September 14th Nohmi v Yamai - An occasional pitcher

Yamai is an occasional pitcher who doesn't actually get many starts. Thus he makes an ideal starter against the Tigers who struggle if they come across anything unfamiliar and this was Ochiai's aim in using him this game. It didn't work out this time as Tigers had the luck this game and managed a narrow but welcome win. Unfortunately, Tigers have now lost the services of Sekimoto for a while - he was taken off the active roster with a very bad back. It is unknown when he will be able to return. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Ibata (Second)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Tanishige (Catcher)
7. Hirata (Right)
8. Ohshima (Centre)
9. Yamai (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Yamato (Third)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (First)
5. Murton (Right)
6. Saka (Centre)
7. Shibata (Left)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Neither pitcher would be on top form but it would be the Dragons who got off to the better start. Araki hit his second pitch to centre and was bunted to second by Ibata. Morino struck out which brought up the stuggling Blanco. However this time he was able to hit to left and bring Araki in 1-0 Dragons, runner on first. Wada hit a liner straight to Hirano and ended the innings. Tigers first saw Hirano and Yamato ground out but Toritani walked. Neither he nor Arai would really figure Yamai out and Arai flew out to centre. Dragons second was quiet - one wonders what Tanishige is doing batting sixth and the conclusion is that Dragons have no one else. However, what they have they tend to use well. In Tigers second we saw Shibata hit a two base to left with two outs. It's about the only useful thing he's done for the past few games - giving him starts is keeping better or more powerful players out of the lineup to no apparent purpose. He was followed by Fujii who flew out to end the innings. The Dragons third was also quiet - Yamai struck out which made his later actions all the more surprising. Nohmi then led off Tigers third with a hit to right. He was bunted to second by Hirano but then Yamato flew out. Toritani then struck out swinging wildly at the wrong pitch. Dragons held the lead and looked quite dominant.

Nohmi got Morino to fly out in Dragons fourth but then gave up a two base hit to Blanco. This looked dangerous however, Wada plonked the ball nicely into Hirano's glove for the second out. Tanishige then hit to right where Murton took a nice catch to end the innings. Tigers fourth was depressing - very quiet and one wondered when Tigers batters would actually get to Yamai who wasn't looking his best. Pitching in the Japan series is easy - the difficult ground is Koshien. Hirata led off Dragons fith by hitting his first pitch into left. This was a straightforward running take for left and one which Kanemoto or anyone else would have held easily. However, Shibata gloved then dropped the ball and Hirata made second. This would prove to be a costly error but that's something Mayumi is blind to. Ohshima bunted Hirata to third which brought up Yamai. What would he do? He actually managed to hit a loose pitch into centre for a single which plated Hirata 2-0 Dragons, runner on first. Araki battled for a while but then grounded out to Hirano forcing out Yamai. This brought up the hero of the previous game, Ibata who hit to short where Toritani made a superb diving stop and was up in time to make the throw to first for the final out. Great fielding by the Tigers captain. However, Dragons seemed to have a comfortable lead. Tigers fifth and with Shibata out Fujii then hit to centre. Nohmi bunted him to second and by now Yamai was feeling just how difficult it is to pitch at Koshien. Hirano hit very nicely to left and Fujii set off round the bases. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much in the way of pace and so as he slid in Tanishige was waiting and applied the tag. Tanishige didn't even have to block the plate and it was a neat piece of work to end the innings. No run there but at least the Tigers had tried. Blanco's third hit came in Dragons sixth - a single to centre with one out. Wada very obligingly hit into a double play to end that chance. Yamai had struggled in the previous innings and in the Tigers sixth failed completely. He faced Yamato who swung at his third strike and missed. However, Tanishige blundered and let the ball get away from him. Yamato showed good sense and ran for first which he made safely. Next was Toritani who hit to left setting up runners on first and second. Arai got one on the bottom of his bat which bounced high and infield but had the effect of a bunt moving the runners round to second and third. Murton swung at his third pitch driving it back at Yamai. This hit him in the side and cannoned off into the gap between second and first. In fact, if it had missed Yamai the ball would have possibly ended up in the glove of Ibata who was standing very fine. As it was Hirata had to come in to field it but by the time he threw both Yamato and Toritani were home 2-2 scores tied, runner on first. A nice piece of fortune for Tigers. Mayumi then called for Saka to bunt - possibly so that his favourite Shibata could redeem himself by driving in a run. Instead Saka failed in his bunt attempts and finally struck out swinging. This left Shibata to do it all himself and he hit easily back to Yamai for the final out. Still Tigers were back in the game through a nice piece of luck.

Nohmi returned for Dragons seventh which was a bit risky but he started well. Tanishige flew out to centre and then Hirata flew out to right. For some reason (to do with Fujii most likely) he then walked Ohshima in four but this time Yamai was unable to hit and grounded out to second. Nohmi had done reasonably well whilst not being at his best. Yamai then gave up a lead off hit to Fujii in Tigers seventh. This was pure luck - Fujii ballooned the ball up and it landed in no mans land in front of the sliding Hirata. Next was Shunsuke (pinch hitter) who struck out swinging. As he did so Fujii tried to steal second. This move is an act of folly with an experienced and aware catcher. Tanishige falls into that category and even though the throw wasn't too good Araki had all the time he needed to successfully apply the tag for the out. By signaling the steal, Mayumi had blown a very good chance - Fujii just doesn't have the pace. Hirano hit to first but grounded out to end the innings. For Dragons eighth we saw Watanabe, not Enokida. Watanabe has been impressive this year and two outs followed quickly. Then Fujii intervened calling outside pitches. Morino left these and with the count at three and one hit his next strike nicely into left. A good piece of batting and some poor calling. Blanco banged one deep but it was safely taken by centre to end the innings. Ochiai decided that he could squeeze another innings out of a tired Yamai. This was a mistake but one that Ochiai often makes with his starters. Yamato worked the count full and then took a walk. Yamai was clearly tired and Ochiai finally recognised this and replaced him with Kobayashi. He was concerned about Yamato who was standing far off first. So inbetween pitches to Toritani, Kobayashi tried unsuccessfully to pick Yamato off. This wasn't working and his fourth attempt was a poor throw which Blanco missed.
The ball rolled away into the corner and Yamato picked himself up and rocketed around the bases to third. The tenor of the game changed. Toritani immediately changed modes and banged his next pitch deep to left - he wasn't worried about the hit just that it was deep enough. Wada took the ball near the fence but there was ample time for Yamato to tag up and amble home 3-2 Tigers. A very costly error. This was the end of Kobayashi who had failed and he was replaced by Suzuki. It took Suzuki two pitches to dispose of Arai and Murton but Ochiai had messed up the eighth badly. Dragons ninth was of course Fujikawa who entered in the new Tigers SMART. He started by striking out Wada looking in three. Tanishige swung at his third pitch and flew out in foul ground. Then HIrata tried to hit deep but flew out to Murton to end the game. Tigers victory.

A good win - Tigers had come from behind and taken full advantage of the Dragons error. They had had some luck but it made a change from the previous night when the luck had all been with the Dragons. Fujikawa picked up his 33rd save and the hero interview went to Murton and Toritani. Murton suprised everyone by saying Shu wa subarashi (The Lord is fantastic). This was something not expected but his later comments were more in line with a traditional hero interview.

There seemed to be an awkward silence after Murton's comments about the Lord. Do you think they were surprised he suddenly spoke Japanese? Or surprised to hear such a comment in a hero interview? Anyway, maybe it was just me, so curious what your take on it was.

I rather think it was the topic - I've seen other non-Japanese speak Japanese and it's been welcomed enthusiastically. The subject tends to make Japanese feel uncomfortable even though Murton is known to be quite a committed Christian. The crowd were a bit nonplussed by the reference to The Lord in Japanese.

That was my take and I was just interested in the cultural differences. It's quite common to mention God in sports interviews in the U.S., but I've never heard a Japanese athlete do this. (Of course different religious beliefs play a part in this.) Additionally, the hero interviews are fairly canned and predictable, with the exception of some players like Softbank's Kawasaki, who treats it like open mic night at a comedy club.

In my experience I would say that religion is a nominal thing for most people in Japan. I get the feeling that it's rather linked towards cults as well and most people associate cults with Pana Wave and Aum. Thus Christianity is seen as very strange and declaring your belief is also strange.
Some of Tigers hero interviews have been fun - there was the Katsuragi roar and Fukuhara's 'oshi bieru nomitat' which stick in the memory.