Since today was an off day for Our Marines, I thought I would share some pictures I took at last Saturday’s ni-gun game at Yakult Toda Stadium. I posted several of these on Twitter already, but most are new.
The game itself was pretty interesting, so many ichi-gun guys were there due to injury rehab, so I got to watch Masuda, T OGINO, Fukuura, Imae, and Masuda all play. Masaki Minami got the start (surprisingly, as I’ve only ever seen him as a reliever) and was pretty effective before getting beat up a bit in the 6th innings.
Everybody’s favorite future superstar Shohei Katoh had a monster game – 4/5 with a bunt single, a spectacular diving catch, and a three run jack from the left side of the plate (he’s a switch hitter). The Swallows tied the game up in the late innings but Keiyo Aomatsu won it with a huge smash off the back screen in dead center.
The preaseason is over, the 2014 NPB regular season kicks off this Friday! Let’s take a look at the players who will be starting the season at ichi-gun for Our Marines. First, the pitchers.
Starting Rotation
1) Yoshihisa Naruse. Naruse gets the opening day start for the 5th year in a row. He finished the preseason with a sub-2.00 ERA that was sub-1.00 until giving up a pair of runs at Seibu Dome in his last start. He looks much leaner than last year (more like the Naruse we saw in October than April) and is as unflappable as ever. I think he’s going to have a nice year.
2) Yuki Karakawa. The Baby-Faced Killer got beat up a bit in his first Spring start but was very solid after that. The nice thing is he was getting through the early innings much more efficiently than he had been in previous years. I really want to see him go much deeper in games this year.
3) Ayumu Ishikawa. First round draft pick and super rookie, Ishikawa made 4 starts this spring and looked really solid in all 4, only giving up 3 earned runs total. He had some issues with blisters on his fingers in his last two starts so I hope that’s not A Thing, because so far when he’s on the hill he looks great.
4) Hideaki Wakui. He’s our big free agent signing and hope to be an ace-like pitcher, but honestly after a nice first outing he has gotten stomped, repeatedly. The first was an 8-run disaster at home vs Yomiuri, and the second was just on Tuesday at ni-gun, a 7-run beatdown. On top of that, he started the no-game that was cancelled by wind last week and looked pretty poor there, too. He’s thrown a lot in the preseason – 250+ pitches one day at Ishigaki – so he’s probably just a bit tired. We hope. He gets the start in the home opener next week, so we’ll find out then.
5) Takuya Furuya. New Lefty Ace looked lovely in limited work this spring, giving up just one run in 6 innings. I think he will give much the same performance he did last year; AKA awesome.
6) Takahiro Fujioka. Really??? Yes. He’s looked good back in the rotation this spring, really he has. He’s going to get another chance to be the solid starter we all know he can be. His key is going to be to attack the batters more especially early, and it looks like he has been doing that so far. We’ll see.
Waiting in the Wings
If any of these guys should go down, here’s who will step in. Seth Greisinger is first on the list – he’s only not a starter now because he is injured, and will not be back until May, minimum. After that, look for Kazunari Abe or Hiroki Ueno to fill in as starter, with Yuta Ohmine as a wild card, though patience with Ohmine in the organization seems to have run out. Yuji Nishino could always come back if needed as well. Super duper wild card: Hiroya Kawamitsu, rookie last year who lost the whole season to injury and who has had a nice camp and preseason. He’ll start the year in ni-gun, though.
Bullpen
There’s been no announcement (that I have seen, at least) regarding this year’s closer. Nishino has moved to the pen with the anticipation that he can move into that role, but is it official? He wasn’t throwing as closer in the spring much, though he was very solid (9 IP in 7 games, 11 Ks and 2 ER).
Naoya Masuda didn’t pitch much before going down with an injury. He’s going to start the season at ni-gun but he is throwing and will be back soon.
Carlos Rosa was perfect this spring to continue his fine work from last year. He’s the other candidate for the closer role, though I think he’ll be best in that same fireman role he had last year.
Our 4th round draft pick last year, Shohei Yoshihara, has earned a prominent spot in the pen after making 5 scoreless spring appearances (6 IP, 5 K). Yasutaka Hattori also gave up no runs in his 2014 spring and will be the lefty fireman out of the pen.
Takahiro Matsunaga was quite honestly getting beaten up all spring. I don’t know if this shuffling between the rotation and the pen has messed with his mind or his mechanics, but he has not looked very good so far. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start out in ni-gun this year.
Other than the aforementioned Ueno, we can expect to see Tomohisa Otani as middle relief as well this year, much like he did last year. We might also see more of Yuhei Nakaushiro this year, something we’d all like to see.
Outlook
It’s extremely good, to be honest. This team was in first or second almost all last year with so many of these guys injured or not on the team, so the new additions plus having everyone back should mean the best pitching staff we’ve seen in Makuhari in quite some time. I am strongly optimistic about this season as it is, and most of that optimism comes from the really solid looking pitching staff.
Happy New Year everyone. Considering Steve posted the official We Love Marines Memories and Best of 2013 blog, I figured it’s a good time to for me to weigh in with my first post of 2014. Here’s a mishmash some of my top memories from 2013 that didn’t make it into Steve’s post.1
1 Yes, apparently 2000+ words didn’t cover everything.
Craig’s MVP Honorable Mentions
I agree with Steve on awarding Imae MVP honors, despite Iguchi’s team leading OPS. Imae was steady from start to finish in the heart of the lineup. A better case could probably be made for Iguchi, had he maintained his first half tear throughout the whole season. All that aside, I just want to take a moment to honor Iguchi again for getting his 2000th career NPB/MLB hit. The hit, no less, was a late go ahead home run that almost broke Masahiro Tanaka’s winning streak in the midst of a pennant race with the first place Eagles.
Steve also mentioned the likes of relievers Matsunaga and Carlos Rosa in his post. There’s one more member of the bullpen that deserves a bulk of credit for our success, and that’s Naoya Masuda. Masuda was the workhorse of the pitching staff, leading the PL in both saves (33) and appearances (68).
Craig’s Home Run of 2013: Craig Brazell, July 17th
Craig Brazell’s go-ahead and eventual game winning shot in Game 2 of the Climax Series Final Stage was as clutch as it comes. No doubt about it. Still, the most memorable Braz jack of the year for me came in a game versus the Hawks on a rainy night in the dog days of summer. Craig was swinging a red hot bat after inking a mid-season deal returning to Japan to play for Our Marines. On that note, we’re all very glad to hear he’s coming back to play in Chiba next year too. I’ll let the replay speak for itself, I recall Steve saying this was the hardest hit ball he’s ever seen at QVC.
http://youtu.be/P4ix-b9HJ88
http://youtu.be/0QslFD6kg4w?t=1m3s
Craig’s Defensive Play of 2013: Okada, April 9th
The catch of the year goes to two-time golden glove recipient Yoshifumi Okada. Granted the human highlight reel (my apologies to Dominique Wilkins fans) provided us with yet another year of Spidermanesque catches in center, but this one stuck out most for me. Mostly, the degree of difficulty was quite high for this grab. Anyone who regularly visits QVC Marine Feild knows of the often less than desirable weather conditions down by Tokyo Bay in April. It was a sinking line drive that I’m sure the howling wind must of played tricks with – notice Yoshimi on the mound and his uniform flapping wildly in the wind before the pitch. Not to mention, Okada almost broke his wrist lost his glove in the process of securing the ball.
http://youtu.be/9FdoVSJZxxw?t=1m34s
Craig’s Worst Blooper of 2013: A 3 Run Wild Pitch
Yes that’s right. Three runs on a wild pitch. Luckily, it was the Fighters who supplied us with the most memorable comedy of errors in a game involving Our Marines. Keep in mind, this broke open what was at the time a 2-2 game. Here’s an updated .gif thanks to DK in the comments section.
Thanks again to Our Marines for the 2013 memories, and thanks to all the readers of We Love Marines. Opening day can’t come soon enough.
Friends, this was a hard-fought win. I said in yesterday’s writeup that this one was a must win, and win we did. It was classic playoff baseball – Our Marines needed some heroics to overcome the great pitching of Rakuten’s Norimoto and boy did we get it both from the mound and at the plate.
Today’s pitching matchup featured rookie Norimoto vs our own Seth Greisinger. Coming into the game, I wasn’t sure at all what to expect from Seth. Much like Game 1’s starter Naruse, Seth’s been great in the past but has missed a lot of time this year. It was initially thought that he wouldn’t be able to join the team at all this series as he had been out injured, but a strong rehab outing last week in a Phoenix League game convinced the staff to bring him up.
What a great choice. Even going on 4 days rest, Seth was fantastic. His line for the night was a strong 6 IP, no walks, 5 K, and 5 hits with no runs allowed. He stood to earn the victory until… Wait.
In the first inning, though, Seth got in a bit of trouble. Okajikma hit the first pitch he threw for a single, and on the bunt attempt Nemoto dropped the ball at first and got tangled with Fujita. He was on the ground for a bit but stayed in the game – but it put Seth in big trouble with runners on first and second with no outs. After a sac bunt, Andruw Jones smashed a liner to Imae, who snagged it and dove immediately to third to double off Okajima. Superb play!
Our Marines had a hard time getting anything going thanks to the awesome work by Norimoto – the young starter went a full 9 innings (125 pitches!) and striking out 11. He was very, very tough at preventing runners from getting to base, to say the least. Through the first 6 innings, Lotte batters only got 2 runners on, in fact. That changed in the 7th – Iguchi and Imae singles led off the inning – BIG chance. Kakunaka couldn’t bring anyone in, though – he flied to second. That brought in Braz – he grounded one up the middle, Norimoto couldn’t handle it, Iguchi in, 1-0 Lotte!
Would it be enough? Rosa and Masuda took over for Greisinger – they kept it at zero runs. Norimoto kept us off the board again as well. It came down to the 9th inning, and in came Uchi. Great.
Well, maybe not – with one out in the 9th, Uchi hung one to Jones, and he lined it into the left field stands. Ohhh shiiii… And McGehee singled right after. We’ve seen this before in Sendai, too many times. But no, Masuda hit into an inning ending DP, and we were off to extras.
Norimoto changed to Kaneto, and for once Itoh-kantoku stayed with Braz vs a lefty. And BOY DID IT PAY OFF as Braz smashed a liner just inside the right field foul pole for a go-ahead homer! We in the visitor cheering section went NUTS. NUTS! 2-1 Lotte!
And we weren’t even done – Daichi and Kiyota singled, Satozaki bumped them to second and third, and Nemoto singled to bring ’em both in! From the heartbreak of the Jones HR to a 3-run 10th inning – FANTASTIC. 4-1 LOTTE.
Uchi came back in to finish the game – with two outs he gave up another homer to Hijirisawa (??!!??) – the game was over after the next batter, though, and 4-2 was the final. Uchi got the win with his dodgy 2 innings of work (though it was efficiently dodgy – only 18 pitches for 2 IP, 2 HR and another hit. When he goes bad, that’s how he does it).
It was a must win game for sure, and with the series at 2-1 now we are in a better position, as our upcoming pitchers are much better than Rakuten’s. For Game 3 we get New Lefty Ace Furuya vs Mima. We’ll be in the right field stands again cheering Lotte on to victory!
The best feeling. From marines.co.jp Game Preview: Now is the time of year we bid adieu to Hamu. We’ve said goodbye to Daiei already, but we’ll meet them again in Climax. We’ve said or goodbyes to RAK, at least at QVC, but of course there is more with them in Sendai. For Hamu, though, this is it. Enjoy the offseason, see you in March.
We’ve just faced a rough goodbye ourselves – Our Marines left Tokorozawa on a sad note, celebrating Lions jumping around home plate in the 10th inning. It’s in the past now, we’ve got to give a PROPER goodbye to our friends at Hamu tonight! I’m not of a greedy mind – we like Hamu – so let’s say a 3 run victory for Chiba, OK?
The Baby-Faced Killer takes on the not-long-for-Sapporo Tadano. I’ll be in the outfield (not as a player, of course! Well, unless they need me, that is.) screaming my lungs out.
[expand title=” 30 September – Lotte SAYONARA WIN 1-0″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ expanded=”true” notitle=”true” excerpt=”Hamu: Kazuhito Tadano 0-2, 4.38 ERA @ Lotte: Yuki Karakawa 9-11, 4.53 ERA
By Steve Novosel For those who follow Our Marines – cheer them at QVC and on the road, catch the games on TV or in the paper, follow the team from overseas and cheer when you can – does it get any better than a crucial, extra inning 1-0 Sayonara victory off the venerable bat of Chiba’s own Fukuura, scoring fleet-of-foot fan favorite (and my favorite) T OGINO?
No, friends, it does not get any better than that. “]
Loved by all Lotte fansRuns at a Premium
As you can guess by the final score, pitching reigned on this wet evening. The Baby-Faced Killer climbed the hill looking to bounce back from two straight bad starts – one that looked worse in a box score than in person, and the other that was rather brutal any way you look at it. Tonight, though – a VERY nice outing from Karakawa. You can look past the walks a bit – he had 4 – and focus squarely on the 7 innings pitched, the 6 strikeouts (one off his season high), and especially the zero runs allowed. The walks were no problem at all – one was intentional, and the other three were just scattered. He looked really sharp for the first time in weeks.
Yuki’s counterpart was the soon-to-be-senryokugai’ed Tadano, probably making his last start for Hamu. Tadano had all sorts of problems with his walks, but he managed to escape the self-induced trouble every time. The big jam Tadano ended up in was in the 4th, when walks to Iguchi, Fukuura, and Nemoto loaded the bases with a pair of outs, but Kanazawa1 popped out weakly to short to end the scoring chance.
1If I am going to criticize Kanazawa heavily for some of the bad results from the pitchers he has caught – and I have, many times – I must give him credit for tonight’s great work by the pitching staff. Lovely game.
Lotte batters got great wood on Tadano’s pitches many times only to line hard hit balls right at outfielders, or to loft balls really deep but too high to go out. Saburo twice flew out in this manner. So did Imae. In fact, despite the 6 Tadano walks, he took a no hitter into the 7th inning before giving up a hit on the first pitch to Saburo. He left after that inning, only giving up the one hit and no runs to go with the 6 walks.
Shifting the Balance
Rosa and Masuda took over for The Baby-Faced Killer and were equally superb – no, even more so. Three up and three down for both in the 8th and 9th, and three Ks combined for the two.
The Hamu pen got ever more shaky as the evening progressed. Masui was surprisingly OK – giving up an Iguchi hit, but wiping it out immediately via Imae DP. Miyanishi was next in the 9th and was very rough – he got two quick outs before Nemoto and Kanazawa singled to put runners on the corners. Kuriyama-kantoku chose to put Ishimine on to get a force at all bases and bring up Daichi, who unfortunately grounded out to wipe out the scoring chance.
In the late innings the rain started to fall, and by the top of the 10th it was coming down pretty decently. Hattori came in for the first extra frame and quickly got two outs before allowing singles by Sugiya and Nishikawa. Itoh-kantoku had to go to the pen again with runs so scarce – in came Minami. Hmm. Minami vs PL home run leader Abreu first – walk to load the bases. Hmmmmm. That brought up the dangerous Koyano – Minami quickly got a 1-2 count on the veteran 3B but Koyano is not just a Fighter but a fighter as well – he fouls off 4 pitches in a row before Minami gets him out on a swinging strike three. Huge.
The Decisive Blow
In came Tanimoto, and this is where the slipping Fighters pen came to see it’s fate. Tanimoto walked T OGINO on 4 straight, and then threw 3 more balls to Iguchi before getting a strike. Iguchi popped the second strike foul and deep, but the ball went right off Sato’s glove for a big E7. Next pitch – Iguchi MAULS fastball on a rope, deep, right off the left field fence. He hit it so hard that the insanely fast OGINO could only get to third, and Iguchi only to first.
Big trouble now – still no outs. Imae is wisely walked to load the bases and get a force anywhere. Fukuura up – he’s been pretty warm lately but tonight has just drawn a pair of free passes. First pitch from Tanimoto – ball. Second pitch – it’s a fly ball, not terribly deep, right at Sato in left. That’s not going to score a lot of people but T OGINO is not just anyone, he’s the fastest guy on the team and a great runner. Ball – caught. OGINO – tagged. In he comes, in comes the ball, the play – it’s close, but YES he’s SAFE and LOTTE WINS. WINS!!!
YES.
The sayonara victory pushes the Lotte lead to 1.5 for second and 3.5 over Seibu with the Lions heading to QVC on Tuesday night. Our Marines cannot clinch a CS spot until Thursday at the earliest now, and can’t clinch second until the weekend. With just 6 games left on the regular season slate, it’s looking a bit brighter now. [/expand]
Game Preview: Our Marines enjoyed a Saturday off yesterday for the first time since July. The other PL teams were in action though, with SoftBank coming from behind to walk off versus Seibu in extras. As a result, Our Marines head into Sunday with a two game lead over the Hawks for second place. Sunday’s opponent, the Lions, nearly took third place on percentage points from SoftBank yesterday. Instead, they sit two games back for the final Climax spot after what I can only imagine was a gut wrenching loss in Fukuoka.
As it stands now, Our Marines will be hosting a best two-of-three set in Chiba less than two weeks from now. Your We Love Marines bloggers officially entered the Climax Series Stage One ticket lottery yesterday. Lotte just needs to do its job and hold on to the second spot, and then hopefully our number gets called.
Furuya will make a Sunday afternoon start in our second-to-last trip to Saitama. The current frontrunner for a potential Climax Series Stage One starting gig will be facing Seibu’s wins leader Kishi. Seibu is fighting for their lives. We’re fighting off the Hawks. It should be a good one.
[expand title=” 29 September – Lotte LOSES 6x-5″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” expanded=”true” excerpt=”Lions: Takayuki Kishi 10-5, 3.09 ERA @ Marines: Takuya Furuya 8-1, 2.24 ERA
For the second night in a row the Seibu Lions were involved in a 10th inning sayonara win which concluded on a close play at the plate. In a finish almost identical to the night before, the home side’s winning run snuck in just past a throw from right field and a swipe tag attempt at the plate. Unfortunately for Our Marines, and unlike the previous evening, Seibu happened to be on the winning end of such dramatics today. It had been a back and forth game, The Lions managed to claw their way out of an early 3-0 deficit on their way to a 5-3 lead. Then down a run going into the 9th, Our Marines managed to tie it at 5-5 to send it to extras. But when all was said and done, Seibu came out on top and managed to keep the quest for the two un-clinched PL postseason spots a three team race. “]
It looked like perhaps Lotte could finally shut the door on Seibu’s season early on, thanks to a 3-0 lead after two and a half innings. A Craig Brazell line drive solo shot to right made it1-0 in the 2nd. Imae came up with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the third, thanks to a Kanazaka HBP, T. Ogino infield single and Fukura single. Imae delivered with an RBI sac fly, and Brazell followed with an RBI single to notch the tally to 3-0 Marines.
The Lions wasted little time in retaliating though, as Asamura tied the game in the home half of the inning on a 3-run home run. Furuya didn’t last much longer, being pulled with a 4-3 deficit after walking in a run with two outs in the 4th. Ueno was called upon to relieve Furuya, entering the game with the bases still full. He escaped and went on to pitch the 5th inning, where he surrendered a solo shot to Akiyama that brought the score to 5-3 Lions.
Seibu celebrates the sayonara win. Not cool.
Nemoto hit a one out RBI single in the 6th to bring the Marines back within a run at 5-4. Lotte was threatening following the hit with runners on first and second. The next batter Okada kept things going with a pop up that fell into to shallow right field. However, the Lions’ left fielder Kuriyama quickly recovered after originally being unable to make a sliding catch, and threw out Ishimine (PR for Brazell who may have tweaked his knee on the earlier RBI single swing) running from second to third on a force. Kanazawa then struck out to end the inning with Lotte still down a run.
The bullpen kept us in the game with Ledezma/Minami1 working the 6th, Rosa2 in the 7th, and Uchi in the 8th…all to the tune of no runs. This allowed Our Marines to tie the game in the unlikeliest of fashion in the 9th. With two out and none on, Ogino drew a walk to keep us alive. With today’s number three hitter Fukuura up next, the speedy Ogino took off on a 1-0 pitch beating the throw to second. The throw tailed away from the shortstop Onizaki and the ball flung out of his glove as he swiped at Ogino. The ball deflected into shallow left and continued on a slow dribbling course to the left fielder. This afforded Ogino enough time to round third and head for home, sliding in ahead of a wide throw to tie the game at 5-5! Uchi stayed in to pitch the 9th, working around a two out hit and walk to send the game into extras. Ishimine led off the 10th with a single to center, but Kiyota, Nemoto, and Kanazawa went down in order after that.
1 Ledemza was ejected with two outs for throwing a dangerous pitch, hitting Kuriyama in the back of the head. After some delay the Lions captain took his base and stayed in the game. A scary moment for sure.
2Rosa ran into a bit of trouble with two runners in scoring position and one out thanks to a single and an untimely Daichi throwing error. But Nemoto bailed us out on a sick leaping grab at second, intercepting an Onizaki line drive on its way to right field. Rosa walked the bases loaded next, but escaped with on fielder’s choice grounder to short.
Masuda came in to pitch the tenth and gave up a lead off single to Kuriyama. He almost got the next batter Asamura to ground into a 4-6-3 double play on the first pitch, but the throw to first from Daichi was a bit high (and probably late) forcing Fukuura to leap off the bag. Masuda looked in control though striking out Akiyama, but earlier in the AB Asamura reached second on a ball thrown in the dirt. With first base open, Nakamura was purposely walked in favor the young Masato Kumashiro. Kumashiro cashes in on his two out chance with a single to right field…Kiyota grabs the ball running toward the line…Asamura rounds third and heads toward home…the strong armed Kiyota spins and fires a one-hop bullet to the third base side of the plate…ANNND…the throw is just a little too late for Kanazawa to connect on the tag. Asamura slides in under and past the catcher’s sweeping motion to score the winning run. Game over, Seibu wins. Yuck.
As I write this, SoftBank is up 3-0 in the 7th over the Eagles. Be sure to read tomorrow’s game preview for an update on the standings.
[/expand]
Series Preview: Fresh off the series win against Daiei at QVC, Our Marines take the Climax Series push roadshow to Sapporo, ready to fight and fight hard against the Fighters. Oh, they didn’t want this fight, believe me.
It’s the last trip to Sapporo this year for sure as Hamu is basically out of contention in the PL after a 6-13 month that has left them reeling. Meanwhile Chiba’s got a chip on their shoulder after dropping the close last game and squandering the chance to build a big cushion in the race for second. The lead is just one game with 12 to go – this is playoff ball, and we need another series win.
No excuses – just wins.
[expand title=” Game 1 (24 Sep) – Lotte WINS 4-3″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka 5-8, 3.99 ERA @ Hamu: Masaru Takeda 8-6, 3.90 ERA
By Steve Novosel Now that was what we in the Chiba Lotte Marines blogging biz call ‘A Satisfying Win’. Our much-maligned potential ace Fujioka took the hill in Sapporo and guided Our Marines to a richly deserved 4-3 win over Hamu. And you know what? Daiei dropped their game as well, so the lead for second place is back to a more comfortable two games with 11 to go.”]
screen cap via @the_herefordThat’s our Fujioka!
Maybe you, dear reader, won’t find Fujioka’s line so compelling – 5 2/3 IP, 5 Hits, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 ER – but I do for one good reason: It was his first win as a starter since the glory days of May. Not only that, it’s the first decent back-to-back starts for young Fujioka1 in four months. Is it time he moves fully from the pen back to the rotation?
1I should point out again that our three hopes for the future of the staff – Fujioka, Karakawa, and now Nishino – are 24, 24, and 22 years old. So we should probably hold off on being too over-analytical on the states of their careers at this time.
Fujioka-kun found himself in a bit of an early hole. Yoh Daikan singled to lead off the game, and a walk to Sugiya plus a sac bunt by Nishikawa put runners on second and third with just one out. Up was powerful cleanup hitter Abreu – he hit a relatively shallow pop to right but Yoh is rather stupidly fast so he scored despite Kakunaka’s throw home – 1-0 Hamu early.
But don’t worry! Fujioka would get into a spot of trouble later in the game leading to his relatively early exit, but that was it for the scoring allowed by him. Not bad.
Venerable Hamu starter Takeda was pretty solid himself early on, allowing only Kakunaka to reach base in the first three innings (and Kakunaka was erased on a strike out/throw out DP soon after). But that would change – Chiba bats would eventually get to Takeda for 10 hits and two walks, though mystifyingly skipper Kuriyama left him in the entire game, 130 pitches and all.
Score! Score! Score! Score!
You’ve seen the score, you know Our Marines came back to win it. How’d they do it? In the 5th, Daichi stroked a one out double, and Hosoya (starting at first, Iguchi played DH tonight) singled to put runners on second and third with one out. Just like the Fighters first inning, right? Right – right down to the sac fly to score a run, this one by Satozaki to tie it at 1-1. After a walk to Nemoto, Saburo pinch hit for Okada2, and he crushed a ball super deep, way off the top of the left field fence. That scored Hosoya easily – Lotte takes a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish.
2I will die a happy man if I never need repeat that phrase again.
The lead ran to 3-1 Chiba when Imae jumped on the third pitch from Takeda in the 6th and simply beefed it into the left field stands. Manly. What’s more manly is that Gori added yet another run by singling in the 8th with T OGINO and Iguchi sitting on the sacks – another nice game by Mr Playoffs.
Fujioka got into a jam in the bottom of the inning but Hattori pulled him out of it with an inning-saving pop out. Hamu did score two more runs – both on groundouts (one on Ueno, the other on Uchi in his second inning of work) but Good Ol Masuda (ahem, he’s still just a young pup at 23, too) closed out the 9th via K, a nifty snag of a Yoh liner, and an induced foul pop to end it. Nice win!
The next game is a Gambler’s Nightmare as it features Wolfe vs the mercurial Ohtani. Anything between a no-no and a 10-run first inning is in play, to be honest.[/expand]
[expand title=” Game 2 (25 Sep) – Lotte loses 10-7″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Lotte: Tomohisa Ohtani (gulp!) 2-4, 6.25 ERA @ Hamu: Brian Wolfe 8-6, 2.79 ERA
By Steve Novosel Tell me what you see when you see that score above. Do you see a blowout? Do you see a barn burner that went back and forth before getting out of hand? Yes? I’ll tell you what I see, and what I saw – a game that got way, way out of hand early on before the B-squad ran it damn near all the way back. The late Lotte rally fell a bit short, and Hamu took game two of this series 10-7.”]
10 runs? Yuk! Why no Mr Yuk, then, Steve? I’ll tell you why – Our Marines had no business making this a close game, yet they did. Ohtani got the start as mentioned and he was pretty terrible as feared. It was said on the broadcast that with Fujioka’s good experience yesterday that Itoh-kantoku wanted to give Ohtani another chance to do well as a starter. I admire the sentiment, especially since we are in dire need of starting arms right now, but was this the game to experiment with such things?
I’m not going to beat on Ohtani-kun other than to say there was no point in this game that he gave any indication of being able to get guys out. I would have pulled him earlier than Itoh did – probably after the 3-run second inning that could have been worse. His final line for the evening – 3+ innings, 8 hits, 2 walks (including one with bases loaded) and a HBP. 6 ER. Yuk.
Ueno-kun took over for Ohtani in the third with the bases loaded and really was pretty poor himself – 4 more runs allowed in the inning, 2 of them earned. By the end of the 4th inning the recently anemic Hamu offense had racked up 10 runs in total for a huge 10-2 lead.
I’m not going to write it up in detail, but if you want to see one of the most comically inept sequences of baseball you’ll ever see, go look at the highlights of Sugiya’s bad attempt at sac bunting in the 4th and half the Chiba infield’s attempt at trying to field it. I can’t possibly describe it adequately without it becoming a novel.
Let’s Make It Interesting, Boys!
Hamu starter Wolfe was pretty decent through 3, but Lotte got to him for a pair in the fourth. Iguchi got painfully plunked (he would be pulled for Fukuura), Imae singled and the injured Kakunaka beat out an infield single to load the bases with no outs. A ground out by Saburo and a sac fly by Braz brought in two guys to tighten a 3-0 game to 3-2.
Then, nothing. Three innings of nada. The lineup changed drastically – Iguchi, Imae, Kakunaka, Saburo, Satozaki all out. It looked like both teams were content to finish up and go home. Nemoto struck out to start the 8th against Wolfe, but then suddenly – the hits started to come. First it was T OGINO with a single, then Fukuura, then Hosoya. Hmm, interesting. Wolfe stayed in to face Ishimine (I wondered at the time if Kuriyama-kantoku had a bullpen available or not! (Actually, I am still wondering)) – Ishimine double, Lotte down 10-4. Hmmm. THAT brought out a new pitcher, Inui. Single – Okada. 10-5. Ground out Braz – 10-6. Single Daichi – 10-7. HMMMMM indeed!
That brought up the bottom of the order, and that had gone Satozaki –> Emura a long time before. It’s a good chance for Emura to show what he can do – NOPE. Getting pulled for Kanazawa. I asked on Twitter for someone to explain Itoh’s love of Kanazawa to me, no response. Kanazawa is a marginally better hitter than Emura – we’re talking .190 v .175 here, folks – and a markedly worse catcher. Well, it’s done, what can he do? Three pitch K.
Still, 5 runs! Chance!
9th inning now, top of the order back up. A T OGINO walk and a Fukuura single (A modasho! For Fukuura! So nice.) brings the tying run to the plate in the form of Hosoya. Who would have thought after 4 that we’d have a chance to tie? But alas, this was not a fairy-tale ending tonight, Hosoya Kei K, Ishimine ground out, game, set.
The good news is Daiei lost so we keep the 2 game lead. The bad news is Seibu won, so they are just 1 behind the Hawks and 3 back of us with 10 to go. But the best news of all? Check out tomorrow’s starter.
Nishino.[/expand]
[expand title=” Game 3 (26 Sep) – Lotte loses 6-5″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Lotte: Yuji Nishino 9-6, 3.61 ERA @ Hamu: Shohei Ohtani 3-0, 4.17 ERA
By Steve Novosel Given that Daiei and Seibu both lost making our lead the same as yesterday, and given that we had only two hits as late as the 9th inning tonight, I suppose I shouldn’t be as upset about tonight’s 6-5 loss to Hamu as I am. But dammit, I AM! We had them, despite the lack of offense. But bad breaks and super bad defense allowed a 3-0 lead to slip away, and the playing-for-pride Fighters to take the series.”]
This whole game was odd, from the first to the end. Mostly the first, though. Starting pitcher and Boy Wonder Shohei Ohtani did everything wrong except give up a hit and beat up the ball girl to start the game. That included a HBP to T OGINO (hey!!), three walks including one with the bases loaded, and a passed ball (Yeah, I know that’s on the catcher. Don’t ruin my narrative, kay?) – all of it summed up to a 2-0 Lotte lead after one.
Our friend Nishino was back in action for the first time in weeks, and he looked MUCH better than last we saw. Though if I must be honest (I must! I must!) he was saved by some sick defense in the first. First was T OGINO making an incredible running diving sliding catch to rob a hit, then it was Okada’s turn to smash into the fence, and the third out was by Hosoya, making snagging a liner at third seem like child’s play.
There isn’t a whole lot to argue about with Nishino’s first five innings, actually – 1 hit, no runs, a walk and a HBP. I’d say he’s back.
But the 6th. Oh the 6th. In the Lotte half, good! A T OGINO single, second pilferation, and BRAZ timely single brought made it 3-0. The bottom half – well, this is why I was mad.
Yoh reached base first – he broke his bat on a grounder but the bat messed up Daichi’s fielding – safe. So unlucky. Then Sugiya bounces a ball to Nishino – just off his glove, just off Daichi’s glove, safe. Should be two outs. Naturally the next batter – fly ball Nishikawa for out three out one, a sac fly, and a 3-1 game. Abreu grounded out on a little check swing to Fukuura (starting at first) – should have been a DP, but nobody covered second so just one out. A Koyano single brought in Sugiya – should have been no runs, but it’s 3-2.
Itoh’s had enough – he’s going to Ledezma in the pen. Fair enough, I suppose, though little of what happened before was Nishino’s fault. Ledezma gets Satoh to fly out to left, a fairly routine fly, it seems, but it’s Saburo out there and he’s not very good OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Not only is Saburo late to the ball, he tries to make a shoestring catch and the ball goes by. That’s about the 5th out of the inning but really, it’s a tie game and a “triple”. Ledezma gives up another walk and hit for good measure, and that nifty little 3-0 lead is a 4-3 deficit.
Rosa takes over in the 7th and just to make it even more challenging for us gives up a 2-run bomb to Abreu – 6-3 Hamu. Abreu really belted that one, BTW – that’s why he leads the PL in dingers.
Not only can Our Marines still not get a hit, they can’t even get on base. 9 in a row retired by Tanimoto, Masui, and Miyanishi brings it to the 9th – AKA Lotte’s last stand. But hey, they’re going to make a good one.
With one out, Daichi, Hosoya, and Kanazawa all single to load the bases off Fighters closer Takeda. THAT’S a big chance. In comes Imae as pinch hitter – he’s out of the lineup tonight while resting his injured leg. Takeda plunks him on the arm (he’s OK) – it’s a run in! Up next is T OGINO – sac fly, Hosoya in! 6-5 now. In comes Nemoto… ground out. Ahhh.
It was a frustrating, annoying game, and the loss plus the Rakuten win allowed them to seal the PL pennant. But since Daiei lost we still maintain the 2 game lead. I guess that’s all that’s really important right now.[/expand]
Series Preview: Did I say we were 5-8, and the last series was a “must win”? Oh, I did, and we didn’t, and that 5-6 is now 5-8. Daiei, once 3.5 back, took the lead for second place before dropping back on percentage points on Thursday. Rakuten and first place are just a mirage in the distance – we’ve got 15 games of hard battle to fight to wrap up second. The first three are this weekend.
Any way you look at it this is a Climax preview. The last three games vs the Hawks in the regular season, and almost assuredly this will be the matchup in the Climax Series First Stage. We want those games at home. Reliever-turned-starter Matsunaga is tasked with stopping Daiei ace (and reliever-turned-starter) Settsu in Saturday’s game 1.
I stole the lead graphic from my own post preview to the 2010 Climax Series Final Stage. I found it amusing to go back and reread that, maybe you will too.
[expand title=” Game 1 (21 Sep) – Lotte WINS 14-5″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Hawks: Tadashi Settsu 15-6, 2.43 ERA @ Lotte: Takahiro Matsunaga 3-1, 2.01 ERA
By Craig Roberts A seven run first inning off of SoftBank’s ace Settsu propelled Our Marines to a 14-5 blow out victory. Of all 11 Marines that came to the plate on the afternoon, each reached base at least once. Shunichi Nemoto led the way with a 3-for-4 day at the plate which included a double, two RBI, two runs, a stolen base and two walks.”]
Today’s heroes from marines.co.jp
Despite Nemo’s modasho, today’s offensive hero honors would go to Saburo. The veteran had only one hit on the day, but boy did he make that hit count. The hit came with two outs and the bases loaded in the first inning. This first blow made the entire seven run inning possible, first though, let’s set the stage: Nemo led off the inning with a double, followed by a bunt attempt by T OGINO. Ogino’s bunt was fielded by the catcher, who decided to throw the ball to third. Flying Nemo beat the throw and tag as both runners reached safely. Iguchi struck out next, followed by an Imae ground out and Kakunaka walk. So now, here comes Saburo with the bases loaded and two out versus the Hawks’ ace Settsu…Saburo works it to a 3-1 count…and CRACK! Saburo laces a double into the left center field gap! The ball one hops the wall as Nemo scores, Ogino scores, Kakunaka scores! 3-0 Marines!
I did mention it was a seven run first inning, didn’t I? Craig Brazell came up next and knocked in Saburo with a base hit up the middle to center making it 4-0. Next up, Kei Hosoya put runners on the corners with a single through the right side of the infield. Today’s starting catcher Kanazawa delivered next with a base hit to left, scoring Brazell for a 5-0 lead. Did I mention this was all happening with two outs? With the top of the lineup coming around again, Nemo hit a tough grounder up the middle. The second baseman Honda got ahold of it with his back hand, but the shortstop Imamiya got crossed up by the throw to second causing the ball to sail toward the mound. Everyone was safe, the bases now loaded. A T OGINO HBP forced home another run to make it 6-0. It looked like the Hawks were finally out of the inning when Iguchi hit a chopper to second, but Honda couldn’t get a handle on the ball. After dropping it on his initial attempt, Honda failed to successfully pick it off the turf in time to throw the ball to first. Everyone safe, Kanazawa scores. 7-0!!! Finally Imae ended the inning with a ground out to third, but clearly plenty of damage had been done.
Making his fourth start of the year, Matsunaga came in hoping to pitch more like his first two starts (10 IP, 1ER) and not his last start (4 IP, 3 ER). Instead today he had his worst of the four starts, going three innings responsible for four runs scoring. After two and a half, the Hawks seems quite alive only down 7-4. Lotte scored another run in the bottom of the third when Iguchi hit into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases full notching the tally to 8-4. Ueno came in to pitch the fourth inning and ended up going two and third, allowing only one hit and earning the win.1 The Lotte bats turned back on in the bottom frame silencing any possible creeping threat by the Hawks. Kanazawa led things off with a double lined to right field. Nemoto followed with an RBI single, scoring Kanazawa to make it 9-4. Flying Nemo then stole second base, and Imae sent him home on a double to deep left to make it 10-4 Lotte Marines!
1Ueno was clearly choked up and had to fight back the tears during his hero interview. I was able to borrow my wife from taking care of our son for a brief moment and a quick translation. Apparently, despite his struggles this year the fans songs and support motivated him to come out of the pen and pitch well in today’s game. It seemed like a real genuine moment. If anyone has a more thorough translation, please feel free to share in the comments section.
For good measure, Our Marines tacked on four more runs in the 8th to reach a final total of 14-5. A two out Nemo walk with the bases loaded scored the first run. Ogino drove in two more on a single to left, and Hosoya put the finishing touches on with an RBI base hit up the middle.
[/expand]
[expand title=” Game 2 (22 Sep) – Lotte WINS 1-0″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Hawks: Paul Oseguera 3-0, 0.53 ERA @ Lotte: Takuya Furuya 7-1, 2.42 ERA
By Steve Novosel If you love tons of runs, yesterday was the game for you. But if you like tough pitching and great defense – honestly, it doesn’t get much better than this one. In what surely will go down as one of the best games of the year, New Lefty Ace Furuya out-dueled hot new import Paul Oseguera to grab an exciting 1-0 win and a 2 game lead for second place in the Pacific.”]
My picture, for once!
Good Start
Furuya bulldozed the top of the Daiei lineup in the first inning with a pair of Ks. In the bottom, Nemoto and T OGINO singled to lead off the game against Oseguera, who coming into the game had only yielded 1 run in his 3 ichi-gun starts. But an Iguchi K and an Imae GIDP ended the Lotte scoring chance. It would not be the last time that Oseguera and the Hawks defense would escape a tough situation.
The Hawks had a great scoring opportunity of their own in the top of the second. Matsuda and Pena singled with one out, but Furuya coaxed Egawa into sitting on the bench via K. That brought up Honda, who hit a grounder to Imae – but it hit the bag! Bad bounce – Imae got a glove on it but couldn’t hold it. All Daiei gents safe – bases juiced with two outs, frequent Lotte punching bag Hosokawa at the plate. Furuya gets Hosokawa to fly out, threat over, still 0-0.
Fast forward to the Lotte third. Nothing doing for Our Marines since the two hits in the first, but Satozaki changed that with a towering high fly to left! Bat flipped, jog started, 1-0 Chiba!
Holding the Lead
Furuya continued to look strong. The powerful Hawks attack got men on the sacks in the fourth and fifth innings but conveniently induced double plays ended the inning both times. The defense was rock-solid today for Chiba – good positioning, nice catches, hard throws. Imae and Daichi had especially good games, in my opinion.
In the Hawks sixth, Furuya got Imamiya and PL batting leader Hasegawa swinging for the first two outs, but after getting ahead of Uchikawa and then Matsuda, only losing both to singles, Furuya got Pena swingng to end the frame. That would do it for Furuya – his line: 6 IP, 6 H, 7 K, 2 walks and no runs. Very good stuff.
Oseguera was cruising after the Satozaki HR, not getting into any trouble in the 4th or 5th innings. In the 6th, Our Marines had a huge chance as Satozaki, Iguchi and Imae singled to load the bases, but Kakunaka flied out to end the chance. And again in the 7th – a two-out Daichi double and Satozaki single (that should have scored Daichi, but Daichi got a bad jump from second and could only make it to third). That brought up Nemoto, who hit a hot shot to third that Matsuda had to make a great dive for and quick throw to get Satozaki. A very nice play by the veteran 3B to keep the score at 1-0. That was also the end of the day for Oseguera – 7 IP, 8 H and a walk, and just the one run via the HR. Impressive work.
Into the Pen
Itoh-kantoku went to Uchi first out of the pen and then Rosa. Uchi was megahot, burning through Hawks bats like lava for a perfect frame. Rosa got into a wee bit of trouble with runners on first and second with just one out, but he buckled down and got Uchikawa and Matsuda out to prevent any runs. The last play by Daichi was particularly nice.
That brought up our tired and somewhat maligned closer Masuda to finish it, and finish it he did. A leadoff HBP to Pena went for nothing as Masuda gunned down Egawa via K-force, getting Honda to ground to Daichi (in a play that could have ideally been a DP, but wasn’t), and finally pinch hitter Yanagita swinging for a game-ending punch-out. What a game, and what a nice finish!
Our Marines have a great chance to sweep with Karakawa facing highly regarded rookie Higashihama. Higashihama hasn’t pitched at ichi-gun since April and doesn’t have the best ni-gun resume, so it’s a very odd choice by Akiyama-kantoku in such a key game. If we can grab a win and a sweep, that will be a three game lead for the second spot with just 12 Lotte games and 10 Daiei games to go. We want this win.
I took some pictures with my busted camera (including the Furuya one) – I’ll just link them in a gallery if you are interested.
[/expand]
[expand title=” Game 3 (23 Sep) – Lotte Loses 5-4″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Hawks: Nao Higashihama 0-1, 6.48 ERA @ Lotte: Yuki Karakawa 9-10, 4.42 ERA
By Steve Novosel A series win? Oh yeah. A sweep? Nope. That may not be everything we wanted but it’s the minimum of what we needed, as unfortunately Daiei solved the case of The Baby-Faced Killer and took the series finale, 5-4. “]
from marines.co.jpIgnore young Karakawa’s line for a moment – 6 1/3, 7 H, 3 BB, 2 K, 5 runs – he was better than that. Really, he was! Sure, the first inning RBI single by Hasegawa was legit as was the 2-run HR by Uchikawa to deep left center, but the last 2? Probably not his fault. I’m going to pin them solely on Itoh-Kantoku for the selection of arms out of the pen.
A Frustrating Moment
But first, allow me some righteous indignation. See, in the bottom of the first – a time where Our Marines found themselves behind by a run – T OGINO drove a ball high and deep down the left field line. He didn’t seem all that impressed by the ball, watching from our perch in the 2nd deck I wasn’t expecting more than a fly out off the bat, and clearly the cameramen thought nothing of it as they failed to catch the ball in flight at all, but lo and behold that ball just kept carrying. It was high – above the top of the pole – but based on where it landed, from my view it pretty clearly looked like a homer. But the third base ump? Foul. They looked at it on replay but as I mentioned the camera crew didn’t get it at all, not even where it landed, really, so not much to overturn it. But I’m telling you, really, it was a dinger.
So it goes in baseball sometimes.
It’s hard to completely dismiss the lost run with a sho ga nai as that run turned out to be crucial to the final score. Sure, Chiba took the lead with Braz’s 2 run jack, but the Hawks took it back with Uchikawa’s in the 5th. And yeah, Iguchi belted a liner into the left corner of the outfield stands – NOT a foul this time – but Matsuda would deliver a 2-run single to get the lead back again. And sure, the odd decision to pinch hit with GG Sato while Daichi was on third led to a single and a narrowing of that lead to one run, but Our Marines could score no more.
Yeah, the extra run would have been nice.
Best Laid Plans
Regarding the offense – one might say the offense was not very productive – after all, the bats got just 5 hits and 2 walks off rookie starter Higashihama and Co – but those 5 hits were ALL meaningful. Two were homers, two others scored after those hits, and the 5th hit drove in a run. Yup, that’s a pretty efficient use of 5 hits.
To me, though, the key moment was the inexplicable – no, indefensible, especially in retrospect – decision by Itoh-kantoku to put in Nakagoh of all people in the 7th with two outs and runners on second and third. Why, in such a crucial moment, would Itoh not go to one of his three best right arms – Uchi, Rosa, or even Masuda? Why Nakagoh? And sure enough Nakagoh gave up a walk and a single, and Daiei took the lead for good.
Hey, we can’t complain about winning the series. Really, we cannot – as Craig pointed out to me Hawks fans can just as easily play the What If game with Sunday’s result. But that’s them and we are us – we wanted this win.
It just makes the last 12 games of the regular season that much more important now. [/expand]
For the 5th time in the month of August, Our Marines have won a series, this time vs Orix. That’s every series so far this month, for those of you counting at home. In Game 1, the team won 5-2 behind the start of Karakawa and timely hits from Imae, Kakunaka, and Braz. In Game 3, New Lefty Ace Furuya + a strong pen combined with a pair of timely hits from birthday boy Daichi for a 3-1 win. Overall, Lotte won 2 of 31 and has now moved to within 4.5 games of Rakuten and sits 2.5 games up on third place Softbank.
1Please note that Game 2 was a crime against humanity. I will mention it in the briefest way possible, but suffice it to say that it sucked. Also note that the final game of the Rakuten series (which we did not write up) was not worth mentioning, other than we lost 3-1.
Game 1
Friday was the always popular Black Black night and my first game at QVC in two weeks. The Baby-Faced Killer took the mound for this one, and while it can definitely not be said that he was the reason the team won the game he did plenty to keep the game within reach. This game marked the 4th decent start for young Karakawa out of his last 6, so it is cause for some optimism.
Orix got on the board first, though, thanks to a leadoff double by Hirano and a timely single by Itoi to make it 1-0 Buffs after one inning. Yuki got out of the inning without further damage.
Our Marines struck back quickly and furiously, though. In the bottom of the first T OGINO led off with an infield single, and after an Okada sac bunt and an Iguchi pop-out, Imae brought in Ogino with a timely single to right! The not-especially-fleet-of-foot Imae stole second, and Kakunaka brought him in with an RBI single as well. That brought up Braz, who calmly belted a pitch from Nishi into the teeming black uniformed masses in right – an offensive assault that made it 4-1 Lotte after one inning. Party on.
Karakawa gave up a homer to the extraordinarily light-hitting Miyazaki in the second to make it 4-2 Chiba, but that was it for the Orix scoring. The Baby-Faced Killer would go only 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs plus a walk and a K, but that was enough for the win. Why? The pen was yet again really strong. The now-standard combo of Uchi, Carlos Rosa, Matsunaga, and Masuda went the final 4 innings giving up no runs on 4 hits and a walk matched with 4 strikeouts. Uchi had two of those but all four guys were equally solid. Given the extreme holes in our rotation right now it’s great that Itoh-kantoku can count on the relievers to step up when needed.
Our Marines got one more insurance run in the 5th, as Hisao and T OGINO led off with singles. Okada smacked a sac chopper to first, but for some reason Heiuchi thought the ball was foul and loitered in no-mans-land between 2nd and 3rd, so the sac turned into a double play. No matter – Imae was there for the rescue with another RBI hit, this one a double to left that wasn’t far at all from going out of the park. That made our final score of 5-2 – Imae, Kakunaka and Braz the heroes!
3D show?
Game 2
There’s almost nothing good to be said about this one. Almost.
Ohtani got the start in game 2, and in only 23 pitches managed to record what I think is the Worst Pitching Performance of the Yeartm. In those 23 pitches, Ohtani recorded one out (a sac bunt), threw 14 balls (resulting in 3 walks), and was pulled after a Baldiris grand slam. At no point in time did it feel like Ohtani was going to get an out, and the only strikes were on pitches that were swung on.
So down 4-0 super quickly, Itoh just had to go the pen and push onto the mound his workhorse, Fujioka. Now here’s the good part – the only nice thing that could be said about this game: It definitely does not show up in the box score for Fujioka, but he pitched REALLY well under duress. His line was 7 IP, 3 ER with 3 hits and 7 walks on 121 pitches, but if you didn’t watch the game you can’t know that two of those walks and one of the runs came when he was clearly not ready to be pitching in the first, and two more walks and the other two runs came after he had thrown well over 100 pitches and should have been pulled. It was a rather remarkable bit of work given the situation.
Lotte bats? Eh! Doesn’t matter. This game was over in the first inning, nothing to do but drink beer and wait for the next game. 8-1 Orix, if you’re interested.
from marines.co.jp
Game 3
Furuya – you are our New Lefty Ace and quite honestly, you have set such a high standard for your performance that it is probably unfair for me to be slightly disappointed in your outing on Sunday. Actually, you pitched quite well – retiring the first 8 batters and only giving up 2 hits and a walk through 5 innnings – but got into a rough spot in the 6th and had to be relieved by Uchi. Still, this start continued your string over very strong outings – that’s only 3 earned runs total in the past 5 starts for a 0.83 ERA in that span. You have definitely earned the title of New Lefty Ace.
Our Marines got to Buffs starter Brandon Dickson juuuust enough to support Furuya and the pen. The big blows came from our second year All-Star shortstop Daichi Suzuki, who on his 24th birthday delivered a nice timely single to right in the 4th inning to score Imae for the first run of the game, and Satozaki who immediately followed up Daichi’s single with one of his own to score Kakunaka (2-4 on the evening and warming up nicely – he’s on an 8 game hitting streak) and make it a 2-0 game.
As mentioned, Uchi took over for Furuya in the 6th after Orix put runners on 2nd and 3rd with just one out, and big masher Lee Dae Ho coming up. Uchi got Lee out on a very deep fly to right, but this allowed Adachi to score from third and narrowed the lead to 2-1.
This run was nothing to worry about, as Our Marines would get it right back in the bottom of the inning. Braz took a pitch off the elbow with one out2 to bring up Daichi again, and this time Daichi hit a ball to almost the same spot as the one in the 4th but harder, rolling to the wall for his 9th triple of the year and scoring pinch runner Ohmatsu from first. Of course the birthday boy would be the player of the game!
2Braz would be taken out of the game for Ohmatsu, but apparently he’s OK other than a bruise.
The same cast of characters as Friday’s game one came out of the pen to close out this one. Uchi (as mentioned), Carlos Rosa, Matsunaga, and Masuda shut down the Buffalo bats for 3 2/3 innings, recording 4 Ks with no walks and just two hits, both off Masuda with 2 outs in the 9th. Maybe a little bit of tension there, but Masuda made a good play to get to the bag for the final out of the 9th.
It almost doesn’t need to be mentioned because it’s so routine at this point, but Captain Okada made a spectacular running, twisting, jumping catch in the 3rd to rob Hirano of a hit. You can see the photo of the play next to this article (from the Marines site).
Up next is the really critical stretch – home against Seibu and on the road vs Rakuten. Two more series wins and Our Marines are in pretty decent shape for the last stretch of the season. 19 of the last 30 games are at QVC!
For the 4th series in a row, Our Marines came into the the 3rd game of the series with a chance to take it. And has been the case for every series so far in August, the Men of Chiba did just that, putting together timely hitting and impressive pitching from a whole host of players to take the finale from Nippon Ham 5-1.
Strong Arms
Nobody expected much from our starting pitching today, to be honest. Ohtani came into the contest with an 8+ ERA and had not even reached the 5th inning in any start this year. He as not fantastic by any means but got away with very little damage despite getting into huge jams in both the second and third innings. The final line – 5 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks and a HBP, 1 earned run matched up with 3 Ks. It ain’t great but it was enough to give the bullpen a chance.
The trips to the pen got off to a bit of a rough start, though as Ledezma took over for Ohtani in the 6th and promptly gave up a pair of hits plus a sac bunt to get into a serious hole. That led to Uchi getting called in to fix the mess, and of course Uchi was the answer to all the problems as he got the last two outs of the inning on only 7 pitches.
In fact every reliever after Ledezma was absolutely perfect – Carlos Rosa, Matsunaga, and Masuda combined with Uchi to pitch the last 3 2/3 innings without allowing a single Hamu to base. That’s efficient and dominant – like Craig mentioned yesterday, the pen has surely been the most consistent component of the team this year.
from marines.co.jp
Timely Hits
Could the Lotte bats support the nice pitching? Yup, indeed they could. Chiba repeatedly got men on base – 15 total on 10 hits and 5 walks for the game – and the hitters behind them brought them in.
Lotte got on the board first in the 3rd inning, as Takahama, T OGINO, and Okada all reached base via single with one out. The Okada single was particularly cool as he beat out a bunt for a hit. That loaded ’em up for Iguchi, and he drew a walk to make in 1-0. Imae cranked a deep fly to center next, plenty deep for T OGINO to tag up and make it a 2-0 game.
In the Lotte Lucky 7, Our Marines got to Hamu starter Yoshikawa and reliever Tanimoto for another run. Daichi poked a 1-out single to center (2-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored on the evening for Daichi), and Satozaki drew a walk to move Daichi to scoring position. Tanimoto came in and got Braz on a fly to short but walked T OGINO to load the bases again. Okada smacked a single to right to score Daichi easily and make it a 3-1 game.
On to the 9th, still a 3-1 game since the Lotte pen was such a stifling force on the evening. Chiba definitely wanted some more padding to give Masuda some breathing room, could they do it against Masui? Oh yes. Much like the 7th inning, this rally got started by Daichi, now via a nice double. Sato bumped him to third via sac bunt to bring up HISAO as pinch hitter. Heiuchi dropped a double down the right field line, of course Daichi is in, and the score up to 4-1 Lotte. T OGINO singled to right (2-4 with a walk and a run scored) to put runners on the corners with just one out, bringing up Okada. Our all-galaxy center fielder singled yet again to score Hisao, giving him another modasho to go with his two in Kobe last weekend and giving Our Marines a 5-1 lead, the final score.
This past stretch of 9 games in a row on the road definitely could not make our season but a rough patch could have sunk it, just like happened last year. The next 12 games are just as crucial – a 9 game home stand against Rakuten, Orix, and Seibu followed by the last road trip to Sendai for the year. I’m hoping we can get through the next stretch well above .500 – maybe as good as 9-3 – to draw ever closer to the Eagles.
Since today was an off day for Our Marines, I thought I would share some pictures I took at last Saturday’s ni-gun game at Yakult Toda Stadium. I posted several of these on Twitter already, but most are new.
[expand title=” 29 September – Lotte LOSES 6x-5″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” expanded=”true” excerpt=”Lions: Takayuki Kishi 10-5, 3.09 ERA @ Marines: Takuya Furuya 8-1, 2.24 ERA
