September 10th Akiyama v Kawakami - Rumblings on the horizon

Negotiations with Murton are not going well for Tigers according to accounts. The main issue is the big gap between what Murton desires and what Tigers have put on the table in terms of income. There is also a subsidiary issue of Murton feeling that he doesn't get enough support from the management and certainly he has looked dissatisfied in recent games. Indeed he might even be interested in revisiting the MLB offers he turned down last time. It would be a big loss for Tigers but only to be expected. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R  H E
Dragons  1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  0  0  0 2  9 0
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  0  0  0 2 11 2

Starting Lineups

Dragons
1. Ohshima (Centre)
2. Clark (First)
3. Morino (Second)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Hirata (Right)
6. Shuhei Takahashi (Third)
7. Tanishige (Catcher)
8. Naomichi Donue (Short)
9. Kawakami (Pitcher)

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

Akiyama would do well but not in the first. With one out Clark got hold of a fork and hit it into the right stand for a solo home run 1-0 Dragons. Morino popped up to Arai but then Wada singled. However, Hirata flew out to right. Uemoto and Shunsuke couldn't get over Kawakami. Nishioka though singled and then stole second. Toritani struck out swinging and the Dragons lead was intact. Dragons second was a much better innings for Akiyama who retired the batters in order. He pitched very well during his session and showed nice application. He should have had more support from his team and have been switched earlier but Wada's stupid pitching standards intervened again though ultimately not in the worse possible degree. Tigers had a spot of ill luck in their second. With two out Imanari woked a walk. Shimizu singled to centre pouncing on his first pitch and putting runners on first and third. The next batter was Akiyama and nothing could really be expected from him - he grounded out to third. Akiyama struck out his first two Dragons in the third but then walked Clark on a full count. Morino struck out though and the innings was over. Tigers third was quiet and no one got on base. Kawakami seemed back to his old form again.

Dragons tried to get things moving in their fourth - with one out Hirata singled. Then Shuhei Takahashi singled to set up runners on first and second. Both Tanishige and Naomichi Donue went for their first pitches which looked tempting and both fell - Tanishige flying out to centre and Naomichi Donue lining out to end the chance. Toritani led off Tigers fourth with a single. Murton hit into a double play but then Arai walked. This time Imanari faced with a runner on flew out to centre. Dragons fifth was quiet with no one getting on base. Akiyama singled to centre with one out in Tigers fifth - if only that had happened in the second. Uemoto lined out to third with Akiyama being caught off base and unable to return for the final out of the innings. Dragons clean up failed to impress in their sixth and no one got on base. Kawakami had pitched well so far but ran into real problems in the sixth. Shunsuke led the innings off with a single to centre. Nishioka flew out swinging too soon. Next was Toritani who whacked a cutball high and far to right for a two run home run 2-1 Tigers. Murton grounded out and then Arai singled left. Imanari walked again - runners on first and second but Shimizu could only pop up to second and the lead didn't increase.

Dragons seventh saw Akiyama still pitching. Wada has a fixed idea that starters must throw at least seven innings if they are doing reasonably well. This was the case with Akiyama. He was on 102 pitches and it would have been a better option to go with the relief but Wada is not able to judge this. Shuhei Takahashi latched on to a tired straight for a nice double. Tanishige bunted him to third - Dragons had gone for the safe and unadventurous option. Next was Naomichi Donue who hit a deep fly to right. There might have been an outside chance for a tag out but the throw from Imanari was a bit wild 2-2 scores tied. Takehiro Donue (pinch hitter) doubled and Wada decided to change pitchers. At least he was able to recognise this moment. Katoh took over but what was more worrying was the replacement of Shimizu by Fujii behind the plate. Fujii has been more than usually bad recently and one would have thought that leaving Shimizu who had done an excellent job in was the right option. Still Fujii whilst mediocre didn't screw up. Ohshima was the batter and he struck out. Tigers seventh was pitched by Tajima who retired the batters in order. It was a disappointing innings. Katoh struck out Clark in Dragons eighth but then Morino hit to Uemoto who spilled the ball for an error. Runner on first. This brought another pitching change with Andoh taking over. He Wada to fly out to right but Hirata singled right. This put runners on first and third and looked threatening however, Shuhei Takahashi hit straight to Toritani for the final out ending the innings. Asao took over for Tigers and initially got Nishioka to ground out. Then things went a bit wild. Toritani walked and made second on a wild pitch. Then Murton walked; Arai walked - bases loaded with one out. Asao was in a fix. Hiyama (pinch hitter) was next and all that was needed was a sacrifice. However, Asao was now pitching at his best and with Tanishige calling an outside pitch Asao went inside on a 1-2 count. Tanishige had to track back rapidly to take the ball which if he had missed would have been a wild pitch. Still it was a lovely fork and had the desired effect. Hiyama swung and missed - strike out. Saka (pinch hitter) swung and popped up into foul ground. There was some confusion and it needed a good dive from Naomichi Donue to take the innings ending catch. Dragons had escaped. Amazingly Wada got something right - Fukuhara pitched Dragons ninth and was good retiring the batters in order. Madrigal pitched Tigers ninth and ran into problems as well. With two out Shunsuke singled. Nishioka singled to put runners on first and second. Toritani was walked to load the bases and things were up to Murton. He also struck out and the innings was scoreless taking the game into extra innings.

Kubo pitched Dragons tenth and got Ohshima to fly out to right. Clark popped up to third which was dropped by Nishioka putting a runner on first. Yoshikawa (replacement second) bunted the runner to second and the pressure was off - two outs and the next batter Wada. He grounded out to third with Nishioka making no mistake this time. Tigers tenth saw Iwase take the mound. Arai hit left and was bunted to second by Asai (replacement right). Then Sekimoto was deliberately walked to get at Fujii. With runners on first and second the Tigers catcher hit into the double play trap that had been set up for him. The bunt had been a waste of course. Kubo took over for Dragons eleventh. With one out in Dragons eleventh Shuhei Takahashi singled. No bunt followed but the next two batters were unable to do anything and Shuhei Takahashi stayed on first. Akifumi Takahashi took over for Tigers eleventh and after all the excitement of the previous innings retired the batters in order with no one getting on base. Two strike outs started Dragons twelfth. Then Clark singled right. It was Dragons last chance but Yoshikawa flew out to centre. Dragons couldn't win the game but they could lose it. It all started well for Tigers with Toritani leading off the twelfth with a single to centre. Murton grounded out to second which took Toritani to second base. Arai was walked - he was too dangerous to pitch too - runners on first and second. Then Kanoh (replacement right) managed to activate the double play trap yet again and the game was over. Tied game.

This was only the third Tigers tied game this season and honours were about even. Tigers batting fell for the double play trap too often though but it had been a good pitching performance. Interestingly Tigers had not faced Kawakami since 2008 and even now still found him difficult to deal with. Giants continue their march to the pennant and Tigers continue to flounder around as Wada finds more and more ways to demonstrate that he is totally out of his depth. Still they didn't lose this one which is progress of sorts.