June 25th Kubo v Barnette - Barnette bashed

Tony Barnette was recalled to the Swallows side after a bout of gout (acording to Tsubamegun - the highly readible Swallows blog). Now there is a disease to conjure with bringing impressions of old English gentlemen enjoying too much roast beef and port. It didn't help as Tigers batting rapidly found his range and finished him off. Once again Mayumi over-pitched Kubo - you might have thought he would have begun to learn as he has with Standridge but no Kubo was asked to pitch an unnecessary eighth innings. Even though he had a massive lead it was still a pointless innings. There was no shutout available and not even a complete game. If Kubo is to be available for future games his arm needs to be protected. The fact that Mayumi can learn and be careful with other pitchers makes his blind spot about Kubo even more mystifying. Anyway onto the scores.

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    4 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 9 12 0
Swallows  0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 4 10 0

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Takeuchi (Right)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Iihara (Left)
6. Aikawa (Catcher)
7. Hatakeyama (Third)
8. Fujimoto (Short)
9. Barnette (Pitcher)

Barnette's travails started immediately with his first innings. Toritani picked up a lead off walk and was bunted to second by Hirano. Murton hit to left bringing the runner home 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Arai hit to left and Brazell hit to centre to load the bases. Johjima flew out but Lin hit nicely to left - a two base, bringing home two more runners 3-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Sakurai hit his first pitch to Fujimoto who wasn't able to get the throw away in time 4-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Finally, Kubo flew out to end what had been a terrible return innings for Barnette. Aoki led off Swallows first innings with a hit but there was to be no repeat of the Tigers first. He made second on Takeuchi's one out fly out but D'Antona flew out to right to end the innings. Tigers continued to score in the second. Once again Toritani walked. This time Hirano grounded out to Barnette forcing out Toritani. Murton hit which put runners on first and second and Arai walked to load the bases. Brazell hit a sacrifice fly to centre 5-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Johjima grounded out to third to end the innings. Hatakeyama managed a hit in Swallows otherwise quiet second but didn't advance beyond first. Barnette's nightmare continued in Tigers third. Lin led off with another two base. Kubo's ground out moved him round to third and Toritani hit a two base bringing the runner home 6-0 Tigers, runner on second. This was the end of Barnette who hadn't been able to dominate or even establish any measure of control at all. He was replaced by Takaichi who gave up a hit to Hirano which brought Toritani home 7-0 Tigers. Hirano tried to go to far though and was tagged out. However, Tigers were out of sight and the game was really over as a contest. Swallows third merely reinforced this impression with all three batters grounding out.

Tigers fourth saw Murton lead off with a hit but nothing came of this. Swallows fourth had Iihara generate a two out hit but once again nothing came of this either. In Tigers fifth the batters fell in order but Tigers didn't have to worry as they had a more than comfortable lead. Swallows did manage to reduce this in their fifth. Hatakeyama grounded out to third but then Kubo dead balled Fujimoto. Ogawa sent Kawamoto in to pinch hit for Takaichi. Kawamoto hammered his first pitch to left for a two base hit. Fujimoto was on third and Kawamoto on second. Aoki was next and his two base hit was to right bringing home both runners 7-2 Tigers, runner on second. Tanaka flew out but Takeuchi walked. However, he drifted too far off base and with D'Antona at the plate, Johjima sent a cannonball to first catching Takeuchi off base for the final out of the innings. Very nice fielding. Tigers response to this was immediate - facing Matsui in their sixth they set about the pitcher in no uncertain manner. Toritani collected his third walk and was bunted to second by Hirano. Murton grounded out but Arai's hit was a two base to left centre. Toritani was home 8-2 Tigers, runner on second. Brazell hit to right centre - another two base 9-2 Tigers, runner on second. He would be pinch run for by Sekimoto but Johjima made this all academic by flying out to end the innings. Iihara hit a two base in Swallows sixth with one out. He was joined on base as Aikawa walked. Kubo was clearly tiring but managed to get Hatakeyama to hit into a double play to end the innings.

Tigers seventh was another quiet innings after the excitment of the sixth. Kanemoto made his pinch hit appearance and struck out swinging - that was all. Kubo returned for Swallows seventh which was the right decision by Mayumi. He had another innings in him. He gave up a hit to Aoki but was otherwise untroubled. For Tigers eighth we had a pachimon Watanabe who was quite effective and retired the batters in order. If Kubo had pitched seven effective innings he really shouldn't have pitched the eighth. He had reached his limit but Mayumi sent him to the mound again. With one out D'Antona hit. Iihara hit a two base to left centre - his second two base of the evening. Then Aikawa hit his first pitch for another two bases - this one to right centre and both runners were home 9-4 Tigers, runner on second. Hatakeyama flew out to right and Aikawa tagged up and made third safely but then the final batter, Fujimoto grounded out to second to end the innings. Oshimoto pitched Tigers ninth and retired the batters in order. For Swallows ninth we had a bit of overkill - Kubota. It took him all of four pitches to dispose of his three batters, Ueda (pinch hitter) grounded out to second. Aoki grounded out to short and Tanaka took one ball then grounded out to second - end of game. Tigers victory.

This had been a comfortable victory with the Swallows completely outplayed and overwhelmed. Barnette had not been ready and had paid the price against one of the strongest offences in the Central League. Kubo picked up his seventh win but once again had been asked to pitch an unnecessary innings. The batting had been strong and effective and Lin had a good game. Everyone had contributed with the result that the Swallows were well beaten.