July 9th Nohmi v Tajima - Tigers take a holiday

Flying down to Okinawa is an interesting variation on taking baseball to the bumpkins which is what Tigers and Dragons did. Tigers got the home team status this time and seemed to enjoy their short trip to the islands. The game was strange in that it started an hour later than normal games - maybe heat had something to do with this or maybe it was just island time. Arai certainly enjoyed the experience though driving in four runs and Dragons struggled. One hopes this state of affairs will continue. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Dragons  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2  9 1
Tigers   3 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 X 6 12 1

Starting Lineups

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

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Takahiro Arai (First)
6. Imanari (Right)
7. Saka (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

It is probably true to say that the crowd of 15,000 was almost all Tigers fans making the Osaka outfit feel out home. Who in Okinawa likes the Dragons? Certainly Nohmi got off to a blinding start retiring the top of the Dragons order very efficiently. Tajima got his first out very effectively as well - Nishioka grounding out but then things went quite wrong. Yamato hit over the infield to left and then stole second. Toritani singled left but only put runners on first and third. Murton singled left again - Tajima was drifting bringing in the first run 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Next was Arai who got hold of his first pitch - a low straight and drove it into the gap between right and centre. While the fielders sorted themselves out both runners made home 3-0 Tigers, runner on second. Imanari hit to centre to put runners on the corners again but for some reason Tigers running today was conservative and Arai didn't try for home. Still the lead was already very useful. Saka struck out for the second out and then Fujii who is having a barren period when it comes to driving in runs grounded out to end the innings. Wada grounded out to start Dragons second but then Hirata walked. Morino struck out as he so often does in these situations and Ibata was induced to ground out to short and end the innings. Tigers second seemed to promise more fireworks. Nohmi was out but Nishioka doubled to right. Yamato grounded out this time taking Nishioka to third but Toritani couldn't convert and also grounded out to end the innings. Two batters down in Dragons third and then Ohshima singled right. Araki though flew out to left. Dragons were unable to string things together against some fine pitching from Nohmi. Tigers third saw no one get on base with Arai miscuing and grounding out to Tajima for the second out. Imanari just grounded out to second and the innings was over.

The Dragons' troubles continued in the fourth. They couldn't get runners on. Clark struck out looking and then Wada grounded out. Then their luck changed. Nohmi's first pitch to Hirata was a high straight which was hammered into the back screen for a solo home run 3-1 Tigers. Morino then struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers fourth was the bottom of the order and this didn't do anything of note except get out. No score resulted. With hope in his heart, Ibata led off the Dragons fifth with a single. Tanishige struck out swinging and Takagi sent Yamasaki to the plate in place of Tajima in a desperate attempt to generate more runs. Yamasaki swung and connected but broke his bat; the ball flying over the infield for a single. However, it only put runners on first and second not first and third. Nohmi struck Ohshima out and then got Araki to ground out back to him and end the innings. Okada took over for the Tigers fifth and retired the batters in order. Tigers were still in a comfortable situation and Nohmi was weathering the Dragons assaults well. Dragons sixth followed the pattern of the fourth with the first two batters falling. Then Hirata singled but Donue (replacement third) flew out to left ending the chance. Okada ran into trouble in Tigers sixth. Murton led off with a single to right. Arai was up again and hit left the ball barely clearing the fence and staying inside the foul pole for a two run home run 5-1 Tigers. Imanari walked and was pinch run for by Shunsuke. The first out followed after this with Saka grounding out to short. Shunsuke was able to take second safely. This was the end of Okada who was replaced by Suzuki. He got Fujii to fly out to centre and Shunsuke touched up and took third. Nohmi walked but Nishioka grounded out to end the innings.

Dragons seventh and this time Nohmi couldn't hold them out. Ibata led the innings off with a single but Tanishige flew out. Fujii walked to set up runners on first and second and then Ohshima singled to centre to load the bases. Dragons running here was unadventurous and let Nohmi off the hook slightly. Araki hit to second and Nishioka went for the double play which didn't come off with only the force out succeeding. Of course another run was scored 5-2 Tigers, runners on first and third. Clark was next and he struck out. Tigers were still comfortable. Takahashi took over for Tigers seventh and struck out Yamato. Next was Toritani who swung at a very wild pitch striking out. Toritani though went for first and in the confusion was able to make it. Murton doubled right to set up runners on second and third. Arai couldn't add to his score striking out swinging as did Shunsuke which ended the innings. Takahashi had actually struck out four batters in the innings. Andoh took over for Dragons eighth, Nohmi obviously being too tired to continue and started with Wada grounding out. Hirata did the same but then a poor call from Fujii saw Donue triple - he does have the knack of being a nuisance to Tigers. Ibata couldn't do anything and struck out swinging and the innings was over. The starting pitcher for Tigers eighth was Kobayashi. He faced Saka who doubled to centre. Fujii bunted him to third - with a comfortable lead you do expect a bit more imagination. Kobayashi exited to be replaced by Oguma. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) flew out in foul ground and Nishioka then singled left bringing in the runner 6-2 Tigers, runner on first. Yamato singled left to set up runners on first and third but Toritani didn't do anything and flew out to right to end the innings. Wada obviously thought he could risk Boyer who had had a knife confiscated from his luggage at Naha airport earlier. He got Tanishige and Matsui (pinch hitter) to ground out but Ohshima singled to centre. OHshima stole second but it was all a little too late and the next batter Araki hit a grounder to short to end the game. Tigers victory.

A good victory based on some nice batting by Arai who picked up the Orion beer hero of the game award. Orion Southern Star is a very nice beer as well. Dragons do finally seem to be fading and if Tigers concentrate and work hard every game this is a team they can take a lot of victories off. However, they do have to play like this - focused and defensively aware and being prepared to take their chances.