May 26th Shimoyanagi v Ishii - Dull

This game lacked the excitement and was unsatisfactory for both sides - neither manager looked happy. Seibu are a portly side (and it was surprising to see so many rotund players gathered together in one place) with a propensity to mess up in the outfield which was in full display this game. Tigers failed to take advantage of the opportunities provided by these mistakes. In fact the Tigers batters swung under the pitching and flew out with alarming consistency. Seibu had the luck of the bounce and took advantage of it picking up the win. Ishii was also the better pitcher though Shimoyanagi did not pitch too badly and in fact threw a lot more in the zone than is his usual practice. Toritani sat this game out but did come in as a pinch hitter. Yamato is not a suitable replacement though. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Centre)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Brown (Left)
6. Takayama (Right)
7. G. G. Sato (First)
8. Hosokawa (Catcher)
9. Ishii (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. S. Fujikawa (Centre)
3. Murton (Left)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Yamato (Short)
9. Shimoyanagi (Pitcher)

We saw Lions start proceedings with a Kataoka hit to centre. Kuriyama struck out and then Kataoka tried to steal second but was tagged out easily by Yamato. Finally Nakajima struck out as well to end the innings. Shimoyanagi's new style of throwing in the zone (rather than to the corners) would work well for the most part this game as the Seibu batters found the flight difficult to read. Ishii started in an undistinguished manner by walking Hirano. Fujikawa bunted Hirano to second and Murton's ground out took him to third. Arai though struck out looking to an outside pitch which just shaved the zone. This was actually a very nice piece of work and very impressive from the Lions veteran. Lions second saw an efficient piece of work. Nakamura led off with a hit to short but the throw from Yamato was rather weak and the runner was safe on first. Shimoyanagi then walked Brown to set up runners on first and second. Not his best pitching but he did find the Lions left fielder difficult to deal with. Takayama then bunted the runners to second and third which left G. G. Sato to supply the sacrifice fly. Here he just swung and connected - it didn't really matter where it went as long as it was infield. Nakamura tagged up and made home easily 1-0 Lions, runner on third. Hosokawa then struck out to end the innings. Ishii managed to keep the Tigers under control in the bottom of the second though he had to work hard to do so. He managed to dead ball Brazell. Johjima and Sakurai both hit under their pitches and flew out but Yamato hit to centre and Tigers had runners on first and second. Unfortunately, the next batter was Shimoyanagi and Ishii wasn't going to let him get on base. He duly struck out to end the innings. Lions third was quiet as the batters fell in order. In Tigers third Ishii got the first two outs and faced Murton. He hit nicely to centre where Kuriyama went to pick up a straightforward rolling ball and missed it - the ball going between his legs. Murton continued round to third and this piece of prize incompetence could have been very costly. However, Arai hit under the line and flew out to centre to end the chance. Ishii was using his pitching very nicely but Arai should have done better with such a great chance.

In Lions fourth Brown hit along the first baseline. Brazell expected the ball to bounce foul but in fact it jumped the sack and landed just inside the line for a hit. Brazell couldn't get down in time and Brown was able to make first. With two out Tigers just needed another out and Takayama supplied this grounding out to short. In Tigers fourth Sakurai hit to centre with two out but Yamato could only ground out to third and that went nowhere. Lions fifth was quiet with Shimoyanagi striking out two batters with some impressive pitching. In Tigers fifth Fujikawa hit with two out but then was thrown out stealing. Like the Kataoka attempted steal in the first this was clearly telegraphed and the fielder was ready and waiting. The tag was a formality. This ended the innings. Lions sixth saw Shimoyanagi give up a lead off hit to Kataoka. He was bunted to second by Kuriyama but then Nakajima struck out - two outs. Here Tigers made a mistake. Kubo came to the mound and after a conference with Johjima and Shimoyanagi issued the instruction to deliberately walk Nakamura. This put unnecessary pressure on the pitcher as the next batter Brown has been very successful in driving in runs. A poor piece of management one has to say. However, for a while it looked like Brown would fall easily as he struggled with the pitching. He fouled one to rear and was lucky it drifted just beyond the reach of Johjima and hit the netting. His hit was on the fortunate side of things as well - the ball came off the bat anywhere but where he intended it and ballooned into left field. Kataoka made home easily and it was 2-0 Lions, runners on first and second. Takayama then struck out to end the innings but the lead was a useful one now. Tigers then managed to blow a slight chance to get back into the game. With one out in the sixth, Arai popped one up into right. Second went back to take it and right came in as well. As the ball came down second hauled off and right stopped to allow the ball to bounce in front of him. This is classic Seibu though they normally have three people go for a fly ball and no one takes it. Neither Brazell nor Johjima could convert with Brazell getting under his first pitch and flying out to centre.

Shimoyanagi didn't return for Lions seventh - he hadn't pitched too badly and in fact had had a bit of bad luck with the second run. The ball could have gone anywhere but landed nicely for Lions. Nishimura was the pitcher and was efficient and secure. He struck out two of the three batters he faced. Tigers seventh innings was a bit more involved. Lions first pitcher was Onodera. He walked Sakurai with no outs. Yamato bunted Sakurai to second and almost made first safely, Nishimura being a bit slow to respond and throw (too many bowls of rice perhaps). This brought up Kanemoto (pinch hitter) and a change of pitcher to Hoshino. Hoshino struck out Kanemoto and the next pitcher took the mound - Osada. He walked Sekimoto (pinch hitter) to set up runners on first and second. Next batter was Hiyama (pinch hitter) and once again a Tigers batter got under the line of the pitch and he flew out to left to end the innings. Another chance wasted. For Lions eighth Mayumi used Watanabe who gave up his second run of the season. This was a one out solo home run to Kuriyama 3-0 Lions. This also was lucky - the ball was hit and flew along the first baseline and would have normally drifted foul. This one didn't and stayed just inside the foul pole - it just wasn't Tigers night. Watanabe then struck out the next two batters which showed how unlucky he had been. Tigers eighth saw the return of Osada and he got to Murton to ground out to short for the first out. Arai was next and he supposedly struck out looking though how the final pitch was anywhere near the zone is difficult to understand. It was a very wide strike zone indeed. Brazell struck out swinging in a poor at bat and he knew at as he beat his bat on the ground in anger at himself. Lions ninth was also a bit complicated from the pitching point of view. Kawasaki started the innings by getting Brown to ground out. He was then replaced by Sugiyama for no discernible reason apart from a whim of Mayumi's. Takayama struck out but then G. G. Sato hit to left. Hosokawa struck out and the innings was over - Sugiyama looked pleased with himself but had actually done nothing to dispel the aura of unreliability that always hangs over him. For Tigers ninth we saw an old friend Brian Sikorsky who always seems to struggle against Tigers but leads the Pacific League in saves. Johjima flew out as the first victim but then Sakurai hammered one into the left stand for a solo home run 3-1 Lions. Apart from the sacrifice fly this was the only run of the evening where luck didn't play a part - it was a very nice hit off a poor pitch. Toritani (pinch hitter) hit his first pitch to right for a base hit and you began to have visions of another Sikorsky meltdown. It was not to be - Katsuragi (pinch hitter) struck out, another bad swing from him. This brought up Sekimoto who can hit in this sort of situation but not this night. Sikorski was the master of the situation and struck out the Tigers second to end the game. Lions victory.

Tigers had been unlucky but hadn't really clicked at all. Batting had been poor and ill-considered and Brazell's reaction to his final strike out said it all. Lions hadn't impressed either but they had managed the runs and they had the victory. The hero interview actually went to Ishii who had pitched nicely. Watanabe (Seibu's kantoku) did not look particularly pleased about the batting and indeed they also had been lacklustre. Walking Nishimura in the sixth had been a mistake but in the scheme of things a small one. It just hadn't been Tigers night.