Tigers Tour: Game 9

The game tonight featured a pitching duel between Fukuhara and Uehara. The game was scoreless with two hits each until the bottom of the 8th when the Tigers manufactured a beautiful run. Toritani made a nice hit to right center which didn't even get to the wall, but he legged it out for a double. Yano, up next, grounded out to the right side to move Toritani to third. Sekimoto hit a lazy fly ball to center field and Toritani came racing home. Thank god that kid's got some speed.

The Tigers then brought in Hiyama for one last at-bat, but he flew out. Fujikawa came in to close the game down. He walked one batter and brought George Arias to the plate. Of course, Tigers fans all remember him, and he is trying to earn a permanent place on the Giants' roster. Well, he represented the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but struck out.

The Tigers also seem to have found a stable lineup, at least one they like. Akahoshi, Fujimoto, Hamanaka, Kanemoto, Sheets, Toritani, Yano, Sekimoto. They were 5-2 on my trip, so the lineup appears to have some teeth to it.

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Games 7 and 8 were rained out at Koshien, but the weather cleared up in time to have one final game before I leave Japan. I really enjoyed seeing these games, and was happy to be able to bring them to you. I definitely will be back to Japan again, maybe in October for the Japan Series if the Tigers make it, but definitely next year. I would be happy to make more recaps then. Although I wonder if "spamming" the News forum is the best way to provide them. Would it make sense to have a separate forum for Game Recaps? It might just encourage others to post theirs. I highly doubt I am the only one attending games.