September 28th Iwata v Ishikawa - Megaphone rain

Fans are disgusted with Wada and as he walked from the ground 15 of the megaphone bats were thrown at him 4 of which landed just in front of him. His latest folly was to pair Iwata with Fujii possibly on the basis that it was 'Buggins turn'. Iwata is normally paired with and prefers Komiyama but after two starts in a row Wada decided that Fujii needed a turn. This practically guaranteed defeat. Now Fujii has improved a lot, the competition from Komiyama has forced him to become a lot better not the lazy and ineffectual bumbler he was. He works well with Messenger and Nohmi and should be retained next season (and I never thought I would type that) to call to these two pitchers. But not to the other pitchers.
Wada meanwhile should take note of Johjima's final press conference. (See Gen's translation over on Yakyu Baka) Because he could not deliver to a standard he felt he should and he felt he deserved Johjima retired. There is a real sense of honour in this as Johjima is giving up on the final year of his contract and forfeiting the money from it. One feels that Wada would benefit by following Johjima's example; it would show that he actually knew what integrity was. Standridge has returned to the USA - he has no more starts so there is no reason for him to stay in Japan. He is likely to return next season so we look forward to welcoming him back. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 14 1
Swallows  0 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 X 6 12 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Centre)
2. Yamato (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Ryota Arai (Third)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Nohara (First)
7. Itoh (Right)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

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

Ishikawa was in trouble straight from the start. Uemoto hit right and then Yamato hit to short and beat the fielder. Runners on first and second. Toritani hit deep to right bringing in both runners 2-0 Tigers, runner on second. Ryota Arai hit right but Toritani who is quite speedy was held up on third - we will have a new third base coach next season. Murton grounded out to third bringing in the runner 3-0 Tigers but forcing out Ryota Arai - runner on first. Nohhara singled to set up runners on first and second. Then Fujii grounded out to short to end the innings. Iwata started quite well and retired the batters in order. Tigers second was quiet with Uemoto and Yamato failing to get on base. Tigers then proceeded to reduce the deficit as Fujii and Iwata failed to communicate. With Komiyama, Iwata's second innings is never a problem. Hatakeyama led the innings off with a single. Kawabata singled to the ineffective Ryota Arai at third to put runners on first and second. Miyamoto bunted the runners to second and third. Iihara struck out swinging but Aikawa hit his first pitch to centre bringing in both runners 3-2 Tigers, runner on first. Ishikawa grounded out but now the game was more of a survival effort for the Tigers with the Swallows in the driving seat and poised to take the lead whenever they felt like it. It got even worse in the Tigers third when the batters singularly failed to exploit a great situation. Toritani led off the innings with a single. Basically Ishikawa was rubbish and it was Tigers failings that allowed him to only surrender three runs. Ryota Arai also singled to set up runners on first and second. Murton flew out and then Nohara hit right - bases loaded. Things went wrong here. Itoh hit to short who threw to home for the tag out. Then Fujii also hit to short and Tigers had failed to score. Swallows rather wasted their third innings with no one getting on base.

Tigers fourth saw Iwata lead off with a single. This was a great chance which was wasted though to be fair this was a very good innings by Ishikawa. Toritani ended the innings by grounding out to short. But if your pitcher hits you must take advantage of the windfall. Hatakeyama led off Swallows fourth with a two base and it is here that Tigers entered the survival mode. Hatakeyama the stupid chump allowed himself to be picked off at second and then Kawabata flew out. Miyamoto singled left but Iihara popped up to second to end the innings. Tigers fifth saw Murton single with one out but neither Nohara nor Itoh possessed the means to move him off first. Itoh is a bit blinded by his grand slam at the moment and needs to rapidly come down to earth and think. Swallows fifth was the bottom of the order and they did nothing. Ishikawa got into another mess in Tigers sixth. Fujii singled to centre and was bunted to second by Iwata. Uemoto hit to short and beat the throw but Fujii stayed on second - poor running and once again poor management by the third base coach. Yamato flew out and then Toritani hit right to load the bases. This brought a pitching change, the ineffective Ishikawa being replaced by Oshimoto. He got the equally ineffective Ryota Arai to fly out to right and end the innings. Swallows managed to do nothing in their sxith - no base runners troubled the scorers.

Tigers seventh was also quiet - we saw Morita replace Nohara and the question was why? Itoh might have been the better candidate for this. Finally, in their seventh Swallows struck. Kawabata singled to centre to lead off the innings. He was stupid bunted to second by Miyamoto. Miyade (pinch hitter) flew out but then Aikawa hit right bringing in the tying run 3-3, runner on second with Aikawa taking advantage of poor throwing. He was pinch run for by Noguchi who tried to make home on Fukuuchi's single but was tagged out at the plate. Tigers eighth was pitched by Hidaka who retired the batters in order. Everything was primed and the Swallows just had to deliver the coup de grace. They did so in the bottom of the eighth, perfectly timed. Wada being a complete moron left Iwata in for this innings. Why, one asks, he was paired with a catcher he doesn't like and he was tiring. He had no lead and there was no need for a complete game. Yuhei led the innings off with a single to left. The usual pointless bunt was laid down taking the runner to second. Then Balentien got hold of his third pitch and deposited the ball in the right stand for a two run home run 5-3 Swallows and the killer blow. Hatakeyama singled right and then so did Kawabata to set up runners on first and third. Finally, Wada woke up and realised that perhaps he had better change his pitcher. His choice was bizarre, the ineffectual Shiranita. Still when Miyamoto lined out to Toritani it looked like Tigers were safe. However, Toritani's throw was terrible and Miwa (pinch running for Hatakeyama) was home 6-3 Swallows, runner on second. Finally, Nakamura (replacement catcher) flew out in foul ground to end the innings. Barnette closed the game out but rather unsurely. Kanemoto (pinch hitter) led off the innings with a walk. He was pinch run for by Shunsuke. Toritani flew out to centre and Ryota Arai struck out swinging. This was not inspiring batting. Murton though singled to centre to set up runners on first and third. Morita needed to do more than hit his first pitch to second which is exactly what he did to end the game. Swallows victory.

Thanks to the use of Fujii as catcher Wada had blown the game. This couple with a failure to put a weak pitcher to the sword. One thinks of Tigers the night before with Iwamoto and Komiyama and the ruthless demolition of the Swallows. This game, once they got within striking distance Swallows were in control and Tigers the ones clinging on by their fingertips. I am not surprised at fans expressing their displeasure at Wada and as I said he could do no better than to follow the example of Johjima.