We Love Marines

Tag: Sikorski

Street Fighting Days, Part 3

This is it – my last game of 2009. Sad. I can’t make the 6 October grand finale and the Seibu games are all mid week and far away. So – fin. The blog’s not done for the year by any means but I won’t even be able to watch the last 3 games live easily, so this is pretty much the last hurrah. How did it end up?

A good start to the day for me – my favorite pitcher is on the hill, the one and only Baby-Faced Killer, Karakawa. He got beat up in Sendai (a game I took many pictures of but have yet to write up – argh!) but I knew he’d be better for this one. Right? Right?

The scene: after the thrill-o-rama Saturday afternoon I went out for drinks, dinner, and karaoke, so it took a vast wellspring of willpower to drag me out of bed early. But it’s the last game of the season, which has magical powers to negate all the drinking, singing, and dinner-ing from the previous night. Baseball: cure for anything you care to mention.

So the game was destined to be a complicated logistical beast. 2 tickets for two friends (front row, 3B side), 2 tickets for me and another friend (1B reserved A), friend with two kids (2nd story unreserved). Sure to be a blast! All things I’ve enjoyed were in order:

– Random conversations with people I never met, check
– Tasty grub from Texas Tacos, check
– Not-so-random conversations with people I have apparently met before but don’t remember, check
– Baseball, oh yeah

It was nice running into people I’ve chatted with all over the place this year. People from Sendai, Koshien, various games in Chiba. Really nice to enjoy one last game this year together.

As for the game itself, well, it’s a bit of a beast to describe. We tried a little switcheroo again to see if we could somehow move more of us into the third base field wing – success! So I was able to get a ton of nice pics as it was a bright, sunny day. As I mentioned, my guy Karakawa was hurling so nice weather + nice seats + great friends = good way to end the live viewing season.

The Baby-Faced Killer, slinging

Too bad the game couldn’t live up to all that. Karakawa might be a bit gassed this late in the season as he is still quite a young guy, but for the second game in a row he looked very shaky. In fact it was probably his worst game of the year, with the possible exception of the late June game vs Nippon Ham where he coughed up 5 and didn’t make it out of the 5th. He only gave up 1-run through 6 innings (though on 8 hits), but the 7th inning was a doozy. More on that later.

As I mentioned in the post on Saturday’s game the contentiousness from that game spilled over into this one. The outfield ouendan did not like being chastized by Tsuyoshi, and there were several anti-Tsuyoshi banners in the outfield (I assume the “You’re only pretending to be good” was directed at him). On top of that, as he came to bat to lead off the game, the outfield ouendan refused to cheer at all. Uh-oh.

A chorus of yelling began, and it coalesced into the rest of the stadium (the 98% not in the hardcore ouendan section) chanting “Tsuyoshi! Tsuyoshi!” loudly. It was probably louder than the average player cheer even though all the fans weren’t in sync and were missing the drums. Tsuyoshi, for his part, struck out to start the game.

The cheers started proper with Hori, who got the start at DH in the second slot. To celebrate, he clubbed a dinger into right! It was his 4th on the year in his 22nd – 22nd! – year for the Marines. Good stuff! A 1-1 tie after the first*.

Round the bases and enjoy that trot, Koichi!

*note that I conveniently forgot to mention the run Orix scored in the top of the first!

In the bottom of the second, Benny (who made the start in left) smacked one over the right field fences for his seventh of the year! He was immediately pulled for Hayakawa (who moved to center), and according to post-game reports had a bit of an injured knee. It’s safe to say it seems likely his tenure with Lotte will be over at year’s end, and quite possibly this was his last at bat for the Marines. If so, it couldn’t have ended better for one of my favorite players!

Benny makes the home run trot – hopefully not for the last time as a Marines player

Bottom 3 – who comes to the plate but Tsuyoshi? Again, the outfield ouendan are silent, again the rest of the fans rise up to cheer. Tsuyoshi belts a double down the left field line and the place erupts! He moves to third on Hori’s ground-out, which brings up Fukuura. Fukuura hits a foul fly down the third base side – coming right my way, actually. Kitagawa is running over and makes a sweet sliding catch – but Tsuyoshi is smart, he sees that Kitagawa has to slide for the play so he tags up and races home, just beating a throw from Kitagawa! 3-1 Lotte on a pure hustle play.

As Tsuyoshi stood on third, the guy sitting next to me yelled “Tsuyoshi! The gaiya fans won’t cheer for you but we naiya fans will!”

Kitagawa gives a bit of an ‘oh well!’ smile after Tsuyoshi’s heady play

As the Marines players come out to their defensive positions for the top of the 4th most of the fans give Tsuyoshi a huge cheer – much bigger than normal.

Tsuyoshi raises his hat in thanks

In the bottom of the fourth Lotte made a great show at putting this thing away. Singles by Imae and Minami with one out got the inning going, and Masahiko Tanaka brought in the first run with a clutch single!

Imae makes a nice slide to third as he comes from first on Minami’s single

Up next was… yeah, Tsuyoshi. The scene is much the same as the first two at bats, though the adhoc cheers of the 98% who are cheering him seem louder. He smacks a deep center fly that scored Minami – another run in! The ageless Hori pokes a double to score one more, as does Fukuura. It’s a 7-1 game after 4 innings, and it looks like the sweep can come on full cruise control.

Cool flips for joy at the big Lotte lead

Looks. Key word there. Unfortunately – uncharacteristically, for sure – Karakawa takes the game off cruise control and drives it right over a cliff, tumbling end-over-end, slowly erupting into flames…. OK, I think I’ve stretched that far enough. The lead was still 6 runs as the 7th rolled around, but in that horrible 7th Orix recorded 8 – 8! – straight hits, all with two outs. My daddy always told me it’s so difficult to keep runs from scoring when giving up 8 straight hits in an inning, and by gum he was right. Karakawa gave up the first 5 of those hits before getting pulled for Nemoto, who gave up two more without carding and out and was finally relieved by my guy Uchi, who also gave up a hit but mercifully got the 3rd out. The damage was most definitely done, though – 7-7 game after the top of the 7th.

Uchi finally puts a stop to all the madness

Has Karakawa just gotten tired late in the season? That’s two poor starts in a row. Very surprising.

Meanwhile on the Lotte side of things, the Orix bullpen went into maximum-security prison lockdown mode, getting out ***22*** consecutive Lotte batters after Satozaki’s leadoff hit in the 5th. This was “highlighted” by Orix rightly Vogelsong striking out all six Marines batters he faced. One might think the offense was a bit shell-shocked by how it all came apart in the 7th.

The bad blood between fan groups really boiled over in the bottom of the 9th. The game was still tied at 7 each, and with one out Tsuyoshi came to the plate with a chance to win it. Once again, no cheers, songs, chants, or otherwise emanate from the outfield ouendan. The infield fans are now totally pissed. After the ad-hoc cheering and subsequent ground-out by number 7, the infield fans, pretty much en masse, start booing… the outfield fans. “Go away! Go away! Go away!” Thumbs down, the whole shebang. Even the left-field overflow fans and most of the fans in right were booing the main ouendan. Ugly stuff.

Perhaps realizing they might have pushed things a bit far, the ouendan cheered Hori with zest – and two outs in the ninth. Most of the fans ignored the outfield fans’ cheers and cheered on their own. Hori, for his part, struck out – perhaps unsurprisingly.

Extra innings. The bullpens clear – Ogino, Sikorski, Itoh all come in, all get the job done by not allowing Orix to score. As mentioned before, so does the Orix pen. So it’s the bottom of the 12th, the last chance to salvage something other than a tie. Heiuchi strikes out to start off the inning, bringing up Mr Controversy in another game winning situation. Over the last few innings noticeably fewer fans have been cheering along, and with number 7 up at the plate again, the same scene repeats itself. Tsuyoshi will not let it affect him – he smashes a drive down the left field line! Maybe more than any other time this year he digs very, very deep, rounding second like a man possessed.

The look of effort on the face of a man possessed

It’s bedlam as Tsuyoshi makes that slide into third. Safe!!!! Everybody is screaming, high-fiving, TSUYOSHI!!!!

Safe in the bottom of the 12th

Only one out, very swift runner on third. What will Bobby do? SQUEEZE! Hori’s at the plate and he drops down a bunt! We jump from our seats as Tsuyoshi races home… but it rolls foul. 1-0, runner and batter reset – ANOTHER SQUEEZE! Tsuyoshi’s racing down the line but the pitch was more like a pitch-out. Hori doesn’t want to leave Tsuyoshi caught out coming home so he quite literally dives for the ball, barely gets a bat on it, uh oh, pops it up – caught – and Tsuyoshi is nowhere near third. Throw to the base, DP, game, set.

Hori lunges for the last pitch of the game

Damn.

I’m pretty bummed after the game. My favorite pitcher threw a stinker, we had a chance to win and it didn’t work out (though I loved the guts). I was most bummed by the turmoil in the stands for my last game of the year. I was really hoping for one last team effort – cheering at a Lotte game is most definitely a team activity, all hands in – and we just didn’t get that.

I understand why all the outfield fans were upset and protesting – I’m sure if you took a poll of hardcore Lotte fans you’d find 98% in agreement with the foul opinions on the front office. After all, over 100,000 of us signed the petition to keep Bobby here for 2010. I just don’t like the game disruption, myself. And I really don’t like the refusal to cheer Tsuyoshi. He’s a prima donna, and he’s always out due to “injury”, and he’s made a hell of a lot of errors at short this year, but he’s still one of our best players and still a part of the team. I dunno. It just seems to me for what was likely to be most people’s last home game of the year we all would have been better served by just savoring the game, the team, the memories – cheering for a great win for old time’s sake.

If I really wanted to protest, I would have reserved a bunch of seats, unfurled a banner at the beginning of the game, laid it on the seats, and left. Vote with your feet.

The good news is this post is written after the mid-week Seibu series, and as I watched those games on TV I saw the fans giving it their manic best like we usually do. Too bad I couldn’t be there to help.

I am going to fill in some of the earlier games with tons of pictures and stories from the road – better memories! And of course I will have more posts as the season winds down. For now, here’s some more photos from Sunday’s action.

Orix outfielder Omura warms up before the inning

Imae makes a nice catch

Ogino keeps the Buffaloes from scoring in the 8th and 9th

Ikki, up close and personal

September 27, 2009
Street Fighting Days, Part 2

The second game of the final Orix-sen showed up on a lovely – but hot – late September day. It was a festival day, with much singing and dancing both inside and outside the stadium. The game itself was spirited as well – both on and off the diamond. The balls were flying out of the park and the pitching staff showed real guts as Lotte pulled out a 6-2 victory over the visiting Buffaloes.

A day game: a real novelty these days. Saturday’s game was the first day game since late June – really! All of the home games in July and August were night/twilight games and so far in September every home game has been a weekday game. The last home day series was a rainy affair, so really this was the first time to bask in the sun at the ballpark since the Hanshin series in mid-June. (Well, I made a few road trips, but still)

We love Marines, but Aono? That’s some optimism.

We showed up plenty early to soak up the atmosphere of the final home stand. The stadium wasn’t all that crowded despite the announced attendance of 25K+, so I was able to pull the seat switcheroo and snag a pair of front row seats. It’s amazing where you can go with a bunch of old tickets and acting like you know where you’re going.

Bobby V signed many autographs before the game, too!

Signing away for all the fans

On the hill for our Marines was Naoyuki Shimizu who, quite honestly, has had a very disappointing season to this point with an ERA in the mid 4’s and not so many wins. He’s been erratic at best, definitely not as solid as he has proven to be in his career. On this day, though, he was quite solid – scattering 10 hits in 7+ innings of work but limiting the runs scored to only two, giving the team a great chance at victory.

Shimizu battles early in the game

The Lotte offense grabbed the game from the get-go to take an early lead. Getting things started was today’s hero, Tsuyoshi. He smacked a dinger into the right center stands from the leadoff spot to put Lotte up 1-0 before the first home out was recorded.

Celebrating Tsuyoshi’s big leadoff HR

Fukuura continued his hot September with a blast of his own in the third. From my seat I didn’t think it was going out but it kept on sailing, right into the right field stands. 2-0 after 3.

Fukuura’s teammates just can’t get enough

In the 4th, Imae and Hayakawa both singled with two outs to set up Tsuyoshi – he bangs a double to center, scoring both men easily! 4-0 Lotte after 4.

Shimizu loaded the bases in the 5th and gave up two on ground-outs to make it a 4-2 game. He would cruise through the 6th and 7th innings before getting into a real jam in the top of the 8th. Shimoyama led off with a single and Rhodes doubled him to third – runners on second and third with nobody out. Bobby wasn’t taking any chances, in comes Ogino to put out the fire. Ogino was super hot in the early part of the season but went through an awful stretch, but here in the late part of the season he’s come back around to be quite effective as of late. This game was no exception – he gets out the next three batters to end the Orix scoring chance and keep it at 4-2.

Ogino making short work of the Orix offense

Lotte could use some insurance runs, and insurance runs they got off of the bat of seldom-used Minami, who smashed a homer to deep right with Ohmatsu on to make it 6-2. Sikorski came in in the top of the 9th to seal the victory, and he did just great after a leadoff walk. Another nice win for Lotte over Orix! I talked to one of my friends in the stands after the game, she commented “Rare win, eh?” I guess it has been this year against Orix. But you know, as awful as the team played early in the season against Orix they finished the series on a tear – winning the last four decisions to end up with a 9-14-1 record against the Buffaloes. Considering the record was 2-11 at one point…

So the players of the game were Tsuyoshi (obviously) and Ogino (for such a meaty performance in the 8th).

Tsuyoshi and Ogino high five fans after the nice win

The game was far from controversy free, though. (Unfortunately, perhaps) As with Friday’s game, the stands were filled with anti-front office protest banners. At the bottom of the 7th after the singing of We Love Marines Haykawa came to bat. Instead of starting the cheers for Hayakawa the ouendan started anti-front office chants. As this continued and no cheers for the players started the infield fans started yelling at the outfield fans. The lady next to me shouted “Shut up! So annoying!” as did many other fans. Eventually the ouendan started to cheer for Hayakawa, but after he struck out the ouendan started it again during Tsuyoshi’s at bat. This pissed off the infield fans more, and most of the people sitted next to me were yelling at the ouendan.

So the game ends; Tsuyoshi and Ogino are the players of the game as I mentioned. After Tsuyoshi is interviewed, he grabs the microphone and talks to the outfield fans directly, asking them to take down their signs, not use such language as there are many kids around. Some cheers, and silence from the outfield. As Ogino and Tsuyoshi run to the outfield the outfield ouendan don’t sing Tsuyoshi’s song, and the rest of the fans must improvise. Many of the fans near me were still yelling at the outfield fans after the game. Not good – and even more unfortunately, it spills into Sunday’s game.

But the game itself was great – lovely weather and a lovely victory. I took hundreds of pics, and I’ll just post the rest at the bottom of this page.

Hashimoto is devastated by his ground-out

Cheerleaders doing what cheerleaders do best!

Close play at first, but believe me, Fukuura’s got that ball first

Kakunaka warms up on the sidelines

Fukuura takes his lead at first

We have a Heiuchi sighting!

Always helps to actually make it to second when trying to steal second

September 26, 2009
Live Blog: Lotte vs Nippon Ham, 12 September

Who knew it was so cold in Sapporo in September?

I made plans to go to Yomiuriland to see Lotte’s ni-gun take on the Giants ni-gun but the weather looks truly foul (both out the window and on radar), so I’ve decided to stay in and do another Live Blog.

Some notes about last night’s game as I didn’t make a blog posting. Lotte took the first game of the three game set vs the Fighters at Sapporo Dome 3-2, which is the first road win for the Marines against Nippon Ham this year. What an awful drought that has been! The game was a tight affair as Naoyuki Shimizu dueled with Shugo Fujii. Shimizu got the better of the Fighters, going 7 strong innings while yielding both runs on 7 hits (with 6 K’s). Saburo hit a solo homer in the 4th off of Fujii to take the early lead. Nippon Ham took the lead in the bottom of the 4th with a timely double by Takahashi and an RBI ground-out by Koyano.

Lotte tied it in the 5th with a jack to left by Minami (I saw him in the dugout on Thursday, which I believe was his first ichi-gun appearance of the year). Minami’s got fewer than 100 ichi-gun PA’s in his career and that’s only his second HR; very nice to get it in such a tough place to play. Fukuura broke the tie in the 6th with a timely single to make it 3-2, which it is how it would finish. Ogino and Sikorski get the job done in the 8th and 9th, respectively.

So the stage is set for today’s matchup between Yagi and my favorite, Karakawa. The Baby-Faced Killer is back on the hill looking to FINALLY get his 5th win of the year. He’s got a 3.06 ERA in 17 starts this year. Shouldn’t that get you more than 4 wins? He’s undoubtedly the hardest-luck pitcher on our team, if not in the league.

The starting lineups:
For Lotte – Tsuyoshi (short), Imae (3rd), Saburo (center), Iguchi (2nd), Ohmatsu (left), Satozaki (catcher), Benny (DH), Fukuura (1st), and Minami (right).

For Nippon Ham – Tanaka (2nd), Itoi (center), Inaba (right), Takahashi (1st), Sledge (left), Koyano (3rd), Nioka (DH), Tsuroka (catcher), Kaneko (short)

First Inning
Two quick outs by Tsuyoshi and Imae, then Saburo laces a double down the left field line. Iguchi gives it a big jump to center – it’s really well hit and deep, but Itoi makes a running catch at the fence to end the inning.

Tanaka lines to Ohmatsu in left to start the bottom of the first for Nippon Ham. Karakawa then mows down Itoi and Inaba swinging to end the inning. Very strong start for Karakawa!

Second Inning
Ohmatsu strikes out swinging. Satozaki crushes one off the top of the center field fence, Itoi reels it in off the bounce and nails Sato at second. The camera wasn’t on him after it left his bat, did he slow down to admire it? Anyway, he’s out. Benny flies out to end the second.

Takahashi grounds out to Fukuura for the first out, but Sledge drops a single to right in front of Minami. Koyano lines out to Minami for out two. Nioka hits a first pitch curve from Karakawa between Iguchi and Tsuyoshi for a single, and Tsuruoka hits a liner that’s snagged by a leaping Iguchi for out three. 0-0 after two.

Third Inning
Ute Fukuura, Ute Fukuura – and he does, up the middle. Minami tries to bunt him over and pops the first attempt back to the fence, pokes at the second even though it’s nowhere near the strike zone, and settles for a GIDP. A dire at-bat indeed. With two outs Tsuyoshi singles through the left side – wouldn’t it have been nice to have a runner on? Not that it matters, as Imae floats a little pop that’s snagged by Tanaka for out three.

A nice swinging K of Kaneko to start the 3rd. Tanaka pops a foul fly, Imae is running to the fence – he hauls it in with a very nice little basket catch. Itoi pops to Ohmatsu to end the third. Still 0-0.

Fourth Inning
Saburo must have eaten his natto this morning – he blasts one into the Marines ouendan to give Lotte the first lead of the game! That’s 3 HR in the past 4 games and 21 on the year, 5th in the Pacific League. He’s been sick lately and it hasn’t hurt his game one bit. When did he turn into a slugger? Ground-outs by Iguchi and Ohmatsu and a pop out by Satozaki end the Lotte 4th.

Karakawa is cruising now. Ground-outs by Inaba and Sledge and a swinging K by Takahashi send the Fighters down in order. 4 K’s for #19, and a 1-0 Lotte lead!

Fifth Inning
Benny floats a single to center to lead off the fifth. Fukuura drops a lovely bunt to sac him to second, Minami lines to Inaba to send Benny to third. The stage is set with Tsuyoshi at the plate – and he stares at strike three zipping by. Three outs, change.

Grounder by Koyano to Iguchi and a swinging third strike by Nioka – 10 in a row for the Baby-Faced Killer. A 5 pitch walk to Tsuruoka ends that string, but Kaneko conveniently grounds out to Karakawa to end the inning. Very nice outing for Karakawa, as is the norm. I will ask again, as it bears worth repeating over and over – why does he only have 4 wins on the season?!?

Sixth Inning
Imae leads with a double that’s just under the glove of a sprinting Itoi. Up next is the white-hot Saburo – can he deliver again? He’s down 2-0 early but works the count full, waiting for his pitch. He gets it – a slap single up the middle past a diving Kaneko! A one-man offensive powerhouse, he puts Lotte up 2-0! Iguchi lines to Sledge in left, and Ohmatsu lines to Tanaka, who whips it to first, but Saburo is back in time. Satozaki pokes a single through the left side bringing up Benny – he grounds one to Koyano to end the inning. Nice run, and it might be enough with Karakawa hot as he is.

Interestingly (well, interestingly to me) – my browser wants to correct my mistyping of grounders to gerunds. Maybe Benny did Grounding or Outing to third? I amuse myself.

A grounder to Tsuyoshi that just nips Tanaka at first, nice. Itoi lines one to Ohmatsu for out two, and Inaba flies to Saburo for the third out. Karakawa is cruising so well I could almost autotext the Fighters’s frames. 2-0 after 6.

Lucky 7
A ground-out by Fukuura is followed by a Minami walk. Tsuyoshi flies to center and Nashida-kantoku is making a change. Out is Yagi and in is Tanimoto. He gets Imae swinging on a filthy fork ball in the dirt for strike three.

Takahashi grounds to Tsuyoshi, who makes a nice pick on a difficult ball to get the out. Sledge pops to Imae, who’s playing where Tsuyoshi would normally be thanks to a mega-shift to the right. A liner by Koyano to Minami ends the inning. 17 batters in a row without a hit, only interrupted by the 5th inning walk. Still 2-0 Lotte!

Eighth Inning
Sensei!!! Saburo blasts another deep ball off the fence where Itoi can’t get it. He’s easily in for a double, but limps off with a leg injury. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but he’s missed some time with injuries lately, so it’s of course a concern. Hayakawa fills in as pinch runner. Iguchi hits a flare to center and Tanaka makes a great jumping catch to reel it in. That was a lot of ground to cover, excellent play. Tanimoto is out and in comes Miyanishi. Ohmatsu greets him with a double to right, scoring Hayakawa easily and making it a 3-0 game! Sato singles to put runners on the corner with only one out. Benny’s at the plate with a chance to bring in another run – he pops one to right, plenty deep for Ohmatsu to score from third! 4-0 Lotte. Fukuura cracks a double and Satozaki is (very unwisely) coming home. Out by 5 or 6 steps, at least, second time he’s been thrown out on the bases today. But Lotte gets some much-needed insurance – a 4 run lead with Karakawa on the hill has got to be golden.

Nioka singles to left for the Fighters’s first hit since the second. Inada is pinch-hitting for Tsuruoka, and he grounds one to Iguchi, who charges and flips to Tsuyoshi at second – except he is a bit off in his flip and Tsuyoshi barely, barely holds on to both ball and bag. Tsuboi pinch hits for Kaneko and singles to left – 1st and 2nd with one out.

See, here’s why insurance runs are nice – Tanaka lines one down the right field line scoring Inada. Can Karakawa dig deep to get out of the jam? A grounder by Itoi to Iguchi – he flips to Tsuyoshi for one but there’s no throw to first. Another run is in to make it 4-2. Fighters fans are really hyped up with Inaba at the plate – the Inaba jump is in full swing, making the cameras get all jiggly. We must quiet them. Inaba lifts one deeeep to left, but it’s short of the fence – Ohmatsu is under it and hauls it in for out three. Nippon Ham gets the two runs back but Lotte still has a 2 run lead, 4-2. On to the ninth!

Ninth Inning
Hisashi Takeda is in, as is is Hayasaka (for Minami). Hayasaka greets Takeda with… a liner to Iiyama (replacing Kaneko at short). Tsuyoshi grounds out to second for out two, and Imae grounds back to Takeda for a very quick Lotte frame. It’s down to the bottom of the ninth, and Lotte must protect this lead and get Karakawa the win!

Sikorski is tasked with shutting down the Fighters bats. It doesn’t start well – Takahashi smashes one down the first base line and it pops off the bag, way high. Safe at first with slugger Sledge coming up. But Sledge grounds to Fukuura, who flips to Tsuyoshi, who whips it back to Sikorski for two! Niiiice. Koyano at the plate – Brian gets ahead 2-0 and whips a nasty changeup right by the swinging Koyano for strike three! A 4-2 Lotte win!!!!

The Baby-Faced Killer strikes again, and gets the WIN finally! 8 IP, 2 ER on 5 hits, 5 Ks and only one walk in 130 pitches. Very nice indeed. One can’t ignore the one-man wrecking crew contributions of the awesome Saburo – 4-4 with 2 RBI and an HR. That guarantees the series win for Lotte – an amazing turnaround in fortunes as it’s the second series win in a row for Lotte vs the Fighters, and the 4th consecutive series win. It also runs Lotte’s record for the month to 8-3. Mathematically they are still alive for the 3rd spot… (How stupidly optimistic is that?) 16.5 back of first with 19 to play – let’s do it! (OK, more like 11 back of 3rd with 19 to play)

Nippon Ham, on the other hand, is reeling. That’s 6 in a row for the Fighters, but Softbank is also losing as of this writing so they won’t lose any ground at the top. That probably doesn’t make Fighters fans feel any better, though.

September 12, 2009
Live Blog: Lotte vs Seibu, 22 August

Swiped from skyscrapercity.com forums

This blog should be renamed “We Love Marines, but We’ve Spent Almost no Time at Home Lately and Haven’t Had a Chance to Blog in Ages.” Catchy, no?

In honor of a baseball watchin’ weekend and to make up for my busy work week-induced silence, it’s live blog time! Today is Lotte on the road in Tokorozawa to face Seibu. Lotte won a run festival last night 12-7 (more to come on that later), so a win today wins the series. No matter how bad the season goes (and it’s been pretty bad as of late) it always feels great to beat up on Seibu, especially on the road.

Today’s matchup brings Ono to the hill to face Kishi. Ono had a pretty rough outing last Friday in Sendai, but he should bounce back with a good performance today. Catching Ono today is Hashimoto (batting 5th), and the rest of the lineup looks is Fukuura at first (batting 7th), Hayasaka at second (batting 2nd), Tsuyoshi at short (leadoff), Heiuchi at third (batting 9th). The outfield is Ohmatsu in left (4th), Hayakawa in center (8th), and Saburo in right (3rd). Benny gets the start at the DH.

First Inning
Lotte gets runners on the corners via a leadoff walk by Tsuyoshi, a steal, a sac bunt, and another walk by Saburo. Ohmatsu hits a shallow pop that’s unable to score a run for the second out and Hashimoto lines out to a diving Bocachica in left to end the inning.

Ono is the model of efficiency in the bottom of the inning, inducing Kataoka, Hara, and Kuriyama into ground-outs on a total of 7 pitches. Nice – 0-0 after one.

Second Inning
Benny grounds out to lead off the inning. Fukuura next hits a nice single to left center. Haykawa grounds to first – Ishii throws out Fukuura at second but the swift Hayakawa beats out the throw to first. It’s all moot, though, as Heiuchi strikes out to end the inning.

Ono is just as good in the second as the first – he induces Nakajima and Uemoto into quick ground-outs and strikes out GG Sato. He takes a grand total of 10 pitches to do it this time. Very nice – still 0-0. Viewers at home are also treated to a view of recently-retired Kiyohara (on hand for the opening pitch) in a wife-beater in the press box. We didn’t need that one, guys.

Third Inning
A bizarre bit of baseball in the top of the inning. Tsuyoshi smacks one off of Kishi’s shin and hoofs it to first for an infield single. Kishi is injured but stays on. A few pitches later Tsuyoshi takes off to steal – it looks like Kishi throws a pitchout but Ginjiro stays in his crouch and has to jump for the ball. He snags it and whips it to second – for some unknown reason Tsuyoshi has decided to stop running before reaching the bag. The throw is dropped, though, so he jogs into second with a standing steal. I suspect Bobby’s not going to be too happy with that one.

Hayasaka strikes out, Saburo walks again, and Ohmatsu hits a deep fly that reaches the warning track but no further. Hashimoto is again faced with a two-out, runners on the corners situation and again he gets an out, this time a fly to center.

Seibu gets some baserunners off Ono in the bottom of the 3rd. Ishii leads off with a single and Ginjiro sacrifices him to second. Bocachica pops out to left and Ono pops Kataoka to put runners on second and first with two out. How long has Kataoka been using Princess Princess as intro music, anyway? It’s stuck in my head now, grr.

Ono gets Hara to fly out to Hayakawa for the third out so no damage is done. A grand total of 14 pitches for all of that, too – 0-0 after three.

Fourth Inning
Benny takes a swing at strike three to lead off the fourth, and Fukuura grounds to Ishii for out two. Hayakawa grounds to second to end the Lotte fourth.

Kuriyama knocks a single to left while leading off the Seibu fourth, but he’s doubled off when Nakajima lines Ono’s first pitch right back at him. Ono makes a nice reflex snag and lobs it to Fukuura – easy peasy DP! Uemoto grounds out to Hayasaka to end the Seibu fourth, and the game cruises into the fifth still tied, 0-0.

Fifth Inning
Kishi has really got the car going going downhill now. A flyout by Heiuchi and strikeouts of Tsuyoshi and Hayasaka send Lotte down in order.

Ono is still looking nice himself – grounder, grounder, grounder and the Lions go down in order as well. Into the 6th – still a scoreless tie.

Sixth Inning
More of the same, really – Saburo lines out to left, Ohmatsu takes ball four. He tries to steal second, but is thrown out as Hashimoto strikes out. Three quick outs.

Ono also gets a quick inning, retiring Bocachica, Kataoka, and Hara in order. Still no score after 6.

Lucky 7
So close, yet… Benny draws a leadoff walk, and after a Fukuura pop out Hayakawa almost ends the inning with an infield grounder. Benny is out at second but Hayakawa beats the throw to first. Hayakawa takes off running and Heiuchi singles, but Hayakawa doesn’t see him single, rounds second and stops between second and third. Belatedly he rushes back to second and is safe. Tsuyoshi smashes a ball very deep – I thought it was gone – but GG Sato makes a great catch while jumping into the right field fence. A nice scoring chance, but no runs.

Ono continues his nice game. He gets Kuriyama to pop out to Hayakawa. Kuriyama hits a broken bat single to center, and Uemoto grounds one to Fukuura. He bobbles the ball and can’t get 2, but he makes the easy play at first. GG Sato hits an easy grounder to Heiuchi to account for the third out. 0-0, 3 hits for both teams, and into the late innings. Nice and close- the best kind of game.

Eighth Inning
The speedy Hayasaka gets on with a grounder up the middle to get the Lotte 8th started. Saburo rides one deep and high – but too high, as it’s reeled in in deep center. Ohmatsu pops to Ginjiro, and Hayasaka swipes second. The Lotte ouendan get “Skinhead Runnin’” going as Hashimoto draws a two-out walk. Benny strikes out on four pitches to end the nice scoring chance, though.

Turnabout is indeed fair play, though. Ishii flies out to very deep center to start the Seibu eighth, and Ginjiro hits a very deep ball off the right center fence, ending up on second. Ono walks Bocachica but gets Kataoka to ground to Heiuchi. Heiuchi steps on third, fires to first, double play! Threat over, and it’s still tied at 0-0 heading to the 9th.

Ninth Inning
Lotte manages a two-out baserunner as Heiuchi draws a walk but nothing doing, scoring wise. It’s up to Ono’s pitching and good defense now to send it to extra innings.

9 pitches into Hara’s leadoff at-bat Ono plunks him on the hands. It’s pretty crappy, though, as Hara moved his hands in a position to get plunked. Hardly seems like a good call and Bobby comes out to complain, but it stands.

Kuriyama drops a sac bunt, Ono fields it and whips it to Tsuyoshi at second. The throw is offline, though, and Tsuyoshi can’t reel it in. Hara keeps on running to third. No outs.

Ono intentionally walks Nakajima to load the bases with nobody out. Bobby goes to the pen – in comes Sikorski in a tough, tough spot. Can he nail it down and send it to extra innings?

No. It’s a big bouncing grounder to Fukuura. He’s got no choice but to go home – it’s a slow grounder though and Hara is in easily. A tight 1-0 loss for Lotte. I feel bad for Ono, it was as good of a performance as one would hope for but Lotte couldn’t plate anyone to give him support. I don’t think the 9th should have unfolded the way it did, though – I really don’t think Hara should have been awarded first, and if he’s not awarded first Kuriyama’s not bunting, and there’s no error…. But poor calls are an unfortunate part of the game.

So the series goes to the rubber game tomorrow. I’ll be in the Lotte gaiya helping Lotte on to a series win!

August 22, 2009
Good News and Bad News

I lied; there is no good news. How can there be good news when the pen blows a game to the hated Lions?

The pen didn’t blow a lead, but they did blow a tie – twice – and the second time was unrecoverable as Seibu beats Lotte the second night in a row, 5-3. That guarantees the series win for Seibu and keeps pushing our Marines further behind in the chase for the third and final playoff spot.

Getting the start tonight was Shimizu, who’s been pretty solid the past month or so with absolutely nothing to show for it (can’t that be said for many Lotte players this year?) Facing Shimizu is ex-Yakult and ex-MLB pitcher Ishii. I wouldn’t call the game a pitching duel, though both starters went deep and pitched reasonably well.

Ishii had the better start statistically as he only allowed 4 hits in 8+ innings of work, but fortunately for Lotte two of those four hits were homers, and a third led directly to a score.

Seibu took the lead in the top of the first as Kataoka drew a leadoff walk from Shimizu, immediately stole second, advanced to third on a ground-out, and scored on a Nakajima single. 1-0 Seibu.

Not to be outdone in the small ball sweepstakes, Lotte answered right back. Tsuyoshi led off the bottom of the first with a double, advanced to third on an Iguchi (batting second for the first time I can remember) grounder, and scored on a Saburo sac fly. 1-1 tie after one.

In the fourth Lotte made it 2-1, thanks to a big shot to deep left center by the inimitable Satozaki. Not much doubt about that ball as it came off the bat.

Surprisingly, Satozaki throws his bat after getting a hold of one

Seibu tied it back up in the sixth with a double by Kuriyama and an RBI single by the Meaty One, Nakamura. 2-2 tie.

Bocachica slides in safely as Tsuyoshi needs to fly to snag the throw

Shimizu comes out after 8, and Uchi is in. He gives up a one-out single to Ishii (Yoshihito), and Ginjiro sacrifices him to second. Bocachica smashes a liner to center and it looks to my eyes that Saburo is going to reel it in at the warning track — but he can’t get there… Ishii scores easily, Bocachica’s standing on second, Seibu’s sitting on a 3-2 lead. Oy.

Ishii (of the pitching Ishiis) stays in for the 9th, and perhaps Saburo thought he should have gotten to that ball in the top of the inning too – he certainly compensates as he smooshes a ball deep into the right field stands to tie the game! 3-3, and on to extra innings.

Oh let’s go Saburo

Sikorski handles the Lions offense in the 10th and 11th – in fact I think I saw a gun reading on the scoreboard of 156 for one pitch the 10th? The highest I see on the Yahoo tracker is 152 but several are missing speeds. Anyway, Brian gets the job done. Unfortunately, so does the Seibu tandem of Onuma and Onodera – it’s on to the 12th.

Tanaka makes a great attempt at a catch in extra innings but can’t haul it in

Ogino relieves Sikorski and uh-oh. Ogino is looking much more like recent vintage Ogino than early-season Ogino. After a quick out via the K, Ogino walks Bocachica, gives up a single to Kataoka, and Kuriyama puts a double down the line to clear the bags. That’s all in just 14 action-packed pitches, folks. 5-3 Seibu. I don’t know what the hell happened to Ogino – but he blew his first save when he was the closer back on 14 May (he had a 0.00 ERA for the season to that point) and he’s been generally dreadful ever since.

No matter the reason, the guys are behind and need to mount another comeback to at least force a tie. Hashimoto hits a two-out double to make an effort of it but it’s just not happening. Seibu takes the game in 12 5-3.

Losing is bad enough, losing to Seibu is worse, but losing twice to Seibu when they are really the one team we absolutely can’t afford to lose to just puts the cherry on top. Well, I’m sure the team will keep on fighting and get back in the win column tomorrow!

August 12, 2009
A Ham-Free Weekend, Part 2

‘Okane de kaenai kachi ga aru’

The Ham-Free Weekend rolled on in utterly brilliant and heart-stopping fashion as both Saturday and Sunday’s games went all the way to the last frames as the visiting Golden Eagles of Rakuten battled our beloved Chiba Lotte Marines. In both games Lotte overcame adversity and missed opportunities only to make the game-winning play. On Saturday Lotte bested Rakuten 5-4 on an 8th-inning double by Fukuura after Rakuten had rallied to tie in the top of the 8th, and on Sunday a heated pitchers’ duel went to 11 innings with backup utility-man Hayasaka delivering a Sayonara Single with the bases loaded to give Lotte a 2-1 victory and their first three-game sweep of the year.

The first sweep of the year deserves some big fireworks

Lotte got ahead early on Saturday with a triple by Hayasaka to lead off the game and a sac fly by Saburo to bring him home. Lotte added three more runs to the lead in the third inning courtesy of a bases-loaded double by Takehara – 4-0 Lotte.

Lotte starter Ono – arguably the most consistent starter on the year for the Marines – kept Rakuten in check throughout the first seven innings, allowing but 5 hits and a single run to keep the lead at 4-1. Things got a bit out of hand in the 8th, though, as Heiuchi flubbed a ball with one out to allow Rick Short to reach, and Ono issued a walk to Watanabe to put two men on. Kawasaki came in to relieve Ono, and on his second pitch gave up a game-tying 3 run shot to Miyade. Eeek. After Teppei doubled next Uchi took over for Kawasaki and shut things down to keep the game tied.

In the Lotte 8th, Benny drew a one-out walk, and Satozaki singled to move Benny to third. Fukuura pinch-hit for Burnham Jr and nailed a 2-2 pitch for a tie-breaking double! 5-4 Lotte.

Sikorski came in to close out the 9th, and after a Hayasaka error allowed Kusano to reach he got Seguinol to ground into a DP, and then Kenshi to ground out to Fukuura to wrap up the win! A nice, tight, 5-4 victory for our Marines.

The series win was assured but of course everybody wanted more – so it was reassuring to see the starter for Sunday’s game announced, the Baby-Faced Killer himself, Karakawa.

Face it; he’s living the charmed life

The newly-minted star of Keisei Bus ads and mover of uniform, t-shirt, and towels (ahem! including to yours truly) hadn’t been nearly as effective as he was earlier in the season – he hasn’t had a win since May – but he always pitches with guts and that steely look that says he’s not taking any crap. On Sunday, he most definitely wasn’t taking anything from anyone as he went 9 strong innings, allowing many baserunners but only one to score while throwing 153 pitches, getting in and out of tight jams, and generally refusing to blink. It took huge stones to come out with a performance like that.

Things were a bit rough for Karakawa in the first, as leadoff batter Watanabe singled. Rakuten played small-ball to perfection with a sacrifice by former Marine Kosaka and Watanabe stole third to set up a sac fly by Teppei – a quick 1-0 Rakuten lead.

Lotte had their early chances as well as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the second with only one out, but Hori grounded into a DP to end the scoring chance.

The next scoring chance was also almost wasted. Hayasaka led of the third with a single to center, and Tanaka Masahiko dropped a sac bunt. Rakuten catcher Shima ran into Tanaka fielding the bunt and winged the ball past first, allowing Hayasaka to score all the way from first on a two-base error.

Hayasaka gets the third inning rally started

But there was a discussion between the umps, eventually ruling that Tanaka interfered with Shima to negate the run. Erg. Iguchi flied to right to make it two outs, but with Saburo at the plate and two strikes Hayasaka swiped second. Saburo, grateful for the runner in scoring position, lined a single to left, and the speedy Hayasaka finally came home for good. The game was now tied at 1-1!

Saburo ties the game with a timely hit in the third

That’s where things stood for a long time – though the middle and late innings were hardly free from controversy and tension. Temperatures started to rise with the second at-bat for Rakuten’s Linden, as he took exception to Karakawa’s brush-back pitches (and Satozaki’s call of them). After strike two Karakawa brushed him back again and Linden jawed at Satozaki – you could tell he was yelling “That’s twice!” I said to nobody in particular “Karakawa’s totally in his head now”, and sure enough the next pitch got Linden swinging for strike three. Linden quite petulantly tossed his bat and helmet as if that would erase the stink of his second consecutive K.

Things boiled over during Linden’s third at-bat as he took more exception to Karakawa’s brush-back pitches. After the first one he confronted Satozaki, benches cleared, much shoving ensued, and it took quite a while for things to get settled down. It looked like there might actually be punches thrown as things were really heated at the plate.

Linden, how’s that 0-5 with 3K’s feel?

When play resumed, the Baby-Faced Killer re-took the hill, Sphinx-like as ever. You know, I know, and Linden sure knew what was coming next – yup, fastball across the letters. The out pitch was set up, and Karakawa got Linden to chase the low outside ball for strike three, still very much in Linden’s head.

How about the sweep?

Both Karakawa and Rakuten starter Hasebe (and Eangles reliever Fukumori) kept the opposing offenses in check for the next few innings. Incidentally, the 4th Karakawa-Linden battle played out with outside-outside-outside-outside pitches, Linden hacking at two of them for a 2-2 count. Time for some more chin music! Yup, another fastball inside, leading Linden to ground out on the subsequent full count.

Karakawa worked himself into a real jam in the 9th with singles by Kusano and Nakamura with one out, but Satozaki relieved some of the pressure by gunning down a running Nakamura at second to make it two outs. Kenshi walked to put two runners back on, but Karakawa mowed down Watanabe for his 153rd pitch of the game and the third out of the 9th.

Fast forward to the 11th. Rakuten has got nothing going in extra innings thanks to great pitching by Sikorski out of the pen, and in the bottom of the inning Lotte has recorded two quick outs. Hayakawa hacked off 8 straight pitches on a full count before finally drawing a walk. Hayakawa stole second as backup catcher Fujii fumbled the ball, allowing Hayakawa to advance to third. Satozaki was at the plate, and the Rakuten pen offered some retaliation for Karakawa’s brush-backs by knocking Sato completely on his back.

Satozaki gets knocked back in the 11th

Rakuten decides to put him on intentionally after that, and Arime is brought in to pitch to the pinch-hitting Fukuura. The first pitch from Arime is straight at Fukuura’s head, nailing him solidly in the shoulder. The umps convene, and Arime is rightfully ejected from the game, despite his cap-tipping to indicate he didn’t mean it (!).

Fukuura is popped in the 11th inning

Koyama is brought in instead as Hayasaka comes to the plate. On a 1-1 count Hayasaka smacks one into right for a Sayonara Single! 2-1 Lotte! The team rushes the field to celebrate with the over-the-moon Hayasaka.

The game-winner from Sunday’s hero

What a great series!

After the horrible July and all the on-and-off the field distractions Lotte showed real heart to fight and keep themselves in position to make a run at the playoffs. They could have folded after the recent bad luck but instead they fought on.

Now it’s on to Fukuoka to take on the Hawks on Tuesday. A win on Tuesday gives the team the first 4-game win streak of the year, something that’s WAY overdue!

August 2, 2009
Over the Rainbow

And on the third day of the series the skies shone golden, and the men of Lotte fought doggedly for every run, contested every out, and ultimately – rightfully – triumphed over the Hawks 3-1.

Actually, the weather at the start and the end of the game wasn’t so hot. The first inning opened gray and dingy, super muggy. The wind blew in from dead center – not exactly unusual at Chiba Marine – but the ferocity was something else. All day long balls swirled in the gale, pop-ups to short drifted into the stands, and plastic bags meandered across the outfield. In the middle, though – eh, I get ahead of myself.

Ono Shingo took on the challenge of avenging yesterday’s heart-breaker vs Daiei’s Houlton. In the first Ono took care of business, inducing a leadoff ground-out by Honda. Kawasaki drew a walk and was gunned down by Satozaki trying to steal second. Ortiz grounded out to end the inning as Lotte came to the plate.

The flags on the scoreboard stood straight pointing in as Tsuyoshi came to the plate in the bottom of the inning. He’s used to these sorts of conditions though, and when he saw a fat first pitch from Houlton he demolished it, sending it clear over the left center fence! Just like that, 1-0 Lotte.

Ono coaxed another 1-2-3 inning out of the Hawks bats in the 2nd, and Lotte came to bat in the bottom of the second looking to add to their lead. Takehara drew a one-out walk, and after a Satozaki strikeout Fukuura belted a 2-2 pitch deep into the right field stands! Only his second homer of the season, and it gives the Marines an early 3-0 lead!

Oh, I think he likes it – as he should

Everybody else likes it, too

Ono kept making his pitches in the third and fourth – he didn’t allow a hit in the first four innings. Houlton, on the other hand, exacted the petty revenge of the classless and beaten by beaning Tsuyoshi in the back in the top of the third. It was obvious retaliation for Tsuyoshi’s HR and Houlton didn’t try to hide it. He didn’t even tip his cap. Tsuyoshi was furious, throwing his bat and staring down Houlton as he walked to first.

Tsuyoshi takes a cheap one

Perhaps Houlton would be better served by spending more time not giving up first pitch homers so he wouldn’t need to resort to cheap tactics? Anyway, Tsuyoshi tried to steal on the first pitch but was beat to the bag by Kawasaki’s tag.

Tsuyoshi is nipped by Kawasaki’s tag

In the 5th Daiei got their first hit off Ono, a single by Kokubo. Ono struck out Tamura, but the next batter Hasegawa ripped a double off the center field fence. Saburo hustled to field the ball and fired it into Tsuyoshi. Kokubo made the turn at third and kept on to home as Tsuyoshi whirled and made a perfect relay. Meat. Sato applied the tag, and Lotte kept their 3-0 lead.

Satozaki tags out an opponent at home for the second day in a row

Tanoue singled next and Hasegawa came home; shutout over, 3-1 Lotte.

In the top of the 6th the winds abated somewhat, the clouds parted, and the sun said it’s goodbyes for the evening. It was a lovely golden night in Chiba. Fans and players were all treated to a gorgeous view – honeyed skies over first base; a smiling rainbow over third. Players warming up, umps, everyone admired the moment.

There’s a victory waiting in the pot of gold

After two quick ground-outs Ono got a bit rattled, giving up three consecutive singles to juice the bases. Bobby took no chances and called for the pen, bringing in Matsumoto Kodai. Matsumoto? Hashimoto yesterday, Matsumoto today – I had no idea either were back at Ichi-gun. I need to pay more attention to the transactions list. Matsumoto stepped right into the pressure cooker and did what he needed to do – inducing Hasegawa into a ground out and stopping the Hawks scoring chance cold.

Matsumoto delivers the inning-saving pitch

The Lotte offense got nothing going the rest of the way but hey, that’s fine. They took care of business early on and asked the pitching staff to hold on to that lead, please. The pitching staff was totally in control as well after Matsumoto’s 6th. Uchi came in for the 7th, retired Tanoue and gave up a walk to Muramatsu. Kawasaki took over for Uchi and shut the door on the 7th and the 8th.

Kawasaki’s so good he can’t be captured by modern photo technology

Sikorski came in to close out the 9th, and after a meaningless leadoff walk to Kokubo he took care of the rest of the side in order. A lovely 3-1 Lotte win, and a nice series win against the first place Hawks.

Lotte gets no Monday break – for the 20 July Marine Day holiday the team travels back to Sapporo for a three game set with Nippon Ham. Let’s hope they sweep them back as revenge for last weekend’s series!

July 19, 2009
Home Is Where the Victory Is

Just as there’s nothing quite like home cooking, there’s nothing like coming home after a 7-game losing streak on the road to get your team back in the win column. Hot on the heels of road sweeps at the hands of Nippon Ham and Orix, Lotte returned to the welcoming arms of Chiba Marine Stadium on Friday to face the Pa-league leading Softbank Hawks, and with a balanced attack of timely hits and solid pitching, the Marines beat the Hawks 7-3.

Softbank hopped out to the early lead tonight vs Lotte starter Kobayashi. In the first inning, Kawasaki and former Lotte 2B Ortiz singled with one out, and cleanup hitter Matsunaka also singled to bring home the first run of the game – 1-0, Hawks. Kobayashi induced Kokubo to ground into a DP to end the inning and limit the damage.

Kobayashi brings it on Friday

In the third Softbank would add to their lead. Tanoue walked and Honda singled, and after a Kawasaki sac bunt to put runners on 2nd and 3rd Kobayashi hit Ortiz to load the bases. Matsunaka hit a grounder to first that looked to be a double play ball – out at second, oops, safe at first! The play was close and Bobby came out to argue but the third out wasn’t given. In the confusion two runs scored – 3-0 Hawks.

This wasn’t going to be one of Those Nights, though. Lotte was not about about to let the 7-game losing streak balloon into an 8-game streak – not anywhere, and especially not at home. The real fight began in the bottom of the third. With one out, Tsuyoshi and Imae (batting second) singled and Iguchi walked to load the bases for Ohmatsu. He hit a grounder to first, Tsuyoshi scored, 3-1 Lotte! Saburo followed with a single of his own to score Imae – now it’s 3-2 – and to cap the rally Hashimoto stroked the 4th single of the inning, scoring Iguchi and tying the game at 3!

Hashimoto ties the game in the bottom of the third

Kobayshi really knuckled down after the third, ultimately throwing 7 innings on the evening with 6 K’s and never allowing Softbank to get another real scoring chance.

Lotte had a prime scoring chance in the 5th as Ohmatsu absolutely belted a ball from Hawks starter Germano. Only because it was such a flatly hit ball did it stay in the park, but it rattled off the chain link part of the fence for a nice double. There were already two outs in the inning, though, and unfortunately Saburo couldn’t break the tie and bring him home.

Germano wouldn’t dodge another bullet in the 6th inning, though. Hashimoto led off the inning with a single, and after a Takehara sacrifice Burnham Jr (getting a rare start at first) pasted a 2-1 Germano offering to deep right! A 2-run HR to break the tie, 5-3 Lotte!

Gary Burnham Jr eyes his 6th inning jack

Hashimoto and Burnham Jr celebrate at the plate

The Marines weren’t done. In the 7th Satozaki pinch-hit for Hashimoto with two on. He hit a huge fly ball – a ball flying deep and far through the Chiba night – but it was caught up in the wind at the fence. It was plenty deep enough to score Iguchi from third, though – 6-3 Lotte.

In the 8th Burnham Jr led off with a walk and was pinch-run for by Hayakawa. Pinch hitter Hayasaka popped out a bunt to make it one out, but Hayakawa swiped second anyway to set up another prime scoring chance. After a Tsuyoshi K Imae hit a big double to right to score Hayakawa and make it 7-3 Lotte!

Kobayashi was relieved in the top of the 8th by Ogino. Ogino plowed right through the Hawks, striking out the side (with a single by Tamura in the middle).

Jose Ortiz is definitely out at first in the 7th

Sikorski came in to close out th Hawks 9th, and shut them down he did on a pair of strikeouts and a grounder to end it. A 7-3 Lotte victory, and a new streak begins!

Gary Burnham Jr greets the fans after his Hero-making performance

Burnham Jr was today’s hero for his tie-breaking HR, which I think is his first hero-winning performance of the year. I know I’ve seen both of his other HRs in person this year but both were parts of comebacks that fell short. This one wasn’t, though, and the game hero was very well deserved.

Bobby and the rest of the team are all smiles after Friday’s win

The series continues on Saturday evening in a youthful pitching matchup as 20-year-old Karakawa takes the hill vs Softbank’s Ohba. I am sure Friday’s win will inspire Karakawa and Lotte to another strong performance.

On a personal note, it was SO nice to be back at the ballpark after two weeks. There’s nothing better than coming to the ballpark on a Friday after a long work week and watching your favorite team kick ass. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the weekend’s games on this long holiday weekend.

July 17, 2009
Game Report: Lotte vs Orix, 14 July

From Wikimedia Commons

The 9 game road trip rambles on, and on Tuesday Lotte came to Kyocera Dome to exact some revenge for the current 4-game losing streak and 2-7 record vs Orix this season. Lotte starter Shimizu went 9 very strong innings, but unfortunately the game went 10. Lotte scored a run in the top of the 10th but Orix countered with two in the bottom to hand the Marines a loss in the first game of the series 3-2 and extending the losing streak to 5.

This game was a pitcher’s duel all the way, with Shimizu and Orix starter Kaneko going toe-to-toe for 9 innings, only for both bullpens to turn it into a run fest in extra innings. Lotte scored the first run of the game in the top of the second as Fukuura singled in Ohmtasu (who led off the inning with a double) to make it 1-0. Lotte got two men on in both the 3rd and 5th innings but Kaneko prevented anyone else from scoring, striking out 9 in the process.

Shimizu was just as strong. He scattered 7 hits over his 9 innings of work allowing only a single run in the 6th on a single by Cabrera. Neither team mounted a significant scoring threat after that, so tied at 1-1 the game went to the 10th.

In the 10th, with Takehara on second and Tsuyoshi at first Iguchi singles to left off Orix reliever Okubo – Takehara scores, Lotte takes a 2-1 lead!

Sikorski takes over for Shimizu in the bottom of the inning and… um… 2 runs allowed… Oh, no, a 3-2 loss. So close to breaking the losing streak but instead it stretches to 5 games.

Hmm. I think I will leave it at that.

July 14, 2009
Game Report: Lotte vs Rakuten, 8 July

I must admit, my fellow Lotte fans, that there was a time in this game when I didn’t think anything good was going to happen. Rakuten rookie starter Fujiwara was on fire. He carried a perfect game into the fifth inning and a no-hitter into the 7th. Lotte was down 2-0 and nothing was hitting the gaps. Rakuten – mired in a 7-game losing streak, 0-fer-July – looked like it might break through.

Then a funny thing happened – Rakuten got the yips. All of a sudden everything started to change. First, in the 7th inning, Lotte broke the no-hitter. Hori smacked a double into the right field gap, Miyade misplayed it and Koichi ended up on third with one out. Fujiwara plunked Iguchi, to make it men on first and third, and Ohmatsu hit into a inning ending DP. But wait – Kusano misplays the ball! Iguchi is safe at second, Ohmatsu safe at first, and most importantly Hori scores to make it a 2-1 game. Saburo drew a walk to load the bases as Satozaki came to the plate. The Lotte fans got a rousing “Skinhead Runnin” going. Sato makes contact – right back to Fujiwara, 2-3 DP.

Maybe it wasn’t our night after all.

Lotte starter Naruse gave up both of Rakuten’s runs to this point way back in the second inning off back-to-back doubles by Seguinol and Yamazaki (hit #1499 for Yamazaki’s career). Since those hits he had retired 10 out of 11 batters on 5 Ks. In the bottom of the 7th, Teppei ended that nice run with a solo shot – the 2-1 deficit stretched to 3-1. Could Lotte bounce back against the hot Fujiwara?

The 8th didn’t start well, as Fujiwara mowed down Takehara for his third K of the game. But Benny, the next batter, had other ideas – he knocks a double into the left field gap. Imae saw an opportunity and smacked a double of his own – Hayakawa (pinch-running for Benny) scores to make it 3-2 and Nomura-kantoku pulls Fujiwara to stop the bleeding.

Koyama is brought in to face Tsuyoshi, and Tsuyoshi immediately chases him too with a single. Runners at the corners, Nomura hits the pen again, this time for Arime. Bobby had announced Hashimoto to pinch hit for Koichi but he changes for Tanaka Masahiko once Arime comes in. Tanaka takes a 1-1 slider from Arime into the left field gap and over the fence for a ground rule double. The game is now tied at 3-3!

Rakuten’s pitching is totally shaken now. In an inning the situation has gone from a possible no hitter to a 3-3 tie. Arime intentionally walks Iguchi to load the bases, then unintentionally walks Ohmatsu to give Lotte the lead, 4-3! Nomura has yet again seen enough so he goes to the pen again, this time for Fukumori. Fukumori has been watching the game slip away for Rakuten, so with the bases still loaded he walks Saburo as well to make it 5-3.

Bases still loaded for Satozaki, and he hits a deep shot to right – not deep enough to clear but plenty deep enough to score Iguchi from third – 6-3. Two outs now, and Takehara comes to the plate – hey, didn’t we see you already this inning? Yes, yes we did. Familiarity breeds success, and Takehara takes full advantage of his second trip to the plate with an RBI single – 7-3 Lotte.

Rakuten makes it a bit closer in the bottom of the 8th off a 2-run bomb by Yamazaki (career hit #1500) off Ogino, but 7-5 is as close as they would get. Sikorski closes out the 9th 1-2-3 for the save, and Lotte wins their third in a row.

That’s now 8 down for Rakuten, who are dropping quicker in the standings than burning bus from a high cliff. Lotte moves into sole possession of fourth and looks to solidify that position tomorrow as Watanabe Shunsuke takes the hill versus Rakuten’s Kawai.

July 8, 2009