September 6th Nohmi v Sawamura - Hiyama retires

The big news today was the announcement by Hiyama that he was retiring at the end of the season. A superlative pinch hitter he will leave a big hole in Tigers offence. A strong performance by Nohmi who was overpitched yet again by Wada but was paired with Shimizu who has emerged as a very promising prospect behind the plate. To be cynical expect him to get shunted aside for one of the has beens next year. Wada's obsession with playing Uemoto come what may saw Nishioka moved to third and Murton to fifth with Arai dropped. This wasn't such a bad step as Arai has been sulking a bit and not really performing. The obsession with Uemoto though is dangerous - he is not worth his place in the side but managed to look like a lead off this game. Toritani also looked like a No. 4 for the first time - hitting everything that he was offered though whether this was because he was at Koshien is still an open question. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4  9 2
Tigers  1 0 2 0 3 2 0 0 X 8 13 1

Starting Lineups

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

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Shunsuke (Centre)
3. Nishioka (Third)
4. Toritani (Short)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Imanari (Right)
7. Ryota Arai (First)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

It was always going to be a hard game for Nohmi and he was superbly marshalled by Shimizu. He started well and despite a single to centre with two outs from Abe, Murata was induced to fly out and end the innings. Sawamura despite his smug appearance looks a very tired pitcher. His looseness to Uemoto resulted in a double to right centre. Shunsuke bunted him to third and then Nishioka hit the sacrifice fly deep to left to bring in the run 1-0 Tigers. Next was Toritani who skied one just behind third. Both Murata and Terauchi went for it and collided with the ball landing beside them fair. Toritani took third and the throw from Murata was understandably inept allowing him to take third. Sawamura struck out Murton though which showed a good ability to handle the stress. Giants were in attacking mode and Takahashi and Sakamoto both flew out to centre. Lopez kept his swing low and singled. Terauchi walked on a full count to set up runners on first and second but the Sawamura was next and he hit his first pitch to short to end the innings. Buoyed up by this he struck out Imanari and Ryota but was surprised by Shimizu who doubled left. Like the top of the innings the last batter was the pitcher who struck out swinging to end the innings. Giants third was quiet - no one got on base. Sawamura was having trouble with Uemoto and walked him to lead off Tigers third. Once again Wada had to waste an out having Shunsuke bunt him to second. Nishioka singled to second and put runners on first and third. This could have been a scoring shot if Shunsuke had hit. Toritani was next and came through nicely threading the ball over first and past second for a timely single 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Murton banged the ball to centre for the sacrifice fly 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Imanari managed to strike out in three.

Tigers were sitting on a nice lead but needed to hold it against the inevitable counter attack. The Giants fourth started with Murata drawing a walk. Next was Takahashi who took a swing at a straight and got a lucky impact with the ball flying over the left fence for a two run home run 3-2 Tigers. Sakamoto singled but then Lopez flew out to Imanari in foul ground. With one down and Terauchi at the plate Sakamoto tried to steal second. Shimizu hit Toritani with pinpoint accuracy allowing a nice formal tag out. Terauchi then fell looking to end the innings and preserve the Tigers lead. Ryota fell first but Shimizu doubled again - this time to left centre. Nohmi grounded out to the pitcher and then so did Uemoto without Shimizu being able to move off first. With one out in Giants fifth Chono singled left. Kamei's ground out took him to second but Abe also hit to second and was the final out. Sawamura finally fell apart in Tigers fifth. Shunsuke led the innings off with a single to left. Nishioka grounded out to second - it wasn't going to be a double play but the ground out was on. Instead Lopez dropped the ball and Tigers had runners on first and second. Sawamura though was rattled and his first pitch a slightly high straight was slammed into the right stand by Toritani for a three run home run 6-2 Tigers, just what a No. 4 should be doing. Murton singled right and before he could rack up a record score Sawamura was replaced by Anan. At this point there were no outs but Asai (pinch hitter and replacement right) bunted Murton to second. Ryota struck out and then Shimizu grounded out to short to end the innings. Still Tigers were comfortable. Giants sixth saw two outs go down and then Sakamoto singled left. This didn't help as Lopez hit deep but the ball died and Asai took a comfortable catch near the fence. Tigers sixth saw Anan disintergrate - Nohmi who was due to pitch the seventh walked. Anan let go a wild pitch but really Abe was asleep on the job and this took Nohmi to second. Uemoto singled to centre which put runners on first and third - after his problems in an earlier season Nohmi wasn't going to hustle. Shunsuke hit to first but the only option open to the Giants was to throw to first - Sakamoto had done well to take the ball but couldn't turn the double play and couldn't prevent Nohmi making home 7-2 Tigers, runner on second. Nishioka grounded out to third which brought up Toritani who stroked the ball beautifully to left for a timely single 8-2 Tigers, runner on first. It was his second five RBI game. Murton hit to third but a superb stop by Murata ended the innings.

Wada it seems is incapable of learning and it was only because of some luck that Tigers escaped the Giants seventh without damage. With one out Sanematsu (pinch hitter) walked. Then Chono singled left - runners on first and second. Kamei was too quick and swung at his first pitch hitting into a double play to end the innings. Fukuda pitched Tigers seventh and retired the batters in order. With a six run lead Tigers didn't need to try too hard. Katoh took over for Tigers eighth and did well retiring the Giants clean up 1-2-3. Tigers eighth saw Kanoh (pinch hitter) and Uemoto strike out swinging but then Shunsuke singled right. Nishioka also singled right - runners on first and second. However, this time Toritani struck out looking. This given his contribution could be forgiven. Fukuhara took over for Giants ninth, mainly to give him a chance to turn his arm over and get the rust out of his system. He needed it. He managed to walk Sakamoto in four to start the innings. Then Fujimura hit straight to Toritani who threw wild and managed to put runners on second and third. Ishii (pinch hitter) struck out looking but Bowker (pinch hitter) was made of sterner stuff and hit to left centre bringing home both runners 8-4 Tigers, runner on second. Chono singled right to put runners on first and third with one out and finally Fukuhara had worked the rust out of his system. The next two batters, Kamei and Abe went down swinging and the game was over. Tigers victory.

Excellent work by Tigers but once again gross stupidity on the part of Wada. Nohmi had picked up the victory but looked exhausted. There is no point tiring out your pitchers because you hold obsolete and stupid views. Great showing by Toritani and some wonderful amusement at the expense of the Giants. It is very sad news about Hiyama though but he has decided to go out when he is ready.