Predictable as it was, these stumbling blocks are the last thing a team like the Dolphins need.  As is, they’re entering into a matchup no one in their right mind would pick them to win.  If the team splinters whatever minuscule chance they did have would almost certainly be out the window.  Yet that’s very much what seems to be happening, though I’m not sure there’s anything Tashiro could have done differently.  For a change, he doesn’t seem to be at-fault…

The crux of the problem is – again – Urabe.  The manager was in a no-win situation here, really – it seemed pretty obvious to me that Hikaru was the only pitcher who had a shot of shutting down Toutou Boys (and girl).  But Urabe, who wavers between moments of maturity and his usual petulant indignation, doesn’t take the news well.  In fact, he pens a resignation letter to Tashiro (though as of the end of the ep, it’s undelivered).  You’d expect Andy to take the news better, and he does – in his view the goal is to beat Toutou Boys, and with him at first base and Urabe in  left and the two of them manning the 3-4 spots in the order, they’re still critical (especially as Urabe is likely to pitch at some point in relief).  But Urabe doesn’t see it that way.

Meanwhile, we get to know the Mayumura twins (she’s older) off the field a bit.  Michiru is a bit of a rebel (she uses the weight machines in their mansion – and I use that word in the English sense, not Japanese) when their dad is away, despite being (wisely) forbidden to.  Wataru is serious and intense – he’s thoroughly scouted the opponent his sister dismisses as zaku, and tries to convince her that any team in the quarter-finals should be taken seriously.  But it’s not until he notes that next-gen Shigeno and Satou are Dolphins that Mayumura the elder really takes notice.

A chance meeting at the batting center (though with only one in town, I guess it’s not that unlikely) the next day leads to an amusing chain of events as Michiru – a rabid Shigeno Goro fangirl – cozies up to Daigo to try and score a meeting with his old man, eventually agreeing to come to his house and let Daigo see a few of her pitches.  That horrifies both Sakura and Wataru, though obviously for different reasons.  Mayumura Michiru is a lefty and a sidewinder, and though Daigo does OK against the “lefty” machine at 120 KMH, as Saigo has warned him you have to be at least 80% effective to have a chance against a live pitcher at the same velocity.  And that’s not even factoring in that Michiru is a sidearm pitcher, which most kids Daigo’s age have never seen before.

As you’d expect, Daigo doesn’t fare very well against Michiru – though he’s more effective holding off Wataru’s efforts to hustle her away before he gets the chance.  By the end of this session Sakura has transitioned from seeing Michiru as a hated rival to idolizing her herself (as a baseball role model, that holds water).  As for Daigo, he again shows how far he’s come – and how much of his success currently rests on his baseball intellect and not his raw skills.  Rather than mope about the fact that he’s probably doomed swinging against Michiru, Daigo decides he’s going to have to bunt for base hits (push bunts up the first base side are especially effective against southpaws), and with Hikaru a Shinkansen ride away, the only BP pitcher that makes sense is Urabe.

That’s going to turn ugly, but before that we get out first Goro sighting (or at least, hearing) in a while, as Daigo calls his dad to ask for advice.  But again, we see Daigo’s growth – the advice is not for himself, but Hikaru.  I’m not sure Goro is the best source of advice on control (he was always more an instinct guy, anyway) but it’s still great to see a father-son bonding moment between these two, however brief.  Now if Goro would only realize that spending time with his kids is more important that playing out the string on his baseball career in Taiwan…