June 9th Messenger v Standridge - REVENGE!

Firstly, the news that Fukudome has been dropped down to the second team to work on his game. Those who remember his first season will recall that he hardly set the stadiums alight though he did have an ability to sometimes hit when needed. The note to the Tigers management is - stop signing old hasbeens. Wada managed to show both how inept he is and his pettiness this game which is an achievement. Firstly, he was surprised at Standridge's performance in shutting out Tigers. Guess what this says about his motivational and managerial skills. Then he pulled Ogata from the game because of a base running mistake. Yes, the guy made a mistake - he's young. Talk to him after the game but don't pull him unnecessarily. Especially as in this season's error prone Tigers this particular error does not stand out. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Hawks
1. Nakamura (Left)
2. Akashi (First)
3. Yanagida (Centre)
4. Lee (DH)
5. Hasegawa (Right)
6. Matsuda (Third)
7. Honda (Second)
8. Imamiya (Short)
9. Tsuruoka (Catcher)

Starting pitcher was Standridge

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Gomez (DH)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Imanari (Third)
8. Umeno (Catcher)
9. Ogata (Right)

Starting pitcher was Messenger

Messenger is going through a rough patch at the moment. His locating isn't good and he looks tired. Standridge though looks good and he had the extra motivation of playing his old team who had dumped him after messing him around the previous season. He used his knowledge of his old team mates well. It all started poorly for Tigers as it had done in the last game. With one out Messenger walked Akashi who promptly stole second. Then Yanagida also walked - runners on first and second. Tigers nemesis Lee was next and he hit to centre to bring in a run 1-0 Hawks, runners on first and third. Hasegawa hit deep to centre where Yamato took (no sun to 'distract' him this time) but he couldn't prevent the sacrifice 2-0 Hawks, runner on first. Matsuda hit to Toritani who messed up and allowed runners on first and second. A mistake! Send Toritani down to the second team! Finally, Honda grounded out to end the innings and it had been a good start for Hawks. Tigers in the previous game had made good use of the poor start but after such a performance are often flaccid in the next game. Given that Standridge was off to a blinder of a start this happened this time as well. The batters fell in order. In Hawks second Tsuruoka singled to left and then tried to steal second as Nakamura struck out. It didn't work and he was thrown out to end the innings. Tigers second was quiet as Standridge remained in complete control. Messenger continued to exhibit signs of instability in Hawks third. With one out Yanagida singled to right. Lee this time flew out but then Hasegawa walked - runners on first and second. Matsuda hit to left centre into the sweet spot and the runners raced round to both reach home 4-0 Hawks runner on second. Honda struck out but Hawks were clearly in control. Tigers third saw them unable to break Standridge's control and so far they hadn't had a base runner. Standridge used to tire later in the game and so there was always hope.

Messenger wasn't pitching well but in Hawks fourth all he gave up was a one out single to Tsuruoka which is a sign of just how mediocre his pitching was. Tsuruoka is not batting well at all. Tsuruoka stayed on first this time and didn't attempt to steal but no one could do anything and there was no score. Tigers fourth saw their first base runner - Uemoto walked. Yamato grounded out to first taking Uemoto to second and then Toritani walked - runners on first and second. Standridge, unfortunately, responded well to this situation striking out first Gomez and then Murton to keep the margin intact and end the innings. Hawks fifth started with a bang as Messenger was a bit too casual and Yanagida punished him by leading off with a solo home run 5-0 Hawks. Two outs followed and then Matsuda singled. He attempted to steal second but the throw was poor and Uemoto missed the take allowing Matsuda to reach third. Fortunately, Honda flew out to right. This was the end of Messenger's mediocre session - he had thrown 109 pitches over his five innings of work and had been well below his usual standard. Tigers fifth saw their first hit - a single to Imanari with one out. He was extinguished the very next at bat when Umeno hit into a double play to end the innings. Kaneda took over the pitching and retired the Hawks batters in order - the first time they hadn't had a base runner in the game. Tigers sixth saw Ogata lead off with a walk. Uemoto hit deep to left centre and Ogata set off round the bases neglecting though to step on second. He had to go back and do so before reaching third safely with Uemoto on second. However, the mistake had cost Tigers a run at least. Still there were no outs and runners on second and third - there was no excuse for Wada's reaction and maybe it's just his time of the month. Yamato hit a grounder to third which locked the runners on their bases. Then Toritani flew out to right but Ogata was held up on third - it wasn't far enough. Finally, Gomez grounded out to third as well. Tigers had wasted a good chance to get back into the game.

Ogata's punishment came immediately - he was benched and Tagami took his place at right. The Hawks seventh saw Yanagida walk with one out but he stayed on first and the innings was scoreless. Tigers seventh was quiet with Murton and Arai striking out and it was clear that Standridge was going for a complete game shutout. Hawks eighth was also quiet - Kaneda was pitching well and looking comfortable. Tigers final hit came in the bottom of the eighth. With one out Tagami singled to centre but stayed on first as the next two batters failed to move him round. Just to emphasize the rottenness of the evening Wada chose the useless Tsuru to pitch Hawk's ninth. One just wonders why he is still in the top team. Tsuru gave up a one out single to Nakamrua. Then Yoshimura (pinch hitter) singled to put runners on first and third. Yanagida decided to help himself to another run and hit deep to left for a sacrifice fly 6-0 Hawks, runner on first. Kidokoro (pinch running for Yoshimura) stole second but Lee could only ground out to second to end the innings. Standridge of course did return for Tigers ninth and retired the batters in order. This sealed his complete game shutout and Hawks victory. It also cemented his revenge for his dumping.

Standridge's pitch count had been a bit high (128 pitches) but with two walks and three hits this had been some pitching. Maybe Tigers should sign him? Tigers hadn't had any answer and with Messenger's poor performance were doomed to lose. Wada's selective punishment of Ogata left a nasty petty taste in the mouth especially as other errors go unpunished. Tigers drew this rubber with Hawks and the Interleague series but at this rate Tigers aren't going to win any Interleague series at all. They have the talent but the management is sadly lacking - I noticed that Iihara of Lions has taken a leave of absence because of the team's poor performance this season. It is probably too much to hope that Wada would have the honour to do the same.