September 12th Andoh v Saitoh - Tigers shut out by non-entities

This shut out was perhaps the worst. Against a Carp side which was really pathetic Tigers screwed up badly. Andoh seemed to forget that he was a good pitcher and Kanemoto was a joke. He really does need to be sent down to the second team for a period because at the moment he is a waste of space. Tigers, once again faced a poor pitcher and did nothing. Carp scored all their runs on one bad Andoh innings but after that despite threatening had no way of actually scoring runs. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Amaya (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Shima (Right)
6. Ishihara (Catcher)
7. Kida (Third)
8. Kokubo (Short)
9. Saitoh (Pitcher)

Andoh started well, he retired the Carp in order. Saitoh gave up a hit to Imaoka and with a bit of application the Tigers could have had more. However, Kanemoto continued his lazy ways and struck out. Carp's second was highlighted by abysmal pitching from Andoh. He completely lost control and started with a leadoff hit to Kurihara. Then he walked Shima in a display of pitching that was as bad as that of Lim the previous night. Ishihara hit to right and Kurihara was home 1-0 Carp. Then the ball Andoh served up to Kida was so bad that any one could have put it over the fence 4-0 Carp. Kuboh (pitching coach) had a word with Andoh and the word was not kind. It was more along the lines of what kind of rubbish are you pitching? Kida is a lightweight and certainly shouldn't be hitting three run home runs. The next three batters fell in order and the innings was over but with a substantial lead for the Carp.

Just to show he wasn't a good pitcher Saitoh walked Takahashi and then Yano to set up runners on first and second with two outs. However, next batter was Andoh (here there was a case for a pinch hitter) who grounded out to waste the chance. Carp third saw Akamatsu lead off with a hit. Amaya grounded into a double play but this didn't come off. As he slid into second base Akamatsu took out Toritani disrupting the throw to first. Takahashi was alert and the throw went to Toritani in time for the tag but the collision with Amaya dislodged the ball and he was ruled safe. Akamatsu's cheating had been rewarded. However, the other two batters did nothing and the innings petered out. Tigers third saw Hirano hit but Imaoka was ruled to have struck out in a travesty of reality. Kanemoto did nothing. With Carp's fourth Ishihara led off with a two base and advanced to third on Kida's fly out. The next two batters did nothing and the innings was over. Katsuragi hit in the Tigers fourth but nothing came of this. Tigers once again failed to take advantage of a poor pitcher and made him look presentable.

Carp's fifth was quiet with Andoh retiring the side in order. Imaoka produced an excellent piece of fielding. Higashide hit and then Akamatsu lined out to third. Imaoka's throw was inch perfect and Higashide was caught off base. Tigers fifth was a waste. With one out Akahoshi hit towards Kida who made a dreadful error on a basic take. Runner on first. Then Hirano hit - runners on first and second. Imaoka hit towards Kida who made another dreadful error with the take - bases loaded. Kanemoto then hit into a double play - he is not paid to do this. As I have mentioned before his slump has lasted too long and Tigers need to ask whether he is actually worth his place at the moment. Two pathetic errors went unpunished by the Tigers batters. The sixth was quiet, neither side getting anyone on base. Andoh actually continued into the seventh (by now he was pitching quite well) and retired the Carp in order. Why hadn't he done this in the second. Unfortunately Tigers seventh was also quiet. Abe replaced Andoh for the Carp eighth and retired the batters in order.

Tigers eighth saw another error - Higashide messed up a Kanemoto ground out but nothing happened. Abe continued into the Carp's ninth and once again retired the side in order. Tigers ninth was pitched by Ueno (he also pitched the Tigers eighth) and the Tigers batters were retired in order. Carp victory. A totally unacceptable performance against a rubbish side. Tigers should have beaten the Carp despite Andoh's second innings. However, they failed to take advantage of an error ridden incompetent performance by the Carp.

Giants won today so the Magic Number stays at 17 but the games between shrinks to five. Tigers need to pick themselves up and dispatch the Carp. The question of whether Kanemoto should continue in his present form also needs to be addressed because he is not pulling his weight or justifying his salary.