August 2nd Standridge v Sawamura - The joyous hug

It is safe to say that Fujii isn't really considered a Tiger by the fans. He is seen as a mediocre has been catcher brought in by traditional and stupid management. Normally, the Tigers have a habit of attracting superannuated has beens and playing them in the top team. Occasionally, they do have a clean out and produce winning sides but mostly any player nearing the end of their career can pick up a berth in the Tigers lineup. There have been attempts to make Fujii popular, there was a paid cheering section in the Koshien oendan and the marketing department came up with the idea of 'hansomu Fujii' to indicate that he was a good chap with a sense of humour. The former has lapsed and the latter fell flat. It was a complete failure. Other attempts to make Fujii popular have been the intensive working on his batting to disguise his indifferent catching and the neglect of the other catchers. Fujii himself is an arse licker and has worked to squeeze out more qualified rivals like Komiyama. So despite all this it is actually rather nice to report that rarity a superb Fujii performance behind the plate. This game he was perfect in his calling directing Standridge with a secure and experienced eye. If only he could be like this all the time one would be happy to have him as lead catcher. At the end of the game Standridge grabbed him and swung him off his feet hugging the little guy with joy and he certainly deserved it. It had been a brilliant display of catching. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

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

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

Saka started the game by flying out but Yamato worked a walk. Toritani doesn't do bunts so we were spared that ignominy for the moment. He did manage to ground out to third allowing Yamato to reach second safely. Then Murton hit nicely to right bringing in Yamato 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Arai flew out to centre to end the game. Standridge hasn't had the best of seasons so far and has been let down by both catching and batting and himself. However, he does already have a complete game shutout against the Giants at Tokyo Dome and the game itself is a special one. He set about the top of the Giants batting order efficiently and effectively retiring the batters in order. Sawamura after his first innings struggle was able to settle down a bit and retired the Tigers batters in order. It was going to be a difficult and tight game. Standridge responded brilliantly in Giants second striking out the lead off batter, Abe, completely fooled and then Murata before walking Lopez. Bowker flew out to centre though and ended the innings. Tigers third and everyone grounded out all trying to hit left and not piercing the infield. Giants third saw more strike outs and no runners on base.

Tigers fourth was quiet with no one reaching base. Giants first challenge actually came in the bottom of the innings. Hashimoto led the innings off with a single to centre. Sakamoto flew out to centre as well but then Hashimoto stole second. Abe walked in four and Giants had runners on first and second. Then Murata had a rush of blood to the head and swung at his first pitch popping it up to Arai in foul ground. An important out and something the Giants would do at vital moments throughout the game. Lopez then hit his second pitch to Ryota for the final out of the innings. Tigers fifth saw two outs and then Fujii punched the ball left for a single. It was unfortunate that the next batter was Standridge and he could only strike out swinging. One thing though, Sawamura was already taking more pitches than Standridge. Two outs in Giants fifth and we saw Fujii's only mistake - his calls caused Standridge to walk Sawamura on a full count. However, Chono struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet with the batters going down in order. Giants sixth was another attempt to get back into the game and this also failed. Hashimoto struck out swinging but then Sakamoto hit nicely to left for a double. Next was Abe and the Giants fans began to make lots of Giants fan noises. Here Hara messed up. He signalled the steal from second to third. There was no need for this and it's a difficult steal even for speedsters and whilst Sakamoto is fast he isn't a speedster. Fujii doesn't have a good arm but even he can throw accurately (guided by that nice thick line) to third quickly. This is exactly what happened and Sakamoto head sliding in was easily tagged out by Ryota. It was a big mistake. Abe in frustration swung wildly at his next pitch and popped it up high where Fujii quickly positioned himself under the ball for the final out of the innings.

Murton led off Tigers seventh and hit to second who messed up the pick up allowing Murton on first. Arai hit to third where Murata standing well off base was able to field and fire the ball to second. Nakai threw to first but here the decision looked dubious - it seemed that Arai arrived before the throw and should have been ruled safe. However, two outs and Imanari grounded out off his first pitch ending the innings. Standridge was extremely impressive in Giants seventh and they couldn't get anyone on base. Sawamura pitched Tigers eighth and was also effective retiring the batters in order. The game was looking to be a tight Tigers victory. The Giants counter attacks had come to nought and they weren't able to break down Tigers battery at all. Standridge struck out Furuki (pinch hitter and replacement second) to start Giants eighth but then faced Takahashi (pinch hitter). Takahashi has a knack of doing well against Tigers and this game was no exception as he singled to left - this was Giants last hit of the game. He was pinch run for by Suzuki but Suzuki didn't get off first. Chono hit his first pitch to right for a fly out and then Hashimoto grounded out to end the innings. Aoki took over for Tigers ninth with the game still at 1-0. He got Saka to ground out and then Yamato lined out to third. Toritani battled and then singled to centre hitting over the infield. Here Hara made a big mistake - he decided to switch pitchers and brought Acosta on. Acosta faced Murton who took a wild swing at his third pitch. Murton was aiming for centre but the ball went off to right where Chono positioned himself by the wall to take the catch. However, the ball was too high and even Chono's jump wasn't sufficient - he couldn't have reached the ball. This useful two base allowed Toritani to rip round the bases and slide in to home safely - a timely double 2-0 Tigers, runner on second. Acosta was a bit unsettled and trying to avoid Arai ended up leaving a pitch nicely placed for Arai to murder it. This went high and far and was a huge home run into the Tigers oendan where it got the usual welcome of all Tigers home run balls. Arai tossed his bat over his shoulder before setting off round the bases - two run home run 4-0 Tigers and the killer blow. Acosta was pulled and Egarashi took over. He needed one pitch to get Shunsuke (replacement right) to ground out to end the innings. Wada had been warming up Fukuhara and Fukuhara would have pitched the ninth if the score had remained at 1-0 but with the score at 4-0 Wada as usual went with sentiment and put Standridge on for the final innings. Standridge had already thrown 110 pitches and so it was a bit of a risk but a complete game shutout against the Giants is just too tempting. Giants ninth worked out well. Sakamoto leading off hit his first pitch to Toritani for the ground out setting the tone for the innings. Abe lasted a bit longer but swung too soon and popped up to Toritani and then Murata went right straight into the glove of Shunsuke to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers still trail Giants by 6.5 games but it was a big victory. Standridge got the hero interview but Fujii should have been up there with him - he had really been that good. Standridge though paid full credit to Fujii's role with the hug and the comments afterwards. He also mentioned how vital Arai's home run had been and indeed it had crushed the Giants. Now if only Fujii can call like this tonight and tomorrow Tigers will be on a roll.