June 26th Nohmi v Sawamura - Giants need to win

Tigers didn't do too well this game on the back of some poor pitching by Nohmi. It wasn't Fujii's calling that was the issue just the fact that Nohmi couldn't locate the zone. Kanemoto was thankfully 'rested' which meant that Lin took left field and we saw a huge improvement in the fielding in that area. Sawamura looks smug and supercilious though - one can't really describe his appearance any other way. He does pitch well though. One of the weekly magazines is advertising an article on Tigers management 'Mayumi meltdown' to give a rough translation. The link with Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant is clear and it's hardly flattering. TV coverage on terristial was provided by Asahi and was of the usual joke standard. Asahi favour extended advertising breaks missing out live action so they can show highlights! Can you believe it? Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants  1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 4 11 1
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 10 1

Starting lineups

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

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

When in doubt shuffle your lineup and this is exactly what Hara did. It paid dividends. Nohmi started poorly in Giants first, his pitching to Sakamoto was all over the place and the Giants short drew an easy walk. Kamei flew out in foul ground but then Chono managed to hit to centre. This put runners on first and second and with the dangerous Ramirez next Tigers were in trouble. Ramirez once again showed his quality driving Nohmi nicely to left and bringing home Sakamoto 1-0 Giants, runners on first and second with only one out. Here the weirdness that would run like a thread through this game first manifested itself. With Ogasawara at the plate Chono decided to try and steal third. The throw to third beat him easily which was surprising as Chono was already halfway along the base path when Fujii threw. It wasn't a wise move from Hara, Arai making an easy tag. Ogasawara then struck out looking to end the innings. Giants had a slight lead as they had the day before and once again Ramirez had driven in a runner. Tigers first started with Murton striking out and then it decided to rain heavily. Play continued and Hirano hit nicely to centre for a single. Toritani looked uncomfortable and eventually struck out. As he did so Hirano attempted to steal second. Giants were expecting this - in fact the pitch before Abe had jumped up after taking the ball and been ready to throw. Why Mayumi thought that the steal would work with Giants prepared is a mystery. Hirano was duly tagged out to end the innings. Giants second saw more weirdness. The innings started nicely for Giants with Tani hitting to centre. Next was ABe who hit his first pitch to right. It was still raining and as he went to field Murton fumbled the ball allowing Tani to reach third with no outs. Wakiya flew out to centre but not far enough for a sacrifice which brought up Sawamura. He shaped to bunt, Giant hoping to work a squeeze play. His second pitch was high and he spooned the ball nicely up to Nohmi for a fly out. Tani had come so far down the base path he had no chance of getting back to base in time and was out. End of innings. Arai started Tigers second by striking out but then Brazell hit just to the right of second. Sakamoto fielded and threw but Brazell beat the throw which to be honest was rather poor. Runner on first. Lin flew out but then Shibata hit to move Brazell to second. Next was Fujii but he proved to be easy meat for a pitcher of Sawamura's quality and struck out swinging to end the chance. Sakamoto led off Giants third hitting deep to left where Lin positioned himself superbly and took a fine catch for the out. One couldn't see Kanemoto accomplishing this. The next two batters grounded out to Nohmi and the innings was over. Tigers third was similarly quiet and here we had the first of Asahi's brain dead advertising breaks.

Giants fourth started innocuously enough - two batters, two outs with Tani the third batter. He swung and hit along the third baseline. It wasn't where he intended it and in fact it came off the bottom of his bat but the ball stayed in and Tani had a useful two base hit. Nohmi then threw a couple of balls to Abe and Fujii decided to walk him setting up runners on first and second. He obviously thought Wakiya would be easy meat. Not so Wakiya hit nicely into right centre. Shibata made good ground but just couldn't reach the ball which flew past his outstretched glove forcing Lin to chase after it . Both Tani and Abe were home with Wakiya safe on third 3-0 Giants. The final batter was Sawamura who struck out looking but Giants were in control given the way Sawamura was pitching. Toritani led off Tigers fourth by flying out to centre and then Arai hit to Kamei at third. An easy out but Kamei fumbled and messed up the transfer and Arai reached first easily. This didn't help Tigers as Brazell hit to Ogasawara at first. Ogaswara tagged the base and threw to second for the double play, end of innings. Once again Nohmi found Sakamoto difficult to deal with and walked the Giants short to lead off the fifth. Two outs followed and then Sakamoto decided to steal second. Fujii threw but Sakamoto slid in getting in the way of the ball and preventing the tag - nothing intentional just one of those things. Fujji then walked Ramirez to set up runners on first and second but this time Ogasawara popped on up to Toritani to end the innings. Tigers fifth was another of Asahi's stupid advertising/highlight affairs. I would rather see the live action than highlights but Asahi's coverage is always rubbish anyway. With two out Sawamura faced Fujii and for some reason walked him in four. This was a bit incomprehensible but it brought up Kanemoto (pinch hitting for Nohmi). Kanemoto tried to hit deep to right but didn't have the strength and flew out to end the innings. Fukuhara replaced Nohmi who had looked rather tired. One wonders about the logic of starting these weekend games at 2:00 pm. Even with natural grass conditions are brutally hot and the day before 40 fans had had to be treated for heatstroke. Still it wasn't too bad today with the rain. Fukuhara started well striking out his first two batters and then getting Wakiya to ground out to second and end the Giants sixth. Murton led off Tigers sixth with a hit but then stayed on first with the next three batters doing nothing. Sawamura was certainly earning his pay.

Having pitched well in Giants sixth, Fukuhara was rewarded with Giants seventh. This was not so good. The first batter he faced was Sawamura who struck out looking and then Sakamoto flew out. Fukuhara ran out of steam and Kamei hit to left. Chono hit to right to put runners on the corners and this brought up Ramirez. Of course he hit to left bringing in the run 4-0 Giants, runners on first and third. Ramirez was pinch run for by Suzuki who stole second and then Ogasawara walked to load the bases. Takahashi (the S version) followed but he struck out to end the innings with the Giants firmly in control. Brazell led off Tigers seventh with a hit but Lin drove nicely to first, lining out and enabling Ogasawara to tag base for the double play. Next to hit was Shibata who drove into centre but Hiyama (pinch hitter) grounded out to Sawamura to end the innings. Kawasaki pitched Giants eighth - his first appearance of the season in the top team. He retired the batters in order without much trouble. Tigers eigth was pitched by Kubo, Hara having felt that Sawamura had done enough. This was sensible management, no unnecessary chasing after complete games and tiring your pitchers out. Kubo took his place and retired the three batters he faced easily, striking out Sekimoto (pinch hitter) and Murton as highlights. Giants ninth was pitched by Kubota who immediately gave up a hit to Sakamoto. A Kamei double play extinguished the runner but then Kubota gave up a two base hit to Chono. Suzuki, of all people walked which left Kubota facing Ogasawara. This was a rather easier challenge and Kubota struck him out swinging to end the innings. Albalajedo pitched Tigers ninth and was terrible. Toritani led off hitting to right. Arai hit to left and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. Brazell drove into centre bringing home Toritani 4-1 Giants, runners on first and third. Lin hit to right and another run scored 4-2 Giants, runners on first and second, all with no outs. Hara needed to act quickly and he did replacing Albalajedo with Yamaguchi. This changed the complection of the match. Okazaki (pinch hitter - what on earth is he still doing in the top team?) grounded out forcing out Shunsuke (pinch running for Brazell) going for third. Then Asai (pinch hitter) lined out to first but Okazaki was safe and the double play didn't happen. Finally, Ryota Arai grounded out to Sakamoto to end the game. Giants victory.

The difference had been the pitching and Ramirez. Sawamura had pitched a good game and Nohmi hadn't. Mayumi had shown a rather strange use of pinch hitters this game though one can't quibble with his choice of pitchers. Tigers had taken the series 2-1 and still retain the vomiting distance nearness to the Giants. More use of Lin at left would be much appreciated as he is a better fielder.