2009 May | We Love Marines

Interleague Game 10: Kanto Battle part 2

By Steve Novosel

530_ticket

Well, now – that wasn’t much of a game. Even though the Swallows didn’t break it open until the middle innings this one never really felt in doubt as Tokyo beat Lotte 7-1 on Sunday. Lotte’s starter Ohmine was really pushed around in this one, giving up 7 earned in 5+ innings of work.

Bobby V and Frank Ramppen hope for the best in the dugout

Bobby V and Frank Ramppen hope for more Marines runs

Tokyo loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first and “only” scored two in the inning. By contrast, Tokyo starter Kawashima really shut down the Lotte attack. After yielding two hits in the bottom of the 1st (but no runs) he went 3 up, 3 down in 4 of the next 5 innings. In fact, it wasn’t until the bottom of the 8th inning that Lotte made it to the top of the order for the 4th time.

Lotte did score a run in the 4th on an RBI single from Ohmatsu (scoring Saburo) – but that’s the only threat Lotte could mount in this one.

Ohmatsu singles to score Saburo

Saburo scores Lotte's only run

Tokyo well and truly busted the game open in the 5th and 6th innings thanks to a 2-run triple from the awakening Aoki, who also scored on a sac fly. In the 6th Aoki stroked a 2-run double to make it 7-1. I was a bit surprised he showed such strong offense as I thought he looked more than a little lost up there prior to his triple. I suppose a strong talent as Aoki doesn’t stay down for too long (I hope Imae reads that!)

Swallows fans have alot to cheer during their lucky 7

Kawasaki came in to relieve Ohmine and soon after plunked Aaron Guiel on the head, prompting a few angry gestures from the Tokyo right fielder.

Kawasaki misses the head of Aaron Guiel, though he wouldn't miss later

My buddy Furuya came in to mop up and pitched 3 gutsy innings, allowing a bunch of baserunners (including bases loaded in the 8th) but no runs. He couldn’t help the offense get in gear though.

Furuya pitches with the bases loaded in the 8th

I was hoping, of course, for another Marines victory today but it wasn’t to be. At least now I can get back to liking the Swallows (until Lotte visits Jingu in a few weeks, of course). Up next is the much-anticipated 2 game set with Yomiuri at Chiba Marine on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think stopping the Giants is pretty much an agenda all can agree on!

Here’s some other pictures from today’s action.

Takehara causes baseballs to levitate

Ohmatsu decides he doesn't like that bat much

Sato throws his bat but has to get it back; it's foul

Saburo throws one into the crowd after a nice play in right

Benny watches the ball sail off his bat

Interleague Game 9: Kanto Battle part 1

By Steve Novosel

530_ticket

Today the Swallows returned to San Juan Capistrano Chiba Marine Stadium for the first time in 2009, and the first of the 4 interleague matches. Lotte returned home in winning fashion after the 2-game sweep at the hands of Hiroshima, beating Tokyo 6-3.

I certainly love to watch a Lotte win but it’s always a bit melancholy against a team you like. I’ve been to many Swallows games at Jingu in the past and even own a nice fitted Yakult cap, plus I enjoy keeping up with Swallows news at the great Tsubamegun blog. That being said, for 4 games a year I am decidedly anti-Swallows. No offense.

It was a bit of a grim day with a 60% chance of rain in the forecast. The threat of rain kept many fans away (attendance was just over 15,000) but didn’t hurt the Lotte bats. Pitching was a bit shaky for both teams early. In the first, Swallows starter Yuki got two quick outs, walked Saburo, and gave up a big blast to right-center by Iguchi. I had just shifted seats maybe 5 minutes before to be closer to the RF foul pole; the ball landed really close to where I was sitting previously.

Lotte Fan celebrates a bit too robustly

(Sorry, been wanting to find a use for that pic since I took it on Friday night)

Armed with a 2-0, Lotte starter Naruse took the hill for the first time since his relief appearance on Tuesday. He looked a bit rusty out of the gate, allowing a pair of baserunners in both the first and third innings but keeping them from coming home.

Lotte gave him more support in the 3rd with a big 2-out rally. Saburo got it started with a double to left and Yuki smartly walked Iguchi after getting in an 0-3 hole, but Ohmatsu made him pay with a single to left to score Saburo. The recently quiet Satozaki caused more damage with a 2-run double to right.

Lotte fans break out the nets for Ohmatsu's AB

Benny singled to move Sato to third and Burnham Jr drew a walk to load them up, but Imae hit a weak pop to end the inning. 5-0, but it could have been more.

Naruse immediately gave 2 of the runs back in the top of the 4th on a leadoff double by Guiel, a single by Hatakeyama, and a 2-run double by Miyamoto. He fought his way out of the inning, though, and kept Lotte up 5-2.

Lotte added an insurance run in the 7th off a leadoff double by Tsuyoshi. He was pulled (!) for pinch runner Hayasaka, who stole third after Fukuura’s strikeout. Saburo brought him home on a sac fly to center, making it 6-2.

Lotte supporters propel Saburo to a hit

Ogino came in to finish the game in the 9th but was uncharacteristically shaky, giving up a run for only the second game this year on three singles. He did eventually get the job done, securing a 6-3 victory for Lotte.

Lotte looks to execute a two-game sweep of their own on Sunday as Ohmine faces Swallows starter Kawashima.

Banzai! Naruse and Iguchi are today's heroes

Interleague Games 7 & 8: Zoom-Zoom Uh-Oh

By Steve Novosel

From Wikimedia Commons

As this series happened a few days back I’ll keep this brief.

Lotte moved to Hiroshima after the Hanshin series for a 2-game set. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to either game as I would really have liked to have seen the lovely new Mazda Stadium. I was in Hiroshima a few weeks previously but the Carp were on the road at the time. I noticed with the new stadium that Carp management were really, really pushing the merchandising now. There were many Carp boutiques, Carp snacks, Carp drinks, Carp straps, and Carp Crap in general as I wandered around town. It’s nice to see teams making an effort to market themselves properly rather than the half-assed way some teams seem to do (see: Orix).

On to the action, or what little good action there was for Lotte fans. Lotte stood a real good chance of taking the first game in the series as this season’s young ace Karakawa took the hill in a duel of youth versus Hiroshima’s 20-year old starter Maeda. Karakawa unfortunately had his worst outing of the year by far, getting rocked for 6 runs in 6 innings of work, thanks to timely hitting by the Carp bats and crappy defense by Lotte (3 errors on the evening). Hiroshima takes the opener 8-3 as Karakawa takes the loss.

Thursday’s game was played down the road in neighboring Kure, home of the supposedly lovely Yamato Museum that was inexplicably closed when I was in town. If the current trend continued Lotte would win the next game; in every series so far during interleague the two teams have split. The trend did not continue, though, as Hiroshima completed the sweep with a 4-3 victory. Lotte starter Kobayashi continued his very hard luck season as he dropped to 0-4. Lotte held the early 3-1 lead but couldn’t score anymore despite 12 hits on the night. Lotte’s defense again was very shaky indeed, with 2 errors on the night leading to two unearned runs, giving Hiroshima the margin of victory. This loss for Kobayashi comes on the heels of the Sunday rainout at Koshien, the blown save by Ogino in his previous start, and the 2-0 monsoon-shortened debacle vs Nippon Ham.

Lotte will just need to salvage a split in the season series with a sweep when the Carp come to Chiba Marine the second week of June!

New sections: Interleague 2009 and Ouenka

By Steve Novosel

Please check out the two new sections on the site, Interleague 2009 and Ouenka. Interleague 2009 compiles all the game reports and standings from the Pacific vs Central League war, while Ouenka is a new resources for all the Marines supporter’s songs (but is still a bit of a work in progress.)

Update: All should be well with the formatting now, but if it’s not please let me know!

Interleague Game 5 (ver B): Catch a Tiger by His Tail

By Steve Novosel

ht_ticket1b

You must indulge me a bit; I’m a bit miffed I missed this game due to Sunday’s weather. I’m going to recycle some unused pictures from Sunday’s game – the real date – for tonight’s game. I’m just pretending I was there.

It would have been a good game to be in the stands for as well – another tight game with some late-inning drama. This time the Marines pulled through with a 3-2 9th inning victory.

Mar-kun teaches To Lucky how to hop like a Lotte fan

Hanshin starter Abe was all over the place giving up 3 walks and 5 hits in 4 innings of work. Benny got the Marines on the board first with a single up the left side with runners on the corners to make it 1-0. Lotte got 3 more runners on base in the third but couldn’t bring anyone home, so the score stayed 1-0.

Hanshin struck back against Lotte starter Ono with a 2-run single in the bottom of the third to make it 2-1.

These folks probably came to Tuesday's game as well, don't you think?

There the score stayed for the next 4 innings through a variety of pitching changes and stranded runners. Using some of the leeway afforded by the current 7-man Lotte starting rotation, Bobby brought in lefty Naruse for 2 innings of middle relief. It worked well, as Hanshin was unable to get anything going off Naruse.

Imae tied the game in the 8th with a 2-run single up the middle off of Hanshin reliever Williams. Ace set-up man Sikorski came in to shut down Hanshin bats and did his job well, allowing only one baserunner in an inning of work.

Hanshin fans try to rally their team on Sunday,er,Tuesday

Lotte came to the top of the 9th looking for a breakthrough against Hanshin reliever Fujikawa, the same Fujikawa they were unable to score on in Sunday night’s heartbreaker. Tonight, Lotte broke through – Tsuyoshi led off the with a smash double off the left field fence that barely missed being a home run. after a Fukuura strikeout, Saburo came to the plate with the chance to deliver a timely knock to put Lotte ahead. He popped up to the catcher Kano, who graciously allowed it to hit harmlessly off the edge of the glove. Saburo did not take the generosity for granted and belted a game-winning RBI triple to deep right, bringing the swift Nishioka around to score.

That allowed Bobby to bring in Ogino to finish off the bottom of the 9th, which is pretty much the equivalent of the closing credits in a movie. A single by Sekimoto went for nothing as Ogino got the job done as usual, and Lotte split the series 1-1.

We Love Marines

Interleague Game 10: Kanto Battle part 2

Interleague Game 9: Kanto Battle part 1

Interleague Games 7 & 8: Zoom-Zoom Uh-Oh

New sections: Interleague 2009 and Ouenka

Interleague Game 5 (ver B): Catch a Tiger by His Tail

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