Exhibtion Game - Tigers take on Japan

As part of Samurai Japan's warm up for the WBC they took on Tigers at Kyocera Dome. This turned out to be quite an attritional struggle but gave us a chance to see the new look Tigers. Messenger started for Tigers and looked rusty - one expected to see him paired with Fujii as per last season but instead he was teamed with Komiyama who had a good game. The teams were:

Samurai Japan
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Toritani (Second)
3. Uchikawa (DH)
4. Abe (Catcher)
5. Nakata (First)
6. Chono (Centre)
7. Itoi (Right)
8. Kakunaka (Left)
9. Matsuda (Third)

Starting pitcher was Utsumi

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Short)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Nishioka (Second)
4. Ryota Arai (First)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Murton (DH)
7. Conrad (Third)
8. Komiyama (Catcher)
9. Itoh (Left)

Starting pitcher was Messenger

Messenger was still shaking the cobwebs off and it showed. Komiyama tried to keep him in the bottom and outside of the zone but Messenger struggled with these areas. Still he was able to throw some nice stuff and kept Japan off base in the first. Utsumi looked sharper and also did well - fooling Yamato nicely with a strike out looking. The first hit of the game went to Itoi who was able to punch the ball to right. He stole second with Komiyama being unable to get the throw away in time - his only slip up in a fine night for him. However, Nakata went for the big hit but fell to a fine catch at the wall to Itoh. Tigers got their first hit in the bottom of the second Ryota hitting right as well. This was Ryota's only hit of the game and to be honest he still looked out of his depth at four. Fukudome struck out and then Murton hit into a double play to end the innings. Messenger started Japan's third by getting Kakunaka to ground out but then Matsuda hit a double into the corner. This looked threatening but Matsuda tried to steal third and a good throw from an alert Komiyama saw him tagged out by Conrad. Sakamoto walked but Toritani struck out and Japan were scoreless. Conrad led off the top with a walk - he seemed to be less concerned with swinging at everything than Brazell was. He was bunted to second by Komiyama. Now I know that Wada wants to win but this is an exhibition game for gods sake! The bunt was successful but neither Itoh nor Uemoto could do anything and the innings was scoreless.

The fourth saw the first switch of pitchers with Shiranita taking over from Messenger. His practice games hadn't been inspiring but he was sharp here and handled the innings well retiring the batters in order. Wakui took over for Japan and looked shaky and wayward. Yamato grounded out but Nishioka hit a lovely double between centre and left. Ryota was totally bamboozled by Wakui and struck out. Fukudome singled to third and Nishioka took third with a slow throw from Matsuda. Murton, though, grounded out to end the chance. With two out in the fifth Japan's Kakunaka hit a triple - it went high and far and was just above Fukudome's glove as he jumped to take right by the wall. Komiyama kept things cool and Sakamoto was induced to ground out. Tigers defence had been impressive so far. Wakui continued to be wayward though - he walked Conrad who was once again bunted to second by Komiyama. This time Itoh punched the ball into centre and Conrad raced home, the throw from Chono being rather wayward 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Itoh allowed himself to be picked off at first - a nice piece of work by Japan even though Itoh thought it was not the case. Finally Uemoto struck out but Tigers had a slender lead. They defended well with Kawasaki taking over and surprising everyone with some fine pitching getting Sakamoto to fly out. As Itoh came in too take Sakamoto's high fly he collided with Uemoto who was also going for the ball. Uemoto had to be stretchered off. Itoh held onto the ball but he was replaced as well. Saka was brought on to field short and Shunsuke took over at left. Kawasaki kept cool and struck out Toritani and Uchikawa. Yamato led off Tigers sixth with a bounce single to short. He stole second but both Nishioka and Ryota flew out. This brought a pitching change with Morifuku coming on to induce the final fly out from Fukudome.

The seventh saw wholesale changes to the lineups. For Tigers Saka moved to second, Shibata took over at right and Nohara went to third. Komiyama would stay in for the innings but be pinch hit for and replaced by Hidaka in Tigers seventh. Once again Kawasaki was impressive dealing effectively with Japan's clean up. Japan also shuffled their lineup with Itoi moving to centre, Nakata taking left and Kakunaka moving to right. Inaba took over at first and Aikawa replaced Abe as catcher. The pitcher for Tigers seventh was Settsu and he handled the innings well striking out Murton and Hidaka. Tigers went with Kazuo Itoh for the final innings. Japan couldn't do anything to change the stranglehold that Tigers had on the game - all three batters flew out. Imamura pitched Tigers eighth and was poor. Saka flew out but Yamato walked and then stole second for the second time. Shibata also walked and things looked threatening for Japan. However, Ryota saved their bacon striking out and then Shunsuke flew out - why anyone considers him a No. 5 escapes me but he is often inserted into that position despite a complete lack of evidence that his skills match the position. It just remained for Tigers to save the game and this they did comfortably retiring Japan 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game. Tigers victory.

An interesting exhibition game and one which suggests that Japan are going to struggle to retain their WBC crown this time. They had lacked spark and had been closed down very successfully by Tigers. Tigers can be pleased with the tight victory - the pitching was much sharper and Komiyama shone as catcher. He surely must be cementing his place as Tigers first choice catcher for the season. His handling of a shaky Messenger was particularly impressive. Tomorrow Tigers will play Cuba and one hopes to see if Fujii will start at catcher and how he will perform.