July 8th Andoh v Katoh - Andoh fails

Andoh suddenly collapsed this game and quite simply the Swallows victory was due to his poor pitching. They took nine runs off him and established themselves in a totally commanding position. We also saw the last game in ichi-gun for Sakurai. After a fine start to the season his hitting got worse and worse and eventually dried up altogether. Finally, he was sent down to the second team to work on his batting. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Fukuchi (Left)
3. Tanaka (Second)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Iihara (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Onizaki (Short)
8. Kawamoto (Catcher)
9. Katoh (Pitcher)

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

Kubo was replaced by Asai before the game started.

The game started well for Andoh - he retired the top of the Swallows order 1-2-3, the ideal beginning but it would go downhill from the second. In the meantime, Tigers handed him an excellent start. Toritani walked and was bunted to second by Hirano. Murton flew out which moved Toritani to third and then Arai walked. Brazell hit to right bringing home Toritani 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Then Johjima also hit to right 2-0 Tigers runners on second and third as Swallows managed an undeclared error. Asai flew out to centre but at this stage it looked like Tigers were the secure team and Swallows the ones due to take a beating. Andoh though proceeded to throw the lead away. He managed two outs and then gave up a right hit to Miyamoto. Onizaki also hit and Swallows had runners on first and second. Still this didn't seem to be much of a threat until Kawamoto hit a nice two base to right centre bringing both runners home 2-2 scores tied, runner on second. Katoh struck out looking to end the innings but this was ominous. Tigers second was quiet as the three batters fell in order. Aoki led off Swallows third with a hit. However he stayed on first as the next three batters were all out. In Tigers third, Hirano flew out but Murton hit a nice two base. However, neither Arai nor Brazell converted him and the innings was scoreless. The game was nicely poised but Andoh was due to hand it to the opposition.

Andoh started Swallows fourth poorly, giving up a left hit to Iihara. Miyamoto walked but Onizaki flew out. Kawamoto hit to centre to load the bases which brought up Katoh. He hit a poor Andoh pitch to first and beat the tag 3-2 Swallows, bases loaded. Andoh then went to pieces over this. Aoki hit a two base bringing two runners home 5-2 Swallows, runners on second and third. Fukuchi grounded out giving Tigers some hope 5-2 is not such a big margin to overturn. Then Tanaka walked which brought up Hatakeyama. Andoh was abysmal and Hatakeyama slammed his fourth pitch into the back screen for his first career grand slam 9-2 Swallows and the game was over as a contest. Iihara grounded out to end the innings but it was the end of Andoh's session. Tigers, of course, tried to hit back - they were facing an indifferent pitcher after all but really they had a mountain to climb. Johjima hit to centre and then Asai hit a two base setting up runners on second and third. Sakurai hit a sacrifice fly to centre 9-3 Swallows, runner on second but this wasn't really what was needed. Sekimoto (pinch hitter for Andoh) flew out and Toritani lined out. Swallows commanding position remained intact. Uezono pitched Swallows fifth, replacing the ineffective Andoh. He dead balled Kawamoto but was otherwise untroubled getting the necessary three outs. In Tigers fifth Katoh gave up a hit to Arai but nothing came of this. In Swallows sixth Tanaka managed to hit to Uezono who was unable to field but once again nothing came of this. Katoh was replaced by Oshimoto for Tigers sixth, perhaps unnecessarily as Oshimoto was unspectacular. He gave up a hit to Asai and then walked Sakurai to set up runners on first and second. Still nothing came of this as the next two batters were unable to do anything.

Wakatake pitched Swallows seventh and started with a lead off walk to Iihara. He made second on Miyamoto's ground out but got no further and the innings was scoreless. Once Andoh had gone Tigers pitchers did quite well in containing the Swallows offense. Masabuchi pitched Tigers seventh and started poorly. Hirano led off the innings with a hit and made second on Murton's ground out. He also got no where after that and the innings was scoreless. Wakatake ran into trouble in Swallows eigthth walking Aoki with one out. With two out Tanaka hit and Wakatake couldn't take it setting up runners on first and second. Hatakeyama hit nicely to left bringing home Aoki 10-3 Swallows, runners on first and third. Finally, Iihara flew out to Johjima to end the innings. Matsuoka was the pitcher for Tigers eighth. He walked Asai with one out but then with two outs Lin (pinch hitter) hit to centre - runners on first and second. Toritani's hit to right centre was very nice and brought both runners home 10-5 Swallows. Hirano hit to set up runners on first and third but just when it seemed that Tigers might put together a big big innings Murton struck out swinging to end the chance. Mayumi put Fujihara in for Swallows ninth and he ran into trouble with the third out walking Kawamoto. Takeuchi (replacement first) hit to set up runners on first and third. This time Aoki grounded out to end the innings. Lim pitched Tigers ninth - rather a case of overkill one might have thought as Swallows were in no danger of losing this contest. Arai flew out but then Brazell hammered a solo home run to right 10-6 Swallows. Johjima grounded out to short but Asai hit. However, Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out to end the game. Swallows victory.

In the end Hatakeyama's grand slam had been the difference between the sides. Swallows had taken full advantage of Andoh's poor pitching and had held on well. They had clearly deserved the victory and had taken a good advantage of their chances. It was determined that Andoh's problem was psychological and that pitching out of the bullpen would help him. Uezono would take his place in the rotation but it must be admitted that this may not last long as the relatonship between Uezono and his management team is problematic.