May 28th Messenger v Makita - A classic defeat

Makita is a submarine pitcher - cue Tigers defeat. They don't know how to respond and wallow around helplessly. Makita wasn't even particularly good but didn't need to be. Messenger had to contend with Fujii of course but also was over-pitched. At the end of the sixth he had reached 111 pitches. This is basically his limit and for Wada to put him in for the seventh innings just shows the Tigers 'manager's' ineptness and lack of regard for his players. Messenger ended up throwing 133 pitches and didn't even get out of the seventh. Given that Messenger took a knock on his leg in the seventh as well it was even more idiotic to keep him on the mound. Makita was also over pitched. A complete game on 135 pitches is not a spectacular performance but Lions relief didn't exactly impress the game before so one can understand the motivation in pitching Makita the whole game. Interestingly things improved after Fujii was replaced by Imanari in the seventh. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Left)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (First)
5. Akiyama (Right)
6. German (Centre)
7. Hara (Third)
8. Sumitani (Catcher)
9. Makita (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Arai (Third)
7. Shibata (Right)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

Once again Wada's shuffled lineup defied logical analysis. One no longer understands what he is thinking or if anything resembling baseball knowledge exists. Kanemoto is still being rested because of the knock he took on his foot on Friday and this time Brazell was restored to fifth. Arai was at sixth and it is clear that this position is affecting his morale and production. An example of petty vindictiveness from our manager which is really rather distasteful. Arai is the best batter in Tigers but is also sensitive to slights which is just what Wada has done. Wada doesn't understand his players abilities at all and his changes are ill informed and demotivating. Kataoka led off the Lions first with a single. He tried to steal second but was thrown out but Messenger and Fujii were not working well together and Kuriyama walked. Neither Nakajima nor Nakamura though could do anything and this would be the story of the game until the mess of the seventh. With two out in Tigers first Toritani walked but Murton flew out to second. He has been tried at fourth before and has not prospered. Things do not look to be changing. Akiyama led off Lions second with a walk German grounded out to second which took Akiyama to second. Then the next two batters, Hara and Sumitani were both out. Tigers second saw Shibata pick up a two out walk. Fujii was next and with two out he wasn't required to bunt but took a swing and hit a two base into left centre.Tigers had runners on second and third but Messenger was the next batter and he struck out looking. Kataoka singled again in Lions third with one out. This time Kuriyama hit into a double play to end the innings. Things looked finely balanced. Tigers third was quiet and the batters flew out or in the case of Toritani struck out swinging. What was noticeable though was that Messenger was again taking a lot of pitches and this is very much down to Fujii and his inept calling as well as the pitcher.

Two strike outs started off Lions fourth and then Akiyama hit his first pitch to right. He stole second but German drew a walk - runners on first and second. Akiyama popped one up to fly out to second. Murton led off Tigers fourth with a nice two base hit. Brazell grounded out to second which took Murton to third but Tigers seem to disdain the sacrifice fly as Arai grounded out to second. Murton didn't try for home and the final out was Shibata who flew out to centre. Lions fifth was quiet with the batters falling in order. Tigers fifth was quiet as well Fujii and Messenger struck out swinging and Hirano flew out to right. Kuriyama singled to centre and then made second on a wild pitch to lead off Lions sixth. Nakamura's ground out moved Kuriyama round to third, the first and only Lion to reach that base this game. It was all down to Akiyama but he struck out swinging. Yamato decided to try something different and bunted to first for Tigers sixth. This worked and Tigers had a runner on. Toritani bunted him to second - what is this stupidity that has infected Wada? Having your No. 3 batter bunt is really a waste. Murton grounded out moving Yamato to third and then Brazell walked to set up runners on first and third. Arai was next but flew out to right to end the innings. He isn't hitting well but one shouldn't expect him to do so after the treatment he has received.

We now come to Wada's folly - pitching Messenger into the seventh when he was tiring. Couple that with a poor catcher and the circumstances were all nicely in place. German struck out swinging and then Hara hit his second pitch to centre. Sumitani hit his first pitch at Messenger and this bounced off his right foot and setting up runners on first and second. After treatment it was judged he was OK but this was rather a rash call and once again abysmal managing. Messenger struck out Makita but this was on a full count which also should have been a warning call. Kataoka also worked the count full and then hit hard to right for a three run home run 3-0 Lions. Finally, Wada acted and replaced Messenger with Fukuhara having blown the game. Fukuhara got Kuriyama to ground out to second to end the innings. Tigers seventh was quiet though we did see Imarani pinch hitting for Fujii and Saka pinch hitting for Messenger. Neither got on base though. Watanabe pitched Lions eighth and pitching to Imanari did well striking out two of the three batters he retired. Tigers eighth was quiet with the top of the order falling easily to Makita. Tsuru took over for Lions ninth and with one out walked Hara. Tsuru though struck out the next two batters to end the innings. Tigers last chance and a tiring Makita to face - Tigers should have bounced back but didn't have the will. Murton grounded out to second but Brazell did single. He was pinch run for by Tagami but Arai flew out to centre. The final batter was Kanemoto (pinch hitter) who struck out looking. Kanemoto thought this was too low and lost his cool giving the plate umpire a mouthful. It was never going to change the decision but it did illustrate just how variable the zone could be and the fact that umpire probably wanted to go home and didn't care about the reality. Lions victory.

Tigers maintain third place mainly because the Swallows are so pathetic any team can beat them. The three game winning run came to an end but we really have to blame Wada's poor management skills for this defeat. He really messed up over the handling of Messenger and his lineups just defy rationality. It's clear that he is just groping around and even when he finds a successful lineup or player changes a couple of games later. As a result Tigers cannot settle and the batters under-perform. Komiyama was doing well as catcher and was deliberately undermined by Wada and his team. Asai started hitting well but then was pulled for non hitters like Shibata. Arai was replaced by Kanemoto at No. 4 with no evidence that the latter was able to produce more runs. Hiyama was brought into the lineup for one game batting above Arai though there was no evidence that he was suitable for the position. The whole management structure is a joke with ill-informed tyros taking charge. Remember, two experienced managers with excellent records were rejected for this guy. This is not impressive at all.