September 22nd Kubo v Yamai - The infernal pit of Nagodo

This is too saddening to contemplate - the Dragons won the second game of the series by a sayonara error. Not through their own efforts. Brazell was poor with the bat throughout the game but also his fieliding at a vital moment was dismal. At this level and in a game of such importance this was unacceptable. Once again we also saw Mayumi's inability to motivate his side to a desperate last try. Only Kanemoto worked in Tigers ninth - the other two batters were lazy and too quick to swing. Once again Yamai was allowed to get off the hook and Tigers wasted their chances. 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 1
Dragons  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1x 1 6 0

Starting lineups

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. Kubo (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. Yamai (Pitcher)

Yamai started by retiring Tigers one and two but then Toritani hit to left. Arai also hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Brazell was next and struck out to end the innings. He should have done better in this situation. Dragons first was 1-2-3 with Kubo in complete control. Tigers second saw Saka hit with two out but then Kubo hit his first pitch into foul ground and flew out. Dragons second saw Blanco manage to collect a dead ball. Nothing happened though. Murton walked in Tigers third and was bunted to second by Hirano. He made third on Toritani's ground out but then Arai flew out. He also needed to do better. This was rapidly turning into a tight game and needed more effort. Dragons third was quiet with no one reaching base.

Tigers fourth was also quiet as the batters were poor. In Dragons fourth they had their first hit - a Morino effort to right. Wada promptly hit into a double play to end the innings. In Tigers fifth Saka hit again. This time he was bunted to second by Kubo. However, both Murton and Hirano failed to convert him and the innings was scoreless. What is the point of having anyone bunt if you are not going to make use of it. Murton in particular was poor this innings swinging at his first pitch - wait. Blanco hit to lead off Dragons fifth. He was bunted to second by Nomoto. N. Donoue flew out to centre but Blanco tagged up and made third. Oda was deliberately walked to get at Yamai - why take unnecessary chances - who grounded out to third to end the innings. In Tigers sixth Toritani led off with a walk. Arai hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. Brazell though hit into a double play moving Toritani round to third. Brazell needs to do something about his constant failure to hit with runners on at the moment. Next was Johjima who hit his third pitch to short to end the innings. Dragons could make no impression on Kubo in their sixth and the innings was scoreless.

Tigers lucky seventh wasn't lucky at all - nothing happened. In Dragons seventh Blanco hit to left but nothng came of this. Murton led off Tigers eighth with a walk. He was bunted to second by Hirano and then Toritani managed to hit weakly to Yamai for the second out. Ochiai though decided that enough was enough and switched to Asao. He got Arai to fly out to right - poor batting again. Kubo pitched Dragons eighth and retired the batters in order. In a superb pitching display he had given up three hits and one dead ball - stupendous stuff and what should have been a match winning performance. Tigers ninth though exposed the bankruptcy of their strategy. Neither Brazell nor Johjima worked the pitcher - they both swung too soon and were out. Only Kanemoto worked hard but he flew out to centre. So to Dragons ninth and here Mayumi chose Kubota. A better choice would have been Kyuji Fujikawa for the ninth. This would have had more chance of ensuring the victory (see discussions early in the season). Dragons were able to connect and with a large amount of luck loaded the bases with no outs. Kubota struck out Blanco and then Mayumi decided to bring in Kyuji Fujikawa to get the final outs. He faced T. Donoue who swung and hit towards Brazell. Brazell's throw to Johhima for the out was too high and Fujii was able to make home 1-0 Dragons, sayonara victory.

Brazell's error in this situation was unforgivable - he had practically finished Tigers chances of the pennant. For some reason Ochiai gave the hero interview to T. Donoue - sorry what kind of rubbish is this? The only reason Dragons got the run was because of an error by the other side not because of his efforts. No more of this rubbish please. Non of the counters moved round and in fact Tigers have yet to score a run at Nagoya this series. Not very satisfactory indeed and indicative of their lack of preparedness and poor performance. They are a far better batting side than the Dragons but they do need to show this. Currently the gap between Tigers and Dragons is 3.5 games but they are now in third one game behind the Giants.