We Love Marines

Tag: Takahiro Fujioka

No Hamu Series: 24-26 Sep 2013

Series Preview: Fresh off the series win against Daiei at QVC, Our Marines take the Climax Series push roadshow to Sapporo, ready to fight and fight hard against the Fighters. Oh, they didn’t want this fight, believe me.

It’s the last trip to Sapporo this year for sure as Hamu is basically out of contention in the PL after a 6-13 month that has left them reeling. Meanwhile Chiba’s got a chip on their shoulder after dropping the close last game and squandering the chance to build a big cushion in the race for second. The lead is just one game with 12 to go – this is playoff ball, and we need another series win.

No excuses – just wins.

[expand title=” Game 1 (24 Sep) – Lotte WINS 4-3″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka 5-8, 3.99 ERA @ Hamu: Masaru Takeda 8-6, 3.90 ERA

By Steve Novosel Now that was what we in the Chiba Lotte Marines blogging biz call ‘A Satisfying Win’. Our much-maligned potential ace Fujioka took the hill in Sapporo and guided Our Marines to a richly deserved 4-3 win over Hamu. And you know what? Daiei dropped their game as well, so the lead for second place is back to a more comfortable two games with 11 to go.”]

screen cap via @the_hereford
That’s our Fujioka!
Maybe you, dear reader, won’t find Fujioka’s line so compelling – 5 2/3 IP, 5 Hits, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 ER – but I do for one good reason: It was his first win as a starter since the glory days of May. Not only that, it’s the first decent back-to-back starts for young Fujioka¹ in four months. Is it time he moves fully from the pen back to the rotation?

¹ I should point out again that our three hopes for the future of the staff – Fujioka, Karakawa, and now Nishino – are 24, 24, and 22 years old. So we should probably hold off on being too over-analytical on the states of their careers at this time.

Fujioka-kun found himself in a bit of an early hole. Yoh Daikan singled to lead off the game, and a walk to Sugiya plus a sac bunt by Nishikawa put runners on second and third with just one out. Up was powerful cleanup hitter Abreu – he hit a relatively shallow pop to right but Yoh is rather stupidly fast so he scored despite Kakunaka’s throw home – 1-0 Hamu early.

But don’t worry! Fujioka would get into a spot of trouble later in the game leading to his relatively early exit, but that was it for the scoring allowed by him. Not bad.

Venerable Hamu starter Takeda was pretty solid himself early on, allowing only Kakunaka to reach base in the first three innings (and Kakunaka was erased on a strike out/throw out DP soon after). But that would change – Chiba bats would eventually get to Takeda for 10 hits and two walks, though mystifyingly skipper Kuriyama left him in the entire game, 130 pitches and all.

Score! Score! Score! Score!
You’ve seen the score, you know Our Marines came back to win it. How’d they do it? In the 5th, Daichi stroked a one out double, and Hosoya (starting at first, Iguchi played DH tonight) singled to put runners on second and third with one out. Just like the Fighters first inning, right? Right – right down to the sac fly to score a run, this one by Satozaki to tie it at 1-1. After a walk to Nemoto, Saburo pinch hit for Okada², and he crushed a ball super deep, way off the top of the left field fence. That scored Hosoya easily – Lotte takes a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish.

² I will die a happy man if I never need repeat that phrase again.

The lead ran to 3-1 Chiba when Imae jumped on the third pitch from Takeda in the 6th and simply beefed it into the left field stands. Manly. What’s more manly is that Gori added yet another run by singling in the 8th with T OGINO and Iguchi sitting on the sacks – another nice game by Mr Playoffs.

Fujioka got into a jam in the bottom of the inning but Hattori pulled him out of it with an inning-saving pop out. Hamu did score two more runs – both on groundouts (one on Ueno, the other on Uchi in his second inning of work) but Good Ol Masuda (ahem, he’s still just a young pup at 23, too) closed out the 9th via K, a nifty snag of a Yoh liner, and an induced foul pop to end it. Nice win!

The next game is a Gambler’s Nightmare as it features Wolfe vs the mercurial Ohtani. Anything between a no-no and a 10-run first inning is in play, to be honest.[/expand]

[expand title=” Game 2 (25 Sep) – Lotte loses 10-7″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Lotte: Tomohisa Ohtani (gulp!) 2-4, 6.25 ERA @ Hamu: Brian Wolfe 8-6, 2.79 ERA

By Steve Novosel Tell me what you see when you see that score above. Do you see a blowout? Do you see a barn burner that went back and forth before getting out of hand? Yes? I’ll tell you what I see, and what I saw – a game that got way, way out of hand early on before the B-squad ran it damn near all the way back. The late Lotte rally fell a bit short, and Hamu took game two of this series 10-7.”]

10 runs? Yuk! Why no Mr Yuk, then, Steve? I’ll tell you why – Our Marines had no business making this a close game, yet they did. Ohtani got the start as mentioned and he was pretty terrible as feared. It was said on the broadcast that with Fujioka’s good experience yesterday that Itoh-kantoku wanted to give Ohtani another chance to do well as a starter. I admire the sentiment, especially since we are in dire need of starting arms right now, but was this the game to experiment with such things?

I’m not going to beat on Ohtani-kun other than to say there was no point in this game that he gave any indication of being able to get guys out. I would have pulled him earlier than Itoh did – probably after the 3-run second inning that could have been worse. His final line for the evening – 3+ innings, 8 hits, 2 walks (including one with bases loaded) and a HBP. 6 ER. Yuk.

Ueno-kun took over for Ohtani in the third with the bases loaded and really was pretty poor himself – 4 more runs allowed in the inning, 2 of them earned. By the end of the 4th inning the recently anemic Hamu offense had racked up 10 runs in total for a huge 10-2 lead.

I’m not going to write it up in detail, but if you want to see one of the most comically inept sequences of baseball you’ll ever see, go look at the highlights of Sugiya’s bad attempt at sac bunting in the 4th and half the Chiba infield’s attempt at trying to field it. I can’t possibly describe it adequately without it becoming a novel.

Let’s Make It Interesting, Boys!
Hamu starter Wolfe was pretty decent through 3, but Lotte got to him for a pair in the fourth. Iguchi got painfully plunked (he would be pulled for Fukuura), Imae singled and the injured Kakunaka beat out an infield single to load the bases with no outs. A ground out by Saburo and a sac fly by Braz brought in two guys to tighten a 3-0 game to 3-2.

Then, nothing. Three innings of nada. The lineup changed drastically – Iguchi, Imae, Kakunaka, Saburo, Satozaki all out. It looked like both teams were content to finish up and go home. Nemoto struck out to start the 8th against Wolfe, but then suddenly – the hits started to come. First it was T OGINO with a single, then Fukuura, then Hosoya. Hmm, interesting. Wolfe stayed in to face Ishimine (I wondered at the time if Kuriyama-kantoku had a bullpen available or not! (Actually, I am still wondering)) – Ishimine double, Lotte down 10-4. Hmmm. THAT brought out a new pitcher, Inui. Single – Okada. 10-5. Ground out Braz – 10-6. Single Daichi – 10-7. HMMMMM indeed!

That brought up the bottom of the order, and that had gone Satozaki –> Emura a long time before. It’s a good chance for Emura to show what he can do – NOPE. Getting pulled for Kanazawa. I asked on Twitter for someone to explain Itoh’s love of Kanazawa to me, no response. Kanazawa is a marginally better hitter than Emura – we’re talking .190 v .175 here, folks – and a markedly worse catcher. Well, it’s done, what can he do? Three pitch K.

Still, 5 runs! Chance!

9th inning now, top of the order back up. A T OGINO walk and a Fukuura single (A modasho! For Fukuura! So nice.) brings the tying run to the plate in the form of Hosoya. Who would have thought after 4 that we’d have a chance to tie? But alas, this was not a fairy-tale ending tonight, Hosoya Kei K, Ishimine ground out, game, set.

The good news is Daiei lost so we keep the 2 game lead. The bad news is Seibu won, so they are just 1 behind the Hawks and 3 back of us with 10 to go. But the best news of all? Check out tomorrow’s starter.

Nishino.[/expand]

[expand title=” Game 3 (26 Sep) – Lotte loses 6-5″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Lotte: Yuji Nishino 9-6, 3.61 ERA @ Hamu: Shohei Ohtani 3-0, 4.17 ERA

By Steve Novosel Given that Daiei and Seibu both lost making our lead the same as yesterday, and given that we had only two hits as late as the 9th inning tonight, I suppose I shouldn’t be as upset about tonight’s 6-5 loss to Hamu as I am. But dammit, I AM! We had them, despite the lack of offense. But bad breaks and super bad defense allowed a 3-0 lead to slip away, and the playing-for-pride Fighters to take the series.”]

This whole game was odd, from the first to the end. Mostly the first, though. Starting pitcher and Boy Wonder Shohei Ohtani did everything wrong except give up a hit and beat up the ball girl to start the game. That included a HBP to T OGINO (hey!!), three walks including one with the bases loaded, and a passed ball (Yeah, I know that’s on the catcher. Don’t ruin my narrative, kay?) – all of it summed up to a 2-0 Lotte lead after one.

Our friend Nishino was back in action for the first time in weeks, and he looked MUCH better than last we saw. Though if I must be honest (I must! I must!) he was saved by some sick defense in the first. First was T OGINO making an incredible running diving sliding catch to rob a hit, then it was Okada’s turn to smash into the fence, and the third out was by Hosoya, making snagging a liner at third seem like child’s play.

There isn’t a whole lot to argue about with Nishino’s first five innings, actually – 1 hit, no runs, a walk and a HBP. I’d say he’s back.

But the 6th. Oh the 6th. In the Lotte half, good! A T OGINO single, second pilferation, and BRAZ timely single brought made it 3-0. The bottom half – well, this is why I was mad.

Yoh reached base first – he broke his bat on a grounder but the bat messed up Daichi’s fielding – safe. So unlucky. Then Sugiya bounces a ball to Nishino – just off his glove, just off Daichi’s glove, safe. Should be two outs. Naturally the next batter – fly ball Nishikawa for ~~out three~~ out one, a sac fly, and a 3-1 game. Abreu grounded out on a little check swing to Fukuura (starting at first) – should have been a DP, but nobody covered second so just one out. A Koyano single brought in Sugiya – should have been no runs, but it’s 3-2.

Itoh’s had enough – he’s going to Ledezma in the pen. Fair enough, I suppose, though little of what happened before was Nishino’s fault. Ledezma gets Satoh to fly out to left, a fairly routine fly, it seems, but it’s Saburo out there and he’s not very good OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Not only is Saburo late to the ball, he tries to make a shoestring catch and the ball goes by. That’s about the 5th out of the inning but really, it’s a tie game and a “triple”. Ledezma gives up another walk and hit for good measure, and that nifty little 3-0 lead is a 4-3 deficit.

Rosa takes over in the 7th and just to make it even more challenging for us gives up a 2-run bomb to Abreu – 6-3 Hamu. Abreu really belted that one, BTW – that’s why he leads the PL in dingers.

Not only can Our Marines still not get a hit, they can’t even get on base. 9 in a row retired by Tanimoto, Masui, and Miyanishi brings it to the 9th – AKA Lotte’s last stand. But hey, they’re going to make a good one.

With one out, Daichi, Hosoya, and Kanazawa all single to load the bases off Fighters closer Takeda. THAT’S a big chance. In comes Imae as pinch hitter – he’s out of the lineup tonight while resting his injured leg. Takeda plunks him on the arm (he’s OK) – it’s a run in! Up next is T OGINO – sac fly, Hosoya in! 6-5 now. In comes Nemoto… ground out. Ahhh.

It was a frustrating, annoying game, and the loss plus the Rakuten win allowed them to seal the PL pennant. But since Daiei lost we still maintain the 2 game lead. I guess that’s all that’s really important right now.[/expand]

September 24, 2013
Wins Needed Now – Orix Series: 17-18 Sep 2013

Series Preview: I’m not going to lie to you – this team needs wins in the worst way right now. September is not exactly looking like July yet, but the 5-6 record so far this month is the second worst month for Our Marines this season. The team batting average so far this month is a limp .227, and the ERA has ballooned to 4.37. Not coincidentally, Nishino and Greisinger are out with arm injuries, and Naruse is still absent from the roster.

This team needs a boost, and needs it now. There’s just 17 games left in the season and Daiei has crept to within 0.5 games of Chiba in the race for second.

[expand title=” Game 1 (17 Sep) – Lotte Loses 10-4″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Orix: Chihiro Kaneko 11-8, 2.09 ERA @ Lotte: Yuki Karakawa 9-9, 3.98 ERA

By Steve Novosel Baseball is a cruel, cruel game sometimes, and for Our Marines Tuesday night’s game was just one of those times. The Baby-Faced Killer took the hill vs Orix ace Kaneko at QVC, and instead of the great pitching duel we hoped for young Karakawa was victimized by bad calls, bad defense, and frankly baffling management decisions as Lotte got murdered 10-4.

“]
In fact, Karakawa himself took almost all of those 10 runs on his ledger – 4 IP, 13 hits, 9 ER, 120 pitches. This is completely inexplicable to me. This is We LOVE Marines, and of course it’s also We LOVE The Baby-Faced Killer, but for the life of me I cannot understand what compelled Itoh-kantoku to leave Yuki out there for so long. Did he write the game off and wanted to save the pen? Punishment? I have no hypothesis, I can only shake my head.

To be honest, the outcome in a parallel universe could have been much different for Karakawa. In the first inning, Orix’s Adachi drew a walk and with two outs swiped second. I was in the ticket line at the time and watching the game on TV, and from the replay of this steal it seemed pretty clear that the ball arrived to the bag in time to get Adachi. Nemoto thought so, too, but the umpire disagreed. If that’s an out, that’s the end of the first, but instead Lee Dae Ho singled to score Adachi and the rout was on. 4 runs in the inning for Orix, Chiba down 4-0 before even coming to bat.

In the second – something even more inexplicable: Okada misplayed a ball in center. A run would have scored via sac fly, but instead it was a 2-run double for… Yeah, Lee Dae Ho¹. That’s right, instead of a 1-0 game at this point it was 6-0 – Karakawa gave up 6 runs on 8 hits through 2.

¹ Man, how I would LOVE to have that guy on my team. Hits for average and power and plays a nice first base. He’s a free agent, and there’s the natural Lotte-Korea connection, so maybe?

Karakawa was at 80 pitches to start the 4th, and clearly he had little left in the tank. Orix batters recorded 4 more hits and a walk off Yuki in that inning – that’s 4 more runs, putting Chiba down 10-0 after 3.5 innings. I need to emphasize this again – I cannot come up with any reason to keep him in that long, to allow him to give up that much, to put the team that deep in a hole. Ohtani took over in the 5th and went the rest of the way – a very nice bit of work in relief, to be honest. 5 IP, 4 hits, 4 Ks, no runs. Were it that his starts were more like that stat line…

It’s not very often that a team will come back from 10 runs down, and sure enough, Chiba did not. But in the last thee frames, mostly after Kaneko had left the game, the bats did score a few to make the final a bit more respectable. I was in the infield unreserved seats, and there happened to be a few cheering friends sitting nearby. So when Lotte started to get some men on base and in scoring position, we cheered very loudly. In the 9th, with Our Marines trying to claw back in it, we had a good 20 people standing in a group and cheering loudly before the Fun Police² came to break it up.

² It didn’t use to be that the QVC security staff was so quick to break up celebrations in the infield seats, but they’ve really been after it all year. I’m not sure why a group of people standing and singing (not blocking anyone’s view, either) is now a crime, but apparently it is.

Nemoto, Iguchi, Imae (3-4 in his first game back), and Kakunaka all recorded hits against Orix reliever Toda in the bottom of the 9th to make it a 10-4 game and give us fans a little sliver of hope, but Our Marines couldn’t score anymore, so 10-4 was the final.

The Hawks lost so we still have a 0.5 game lead for second, but Seibu is creeping up, just 4 out of third and 4.5 out of second. 16 games to go, it’s going to be interesting![/expand]

[expand title=” Game 2 (18 Sep) – Lotte Loses 7-6″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Orix: Yuji Maeda 2-3, 1.94 ERA @ Lotte: Takahiro Fujioka 5-8, 4.01 ERA

By Steve Novosel With no outs in the bottom of the first inning, sacks stuffed with Men of Lotte, Imae stepped to the plate and belted a cutter hung over the middle of the plate deep into the left field stands for a super duper quick 4-0 Lotte lead. I said to myself, ‘Self, it simply doesn’t get any better than this.’

I was oh too right – the bullpen imploded and Our Marines dropped a heartbreaker to Orix, 7-6.“]

I actually took this with my camera, handheld, on Wednesday night. I like it.
Fujioka-kun gave us a very Fujioka start, showing why he was arguably the most coveted pitcher in the 2011 draft and why he has spent most of this season coming out of the pen. On one hand, his stuff was great – 7 Ks in 5 innings of work, real bite in his pitches, fire in his demeanor. But on the other hand – 5 innings. It took Fujioka 47 pitches to get through the first two innings despite not allowing a hit and only a pair of walks. He came into the 5th inning already at 90+ pitches thanks to going deep into counts with pretty much every batter. Orix scored two runs off of him on a timely single by Itoi in the third and a two-out homer by Adachi in the 5th. It was certainly a respectable outing and more than enough to give him another look as a starter soon (especially given the utter lack of depth in the rotation right now.) It would just be nice if that 5 IP were a 7 IP.

Fujioka was not the problem with this game, though. Nope, that was the pen, and the 6th inning walkapalooza. Nakagoh took over for Fujioka and was not at all effective – a single, an unlucky infield single, and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Out went Nakagoh, in came Nin Nin – who’s ERA has gone from sub-1.00 in late June to over 3.50 now. And right after coming in, Hattori gave up a single to Hirano to score a run, a bases-loaded walk to Adachi to tie it, then another to Lee Dae Ho to push Orix into the lead. Out went Hattori, in came Ueno, and immediately his old teammate (La La La La) Takehara singled in a pair. Yup, from a 4-2 lead to a 7-4 deficit just like that.

I can use some simple metrics to tell you just how excruciating that inning was for Fans of Lotte – 3 outs, 45m. 45m! Who ever heard of a 45m half inning?

Ueno, Ledezma, and Carlos Rosa were fine the rest of the way but the damage was done. Our Marines would claw back a run in the bottom of the 6th with a solo shot by the inimitable Kakunaka, and one more in the 9th via BRAZ double and Daichi timely. That made it 7-6, but there was no more gas in the tank, and Hirano closed it out.

In the preview two days ago I said “this team needs wins in the worst way right now” and we got bupkis. Not surprisingly, Daiei got more than bupkis and now has a 0.5 game lead on Chiba. That’s not good. But that just makes the upcoming 3-game weekend series vs the Hawks that much more interesting, right?

[/expand]

Series Post-Script: There was a very large group of foreign fans in the outfield for Wednesday’s game, and it looked like they had a great time. If you read this, you were on TV whole bunch, especially in the late innings. Give us a shout and tell us how you enjoyed the game!

September 17, 2013
Rough Up Rakuten! 10-12 September 2013

Series Preview: Folks, this is the last stand vs Rakuten. If Our Marines have any chance at all at winning the Pacific League title this year this series must be won. Not only won, we need to sweep it. There’s still 5 games left with the Eagles, 4 of them are at home, and 3 of them are happening this week.

There is no denying these are the most crucial games to date this season.

The pitching staff is hurting – Nishino out, Naruse out – as are the position players with Imae off the roster. Yet still we sit in second place. We can do this.

[expand title=” Game 1 (10 Sep) – Lotte Wins 9-2 ” trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Rakuten: Kenny Ray 0-0, 1.96 ERA @ Lotte: Yuki Karakawa 8-9, 4.12 ERA”]

By Steve Novosel In the bottom of the Lotte Lucky 7, in my perch in the right field stands of QVC on this lovely late-summer evening, with Our Marines sitting on a 5-1 lead with the bases loaded and Nemoto at the plate, Nemoto swinging at a 2-0 pitch from Koyama, making great contact, the ball sailing high and deep through the air, at that time – I was inspired to song.”]

from marines.co.jp

With extreme apologies to Dexy’s Midnight Runners…

Come On Marines
Poor old Kenny Ray
He took a ball off the head¹
Had to leave the game
In came Fukuyama
Then Koyama
Gave up a grand slam

We scored runs, nine runs
Now we’re closer to the pennant
(Come on Marines!)
Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye-ay!
Their lead is down to five games

Come on Marines
Oh I swear
On this evening, it was a hell of a game
With that offense
And the pitching
Pretty filthy
Oh come on, Marines!

Ahem.

¹Actually, I don’t mean to make light of the Ray incident. He took a Daichi liner off his face in the second inning and had to be rushed to the hospital. Apparently he has a broken bone in his face.

The Baby-Faced Killer was superb in this start, going 7 innings and only allowing one run. He lost his last game after pitching so well early on, this time plenty of Lotte run support and tough pitching when getting into a jam allowed Yuki to make his longest start in 2 months. With this win, Karakawa has won 4 of his last 5 starts. So nice to have him back.

Ray got himself into a lot of trouble before the accident in the second. In the bottom of the first, Kakunaka led off with a double to deep left, and a Nemoto grounder bumped him to second allowing Iguchi to plate Kakunaka easily via the sac fly – 1-0 Lotte.

In the bottom of the second, Saburo (starting in left) completely crushed a 2-0 fastball to center, ricocheting the ball off an unsuspecting cameraman and giving Chiba the 2-0 lead. Daichi got on next via the ball off Ray, so Fukuyama came in as an emergency reliever. Two batters later, Hosoya Kei (starting at third for the injured Imae) belted a fastball almost to the same spot as Saburo – his first homer of the year (and only the 5th of his career) and a 4-0 Lotte lead!

Fukuyama settled down after that, and Rakuten score a run in the third to make it a 4-1 game. Koyama took over in the 6th and sent the boys back to the bench in order. Our Marines were far from being finished scoring, though,as Koyama’s good pitching did not extend to the Lucky 7.

Daichi led of the frame with a single to left, and a T OGINO sac bunt sent him to second. Possibly annoyed by such tactics, Koyama plunked Satozaki in the back and walked Hosoya to load the bases for Kakunaka with just one out. And Kakunaka delivered – a single to center, Daichi in, a 5-1 Lotte lead! But wait, there’s more, there’s NEMOTO – his drive was never ever in doubt. Nemoto looked at it for a second, tossed the bat, and bounded around the sacs for his first ever grand slam. 9-1 Lotte, a total laugher, and one pissed off Hoshino-kantoku in the dugout. Mission accomplished.

Rakuten got a meaningless run in the top of the 9th via a big line drive homer by Andruw Jones off the normally reliable Rosa² but who cares. We all knew who was winning this one.

²It would seem that pitch was one of Rosa’s 99 problems, to be honest.

It felt great, but it’s just one game. We demand MORE. More comes tomorrow as Ohtani faces Mima back at QVC.

Come on Marines, Too-ra-ay
Come on Marines, Too-ra-ay
Come on…

[/expand]
[expand title=” Game 2 (11 Sep) – Lotte Loses 7-0″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Rakuten: Manabu Mima 5-4, 4.44 ERA @ Lotte: Tomohisa Ohtani 2-3, 6.00 ERA”]

By Steve Novosel This game was the polar opposite of Tuesday’s win. Ohtani got stomped on early and often, giving up a pair of 3-run HRs to Andruw Jones and Casey McGehee in just 3 2/3 innings as Lotte dropped the second game of this series 7-0. So much for ‘must win.’”]
What you really need to know about this game is this: For the second time in a month Ohtani coughed up a big first inning bomb, but unlike that game in August he stayed in long enough to give up another. And yet again, should-be-starters Ueno and Fujioka had to rescue the game. They pitched great, but you don’t get so many 7 run comebacks.

Fujioka was more than great – 5 IP, 2 H, no runs. Too bad they were innings 5-9 when nothing was really at stake anymore. As for Ohtani – he had shown some signs of quality recently as his start against Daiei last month was quite strong, but after this one it’s hard to see how he gets any many more chances to start, even with our decimated rotation. ‘Fun’ Ohtani fact: In 39 IP this year he’s given up 8 HRs, which puts him 15th on the PL list of homers yielded in about a third of the IP of the leaders. I LIKE Ohtani, but he needs to spend some time in ni-gun to figure this out.

The offense? Stinky. A chance for runs in the first ended in a DP, and the only other bright spot was a T OGINO modasho. But that’s not all that bright of a bright spot when you’re getting slaughtered. Credit goes to Mima, Kaneta, and Kamata (welcome back!) for shutting down the same lineup that scored 9 the night before.

The deficit behind the Eagles is back to 6, and as I write this it looks like Daiei is going to win, so the relationship between Our Marines and their pursuers is going to tighten up a bit. Let’s get a win tomorrow.
[/expand]

[expand title=” Game 3 (12 Sep) – Lotte Loses 6-2″ trigclass=”arrowright” tag=”h24″ notitle=”true” excerpt=”Rakuten: Jim Heuser 1-1, 8.04 ERA @ Lotte: Seth Greisinger 5-3, 4.50 ERA”]

By: Craig Roberts Sorry for the delay folks, we’ve both been a little preoccupied with Coco Balentien’s quest for HR #56. As I write this, Play Ball is just over an hour away in our next series. So, I’m going to keep this short.

A Lotte failure to turn a double play in the 6th was the pivotal moment of this game. Seth Greisiner threw five shutout innings of baseball, but was pulled after giving up the tying run to Kaz Matsui with one out in the 6th. Matsui’s hit also loaded the bases, as Nakagoh came in to relief Seth in a tight spot with the scoreboard reading 1-1. Nakagoh got Shima to hit what should have been an inning ending double 6-4-3 double play. Daichi quickly tossed the ball to second for the first out, and Nemoto had plenty of time to beat the veteran catcher Shima with a throw to first. However, Nemo short hopped the throw a bit wide of the bag and Iguchi couldn’t scoop it up. Instead of escaping with the tie intact, two Eagles crossed the plate to make it a 3-1 game. Rakuten tacked on one more before the inning was over to put Lotte in a 4-1 hole. Two more Rakuten runs in the ninth basically sealed the deal at 6-2.

The closet our Marines came after the top of the 6th was 4-2 after a Kei Hosoya solo shot in the 7th. Our other run on the night came earlier on a Daichi RBI single in the 4th. Hosoya and Daichi each had two hits on the night. It was an unlucky night for Iguchi (1-for-3 BB), who was robbed of two additional hits and likely 2RBI thanks to two nice defensive plays by the Eagles outfield.

[/expand]

September 10, 2013
Lotte Walks Off in 11!

Photo from marines.co.jp

Things didn’t start pretty for Our Marines on Wednesday night. The first place Rakuten Eagles started the game by putting a crooked number 4 on the scoreboard in the first inning off starter Seth Greisinger. Seth managed to settle down though, going 5 innings while only giving up one additional run. This kept Chiba within striking distance, allowing for a comeback win in one of the most exciting game thus far in 2013. Veteran catcher Satozaki hit a sayonara solo home run in the 11th, giving Lotte a 6-5 11th inning walk off win!

Chiba faced a four run deficit on two separate occasions tonight, down 4-0 after just half an inning, and 5-1 after 4. The first Chiba run came on a Kakunaka single in the first, knocking in t.ogino (or as Steve would say T. OGINO, had a 3-for-5 modasho today). Lotte’s second run came on a Craig Brazell 5th inning solo shot (7 HR in 26 G) putting us back within 3 runs at 5-2. Chiba wasn’t finished scoring in the 5th though, as the next batter Daichi walked followed by Ohmastu knocking him in with an RBI double. Ohmatsu reached 3rd safely after the throw to the plate, allowing the next batter Satozaki to send him home on an sac fly to deep right-center. Rakuten starter Mima would be chased from the game after a 2-out Ogino single, and the 5th inning ended with the score 5-4 Eagles leading.

Lotte had a two out bases loaded chance in the 6th, thanks to three walks, but Satozaki stuck out swinging to end the threat. The score remained 5-4 until the 8th, when Kakunaka and Imae lead off with a walk and a base hit respectively. Kakunaka went first to third on Imae’s single to right, called safe only because 3B Casey McGehee dropped the ball while applying the tag at third after a strong throw from right. Next up, Craig Brazell delivered again, tying the game at 5-5 on a base hit through the right side of the infield. After a sac bunt by Daichi and a walk of the intentional variety to Fukuura, Satozaki came up with the bases loaded and 1 out. But neither he, nor PH Hisao Heiuchi could deliver, as both struck out looking in succession.

The game continued into the 11th inning, thanks to 6 scoreless innings of relief by Fujioka (1 2/3 IP), Ueno (1 IP), Hattori (1/3 IP), Uchi (1 IP), Masuda (1 IP), Matsunaga (1 IP and the W). Finally Satozaki put an end to the madness, leading off the bottom of the 11th by taking an 0-1 pitch to the opposite field for a solo walk off homerun! Sato-chan rounded the bases grinning ear-to-ear, and was mobbed by his teammates waiting for him at home celebrating the sayonara win.

The Marines look to complete the sweep of the Eagles tomorrow night. Rakuten came into the series with a 6.5 game lead over Lotte in the PL. Now, our boys are only 4.5 back, and 3 up on Seibu and Soft Bank in the two spot. We have now won 3 in a row, and are 8-2 in our last 10. Shunsuke Watanabe was called up from Ni-gun to start tomorrow night versus Rakuten’s Norimoto.

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Injury Update: CLICK HERE

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Satozaki Photo Gallery, because why not?

from marines.co.jp

from marines.co.jp

August 15, 2013
Yick – Lotte @ Seibu, 5 July 2013

Tonight at the Seibu Dome, Lotte bats launched a 7-hit barrage against Seibu starter Yusei Kikuchi – 2 doubles, 5 singles, and throwing in 5 walks for good measure. Seth Greisinger took the mound for Our Marines, looking at times super sharp, holding Seibu to hits in only two innings and going 17 batters in a row without giving up a hit at one point. I don’t even have to tell you how this one ended up, do I? Seibu 7, Lotte 2. Egads.

Sometimes You Can Just Copy And Paste
Yup, that’s what I just did – that’s basically the summary of the game on the 25th at Kyocera Dome vs Orix. Tonight’s game was much the same – Greisinger looking awful early and late but spectacular in the middle innings, Lotte batters getting on base time and time again but only managing 2 runs (and one runner thrown out at the plate).

To tell you the truth, I don’t want to dwell that much on this game. Lotte pitchers struck out 11 but gave up 7 runs on 7 hits, including 2 big homers by Asamura and Ginjiro. Lotte’s only runs came in the first (on an Imae single) and the 8th (a Kakunaka double). No homers, no big rallies.

Rakuten lost so by some miracle Lotte is still in first despite getting blasted three games in a row now. Tomorrow’s game features Seibu’s Togame vs our newly minted Ace Nishino. He’s going to stop this run of bad pitching, I feel it…

July 5, 2013
Start Me Up

Our Marines fell 5-3 to the Nippon-Ham Fighters in the rubber match of a 3 game set. As the line score shows, the teams combined for 8 runs in the first 3 innings, only to combined for 5 hits and 0 runs for the remaining 6 innings. Starting pitcher Fujioka lasted only 3 innings, shouldering responsibility for all 5 of the Fighters runs on the evening.

Let’s Talk Starting Pitching

Starting pitching depth looms over the Marines as the biggest question mark heading into the dog days of summer. Let us not forget, last year’s Lotte club was also in first place at this point in the season. A lack of pitching depth is what doomed us to finish in 5th place.

During an inter-league stretch that consisted of only 4-5 games a week, Itoh-Kantoku could rely mostly on a 4-man rotation. For the rest of the year though, Itoh has 6 starting pitcher slots that need to be filled. Tonight’s starter Fujioka settled in nicely to a role in the bullpen during inter-league play, riding an 8 2/3 inning scoreless streak heading into tonight’s game. Though tonight, he did not adapt well back into a starter’s shoes.

Fujioka’s final line tonight was: 3IP, 5H, 2HR, 2K, 2BB, 1HBP, 5ER. The first home run came way of a deep 2-run shot to left-center by Sho Nakata in the 1st inning. Michel Abreu blasted an even deeper ball to the back of the left-center field stands for a solo-shot in the 3rd. Fujioka’s high point of the night occurred while facing the top of the Fighters’ lineup, he escaped a bases-loaded 1-out 2nd inning jam by surrendering only one run.

A Near Miss

A 3-run bottom of the 3rd for Lotte breathed new life into tonight’s game. Little did we know at the time, this would be the last of all run scoring for the night. T.Ogino got the Marines on the board first. His high fly ball to left with 1 out somehow just carried over the fence for a 2-run dinger, knocking in Daichi Suzuki who reached earlier on a HBP. It was suddenly only 5-2 Nippon-Ham thanks to Ogino’s HR. Nemoto kept things going with a sinking drive to center field. Center Fielder Yoh couldn’t squeeze the ball into his glove amidst a sliding attempt, and Nemo reached second with a double. After a Kakunaka fly out, the next batter Iguchi hit a routine grounder right at the third baseman Koyano. Koyano booted the ball, and Iguchi would reach base safely on the error.

Imae grins, as he reaches second safely on a ball that just missed being a go-ahead 3R HR.

Next, Imae came to the plate with 2 out and runners on the corners. SMASH! A high hit ball to left…WAY BACK, WAY BACK….And off the top of the wall! Nemo came in to score to cut the Fighters’ lead to 5-3. Imae just missed a go-ahead 3 run home run. The next batter Satozaki ended the inning by lining out to second base. At the time, Imae’s near miss seemed like a bad break for sure. But with 8 runs scored in the first 3 innings, the feeling was that there would be plenty more chances at the plate for both teams…

Or not

…Ya, that didn’t happen. Lotte would go on to get only 2 more hits the rest of the night. The Fighters narrowly edged them out with 3 hits of their own. Once again, our bullpen did an exemplary job in long relief to keep us in a game. Tonight unfortunately, it was all for the sake of preserving a save situation for the Fighters. Ito (3IP), Nakagoh (1 2/3 IP), Hattori (1/3 IP), and Matsunaga (1IP) combined for 6 innings of scoreless relief.

Our Mairnes did make it interesting, bringing the potential tying run to the plate in the 9th after an Ohmatsu 1-out single. But the speedy pinch runner Ishimine would not advance past 1st, as Daichi Suzuki and pinch hitter Fukuura flied out and struck out respectively for the 2nd and 3rd outs.

The Fighters gain a game on us, and the rest of the PL picks up a half-a-game as a result of the loss. Our first place lead is now 1.5 games over SoftBank, 2 games over Rakuten.

Up next, Lotte will travel to Osaka for a 3 game set that starts tomorrow night. Karakawa (4-4, 3.56 ERA) will face off against Orix’s Chihiro Kaneko (4-5, 2.53 ERA) in game 1.

June 24, 2013
End Of Interleague, On To Pacific League

When Chunichi and Lotte get together, brevity and subtlety tend to go AWOL⁰. These last two games with the Dragons at QVC Marine Field were no exception. Saturday’s showdown required a furious comeback from 6 runs down and yet another one to tie it again, but Our Marines fell short in the 12th inning, losing 10-8. But runs came in bunches again on Sunday, and Lotte roared back from 2 runs down not once but twice, ultimately cruising to a very pleasing 9-5 win. And with that, my friends, the 2013 Interleague Series has ended.

⁰ Much like this post, I must say.

Game 1
I must tell you the truth – I didn’t know what to think about this game when it ended and 2 days later, I still don’t know.

On one hand, the pitching got pummeled to the tune of 10 runs, 22 hits, and 3 homers including an insanely big, 2-run 12th inning, game-winning jack by Matt Clark. Our ace Naruse got beat up at home by light-hitting Chunichi – 6 runs, 4 of them earned. The defense committed 4 errors. 4! 4!!

None of this is remotely good.

On the other hand, down 7-1 in the 8th inning, Our Marines said “NO SEÑOR you will NOT win in that fashion in our stadium, you will have to find some other way to win but you are NOT going to do it that way!”¹ and scored 6 to tie the game. And in the 9th after a costly, costly throwing error by Imae let Chunichi take the lead again, Our Marines said “NO! Absolutely NOT! NO! You cannot win like that either! You must find some other way to win but not like that, definitely NOT like that!” and tied the game on a superb 2-out, bottom of the 9th smashy smash by Iguchi.²

¹ Perhaps they didn’t say it exactly like that?
² Of course, the Dragons did eventually find a way to win that all parties could agree upon. Dammit.

From marines.co.jp

This is all good.

So maybe my feelings on this game are just entertained ambivalence? How else should one feel about the second longest 12-inning game in Japanese history, beating one of my favorite games ever by 2 minutes and only 10 minutes shorter than the longest ever? After all, these two teams played a 15-inning tie and a 12-inning Lotte win on back-to-back nights in November 2010 – what else should we expect?

A (Not So) Quick Rundown
Chunichi got off to a quick start in the first thanks to an Araki (5-7 with 3 runs scored on the night) double – actually a triple but a fielding error was charged to Ishimine for fumbling the ball – and a single by Clark. Rapidly 1-0 Chunichi.

But just as rapidly – no, even rapidlier – Nemoto tied the game on the first pitch he saw from Dragons starter Ohno. Hello, left stands, and welcome to your tie game.

Despite 6 more Lotte baserunners over the next 6 innings, that first pitch was pretty much it for Our Marines. There was not a whole heck of a lot coming across the plate. On the other half of the scorecard, though, it was Batting Festa for Chunichi. An unearned run in the 4th, another regular run in the 5th, 3 more runs in the 7th – Naruse pulled (a rather miserable outing – 6 1/3, 110 pitches, 10 hits, 6 runs (4 earned), a pair of walks, only 3 Ks and a 2 run homer by Luna. I think we’ve seen better from him), Ueno in and also ineffective. A solo shot by Oshima off Ueno to lead off the 8th and whoops, it’s 7-1 Dragons. Hmmph.

But the Lotte 8th? Magic, folks. Ohno, Suzuki, Kobayashi, Nakata – none of these Chunichi arms could slow down the Lotte attack. First it was Ishimine with a single, then Nemoto. Then a double from T OGINO plates Ishimine, and another by Iguchi-saaaan! plates two more. Ooooh….. Imae and Saburo make it two outs but a walk comes next to Daichi and there goes Kakunaka with a single up the middle – Kawamoto in for Emura, light-hitting Kawamoto, and he drills a liner off the third base bag! Iguchi in, Daichi in, and Our Marines were BACK! All the way to an unbelievable 7-7 tie!

Our joy was short lived, though. Masuda came in and gave up quick singles with no outs to Iwasaki and Fujii. He coaxed a DP out of ~~Doala~~ Morino, sending Iwasaki to third. Ibata lines a hot shot to Imae, who makes a nice play on the ball, fires to first and auuuuuggh! Throwing error…. All that effort wasted, 8-7 Chunichi.

But no, not really – as I mentioned earlier, Iguchi was having none of that, he was tying the game in the bottom of the 9th. This one just had to go to extra innings. Why not, with this much fun? I should add it was already over 4 hours at this point.

Extra Time, Extra Drama
The day was patrolled by Naruse, Ueno, and Masuda, but the evening went to Matsunaga, Carlos Rosa, Hattori, and Nakagoh. Unfortunately only 3 of the 4 could get the job done³.

Lotte had the first real chance – bases loaded, 2 outs in the 10th, Nemoto at the plate – but it was a weak fly ball ending the inning. Mottainai. Chunichi managed the rare 4 hits in an inning yet no runs scored and no double plays feat (thanks to a nifty pickoff by Rosa) in the 11th, and the Chiba bats went meekly in the bottom of the 11th.

³ If you can call Rosa’s 4-hits-but-somehow-no-runs outing “getting it done”

That led to Nakagoh in the 12th, just needing 3 outs to guarantee a tie and a miracle escape. But Our Marines ran fresh out of miracles, and with Araki on first Matt Clark leveled a Nakagoh pitch about as far as could be… leveled, way way way into the upper reaches of right field. He posed for some time, threw the bat down with force, and strutted home.

This was how it would all end, 5:44 of exhausting baseball. A combined 18 runs (5 homers) and 36 hits on the evening for these two teams. The game was a 14:00 start and went on so long that the Lotte ouendan launched into the “Summer Evening” song.

Game 2
Wait, MORE baseball? And MORE post from Steve??? AMAZING.

I have no mixed feelings about this game. Sunday’s end of interleague play was a warm blanket on a cool autumn evening, the ice-cold beer after a hard day’s work, that indescribable X that you need and you didn’t know you needed until you got it. I liked it, in short.

Birthday Boy Yuta Ohmine got the start vs 74-year-old Masa Yamamoto. Whoops! That should be 47-year old, but in baseball years that’s basically 74 (though amazingly, even though he’s been playing in NPB since 1986, Yamamoto is still a reasonably effective pitcher.) Ohmine has hit a few recent speed bumps since starting the season quite strongly – he hasn’t made it longer than 3 innings in his last 3 starts (including this one, sadly), though there was no reason he should have been pulled in his start at Koshien last weekend. Still, with a bit of rain in the area and some recently-hot Chunichi bats, there was cause for concern.

And For Good Reason
Ohmine went from awful to very nice to even more awful in the course of his 2 1/3 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 5 ER (though with 4 Ks) outing. First inning, leadoff batter Oshima drew a quick walk, and when Araki squared to bunt him to second (yes, with no outs in the first! Lovely!) Ohmine fired one right off Araki’s helmet. Whoops. The umps discussed the pitch to see if it was an intentionally dangerous pitch (and automatic ejection) but Ohmine stayed in. A strikeout to Clark brought up Luna, who was soon driving a deep liner to right center past the glove of Ishimine (I’d rate that a Okada 4, Craig gave it an Okada 3, so the official ruling was Okada 3.5). 2 runs in, 2-0 Dragons.

Ohmine is not Mr Pitch Through Adversity, to say the least, but down 2-0 he pitched a very solid 2nd inning – 2 Ks and a meaningless single.

Bottom 2, T OGINO at the plate, T OGINO singling to lead off! Daichi up, he’s singling as well, and of course T OGINO is off to third. Runners on the corners, no outs for Emura…. Squeeeeeze, played perfectly. T OGINO races in and Lotte is on the board! But of course there’s more – Ishimine cranks a double to center and Daichi is in to tie it! What, still not done??? Nope! Nemoto draws a walk, and there’s good ol Kakunaka breaking up the tie with another single – Ishimine in, Our Marines up 3-2!

Alas, the Bad Ohmine came back in the third. 3 hits and a walk, Ohmine is gone, Fujioka (about the only pitcher who didn’t go on Saturday, no joke) in for the long haul. All told, Chunichi would pick up 3 runs of their own, grabbing back the lead and running it to 5-3 Dragons. The details are unimportant, honestly.

We Ain’t Going Out Like That
Fujioka settled in nicely. He was everything that he rarely is as a starter – efficient, keeping the at bats short, keeping runners off the paths, generally. All in all he went 4 2/3 of 4 hit, no run, 48 pitch ball to stabilize the team and set the stage for the later innings. Fantastic work, and I expect to see a rejuvenated Fujioka back in the rotation when PL play kicks off again.

Lotte Lucky 7 – still a 5-3 Chunichi lead. It’s time to make a move, and Our Marines made that move masterfully. Fukutani (rookie who shut down the Chiba chance in the 10th the night before) is in. Nemoto says “VENGEANCE IS MINE” with a single, Kakunaka says “Yeah, me too, MAN!” with one of his own. After an Iguchi K, Imae is up. No, Imae is belting a double to right center! Nemoto in, (“TOLD YOU SO!!” he screams, perhaps) Kakunaka in (“Yeah, me too!”), tie gaaaaame!

From Marines.co.jp

Saburo is up with the chance to get the lead, but it’s Saburo so of course he walks instead. T OGINO now has a chance, and he loops a fly to right center – the outfielders are in for some reason so Oshima has gotta race back… and he gets it. Man. Daichi draws a walk to load ’em up for Emura – Nooooo, NOT Emura but the other birthday boy, OHMATSU! Hard hitting, fan favorite Ohmatsu. Everybody loves Ohmatsu. Even Seibu fans love Ohmatsu, I’m sure. Ohmatsu. We need you! WE GOT YOU! Ohmatsu rifles a ball between second and first past a diving Araki! Imae in, Hayasaka (PR for Saburo) in, and on a bad throw from right Daichi in as well! From down to 3-5 to up 8-5! Amazing!!! We (ahem, OK, I) went crazy!

The game was over then. We all knew it. The happy song was played DURING the 7th inning. The rarely used “Chance 2” theme was sung. Fin. But just for fun, Kakunaka and Imae collaborated on an 8th-inning insurance run to make it a beautiful 9-5 Lotte victory. Fujioka, Imae, and of course Ohmatsu are the heroes, and as the clouds parted and the skies turned blue, Our Smiling Marines finished interleague with a nice 2 game lead over the rest of the PL. Fantastic.

I’m really stoked about the rest of the season now (as if I wasn’t before). We still have a bit over half the season to go, it’s going to be an interesting run to the PL flag!

June 16, 2013
Back To Our Winning Ways

From marines.co.jp

The four game losing streak is kaput. With the punch of 10 hits to propel them and the control of 4 pitchers to guide them home, Our Marines closed out the season series with the DeNA BayStars in grand fashion – an efficient 3-1 victory. With the win, Chiba stretches their lead in the Pacific League back to 1.5 games.

~~An Explosion of Power~~ NOT An Explosion of Power
Do you like your games filled with extra base hits? Then this game was not your cup of tea. DeNA and Lotte combined for 16 hits, and every last one was a single. Not only was every one of Lotte’s hits a single, 8 of them went right up the middle including the first 7 of the game.

No mind. The hits were there when we needed them. Imae led the charge from the 4-spot with a PERFECT 4-4 night, including the RBI that turned out to be the difference maker.

DeNA actually got on board first in this one thanks to a shaky first by Lotte starter Yuki Karakawa. A hit by leadoff batter Ishikawa and a walk to Tony Blanco (smart move!) set runners at first and second with two outs, but venerable Nakamura kocked a single to left to bring in Ishikawa. 1-0 DeNA after 1/2 inning.

Our Marines had a chance to score in the first after singles by T OGINO and Imae put runners on the corners with 2 outs, but Saburo struck out to end the chance.

In the third inning, Chiba would not let the chances go wasted. Ishimine (starting in center) lead off with a walk from DeNA starter Takasaki, and Nemoto bunted him to second. Just two pitches later, T OGINO singled up the middle and Ishimine raced on home. 1-1 tie game! Iguchi singled to send Ogino to second, Imae followed with his second single – Ogino in easily, and Our Marines in front 2-1 after 3!

5th inning – T OGINO belts a drive down the third base line but the nimble Nakamura makes a tremendous snag to prevent him from reaching base. The DeNA defense could do nothing to prevent Iguchi, Imae, and Saburo reaching by walk, single, and walk, though, setting the table for another big chance. Daichi Suzuki delivered a sac fly to right, Iguchi scores, and the lead is stretched to 3-1 Lotte.

From marines.co.jp

Relief On The Way
The word relief conjures up feelings of people helping people, and boy did the Lotte pen help out tonight. Karakawa came out to warm up for the 7th inning but was pulled before throwing a pitch. His night: 6 IP, 6 hits, 4 Ks, 2 BB, and just the 1 run on 102 pitches. It’s not close to his best outing but way more than adequate.

But the bullpen? Simply stunningly, stupendously subarashii. Fujioka comes in first – 3 up, 3 down with 2 Ks on 14 pitches. Next: Carlos Rosa – 3 up, 3 down with a strikeout on 11 pitches. And of course in to close it, Masuda – 3 up, 3 down with a strikeout on 12 pitches. Game, set and match.

That was Masuda’s 20th save of the year in Lotte’s 58th game (already????), putting him on track for 50 on the year. That would best the NPB record of 48 held by Iwase and Fujikawa. It’s a testament to both his personal success and the team’s success this season that we’re even mentioning him as having a chance at that record.

Up next is the final leg of Interleague 2013 – a 2 game weekend set with Chunichi, who are currently hapless on the mound and punchless at the plate. We gotta win these two and finish strong! Naruse vs Ono in Saturday’s game 1.

June 14, 2013
Shutdown in QVC
From Miura’s personal blog

The DeNA (nee Yokohama) BayStars rolled in to QVC on a damp Wednesday evening fronted by their ace, Daisuke Miura. 9 innings later Our Marines had been completely shutdown as Miura and Co. emerged on top via a a 3-0 shutout. With the loss, Chiba has dropped 4 in a row and the lead in the Pacific League is down to 1.5 games.

The game felt much like Saturday’s game at Koshien, although with much less hope for the men from Makuhari (and no screw job from the umpires). Yuji Nishino and his 6-1 record got the start tonight, and while he pitched perfectly adequately (6.1 innings pitched, 5 hits, 6 Ks, 4 BBs, 2 ER) it was by no means enough when Hama no Bancho was pitching so well.

The Scoring
This game was scoreless until the 5th inning, when Aranami led off with a single. A sac bunt and a walk to Ishikawa late, runners on 1st and second with one out, and Morgan hits a single to center plating Aranami. 1-0 DeNA.

In the 7th, Aranami was on second again after a walk and another sac bunt. Hattori took over for Nishino at this point. Ishikawa singled to move Aranami to third, and Morgan delivered yet again, grounding out but scoring Aranami making it 2-0 DeNA.

Hattori was pulled after the Morgan RBI ground out. Minami entered, and promptly gave up a deep double to Tamura. It was beyond the point where Okada could reach so you know it was a solid knock. Ishikawa scores and DeNA is sitting on an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Lotte At The Plate
……..

OK, maybe that’s slightly unfair but man, we had no chances at all in this game. Out in right field, we never even got a chance theme going. By my recollection the only runner that even reached scoring position was T OGINO in the 8th, who pinch hit for Emura and doubled. The only good thing to come from the offense was the return of fan-favorite Ohmatsu to the starting lineup. He accounted for two of the Lotte 4 hits on the evening (the aforementioned T OGINO double and a first inning Iguchi single being the other two). It’d be great if he could hit again like he did in 2009 and 2010 for us.

Miura’s final line – 9 innings, 4 hits, 4 Ks, 2 BBs, and no runs. That’s tough pitching.

Other Notes
- Karakawa gets the start vs Takasaki in the final game of the season for the two teams. Karakawa has had quality starts in 5 of the past 6 games so let’s hope he continues the nice pitching.
- Kakunaka has had a miserable past 4 games. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sits for a game or so if the poor hitting continues, though it’s unlikely vs righty Takasaki. You never know with Itoh-Kantoku, though.
- It looks like Satozaki might be back at ichi-gun next week! I want to see Emura develop and have more chance to play but we could definitely use the stability of Satozaki behind the plate.
June 12, 2013
Futility Reigns

Chiba Lotte ouenski well represented at Koshien Stadium. Photo from Steve at Koshien Stadium.

It was a rough afternoon for the Marines at Koshien Stadium, scoring only 3 runs on 15 hits while committing 2 errors. The season finale with the Tigers was punctuated by a Matt Murton sayonara homerun, as Hanshin walked off with a 4-3 win. Lotte hit into four double plays on the day, contributing to a total of ten men left on base. Starting pitcher Ohmine was pulled after three innings (0 ER) for the second straight start, while the NPB save leader Masuda was charged with his 3rd blown save and loss. The Marines finished the year winless against the Tigers at 0-3-1. Their lead in the Pacific League also falls to two games, and Lotte is now two games out of the inter-league title with only four games left to go.

Ohmine’s Ominous Opening

One began to get the feeling from first inning that the Marines were simply destined to go winless against the Tigers for the tenth straight try. Hard throwing 19 year old rookie Shintaro Fujinami set the tone for Hanshin, striking out two Marines in a 1-2-3 first. Ohmine seemed poised to counter with a 1-2-3 inning of his own, getting the first two outs in the bottom half of the inning followed by a Toritani ground ball to SS Daichi Suzuki. However, Daichi’s throw pulled Iguchi off the first base bag (although it appeared to me that Iguchi’s foot kept contact with the bag long enough to record the out), and Toritani was called safe at first with 2 outs.

Our first look at Tigers 19 year old rookie Shintaro Fujinami. Fujinami led Osaka Toin High School to the 2012 Spring and Summer Koshien National High School Championships. Photo from Steve at Koshien Stadium.

After Daichi’s throwing error, Matt Murton singled over the head of Nemoto at 2B. Next up Takahiro Arai, fresh off yesterday’s go-ahead 2 run homerun, lined a ball directly toward Kakunaka in left. However, the liner handcuffed Kakunaka and bounced off his downward pointed glove for an E7. Toritani came into score to make it 1-0 Tigers. After a walk to the catcher Fujii, Ohmine finally escaped with a ground ball to short. The two 2-out errors brought Ohmine’s pitch count up to 36 after just one inning. And for the second day in a row, a questionable call at first cost Lotte a run.

At the Plate

As I mentioned earlier, Lotte would score only 3 runs on 15 hits in a frustrating display of futility. In the second, the Marines hit three consecutive two out singles. But 2-out station-to-station ball was not a winning solution with the pitcher’s spot due up and the bases loaded. Ohmine fought hard fouling off two 3-2 pitches, but eventually went down swinging on a gutsy eight pitch AB.

Iguchi would tie the game at 1-1 with his 13th homerun of the year in the third. Lotte had chance to take the lead in the next inning thanks to two hits and a Hanshin error. A double play by Kiyota would erase the first hit, and a fly out by PH Ohmastu (PH for Ohmine, 69P through 3IP) would strand the other two runners. In the top of the 5th, a Kakunaka double play was mostly to blame to wasting two singles.

Chiba did have some success bringing runners home in the 6th. Daichi Suzuki lead off with a single and stolen base, while Kiyota and Okada added infield singles to load the bases. Yet, the Marines would be the victim of a double play for the third straight inning. With the infield playing in, Emura hit a one hopper right at the second baseman recording a 4-2-3 double play. Next up pinch hitter Saburo lined a single past SS Toritani. Matt Murton bobbled the ball in left, allowing Kiyota and the speedy Okada to score easily. Marines took the lead 3-1.

A Hurtin from Murton : The Sequel

Another Marines double play and a Tigers run later, Lotte clung to a 3-2 lead heading into the 9th. Over four hours into the game, Masuda would come in to try and earn his 20th save of the year. Number three hitter Toritani led off by slapping a single through the hole between 3B and SS. Next up, cleanup hitter Matt Murton took a big swing at an 0-1 pitch. The second it left the bat, there was no doubt. Murton would play the hero for the second time this year against Lotte, hitting his second career walk off homerun, both coming in the last three games. A sold out Koshien Stadium exploded as Murton rounded the bases, the Tigers won 4x-3.

Notes

Daichi Suzuki, Okada, and Kiyota each had 3-for-4 days at the plate. In case I haven’t beaten the double play thing into the ground, Okada and Kiyota also contributed one each.

The bullpen only gave up 1 run in innings 4 through 8. Hattori still hasn’t given up a run in 16 appearances, 9 IP. Carlos Rosa recorded a huge strike out with two runners on and two out in the 8th, preserving a 3-2 lead at the time. Former starter Fujioka came in again in relief in the 4th.

With the win and a Giants loss, the Tigers jumped 1/2 game ahead of Yomiuri for first place in the Central League.

June 9, 2013