October 14th Kubo v Muranaka - Another day, another whalloping

Ochiai has emerged as a very strong candidate for Tigers kantoku next season according to Daily Sports. Possibly the strongest candidate at the moment. Tigers are still in with a chance of the Climax Series though - they beat the Swallows handsomely. In fact the game was tight until the fifth and then the Swallows just collapsed. Tigers batters plundered run after run from the reeling opposition who seemed like BayStars to have no will to fight anymore. Tigers though survived plenty of scares which was to be expected with Fujii behind the plate. He was replaced by Komiyama halfway through the game and the improvement was noticeable. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    0 0 0 0 0 6 1 3 0 10 14 0
Swallows  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1  7 0

Starting lineups

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

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

Swallows lacked luck this game especially in the early stages. Tigers also wasted their chances to some extent. They started the first well with Shibata singling to right. Arai singled left and there were runners on first and second. However, Brazell flew out to left to end the innings. Swallows start was also bright with Tanaka singling. Hatakeyama's hit put runners on the corners but these two hits were sandwiched between three strike outs - Kubo had some good pitching with him. Murton led off Tigers second with a single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch but then with the batters at the plate being Fujii and Kubo there was never much chance of him getting home. The innings was scoreless. Miyamoto led off Swallows second with a nice single to centre. Balentien's ground out carried him to second and then Aikawa flew out. The big surprise was Muranaka who singled to put Swallows on the corner. Ueda walked to load the bases and Swallows had a great chance. This was blown by Tanaka who hit a liner to Hirano to end the innings. Tigers third saw Toritani pick up a dead ball but nothing came of this. Arai was having a quiet day and as last batter he flew out to centre. Swallows third was a quiet, quiet innings - no one reached base at and no one looked like doing so.

The fourth was quiet all round - in the bottom Kubo collected a couple more strike outs, the scalps of Balentien and Aikawa and that was it. In Tigers fifth Hirano walked with two out but Shibata couldn't do anything and grounded out to short. In Swallows fifth Tanaka singled right but Aoki grounded out to second to end the chance such as it was. By now it was starting to rain, conditions that seemed to suit the Tigers batters. The rain was in fact early - early weather forecasts had put it as arriving much later in the evening. Anyway Muranaka didn't like it and Toritani led off Tigers sixth with a nice two base to centre. Arai walked - runners on first and second with no outs. Brazell singled left bringing in Toritani 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second and then Murton walked to load the bases still with no outs. The rain was now quite heavy and the umpires led the players off the field for a wait of about 15 minutes. When they returned Swallows had decided to change pitchers and Oshimoto took over. He had a torrid time of it. He started really well and struck out Sekimoto for the first out preventing the run. Then Fujii flew out to Aikawa in foul ground. It began to look like Swallows would escape the innings without further damage. Hiyama (pinch hitter) was next and he worked a walk - oshidashi 2-0 Tigers bases loaded. Hiyama would be pinch run for by Komiyama - an indication that Fujii was finished. Next was Hirano who hit a bases clearing triple to left 5-0 Tigers, runner on third. Another delay for rain followed - this one longer than the last and at 5-0 a case could have been made for calling the game but the umpires were nothing if not stubborn and the game eventually resumed with a new Swallows pitcher, Hidaka. He immediately gave up a single to Shibata 6-0 Tigers, runner on first. Then he walked Toritani to set up runners on first and second but finally Arai flew out in foul ground to end the innings. A devastating blow for the Swallows. They would never recover. Tsutsui pitched the Swallows sixth and he started by walking Hatakeyama. Kawabata flew out to left and then Miyamoto hit into a double play to end the innings.

Tigers seventh continued on the theme of punishing the Swallows pitching. Shunsuke led off with a two base hit to left. Murton singled left which brought home Shunsuke 7-0 Tigers. Murton though triecd to turn the single into a two base and was thrown out at second. Sekimoto singled to centre but Tsutsui (in a very rare at bat) struck out looking. Komiyama singled as well setting up runners on first and second and finally, Yamato (replaced Hirano who had to go off with cramp in his left leg in the sixth) flew out to left. Swallows seventh saw their only effective response. Balentien led off the innings with a solo home run into the back screen 7-1 Tigers. Aikawa walked but then Tsutsui settled down and retired the next three batters comfortably to end the innings. As if 7-1 lead was not enough Tigers continued to pile on the runs. This time the victim was Kyuko. Shibata led off Tigers eighth with a single. Both Toritani and Arai flew out but then Shunsuke (replacement left) singled to centre and there were runners on first and third. Murton was next and he slammed one into the left stand for a three run home run 10-1 Tigers. Sekimoto flew out to centre to end the innings. Fujihara took over the pitching duties for Swallows eighth and had no problem retiring a shell-shocked trio of Swallows. Tigers ninth was pitched by Watanabe who struck out Fujihara and Komiyama (not that it mattered) and got Yamato to fly out. Nishimura pitched Swallows ninth and gave up a lead off single to Morioka (replacement third and second). Morioka stayed on first though as the next three batters fell in order with the final batter Araki (replacement third) striking out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers have owned the Swallows this season and could be satisfied with the victory. Kubo picked up the win and is now at 8-8. Swallows had basically been crushed and once the Tigers had the big sixth were a shadow of their former selves with no fight or spirit left. Of interest the Mayumi dismissal plan is approved of by around 90% of Tigers fans though there is a strong level of support in the organistion for an internal replacement for Mayumi (either Wada or Hirata). Let's hope this doesn't come about and that the Tigers do go for the external candidate. This is really what they need - not the tainted old boys approach but a genuine manager with talent from outside the organisation.