April 16th Nohmi v Miyaguni - Revenge first stage

The Giants had been humiliated at Koshien and so were looking to redress that situation. Tigers didn't exactly help themselves with a mediocre battery. It wasn't that Nohmi or Fujii were abysmal they were just very ordinary. The problem was this game required something a bit special. One missed the intensity of Yano, the brilliance of Kanoh or the steely eyed determination of Komiyama. Instead we had a very predictable display and the damage was limited only because the Giants are basically a team of lumbering carthorses. They are slow round the bases particularly between second and third. Scores.

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  4 0
Giants  0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 X 4 11 1

Starting Lineups

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)

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

Neither pitcher started particularly well with Miyaguni having to be lectured by Abe about his pitching. He improved as he went on but Nohmi didn't and lacked his usual precision. Miyaguni's start was dismal with Nishioka singling and extending his hitting streak to nine games. Then Miyaguni dead balled Yamato hitting him on the arm as he went to bunt - runners on first and second with no outs and a dream start. This continued as Toritani hit a grounder to short. It seemed a simple 6-4-3 double play and indeed the force out of Yamato went down without problem but Terauchi's throw to first was abysmal and missed. Nishioka continued running and Tigers were 1-0 up with Toritani safe on first. Murton hit to short which brought another force out but Murton was safe on first. Fukudome hit left but Bowker was always under it and the innings was over. A nice lead but not enough. Nohmi's start did not lead you to think that anything was wrong. The Giants batters fell in order in 9 pitches - it was an excellent first and held out the hope of more to come. Miyaguni got Arai to fly out to start Tigers second and then struck out Conrad. Surprisingly, given how Fujii would bat later the Tigers catcher picked up a walk with Miyaguni taking a lot of pitches. It was a good piece of batting but to no avail as Nohmi was next and grounded out. Things started to look dicey in Giants second. Abe was rapidly disposed off but then Lopez doubled into the left corner. The calls and pitching was drifting and the Giants were able to hit left. Bowker was next and singled into left field. Lopez was very slow in setting off and basically toddled to third with almost no urgency. This was good for Tigers because there was a run on there. Bowker was safe on first and Tigers were in trouble. Nohmi tried to go inside to Murata but lacked the control and walked him to load the bases. Here Giants blew it - Ohta was next and he not only runs like a carthorse but looks a bit like one as well. Nevertheless he is popular with the Giants fans (though I fail to understand why - he doesn't seem to do much) and has his own song. He hit a fork towards Conrad who fielded and threw to home for the force out of Lopez. The ball was a bit high but Fujii took it at full stretch but the result was the throw to first was late and Ohta was safe. Bases still loaded but the lead was intact. Miyaguni was next and struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers had escaped the first threat but more due to the Giants inability to execute than good defense. Tigers third saw Miyaguni in trouble with the third out. Nishioka and Yamato both went down quickly but Toritani walked. Murton singled to left putting runners on first and second and then Miyaguni walked Fukudome with a slightly surprising misdirected inside pitch - bases loaded. Next was Arai who cracked one into right for a timely single 2-0 Tigers, bases loaded. Perhaps Murton should have tried for home as well as the extra run would have come in useful. Conrad tried to hit but could only ground out. He needs to start driving in runs soon or he could find himself out of a job by July. The lead was a good one and Giants had been wasting chances but it couldn't last. Nohmi was a bit too casual with Chono who hammered out a two base hit off the wall to lead off Giants third. Terauchi hit to centre but Chono is not one of the world's fastest runners and so Giants only had runners on first and third but importantly they had no outs and Nohmi was really ordinary by now. Sakamoto swung too soon and flew out to Arai which brought up Abe. He got three straights in a row truly uninspired calling by Fujii. The third was probably meant to be a bit higher and even so it was Abe's power that propelled it over the fence for a three run home run 3-2 Giants and the lead gone. Lopez singled left just to rub it in but Bowker flew out to left and Murata hit deep to centre where the ball was nicely taken by Yamato right by the wall.

The lead seemed to give Miyaguni confidence and he started by striking out Fujii in one of the most pathetic at bats from a recognised batter I have ever seen. Fujii can bat better than this. Nohmi struck out as well and then Nishioka hit a grounder to end the innings. Ohta singled to lead off Giants fourth. Miyaguni bunted him to second and then with Chono at the plate Nohmi's third pitch was a low inside straight which Fujii dropped (it was classed as a pass ball). He was a bit too casual with the take. The ball rolled away to the rear and Ohta lumbered towards third in an attempt to take advantage. Here a stronger arm would have been most welcome as Fujii retrieved the ball in time but the throw was weak. Ohta dived head first for the plate and was safe. Then Chono lifted the ball high over the infield - not far enough for a sacrifice but it died and landed short of Murton coming in from left for a timely single 4-2 Giants, runner on first. Terauchi flew out but Sakamoto walked - runners on first and second. Abe failed to get hold of his first pitch and grounded out to Nohmi to end the innings. Tigers tried to hit their way back into the game in the fifth but now Miyaguni was pitching well and they had no chance. Murton ended the innings swinging at a vicious curve to strike out. Lopez led off Giants fifth with a single. Bowker hit to Arai who fielded, stepped on first and then ran down Lopez who had gone too far and isn't exactly the most agile of individuals. A nice double play. The innings ended with Murata flying out to left. Tigers had done better but Nohmi was still eating up the pitches and the calling was still mediocre. Tigers sixth accomplished nothing except some fielding practice for Terauchi. He took a liner from Arai and a grounder from Conrad to end the innings. Giants sixth saw the batters fall in order but it would be Nohmi's last innings. It would also be Fujii's last innings as well - he would be replaced by Hidaka for Giants seventh.

You began to wonder if Hara was perhaps over-pitching Miyaguni but no such luck - he just got better and better as the game went on. He faced Saka (pinch hitter) who hit his fifth pitch along the right baseline where it just passed the foul pole but which side. Wada called for a video review which conclusively showed that the ball had just been foul - a lucky escape but it would also have been a rather lucky home run if it had counted. Hidaka took a mighty swing and lined out weakly to Terauchi and then Nishioka grounded out. Katoh took over for Giants seventh and started by getting the ground out from Terauchi. Sakamoto flew out to centre but Abe singled right. A long at bat followed for Lopez but he finally flew out. Tigers were safe. It was surprising to see Miyaguni pitch Tigers eighth but Yamato was the biggest challenge he faced taking five pitches before grounding out. Toritani and Murton both went first pitch and Miyaguni had finished his evenings work on 110 pitches. Andoh took over for Giants eighth and struck out Bowker to start the innings. Then Murata singled. Ohta flew out to right, Giants disdaining the bunt. However, Yano (pinch hitter) proved to be the final Giants batter of the night flying out to end that chance. Nishimura took over for Tigers ninth and struck out Fukudome. Arai singled but Conrad struck out looking, another uninspired piece of batting. Finally we saw Ryota Arai back from injury. He didn't do anything but just grounded out to end the game. Giants victory.

One would not have thought that Giants would have won the game given Miyaguni's start though he had improved. Nohmi started well but rapidly went off the boil and was pretty ordinary by the end of his session. Fujii was just mediocre and lacked the level of performance needed for this game. Tigers need to lift the level of their play to something like they had at Koshien for the first series. Once Giants had taken the lead the controlled the game not Tigers and really the batters couldn't cope with a pitcher who suddenly found his touch.