October 18th Andoh v Kawakami - Kawakami shines

Tigers have owned the Dragons in the regular season but this means nothing once the teams get into the post season. Kawakami was superb and even though Andoh was good, Kawakami was much better. One saw the difference between a real ace, able to lift their performance to another level and a pitcher who is good but lacks that little extra. Okada's poor post season performance continues and he will have to win the next two games to end his Tigers career on a high note. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Lee (Right)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Centre (Morino)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Nakamura (Third)
7. Ibata (Short)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Kawakami (Pitcher)

Dragons start was all they could have wished for. Lee led off with a hit. He was bunted to second by Araki and reached third on Morino's ground out. Woods was next and drove the ball nicely to left for a hit 1-0 Dragons. Wada struck out looking and the innings was over. Kawakami started by retiring the Tigers in order - his pitching was first rate. Andoh bounced back in Dragons second and the batters fell in order as well. Kawakami continued in the same vein in his second. Andoh gave up a hit to Araki in the Dragons third but nothing came of this. Kawakami's first hit came in the Tigers third when Yano led off with a hit to left. However, none of the batters failed to convert him and the innings was scoreless.

Andoh ran into a bit of trouble in the Dragons fourth. With one out he gave up a two base hit to Wada. One out later he walked Ibata leaving Tanishige with runners on first and second. Tanishige though flew out in foul ground and that chance went begging. Kawakami walked Arai in Tigers fourth and then with two outs gave up a hit to Toritani which took Arai to third and Toritani to first. Kawakami was up to the challenge and got Lin to ground out and end the innings. Andoh was on top in the Dragons fifth retiring the batters in order. In Tigers fifth Hirano hit a two base. Andoh was the next batter but Okada decided to replace him with Hiyama (pinch hitter) on the chance of scoring. Hiyama failed and Akahoshi flew out to end the innings. Probably Andoh should have stayed in but his replacement was Atchison who faced Morino. He worked the count full and then Atchison sent an outside straightball which Morino went after. The impact was nice and the ball sailed over the wall for a home run 2-0 Dragons. The next two batters fell easily but Wada walked. Ibata flew out and the innings ended. In Tigers sixth Kawakami walked Kanemoto but nothing came of this.

Atchison continued to pitch in Dragons seventh and was in control retiring the batters without trouble. Tigers seventh saw Lin lead off with a hit and reach second on Yano's ground out but that was as far as he got and the Dragons lead remained at two runs. Dragons eighth was quiet with Williams pitching and being in control, striking out two batters to end the innings. Tigers eighth saw Asao take the mound. Kawakami had pitched seven excellent innings with only four hits and two walks. He was the main reason for the Dragons victory. Asao started with a hit to Akahoshi and then one to Sekimoto - runners on first and second with no outs and the Dragons were in a jam. Tigers clean up failed - Arai fouled out, Kanemoto flew out which moved Akahoshi to third and then Toritani grounded out to Asao - end of innings and no score. Fujikawa pitched Dragons ninth and managed to dead ball Ibata with two out. He struck out Tanishige to end the innings. Iwase took Tigers ninth and walked Asai (pinch hitter). The final batter was Imaoka (pinch hitter) and he flew out to right to end the innings. Dragons victory.

Dragons now have a one game lead in the Climax series. Tigers never looked like they knew what to do and failed to understand the different nature of the post season game. Okada's record in post season games stands at won 0 lost 7 and his side needs to pick up the pace significantly if it is going to have any chance of facing the Giants in round two.