September 21st Standridge v Chen - The artificial sward of Nagodo

It isn't really romantic or exciting to visit Nagoya Dome which doesn't even equal Tokyo Dome for quality. Still any team coming to this stadium must be aware that they are entering an alien environment where stultifying tedium and stasis rule. They will find their vitality sucked out of them and their batting becomes merely ordinary against a very tough pitching lineup. This is what happened to Tigers - their batting average at Nagoya Dome is .199 this season against an overall average of .290. No wonder they can't win. We also have to question the choice of players. Mayumi went with Shunsuke Fujikawa and Yamato at seven and eight respectively rather ceding any chance of influencing the game once Johjima was out. Lin had hit a home run in the previous game, Asai and Sekimoto were also available as starters with power and the ability to make things happen. Possibly, Chen would have coped with the challenge but possibly not. However, there would have been more of a challenge than with the lightweight lower order Mayumi chose. Scores

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

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

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Fujii (Centre)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Blanco (First)
6. Nomoto (Right)
7. N. Donoue (Second)
8. Oda (Catcher)
9. Chen (Pitcher)

Tigers start was good - Murton hit out nicely with a two base hit to left centre. Then things went wrong. Hirano flew out to short with a failed bunt - why didn't Mayumi let him hit and then Toritani flew out to second. Arai revived hopes with a walk but Brazell grounded out to second. No score there. Standridge's previous start had not been inspiring and in fact he had been disappointing against BayStars. This was better - he did dead ball Fujii and then was ruled to have balked. There was a runner on second but Wada (whose hitting percentage with runners on is similar to Brazell's) flew out to centre to and the innings. Tigers second was quiet as Chen was able to get everyone to fly out. Nomoto, one of Dragons more mediocre players hit and in fact would have a rather good game. Runner on first with one out. N. Donoue, though, hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers third saw the first two batters go down but then Hirano hit to centre. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second for the second time and this time it was Arai who failed, grounding out to second to end the innings. Oda led off Dragons third with a hit but surprisingly Chen didn't manage to bunt instead striking out looking. Araki's ground out took the runner to second but then Fujii struck out swinging. So far things had been equal and both sides were waiting to see who would blink first.

Tigers fourth saw both Brazell and Johjima fall but then Shunsuke Fujikawa hit to short. Araki messed this up and his throw was poor taking Fujikawa to second. This was a big chance except that the next batter was Yamato. He struck out and the Dragons had escaped. They took full advantage of this in their fourth. One has to say their execution was very good. With one out Wada hit to centre. This brought up Blanco who hit to right and there were runners on first and third. Nomoto followed and all he did was hit a fly to centre - deep enough for the sacrifice and the run 1-0 Dragons, runner on first. N. Donoue flew out to end the innings but the Dragons were in the lead. Death by boredom seemed to be indicated as the Tigers fate. Tigers just couldn't respond - Chen's pitching lifted in level and the batters fell in order in the fifth. In Dragons fifth Araki hit but nothing came of this. Toritani led off Tigers sixth by striking out but Arai hit. However, Brazell has discovered the double play and this time he hit into one to end the innings. Standridge then gave up another run. Wada again was involved, once more hitting to centre. Blanco grounded out to short but this put Wada on second. Nomoto then swung and hit to left. Once again Wada was home 2-0 Dragons, runner on first. This was getting to an unsurmountable lead. N. Donoue flew out to end the innings once again.

Tigers seventh, nothing exciting there - the batters fell in order. By now they had given up and weren't really trying. Dragons seventh was also quiet - no runners that innings. Standridge was replaced this innings. He had thrown seven innings giving up two runs. In the context of Chen's pitching this was a poor performance and needed to be of a higher level. He was pinch hit for by Kanemoto who grounded out. Murton followed and then Hirano hit for the second time in the game. A wild pitch took him to second and Tigers now had a chance but all Toritani could do was fly out to left. Tigers clean up had batted rather poorly this game and their lack of production has been a problem recently. Watanabe pitched Dragons eighth and started with a hit to Fujii. This wasn't such a problem as Fujii tried to steal second and was thrown out. Morino struck out but then Wada hit to right. Blanco hit to left and this should have been runners on first and second but Murton messed up his throw and Wada was home with Blanco on second 3-0 Dragons. Nomoto was deliberately walked to get at N. Donoue who flew out to end the innings. Chen started Tigers ninth and immediately gave up a two base hit to Arai. Tigers had two extra base hits whilst the Dragons had none. This was small ball with a vengeance. Brazell struck out and then Johjima grounded out taking Arai to third. Here Ochiai decided to switch his pitchers and brought Iwase on. This can only be described as a rather petty move which deprived Chen of a complete game shutout. With one out to go it was likely that the Dragons starter would have succeeded and having been left in for the ninth he should have been given the chance. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) was substituted for Lin but he struck out to end the game. Dragons victory.

This was a disappointing performance by Tigers who had failed to perform when necessary. In wasting their scoring opportunities Tigers had not shown sufficient commitment. To have any chance of the pennant they now need to win the next two games at Nagoya. Defeat in even one of them would pretty much scupper Tigers chances of the pennant. Murton only had one hit this game and so now has only 2 hits to go. Tigers remain in second trailing Dragons by 2.5 games and leading the Giants on percentage points. The good thing about the next two games is that they are against the beatable Yamai and Yoshimi. Tigers do need to seize the chance though.