September 8th Enokida v Sugano - Imploding Pitchers and Marvelous Ninths

Who to attribute the loss to - the pitchers or the lamentable catcher, Hidaka. A bit of both but also one has to ask why did Wada leave Matsuda in so long when he was quite clearly out of his depth. Switching him for another pitcher could well have given Tigers victory in the ninth. Once again we saw a pompous umpire who took umbrage at Murton questioning a call. This one had to be held back by Wada as he wanted to confront Murton. Really, something needs to be done about the clowns employed as umpires in Japan - bad American umpires are nothing compared to bad Japanese ones. Tigers fight back was impressive but the lead was always going to be too much to surmount. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 9 10 1
Tigers  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 12 1

Starting Lineups

Giants
1. Chono (Right)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Abe (Catcher)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sakamoto (First)
6. Yano (Left)
7. Terauchi (Short)
8. Fujimura (Second)
9. Sugano (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Shunsuke (Centre)
3. Nishioka (Third)
4. Toritani (Short)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Imanari (Right)
8. Hidaka (Catcher)
9. Enokida (Pitcher)

The Enokida Hidaka pairing worked reasonably well for the first part of the game but once the Giants figured him out Hidaka's calls were easy meat. In fact a change of pitcher wouldn't help and once again Hidaka would be exposed as a waste of money. Still all this was in the future and the game started well with Enokida pitching economically and retiring the batters in order. Uemoto walked to lead off the game for Tigers and then took third through a Giants error. Shunsuke struck out swinging but Nishioka hit deep enough to ensure the sacrifice fly 1-0 Tigers. Toritani grounded out to first to end the innings. This was the second time a row where Tigers had taken a one run lead and would be the second time in a row they would lose it. Giants second was quiet and things were looking rather good so far - good pitching and a battery that seemed to be working well together. Murton singled to lead off Tigers second and took second on a wild pitch but then the next three batters all struck out swinging as Sugano produced some very impressive pitching. Giants third was quiet and so far the Giants had not been able to get a single base runner. Tigers third was also quiet and the game had moved along at a terrific pace. Tigers were holding the lead well.

Things started to wobble in Giants fourth. With one out Matsumoto singled to left. Then Abe walked. Murata skied his first pitch into foul ground where it was taken by Arai. However, Matsumoto touched up and was able to take third. Sakamoto could only ground out and the innings was over. A warning sign that the Giants were beginning to up the pressure. Tigers couldn't do anything and remained quiescent falling in order in their fourth. However, after the brief flurry in the fourth the Giants lapsed into quietness as well and their fifth saw nothing happen and no base runners. Tigers in the meantime mounted an attack. Arai led off the innings with a single to centre. Imanari flew out to right and then Hidaka also hit to centre - runners on first and second. Next was Enokida and he bunted - one thinks that definitely with one out no batter should be bunting even the pitcher. This was a dismal failure and he was out after three failed attempts. Uemoto grounded out to first on a full count but it was still a ground out. Then came the decisive innings. The first indications came when Enokida walked Sugano. Then Chono hit over Murton bouncing the ball off the fence for a double - runners on second and third with no outs. Matsumoto hit to centre putting the ball over Shunsuke for a double and bringing in both runners 2-1 Giants, runner on second. Things were obviously wrong and so when the next batter, Abe walked to set up runners on first and second with no outs Enokida had to be replaced. Unfortunately, Hidaka was not replaced at the same time. Matsuda took over and was rapidly in trouble. Murata bunted to third where Nishioka fielded but could not get the throw away in time - bases loaded. Then Sakamoto hit a sacrifice fly 3-1 Giants, and the runners both touched up and took second and third. Matsuda should have been replaced there and then as should Hidaka but both were left in. Takahashi (pinch hitter) was next and hit deep into left centre for a three run home run 6-1 Giants and surely time to replace the battery. However Wada and his team were like rabbits caught in the spotlight and couldn't take anything resembling a decision. Terauchi hit left for a solo home run 7-1 Giants and things were rapidly spiraling out of control. Then Fujimura singled to right - he was get this bunted to second by Sugano! It has to be the stupidest bunt of all season both in relevancy and usefulness. Chono hit straight back over Matsuda for a two run home run 9-1 Giants. Finally, Wada shut the stable door after the horse had bolted and replaced Matsuda with Fujihara who got Matsumoto to ground out. The game was basically finished at that point and Tigers were reeling from the shock. With one out in Tigers sixth Shunsuke singled but Toritani popped up to short and Murton flew out to right.

Fujihara pitched Giants seventh and with Hidaka still behind the plate did rather well. Still the Giants could afford to cruise and weren't too bothered about not getting a base runner. In Tigers seventh Sugano struck out Arai and Imanari before Hidaka singled. Ryota (pinch hitter) also struck out to end the innings. Kubota took over for the Giants eighth and had a bit of a torrid time though it all ended happily. With one out Terauchi singled to centre and then Fujimura singled left - runners on first and second. Ishii (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and Chono grounded out to third. Tigers eighth was pitched by Ichioka who retired the batters in order smoothly and without any problem. Once again Kubota had problems with Hidaka's calling in Giants ninth. He walked Matsumoto to lead off the innings and then Abe hit to first where Arai fumbled and Giants had runners on first and second. Murata hit an infield fly and then Lopez (replacement first) flew out to centre. Matsumoto tagged up and took third but Bowker's shot was weak and Hidaka was able to pick up and throw for the final out. Hara decided to try a reserve catcher and Ino no doubt contributed to the mess that was Tigers ninth. Toritani singled and the ball bounced off Ichioka. Murton hit right and it seemed the ball hit the foul pole rather than the ground. He wanted a replay which the umpires should have done anyway but hadn't in ruling the shot foul. The first base umpire was incensed and moved towards Murton - did the fool really think he was going to take on Murton? Wada had to intervene and the video replay was consulted. It was concluded that the ball bounced and hit the pole and so it was a foul. Murton finally grounded out. Arai singled to put runners on first and third and Wada brought on Hiyama - one of the greatest ever pinch hitters in Japanese baseball. Hiyama didn't disappoint singling to centre to bring home the runner 9-2 Giants, runners on first and second with one out. This seemed to galvanise the Tigers except Hidaka who flew out to centre. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) was next and he singled to centre to load the bases. Here Hara acted and it was instructive to see the speed at which he changed his pitchers compared to Wada in Giants sixth. Fukuda took over but was no improvement and Uemoto hit to centre bringing in a run 9-3 Giants, bases loaded. Then Saka (replacement third) hit left to bring home two runs 9-5 Giants, runners on first and second. Things were getting interesting. Once again Hara switched pitchers bringing on Nishimura. Initially he wasn't any improvement as Nishioka hit left to bring in another run 9-6 Giants, runners on first and second. An incredible victory in the making? The trouble was the next batter was Toritani who despite his five run extravaganza is no No. 4. He struck out swinging to end the game. Giants victory.

Tigers ninth had certainly taken the gloss of the Giants victory and restored a bit of pride but when all's said and done Giants won. The use of a poor catcher and an inability to react quickly enough with struggling pitchers had blown Tigers out of the water in the sixth. Frustratingly enough as well the Giants won the season series against the Tigers. The final game of the season will be against the Giants but Tigers if they win will only have 11 wins. Hidaka has vowed revenge but really he shouldn't be let near anything resembling a plate. His consistent ineptness is not helping Tigers but the same can be said for Wada and his crew of no hopers.