April 29th Iwata v Utsumi - The birthday boy

Giants played in orange uniforms so repulsive that you wondered what diseased mind had created them. We also had the unedifying sight of Utsumi biting into his birthday cake and getting cream all over his chin - I was always under the impression that the Giants were supposed to have manners. Wada put Okazaki in as catcher for the game and yes he was as uninspired as ever and messed things up with Enokida - always a nervy pitcher. Once again Tigers were short changed for the amount of hits they had - generating 0 runs this time. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Kanemoto (Left)
6. Johjima (First)
7, Yamato (Centre)
8. Okazaki (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Terauchi (Second)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Abe (Catcher)
5. Murata (Third)
6. Takahashi (First)
7. Bowker (Left)
8. Kajimae (Right)
9. Utsumi (Pitcher)

We saw Murton start the game quietly with Hirano singling nicely into centre. Toritani swung too soon and then Arai flew out to right. Iwata started well and as long as he relied on the ground out was OK. He was highly successful against the Giants top of the order with this approach and in their first retired the batters in order - all to groundouts. Tigers second saw Kanemoto single which is all very well but where the extra base hits? Johjima struck out swinging though Yamato did move Kanemoto to second with his ground out. However, Okazaki who is on a par with Komiyama with the bat grounded out to end the innings. Giants second was different - they figured out the calling patterns and first Abe and then Murata singled to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Takahashi took a wild swing and flew out and Bowker struck out looking. It all looked safe but Kajimae launched into a casual pitch hitting to centre. Abe charged round the bases for home. Yamato's throw was good but Okazaki was a bit static and his attempted tag of Abe as he went past just missed. Abe touched home 1-0 Giants, runners on first and third. Utsumi was next and it needed a very neat piece of fielding from Toritani to turn the ground out. Still it kept things tight. Tigers then proceeded to mess up their big chance in the third. With Iwata out Murton hit to Murata - a weak bounce hit which Murata dropped as he went for the pick up - runner on first. Then Hirano hit to right where Takahashi's despairing dive could only deflect the ball - runners on first and second. Toritani swung too early again and flew out which left Arai. He worked the count full and then did his usual thing of swinging anyway no matter what the pitch. Giants third was quiet as Iwata faced the top of the order again.

Kanemoto led off Tigers fourth punching a single into centre. Johjima hit into the first of his double plays for two outs. Yamato grounded out to third. Once again Iwata ran into trouble, this time in the Giants fourth. With two out Takahashi singled. Then Bowker hit left to set up runners on first and third. This time Kajimae struck out swinging to end the innings. So far Giants weren't adding the runs. Tigers fifth was quiet with no one getting on base. The Giants fifth followed the same pattern with Utsumi and the top of the order getting nowhere. However, things changed in Tigers sixth. With HIrano gone, Toritani singled. Then Arai hit right to put runners on first and third. Tigers only needed a run to draw level. Kanemoto worked a walk to load the bases which brought up Johjima. A sacrifice was all that was needed but instead Johjima hit into a carefully set up double play to end the innings. Abe singled in Giants sixth with one out but was extinguished by a Murata double play. All the time the commentators were drawing our attention to the excrutiating orange uniforms - maybe this was what was putting the Tigers off their game.

Utsumi returned for Tigers seventh, a tired pitcher. Yamato hit to short and was able to beat Sakamoto's throw. Okazaki did the stupid bunt trick to move him to second and then Sekimoto (pinch hitter) managed to ground out to short. Finally Murton popped one up to third to end the innings. This was the end of Utsumi who Hara decided had done enough. With Sekimoto batting it was also the end of Iwata who was replaced by Tsutsui. Tsutsui is a fireball pitcher but paired with Okazaki was made to look distinctly ordinary. Gone were the the fire and aggression and in its place were wooden fixed styles. Still it was successful for the first two outs though Kajimae hit a nice two base over Kanemoto's head. This brought up Tani whom Tsutsui took an inordinately long time to get out - he finally struck out, proof that its not only Tigers batters who swing at pitches they clearly should have left. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers eighth and we saw Hirano lead off with a hit to Sakamoto. He tried to beat the throw with his head sliding approach but was out. Next Toritani who hit to the same spot and beat the throw from Sakamoto. OK Toritani is faster than Hirano but it was also a clear demonstration that staying on your feet or even sliding is a better approach. Head sliding which has also been adopted by Yamato looks spectacular but is in fact not so good. Poor play by Hirano. So Tigers had a runner on base. Arai grounded out to third taking Toritani to second before Kanemoto flew out to second. Enokida pitched Giants eighth and he had all sorts of problems with Okazaki. The two did not get on - Enokida is a nervy pitcher who does really well when he is carefully handled. Guess who lacks the skill for this? Chono led off the innings with a walk - Okazaki's calling was dismal here. Then Terauchi went to bunt but collected a dead ball - runners on first and second. In the second stupid bunt of the day Hara had his No. 3 batter faced with a nervy pitcher bunt the runners to second and third. Abe walked to load the bases which brought up Murata. He then showed Johjima just how it should be done hitting to Shunsuke (replacement left) for the sacrifice fly 2-0 Giants, runners on first and third. Takahashi was deliberately walked to load the bases - he really enjoyed that one - and to get at Bowker. The pointlessness of this strategy was demonstrated by the fact that Hara sent Ogasawara on as a pinch hitter. He flew out to short though and spared Tigers further humiliation. Tigers ninth was pitched by Nishimura. Johjima grounded out to first and then Shibata (pinch hitter) grounded out to third. Finally Brazell (pinch hitter) struck out swinging to end the innings. Giants victory.

Utsumi could celebrate his birthday in style but honestly he does need to learn to use a spoon at least. Tigers seem to be having trouble with away series at the moment but Wada's half cocked idea of using Okazaki as starting catcher didn't help things. When the extra bit of creativity had been needed it had been lacking and the mess of the eighth had demonstrated the limitations of Okazaki. Another series down sad to say.