May 5th Fujinami v Yagi - No dessert this time

Tigers couldn't sweep Swallows this time and fell as Kubo once again struggled. It was instructive to watch the first Swallows run of the ninth and potentially the first out. Kubo and Fujii got two quick strikes and then ran out of ideas - neither knew what to do and the option they chose didn't work. Fukuhara had a poor game and Fujinami was wild; Fujii actually handled those problems rather well even though runs were given up. Tigers just weren't going to win this one. It was also nice to see Koshien full this series and the Arai brothers kept the fans hopes alive. Ryota's fielding as gotigersredsox noted is amateur though and twice he was guilty of leaving his base uncovered. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Swallows  0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 2 7  9 0
Tigers    0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 5 11 1

Starting Lineups

Swallows
1. Hiyane (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Milledge (Left)
4. Balentien (Right)
5. Hatakeyama (First)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Morioka (Short)
8. Nakamura (Catcher)
9. Yagi (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Ryota Arai (Third)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Itoh (Right)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Fujinami (Pitcher)

Fujinami started superbly - Hiyane struck out spectacularly in three looking at an outside pitch that shaved the zone. Tanaka grounded out and then Milledge did the same. Yagi got Nishioka to fly out. No doubt Tigers were hoping that Balentien would repeat his mistakes of the previous two games but this time he was very secure. Yamato singled left and then Toritani who should have chosen his shot better hit into a double play which ended the innings. Swallows second saw Balentien strike out looking to a lovely low pitch which kept up - he was aggrieved about this but the replays showed it stayed in the zone. Next was Hatakeyama who would prove to be Fujinami's problem player throughout the game. Fujinami's strike outs were good but frequently his first two pitches were a bit wild and this was the case with Hatakeyama who eventually walked. Then Miyamoto singled to centre over the rather feeble attempt of Fujinami to field - runners on first and second. Morioka was lured nicely to swing at a high pitch for the second out. Nakamura took the plate and for some reason Hatakeyama had drifted very far off second. Fujinami threw to Toritani for the final out of the innings. Maybe Hatakeyama was intending to steal but it seemed a bit too far. Tigers second saw Murton fly out to left and Ryota fly out to right. Then Arai walked, He stole second nicely but Itoh struck out swinging to end the innings. Yagi was holding his own. Swallows third was quiet though Nakamura nearly got away with a hit. The wind was very strong and Itoh coming in to take the right fly had to suddenly hustle to secure the catch. The final batter of the innings was Hiyane who this time struck out swinging. Fujii singled right to lead off Tigers third and inevitably was bunted to second by Fujinami. Nishioka singled right which put runners on the corner but Yamato flew out to right. It wasn't deep enough and Fujii stayed on third. Toritani also hit deep but flew out to centre to end the chance.

Things continued in a stalemate in Swallows fourth though Fujinami continued to have problems with his first two pitches. Tigers fourth was also quiet. Ryota chased one he should have left and lined out to short and Arai went deep but the ball died. Hatakeyama led off Swallows fifth with a double. One of those where Ryota should have been nearer his base. Miyamto hit a grounder which was nicely fielded by Nishioka but took Hatakeyama to third. It was indeed a difficult situation for Fujinami and he didn't help himself with some poor pitching. He tried to repeat the strike out of the previous at bat but was too low and Morioka hit into right to bring in Hatakeyama 1-0 Swallows, runner on first. Next was Nakamura and the commentators would mention the wind as a factor in what happened next but the wind had nothing to do with it. Fujinami sent a poor cutball into the lower centre of the zone and Nakamura hit it over the left fence for a two run home run 3-0 Swallows. Yagi flew out to left and finally Hiyane popped up into foul ground. Ryota was after it and took the catch while falling into the camera bank. He was OK and the out was secured. Tigers lower order failed to respond. Itoh struck out foolishly for the second time, Fujii popped up to second and Fujinami of course struck out swinging. Swallows sixth saw the batters fail to get on base. Accuracy from Fujinami was improved and only with Milledge was he drifting. Nishioka led off Tigers sixth with a nice single. Then Yamato hit into the double play and Toritani grounded out to second to end the innings.

Fujinami had one more innings in him. He was good in Swallows seventh and this time struck out Hatakeyama swinging. Miyamoto swung and boosted the ball into orbit but when it came down it was into Fujii's glove. Morioka tried and lined out to Arai. Yagi who had been secure up until this point suddenly collapesed into a bag of nerves. He started by walking Murton. This brought a mound conference of his colleagues. Then he walked Ryota - runners on first and second. Like the first walk he was consistently high. This brought the Swallows pitching coach to the mound for a chat. It didn't help. He faced Arai who hit his second pitch straight and true into the back screen for a three run home run 3-3 scores tied and the ground errupted. That was the end of Yagi who was replaced by Roman. Shusuke (replacement right) was next and he singled to centre, looping the ball over the infield. Here Wada blew it - he had Fujii bunt the runner to second. Brain dead or what? Fujii bunted straight and as he set off collided with Nakamura running foward for the ball. Fujii fell over and by the time he got up was thrown out. Shunsuke of course was safe on second. Swallows protested and Ogawa argued that it was interference but the umpire felt not. Imarani (pinch hitter) followed and was trying to hit right. Tanaka and Balentien were chasing these down and eventually one went a bit further and Balentien took a nice catch near the fence. Two outs. Nishioka then hit straight to short to end the innings. Still Tigers were level. For Swallows eighth Fukuhara took the mound. He had a nice average 0.00 but would lose it. Nakamura led off with a single to right. He was bunted to second by Miwa (pinch hitter). Takeuchi (pinch hitter) flew out to left and it looked like Tigers would escape. However, Tanaka singled left. This would have put runners on the corners but Murton coming in let the ball squirt under his glove and escape 4-3 Swallows with Tanaka taking second. Milledge swung at an inside pitch as Fukuhara drifted too far and once again Ryota was not covering the base effectively. The ball raced away into the corner where Murton struggled with it and didn't pick up well. Tanaka was home and Milledge safe on second 5-3 Swallows. The last out finally came with Balentien striking out swinging. For Tigers eighth Swallows sent Ishiyama to the mound. This seemed a mistake as he was clearly out of his depth this game. Yamato led off with a neat single to left. Then Toritani hit right - runners on first and second. Murton then hit into a double play - very frustrating but Yamato was safe on third. Next was Ryota who got hold of a drifiting straight and hammered it just right of the back screen for a two run home run 5-5 scores tied. It was a dramatic comeback. Ishiyama dead balled Arai but Shunsuke managed to ground out to Ishiyama to end the innings. Once again Tigers had drawn level but hadn't been able to draw ahead. If they had done so the game would have been theirs. Kubo is currently finding the closer's job difficult and the Swallows ninth was no exception. He started by walking Hatakeyama seemingly suffering from the same issues as Fujinami had done earlier. Miyamoto bunted him to second for the usual wasted out and then Kubo walked Morioka. Nakamura hit sharply to second where Nishioka fielded but could only turn and throw to first for the ground out - runners on second and third. The double play wasn't an option. Miwa was next and two quick strikes followed. One more strike to get but neither Fujii nor Kubo had any clue what to do. They flailed around for three pitches before Miwa cracked a straight into left bringing in a runner 6-5 Swallows, runners on first and third. Ueda followed and taking advantage of the confusion hit to centre over the infield to bring in another run 7-5 Swallows, runners on first and third. Finally, Tanaka grounded out to second to end the innings but Swallows had the advantage again and with one innings to go surely would take this game. Yamamoto pitched the Tigers ninth and gave up a lead off single to Fujii who was pinch run for by Ogata. Hiyama (pinch hitter) hit a grounder to second and forced out Ogata. Hiyama was safe on first though and was pinch run for by Saka - a big mistake. Nishioka hit to third where Miyamoto fumbled. Saka though had hesitated on the base path and was forced out as Miyamoto recovered and threw to secodn. Tigers could have had the runner on second but for the poor running. Yamato followed and turned an inside pitch nicely over third for a double - runners on second and third. Toritani followed and couldn't deliver grounding out to short to end the game. Swallows victory.

Tigers had shown considerable spirit to fight their way back into the game twice but their pitching hadn't been up to standard. Swallows had done enough even though some of the decisions were strange and the pitchers were at times wobbly. The Swallows offence particularly Hatakeyama kept the pressure on and it was the Tigers who folded first. In the end too many pointless bunts on the Tigers side had wasted very good opportunities and taken the pressure off the opposition.

A real shame about today. This was real close to being a legendary game. This weekend NHK aired a program commemorating the back-to-back-to-back backscreen homer game. This could have been known as the Arai brothers' comeback homers game. I won't be too hard on Kubo yet, as it's a new role for him and he's replacing a legend. It's a long season ahead and I'll take another series win for now.

Kubo has reached the stage where after the initial excitement and novelty wear off he has got to think about his progress. Everything is easy at first but it is when it starts to get familiar that it also starts to get more difficult.

The thing that worries me about Kubo is he can't blow any of his pitches past batters, and I don't think he's a finesse pitcher either. He's a good, solid starter, but I don't know that his stuff will work that well as a closer. I also can't get the memory of his and Fujii's disaster against Hiroshima last year out of my head.

There was a lot of hype when Kubo became the closer that he has the right personality for that role. I don't see it either. He's a solid starter, but I don't see him filling Kyuji's shoes. The problem is I don't have a better alternative. Our bullpen as a whole concerns me. It's generally full of crafty veterans (Fukuhara and Andoh) who have struggled in recent years and others that have always seemed to bounce between the top team and 2-gun without really establishing themselves (Tsutui and Tsuru). I hope I'm wrong and this turns out to be a strength rather than a weakness. I think our rotation is solid, so hopefully the bullpen will be able to hold leads consistently.