August 20th Kubo v Shimizu - Unfavourable conditions

If all else fails Tigers can still manage to beat the BayStars. This is something they desperately needed to do after the sweep by the Carp. Neither rotation prospered in difficult pitching conditions - it rained all through the game; a kind of light feathery rain which made the ball slippery. Murata made a complete prat of himself chewing out a rookie pitcher who struggled with his control and then having to watch as a more experienced pitcher walked in a run suffering from similar difficulties. The main issue for most pitchers was the top of the zone - a higher pitch usually drifited too high. However, Tigers pitchers had a little extra and were able to hold off the BayStars batters more successfully. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    2 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 5  7 1
BayStars  0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 11 0

Starting lineups

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. Kubo (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Right)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Sledge (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Harper (First)
6. Kinjoh (Centre)
7. Fujita (Second)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Shimizu (Pitcher)

Tigers start was good and just what was needed on a rainy cold evening. One pays full tribute to the fans who actually went to the game and stayed throughout - it wasn't very pleasant. With Murton out, Hirano drove a two base to left. Toritani hit a two base into right bringing home the first run 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Arai also hit to right and Toritani was home 2-0 Tigers with Arai making second on the throw and adding insult to injury. However, Brazell flew out to left and then Sekimoto popped it up to short to end the innings. Sekimoto has been starting but hasn't been hitting well recently. BayStars were unable to respond in the first - certainly Sledge did hit to centre and BayStars fans got rather helpful. Murata hit to right - a nice blow but Murton pulled a superb catch out of the hat. Chasing the ball as it came over him, he dived and took the catch to end the innings. Possibly, a run saving piece of fielding. Tigers second was quiet, the trio of Kanemoto, Fujii and Kubo doing nothing to trouble Shimizu. Kubo then ran into a similar run of trouble to Shimizu in the first - a sequence of hits. Harper led off BayStars second with a two base to left. Kinjoh hit to centre but Harper wasn't fast enough to make home, runners on first and third. However, Fujita drove into right for another two base 2-1 Tigers, runners on second and third. Here things unravelled for the BayStars. Hosoyamada hit straight to Kubo and lined out. Shimizu grounded out, again to Kubo and finally Shimozono tried to hit deep into centre but Hirano was under it to end the innings. Tigers had preserved the lead. Murton led off Tigers third with a hit. We then saw more of that bankrupt management philosophy prevalent in Japanese baseball: the sacrfice bunt. When your next batter is averaging .297 and is second in the Central League batting averages why do you ask him to bunt? The illusion of doing something without actually doing anything is why. So HIrano bunted and Murton moved round to second. Then Toritani walked on a full count. Arai flew out to left - one out to get. This was Brazell who did exactly the same thing and the innings was over. Ishikawa led off BayStars third with a hit - BayStars outhit Tigers in this game but found it difficult to get the runners home. Two outs followed, that of Murata moving Ishikawa round to second and then Kubo walked Harper. This had more than a taste of not wanting to give Harper a chance to hit again but whatever the reason it brought up Kinjoh who flew out in foul ground to end the innings.

Shimizu pitched Tigers fourth well with the danger batters out of the way he could enjoy the innings. Things started well with Fujita flying out but then Sekimoto messed up a Hosoyamada grounder and he was safe on first. Shimizu bunted him to second and one doesn't really argue with using a pitcher for this purpose. Shimozono though wasted the chance and flew out to end the innings. Tigers were still holding a 1 run lead. The first out of Tigers fifth was Kubo and this brought up Murton who got a nice inviting pitch for his first delivery. This was hammered deep into the Tigers gaia for a solo home run 3-1 Tigers and a nice two run lead restored. Hirano struck out and then Toritani grounded out but the cushion was back. Ishikawa led off BayStars fifth with a hit but stayed on first as some fine pitching by Kubo (especially in the conditions) retired the clean up to prevent any score developing. Shimizu started to struggle in Tigers sixth. Not so much with tiredness but with the conditions and Hosoyamada's increasingly unrealistic calls. He walked Arai and then Obana decided to switch pitchers. Ohhara took over and promptly dead balled Brazell - runners on first and second with no outs. Sekimoto then proceeded to mess things up hitting into a short double play with Arai making third. This didn't help as Kanemoto struck out to end the innings. A promising start wasted by Tigers six and seven. Kubo was also finding things difficult by now and gave up a lead off hit to Kinjoh in BayStars sixth. Fujita also hit to left to put runners on first and third. Hosoyamada bunted them round to second and third and Mayumi decided it was time for a pitching change. This was Kojima. Ever since the time he got out of the bases loaded three outs situation he has been a favoured pitcher. It was a good achievement but he isn't quite there yet and one wondered why he was preferred to Watanabe (actually this decision would prove to be the right one later in the game when Watanabe did come on in the eighth). Kojima faced Nakamura who hit deep to centre for the sacrifice fly 3-2 Tigers, runner on third. Shimozono walked and BayStars fans got really excited. However, Ishikawa grounded out to end the innings and Tigers retained the lead.

Fukuyama pitched Tigers seventh and showed some genuinely fast stuff. However, his control wasn't good and he walked Fujii on a full count. Shibata (pinch hitter) bunted Fujii to second which was another wasted out. Then Fukuyama walked Murton in four. This brought the team to the mound and some 'comment' from the senior players much of it undeserved. Shinohara took over the pitching duties but even he couldn't cope with conditions and Hosoyamada's calling. He walked Hirano to load the bases and then Toritani - oshidashi 4-2 Tigers, bases loaded. The hard work of the previous innings had been undone but at least Murata had the decency to look very sheepish. Exit Shinohara to be replaced by Sanada. He faced Arai who managed a truely stupid shot to ground into a double play to end the innings. Still Tigers were in control. Enokida was one of the few pitchers who actually didn't struggle in in the conditons. Keeping the ball low, he retired the batters in the BayStars seventh in order with only Harper putting up some resistance before flying out to centre. Sanada faced Brazell as lead off for the eighth and the big man hit a huge blow to right for a solo home run and his 100th in Japan 5-2 Tigers. He was presented with a nice bouquet to comemerate the event. Sekimoto struck out looking but Shunsuke (replacement left) hit nicely into left for a single. Fujii bunted him to second - another wasted out and this brought another pitching change, Yamamoto the starter for the cancelled game taking the mound in relief. He faced Hiyama and struck him out looking with a superb pitch to end the innings. Kobayashi took over for the BayStars eighth and was not on his game. He got the first out but then Fujita drove into left for a two base hit. Inada (pinch hitter) drove to right which set up runners on first and third. This brought up Watanabe (pinch hitter and pachimon) who BayStars fans got really excited about - pachimonWatanabe was going to drive in a run! He did exactly that, hitting right over second and dropping the ball in front of Murton. One run scored 5-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. This brought up the afore-mentioned change to the genuine Watanabe who was really impressive. Shimozono was induced to fly out to right and then Ishikawa grounded out to Toritani to end the innings. Ohnuma pitched Tigers ninth and had no trouble retiring the batters in order. BayStars no doubt hoped that with their cleanup next they would be able to get to a shaky Fujikawa. It didn't quite work out like that. Yoshimura replaced Sledge (hardly the most intelligent move but then we'll take it). As I mentioned the ball had a tendency to drift up when thrown near the top of the zone and this is what happened with the strike out ball. Yoshimura swung anyway and was the first out. Murata struck out rapidly which left Harper. He battled hard before swinging and sending the ball vertically up. When it came down Fujii was under it and didn't drop it. Tigers victory.

A good game to win - Tigers desperately needed a confidence booster. They had battled hard in diffcult conditions and despite not being able to pull away had built up enough lead to hold the BayStars off. This was Kubo's sixth win of the season and at least he wasn't overpitched. In fact Mayumi's handling of the pitching had been good. Kyuji picked up save No. 28 and Brazell his afore-mentioned 100th home run.