Tigers - Red Sox - a nice game

And so to Tokyo Dome to watch the Tigers and Red Sox. A nice time was had by all and despite the Tigers loosing it was a tight exciting game. One thing it did expose (and the Athletics game the day after - but more on that tomorrow) was the paucity of the Tigers pitching. Nice play by the Red Sox pitching team (apart from their starter) as well. Line scores and starting lineups.

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Red Sox 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6  9 1
Tigers  0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 10 1

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Katsuragi (DH)
Starting pitcher was Andoh

Red Sox were
1. Pedroia (Second)
2. Youkilis (First)
3. Ortiz (DH)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Lowell (Third)
6. Drew (Right)
7. Varitek (Catcher)
8. Ellsbury (Centre)
9. Lugo (Short)
Starting pitcher was Buchholz

Andoh started very brightly and struck out both Pedroia and Youkilis in quick order. In fact, Tigers fans relaxed. He then got himself into trouble against Ortiz. His first two balls were inside and then the third outside. Ortiz ignored them and so the count was 0-3. Andoh's next ball - a slider - was in the zone and Ortiz hit it hard. It went pretty high but just landed safely in the left Gaia 1-0 Red Sox. This seemed to disturb Andoh, he walked Ramirez and then gave up a hit to Lowell. Runners on first and second with two outs. The next batter up, Drew got a nice fat pitch and smashed it into the Gaia, a three run homer 4-0 Red Sox. Oops - not a good start. The next batter Varitek struck out to end the innings. Tiger's first innings produced a hit from Arai but that was all. It finished with Kanemoto striking out - incidently Kanemoto had an abysmal game and one wonders whether he will be ready for the start of the season.

The Red Sox 2nd innings was also quite interesting. It produced a fantastic piece of fielding by Imaoka. Diving to his left he intercepted a Ellsbury hit and then rolled and threw to Arai at first catching Ellsbury still on his way. He couldn't do anything about the next hit though - a scorching line drive from Lugo. Runner on second and one out. Next up, Youkilis who hit and drove in Lugo 5-0 Red Sox and Tigers fans were beginning to feel a bit shell shocked. However, it was all due to change in the second.

Buchholz got Imaoka easily with a third ground out then Tortani hit a straight two base which sailed tantilizingly past the Red Sox Centre Ellsbury (you did think with a dive or stretch he could have taken it). Ford walked and Katsuragi hit - bases loaded with two outs. Up came Akahoshi who hit a first line drive and Ford and Toritani were home with Akahoshi on second and Katsuragi on third. Next up was Hirano who lined up a centre hit and it was 5-4 Red Sox. Hirano then stole second but Arai struck out to end the innings.

In the third Ford produced an amazing piece of fielding to end the innings. Ellsbury hit a long fly ball of the type which normally hits the Tokyo Dome wall and scores a runner. Red Sox had Varitek on first and if Ford had missed he could have reached home. Crashing into the wall Ford stretched, took and held the catch - end of the innings. The third was quiet but in the fourth Kanemoto dropped a catch and it needed a nice piece of Hirano fielding to turn a double play. The Tigers fielding was generally faster and better than that of the Red Sox (though this is not to say the Red Sox were bad). The Tigers had bases loaded in the bottom due in part to a Drew error but couldn't turn this into an advantage.

In the Sixth, Egusa was summoned. One had to ask why Egusa? - he is one of our more erratic pitchers and hasn't been spectacular during Opening Sen. He has some good pitches but cannot maintain a consistent level. Sure enough he gave up a walk and a hit and then another hit to allow the runner to score 6-4 Red Sox. But he departed with only one run. Tigers struck back in the sixth and a Hirano sacrifice fly, after the bases were once again loaded, put Ford home and the score to 6-5 Red Sox. Ford had a good game - a hit, that catch and two walks. His fielding in general was impressive and his pace and hustle around the ground very refreshing.

No more scoring but some nice pitching from Kubota (seventh and eighth). He did walk two batters but this was mainly because of his tendency to try to get batters to swing at low pitches. Sometimes this works but sometimes if the batter ignores the pitch it gets Kubota into trouble. This time he was able to deal with the problem and his pitching was very cool. His strike outs were very nice and certainly flummoxed his victims. Fujikawa was also nice. Of the three Red Sox closing pitchers, Lopez, Delcarmen and Papelbon - Lopez had the most trouble getting runners on first and second with two outs before getting out of it. Papelbon walked Sekimoto (replacement second, Hirano having moved to right field) who was then pinch run for by Fujimoto. Fujimoto tried to steal second in a steal that wasn't on and was tagged out. Imaoka struck out to end the innings and that was the game to the Red Sox.

This was a very nice game - lots of excitment and good baseball from both sides. Red Sox used their players efficiently and well and the gap between the two sides was only small. Both Hirano and Ford were impressive. Both were active and very strong. As I said Kanemoto does not look ready and one questions whether he should be starting the season. Toritani seems to be settling into the No.6 batting position nicely. I am sure the Red Sox also enjoyed the game - its nice to have a tough workout before you start your real season. Incidently, the sound system at Tokyo Dome played 'Sweet Caroline' in the bottom of the eighth which apparently is a Red Sox tradition. It went down very well with all the fans in the stadium.