Arai, Fukudome and Ryota in order to end the game. Giants victory.

None of the Tigers had really played well at all and the game had had an inevitability about it which the vocal Tigers support could do nothing to erase. It was depressing as the Giants didn't play particularly well and in fact looked very amateur at times. Tigers hadn't taken advantage of this and needed to have more focus. The re-introduction of Imanari still needs work - he has power and he can use it but it is clear that he's on the side on favourite basis not performance level. A change of catcher might also be a good idea. Fujii coming back wasn't.