June 29th Uezono v Tateyama - Kubota and Williams blow it together

Yesterday's game saw Swallows relief mess up. Today it was Tigers turn with both Williams and Kubota (in particular) failing to make the grade. Both these pitchers are supposedly top class and neither of them can have any excuse for their failures. Tigers also need to look at how they pitch to Aoki. He is the real McCoy - a classy batter and speedy runner but when three different pitchers give up home runs to him in two days there is something wrong with your pitching. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 12 2
Swallows 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 X 9 13 2

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Fukuchi (Left)
2. Miyamoto (Third)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Takeuchi (Right)
6. Tanaka (Second)
7. Wilson (Short)
8. Kawamoto (Catcher)
9. Tateyama (Pitcher)

Tigers first started with a Swallows error. A ground out to Wilson by Sekimoto was not converted and the Tigers third was safe on first. But nothing came of this bright start and the match would be littered with examples of Tigers failure to put their chances away. Uezono was not good in his first - admittedly Sekimoto's error to Swallow's leadoff Fukuchi couldn't have helped but even so having to got to two outs and a runner on third he could have done better. Hatakeyama hit 1-0 Swallows and then Takeuchi hit a three base - 2-0 Swallows and runner on third. Tanaka walked and then Wilson hit 3-0 Swallows runners on second and third. Finally Kawamoto struck out but what a dismal start. Just to prove he could do the same Tateyama proceeded to eliminate the lead his batters had given him. Lin hit - a two base. Toritani hit and Noguchi was dead balled bases loaded, no outs. Fujimoto hit 3-1 Swallows. Uezono worked a walk 3-2 Swallows. Akahoshi flew out but Sekimoto hit 3-3 scores level. However, you had the impression that the base running was a bit conservative once again and that more runs could have been scored. Arai flew out with no run and then Kanemoto hit 4-3 Tigers - they had turned the match around. Finally, Lin flew out but Tigers in spite of themselves had generated a lead.

Uezono managed to dead ball Fukuchi in the Swallows second but escaped the innings without further damage. Both thirds were quiet and we came to the Tigers fourth. Uezono hit and then Sekimoto but Akahoshi, Arai and Kanemoto combined to do nothing and the innings ended scoreless. This sort of chance needs to be taken especially as the Swallows would take theirs. The Swallows fourth was quiet. Tigers fifth saw another wasted chance. Lin hit and then Toritani walked - runners on first and second with no outs. Noguchi grounded out but the runners advanced to second and third. Then Fujimoto messed up his sacrifice fly. The final batter was Uezono who had already walked and hit so one couldn't expect much more from him. He duly struck out to end the innings. In the Swallows fifth Aoki had a three base hit but there was only one out left and Uezono duly got this. This would be Swallows only wasted chance. Tigers sixth saw Sekimoto hit a two base but watch while Arai and Kanemoto went nowhere. Swallows sixth was desperate stuff. Takeuchi led off with a two base. He made third on a Tanaka hit - still no outs. Then Wilson grounded out. Uezono was replaced and Egusa took the mound. His first victim was Yuichi (pinch hitter) who swung at his first pitch and flew out. Then Iihara (pinch hitter) who also swung at his first pitch and got a nice hit to centre 4-4 scores level. The fielding was poor and the runners advanced to second and third and Egusa was replaced by Watanabe. He got the final out to end the innings.

Matsuoka was next and despatched the Tigers in order. Then came Swallows second and Williams. He gave up a hit to the leadoff Miyamoto. Aoki flew out and Miyamoto remained on first. Next batter Hatakeyama hit and Miyamoto was round to third with one out. Poor pitching by Williams (see the new post for the Williams log - both Williams and Kubota are not pitching as well as they can). Kawashima (pinch hitter) was next and he hit a deep sacrifice fly 5-4 Swallows and more poor pitching - this move was obvious and a pitcher of Williams quality should have been able to deal with it. The final batter Tanaka flew out. The Tigers eighth saw their last real chance and they blew this as well. Yano (replacement catcher) had a two base hit with one out. He then saw Akahoshi mess up but advanced to third on Swallows second error - involving Sekimoto again. Arai needed to hit but didn't and the innings ended. Kubota pitched the Swallows eighth and made a dogs dinner of it. The first batter Wilson grounded out. But then Fukukawa (replacement catcher) had a two base. Iihara was next and he also had a two base which should not have happened. Anyway 6-4 Swallows. The pinch hitter Saitoh struck out but then Kubota unleashed a wild pitch - Fukukawa to third. Miyamoto hit 7-4 Swallows. Kubota then faced Aoki - 2 run home run to Aoki 9-4 Swallows. Finally Hatakeyama flew out but the game was effectively over.

Tigers ninth was pitched by Lim - Takada really wanted this victory. He got Kanemoto and Lin then gave up a hit to Toritani. Next batter Takahashi (pinch hitter) slammed a two base but we ended up with runners on second and third - what about allowing Toritani to go for home? Lim then got the final out - Shuta and the game was over. Swallows victory.

Wasted opportunities by the Tigers and poor pitching had doomed them. Neither relief had showed the application necessary and the batters had wasted their chances casually. In contrast the Swallows had been focused and when needed their batters had hit.