May 17th Kojima v Ryo Kawashima - Swept

Watanabe is good with no runners on. Egusa is better with runners on. Mayumi doesn't seem to understand this principle. The day before Mayumi used Watanabe with a runner on and he gave up runs. This game he used Egusa with no runners on and he gave up runs. Once again a tight game with very little scoring but really Tigers hitting is not good. Swallows though are strong and they are using their pitching very well at the moment. Mayumi brought Kojima into the rotation at last and he did quite well. He didn't figure in the decision but he did show some good stuff. Mench was benched for this game and replaced by Sakurai who managed a hit (something Mench still has to do since his return). Fujimoto started and once again was ineffective. I wouldn't mind so much if he drove in runs or could hit consistently as he is a good second base. However, he lacks Hirano's versatility and ability to make things happen. Shimizu also made an appearance as catcher allowing Kanoh to have a rest. It didn't make any difference to the result. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Sakurai (Right)
7. Fujimoto (Second)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Kojima (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Keizoh Kawashima (Short)
2. Noguchi (Left)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. D"Antona (First)
5. Iihara (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Tanaka (Second)
9. Ryo Kawashima (Pitcher)

Once again both pitchers would start poorly. This seems to have been the pattern for this series. Kawashima walked Sekimoto in Tigers first. He then followed this with a walk to Kanemoto. Runners on first and second which became runners on second and third on a pass ball. Arai was next but he flew out and the innings ended scoreless - a lucky escape. Kojima wasn't so lucky - its nice to see him back but he was nervous. He walked Keizoh Kawashima who was bunted to second by Noguchi. Aoki hit to Kojima and was able to beat the throw to first and Kawashima was on third. Then Kojima threw a pass ball and Kawashima was home 1-0 Swallows, runner on second. The next two batters fell safely and Swallows had a slender lead. Ryo Kawashima settled down in the Tigers second and retired the batters in order. In Swallows second Kojima gave up a hit to Tanaka but nothing came of this. Tigers third was Ryo Kawashima's best innings he struck out all three of the batters he faced. With two out in Swallows third Kojima walked Aoki. He tried to steal second but was thrown out by Shimizu to end the innings.

Kawashima ran into trouble in Tigers fourth. Toritani led off with a two base hit. A ground out took him to third and then Arai hit to right, another two base and the scores were tied 1-1. The next two batters failed to convert Arai though. In Swallows fourth Iihara had a one out two base. The next batter Miyamoto hit to short but Toritani went to third and Iihara was out with Miyamoto safe on first. This reduced the risk and Kojima was able to get the final out without too much trouble. Kawashima picked up more trouble in the fifth. Once again a two base hit was the cause, this time to Shimizu who's first hit in ichi-gun it was. Shimizu though didn't pay enough attention and allowed himself to be picked off at second. Poor work by the Tigers catcher but nice work by the Swallows. Kojima then hit which made the situation even more of a waste as this could have been the scoring shot. The next two batters failed and the innings was scoreless yet again. Swallows fifth was quiet with nothing of note happening. Tigers sixth saw Toritani reach first on an error and stand on first waiting for someone to do something - no one did. Swallows sixth was like the fifth quiet.

In Tigers seventh Lin (pinch hitter) hit but Shimizu couldn't repeat his hit and the innings was scoreless. Mayumi brought Egusa in to pitch the Swallows seventh. As I mentioned above Egusa is a pitcher who does better with runners on. I would have thought Watanabe again would have been a good choice. Egusa walked Iihara who was bunted to second. Then a wild pitch took him to third. Aikawa walked and Swallows had runners on the corners. Tanaka was next and he dropped one between short and left for a hit 2-1 Swallows, runners on first and second. Hatakeyama (pinch hitter) struck out and then Keizoh Kawashima flew out and the innings was over. Swallows had a lead. Tigers eighth was pitched Matsuoka who gave up a leadoff hit to Sekimoto. Now was the opportunity for Tigers cleanup to redress the situation but they all failed. For Swallows eighth Atchison was the pitcher and he hasn't been doing well. He was poor this innings. He started with a hit to Noguchi and one out later Noguchi stole second. D'Antona walked and another out followed. Miyamoto hit to load the bases - Kanemoto cutting off the chance of a run but the final batter Aikawa struck out to end the threat. A lucky escape. For Tigers ninth Takada used Igarashi, giving Lim a rest. He started with a hit to Sakurai. Fujimoto bunted him to second (the first time he had done anything useful with the bat). He made third on Hiyama's (pinch hitter) ground out. The final batter was Imaoka (pinch hitter). He also grounded out and the game was over. Perhaps Takahashi would have been a better bet here but he is in ni-gun at the moment and so Tigers are a bit weak on pinch hitters. Swallows victory.

Tigers had been swept by a more competent side. Swallows were better managed and had played with more fire. Tigers had been weak and wasted lots of opportunities. Shimizu's mistake had been particularly glaring - an elementary error which shouldn't have happened. Mayumi once again had proved clueless but at least he hadn't played Mench.