July 16th Standridge v Sugano - Headless chickens

Where does one begin - a litany of wasted chances, incompetence at almost all levels and a wasted good start. The whole affair was deeply embarrassing for Tigers, losing on home ground in this fashion in front of a capacity crowd. Wada's inability to judge when to change pitchers haunting him in a big way and Fujii demonstrating a total incapacity to do anything to help any of his pitchers. It was interesting watching the interplay between Wada and Nakanishi, Andoh and Fujii and the wonderful expression on Wada's face as he realised just what a mess things were. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 8 11 0
Tigers  3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 1

Starting Lineups

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

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

Saka was restored to the lineup in place of Ryota giving Tigers their best balanced side at the moment. They started nicely with two Giants rapidly out and then Sakamoto hit to left centre for a double. Abe was induced to ground out to short and end the innings. Nishioka was on 998 hits in NPB and he wasted no time in getting his 999th hit with a lead off single to centre off the first pitch. Wada being a fool had Yamato bunt on this went disastrously wrong. As Yamato went to bunt he misjudged the pitch and it hit him on his finger very hard. Yamato couldn't continue and had to retire being replaced by Shunsuke. Shunsuke swung and bounced it high enough to beat the throw to first with Nishioka on second. Toritani flew out and Murton grounded out taking the runners to second and third. Next came Arai who drove the ball left with Takahashi fumbling a little as he fielded. Both Tigers runners were home 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Imanari hit hard to right centre where Chono fielded. Arai charged round the bases at full speed and slid in safely to home for the third run 3-0 Tigers with Imanari sliding in safely to third to beat the throw from Abe to Murata. Sugano was in a mess. Saka couldn't keep the momentum going though and swung too quickly flying to third in foul ground. Tigers had a very useful lead. Murata's response was immediate leading off Giants second with a single left - the ease with which he hit was disturbing. However, his teammates lacked his ability and both Takahashi and Chono both flew out with Terauchi grounding out to end the innings. Tigers second started quietly with Fujii and Standridge both striking out swinging to a low outside pitch - a cutball and fork respectively. Standridge looked like he was playing a cricket shot going down on one knee to miss his final strike. Nishioka then singled to centre again for his 1000th hit (the flower ceremony would be after the innings). Next up was Shunsuke who also singled to centre setting up runners on first and second. Toritani wasted the chance and hit a grounder to second. Giants third saw a dispiriting innings for them with the batters falling conventionally and in order. Tigers were controlling the game very well. However, they were not scoring runs. Murton led off Tigers third with a single to centre - Sugano was eminently hittable to centre throughout his pitching session. Next was Arai who was batting aggressively and attacked Sugano again. He grounded out to Sakamoto who was looking for the double play but was taken out by Murton sliding in to second. Make no mistake Murton aimed to take Sakamoto out not even bothering to attempt to touch base and this was obvious from the reverse angle replay. One knows this happens but for a player of Murton's professed Christian values it is pretty disgusting and hypocritical. Arai of course was safe on first but Tigers didn't profit as Imanari struck out looking and then Saka hit his first pitch to first to end the innings.

Giants fourth saw some of Standridge's best pitching with him striking out both Sakamoto and Abe in fine style. Murata grounded out to short to end the innings. Fujii led off Tigers fourth flying out to centre. This one like a lot of Fujii's hits died and the ball dropped suddenly but Matsumoto pulled off a fine diving catch for the out. Takahashi led Giants fifth off with a single to centre. It came close to taking Standridge's head off and he had to take quick evading action. Chono flew out to centre and then Terauchi singled left - runners on first and second. Hara decided to go with a pinch hitter instead of his pitcher and sent Kamei to the plate. Kamei hit weakly back to Standridge who threw to second for the out. Toritani completed what was an easy double play and the innings was over. Kasahara was Giants new pitcher and started surprisingly well getting Shunsuke to strike out looking and then Toritani to ground out and Murton to fly out to right. Giants sixth and even though they ended up with only one base runner they were gradually turning up the pressure and you could sense that Standridge and Fujii were struggling to contain them. Nakai and Matsumoto both went down straight forwardly but Sakamoto battled and finally forced a walk. Abe was next and he also battled - he did succumb with a ground out to Toritani eventually. Tigers sixth was another wasted chance. Arai flew out to start the innings but then Imanari doubled to left centre nicely. Saka walked and Tigers had runners on first and second. Fujii was next and hit hard lining out to Sakamoto. Imanari had drifted too far off second - in fact he was halfway along the base path and had no chance to get back with Sakamoto stepping on the sack to dismiss him for the final out.

Tigers still held the lead though and here things went wrong. Wada had been preparing to have Morita pinch hit for Standridge. The fact that he was prepared to consider the option is proof enough that Standridge was ready for replacement but given the double play he decided to squeeze an extra innings out of his pitcher. This is a trait of Japanese managers and Wada in particular. Giants were ready and adopting a leaf out of BayStars book hit early and often. Standridge didn't stand a chance and the move to the relief had been the only sensible option. Murata led the Giants seventh off hitting the first pitch to left - runner on first. Then Takahashi hit his second pitch right - runners on first and second. Here was a great time to switch pitchers but Wada persisted with Standridge who was clearly not up to it anymore. Chono drove the ball into centre to bring in Murata 3-1 Tigers, runners on first and second with no outs. Hara then decided that a bunt was in order and Terauchi bunted the runners successfully to second and third for the first out. Here Wada decided that it was time to change pitchers and brought on Katoh. Hara had been going with Ishii as pinch hitter but switched instead to Yano. Fujii called for a low pitch and Katoh delivered a slider which Yano cracked along the third baseline into the corner for a timely double 3-3 scores tied, runner on second. In a fit of pique and pettiness Wada then pulled Katoh, there is no other way to describe it. He was replaced by Andoh. The situation at this time was still salvageable but Wada didn't make the other logical move and pull Fujii. He continued to wreck things more because he was incapable of dealing with the situation than anything else. Nakai singled right; once again early and Imanari came in to take the ball. It was a hit - Imanari couldn't have caught it but probably it would have put runners on first and third. Instead Imanari misjudged the bounce and let the ball roll away to the right fence where it was fielded by Shunsuke. Yano was home 4-3 Giants runner on third. Hara instructed Matsumoto to try a squeeze play and Andoh lured him very nicely into going for outside pitches - the first of which he literally threw his bat at trying to hit. Nakai had come off his base and had to turn and dive quickly to be safe. The second attempted squeeze saw Matsumoto out. Sakamoto walked in four with the pitches being all around the zone. Sakamoto then stole second and then we saw the prime folly - with the count at 1-1 Fujii suddenly decided to deliberately walk Abe to load the bases. This produced a mound conference in which Fujii could be seen talking forcefully to Andoh. There is a suspicion that what happened next wasn't accidental. Andoh sprayed the ball around the zone and walked Murata with an inside straight (see Michael Westbay's pro-yakyu report 1-29) - oshidashi, 5-3 Giants bases loaded. This time Nakanishi practically pulled Wada out of the dugout so that Wada would replace Andoh. The poor victim chosen was Tsutsui. He was still pitching to the incompetent Fujii and faced Takahashi. Takahashi hit hard and high to centre. The ball started to descend near the fence and this is Shunsuke's weak point; fielding near the boundaries of the ground. He messed up the take and missed it entirely - a bases clearing double 8-3 Giants, runner on second and the final humiliation. Chono was the last batter and hit a grounder to Toritani to end what had been a disaster. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers seventh and had no problems retiring the batters in order. They were rather like lambs to the slaughter. Boyer pitched Giants eighth and finally we had a replacement catcher - Komiyama taking over. How he dealt with a crisis would show up Fujii even more. Boyer isn't adjusting well and was immediately in trouble walking Terauchi. Then Terauchi stole second and Yano singled right - runners on first and third. Komiyama began to lay down the law - watching his calls they were very firm and repeated so that Boyer would know exactly what to do. Nakai was induced to fly out to right but not far enough for the sacrifice fly - one out. Suzuki (pinch running for Yano) stole second but the focus was Matsumoto. He hit a liner to first and was out and then Arai threw hard to second for to catch Suzuki out of his ground for the final out. A dangerous situation but competently handled by pitcher and catcher. Acosta pitched Tigers eighth and retired the subdued Toritani and Murton. Arai singled left but Imanari could only ground out to third. Tigers chances to make the score look respectable were running out. Matsuda took over for Giants ninth and retired his three batters in order fooling both Abe and Murata with their respective first pitches. For Tigers ninth we saw Aoki. He gave up a lead off hit to Saka but none of the other batters could move him off first and they fell in order. Giants victory.

Tigers had been well beaten but had generated their defeat themselves by firstly poor management. There was no point in trying to squeeze another innings out of Standridge. The vindictive pulling of Katoh also exacerbated the situation. Poor catching - one can have a fading or tiring pitcher or even a pitcher on an off day but when four pitchers in an innings all give up runs it can't be laid just at the pitcher's door. Fujii was totally unable to deal with the situation. Poor fielding particularly by Imanari who is new to the role and Shunsuke who really has to do something about his weak area. Wasted chances - the batters needed to add more runs especially as Sugano wasn't particularly good. Finally, the Giants were better and more committed. Tigers need to demonstrate something similar if they are to win the pennant. They have a chance to bounce back and take a consolation victory tonight. Let's hope they take it.