April 11th Andoh v Miura - Sometimes you lose to B class

One hates to admit it but sometimes a B class side can be better than an A class side. This tends to be annoying as you know your side should have done better. Arai now has 1 hit to go to 1,000 hits. Kanemoto still has 1 to go to 2,000 and it is time he stopped messing around. Admittedly, the plate umpire was an incompetent idiot (the fat guy whose name I refuse to learn) but Kanemoto needs to focus on getting hits and ignore the big mark. Line scores as follows

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

Line ups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishii (Short)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Kinjoh (Centre)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Ozeki (Left)
8. Aikawa (Aikawa)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

Terahara was originally thought to be the BayStars pitcher but in fact they faced Miura. He has an undeserved reputation as a Tigers killer. However, today he managed to live up to his reputation. The Tigers first started with a hit by Arai - his 999th but Kanemoto struck out to end the innings. For BayStars first Nishi hit but in trying to steal second was tagged out. Both other batters struck out looking. In the Tigers second Imaoka hit, then Toritani hit. This left runners on first and third with no outs. Ford hit a sacrifice fly 1-0 Tigers. Yano though didn't do anything - his foul fly kept Toritani on first and even though Miura managed a wild pitch and got Toritani to second the next batter was Andoh who struck out. Really, it is time to replace Yano with someone who can hit more often. The odd sacrifice fly is not enough. The BayStars second produced a walk and nothing else.

The Tigers third started with an Akahoshi hit and a Hirano foul ball. Runners on first and second with no outs. Arai managed to hit into a double play though which left Akahoshi on third with two outs. Next up Kanemoto who was given out to a dubious inside strike. The pitch missed the zone but the umpire (the fat guy) gave the strike out - not the first of his mess ups. For the BayStars third Aikawa hit and made first. Miura bunted him to second and Ishi flew out. Next up Nishi hit towards Andoh. The ball hit the pitcher's leg and cannoned into the area between second and first. This allowed Aikawa to round third and reach home 1-1 scores level. Andoh had to receive treatment after the impact but luckily seemed OK. He was then able to get Kinjoh to ground out. Tigers fourth was quiet with the side being retired in order.

In the BayStars fifth, Yoshimura walked but then Ozeki managed a lucky hit. He hit a high bloop ball which conveniently fell between Toritani and Kanemoto - runners on first and third with two outs. Aikawa, the next batter struck out though. In the Tigers fifth, Akahoshi worked a walk and then stole second. Hirano hit (a rather lucky affair) and Akahoshi was on third with two outs. However, Arai grounded out to second to end the innings. The BayStars fifth produced a hit from Ishii which resulted in nothing. The Tigers sixth was quiet and so to the BayStars sixth. Murata hit along the line and this was ruled in bounds (though it looked foul). This was a two base. He was bunted to third by Saeki but then the next batter Yoshimura conjured a foul fly to first and we had two out with one runner on third. Ozeki received a dubious walk but Aikawa hit to drive in the run 2-1 BayStars. The final batter of the innings was Miura who grounded out. Both teams seventh and eighth innings were quiet and you expected more from them.

In the Tigers ninth, they faced Matt White and firstly Kanemoto struck out. Imaoka grounded out to White and Toritani produced a foul fly. BayStars had won. Andoh had pitched 123 balls in eight innings and given up 2 runs. Miura 132 balls also in eight innings with 1 run. Neither pitcher was spectacular and really Tigers should have taken advantage of this. As I have said, it is time for Kanemoto to stop messing around.

Miura pitched well against us last year too. Well, you can't win them all. We had an awful record against Hiroshima last year, so B class teams can beat you on any given day...

Miura has an undeserved reputation as a Tiger killer? Here is how today's Nikkan Sports shows that statement to not be true:

Miura vs. Tigers Career

Year  G  W  L  Inn   ERA
1993  2  2  0  17    0.53
1994  2  1  0   3.1 10.80
1995  7  2  1  40.2  2.88
1996  8  1  2  33.1  4.32
1997  4  1  1  18.2  3.86
1998  5  4  0  34.2  1.56
1999  7  3  0  43.1  1.45
2000  8  6  2  59.1  1.97
2001  5  2  1  34.1  2.62
2002  2  1  0  18    1.50
2003  3  1  0  23    2.74
2004  7  4  2  50.1  2.68
2005  7  3  0  54.1  1.82
2006  5  0  3  34    3.97
2007  5  2  2  35    2.31
2008  1  1  0  8     1.13
==== == == == ===== =====
Car  78 34 14 507.1  2.47

Granted, the BayStars are currently a B-class team. But Miura is an A-class pitcher.

Oh, and both sides had issues with the width of the strike zone last night. It seems to me that both pitchers had more strike outs than usual.

I was glad to see Andoh was able to stay in after that shot off his knee. I may not have been rooting for the Tigers, but I hate to see anyone get hurt.

Thanks for that chart - I was thinking of more recently (from about 2005). However, the figures clearly show an impressive record over his career.