There are two basic kinds of blowouts. There’s the sort where one team beats the crap out of the other in the first, then sits in the dugout drinking wine and relaxing for the next day’s game. I went to the quintessential example of this sort of game two years ago in Nagano – Seibu …
Tag: Ogino
In the Realm of the Clutch Hitters
Friday afternoon I took a look at my planner to see what was on for the weekend. It was empty except for one item, in bold, underlined with a star next to it: 1. Baseball Mmm, home opener. Two years ago the home opener was in late March; it was stupidly cold and raining but …
Hit Hit and Run
Sunday morning: coffee and fresh sandwich in hand, listening to “Air on G String” for breakfast. Time is smoothly moving – I am enjoying this moment. The feeling is probably not the same if any of the above items are missing. Speed star Tsuyoshi and Ogino collided with each other in the last game. I am …
Street Fighting Days, Part 3
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 …
Street Fighting Days, Part 2
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 …
Soft, Creamed
*Please note for purposes of positivity that all discussion to Tuesday’s 8-4 loss to visiting Daiei will be conveniently ignored. What better to celebrate the 9th of September – 9/9/09, as it were – than to have your favorite team beat up on their opponent by 9 runs? Or at least scoring 9 runs? What’s …
Home Is Where the Victory Is
Just as there’s nothing quite like home cooking, there’s nothing like coming home after a 7-game losing streak on the road to get your team back in the win column. Hot on the heels of road sweeps at the hands of Nippon Ham and Orix, Lotte returned to the welcoming arms of Chiba Marine Stadium …
Game Report: Lotte vs Rakuten, 8 July
I must admit, my fellow Lotte fans, that there was a time in this game when I didn’t think anything good was going to happen. Rakuten rookie starter Fujiwara was on fire. He carried a perfect game into the fifth inning and a no-hitter into the 7th. Lotte was down 2-0 and nothing was hitting …
Game Report: Orix vs Lotte, 5 July
Tonight was a nice game on a very nice night for Lotte to close out the series with Orix. Ono Shingo pitched 7 2/3 strong innings to pick up the win in Lotte’s 4-1 victory over the visiting Buffaloes. Lotte took advantage of Orix starter Hirano’s lack of control to get ahead early in this …
Game Report: Lotte vs Seibu, 2 July
This game just ended and man am I stoked! What a nailbiter! In what has got to be in the running for the longest 12-inning Pa-League game in history at 5:43 (by my count), Lotte and Seibu combined for 17 runs and 27 hits, many bases-loaded situations, and piles of drama much like Rocky and …