August 20th Iwata v Lewis - Williams is still shaky

On a totally unrelated matter the former Tigers pitcher Irabu was arrested by police for assaulting a barman in Osaka. Irabu had been drinking a lot and got angry when his credit card was rejected. He did pay his bill with another card but attacked the barman - leading to his arrest. He did have problems with his temper after drink even when he played for Tigers. He was fined by the club for assaulting a man in a bar in Okinawa during 2006 Spring training. Tigers seem to be back. They couldn't do anything against Lewis but once he departed rapidly took control of the game. Williams still hasn't slotted into the closer role comfortably. He gave up a run against the Giants and this time gave up two against the Carp batters. Tigers remain seven games ahead of the Giants but importantly took the series. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Katsuragi (First)
7. Sekimoto (Third)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Alex (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Shima (Left)
6. Ishihara (Catcher)
7. Kokubo (Third)
8. Soyogi (Short)
9. Lewis (Pitcher)

This was Lewis' first game back since his 10 game suspension (for missing the All Star game). He pitched well but was a little rusty and threw maybe more pitches than he would normally. However, he was still effective enough to keep the Tigers bottled up. In the first innings he gave up a hit to Hirano but that was all. Iwata also was very good and in fact was better than Lewis - his pitching was awesomely effective over the first five innings and took only 40 pitches. After the Tigers first innings the match was quiet - the pitchers dominating. Lewis struck out all three batters he faced in the Tigers third. He ran into a bit of trouble in the Tigers fourth. Leadoff was Hirano who walked. One out later Kanemoto also walked and Tigers had runners on first and second. Lewis though was equal to the challenge and struck out Lin and then got Katsuragi to ground out and strand the runners. Iwata gave up his first hit in the Carp fourth - a one out single to left to Akamatsu. Alex though hit into a double play and that was the end of that. Lewis again walked Hirano in Tigers sixth and with the Tigers second on first and two outs was replaced by Schultz. He got the final out of the innings by striking out Kanemoto. Lewis had thrown 93 pitches and struck out seven whilst given up no runs.

Iwata returned for the Carp sixth - he had given up one hit and no walks so far and had been totally dominant. With only 40 pitches thrown you expected him to dominate again. Not quite - he gave up a leadoff hit to Kokubo. The Carp third was bunted to second by Soyogi and then with two outs Higashide hit to centre 1-0 Carp. The final batter was Akamatsu who grounded out. Part of Tigers strength has been their ability - when they give up runs - to hit back immediately. This was lacking recently but last night was back. Brower took the mound for his first game in Carp colours and gave up a two base leadoff hit to Lin. Katsuragi hit to right and Lin should have made home but instead was held up on third. Not to worry, the next batter, Sekimoto hit driving in the tying run 1-1 scores level - runners on first and second with no outs. Noguchi bunted them round to second and third with the next batter being Iwata. What would Okada do? Iwata had only thrown 53 pitches and had been dominant apart from the sixth and even then had only given up one run. Okada decided to go for the runs and Iwata was pinch hit for by Hiyama. He hit to left 2-1 Tigers with runners on first and third. Next batter Akahoshi hit 3-1 Tigers, then Hirano hit 4-1 Tigers. Toritani struck out but Brower walked Kanemoto to load the bases. This was enough and he was replaced by Ueno. He had had a nightmare game before but was much more in control this time and struck out Lin to exit the innings.

Iwata was replaced by Atchison who once again was excellent. His two innings kept the runners off base with two strike outs ensuring that the Carp could not mount a counter attack. He definitely should be asked back as part of the relief team. Ueno had been replaced by Umetsu in the eighth and he had walked Sekimoto and then given up a hit to Baldris (replacement third - Sekimoto having moved over to second and Hirano to right). However, Akahoshi grounded out to end the innings and no score resulted. Tigers ninth saw Kishimoto dead ball Toritani but nothing came of this. Williams of course pitched the Carp ninth. Tigers pitching had been dominant and you expected more of the same. Not to be - Maeda (pinch hitter) led off with a hit to right. Higashide struck out and then Williams walked Akamatsu - not good. Alex hit his first pitch to load the bases and then Kurihara hit his first pitch to drive in two runs 4-3 Tigers with runners on first and second. Williams was definitely in trouble. He got Shima to ground out but Alex was round to third. Finally, Ishihara got tied up with a pitch and flew out to third - game over and Tigers victory.

A good victory but Williams' pitching had almost thrown it away. He needs to take a bit more care with his first pitch - still he picked up his third save. Iwata picked up the victory and Hiyama the hero interview. Okada had successfully turned the side round and they had taken the series. Atchison had shone and so had Iwata - his potential is enormous and one hopes the Tigers can bring it out in full.