June 22nd Atchison v Glynn - Kanemoto hits two home runs

This games saw the end of the Inter-league season. The trophy was awarded to the Hawks on the dubious grounds that they had finished higher than the Tigers last year. What has last year got to do with anything? A far better measure would have been defensive and offensive averages for this Inter-league competition. It would have the advantage of actually relating to the competition being held. Last year's position is totally irrelevant to this year's performance and merely goes to show the state of thinking that exists in the highest levels of NPB. Apart from the stupidity of the awarding of the trophy it was actually an exciting tournament right to the end with four teams in with a chance of victory. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Third)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Fujimoto (Second)
9. Atchison (Catcher)

Fighters
1. Konta (Centre)
2. Takaguchi (Short)
3. Tanaka (Second)
4. Inaba (Right)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Oda (First)
7. Inada (Third)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Glynn (Pitcher)

This match would see a much improved performance by Atchison who picked up the victory. In the Fighters first he gave up a hit to Tanaka who stole second (Yano....) but having the two outs was able to get Inaba to fly out. The Tigers first was quiet with Glynn starting well and striking out two looking. The Fighters second saw Inada hit but once again with two outs and Atchison had no trouble getting the third. Tigers second started with a bang as Kanemoto put his third pitch into the centre stand for a solo home run 1-0 Tigers. Lin grounded out but Toritani had a two base. Yano and Fujimoto did nothing and he stayed on second. Fighters third and Tigers third were both quiet. Fighters fourth saw Tanaka as leadoff and once again he hit. He then stole second for the second time. Sledge grounded out but moved him round to third and then Oda hit 1-1 scores level. The final batter was Inada who flew out to second and the innings was over.

Tigers started their fourth with an Arai hit. Next batter was Kanemoto and he hit his second home run of the night - this one to the scoreboard 3-1 Tigers. The next three batters did nothing but the lead was once again back in Tigers paws. Atchison then retired the Fighters in order to preserve the lead. Glynn was not so successful. He walked Fujimoto who advanced to third on a wild pitch with one out. Next batter was Akahoshi who hit to drive Fujimoto in 4-1 Tigers and the situation looked comfortable. Sekimoto bunted Akahoshi to second but then Arai struck out and the innings ended. Egusa pitched the Fighters sixth - Okada having decided not to use Atchison. He had pitched well and thrown only 75 pitches whilst giving up one run. One hopes he can build on this. Egusa's second batter was Tanaka who had his third hit of the night but Egusa was up to the challenge and got the last two outs this time without Tanaka stealing second. Glynn also retired at the end of the fifth having given up 4 runs. He had not pitched well.

The new Fighters pitcher was Miyanishi who started by walking Kanemoto. Then Lin hit and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. This became runners on second and third with one out as Toritani bunted the pair. Yano messed up his sacrifice fly though - only making second and then Fujimoto grounded out to Miyanishi - no score and the end of the innings. Perhaps surprisingly Egusa also pitched the Fighters seventh - no Kubota tonight. He started with an Oda hit but then got Inada to hit into a double play. Tsuruoka grounded out and the innings was over quickly. Tigers seventh was pitched by Tateyama who had no problems getting the three outs - one of which was Hiyama (pinch hitter. He can't do it every time. For the Fighters eighth Williams was the pitcher. Given his recent performance a Williams log might well be started to go with the Kubota log. He started well enough getting Miki (pinch hitter) to ground out. Then he messed up a Koyano ground out back to him allowing the pinch hitter to reach second. Takaguchi hit driving in the runner and it was 4-2 Tigers. Next batter, Tanaka grounded out - surprising. Then Williams unleashed a wild pitch which got Takaguchi onto third. Inaba hit and the score was 4-3 Tigers. Sledge grounded out but the innings must have had Okada reaching for the pills. Poor play by Williams this time had let the Fighters back into the game.

Hoshino started the Tigers eighth with a Arai two base. He exited and was replaced by Katoh who decided he too would walk Kanemoto. So once again runners on first and second with no outs. This time was different. Arai advanced to third on a Lin ground out and then Toritani made no mistake with the sacrifice fly and Arai was home 5-3 Tigers. Exit Katoh and enter Sakamoto. He got the final out in the form of a Yano fly out. The Fighters ninth was of course Fujikawa. Oda struck out looking. Inada tried to hit and flew out to Akahoshi and finally Tsuboi (pinch hitter) flew out to Yano. End of the match and a Tigers victory.

A fine victory by the Tigers. Good batting and pitching had been the key. Williams had been the only black spot but the team had had the power and confidence to strike back immediatley. Atchison picked up his fifth win and one can hope he is back on form. Fujikawa recorded his 25th save and is by far the best closer in Japan.