8/12/11 Hanshin (Home)

August 12th, 2011

Tokyo Swallows 1

Hanshin Tigers 4

Streak: Lost 2    Last 5:LLWLL

(Jingu)

With little more than 6 weeks left in the season, the Swallows hope to distance themselves from their competitors.

The first few innings didn’t see too much action for either team. The Tigers were the first team to break the scoring drought. It all started in the top of the third. Fuji reached on a single. Kubo bunted him over to second. Murton hit a single to left putting runners on the corners and one out. Hirano hit a grounder to Morioka who hoped to turn a double-play. Unfortunately, he bobbled the ball and was only able to force Murton out at second. Fujii was able to score on the play. 1-0 Hanshin

Now with two outs, up walked Toritani. He proceeded to continue walking to first base. Following him was Arai. Even though he seems to be having an off year HR-wise, (only 4 so far) he is still a power-threat. Murunaka must have forgotten the scouting report on Arai because after throwing the third pitch of the at bat, he was watching Arai jog around the bases to the joy of all the bumblebees in attendance.  4-0 Hanshin

Brazell ended the inning with a fly to right.

For all the loyal fans in attendance, this was a tough game to absorb. Although we out hit the bumblebees, we could never string an attack together. Balentien finally broke the drought with a solo-shot in the 7th. 4-1 Hanshin

This was followed by a couple of runners getting on base but again the threat was put out. After two more innings of nothing, the Birds went down 4-1.

In another tough loss that has myself and others here at Tsubamegun wondering what will happen the rest of the way. The confidence and will-power that the team possessed for the first months of the season is gone. Now we are looking like a team that is wondering how to play baseball together. In my humble opinion, the team needs to rely on their big guns again and get them feeding off of each other. My ideal line-up for tomorrow would be as follows:

Aoki, Tanaka, Whitesell, Hatakeyama, Balentien, Miyamoto, Kawabata, Aikawa, Yoshinori.

This is where we have had the most success. The players obviously like it and they somehow find a way to win.

Of course if that is used and it all goes pear-shaped, just remember there is a reason why I write for free on a blog!

I'm playing catcher next inning? Are you kidding me? Oh, I'm playing catch with Aoki next inning. Got it.

Notes:

• This game took only 2 hours and 55 minutes to play
• Nearly 31,000 peeps paid to watch this one
• Kubo was the man o’ za match
• Rumor has it that the Swallows will be looking to bring in a new hitting coach to help our boys relearn the fundamentals. btw, I just started that rumor.
• Tomorrow will see Messenger for the bumblebees and Yoshinori for the Swallows

Scoring Summary

			YS	HT
	3rd	Hirano drove in Fuji, Murton out at second.	0	1
	3rd	Arai hits a 3-run HR, Hirano and Toritani score.	0	4
	7th	Balentien hits a solo	1	4