September 29th Nohmi v Gonzalez - Good work

Tigers ended Giants title hopes this game by winning. Giants can still finish second but they cannot win the pennant. Tigers also reduced their magic number to 7 in a competent and hard fought performance. Nohmi wasn't wonderful but had that little bit extra lacking from Standridge. We also saw Saka denied a home run but this was after careful consideration of the video replay. One thing that needs to be established about using a video replay is that it should not be at the umpire's discretion. A request by either manager should lead to an automatic review and the umpires themselves should have the discretion to initiate a video review if they feel it necessary. The situation of a few weeks back where the Hawks were refused a replay by the umpires should not happen again. The Koshien umpires whatever their faults have shown a willingness to use the replay and certainly it helps their job. Anything that helps umpires become more competent is to be welcomed. Tigers ni-gun team won the Western League title beating Orix by 0.5 games. Tigers final record was played 104; won 50; lost 42; tied 12. Scores

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

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

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short0
4. Arai (Third)
5. Kanemoto (Left)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Sekimoto (First)
8. Saka (Second)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

This was another must win game for both teams. Both would have been condemned to ignominy if they had lost (well maybe not ignominy but certainly no pennant). Nohmi's pitching would be mostly mediocre with, importantly, the ability to lift his pitching to supreme levels and to get out of binds. He started by walking Sakamoto. The inevitable sacrifice bunt followed, this time from Yano and Ogasawara's ground out took Sakamoto to third. Ramirez struck out to end the innings. Gonzalez start was rather good - Tigers batters fell in order. Giants had had the better of the early exchange. Nohmi dead balled Furuki with two out - he would only pitch one innings without a runner on. Wakiya followed and he flew out to end the innings. Tigers second was also disappointing - the batters once again failing to make base. Sakamoto came round again in Giants third and hit to short - Toritani making the stop but not being able to make the throw. Yano grounded out to first which moved Sakamoto to second and then Ogasawara walked. This brought up Ramirez who hit nicely between third and short bringing home a runner 1-0 Giants, runners on first and second. Abe hit to first where Sekimoto took a fine and vital catch to end the innings. Brazell was rested for this game - his production hasn't been good recently. Gonzalez had a good chance to protect the lead but fell apart in Tigers third. Sekimoto worked the count full and then hit to right. Next was Saka who swung powerfully at his second pitch. The ball flew to the fence and hit the top rail. Saka initially stopped at third but was waved on by the umpire in what was initially ruled a home run. Yano who was in position to see spoke to Hara who asked for a video ruling. The umpires consulted and agreed - there were two possibilities. Firstly, the ball had hit the top of the fence and rebounded off the advertising hoarding above the bullpen entrance or secondly the ball had hit the top of the fence and rebounded in play. After examining the video it was decided the latter applied (which seemed reasonable) and Saka's home run was amended to a three base hit. Still Sekimoto was home 1-1 scores tied, runner on third. Nohmi grounded out to first which brought up Murton who hit a sacrifice fly to left. Saka was home 2-1 Tigers. Gonzalez's control started to go about this point and he dead balled Hirano. Then Toritani hit - runners on first and second. Next was Arai who stretched and hit into centre past Sakamoto's dive for a timely hit 3-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. This was the end of Gonzalez who was clearly deteriorating rapidly. Takagi took the mound and walked Kanemoto to load the bases. However, Johjima grounded out to Takagi to end the innings. Apart from the third, Tigers would find it very difficult to get runners home.

With a nice lead Nohmi faced the inevitable counter attack with some sub par pitching. Firstly, Chono hit to centre and then Furuki hit to left, runners on first and third with no outs. A real crisis situation with Wakiya next. Nohmi's pitching suddenly went up several notches and he became untouchable. Wakiya struck out swinging and then the same happened to Ohmichi (pinch hitter). Sakamoto followed in a situation tailor made for him and was induced to hit too soon and fly out to Saka to end the innings. Nohmi had done well to get out of the mess. Tohno pitched Tigers fourth as Hara used starters as relievers. He was able to retire the batters in order and the innings was over. Giants fifth saw more runners on base as, with one out, Ogasawara and then Ramirez hit. Abe was next but hit to Saka for a nice double play to end the innings. With two out in Tigers fifth Toritani hit a straightforward grounder to Sakamoto who fumbled the pick up allowing Toritani to reach first safely. Arai though eventually struck out to Tohno and that chance went begging. Finally, in Giants sixth we saw an innings without a runner on - Nohmi retired the batters in order. He had worked hard and had had that little extra to rely on when he got into trouble. Kanemoto led off Tigers sixth with a hit off his first pitch. However, he should have not been batting five and his early replacement by Uemoto (pinch runner) was an acknowledgment of that fact. Johjima hit to third where Wakiya messed up the pick up and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. However, the next three batters were unable to do anything and the innings was scoreless.

Mayumi wasn't going to risk Nohmi for another innings and so Kubota took the mound. He faced Matsumoto (pinch hitter and replacement centre). Matsumoto swung at his first pitch and checked making a complete mess of things. However, he got a nice impact and the ball ballooned up and landed safely in the space between short, left and centre an unfortunate stroke of luck. Kubota then induced Sakamoto to hit to Arai who threw to second for the force out but Sakamoto was too quick for the double play and was safe. Yano wasn't so lucky and was struck out looking by a 137 kph fork. Ogasawara tried to take Kubota on but was always struggling and finally flew out to end the innings. Asai pitched Tigers seventh and with two out gave up a hit to Toritani. Toritani stole second and Arai walked. Shunsuke Fujikawa (replacement centre) followed and even though he worked the count full was a bit out of his depth and finally grounded out to short. Kubota returned for Giants eighth and started by striking out Ramirez swinging with another fork ball. Abe tried to drive a 154 kph straightball but just managed to hit to Toritani for a perfect practice grounder. Chono was the final victim bamboozled into swinging at an outside slider. Kubota's pitching had been magnificent and had basically guaranteed Tigers victory with Kyuji Fujikawa due to pitch the ninth. Asai pitched Tigers eighth as well and started by striking out Johjima. Sekimoto was next and he hit a two base which bounced off top of the centre wall where it meets the fence. Saka struck out looking and Hara decided to go to Yamaguchi for the final out of the innings. This was Hiyama (pinch hitter) who flew out to centre to end the innings. Kyuji Fujikawa started the Giants ninth well striking out Takahashi (pinch hitter). Then Wakiya flew out to centre but Matsumoto hit. There were quite a lot of Giants fans at Koshien but they were completely drowned out by the ato hitori chant. Sakamoto took two strikes and volume increased with the ato ikyu call. Sakamoto swung and the ball flew to right where Hirano stood and waited for it come down into his glove. End of game and Tigers victory.

The series with the Giants was split 12-12 but for a lot of Tigers fans ending the Giants pennant hopes was the real reward. Tigers still have a hard struggle ahead but they had taken a vital step. Murton actually went hitless this game and so the counter is still on 6. He did drive in a run though. Kyuji Fujikawa picked up his 28th save and Nohmi his sixth victory (he stands at 6-0) but the pitching laurels really belong with Kubota who had made sure that Tigers were still in the pennant race.