April 4th Andoh v Takahashi - Ford's First Hero Interview

Kanemoto now has three hits to go for his 2,000. A great performance by Tigers which saw more players begin to hit. Giants despite their win yesterday really had no answer and couldn't drive their runners in. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 6 11 0
Giants 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  4 0

Starting line ups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Giants
1. Yoshinobu Takahashi (Right)
2. Kamei (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Lee (First)
6. Abe (Catcher)
7. Sakamoto (Short)
8. Wakiya (Second)
9. Hisanori Takahashi (Pitcher)

Tigers started quietly - the team was retired in order. However, Giants started well. Yoshinobu Takahashi slammed his second home run in as many matches 1-0 Giants (this, though was the last they would see of the lead). Ramirez hit but Lee who had a poor game grounded out to first. In the second Kanemoto hit, Imaoka struck out and then Toritani hit. Runners on first and third with one out. Up came Lew Ford who stroked a 1-1 ball to third for Tigers first run and his first RBI 1-1 score level. Andoh settled down in the second and retired the Giants in order. In the third Hirano hit and Arai took a foul ball but Kanemoto flew out to end the innings. The Giants third consisted of a Takahashi dead ball and nothing else and the scores were still level.

This would change in the fourth - Imaoka was lead off and he hit a home run (his first of the season) to left 2-1 Tigers. Then came Toritani who grounded out and next Ford. He hit his first home run in Japan, a quite marvelous swing 3-1 Tigers. Yano and Andoh didn't do anything and the innings ended. In the fifth Akahoshi hit but no one seemed able to get him any further and the innings ended with Akahoshi still on first. Andoh had no problems in the fifth with the Giants. In the Tigers sixth Imaoka walked. He was sharp and a marvelous piece of running saw him reach third on a nice Toritani two hit. As the fielder threw to third to try and get Imaoka, Toritani was able to advance to second as well. Takahashi was replaced by Yoshitake who faced Ford. Once again Ford hit - a nicely placed centre hit which drove in Imaoka 4-1 Tigers and Toritani to third. Next was Yano he hit a perfect right sacrifice fly and Toritani was home 5-1 Tigers.

Andoh now faced his biggest challenge of the night. Up until now he had given up only two hits (and a dead ball). His first out of the sixth was Yoshinobu Takahashi and then Kamei hit. No one was worried and Andoh battled Ogasawara for a period before the Giants batter hit and suddenly the situation was one out runners on first and second. Ramirez was next and he hit a ground ball. It was enough to get Ogasawara going for second but Ramirez was safe on first. Kamei had meanwhile reached third. Next batter Lee Seung Yeop. In a marvellous battle Andoh overwhelmed and totally confused the Giants No. 5 to strike him out looking and end the innings with no damage.

Perhaps surprisingly Okada brought Andoh back to pitch the seventh as well. He walked Abe then got the next two batters two ground out before striking out the Giants pinch hitter Inzen. A really impressive performance had seen him pitch 115 balls with only 4 hits, 1 dead ball and 1 walk giving up only one run. Togano was the Giants pitcher for the eighth and he gave up a right home run to Toritani 6-1 Tigers. Egusa took the Giants eighth and showed his good side retiring the side in order. For the Giants Fujita finished the Tigers ninth and gave up a two base hit to Hirano but nothing came of it. Kubota finished for the Tigers and had no problems disposing of the three batters he had faced.

An excellent performance by the Tigers. Giants had been out hit, out played and out pitched. Ford had knocked in three runs and received his first hero interview. He was suitably humble and created a wonderful impression. He is now playing whole matches and not being replaced for the late innings. This shows that he has become an vital part of the team. Imaoka hit his first home run as well and one hopes he will take confidence from this.

[Edited by: Christopher on Apr 4, 2008 10:19 PM]

Good to see Ford come around. He looked awful in the kaimaku series, so it was nice seeing the change last night. Now pretty much everyone is hot except Yano. It's also nice to see Kanemoto looking so good after a sub-par year last year. I was selfishly hoping he would slump so I could possibly see his 2000th hit when I go to Koshien on the 16th, but looks like he could get that against the Giants this weekend, which is even better!

I am going to the game tonight and am hoping I will see Kanemoto get the three hits he needs.

This Tigers-Giants game will be broadcast tomorrow in North America on TV-Japan cable service, at 9 a.m. EST, 12 p.m. PST. A good one to record!

Too bad you didn't see the 2000th hit, but definitely a beautiful HR. Looks like he won't get another at bat today, so will be great for him to get the big hit in the Koshien opener against the Dragons! I'm not going to Koshien until the 16th, so maybe I'll instead get to see Hiyama's 200th hit, haha kidding!