July 3rd Tsuru v Fujii - Straightforward in the end

What was surprising about this match was how easily Tigers found it to dominate. They played some of their best baseball of the season and the Giants seemed to be unable to cope. Tsuru pitched nicely - he is growing by leaps and bounds and even though he wasn't perfect he put in a very good performance. Brazell now holds sole leadership in the home run race but this may change and Abe certainly went close this game. Sakai-owner commented on the Kanemoto situation saying that it was up to him to decide when he was going to retire. Tigers were not going to nudge him at all and Sakai-owner went as far as to describe Kanemoto as a national baseball treasure. One hopes Tigers do not get caught up in a Kiyohara situation like Orix did. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 5 0 1 0 1 1 8 13 0
Giants  0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2  6 0

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Chono (Right)
7. Wakiya (Second)
8. Edgar (First)
9. Fujii (Pitcher)

Fujii started the game well but would suddenly lose it in the fourth. In Tigers first he gave up a hit to Hirano but induced a nice strike out from Murton and then got Arai to fly out. Hirano hadn't gone beyond first. Tsuru also started well striking out Matsumoto but giving up a hit to Ogasawara. However, Ramirez was tricked into swinging too soon at a high pitch and flying out to short. Tsuru was showing an impressive range of pitches even in this first innings. With two out in Tigers second Asai hit hard to left and for a while it looked like a home run. However, the ball just faded and hit the wall above Ramirez's glove for a two base. Sakurai went right but flew out to Chono to end the innings. Abe led off Giants second with an enormous swing to right off Tsuru's first pitch. No doubt the latter's heart was in his mouth but the ball just drifted foul and Tsuru had escaped. Eventually, Abe hit a deep fly to centre which Asai took near the wall. It is much better when Asai is at centre than Murton as Asai is more mobile. The problem for Tigers is what happens when Kanemoto returns. Murton will have to return to centre and he needs to speed up more to be successful. Tsuru was delighted with the out and punched his glove with happiness. Chono also flew out to centre - once again Asai was secure and then Tsuru very neatly struck out Wakiya to end the innings. Fujii got the first two outs in Tigers third and then Hirano hit again. Once again Fujii was able to lure Murton into striking out and the innings was over. Edgar led off Giants third and he looked very happy, chatting animatedly with Johjima. He got hold of his second pitch drivng it nicely into the left stand for a solo home run 1-0 Giants. Fujii was next and he hit nicely to right centre for a two base any batter would have been proud of. Sakamoto grounded out which took Fujii to third and things looked dangerous. Tsuru struck out Matsumoto who's birthday it was and despite his return still needs to get back into the grove again. Ogasawara was a more difficult proposition and he drew a walk - runners on first and third with Ramirez next. He banged his second pitch to Arai who blocked with his body and then threw to first for the final out of the innings. Giants had the lead but it was only a slender one.

Tigers needed to fight back and Arai started this working Fujii well before hitting to centre. Next was Brazell who got hold of his second pitch and deposited it several rows back in the Giants gaia for a two run home run 2-1 Tigers. Johjima grounded out to short but Asai hit to right for his second two base hit of the evening. Sakurai took a dead ball and Tigers had runners on first and second. Tsuru grounded out for the second out which brought up Toritani. With the count at two and two he took a slider deep, once again into the Giants gaia for a three run home run 5-1 Tigers. The game was transformed and Tigers were now in a commanding position. Hirano grounded out to second but Giants had a lot of work to do. They found this very difficult against a now confident Tsuru. Abe was no longer the threat of the second innings and flew out to first. Chono grounded out and then Tsuru struck Wakiya out looking. Tigers were on a role. Fujii surprisingly returned for Tigers fifth and was very effective. It was almost as if the previous innings hadn't happened but the scoreboard showed the truth. Once again Murton was out easily and this time so were Arai and Brazell. Giants fifth brought Edgar to the plate as lead off again and this time he hit to centre. Kudoh (pinch hitting for Fujii) struck out and neither Sakamoto nor Matsumoto could do anything. Another scoreless innings. Tigers sixth was interesting though - Toyoda took over the pitching duties and started by striking out Johjima who looked out of his depth (but see later). Asai hit to left beating Ogasawara and forcing Sakamoto to back up. Sakamoto's throw was weak and Asai was safe on first. Sakurai hit nicely to right to set up runners on first and third which opened up all sorts of possibilities. Mayumi could have used a pinch hitter here but decided that Tsuru had another innings in him. With one out, some kind of sacrifice was on the cards and Wada (Tigers batting coach) came out to give Tsuru some advice. It must have worked as Tigers added another run. What Tsuru did was attempt a squeeze bunting his first pitch to left. Toyoda fielded as Asai who was off base stayed still and threw to Edgar at first. As soon as the throw left the pitcher's hand Asai was off. Edgar took the ball and threw to Abe but Asai slid in safely for the run 6-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. A nicely worked squeeze but there were some question marks over Giants defence. Why was Edgar standing a long way off base? - Tsuru was easily safe on first and one thinks that Edgar should have been on the sack making the double play possible. Abe also was not covering the home plate - even if the throw had been in time he would not have been able to turn and tag Asai as he was too far from the plate. However, it was a very neat piece of work by Tigers. Toritani was next and he struck out but as he did so Sakurai stole third - Abe's throw not being strong enough. Hirano followed and he also struck out to end the innings. Tsuru of course was really over the moon and so was looking forward to the Giants sixth. It proved a bit more difficult than he thought. He faced Ogasawara who walked. Ramirez lined out to a very neat catch by Toritani but then Abe hit to right. Chono followed by hitting his first pitch to right and the bases were loaded. Suddenly Tsuru was in trouble. He faced Takahashi (pinch hitter) who hit deep to right where Sakurai took the catch. Ogasawara tagged up and was home 6-2 Tigers, runners on first and third but Takahashi wasn't pleased with himself. One run wasn't enough in this situation and he had wasted the chance. Here Mayumi decided to change Tsuru and go to the relief. Tsuru had done enough and was feeling the pressure. One thing about Tigers/Giants games is that the pressure on pitchers is often very intense and several times I have seen pitchers melt down because they can't cope with this. Mayumi was right to pull Tsuru who had pitched very nicely and shown a lot of very nice stuff. Watanabe took the mound and looked very cool getting Edgar to ground out to short to end the innings. Tigers had limited the damage to one run and still had a commanding lead.

Toyoda returned for Tigers seventh and had a quiet easy time of it retiring the batters in order. Likewise Watanabe who pitched the Giants seventh and retired Furuki (replacement second), Sakamoto and Matsumoto easily. Micheal took Tigers eighth and faced Johjima who suddenly came alive and slammed a solo home run off his first pitch 7-2 Tigers. Asai grounded out and then Kanemoto (pinch hitter) flew out to Sakamoto. Hara switched pitchers to Hoshino who walked Sekimoto (pinch hitter). Toritani was next and he swung putting the ball up vertically where it came down into the glove of Abe to end the innings. With a five run lead Tigers were comfortable but Mayumi wasn't going to relax as the Giants clean up were next. Kubota was put in to ensure that the victory was secured. He was awesome. Ogasawara flew out to Shunsuke Fujikawa (replacement right) and then Kubota cooly struck out Ramirez and Abe using a superbly placed high ball for the decisive strike each time. As he walked off the mound Johjima draped his arm of the pitcher's shoulder congratulating him. Once again Kubota had done a vital job in ensuring the victory. Hoshino remained the pitcher for Tigers ninth and Hirano fell to a fine catch by Furuki. Murton then hit to right centre - he had been quiet all game but this was a nice two base. Arai picked up a walk as Hoshino struggled to find a good line. Brazell flew out which brought up Johjima again. He turned the ball over third into left for a two base. Murton was home 8-2 Tigers, runners on second and third. Asai grounded out to short and the innings was over with another run added. With this kind of lead and the bottom of the Giants order next Mayumi didn't need to go to Kyuji Fujikawa and sent Nishimura to the mound. This helped restore his confidence after the battering he took the night before - he struck out Chono and Takahashi swinging and then got Edgar to ground out to short to end the game. Tigers victory.

This had been a dominating performance and Tigers had overwhelmed the Giants. Batting, pitching and fielding had all been first rate. Tigers batters are hitting and Johjima has now joined Arai and Brazell (60) on 50 RBIs. Toritani is one off 50 and Murton has 5 to go. Tigers need to continue to play at this level to take the pennant but this game was very encouraging.