September 16th Kubo v Kaga - Murton hits out

Murton tied Tigers hits record this game (Fumio Fujimura:1950) as Tigers won a tight victory. The victim was Kaga who managed to keep Tigers under control until the eighth. It was a much needed victory and kept the title hopes alive. Still it doesn't compensate for an unnecessary series loss. Shimoyanagi is back in the second team and maybe this should be the best place for him for the rest of the season. Tigers now have a day off before the series against the Giants and Koshien and the series against the Dragons at Nagoya Dome. These will be vital but I can't say I'm confident about the outcome. I'd like to believe that Tigers can and will win both these series but their current inability to perform and the sheer incompetence of Mayumi makes me wary. I'm hoping that they prove me wrong and that Mayumi doesn't commit anymore screw ups. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Uchikawa (Right)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Harper (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Shimozono (Centre)
7. Castillo (Second)
8. Hashimoto (Catcher)
9. Kaga (Pitcher)

The day before Tigers had wasted some excellent relief pitching by failing to perform. This also would be a low hitting game with Kubo pitching superbly once again but Tigers also found Kaga difficult to deal with as well. Murton started the game with a hit to centre. Hirano grounded out to third which moved Murton to second (this again was a bunt). Toritani's ground out took Murton to third but then Arai struck out to end the innings. One can't be too hard on Arai - he may have wasted chances but would hit the winning run. Ishikawa hit in BayStars first but he stayed on first and didn't move anywhere. Tigers second was quiet and the batters all grounded out to the infield. BayStars second was also quiet with batters falling in order. Tigers third was a wasted opportunity with Arai, once again being the culprit. Saka led off with a hit to right. Kubo bunted him to second and Murton walked. Hirano flew out to short and then Toritani hit a grounder to second where Castillo messed up - bases loaded. Arai didn't drive in runs but flew out to first in foul ground to end the innings. One began to think about him as infected with Kanemoto disease. BayStars third was quiet with the batters falling in order as Kubo methodically got the outs.

After the excitement of Tigers third, the fourth was a bit of an anticlimax from a Tigers fan's point of view though much more satisfactory from a BayStars fan's point of view. The innings was quiet with the batters falling in order. Harper walked in BayStars fourth but this didn't lead to anything - first was as far as he got. Two outs fell in Tigers fifth when Murton let fly a two base hit. Hirano hit to short and Tigers had runners on first and third. This time it was Toritani's turn to be infected with the Kanemoto disease as he grounded out to short to end the innings. In BayStars fifth Castlillo walked with one out but then Hashimoto hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet with Arai falling for the same trick twice in a row and flying out in foul ground. Uchikawa managed a one out hit in BayStars sixth but Ishikawa hit into the double play. So far neither team had done much with Tigers wasting their chances.

Tigers seventh was the bottom of the linuep which Kaga disposed of smoothly and without worry. BayStars seventh saw Harper lead off. He got hold of his fourth pitch and this was over the fence for a solo home run 1-0 BayStars. Murata managed to hit to left but then Sledge hit into a double play. However, Shimozono walked and Castillo hit to centre - BayStars had runners on first and second and Kubo was in a bit of bother. Hashimoto failed to convert hitting weakly to Kubo who threw to first for the final out. He had suffered a big wobble but restricted the damage to one run. This proved a short lived lead - Murton hit and was pinch run for by Yamato (another useless pinch runner from Mayumi - Murton's speed is adequate). Hirano bunted him to second and then Toritani hit a huge fly which bounced off the stadium wall for a three base hit - rather similar to the one Ishikawa hit the night before 1-1 scores tied, runner on third. Arai then just belted the ball into centre for a centre fly 2-1 Tigers. This was the end of Kaga who was replaced by Katoh for Brazell as we went into the BayStars musical pitcher mode. Katoh walked Brazell (that round to the Tigers first) and he was replaced by Sanada. Sanada gave up a hit to Johjima, runners on first and third but Lin grounded out to second to end the innings. Of course, Kubo didn't return for the BayStars eighth which was pitched by Kubota. He was on form striking out the first two batters before getting Ishikawa to ground out to second and end the innings. Ushida pitched Tigers ninth and walked Yamato but nothing came of this. Kyuji Fujikawa pitched BayStars ninth and with two out gave up a short hit to Matsumoto (replacement centre). This didn't go anywhere as the final batter, Shimozono flew out to end the game. Tigers victory.

This victory put the Tigers back in second on percentage points as the Giants lost. Dragons also lost making the difference between the two sides 2.5 games. Tigers hadn't played particularly well but had walked away with a slender victory. They do need to play much better over the coming six games and do need to take the series at least though a sweep at Nagoya would be ideal (but a very tall order). Murton had three hits and the Murton counter stands at 9. The Toritani counter is now 6 to go. Kyuji's save was his 25th

These will be vital but I can't say I'm confident about the outcome.
I'm not confident either, but the Tigers have been a streaky team all year. It's just a matter of getting hot at the right time. Well, now is obviously the time. The pennant is very difficult now, but even getting second is a big victory over third. In that case at least we can host a playoff series and this year at Koshien, not the dome. It feels like the postseason has already started, as we have the Giants, then Dragons, and two more make-up games with the Giants at the end of the month. If there were ever a time for us to get the Nagoya Dome monkey off our back, now is the time! This is an exciting team and I would hate to see us blow it this year.