September 20th Akiyama v Greisinger - More good work by Akiyama

Akiyama just gets better and better - this was his toughest challenge yet and whilst he gave up runs he also threw some nice stuff and was able to get out of binds successfully. Once again Kubota was magnificent and his part in this vital victory was acknowledged with a joint hero interview (the others being Akiyama and Lin). The win was vital and with the Dragons losing pushed the Tigers to within 1.5 games of the leaders. However, Tigers do have to win at Nagoya Dome to stand any chance of the pennant. Less than two games would not really be enough and three would be ideal. But remember, the Dragons also want to win and their record at Nagoya is terrifying. Mayumi will have to pull a management rabbit out of the hat which given his record is going to be a bit on the difficult side. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

Akiyama's second start against the Giants was nervous - Sakamoto hitting to left. Matsumoto bunted him to second but Ogasawara flew out to right. However, Ramirez hit a towering two base which just failed to reach the fence bringing Sakamoto home 1-0 Giants, runner on second. Abe grounded out and at least the Giants didn't get a rally going like the previous game. 1-0 is a lot easier to handle than 5-0. Tigers found the going against their old nemesis, Greisinger hard. Toritani managed a two out hit but Arai flew out to centre to end that quietly. Akiyama walked Yano to lead off Giants second but Edgar hit into a double play. Wakiya hit weakly back to Akiyama who fielded nicely for the final out. Tigers second was quiet with Lin being the final out flying out to right. With one out in Giants third, Sakamoto hit again. Matsumoto grounded out to third which moved the annoying little tick to second. Then Ogasawara hit into right and Sakamoto had the speed to make home 2-0 Giants, runner on first. Ramirez swung at his first pitch grounding out comfortably to Arai and ending the innings. Saka led off Tigers third with a hit. Unusually, for a Tigers pitcher Akiyama bunted him successfully to second. Murton grounded out which brought up Hirano. He hit nicely into centre and Saka had the pace to make home 2-1 Giants, runner on first. Finally, Toritani struck out to end the innings but things were tight again.

Giants fourth saw Akiyama's biggest task. Abe hit deep and far for a two base to lead off. Yano drew a walk and Giants had runners on first and second with no outs. It looked ominous. Edgar hit his first pitch high and to right - in retrospect one he should have left. Then Wakiya hit to left and Murton chased round nicely to take the catch - runners still on first and second. Greisinger followed and popped one up which Saka positioned himself under for the out and the end of the innings. This had been a great chance for the Giants and Akiyama had done well to prevent any score. Tigers now had a chance to turn things round. Arai led off with a hit which bounced off Greisinger into the infield giving him time to get on base. Brazell struck out and Johjima flew out which brought up Lin. His bat speed is back and the ball flew unerringly into right stand for a two run home run 3-2 Tigers. The Giants had lost the lead. Saka took a dead ball for his first pitch - the ball htting his leg. This brought the replacement of Greisinger by Takagi. He got Akiyama to ground out to second and end the innings. Akiyama needed to hold the slender margin and he started well Sakamoto flying out in foul ground and then Matsumoto going left to also fly out. However, Ogasawara hit and this was followed by a Ramirez drive up the centre - runners on first and second. Abe was next and was induced to swing to left where Murton ran round to take the fly near the third baseline. The innings was over and another Giants chance was down. Tigers then did something similar in their fifth. Hirano hit to centre with one out but was forced out by Toritani's ground out. Then Arai took a dead ball - this one landed on his foot. Brazell took an almighty swing, shattering his bat in the process but also grounding out to second to end the innings. In his last start against the Giants, his first professional game, Mayumi had left Akiyama in too long. This time he also decided that Akyama had another innings in him but with more justification. Akiyama now is a much more tempered pitcher than before. He had to battle Yano at the start of the Giants sixth before finally getting him to line out but once this was accomplished the next two outs had an inevitable quality about them. Takagi started Tigers sixth and gave up a hit to Johjima. Shunsuke Fujikawa (pinch hitter and replacement centre) was next and he bunted Johjima to second. If you're going to replace a home run batter with someone don't ask him to bunt. At this point Hara replaced Takagi with Micheal who faced Sekimoto (pinch hitter). He hit to Sakamoto who managed one of his periodic errors. Johjima was off base but hesitated and started to return to second. Sakamoto's throw was neither here nor there and went in the vague direction of Edgar. Edgar took the ball as Johjima set off for third and threw, the ball hitting Johjima who nevertheless made third safely. Tigers had runners on first and third with Johjima requiring a look at his arm (he was OK). Kanemoto ([pinch hitter) walked after a rattled Micheal had trouble locating his pitches and the bases were loaded. Next was Murton who hit straight into a double play to end the innings. A wasted chance but one can allow Murton these little mishaps from time to time.

For Giants seventh, Mayumi pitched Kubota who this game would top out at 156 kph. Akiyama had done well but didn't have another innings in him. Kubota's first batter Furuki (replacement second) succumbed to a 154 kph fastball and struck out looking. Sakamoto hit but then Takahashi (pinch hitter) struck out swinging, a vital blow. Then Ogasawara flew out to end the innings. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers seventh and retired the batters in order - the Giants weren't out of it yet. Kubota returned for Giants eighth and was just as devastating. He struck out Ramirez and got Abe to fly out off his first pitch. This left Yano whom Kubota got to ground out to second in short order. Giants most significant batters were down without getting any momentum. Yamaguchi took the first out of Tigers eighth and then gave way to Ochi. This proved to be a mistake. Johjima swung to left and connected for a solo home run 4-2 Tigers and the margin was up to two runs at a vital moment. Johjima nowadays is rather limited in his hitting - pretty much favouring the left baseline. It works rather well. Shunsuke Fujikawa followed with a two base hit and Asai (replacement right) walked but Hiyama (pinch hitter) popped one up and flew out. Murton then grounded out to short to end the innings. Giants ninth saw Kyuji Fujikawa take the mound - the Giants chances were small by now but as the Swallows demonstrated in an earlier game not totally extinguished. However, it was not to be - Tani (replacement centre) struck out and then Wakiya flew out. Furuki hit but this time Sakamoto was unable to do anything and struck out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

An important win - the result puts the Tigers one game ahead of the Giants. Murton went hitless this game and still needs three hits for 200. Toritani also failed to add to his RBI count. Akiyama though picked up his fourth win in a row and is looking very good. The save was Kyuji Fujikawa's 27th and all in all this was an excellent result. Tigers play the Dragons in what will be possibly the crucial game of the season. They really need to work very hard to win at Nagoya.