October 1st Nohmi v Nishikawa - Nohmi is injured

Tigers have announced that they are looking into the possible signing of Kenichi Nakata who has now reached free agency. His best season was back in 1007 and since then he hasn't been able to pitch a full season. There is a question mark about his ability to go a full season and as he is being considered for a starter role one does have questions. Still Tigers is rapidly turning into a home for distressed or fading players where they can play out their remaining days in peace. Talking about players Tigers (among others but unfortunately not including Fujii or Hidaka) are going to release Lin Wei Tsu at the end of this season. Here we have to feel a bit sad - Lin had potential which was never really realised. He did well in 2007 but an injury prevented him from being used and even a flurry in 2010 showed what could be done Tigers managers never really had a clue how to use him effectively. It is a sad end to a potentially good career. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Dragons
1. Fujii (Left)
2. Wada (Centre)
3. Yamasaki (Second)
4. Hirata (Right)
5. Takahashi (Third)
6. Fukuda (First)
7. Naomichi Donue (Short)
8. Matsui (Catcher)
9. Nishikawa (Pitcher)

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

The return of Fujii to catching duties was the failure it was always going to be but Tigers batters having to show some spirit actually went about scoring runs for a change. The switch of Toritani back to third was much more welcome as the experiment of using him at fourth had become an extreme embarrassment. Thus the use of the fat one had no real impact except to make the Dragons score more respectable. Dragons first innings was quiet - the changed lineup didn't impress at first. Nishioka started nicely for Tigers with a grubber single to second. Shock, horror, Shunsuke bunted him to second. Toritani struck out looking and then Murton lined out to short. Takahashi singled to centre in Dragons second with one out as Fujii's influence began to make itself felt. Then Fukuda singled to put runners on first and second. Naomichi Donue struck out and so did Matsui. So far Tigers had escaped damage. They even managed to score in their second. Fukudome led the innings off with a single to right. Next Arai singled to centre. Fukudome tried to take third but was tagged out as he slid in. Arai in the meantime was able to advance to second. Ryota grounded out taking Arai to third with Fujii next. He worked a full count but then on the seventh pitch the ball was wild and bounced past Matsui. Of course Fujii walked but Arai was also able to use the opportunity to reach home 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. However, the final batter was Nohmi who struck out. Dragons found it remarkably easy to bounce back from this setback. Things started with the lead off batter for their third Nishikawa who singled to centre. Fujii walked as Dragons took full advantage of Fujii's calling incompetence. Ohshima (replacement centre) singled to first, Arai only being able to stop the ball to load the bases. Morino (replacement second) flew out with no run being scored but then Hirata singled left bringing in two runners 2-1 Dragons. Takahashi singled left to bring in another run 3-1 Dragons, runners on first and second. Fukuda fell to a fine diving catch by Fukudome but Hirata was still able to tag up and take third. Finally, Naomichi Donue flew out to Arai in foul ground. It had been a poor showing by Tigers catcher. Coming off the field it was discovered that Nohmi had cut his finger and he would be replaced for Dragons fourth. There was still Tigers third to go and if Nohmi had struggled so did Nishikawa. He had some help from his field though - the lead off batter Nishioka hit to second where Morino fumbled allowing Nishioka to reach first. Shunsuke laid down the second stupid bunt of the night which took Nishioka to second. Then Toritani didn't strike out but hammered the ball into the right stand for a two run home run 3-3 scores tied. If Shunsuke had walked instead of bunting it would have been a higher score. Murton and Fukudome were unable to do anything though and the innings ended quietly.

Boyer took over and instead of throwing just heat used a nice variety of junk mixing his pitches up effectively and creating a quiet Dragons fourth with no one getting on base. Nishikawa started Tigers fourth by walking Arai. Then he walked Ryota - runners on first and second. Mutoh took over the pitching at this point. Fujii stupid bunted the runners to second and third. Next was Imanari (pinch hitter) who hit a fly to right. Hirata had to dive to take it and Arai tagged up and made home 4-3 Tigers, runner on third. Nishioka singled left and Ryota was home 5-3 Tigers, runner on first. Nishioka stole second but Shunsuke was only able to fly out ending the innings. Kubo pitched Dragons fifth and got the first two outs before giving up a single to the irrepressible Hirata. This time though Takahashi hit a deep fly which just died near the fence and gave Shunsuke a chance to practice his outfield catching. He held onto the ball for the final out. Murton singled with one out in Tigers fifth but stayed on first as no one else got on base. Dragons sixth saw Matsui single with two outs. Takehiro Donue (pinch hitter) grounded out to end the innings. Ohguma pitched Tigers sixth and started poorly dead balling Ryota the lead off batter. He was pinch run for by Saka who also replaced him at first. Fujii bunted Saka to second - it was bunt lover's heaven out there. Then Hiyama (pinch hitter) doubled into right centre bringing in a very popular run 6-3 Tigers, runner on second and Hiyama's 111th pinch hit RBI. Hiyama was pinch run for Uemoto who took third on Nishioka's single to centre. Next was Shunsuke and he bunted - this turned out to be a successful squeeze - the Dragons went for the out at first and Uemoto was home 7-3 Tigers, runner on second. Finally Toritani grounded out. Tigers were in command.

Fujii had worked reasonably well with the relief and this continued in Dragons seventh. Fujii hit to third and Ryota let go a nice running throw for the first out. Ohshima singled left but Morikoshi (replacement second) and Hirata both struck out swinging. No joy for the Dragons. Tigers seventh was also a struggle. Kawasaki pitched the innings and walked Fukudome with one out. He was pinch run for by Shibata who stole second and then Kawasaki walked Arai. Saka hit to left bringing in another run 8-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. Fujii hit into centre but fell to a diving catch by Ohshima. Morita (pinch hitter) ended the innings by flying out. Dragons eighth was pitched by Andoh who started poorly giving up a lead off single to Takahashi. Takahashi stayed on first though as the next three batters tumbled in order. Yachi took over for Tigers eighth and retired the batters in order; all of them flying out. Fukuhara for Dragons ninth and Tigers holding onto a comfortable lead. Tanishige (pinch hitter) flew out but then Fujii hit into the right stand for solo home run 8-4 Tigers. Ohshima grounded out and then the final batter Itoh (pinch hitter) flew out to a sliding catch by Shibata to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers desperately needed a victory and finally got one in front of their home crowd. This victory took them to 70 wins for the season and also gave them the season's series against the Dragons 12-11-1. Hiyama once again shone and Fujii was once again useless. His value as a catcher at the moment is zero and he was lucky that Tigers batters had woken up and that Dragons weren't trying to steal. That would have further exposed his inadequacies. The gap between Tigers and Carp increased to 3.5 games and it is to Hiroshima that Tigers travel for their next game.