Masa No Hits Tigers

I was there first-hand to witness the no-hitter. Yamamoto was one Morino error away from a perfect game, as he had not given up any walks and only faced one over the minimum. However, Morino did save Yamamoto's butt a couple times (like the first pitch, which was headed right for his head!), so I wouldn't be too mad at Morino. They actually asked Yamamoto about that in the hero interview; I don't understand Japanese that well, but I'm going to assume he gave the press the ol' "I'm just glad we won."

I was there too, and just for the sake of argument:

Say Morino didn't make that error, what would've happened? We'll never know, but I have a feeling that Akahoshi would have outrun it for an infield hit. It was the fourth inning I believe, so no one was really thinking perfect game, or no-hitter, but anyway.

Hats off to Masa though, what a performance. And also to Kawakami the night before. I think that will be the night we look back to to see when the Tigers were really killed off.

A sweep at Koshien, you never know, but, I'm much happier being a Dragon right now, that's for sure!

Hard to tell how next week's series will go. As we saw last week, the margin of error for the pitchers is very small. The way Fukuhara pitched on Saturday, and the way Asakura pitched on Sunday - that wins most games.

But yeah, any games the Dragons gain between now and the Koshien series is for insurance in case they get swept. 6 games (magic number would be 6 going into Koshien) I'd say is pretty safe, even if they get swept. I just hope the Dragons get some help from their best friends (Kyojin) this weekend.

Details are here [Japan Ball].

Credit to the Dragons, they are a fine baseball team. Very well balanced.

But I have to say that the Tigers are demonstrating a tendency to choke when the pressure is on. The Japan Series last year was certainly example one. And now scoring zero runs in the first two games of a critical series that could have put them back into contention. It's looking hopeless now.

Some teams are money teams, they perform when the pressure is on. The Tigers, I hate to say it, don't seem to have that ability.

zman, the Tigers came back and won today, the day after the no-hitter. Improbable but not impossible, it ain't over till it's over.

Then what would you call the third game of the Koshien series last month? I haven't watched NPB long enough to know who is clutch/who chokes (I'm just paranoid about Chunichi choking because I've seen too many of "my" teams do that).

Hanshin has played extremely well lately, and they've caught a break with Chunichi struggling through the last 3 weeks (again, 3+ weeks without losing any ground), but they have to take on the Tokyo Two next week and show that all that momentum they gained in the last 3 weeks wasn't lost by losing 2 of 3 in Nagoya Dome. Between now and the Koshien series, 6-1 (or 5-2 at worst) should be good enough to keep the pressure on the Dragons, as the Dragons have played poorly against Yokohama and Yakult (whom they play for the next 9 games) since the All-Star Break. Against the two teams combined, they've lost four of their last 5 series.

Worst-case scenario, I'm expecting somewhere around 5-4 for the Dragons between now and the last showdown at Koshien. I'd be absolutely thrilled with anything better (and a little help from Yakult, Kyojin, and Hiroshima; help the Dragons haven't gotten much of lately).

Still, their only hope is to sweep at Koshien when Chunichi visits in a couple weeks. And it has to be 3-0, not 2-0-1 like last time. I actually like Chunichi's chances of taking one if Kawakami keeps pitching like he has. Same with Yamamoto and Nakata (wiping his last performance vs. Hanshin out, obviously). But I'm not calling it over until the magic number hits zero, unless the Dragons find a way to win the series at Koshien, or if the Tigers go on another mini-losing streak.

- ...the Tigers are demonstrating a tendency to choke when the pressure is on.

I don't buy that. And in any case, their performance at Nagoya Dome this weekend doesn't support that view. Why?

One, the Tigers, have a history of failure at Nagoya Dome. And not just this year either. So the 1-2 record this weekend was actually a vast improvement.

Two, the Tigers have failed against Chunichi all season, and not just when the pressure was on. So you could argue they've been choking all year. But they are running second, only five games back, so it seems they've choked less often under pressure than the teams behind them.

True, they choked in the Nippon Series last year. But that hardly indicates a trend. How many Nippon Series have you seen them play in? (They certainly didn't choke in 2003 - they fought back well in that series, won three straight at Koshien and with the right choice of starter in Game 7 - Fukuhara over Irabu - could have won that one, too. That was Hoshino's decision and he chose wrongly. All games went with the home team that year, so that was another factor in the loss.)

I agree that it's looking hopeless now. But don't denigrate them. They're fighters and they're going to do the best they can.

Sometimes a loss is just a loss. Not all losses are choke jobs. The Dragons and Tigers are both very good teams, and losing 2 of 3 to the first place team in the opposing team's own park is hardly what I'd call choking.