May 15th Nohmi v Yuki - Nohmi's 12 strikeouts

Despite striking out 12 Nohmi still picked up a loss as Swallows pitching was also excellent. Yuki had a surprisingly accomplished debut and the Swallows relief was very good. This was a tight game which was decided really by one hit.

Mench returned and having seen his return I can't see anything different from before. I can't comment on his fielding as he wasn't tested but his batting did not exhibit any improvment from the previous stint. This being so why was he inserted ahead of Sakurai? You play the performing batter not replace him with someone who has no past history of performance. One feels that Mayumi still has to learn this point. It is likely that Sakurai would not have been able to hit of this pitching but even so he should have been the one to try. Once again I feel that Nohmi was overpitched and should have been retired after the sixth. Mayumi seems not to understand pitch counts and seems unlikely to learn. Our kantoku is not doing well at the moment. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Keizoh Kawashima (Short)
2. Noguchi (Left)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Iihara (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Hiroyasu Tanaka (Second)
9. Yuki (Pitcher)

Both pitchers would start shakily. Yuki led off with a hit to Akahoshi. Sekimoto bunted him to second and then Toritani hit to short. The throw from Kawashima was poor and Toritani was safe on first with Akahoshi on third. Kanemoto then drove the ball into left field 1-0 Tigers runners on first and second. Arai hammered a huge hit which was taken by Noguchi at the edge of the fence and Toritani tagged up and reached third. Finally Mench flew out weakly and the innings was over. Nohmi started by getting Kawashima to ground out but then Noguchi hit his second pitch to centre. With Aoki at the plate he stole second but Aoki struck out swinging and with two outs it looked good for the Tigers. D'Antona got one that landed on his foot though and this set up runners on first and second. Iihara punched a pitch to left and Noguchi was home 1-1 scores tied runners on first and second. The final batter was Miyamoto who grounded out. After the first Tigers would not get a single hit and their second was quiet as Yuki pitched with more confidence. Swallows second was also quiet with Nohmi striking out two. The third was the same pattern, Sekimoto did ground out to Kawashima who this time was secure and threw well to first.

In the Tigers fourth after having struck out Kanemoto and Arai swinging Yuki walked Mench and this was almost the last Tigers batter to get to base (Swallows pitching was that good). Nothing came of this as Hirano flew out in foul ground. Swallows fourth saw D'Antona hit with one out - a rather lucky infield affair. One out later Miyamoto also hit to set up runners on first and second but then the next two batters did nothing and the innings was scoreless. The Tigers fifth was quiet and the batters fell in order. Yuki retired at the end of the innings, Takada no doubt feeling that he had done enough for his first start. His first innings had been shakey but he had settled down and pitched very well for the following four innings. The Swallows fifth saw some of Nohmi's best pitching - he struck out the three batters he faced and was sublime. Oshimoto pitched Tigers sixth and was secure. He did walk Kanemoto (the last Tiger to get on base) but had no trouble with the other batters. Nohmi returned for the Swallows sixth and you thought he would repeat his feat of striking out all the batters but Iihara denied him this by flying out. So at the end of the sixth the scores were still tied 1-1.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Matsuoka - once again batters falling in order and more nice pitching. Nohmi returned for Swallows seventh and here you felt that this may have been questionable. Six innings was enough and a relief pitcher would have been better especially in such a tight game. But Mayumi doesn't seem to understand this point. Nohmi started with a two base hit to Miyamoto - dangerous. Aikawa sensibly laid down a sacrfice bunt taking Miyamoto to third. Hatakeyama was next (pinch hitter) and he walked - runners on first and third. He was followed by Fukuchi who struck out to some superb pitching from Nohmi, two outs. However, its always the final out that is the difficult one and Kawashima hit his second pitch into left field for a run 2-1 Swallows, runners on first and second. Next batter was Noguchi who hit to right. Sekimoto made a superb stop and though he couldn't prevent Noguchi reaching first he did stop the run. Finally, Aoki grounded out in what was a poor night for him. Igarashi pitched the Tigers eighth and he now looks fat but is still effective. Tigers batters fell in order. Mayumi replaced Nohmi (one innings too later) with Watanabe. He gave up a leadoff hit to D'Antona but then Iihara tried to bunt. This, to put it bluntly, was a disaster. The ball ballooned up to Kanoh who caught it and fired it to first catching D'Antona off base by a long way, double play. The final out was Miyamoto who struck out to a nice piece of pitching. Tigers ninth was pitched by Lim. He is a fine pitcher with a nasty streak. He threw unpleasant pitches at both Arai and Kanemoto which were unnecessary. Arai was the last batter and he hit to second but a nice jump and catch by Noguchi turned this into a liner. Swallows victory.

A good victory for the Swallows. They had worked hard and their pitching had been of the highest class. Nohmi had also been very good but once again hadn't had the run support. His seven innings though had taken him 128 pitches and one does really question Mayumi's wisdom in pitching his starters so long. If he fails to rely on his relief then they get rusty and Tigers strength in recent years has been the relief. Mench hadn't impressed with the bat at all and one thinks that reintroducing him in place of the on form Sakurai was the height of folly.