June 3rd Shimoyanagi v Tanaka - Tigers wiped out

This game can only be viewed in a negative light (if you are a Tigers fan). Quite simply the worst performance by a Tigers side this season. Slack fielding and abysmal pitching all contributed to the wipe out. Tanaka for Rakuten was average at best but that was all he needed to be with the run support he received. The plate umpire also had a poor game and wasn't really fit to be umpiring a game of this level. Line scores

              1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers        1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0  4 11 0
Golden Eagles 3 2 1 1 1 2 0 1 X 11 14 1

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Third)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (DH)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Katsuragi (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Fujimoto (Second)

Starting pitcher was Shimoyanagi

Golden Eagles
1. Naoto Watanabe (Short)
2. Takasu (Second)
3. Rick (Left)
4. Yamasaki (DH)
5. Fernandez (First)
6. Nakashima (Right)
7. Yamashita (Third)
8. Teppei (Centre)
9. Shima (Catcher)

Starting pitcher was Tanaka

Tigers started very nicely with an Akahoshi hit. Sekimoto bunted him to second but just once I would like to see the No.2 batter do something a little different. Sekimoto would hit well and he could have probably done a bit more. Arai then hit a double 1-0 Tigers and things were going smoothly. Arai advance to third on a fielders error and this brought up Kanemoto. He struck out (Tanaka would have four strike outs 3 of which would be Yano) and the chance of a sacrifice disappeared. Lin flew out to end the innings. Shimoyanagi started as he meant to continue, poorly. Whilst other Tigers pitchers had some excuse with the vagaries of the plate umpire to contend with he was just bad. Watanabe was bunted to second and then Rick was walked as Shimoyanagi struggled to locate the strike zone. Watanabe stole third and it must also be said that like the rest of his game Yano's throwing was worthless. Next up was Yamasaki who was also walked to load the bases with one out. Then Fernandez grounded out to short. Toritani tried to turn the double play and got the second out but Fernandez was safe on first scores level 1-1. Double plays would prove difficult to get for both sides. This brought up Nakashima who was offered a nice fat pitch in the middle of the zone to hit and duly did so. It cannoned off the fence for a two base hit 3-1 Rakuten. The final batter in the innings Yamashita struck out and Rakuten were on their way. The Tigers second would see Tanaka's only walk - he did well in this respect - of Katsuragi but nothing came of this. The Golden Eagle's second would start better but rapidly go downhill (for the Tigers that is). The first two outs went easily but then Watanabe hit again. He stole second to a pathetic throw from Yano. Takasu walked and next up was Rick. He hit towards Kanemoto and Akahoshi. Kanemoto made to take the ball but then for some reason let it fly past him. It was ruled a two base hit but really was a big error by Kanemoto. This should never happen - he is paid a lot of money and a fielder of his ability and experience should never ever make such a mistake. The mistake was very costly. Both runners were home 5-1 Rakuten with Rick on second. However, Yamasaki flew out to second and the Tigers escaped.

Because Akahoshi grounded out at the start of the third Sekimoto hit. He made second on an Arai ground out and then Kanemoto was next. He took two strikes and two balls before punching the ball through centre for a timely hit 5-2 Rakuten. Tanaka would prove fairly easy to score off (though not in the Shimoyanagi class). Lin however seemed to think his role was to hit anything that was within range of his bat and this time flew out to centre. Shimoyanagi returned for the third and once again was in generous mood. He offered another high centre pitch to Nakashima who pounced on it for a solo home run 6-2 Rakuten. Yamashita grounded out but Teppei hit and once again there was a Rakuten runner on base. The final batter was Shima who grounded out to second to end the innings. This saw the end of Shimoyanagi - he had pitched three terrible innings and really not had any control or command of the strike zone. What the third also showed was an ability by Rakuten to counter every time Tigers scored and this would doom the Tigers fightback.

The fourth saw Toritani hit. He made second when Katsuragi grounded out and then watched one of Yano's strikeouts. Next up Fujimoto - he hit (and a surprising feature of the game was the number of times both teams lightweights hit) and Toritani was home 6-3 Rakuten. Akahoshi failed to convert Fujimoto though and grounded out to end the innings. Abe was brought in to pitch the Golden Eagles fourth. He has been touted as a possible starter but does need more experience. He started with a ground out and then walked Takasu (this looked more than a little unlucky). He then left a ball in the zone for Rick to hit and Takasu was home 7-3 Rakuten and once again they pulled away. After Rick's two base he walked Yamazaki (once again a strange call) but then pulled himself together and struck out the next two batters to end the innings. The Tiger's fifth involved almost everyone trying to hit Tanaka out of the ground but none of these were there. Only Kanemoto showed some sense and hit along the ground. Back to Abe in the bottom. He gave up a hit to left and then a rather lucky hit to Teppei who hit to second and just had the pace to beat a poor throw by Fujimoto. Rakuten's running to first was excellent the entire evening. Shima bunted the batters round to second and third and then Abe dead balled Watanabe to load the bases. Takasu hit to right and one runner was home 8-3 Rakuten. Abe then got Rick to hit back at him and was able to work a 1-2-3 double play with Yano. He hadn't done wonderfully well but had shown good character in dealing with threats. More experience is needed to bring his talent out and maybe some matches with him protecting a lead to help his confidence.

Tigers sixth was quiet but once again Rakuten's equivalent was busy. Taiyo was brought in and got the first two outs but then disintergrated. Nakashima hit again then Kusano (replacement tbird) had a two base. Nakashima was home 9-3 Rakuten. Next batter Teppei hit to right (another two base) 10-3 Rakuten. Finally Shima grounded out. Tigers seventh was another case of too little too late. Fujimoto hit and then Sekimoto had a two base and he hustled home 10-4 Rakuten. Arai flew out but this saw the end of Tanaka he had thrown 124 pitches and was obviously tired. It wasn't an impressive performance but was good enough to claim the victory. It was light years ahead of Shimoyanagi though. Arime was chosen for the final out and he duly got it without too much trouble as Kanemoto swung too early at a high pitch. Rakuten's seventh was surprising - no score. Taiyo returned and dead balled Takasu but for some reason had no trouble with the other Rakuten batters. Arime continued with Tigers eighth and walked Toritani. He exited to be replaced by Kawagishi who struck out Noguchi (pinch hitter and replacement catcher - Okada having decided that Yano had done enough damage). The final batter was Fujimoto who like Kanemoto the innings before swung too early and left a high fly ball for short to take and end the innings.

The final Tigers pitcher was Egusa and he continued the trend of giving away runs. He gave up a two base hit to Fernandez and then walked Nakashima - runners on first and second with no outs. Kusano grounded out to second and then Teppei did the same. In the meantime Fernandez had worked his way round to third and was home 11-4 Rakuten. Shima struck out and that was it from Rakuten. Katayama was the pitcher chosen for the Tiger's ninth. He walked Sekimoto (in an absurd example of umpiring the fourth ball was judged a strike and then the next pitch was judged a ball even though it was a strike). Arai hit but with a seven run margin it would have taken a miracle for Tigers win. The last out was Takahashi (replacement DH) who grounded out looking to end the game. Rakuten victory.

A victory built on good batting and abysmal Tigers pitching. All the pitchers had failed when needed and after the match Okada was philosophical about the defeat (he really couldn't be anything else). Good disciplined batting by Rakuten had seen them take and keep the initiative and deny it to the Tigers