April 9th Nohmi v Miyaguni - Back to Koshien

Nohmi put in a superb pitching performance and thankfully was little hindered by Fujii who actually played a supporting role and didn't try to direct things. Of course, this was the season opener at Koshien against the old enemy with the stadium filled to the brim with rabid fans. Giants seemed a bit overawed by the atmosphere and didn't really get going, one again something to be pleased about. Scores

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

Starting Lineup

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Wakiya (Second)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Abe (Catcher)
5. Murata (Third)
6. Lopez (First)
7. Bowker (Left)
8. Yano (Right)
9. Miyaguni (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Conrad (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Tigers have won the first game of the Tigers Giants series for the past three years and this contest would make it fourth time in a row. Giants started with a will to swing and attack and this got them in trouble. Chono was the first to fall striking out looking and Sakamoto the last swinging. Miyaguni, though, also started well. He also retired the Tigers batters very well in an assured performance which showed no sign of nerves. Nohmi started Giants second striking out Abe but then Murata singled. Lopez grounded out to second and then Bowker struck out. Tigers second saw no one on base - the final batter was Arai who flew out to centre. Giants were turning up the jets by now and Yano led off the third with a two base hit into the left corner. Miyaguni tried to bunt him to third but was out with three failures. Chono struck out swinging and then Wakiya hit a grounder to third. So far Giants had not been able to exploit their chances. Tigers third was quiet and unfortunately Miyaguni had been perfect.

Giants fourth saw the runners fall in order. In fact we saw the Giants desire to hit get in their way as Nohmi exploited this by luring the Giants batters into flying out. This would play an increasing role as the game went on. Finally though in the bottom of the fourth Tigers got a runner on base. Toritani working a walk as Miyaguni began to lose momentum. Murton singled to put runners on first and second but Fukudome hit straight to second for the double play to end the innings. Giants fifth saw another fly out mixed in with strike outs. The batters were not getting traction at all. Tigers fifth was a mess. Arai started it nicely by singling to centre over the field. Conrad flew out deep to right but Arai didn't have a chance to touch up. Then Fujii singled into left setting up runners on first and second. With one out it looked promising and Nohmi was instructed to bunt. Both runners were edging off base ready when Abe sent a thunderbolt of a throw to second. Arai is quick off the bases but not so agile and was caught off base and tagged out. It would be nice if Tigers had a catcher who could do that (well they do - Komiyama). Nohmi then gave up the bunt and flew out to end the innings. Tigers had wasted a good opportunity and Giants defence had been very sound. Giants sixth saw the batters fail to get on base. Nohmi had grown in stature whilst Miyaguni had diminished. Once again in the bottom he struggled. This started from a Nishioka two base hit. Nishioka spooned the ball high to right centre and both Chono and Yano went for it with the result that neither got it and the ball bounced nicely between them. Then Wada being brain dead had Yamato bunt. This was a disaster as Giants threw to third not first. Nishioka had rather telegraphed the move and was slow in setting off so he was sandwiched and tagged out. In the meantime though Yamato had sensibly taken second whilst the Giants were absorbed with Nishioka. Toritani struck out looking and it began to look like the Giants were out of the woods. However, Murton hit into centre and Yamato charged home 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Next was Fukudome who previously had tried to punch right past second and failed. This time there was no mistake and Murton rounded the bases for home 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Yoshitake, our new third base coach, is certainly adventurous. Arai hit deep to left but didn't have the legs and was caught by Bowker to end the innings. A good lead for Tigers.

Giants seventh looked to be a danger innings with the clean up next and the need for runs. It turned out to be a damp squib. The three star batters were only able to fly out and the innings was over quietly. Brilliant pitching by Nohmi. Miyaguni pitched Tigers seventh and was once more in control retiring the three batters which included Nohmi who had only thrown 84 pitches. Wada was going to try and give him a complete game. Giants eighth started with another fly out but then Bowker hit to Toritani. He fielded but by the time he had gotten a rather poor looping throw away Bowker had made first safely. Yano drove into centre to put runners on first and second. Next was Ohta who was induced to hit deep where the ever reliable Fukudome took the catch. Bowker tagged up and took third but Chono couldn't cope with a Nohmi straight and the ball flew off the side of the bat into the right field where it was taken by Arai tracking back. Kasahara took over from Miyaguni for Tigers eighth and struck out Nishioka swinging. Yamato flew out but Toritani walked. Murton hit over the field which should have taken Toritani to third but he hesitated because the hit initially looked like a liner - runners on first and second. Murton was pinch run for by Shunsuke who would also take over the left field position. Fukudome struck out swinging to end the innings and Wada spurning Kubo brought Nohmi back. He started by striking out Wakiya. Sakamoto singled - next was Abe. He conveniently hit his first pitch straight at Nishioka for the game ending double play. Tigers victory.

A fine victory based on a superb pitching performance by Nohmi who had thrown 108 pitches for his complete game shutout. He hadn't had to deal with Fujii's stupidity as the catcher was quiet and subdued. Of course Tigers need to repeat this to take the series and one hopes they can do it. So far in their three series they have won the first game and then lost the rest. Their luck must surely change.