September 10th Kubo v Ishikawa - Revisiting the errors

Tigers fielding was improved - slightly. In short they were still making errors and it cost them. Not that the performance was good Swallows were a level above Tigers this game and deserved their victory. But like Tigers their starting pitcher wasn't very good and lasted only one innings longer. Fujii lasted about the same time as Kubo before being replaced by Komiyama. He was an improvement but really not by much and Kanoh's return to catching duties is becoming more and more necessary.
It was an enjoyable game though surrounded by lots of happy people (unfortunately Swallows fans). Two girls in front of me - both Hidaka groupies - had the time of their lives watching their hero Hidaka pitch. One of them though did eat takoyaki during his session on the mound and was scolded by the other. There was also an old couple who had come all the way from Fukuoka to watch the game and they also enjoyed their time at Jingu. One thing that was noticeable was just how quiet the Swallows fans were, even with their team doing well they did lack the passion of the Tigers fans who's noise from the other side of the stadium was almost overwhelming. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Messenger was replaced by Shunsuke before the game started

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Kawabata (Short)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Takeuchi (Left)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Balentien (Right)
8. Aikawa (Catcher)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

Banish all thoughts from you mind that this was a good Ishikawa performance: it wasn't. It might well have been better than Kubo's but it was not one the Swallows pitcher will look back on with affection (apart from the W in the stats). Hirano led off the Tigers first with a hit to centre. Shunsuke bunted him to second - this of course was a mistake. Hirano made third on Toritani's first ground out which brought up Arai. He would have an off night and not produce a single hit. As several of these situations (like this one) were scoring situations it rather cramped Tigers style. He hit to centre and flew out to end the innings. Swallows start mirrored Tigers with Aoki leading off with a hit to right. Tanaka grounded out taking Aoki to second and then Kawabata flew out. Hatakeyama walked with Takeuchi skying one into foul ground where Sekimoto took it to end the innings. Murton started Tigers second intent on hitting Ishikawa out of the ground. He didn't accomplish it this innings but more on that later. Sekimoto walked but Kanemoto flew out weakly to short. Fujii grounded out to first to end the innings. Swallows second seemed to be showing Kubo gaining control as Swallows found themselves unable to get runnners on base. Tigers third meanwhile saw another wasted chance. With Kubo striking out Hirano hit to Ishikawa who could only deflect the ball infield. Hirano dived (head first of course) and beat the throw from Tanaka - runner on first. Shunsuke flew out to centre but Toritani drove along the third baseline for a two base hit - runners on second and third. This time Arai contrived to strike out swinging at a low pitch that was better off left. Kubo then got into a real mess - he was facing Ishikawa who frankly should have been an easy out. Instead, Ishikawa hit into centre for a single. Aoki hit to right and Swallows had runners on first and second, crucially with no outs. Tanaka bunted the runners to second and third; the first out. Next was Kawabata who one can usually count as a safe out. But then you can usually say the same of Ishikawa. Kubo's pitch to Kawabata was terrible and very hittable. Kawabata accepted the gift and hit it into the right stands - the ball just clearing the fence but they all count - a three run home run 3-0 Swallows. Hatakeyama flew out to centre and then Takeuchi hit a grounder to first to end the innings. Tigers had a difficult task to come back from that deficit

Back to Murton who led off the Tigers fourth still trying to hit Ishikawa out of the ground. The thing is he did so slamming a solo home run into the left stand 3-1 Swallows. The only problem was he didn't have runners on. None of the next three batters did anything but Tigers had trimmed the deficit. They needed to keep the Swallows from scoring but with the way Kubo and Fujii were playing this was always going to be difficult. Miyamoto hit right and then Balentien walked - not a good start to Swallows fourth. Aikawa bunted the runners to second and third and then Ishikawa lined out to Toritani. This was a strange move and you felt the Swallows had messed up. Instead it was the Tigers who messed up. Mayumi decided that a pitching change was necessary which on the face of things was sensible. He also decided to change catchers, another sound move. So we had a Kojima and Komiyama pairing. Komiyama isn't as mediocre as Fujii but with Kanoh around is distinctly second rate. However, Tigers management would rather not admit that they messed up deciding they didn't need Kanoh as a catcher and will do anything to prevent that becoming clear. Kojima faced Aoki who hit a grounder to third which Sekimoto dropped. By the time he had picked up and thrown to first Aoki was safe and the Swallows had another run 4-1 Swallows, runners on first and third. What was that about Arai not playing third because of defensive errors? Tanaka followed and hit to centre bringing in another run 5-1 Swallows, runners on first and third. Finally, Kawabata grounded out to second to end the innings. Komiyama led off Tigers fifth by hitting to left. Then Hirano hit into the right field corner and set off for second. This looked eminently achievable but a fine throw from Balentien caught him still with a while to go and he was out. Komiyama meanwhile was safe on third. Shunsuke grounded out to third so no run but Toritani hit left bringing in Komiyama 5-2 Swallows, runner on first. Next was Arai who grounded out to short. He won't hit every day and this game was one of those occasions. Swallows fifth saw more errors. Hatakeyama leading off the innings took a wild swing and skied the ball. Kanemoto came in from left but Toritani called for it and got under it. It wasn't the easiest of catches but it was takeable and Toritani did get under it. He dropped the ball allowing Hatakeyama to reach second. Takeuchi grounded out to Kojima who locked Hatakeyama on second before throwing to first. Miyamoto hit nicely to centre but Hatakeyama didn't have the speed to reach home runners on first and third with no outs. Then Balentien walked to load the bases. Tigers needed a double play or strike out next. Kojima wasn't the man for the job and Mayumi brought on Fukuhara. He faced Aikawa who hit to Hirano at second. Hirano fumbled but was able to throw to Toritani for the first out. Toritani threw to first for the second out but the umpire ruled Aikawa safe. A poor decision by the umpire - Jingu's umpires are very poor and this was just another example. The runner on third scored 6-2 Swallows. The final batter of the innings was Morioka (pinch hitting for Ishikawa) who struck out swinging. Oshimoto took over from Ishikawa for Tigers sixth and was immediately in trouble. Murton hit to cente and then Sekimoto hit to centre - runners on first and second with no outs. Kanemoto struck out swinging at a pitch that he should have left. This brought Hidaka to the mound. He faced Kanoh (pinch hitter and replacement left) and Kanoh struck out swinging as well. Not good batting. Then Komiyama grounded out to second and the chance had gone up in smoke. Fujihara replaced Fukuhara and started with a hit to centre to Aoki. Komiyama wasn't proving anymore effective than Fujii and really the type of conventional catcher Mayumi favours is not suitable for this level. Tanaka bunted Aoki to second and then Kawabata grounded out to short taking Aoki to third. Next was Hatakeyama and Tigers decided to walk him (to the boos of Swallows fans) to get at Takeuchi. He was pinch hit for by Iihara which is rather like replacing someone who is marginally effective with someone who is completely ineffective. Iihara duly struck out swinging to end the innings.

Kyuko pitched Tigers seventh and retired the batters in order. In the process he broke Iwase's record for the number of scoreless innings pitched in relief by a rookie. Swallows seventh was also quiet - the game seemed to be tailing off to its inevitable conclusion. Matsuoka pitched the Tigers eighth and struck out Arai. Then Murton banged a two base hit to left. Sekimoto flew out to centre. Next was HIyama who hit right to set up runners on first and third. The final batter was Kanoh who grounded out to short. Tigers by this stage had outhit Swallows but where it counted had not hit. Nishimura pitched Swallows eighth and retired the batters in order quite comfortably. Tigers ninth was pitched by Matsui. Lim had been warming up but with a non save situation Ogawa decided not to use his closer. Matsui got Shibata (pinch hitter) to ground out to short for the first out. One imagines that Shibata is used because there is no one else. Then Hirano grounded out to first and finally Morita (pinch hitter) flew out to centre. Swallows victory.

Tigers lost their first series to the Swallows and their long dominant run came to end. They did not play well enough and looked a lesser team. Realistically, their chances of a pennant are now very small, the gap between the teams is six games and Tigers need to win the third game of the series to avoid being swept. Once again fielding was not up to standard and neither were catching or pitching. It was a well executed victory by the Swallows but Tigers should have done better.