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Orix vs Lotte, 11-13 April 2017
The Men From Makuhari headed to Kansai this week for the first series of the year vs the suddenly strong Buffaloes, winners of 5 straight coming in. But after receiving a beating at the hands of second place Orix in game 1, Lotte rallied to take games two and three to win their second series of the year.

Game 1

Lotte 1, Buffaloes 11
WP: Dickson LP: Ishikawa

Game 2

Lotte 6, Buffaloes 4
WP: Standridge LP: Matsuba

Game 3

Lotte 3, Buffaloes 2
WP: Nishino LP: Yamaoka

A recital of the terrible events of game 1 would cause even the most jaded observer to shed a tear, so I won’t ruin your day by descending into too much detail. Ace #2 Ayumu showed no control, consistently missing the zone and getting hit when he did find the plate. Staff mates Tojo and Takano fared little better, getting lit up for a combined 6 runs in 5 innings of relief. Chiba scratched out but a single run, this when already down by 8, before coughing up another triplet to lose by 10, the third loss in a row.

That’s two straight poor starts from Ishikawa – ~220 pitches thrown in just 8 innings this season. Clearly the lack of regular work this offseason with the team has affected his preparation.

The Orix D did Our Marines a solid in game 2, committing a pair of errors to allow three unearned and the margin of Lotte victory. A massive lineup shift meant perpetually prospective Ishimine led off, and he responded with his first, second, and third hits of the season (scoring twice), earning the hero interview. Starter Standridge had a much better outing than his first start of the season, still having troubles throwing strikes, still getting hit a bit, but able to keep his team in the game by only giving up two earned in 5 innings of work. The bullpen combo of Ariyoshi-Ohtani-Uchi-Masuda took it home, with only Ohtani allowing a hit (he allowed three and a run before getting bailed out by a DP).

The rubber match featured a really great pitching duel between Yuji Nishino and Orix first round draft pick Taisuke Yamaoka, making his first pro start. Our Marines managed a pair of baserunners in the first inning and another in the second before Yamaoka settled in, recording 13 outs in a row from the second to sixth innings (helped by the guys swinging at some pretty marginal pitches). For his part, Nishino delivered the most effective start of the season for a Lotte pitcher so far, exhibiting nice bite on his fork and hitting his locations well. He largely cruised through the first four innings before getting in (and out) of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, and his only lasting damage was a solo shot by T-Okada in bottom 6. Final line – 6 IP, 6 hits, 2 BB vs 5 K and just the one run on 95 pitches.

It looked like Yamaoka might get the win in his first start, but after the Okada HR the Lotte bats came to life – just enough. In the Lucky 7, (Oretachi no) Fukuura led off with a walk and AJA doubled pinch-runner Katoh to third. Newly called up Hosoya (KEI!) then smashed a 1-1 Yamaoka fastball deep into the left field stand, a 3 run blast, and a 3-1 Lotte lead.

Otani-Uchi-Masuda closed it out, not without drama as Masuda gave up a run on three hits to make it a one-run game (don’t look too deeply into that – his control was good but was not getting the calls on the edges of the plates, and a potential game-ending double play was missed behind him). Not the prettiest of series wins, but a series win nonetheless.

Notes
- Kakunaka left Wednesday’s game in the first with an injury to his left side. It’s unclear how long he will be out
- Thursday’s game is the first this season where either Duffy or Paredes did not play, and in fact neither played
- Next series is a three game set at Zozomarine vs Seibu
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April 14, 2017
Lotte vs Rakuten, 8-9 April 2017

That’s right, folks – our buddy Mr Yuk has made his first (and hopefully last) appearance of 2017, and for games 6 & 7 to boot. Why? For all the progress Our Marines displayed in the last two games of the Fighters series, the offense looked every bit as terrible as it did in the opening series in Fukuoka in getting swept in a two-game set vs the Online Shopping Portal Eagles.

Game 1

Eagles 7, Lotte 4
WP: Mima LP: Wakui

Game 2

Eagles 4, Lotte 1
WP: Kishi LP: Karakawa

Game 1 got off to a messy start as the defense had three separate chances to end the first inning early, but two shallow pops were completely dropped and third that should have been caught wasn’t. Ace Wakui ended up giving up a run only despite that mess, but took 40 pitches to get through the inning.

Chiba bounced back off a pair of wind-aided solo shots by Tamura and Katoh in the third, but for some reason a struggling Wakui was left in after 120+ pitches in the 6th, giving up three more runs. He was eventually pulled after 139 pitches – not entirely his fault I would say given the issues in the first, the bad weather, and the obvious-to-anyone view that he should have been pulled 20 pitches before he was – yet 5 runs and the loss would be his.

In the late innings, both Kiyota and Duffy smashed balls deep that probably would have exited the yard on a different day, but not with that wind. The final total for the offense – 6 hits vs 12 Ks, not a good strategy for winning games.

In Game 2 The Baby-Faced Killer was anything but sharp – 8 hits and 5 walks in 6 innings – but that wasn’t the real problem as yet again the offense failed to show up. A Captain Daichi solo shot, a rare Jimmy hit, and a pair of Aja hits – That. Is. It. I don’t really care how sharp Karakawa was or was not, 4 hits isn’t going to cut it.

The team moves to Osaka for a three game set vs the suddenly hot Buffs – time for the bats to heat up and play like we know this team can.

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April 10, 2017
A Rough Start, But Plenty of Hope

Preseason action for Our Marines could not have gone better, as Chiba out-pitched and out-hit everyone en route to the first open-sen first place finish in 25 years. The pitchers that made the opening day roster ended that preseason action with a combined sub-1.00 ERA, superb even by my rosy predictions. That success didn’t translate immediately to the regular season, though, as Lotte was swept in the opening series in Fukuoka, followed by dropping the home opener to the defending champion Fighters before rallying to win the last two games of the first home series.

Fukuoka Game 1

Hawks 3, Lotte 1
WP: Wada LP: Wakui

Fukuoka Game2

Hawks 4, Lotte 1
WP: Nakata LP: Nishino

Fukuoka Game3

Hawks 5, Lotte 3
WP: Igarashi LP: Karakawa

The story of the opening series is told almost entirely via the poor showing by the offense. None of the three starters (Wakui, Nishino, and Karakawa) were exactly great, though all went 6+ innings and both Wakui and Nishino recorded quality starts. The bats, though, went a combined 16-93 (.192) with just one extra base hit, an inconsequential double from Captain Daichi late in game 1. On top of that, a throwing error by Okada (of all people) in game 1, a pair of TOOTBLANs from T Ogino in game 2 plus a crucial throwing error by Shogo in the same game allowed a pair of very winnable games to go to the loss column. The final results were a very sloppy sweep, no revenge to be had for the sweep in Fukuoka to end last season.

Zozomarine Game 1

Fighters 6, Lotte 1
WP: Takanashi   LP: Ishikawa

Zozomarine Game 2

Fighters 6, Lotte 7
WP: Ohmine   LP: Miyanishi

Zozomarine Game 3

Fighters 1, Lotte 5
WP: Sasaki   LP: Saito

The opening series malaise spilled over into the sold-out home opener as Our Marines struck out a stunning 15 times vs Takanashi and the Nippon Series champion Fighters. Ayu took the loss, but only on one earned run, though due to lack of control on a cold night could only manage 5 innings off 120 pitches. A Fujioka pen implosion in the 7th put the game out of reach, though his relief Taiki Tojo mowed down 6 Hamu men in 2 2/3 work.

A near capacity crowd at a rare Wednesday day game witnessed a very messy yet ultimately satisfying first win of the season as Chiba staged a massive comeback thanks to extraordinarily sloppy Fighters D and late-inning fireworks from Captain Daichi. Jason Standridge made his first start of the season but left in the 4th after a complete mess of a 3 1/3 innings. Fighters touched Stan for 8 hits and 5 runs (4 earned) in that time, two of those runs coming in on wild pitches (one of which was a solid 5 feet off the plate). The bullpen combo of Fujioka-Yuta-Ohtani-Masuda steadied the ship, though, allowing a single run off a monster Shohei Otani blast the rest of the way.

Lotte was looking at a 6-2 deficit in the 6th inning when Hamu committed back-to-back errors, ultimately allowing 3 runs to score and making it a 6-5 game. That set the scene for Captain Daichi in the 7th, as he turned on a Miyanishi offering with Paredes on base, depositing it right into the right field ouendan to complete the comeback, and seal the 7-6 win.

The rubber match would also go to Our Marines as a strong debut from rookie Chihaya Sasaki and a breakout performance by “Aja” Inoue delivered a satisfying series win. Sasaki-kun would only go 5 innings in this one due to a whole lot of walks early on, but induced a lot of swings and misses on a breaking ball that fooled some of Japan’s best hitters. Almost all of the Lotte offense came from a) Captain Daichi getting on base (3-3 with 3 runs scored) and b) Aja sending him + others in (3-4 with 4 RBI and a pair of mashed doubles). Yet again the bullpen stepped up large, too, as rookie Ariyoshi-Otani-Uchi-Masuda allowed just a trio of baserunners over the final 4 frames to seal the win.

Up next is a Saturday-Sunday home set with PL leading Rakuten (??????) – Look for Wakui and Karakawa to get the starts this series.

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April 7, 2017
After a Sneak Peak, A Season Preview
The 2017 Chiba Lotte Marines season is ~~about to get~~ underway – time for us to take a look at how Itoh-kantoku’s guys are shaping up.

I can hear your comments already – “Steve, isn’t it cheating to write a season preview after the first week of the season has already been played?” I must admit – Well, yeah, of course it is. In this case, though, nothing much has changed now versus what I would have written a week ago, so please go with me and pretend that this is dated 31 March, OK?

Great, thanks.

Starting Pitching

The pitching staff led by coach Eiji Ochiai is unquestionably the strength of this team. Six-time All-Star Hideaki Wakui is back for another season and is set as the team’s ace and opening day starter. Fourth year starter Ayumu Ishikawa is fresh off his first ERA title and Samurai Japan appearance – pencil him in as the second ace (quite a luxury!) From there the rotation understandably fades a bit: Yuji Nishino moves back to the rotation after 3 years out of the pen. The Baby-Faced Killer blossomed late last season after 3 consecutive terrible seasons – Ochiai will be relying on him as the 3rd or 4th starter.

Jason Standridge was coaxed out of retirement to rejoin the team for one last season – he’s in the opening day rotation (and was rather ineffective on Wednesday). I think this is a mistake, and he’s a better option in long relief or as a replacement starter. The 6th starter is rookie Chihaya Sasaki, expected to make a big impact out of Oberlin University (and in fact, winner of his first career start).

Other starter options include:
- The very promising Kota Futaki, who has been extremely effective in ni-gun this season and should be in the starting rotation in ichi-gun (IMO)
- Number 2 draft pick Tomohito Sakai from Osaka Gas in the industrial leagues. He was projected as first round talent in last year’s draft, and we can expect to see him sooner rather than later with the big team
- Second-year righty Ryota Sekiya, who showed moments of brilliance in his rookie campaign
- Chen Kuan-Yu, nursing some injuries now but certain to see some starts if for no other reason than he’s the only real lefty starting option
Relief Pitching

Other than a dearth of lefty arms, the Lotte pen is really solid. With Nishino’s move back to the rotation, closing duties fall to Naoya Masuda, former closer and All-Star last year. I like the move, Masuda doesn’t have the out pitch that Uchi or Nishino does but he is reliable and throws strikes (2.4 BB/9 last year). Speaking of who, Tatsuya Uchi is the setup guy, and probably would be the closer if not for perpetual health issues. Takahiro Matsunaga is the lefty fireman and in fact the only lefty option after former first round pick and current middle reliever Takahiro Fujioka was shipped to Urawa after a pair of poor outings this week. Tomohisa Otani is back at full health and should be in the solid form he has displayed the past three years.

The other setupper is Masaki Minami, who had a bit of a breakout year in 2016 but is currently fighting a minor shoulder ailment in ni-gun. Yuta Ohmine continues to bounce from role to role, but he was perfect in preseason action out of the middle of the pen and will probably stick there all season unless the need for a starter comes up. The real wild cards are second year righty Taiki Tojo (ignore his ERA from 2016, it’s heavily distorted by one outing) – utterly dominant in the preseason and so far with 7 punchouts in 4 innings of work this season – and rookie Yuki Ariyoshi. Ariyoshi was picked in the fifth round last year out of the industrial leagues, is originally from Togane, Chiba (not terribly far from Marine Stadium), and has yet to allow a professional run through both preseason and the first week of the season.

*I’ll discuss a bit more in a separate post, but through the first 6 games the pitching overall ended up a bit below expectations but overall not bad.

Position Players

Three Lotte players made the Pa-League Best 9, led by Katsuya Kakunaka and his second career batting title. He was joined by Captain Daichi, who narrowly won his second Best 9 at SS but will be moving to 2B for the 2017 season. The third winner was Tatsuhiro Tamura, who emerged as clearly the best catcher in the PL if not all NPB.

Those guys are great, and there’s no reason to believe they aren’t going to repeat that success for the 2017 campaign. After them, though – hmm. Despa is gone, poached by the evil Hawks against his wishes (and I am not being dramatic here, by all accounts he wanted to re-sign in Chiba but the Cuban government dictated his shift to Kyushu. Well, that and a massive payday.) The front office signed a pair of foreign players to take over his production, Astros farmhand Matt E Duffy (starting the season at third base after a productive preseason) and Jimmy Paredes (DH and occasionally in the OF). Itoh has been batting Paredes in the cleanup spot, which seemed mystifying given his minor league track record (80 HR in 4400-ish career ABs across all levels) and looks really dodgy at this point in the regular.

The infield looks pretty good to my eyes, though where everyone actually plays is more than a little up in the air. First base is fan favorite Seiya “Aja” Inoue, he of the perpetually great spring and little opportunity during the regular (great news – he’s tearing the cover off the ball so far this season). As I mentioned, Daichi moves to second which seems like a better position for him to me. Starting shortstop is Shogo Nakamura, which sounded like madness before the season started as he a) fell off a cliff offensively in the second half last year b) looked TERRIBLE at the move to short this spring. I hate to say it but that view looks to be an accurate one as he’s not only not starting but is back in ni-gun as of this writing. Starting SS SHOULD be Taiga Hirasawa and he will get plenty of chances, though for now it looks like he’ll be splitting work with Shota Ohmine and Ryo Miki. The mystifying thing is that Kei Hosoya is not on the ichi-gun roster, though the way he is tearing it up in ni-gun, that will change very quickly.

Outside of Kakunaka, the outfield is staffed by Ikuhiro Kiyota (looking to rebound after an utter disaster of a 2016), T OGINO (unfortunately for yours truly, already in ni-gun after 5 miserable ichi-gun games), Shota Ishimine (always looks like he should be better than the results he actually gets), Shohei Katoh (see Ishimine, though I still feel his talent has got to translate to ichi-gun performance at some point), and Yoshifumi Okada (defensive wiz but a black hole offensively). There ain’t a whole lot of relief in the pipeline either – Ryuzo Hijii is the most likely candidate as he’s shown lots of power in Urawa and is just 21. Katoh and/or Kiyota really, really need to step up.

I don’t really need to say much about catcher – Tamura is locked in for years there, I would imagine – but his backups are the very capable Naoya Emura and the very disappointing Yuta Yoshida (he of the 0-30 2016 at the plate and dodgy defense).

Outlook

The vast majority of prognosticators have Our Marines somewhere around 3rd this year. That’s reasonable, after all that’s how they finished the past two season, but I think the upside is much higher than that. The pitching is up there with the best of the PL (aka Daiei) due to the sheer depth of the quality arms available, though outside the big names the dominant arms are not there as they are in Fukuoka. Lotte to my eyes clearly has no worse than the second best staff in the PL, which given how pitching-friendly Zozomarine is, should keep the guys in almost every game.

The main problem is with the bats. Despa’s 24 homers isn’t that much to replace in theory, but it’s way more than anyone else still on the roster provided last year. The only other player with a ton of power is Inoue, and he’s both inexperienced and a line drive hitter rather than a home run hitter. I expect Duffy could hit 20, Hosoya can hit double digits as well when he finally makes it to the roster, but more power is needed from… someone.

So what are my calls? Here we go:
- Sasaki will be in the running for rookie of the year all season.
- Kakunaka will not win another batting title, but will bat .300 with continued defensive improvement.
- Taiga will see 200+ at-bats and hit 6-8 HRs and for decent average.
- Tamura makes All-Star again and wins another Best 9.
- Aja finally gets his breakout season – let’s say .800+ OPS.
- Futaki puts up a sub-3.00 ERA and 9 K/9.
- Finally, Chiba surprises many by taking second in the PL and hosting a home Climax Series for the first time since 2007.
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April 6, 2017
And On Into September We Go

The Fuku-Meter Rolls On

The 2016 version of Our Marines aren’t going anywhere – for now, at least. As of this writing Chiba sits 9.5 games behind Hamu in second and 8 up on Rakuten in fourth with just 18 games to go. To my mind, that’s the very definition of “stuck in place”.

Fortunately that is a good place to be stuck in. That position is a virtual lock for A-Class for the second consecutive year (first time in 31 years that has happened), 3rd time in 4 years under Itoh-Kantoku, cinching an extension for the skipper for the 2017 season. Lotte legend Saburoooooo has announced his retirement (more on that later) while Iguchi and (Oretachi no) Fukuura have said they’ll be fighting on another year. There’s not a lot of drama in the games remaining to be sure, but that can make for some relaxing, fun games.
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Orix @ Lotte, 1 September

Orix 4, Lotte 6
WP: Chen Kuan-Yu S: Naoya Masuda
LP: Nobuyoshi Yamada
Notables: Chen’s first win of the season, Iguchi 3-run jack

Seibu @ Lotte, 2 September

Seibu 1, Lotte 1
WP/LP: Nobody
Notables: Return of Uchi

Seibu @ Lotte, 3 September

Seibu 8, Lotte 9
WP: Ryota Sekiya S: Naoya Masuda
LP: Makoto
Notables: The T OGINO/Shota Ohmine show

Seibu @ Lotte, 4 September

Seibu 4, Lotte 9
WP: Brian Wolfe S: Tatsushi Masuda
LP: Hideaki Wakui

Game 3 of the Orix series was an enjoyable romp due to fine pitching by expected-to-be-a-starter-in-April-but-been-in-ni-gun-all-year Chen Kuan-Yu and an early Lotte offensive explosion. Up 3-0 after 2 innings, Iguchi smacked a really fat Yamada offering and put it deep into the Orix ouendan. With 2 men on, that’s a 3-run homer and a 6-0 Lotte lead. Chen yielded a run on three consecutive singles in the 4th for his only run of the game – the other three Orix runs came via a 3-run homer by rookie Masataka Yoshida off a very rusty Fujioka (making his first appearance in 6 weeks). The outcome was REALLY never in doubt – 6-4 Lotte win.

Game 1 of the Seibu series featured a fine pitching match between New Ace Ayumu and Seibu’s ace Kikuchi – and indeed, this game lived up to the pitching duel that people expected coming in. Both starters went 8 strong, only giving up a run each, and the final results would come down to the strength of the pens. Masuda, Uchi, Takano, and Matsunaga all got into a bit of trouble, and in Matsunaga’s case it was more than a bit of trouble with a bases-loaded jam in top 11, but none of the guys allowed a run. Our Marines had a golden chance to sayonara in bottom 12, details no longer important but suffice to say it just didn’t happen. Tie game, nobody happy.

Game 2 would have pissed me off if it were April as sloppy pitching turned a 7-1 lead into a 9-8 nailbiter, but given the current circumstances this one was just messy fun. The bulk of the weight was carried by T OGINO (2-4 with a run and 3 RBI), Hosoya (Kei! (2-run double that proved to be the winning hit)), and Shota Ohmine (3-4 with an RBI triple and 2 runs scored). Our rookie Sekiya started and pitched merely OK – 5 earnies in 7 IP, though I thought in general he pitched better than that line shows. Still, the kitty-cats clawed to within a run after a 3-run Mejia blast in the 8th off the usually reliable Minami, but the even more reliable Masuda sent down the side in order in the 9th to seal the win.

Game 3 ended up a far, far more interesting game than I thought it would be at first, as intermittent ace Wakui looked thoroughly disinterested (a la late season 2014) in giving up 3 runs via a Mejia 1st inning blast. But Wakui settled down – only damage after that inning came off the mighty bat of Okawari-kun – and Our Marines fought back to make this a close affair. In fact, were it not for one great play I think Chiba would have taken this one – but that play was perfect for the time and place. Bottom 6, bases loaded after Hosoya (Kei!) drilled a ball off Brian Wolfe’s foot and into the OF – PH Iguchi strikes out vs emergency reliever Takekuma. Hot hitter Ohmine has a chance to do damage, and he crushes a gapper, but Seibu cap’n Kuriyama lays out for an insanely good catch to protect the Lion lead. The good guys would not threaten again, and the series would end 1-1-1.

After another 10 games or so, once the climax situation is officially clinched, I think we’ll see a lot of young players spelling the guys who have played all season. Hopefully that spot can be clinched soon so Our Marines can face whoever we face in CS Stage 1 fully rested.

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September 6, 2016
SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVIN’S EASY

Lotte wins 2-0 over Rakuten on 8/12 via a Despa 2R HR & Ishikawa CG shutout. It was Lotte’s second shutout in as many nights… photo from marines.co.jp
It looked like Our Marines were back on course for a successful summer campaign after we won our first 7 out of 10 games in August. Around mid-month it became clear that barring anything crazy we’d be locked in at 3rd place for the rest of the season. Our post-season status was secured by a lead of double digits in the standings. Looking up in those same standings, we sat and nearly double digits back of catching the two PL leaders.

With an eye on October, Itoh-kantoku used this opportunity to try out a variety of guys who otherwise might not be given a chance (or second chance) this late in the season. Consider it a quasi-open sen as far as personnel management goes. Kitoya returned from ni-gun with hopes of salvaging his 2016 season. Rookie Taiga Hirasawa has been displaying his very raw talent at at shortstop. The corner infield spots have become a daily mix of old and new.

In the midst of all this though, Our Marines dropped 9 out of 10, with Rakuten creeping up on 3rd place at 6.5 games back. Chiba won 2 of 3 to close the month and still holds onto a 6.5 game lead. With 22 games to go, it’s not exactly panic mode, but there is some bed wetting happening in Lotte fandom. At the very least, It would be nice to have some inspiration going into the stretch run.

Taiga Hirasawa’s rooking campaign hit full swing in August… photo from marines.co.jp
Not much had changed as far as our top offensive producers go since we posted our July review. Kakunaka had a monster August, and still leads not only the PL, but now all of Japan with a .349 BA. Actually, waiting four paragraphs into the post to mention Kaku’s month is burying the lede. His .411 batting average, 1.059 OPS, 3 HR, 16 RBI in August should earn him Player of the Month honors.

After hitting 9 HR this month Despaigne is leading the team with .500 SLG, good for 4th best in the PL. Despa’s OPS is also 4th best in the PL at .867. Captain Daichi still has the second highest batting average on the team at .295, good for 8th best in the PL. Not only has the trio of Smackunaka, Despa (ii ne) and Capt. D been consistently anchoring the lineup since April¹, they somehow upped their game for their best collective month in August. With all the inconsistency around them in the lineup his month, I don’t want to imagine how many more games we’d have dropped in August without their production.

¹ Read any one of our posts from this year, and you’ll see consistent numbers.

Congrats to Karakawa for his CG shutout on the 11th vs Rakuten… photo from marines.co.jp
On the pitching side, Karakawa had the best month for a Lotte hurler. Yes, the pride of Narita is having himself a comeback year. Yuki tossed a complete game 6-hit shutout early in the month in a win over Rakuten. He gave up just 2 runs in 22 innings in August, totaling 4 earned runs in 36 1/3 IP while going 3-1 in July and August combined. It’s the summer of Karakawa!

The bullpen situation seems to be settling a bit, with Masuda getting all 7 Lotte saves during the month, and Minami settling into the set-up role. The starting pitching has been a bit of a mixed bag (to be kind), with front men Ishikawa and Wakui having a couple of uncharacteristic poor starts in August. Ishikawa did have one complete game shutout that I mentioned in the photo caption above.

GAME OF THE YEAR?

Don’t worry, I’ll explain… photo from marines.co.jp
There was one memorable moment in an otherwise forgettable month. It’s going to be tough to top the night of August 14th for game of the year. Our Marines and SoftBank were engaged in a pitchers’ duel, with Wakui tossing 8 scoreless only to be matched by the Hawks Iwasaki doing the same. The Hawks finally got to Wakui in the 9th, plating a pair of 1-out runs and chasing Wakui from the game. 2-0 Hawks.

Lotte was down to their last out with no one on in the bottom of the 9th. Kakunaka worked a long AB into a base-hit to center. Tying run at the plate for Despa. Despa drew a walk, bringing up Fukuura as the go ahead run. A collective groan echoed through the stadium when Fukuura grounded to first for seemingly the final out. Then a bobble by Akashi at first, but he recovered with plenty of time to get Fukuu…NO! ANOTHER BOBBLE! The ball rolled behind Akashi! Everyone is SAFE!

Next up, Captain Daichi lines a ball to right…it hangs up in the air…the RF Fukuda bends down to try and fetch it before it hits the turf and…the crowd erupts as the ball deflected of Fukuda’s glove and through his legs! TWO RUNS SCORE. TIE GAME 2-2!

On to the 10th inning and the man who got the whole thing started with his 2-out hit in the 9th. This time Kakunaka is up with the bases loaded and 1-out, our best contact hitter up with a chance to win the game by merely putting the ball in play. Kakunaka would not let us down, lifting a fly ball to center plenty deep enough to score Shota Ohmine. SAYONARA MARINES! 3-2 FINAL! The cherry on top came after with the heroes Kakunaka, Daichi and Minami (WP), cruising the stadium ground in Segways, followed by a Marine Festa 1,000 fireworks show. It was the perfect summer night to be at the stadium.

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September 1, 2016
Those Bullpen Blues: Part II

July promotional poster from Marines.co.jp
July hasn’t always been the kindest month to Our Marines. The summer collapse has become somewhat of a tradition around here. Maybe it’s due to some unique home field advantage we get from the brutal early-season Marine Field conditions, but it always seems that our PL opponents hit their strides and overtake us the weather warms up.

This year’s team is different though. It’s no wonder considering we saw 7 Marines participate in this month’s All-Star festivities, our most since 2005. There’s been no Great Regression in the Lotte economy, just a slight trade deficit in the wins/losses sector. We went 9-12 in July, 8-11 since our last post here on WLM. Two July losing streaks of 6 and 4 games sure felt like certain doom, but we are still 9 games above .500 coming out of the month. Yes, we’re 10 games out of first place, but we have an 11 game lead for the final post-season spot.

That brings us to the title of this post. Unlike years past, our only really glaring problem this year is the bullpen. This is especially rich considering that was our only constant strength for the last half-decade. The series this past weekend serves as an example. Our bullpen spoiled a scoreless pitcher’s duel on Friday, giving up a combined 9 runs in the 8th and 9th innings to fall to Rakuten 9-0. The next night, our closer Nishino couldn’t hold a 4-2 lead in the 9th, eventually resulting in a 5-4 Eagles win in the 11th. Nishino had a particularly terrible 8.10 ERA in 8 July games, but has really looked shaky since late spring. Ohtani took the 11th inning loss after Nishino’s blown save, as last year’s 8th inning man has gone the same way as his closing companion, sporting an inflated 3.81 ERA himself on the season.

There are some positives in the bullpen though. 2012 Rookie of the Year and 2013 PL saves leader Naoya Masuda appears poised to possibly fill the closer’s role, sporting a 1.40 ERA, with 14 holds, 3 wins, and 4 saves while looking the best he has in 3 years. Masaki Minami has also put together a 1.85 ERA in 43 2/3 IP of late relief. If we get Uchi back from the injured list soon, we may have enough depth to keep this bullpen stitched together.

Our All Star Marines with Mar-kun and Itoh-kantoku, from marines.co.jp
On the other hand, the starting pitching is actually in the best shape I’ve ever seen it in 5 years as a Lotte fan. Ishikawa (10-3, 1.69 ERA) and Wakui (9-4 2.36) are doing just fine being their awesome selves. Karakawa is coming around, having given up just 4 ER in 21 IP over his last 3 starts. Young Futaki (6-7, 4.94 ERA) went through a bit of a rough patch at the end of June and early July, but has recovered to keep his place in the rotation. Minus the two starts during said rough patch (8 IP, 16 runs allowed), he has a 6-6 record and 3.69 ERA. Ryota Sekiya is putting together a splendid rookie campaign, going 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA in 9 starts. Eyes are on Jason Standridge to fill out the rotation, hopefully showing us more of his early season form (2.08 ERA in his first 47 2/3 IP) after some mid-season struggles and injury issues.

We started with the bullpen, but let’s finish with the bats. I saved the best for last here. Our offense is tied for tops in the PL with the Fighters for total runs scored. 2012 batting champ, and perennial OBP machine Kakunaka (.333 BA) currently leads the PL batting title race by 26 points. Captain Daichi is 5th in the PL with a .303 BA, but his .808 OPS is topped by Despaigne’s .814 OPS and team-leading 15 HR. June’s PL Player of the Month Tamura is batting .331 over the past 2 months, and is reliable as ever calling games and throwing dudes out from behind the plate.

Despite the overall successes, the other 5 day-to-day positions are a bit in flux. With Kiyota struggling down on the farm, T.Ogino, Katoh, and Okada have been platooning in center field and right. Navarro was getting hot coming into the month, peaking with a sayonara RBI in a sweep of the Lions the first week of July. Since then, he’s cooled off considerably to the point of sitting on the bench going into August. With Navarro’s struggles and our revolving door at 1B, the infield lineup has become anyone’s guess on a daily basis. Hosoya has been the most consistent, getting the majority of playing time at 3B. Otherwise, it’s been a mix of Iguchi, Nemoto, Fukuura, Shogo, with a dash of Miki and maybe soon the recently called up rookie Taiga Hirasawa as well.

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August 1, 2016
Those Bullpen Blues

Remember when the bullpen was the one constant we could always rely on to step up even when the starting pitching was, er, less than ideal? That’s (generally) still the case, but, my caveat is important. Of the four Lotte losses since the end of interleague, 3 of them are directly the result of middle relief collapses, including 2 this week. Frustrating, but that’s baseball, and the pen’s track record leads me to think things will get back to normal soon.

Lotte @ Daiei, 27 June

Lotte 9, Hawks 6

WP: Hideaki Wakui LP: Shota Takeda

Notables: Navarro 3-5 + HR + 4 RBI, Wakui CG, Big Hit Festa

Lotte @ Daiei, 29 June

Lotte 6, Hawks 7x

WP: Yuito Mori LP: Yuji Nishino

Notables: Navarro 2 HR + 4 RBI, Despa 2-run HR, bullpen implosion

Lotte @ Daiei, 30 June

Lotte 1, Hawks 2

WP: Shu Iwasaki LP: Yuki Karakawa

Notables: Despa RBI double, Karakawa 9K in 6 2/3 IP
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A series with so much promise ended with a whimper. In game 1, Our Marines raced out to an early 9 run lead vs Daiei in Tokyo Dome thanks to, well, a whole lotta people but especially the 4 RBI + HR from Navarro. Those pesky Hawks ran it back a bit, mostly due to some terrible D. Wakui finished out the complete game and was a bit gassed by the end – his 4 runs yielded were partially due to that but also a highly misplayed ball with two outs in the 9th that should have ended it. Still, a good game.

Game 2 was a mighty frustrating one, friends. Rookie Sekiya had his 4th win in 5 career starts in the bag, really he did, thanks to excellent control and a fierce changeup that had batters looking foolish. And he got run support, too – a Navarro 2-run jack, then Despa, then another Navarro-2 bomb. But the bullpen entered, Matsunaga threw meatballs, Hawks hit ’em, Masuda came in for Matsunaga, threw meatballs, Hawks hit those too. But the big play came again on D, as OKADA of all people misplayed a ball in CF trying to make a play at the plate. It was just a sad mess all around once Sekiya left.

Game 3 is the simplest sort of game to discuss – theirs beat ours, straight up. The Baby-Faced Killer, fresh off an absolutely terrible start in Tokyo Dome to finish Interleague play, threw like the BFK of old, ringing up 9 Ks in 6 2/3 innings. Unfortunately he just couldn’t get Uchikawa out – The Chin accounted for both Daiei runs, and Hawks starter Iwasaki allowed only a first-inning RBI double by Despa. All games in this series very winnable, which is great to say in April, but not so much in late June when trying to reel in a tough team like the Hawks.

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Orix @ Lotte, 2 July

Lotte 6, Orix 0

WP: Ayumu Ishikawa LP: Takahiro Matsuba

Notables: Ishikawa: Complete game shutout win, Katoh: 2-run triple

Orix @ Lotte, 3 July

Lotte 3, Orix 4

WP: Brandon Dickson LP: Tomohisa Otani

Notables: Tamura: 2-run double, Despa 2-2 w/ 2 BB & RBI
[x_line]

Game 1 gave the world yet another brilliant start from arguably the best pitcher in the PL this year, our 3rd year man Ayumu Ishikawa. He leads the league in ERA at 1.63 and wins with 9, is very close in WHIP, and his control has been impeccable all season. And you know what? That’s exactly what he delivered on Saturday, your pedestrian complete game shutout, 7 hits, 2 walk, 6 Ks, Orix bats no chance.

The end of the brief 2 game set featured a battle of Americans on the hill, and Our American Jason Standridge had the upper hand through 5 innings thanks to really good control (it’s been his bugaboo this season) backed by a 2-run Tamura double. Jason faltered a bit in the 6th, giving up a pair of runs, and was pulled for the 7th for last year’s stalwart Otani. Much like the M&M twins in game 2 in Fukuoka, Otani fooled nobody, and quickly gave up a pair of runs and the lead. Shockingly, the Buffs pen held backed by even more shockingly solid D, and the series ended in a 1-1 tie.

In fact, the loss plus the streaking Fighters’ sweep in Fukuoka means Chiba slips to third for the first time since the season’s early days, but the gap above B-Class remains a chasm. This week features a pair of three game sets vs Seibu at home, then Hamu on the road.

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July 5, 2016
Interleague’s Over, Time to Beat Up on Pa-League

from marines.co.jp
Our annual sojourn into the unknown wilderness of the Central League is complete. It’s time to take care of essential business – beating up on the rest of the Pacific League. First up, our eternal rivals from the other side of town, Seibu.

Lotte @ Seibu, 24 June

Lotte 7, Lions 6

WP: Ayumu Ishikawa LP: Kona Takahashi

Notables: Daichi HR, Lotte 6-run comeback

Lotte @ Seibu, 25 June

Lotte 9, Lions 10

WP: Shota Takekuma LP: Masaki Minami

Notables: Despa 2 massive HRs, Kakunaka 4-6. Terrible game.

Lotte @ Seibu, 26 June

Lotte 10, Lions 4

WP: Jason Standridge LP: Shinsaburo Tawata

Notables: Tamura (!!!) HR, Katoh 4-5
[x_line]
Our Marines had to face history in Game 1 – in the 11 years of interleague play, Chiba was a perfect 0-11 in PL games following the break. This time Itoh-kantoku had Second Ace Ishikawa ready to go in Maebashi, but Lions sent hometown hero Takahashi to the mound to counter in the intermittent rain. Coming into this game Ayu had only given up 10 ER total on the season, and due to weather or wind or rust I am not sure, but the Seibu bats hung half that season total on him in just 5 innings of work, all of it via the longball. That’s two HRs by Mori, one by Mejia, and one by Asamura if you are keeping count.

It’s not that Ayumu’s control was bad, he was throwing strikes (6Ks, 1 BB in those 5 IP), they were just getting hit. It happens. Takahashi was a bit of a mess in the early innings, getting really lucky in the first on a Navarro fly-out at the warning track with a pair on, not so lucky in the second with a Daichi solo shot to right, and eventually coming completely unglued in the Lotte sixth as Lotte batted around for six runs – all after two outs – via a pair of walks and six hits. This is the 2016 Lotte specialty – huge, demoralizing, comeback innings. I love it. Lions scratched a run back in the late frames but Masuda/Nishino closed it out. Lotte 7, Kitty Cats 6, interleague hangover losing streak OVAH.

Game 2 was a prime example of Why They Sell Beer At Stadiums. Despa mashed the hell out of the ball (a pair of bombs to the concourse in left), Kaku-chan Kaku-channed, Our Marines put 23 baserunners on (16 hits) and scored a filthy 9 runs including yet another huge comeback – but. BUT. This game was simply played terribly by both teams. Bad fielding, shoddy pitching, stupid decisions (sending Despa home on a shallow fly to left, anyone?), 4 runners thrown out at home, the eventual winning run scoring as a direct result of terrible fielding with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Chiba being unable to score in the TOP of the 10th despite loading the bases with no outs, Chiba failing to score in the 5th despite 4 hits. I could go on, but then I would need another one of those stadium beers. Lotte 9, Kitty Cats 10.

The rubber match in game 3 made everything A-OK, though. An absolutely massive game at the bottom of the order by Katoh Shohei (4-5, 1 RBI, 2 runs scored, now batting .295 on the season) and my guy Tamura (4-5, 3 RBI, 3 runs scored, big 2-run jack to left) led to a huge Lotte win. The Kaku-Despa-Navarro combo that has been so lethal this month was pretty quiet, but the slack was more than picked up by the aforementioned duo as well as the super hot Hosoya (KEI!) in the leadoff spot (3-5, now batting .307 on the season and a likely choice for an all-star slot next month). Lions kept it close, frawing to within a run bottom 6, but a 4-run 9th (let’s call it the “Yuki Matsui special”) shoved this one solidly into Column Win. Lotte 10, Kitty Cats 4.

The gap between the haves and have nots in the PL is very clear now, with Daiei, Lotte, and Hamu the obvious A-class (Daiei is in the A+ class, I must admit). Our Marines play a 3-game set this week against those same Hawks to see exactly how well they stack up against the best.
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June 26, 2016
Limping into Interleague

Celebrating the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen last Thursday in Hakodate and Marines Fest on Sunday. photos from Twitter users @azunyan_photo & @chiba_lotte
Our Marines went 2-3 on a week that started with a bang, but ended with a whimper – and even some boos. Lotte fell to 6 games back of the first place Hawks, but still hold onto 2nd over the Fighters by 1.5 games, and A-class status over Seibu by 5 games.

Lotte @ Fighters, 24 May

Lotte 3, Fighters 1

WP: Ayumu Ishikawa S: Yuji Nishino

LP: Kohei Arihara

Notables: Alfredo Despaigne 2R-HR (10th HR); Yamaico Navarro 1R-HR (2nd HR); Takuya Takahama 2-4, 2B, 1R; Ayamu Ishikawa 5IP, 0ER

Lotte @ Fighters, 26 May

Lotte 2, Fighters 1

WP: Nishino Yuji S: Naoya Masuda

LP: Takahashi Hirotoshi

Notables: Yamaico Navarro 3-4; Kota Futaki 6IP, 1ER, 8K

Series Notes:

Our Marines added two games to their lead over fellow A-class opponent the Fighters, taking a Tuesday night game in Saporro and a Thursday maintee in Hakodate. Lotte pitching held Nippon Ham to combined 2 runs over the course of 2 the games. On the offensive side, Despa single-handedly topped that run total knocking in 3 RBI in the series. Despa’s first inning 2-run shot was enough to put Lotte up for good in game 1. Despa then book-ended the series in game 2 with another winning blow, this time an 11th inning go-ahead sac fly driving in Kiyota.

In addition to the combined 11 innings of 1 run ball from starters Ishikawa (4-2, 1.30) and Futaki (2-5 4.05 with the lowest run support in the PL), the Lotte bullpen contributed 9 innings of 1 run ball in the series.

SoftBank @ Lotte, 27 May

SoftBank 1, Lotte 0

WP: Nao Higashihama S: Dennis Sarfate

LP: Hideaki Wakui

Notables: Hideaki Wakui 9IP, 1 ER

SoftBank @ Lotte, 28 May

SoftBank 10, Lotte 2

WP: Kodai Senga

LP: Jason Standridge

Notables: Hosoya Kei 2R-HR (2nd HR)

SoftBank @ Lotte, 29 May

SoftBank 6, Lotte 4

WP: Yuito Mori S: Dennis Sarfate

LP: Yuji Nishino

Notables: Tadahito Iguchi PH 1-1, 2R-HR (3rd HR); Takuya Takahama 1R-HR (2nd HR)

Series Notes:

Our Marines had a chance this past weekend to tie the SoftBank Hawks for first place in the PL. The first place Hawks had other ideas though, sweeping us out of our own building. There’s not much to say about the first two games on the Chiba side of the ledger. We mustered just 4 base runners on 4 scattered hits off of Higashishama in Friday night’s 1-0 loss.

In game 2, Lotte left 11 runners on base in a 10-2 loss. Chiba’s inability to bring runners home was mostly made moot by Standridge’s starting pitching performance – 2IP, 6ER. It was announced after the game that Jason will be headed down to the farm where we’re optimistic that he’ll work out whatever his recent issues seem to be.

The series finale on Sunday gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about, but a series of unfortunate events at end the game led some in the crowd to send the team off with boos. Starting pitcher Karakawa was only able to give us 4 innings, but by allowing just 3 runs he did enough to keep us in the game despite his clear struggles.

Our Marines were down 4-2 after trailing from the top frame all the way through our Lucky 7, after which Iguchi sent the stadium into a frenzy by smashing 2-run pinch hit 2-out blast to tie the game at 4-4! Immediately following that, Chiba put runners on the corners on a Katoh walk and Kiyota single, and Hawks starter Takeda approaching 130 pitches. Takeda’s 131st pitch was a swinging strike 3 by Takahama, unable to follow his earlier home run with a late inning timely, sending the game to the 8th tied at 4.

Current PL batting leader Kakunaka (.346 BA) led off the bottom of the 8th with a base hit, bringing up clean-up man Despaigne. Despa lined a 1-0 pitch to right-center, where Kidokoro laid out for a stellar —as much as it was timely— across the body grab, robbing Despa of a go-ahead RBI and doubling up Kakunaka would had already rounded third by the time Kidokoro returned to his feet. ZANNEN!

Little did we know that an even greater tragedy was about to unfold in the top of the 9th off closer Nishino. SoftBank’s Hasegawa got aboard to lead off the inning when Navarro whiffed on a rather routine ball to second. Two pitches later, Matsuda sent a laser beam into the left-field stands to give SoftBank the 6-4 lead. Three batters later, Makihara reached on an infield single, which would have been of little consequence if not for Nishino suffering an awkward looking injury on the play. After all that, SoftBank closer Sarfate struck out 2 in a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to complete the Hawks sweep.

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May 30, 2016