May 7th Kubo v Ishikawa - Still no win

Sometimes a pitcher shows how good he is by getting into a mess and then getting out of it with minimal damage. This was what happend to Kubo in his latest start. His first innings was truely terrible but his later pitching excellent. The problem for him is that he has yet to get support from the Tigers batters to any great extent. Ishikawa was vulnerable (particularly in the early stages) last night but the batters failed to show application or patience. Like Gonzalez of the Giants too much was wasted on ill considered swings and even though the weather was terrible more application should have been shown. Mayumi started Fujimoto again but he was his usual anonymous self. With Hirano finding ways to get on base and making things happen Fujimoto should not be in the side. Mayumi is still learning but it seems only slowly. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Andoh (Right)
7. Fujimoto (Second)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Andoh was replaced by Sakurai before the game started

Swallows
1. Takeuchi (Left)
2. Miyamoto (Short)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Guiel (Right)
6. Hatakeyama (Third)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Hiroyasu Tanaka (Second)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

Weather conditions were very poor and this affected the game to a large degree. Neither pitcher had perfect control but Ishikawa had more in the initial stages. His first innings saw Sekimoto hit but then neither Kanemoto or Toritani made anything of it. Kubo's first innings was all over the place. Terrible control and placement and what is amazing is that he escaped with so little damage. He started with a two base hit to Takeuchi (five of the six Swallows hits would be two base hits). Takeuchi was bunted to third by Miyamoto and then Kubo dead balled Aoki. Next was D'Antona who walked to load the bases with one out. Then Kubo dead balled Guiel - walk in run 1-0 Swallows. Here Kubo woke up and got Hatakeyama to fly out to right but not far enough for the run. Then Aikawa flew out in foul ground and the innings was over - remarkable pitching given the situation and the Swallows had failed to exploit a very nice situation. Ishikawa though would have trouble holding this slender lead. With one out he faced Sakurai who hammered his third pitch, a shuuto, into the stand for a solo home run 1-1 scores tied. Fujimoto hit but Kanoh grounded into a double play and the innings was over. The Swallows second saw Tanaka lead off with a hit but even though he made second the other batters could not support him and the innings was scoreless. Tigers third saw Ishikawa dead ball Kubo - a cut ball that was caught by the wind. No one did anything else and Kubo remained fixed on first. Kubo wasn't affected by the dead ball and retired the batters in order in Swallows third.

The whole fourth was entirely quiet - no one getting on base and with one strike out. This was Aikawa looking by Kubo. The fifth followed the same pattern - no batter reaching the bases and most outs being ground outs. In Tigers sixth Akahoshi hit a two base along the line (rather lucky) and made third on Sekimoto's ground out. Now was the opportunity for Toritani to hit a sacrifice fly but he grounded out to short and the chance was wasted. Kanemoto also grounded out and the innings was over. Aoki struck out at the beginning of Swallows sixth and then D'Antona had a lucky two base hit along the line. Guiel was next and he also had a two base hit driving D'Antona in 2-1 Swallows runner on second. Hatakeyama struck out but then Kubo walked Aikawa and Tanaka to load the bases. This did have the advantage of bringing up Ishikawa who duly grounded out to end the innings. Maybe here a pinch hitter would have been a better option?

However, Ishikawa justified Takada's faith in him by retiring the Tigers batters in order in their seventh. Kubo returned for the Swallows seventh and one thought that once again Mayumi was asking too much of him. He needs to be more aware of his pitchers limitations. Takeuchi had his second two base lead off hit of the night and a ground out by Miyamoto took him to third. Mayumi saw the error of his ways and decided to replace him with Egusa. Kubo had apart from the first innings pitched really well in diffcult conditions. He had shown great character and it is to be hoped that the batting coaches give the batters a roasting for their failure to support him. Egusa was superb getting the next two outs and ensuring that Takeuchi remained on third - no score. Ishikawa started the Tigers eighth but began to run into trouble. With one out he gave up a hit to Asai (pinch hitter). He followed this with a walk to Akahoshi setting up runners on first and second. Exit Ishikawa, obviously tired, but having pitched well. Enter Kida to get the next two outs. These were Sekimoto grounding out but taking the runners round to second and third and finally Toritani who grounded out to second. Watanabe started Swallows eighth with a two base hit to Guiel. Fukuchi pinch ran for him and made third on Kawashima's (replacement short) bunt but got no further as Watanabe retired the remaining batters. Lim took Tigers ninth but gave up a two out hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter). The next batter was also a pinch hitter Katsuragi but he could only fly out to short ending the game. Swallows victory

After the game Mayumi was sanguine holding the weather as much responsible for the loss as the poor Tigers batting. Certainly they should have done more but then so should the Swallows who failed to take advantage of their chances. Still they picked up the win which is what matters. Sakurai once again made a good case for his continued role at right field though he will have competition from Lin who is back on form. It is looking less and less likely that Mench will return to the top team even as a DH (for the Inter-League the DH is expected to be Imaoka). Kubo picked up the loss but had pitched mostly well with very little support. It is time for Tigers batters to focus more on supporting their new pitchers instead of adopting a lazy and careless attitude.