June 21st Iwata v Sweeney - Sweeney in control

This game saw the rematch of Iwata and Sweeney. Whilst Iwata had been a trifle unlucky in the last game he was outclassed this outing. In fact all the Nippon Ham pitching was tight and controlled and gave the Tigers no chance to develop anything. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Fighters
1. Konta (Centre)
2. Takaguchi (Short)
3. Tanaka (Second)
4. Inaba (Right)
5. Takahashi (First)
6. Sledge (Left)
7. Koyano (Third)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Sweeney (Pitcher)

Iwata started by walking Konta. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a first ground out but was then stranded there as Inaba grounded out to end the innings. Sweeney started out by striking out Akahoshi and then proceeded to get Sekimoto and Arai to fly out and ground out respectively. The end of the first innings and no score to either side. The Fighters second proved to quiet but the Tigers second was probably the most dangerous innings for Sweeney. Kanemoto hit and then Lin hit. Runners on first and second with no outs. Toritani flew out to left which brought up Noguchi. He struck out swinging as Kanemoto decided to steal third. He was tagged out and the innings was over - a nice try. In Fighters third Iwata gave up a hit to Sweeny and then dead balled Takaguchi but nothing came of these incidents and the score remained untroubled. Leading off for the Tigers Fujimoto hit - he was bunted to second by Iwata (OK) but then bunted to third by Akahoshi. Maybe Okada should do something about the number of bunts, there was no guarantee that Sekimoto would hit and so it proved - he flew out to centre and still no score.

The Fighters fourth changed all that. Firstly Iwata walked Inaba. He would generate three walks and a dead ball in contrast to the Fighters who would generate non. Then Takahashi hit to put runners on first and second. Sledge was next and he had a two base to right driving in a run 1-0 Fighters no outs runners on second and third. Koyano struck out and Tsuruoka was walked to get at Sweeney. He grounded out to second but this allowed the runner on third home 2-0 Fighters. The final batter Konta grounded out to end the innings. Tigers response didn't happen - Sweeney retired the side in order. In the Fighters fifth Tanaka hit but was caught up in an innings ending double play. In the bottom Noguchi hit but didn't get anywhere as Sweeney kept things under control. The Fighters sixth was pitched by Egusa - Iwata having been retired. He had given up two runs but hadn't really been in control and it had cost him in the fourth. Egusa got the first out but then gave up a hit to Sledge. Koyano bunted him to second but then the next batter, Tsuruoka struck out swinging to end the innings. The Tigers sixth was Sweeney's last innings and he retired the batters in order. He had thrown 86 pitches and given up only four hits and no walks. A very fine piece of work which had put his side on the road to victory.

Okada went with Kubota for the seventh - he obviously considered the match winable. Kubota started well, Tsuboi (pinch hitter) grounded out and then Konta struck out - two outs. He then ran into trouble. Takaguchi hit followed Tanaka. Runners on first and second which became runners on second and third when Kubota unleashed a wild pitch. He then walked Inaba to load the bases - from in control Kubota had generated his own mess. Next batter was Inada (replacement third) who hit to right driving in two runs 4-0 Fighters runners on first and third. Kubota though struck out Sledge to end the innings. Up until then the game was still finely balanced but after the Fighters seventh Tigers chances of victory were gone.

The Tigers seventh was pitched by Miyanishi who was in control and got his three outs very quickly. Kanemoto flew out, Lin grounded out and Toritani also grounded out. Watanabe pitched the Fighters eighth and retired the side in order. In fact after the seventh the Fighters would not have a hit. Takeda pitched the Tigers eighth and once again the batters all fell in order. Likewise for the Fighters ninth - Hashimoto was the successful pitcher. The Tigers ninth saw Michael take the mound. He immediatley gave up a hit to Akahoshi but then Sekimoto grounded into a double play. The final batter was Arai who flew out and the game was over. Fighters victory.

Tigers are still in with a chance of the Inter-league title but the defeat made it more difficult. Fighters, Giants and Hawks are also in with a chance as well. Good pitching had kept the Tigers in check. Tigers pitching had not been so good - Iwata wasn't tight enough and Kubota had generated his own problems. The Fighters had won the mental battle on the night and this had enabled them to claim a well-deserved victory.