September 4th Nohmi v Lewis - The new model Nohmi

Nohmi continues to improve. This was his best performance so far - he really had to battle hard to keep the Carp from scoring. He showed considerable perseverence and effort even though he was pitching well. His strike out of Akamatsu in the third was a stroke of genius, getting the Carp player to miscue a bunt hit and then striking him out the very next pitch with a superb breaking ball. He pitched into the eighth and no doubt Mayumi had visions of a complete game shutout but he tired and Mayumi acted comendably quickly replacing him. His choice of replacement was strange though, not Atchison but Fujikawa who was due to pitch the ninth. It all worked out OK but one is puzzled why Atchison wasn't used in the eighth. Swallows tied with the Giants so the gap is now 3.5 games. Tsubamegun attributes this tie to the Tokyo Dome roof which may be so but I fully concur with the suggestion that all domes should be demolished and replaced by open air stadiums. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Phillips (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. McClain (Third)
6. Hirose (Right)
7. Kokubo (Short)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Lewis (Pitcher)

The start of the game was delayed for about half an hour because of rain but when it finally got underway was played at quite a pace. It rapidly became a pitching duel and you wouldn't have expected Nohmi to out-pitch Lewis but this is what he did. Tigers first was where the action was. Akahoshi lined out to Kokubo - a magnificent diving catch but Hirano hit to left. Toritani then hit to centre, a hit that had home run written all over it but which died. At this time Lewis' pitching wasn't particularly good. Kanemoto walked and then Arai hit a bounce hit to third which loaded the bases. Brazell was next and drove the ball nicely into right for a hit. Two Tigers runners made home, Kanemoto being helped by the fact that Carp didn't throw to Ishihara at home 2-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Katsuragi struck out to end the innings. Nohmi then had to hold the lead and started badly, a hit to Higashide. He was bunted to second by Akamatsu which brought Phillips to the plate. He struck out looking to a superb slider and thought that it was a ball and made a few comments to the umpire. Sorry, Andy that was one of the best pitches you will ever see. Nohmi then showed great patience and application battling Kurihara for some time before getting the Carp No. 4 to fly out to Kanemoto. Great pitching to end the innings. Tigers second saw Akahoshi hit to centre with two out. He then stole second and Hirano battled Lewis for 12 pitches before grounding out to second. Hirose hit in the Carp second and made second base on Kokubo's ground out but then Ishihara also grounded out. In Tigers third, Kanemoto grounded out to short but Kokubo's error allowed him on base safely. This was followed by Brazell's second hit of the game, nicely to left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Katsuragi once again failed to convert, this time flying out to third in foul ground. Carp's third saw Nohmi at his best retiring the batters 1-2-3.

Lewis by now had settled down and retired the Tigers batters in order in the fourth. Nohmi though was really in a groove now and the Carp batters also fell in order in the bottom. Lewis continued his good pitching and struck out two of the three batters he faced in Tigers fifth. Nohmi had a little wobble in the Carp fifth, walking Kokubo with one out. This came to nothing and Kokubo was kept firmly rooted to first while Nohmi retired the next two batters. In Tigers sixth Brazell hit again but Lewis kept Katsuragi and Kanoh from advancing him. Swallows sixth was another 1-2-3 innings and the score remained 2-0.

Lewis retired at the end of the sixth. Apart from his first innings he had kept the Tigers from scoring and allowed them no chances. His place was taken by Yokoyama. He was just as effective and retired the batters in order in the seventh. Nohmi continued to pitch in the Carp seventh having been more economical. He gave up a two base hit to Hirose but with two out this wasn't such a problem to a picher on form like Nohmi and Kokubo duly grounded out to short to end the innings. For Tigers eighth, Brown chose Schultz who rapidly ran into trouble. He walked Toritani and then one out later Mayumi ordered a double steal which didn't come off, Toritani being out. Schultz then walked Brazell to set up runners on first and second but then Katsuragi grounded out to end the innings. For an interesting piece of idiocy, Mayumi replaced Brazell with Yamato (because Yamato is a faster runner). The effective batter 3 for 3 was replaced and the ineffective batter (Katsuragi 0 for 4) was retained. It would have been more appropriate to replace Katsuragi with say Hiyama. Katsuragi will hit but as he wasn't hitting this game he should have been replaced. Nohmi returned for Carp's eighth and given that his pitch count was under 100 one couldn't quibble with the decision. However, this was an innings to far and Ishihara led off with a hit. An out followed but then Higashide hit and Carp had runners on first and second. Here Mayumi went straight to Fujikawa in a really bizzare call. He had Atchison available and surely the latter would have been the right pitcher to use. Fujikawa struck out Akamatsu but then walked Phillips to load the bases. However, Kurihara struck out swinging and the innings and Carp's best chance of scoring was over. Nagakawa pitched the Tigers ninth and had the rare honour of striking out Fujikawa who doesn't get to bat much. Carp's ninth of course was Fujikawa who had no trouble motoring through the middle of Carp's order to retire the three batters he faced. Tigers victory.

A tight match where Tigers had seized the lead and held it. They had really only had one chance and Brazell had taken it very nicely. Great pitching had then prevented the Carp from reaching home. The decision to pitch Fujikawa in the eighth was unnecessary and once again showed Mayumi's ignorance of the relief pitching. Fujikawa did pick up his 18th save. The encouraging thing is that Nohmi continues to mature as a pitcher and in fact has the potential to turn into something really special.

As I wrote over at stevesayskanpai.wordpress.com, I thought the decision to introduce Fujikawa in the 8th was a good one- there was already one out, and (if I remember correctly) runners on 1st and 2nd? A pretty sticky situation, one where u'd want your best reliever, even if it means him pitching slightly more balls than normal.

Also the 9th was fairly straightforward for Kyuji- when he just pitched the 9th again Yakult he pitched 16 balls, whereas here he only pitched 4 more- 20 in total.

As an aside, the gaijin hitter for Hiroshima in the 9th (his name escapes me) was truly abysmal- a man to make even Mench look alright!

That would be McClain who had a much better game today. If you have a perfectly good relief pitcher then you shouldn't be using your closer in the eighth. OK, Atchison didn't do well today but he would have been good to use the game before. If Fujikawa is pitching two innings at a time this will tire him quicker than just one innings.