September 13th Shimoyanagi v Kobayashi - Tigers in third

After a short delay while they lost the second game to BayStars, Tigers duly moved into third by beating the BayStars. This wasn't an easy victory as the BayStars fought hard and the Tigers adopted a conservative approach. It is nice to say that everyone did exactly what was needed. Shimoyanagi pitched six nice innings and the relief took over and held the slender lead. Nohara made his first start of the season and did very well going 2-4. With the Swallows losing again to the Dragons, Tigers moved into third place by 0.5 games. This could easily be overturned so Tigers still need to work hard. Significantly Carp also lost and so there is now a gap of 1.5 games between Tigers and Carp. Scores

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

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Kinjoh (Centre)
2. Yamasaki (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Johnson (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Ishikawa (Short)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Kobayashi (PItcher)

Tigers
1. Nohara (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Lin (Right)
7. Sekimoto (First)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Shimoyanagi (Pitcher)

Shimoyanagi wouldn't actually start that well, dead balling Kinjoh to get the BayStars innings underway. Yamasaki grounded out to Shimoyanagi which kept Kinjoh on first and then Uchikawa hit into a double play. Kobayashi would also start nervously, giving up a two base hit to Nohara. Hirano sensibly bunted him to third which brought up Toritani. BayStars fancied their chances against Kanemoto so Toritani walked and Kanemoto duly struck out looking. No sacrifice fly and no run as Arai flew out to end the innings. Shimoyanagi then retired the three batters in BayStars second, striking out two of them. Kobayashi was just as successful in Tigers second and the score remained unchanged. BayStars chance came in the third when Ishikawa led off hitting his first pitch into the left centre sweet spot for a three base hit. Takeyama then hit to centre driving in the run 1-0 BayStars, runner on first. Kobayashi grounded out and then Kinjoh hit into a double play to end the innings. BayStars had a slender lead. Tigers third was quiet as Kobayashi remained in control and rapidly went through the Tigers batters.

Shimoyanagi walked Uchikawa in BayStars fourth but nothing came of this and he remained on first. With Tigers fourth things started to happen for them. Toritani hit to left and then Kanemoto followed with a two base hit, runners on second and third. Kobayashi let fly a wild pitch which brought Kanemoto home 1-1 scores tied, runner on third. Arai walked to set up runners on the corner. and then Lin grounded out to Kobayashi who tried for the double play but only got Arai. Toritani took his chance and was home 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Lin then stole second but Yano grounded out to end the innings. Shimoyanagi then started the BayStars fifth by walking Yoshimura, hardly the best opening. Yoshimura made second on a ground out but then Shimoyanagi struck out the next two batters to end the innings. Nohara picked up his second hit of the night in the Tigers fifth and then made second on Hirano's bunt but got no further. Mayumi decided to pitch Shimoyanagi for a sixth and was repaid with a walk to Kinjoh to lead off the action, rather like the previous innings. He was bunted to second by Yamasaki and then made third on Uchikawa's ground out. Johnson was next but grounded out to end the innings. Clearly Shimoyanagi was tiring but had done enough to keep the lead. Tigers sixth saw Arai and Lin produce back to back hits. Sekimoto hit into the double play to end the innings and this also was scoreless.

Atchison took BayStars seventh as Mayumi went to his elite relief. Atchison was superb, retiring the three batters in order. In Tigers seventh Yano led off with a hit and Asai (replacement right) bunted him to second. He then made third on Nohara's ground out but like Johnson in the sixth went no further as the final batter, Hirano, flew out to end the innings. Atchison returned for the BayStars eighth and had no trouble retiring the batters in order again. This was great pitching which filled the gap smoothly. Kudoh replaced Kobayashi on the mound and the latter had pitched quite well but had not shown enough control in the fourth innings. The veteran got the first two outs and was then replaced by Takasaki for the final out, that of Arai. BayStars ninth was pitched by Fujikawa. He struck out his first two batters but then allowed a hit to Naitoh (replacement third). He then had to battle Saeki but got him to ground out to end the innings. Tigers victory.

A very nice victory based on good pitching by Shimoyanagi who only allowed two hits but did walk three. Atchison and Fujikawa though really made sure that the BayStars couldn't get any traction after Shimoyanagi had gone. Tigers had made the most of their chances but actually hadn't really driven in any runs (Lin's effort was a ground out). Still they had managed to take the lead and then had held it. Fujikawa picked up his 21st save and Shimoyanagi the win. Tigers will have to work hard though to retain third place as they have a nine game run coming up with Silver Week.

Yakult has had some injuries on top of the players being out of shape. But still, Hanshin got overall better pitching so they should secure the 3rd spot. Good pitching beats good hitting. The only one who can beat Hanshin is themselves.

Nohmi, Iwata, Shimoyanagi are 3 very good starters and Fujikawa though not as good as he once was is probably still the best relief pitcher in Japan.

Shimoyanagi is getting old and it's begining to show. The start before this one he didn't last two innings and didn't give up enormous amounts of runs (just one in fact). Kubo is also a good starter though having been a bit poor of late. Tigers do need to start turning their younger arms over as Andoh isn't performing well either.

[Edited by: Christopher on Sep 14, 2009 9:18 PM]

Hi this comment is from the left field.
I have not checked your blog lately so im a little out of touch with how the Tigers have gone this year.
Its great to read that they still have a chance to play in the play-offs after such a disastrous start to the year.
My team (AFL -St kilda) is two wins away from winning the Australian rules football league premiership.
We have only won won title in 123 years. Back in 1966.
It will be huge if we can win it.
we have lost 2 games for the season. Huge.
3 years ago we changed coaches when we were a strong team, then went backwards badly for 2 years.
Now we have the chance to create history.
Lets hope the Tigers can do the same.
thanks.

Looks like it's going to come down to the Carp and Tigers for 3rd. Yakult look done. Over their last 20 games

Yakult 3-1-16
Hanshin 13-7
Carp 12-8

It should be mentioned that Yakult haven't played the awful Baystars in their last 20 though surprisingly, Yokohama has owned Yakult this year with a 12-4 season record. Tigers fans will be hoping that trend continues tonight.

These are good statistics of form. It is the reason why I truly believe Carp and Tigers will be challengers for the position of third.