June 24th Iwata v Tohno - A winning start

After all the fluff of the inter league it was nice to return to the real games Tigers Giants. This was an exciting struggle and before the game Mayumi had been coy about whether he would use Kanemoto at left. He did so and it was clear that the old warrior was not up to the role. In fact he was replaced halfway through the game. Hs hitting without runners on was good and his speed on the base paths very impressive. However, with runners on he was a bust. He was replaced by Shunsuke who did bring an improvement in the fielding but not in the batting. Mayumi did show good judgment in switching pitchers but one could say that this time the Giants lacked intensity and made some costly errors. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Kamei (Right)
3. Abe (Catcher)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Chono (Centre)
6. Ogasawara (First)
7. Ryal (Third)
8. Fujimura (Second)
9. Tohno (Pitcher)

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

With Sakamoto gone Kamei hit but then Abe managed to hit into a double play. That was Giants first. This game had been billed as Nohmi v Utsumi but both maangers switched their pitcherrs. Tohno started for the Giants and struck out Murton looking. Hirano drilled his first pitch into centre for a single and then Toritani hit to Sakamoto and beat the throw. Tigers had runners on first and second. Arai walked to load the bases and Tigers had a big chance. Brazell was tempted to hit right and was deep enough for the sacrifice fly 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Sekimoto though lined out to Sakamoto and even though Tigers had the lead they hadn't exploited the chance fully. Giants second started with Ramirez striking out swinging and Chono grounding out but Ogasawara hit to right. Ryal was also tempted right and flew out to end the innings. Kanemoto led off Tigers second with a hit of his first pitch. This was all the more surprising as it was a very nice swing. Fujii swung to soon and flew out in foul ground but then Iwata laid down a very nice bunt taking Kanemoto safely to second. Murton was next and he hit into left field. Kanemoto flew round the bases to reach home safely 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Murton then stole second - the throw from Abe being too high but Hirano hit to short and the innings was over. Giants hit back in their third. This was all the more surprising as there were two outs on the board. Some poor calling and poor pitching combined with some good batting to square the game. Sakamoto led off show with a hit to left. Kanemoto failed to field it - the reverse angle showed that he had been too slow to get to the ball. Kamei hit to left, once again Kanemoto's ineffectiveness in the field being displayed and Sakamoto made home easily 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Abe hit to centre - runners on first and second. The dangerous Ramirez hit nicely into right and brought home Kamei 2-2 scores tied, runners on first and third. Finally Chono hit to Sekimoto and the innings was over. Tigers third with their clean up to face Tohno was actually very inoccuous and the batters fell in order.

Giants fourth was quiet with Iwata managing to recover his composure and strike out two of the three batters he faced. Sekimoto led off Tigers fourth by lining out to Ryal. Kanemoto then hit again - he lifted the ball over Tohno and it landed pathetically in the infield fying as it did. Sakamoto had to run in to take it and was a bit slow as Kanemoto was able to make first. Fujii struck out which left Iwata who hit down the left baseline to Ryal. Ryal messed up a straightforward take and deflected the ball into foul ground. Kanemoto made third and Iwata second - a costly error. Murton followed and Tigers fans had big expectations of this at bat. They weren't disappointed. Murton hit his first pitchin into left centre for a timely two base 4-2 Tigers. Hirano tried to drive past Tohno but was too close and grounded out to end the innings. But Tigers had a comfortable lead. The fourth innings was Tohno's last and he was pinch hit for by S. Takahashi in Giants fifth who struck out swinging. He hadn't been comfortable and had struggled with runners on. Both Sakamoto and Kamei went first pitch and the innings was quickly over. Tigers fifth was pitched by Nishimura who disposed of the first two batters but then gave up a hit to Brazell. Sekimoto followed with a hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and second. Mr rally killer, Kanemoto followed. He can hit without runners on but now tends to mess up with runners on. This at bat was no exception and he struck out to end the innings. Iwata returned for Giants sixth and immediately walked Abe. Next was Ramirez who hit nicely to right. Unfortunately for him Sekimoto was in the way and to add insult to injury the throw was good enough to catch Abe off base for a very useful double play. Chono then hit to left to emphasise how unlucky Ramirez had been but Ogasawara struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers sixth once again saw the three batters go quietly.

Enokida took Giants seventh and pitched very well retiring the batters in order while striking out Fujimura and Tani (pinch hitter). Takagi replaced Nishimura on the mound for the Giants and retired the batters in order in Tigers seventh. For Giants eighth Mayumi went with Kobayashi. He was much more comfortable with Fujii this time and even though he adopted an independent mind listened to his catcher more. Sakamoto led off the innings with a hit to centre. Kamei flew out to left (where Shunsuke had replaced Kanemoto). Then Abe faced Kobayashi. With the count 1-2 Kobayashi dropped one short and Abe swung at it striking out. Fujii wasn't expecting this but blocked it well where Johjima might have missed it. Sometimes your pitcher being a small guy helps. Finally Ramirez grounded out to second to end the innings. Tigers eigth saw a wonderful pitch from Takagi to strike Brazell out looking - Brazell didn't argue but just walked off, he knew he'd been fooled. The next two batters grounded out to end the innings. Kyuji pitched the Giants ninth and had a very easy innings. Chono flew out to Shibata (replacement centre) then Ogasawara grounded out to second. Finally, Yoshinobu struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers victory.

Tiogers seem to have found a relief combination that works Enokida, Kobayashi and Fujikawa. It was Kyuji's 14th save and Iwata's third win in a row. Murton had a good game and the Giatns had been beaten. Mayumi had handled the pitching well for a change and Tigers could be very satisfied with this victory.