August 22nd Messenger v Asai - Back to percentages

Things are very close at the top of the Central League now with the gap between Tigers and Giants on percentage and the Dragons 1.5 games behind. Tigers did not play well this series and were swept by the Giants. The depressing thing was that the pitchers faced by the Tigers were not the best the Giants had to offer and in fact non of them pitched well at all. Tigers out hit Giants six to five in this game but still didn't manage to score a single run. This wasn't an impressive performance and mostly the batters didn't look that interested. Mayumi's lack of motivational skills was very much in evidence and the knives are already being sharpened though he is certain to be back next year. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Tani (Right)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Edgar (First)
7. Chono (Centre)
8. Wakiya (Second)
9. Asai (Pitcher)

Tigers started the game by wasting their first chance. With Murton and Hirano out Toritani drew a walk. Arai hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Brazell managed three balls and a strike before grounding out to first and ending the innings. Recently, he has cooled off a bit and he does need to hit with runners on with more regularity. Messenger doesn't seem to have improved at all and still lacked the necessary control. He started by giving up a solo home run to Sakamoto and much as I dislike the little tick it was a very good hit 1-0 Giants. The next three batters fell in order but a one run lead wasn't anything to worry about. Tigers though proceeded to waste another chance in their second. Kanemoto flew out to left and then Johjima hit a grounder to third which Ogasawara made a dogs dinner of and we had a runner on first. Shunsuke Fujikawa hit to left but Messenger grounded out to first, the runners not advancing. Then Murton walked to load the bases and Tigers really did have a big chance. Hirano was next and he is another one who needs to hit more with runners on. He though hit a soft grounder to short to end the innings. Tigers had wasted two good chances in two innings. Chono hit a two base to left with two out in Giants second and so Wakiya was deliberately walked to get at Asai. He struck out to end the innings. Toritani led off Tigers third with a hit but was promptly extinguished as Arai hit into a double play - not good. Brazell flew out in foul ground and the innings was over. Giants third started poorly for Tigers with Sakamoto hitting to left. Tani bunted to Messenger who went for Sakamoto going for second but was not quick enough and both runners were safe. Then Ogasawara tried to bunt and popped the catch up to Messenger who threw quickly to first to catch Tani off base for the second out. Then things went wrong - Ramirez managed to get enough bat on a high pitch which bounced its way merrily into centre field where a rather tardy Shunsuke Fujikawa took it. By the time he did so Sakamoto was home 2-0 Giants, runner on first. This became runner on second when Messenger unleashed a wild pitch. Messenger by now wasn't pitching well at all and so Abe was walked. This brought up Edgar who turned one to left, bisecting Arai and Toritani and bringing a surprisingly speedy Ramirez home 3-0 Giants, runners on first and second. This was Giants last hit of the game - they would manage two more walks in the fourth but after that they had no base runners at all. Next was Chono who walked to load the bases. Finally, Wakiya drove his first pitch to second for an easy ground out and the final out of the innings.

Kanemoto led off Tigers fourth with a line hit to right. Johjima hit his first pitch to left and flew out - a pointless out and then Shunsuke Fujikawa walked. Runners on first and second with one out, a chance beckoned but Tigers spurned it. Mayumi decided that it would be wise to use a pinch hitter and chose Sakurai. He swung at his first pitch and hit into a double play to end the innings. More unintelligent batting. For Giants fourth Mayumi picked Tsuru who ran into trouble with Tani after getting the first two outs. Tani walked but then worryingly so did Ogasawara - runners on first and second. Ramirez though hit his first pitch to third grounding out to end the Giants final chance. Tigers fifth wasn't good - Toritani walked with one out to go but then Arai swung at his first pitch and flew out to second. Tsuru retired the Giants batters in order in the fifth without much problem. Tigers sixth was also quiet with wrong shot selection being the order of the day. For Giants sixth we saw Egusa - he's back! He had no problems retiring the batters in order either.

After six innings of Asai, Hara switched to his relief. He hadn't pitched particularly well but had been helped by some very poor batting. Kubo pitched Tigers seventh and this time Murton hit. However, Hirano grounded out to short to end the innings. Kubota pitched the Giants seventh and looked comfortable and in control. No batter reached base. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers eighth and Arai hit to centre. With only one out here was a good chance, Brazell and Kanemoto next but neither did anything. Both swung at their second pitch and both flew out. Waiting might have been a better option. Giants pitchers weren't being made to work at all. Kubota returned for Giants eighth and retired the batters in order striking out Chono to end the innings. For Tigers ninth we saw Kroon who has had some rough treatment from Tigers batters over the years. This time was different and he had no troubles retiring the three batters he faced to end the game. Giants victory.

A poor performance by Tigers over the whole series had blown a rather nice three run lead. Basically, everything was clueless and the batting was weak and unintelligent. Fire, drive and application were all lacking and Tigers did not play like they wanted to win the Central League. Mayumi's response was a philosophical shrug but this reaction is not what Tigers fans want. The Giants are the enemy and they do not expect to lose in this manner to the old enemy. All the remaining games with the Giants are at Koshien but Tigers cannot play like this at their home stadium - they have to play better.