August 29th Kubo v Yamamoto - Swallows steamrollered

It was very much a case of too much power overwhelming the Swallows pitching with their starter lasting just two innings. Their relief struggled hard to hold the Tigers but even they couldn't stem what turned into a comfortable victory for the Tigers. Brazell finally broke out of his solo period with a nice three run home run and Mayumi didn't over pitch Kubo who pitched quite nicely this game. Tsuru was originally expected to start the game but Mayumi switched to Kubo - a decision which proved very wise. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    1 3 0 0 2 2 0 4 0 12 20 0
Swallows  1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2  5  9 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Kanemoto (Left)
7. Johjima (Catcher)
8. Shunsuke Fujikawa (Centre)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Iihara (Right)
4. Whitesell (First)
5. Hatakeyama (Left)
6. Aikawa (Catcher)
7. Miyamoto (Third)
8. Kawabata (Short)
9. Yamamoto (Pitcher)

Yamamoto would pitch poorly - but to be fair to him he was an inexperienced pitcher making his first start of the season. Tigers batting would enjoy the experience. Murton led off the first with a hit to left. Hirano bunted Murton to second and then Toritani hit nicely over the left infield into left bringing Murton home 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Arai who would have a quiet game flew out and Brazell who would come good later grounded out to first. Swallows bounced back straight away - Kubo fired three straight balls at Aoki and then was forced to throw strikes to avoid the walk. The first strike Aoki let go but the second was hit to right for a nice solo home run 1-1 scores tied. Kubo then retired the next three batters in order striking out two of them. Yamamoto came apart in the Tigers second innings. Facing Kanemoto he left an inviting pitch for the Tigers veteran to hit and Kanemoto dispatched a solo home run into the right stand for the lead 2-1 Tigers. Johjima was next and he turned one along the third baseline for another solo 3-1 Tigers. Yamamoto looked really upset about that one. He got Shunsuke Fujikawa to strike out looking with a fine pitch and Kubo to ground out but Murton up for his second at bat. He hit to short and Kawabata was unable to make a good throw and Murton was safe. Then Hirano hit to centre were it was picked up by Kawabata who collided with Tanaka preventing the throw - runners on first and second. Toritani was next and he drilled one nicely into centre with Murton charging home again 4-1 Tigers, runners on first and third. Toritani then tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings. This was probably a mistake - but Arai wasn't hitting so maybe no run would have resulted anyway. Swallows second was quiet with Kubo importantly retiring the batters in order to end the innings. Matsui replaced Yamamoto who had looked completely at sea for Tigers third. He was much better - retiring the first two batters before Kanemoto punched a hit into right. Johjima struck out to end the innings. The bottom of the Swallows order struck out in the bottom - Kawabata falling to a superb pitch from Kubo. Aoki couldn't repeat his feat of the first and flew out to Toritani. Whilst Tigers were recycling their batters very quickly, Swallows were struggling to do so.

Tigers fourth started with Matsui still pitching and he struck out the bottom of the Tigers order before facing Murton. Murton hit to right and then Hirano walked to set up runners on first and second. This time it was Toritani's turn to strike out - this time looking. Kubo especially and some of the Swallows pitchers made very effective use of the bottom corners of the zone. Kubo started Swallows fourth by walking Tanaka. He then struck out Iihara swinging and got Whitesell looking with a magnificent pitch which whizzed through the right corner of the zone. Everything was looking rosy with Hatakeyama next and he wasn't expected to provide much resistance. Kubo was a bit too relaxed and his third pitch was a fork which was latched onto by the Swallows left and driven hard into the Tigers gaia for a two run home run 4-3 Tigers. Aikawa tried to hit into centre but flew out for the final out. Things were close. This state didn't last too long, though. Tigers fifth started with Arai and Brazell failing to hit but Kanemoto hit again. Johjima was next and after working the count full he dispatched a loose pitch along the third baseline again for another home run - this time a two run 6-3 Tigers. The margin was restored and this time you felt that things were comfortable - it was the killer blow. Shunsuke Fujikawa hit as Matsui began to wilt but Kubo grounded out to short to end the innings. Kubo retired the first two batters but then gave up a hit to Yuichi (pinch hitter) and with the dangerous Aoki next you wondered how he would handle things. He did very well striking out Aoki swinging to preserve the lead. For Tigers sixth Ogawa (and I really must get this name right) brought on Oshimoto. He struck Murton out looking but then Hirano hit to right. Toritani followed with a two run home run to right - like that of Hatakeyama just making it over the fence but safe 8-3 Tigers who were beginning to walk away with the game. Arai struck out looking and then Brazell tried to blast his way through centre but got a bit under the flight and only succeeded in flying out to Aoki to end the innings. Mayumi then decided to put Kubo in for another innings which was reasonable as his pitch count wasn't particularly high. With two out Whitesell hit - a rather lucky affair which flew off his bat and landed safely in left field though to be honest it could have gone anywhere. Hatakeyama couldn't repeat his feat of the earlier innings and flew out to centre to end the innings.

Oshimoto was much improved in Tigers seventh. Shunsuke Fujikawa hit a nice two base along the third baseline with two out but then Asai (pinch hitter) struck out looking to end the innings. As I mentioned above, Mayumi decided not to pitch Kubo for the seventh which was sound and clever management. Kubo had thrown six innings on 102 pitches for three runs. He had done well and considerably better than previously. There was no need to tire him out and with the similar treatment of Akiyama the night before one might be able to say that Mayumi is finally learning. Nishimura pitched Swallows seventh and started with a hit to Aikawa who had been anonymous the whole game. This really was a surprise - Swallows No. 6 is Aikawa - I didn't realise that! Miyamoto was next and he hit straight to Hirano who was running in and was able to tag Aikawa on the basepath and throw to first for the double play. Kawabata then hit to right - straight down the throat of Murton for the final out. For Tigers eighth Swallows sent Matsuoka to the mound. He bounced one to first where Whitesell coming in failed to take the ball and then was slow with the throw to allow Murton to reach safety. Whitesell might hit well but his fielding is not yet up to the required standard. Hirano bunted but the throw to first was too high and Whitesell was pulled off base which allowed Hirano to head slide to safety with Murton on second. Toritani hit to left again bringing home Murton for the third time that evening 9-3 Tigers. Arai tried to hit to right but only managed a deep fly out and next we had Brazell with runners on first and second. He took three balls before blasting his fourth pitch deep into the right stand for a three run home run 12-3 Tigers. It's been a while since he hit one of those and it took him up to 93 RBIs. Lin (pinch hitter) struck out and finally Johjima grounded out to second. There were still two innings to go but these were just a formality. Mayumi even felt comfortable enough to use Fukuhara to pitch Swallows eighth. Araki (pinch hitter) led off the innings with a hit. Next was Aoki who like the innings before drove straight to Hirano who was running in. Once again Hirano was able to tag the runner on the basepath and throw to first for the double play. Tanaka hit towards Fukuhara who managed to stop it with his hand and retrieve the ball and throw to first for the final out to end the innings. Swallows pitcher for Tigers ninth was Hashimoto who started with a lead off hit to Shunsuke Fujikawa. Asai struck out and then Murton hit into a double play to end the innings but it didn't matter. Swallows ninth was looming and they would need to pull a miracle out of the hat if they were to win. Tsuru was the pitcher and was more than a bit casual about things. Iihara grounded out to start things but then Whitesell hit a two base to left. Unlike his previous shot there was no luck in this at all and it was a nicely directed blow. Next was Hatakeyama who battled Tsuru for a while before driving along the third baseline for another two base hit bringing Whitesell home 12-4 Tigers, runner on second. Nitta (replacement catcher) flew out to left which brought the call of atto hittori from the Tigers faithful. However there was one final part of the drama to be played out - the at bat of Takeuchi (pinch hitter). He hit to centre and Hatakeyama made home safely 12-5 Tigers, runner on first. Kawabata then hit to HIrano for the force out and the final out of the game. Tigers victory.

Apart from the first innings and fourth innings Tigers were never really troubled by the Swallows and cruised to an emphatic victory. Their powerful batting lineup was always able to hit and hit again and the total of 20 hits shows just how overwhelming they were. Kubo picked up his 12th victory and is now in uncharted territory, extending his win sequence beyond what he was able to do with the Marines. Giants also won so Tigers are still in the lead on percentage point. What was encouraging was how many runs their pitching gave up against the second rate Carp and with a big effort Tigers can beat the Giants. Toritani drove in 5 runs this game and is now on 82 RBIs with Johjima on 80. It will be interesting to see how many Tigers batters can reach 100 RBIs for the season. The next game is on home ground - BayStars at Koshien and Standridge is expected to be the starter.

After Standridge, do you know the rotation for the coming week? It's hard to keep track of these days. I'm going to Koshien on Wednesday, so I'm worried it's back to Andoh. Might have to give away my tickets rather than watch that sad display.

Andoh got sent back down to 2-gun after he got lit up at the Dome last week. Shimoyanagi was brought up to replace him, probably as a spot-starter. The options are to pitch Messenger on four days' rest - feasible, since he didn't throw a lot of pitches in his last start - or else go to Shimoyanagi. My guess is that you'll see Shimo-san.

Hopefully they'll keep Andoh down there this time. You hate to see a guy lose his stuff, but he really has nothing to offer the team this year. Whether starting or relieving, it's been like batting practice.

Yep, gotta agree with you there. It's amazing that the Tigers are still in contention despite the pounding their staff has taken this year - Andoh was their opening-day starter, and he forgot how to pitch in June and never figured it out again. The next two guys on the chart were Nohmi and Iwata - both out for most of the year. Imagine any other team losing, one way or another, their top THREE rotation guys for most of the year? Conversely, imagine if Andoh was still on his game and Iwata and Nohmi hadn't been hurt? Boggles the mind.

It seems that Fujikawa is the starting center fielder of choice at the moment. Is Asai in the doghouse or does Mayumi just want to have a strong left and right-handed pinch hitter available in Lin and Asai instead of starting them much? I see Fujikawa as more of a late-inning runner or defensive replacement, but it seems they are grooming him as Akahoshi's replacement. I imagine there's a good chance Murton won't be back next year, so that might be the case.

I try not to think about what the Tigers could be like this year if their pitching was on form. I went into the year thinking of the starting pitching as a question mark. What I didn't count on was the amazing batting we have showed this year. Fortunately, the Giants pitching has been just as bad as ours these days, so it should be an interesting race all the way down to the wire.
By the way, Eric, we play Chunichi next week at Skymark. If you haven't seen a game there, highly recommended!

Already have my tickets for one of the games - looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about! Hopefully we can put up a good result against Chunichi's pitching, if the rotations stand up I think I'll either get to see Chen or Yoshimi.

Tigers want to keep Murton but they do feel they need more speed in the centre. Murton makes a very good right. Fujikawa is being used for that purpose plus he's less error prone than Asai (not that Asai makes many errors.

I'm sure the Tigers want to keep Murton. And I want them to keep him. I just have the feeling that after the year he's having he'll try to get picked up by an MLB team. That's why I said I'm not sure he'll be back.

If Hanshin does not resign Murton they would reach new heights in the stupidity department. Maybe Murton is thinking of returning to US?

Tigers have already been in discussions with Murton and Brazell about next year. They definitely plan to keep both players and have beefed up their gaijin support services to offer 24 hour a day support should it be needed. There have been no noises from Murton or Brazell that they want to do anything except return next year.

Good to hear the Tigers are being aggressive in keeping Murton. With the year he's had, I just assumed he would have his eye back on MLB. Fortunately I assumed wrong. With the same hitting attack and a healthy rotation, we should be in good shape for next year as well.