On this damp Monday evening at QVC young righty Yuji Nishino was handed the ball with a tall task: go head-to-head with arguably the best pitcher in Japan – Hiroshima’s Kenta Maeda – and keep Our Marines in the game in the hopes that Itoh’s small ball could scratch out a run or two against the visiting Carp. The Carp are not a dangerous offensive team but no matter – when Maeken is pitching they are always in the game. Nishino did more than his fair share of the lifting tonight, delivering a masterwork of control and power, nearly silencing the Carp attack and boosting Our Marines to a stirring 3-2 victory.
Tag: Ikuhiro Kiyota
Gatecrash the Tokyo Dome!
Plenty of people thought Yomiuri would be leading the Central League at the start of interleague play, but who are these guys in first in the Pacific? Weren’t they supposed to be horrible? Shouldn’t the Lotte-Kyojin series in game 1 & 2 of interleague feature the first vs last teams? Nope. Our Marines have played …
Nippon Series Game 7 – Nippon Ichi!
It took seven games, and 12 innings in the seventh game to decide a winner – that winner, finally, decisively, is Our Marines. Can you believe it? This was just an amazing game (and I am not saying that just because of the result) – it was truly an epic way to end the series. …
Nippon Series Game 1 – The Road Warriors
Do you realize the Chiba Lotte Marines have now played nine games in a row on the road? And not against cupcakes, either – against the 2008 champion Lions, the always strong Hawks, and now the Central League Champion Dragons. With Saturday’s 5-2 win over Chunichi in Game 1 of the 2010 Nippon Series, Our …
Climax Series Final Stage Game 5 – With Great Force!
I’m not going to yank your chain with an extended intro – The Chiba Lotte Marines came alive late in tonight’s Climax Series Final Stage Game 5, finally turning on the jets and setting fire to Hawks pitching. With great pitching and furious offense, Lotte put away the Hawks 5-2 to force a decisive game …
Climax Series Final Stage Games 3 & 4 – Still Alive
One might think that if the Marines pitching staff would give up only one earned run over 18 innings they would win those two games. Right? Right? Instead Our Marines lost both games – Friday’s game (which I’ve already mentioned) by 3-1, and in a total letdown Saturday’s game, 1-0. 4 games total in the …
Back, In Black
In a move that’s been a LONG time coming – we are back in first. Who’d a thought that a little ways back this month? In a fortuitous confluence of events it was a) BlackBlack Towel Night (free towels, plus the team wore away blacks) b) Free Ticket Night from the Makuhari civic association c) …