Excitement: Emura!
Our Marines made the short trip to Yokohama Stadium this beautiful late May Saturday to face DeNA. After the pomp of DeNA slugger Nakamura’s 2000 hit ceremony, Lotte delivered a power-filled performance to beat the Baystars 9-4.
The Power and the Iguchi
While down under the infield A seats I heard a huge roar. I’ve spent a lot of time at QVC, I know that roar. That’s the sound of Lotte fans getting damn excited. They had a good reason, too – Iguchi had just belted a solo shot off the first pitch from Tigers starter Enokida to move the score from 6-1 to 6-2. I had to rush back and see what was going on – right when I get back through the tunnel BAM! Imae cracks ANOTHER homer to make it 6-3 Hanshin!
Now we had ourselves a game.
Duel in the Drizzle
On this damp Monday evening at QVC young righty Yuji Nishino was handed the ball with a tall task: go head-to-head with arguably the best pitcher in Japan – Hiroshima’s Kenta Maeda – and keep Our Marines in the game in the hopes that Itoh’s small ball could scratch out a run or two against the visiting Carp. The Carp are not a dangerous offensive team but no matter – when Maeken is pitching they are always in the game. Nishino did more than his fair share of the lifting tonight, delivering a masterwork of control and power, nearly silencing the Carp attack and boosting Our Marines to a stirring 3-2 victory.
Jingu Batting Doom
Our Marines sent ace Naruse to the hill on Saturday night at Jingu looking to get back into the winning spirit. It didn’t work out that way as Tokyo Yakult blasted their way to a 5-3 victory over Lotte. Grr. It’s actually kind of refreshing to have a garden-variety loss after the back to back
A Tough Pill To… No, I’m Not Going There
Here’s what you need to know about this game: AWFUL. I suppose I should elaborate. Despite cranking 3 home runs Our Marines managed to lose a 3-run 9th inning lead in stunning fashion thanks to a no-out walk off grand slam by Hatakeyama. The total? It’s a 6-5 loss to Yakult at Jingu. No good,