August 30th Iwata v Nelson - It's all in the mind

I would say a lot of the Tigers problems at Nagado are purely mental. Dragons are not the team they were (apart from the pitching). With a stunningly weak offense and in this game poor fielding they were there for the taking. Tigers duly built up a comfortable lead but then started to worry themselves into a dangerous situation. Admittedly, Dragons have figured out Fujii who had another poor game but the pitchers weren't exactly collected (except for Watanabe and Fukuhara). More focus on this aspect of the game would help the Tigers. There is a debate going on, it seems, about whether to move Arai out of the cleanup slot. Wada (batting coach) doesn't see the point and I agree - even with his current level, Arai still drives in runs and is way ahead of anyone else in the side. There isn't another option at the moment. Scoes

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

Starting lineups

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

Nohmi was replaced by Morita before the Tigers took the field

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Ohshima (Centre)
3. Hirata (Right)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Morino (Third)
7. Tanishige (Catcher)
8. Ibata (Second)
9. Nelson (Pitcher)

It's a long time since we've seen the 'put a pitcher in to disguise the fielder' move which was performed with Nohmi and Morita. It was just as worthless as ever but a nice trip down memory lane all the same. Nelson would start poorly giving up a two base hit to Hirano who drove nicely to right past Blanco who had a very poor game. Shibata bunted him to third (another pointless waste of an out) - I have still to figure out what Shibata is for. Toritani hit into right and Hirano was home 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Arai hit a grounder to first which Blanco messed up and Tigers had runners on first and second. Murton spoiled it all by grounding into a double play to end the innings - the extra out would have been useful here. Araki started Dragons first hitting so weakly that he grounded out to Fujii - hardly auspicious. Ohshima managed to ground out to short and then Hirata struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers were off to a good start. Kanemoto led the Tigers second off with a walk but then stayed on first. Things went wrong in Dragons second with some terrible pitching by Iwata and some wooden headed calling by Fujii. Dragons drew level without having a hit. It all started with Iwata dead balling the Dragons lead off batter, Blanco. He then walked Wada. Morino bunted but Iwata couldn't decide where to throw to and by the time he made his choice it was too late - bases loaded with no outs. Here things improved with some nice pitching by Iwata. Tanishige hit to Arai at third who threw to Fujii for the force out - no run and one out with bases still loaded. Then Ibata struck out swinging - two outs with Nelson, the pitcher next. What happened next took the breath away. Nelson is a non batter, the easiest out in the side right? Well Iwata threw four balls in a row to him - oshidashi, 1-1 scores tied, bases loaded. Three of the balls were too high - the high pitch might work with a good batter but not with one of Nelson's mediocrity. The final one was outside. During all this Fujii did nothing - he should have at least gone to speak to his pitcher. It was all psychological of course but Tigers shouldn't have given the run away having done all the hard work. The final batter of the innings was Araki who grounded out to short but one had to say that this was a disappointing innings for the Tigers and it needn't have been. Nelson then proceeded to establish a kind of dominance over the Tigers, the third was quiet with the the batters falling in order. Dragons third was quiet with Ohshima strking out looking.

Tigers fourth was also uneventful, Arai swung wildly at a low ball - one wonders why he does this sort of thing and Kanemoto was fooled into swinging at a higher pitch.. Dragons fourth saw Tanishige pick up a two out walk with Iwata wasting a 0-2 count. Ibata hit to right - Dragons first hit of the game - setting up runners on first and third. The throw from Murton was quite good but Tanishige was quick and made third safely. Once again the batter was Nelson but this time he struck out looking. Why Iwata couldn't have done this in the second is a mystery. Tigers fifth had no action at all - Nelson was in control and pitching well. Watching the game, you thought of the life draining properties of Nagado and how Tigers would succumb gradually and lose. Dragons fifth was also quiet with the batters all grounding out. Things changed in Tigers sixth though with Nelson's dominance suddenly going. Not collapsing but rather a grip being prised off. Hirano started it off with a hit to left. Shibata bunted him to second this time. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second. Then Arai hit to left past the outstretched glove of Morino. Hirano charged home 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and second and the spell was broken. Amazingly though both Murton and Kanemoto both lined out to first to end the innings. Dragons sixth was thankfully very short. Blanco hit his second pitch to left for a single - this fell just in front of the sliding Shunsuke (replacment left). Wada hit his second pitch to Toritani for a straightforward double play with Hirano doing well to get the throw away to Morita as Blanco tried to take him out with his slide. Then Morino popped his first pitch up to Fujii for a foul fly to end the innings.

Morita was lead off batter for Tigers seventh and turned one nicely into the right corner past Blanco for a two base hit. He was pinch run for Yamato who made third on Fujii's ground out. Fujii had in fact tried to bunt and failed miserably so decided to hit. This had the same effect. So a sacrifice fly situation and Mayumi sent Hiyama to the plate to pinch hit for Iwata. Ochiai also made a change and brought on Kobayashi to replace Nelson. However, Hiyama delivered - stretching and turning the ball right for a timely single 3-1 Tigers, runner on first. He was pinch run for by Uemoto who tried to steal second and was thrown out. Hirano then grounded out to Nelson to end the innings but Tigers had a two run margin now. Tigers needed to protect this margin and for this we saw Watanabe who is doing very well at the moment. He successfully stymied the Dragons offense (not that there is much of it) his final out being Nakata who is noticeably fat. For Tigers eighth the pitcher was Itoh. He faced Shibata who hit a weak grounder to first. Blanco fielded off base and threw to Itoh running to first to cover. The throw was late and behind Itoh and Shibata was safe. Toritani struck out swinging but then Shibata stole second successfully. Arai walked which brought up Murton. He hit along the first baseline beating Blanco and bringing home Shibata 4-1 Tigers, runners on second and third. Shunsuke looped one weakly into the left infield where it was fielded by Itoh. Arai was home safely 5-1 Tigers but the throw to first was poor and Shunsuke was safe. Tigers had runners on first and third. Yamato flew out to centre and Murton tagged up and charged for home 6-1 Tigers. Unfortunately, Shunsuke decided to tag up and take second rather than staying on first. He was tagged out for the final out of the innings. Here with Tigers enjoying a comfortable five run lead you would have thought that the game was over. Even so Mayumi was taking no chances and brought on Enokida to lock the victory in with probably Fukuhara for the Dragons ninth. Enokida faced Araki who hit nicely to left centre for a two base lead off hit. This in fact was only the Dragons third hit of the game. Ohshima grounded out to second - he hit past Enokida but a superb dive into the outfield by Hirano snagged the ball and the throw to Arai at first was good. Hirata hit to third for the ground out but Yamato messed up the take and allowed the ball to get away from him. It was a bad mistake and brought a run home 6-2 Tigers, runner on second. Wada swung at his first pitch, got a nice impact and brought home a run 6-3 Tigers. Signs of panic were beginning to show. Morino walked and clearly Enokida wasn't able to continue. Enter Fukuhara, He faced Tanishige and one of his pitches bounced and Fujii failed to take it. This was poor work by the Tigers catcher and it moved the runners round to second and third. The Dragons had a great chance but Tanishige hit to Arai. Arai popped the ball up to Fukuhara who tagged first for the final out. Dragons had reduced the lead but not by enough. Tigers ninth was quiet after the previous innings. Suzuki the pitcher had an easy ride and we also saw Nohara in his first at bat as a pinch hitter. He grounded out to Suzuki for the second out. Fujikawa pitched Dragons ninth and had a difficult innings. It started well with Ibata hitting his first pitch straight to Kyuji for a simple ground out. Then Nomoto drew a walk - Fujii's calling being strange. Araki hit to centre to set up runners on first and second and then Ohshima popped one up into left field. Shunsuke was too far back and Toritani ran after it taking a fine over the shoulder catch. Then HIrata walked on a full count to load the bases. Things looked dangerous with Blanco next. However, Blanco is no Tyronne Woods and he swung and put the ball into left. Once again Toritani ran back but this time the catch was much easier. As Blanco connected Kyuji had an attack of deja vu and dropped his head thinking he had blown things but then looking up saw that it was safe and the game was over. Tigers victory.

Tigers had overcome their demons this time - Dragons weak offense hadn't been able to overturn a five run lead even though they did reduce it, it had always been too much. The gap between Tigers and Swallows narrowed to 2.5 games as Swallows lost in bizarre fashion to Carp. The hero of the game was Iwata who hadn't won for a bit and I suppose deserved it. Tigers have started this series well and if they keep their cool can take it. If they do it will be a huge boost to their pennant hopes.