September 16th Fukuhara v Chen - The Giants creep closer

Tigers continue to drop games and allow the Giants to catch up. To be honest the Giants are hot and confident and Tigers aren't. Too much poor play against B class sides has taken its toll and now the games between the two sides stand at 3. This is down from a high of 13 in July but really the problem has lain in the way Tigers have played during August and September. Tigers should have taken this game but once again were let down by the offense. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 10 0
Dragons 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 X 5  6 1

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Morino (Third)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Lee (Right)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Koike (Centre)
7. Delarosa (Short)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Chen (Pitcher)

Everything started well. Akahoshi hit a two base and it looked like Tigers were off to a good start. Hirano's ground out moved Akahoshi to third and Imaoka tried to hit a sacrifice fly but only made second. Kanemoto once again failed to drive Akahoshi home and the innings was over. Fukuhara started with a hit to Morino who made second on Araki's ground out but the innings went nowhere after that. Sekimoto hit in the Tigers second with one out but he was followed by the ineffective Asai (who should not be in the side) and Fukuhara so nothing came of this. The Dragons fell in order in their second. Tigers fell in order in the third but then the wheels came off the wagon. Fukuhara's first two innings had been comfortable and convincing and he started the Dragons third well, getting the first two outs. Then he faced Morino and gave up a home run 1-0 Dragons and like Koike's this one only just made it crawling over the wall but not the fence. Fukuhara seemed to go to pieces - Araki hit a two base and then Lee hit another home run to right 3-0 Dragons. Woods walked but Wada flew out to end the innings. A shock but not irreversible.

How reversible was almost demonstrated the very next innings. Kanemoto led off with a two base. The next batter Toritani was suddenly alive and hit a two run home run 3-2 Dragons. Yano hit and then Sekimoto hit and Tigers had runners on first and second. The runners advanced to second and third on Asai's bunt but really he should have tried to do more. Lin (pinch hitter) was next and he grounded out to first and the Dragons were quick enough to catch the runner going for home - end of innings. A nice try by the Tigers. Fukuhara was replaced by Abe who responded magnificently retiring the Dragons in order. In Tigers fifth Imaoka walked but once again Kanemoto failed - striking out looking to end the innings. Abe continued his superb pitching in the fifth striking out two more batters as he sliced through the Dragons lineup. Yano hit in the Tigers sixth but Sekimoto flew out and of course Asai did nothing. Once again Abe was dominant and the Dragons had no answer to him - he had pitched three innings and faced nine batters, striking out five of them. This was really excellent work.

Tigers seventh saw Akahoshi walk with one out. Hirano hit to set up runners on first and second but then Imaoka flew out. Kanemoto was next and once again he struck out to end the innings - his performance seems to deteriorate daily. This was another wasted chance. Dragons seventh saw Watanabe start. He got the first two outs but then walked Tanishige. Here Okada panicked (this is the only plausibe interpretation) and switched to Egusa. This proved to be a mistake. Egusa gave up a hit to Tatsunami (pinch hitter) and then a two base hit to Morino. Both runners flew round the bases and were home 5-2 Dragons. Egusa then walked Araki but got Lee to ground out and end the innings. The change to Egusa was ill considered and unnecessary and Tigers paid the price. Chen retired at the end of the Tigers seventh and was replaced by Asao. He gave up a two base hit to Sekimoto but with two out the next batter Katsuragi (pinch hitter) had to do something special but didn't and struck out. Tigers pitcher for the Dragons eighth was Tamaki who retired the batters in order. The younger relief pitchers shone during this game, both Abe and Tamaki showed some good stuff. Iwase pitched the Tigers ninth and did well enough. Takahashi (pinch hitter) reached first on a Woods error. Akahoshi hit to set up runners on first and second. Hiyama flew out and then Imaoka grounded out moving Akahoshi to third. The final batter was Kanemoto who completed a dismal performance for him by striking out with runners on for the third time that night. End of game and Dragons victory.

Tigers batters had not wanted to take responsibility for driving runners in and had paid the price. Abe's superb pitchng had kept them in the game and they had wasted the opportunities presented. Kanemoto had been particularly bad but to be honest non of them had shone. Only Toritani had shown spirit but once again in a small dose. Dragons Chen had not pitched that well and Tigers should have made more of their opportunities. Something needs to be done about Kanemoto though - he needs to start hitting again. Without him the team is struggling.

When the hell is Arai coming back excuse the french.

As you may recall Arai is out of action due to a stress fracture in one of his lower vertibrae. Okada has said that he will not return until this is better even if it takes the rest of the season. At the moment it looks like we won't see him again this season.