August 3rd Andoh v Sanada - A day of batting practice

Tigers overwhelmed some abject pitching in grand style. BayStars were crushed and even though Andoh wasn't wonderful he didn't need to be. Run support flowed and BayStars pitchers seemed to have no response. The Magic Number is now 40 (CM is 35) Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers   3 0 3 0 0 3 7 0 3 19 21 1
BayStars 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  2  8 1

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Sekimoto (Third)
6. Katsuragi (First)
7. Shoda (Right)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

BayStars

1. Ozeki (Centre)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Yoshimura (Right)
5. Bigbie (Left)
6. Ishii (Short)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Ishikawa (Third)
9. Sanada (Pitcher)

BayStars night of despair started badly. Sanada gave up a hit to Akahoshi who stole second. He was bunted to third by a Hirano bunt and then tried for home on a Toritani pitcher ground out. Sanada was ready for this and fired the ball to Aikawa who tagged out Akahoshi. Toritani meanwhile made second. With two outs Sanada decided to walk Kanemoto and then Sekimoto to load the bases. Next batter Katsuragi who hit a two base to right 3-0 Tigers with the bases cleared. Shoda flew out and the innings was over. BayStars tried to strike back immediatley. With two outs Uchikawa made first on a Katsuragi error. The next batter - Yoshimura hit to right. BayStars are fast round the sacks and Uchikawa journeyed from first to home. He almost didn't make it though - Noguchi blocked his slide but couldn't hold the ball. As he scrabbled for it Uchikawa was just able to touch home plate - safe! 3-1 Tigers with Yoshimura on third. Andoh then walked Bigbie but the final batter was Ishii who grounded out. Tigers second saw Sanada dead ball Noguchi but one out later Akahoshi grounded into a double play. The BayStars second could be viewed as an indication of what was to go wrong for them. Nishikawa hit but then Sanada was out with three failed bunts. Nishikawa then tried to steal second but was thrown out and the innings was over. Sanada returned for the third but wouldn't last much longer. He struck out Hirano but then Toritani hit a two base. The next batter was Kanemoto who hit a two base to left which just stayed inside the foul line and evaded the leap of Bigbie 4-1 Tigers. Sekimoto hit and Tigers had runners on first and second and then another out later Shoda launched a deep fly to centre. Neither left nor centre picked it up and it landed between them allowing both runners to scamper home 6-1 Tigers. Noguchi flew out to end the innings. Andoh managed to dead ball Ozeki in the third and he advanced to second on a ground out but that was all. Sanada departed to be replaced by Yoshimi who would prove to be the most effective (in fact the only effective) BayStars pitcher of the evening. He retired the Tigers in order striking out two. For the BayStars fourth Ishii hit but this went nohwere.

Tigers fifth saw a Kanemoto hit (on his way to his first five hit game of his career) but nothing came of this. In the bottome Kinjoh (replacement centre) lead off with a hit and advanced to second on a ground out but nothing came of this. Tigers sixth and Yoshimi was replaced by Yoshihara. He would generate his own troubles. Shoda hit and advanced to second on a ground out. Andoh struck out but then Akahoshi hit - runners on first and third with two outs. Yoshihara then dead balled Hirano bases loaded. Toritani was next and he worked the count full then walked - oshidashi 7-1 Tigers. Then came Kanemoto who took one strike but then hit the next pitch to centre driving in two runs 9-1 Tigers and the game was practically over. The last batter was Sekimoto who grounded out to end the innings. By this time Andoh had thrown 99 pitches and was looking tired - still with a nine run lead another innings was possible. Andoh dead balled Yoshimura - a sign of tiredness. Then Bigbie hit and Yoshimura flew round to third all with no outs. Ishii hit driving the run in 9-2 Tigers but Aikawa hit into a double play. This gave Andoh his breathing space and he struck out Ishikawa to end the innings.

Amazingly, Yoshihara returned for Tigers seventh but with a new catcher, Takeyama. Katsuragi hit and then Shoda hit - runners on first and second with no outs. A wild pitch allowed Katsuragi to reach third and then Noguchi walked to load the bases. At this point Ohya decided that Yoshihara maybe wasn't such a good idea after all and Yamakita took the mound. He started encouragingly - Hiyama (pinch hitter) flew out and but then Akahoshi hit to right a bases clearing two base hit 12-2 Tigers. Hirano hit and Akahoshi was home on a throwing error to first 13-2 Tigers with Hirano making second. Toritani grounded out then Kanemoto hit driving in another run 14-2 Tigers. Sekimoto was next and he hammered his first pitch into the left stand for a two run home run 16-2 Tigers and the BayStars were reeling. Abe pitched the BayStars seventh and retired the side in order. Yokoyama was the BayStars pitcher for the eighth and he gave up a hit to Shoda (his fourth). Shoda advanced to second on a wild pitch but then Yokoyama struck out the next three batters to escape the innings without further damage.

Abe returned for the BayStars version and once again was in control. He did give up a hit to Bigbie but nothing came of this. BayStars woes continued in the ninth. Pretty much from the sixth BayStars pitchers had been used for batting practice. Hirano hit and moved to third on a Toritani two base. Kanemoto hit his first pitch for a two base timely 18-2 Tigers. Sakurai (pinch hitter) walked and the runners advanced to second and third on a Shoda ground out. Komiyama (replacement catcher) hit and Kanemoto was home 19-2. Sakurai also tried to make home but was tagged out and the innings was over. Hashimoto pitched the BayStars ninth and gave up a hit but with a 17 run lead this was irrelevant. The runner did not get beyond first as the final batter grounded out - Tigers victory.

A massacre is the only way to describe this game. BayStars had been pummelled into submission. Tigers had scored a season high 19 runs on 21 hits. Kanemoto had driven in six runs and Komiyama had recorded his first ever top team hit and RBI. The BayStars pitchers had not shown anywhere near enough application or effort and had just seemed to be going through the motions. This was a good way to start the second half of the season.