May 6th Atchison v Takahashi - Runs continue to flow

Another indifferent performance by Atchison still saw him get the victory. Backed by Tigers bats and a big innings he had enough. Giants fought hard but in the end lacked the spark on the day. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers 0 1 0 5 0 0 2 0 0 8 13 0
Giants 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 12 1

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

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

Tigers started with Akahoshi flying out but Hirano hit and then stole second. However, Kanemoto grounded out and the innings was scoreless. In the Giants first, Ogasawara hit but nothing came of this. The second started with Imaoka back as a starting member and he slammed a full count ball into the left stand for a home run 1-0 Tigers. No one else got on base and the innings ended quietly. The Giants second was likewise quiet with the side being retired in order. Tigers third was also quiet which all lead to the Giants third and Atchison's deterioration. He gave up a hit to Wakiya who was bunted to second by Takahashi. Then the next batter, Kamei hit driving in Wakiya 1-1 scores level. Kamei tried to steal second but was thrown out. Then Sakamoto hit and finally Ogasawara flew out to end the innings.

Tigers response was immediate. Arai hit and Kanemoto followed with a two base, runners on second and third with no outs. Imaoka was next with a sacrifice fly 2-1 Tigers. Next Toritani - a hit, Kanemoto was home 3-1 Tigers. Yano hammered a two base runners on second and third with one out. At this point Takahashi was replaced by Nishimura but to no avail. Sekimoto hit a sacrifice fly to left and Toritani was home 4-1 Tigers. Atchison was next and hit his first RBI in Japan 5-1 Tigers. Akahoshi walked and then Hirano hit along the first baseline. This was missed by Ogasawara (and ruled an error) and it was 6-1 Tigers runners on second and third with two outs. Arai struck out to end the innings and Tigers had a comfortable lead. How would Atchison respond. Very badly as it turned out.

He started with a two base hit to left for Ramirez. Then a centre hit for Abe 6-2 Tigers runner on first with no outs. Next up Gonzalez who got hold of a low pitch to slam a straight two run home run 6-4 Tigers. A mound conference followed and Atchison got Tani to ground out to second. Wakiya flew out and the final batter Nishimura (who Hara decided to keep as pitcher) flew out to Arai. Not a good inning but he had preserved the lead. The Tigers fifth was quiet and seemed to indicate that Hara had got it right in retaining Nishimura. Atchison pitched the fifth and managed to avoid anything except an Ogasawara hit. In the Tigers sixth, Sekimoto hit but then the pinch hitter Saka (Okada having decided that five innings of Atchison were enough) hit towards the pitcher. Nishimura threw to second to get Sekimoto but the throw to first was a bit slow and Saka was safe. Akahoshi grounded out to Gonzalez at second to end the innings. Watanabe took the sixth and was generally comfortable except for a two base hit to Tani. However, there were already two outs and it was a straightforward job to get the next batter Wakiya to ground out and end the innings.

Nishimura was replaced and Fujita took the mound for the Tigers seventh. It started unauspiciouly with a Hirano two base, once again along the first baseline (he seems to like the baselines). Runner on second no outs. Arai flew out and up next was Kanemoto. He hit a two base to right and Hirano was home 7-4 Tigers. Imaoka flew out to left but then Toritani drove a hit straight past Fujita into centre and Kanemoto was home 8-4 Tigers. Next Abe managed to mess up an inside take so Toritani stole second but Yano struck out to end the innings. Watanabe continued the seventh and got the first out but then Okada switched to Egusa. He got both Kamei and Sakamoto to fly out to end the innings. The Tigers eighth was quiet with all three batters grounding out.

For the Giants eighth Okada picked Kubota - no doubt reasoning he needed the practice. He started OK with Ogasawara flying out. Then Ramirez hit. Next up Abe struck out looking - a sign of the old Kubota who had worked the count and then unleashed an inside fastball which had Abe totally confounded. Two outs but Gonzalez hit to left - a two base. Runners on second and third, not so good. What would Tani do? He has a capacity to hit but Kubota got him to ground out safely to Sekimoto at third and end the innings without damage. Aida, who had pitched the Tiger's eighth pitched the ninth and was not so comfortable. Hirano hit and this brought up Arai. He managed to hit into a double play and next was Kanemoto. He hit to right. Kamei took it cleanly and threw to second but Kanemoto kept on going - safe! Nice running. Fujimoto was brought in as pinch hitter but grounded out to end the innings. Kubota continued in the ninth. The first two outs went down easily enough but then Kamei was able to put a two base hit to right. Next batter Sakamoto who grounded out to end the innings - Tigers victory.

Good judgement by Okada. He had included Imaoka after a long break and the third base had responded with two RBIs one of which was a home run. Pitchers had not been pushed beyond their limits but switched in good time. The side is currently strong and everyone is contributing. Giants were simply overwhelmed on the day.

I've been really impressed with the runs we've been scoring. Timely hitting (or lack of) is what killed us last year. What's interesting is we're doing it without the long ball. We must be last or close to last in the league in home runs, but we have been scoring a lot. A good sign!

I suspect the long ball will eventually come. The run flow is encouraging though.

I'm not too concerned about the long ball. Teams that rely on it too much sometimes get shut down in the playoffs. So I like the way we are scoring now--lots and lots of timely hitting. I don't see us hitting a lot of home runs this year. Kanemoto has lost a lot of power, so I see him getting around 20. Unless Arai gets really hot, he might be about the same. Other than that, I can't see anyone else hitting double digits. But I'll take the runs and the wins any way they come!