May 27th Nohmi v Hirano - The Keystone Lions

Farciacal is the only way to describe this game. Wada shuffled his lineup and produced one of the strangest concepts he has ever come up with. Murton batting fourth (Kanemoto was taking a day off), Hiyama, yes Hiyama at fifth and Arai at sixth. One just wonders as to what passes for logic in the Tigers dugout. Fujii was dismal as usual and was the cause of the Lions score, Nohmi was overpitched again and the hero interview went to the player who took the dead ball for the oshidashi. You just couldn't make this up. Tigers won basically because the Lions were so amateurish it wasn't true. It was almost like the Tigers of the nineties, players colliding, error after error and pitching on a high school baseball level. There was so much wrong with this game at every level but at least the Tigers were mostly competent. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Left)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (First)
5. German (Third)
6. Akiyama (Centre)
7. Kumashiro (Right)
8. Sumitani (Catcher)
9. Hirano (Pitcher)

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

What was Wada thinking? You take your major pinch hitter out of the frame when you might need a 'daida no kamisaka' and then move you best batter down to sixth. You have your power hitter at seventh with the next batter a lightweight who can't even be guaranteed to manage a bunt. The lineup gets stranger and stranger day by day. Fujii in Lions first was pathetic. Nohmi was following his calls completely (why I don't know) and was rapidly in trouble. Kataoka led the innings off with a single to left rapidly figuring out the calling pattern. Then Kuriyama struck out swinging and Kataoka tried to steal second. Fujii's throw was pathetic and Kataoka reached base safely. Fujii then called mostly inside pitches to Nakajima who hit left past Arai's dive for a timely two base 1-0 Lions, runner on second. Next was Nakamura who hit into centre past Nohmi's outstretched glove for a timely single 2-0 Lions. An inauspicious start by Tigers. German struck out looking and as he did so Nakamura tried to steal second. Fujii might have a poor arm but even he had all the time in the world and Hirano tagged Nakamura out to end the innings. Hirano then faced Hirano (pachimon) but flew out to left. Shibata struck out and Toritani grounded out to first. Tigers first was over. Nohmi continued to follow Fujii's lead but luck was with the Tigers pitcher this innings and some nice swings met the fielders gloves. Still Sumitani managed a two out single but Hirano struck out looking. Tigers first hit came with Murton singling left. He was immediately knocked out by a Hiyama double play - hardly an exemplary start. Arai hit left and then made second on a wild pitch but Brazell contrived to fly out and end the innings. About this time Nohmi started to play his natural game and ignore Fujii's bouncing around. Things improved enormously for Tigers and even though Kuriyama singled in Lions third he didn't get beyond first. However, having reached Tigers third Lions started to hit the self destruct button in a most embarrassing way. Fujii took a swing at his second pitch and hit it straight to German for the out only German threw way above the glove of Nakamura at first allowing the Tigers catcher to reach first safely. Nohmi bunted Fujii to second which brought up Hirano. He blooped one up which landed just in front of Kuriyama in the left field. Fujii was rather slow off the mark and an accurate throw would have meant Fujii being out. The Tigers running between second and third was very poor. However, Kuriyama's throw was way out of German's reach and Fujii sliding in to third was able to get up and reach home safely 2-1 Lions, runner on second. Two errors had allowed the Tigers back into the game. Shibata hit a grounder to first and Hirano at least knew what to do and took third safely. Then Toritani struck out swinging to end the innings.

By now Nohmi had abandoned Fujii's calling patterns and was throwing his own stuff varying his height and speed very effectively but not his line. If only he was pitching to Kanoh instead of the clown from Rakuten. Lions batters couldn't cope and started to fall. Tigers fielding was excellent and the Lions fourth passed quickly. Tigers fourth also passed quickly. There was no evidence that Murton was suitable as a replacement for Kanemoto at No. 4 like Kanemoto is not suitable for the position either. Hiyama certainly wasn't suitable for No. 5 either and Wada's ineptitude and petty vindictiveness leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Nohmi struck out all three batters in Lions fifth - proof that he was getting back to his best. Brazell then proceeded to demonstrate that he was wasted at seventh - hitting right to lead off Tigers fifth. Fujii tried to bunt him to second - the ball made contact and rolled a short way. Fujii set off blocking Sumitani's access to the ball probably deliberately. There is no way any umpire could ignore that and not call interference. Fujii was out and Brazell had to return to first. Wada tried to argue the issue but to what purpose he only made himself look stupid. If you are going to get in the way of the catcher going for the ball you are going to lay yourself open to the charge of interference and Fujii had certainly done that. An open and shut case if ever there was one. Then Nohmi bunted Brazell to second - two outs wasted. Hirano struck out swinging to end the innings. Lions sixth was also quiet with Nohmi finishing off Nakamura with an excellent pitch which struck him out looking. All the control and skill was there and Nakamura never had a chance. Shibata drew a lead off walk in Tigers sixth, Hirano's control had started wandering and he was throwing high and outside. Next was Toritani who hit into a double play to end that chance. Murton swung left and hit to German who fumbled the ball and knocked it away from him allowing Murton to reach second. Hiyama though hit his first pitch to second for the final out - poor batting by Hiyama and one wonders why he started at five.

German grounded out to first to initiate Lions seventh but then Akiyama singled left. Nohmi had allowed himself to follow Fujii's directions and drifited inside. Kumashiro though hit the ball straight back to Nohmi who threw to second to initiate the innings ending double play - a very nice piece of work. Watanabe switched pitchers for the Tigers seventh Osada taking over. This was a wise decision as Hirano had done well but maybe wasn't able to continue safely. However, the choice of replacement, Osada was dismal. His pitches were all over the place but he suddenly showed a flash of brilliance and struck out Arai looking. Brazell though got a high outside pitch and crushed it into the centre left stand for a solo home run 2-2 scores tied. Fujii hit straight to Kataoka who fumbled and dropped the ball and the Tigers catcher was safe again. Nohmi bunted to Osada who was able to throw to second to force out Fujii who is not fast round the bases but Nohmi reached first safely. Hirano though grounded out to short but Tigers were on level terms. Nohmi returned for Lions eighth and struck out Sumitani and Kataoka in the innings. No one managed to reach base and one expected him to retire after the eighth. Gonzalez pitched Tigers eighth and was terrible. He walked Shibata having difficulty locating the zone and then the idiot Wada had Toritani bunt Shibata to second. Murton hit infield and here Shibata stayed on second instead of going for third like he should have done. Hara (replacement third) for some reason didn't throw to first and Murton was safe. Kanemoto (pinch hitter) was next and he drew a walk. He was pinch run for by Asai but this time there was no point trying to hit Gonzalez's pitches - they and the zone had only a passing acquaintance. So with bases loaded we had Arai who hit into a double play to end the innings. No doubt Wada will blame Arai but really the failure this innings was Shibata who should have taken third on Murton's single. Hara was in no position to swing and throw to third. Then Kanemoto might have tried a sacrifice. Amazingly Nohmi returned for Lions ninth - this was just over-pitching and stupid by Wada. No Lion got on base and Nohmi was sublime but honestly he should have rested - there was no need for him to pitch again. Gonzalez returned for Tigers ninth - that looked a big mistake and so it proved. Brazell singled right and was pinch run for by Yamato. Fujii shaped to bunt but his first pitch was wild and Yamato reached second anyway. Fujii went to bunt again and Gonzalez's second pitch was in the direction of Fujii's head - it thankfully missed but then Sumitani decided to walk Fujii and Tigers had runners on first and second. Now came the stupid bunt, Imanrai (pinch hitter) bunted the batters to second and third. As the bunt went down Gonzalez went to field but was shoulder charged and knocked over by Nakamura coming in from first who threw to first to get the out. What was going on there? Lions decided to walk Hirano to load the bases - still with one out then switched pitchers Williams taking over. Like Jeff Williams he wears 54 but on the evidence of this performance isn't in the same league. He faced Sekimoto (pinch hitter) and dead balled him with the second pitch. Sayonara oshidashi 3-2 Tigers.

Not exactly pretty but we'll take it. Lions were a joke and basically threw things away. Tigers struggled to hit and to score with a lineup conceived by a mad dwarf. One just can't understand what motivated Wada to construct this lineup. Further amazement occured with the hero interview which went to Sekimoto for taking a dead ball. I am sorry but this is completely off the wall. Brazell or Nohmi were the likely candidates, Nohmi for his excellent pitching and Brazell for his home run. Tigers organistion seems to be rapidly spinning out of control. Next the return of Wada as player manager. Anything is possible.