August 19th Andoh v Fujie - The end of the 'Black Tigers'

All too soon the retro uniforms disappeared but not before the Tigers swept the abject BayStars. The answers to the three questions I posed yesterday were no, no and no. Andoh despite the win did not pitch well. Fujie did not resuce the BayStars from ignominy and Mayumi despite having more opportunities has no clue how to manage a bullpen. Tigers are now three games ahead of the Giants who lost to the Dragons. Dragons are 0.5 games ahead of Giants in second place though this can change. Dragons charge isn't really of any concern as they have played seven more games than the Tigers. Furthermore, Tigers have only one more series at Nagoya Dome to worry about which if they concentrate on they can take one game. Giants are still the team to be concerned about. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    0 0 3 0 4 1 0 2 0 10 15 0
BayStars  1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0  4  7 1

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Uchikawa (Right)
2. Fujita (Short)
3. Harper (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Shimozono (Centre)
7. Castillo (Second)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Fujie (Pitcher)

Tigers first saw two ground outs but then Toritani hit. However, Arai struck out to end the innings. Andoh started by giving up a two base hit to Uchikawa - certainly an undistinguished start and he would struggle throughout the game. Fujita bunted him to third and then Harper hit a sacrifice fly to centre 1-0 BayStars. Murata struck out swinging and the innings was over. Tigers second was quiet and the batters fell in order, both Brazell and Kanemoto striking out. Surprisingly, BayStars second was also a quiet affair and the batters were out smoothly but with a lot of effort. Fujie struck out the first two batters in Tigers third but then ran into all sorts of trouble. Murton hit to right and then stole second. A dead ball put HIrano on first and a walk loaded the bases. Fujie then threw a pass ball 1-1 scores tied, runners on second and third. Arai was next and drove to right bringing home the runners 3-1 Tigers, runner on first. Brazell hit his first pitch but only ended up grounding out to first. Tigers needed Andoh to hold the lead. He got Kurobane to strike out but then walked Fujie - that latter was poor pitching. Uchikawa flew out and then Fujita grounded out to short - the lead was intact.

Tigers fourth was a case of wasted chances and incompetent fielding by the BayStars. With Kanemoto out, Johjima popped one up which Castillo running back dropped. This was ruled a hit. Lin grounded out to second which took Johjima round to second and the next batter was Andoh. He hit a bloop ball which for some reason Castillo stopped short of and allowed to land safely in front of him - a single and runners on first and third. Murton was next but he didn't drive in any runs and instead flew out to left. However, Andoh responded well in BayStars fourth, Harper grounded out to first and then both Murata and Sledge struck out. This was really good pitching and was Andoh at his best. Tigers fifth really destroyed BayStars chances of avoiding the sweep. Hirano hit to right but was forced out by Toritani's ground out - runner on first. Arai hit to left centre bouncing the ball of the wall above centre for a timely two base hit 4-1 Tigers, runner on second. Brazell hit to right and Arai was home 5-1 Tigers, runner on first. Kanemoto also hit to right to set up runners on first and third and this was the end of Fujie. He was replaced by Ejiri but this didn't bring the expected relief. Johjima hit to second but only forced out Kanemoto. Brazell was home 6-1 and Johjima was on first. Johjima took advantage of a loose pitch and stole second and then Lin hit a two base to left for another run 7-1 Tigers, runner on second. Tigers were out of sight. Andoh was the final batter and he grounded out to second to end the innings. Andoh retired the first two batters in BayStars fifth but then gave up a two base hit to Kurobane. However, Ohnishi (pinch hitter) struck out swinging on a full count and Andoh was safe. Matsuyama pitched Tigers sixth and with one out walked Hirano. Toritani managed to hit along the first baseline and Tigers had runners on first and third. Arai hit to short but the double play didn't come off and Hirano was home with Arai safe on first 8-1 Tigers. Matsuyama gave way to Shinohara who gave up a centre hit to Brazell - runners on first and second. Finally, Kanemoto flew out to third in foul ground to end the innings. Andoh returned for the sixth which was an innings too far. He normally has trouble with the fifth but this time collapsed in the BayStars sixth. Uchikawa started with a two base hit. Murton at centre hadn't figured out Hamasta where a hit to right centre drifts away from centre significantly. Thus he failed to take the fly ball by a long way. Fujita hit Andoh to right putting the ball over Lin for a timely two base hit 8-2 Tigers. Harper grounded out to first which took Fujita round to third and this was the first out. Then Murata hit a big two base bringing home the runner 8-3 Tigers, runner on second. Sledge hit and BayStars had runners on first and third. At this point Mayumi decided that Andoh was finished - the correct decision. Andoh hadn't pitched particularly well but still had a good lead. However, Mayumi for some reason chose Fujihara and he walked Shimozono to load the bases. Things looked threatening and Mayumi immediately switched to Nishimura. Why he didn't go with Nishimura in the first place is a mystery and probably just another illustration of his ineptness with pitchers. Nishimura struck out Castillo with a brilliant piece of pitching and then got Kinjoh (pinch hitter) - who received an ecstatic cheer from the BayStars fans - to fly out and end the innings. Tigers still enjoyed a very comfortable lead and BayStars had blown a very good chance.

Sakamoto pitched Tigers seventh retiring the batters in order and Nishimura returned the compliment in BayStars seventh. For Tigers eighth Katoh took the mound. He started with a hit to Murton who was bunted to second by Hirano. Tortitani tried to hit to left - every hittable pitch was directed in that direction but they were fouls and Katoh was able to let one drift a bit further striking Toritani out. Poor batting and nice pitching. However, Katoh faced Arai next and he was a different kettle of fish. Arai hit nicely to left centre for a two run home run 10-3 Tigers. Brazell then hit hard and for a moment it looked as if it would be another home run but it died and became a centre fly to end the innings. BayStars eighth was pitched by Fukuhara who didn't exactly cover himself with glory - the mix of dross and gold being too balanced. Harper got some gold and struck out looking but then Murata got some dross and belted a nice solo home run 10-4 Tigers. Sledge flew out to left and then Shimozono grounded out to Toritani to end the innings. Whatever Fukuhara has done he certainly hasn't solidifed the bullpen. For Tigers ninth we had yet another pitcher, Fukuda and he gave up a hit to Lin but nothing came of this. Tsuru pitched BayStars ninth and walked Castillo. Castillo stayed on first as the next three batters fell easily to end the innings. Tigers victory.

Tigers had not only swept the BayStars, they had also crushed them. In each game they had scored 10 runs or more and the BayStars had had no answers. It would be nice to believe that the uniforms had some influence but they are not something anyone would want to wear during a summer day game. Arai hit six RBIs and is hitting and driving in runs freely. Andoh was not good but walked away with a victory - the problem is Fukuhara and one wonders how Mayumi saw him as a replacement for Watanabe. One has to ask what has Mayumi been smoking? Giants are next and realistically Giants desperation to win will probably see them to victory but even with three wins they will not overhaul the Tigers.