By Steve Novosel
After Tuesday’s extra-inning heartbreaker and yesterday’s tantalizing-comeback-that-fell-short Lotte entered tonight’s game needing a strong performance to avoid their second straight series sweep at the hands of Orix. Would Marines ace Shimizu Naoyuki (0-2 with a 9.20 ERA in ‘09) be able to shut down the power-hitting Buffalo bats? Would the erratic Lotte offense be able to muster enough clutch hits to bring a victory to the beleaguered fans?
Yes, and yes!
A well-pitched game where both teams scratched for runs went to 11 innings tonight, and was won on a towering 3-run Sayonara blast to center by the none other than Mr Clutch himself, Marines 2B Iguchi.
 Lotte players congratulate Iguchi after his 3-run blast wins it (from marines.co.jp) Shimizu pitched quite effectively in this one, not giving up a hit until the 4th and only allowing two runs, only one earned, on 5 hits (though with 4 walks) through 8 1/3 innings and 121 pitches.
 Shimizu throws in the 1st inning of Thursday's 5-2 win over Orix (from marines.co.jp) Third baseman Imae got the scoring started in the bottom of the 2nd with a 2-out double to center scoring Satozaki from first. Imae got caught trying to stretch the double to a triple and was tagged for the third out. Orix tied it up in the 5th on Tsuyoshi’s error and went ahead in the 6th on Shimoyama’s leadoff HR to right.
Lotte wasn’t done scoring, though – Hashimoto was brought in to pinch hit for Takehara in the bottom of the 8th. After a single to left, Hayakawa then pinch ran for him and was sacrificed to second by Imae. Gary Burnham Jr, pinch hitting for Chase Lambin, stepped to the plate and smacked a liner to right on a 3-1 pitch to tie the game. A single by Benny (who was 2-5 in the game) put runners at the corner and gave the chance to go ahead, but no further damage could be done.
 Gary Burnham ties it in the 8th Sikorski closed out the 9th for Shimizu, and Itoh battled through trouble in the 10th and 11th to set the stage for Iguchi’s heroics. Fukuura lead off the bottom of the 11th with a single and Tsuyoshi followed suit with another. Iguchi then absolutely crushed a 1-1 pitch to the deepest part of the park to send the fans into a frenzy. It’s the 4th Sayonara victory at home for Lotte this year in 6 wins total, and the second on an extra-inning Iguchi blast. That’s a trend I could live with.
How good have the Marines’s off season acquisitions been so far? Lambin hasn’t had much playing time so far, but both Iguchi and Burnham Jr have been unquestionably great to this point. Iguchi batted .373 with 4 HRs and 19 RBIs in April, and Burnham Jr is batting .421 with a HR and 6 RBIs in only 38 ABs. His OBP is well north of .500 as well. Check out Burnham Jr’s last 5 games:
25 April – 1-1
26 April – 2-3 with 2 RBI and 2 BB
28 April – 1-3
29 April – 2-4 with 3 RBI and an HR
30 April – 1-1 with an RBI
That’s 7-12 with 6 RBI and an HR. What a tear! What a nice victory for Lotte today!
As a side note – a banner in the outfield tonight read “26 WAKE UP”. The battle continues?
By Steve Novosel
Quick on the heels of last night’s gloomy disappointment was today’s afternoon game, the second with Orix. The pitching matchup featured Watanabe Shunsuke (who was 0-2 on the season to date despite a 2.40 ERA) and Kanako Chihiro (1-2 with a 5.30 ERA). Watanabe has always pitched well at Chiba Marine, so optimism was running high. Kanako, however, resembled Iwakuma today until the 9th inning in a 5-3 Orix victory that wasn’t nearly as close or interesting as the score might indicate.
 Watanabe Shunsuke warms up near the Lotte dugout  Clearly, I need a camera with a better sensor at full resolution As I mentioned in my last post I was curious to see how last night’s mopey atmosphere translated to a holiday game, and I’m happy to say that the atmosphere seemed much more like normal than last night. The petition takers were back in full force, the food stall lines were long, as was the queue for people wanting to buy game day tickets (though curiously, the Team 26 line was almost non-existent). Inside the stadium the fans were just as raucous as ever – at least as much as today’s uninspiring game would allow them to be.
 Bobby V supporters out in full force for the 4/29 game with Orix Quite honestly, this was one of the more uninteresting games I have been to recently. Watanabe was off his game today, giving up 9 hits in 6 2/3 innings of work and 5 runs, including 3 hits in a row (2 doubles and a single) in the 2nd for 2 runs and back-to-back HRs to Ohbiki and LaRocca in the 7th.
 Watanabe throws it hard in the 2nd Kaneko, on the other hand, was inducing fly ball after fly ball by the Marines’s batters. According to the official scorer’s sheet he induced 13 flies of all types. One could look at that as good pitching; I tend to look at that as missed opportunities for the Marines.
 Benny smacks a single in the 7th off Kaneko The only real scoring chance for Lotte came in the bottom of the 9th, as a tiring Kaneko (135 pitches on the day) put Hashimoto and Saburo on for #6 hitter Burnham Jr, who pasted a fat pitch into the Lotte gaiya to make it 5-3.
 Gary Burnham Jr hits his first HR in Japan Benny hit a double immediately after to give the fans hope – hope that was snuffed out by Ohmatsu’s weak pop to third and pinch-hitter Iguchi’s grounder to end it.
So the team is now 0-5 vs Orix on the season, and sitting in 6th at 8-13. I’ve discussed at length in previous posts the pitching issues that have plagued Lotte this year – though that has improved in the last week or so. The 800-lb gorilla in the room now has to be Ohmatsu’s awful slump over the past 2 weeks. His last hit was on 16 April – 2 weeks ago – over which time period he’s gone 0-22 with countless left on base, including today’s missed chance in the 9th. On top of that he looked pretty lost in the field today with an error on a misplayed ball to right. Let’s hope he can relax, work through what’s bothering him, and return to the form that made him an up-and-coming star last year.
By Steve Novosel
The Marines returned home on Tuesday after the 3-2 road trip to Sendai and Tokorozawa to face the 10-9 Buffaloes. The first series with Orix didn’t go so well, with Lotte losing all 3 games in Osaka a few weeks ago. Taking the hill tonight was Kobayashi, facing Orix pitcher Kondo. There were alot of lineup changes from the norm for the Marines on Tuesday, as Chase Lambin made his first start in Japan in center (and collected his first hit), Burnham Jr in left, and Nemoto getting the start at 2nd.
 Chase Lambin patrols center field in Tuesday's game vs Orix Both teams got in some early scoring in this one, with Orix scoring a run on a walk and two singles in the top of the first and the Marines coming back in the bottom of the first with two runs of their own. Hashimoto continued his season awakening from Sunday with a 2-RBI double scoring Fukuura and Tsuyoshi. He followed his hit in the first with another RBI double in the 3rd. He would end up 3-4 in this game with all of the Marines’s RBIs, and 5 in the past 2 games.
Unfortunately the three runs wasn’t enough as Kobayashi could not hold back the Orix attack. The Buffaloes squeezed out runs in both the 4th and 6th to tie it and the Marines couldn’t bring any more runners across the plate, despite numerous baserunners and plenty of chances. Most critical was Nishioka’s ground out in the bottom of the 8th with 2 out and the bases loaded as the gaiya fans sand “Skinhead Runnin’” and tried to will the team to victory.
Sikorski came in to pitch the 9th and the 10th. As always seems to be the case when a team lets a dangerous opponent hang around instead of getting clutch hits, bad things happened. In this case the usually reliable Sikorski gave up a deep HR to Orix’s Ohbiki in the 10th. Lotte was unable to come back in the bottom of the 10th and lost 4-3.
I’ve yet to write anything about the controversy surrounding ownership’s purported comments regarding the right field supporters and a possible move from Chiba. I don’t trust my Japanese ability to catch all the subtleties of the conflict so I don’t want to risk reporting something that’s not true. What I can say is the mood in the stadium wasn’t very festive on Tuesday, especially compared to the normal enthusiasm level for a game before a pre-holiday game or Saturday’s game in Saitama. The Bobby 2010 supporters were virtually non-existent, and the petition gatherers weren’t at the stadium at all. Could the controversy and the surrounding gloom be affecting the play on the field as well? I can’t say; a few more games might give more of a clue.
Immediately after the game the right field fans staged a short, silent protest against team ownership.
 Fans protest after Tuesday's 4-3 loss  Fans protest after Tuesday's 4-3 loss I’m curious to see what the atmosphere will be like at Wednesday’s game. I will have a full report, of course!
By Steve Novosel
John’s already made a post on this game but I wanted to give a detailed breakdown and my thoughts on this Marines victory!
Lotte came into the rubber game of this series looking for another strong pitching performance against the powerful bats of Seibu. Up to the task for Lotte was 20-year old starter Ohmine, who was winless in his other two starts on the season. Those starts could not be more opposite: the first was a 7 run shelling by 1st place Nippon Ham; the 2nd a 7-inning masterwork in an extra-inning win against Softbank. Fortunately for the Marines Ohmine pitched much more like the the second than the first start, giving up only 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings of work. He also recorded his first win of the year as the Marines brought 11 runs across the plate in an 11-5 immolation of the Lions.
Instant gratification was the order of the day for the Lotte faithful as leadoff batter Nemoto poked the second pitch of the game past a diving Bocachica in center for a triple. Burnham Jr brought him home with a sacrifice to right for the early 1-0 lead. Tsuyoshi followed with a double off the right field wall, and Saburo brought him home with another double.
 Burnham Jr strokes a hit in Lotte's 11-5 win over Seibu (from marines.co.jp) The same crew was at it again in the 3rd as an RBI double by Burnham Jr and a sac fly by Saburo scored 2 more to make it 4-0. The Marines scored a run in each in the 5th and 6th to make it 6-0 before Seibu could squeak out their first run in the bottom of the 6th. They would add another in the 7th to tighten it up at 6-2, but that’s as close as they would get.
In the 8th, the Lotte bats put this one away, with lots of help from the Lions. Reliever Shoitsu loaded the bases on 3 walks and Saburo came up clutch again, scoring Takehara on a single. Hashimoto, who quite honestly has been disappointing at the plate so far this year, came through in a big way with a timely hit to right to score 2 and make it 9-2. Benny stepped to the plate next and smashed a ball to center past the glove of Bocachica scoring two. Benny hustled his ass off on the play to make it all the way to third.
Relievers Nakagaoh and Kawasaki took over for Ohmine, and while not particularly effective (Nakagaoh gave up 2 in the bottom of the 8th, and Kawasaki gave up a HR to Señor Nakamura in the bottom of the 9th – which actually lowered his ERA to 13+) the lead was far to big for the Lions to overcome.
So the road trip ends with a 3-2 record, and the Marines return to Chiba Marine this week sitting only a 1/2 game back of 4th in the Pa-league. We’d all prefer to have our guys at a 1/2 game up in first, of course, but through solid play over the last week the Marines have lifted themselves – and the spirits of the fans – to a much better place.
By John Evans
I wish I had gone to the game today but I left it too late. A hitting frenzy today out at the Seibu Dome in beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures – a big difference to yesterday. It would have been a great day out there with a 11-5 win and the beautiful weather. Hopefully we can keep it up.
By the way Steve, don’t know how you got Back to Ikebukuro yesterday but I caught the Ltd. Express which took 35 minutes with only one stop. 350 yen extra but a reserved seat and well worth it. Next time we should try and get it going the other way.
I’ll be away now until after Golden Week but will manage one game while in Houston with the Astros vs. Cubs though after Japan baseball it will be a quiet affair!!
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