May 7th Fossum v T. Aoki - Drama at Koshien

This turned out to be a dramatic game in more senses than one. It is uncommon to see a grand slam in a game but to see two from the same side is fairly unique. The last time the Tigers accomplished this feat was back in 1996. It is also quite amazing to see a side take a five run lead, blow it and then get back into the winning position with the second grand slam. Fossum showed worrying signs of following in the footsteps of the rest of Tigers foreign imports. Pitching well for four or so innings then collapsing. Carp did well to get back into the game but to be honest are second rate in almost all aspects of the game. Their fielding was poor, batting unspectacular and pitching sub-standard. Once again Tigers were able to get to their starter very easily. Still they tried hard but do need a bit more than effort if they are to challenge. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Carp    0 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 0  6 12 2
Tigers  4 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 X 10 13 0

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Amaya (Centre)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Hirose (Right)
6. Kokubo (Third)
7. Akamatsu (Left)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. T. Aoki (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Johjima (Catcher)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. S. Fujikawa (Left)
9. Fossum (Pitcher)

Carp started by giving up two rapid outs. Amaya hit to short and was judged to have beaten the throw which looked pretty close. He then managed to steal second on a delayed steal. Kurihara though struck out swinging to end the innings. Fossum did start very well and was very impressive for four innings. Aoki started Tigers first by retiring Murton - he was quiet until his grand slam. Hirano hit nicely to centre and then Toritani hit to Higashide who in typical Carp fashion made a complete mess of the take and Toritani was safe on first with Hirano on third. Arai was next and one of Aoki's pitches landed on his foot for a dead ball which loaded the bases. Johjima battled Aoki for a while before a sweet swing deposited the ball comfortably into the left stand for a grand slam 4-0 Tigers and an excellent start. It was nice to see as the last one I saw live was Imaoka at Jingu back in 2005. Brazell flew out but Sakurai hit. Fujikawa though went right and flew out to end the innings. Fossum had a surprisingly easy job of holding the lead in Carp's second. He did dead ball the lead off batter Hirose, also on his foot. Hirose made second on Akamatsu's ground out - Hirano chosing to go for the runner to first but then Kura hit the ball straight to Toritani for an innings ending liner. Tigers second was quiet with the batters doing nothing. In Carp's third Soyogi hit to short which brought a fine stop from Toritani but he was unable to prevent the runner reaching first. Amaya then flew out to end the innings. Toritani led off Tigers third with a hit. Arai then banged one into left centre and Toritani took off heading for home. The throw was good and Toritani was tagged out at the plate with Arai on third. Johjima was next and he made sure he grounded out to second bringing Arai home 5-0 Tigers. Finally Brazell flew out to second.

In Carp's fourth Kurihara hit hard straight to Hirano who took the liner comfortably. This was the situation for Carp at the time they were unable to make any headway or progress against a tight Tigers defence. Tigers fourth was also quiet ad 7, 8 and 9 did nothing. It all started to come apart for Fossum in the Carp's fifth. His first pitch was inviting and Akamatsu hit to right centre for a two base. Then Kura hit into centre setting up runners on first and third. Aizawa hit to left bringing home the runner 5-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Higashide grounded out to second but the runner moved round to third. Maybe Mayumi should have considered pulling Fossum here but with a runner on first the double play was on. However, Fossum was pitching very poorly by now. Soyogi picked one out and placed it in centre field for a timely hit 5-2 Tigers, runners on first and second again. Here was the point where Mayumi really should have switched pitchers. Amaya flew out and Fossum faced Kurihara. This was definitely a mistake as Kurihara slammed one into left centre. Both runners were home and Kurihara was on second 5-4 Tigers. Fossum had almost blown the lead. Finally, Mayumi acted and brought in Watanabe. The immediate increase in quality of pitching was clearly visible as Watanabe induced a ground out from Hirose to preserve a slender lead. Kishimoto took the mound for the ineffective Aoki and gave up a two base hit to Toritani with two out. Arai needed to make something of it but flew out to right. Watanabe returned for Carp's sixth and gave up a hit to Akamatsu but then got the double play to end the innings. In Tigers sixth Johjima hit to Kokubo who messed up for another error. Sakurai hit to set up runners on first and second and Carp switched pitchers. This was effective as Bale then got the next two batters out to end the innings.

We then saw the small contingent of Carp fans produce their jettos for the seventh innings. The batters faced Nishimura who was at his best and struck out the first two before getting Soyogi to ground out. For Tigers seventh the pitcher was Yokoyama who gave up a left centre two base hit to Hirano (who is htting very nicely at the moment). Neither Toritani or Arai could move him off first and the chance was lost. It must be said at this stage that the Carp were doing well and competing hard. Kubota pitched the Carp's eighth and was not at his best. In fact this was one of his poorer sessions. He gave up a lead off hit to Amaya and faced Kurihara who hit a straight two run home run 6-5 Carp. Iwamoto (replacement right) flew out but then Kokubo hit to second and was fast enough to beat the throw. Akamatsu hit to left and the runners were able to make second and third as the throw tried to cut the runner off going for third. Kura then flew out to centre which left Kubota with one more out to get. This was Maeda (pinch hitter) who also flew out to centre. Even so Tigers had wasted a five run lead and one felt that the Carp would punish them for this profligacy. However, Tigers offense was not going to let this happen. Takahashi was the pitcher and gave up a hit to Johjima. This was followed by a Brazell hit to right and Tigers had runners on with no outs. Kanoh (pinch hitter) followed and he walked to load the bases. Next was Yano (pinch hitter) who only needed to fly out to level the scores. Instead he hit to left beating shorts dive for a timely hit (his first as a pinch hitter) 6-6 scores tied with bases loaded. Murton followed - he hadn't done anything all game with the bat but after battling Takahashi slammed a pitch over the centre fence for another grand slam! 10-6 Tigers. Hirano hit again but Toritani flew out. This brought a new pitcher Takeuchi who got Arai to ground out to short. For Carp's ninth Tigers sent Fujikawa to the mound. He was on top form and mowed the three remaining batters. Tigers victory.

This was a great match to watch. The atmosphere from the Tigers fans was electric and the noise incredible. Great batting had overwhelmed the Carp who had put up quite a fight. However, two grand slams were too much. Tigers do have to hope that Fossum's sudden collapse is just a small abberation. They are currently short of starters and there is now talk of bringing Ishikawa into the rotation again. The opportunities are there for the younger pitchers if they can seize them.