September 1st Standridge v Soto - Bizarre

One of the more unusual games this year. We had a Mayumi punishment demotion of Arai again, this time to seventh. Sekimoto took his place at fourth. Sekimoto at fourth? It all worked out eventually but once again Fujii was replaced. Tigers showed nice fight in bouncing back from a three run deficit. Interestingly whilst Standridge folded around 100 pitches Soto folded at 70. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. HIrano (Centre)
2. Yamato (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Sekimoto (Third)
5. Murton (Right)
6. Kanoh (Left)
7. Arai (First)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Standridge (PItcher)

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

Mayumi's strange lineup at least had the benefit of adding some power lower down the order (which Tigers had been lacking) though the jury is definitely out on Sekimoto at fourth. Tigers first three innings were generally quiet - in the first Yamato hit with one out but then was thrown out trying to steal second after Toritani struck out looking. Dragons first was just quiet and no one reached base. Tigers second was also quiet. Clearly Soto was continuing his good form against Tigers. Standridge began to show worrying wobbles in the Dragons second. Wada hit a two base to right after Blanco had grounded out. Then with another out down Ibata hit and set up runners on first and third. It was decided to walk Oda to load the bases and get at Soto. This worked and Soto struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers third was quiet with Arai leading the innings off by striking out. The move down hadn't changed much. Dragons third was likewise. The scores were still tied but Dragons had put more runners on.

Tigers fourth seemed to be heading for a quiet end with two out when Toritani hit a two base to left. Sekimoto picked up a walk and Tigers had multiple runners on for the first time in the game. Murton though grounded out to end the innings. It is interesting to note that Murton has not been driving in that many runs but unlike Arai he is not punished. Mayumi's management style relies on these pointless and arbitrary demotions which do nothing to motivate the players. Blanco struck out to start off Dragons fourth but Wada took a dead ball. Ibata hit to set up runners on first and third and this time it was decided to take on Oda rather than walk him. He duly struck out and the innings was over. Tigers fifth was quiet and the batters went down in order. Soto led off Dragons fifth with a single so it seemed that the decision to take Oda on the previous innings was nicely judged. Araki bunted him to second and then Morino picked up a walk. This brought Blanco to the plate but Standridge struck him out looking for the final out. Standridge led off Tigers sixth but could not repeat Soto's feat and struck out. Hirano drove his second pitch into centre for a single but Yamato flew out. Then Hirano tried to steal second and was thrown out to end the innings. Standridge had survived so far but had thrown more pitches than Soto and paid for it in the sixth. Wada hit left and then Hirata walked on a full count. Ibata bunted the batters to second and third and Nomoto (pinch hitting for Oda) hit a two base to right bringing in both runners 2-0 Dragons. Soto grounded out to second and Nomoto moved over to third. Then Araki hit to centre bringing in another run 3-0 Dragons, runner on first. Finally, Ohshima grounded out but this had been a disastrous innings for Tigers and Dragons had a nice margin.

The Soto/Oda combination had been very effective but with Oda being pinch hit for Dragons had to bring on another catcher. This was Tanishige and this proved to be a mistake. He did not connect at all with Soto and Toritani led Tigers seventh off with a two base into left. This brought up Sekimoto who singled to centre bringing in a run 3-1 Dragons, runner on first. Ochiai decided to replace his pitcher and put Suzuki in. He was hopless. He walked Murton and then fumbled a grounder Kanoh hit to him allowing the Tigers left to reach base and load the bases with no outs. Arai hit right bringing in a run 3-2 Dragons, bases loaded. Another pitching change was in order and Asao was brought in early. Mayumi also went with a pinch hitter in place of his catcher this being Hiyama. He hit straight to Asao, a nice piece of fortune. Asao threw to Tanishige for the force out and then Tanishige threw to first for the double play - runners on second and third. Of course Mayumi used a pinch hitter for Standridge, though his choice was the useless Shibata. Why not Morita or Komiyama? Shibata duly struck out - he has yet to justify his place in the top team. A good innings but one didn't expect the Tigers to score any more. Watanabe pitched the Dragons seventh and pitching to Komiyama was effective, retiring the Dragons clean up in order with no one reaching base. Asao returned for Tigers eighth and was shaky. With two out Toritani hit to left. Sekimoto walked to set up runners on first and second and then Murton stepped up to the plate. He grounded out to the pitcher but before then had words with the first base umpire about a half swing which was called a strike. This was marginal but one must say that the Nagoya umpires are the poorest in the Central League. Enokida pitched Dragons eighth and was also shaky. He started by walking Hirata. Hirata was bunted to second by Ibata and then with another out Koike also walked - runners on first and second. Araki though struck out swinging and the innings was over. Tigers ninth was of course Iwase who was bidding to be the first pitcher in Japan to reach 300 saves. It was not to be. He was probably nervous and Kanoh hammered a two base hit to left centre to lead off the innings. Next was Arai who drove fiercely to left bringing in Kanoh 3-3 scores tied and runner on first. Uemoto (pinch hitter) bunted Arai to second and then Komiyama hit to third. Morino messed up and Tigers had runners on second and third. Here fate intervened. There was to be no run as Hirano hit a grounder to Iwase. He threw to Tanishige and Arai was tagged out - runners on first and third. The next batter was Yamato but he also grounded out to end the innings. After all the excitement of the preceding innings Dragons ninth was quiet. Fujikawa struck out two and got the final batter to fly out to end the game. Tied game.

Because of the the 3.30 hour rule the game ended after the ninth. Tigers could be satisfied in coming back from a three run deficit in the seventh at Nagoya. Arai had driven in two runs and Sekimoto one. It's time to start training up Kanoh though to catch again. Fujii is showing serious problems and mule headed stubbornness in insisting he becomes an outfielder is not the way to go. Part of Tigers problems this game were down to Fujii's patterns and poor option selection. Tigers can now look forward to a series against the BayStars at Koshien if the weather holds out.