July 10th Nohmi v Masabuchi - Akita again

So far Murton at No. 4 isn't working. He went 0 from 5 with 3 strikeouts on Sunday. Of course he needs time to get used to the position but if he was brought in to replace a under-performing No. 4 then he should be hitting immediately. This isn't happening which makes the change in batting position patently pointless. Moving Murton back to No. 1 and Arai to No. 4 would be the logical step before Murton loses his confidence. On the game itself, Tigers wasted opportunities and another excellent pitching performance by Nohmi. This time he wasn't over-pitched but he needed more support than he actually got against a pitcher who wasn't quite as good as he was. Once again Fukuhara failed - giving up two more runs in a clinch situation and it really is looking as this sort of situation doesn't suit him. As with the usual form for these matches, the team that scored first was the eventual winner and this proved to be Swallows. They also returned the complement of the day before by shutting out the Tigers. One final note - this game was played in the blazing hot sunshine of the afternoon. Why? An evening start would have been more sensible. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Whitesell (First)
4. Hatakeyama (Left)
5. Balentin (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Kawabata (Short)
8. Aikawa (Catcher)
9. Masabuchi (Pitcher)

Tigers first and the first two batters, Hirano and Sekimoto both struck out. Hirano swinging and Sekimoto looking. Toritani though walked which set up a nice chance for Murton who flew out to second to end the innings. Then Nohmi took the stage and opened superbly, striking out all three batters he faced. Swallows first never got going. Brazell led off Tigers second hitting nicely into centre right for a two base hit. A promising start to the innings. Arai flew out to left which did move Brazell round to third but the chance went begging. Lin hit a grounder to short who locked Brazell on third before throwing to first for the out. Then Fujii struck out looking and the innings was over. A bit of a waste that. Nohmi collected another couple of strike outs in Swallows second - those of Balentin and Miyamoto. No runner reached base. With two out in Tigers third Sekimoto drew a walk but this time Toritani didn't convert and flew out to centre off his first pitch. Swallows third was quiet with the innings ending with Masabuchi striking out looking. So far the pitchers had been in control - Nohmi clearly but Masabuchi had managed to survive nicely as well.

Murton started Tigers fourth by striking out swinging. Brazell hit to left but Arai struck out looking. He's not really finding sixth to his liking. Lin grounded out to end the innings. Brazell hadn't left first. Swallows fourth was also quiet with the batters falling in order and Whitesell striking out for the second time to end the innings. Fujii led off Tigers fifth and struck out looking for the second time. Nohmi walked - a very poor piece of pitching this but was forced out by HIrano's second ground out. Finally, Sekimoto grounded out to third and the innings was over. I can remember watching Igawa's last game for Tigers against Swallowswhen he was going for the strike out crown and I believe it was around the fifth when Swallows actually got their first hit. This was a similar situation - finally with one out in the fifth Balentin hit to left. He then tried to steal second but was thrown out. Miyamoto provided the final out flying out to end the innings. Toritani led off Tigers sixth with a single to right. Two outs later and Arai hit to centre - Tigers had runners on first and second. Mayumi decided to pinch hit for the poorly performing Lin and Hiyama faced Masabuchi. He struck out rather poorly and another good chance had been missed. Swallows finally got a chance in their sixth and it must be said their execution was much better than Tigers. Kawabata led off with a hit to centre. Aikawa lined out straight to Toritani but Masabuchi bunted the runner to second. This brought up Aoki who had to stretch a bit to get at the ball but successfully drove into right field for a timely single 1-0 Swallows, runner on first. Tanaka then lined out to short to end the innings and the Swallows had a slender lead.

Tigers had a chance to get back on even terms the very next innings. Fujii led off the seventh with a hit to left. Nohmi bunted him to second but then HIrano flew out in foul ground. Sekimoto walked which brought up Toritani. He faced Kyuko who had replaced Masabuchi. Toritani hit nicely to centre and Fujii took off round the bases. Unfortunately, for Tigers Aoki was fielding rather shallow and picked up and threw to Aikawa. Fujii hasn't really got the pace but charged Aikawa anyway hoping to dislodge the ball. Aikawa was sent sprawling by the impact (it was a well executed charge) but held onto the ball. Once again it was nice to see aggressive running by Tigers base runners. Nohmi returned for Swallows seventh and retired the batters in order. striking out Whitesell and Hatakeyama in the process. He recorded 10 strike outs and for the most part had pitched extremely well. Barnette took over from Kyuko for Tigers eighth and started with the obligatory strike out of Murton. Brazell walked and was pinch run for by Uemoto. Arai grounded out which moved Uemoto to second and then Kanemoto (pinch hitter) was deliberately walked. Shibata (pinch hitter) also walked to load the bases. Ryota Arai (pinch hitter) was next as Mayumi tried to manufacture a win. It didn't work and Ryota Arai grounded out to first to end the innings. Watanabe pitched Swallows eighth and struck out Miyamoto and Kawabata before walking Aikawa. Mayumi then decided to switch pitchers whether because of the right/left thing or because of panic is impossible to say but it wasn't a good decision at all. Kawasaki replaced Watanabe and walked Miyade (pinch hitter). He then gave up a hit to Aoki to load the bases. This brought another pitching change and Fukuhara took over. His teammates must hate him as he manages to inflate their ERAs whilst not adding that much to his. He wasn't a pitcher I would have selected for this situation given his previous failure and so it proved. Tanaka hit a single to centre bringing home two runners 3-0 Swallows, runners on first and third. Mima (replacement left) then flew out to left to end the innings but Swallows had a nice cushion. Lim pitched Tigers ninth and he always seems to do well against the Tigers. He started by striking out two and then walked Toritani. Next was Murton who recorded his last strike out of the day with Toritani on second. Swallows victory.

The series had been split 1-1 so Tigers hadn't been disgraced. They had had their chances though and failed to take them and make anything of them. Murton is feeling the pressure batting at No. 4 and probably the whole team is feeling the pressure under the Mayumi regime. The handling of the Swallows eighth was little short of amateur and why it was necessary to replace Watanabe is difficult to understand. Using Kawasaki and Fukuhara also can't be said to be the height of management perceptiveness. Tigers don't seem to be able to take enough of the winnable games (and this was definitely one of them) with Mayumi in charge.