May 14th Andoh v Kenta Maeda - Sakurai and Hirano are back

Andoh almost had a complete game shutout this game but just fell short with the final out. We saw the return of Sakurai and Hirano and the side looked stronger for it. This is not to say that they will perform every game but other options are not hitting as well at the moment. Fujimoto is practically useless with the bat and lacks Hirano's drive and Lin and Katsuragi are not hitting. Sakurai has driven 13 RBIs in so far compared with 1 and 3 respectively (Lin can be excused as he is just back) and is hot. The amazing thing is that Mayumi wants to bring Mench back and drop Sakurai down to ni-gun!! A performing batter is dropped for a non-performng one? Tigers battng has enough problems driving in runs without these self-inflicted mistakes. Mayumi has to learn - go with the man in form not with someone who might or might not succeed. Otherwise, drop one of the left handers - who are not hitting. If Sakurai falls into a slump then drop him down otherwise keep him in the side. On a seperate note, Kubota is continuing training and his conversion to a starter is almost complete. It will be interesting to see how he does. Box scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Carp    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  9 1
Tigers  1 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 X 7 12 0

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Nishii (Short)
3. Seabol (Third)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Shima (Right)
6. McClain (Left)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Akamatsu (Centre)
9. Kenta Maeda (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Sakurai (Right)
7. Hirano (Second)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Once again Maeda would not pitch well against the Tigers. Like his last outing he would not be spectacularly bad but just bleed runs and have control difficulties. This time he only lasted three innings. Andoh though was superb. He had a runner on in practically all of his innings but kept control throughout the game. Carp's first, though, was one of the occaisions when he retired the batters in order. Brown had shuffled his batting lineup but it didn't help. Tigers first demonstrated Maeda's problems immediately. Akahoshi led off with a hit and stole second. He advanced to third on Sekimoto's bunt. One out later Kanemoto walked and this brought up Arai who drove in Akahoshi 1-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Sakurai flew out in foul ground swinging too soon as he tried to drive the ball deep. Shima had a one out hit in Carp's second but McClain struck out swinging and then Ishihara grounded out stranding him on first. Once again Tigers innings was eventful. Hirano led off with a bunt hit to third - diving head first to make base safely. Kanoh hit to centre setting up runners on first and third. Andoh tried to bunt but was out as a result of three bunts. This brought up Akahoshi who hit a sacrifice fly to left and Hirano was home 2-0 Tigers runner on first. Kanoh then tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings. A very good start. Carp tried to respond in their third. Akamatsu (who would have a good game) led off with a hit. He was bunted to second by Maeda. Higashide hit to centre setting up runners on first and third but the next batter Nishi hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers continued their demolition of Maeda in the third. Sekimoto hit a grounder to Nishii at short but he messed it up and Sekimoto was safe on first. Toritani bunted him to second and a Kanemoto ground out took Sekimoto to third. Here things went wrong for Carp. Arai walked which set up runners on first and third with two outs and brought up Sakurai. He hit to centre driving in Sekimoto 3-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Then came Hirano who hit to right driving in another run 4-0 Tigers runners on first and second. Finally Kanoh flew out to end the innings. This was it for Maeda. He had struggled and Brown decided that he couldn't justify keeping on the mound to bleed more runs. Maeda had lasted even less time than his previous outing - just three innings. These had taken 72 pitches and he hadn't looked comfortable at all.

Carp's fourth opened with a Seabol hit. Kurihara flew out and this time it was Shima's turn to hit into a double play to end the innings. Ohshima pitched the Tigers fourth and was effective retiring the batters in order. As I've mentioned the fifth innings is normally Andoh's problem innings but this time it was no trouble at all. He did give up a lead off hit to McClain but then retired the next three batters, striking out two on the way. Ohshma's good start disappeared in the Tigers fifth. The first two outs were straightforward enough, Toritani and Kanemoto both flying out to Akamatsu but then Arai hit to centre. Sakurai slammed his second pitch into left cenre and Arai took off for home 5-0 Tigers Sakurai safe on second. Next was Hirano who hit to left putting it over McClain and driving Sakurai in 6-0 Tigers and Hirano head sliding safe on third. Kanoh though grounded out and the innings was over but Tigers now had a commanding lead. The sixth innings was quiet as both pitchers reitired their batters in order.

Carp's seventh saw Andoh walk Shima (this is probably the first game of the season where he's been on base three times) with one out. Once again this didn't affect Andoh who got the next two outs. In the Tigers seventh we still saw Ohshima who faced Toritani. He hammered a 137kph slider to right for a solo lead off home run 7-0 Tigers. Kanemoto hit but then Arai hit into a double play. Sakurai though had another two base but this time Hirano struck out to end the innings. Akamatsu led off Carp's eighth with a hit but once again things went nowhere after that and the innings was quiet. Hayashi replaced Ohshima for the Tigers eighth. The latter had like Maeda been overwhelmed by Tigers batters and hadn't pitched much better than his predecessor. Hayashi was secure retiring the batters in order. Andoh was on 99 pitches now and Mayumi decided to let him try for a complete game. This was a completely reasonable decision but Andoh would just fall short. He started with a ground out but then Kurihara and Shima both hit to set up runners on first and second. McClain flew out leaving one out to get. This is always the hardest and would prove to be for Andoh. He walked Ishihara in four temporarily losing control to load the bases. Akamatsu followed and he hit to Yamato (replacment second, Hirano having moved to centre to replace Akahoshi). The rookie wasn't able to get the throw in time and the Carp had a runner home 7-1 Tigers bases loaded. The final batter was Kida who flew out to third to end the innings. Tigers victory.

This was an excellent victory for the Tigers founded on good batting and great pitching. Andoh just missed out on the shutout but got the complete game and Akahoshi picked up his eleventh steal out of eleven. Both Sakurai and Hirano had made good cases to be included as permanent starters. They had shown good batting and great hustle and Mayumi needs to take note and think about including the performing players not going with dubious theories about left/right batters. Last season Maeda owned Tigers and they found him practically unhittable. This season it seems it is far too easy for them to hit him and score off him. Tigers took the series and can be satisfied with this game. Let's hope Mayumi doesn't make the mistake of replacing Sakurai with Mench but if he does bring the latter up keeps Sakurai as a complement.