September 22nd Akiyama v Ogawa - Giants win the Central League

Filthy little Swallows - I want to wring their scrawny little necks (to paraphrase Gollum). Actually, Tigers really managed to shoot themselves in the foot. Shimizu was terrible behind the plate and had to be replaced by Hidaka who was terrible on the bases - more on that later. This defeat meant that the Giants became the Central League champions and that Wada had failed again after being handed a rather good team at the beginning of the season. Once again we saw a rather strange pitching change - who thought Kubota was the right pitcher for the seventh in a tied game? His throw to first recalled a Rakuten game around 2006 in which he blew a victory through his carelessness. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Swallows  2 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 7  8 1
Tigers    1 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 6 12 2

Starting Lineups

Swallows
1. Yamada (Second)
2. Ueda (Centre)
3. Kawabata (Third)
4. Balentien (Left)
5. Yuichi (First)
6. Iihara (Right)
7. Morioka (Short)
8. Nakamura (Catcher)
9. Ogawa (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Saka (Third)
3. Murton (Left)
4. Toritani (Short)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Ryota Arai (First)
7. Shibata (Centre)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Akiyama (Pitcher)

Shimizu is a conventional catcher which is why he's preferred to Komiyama. This conventionality does occasionally get him into trouble though he shows far more ability than Fujii or Hidaka both of whom are conventional and mediocre. Still Shimizu wasn't good this game and didn't work well with Akiyama or any of the pitchers. Akiyama seemed unable to comprehend Shimizu's calls and was disappointing to say the least. He had one out when Ueda singled to centre. Ueda stole second but Akiyama after getting ahead in the count let it slip and walked Kawabata - runners on first and second. Balentien he struck out with a low fork, one of the few times catcher and pitcher were in unision but then he walked Yuichik to load the bases. His next pitch was too high, far higher than Shimizu had called and Iihara was able to easily turn it into left for a timely hit bringing in two runs 2-0 Swallows, runners on first and second. Morioka struck out swinging but it hadn't been an auspicious start. Nishioka was a bit too keen to get back into the game - if he had waited he could have gotten on base. He grouned out to second but then Saka singled. Murton singled - runners on first and second. Toritani walked to load the bases which brought up Fukudome - Arai sitting out the game because of his poor performance. Fukudome hit to second where Yamada fumbled the ball and by the time he recovered it could only throw to second for the force out. Fukudome was safe and Saka was home 2-1 Swallows, runners on first and third. Tigers needed something from Ryota but he would be ineffective all game and struck out swinging. Still the margin was successfully reduced to just one run. Swallows second was quiet - Akiyama and Shimizu weren't really working that well together but there was enough here for the three outs. Tigers second and Shibata who is welcome as a replacement for the ineffective Itoh grounded out but Shimizu singled left. Next was Akiyama who Wada had bunt. It was a failure and Akiyama was out with three failed bunts. Then Akiyama grounded out to short to end the innings. Swallows third saw more of the non communication which dogged the Tigers throughout this match. Ueda managed to single left and then Kawabata singled right to put runners on first and second. Balentien was induced by a tempting straight to swing and flew out to first. Yuichi hit his first pitch to left and prompt action by Murton kept the runner on second. Everything was going well but Akiyama had to mess it up again. Once again he was too high to Iihara who slashed this gift right. Fukudome intercepted and threw in but Ryota the chump got in the way and caught the ball. It all meant that any chance of cutting the runner off at the plate was gone as Ryota wouldn't be able to turn quickly enough and Ueda was home 3-1 Swallows, runners on first and second. Morioka hit to centre but flew out to end the innings. Tigers third was disappointing and the batters fell in order with no one getting on base.

Swallows fourth was quiet and maybe just maybe things had settled down. In Tigers fourth Ryota walked He was forced out by Shibata who stole second rather neatly but Shimizu struck out to end the innings. Two outs went down in Swallows fifth and then Balentien walked. Yuichi hit to third where Saka made an awful throw to first which pulled Ryota off base and put runners on first and second. This time Akiyama was able to strike out Iihara swinging to end the innings. Tigers fifth was quiet with no one getting on base. We did though see Uemoto pinch hitting for Akiyama whom Nakanishi and Wada had had enough of. It was a rare example of a Tigers starter not being over-pitched. Boyer pitched Swallows sixth and working well though Morioka presented unexpected resistance for the first out was able to get the three outs needed and avoid base runners. Tigers sixth started promisingly with Murton singling to centre just beating the dive of Yamada. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second. This wasn't a case of him avoiding hitting but being pitched unhittable pitches. Ogawa was tiring and Fukudome took full advantage of this hitting into the Koshien right centre sweet spot. Murton was home and Toritani also raced home 3-3 scores tied, runner on second. That was a truely remarkable comeback. Tigers though as they would do throughout this game failed to exploit the advantage. Ryota struck out and then Shibata hit to centre. This time Yamada was able to make a good diving take and pop the ball up to Morioka at second which caught Fukudome off base for the final out of the innings.

Having drawn level we had to have our game's quota of Wada folly. This came in the form of Kubota pitching the innings. Not a pitcher I would choose for the Swallows seventh now given that this wasn't extra innings. I would have started the innings with Katoh and probably gotten out of it without damage. Kubota was loose to Yamada who got enough of a too high straight to hit it into centre. Shibata had to jump to field but Yamada was very quick round the bases and was able to take second. Here Ogawa-kantoku had Ueda bunt which should have been a totally stupid move. Instead the boot was on the other foot. Ueda bunted in the direction of third and Yamada set off. Kubota fielded and as per Shimizu's signal threw to first. His throw was abysmal and was missed by Saka (Ryota had been replaced). Yamada used the chance to make home and Ueda took second 4-3 Swallows. It was a shock to say the least. Kawabata flew out to first in foul ground but then Kubota pitched terribly and walked Balentien - runners on first and second. This saw the end of Kubota who was replaced by Katoh. He faced Yuichi who hit a low straight (exactly where Shimizu wanted it) over the fence for a three run home run 7-3 Swallows. A large number of Tigers fans let off their jetto's in disgust at this. The innings was a disaster for the Tigers and Shimizu's calling had been less than acceptable. Iihara flew out to right but Morioka walked. Finally, Nakamura grounded out to short. However, Ogawa-kantoku was determined to let Tigers back into the game and instead of resting his tired pitcher he put him back in for the Tigers seventh. Wada had decided that Shimizu should go and being Wada that meant the abysmal Hidaka behind the plate. He started off well leading off the innings with a double to right centre though this was as much to do with centre and right's confusion as to who should take the ball. Next was Sekimoto (replacement third) who hit high over third. Once again there was hesitation about who should take the ball and it was eventually fielded by Balentien who fired it to second but failed to prevent Sekimoto reaching the base. In the meantime the lazy Hidaka had only managed to make third - still runners on second and third with no outs. Nishioka was next and hit a line drive which looked good but stayed up and was taken by Iihara. This was a great chance for a sacrifice but Hidaka didn't go for home yet again and stayed on third. This really was poor base running. He should have been pinch run for by Komiyama who could have taken over behind the plate far more effectively. Saka hit deep to centre where Ueda took the catch and finally Hidaka lumbered home a disgrace to Tigers colours 7-4 Swallows, runner on second. Murton singled left and Sekimoto raced home - non of Hidaka's nonsense for him 7-5 Tigers and the Swallows margin suddenly didn't look so great. This was the end of Ogawa who shouldn't have been pitching the seventh anyway and Kyuko took over. He gave up a single to Toritani - runners on second and third. Fukudome followed but this time only flew out to centre to end the innings. Kubo pitched Swallows eighth and pitching to Hidaka almost blew things again. Miyamoto (pinch hitter) led off with a single. Yamada bunted Kawasaki (pinch running for Miyamoto and replacement left) to second and then Ueda walked. Kawabata singled left but Kawasaki was held up on third - bases loaded with one out. Balantien struck out to a fork and then Yuichi hit towards first where it was fielded by Saka and popped up to Kubo who had run over and stepped on the plate. Now if Ogawa-kantoku hadn't laid down that stupid bunt to take the runner to second a run would have resulted from the play. Yamamoto pitched Tigers eighth and gave up a lead off hit left to Shunsuke (replacement right). This bounced and Kawasaki fumbled and missed the ball allowing Shunsuke to take second. Shibata flew out to left and Hidaka grounded out to second which had the benefit of taking Shunsuke to third. Then Sekimoto hit nicely into left to bring home the runner 7-6 Swallows, runner on first. He was pinch run for Tagami. Nishioka was the next batter and singled into centre. At that point Tagami had set off to steal second and continued round the base to take third. However, a pinpoint throw from Ueda who surprised everyone with his accuracy landed perfectly for Kawabata who tagged Tagami as he slid in for the final out. It was unfortunate for Tigers. Matsuda pitched Swallows ninth and ignored a lot of Hidaka's calls which was probably just as well. He was successful retiring the batters in order. Tigers ninth was just a disappointment for Tigers fans - they had hoped for more but Ishiyama kept his cool and retired the batters in order. Swallows victory.

Tigers had fought hard but their own mistakes and incompetence on the bases had cost them. A failure of the battery to communicate and the use of Hidaka round the bases had given Swallows the edge. Of course we must not forget Shimizu's abysmal calling. Now Tigers have to fight hard to retain second as Carp are getting closer and there are enough games for the Hiroshima outfit to overhaul Tigers. That would be ingnominious but the way Tigers are playing is entirely within the bounds of possibility.