March 30th Enokida v Ohtake - Nishioka gets injured

A fearsome collision between Fukudome and Nishioka in Giants second left one worrying for the Tigers second base. Going back for the ball Nishioka failed to notice Fukudome coming in and was upended landing on the back of his head. Disturbingly even though he was concious he didn't move his head and Tokyo Dome staff had to hold it upright whilst an ambulance was called. The ground staff didn't even attempt to move Nishioka from the field and left it to the paramedics in the ambulance. Reports from hospital though indicate a broken nose, dislocated shoulder and bruised chest. Nothing more serious one is thankful to say. The incident put a damper on Tigers performance and Giants ran out easy winners of the game with Tigers pitching and catching once again cruelly exposed. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1  3  9 0
Giants  0 4 0 0 0 3 5 0 X 12 17 1

Starting Lineups

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

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

Hara's reshuffled lineup would eventually prove highly successful and Ohtake would pitch a good game. He started nicely retiring the Tigers batters in order. Enokida also started smoothly with the Giants 1-2-3 representing no challenge. Things started to happen in the Tigers second. Gomez singled left and then Murton also singled left to set up runners on first and second. Imanari hit a grounder to first and the runners advanced to second and third. Then Fukudome grounded out to second and Kataoka checked to make sure that Gomez was not going to try for home before throwing to first for the second out. Fujii was next and Abe and Ohtake deliberately walked him to load the bases and get at Enokida. The fans had started to sing the Fujii song but gave up when it was clear he was being walked - why waste your breath. Enokida duly struck out to end the innings. Murata led Giants second off with a double to left - he slid in nicely as the throw came in from Murton. Lopez grounded out to short moving Murata to third and then Abe struck out swinging. Next was Sakamoto who hit into right to bring home Murata 1-0 Giants runner on first. Enokida was already beginning to disintergrate and Fujii had no answer. Hashimoto singled to set up runners on first and second which brought up Ohtake. Really one didn't see him as much of a threat but he was aggressive and hit a bloop fly into right. Both Fukudome and Nishioka went for it and collided accidentally. Fukudome was able to continue after a while but Nishioka was stretchered off the field with the results detailed in the introduction above. The upshot was that the ball was not taken and both runners made home with Ohtake on third 3-0 Giants. A long break followed before the game resumed. Chono took two strikes before singling left to bring in Ohtake 4-0 Giants, runner on first. Kataoka took a dead ball on his leg setting up runners on first and second but Anderson finally grounded out to Saka (replacement second) to end an eventful innings. Ohtake gave up a one out single to Yamato in Tigers third. Yamato advanced to second on Saka's ground out but Gomez flew out to centre and Tigers riposte was stillborn. Enokida by now was really pitching poorly and walked Murata to start Giants third. Gomez flew out and then Abe singled. Next Sakamoto singled loading the bases. Hashimoto hit a low fly to centre which Yamato took nicely and then the latter fired a strong throw into Fujii. Murata had tagged up and as he slid in was tagged out by Fujii. This time we got full replays and were able to see that the tag was applied to Murata's leg before he was able to get it down onto the plate. Some nice work by the Tigers catcher which ended the innings.

In Tigers fourth Murton struck out swinging and then Imanari hit right. Fukudome drove towards Lopez who fumbled the ball and let it get past him putting runners on first and third. Fujii hit deep to right and Imanari tagged up and was home 4-1 Giants, runner on first. Takahiro Arai (pinch hitter for Enokida and replacement third) was next but all he could do was ground out to end the innings. Kaneda replaced Enokida and was not particularly impressive; Ohtake led off Giants fourth hitting to Toritani at short. Toritani gloved the ball but dropped it - this error though was classed as a hit, a bit over generously. Ohtake made first and then Kaneda to the exasperation of Fujii sprayed balls willy nilly around Chono walking him in four - runners on first and second. Kataoka struck out swinging and then Anderson swung and bounced the ball in front of him with Fujii taking it and throwing to first. The runners took second and third. Murata walked in four - another poor piece of pitching but this time Gomez grounded out to short to end the danger. Tigers were surviving and still in with a chance. Tigers third saw two outs go down before Saka hit to Murata who also messed things up. This was once again generously ruled as a hit but didn't help Tigers as Gomez struck out swinging. Surprisingly Kaneda returned for Giants fifth and struck out Abe. Sakamoto singled but Hashimoto hit back to Kaneda who was able to throw to second for the double play. Tigers sixth saw Umeno pinch hit for Fukudome and single with two out. Fujii grounded out to short and Umeno took over the catching. The pitcher chosen for Giants sixth was Futagami who also proved to be out of his depth this game. Ohtake singled right to lead off the innings - his third hit of the game. Chono singled right and then Kataoka hit to centre to load the bases. Replacing Futagami would have been an option but it just would have meant some other poor sod getting walloped about by the Giants batters. Anderson was next and drove his first pitch into centre for a timely single. Two runs were scored 6-1 Giants, runners on first and second. Murata flew out to short and Lopez singled right to bring in another run 7-1 Giants, runners on second and third. The game was basically over as a contest. Abe flew out to second which prevented another run and then Sakamoto grounded out to short.

Ohtake returned for Tigers seventh - he had thrown 87 pitches and it seemed that he had another innings in him. Facing Arai he left his second pitch in the zone and Arai hit it sweetly into the centre left stand for a solo home run 7-2 Giants. Toritani singled right but then Yamato hit into a double play. This brought the Giants pitching coach to the mound - it was the end of Ohtake's pitching seesion. He had thrown 100 pitches and had done enough to ensure a comfortable Giants victory. This kind of good sense is rare among Japanese baseball managers. Mathieson took over and started badly walking Saka on a full count - runners on first and second. He managed to strike out Gomez though and end the innings. The return of Futagami for Giants seventh was not a good idea. He immediately gave up a hit to Hashimoto and then a single to Fujimura (pinch hitter) - runners on first and second. It was time for him to be replaced and replaced he was. However, the choice of replacement did not fill one with confidence; it was Tsuru. Chono flew out in foul ground which took Hashimoto to third. Then Fujimura stole second with ridiculous ease. Takahashi was next and hit deep to centre. Yamato took a superb catch near the wall but couldn't prevent the sacrifice fly from scoring 8-2 Giants, runner on third. Tsuru was by now a quivering heap of jelly and walked Anderson. Then he walked Murata to load the bases. Next was Lopez. His third pitch was eminiently hittable and was hammered into Tigers oendan for a grand slam 12-2 Giants. Tigers fans did compete to take the ball - it is a grand slam ball after all. Amazingly Tsuru just to demonstrate his total unsuitability for the top team walked Abe in four but then was able to get Sakamoto to fly out and end the innings. Nishimura pitched Tigers eighth, no more Mathieson. The batters fell in order totally deflated and at sea. Giants eighth was still pitched by the useless Futagami who was much better this time though it must be said that the Giants batters were on cruise control. Aoki took over pitching for Tigers ninth and faced Uemoto (replacement second) who hit left centre for a solo home run. Uemoto can actually hit quite hard and this was a slight lessening of the bitter pill of defeat 12-3 Giants. The next three batters though could only ground out and the game was over. Giants victory.

The important thing was that Nishioka was not more seriously injured in what had looked a pretty horrific accident. There was no one to blame - both fielders had been focuse on the ball and only realised each other's proximity too late. The fact that it was also the first series of the season also played a part - players haven't yet sorted out the boundaries. Giants had crushed the Tigers though. Poor catching and pitching had been cruely exposed whilst the Giants had gotten a presentable start from their pitcher. Giants new foreign signings had also started very well. One can't say that any Tigers player impressed in this game though it was nice to see Arai's home run. Giants were just too strong.