September 24th Iwata v Tohno - Giants defeated

Giants ran Tigers close on this game but eventually folded and Tigers ran out comfortable winners. They had a good day with the bat with Shibata also managing to drive in some runs for a change. Having been warned that his place wasn't guaranteed, Shibata was able to put in a better performance all round which was something that had been lacking. Now he just needs to keep it up. Shimoyanagi will leave Tigers at the end of the season - he does want to continue pitching but Tigers have made it clear that there is no place for him in their organisation. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 1
Tigers  0 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 X 9 14 0

Starting lineups

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

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

Iwata would start well but would not pitch enough to get the win. He would be pulled in the fifth as he began to meltdown - a rare bit of realism from Mayumi. He did, though, start well retiring the Giants in order in the first. In Tigers first Tohno walked Toritani with two out but then Toritani was thrown out trying to steal second and Arai never got a chance to complete his at bat. Abe led off Giants second hitting over Kanemoto for a two base. Ramirez hit to right but not far enough for the slow Abe to make home - still Giants had runners on first and third with no outs. They then blew the chance. Fields struck out swinging. Then Yano hit to short and Abe went for home. He was tagged out leaving the Giants with runners on first and third. Finally, Kamei struck out swinging to end the innings. If Iwata had shown himself to be shaky then Tohno exhibted the same characteristics. Arai led the innings off and hit over Ramirez who once again struggled to take the ball. This turned into a three base hit and the next batter Brazell made sure of the run hitting deep enough into centre for Arai to make home 1-0 Tigers. Murton was next and hit deep and just inside the foul pole for a solo home run 2-0 Tigers. Tohno fell apart - his confidence against Tigers is always fragile and this time it dissapated rapidly. Kanemoto flew out to right but Fujii hit to centre. Then Iwata also hit to centre. Hirano hit to left to load the bases, Tigers not trusting Fujii's speed or rather the lack of it. Next was Shibata who no doubt was thinking of the sacrifice fly but he put the ball nicely where there were no fielders. This turned into a bases clearing triple 5-0 Tigers, runner on third. The next batter was Toritani but he grounded out and the innings was over. Still Tigers were in a comanding position. Iwata then began to work to lose this. Kajimae (pinch hitting for Tohno) singled to left to lead off the Giants third. Sakamoto flew out but Terauchi hit a two base to left setting up runners on second and third. Chono grounded out to second for the sacrifice and the first Giants run 5-1 Tigers, runner on third. Then Abe hit to centre bringing in the runner on third 5-2 Tigers, runner on first. Finally, Ramirez grounded out to Iwata to end the innings. As Tohno had been pinch hit for Giants needed a new pitcher and this proved to be Kaneto. He struck out Arai but gave up a left hit to Brazell. Murton flew out to right and Kanemoto walked to set up runners on first and second. Of course, scoring chances had pretty much disappeared with the next batter Fujii who grounded out to third to end the innings.

Iwata returned for Giants fourth and why not - he still had a three run lead and shouldn't have had much trouble with the batters. It was not to be. Fields hit to left and then Yano hit to short. This put runners on first and second with no outs and at this point Iwata panicked. To be honest Fujii wasn't much help here and in fact was a hinderance. Kamei flew out to centre and Shibata was a bit slow with his throw allowing Fields to take third. Then Tani (pinch hitter) hit a sacrifice fly to centre 5-3 Tigers, runner on first. Sakamoto hit left which put runners on first and third again and at this point Mayumi pulled Iwata. His replacement was Watanabe who faced Terauchi. Hara signalled the steal and Fujii on taking the ball tried to stop this by throwing to second. His throw was abysmal and Toritani couldn't take meaning that Sakamoto was safe. To add insult to injury Fields used the opportunity to steal home 5-4 Tigers, runner on second. Fujii had screwed up significantly and hadn't really thought things through. Basically with two outs Tigers didn't need to make any risky moves. Finally, Watanabe struck out Terauchi with a superb ball but the Giants shouldn't have been so close. Ono took over for Tigers fourth and faced Watanabe who led off the innings by strking out. The next batter was Hirano who hit to centre. Shibata grounded out to first which took Hirano to second and then Toritani hit to Terauchi and beat the throw to first with Hirano taking third. Tigers were in a good position but Arai grounded out to first to end the innings. Giants fifth saw both Chono and Abe ground out to second before Ramirez walked. This didn't help the Giants as Fields grounded out to short and the innings was over. Tigers fifth followed a similar pattern though this time Brazell led off with a single. The next three batters failed to move him around and the innings ended with him still on first. Watanabe started Giants sixth by strking out Yano looking with a particularly fine pitch. He was then replaced by Fujihara, Tigers management not wanting to overpitch him. Fujihara did well retiring the next two batters and allowing no one on base. Ono returned for Tigers sixth and got Lin (pinch hitter) to fly out to centre. Then Hirano hit to right just beating the dive of Fields at first. Shibata also hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and second. This would have been a good time to replace Ono but Hara left him in, a big mistake. Toritani worked a walk to load the bases. Arai was next and he hit nicely into left centre beating Chono for a two base hit which also brough in two runners 7-4 Tigers, runners on second and third. Next was Brazell who hit to right centre, clearing the infield and bringing home the runners 9-4 Tigers, runner on second. Finally, Hara acted and replaced Ono, rather shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted. His replacement was Micheal who got Murton to fly out to right and Kanemoto to ground out to second. Yamato (pinch running for Brazell) remained rooted to second but Tigers were now totally in control.

For Giants seventh Mayumi chose Fukuhara who got Sakamoto to ground out to third (Yamato, Arai having switched to first) and Terauchi to line out, also to third. He then faced Chono and with the count at 2-1 Fujii called for a high pitch. Fukuhara looked dubious but OK then delivered the pitch which Chono hit into centre. Abe walked on a full count to set up runners on first and second but Fukuhara got Ramirez to ground out to short and end the innings. Tigers seventh was simply quiet - all three batters grounded out. Tsutsui pitched Giants eighth and was immediately in trouble giving up a two base hit to Fields. Tsutsui doesn't quite get on with Fujii yet and who can blame him. Still, Yano flew out to the catcher but then Suzuki (pinch hitter) hit to centre. This set up runners on first and third with only one out - a distinctly dangerous situation. Sanematsu (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and then Sakamoto grounded out to short. Once again Giants had blown a favourable situation. Ochi pitched Tigers eighth and issued a lead off walk to Shibata. However, there were to be no more runs and even though Shibata made second on Arai's third ground out he got no further and the innings petered out. Nishimura pitched Giants eighth and did well retiring the batters in order. Tigers victory.

Tigers batters had done the job on home ground and could be happy with their peformance. Giants could rue their lost chances but significantly Hara's mistake in keeping Ono on too long in Tigers sixth. Fujii was just as mediocre as ever and failed to cover himself with glory. Shibata did much better but needs to continue this performance to show that it wasn't just a flash in the pan. A very nice victory over the hated Giants.