This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
The second game started well with Tigers taking the lead 1-0 in the first courtesy of the bat of Toritani. Iwata then held the lead very nicely until the seventh - there was some fantastic pitching there and he was ably helped by Umeno. However, in the seventh Iwata threw an outside straight which was hit over the fence by a rather lucky Ibata. He just managed to get the swing in the right place. These things happen and Iwata finished the innings 1-1. Here things get incomprehensible. Wada brought on a pinch hitter for Iwata - fair enough it was about time to switch pitchers but then he also replaced Umeno. This was his usual total stupidity - Umeno had been excellent and his replacement the lamentable Tsuruoka is anything but. Tsuruoka immediately set about losing the game and the pitchers under his direction gave up runs in the eighth and ninth to give the Giants a 3-1 victory. Even Okada questioned the rationale of replacing Umeno in the Daily Sports. Andoh in particular failed to function with Tsuruoka and as this isn't the first time this has happened one must stare in wonder at the situation where Wada puts his team into losing positions with a malfunctioning battery. At the moment Wada will be gone if Tigers fail to qualify for the Climax series but one gets the impression that the knives are out and that he will have difficulty retaining his place even if they reach the Climax series.