May Day Vogelsong v Tateyama - First series loss

A game in which both sides batting was poor. The Swallows took advantage of their luck to win a series against the Tigers. Pitching was impressive by both sides with Tateyama having the edge. However, I didn't think he deserved his hero interview which rightly should have gone to Kawashima who was the difference between the sides. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Swallows 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 3 0
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Noguchi (Catcher)
8. Sekimoto (Third)
9. Vogelsong (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Kawashima (Third)
3. Tanaka (Second)
4. Guiel (Right)
5. Short (Miyamoto)
6. Takeuchi (First)
7. Iihara (Left)
8. Fukukawa (Catcher)
9. Takeyama (Pitcher)

What can be described as a game of walks. Tateyama gave up six despite exhibiting some good stuff. The narative is actually going to be quite boring if I go into all of these. The first significant inning was the Swallows second. This involved in order a Guiel walk, a Miyamoto sacrifice bunt, a Takeuchi walk, a Fukukawa walk, bases loaded two outs. Maybe the umpire was somehow incapacitated or maybe Vogelsong had a particularly bad innings. Anyway he managed to strike out Tateyama to end the innings without damage. In the second Toritani walked but nothing happened. In the Swallows third, Kawashima bunted. This you thought would have been out but Vogelsong who fielded the ball threw wild. Arai took the throw but was drawn off the base to do so - Kawashima was safe. Luckily the next batter Tanaka hit into a double play to end the innings.

In the Tigers third Sekimoto walked and was bunted to second. Akahoshi and Hirano both flew out though Hirano's hit almost slipped out of Iihara's grasp. However, he had used two hands and held onto it safely. The fourth was quiet but the fifth produced the first hit of the game - Noguchi of all people. Amazingly Sekimoto bunted him to second - knowing that Vogelsong was next? Vogelsong walked so Tigers had runners on first and second with two outs. Akahoshi thought flew out to end the chance. Incidently, both sides had tested each others outfields with fly balls peppered all over. So to the sixth. Aoki the leadoff walks. No worries. Next is Kawashima. He swings at a ball which takes off along the third base line. Normally, this would land foul and here is where the Swallows were lucky, it landed just inside the baseline (definitely inside) for a two base hit. Aoki of course was home 1-0 Swallows. Lucky hit by Kawashima but nothing ventured nothing gained. The next batter, Tanaka bunts Kawashima to third with only one out. Guess what should be next. Guiel hits a deep fly to right and Kawashima is home 2-0 Swallows. After this Vogelsong gives up a hit to Miyamoto and then Takeuchi hit. Runners on first and third with two outs. The Tigers pitching coach visited the mound to talk with Vogelsong who then got the final out Iihara flying out.

Takeyama walked Hirano in the sixth but then got Arai and Kanemoto. Hirano was then caught too far off base and tagged out. Abe had no problems in the Swallows seventh but in the Tigers version Takeyama walked Katsuragi and Sekimoto to set up runners on first and second with two outs. Hiyama the pinch hitter grounded out to first to end the challenge. In the eighth Watanabe had no problems retiring the team in order and in the bottom the replacement pitcher Oshimoto walked Akahoshi. Hirano though grounded into a double play and Oshimoto could relax. The final batter, Arai, struck out. The Swallows ninth was also quiet and so to the Tigers ninth and Kanemoto, He was struck out which was quite clearly shown on TV replay to be a massive error by the home plate umpire. The ball was below Kanemoto's knees and there is no way he swung. Okada argued the judgement as did Kanemoto but there was no way the mule (umpire in charge of home base) was going to admit he was wrong. To be fair I don't think that this would have affected the result but it is nice to know officialdom is actually accurate. The next two batters Katsuragi and Toritani grounded out to end the innings. Swallows victory (which pleased the tiny Swallows contingent - about 30 people!).

Tigers lost their first series at home as well. They pitched very well but were out pitched by Tateyama. He didn't pitch well last season so Swallows fans must be hoping that this isn't just a flash in the pan. No Tiger shone in this match and were not allowed to develop anything. The Swallows were marginally better but took a hard fought series and can be very proud of their performance.