Friday’s first game in the Seibu-Lotte series was a washout (though for some reason various publications reported the score as ‘Seibu 18, Lotte 0’, which is a really odd thing to report for a rainout. I guess we’ll just look past it as if it never happened) so Saturday Lotte was looking to recover their […]
Chiba Marine Stadium was awash with downpours tonight as Rakuten rolled into Makuhari for the first of a 3-game weekend set with Lotte. Tonight’s starting pitchers have had as dramatically different fortunes this year as their respective teams. Lotte starter Shimizu Naoyuki comes in with an 0-2 record and a 6.26 ERA, while young Rakuten
After Tuesday’s extra-inning heartbreaker and yesterday’s tantalizing-comeback-that-fell-short Lotte entered tonight’s game needing a strong performance to avoid their second straight series sweep at the hands of Orix. Would Marines ace Shimizu Naoyuki (0-2 with a 9.20 ERA in ’09) be able to shut down the power-hitting Buffalo bats? Would the erratic Lotte offense be able
On Saturday, John and I drifted down to Chiba Marine Stadium for the first of 2 weekend clashes vs visiting Softbank. Going into this game we were one game ahead of the Hawks — coming out of it, we were tied. The problem, same as all season, was the pitching. On the mound was the
I don’t think that I am going out on a limb here when I say the start of the baseball season is possibly the most optimistic time of year. Baseball isn’t particularly unique in this regard, but the length of the season and the Springtime in the air somehow makes it more so than the
