By Steve Novosel
This is it – my last game of 2009. Sad. I can’t make the 6 October grand finale and the Seibu games are all mid week and far away. So – fin. The blog’s not done for the year by any means but I won’t even be able to watch the last 3 games live easily, so this is pretty much the last hurrah. How did it end up?
A good start to the day for me – my favorite pitcher is on the hill, the one and only Baby-Faced Killer, Karakawa. He got beat up in Sendai (a game I took many pictures of but have yet to write up – argh!) but I knew he’d be better for this one. Right? Right?
The scene: after the thrill-o-rama Saturday afternoon I went out for drinks, dinner, and karaoke, so it took a vast wellspring of willpower to drag me out of bed early. But it’s the last game of the season, which has magical powers to negate all the drinking, singing, and dinner-ing from the previous night. Baseball: cure for anything you care to mention.
So the game was destined to be a complicated logistical beast. 2 tickets for two friends (front row, 3B side), 2 tickets for me and another friend (1B reserved A), friend with two kids (2nd story unreserved). Sure to be a blast! All things I’ve enjoyed were in order:
- Random conversations with people I never met, check
- Tasty grub from Texas Tacos, check
- Not-so-random conversations with people I have apparently met before but don’t remember, check
- Baseball, oh yeah
It was nice running into people I’ve chatted with all over the place this year. People from Sendai, Koshien, various games in Chiba. Really nice to enjoy one last game this year together.
As for the game itself, well, it’s a bit of a beast to describe. We tried a little switcheroo again to see if we could somehow move more of us into the third base field wing – success! So I was able to get a ton of nice pics as it was a bright, sunny day. As I mentioned, my guy Karakawa was hurling so nice weather + nice seats + great friends = good way to end the live viewing season.
 The Baby-Faced Killer, slinging Too bad the game couldn’t live up to all that. Karakawa might be a bit gassed this late in the season as he is still quite a young guy, but for the second game in a row he looked very shaky. In fact it was probably his worst game of the year, with the possible exception of the late June game vs Nippon Ham where he coughed up 5 and didn’t make it out of the 5th. He only gave up 1-run through 6 innings (though on 8 hits), but the 7th inning was a doozy. More on that later.
As I mentioned in the post on Saturday’s game the contentiousness from that game spilled over into this one. The outfield ouendan did not like being chastized by Tsuyoshi, and there were several anti-Tsuyoshi banners in the outfield (I assume the “You’re only pretending to be good” was directed at him). On top of that, as he came to bat to lead off the game, the outfield ouendan refused to cheer at all. Uh-oh.
A chorus of yelling began, and it coalesced into the rest of the stadium (the 98% not in the hardcore ouendan section) chanting “Tsuyoshi! Tsuyoshi!” loudly. It was probably louder than the average player cheer even though all the fans weren’t in sync and were missing the drums. Tsuyoshi, for his part, struck out to start the game.
The cheers started proper with Hori, who got the start at DH in the second slot. To celebrate, he clubbed a dinger into right! It was his 4th on the year in his 22nd - 22nd! – year for the Marines. Good stuff! A 1-1 tie after the first*.
 Round the bases and enjoy that trot, Koichi!
*note that I conveniently forgot to mention the run Orix scored in the top of the first!
In the bottom of the second, Benny (who made the start in left) smacked one over the right field fences for his seventh of the year! He was immediately pulled for Hayakawa (who moved to center), and according to post-game reports had a bit of an injured knee. It’s safe to say it seems likely his tenure with Lotte will be over at year’s end, and quite possibly this was his last at bat for the Marines. If so, it couldn’t have ended better for one of my favorite players!
 Benny makes the home run trot - hopefully not for the last time as a Marines player Bottom 3 – who comes to the plate but Tsuyoshi? Again, the outfield ouendan are silent, again the rest of the fans rise up to cheer. Tsuyoshi belts a double down the left field line and the place erupts! He moves to third on Hori’s ground-out, which brings up Fukuura. Fukuura hits a foul fly down the third base side – coming right my way, actually. Kitagawa is running over and makes a sweet sliding catch – but Tsuyoshi is smart, he sees that Kitagawa has to slide for the play so he tags up and races home, just beating a throw from Kitagawa! 3-1 Lotte on a pure hustle play.
As Tsuyoshi stood on third, the guy sitting next to me yelled “Tsuyoshi! The gaiya fans won’t cheer for you but we naiya fans will!”
 Kitagawa gives a bit of an 'oh well!' smile after Tsuyoshi's heady play As the Marines players come out to their defensive positions for the top of the 4th most of the fans give Tsuyoshi a huge cheer – much bigger than normal.
 Tsuyoshi raises his hat in thanks In the bottom of the fourth Lotte made a great show at putting this thing away. Singles by Imae and Minami with one out got the inning going, and Masahiko Tanaka brought in the first run with a clutch single!
 Imae makes a nice slide to third as he comes from first on Minami's single Up next was… yeah, Tsuyoshi. The scene is much the same as the first two at bats, though the adhoc cheers of the 98% who are cheering him seem louder. He smacks a deep center fly that scored Minami – another run in! The ageless Hori pokes a double to score one more, as does Fukuura. It’s a 7-1 game after 4 innings, and it looks like the sweep can come on full cruise control.
 Cool flips for joy at the big Lotte lead Looks. Key word there. Unfortunately – uncharacteristically, for sure – Karakawa takes the game off cruise control and drives it right over a cliff, tumbling end-over-end, slowly erupting into flames…. OK, I think I’ve stretched that far enough. The lead was still 6 runs as the 7th rolled around, but in that horrible 7th Orix recorded 8 – 8! – straight hits, all with two outs. My daddy always told me it’s so difficult to keep runs from scoring when giving up 8 straight hits in an inning, and by gum he was right. Karakawa gave up the first 5 of those hits before getting pulled for Nemoto, who gave up two more without carding and out and was finally relieved by my guy Uchi, who also gave up a hit but mercifully got the 3rd out. The damage was most definitely done, though – 7-7 game after the top of the 7th.
 Uchi finally puts a stop to all the madness Has Karakawa just gotten tired late in the season? That’s two poor starts in a row. Very surprising.
Meanwhile on the Lotte side of things, the Orix bullpen went into maximum-security prison lockdown mode, getting out ***22*** consecutive Lotte batters after Satozaki’s leadoff hit in the 5th. This was “highlighted” by Orix rightly Vogelsong striking out all six Marines batters he faced. One might think the offense was a bit shell-shocked by how it all came apart in the 7th.
The bad blood between fan groups really boiled over in the bottom of the 9th. The game was still tied at 7 each, and with one out Tsuyoshi came to the plate with a chance to win it. Once again, no cheers, songs, chants, or otherwise emanate from the outfield ouendan. The infield fans are now totally pissed. After the ad-hoc cheering and subsequent ground-out by number 7, the infield fans, pretty much en masse, start booing… the outfield fans. “Go away! Go away! Go away!” Thumbs down, the whole shebang. Even the left-field overflow fans and most of the fans in right were booing the main ouendan. Ugly stuff.
Perhaps realizing they might have pushed things a bit far, the ouendan cheered Hori with zest – and two outs in the ninth. Most of the fans ignored the outfield fans’ cheers and cheered on their own. Hori, for his part, struck out – perhaps unsurprisingly.
Extra innings. The bullpens clear – Ogino, Sikorski, Itoh all come in, all get the job done by not allowing Orix to score. As mentioned before, so does the Orix pen. So it’s the bottom of the 12th, the last chance to salvage something other than a tie. Heiuchi strikes out to start off the inning, bringing up Mr Controversy in another game winning situation. Over the last few innings noticeably fewer fans have been cheering along, and with number 7 up at the plate again, the same scene repeats itself. Tsuyoshi will not let it affect him – he smashes a drive down the left field line! Maybe more than any other time this year he digs very, very deep, rounding second like a man possessed.
 The look of effort on the face of a man possessed It’s bedlam as Tsuyoshi makes that slide into third. Safe!!!! Everybody is screaming, high-fiving, TSUYOSHI!!!!
 Safe in the bottom of the 12th Only one out, very swift runner on third. What will Bobby do? SQUEEZE! Hori’s at the plate and he drops down a bunt! We jump from our seats as Tsuyoshi races home… but it rolls foul. 1-0, runner and batter reset – ANOTHER SQUEEZE! Tsuyoshi’s racing down the line but the pitch was more like a pitch-out. Hori doesn’t want to leave Tsuyoshi caught out coming home so he quite literally dives for the ball, barely gets a bat on it, uh oh, pops it up – caught – and Tsuyoshi is nowhere near third. Throw to the base, DP, game, set.
 Hori lunges for the last pitch of the game Damn.
I’m pretty bummed after the game. My favorite pitcher threw a stinker, we had a chance to win and it didn’t work out (though I loved the guts). I was most bummed by the turmoil in the stands for my last game of the year. I was really hoping for one last team effort – cheering at a Lotte game is most definitely a team activity, all hands in – and we just didn’t get that.
I understand why all the outfield fans were upset and protesting – I’m sure if you took a poll of hardcore Lotte fans you’d find 98% in agreement with the foul opinions on the front office. After all, over 100,000 of us signed the petition to keep Bobby here for 2010. I just don’t like the game disruption, myself. And I really don’t like the refusal to cheer Tsuyoshi. He’s a prima donna, and he’s always out due to “injury”, and he’s made a hell of a lot of errors at short this year, but he’s still one of our best players and still a part of the team. I dunno. It just seems to me for what was likely to be most people’s last home game of the year we all would have been better served by just savoring the game, the team, the memories – cheering for a great win for old time’s sake.
If I really wanted to protest, I would have reserved a bunch of seats, unfurled a banner at the beginning of the game, laid it on the seats, and left. Vote with your feet.
The good news is this post is written after the mid-week Seibu series, and as I watched those games on TV I saw the fans giving it their manic best like we usually do. Too bad I couldn’t be there to help.
I am going to fill in some of the earlier games with tons of pictures and stories from the road – better memories! And of course I will have more posts as the season winds down. For now, here’s some more photos from Sunday’s action.
 Orix outfielder Omura warms up before the inning  Imae makes a nice catch  Ogino keeps the Buffaloes from scoring in the 8th and 9th  Ikki, up close and personal
By Steve Novosel
The second game of the final Orix-sen showed up on a lovely – but hot – late September day. It was a festival day, with much singing and dancing both inside and outside the stadium. The game itself was spirited as well – both on and off the diamond. The balls were flying out of the park and the pitching staff showed real guts as Lotte pulled out a 6-2 victory over the visiting Buffaloes.
A day game: a real novelty these days. Saturday’s game was the first day game since late June – really! All of the home games in July and August were night/twilight games and so far in September every home game has been a weekday game. The last home day series was a rainy affair, so really this was the first time to bask in the sun at the ballpark since the Hanshin series in mid-June. (Well, I made a few road trips, but still)
 We love Marines, but Aono? That's some optimism. We showed up plenty early to soak up the atmosphere of the final home stand. The stadium wasn’t all that crowded despite the announced attendance of 25K+, so I was able to pull the seat switcheroo and snag a pair of front row seats. It’s amazing where you can go with a bunch of old tickets and acting like you know where you’re going.
Bobby V signed many autographs before the game, too!
 Signing away for all the fans On the hill for our Marines was Naoyuki Shimizu who, quite honestly, has had a very disappointing season to this point with an ERA in the mid 4’s and not so many wins. He’s been erratic at best, definitely not as solid as he has proven to be in his career. On this day, though, he was quite solid – scattering 10 hits in 7+ innings of work but limiting the runs scored to only two, giving the team a great chance at victory.
 Shimizu battles early in the game The Lotte offense grabbed the game from the get-go to take an early lead. Getting things started was today’s hero, Tsuyoshi. He smacked a dinger into the right center stands from the leadoff spot to put Lotte up 1-0 before the first home out was recorded.
 Celebrating Tsuyoshi's big leadoff HR Fukuura continued his hot September with a blast of his own in the third. From my seat I didn’t think it was going out but it kept on sailing, right into the right field stands. 2-0 after 3.
 Fukuura's teammates just can't get enough In the 4th, Imae and Hayakawa both singled with two outs to set up Tsuyoshi – he bangs a double to center, scoring both men easily! 4-0 Lotte after 4.
Shimizu loaded the bases in the 5th and gave up two on ground-outs to make it a 4-2 game. He would cruise through the 6th and 7th innings before getting into a real jam in the top of the 8th. Shimoyama led off with a single and Rhodes doubled him to third – runners on second and third with nobody out. Bobby wasn’t taking any chances, in comes Ogino to put out the fire. Ogino was super hot in the early part of the season but went through an awful stretch, but here in the late part of the season he’s come back around to be quite effective as of late. This game was no exception – he gets out the next three batters to end the Orix scoring chance and keep it at 4-2.
 Ogino making short work of the Orix offense Lotte could use some insurance runs, and insurance runs they got off of the bat of seldom-used Minami, who smashed a homer to deep right with Ohmatsu on to make it 6-2. Sikorski came in in the top of the 9th to seal the victory, and he did just great after a leadoff walk. Another nice win for Lotte over Orix! I talked to one of my friends in the stands after the game, she commented “Rare win, eh?” I guess it has been this year against Orix. But you know, as awful as the team played early in the season against Orix they finished the series on a tear – winning the last four decisions to end up with a 9-14-1 record against the Buffaloes. Considering the record was 2-11 at one point…
So the players of the game were Tsuyoshi (obviously) and Ogino (for such a meaty performance in the 8th).
 Tsuyoshi and Ogino high five fans after the nice win The game was far from controversy free, though. (Unfortunately, perhaps) As with Friday’s game, the stands were filled with anti-front office protest banners. At the bottom of the 7th after the singing of We Love Marines Haykawa came to bat. Instead of starting the cheers for Hayakawa the ouendan started anti-front office chants. As this continued and no cheers for the players started the infield fans started yelling at the outfield fans. The lady next to me shouted “Shut up! So annoying!” as did many other fans. Eventually the ouendan started to cheer for Hayakawa, but after he struck out the ouendan started it again during Tsuyoshi’s at bat. This pissed off the infield fans more, and most of the people sitted next to me were yelling at the ouendan.
So the game ends; Tsuyoshi and Ogino are the players of the game as I mentioned. After Tsuyoshi is interviewed, he grabs the microphone and talks to the outfield fans directly, asking them to take down their signs, not use such language as there are many kids around. Some cheers, and silence from the outfield. As Ogino and Tsuyoshi run to the outfield the outfield ouendan don’t sing Tsuyoshi’s song, and the rest of the fans must improvise. Many of the fans near me were still yelling at the outfield fans after the game. Not good – and even more unfortunately, it spills into Sunday’s game.
But the game itself was great – lovely weather and a lovely victory. I took hundreds of pics, and I’ll just post the rest at the bottom of this page.
 Hashimoto is devastated by his ground-out  Cheerleaders doing what cheerleaders do best!  Close play at first, but believe me, Fukuura's got that ball first  Kakunaka warms up on the sidelines  Fukuura takes his lead at first  We have a Heiuchi sighting!  Always helps to actually make it to second when trying to steal second
By Steve Novosel
It’s been a while since I’ve posted (ahem! again.) At least I have a good excuse – I was on the road last weekend for the Sendai series and on holiday after that, so blogging fell a bit by the wayside. I’ve also got – no joke – 4000+ pictures to go through from the past 2 weeks. I’ve been just wearing out my shutter! So I’m going to get caught up on all the recent action – it’s been a great month for the team record as we are as of this writing guaranteed the first, nay, the only winning month of the season. It’s been a horrible month for everything else as Lotte was mathematically eliminated with the 20 September loss to Rakuten and is officially, intractably, locked into 5th place in the Pacific League. Not what we had hoped for – no, expected. Also… well, that will be explained in Parts 2 and 3 of this series on the Orix series.
SO, on Friday night Orix came to town for the final three game set with Lotte of the 2009 campaign. It’s incidentally my final three home games, for sure, of 2009 – there is one more, a makeup game for the recent Rakuten rainout, but I absolutely can’t come. This series was quite important to me – I’m not ready for the Lotte season to be over but the schedule says it must.
SO SO, Bobby handed the ball off to our young Naruse to get a win and help end this season on a strong note. Naruse, as you may have noticed, has been positively brilliant as of late, winning his last 3 starts and last 5 decisions coming into this game. That streak would continue as Naruse threw easily his best effort of the year – a complete game, 12-K, 2-hitter that was more dominant than even that impressive line sounds.
 Best I got of Naruse on Friday, sorry! There was only a single by Rhodes in the second and a double by Ikki in the 8th to drop in for hits off Naruse. Lotte unleashed an 11-hit attack off of Orix starter Kishida, eventually running up 5 runs off of the righty. Leading the offense were Ohmatsu, who went 3-4 with a solo shot, Benny (2 for 3 with a walk), and Hayasaka (1 for 3 with an RBI sac fly).
 Ohmatsu enjoys himself in right Most of the Lotte scoring came in the 4-run 6th inning. In that frame the Marines loaded the bases with a pair of singles by Ohmatsu and Hashimoto and a walk by Benny. Imae brought the first run home with a nice RBI single, Kakunaka drew a bases-loaded walk, and Hayasaka and Tsuyoshi sacrificed to bring home the other runs. All in all a very efficient evening, and with Naruse as strong as he was those 6 runs would easily hold up.
 Hayasaka scores in the 5th for the first run The game wasn’t very well attended at all, actually – I suppose not much of a surprise for a weekday matchup between the 5th and 6th place teams late in the season, but being the last full homestand I would have thought more would show up. What did show up were many anti-front office banners, which were periodically raised around the outfield. That’s actually the reason for the name of this post – a reason that will become a bit more apparent in parts 2 and 3 about Saturday and Sunday’s games.
 Fukuura jokes around with Hayasaka before Friday's game  Benny warms up before his 2-3 performance
By Steve Novosel
It’s a lovely day, the sun is shining and Lotte has their first 4 game winning streak of the year. What the heck, let’s do another live blog!
The starting lineups
For Lotte: Tsuyoshi (short), Hayasaka (left), Fukuura (first), Iguchi (second), Ohmatsu (right), Hashimoto (DH), Imae (third), Satozaki (catcher), and Hayakawa (center).
For Nippon Ham: Tanaka (second), Hichori (left), Inaba (right), Takahashi (first), Sledge (DH), Koyano (third), Itoi (center), Nioka (short), and Tsuruoka (catcher).
Shingo Ono gets the start for Lotte vs The Hurling Darvish. Ono won his last outing last weekend versus Orix but hadn’t had a win in a month prior. The last time I live blogged an Ono start he was brilliant at Seibu but still took the loss. That has nothing to do with today, of course (or so I will tell myself). Darvish has been typical dominating Darvish this year with a 1.74 ERA and a 14-5 record, but he’s been out for close to a month with a sore shoulder. How will he respond?
The action
First Inning
A lovely start for Lotte as Tsuyoshi singles to open the game. He swipes second and Hayasaka bunts him to third. An early run against Darvish would be great. Fukuura lifts one to Hichori in left, the speedy Tsuyoshi is tagging, running…. Egads, he’s easily out. Instead of an early run the inning is over.
Not a good start for Ono. Tanaka smacks one down the line that Fukuura snags, but Ono is too slow to the bad and Tanaka makes it to first a microsecond prior to Fukuura’s throw. Fukuura had the ball in plenty of time but Ono wasn’t there – an infield hit. Hichori sacrifices Tanaka to second and Inaba grounds out to Iguchi but Takahashi singles to center to score Tanaka. 1-0 Fighters.
Second Inning
Almost something brewing for our guys. Darvish overpowers Iguchi for out one. Ohmatsu singles to center, and Hashimoto hits a nice gapper —- caught by Itoi in a great running catch. Grr. Imae pops out to Takahashi to end the inning with no score.
Koyano grounds out to Iguchi to start Nippon Ham’s inning, but Itoi and Nioka follow him up with back-to-back doubles; 2-0 Nippon Ham. Tsuruoka grounds out to Imae but Tanak draws a walk. 1st and 2nd with two outs and Hichori at the plate – he lines back to Ono to end the inning.
Third Inning
Every time you watch a broadcast on TV you see the same damn commercials. On BS12 (who carries a ton of Lotte games) you get the AXA Direct ads with chick with a dent in her fender, the phalanx of geeky insurance dudes sure to help you get your money, and the supernaturally chipper chica imploring you to call now. I hate those ads.
Gaora’s got the Sony Sonpo ads with the tiara people. I used to think these ads weren’t all that bad but watching them between EVERY inning has made them just as annoying as the AXA Direct ads. I never would have thought that a few months ago.
ANYWAY, Lotte goes three up, three down in the third as Satozaki, Hayakawa, and Tsuyoshi are retired in order. Bad trend, man.
Ono gives up two more singles by Takahashi and Koyano but nobody comes home, which is all that matters. The score stays at 2-0.
Fourth Inning
Nothing doing for Lotte. Strikeouts by Hayasaka and Fukuura and a ground-out by Iguchi.
Nothing doing for Nippon Ham either – two fly-outs and Ono’s first K, Tanaka’s the victim. 2-0 after 4.
Fifth Inning
Ohmatsu, Hashimoto, Imae up, Ohmatsu, Hashimoto, Imae down. Darvish is definitely in a groove.
Ono’s doing well himself – he gives up a walk to Takahashi but otherwise gets everyone out. Still 2-0.
Sixth Inning
Satozaki plays Darvish Pinball, ricocheting a ball off Darvish’s ankle and legging it out for a hit. Nothing else doing from the Lotte lineup, though, so no threat to score.
Itoi doubles with one out but Ono gets out Nioka and strikes out Tsuruoke to end the inning. The game zips along, but Lotte is still down 2 runs.
Lucky 7
Iguchi hits a one-out double to the right field gap. Ohmatsu pops weakly to third and Hashimoto gives a ball a big jump but has a bit too much under it – it dies at the track for out three.
A three up, three down frame for Ono. Pity about the early runs, he’s pitched great since then.
Eighth Inning
Finally, an opening! With one out Satozaki drills one high off the right field wall, barely missing a homer. He ends up at second, though. Hayakawa pops out to first in foul territory, but Tsuyoshi is there to pick up the team! He smacks a double that scores Satozaki and brings Lotte within one! Hayasaka strikes out to end the inning but Lotte is within one swing of the bat.
More commercials – the Zurich commercial with the wiggling girl in the front seat of the car like there’s ants on it is pretty annoying as well. She’s suppose to be cute but instead she just makes you think “Would you please sit still?!?” The batting aid commercial with Derek Jeter always cracks me up. His voice is dubbed by someone whose voice doesn’t even come close to matching Jeter’s voice or looks. I don’t know why a commercial wasn’t made with, oh, I don’t know, one of the hundreds of local baseball stars.
Two quick outs by Ono then a quick blast to left by Koyano. Sheesh, there goes the hard fought run – 3-1 Fighters, and on to the ninth.
Ninth Inning
Takeda is in – I believe he’s perfect on the season in save situations, so it’s a tough situation. It starts well – Fukuura reaches first on an error. Iguchi lifts a fly to right for out one. Ohmatsu smashes one down the line but Koyano makes a nifty quick snag of it and fires to second to get out two. Hashimoto steps up and delivers a single to right! Ohmatsu’s at third, two outs… But Imae grounds out easily to short to end the game and the series.
I suppose I shouldn’t be disappointed but I wanted to see the sweep. Two out of three is still nice but it does reduce our long shot chances at the climax series to really long shot chances. Lotte comes home for a three game set with Seibu, so at least we have a chance to make the Lions’s life miserable.
By Steve Novosel
 Who knew it was so cold in Sapporo in September? I made plans to go to Yomiuriland to see Lotte’s ni-gun take on the Giants ni-gun but the weather looks truly foul (both out the window and on radar), so I’ve decided to stay in and do another Live Blog.
Some notes about last night’s game as I didn’t make a blog posting. Lotte took the first game of the three game set vs the Fighters at Sapporo Dome 3-2, which is the first road win for the Marines against Nippon Ham this year. What an awful drought that has been! The game was a tight affair as Naoyuki Shimizu dueled with Shugo Fujii. Shimizu got the better of the Fighters, going 7 strong innings while yielding both runs on 7 hits (with 6 K’s). Saburo hit a solo homer in the 4th off of Fujii to take the early lead. Nippon Ham took the lead in the bottom of the 4th with a timely double by Takahashi and an RBI ground-out by Koyano.
Lotte tied it in the 5th with a jack to left by Minami (I saw him in the dugout on Thursday, which I believe was his first ichi-gun appearance of the year). Minami’s got fewer than 100 ichi-gun PA’s in his career and that’s only his second HR; very nice to get it in such a tough place to play. Fukuura broke the tie in the 6th with a timely single to make it 3-2, which it is how it would finish. Ogino and Sikorski get the job done in the 8th and 9th, respectively.
So the stage is set for today’s matchup between Yagi and my favorite, Karakawa. The Baby-Faced Killer is back on the hill looking to FINALLY get his 5th win of the year. He’s got a 3.06 ERA in 17 starts this year. Shouldn’t that get you more than 4 wins? He’s undoubtedly the hardest-luck pitcher on our team, if not in the league.
The starting lineups:
For Lotte – Tsuyoshi (short), Imae (3rd), Saburo (center), Iguchi (2nd), Ohmatsu (left), Satozaki (catcher), Benny (DH), Fukuura (1st), and Minami (right).
For Nippon Ham – Tanaka (2nd), Itoi (center), Inaba (right), Takahashi (1st), Sledge (left), Koyano (3rd), Nioka (DH), Tsuroka (catcher), Kaneko (short)
First Inning
Two quick outs by Tsuyoshi and Imae, then Saburo laces a double down the left field line. Iguchi gives it a big jump to center – it’s really well hit and deep, but Itoi makes a running catch at the fence to end the inning.
Tanaka lines to Ohmatsu in left to start the bottom of the first for Nippon Ham. Karakawa then mows down Itoi and Inaba swinging to end the inning. Very strong start for Karakawa!
Second Inning
Ohmatsu strikes out swinging. Satozaki crushes one off the top of the center field fence, Itoi reels it in off the bounce and nails Sato at second. The camera wasn’t on him after it left his bat, did he slow down to admire it? Anyway, he’s out. Benny flies out to end the second.
Takahashi grounds out to Fukuura for the first out, but Sledge drops a single to right in front of Minami. Koyano lines out to Minami for out two. Nioka hits a first pitch curve from Karakawa between Iguchi and Tsuyoshi for a single, and Tsuruoka hits a liner that’s snagged by a leaping Iguchi for out three. 0-0 after two.
Third Inning
Ute Fukuura, Ute Fukuura – and he does, up the middle. Minami tries to bunt him over and pops the first attempt back to the fence, pokes at the second even though it’s nowhere near the strike zone, and settles for a GIDP. A dire at-bat indeed. With two outs Tsuyoshi singles through the left side – wouldn’t it have been nice to have a runner on? Not that it matters, as Imae floats a little pop that’s snagged by Tanaka for out three.
A nice swinging K of Kaneko to start the 3rd. Tanaka pops a foul fly, Imae is running to the fence – he hauls it in with a very nice little basket catch. Itoi pops to Ohmatsu to end the third. Still 0-0.
Fourth Inning
Saburo must have eaten his natto this morning – he blasts one into the Marines ouendan to give Lotte the first lead of the game! That’s 3 HR in the past 4 games and 21 on the year, 5th in the Pacific League. He’s been sick lately and it hasn’t hurt his game one bit. When did he turn into a slugger? Ground-outs by Iguchi and Ohmatsu and a pop out by Satozaki end the Lotte 4th.
Karakawa is cruising now. Ground-outs by Inaba and Sledge and a swinging K by Takahashi send the Fighters down in order. 4 K’s for #19, and a 1-0 Lotte lead!
Fifth Inning
Benny floats a single to center to lead off the fifth. Fukuura drops a lovely bunt to sac him to second, Minami lines to Inaba to send Benny to third. The stage is set with Tsuyoshi at the plate – and he stares at strike three zipping by. Three outs, change.
Grounder by Koyano to Iguchi and a swinging third strike by Nioka – 10 in a row for the Baby-Faced Killer. A 5 pitch walk to Tsuruoka ends that string, but Kaneko conveniently grounds out to Karakawa to end the inning. Very nice outing for Karakawa, as is the norm. I will ask again, as it bears worth repeating over and over – why does he only have 4 wins on the season?!?
Sixth Inning
Imae leads with a double that’s just under the glove of a sprinting Itoi. Up next is the white-hot Saburo – can he deliver again? He’s down 2-0 early but works the count full, waiting for his pitch. He gets it – a slap single up the middle past a diving Kaneko! A one-man offensive powerhouse, he puts Lotte up 2-0! Iguchi lines to Sledge in left, and Ohmatsu lines to Tanaka, who whips it to first, but Saburo is back in time. Satozaki pokes a single through the left side bringing up Benny – he grounds one to Koyano to end the inning. Nice run, and it might be enough with Karakawa hot as he is.
Interestingly (well, interestingly to me) – my browser wants to correct my mistyping of grounders to gerunds. Maybe Benny did Grounding or Outing to third? I amuse myself.
A grounder to Tsuyoshi that just nips Tanaka at first, nice. Itoi lines one to Ohmatsu for out two, and Inaba flies to Saburo for the third out. Karakawa is cruising so well I could almost autotext the Fighters’s frames. 2-0 after 6.
Lucky 7
A ground-out by Fukuura is followed by a Minami walk. Tsuyoshi flies to center and Nashida-kantoku is making a change. Out is Yagi and in is Tanimoto. He gets Imae swinging on a filthy fork ball in the dirt for strike three.
Takahashi grounds to Tsuyoshi, who makes a nice pick on a difficult ball to get the out. Sledge pops to Imae, who’s playing where Tsuyoshi would normally be thanks to a mega-shift to the right. A liner by Koyano to Minami ends the inning. 17 batters in a row without a hit, only interrupted by the 5th inning walk. Still 2-0 Lotte!
Eighth Inning
Sensei!!! Saburo blasts another deep ball off the fence where Itoi can’t get it. He’s easily in for a double, but limps off with a leg injury. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but he’s missed some time with injuries lately, so it’s of course a concern. Hayakawa fills in as pinch runner. Iguchi hits a flare to center and Tanaka makes a great jumping catch to reel it in. That was a lot of ground to cover, excellent play. Tanimoto is out and in comes Miyanishi. Ohmatsu greets him with a double to right, scoring Hayakawa easily and making it a 3-0 game! Sato singles to put runners on the corner with only one out. Benny’s at the plate with a chance to bring in another run – he pops one to right, plenty deep for Ohmatsu to score from third! 4-0 Lotte. Fukuura cracks a double and Satozaki is (very unwisely) coming home. Out by 5 or 6 steps, at least, second time he’s been thrown out on the bases today. But Lotte gets some much-needed insurance – a 4 run lead with Karakawa on the hill has got to be golden.
Nioka singles to left for the Fighters’s first hit since the second. Inada is pinch-hitting for Tsuruoka, and he grounds one to Iguchi, who charges and flips to Tsuyoshi at second – except he is a bit off in his flip and Tsuyoshi barely, barely holds on to both ball and bag. Tsuboi pinch hits for Kaneko and singles to left – 1st and 2nd with one out.
See, here’s why insurance runs are nice – Tanaka lines one down the right field line scoring Inada. Can Karakawa dig deep to get out of the jam? A grounder by Itoi to Iguchi – he flips to Tsuyoshi for one but there’s no throw to first. Another run is in to make it 4-2. Fighters fans are really hyped up with Inaba at the plate – the Inaba jump is in full swing, making the cameras get all jiggly. We must quiet them. Inaba lifts one deeeep to left, but it’s short of the fence – Ohmatsu is under it and hauls it in for out three. Nippon Ham gets the two runs back but Lotte still has a 2 run lead, 4-2. On to the ninth!
Ninth Inning
Hisashi Takeda is in, as is is Hayasaka (for Minami). Hayasaka greets Takeda with… a liner to Iiyama (replacing Kaneko at short). Tsuyoshi grounds out to second for out two, and Imae grounds back to Takeda for a very quick Lotte frame. It’s down to the bottom of the ninth, and Lotte must protect this lead and get Karakawa the win!
Sikorski is tasked with shutting down the Fighters bats. It doesn’t start well – Takahashi smashes one down the first base line and it pops off the bag, way high. Safe at first with slugger Sledge coming up. But Sledge grounds to Fukuura, who flips to Tsuyoshi, who whips it back to Sikorski for two! Niiiice. Koyano at the plate – Brian gets ahead 2-0 and whips a nasty changeup right by the swinging Koyano for strike three! A 4-2 Lotte win!!!!
The Baby-Faced Killer strikes again, and gets the WIN finally! 8 IP, 2 ER on 5 hits, 5 Ks and only one walk in 130 pitches. Very nice indeed. One can’t ignore the one-man wrecking crew contributions of the awesome Saburo – 4-4 with 2 RBI and an HR. That guarantees the series win for Lotte – an amazing turnaround in fortunes as it’s the second series win in a row for Lotte vs the Fighters, and the 4th consecutive series win. It also runs Lotte’s record for the month to 8-3. Mathematically they are still alive for the 3rd spot… (How stupidly optimistic is that?) 16.5 back of first with 19 to play – let’s do it! (OK, more like 11 back of 3rd with 19 to play)
Nippon Ham, on the other hand, is reeling. That’s 6 in a row for the Fighters, but Softbank is also losing as of this writing so they won’t lose any ground at the top. That probably doesn’t make Fighters fans feel any better, though.
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