June 16th Fujinami v Tanaka - At last it's over

The inter league bore finishes for another year and once again Tigers were bamboozled by a Tanaka performance which was pretty useful. Fujinami was not so good and his adjustment to the top level is taking a lot longer than expected. One hopes that Tigers aren't beginning to drift back down the table as the gap between them and the Giants grew again. Tigers used to start strongly and fade as the season went on so one hopes they can keep things going after the break. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Nishioka (DH)
2. Shibata (Right)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Arai (First)
6. Saka (Third)
7. Fujii (Catcher)
8. Araki (Second)
9. Yamato (Centre)

Starting pitcher was Fujinami

Golden Eagles
1. Matsui (Short)
2. Akaminai (First)
3. Hijirisawa (Centre)
4. Jones (DH)
5. McGehee (Third)
6. Kosai (Left)
7. Shimauchi (Right)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Fujita (Second)

Starting pitcher was Tanaka

Tigers could have used a better start but didn't get one. True Shibata did manage an infield hit bouncing it nicely into the space behind Tanaka who failed to field. Toritani flew out and then Shibata stole second. However, even though he was successful he injured himself sliding into the sack and once Murton had grounded out would be replaced at right by Imanari. Fujinami's start was effective with no batter getting on base. Tigers second and here Tigers wasted a glorious chance. Tanaka was vulnerable at this stage and Arai singled to lead the innings off. Then Saka singled as well. Fujii hit weakly infield but once again got through Tanaka's defense and made first safely - bases loaded no outs. Here things went wrong. Araki struck out swinging, poor batting even though Wada was hesitant to blame him. Then Yamato lined out to first and finally Nishioka lined to short. Tigers had not managed to produce a single run from this situation. One has to say no wonder they lost. If they can't take their chances when they get them they have to expect defeat. Fujinami, though, was still holding the line and at this stage looked the better, more settled pitcher retiring the batters in order in the Golden Eagles second. Tigers third saw Tanaka get into his stride a bit more getting Imanari and Toritani to pop up to short and then Murton to strike out. Then things went wrong for Fujinami. It shouldn't have really happened but Fujita doubled with two outs on the board. Next Matsui doubled to right centre bringing in the first run 1-0 Golden Eagles. Then Akaminai hit left bringing in another run 2-0 Golden Eagles. It had all been rather fast. Adding insult to injury Akaminai had been able to take second but Hijirisawa struck out to end the innings.

Tanaka could pitch with renewed vigour now he had a lead to protect and he proceeded to do just that. All Tigers batters fell without reaching base. Rakuten's batters also fell in order in the fourth - it seemed the third had been a momentary aberration. Tigers fifth was similarly quiet but problems arose for Tigers in the bottom. Shimauchi led off doubling to left. Shima bunted him to third which was a waste of an out as Fujita singled left to bring in the run 3-0 Golden Eagles, runner on first. This was the end of Fujinami who was replaced by Tsutsui. Suddenly the former had become extremely hittable. Tsutsui struck out Matsui and as he did so Fujita tried to take second but failed and was also out. Tigers then continued their ineffective way in the sixth - no runner getting on base. Once again we would see a similar situation with Rakuten to the previous game - after the fifth they didn't get a runner on base. However, they had the ability to sit on their lead. Their sixth was started by Tsutsui who was replaced by Watanabe for the final out which duly fell.

Tigers seventh saw no one get on base. Tanaka was by now pitching smoothly and Tigers batters were just lining up to get out. Rakuten's seventh of course was quiet with no one getting on base. Wada was trying everything by now even using Hidaka in the Tigers eighth as a pinch hitter. It didn't work but suddenly Nishioka doubled. Tanaka was vulnerable again and Imanari walked. Then so did Toritani to load the bases. Tigers really did need to make something of this chance but this time Murton blew it. He hit his first pitch to short for the final out of the innings and Tigers had wasted another situation. Katoh pitched the Golden Eagles eighth and kept Tigers in with a slim hope by retiring the batters in order. Tanaka was going for a complete game shutout and Arai led off Tigers ninth with a single to centre. Saka hit to first grounding out but moving Arai to second. Then Fujii popped up to short. Finally, Hiyama (pinch hitter) flew out to right to end the game. Golden Eagles victory.

Golden Eagles had swept the Tigers 4-0 for this series. It was all very embarrassing especially as they had faced a poor pitcher the day before and then had had Tanaka on the rack twice before letting him off. One gets the feeling at the moment that there are a lot of make weights in the side and like Mayumi who used to put his favourite brown nosers in Wada is doing the same. Tigers need people who can drive in runs but just can't seem to develop them reliably and consistently. Still the break gives them a chance to regroup.