We Love Marines

Tag: Takahiro Fujioka

  • First Time Through the Order

    First Time Through the Order

    Our Marines have now faced all five of their Pacific League foes, coming out of the first stretch of the season at 8-5-1. Lotte has three series wins, one series tie, and one series loss in the first go around. That one and only series loss came at the claws of the Seibu Lions just this past weekend. Before we get to that, let’s pick up where the last GAME REPORT left off and recap starting from five games ago in Fukuoka.

    WE ARE! CHIBA LOTTE! photo from marines.co.jp
    WE ARE! CHIBA LOTTE! photo from marines.co.jp
    Lotte led the comeback charge for the second night in a row last Wednesday night, taking the win in game 2 of the SoftBank series in Fukuoka. Kuan-Yu Chen got his first start of the year, giving up an earned run in each of the first three innings. This put Chiba in an early hole, but the bullpen prevented that hole from getting any deeper by keeping the Hawks scoreless for the remaining 6 innings.

    While we’re on the subject, let’s take a moment to appreciate what our relievers have contributed so far this year: Fujioka 9IP, 1ER; Masuda 8 1/3 IP, 0ER; Matsunaga, 6 1/3 IP, 0ER; Minami 7IP, 1ER; Nishino 6IP, 0ER; Uchi 7IP, 0ER.

    Despite recording strikeout numbers in the double digits for the second straight game, the Marines bats made the most out the contact they did make, hitting 3 home runs on just 4 hits. Our first two runs came on a Shogo Nakamura home run, the team’s first hit of the game. Aja Inoue (current team leader with 10 RBI) hit a solo shot to left to tie the game 3-3 in the 7th. Finally, the winning blow came off the bat of Alfredo Despaingne, putting Lotte up for good a 4-3 with a 9th inning solo shot off Hawks closer Sarfate.

    The offense made up for their 4 hits in the previous night, putting up 17 runs on 18 hits in the series finale victory on Thursday. Hosoya KEI drove in a team-high 5 runs on a 5-for-6 night with 2 doubles. Hosoya currently leads the Pacific League in batting average (.388), slugging (.612), and OPS (1.024). Who’s second in the PL in OPS? Good question. It’s his teammate Captain Daichi at .957.

    Our Marines returned home to Chiba riding high after going undefeated in Fukuoka, but came up short the next two games at home versus Seibu. Although we had the tying run at the plate in the 9th in game 1 on Friday night, game 2 of the Seibu series was our best chance for a comeback win. Down 5-4 in the 9th, the top of the order loaded the bases with one out on an Okada (currently 3rd on the team batting .305) walk, Hosoya double, and Kiyota intentional pass. Despaigne popped out foul for out 2, and Kakunaka (currently 2nd on the team batting .327) flied out to center for the game’s final out.

    Lotte did get the win in our most recent game, the Seibu series finale on Sunday. Jason Standrige earned his first win in three tries in a Chiba uniform, allowing just 2 runs over 7 innings. He’s gone 7 full innings in all 3 of his starts, allowing an average of 2ER per start. Iguchi got the start at 1B on the day, and made it count by delivering a 3-run home run in the 3rd inning, leading the Marines to a 4-2 win. Not bad for a 41 year old. The blue gloved brothers of Uchi & Nishino earned the 8th inning hold & 9th inning save preserving the win for Standridge, because that’s what they do.

    [x_share title=”TELL EVERYONE” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true” reddit=”true”]
    [x_author title=”About the Author”]

  • CS Final Stage Game 1: The One That Got Away

    CS Final Stage Game 1: The One That Got Away

    Every baseball season has it’s share of “if only” moments. If only that one ball didn’t take that awkward bounce. If only we could have turned just one LOB into an RBI. If only the outfield fence was just a few centimeters shorter. Unfortunately for Our Marines, it felt like Game 1 alone could have fulfilled a season’s quota of those moments. It wouldn’t be out of character for Our Marines to rally from here and bury the Hawks. It may also turn out that we think of Wednesday night as the night the Golden Year mojo ran out.

    Yes, that close.
    Yes, that close.
    The Hawks looked very beatable in Game 1, putting Our Marines in position to erase the automatic one-game deficit and to turn the series into a best-of-5 affair. Lotte struck first with a 2-run double by Kiyota in the 3rd. SoftBank tied it up in the home half on a Yanagita 2-run home run. After that, the Marines bullpen held the Fukuoka bats to just one hit in innings 4-9. All Lotte had to do was push one more run across the remainder of the game to take the victory. We had plenty of chances to do just that, leaving nine men on base and going 0-for-10 with RISP excluding the Kiyota double.

    By far the most devastating chance was a failed 5th inning rally. The top of the lineup did their jobs setting up the chance, but the heart of the order failed to convert with runners on 2nd and 3rd & no outs, and the bases loaded with just one out. All it would have taken was a sac fly or well placed ground out, but we couldn’t get the contact we needed on a sharp grounder to 3rd from Kiyota, and subsequent strikeouts from Despa & Cruz.

    Another near miss came in the 7th when Kiyota smashed a ball to right field. The ball originally appeared to fly over the fence for a go-ahead home run, before deflecting off the back wall and back onto the field. Replay showed it was all an illusion, the ball had in fact hit off the top of the fence instead. When the umpires returned to the field they rightfully kept Kiyota just where he was on second base.

    All the missed chances finally caught up to us, allowing the Hawks to get the break they needed to take the win. As mentioned earlier, the Lotte bullpen had put the Hawks bats to sleep after relieving starter Ohmine to start the 4th inning. Fujioka went 2 strong innings, Masuda and Matsunaga combined for 2 1/3 hitless innings, and set up man Ohtani returned to his regular season form going 1 2/3 without allowing a hit. Uchi looked poised to carry the mantle in the 10th, striking out the first batter he saw on a filthy splitter. The splitter was so filthy though, the ball deflected off Tamura’s glove and toward the backstop. The PH Uebayashi took first base on the strike out, bringing up the top of the dangerous Hawks lineup with the leadoff man on. Eventually this led to a Uchikawa sayonara single that gave the Hawks the 3-2 win. Thanks to the automatic one-game advantage, Our Marines must now win four of the next five.

  • A-Class, Baby, A-Class!

    logo_smbcclimax01
    Three weeks ago Our Marines looked to be dead in the water. Back-to-back losses with only 3 hits combined left the guys reeling at 6 games under – dropping out of 4th seemed more likely than seizing 3rd. 14 games later and Chiba’s racked up 12 wins and just two losses – by a combined 2 runs – and with the 2015 Regular Season calendar all wrapped up Lotte has booked a ticket to Sapporo and the first stage of the Climax Series.

    What a truly an amazing turn of events!

    The two wins necessary to secure a spot in the top half of the league came about in much the same way as the previous 8 wins – on the back of some fantastic pitching. Saturday’s tight affair with Rakuten was decided by the amazing work of Yuta Ohmine, Ohtani, and Uchi, who combined to give up just 4 hits, no walks, and no runs. Rakuten’s rookie starter Mori kept the bats guessing, but a lovely bases-loaded walk by Captain Daichi and a very helpful error by Sendai’s Wheeler gave the offense just enough to support that great pitching.

    In Sunday’s decisive win, Chiba’s best starter Ishikawa was less-than effective, to be honest, leaving in the third inning after yielding three earned for a raft of relievers led by former first round phenom Fujioka. All Fujioka, Otani, and new closer Uchi did was completely, totally shut down the Fighters attack the rest of the way, leading to the inspiring moment when Saburo was wheeled out of the nursing room and to the batters box to deliver the game winning hit. Saburo! I’m not sure he’s had a meaningful hit since the 2010 Nippon Series so its especially bizarre – and wonderful – that he could clinch 2015 post season play.

    The final two games were loose affairs that saw young Kota Futaki’s pro debut (he looked great), Ryo Miki’s first Homer (smash smash), and Ryoji Katsuki’s first career save. Oh, and for some reason essential post-season starter Wakui was allowed to go 10 innings on 137 pitches in the last regular season game in a successful attempt to tie for the league lead in wins. Yay?

    Climax Series First Stage

    It all starts today, folks! For game one we’ll see awesome Ishikawa, Chiba Goemon, reigning Rookie of the Year, rocker of spiffy facial hair, versus some young chap the Fighters are bringing in from right field. This Otani guy hit a monster homer at QVC earlier in the year but an outfielder is an odd choice to start a playoff game, no?

    Kakunaka’s back in his first action in a month, he’ll push Ishimine back to the bench. Ishimine put on a bit of a crime wave in Kakunaka’s absence with several jaw-dropping performances over the past month.

    After Ishikawa the next starter should be… Chen? Though Wakui could go on short rest depending on the situation after Game 1. The pitching is set up really well for a short series as Chen, Wakui, Ohmine, the (awesome, pitching-only, Chiba version) Otani, Fujioka, and Uchi sitting at their peak potency.

    I like what those guys can do. I like that the bats have been so hot at the end of the season. I like that it is October, and October is Lotte’s month. I like that Our Marines have never dropped an opening round playoff series in the current format. Fighters are a tough squad, but my call is unsurprisingly:

    Chiba Lotte in 3

  • Seibu @ Lotte, 8-11 September 2014

    Seibu @ Lotte, 8-11 September 2014

    shy-lion-picture,1366x768,23201 Series Preview
    Ah, the fun time of the year, right? We fans, resigned to our fate as a B Class team, get to enjoy the stress-free pleasures of meaningless September ball. But is it so stress-free when the team can’t seem to put any runs across the plate?

    This is not an idle question. All year long the refrain has been “pitching, pitching, pitching” as the root cause of the 2014 Lotte malaise. But pitching doesn’t push runs across the plate, and this team has been shut out 14 times this year, 6 times in the past 23 days. That’s 20% of the team’s losses, and a stunning 11% of the games overall, including wins. Great pitching won’t fix any of that.

    Fujioka’s been on the losing end of 2 of those 6 shutouts, and he gets the ball in game 1 at QVC. It’s the last 4 games of the season vs our Saitama rivals, let’s hope they are memorable ones.

     

    Game 1 – Lotte Loses 7-0 in 6 1/2 innings

    Seibu: Takayuki Kishi (10-4, 2.88 ERA) @ Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-9, 4.29 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel A rain-shortened battle at QVC ended up a total laugher as Seibu took a first inning lead, piled on a bunch more runs, and held on to defeat Fujioka and Our Marines in game 1. At least it wasn’t it another shutout!!!! Oh, wait, it was.”]

    24 innings – that’s how long it’s been since we’ve seen a Lotte run scored. And as someone who sat through the entirety of this drenched debacle, let me tell you – there wasn’t even a good chance at scoring a run tonight. In the very first inning, Seibu took a 3-0 lead thanks to an Asamura RBI single scoring Kuriyama. Oh, and a Fujioka throwing error on that same play. And a Despaigne fielding error on that same play. And an Okawari-kun homer right after. Egads.

    You might remember Kishi from his May no hitter at QVC. He wasn’t going to get that tonight, but it was until the 4th inning that Chiba could record a hit. Sure, in the 3rd inning Chiba deposited two aboard via Kakunaka and Tamura walks, but Nemoto (inexplicably leading off/starting at first despite a .196/.252/.288 line this season) whipped out the ol GIDP to end the chance.

    Seibu scored another in top 4 as Fujioka walked in a run during an increasingly torrential downpour (this is not an exaggeration – the outer bands of a new tropical storm lashed QVC all evening). In bottom 4 Daichi and Alfredo recorded hits but a Fukuura GIDP ended that chance.

    Fujioka stayed in the game despite the sloppiness, the chill, the rain, the lack of support, and all common sense. There were two rain delays, one of a decent length (not sure of the official delay, I would guess close to 30m) and the one that ended the game. It wasn’t enough that his control was off (probably due to conditions) – no, the team decided to leave him out there for all 7 innings Seibu batted as punishment. That’s also not an exaggeration.

    His final line – 6 1/3 IP, 7 runs (6 earned), 10 H, 5 BB. Wait for it – 140 pitches. In the cold rain. With a delay. Only reason he did not throw more was the game being called due to weather.

    I don’t even have to complain about that sort of treatment of one of our better pitchers, do I?

    For what it’s worth, Chiba now has the second worst record in Japan. Rakuten, currently the lowest, is just 0.5 games behind. Small steps now – let’s see some runs next game. Let’s try to stay out of the cellar, shall we?

    On the plus side, both teams’ ouendan had a blast. We sang the fun Seibu Cody Ransom song with them. Great to see such a nice relationship continuing between these two passionate fan bases.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 2 – Lotte WINS 3x-2

    Seibu: Kazuhisa Makita (6-9, 3.53 ERA) @ Lotte: Hideaki Wakui (6-11, 4.52 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel 24 innings without a run – OVER. 3 game losing streak – KAPUT. Slipping into last place – NO SEÑOR. That’s right, dear Lotte fans – we got ourselves a bonafide WIN.”]

    0909-fukuuraEarly on, this game seemed a total repeat of the previous few games. No, the past month. Who am I kidding – most of the year!

    It looked like Our Marines would smash that run scoring drought in the first inning vs Seibu starter Makita, as Shohei led off bottom 1 with an infield single, followed by 2-out walks by both Despaigne and Kakunaka (an OBP machine lately). But Gori struck out with the bases juiced to end that opportunity. AJA1 singled with one out in the second, but a Tamura GIDP prevented any joy. And with that play, the offensive drought deepened. The next three innings: 3 up, 3 down. By the end of the 5th inning Our Marines had logged 29 innings in a row without a run scoring, and it sure didn’t look likely that there would be one on this night.

    1Aja got the start at first having just been recalled from ni-gun after basically 4 months in Urawa purgatory. For the season, he’s hit around .375 with 14 HR, a Fresh ASG MVP, an August Eastern League MVP… But precious few ichi-gun ABs. In related news, Our Marines are fighting to stay out of the NPB cellar.

    On the flip side of the inning, Seibu bats kept singling off embattled Lotte starter Wakui but that’s it. Wakui ended up yielding 7 hits on the night (along with a pair of walks) but let me tell you – he actually looked really good for the second game in a row. With 7 hits, why would I say that? Well 5 of those 7 hits were poked straight up the middle, all were singles, none were hit particularly hard, and most importantly, Seibu would score no runs off any of them. 5 of them came in the first three innings2, but Wakui mixed 5 Ks in the middle of those hits to get himself out of jams.

    I’m telling you, he looked good!

    2I want to devote some time to this later in the year when I can put together some numbers, but it seems to me that a whole lot of the runs given up by Chiba pitchers this season have come either very early in the games or late in the starts. To my thinking, this points to poor pitcher management as a root cause of the pitching malaise (ie pitchers not being warmed up and not recognizing when pitchers are gassed.) More to come on that thought.

    In the 6th, Our Marines finally scored a run. A run! A tiny, solitary run, and it came in the lamest possible fashion (Makita free pass to Imae with the bases loaded), but it’s a run! 1-0 LOTTE.

    That one run would hold for a long time, all the way until Nishino took over for Wakui in the 9th. Nishino, in the discussion for the best closer in the PL this year, kind of imploded. A leadoff walk to Akiyama (on 5 pitches) followed by a sac bunt – in came rookie Mori to pinch hit for rookie Okada, and Mori just plumb blasted a shot to deepest center. Bizarro land in QVC – a great Wakui start and a Nishino implosion. More importantly, a 2-1 Seibu lead.

    But in bottom 9, versus second year closer Takahashi, a strange thing happened: ANOTHER RUN, this one a giant blast by Imae to his favorite spot in left center! Takahashi has been wonderful all year for Seibu, but he gives up a key hit in the best possible spot for we fans of Lotte. Tie game, we’re going to extras!

    In extras, the Lotte pitching was superb. Ohtani straight up murdered the Seibu lineup in the 10th, and Matsunaga had a decent 11th before getting changed for Masuda, who finished up the 11th on just one pitch. Doesn’t get much more efficient than that!

    Bottom 11 – Kakunaka leads off with a single, Gori bunts him over leading to a Cruz IBB. That means it’s one out, and Aja time NO it’s FUKUURA TIME! And on a 2-1 count, Seibu’s Masuda tosses a fastball over the plate – Fukuura drives it, it’s over Akiyama’s head SAYONARA!

    Masuda defeats Masuda, Lotte beats the Kittykats, Imae and Fukuura are the heroes. In a tough season, hard to have a better September game that that, folks.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 3 – Lotte WINS 4-3

    Seibu: Yosuke Okamoto (2-5, 3.34 ERA) @ Lotte: Ayumu Ishikawa (7-7, 3.65 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel 2 games in a row with runs scored? Oh, I could get used to that! And a win in both games, too? Wow! But let’s be honest – the best thing about this game is that super rookie Ishikawa finally gets back in the win column with a very strong 7 inning performance. He has such a bright future.”]

    Make no mistake, this was a top tier performance from Ishikawa, one of his better of the year. Ayumu really only made one mistake on the night – a pitch left over the plate that mostly light hitting catcher Ginjiro smashed into the left field stands. A huge mistake for sure, especially as it tied the game at one run a piece, but the only one one on the night.

    His final line: 7 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 1 run, 9 Ks. Ace-like!

    Our Marines got on the board in the first thanks to an RBI single to right off the bat of cleanup hitter Despaigne, scoring Okada easily. Despite 7 hits off Seibu starter Okamoto in the first 5 innings, that was the only run plated, and it seemed that after the Ginjiro dinger the great Ishikawa start might be wasted.

    But no! Fast forward to bottom 6 – Singles by Daichi and Imae put runners on the corners with two outs. Cochito Cruz at the plate – he mashed a shot to DEEP left, easily good enough for three runs and a 4-1 Lotte lead! That’s Cruz’s team leading 16th, good enough for 9th in the league.

    You’ll notice that the final score is not 4-1, but 4-3, and a reasonable person would conclude there might have been some trouble with the closing of this game. And there was! Probably because ‘it was decided’ that our reliable closer Nishino would not be used (apparently because our dear leader did not like the mood in the pen), and the combination of Matsunaga and Masuda gave up a pair in top 9 (both charged to Matsunaga). And honestly, we were reeeeealy lucky the game wasn’t tied in the 9th, as the 2-run double by Kuriyama came extremely close to clearing the center field fence. Nevertheless, it’s a win for Goemon and Lotte and a save for Masuda.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 4 – Cancelled: Rain

    Seibu: Yusei Kikuchi (4-9, 3.63 ERA)@ Lotte: Yuta Ohmine (2-3, 3.74 ERA)

    The game will be made up on 1 October.

  • Lotte @ Seibu, 2-4 September 2014

    Lotte @ Seibu, 2-4 September 2014

    shy-lion-picture,1366x768,23201Series Preview
    Folks, I’ve been resisting this call for some time, but I think the obvious needs to be stated.

    Barring some sort of insane miracle, this team will not see post season action in 2014. With 24 games left, Our Marines would need to go 19-5 just to make it back to .500, and even if they can win all 24 games they would still need a lot of help to catch up to Hamu. Yeah, we’re in the “sit back and enjoy, stress free” portion of the season, officially.

    So the goals for the remaining games are basically (a) get the younger players some more experience (b) play the spoiler. Wait, I forgot to list the most important goal! (c) BEAT SEIBU.

    Interestingly enough, we get 7 games in 10 days vs our Tokorozawa rivals – this 3 game set at Seibu Dome and next week a 4 game tilt at QVC – and that’s it for the season. Seibu’s in just about as hopeless a position as is Chiba, so really we should look at this as a 7 game series to determine PL Kanto supremacy once and for all.

     

    Game 1 – Lotte WINS 4-3

    Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-9, 4.38 ERA) @ Seibu: Kazuhisa Makita (6-8, 3.47 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel The last 6 times Fujioka started for Our Marines, Our Marines have lost. That’s 0-6 – the entirety of August. While young Fujioka didn’t get the win on this night, the team did, and that’s the welcome news.”]

    from marines.co.jp
    from marines.co.jp
    Despite the strong outing, Fujioka-kun isn’t the real story from this one. Nope, that goes to our Cuban Crusher of Poor Pitches, Despaigne (see: photo to the right). Alfredo was the hero for the second game in a row, and for the exact same reason – belting a pitch up in the zone way, way out of the park for the game-deciding runs. The crazy thing about the homer in this game is to my (unable to hit Little League pitching) eyes, this homer wasn’t on a great pitch to pull out of the park as it was out over the outside edge. But Despaigne did go out and get it, and even on TV it was quite obviously gone from when it left the bat.

    Let’s back up a bit.

    Fujioka got himself into a bit of trouble several times in the first few innings before settling down. A pair of baserunners in the first (no damage) and the third (damage) – only one run crossed the plate, though. Chiba got that run back in the 4th as Daichi led off with a triple(*) and Cochito Cruz plated him with a sac fly. The whole affair was a bit dodgy as Daichi’s triple was actually a bit of a boot by RF Kimura, and Cruz’s SF was ju-u-u-st deep enough to score Daichi, though he had to make a wonderful slide to avoid the tag. Tie game after 3 1/2.

    But not after 4 – Kimura led off the bottom of the frame by pummeling a Fujioka offering deep into the left field stands – 2-1 Seibu. That’s Fujioka’s NPB leading 18th HR of the season, incidentally. Nemoto would score on a Kakunaka SF in the top of the 5th to re-tie the game at 2 a piece.

    All that set the stage for Despaigne’s heroics in the 8th inning. Alfredo’s power is something we really haven’t seen that much of in a while on this team – Braz had a nice run late last year, and Kim Tae Kyun a hot start to 2010, but really there hasn’t been the sort of absurd power that Despaigne has displayed since the heady days of 2005. It’s a fairly small sample size, but he’s on the pace for what would be a 45 homer season. Large.

    Masuda had taken over for Fujioka in bottom 7 (and pitched the 8th as well) to get in position for the win. Nishino of course pitched the 9th but was uncharacteristically wild and allowed a rare run, though he did manage to get the final out to secure the win and a save.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 2 – Lotte WINS 6-1

    Lotte: Hideaki Wakui (5-11, 4.73 ERA) @ Seibu: Greg Reynolds (3-6, 5.50 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel Game 2 in Tokorozawa – and it’s another Lotte Win! And the hero, it’s… Wa, Wa, Wakui???!? Really? Yes, really. Wakui returned to his old home for the second time as a member of Our Marines, and unlike that game (and almost every other this year – shut up Steve! This is supposed to be We Love Marines, not We Rag on Wakui. Counter: can’t we do both?) Wakui was unquestionably brilliant, exactly what this team was hoping for when they signed him to the big free agent contract this offseason.”]

    Let’s start with Wakui, because honestly his pitching performance was the heart of this win. The only flaw in his night – and that’s not hyperbole – was a 4th inning solo shot to PL HR leader Nakamura, this with Lotte sitting on a 4 run lead at the time. That’s it! His line on the evening:

    8 innings, 3 hits (including the HR), 2 BB, 1 run, 9 Ks on 116 pitches.

    That’s a 0.63 WHIP! The only other two hits for the Lions came in the bottom of the 9th when Ohtani took over. Watanabe and Asamura singled to lead off that inning but Ohtani didn’t come close to allowing a run to score.

    On offense – no homer tonight for Despaigne, though he did beat out an infield hit for the first Chiba baserunner in the second inning, later scoring a run on a Gori double. Tamura singled right after, and Shohei reached on an Asamura error to score Imae. Seibu starter Reynolds walked Kakunaka to load the bases and Ishimine unloaded them with a single just past a diving Mejia at first. Ishimine got caught between first and second trying to sneak an extra base, and in the confusion Kakunaka tried to score but was tagged out. Doesn’t matter – that’s an early 4-0 Lotte lead!

    The Okawari-kun dinger shrunk that lead to 4-1, but in the 5th inning Kakunaka worked Reynolds for a 1-out walk, and Ishimine again swung his clutchy bat, lacing a double to left and scoring a hustling Kakunaka from first. 5-1 Chiba.

    Three more hits in the 6th off Reynolds just added more to the total. Nemoto doubled high off the right field fence, Imae singled, and young Tamura drove in Nemo to give us the final 6-1 score.

    Interestingly enough Hamu lost again, so the insurmountable deficit has shrunk to a just-about-as-insurmountable 7 games. Did you know that if Our Marines had just taken 4 wins from the 10 games in a row they dropped to Hamu in July/August, they’d be in third right now. You did, huh?

    The final game of the season at Seibu Dome is on Thursday with Goemon chasing that rookie of the year crown versus converted reliever Okamoto.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]
     

    Game 3 – Lotte Loses 4-1

    Lotte: Ayumu Ishikawa (7-6, 3.58 ERA) @ Seibu: Yosuke Okamoto (2-5, 3.65 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel Poor Ishikawa! As with several of his starts this year, if he had just exited after the 7th inning we’d be remarking at the wonders of his performance. But no, he came out for the 8th, and in that 8th a mistake to board certified, award winning ball crusher Mejia turned into a 3-run homer, and a tie game into a defeat.”]

    Here’s what Ishikawa’s line would look like if he had been removed at the end of the 7th:

    7 IP, 5 hits, 7 Ks, 2 BB, 1 ER.

    Very nice! Very very nice! I would think that if the situation were such that Ishikawa were sitting on a decent lead that Itoh would have gone to the pen at that point, but perhaps as the game was tied he felt Ishikawa needed to go as deep as possible.

    Regardless, that plan SHOULD have gone out the window once the 8th inning started: Watanabe single, Asamura fly out (but only thanks to a hero catch by Ishimine), Okawari-kun walk. Perhaps working through this jam and getting that experience was the most important consideration, more than winning the game. Still, I would have sent up Masuda or Ohtani to face the terrifying Mejia (that’s not hindsight, either – I certainly thought so at the time).

    Inexplicably, converted reliever Okamoto did a number on the Chiba bats, throwing 5 2/3 of three hit, no run ball. The first real scoring chance for Our Marines came in the 6th, as Katoh led off with a rare walk but was tossed trying to steal second. Right after, Ishimine singled (ahh) and Daichi reached on an Okamoto error. With two outs, Despaigne watched a brutal slider drop in the back door for a called strike three to end the threat.

    Chiba would score a run in the 7th to tie the game, as Imae singled to score a streaking Hayasaka (PR for Cruz). Unfortunately that was it for the Chiba offense as not a single baserunner reached past that point.

    The ‘good news’ is Hamu did not play so the deficit for 3rd is ‘only’ 7.5 games with 21 to go. The next 7 are at home versus the woeful Eagles and the slightly less woeful Lions, so if Our Marines do not win at least 5 of 7 there should be massive riots in the street, I should think.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

  • Lotte @ Buffaloes, 26-28 August 2014

    Lotte @ Buffaloes, 26-28 August 2014

    OsakaSeries Preview
    Two series wins in a row, and against the top two teams in the Pacific League. The Baby Faced Killer? Back, and looking strong. The pen, also strong. This is all lovely.

    What’s not so lovely is the currently-sitting-in-the-last-A-class-spot Fighters have lost just two of their last eleven, so the deficit is the same as it was a series ago. We can’t control that.

    It’s actually quite simple – don’t worry about Hamu. Lotte’s just gotta win some games. There’s 30 games left for Our Marines, 33 for the Fighters. Assuming no ties, that means if Hamu maintains its season winning percentage of .509, Chiba’s gotta go 22-8 in these last 30 games to overcome. Can it be done? Sure, why not? 7 of the remaining are vs those same Fighters (all in Kanto), and 13 of the remaining are vs the nothing-to-play-for Lions and Eagles. Why not win a whole lot of those games?

    The final push of the season starts now.

     

    Game 1 – Lotte Loses 8-0

    Lotte: Takuya Furuya (7-4, 4.09 ERA) @ Orix: Takahiro Matsuba (6-1, 2.64 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Our Marines got crushed Tuesday, finding themselves in an early 4-0 deficit and eventually falling 8-0. Lotte did manage to reach base nine times on eight hits, but still suffered their 11th shutout loss of the season. “]

    So goes Furuya, maybe so goes the Marines. His re-emergence last year was a saving grace for our post-season run. Since joining the ichi-gun team in late June the New Lefty Ace proved to be our most reliable arm, leading the team with a 9-1 record and 2.73 ERA in 2013. This year through July 22nd he had a 7-2 record and a 3.79 ERA, which included some ERA-inflating bullpen appearances during inter-league. Since then though, Furuya is 0-3 in 5 starts and a 6.04 ERA. With Lotte falling in the standings since then as well, it seems much of our fate the past 2 years has been, albeit likely coincidentally, tied in with the success of Furuya.

    Furuya just lasted 2 1/3 innings tonight, being pulled after a 1 out walk in the 3rd. It was a 4 run 2nd that buried him though, with a 2-run double by Kawabata, Ito squeeze bunt RBI, and Hirano bloop RBI single accounting for the runs. The inning did feature a nearly amazing play by Katoh in right, failing to make a catch when crashing into the wall, but still holding T-Okada to a single on what was a near home run. The kept a run off the board, but unfortunately only temporarily. With the bases loaded and 0 out, the runs came next.

    Lotte did show signs of life in the 6th, still only down 4-0 thanks to 3 shutout innings by Yuta Ohmine in releif. With the top of the order leading off, Okada and Daichi got aboard with a pair of no out singles. Orix went to the pen after Kakunaka made the 1st out on a fly out to left. Relief man Higa benefited from a fine play at short for a force out at 2nd on an Imae ground ball for out 2. Iguchi then grounded out to 3rd for out 3.

    Orix added 4 more runs off the Lotte bullpen after that, a pair of runs allowed each by Hattori and Ueno. Three of those runs came by way of the long ball, a Kawabata solo shot off Hattori (originally not ruled a HR but a triple, reversed on review. Pretty clearly a homer, actually) and Shunta 2-run jack off Ueno. Fighters won tonight, so we now fall 7 back for 3rd.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 2 – Lotte Loses 7-3

    Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-8, 4.30 ERA) @ Orix: Daiki Tomei (4-5, 3.82 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel 12 hits? GREAT! No shutout, either. Wonderful. But luck? Timely hitting? Solid pitching? No, not so much of that. Another loss coupled with another Hamu win? Yeah, yeah that too. SIGH.”]

    There was really nothing in this game to recommend for the Lotte fan. Many hits, but not really any strung together so plenty LOB.

    A bigger problem is the big hole the bats had to dig out of. The first Orix run was unearned thanks to a Cruz error, and the second run might as well have been unearned as German scored on a delayed double steal that Tamura was fooled on. The third run scored off a Pena bloop single with two on. Fujioka was by no means good this evening – 10, 4 ER, and his typical absurd pitch count (123 in this one) – but it’s easy to see a possible game where he escaped those first three frames with no runs allowed.

    Imae chipped into the lead with a solo shot in the 4th, but back-to-back RBI singles by Hirano and Adachi in the bottom of the inning stretched the lead to 5-1 Orix.

    Our Marines clawed back a bit with a lovely 6th inning RBI double by Tamura and a PH 8th inning RBI single from Iguchi, but a horribly slumping Ueno gave both those runs right back in bottom 8, and that was that.

    Fujioka hasn’t won a game in a month – 0-4 in August – and his ERA is almost double what it was in his June glory days. Why is that? Good question – I saw a tweet from @ikumaisaac that hypothesized an effort to reduce Fujioka’s walks has resulted in him getting hit harder. It is true he’s going deeper into games later in the season, though his walk totals are still high. I’m not sure, but something is wrong with the last two months of Fujioka.

    As for Furuya? Turns out he’s injured and will be taken off the roster. Not a whole lot of healthy arms left in the stable, it seems.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 3 – Lotte Loses 4-0

    Lotte: Hideaki Wakui (5-10, 4.71 ERA) @ Orix: Chihiro Kaneko (11-4, 1.78 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Orix completed the sweep Thursday evening at Hotto Motto Field, handing our Marines their 2nd shutout loss in three nights and 12th shutout loss of the year. “]

    Kaneko is having the best year of any pitcher in Japan, so obviously we were going to have to seize on any opening provided to us if we hoped to scrounge together enough runs to win. It looked like we might find ourselves with an early dumb-luck chance when the speedy Okada worked a full count and nearly beat out an infield single to lead the game off. Instead, he was beaten to the bag by a 1/4 step. That would be the best chance we’d get for a while, with the door closing after that and our 1st hit not coming until the 5th inning.

    Meanwhile, Wakui. 102 pitches in 5 innings, 52 of them strikes. At one point, it was a nice even 50 balls 50 strikes. 7 walks in those 5 innings, 4 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th. Wakui had his patented single inning meltdown, allowing 3 runs on 1 hit in the 4th. Yep, that’s 3 runs scored on 4 walks, 2 sac flies for RBI’s, and an RBI T-Okada double. Wakui did manage to escape the 5th after walking the bases loaded, with the score still 3-0.

    Our Marines finally got not just one, but back-to-back 2-out singles in the 5th by Katoh and Takahama. Tamura struck out to end the inning though. Katoh got another 2 out hit in the 7th, with the young man accounting for 2 of Lotte’s 4 total hits.

    Shunta had his 2nd home run of the series, a solo blast to right off Kimura to make it 4-0 Orix in the 8th. Meanwhile, Our Marines mustered only a Daichi walk versus Satoh in the 8th, and a Cruz 1-out double off Kishida in the 9th. Thus ends a series where we were outscored 19-3, but just outhit 28-24.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

  • Orix @ Lotte, August 19-21 2014

    QVC New

    Series Preview:

    Things look more and more bleak for the 2014 Marines as the calendar advances further toward autumn. We headed into last weekend 5.5 games back of the Fighters for the 3rd and final post-season spot. Here we are three games later, and we’re still 5.5 back now with just 36 games to go.

    I know I’ve written off the team on two separate occasions in just the last three weeks. We’re fans, that what we do. We’re still mathematically alive though, and this coming two week stretch is likely going to be the true determining period for Our Marines. The next two weeks features a home-and-home with the 2nd place Buffaloes, a home set with the 1st place Hawks in between, and then we end the month with a 3-game Tokyo Dome series versus the 3rd place Fighters.

     

    Game 1 – Sayonara Win 4-3

    Orix: Takahiro Matsuba (6-1 2.53) @ Lotte: Takuya Furuya (7-4 4.26)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Lotte won Tuesday night in sayonara style on a Tamura walk-off single in the 9th. A first inning 3-run Despaigne home run gave Our Marines an early 3-0 lead, but Orix came back to tie it at 3-3 in the 8th. Unfortunately the bullpen couldn’t preserve the win for Furuya who pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball. Of course all is well that ends well, and this game couldn’t have ended any better.”]

    Lotte scored 3 runs in the 1st inning, and then wouldn’t score again until the final play of the game. The 1st inning scoring started when Daichi was hit by a pitch, followed by a Kakunaka ground ball single through the left side of the infield to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Despaigne was up next batting cleanup and nearly popped out foul on a 2-0 pitch. The first baseman originally went to the position himself under the ball just inside the foul line. The wind was coming off Tokyo Bay and in from left field at nearly max QVC power, pushing the high pop up into the stands and giving Despaigne a 2nd chance. Later on a 2-2 pitch Alfredo crushed a ball through the wind and just over the fence in left for a 3 run home run! On most nights that ball would have been long gone, but the end result is still Alfredo’s first QVC home run and 5th HR in 19 games! 3-0 Marines.

    Furuya took it from there with 6 solid innings for his first quality start in his last 4 starts. He did allow 3 walks, but it was a Nakamura no out single followed by a wild pitch and an Itoh RBI single that led to his only earned run making it 3-1 in the 5th. Furuya came out at 106 pitches and 6 innings pitched. He allowed a 1-out double to German in the 6th, but got both Kawabata and T-Okada to ground out preventing a run from scoring in his last inning.

    Captain Daichi got a lead off double to start the 3rd, but that was followed by a stretch of only 1 Lotte base runner in the next 16 batters. Masuda pitched a scoreless 7th on 1 hit in relief of Furuya, so we went to the 8th with the score still 3-1.

    Ohtani came in to pitch the 8th, and Itoi led off the inning with an infield single. Imae took a bad hop off his chest allowing the speedy Itoi to reach base without a throw from 3rd. The next batter Wily Mo Pena reached down at a low and inside pitch and smacked a very hard hit line drive over the fence in left. Suddenly we are tied at 3-3. Kawabata got aboard with a 1-out single, but T-Okada hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

    Lotte and Orix then exchanged missed chances in the home half of the 8th and top of the 9th. A Katoh lead off single, Daichi sac bunt, and Despaigne 2-out walk didn’t result in a run for Lotte in the 8th. Nishino was brought in to pitch the 9th. He allowed a 1-out walk to the number 9 man Itoh and a 2-out Adachi single, but struck out Itoi to end the inning.

    So onto the bottom of the 9th. Like Lotte, Orix went with their closer Hirano in the 9th. Okada is in to pitch hit for Huffman and slaps a 1-1 pitch over the second baseman and into right for a lead off single. Imae sacrificed Okada over to 2nd base for out 1. Cruz followed and popped up to short for out 2. Extra innings seemed pretty likely with the number 9 man Tamura up next. Itoh-kantoku let his young catcher bat though, a move that would turn out to win us the game. Tamura grounded a 1-2 pitch up the middle, past the mound and through the infield! Itoi scoops up the ball in shallow center with Okada already just steps from home. Itoi spikes his throw just inside 2nd base as Okada slides in safely! Tamura is met with a bucket of water as he rounds 1st, followed by an ensuing pig pile! Lotte wins 4-3!!! SAYONARA!!!
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]
     

    Game 2 – Lotte Wins 8-2

    Orix: Brandon Dickson (7-9 3.74) @ Lotte: Yuta Omine (0-3 5.54)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Our Marines won comfortably Wednesday night, scoring eight runs on fourteen hits and four walks. Kakunaka had the key hits early, an RBI triple in the 3rd and RBI single in the 5th. Lotte added a couple of more runs aided by a B’s error in the 3rd and a wild pitch in the 6th. Cruz piled on two more runs in the 6th with a two run single to make it 6-1. Ohmine allowed just one run in five innings for his first win of 2014, followed by Karakawa striking out five in two innings of relief. “]

    Game notes:

    – Ohmine allowed just one run despite giving up a hit in all five innings pitched. He was pulled after just 66 pitches in favor of Karakawa. It bares repeating that Karakawa struck out five batters in just two innings of relief following his turn being skipped in the rotation.

    – Kakunaka drove in Katoh for Lotte’s first run of the game on an RBI triple to center, a ball that bounced out of Goto’s glove as he crashed into the wall. Kakunaka later scored when Despaigne reached by way of an error on a ground ball to 3rd base giving Lotte the lead for good at 2-1.

    – Katoh had a modasho going 3-5 out of the lead off spot. He scored his 2nd of two runs in the 5th on an RBI single by Kakunaka. He also knocked in a run in the 8th on a bases loaded single.

    – Imae also had a modasho going 3-3, adding a walk and two runs scored.

    – Lotte scored three runs in the 6th after loading the bases with 0 outs. Huffman scored on a wild pitch, then later in the at bat Cruz drove in two more with a 0 out single to center.

    – Lotte’s 8th run came on a bases loaded walk to Daichi in the 8th.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]
     

    Game 3 – Lotte Loses 2-0

    Orix: Daiki Tomei (3-5 4.12) @ Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-7 4.40)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Our Marines got a quality start from workhorse Fujioka, along with some fine defensive plays behind him. The Chiba bats left nine men on base though, leading to a shutout loss in the series finale. We left the bases loaded in the 4th and 6th innings, and also failed to convert in the 8th when we started the inning with runners on the corners and no outs. With the Fighters winning, we now fall to six back of 3rd with 33 to go. “]

    Game notes:

    – Fujioka has thrown over 100 pitches in three of his starts in August: 137, 146 and 113. He also threw on back-to-back days for a total of 106 pitches on August 8th and 9th.

    – The no out runners on the corners chance for Lotte in the 8th ended on three consecutive strike outs.

    – Fukuura left the game after making a nice catch in foul ground in the 7th, ramming into the photo well in the process. He’s day to day with a dislocated finger. In other injury news, Despaigne left last night’s game with a pulled back and should be out about two weeks.

    – The score could have been much worse if not for two fine defensive plays by Huffman and Tamura. Huffman threw a runner out at home from left field to end the 7th. Tamura saved a run when he dove for a failed cut off attempt by Nemoto in the 8th.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

  • Lotte @ Rakuten, 15-17 August 2014

    no-rakuten-sm
    Series Preview
    That glimmer of hope we all had after the 5 game win streak has summarily been smashed against the cold, unyielding truth of reality. Chiba has lost 8 in a row to the Fighters, a team which (if I try to think objectively) just should not be as good as our guys. Not now. But unfortunately the results on the field are saying otherwise, and the 2.5 game deficit that seemed so promising just 4 days ago is now a bleak 5.5 game pit.

    Will restoration come in the form of some theraputic beatings of the last place Eagles? Perhaps – it’s interesting to note that defending champs Rakuten are the only team in the PL that Our Marines has a winning record against.

     

    Game 1 – Lotte Loses 4-0

    Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-6, 4.36 ERA) @ Rakuten: Takahiro Norimoto (9-8, 3.50 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel All of us looking for a bounce back after the sweep in Sapporo need to keep looking, we won’t find it here. In fact, we can easily see this as the polar opposite of a bounce back, as only a 7th inning single to right prevented Our Marines from seeing the bad side of a perfect game.”]

    One thing you need to notice when looking at that box score is the line posted by Fujioka. Of course the entire starting rotation outside of Ishikawa is a total enigma right now, but I really don’t get what has happened to Fujioka. 2 months ago he was looking ace-like, confident, and his 2.51 ERA fit the part. Now he still has flashes of that early season quality (see the 9 Ks tonight, and that he got stronger as the game went on) but at times he just seems, well, lost.

    Let’s be honest – throwing a career high 146 pitches didn’t help at all, either. The only reason he was ‘limited’ to 146 was he took a batted ball off his hand in the 8th inning and had to leave.

    Why am I focusing on Fujioka? Good question. He wasn’t the reason this game was lost. Nope, this game was lost because of a great start by Norimoto, though Lotte bats helped immensely in that regard. There was very little plate discipline on display tonight. Sure Norimoto recorded 9 Ks… But all of them were swinging Ks. Lots of swinging at first pitches. Lots of weak grounders. It just wasn’t a good night at all.

    The Fighters also lost so the deficit is still 5.5 games, but that’s 5.5 with 38 to go, tied with Seibu for 4th (essentially), 12 games below .500, and closer to last than 3rd. Yeah.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 2 – Lotte WINS 12-5

    Lotte: Hideaki Wakui (4-10, 4.65 ERA) @ Rakuten: Sho Miyagawa (3-0, 2.72 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel There we go. A relentless barrage of hits started in the first inning and didn’t finish until the game ran out of innings as Our Marines delivered the perfect antidote to Friday’s game. If you didn’t like that one, today’s 12-5 win should make you feel pretty darn happy.”]

    Wakui was 2014 Wakui in this start, not vintage Wakui, but that’s OK. He wasn’t a factor today.

    Who was a factor? The men at the top of the lineup, especially. Future superstar Katoh got the nod for the leadoff position (and started in right), and he proceeded to terrorize Rakuten pitching all evening. Shohei reached base in 5 of his 6 plate appearances – exactly what you want in a leadoff batter – and since the men behind him hit well he scored a highly impressive 4 runs.

    In fact the 2nd and 3rd batters – that would be Okada and Kakunaka, should you insist on putting a name with a stat – combined with Katoh to go 10-16 with 5 RBI and 6 runs scored. That alone was enough to win the game.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 3 – Lotte Loses 3-1

    Lotte: Yoshihisa Naruse (7-6, 4.88 ERA) @ Rakuten: Yasunori Kikuchi (0-0, 3.86 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel One step forward, two steps back I am afraid I have to say. Yesterday’s offensive explosion was nowhere to be seen in this one as only a late RBI single by Iguchi saved Our Marines from yet another shutout in Sendai. What’s that you say? Yes, yes that is the third dropped series in a row. Sigh.”]

    It’s strange to me – statistically speaking the main problem with this team especially in the second half of the season has been the pitching, and while it is absolutely undeniable that especially the starting pitching has been at times dire, the really inexplicable situation has been the time when the offense just disappears. Gone.

    Look at this series – a bit over 4 runs scored per game…. with all but one of those runs scored in one game. This was much the case last series as well – zero going on at the plate for two out of three games. Take a peek at that box score, look at those highlights: I’ll tell you right now from my firsthand experience in watching this game, other than the lead off Shohei ground rule double, there was no feeling that runs were coming at all – and of course before Iguchi’s RBI single late in the 9th the runs did not come. Despaigne smashed a couple of pitches deep, really deep, but no home run.

    Naruse? Honestly not bad. He got a bit out of sorts in the second inning – certainly that one run allowed could have been much worse – and the Ginji home run was a shame, but I felt he was generally pretty effective this night. He just didn’t get much run support.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]
     

    21 of the last 36 games are at home, and 6 of those road games are in the Tokyo area, so there’s still opportunity for the guys to make a run. Biut there can’t be any delay, that run needs to happen right now.

  • Rival Series 2: Seibu @ Lotte, 8-10 Aug 2014

    rival-sm

    Series Preview: Suffice it to say that the previous series with Rakuten could not have gone any better for Lotte. Not only did the series sweep push the guys closer to Hamu in 3rd place, but the gap over Rakuten has widened so much that it’s unlikely they will escape the PL cellar this year, let alone challenge for a Climax Series spot. Schadenfreude? Sure. That’s how it goes.

    The view needs to be forward, though – all hope seemed gone a week ago but with the 5 game win streak and the concurrent Hamu slump Our Marines have a real fighting chance for 3rd, just 3.5 games back with 45 games to go. Compared to scoring 6 in the bottom of the 9th to win a game, that’s nothing. But rivals Seibu still have design on that same spot – time to quash their dreams and move even closer to A-Class land.

    Due to the typhoon approaching Honshu there’s a good chance that either Saturday or Sunday’s games (possibly both) will be cancelled due to weather, though.

     

    Game 1 – Lotte Loses 9-5

    Seibu: Ryoma Nogami (4-7, 5.53 ERA) @ Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-6, 4.11 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Steve Novosel The 5 game winning streak – over. Another rough start by Fujioka was wiped away by a fantastic mid-innings rally by the Chiba offense, but questionable pitcher management led to a late inning collapse and a 9-5 loss to the gang from Tokorozawa. Not ideal.”]

    Fujioka got himself into a big jam in the very first inning, though it wasn’t all his fault. A one-out error by Shota at third led to a walk and timely singles by Ernesto Mejia and Asamura – 2-0 Seibu after one. Two more baserunners in the second caused no harm to the cause, but in the third a leadoff double by Okawari-kun was followed by a deep shot by Mejia – 4-0 after 2.5 innings.

    Unlike Fujioka’s last start in Kyocera, Itoh wisely went to the pen for the 4th inning, and while Kimura wasn’t so hot either he did manage to keep the Lions from plating any more runners.

    Fujioka’s counterpart was the slumping Nogami, but for innings 1-5 Nogami really kept the Chiba bats in check, scattering just 4 hits with no walks and no runs – quite un-Nogami-like for this year. He couldn’t keep that good pitching going, fortunately, and in the 6th inning the Lotte bats came alive. Daichi singled to lead off the frame, and after Kakunaka drew a 1-out walk Despaigne singled up the middle for the first Lotte run. Saburo singled to right to score Kakunaka and draw the score even closer – that was the end of Nogami’s night, in came old friend Hiro Kobayashi. So weird to see him at his former home but wearing Seibu colors!

    Kobahiro gunned down Fukuura for out two, but Cochito Cruz smashed an 0-1 slider into the Imae spot in deep left center – another great comeback and a 5-4 Lotte lead!

    Fast forward to the 8th inning. Masuda made quick work of the last two outs of the 7th inning so Itoh left him in for the 8th. Good call. But it was very, very clear that Masuda was in trouble in that 8th inning, yet Itoh stuck with him for way longer than was prudent. How long? 5 hits, 5 ER long. YIKES. Now it’s true that both the tying run and the go-ahead run were quite unlucky – the first a bouncer off the plate that nobody could get to (could have been an inning-ending DP with better luck), and the go-ahead run was equally unlucky – a liner off third base that caromed into left field. But still Masuda stayed in, an Asamura double and Akiyama single followed along with three more runs, and suddenly that 5-4 lead was inverted to a 9-5 deficit.

    After the damage was done, Itoh-kantoku went to the pen but it was far too late. The Chiba bats could not mount another comeback (in fact went down in order in both the 8th and 9th), the streak over.

    Fortunately Hamu also lost so the deficit is still 3.5 games, but it was a golden opportunity missed. Wakui gets the ball tomorrow to try to duplicate his magic from last Saturday (typhoon willing).
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 2 – Lotte Loses 16-5

    Seibu: Greg Reynolds (2-5, 4.17 ERA) @ Lotte: Hideaki Wakui (4-9, 4.53 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Just looking at the final score of a game can sometimes lead one to make some erroneous assumptions. For example, you may be surprised to learn that we actually had a decent shot to take the lead late in this game. Yep, Our Marines had the go ahead run at the plate as late as the 8th inning. At one point, this looked like it could be another miracle Marines comeback. So what happened?”]

    from Marines.co.jp
    Celebrating the final out. from Marines.co.jp
    Let’s start from the beginning. After a scoreless first 3 innings, the Lions finally got to their former man Wakui in the 4th. Red-hot Ernesto Mejia smacked a 3-run home run to left to give Seibu the early 3-0 lead. Nakamura added another Lions run in the 5th on a sac fly, making it 4-0 Lions. The 5th would be Wakui’s last inning, finishing at 84 pitches.

    Our Marines nearly made it 4-3 in the home half of the inning, when Daichi just missed a home run to right field. The ball landed high off the wall for a double, easily scoring Cruz from 3rd. With one out though, Imae was unable to score from 2nd, only advancing 1 base to 3rd on the high fly ball. Katoh and Kakunaka were unable to deliver with two runners in scoring position, so the score remained at 4-1 after 5.

    Ueno came in to pitch in relief of Wakui, and got out of a 2-out 2-on jam in the 6th on a nice play by Tamura. He did not fare so well in the 7th, giving up a 2 run blast to Nakamura to make it 6-1 Lions. After a Mejia single and Asamura double, Ueno was pulled for last night’s starter Fujioka. Ok, go with yesterday’s starter in mop-up duty, I get that. An Akiyama sac fly to center scored Mejia, then Fujioka got the final out to finish the inning at 7-1. Fujioka then threw a scoreless 8th to keep the lead at 6 runs.

    Our Marines made it interesting in the 8th, nearly coming back to tie the game. Okada led off with a base hit to center to get things going. Kakunaka was HBP, and Despaigne followed with a base hit to load the bases with 0 out. Saburo sent a fly ball deep enough into the RF corner to score Okada on a sac fly to make it 7-2. Takahama came up next to PH for Iguchi and sent an opposite field liner to left. The LF Kuriyama attempted a diving catch on the liner, but the ball flew past him and to the wall. Takahama slides head first into 3rd with a bases clearing triple! 7-4 now!

    Seibu finally goes to the pen, Okamoto replacing starter Reynolds. After a Cruz pop out for out number 2, Imae delivered a base hit to center. Takahama in, 7-5! Up next is PH Fukuura to bat for Tamura. Fukuura, not exactly known for his speed, hustles down the line and beats out a throw from 2nd base on a weak grounder for an infield single! Wow! The replay showed he wasn’t exactly safe, but we’ll take it. The inning continues with the go ahead run at the plate in the form of lead off man Captain Daichi to face new pitcher Takahashi. Daichi made decent contact, but ultimately flew out to center to end the inning.

    Suddenly, we had a game on our hands. I can understand bringing Fujioka in to do mop-up duty earlier in the game. Now that we find ourselves in a 2 run game in the 9th, maybe it’s time to pull YESTERDAY’S starting pitcher. Nope. Fujioka stays in. After the first out, the Lions got a double, walk, and RBI single off Fujioka. It’s 8-5 now, but after all we had just been through, it feels like we’re down 6 runs again.

    Itoh finally goes to the pen for Kanamori. 8 hits and 8 runs later, it’s 16-5. So much for the late comeback. Fighters lost today as well, so even though we didn’t lose any ground, we also have missed 2 straight chances to pull closer from 3.5 games back.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

     

    Game 3 – Lotte WINS 4-3

    Seibu: Ryohei Fujiwara (2-5, 4.23 ERA) @ Lotte: Yoshihisa Naruse (6-6, 5.04 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Our Marines took game 3 Sunday evening to avoid to sweep. Lotte scored 4 early runs, backed by a 6 2/3 IP winning effort from Naruse. The Lions were chipping away as the outer bands of typhoon 11 reached Marine Field, but the bullpen held on with Nishino getting the save in the wind and rain. “]

    Our Marines got the scoring started in the first inning. Captain Daichi led off with a base hit, and advanced on two successive grounders by Okada and Kakunaka. Clean up man Desapigne drove him home on a ground ball base hit past the SS to give Lotte the early 1-0 lead.

    Celebrating the final out. From Marines.co.jp
    Celebrating the final out. From Marines.co.jp
    Lotte struck again in the 3rd with a 3 run inning. Captain Daichi once again got things going drawing a lead off walk. Okada hit into a force out, but beat out the double play to keep a runner at first. Kakunaka was up next and drove a ball off the wall in right for a double. Two men in scoring position and one out for Despaigne. Alfredo struck out swinging on a ball way outside. The ball was so far outside it deflected off Sumitani’s glove and to the back stop. Okada comes home to score, Kakunaka to 3rd, and Desapigne takes the open first base. 2-0 Lotte. Up next, Fukuura lined a ball over the right side of the infield and into right. Kakunaka scores, 3-0 Marines.

    The Lions went to the pen after that, with Takekuma into face Cruz. There was still only 1 out and 2 men aboard. Cruz swung at the 2nd pitch he saw, producing a hard hit grounder through the hole between the SS and a diving 3rd baseman Asamura. Despaigne rounds 3rd, hustles home and slides in safe from 2nd base to make it 4-0 Chiba.

    Meanwhile, the Lions had yet to get a base runner1 off Naruse until a Wantanabe base hit in the 4th inning. They finally got on the board with their 2nd hit of the game, a lead off line drive home run by Mejia in the 5th. That dude has 5 home runs against us in 9 games. We only have 3 players with 5 or more home runs on the entire season. The Lions got another run in the 5th after a 2 out Sumitani double and RBI single by Kumashiro. Still 4-2 Lotte after 5.

    1 Thanks in part to two nice catches in center by Okada.

    Naruse sent Seibu down in order in the 6th, and came out with 2 outs and a runner at 1st in the 7th. Masuda finished the inning in relief on a Sumitani strike out to finalize Naruse’s line at: 6 2/3 IP, 91P, 5H, 1HR, 6K, 0BB, 2 ER.

    Ohtani in to pitch the 8th. He allowed a 2-out walk, but nothing more to keep the score at 4-2. So we headed to the 9th, where things got a little interesting. Nishino was in to close, and allowed a lead off HR to Nakamura to make it 1 run game at 4-3. Uh-oh, Mejia is up next as the tying run. Not to worry though, Nishino struck him out swinging! Up next, Asamura, strike out looking! 2-outs.

    Then, the heavens opened and the rain came in. It had been windy all game with typhoon 11 lingering to the west of us, but now we had the driving rain to deal with as well. Nishino walks Akiyama on 5 pitches. Tying run at 1st, go ahead run at the plate. Saito in the PH for Sumitani. Rain pouring down, Nishino throws a 0-2 pitch in the dirt. Tamura pops up, fires to 1st base…Fukuura sweeps and applies the tag…Akiyama picked off! Game over! Lotte wins! Naruse and Despaigne are the heroes. See Alfredo’s first Marines hero interview below.

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Hero Interview with Naruse and Despaigne” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    Not only did we avoid the sweep, but SoftBank won, completing their sweep of the Fighters. Thanks to a 6-2 run, we’ve made up 5.5 games in 9 days! We are now 2.5 games out of 3rd place and a Climax Series spot.

  • Lotte @ Orix, 1-3 August 2014

    kyocera-sm

    Series Preview:

    There’s really no other way to put it. This week’s sweep at the hands of the Fighters basically ended our chances for a late summer post-season run. Sure, crazier things have happened than a 7 game comeback with 51 games to go. For all intents and purposes though, we’re probably finished. I’m ok with that. Overall, I’m satisfied with the effort and fight put forth from our guys.

    After a disastrous June, Our Marines had showed signs of life as of late. We actually led in two of those Fighters games. If perhaps the trigger was pulled a little differently on certain pitching changes in those games we’d be 3 games behind in the standings, not 7. Who knows? Like I said, I don’t think we could have asked for much more fight from Our Marines players. Thus begins the “let’s just have fun and enjoy watching our favorite team” chapter of the 2014 Marines season.
     

    Game 1 – Lotte LOSES 6-2

    Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka (6-5 3.80) @ Orix: Yuki Nishi (11-5 2.82)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts The momentum from Fujioka’s strong performances in his last two starts didn’t carry over to tonight’s game. A 2-run single by Ito in the 3rd, and a 2 run home run by Itoi in the 4th carried the B’s to an early 4-1 lead and eventual 6-2 victory.”]

    Orix added another 2 runs on mid-season addition Joey Butler’s 2nd NPB home run in the 6th, making the score 6-1 Orix. Fujioka was on the mound for all of Orix’s 6 runs, finally coming out with 2 outs in the 7th at 137 pitches. Minami relieved him with a scoreless 1 1/3 innings.

    Our Marines actually got on the board first on an upper deck solo shot by Alfredo Despaigne in the 2nd. It’s been a rough go of it in his first week with the club, and his teammates greeted him with a warm reception as he returned to the dugout. This was his first real hit since joining the club, the other being the “triple” he hit in his first AB. A chance for him to adjust and show off more of his power should be something we can look forward to with the pressure off the last 2 months of the season.

    The other Lotte run came on an Imae RBI single in the 7th, scoring Despaigne who got aboard with a lead off walk. Orix starter Nishi came out later in the inning after allowing a walk, but not before an eventful Katoh ground out to 1st got him out of a potentially tight spot. Following the put out at 1st, Kanazawa got caught in a run down between 3rd and home which made it a double play, followed by a near triple play with a close play at 3rd by a sliding Imae.

    Despite giving up all 8 of Chiba’s hits and 3 walks, Nishi allowed just 2 runs in 6 2/3 innings for win. Imae accounts for 3 of those hits, all singles for the modasho. Daichi was the only other member of the Marines with a multi-hit game with 2 singles of his own. Shota Omine also had his NPB debut tonight, with a pinch hit strike out in the 8th.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 1 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]
     

    Game 2: Lotte WINS 7-2

    Lotte: Hideaki Wakui (3-9 4.72) @ Orix: Chihiro Kaneko (9-3 1.74)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts Thanks to a late offensive explosion and a solid 6 1/3 IP from Wakui, Our Marines were able to snap their 4 game losing streak. Wakui went face-to-face with and got the win over Orix ace, and my pick for current Sawamura Award frontrunner, Chihiro Kaneko.”]

    A different Wakui took the hill than the one we are used to. 5 hits and 3 walks isn’t exactly light outs for 6 1/3 innings. It’s the fact he did it on just 86 pitches that makes the key difference from what we’re used to from Wakui and what we got on Saturday. Wakui came out of the game after giving up a 1-out double to Hara, leaving with a man at second. Matsunaga gave up a double to PH Kawabata, bringing the runner home for Wakui’s only earned run. Masuda came in and finished the inning from there, finalizing Wakui’s line at: 6 1/3 IP, 86P, 5H, 4K, 3BB, 1ER.

    The move worked out as Wakui started the inning with was was then a 2-0 lead, and Masuda finished the inning preserving a 2-1 lead. Part of me wonders the logic of giving Wakui such a quick hook with 86 pitches when guys like Isihikawa and Karakawa are left in at 90+ and 100+ pitches, and aren’t pulled until well after the damage is done. Sorry, I’m still a little bitter from the last series.

    On to some more positive news. Let’s give the details on our 7 runs scored:

    Inning 1: A Daichi walk and Kakunaka single set up a 2-out RBI single by Saburo. Daichi scored for an early 1-0 lead.

    Inning 7: Alfredo Desapaigne JUST MISSED a home run off the top of the wall in left center for a 1-out double. With 2 outs, Kanazawa brought him home with a one hopper off the right field wall to make it 2-0.

    Inning 8: Kaneko is out, Mahara is in to pitch for Orix. Kakunaka hit a 1-out single, Iguchi1 was hit by a pitch, and Saburo walked. Despaigne (2-for-5 on the day) came up with 1-out and the bases loaded, and Orix went to Higa to face Alfredo. Despaigne slapped a hard hit ground ball single past the SS and into LF. Kakunaka scores, 3-1 Marines!

    Up next with the bases still loaded, Cruz hit a low liner past SS and into LF. Ishimine and Saburo score. 5-1 Lotte! Higa was pulled after that, and Kishida got the next two outs versus Kanazawa and Imae to end the inning.

    1 He was lifted for PR Ishimine after getting hit in the hand.

    Inning 9: Okada led off with a walk versus new pitcher Nakayama, and Daichi advanced him to 3rd on a lower liner past 1B and into RF. The throw from Itoi in right sailed over 3rd base allowing Okada to score. 6-2 Lotte!

    Kakunaka (4-for-5 on the day) came up next and hit a single up the middle, past a shallowly positioned Hara at 2nd base scoring Daichi from 3rd. 7-2 Lotte!
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 2 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]
     

    Game 3: Lotte WINS 8-3

    Lotte: Yoshihisa Naruse (5-6, 5.16 ERA) @ Orix: Brandon Dickson (7-8, 3.69 ERA)

    [expand title=”Continue Reading” trigclass=”noarrow” excerptpos=”above-trigger” alt=”Click to Expand” tag=”b” excerpt=”By: Craig Roberts The Lotte bats pounded out 13 hits en route to a 8-3 victory over Orix, with most of the damage coming in a five run 5th inning. Naruse did his part as well, throwing solid 7 1/3 innings of three run ball for the win. “]

    Orix did all of the early damage, thanks to 2 RBI’s by Wily Mo Pena. He drove in Itoi from 2nd base on a base hit to right field to give Orix an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd. Then in the 4th, he hit a solo blast to center to notch the total to 2-0. Naruse took control in the middle innings though, walking just one and allowing no hits in innings 5 through 7.

    Naruse’s strong 5-7 innings came on the heels of a 5 run top of the 5th for Our Marines. It all started with a lead off solo HR to center by Despaigne, his second home run of the series, to cut the lead to 2-1. Cruz followed and just missed a HR himself, banging a ball off the wall in center for a double. After a Kanzawa sac bunt and Imae strike out, Cruz found himself at 3rd with 2 outs.

    With the top of the order up, Our Marines went on a 4 run 2 out rally. Captain Daichi (5-for-5, 2 doubles, 1 run, 2 RBI) drove Cruz home on a base hit through the right side of the infield to tie it at 2. Next up, Katoh slapped a ball the other way through the left side for a base hit. With Katoh and Daichi aboard, Kakunaka delivered with a ground ball through the right side and into right field. Daichi scores, but Kakunaka is caught up between 1st and 2nd for the final out. It’s alright though, as Lotte now has the lead at 3-2 on the RBI single by Kakunaka…

    No!!! The SS Adachi drops the ball. Kakunaka safely back to 1st, the inning continues! With Saburo next up, Kakunaka swiped 2nd base to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Saburo delivered with the men in scoring position by smacking a base hit up the middle to score Katoh and Kakunaka. 5-2 Marines!

    The offense wasn’t quite done after that. Daichi led off the 7th with a double off the base of the wall in right. Katoh attempted to bunt him over, and reached base safely when the play went to 3rd base. Daichi slid around the tag 3rd, so everyone was safe. A Kakunaka ground ball led to Daichi getting caught between 3rd and home, resulting in an out, but runners on 2nd and 3rd. Saburo loaded the base with a walk, bringing up Fukuura. Fukuura dropped a blooper into shallow left for the hit, an RBI single to make it 6-2. Despaigne followed with a fly out just foul in shallow right field. The 2nd baseman had to come over to make the play, giving Kakunaka a chance to tag up and hustle home to make it an RBI sac fly for Despaigne. 7-2 Marines!

    Lotte scored their 8th run in the 8th, on a Daichi double down the right field line. Ishimine (PR for Imae) scored from 1st to make it 8-2. At 117 pitches, Naruse came out to pitch the 8th. After 2 batters (double and a ground out) and 4 pitches, Naruse was pulled. Masuda gave up an Itoi RBI single to score the inhereted runner German to make it 8-3. Ohtani closed out the 9th, the game ending on a nice play by Cruz at 2B, to seal the win for Naruse.
    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 digest from Pacific League TV” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]

    [expand title=” Game 3 Box Score in English” trigclass=”noarrow” notitle=”true”]

    [/expand]