August 1st Satoru Kanemura v Greisinger - The return of the errors

Whilst Kanemura was great in his last start, this one was terrible and he lasted only a little over two innings before being wisely pulled by Mayumi. Tigers didn't actually do too badly in that they spoiled Hara's plan for a Greisinger complete game shut out. However, their fielding was error ridden and the collision between Katsuragi and Akahoshi should have never happened. Katsuragi has done this before and really needs to be restricted to the infield. Brazell made another error at first and does need to lift his fielding considerably, he makes far too many errors. He has great anticipation and makes some very fine takes but needs to ensure that he does not make elementary errors. The news on Sekimoto is that he strained his right abductor muscle and will need to rest for 10-14 days. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Kamei (Right)
6. Lee (First)
7. Furuki (Second)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Greisinger (Pitcher)

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

Kanemura started by getting Sakamoto to fly out but then things went wrong. Matsumoto hit and then tried to steal second. The throw wasn't taken and Matsumoto was able to reach third. Ogasawara then hit a deep sacrifice fly to open the scoring 1-0 Giants. Ramirez struck out to end the innings. Greisinger started similarly, the first out then a hit.
This was Hirano but he was caught up in the first of many double plays which stopped the Tigers scoring. One must also add that Greisingers pitching had a big role in this problem as well. Giants second started with a disaster for Tigers. Kamei hit a fly out to right which should have been taken. Instead Akahoshi and Katsuragi collided and the ball landed safely. While they were sorting themselves out Kamei motored round the bases for an inside the park home run 2-0 Giants. This should have been ruled an error as Kamei would not have scored if the collision hadn't happened. The last time Tigers gave up an inside the park home run was in 2004 to Ramirez (when he was still playing for the Swallows) at Jingu. But there it was a nice hit and good speed that brought the result. Here it was fielding incompetence. If Mayumi is going to stay fair enough but do we still have to put up with Oka as fielding coach? Tigers fielding this year has been abysmal and we do need to dump Oka and get someone who can work on raising standards. So with another run on the board Kanemura got the next two batters out. Then Tsuruoka hit and Greisinger who should have been the third out also hit to right. Poor pitching by Kanemura especially as Sakamoto hit to centre driving in another run 3-0 Giants, runners on first and third. Matsumoto grounded out but the Giants looked to be running away with the game and with Greisinger pitching it would be difficult to overturn the margin. This was clearly demonstrated in the Tigers second, Greisinger retired the batters in order. Kanemura started the Giants third encouragingly striking out Ogasawara. But then he gave up a hit to Ramirez and walked Kamei to set up runners on first and second. This was enough for Mayumi who recalled him and sent Tsutsui to the mound. Lee flew out but Furuki walked to load the bases. However, Tsuruoka struck out to end the innings. Amazingly, the Giants who had looked like they were going to run away with the game had only scored three runs off a poor pitcher. Tigers third though once again showed the value of a good pitcher, Greisinger retired the batters in order.

Tsutsui returned for the Giants fourth and with two outs gave up a hit to Matsumoto. He once again tried to steal second but this time was thrown out to end the innings. Tigers fourth saw Toritani hit but nothing came of this. Cheng replaced Tsutsui in the Giants fifth and was very comfortable retiring the batters in order. Greisinger also did the same in the Tigers fifth. Cheng returned for Giants sixth and once again we saw some poor fielding by Tigers. Lee grounded out to first but another error by Brazell allowed him safely onto base. He was bunted to second by Furuki and then Cheng gave up a hit to Tsuruoka who was having a good game and Lee was home 4-0 Giants runner on first. Greisinger bunted Tsuruoka to second but Sakamoto grounded out to end the innings. Tigers sixth was once again quiet.

Watanabe pitched the Giants seventh and showed good control striking out two of the three batters he faced. Greisinger was also in control in the bottom. Giants eigth was also quiet and Greisinger returned for the Tigers eighth. Hara had in mind a complete game shutout, revenge for the recent humiliations at the hands of the Tigers. This wasn't to be - Greisinger had reached his limit and Arai led off with a two base hit. Brazell followed with another two base and Arai was home 4-1 Giants. Katsuragi grounded out to Greisinger who was able to get Brazell going for third but Katsuragi was safe on first. This was enough for Hara who after all wanted to win the game and Greisinger was replaced. He had pitched very well and had done enough to ensure the victory even though he had tired suddenly. Yamaguchi, his replacement, didn't start well. He dead balled Hiyama (pinch hitter) which put a runner on second. The next batter was Yano (replacement catcher) who hit to right driving in another run 4-2 Giants and it began to look like they were in trouble. Hara once again changed pitchers, this time bringing on Ochi. He faced Takahashi (pinch hitter) with runners on first and third and only one out. Ochi was lucky as Takahashi obligingly hit into a double play to end the innings. Egusa pitched the Giants ninth and pitched well retiring the batters in order. Kroon took the Tigers ninth and started poorly, dead balling Hirano (painfully it must be said). Toritani hit and set up runners on first and third - Hirano making third by a supreme effort. Next Kanemoto who flew out to centre and here Hirano should have been allowed to try for home and increase the pressure on the Giants but he was held back probably out of concern for his foot. Arai then hit into a double play and the innings was over. Giants victory.

Poor handling of the endgame hadn't helped - Tigers are not a risk taking side and really if there was trouble with Hirano's foot he should have been replaced by a pinch runner. Otherwise he should have gone for home. This would have increased the pressure on Kroon and as we know he quite frequently folds. Giants victory was really a matter of luck - they got their chances on errors not on their own efforts and Tigers had fought well. However, fielders colliding and missing the ball is not acceptable at this level of baseball and a basic mistake which should not be repeated.