PLPO S2G2: Sayonara!

This was one heck of a pitchers' duel between the Hawks' ace Saitoh the Fighters' super-rookie Yagi. To make a long story short, Saitoh lost his second complete game playoff game in row by the same score of 1-0.

Top of First - Kawasaki leads off grounding out to second. Ohmura flies out to left-center for out number two. Tanoue follows with a ground out to second. Yagi retires the side on 7 pitches.

Bottom of First - Morimoto strikes out swinging on four pitches to lead off. Tanaka Kensuke singles through the left side for the first hit of the game. Ogasawara then grounds the ball to Zuleta at first. Zuleta takes the ball to first himself and throws to second. The tag is made on Tanaka, and it's 3 up 3 down for the Fighters in the first.

Top of Second - Matsunaka singles 2/3rd of the way up the right field wall, being held to a single. He did foul off a number of pitching, more than doubling Yagi's pitch count for the first inning on this one at bat. Zuleta then grounds into a 5-4-3 double play to erase the base runner. And Jolbert Cabrera grounds out to short to retire the side in order.

Bottom of Second - Seguignol leads off grounding out to second. Inaba grounds out to short. and Shinjo strikes out swinging after working the count full. Shinjo did not look like he knew what to do with a bat this at bat. Nonetheless, the side is retired in order.

Top of Third - Nakazawa leads off with a base hit up the middle. He's then sacrificed to second by Ide. Then, while Matoba is at the plate, Yagi turns and fires to second where Tanaka comes sliding in feet first. Tanaka catches the ball at Nakazawa's feet - out! Picked off of second base for out number two. Matoba then flies out to left to end the inning.

Bottom of Third - Inada grounds out to short to lead off the bottom of the third. Tsuruoka pops out to short. Then Kaneko hits a two-out base hit through the left side. But Morimoto puts on the breaks with a pop out to Nakazawa in shallow right field. First stranded base runner of the game.

Top of Fourth - Kawasaki strikes out looking on three pitches to lead off the fourth. Ohmura then lays down a safety bunt in front of home plate. Tsuruoka gets out quickly, grabs the ball, and fires to first. The umpire calls Ohmura out, and Moriwaki-acting kantoku heads over to first to argue the call from his third base coach's box position. Of course Ohmura and the first base coach are also arguing. Replays show that it was a very close play, and there's a better chance than not that the umpire got the call right. It was a a very close play. Once the delay for the argument ended, Tanoue grounded out to third to retire the side in order.

Bottom of Fourth - Tanaka leads off grounding out to second. Ogasawara then flies out to deep center for out number two. And Seguignol striks out swinging to complete an easy fourth for Saitoh.

Top of Fifth - Matsunaka fouls out to the catcher for out number one. Zuleta then reaches first on a throwing error by third baseman Inada. As Cabrera strikes out swinging on a third full count pitch, Zuleta breaks for second. The ball is at second well ahead of Zuleta who makes a late slide and kicks the ball out of Tanaka's glove. This time Hillman-kantoku heads out of the dugout to have a word with the umpires. The home plate umpire then overrules the call, calling Zuleta out. I'm not exactly sure what the official ruling on that one was, but it didn't look like Zuleta was intentionally endangering Tanaka. He simply slid into the glove, knocking the ball out. In the end, though, it goes down as a strike out get two, Zuleta caught stealing. Yagi still pitching to the minimum number of Hawks.

Bottom of Fifth - Inaba grounds out to the right side for out number one. Shinjo follows with his second strike out in a row. He looked a little better this at bat, fouling off a couple. Inada follows with a two out base hit to left, but is stranded at first when Tsuruoka goes down swinging. That's Saitoh's fifth strike out victim of the game. We remain scoreless after five complete.

Top of Sixth - Nakazawa singles to lead off the sixth inning, both his and the Hawks' second hit of the night (third base runner for the Hawks). He's then sacrificed to second by Ide for the second time. But Yagi strikes out Matoba and Kawasaki to retire the side. But, the Hawks finally manage to strand a base runner.

Bottom of Sixth - Kaneko flies out to right for the first out. Morimoto then strikes out for the second time this evening, strike out victim number six. Tanaka follows with a two-out single to right. But he's stranded on first when Ogasawara goes down swinging. That's seven strike outs for Saitoh so far tonight.

Top of Seventh - Ohmura leads off popping out to Kaneko in shallow left field. Inoue flies out to center. Then Matsunaka grounds out to short to end the inning 1-2-3.

Bottom of Seventh - Seguignol fouls out to Cabrera in the huge foul territory on the third base side. Inaba follows flying out to left field. Then Shinjo finally hits the ball hard, but right at Cabrera at third. Fighting Ham goes down in order yet again in the seventh.

Top of Eighth - After Zuleta grounds out to third, Cabrera draws the first walk of the game, it being on four pitches. Nakazawa then flies out to right for out number two. And Ide grounds into a 6-4 fource to Kaneko at short to end the inning.

Bottom of Eighth - A fly ball to center by Inada is followed by Tsuruda's ground out to third and Kaneko's fly out to left-center to retire the side in order yet again. After eight complete, we still have no score.

Top of Ninth - The Hawks send up Matoba, Kawasaki, and Ohmura. All three of them fly out to Morimoto in left. Three up, three down.

Bottom of Ninth - Morimoto leads off the bottom of the ninth drawing a base on balls on four pitches. Morimoto is sacrificed to second by Tanaka. The Hawks elect to walk Ogasawara intentionally in the hopes of turning a double play, or get a force out on the lead runner. Saitoh gets Seguignol swinging on four pitches for the second out. So far, so good so far as the strategy is concerned. However, Inaba follows this with a ground ball up the middle. This looks like it's sure to get through to center, but Nakazawa makes a tremendous diving stop on the ball, tosses the ball to second - NOT in time! Ogasawara beats the throw to second! Morimoto is continuing around third and coming home. By the time the Hawks know what's going on, it's too late! Morimoto slides into home well before the throw from second; sayonara!

Saitoh has to be carried off the mound by his team mates as he's a complete emotional wreck. Matoba looked similarly distraught sitting behind the celebrations at home plate.

Congratulations to the Pacific League Champions - Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.