May 11th Iwata v Williams - Iwata gets lucky

The Tigers lead had shrunk to one game but yesterday the Giants won. This pushed the lead back up to 1.5 games but even so Tigers did need to win. This game saw the return of JFK as Jeff Williams took the mound in the eighth innings. Fujikawa recorded his 13th save and Iwata won again but to be honest hadn't pitched very well at all. Still Tiger's relief proved far too strong for the BayStars and the losing streak stopped at only 2 games. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  8 0
Tigers   1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 X 3 10 1 

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Oyamada (Left)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Kinjoh (Centre)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Uchikawa (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Ishii (Short)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Williams (Pitcher)

Both sides were playing around with the lineups. For Tigers Hirano actually started at right, Sekimoto at second and Imaoka at third. The latter's fielding performance would be ordinary in the extreme but he scored a run which once again justified Okada's use of him in this close game. Oyamada was replaced by Ohnishi who started at right and lead off with a two base hit. This would be the pattern for the first four innings with BayStars getting runners on base (sometimes in very good situations) and being unable to convert them into runs lacking the batters to knock the runs in. Nishi bunted him to third and so it looked like a sacrifice fly was possible. Iwata was up to the challenge and struck out Kinjoh to end that possibility. He then got Murata to fly out and end the innings without damage. Tigers leadoff Akahoshi also hit but the end result would be different. He stole second and advanced to third on a Hirano ground out. Arai hit towards short and Akahoshi took off. Ishii tried to make the throw to Tsuruoka but the Tigers speedster was too fast 1-0 Tigers. All of this with one out. However, Kanemoto struck out and Imaoka grounded out to end the innings. In BayStars second Uchikawa reached first as Toritani fluffed a ground out. Next up Yoshimura hit and BayStars had runners on first and third with no outs. Surely this would result in the levelling score? No - Ishii struck out and then Tsuruoka hit into a double play, end of innings. In Tigers second Noguchi hit but nothing came of it. The BayStars third started with a Williams strike out and then Ohnishi hit again. Next up Nishi also grounded into a double play to end the innings.

Tigers third was a bit more lively. Akahoshi hit again. Hirano after fooling around with some bunts hit nicely into centre field to put himself on first and Akahoshi on third with no outs. Arai guided the ball nicely between third and short for a timely hit 2-0 Tigers. Kanemoto then drove viciously towards Uchikawa who couldn't hold the ball but it cannoned off him allowing Nishi to throw out Arai going for second but Kanemoto was safe. Uchikawa needed a bit of treatment as the ball had hit him on the wrist but he was OK. Hirano meanwhile was safely ensconsed on third. Next batter Imaoka - he also guided the ball nicely between third and short for another timely hit 3-0 Tigers. Toritani grounded out and the runners advanced to second and third but the final batter Noguchi struck out. In the BayStars fourth Kinjoh hit to Iwata who fielded and threw him out. Then Murata hit. Next Uchikawa who showing no signs of wear hit towards Imaoka. He messed up the take allowing the ball past him for a hit. Murata showed a nice turn of speed to make third. Runners on first and third with one out. Next batter was Yoshimura who struck out and then came Ishii who flew out to left - another chance wasted. Ohya though had had enough of Williams and Tigers fourth was pitched by Kobayashi who would do a much better job than his predecessor. He gave up a hit to Sekimoto but Iwata tried to bunt him to second. This was a failure, Murata was on the ball quickly, whipped it to second and then watched it fly to first for a double play. The final batter Akahoshi grounded out to end the innings.

Iwata returned for the BayStars fifth and gave up a lucky two base hit to Tsuruoka. He was bunted to third (BayStars bunting was much better today) by Kobayashi and then Ohnishi hit a long sacrifice fly to left 3-1 Tigers. With two outs though not such a great problem but then Iwata gave up a hit to Nishi and walked Kinjoh - a bit serious. Kubo came out to have a chat and then Iwata faced Murata. He had a bit more than Andoh because he was able to get the BayStars No.4 to ground out to Toritani and end the innings. Kobayashi faced a real challenge in the Tigers fifth. Hirano hit to short and beat the throw. Arai struck out but Kanemoto hit putting runners on first and third with one out. Next Imaoka and all that was needed was a sacrifice fly. He tried to guide the ball between short and third again but only succeeded in putting it straight to Ishii for an innings ending double play. You do wonder what is going on in his mind.

BayStars sixth was Watanabe (Okada having decided that another innings of Iwata was too risky. He had pitched five innings in which he had always had a runner on base and in several a runner on third). Watanabe was cool and smooth - two strike outs and a ground out. Likewise Kobayashi for the Tigers sixth - the side was retired in order. For the seventh Okada went with Kubota - the return of JFK. He also brought in Yano to catch for the elite trio. How would Kubota fare? Very nicely as it turned out he retired his three batters in order, Tsuruoka pitcher ground out, Ozeki (pinch hitter) first liner and Ohnishi swinging strike out. Ohya's choice for the Tigers seventh was Yoshimi. He gave up a two base hit to Baldris (pinch hitter) - his first hit in ichi-gun. Akahoshi flew out and Baldris was stuck on second but a Hirano ground out saw him move to third. Arai hit well but Ishii was waiting for it and the innings ended with him lining out. So to the eighth and Jeff Williams was back. Nishi hit to left but then Kinjoh hit into a double play. The final batter Murata struck out to Williams and the BayStars eighth was over. Hughes took the Tigers eighth and got Kanemoto to ground out, Imaoka to strike out looking and Toritani to ground out. So to the ninth and Fujikawa who retired the BayStars in order for a Tigers victory.

A very nice victory. BayStars had had a lot of chances but unlike Andoh Iwata had a little bit extra he could always rely on. The BayStars starter Williams was not impressive and even though Ohya pulled him early the damage was done. Once Tigers got to the elite relief stage the victory was pretty much guaranteed. Arai, Hirano and Akahoshi were all impressive but Imaoka less so. Even so Okada had crafted a valuable and important victory.

[Edited by: Christopher on May 12, 2008 1:45 PM]

Encouraging performance from Williams today. After a lucky hop lead-off hit, he got an easy double play and then a strike out on a wicked slider. Hopefully Kubota can get back in form and we can head into interleague play this month with a lot of momentum.

The pitching has been showing cracks but as long as they can manage to hold it together they should start to pick up. Pitch counts are still economical which is encouraging.

Yeah, definitely some cracks. Nohmi is back to his old self after a very strong start. We all know about Kubota's problems. Although they have had some shakier performances of late, the starters have definitely been solid enough to keep us in games.