July 14th Fujinami v Miura - Not too shabby

After his brain dead disaster of the previous game Wada restored both Imanari and Saka to their respective positions and used Ryota as a pinch hitter and replacement third. This worked like a dream but his restoration of Fujii didn't - the Tigers catcher was dismal behind the plate with BayStars batters being able to hit early and get on base no matter who the pitcher. Fujinami and Katoh had the talent to survive (just) but Boyer was too new and suffered. Tigers still won the game and taking seven out of the past eight games can be said to be a highly successful run. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 12 0
Tigers    0 0 0 0 0 7 0 1 X 8 10 0

Starting Lineups

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Second)
2. Yamazaki (Short)
3. Morgan (Centre)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Nakamura (Third)
6. Kinjoh (Left)
7. Aranami (Right)
8. Takajoh (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

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

The first was smooth for Tigers with Fujinami retiring the batters in order. In fact it was very much of a wait and see innings as no one made any bold moves and Fujinami pitched competently. In Tigers first Yamato worked a one out walk and then made second on Toritani's ground out to short. Unfortunately, Murton grounded out to short as well. Watching Miura one can see a gradually fading pitcher. There are still flashes of the old brilliance which would manifest themselves this game in his pitching to Arai but he is becoming more and more ordinary. BayStars managed to completely screw up their second innings after really blowing Fujinami open. They wouldn't get another chance. Blanco started the innings well with a hard hit solo home run 1-0 BayStars. Why Fujinami threw a straight in the middle of the zone to a batter of Blanco's ability is a mystery. Incidentally Blanco is on course to smash the false Oh home run record. Let's hope it finally happens and that this embarrassment is finally and decently buried. Then Nakamura doubled left which brought up Kinjoh. He actually went to bunt but then on his fourth pitch thought better of the stupidity and slammed the ball to right for a double. Amazingly, Nakamura ambled from second to third and stopped. He is slow it is true but even he could have made home. It wasn't that Imanari could have taken the catch - he wasn't in position for it. It was just that Nakamura slipped up and so BayStars had runners on second and third with no outs. A gift like this doesn't come that often and Tigers didn't waste it. Aranami struck out swinging and then Takajoh grounded out to Fujinami. The final batter was Miura who also struck out swinging. BayStars should have had more. Tigers second started with a single to Arai over the infield into centre. The next three batters, though, were rapidly out and Miura at least was dominant in this stage of the game. Fujinami was much more in control in BayStars third and the batters fell in order. Miura returned the complement in Tigers third disposing of the three batters he faced. To be honest one felt he was mainly pitching on reputation and that he was there to be hit.

Blanco led off BayStars fourth with a walk studiously ignoring the tempting pitches dangled in front of him. Nakamura hit to left where a superb diving catch by Saka plucked the ball out of the air just before it hit the ground. Kinjoh then hit to Toritani for the double play. Toritani struck out looking - a ball he should not have left. If fact a truely abysmal piece of batting. Murton was different - seeing that Miura was there to be hit he doubled very nicely to left. Arai was next and here Miura rose to the heights he used to obtain. His pitching was sublime and ended up with Arai grounding out to short. This did have the effect of taking Murton to third and hopes rested on Imanari. He hit weakly to Miura though and ended the innings. The BayStars ace would survive a bit longer. The BayStars had Fujii's calling figured and were hitting early. Their fifth started with a single off the second pitch to Aranami. In a telegraphed move he tried to steal second and Fujii's throw was to the right of the sack and perfectly placed for Toritani to tag the runner out as he slid in. Saka led Tigers fifth off with a single to centre. Now just to prove that despite changing his lineup back he is still an idiot - Wada had Fujii bunt ahead of Fujinami. The bunt worked and took Saka to second but then Fujinami grounded out to second which did take Saka to third. Nishioka was next and fouled his seventh pitch nastily onto his knee., He needed treatment but continued his at bat and grounded out as well to end the innings. Fujinami gave up a lead off bunt hit to Ishikawa and Takagi had Yamazaki bunt him to second. Tigers fans could relax. Morgan did walk but Fujinami struck out Blanco nicely with a low outside cutball. He then tried the trick again on Nakamura but Fujii missed the take and the runners advanced to second and third. Nakamura then tried to go deep but flew out to Murton to end the innings. Miura finally fell apart in Tigers sixth. It started with a hit by Yamato leading off the innings. This beat Nakamura but was fielded by Yamazaki. The throw was too late to prevent Yamato reaching first. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second. Miura had enough to get Murton to ground out to first but the runners moved round to second and third. Tigers held all the cards and they just needed a sacrifice fly to draw level. Miura tried to repeat his pitching of the previous at bat to Arai but couldn't and the Tigers first walked to load the bases. Next was Imanari who drove the ball straight past second and into centre field. This brought in two runners 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and third. Saka worked a walk to load the bases again - all with one out and more runs beckoning. Fujii was next and hit nicely to right to bring in another run 3-1 Tigers, bases loaded. This was the end of Miura who was plainly out of his depth by now. Ohhara replaced him and faced Hiyama. Hiyama was impatient - too impatient and swung at his first pitch flying out to first. Then we saw Ryota (replacement third, Saka having taken over at second) who announced his intention was to hit deep and far by swinging by swinging at his second pitch and just pushing it the wrong side of the left foul pole. For some reason Ohhara felt it necessary to send the next pitch in exactly the same place. It really was stupid and Ryota did the exactly the same as before but this time pushing the ball right of the foul pole for a grand slam 7-1 Tigers. Yamato round for his second at bat singled left off the shell shocked Ohhara but Toritani flew out to right.

Given their situation BayStars response was rather impressive. They had figured out Fujii and even with Katoh pitching the seventh they counter attacked. Kinjoh singled left and then Aranami hit nicely right - runners on first and second with no outs. Morimoto (pinch hitter) struck out but Miyazaki (pinch hitter) singled as well to load the bases. Tigers looked in trouble but Ishikawa hit past Katoh where the ball was fielded by Toritani and popped up to Saka who tagged second and threw to first for the innings ending double play. Kikuchi pitched Tigers seventh and had rather an easy ride retiring the batters in order. Boyer took over for BayStars eighth and started well getting Yamazaki to ground out. Morgan singled left. Blanco swung at his first pitch and broke his bat the ball rolling to second with Boyer diving to take it and missing. Saka was onto it and the second out was assured though Morgan did make second. The dive must have winded Boyer because he wasn't the same after it though once again the BayStars were hitting early and often. Nakamura got hold of his second pitch and went deep over the left fence for a two run home run 7-3 Tigers. Kinjoh singled right and then Aranami walked - runners on first and second. This brought an urgent pitching change with Andoh taking over. Once again Fujii's calling was rubbish and Tsuruoka going against trend singled left on a full count to bring in another run 7-4 Tigers, runners on first and third. Finally, Tsutsugoh (pinch hitter) grounded out to Arai at first to end the innings. Osada pitched Tigers eighth and the batters took a leaf out of BayStars book, hitting early and often. Saka led off with a single. Wada being stupid again had Fujii bunt him to second - the guy has just driven in a run; why bunt? Next was Moriata (pinch hitter) who walloped his first pitch into the left centre sweet spot. This demonstrated the pointlessness of the bunt as Saka would have made home from first on this shot 8-4 Tigers, runner on second. Ryota went for the big hit again and struck out swinging and then Yamato flew out to right to end the innings. Fukuhara pitched the BayStars ninth and enjoyed an anti-climatic innings. Perhaps because he mostly ignores Fujii's calls he was immune to the problems faced by the other pitchers with one exception. He got Ishikawa to ground out to Sekimoto at third (replacing Ryota) and then Sekmoto took a wonderful low catch to dismiss Yamazaki. Fukuhara then followed Fujii's directions and walked Morgan. He looked pretty disgusted at that. Blanco was next and Fukuhara went his own way striking out Blanco in three, the strike out ball being a vicious rising straight. Game over and Tigers victory.

With Giants losing Tigers moved to within 1.5 games of the lead. They had batted well and the restored Saka and Imanari had made the difference. Proper use of Ryota had also paid dividents. BayStars had lacked the pitching to hold Tigers - their batting matched the home side and in fact they hit more than Tigers particularly attacking the early pitches of each at bat. Tigers though destroyed Miura and then the BayStars relief and their batters efforts were never quite enough. Tigers now stay at Koshien for a crucial series agains the Giants who are coming off a three game loosing sweep to the Dragons.