Two games in Koshien were canceled because of the rain, but so far none of the games in Jingu has been suspended. The world is upside down. Anyway, it's always nice to see the Tigers playing as well as they did today.
Starter Yasutomo Kubo won his 8th victory. Last season his teammate Atsushi Nohmi was the pitcher of Hanshin with the most victories (13). Kubo seems to be able to beat this record.
Kubo almost pitched the entire game, but because of the fatigue (155 throws today) he found himself in trouble in the 9th inning. So Kyuji Fujikawa took care to eliminate the last batter. He earned his 17th save, but he is still far from Iwase, the "God of Death" of the Chunichi Dragons, who has 26 saves.
Matt Murton batted four hits again. It is odd when he bats less than three hits, and not vice versa. This is a video of Murton's hits today:
This series of games against the Swallows was marked by the return of Kanemoto "Aniki" as a starting member in the left field. Although during the Interleague he was the 4th batter and DH, this time Arai keeps his 4th place thanks to the consistent results obtained in recent games. Now Kanemoto bats 6th and Johjima 7th. As if he wanted to show that he deserves to be the clean-up, Arai hit a 2-run homerun. There is the video:
Its a fact: cats are unpredictable. And our Tigers also have frayed nerves. Hirano was sent off for throwing his helmet after a controversial decision of the umpire. Wada-coach reacted immediately and the outcome was the second episode of Coaches Wars. This is Coaches Wars II: Wada-coach Strikes Back:
Wada-coach was also sent off for starting the Hanshin coaches vs umpires fight... Coming soon(?): Coaches Wars III: Return of Wada-coach.
When we say that the Tigers are unpredictable, it is not only Arai: each of our players may get a spark of madness form time to time. Kanoh and Arai were running towards a fly ball, when captain Tori suddenly appeared from nowhere. He ran as if he was pursued by a swarm of bees but he did not even pretend to catch the ball. He just managed to destabilize his teammates. The ball obviously ended hitting the ground.
You are probably wondering "why is Kanoh here in the first place?" He is back! And he replaced Murton as a runner. The pitcher tried to eliminate him but the first baseman did not catch the ball. Kanoh immediately rushed to the second base, and taking advantage of the surprise he reached the third base. Each time he comes back to the first team, Kanoh does something extraordinary (last time his first hit was a full base homerun). Hopefully he would not be demoted, so when Nohmi will return next month, the "Happy Two Friends" will be together again.
Another shift was made, the catcher Shimizu was promoted to the first team, whereas the catcher Komiyama was demoted to the second one. On which basis did Mayumi decide that Shimizu was better than Komiyama? The latter only played one or two innings since Johjima is always wearing the mask. And what is the point of this shift? Does Mayumi really intend to use a second catcher? Or does he just want Shimizu to contemplate Johjima?
Note also the "conversion" of Andoh to relief pitching. Yesterday he threw in the 8th inning. The new starter will be Keiji Uezono (yey!). He should be ready for Tuesday's game. The announced starter for tomorrow is Randy Messenger (ERA 4.70, 1 Win, 1 Lose). He will face Yoshinori (ERA 4.25, 5 Wins, 5 Loses).
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