July 16th Cheng v Yamamoto - Back to normal

With obvious problems with his experimental lineup, Mayumi was prevailed upon or decided to switch back to the the previous lineup. This generated immediate results with Tigers batters hammering out sixteen hits and driving in runs happily. The big (and pleasant) surprise was Kanemoto who also took heart and drove in four of the runs scored. It's too soon to say but with the run against the Giants making 5 in 3 games there might be reason to keep him in the side after all. If Kanemoto is going to hit regularly it's really going to help the side especially at the bottom of the order. Yamamoto the BayStars pitcher was just as poor as his last outing and didn't last long. Cheng was very, very good but for his first outing should have exited after the sixth. Once again Mayumi tried to push a starter too long - some things never change. Kubota was also much improved on the night before which makes me think that the problem wasn't so much Kubota as Fujii - certainly he worked well with Komiyama who replaced Fujii late in the game. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    3 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 10 16 0
BayStars  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0  2  6 2

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Shimozono (Right)
3. Harper (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Kinjoh (Centre)
7. Watanabe (Second)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Yamamoto (Pitcher)

BayStars came rapidly crashing down from the high of their shutout victory of the night before. Tigers batters reinvigorated got to Yamamoto in the first innings and he never recovered. Murton, restored to lead off flew out for his first at bat, his time would come later. Hirano hit to centre and then Toritani lifted one over the right fence for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. Arai hit a nice two base to left centre which Sekimoto (restored to sixth) failed to convert. Sekimoto wouldn't hit well but his fielidng at second more than made up for it. Kanemoto was next and hit his second pitch to right bringing Arai home 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Fujii then drove straight back at Yamamoto to end the innings. Cheng retired Ishikawa, getting the BayStars short to ground out to Toritani. He then walked Shimozono but Harper hit straight to Arai for the double play to end the innings. Compared to Tigers first a bit of an anticlimax. Tigers second saw more fun (for the Tigers). Cheng grounded out but then Murton round for his second at bat put the ball left over the fence for a solo home run 4-0 Tigers. This was the end of Yamamoto who was obviously going to bust Yokohama Ginko if he went on like that. Kobayashi took over and got Hirano to ground out and Toritani to strike out. Cheng was totally in control in BayStars second and the batters fell in order. Still he wasn't pitching confidently and hadn't taken the batters on yet. Tigers third and the short respite provided by Kobayashi in the second proved to be the eye of the storm. Arai led off with another two base to left centre. Brazell drew a walk. Sekimoto lined out to short which brought up Kanemoto who went right. This one also crossed the fence for a three run home run 7-0 Tigers. Fujii flew out to left but then Cheng took a swing and manufactured a nice two base hit. Murton drove left for another two base and Cheng was home 8-0 Tigers, runner on second. The final batter was Hirano who grounded out to short. Tigers had the game sown up. BayStars third was quiet with Cheng growing in confidence and registering his first strike out - that of Hosoyamada. Not a major victim but worthwhile.

Tigers fourth and yet another BayStars pitcher. This was Fujie who managed to tame the Tigers, retiring the batters in order. BayStars needed to respond and in the fourth they were able to do so. Ishikawa led off with a single to centre off his first hit. Shimozono grounded out forcing out Ishikawa. Harper hit to right but could only put runners on first and second. Murata though was able to drive into centre for a timely hit 8-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Sledge struck out swinging and then Kinjoh grounded out. Only one run but it was a start. With one out in Tigers fifth Kanemoto hit to centre. This was followed by a Fujii hit and Kanemoto raced round to third. Next was Cheng and he tried a squeeze bunt. This didn't come off and Kanemoto was out at the plate with Cheng being the second victim of the double play. BayStars bottom of the order couldn't do anything in their fifth and no runner got on base. Murton led off Tigers sixth with a hit. He stole second and advanced to third on Toritani's ground out. This time Arai couldn't convert and the innings was over. Ishikawa was round again and led off BayStars sixth by grounding out. Shimozono drew his second walk but then waited on first as the next two batters flew out.

Ohhara pitched Tigers seventh and with two out Kanemoto flew out to Ishikawa who dropped the ball. Fujii though struck out to miss out on that piece of good fortune. Cheng returned for BayStars seventh. This was an innings too far - he had done well but it would have been good to relieve him here for his first game. He can pitch seven later on. However, Mayumi of course doesn't understand this and Cheng rapidly tired and got into trouble. Sledge hit a single to right to lead off. Kinjoh flew out to right but then Watanabe picked up a dead ball. A sign Cheng was tiring. It would have been possible to replace him here with runners on first and second but Mayumi kept him in. Fujita (pinch hitter) hit to right to load the bases which brought up Nakamura (pinch hitter). He hit a grounder to Arai who could only throw to first for the second out. The runner was home 8-2 Tigers, runners on second and third. Finally, Mayumi acted and brought on Enokida for the final out. This was Ishikawa who flew out to left. BayStars had gotten another run but it wasn't enough. Sanada took over for Tigers eighth and immediately negated the good work his colleagues had done. With Nohara out Murton hit a grounder to first where BayStars messed up the throw. Murton was able to reach second. Toritani hit to right to put runners on the corners with two out. Arai drove to second and beat the fielder to first for a timely hit 9-2 Tigers, runners on first and second. Then Brazell hit into right for another scoring single 10-2 Tigers, runners on first and second. Finally, Asai flew out to end the innings. This had been the icing on the cake for the Tigers. Katoh (with his Tigers sunglasses) took over for BayStars eighth. This was a sound move as he does know his BayStars and he retired the batters in order. Tigers ninth was Shinohara who gave up a left hit to Uemoto (replacement second). Uemoto stayed on first as the next three batters did nothing. Komiyama was the final batter (pinch hitting for Fujii) and he launched into a huge centre hit which Kinjoh took after a fine jump right by the wall. Kubota pitched BayStars ninth and pitched to Komiyama. This pairing worked well with Kubota throwing in the high 140s but not reaching 150. Sledge struck out and then Kinjoh grounded out to second. This required a good bit of fielding from Ryota Arai. Uemoto picked up and threw poorly. Ryota Arai had to dive and catch whilst staying on the sack for the out. It was a nice piece of work but the throw should have been better. Watanabe hit to centre but Naitoh hit deep to left where Asai was waiting for it. Tigers victory.

A much better performance and one hopes that Mayumi is cured of his experimental lineup. It was good to see Kanemoto doing well (and despite my opinions I want to see him do well) and Cheng pitch nicely. He has a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing more of him. Tigers have now reached 10 runs in 3 out of 5 games with Yokohama Ginko and one hopes that this lineup can continue. Mayumi still needs to be replaced as soon as possible though but the team can work around him to some degree.