July 28th Uezono v Muranaka - Okada is angry

Another poor performance against the Swallows caused Okada to get very angry. He pointed to poor pitching but also to poor batting against a poor pitcher. Muranaka did not pitch well but Tigers batters were too casual. Tigers if they want to win the pennant need to be as ruthless with the Swallows as the Giants were. Whilst the gap is still 9.5 games and there is no need to panic more effort needs to be put into games against the B class sides. They started July with a game lead in the series over the Swallows and now are behind by one game. This is not due to the Swallows becoming better but to the Tigers playing poorly. The magic number is still alive and stands at 42 (CM is 38) but once again could be lost if the Tigers lose again. Line scores

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

Starting lineups
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Right)
3. Sekimoto (Second)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Takahashi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Noguchi (Catcher)
8. Baldris (Third)
9. Uezono (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Fukuchi (Right)
2. Miyamoto (Third)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Tanaka (Second)
6. Iihara (Left)
7. Kawashima (Short)
8. Fukukawa (Catcher)
9. Muranaka (Pitcher)

Muranaka's first innings was dismal. He started by walking Akahoshi. The Tigers centre then stole second and was bunted to third by Hirano. Sekimoto then walked Muranaka then threw a wild pitch and Sekimoto moved up to second. Kanemoto grounded out but Akahoshi was home 1-0 Tigers. Takahashi walked and this brought up Toritani who hit 2-0 Tigers. Another wild pitch followed and Tigers had runners on second and third. Noguchi struck out and he should have done better. Uezono's first innings wasn't too bad - he gave up a hit to Miyamoto but this was extinguished by an Aoki double play. Muranaka continued poorly, in the Tigers second he gave up a hit to Baldris. Uezono and Akahoshi grounded out and then Hirano hit. Baldris was round to third with Hirano on first. Next batter, Sekimoto who flew out to right - another poor shot off poor pitching. Tigers had blown two opportunities to put the match beyond the reach of the Swallows. This casualness would be exploited the very next innings as Uezono went to pieces. He walked Hatakeyama who was bunted to second by Tanaka (an unusual move for a no.5 batter so early in the game). This in itself was not a problem - what happened next was. Iihara had a three base hit 2-1 Tigers with one out. Then Kawashima walked - poor pitching again. Fukukawa hit 2-2 scores level and then Muranaka hit a sacrifice fly 3-2 Swallows and the runner going round was caught off base. This was appalling pitching by Uezono - he should not have walked anyone or given up the sacrifice fly. He was uncerimoniously pulled from the game by Okada. Surprisingly Tigers did nothing in the third - they were retired in order. This was just lazy batting. Kanemoto in particular needs to pick up his game. He has batted dreadfully in July - far too long a slump. He is the number four batter and it is up to him to show an example.

Swallows third was pitched by Watanabe. He was much improved on his pitching against the Dragons. He walked Aoki with two out but got the final out. Incidently, Tigers gave up too many walks this game - they need to be more economical. Tigers fourth started with a rare Noguchi two base. Baldris hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and third with no outs. Next batter was Asai (pinch hitter which is a role that suits him) and he hit driving in a run 3-3 scores level (Yatta dekiru yan ka - see what you can do if you try). Akahoshi bunted the runners to second and third - what a lame move. There was no need for that and it signifies a total lack of enterprise. Next was Hirano who hit past Tanaka. The Swallows second took a fine catch and then had the presence of mind to step on second base as he landed catching Baldris off base - end of innings and a lucky escape for Muranaka. Swallows fourth was pitched by Abe who walked Kawashima with two outs. Kawashima tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings.

Tigers fifth was quiet with the side being returned in order. Abe returned for the Swallows fifth and retired them in order - a very nice piece of pitching where he had tied the Swallows down and stopped them developing momentum. The Tigers sixth was another example of a wasted opportunity. With one out Noguchi walked, Another out and Yano (replacement catcher) walked. Then Akahoshi hit to load the bases. Hirano though grounded out and the innings was over. Another good chance wasted by poor batting. Swallows sixth saw Kubota - he would pitch poorly. He started by getting Miyamoto to ground out to third only Baldris made a mistake and Miyamoto was safe. Aoki grounded out but Miyamoto was able to move to second. Then Hatakeyama hit and Miyamoto was able to move round to third. Tanaka grounded out to second but Miyamoto was home 4-3 Swallows and Kubota had blown it again. The final batter was Iihara who flew out. Nakamura was replaced by Matsuoka for the Tigers seventh and he gave up a hit to Katsuragi (replacement right) but nothing came of it.

Kubota continued to pitch and retired the Swallows in order in the bottom of the innings. This is how he should have pitched in the sixth. Tigers eighth was pitched Hashimoto who retired the side in order. Really poor batting. Egusa took the Swallows eighth and gave up a leadoff hit to Fukuchi. He was bunted to second by Miyamoto and advanced to third on an Aoki groundout but then Egusa got the final batter to fly out. The final Tigers innings was of course Lim. Tigers haven't figured him out yet but they can surely take a page out of the Giants book who refused to swing at him and then hit with the bases loaded. Tigers batters continued to blindly swing at him and showed about as much collective intelligence as a herd of sheep. Swallows victory.

Sometimes you lose to a B class side because they play well and outclass you with batting and pitching. Swallows have done this to Tigers before but not tonight. Their batting was poor and pitching weak but Tigers were worse. Too many walks followed by loose pitches had given the Swallows a nice victory. What was particularly frustrating was the Tigers batters refusal to challenge the Swallows pitchers after the Swallows scored the go ahead run. They had three innings and the Giants had shown the way. If Tigers can defeat Iwase they can defeat Lim. It is about time they did so.