May 4th Iwata v Utsumi - Buying a little time

Wada wasn't quite prepared for the storm of criticism which hit him for putting Kanemoto in at fourth and appeared to backtrack slightly saying that it wasn't permanent. He hurriedly shuffled his batting lineup yet again moving Arai up to five but keeping Kanemoto at four. Again Kanemoto was worthless but of course Arai hit. Note he hit against the Dragons - the vital run until Fujikawa blew it and then hitting the winning run today. The shuffled lineup still hasn't solved the hitting problem and Tigers were out hit by the Giants. Fujii called the whole game and made a real mess of the endgame which for once Tigers had a lot of luck in getting out of. The Daily Sports has a real piece of fantasy this morning about how wonderful Fujii had been welcomed back. It reminded one of Kim Jong Il's nine holes in one when he was still in charge of North Korea. Still this game the music was restored for his at bats. So Wada has bought himself a little time but really needs Kanemoto to perform at a higher level than he has been doing with respect to RBIs to demonstrate that Wada is not a moron out of touch with reality and living in the past. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 0
Tigers  1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 2  8 0

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Terauchi (Second)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Takahashi (Right)
6. Tani (Left)
7. Bowker (First)
8. Katoh (Catcher)
9. Utsumi (Pitcher)

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

Iwata needed to prove himself and Tigers really needed to save themselves from the mess they had made of the past two series. Thus they probably would have won with Okazaki starting as catcher but thankfully not. Still the start was not auspicious and with one out Terauchi singled. Sakamoto though managed to hit into a double play and that would sum up the Giants luck all through the day. They couldn't quite convert the chances which came their way. Tigers almost managed to mess up a dream start. Toritani hit a two base to right. He was bunted to third by Hirano and it was obvious that this wasn't going to be a big innings. Murton hit to short and grounded out but did bring Toritani home 1-0 Tigers. Kanemoto walked - his only contribution to the game but Arai struck out swinging. Not inspiring but given how much problem Tigers have been having scoring we'll take anything. Fujii had by now settled into his pattern of wasting pitches but was ably abetted by Iwata who doesn't like to throw that many strikes. Between them they kept the Giants quiet in the second. Tigers second saw two outs and then Fujii celebrating his return hit a two base to left centre. Iwata was next and flew out to short. The bottom of Giants third was quiet with the batters falling in order. Tigers third started with a Toritani single. He reached second on Hirano's ground out - at least it wasn't a bunt. There he stayed with Kanemoto flying out as the final out.

Chono started Giants fourth with a hit. Terauchi struck out and then we had the stupid bunt to end all stupid bunts - Sakamoto bunted Chono to second. Two outs and what was the point? Sure Murata was next but having a batter of Sakamoto's calibre bunt with one out is really unbelievable. But never look a gift horse in the mouth. Murata hit to centre and was taken for the final out. Arai led off Tigers fourth in spectacular fashion turning the ball to left for a solo home run 2-0 Tigers. Brazell singled to centre but then Shunsuke forced out Brazell grounding out to second. Fujii lined out to first which also took Shunsuke as well. It is interesting to note that Arai has driven in 20 RBIs with 4 home runs compared to Kanemoto's 6 RBIs with one home run. Tell me how it is that Kanemoto is batting No 4 especially as Brazell also has 11 RBIs with 4 home runs? Both Arai and Brazell have also driven in runs more recently than Kanemoto. Clearly something isn't quite right here. So with Giants two down they needed to come back and they did so in the fifth. With one out Tani singled left. Then Bowker singled right to set up runners on first and second. Katoh grounded out forcing out Bowker but Tani made third safely. Kajimae (pinch hitter) hit to centre bringing in a run 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Chono grounded out to second for the final out. With Utsumi pinch hit for Yasunari Takagi took over for Tigers fifth. He gave up a single to Iwata but the top of the order did nothing and the innings was scoreless. Giants sixth was quiet with the top of their order also doing nothing. Tigers sixth saw Kanemoto ground out to first. Arai singled but was caught up in a Brazell double play to end the innings.

Giants seventh was where Fujii's weaknesses began to be exposed. Iwata was... well Iwata and needed much more careful handling. Takahashi singled right and then Tani hit to centre to set up runners on first and third. It was lucky for Tigers that Bowker was next - he drove the ball straight at Hirano who fired it to Fujii ignoring the double play. Fujii tagged the runner out and Giants had runners on first and second but importantly hadn't scored a run. Nice work by Hirano. Abe (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and then Kamei grounded out - Tigers had escaped that danger. Tigers seventh was pitched by Mathieson. With two out he gave up a single to Johjima (pinch hitter). Now one of our commentators thought that Johjima should be first and Brazell left. This has been tried and worked pretty effectively. Johjima was pinch run for by Shibata who stole second. Toritani then flew out to short to end the innings. Giants eighth was started by Enokida who did not get on with Fujii. Fujii just succeeded in making Enokida nervous. A truely inept piece of catching. It started well with Chono flying out. Then Terauchi walked. Next Sakamoto, anticipating the pitch hit left - runners on first and second. Fujii was rather sharp with Enokida with the result that Murata hit to centre to load the bases. This brought a change of pitcher with Tsutsui taking the mound. He had a fair amount of luck with Takahashi and Tani both swinging too soon and flying out. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers eighth and got everyone to ground out. Giants ninth and Bowker singled to centre. He was pinch run for by Suzuki who was bunted to second by Nakatani (replacement catcher). Nakatani made quite a meal of it but once again Fujii was inept in his calling. Still with a bunt laid down one could relax. Inzen (replacement left) flew out in foul ground. Fujikawa and Toritani consulted before informing Fujii that they were delibertely walking Chono. This accomplished Fujikawa had to get Terauchi out. It proved surprisingly difficult but in the end he struck out. Tigers victory.

One can't say that Fujii shone but he wasn't abysmal and this time the luck went Tigers way. The thing is Komiyama would have been better by far. The Kanemoto idiocy continues and really does expose Wada as a fool. He shuffled the lineup again without making any impact at all. As DD put it - it is the appearance of taking action without doing anything substantial. Still a victory is a victory.