July 3rd Andoh v Tateyama - Tateyama's decline continues

Tigers are back at Koshien and of course are happy. No more hotels for the moment. Andoh did well and he is often able to go deep against the Swallows as he did on this game. Hirano returned at No.1 in place of Akahoshi and was much more effective. He may not steal as much but he is currently making more happen. The big surprise was the appearance of Sugiyama at relief. One wonders why they brought him up. Once again Brazell drove in three runs and currently he is hitting and fielding well. He's on course to realize his incentives but is certainly better value than Mench. Box score.

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

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Fukuchi (Left)
2. Hiroyasu Tanaka (Centre)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Guiel (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Ishikawa (Short)
9. Tateyama (Pitcher)

Ishikawa was replaced by Morioka before the start of the Tigers first innings.

Tigers
1. Hirano (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Arai (Third)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Katsuragi (Right)
7. Toritani (Short)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

This game took place in a steady downpour but mostly the players were able to ignore this factor. Fukuchi led off Swallows first with a hit and in fact Andoh would take a while to settle down. Tanaka bunted him to second but then the next two batters flew out and the innings was scoreless. Tateyama started reasonably. He gave up a one out hit to Sekimoto but then Arai hit into a very easy 6-4-3 double play to end the innings. Andoh still hadn't settled down by the Swallows second and inspite of getting Guiel to fly out walked Miyamoto. Aikawa was next and hit a high slider nicely to left for a two base hit, runners on second and third. This looked very dangerous for Andoh but things were about to change. Morioka hit straight back at the Tigers pitcher who fielded well and then set of for Miyamoto heading for home. Miyamoto was blocked and tagged out by Arai for the second out but this was a crucial boost for Tigers confidence. Swallows still had batters on second and third but with the next batter Tateyama it looked like they wouldn't score. This proved to be the case, Tateyama trying a squeeze play that had no chance of success - he easily grounded out to end the innings. For Tigers second, the leadoff was Kanemoto. He engineered a walk which brought up Brazell. His first pitch was hit hard and high over the left gaia fence for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. Katsuragi then hit into the right corner for a two base hit. Toritani did the same and Katsuragi was home 3-0 Tigers runner on second with no outs. At this point the Swallows pitching coach came out to talk to a visibly upset Tateyama and calm him down. Kanoh was next and he likes to hit the ball back straight past the pitcher. Sometimes it works but sometimes the hit is too close as it was in this case. Tateyama fielded nicely and threw to second to catch Toritani well out of his ground. Kanoh was safe but Toritani could have tried for third. He had a good chance of success. Andoh then bunted Kanoh to second which brought up Hirano. He hit to centre where Aoki didn't do very well with the pick up but Kanoh stopped on third anyway. Sekimoto grounded out to first but D'Antona's error allowed him to reach base safely and the fourth run was added 4-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Finally Arai flew out to end the innings but Tigers were now in charge. This was reflected in Swallows third innings which was over very quickly. Tateyama again faced Kanemoto as leadoff in Tigers third but this time got him to fly out to short. Currently, he flies out a lot in the infield. Brazell though had a two base hit but this time neither Katsuragi or Toritani could convert him and the innings was scoreless.

Andoh walked D'Antona at the beginning of Swallows fourth but kept him on first. Tateyama gave up a hit to Kanoh, once again his favourite centre position. This time Kanoh was bunted to second by Andoh and Hirano fired off a two base hit to left. Kanoh was home 5-0 Tigers runner on second with just one out. This is how it would stay as Tateyama struck out both Sekimoto and Arai. However, he would not pitch anymore innings. He hadn't really demonstrated any control and had found the going very difficult. Swallows fifth saw the batters retired in order as they struggled to get any momentum going. Hagiwara was chosen to replace Tateyama but didn't seem to be much of an improvement. With two out he ran into the Katsuragi/Toritani combination. Katsuragi hit another two base, this time to left centre and Toritani hit to right driving him home 6-0 Tigers runner on first. Kanoh this time struck out to end the innings. Finally, in their sixth Swallows were able to get on the board. Tanaka led off with a hit to right. Aoki's ground out took him to second but he had to wait for Guiel's right centre two base hit to make it home 6-1 Tigers runne on second with two outs. Andoh then struck Miyamoto out, successfully tempting him to swing at the wrong pitch. Hagiwara returned to pitch the Tigers sixth and wasn't much improved. With one out he dead balled Hirano but was rescued by Sekimoto who hit into a double play to end the innings.

Swallows seventh was quiet as the three batters fell easily in order. For Tigers seventh we saw Ichiba. He hasn't done much since the scandal he caused and one wonders what the fuss was about. He started well enough striking out Arai but then gave up a two base hit to Kanemoto. Next batter Brazell who hit nicely to right to drive Kanemoto in 7-1 Tigers runner on first. Brazell tried to go too far and was out. Finally, Katsuragi grounded out. Andoh returned for the eighth innings and was beginning to tire. His first pitch was dispatched into the left centre stand by Fukuchi for a solo home run 7-2 Tigers. Two outs later D'Antona had a two base hit, clear signs that Andoh was tiring but he just had enough to get Guiel to fly out and end the innings. He had thrown 108 pitches with six hits and two walks - a very nice pitching performance. Ichiba was much improved in Tigers eighth retiring all three batters in order. For Swallows ninth Mayumi chose Sugiyama - a very bizzare decision. The latter proceeded to show that he still isn't up to being a first team pitcher. He gave up a hit to Aikawa and then dead balled Iihara which is not what you want your pitcher to do. Runners on first and second with one out. However, Kawabata (replacement short) hit into a double play to end the game. Tigers victory.

This had been a comfortable victory with Tigers batters hitting well against some indifferent pitching. Andoh of course picked up the win and had shown some nice stuff. Brazell continues to impress and it was also nice to see Toritani hitting regularly again. The move down to seventh seems to have made him much more comfortable. Arai put in a much improved performance at third and Hirano was his usual active self. He really should start ahead of Akahoshi more often. All Akahoshi can do at the moment is steal and he doesn't seem to be doing that often enough. Why Sugiyama is in the side is a mystery though - he didn't demonstrate any improvement in control and the second team should be his permanent home from now on.