Yakyu All-Stars

From My Desk: Comments About The "2009 Lotte Soap Opera"

2009-09-29T03:18:00.000-07:00

Hello all. It's been quite sometime since I've written on my blog here. I've been doing other things these days in regards to my personal health and job so there hasn't been much time for Yakyu. But I've still managed to keep up with things on the various sites and I came across this little tidbit on the Chiba Lotte Marines from Yakyu Baka. But before I talk about that, I'd like to say that Gen does a wonderful job with his site and that if he ever reads this, I'd like to personally shake his hand and thank him for all the hard work he does in bringing Yakyu to the eyes of people who can't follow the game on a regular basis.

With that being said, I feel that I'm too passive when it comes to giving my opinions about the game itself. Reporting on games alone simply isn't my style so I've decided to let my opinions on certain subjects come out and I hope to enhance discussion about Pro Yakyu itself.

Now as we all know, there has been much drama in regards to the Chiba Lotte Marines this season. They've decided to make a change in their management by not renewing the contract of American manager Bobby Valentine. Totally understandable from the team's perspective as this sort of thing happens but how they went about announcing this change was extremely unprofessional and it made the entire Chiba Marine front office look like a bunch of jackasses to be frank. By dragging Bobby Valentine's name through mud and by keeping this drama in the sports news all season long, it created a buzzkill in which the performance of the team became secondary to the status of Bobby Valentine. Now I'll admit, I didn't really like Bobby at first but after weighing the good and bad, I came to the conclusion that the good outweighs the bad when it comes to Bobby V and all he has done for Pro Yakyu. So my personal opinions about Bobby V aside, I feel that Lotte's fans have gotten the short end of the stick because of an incapable and downright stupid management group(and believe me, I know a stupid management group when I see one -coughs Yokohama coughs-).

Now naturally, Lotte's fans didn't take to the announcement kindly and they started to become more vocal with their opinions. And eventually, things got so tense that Lotte's management dropped the ball by giving their opinions about the Chiba fans by saying something along the lines of "being nothing more than Carp in a pond who will eat whatever we feed them". Honestly, I feel that this rock song pretty much sums up how the fans by the bay in Chiba are feeling these days:

Now in regards to the banners that were held up that day,while some of the content the the Lotte Ouendan presented could be seen as going too far by some people (calling for the heads of their front office members), I personally don't think so as I feel the fans should be able to say what they please as long as they don't get physical and disrupt the actual games themselves. I can see why they said what they said but fans and or entertainment seekers of all kinds have a right to express themselves when it comes to their preferred form of entertainment as they pay their hard earned money to do as they please with. As a professional sports fan (NPB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and yes MLB to an extent still), I find it very refreshing to yell at the visiting team or express myself when my team does badly. It’s part of being a fan and I think that most players will say that it’s also part of their jobs to hear what fans say on a nightly basis. Again, the fans by the bay in Chiba are rightfully fed up as they should be and I applaud them for speaking out and voicing their opinions. In a country where “being part of the group” is fostered over individualism, it’s really refreshing to hear people speak their minds and let their voices be heard, however small they may be.

As for Nishioka, I feel he was totally in the wrong not because of his opinion and thoughts (which he is entitled to) but how he presented what he thought. Funny how he speaks out on something he finds offensive and chastises the fans for “taking away from the hard work of the players“ but when the Lotte fans were gathering signatures earlier in the season and holding up massive banners saying how many said signatures were collected in order to keep Bobby V in Chiba, we never heard a peep out of him.

An old proverb came to my mind when I read this and that was: “biting the hand that feeds you". The bottom line is that Nishioka angered the very people who support the team he plays for. And by support I mean that these people buy tickets to the games, food, and Lotte merchandise, which allows Nishioka to make a living and feed his family among other things. So, what did he expect to accomplish by expressing his opinion on a public forum such as a “Hero Interview”? Not to mention the fact that it was a Marine’s victory no less. Again, Nishioka is not wrong for his opinion and thoughts (which he is entitled to), but by expressing said thoughts in a post game interview does the very thing which he spoke out against which was “taking away from from the hard work of the players” and makes him look like a hypocrite in the process as that what Lotte’s management has been doing all season long with their public comments about Bobby V. So in essence, he’s no better than Lotte’s management by saying what he said at the time in which he said it.

In closing, I’d like to send a personal message to Nishioka and that is:

If you want to express what you feel, by all means do it on your blog (if you have one) or on another forum. What you do on your own time is your business and if you had expressed such feelings during said time, I think that the fans would’ve understood and taken a bit more kindly to you. You were totally unprofessional in how you acted and came across as blowing off steam and personal frustration because of what your team’s management has put all of you through this season. I believe that you owe Lotte fans a public apology in how you treated them and you need to admit that you were wrong in the fact that what you said totally took away from the hard work that you and all of your teammates put in that day to get a victory. You have a right to your opinions and I respect that but when it comes to your job there’s only four simple words I can say to you:

SHUT UP AND PLAY!

BOBBY BAYSTARS 2010!

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 9: Nippon Ham vs. Seibu @ Sapporo Dome 08/16/09

2009-09-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Okawari-kun is feeling down because of the Lion's recent string of losses.

There are a few old sayings in the English language that go as follows:

“The third time’s the charm.”

“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”

So, what do these have to do with this game? Well, it seemed that after 2 attempts at taking down the mighty Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, the Saitama Seibu Lions FINALLY had Nippon Ham’s number. But, things aren’t always as they seem, as I would soon find out in this game. Also too, it was Yu Darvish’s birthday so that made the stakes even higher in this game.

The starting pitchers for this game were Ryoma Nogami for the Lions and Masaru Takeda for the Ham. If there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Seibu in regards to pitching, then they have something special in Nogami in my opinion. He really impressed me with the way he pitched and showed a lot of potential. If he can stay the proverbial course and keep making his starts, I feel he has the chance to become something really special. But for this game, he started out decent by only giving up 5 hits in 5 and 2/3 innings of work although one of those hits was a 3 run home run.

Ryota Nogami. My hope is that he one day becomes a great pitcher for Seibu.

Nogami after throwing a pitch.

Seibu’s struggling offense got off to a hot start by pounding Nippon Ham starter Masaru Takeda early on. After Takumi Kuriyama was hit by a pitch in the top of the 1st, Hiroyuki Nakajima walked to put runners on first an second for G.G. Sato who doubled to left center and put Seibu up 2-0. Following that, Kuriyama added another run in the top of the 3^rd via a home run to center (which was the first of the series too) and made it 3-0 Lions. In the 6^th, G.G. Sato added his third RBI of the game with another double to left center which brought Okawari-kun in all the way from 1^st base to make it 4-0.

Masaru Takeda. He got hit early in the game but was saved by Inaba & Company later in the game.

Takeda again.

Be it the Miso ramen that most were eating in Sapporo Dome or the weather which was a little on the hot side, the Fighters started to heat up. In the bottom of the 6^th, Eiichi Koyano smacked a 3 run home run to left center to make it 4-3 and just like that, the Fighters were back in the game. But not to be outdone, Okawari-kun hit a 2 run home run of his own in the top of the 8^th to widen Seibu’s lead to 6-3 and I thought that was it. There couldn’t possibly be any way that the Ham could come back and win, could there?

Nippon Ham catcher Shinya Tsuruoka at the plate.

Now here's a face I haven't seen in quite a while. I didn't recognize Masanori Hayashi here at first because he wasn't wearing a certain black, orange, and white uniform that had a #13 on the back. Also too, he's got a goatee thing going on. Pretty hard to tell from the picture but it's there.

Hayashi on the mound. Since he's been doing pretty well for the Ham and so has Nioka (that's debatable I guess), would it be safe to say that the Ham got the better end of the trade they made in the off season with you know who?

In the bottom of the 9^th, after a walk to Kensuke Tanaka, Yoshio Itoi doubled to left and that brought Atsunori Inaba to the plate, which also brought everyone in the dome to their feet as well. Inaba proceeded to please and shock the crowd by smacking a 3 run home run to right center on a well played 9 pitch at bat which tied the game at 6-6 which almost blew the top off of Sapporo Dome and silenced the visitor's cheering section.

We then went to the bottom of the 10th where Yoshiro Sato walked to get on base for the Ham. After that, Satoshi Nakajima hit a sacrifice bunt back to pitcher Chikara Onodera who tried for the out at second but was unsuccessful and that put runners on first and second. Then, after a pitching change by Seibu (Jonah Bayliss), Kensuke Tanaka eventually hit a single to first which loaded the bases and the winning run came on a wild pitch while Yoshio Itoi was batting to give Nippon Ham a walk-off victory and a sweep against the Lions.

It seems that the Seibu manages to shoot themselves in the foot one way or the other these days by either having bad pitching or a dead offense. Whatever their problem is, September is almost upon us and the "Road to Climax" will officially begin where every game will count just as much if not more because of the pennant race. I know that the Ham will be a lock for the post season this year but my main question is what about the Lions? I guess only time will tell.

Kuriyama crossing the plate after his home run in the 3rd.

Koyano crossing the plate after his home run in the 6th.

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 8: Nippon Ham vs. Seibu @ Sapporo Dome 08/15/09

2009-08-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

Nashida kantoku and Watanabe kantoku before receiving ceremonial flowers.

Hello once again fellow Yakyu fans. Many people view the game in many different ways and feel that some things are more important than others when it comes to the game itself. I tend to think that pitching and defense are the key elements to winning a baseball game with offense coming in a close second. It takes 2 to tango so to speak and you can’t win a game by having just one or the other I feel. And that’s what’s been troubling most teams in NPB this year I feel. Let’s take my 2 favorite teams for example, which are the Yokohama BayStars and the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Central and Pacific Leagues respectively. It’s no secret that Yokohama needs pitching and needs it badly while their offense is underrated I feel. While their offense was sluggish to start the season and has been at times throughout the season, more often than not it’s been the pitching that’s been the main culprit of them losing. From the games I’ve seen from Yokohama recently (see my Hiroshima entries) they’ve had to out hit their opponents to win games and you can’t always do that. Recently, I see something similar emerging from the Lions. Their pitching has been inconsistent it seems and lately, their offense has been struggling as well. So, it came as a big surprise to me when Seibu starter Takayuki Kishi delivered a great pitching performance but the offense could not deliver which totally ruined the game for me.

Takayuki Kishi in the first inning.

Kishi in the wind up before throwing a pitch.

This was the first time in quite some time (5 months or so to be exact) that I had seen Kishi pitch in person. Kishi has really been coming into his own as a pitcher and winning the Japan Series MVP last season has only helped with his development in my opinion. Kishi started out strong by pitching no hit ball through his first 3 innings of work. He even struck out the side in the 2^nd much to my delight and the dismay of the Fighters fans at Sapporo Dome. But eventually, Kishi started to wear down and by the bottom of the 8^th, the Ham decided to strike.

Kensuke Tanaka started things off with a double to right center field. And after being moved over to 3^rd on a sac bunt by Yoshio Itoi (isn’t it odd that Kensuke used to be the one to bunt people over and now he’s the one getting bunted over), Atsunori Inaba was intentionally walked for obvious reasons and Seibu decided to make a pitching change (Koji Onuma). After a grounder to 3^rd by Shinji Takahashi lead to a force out at 3^rd, Terrmel “Sledgehammer” doubled to deep center to bring in Inaba and Takahashi to make it 2-0 Ham and those were the only runs of the game.

Nippon Ham starter Shugo Fuji minus the shaggy hair.

Fuji again without his trademark hair. I'm not so sure I like the new look to be honest with you.

Kazumasa Kikuchi picked up the win in relief for the Ham while Kishi took the loss and Hisashi Takeda picked up the save for the 2^nd time in as many games. Overall, a disappointing game on Seibu’s part as Nippon Ham starter Shugo “Shaggy” Fuji looked hittable but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Well, that was 2 out of 3 done and there was only the rubber match of the series left to play. And if you thought this game was bad (which it was in my opinion), just wait until you read about the final game of this series. Thanks again for reading everyone and I hope you keep reading and supporting the game.

Oh, since it was "Visitor Cheering Day" @ Sapporo Dome, in addition to my Seibu fan club points I received, Lions mascot Leo came from Tokorozawa for this game. Here he is cleaning his shoes before the game.

One of the grounds crew taking the brush away from Leo. :(

Finally, it was Okawari-kun's birthday as well. So, Happy Birthday to Okawari-kun. Unfortunately, he didn't give us all a birthday present, and by that I mean no home run. :(

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 7: Nippon Ham vs. Seibu @ Sapporo Dome 08/14/09

2009-08-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. For the second leg of my Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza, I decided to get away from the greenhouse that is Kanto and Honshu and decided to head north to Hokkaido where it is much cooler. And while here, I decided to catch a great deal of Fighters games at Sapporo Dome and Asashikawa in the Dohoku region of Hokkaido. I came to Hokkaido once 2 years ago and saw a couple of games at Sapporo Dome but I really didn't enjoy them cause I didn't know much about the Pacific League at that time. But this time around was different. I actually knew who the players were and knew the teams a bit better so I was able to enjoy the games more and overall had a great time. And also too, the Fighters were facing the Lions so that helped out a lot as well. So for my first game I was in for quite a treat. Now, they say that a picture is worth a thousand words so can you guess what this picture means:

That's right. My first game in, I got to see this guy on the mound for the Ham. Now on the one hand, I was extremely excited to see one of the best pitchers that I'll probably ever see in my lifetime. But on the other hand, you know the one that roots for Seibu, I was cursing up a storm because it seems that you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning these days than you have of beating Darvish at Sapporo Dome.

Darvish was his normal dominant self for most of the game only allowing 5 hits over 8 innings while giving up 2 runs and striking out 12 while Kazuyuki Hoashi was just not good. Although Hoashi gave up only one run in the contest, he allowed 6 hits over his first 3 innings over work and by the time he departed in the 4th inning, he had already thrown 86 pitches. Not good for a team that desperately needs pitching.

As for the scoring, it seemed that the Ham found their groove early in the game with their hitting and scored runs at various times throughout the game. Atsunori Inaba put the Fighters on the board first with an RBI single to center with one on in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 1-0. But the Lions continued the "Lucky Seven" theme in the top of the 7th when Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center and Okawari-kun doubled to left. Then, Yoshihito Ishii singled to shallow center to make it 1-1 and promptly after that, GG Sato singled to 2nd to make it 2-1 and it seemed that Darvish was in trouble. But he eventually rebounded and pitched another inning and with some help from the Ham's offense. Atsunori Inaba added another run in the bottom of the 7th on a sacrifice fly to right with one on to make it 2-2. In the bottom of the 8th, Makoto Kaneko drove in the final run for the Ham on a RBI single to shallow center to make it 3-2 and give Nippon Ham the win.

So while the loss was disappointing because Seibu blew a comeback attempt, it really came down to the fact that they just couldn't get anything going against Darvish and by the time they did, Nippon Ham had gained enough steam that allowed them to come back. So while, I could forgive Seibu for this loss, I couldn't forgive them for what was about to happen in the next game.

New Seibu reliever Jonah Bayliss pitching in his first game in Japan I believe.

Nakajima doing his best Darvish impression before the game.

Kazuyuki Hoashi.

Yu Darvish. Enough said.

Yu Darvish thinking.

Yep, it's Darvish again.

Darvish. I mean seriously, what kind of Yakyu blogger would I be if I didn't have a post featuring Darvish?

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 6: Lions Classic @ Seibu Dome 08/06/09

2009-08-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Remember Kids, Tomochika Tsuboi says safety first when playing baseball.

Hello once again everyone. The thing about going to many games in a row is that you get tired after going to all of them and really don't want to do anything afterwards. Well, that is the case here and a lot has happened since this game. I've been in Hokkaido for almost a week, I've seen a ton of Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters games and they've won about 3/4 of them, and also too, about half of the team is thought to have contracted "New" Influenza with 5 confirmed cases so far. This is a serious blow to a streaking hot Fighters team and hopefully all the players that are sick can return to the field sometime soon fully recovered and be ready to help the Ham towards the Nippon Series this year. Get well soon guys!

So, for this game, the starting pitchers were Kazuhito Tadano for the Ham and John Wasdin for Seibu. These 2 teams are complete opposites when it comes to pitching in my opinion. Today, we saw another Nippon Ham starter throw no-hit ball through at least 5 innings while another another Seibu starter got hit hard but managed to keep his team in the game. It's my opinion that while Seibu starters don't give up a lot of runs, they do seem to give up a lot of hits which is bad.

Nippon Ham starter Kazuhito Tadano. I just have rotten luck with my picture taking these days I tell you. But yeah, Tadano has been pitching pretty good lately so that is really good for the Ham.

The scoring started in the top of the 3rd when Atsunori Inaba singled to shallow left with one on to give the Ham an early 1-0 lead. They had 3 hits total in the top of the 3rd alone. After that, Tanaka Kensuke added another run via an RBI double to left center with one on in the top of the 4th to make it 2-0 Nippon Ham. And from there went go to the bottom of the 6th were Seibu decided to make a short comeback. After Yasuyuki Kataoka singled to right to start things off, Takumi Kuriyama walked to put runners on first and second for the next batter who was Hiroyuki Nakajima. Nakajima promptly doubled to right to bring both Kataoka and Kuriyama in and tie the game at 2. But, Atsunori Inaba had just about enough of Seibu's comeback attempts and smacked a 2 run home run to right field in the top of the 7th to make it 4-2 Nippon Ham and I thought for sure that it was over. But again, Seibu showed guts and came back in the bottom of the 8th when Yasuyuki Kataoka singled to right to start the inning. He then proceeded to steal second and was brought home by Takumi Kuriyama via a triple to left center to make it 4-3. Okawari-kun (Takeya Nakamura) added another run with a sacrifice fly to left to tie things up at 4 and cap yet another Seibu comeback.

Yasuyuki Kataoka getting ready to steal second in the bottom of the 8th.

Atsunori Inaba crosses the plate after his home run in the top of the 7th. You can tell that Tsuboi is really happy in the back ground.

Tsuboi standing on first in the top of the 7th. It seemed like there was a bug in his face or something as he kept trying to swat at something and avoid it too.

But the thing with Seibu is that they seem to have really lousy pitching this year behind Wakui and Kishi and it showed here. Shinji Takahashi singled to center to start things off in the top of the 9th and was then moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Toshimasa Konta. Then, Eichi Koyano was hit by a pitch and moved over to second on a wild pitch and Yoshio Itoi drew a walk to load the bases for pinch hitter Naoto Inada who promptly doubled to right to drive in two runs and make it 6-4 Nippon Ham. Makoto Kaneko added another run on a single to center which brought the score to 7-4 and that's where it ended up. Yoshinori Tateyama picked up the win in relief for the Ham while Tetsuya Iwasaki was tagged with the loss for Seibu while Hisashi Takeda picked up the save.

All in all, a really disappointing loss for Seibu seeing as they let 2 comeback attempts slip through their fingers due to bad pitching. The offense continues to show guts but is often times silenced and unable to do anything. It looks like injuries have caught up with the Lions and they are falling apart at the seems and as of the writing (09/08/21), Rakuten has taken possession of 3rd place in the Pacific and is on a really hot 5 game winning streak and is a potential threat to knock Seibu of Climax contention for good. Things need to get turned around fast in Tokorozawa if the Lions are going to defend their championship in November this year.

The benches clear in the 9th after Eichi Koyano is hit by a pitch and proceeded to charge the mound.

This is Tomochika Tsuboi. I like to call him "High Socks" because while many can attempt to pull the look off, none can do it quite like Tsuboi can. Don't ask me what it is honestly.

Termell Sledge. He has since fallen victim to the "New Type" Influenza and I wish him a speedy recovery.

Hiram Bocachica warming up in between innings.

Kataoka wondering what the heck his team has been doing as of late.

My Trip to Asahikawa Starfin Stadium Day #1: 08/18/09 Plus Photopost

2009-08-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Yes I know that I am behind with my games to be posted but I wanted to get this one on the blog rather quickly as it turned out to be a great game and all around great day for Pro Yakyu. Also, just a little note, I will be doing an official stadium report on Starfin Stadium sometime during the off season because hey, we need to keep the Yakyu news flowing all year long right? So for now, my initial impressions of the stadium and today's game will have to do.

So, right now the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters are hosting a 3 game series with the Rakuten Eagles. Well, the first 2 games of this series are being held here in Asahikawa at Starfin Stadium as part of the Fighter's "We Love Hokkaido Series". So what that means basically is that every year, the Ham play a certain number of games in different parts of Hokkaido in order to bring baseball to the far reaches of the island and believe me folks, some of these places here in Hokkaido are far reaches. This is brilliant marketing on the Ham's part as they drew a little over 15,000 people for a day game on a weekday today. Oh yeah, and you'll notice too that the Fighters are wearing different uniforms too as part of the "We Love Hokkaido Series". Last year they were black and dark blue I believe but this year they decided to go with a purple colored uniform and I've got to say that I like it because it's different.

Infielder Chung-Shou Yang warming up before the game.

FINALLY! Some decent pics of Atsunori Inaba! You can run but you can not hide HA HA! Seriously, I've tried long and hard to get good pics of Inaba but just couldn't.

Inaba loves Hokkaido and so should you!

Did I mention that Inaba is so cool? I honestly think he's part machine and that makes it even better.

Kensuke Tanaka really does love the color pink but the new inflatable hands that the team is selling really suck which will be covered in a rant on a future blog entry.

Come to think of it, the "We Love Hokkaido" games are sort of similar to what Seibu does with its "Lions Classic" games because they play against every team in the Pacific League while wearing special uniforms and promoting a common theme (Seibu's reflects on its past while the Fighters concentrate on bringing baseball and itself subsequently closer to the entire island of Hokkaido). But it's strange that the Ham didn't play any "We Love Hokkaido" games against Orix this season. I don't know the reason for that but the concept for these games works and "I Love Hokkaido" even more as a result.

I'm going to assume that we all know who Victor Starfin is but for those who don't, who can find out who he is at this page here. I had bought my tickets via telephone back in April when they went on sale and had been looking forward to this trip for a number of months and it was well worth the wait. Asahikawa is a nice small city in the northern part of Hokkaido with some of the best ramen in all of Japan. But, the reason why I came to Asahikawa was to visit Starfin Stadium and what a great stadium it is indeed. The minute you walk into the main gate, you are presented with this statue:

Simply amazing and awe-inspiring is all I have to say. A true icon in Pro Yakyu is Mr. Victor Starfin and even though I don't know as much about the history of Pro Yakyu as some other people I know, I really did feel humbled and blessed to have the chance to visit such an awesome place. If any of you ever get the rare chance to come to Asahikawa for a game, by all means do it. You won't be disappointed. The actual stadium itself seemed kind of small to me and reminded me of Hiratsuka Stadium in Kanagawa Prefecture where I used to live (I did a write up on a Shonan SeaRex game at Hiratsuka Stadium earlier this year if you want to learn more about that place).

Now, as for the game itself, the staring pitchers were Hisashi Iwakuma for Rakuten and Tomoya Yagi for the Fighters. Nippon Ham started the game out really good by getting to Iwakuma in the bottom of the 1st. Kensuke Tanaka singled to left to start things off and was later driven in on an RBI Single by DH Shinji Takahashi and just like that it was 1-0 Fighters. It seemed like this was going to be a bad day for Iwakuma who gave up 3 hits in the first inning alone, but he got the help he needed in the top of the 2nd when Takeshi "Hulk Smash" Yamasaki walked to start the inning off and then was brought home when Fernando Seguignol homered to left to give Rakuten a 2-1 lead. Then in the 3rd, Rakuten struck again thanks to Tomoya Yagi's bad control. Rakuten lead off man Todd Linden singled with one out and was then moved over to third on a single to right by Naoto Watanabe. Shortly after that, Teppi hit an RBI Single to shallow right which made it 3-1 Rakuten. "Hulk Smash" Yamasaki then fouled out to 3rd and Yagi then proceeded to give up back to back walk to Seguignol and Rick Short which brought in Watanabe from third and widened Rakuten's lead at 4-1. But we weren't finished yet as former Yakult Swallow Ryuji Miyade singled to shallow center to put another run on the board and make it 5-1 Rakuten. Nippon Ham added another run of their own in the bottom of the 3rd when Kazuya Murata singled to left and then proceeded to steal 2nd while Atsunori Inaba was batting. Shinji Takahashi then hit his second RBI of the game which was a single to shallow left and that made it 5-2 Rakuten. Fernando Seguignol added another run in the top of the 8th via a solo home run to make it 6-2 and pinch hitter Yoshitoro Satoh added a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the 9th to make it 6-3 but the Ham could do no more and that's where the score ended up.

Hisashi Iwakuma catches a ball with his eyes closed.

Iwakuma delivering a pitch in the bottom of the 1st.

Yagi settled down after the 3rd inning and ended up pitching into the 7th inning. Meanwhile, Iwakuma just dominated the Fighters after he got that run support and ended up going all 9 innings on 111 pitches to get the win although he did give up 10 hits and 3 runs to the Ham while striking out 4 and walking 1. But despite Yagi's performance (5 runs 7 hits 6 strike outs and 4 walks though 7 innings), this was his first loss in a month or so I believe and he does hold an 8-2 record this season with a 2.90 ERA as of now and that has to count for something. Every pitcher has his off day and I think this was Yagi's so we'll see if he can rebound in his next start or if this is something else.

Tomoya Yagi sporting the special issue jersey for the "We Love Hokkaido" games.

Yagi delivering a pitch in the 6th inning.

All in all, a great day for Yakyu as I got to visit Starfin Stadium for the first time and see Iwakuma pitch a fantastic game. Hopefully, the game tomorrow will be just as good and I will end my time here in Asahikawa on a good note but until then, please enjoy some sights from the game today as posted in the blog here and as always, thanks for reading and keep supporting the game of Pro Yakyu.

Speaking of good things, today was Ryuji Miyade's birthday and he gave us all a present by hitting an RBI single in the game. Thanks Ryuji and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Makoto Kaneko also loves Hokkaido.

Kensuke Tanaka puts the tag on "Hulk Smash" Yamasaki as he tried to go for extra bases in the 5th. I really think I need more action shots like this in my blog which is something I'll try to work on in the future.

Fernando Seguignol crosses home plate after his second home run of the day. Ironically, since he bats switch, he hit his first one from the right side of the plate and his second one from the left side of the plate which was really neat to see.

Seguignol STILL loves Hokkaido and Hokkaido and Fighters fans still love him.

Yoshitoro Satoh does his best Seguignol impersonation in the bottom of the 9th.

Kazuya Murata warming up in the 9th inning and yes, He does love Hokkaido too so don't ask.

And much like "Everybody Loves Raymond", it's a safe bet to say that "Everybody Loves Hokkaido" just as much if not more.

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 5: Lions Classic @ Seibu Dome 08/05/09

2009-08-14T07:55:00.001-07:00

Seibu reliever Koji Mitsui watching Seibu's chances of going to the Climax Series this year go up in smoke. No just kidding, he's watching a fly out while warming up in the bullpen.

Lucky Seven. This is what we in American call "The 7th Inning Stretch". But in Pro Yakyu, it's called "Lucky Seven". Now, why do I bring this up? Well, lately whenever I go to see the Lions, magical and great things happen in the 7th inning. I can't explain it so, I'll let the game report here do the talking for me.

So, I headed back to Seibu Dome after a bad night in Omiya the previous day in hopes of a little redemption. The starters for the game were Hideki Sunaga for the Ham and Kaz Ishii for Seibu. Today was a good day at the Dome as I got to see "Good Ishii" today. You see, it seems every time I go to Seibu Dome, I end up seeing Kaz Ishii pitch and usually it's not good. But today he was ok as he managed to keep Seibu in the game through 7 innings by only giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. But on the other hand, you know it's either going to be one extreme or the other with Ishii so I guess you can call that a good thing. Also too, I was lucky enough to sit right next to the Seibu bullpen in the "Field View Seats" section so in this blog entry, I decided to upload shots of some of Seibu's relievers among other things.

The game didn't have a lot of scoring and like the previous night, the Fighters got on the board in the top of the 5th. Termell Sledge walked to start things off and as per protocol was them moved over to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by Eichi Koyano. Then, Tomohiro Nioka singled to center which brought in Sledge from 2nd to make it 1-0 Fighters. The, catcher Shinya Tsuruoka promptly doubled to right to make it 2-0 Nippon Ham and that's where the score stayed until the bottom of the 7th.

Nippon Ham outfielder Hichori Morimoto on first after getting on base in the 3rd inning.

Hichori taking a breather at second during a visit to the mound by Seibu's pitching coach.

Tomohiro Nioka. It's still really strange for me not seeing him in an orange, black, and white uniform with #7 on the back. But at the same time, it's almost natural to see him in the gossip columns one way or another these days.

After the customary "Jet Balloons" were let off in the bottom of the 7th, the real fireworks started a bit early for us Lions fans tonight. Hiroyuki Nakajima started things off with an infield single to short and then was moved over to 3rd on a double to left by "Okawari" Nakamura. After a pitching change (Kazumasa Kikuchi) by Nippon Ham and a strike out by pinch hitter Yoshihito Ishii, G.G. Sato singled to center to cut the Ham's lead in half and make it 2-1. Tomoaki Sato then hit a grounder to 3rd which 3rd baseman Tomohiro Nioka tried to make a fielders choice out at home but was unsuccessful and that tied the game at 2 a piece. Then, after back to back RBI singles by Taketoshi Gotoh and Tsumitani Ginjiro, the Fighters made another pitching change (Shintaro Ejiri) and the next batter, Yasuyuki Kataoka, was hit by a pitch. But it really didn't matter as Takumi Kuriyama drove in the final run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center and Hiroyuki Nakajima grounded out to short to end the 5 run 7th inning for the Lions. Excellent batting and waiting on pitches were the key here. Seibu showed that they still can drive in runs and make it count.

Koji Onuma.

Takuya Hara playing catch in between innings.

Tetsuya Iwasaki and Chikara Onodera held the Fighters scoreless over the 8th and 9th to lead the Lions to victory after what seemed like an eternity. But despite the fact the Nippon Ham lost, I thought that starter Hideki Sunaga was brilliant as he pitched no hit ball through 6 innings. Pitching in general has been a thorn in the side of Seibu all season but they got it done in this game. But, in the games to follow, the problem reared it's ugly head once again as things didn't go so smoothly during the rubber match of this Lions Classic series.

Jun Yamamoto looking like he had just woke up before the game.

Guess who?

TADA! It's interim Seibu closer and all around bad ass Chikara Onodera who has probably one of the best theme songs in all of Japanese baseball. One of my favorite Seibu players no doubt.

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 4: Lions Classic @ Omiya Stadium 08/04/09

2009-08-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. So, before heading out on the second leg of my “Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Tour”, I would like to pass along my thoughts on the recent “Lions Classic” series I attended against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. As you all know, the Lions have been hosting games in which they have been wearing their 1980’s era throwback uniforms. But for this series against the Ham, things were a little different this time around. For this series, they played the first game of the series at Omiya Stadium in Saitama City which is located in the eastern part of Saitama Prefecture. The games in Omiya always draw really big crowds as the total attendance for the game was 20,473. That’s even more than Seibu Dome does for weeknight games. I applaud Seibu for reaching out to the other side of the prefecture and hosting games in Omiya as it is really smart business.

Seibu shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima showing the fans in attendance some love by throwing a ball in the stands during practice.

Unfortunately, the result of this game was not the one that I and the many other people jam packed into the seats on the 3^rd base side had expected because we ran into a brick wall named the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. You see, the Ham have been unstoppable this season as they just keep winning and winning without showing signs of slowing down. The Ham has “it” so to speak which in my book means that they have great pitching and a great offense. It’s what Seibu had last year (more so on the offensive side in my opinion) and despite the fact that I think Seibu is going to ride this magical cloud to a second championship this season, I have to be realistic and recognize that the Ham will probably end up in first place in the Pacific League and therefore will get home field advantage during the second stage of the Climax Series this year. Seriously folks, could you imagine a Ham/Giants Nippon Series? Just imagine how high the tension would be as both teams used to share Tokyo Dome for a number of years and the Ham was forced to live in the shadow of the Giants somewhat despite being in a totally different league.

But, onto the game in Omiya, shall we? The starters for the day were Seibu ace Hideaki Wakui and Tomoya Yagi for the Ham. So with Wakui being on the mound, I naturally had high hopes. But to the Ham, it really doesn’t matter who is on the mound as they started things off slowly and eventually nailed Wakui (with a little help from Karma too, I believe).

Nippon Ham Starter Tomoya Yagi warming up before the bottom of the 1st inning starts.

Yagi stretches on the mound before making his first pitch of the game.

Seibu ace Hideaki Wakui in the top of the 4th.

Wakui in the 6th. You can tell that he's pretty much out of it by this point.

Eichi Koyano started things off for the Ham with a solo home run to center in the top of the 2^nd to give make it an early 1-0 lead. After that, Kensuke Tanaka hit an RBI double with one on in the top of the 3^rd to make it 2-0 for the Fighters. But not to be outdone, Hiroyuki Nakajima clubbed his 15^th home run of the year to right center field in the bottom of the 4th which cut the Ham’s lead in half to 2-1.

I actually have slowly taken a liking to Nakajima ever since I went to my first Pacific League game at Seibu Dome nearly 2 years ago. Now that I live in Saitama where the Lions get more press coverage, I really have begun to see why Nakajima is so awesome. The energy he brings to the team is like nothing else and he seems to be a genuinely nice guy from what I’ve seen of him.

Nakajima crossing the home plate after hitting his solo home run in the bottom of the 4th.

But again, the Fighters were able to exploit Seibu’s main weakness which is pitching and eventually win the game. Again, I chalk up what happened during this inning to bad Karma. The top of the 6^th started off with Wakui drilling Atsunori Inaba in the left foot on a 1-1 count. Then, DH Shinji Takahashi singled to center which moved Inaba to 3^rd. After that, Termell Sledge walked to load the bases and then Eichi Koyano drew a bases loaded walk to bring in Inaba to make it 3-1. Yoshio Itoi then grounded out to 2^nd which brought in another run and made it 4-1. Then, Nippon Ham catcher Shinya Tsuruoka hit a sacrifice fly to right field which made it 5-1 and that was all the Ham needed as Seibu could do no more in terms of offense.

Wakui wasn’t his normal dominating self for this game despite throwing over 100 pitches (109 according to Seibu’s website) through 6 innings and striking out 4. Yagi on the other hand, had about the same number of pitches (91) but was more effective only allowing 3 hits and 2 strikeouts. He did walk 4 batters though so while that is a small concern, it didn’t really affect things as his only mistake was Nakajima’s home run. All in all, Seibu is going to have to do much better if they are going to defend their Nippon Championship title but as each game passes, the window gets smaller and smaller and I guess come October, I may have to head to Fukuoka this year for some playoff action.

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 3 A.K.A. My Greatest Yakyu Fan Moment 08/02/09

2009-08-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I've taken a few days off from writing here and updating my "Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza" series because the plane ride back to Haneda Airport last Monday really messed up my sleeping pattern during the last few days. And besides, after Sunday's game, I needed to reflect on it and figure out how exactly I was going to write this article. Because hands down, this was the best game I've seen all year and nothing will probably come close to it and what happened the following day was probably the greatest thing to happen to me as a Pro Yakyu fan.

Catcher Takeshi Hosoyamada and infielder Noriharu Yamazaki sharing a laugh by the water cooler.

Pitcher Kentaro Takasaki after warming up before the game.

Hayato Terahara after warming up before the game.

Let's start out with the basics here in regards to this game shall we? It was a near 4 hour slugfest (3h 55m to be exact) with a total of 31 hits between the Stars and the Carp and honestly, it was like a roller coaster ride with all it's ups and downs for the 26,076 people in attendance. I believe this was Hiroshima's most productive game in regards to hit total but in the end, they could not come away with the win despite jumping all over Yokohama starter Les Walrond in the first inning. Walrond was totally useless on the mound during the 1 2/3 innings he did work and had lousy command to boot. Don't know if it was the summer heat in Hiroshima or just some bad Okonomiyaki from the night before but it wasn't a good performance from yet another Yokohama starter. And while I'm on the subject, "PRIORITIZE PITCHING IN THE OFFSEASON YOKOHAMA".

Les Walrond after his first inning of work. Sad face.

Walrond after throwing a pitch in the second inning.

Hiroshima ace Kan Ohtake did a little better as he only gave up one run on four hits through his first 5 innings over work. But as you will see, he was eventually worn down and tagged for 7 runs in the end.

Hiroshima ace Kan Ohtake in the first inning.

Ohtake playing with his hat during the ceremonial first pitch.

Hiroshima wasted no time in taking an early lead in the bottom of the 1st. Akihiro Higashide started things off with a single to center. Then the very next batter Masato Akamatsu, doubled to left center and just like that it was 1-0 Hiroshima. Both runners then advanced to 3^rd and 2^nd respectively on a double steal and after that, Hiroshima clean up hitter Kenta Kurihara hit a sacrifice fly to deep right to make it 2-0. Now before I go on, if you had ever visited the old ballpark in Hiroshima, you would know that it was probably the easiest park to hit a home run in. That being said, I think that Kurihara’s numbers may take a little dive in the future because of the new park. He hit a number of fly balls in this series that would’ve easily gone for home runs in the old ballpark. Going back to the game, Scott McClain singled to left to make it 3-0 and was eventually moved over to 3^rd thanks to an Andy Phillips walk and a Tetsuya Kokubo single to center. Catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara capped off the scoring for the Carp in the 1^st by hitting a sacrifice fly to center to bring in McClain and make it 4-0.

Hiroshima struck again in the bottom of the 2^nd when Soichiro Amaya singled to right and then was promptly brought in by a Kenta Kurihara double to left center which made it 5-0 and spelled the end for Les Walrond as he was replaced by Kentaro Takasaki.

Yokohama got on the board in the top of the 4^th when both Kazuya Fujita and Seiichi Uchikawa hit back to back singles to right field. Fujita was later brought home by a Yuki Yoshimura single to left which made it 5-1. And from there, something really strange started to happen. Gradually, the Stars started to chip away at Hiroshima ace Kan Ohtake and that brought us to the top of the 6^th. Kazuya Fujita started things of with a single to left. Then later on, Shuichi Murata single to right which brought up Dan Johnson. And with one swing of the bat, Johnson made it 5-4 via a three run home run (his 15^th on the year) to deep right and boy did that ball fly. Now in my opinion, while Johnson’s batting average hasn’t been anything to write home about, he’s been an asset to the Stars on defense and because of his home runs because he usually hits them when there are actually runners on base as opposed to the numerous amounts of solo homeruns I see other players hitting. So really, he's helped the team out quite a bit in my opinion and is worth holding onto for next season and beyond in my opinion.

But the one run lead wouldn’t last as Hiroshima came back with a vengeance in the bottom of the 6^th. After two quick groundouts to start the inning for Hiroshima, pitcher Kan Ohtake singled to center. He was then moved over to 3^rd by Akihiro Higashide via a double to left. And once again, Masato Akamatsu struck again by hitting a 2 run RBI single to left and widening Hiroshima’s lead at 7-4.

But Yokohama was not out for the count as they really made it count in the top of the 7^th. It truly was a “Lucky Seven” for us today. Pinch hitter Tatsuhiko Kinjoh started things off with a hit to right. Then, leadoff man and former Carp Shigeru Morikasa added a hit of his own to center putting runners on 1^st and 2^nd and after that, Fujita moved the runners over with a nice sacrifice bunt which set things up for the heart of our order. Seiichi Uchikawa hit an RBI single to center which made it 7-5 and Hiroshima manager Marty Brown decided Ohtake’s night was over and put in Hayato Aoki to take his place. It didn’t really matter though who was pitching as Yokohama’s offense kept coming as the next batter, Shuichi Murata, hit an RBI single to right center which made it 7-6. And after a walk to Dan Johnson for obvious reasons which loaded the bases and a fly out to short by Yoshimura, shortstop Takehiro Ishikawa was lifted for veteran hitter Takehiro Saeki and Saeki was on point today as he delierved a 2 run RBI single to right which gave Yokohama the lead at 8-7 with runners on 1^st and 3^rd. Unfortunately, catcher Shingo Takeyama flied out to short to end this monumental comeback by the Stars. Seriously, this was amazing to watch I can’t begin to recap the emotions that were going through me at the time.

But just as fast as they got the lead, the Stars lost it again when in the bottom of the 7^th, Hiroshima catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara doubled to right center with one on to tie the game at 8 a piece.

So that takes us to the top of the 10th inning where none other than Yuki Yoshimura leads things off with a solo home run to left to make it 9-8 and slowly earned a little more of my respect. Interesting to note too that Yokohama did load the bases in this inning as well but nothing came of it. But the solo home run was all the Stars needed to win a hard fought game. Yokohama I feel, has a decent offense but again, they can't always rely on their offense to be on their game and need pitching to match what they have. But ranting aside, this was the best game I've been to all year and I don't think anything can match it quite honestly.

Today's game hero Atsushi Kizuka being interviewed for TV after the game. He was absolutely brilliant in the game.

Kizuka on the mound in the 10th inning.

What happened the following day was probably the greatest Yakyu related thing to have ever happened to me. So, I was at Hiroshima Airport waiting for my plane to depart and was watching a recent Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles game which was the first MLB game I've seen in well over 2 years possibly. Anyways, I'm watching the game and I turn around to see none other than Takuro Ishii standing right behind me. So it turns out that the Carp were flying out of town because they had to go to Hokkaido for a short 2 game series against the Giants. After much debate and that fact that I didn't think I'd ever get this chance again, I asked Takuro if I could take a picture with him and he agreed to do it. After that, I saw Marty Brown, Scott McClain, and Mike Schultz having some coffee at a nearby shop. So, it took me about 10 minutes to get the courage to ask Marty to take a picture with him and he said yes also. Marty is a really nice guy and was totally cool with me being a Stars fan and all. Hopefully, the rumors about his job aren't true as I think Marty is a great manager I feel and hopefully the Carp can make it to the Climax Series in the near future as I think I'm not the only one who wants to see them go.

Hiroshima manager Marty Brown and myself at Hiroshima Airport on Monday after the game on Sunday night.

Takuro Ishii and myself at Hiroshima Airport. The greatest photo I've ever taken hands down.

All in all, a great trip to Hiroshima and hopefully, I can get back there in the near future as it's always a pleasure going to my favorite place in Japan.

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day 2: Yokohama vs. Hiroshima @ Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium 08/01/09

2009-08-01T21:35:00.001-07:00

You think you've been to a baseball town? You know your in one when the manhole covers have the local baseball team's logo on them. Hanshin doesn't have anything on Hiroshima baby!

Hello once again everyone. Even though I've traveled around this country far and wide to see professional baseball, Hiroshima will always be my most favorite place to visit. The people are great, the food is the best, and it's just a great place to be all around. So in keeping up with my Super Summer Extravaganza, let's get to the second game of the BayStars/Hiroshima series shall we?

Shuichi Murata playing catch before the game.

Murata practing his glovework so he won't commit anymore errors at 3rd base. ;)

The starters for the game were Ryan Glynn for Yokohama and Keisuke Imai for the Carp. Now, as we all know, this season hasn't been the best for Ryan Glynn as his win/loss record is very ugly and the offense tends to die down whenever he's on the mound A.K.A. he gets no run support whatsoever. But, tonight was different. Ryan was phenomenal through his first 4 innings of work only giving up one hit. Imai too, wasn't that bad either only giving up 3 hits. So the early parts of the game were kind of boring and the scoring didn't really get started until the 5th inning.

Yokohama starter Ryan Glynn after throwing a pitch.

Glynn, Glynn You are my Hero! Hey, Yo Let's Go Ryan!

Keisuke Imai just before throwing his first pitch of the game.

Imai is determined to get that strikeout.

Yokohama started the scoring in this game as Kazuya Fujita hit a 2 run home run to right field in the top of the 5th to give Yokohama a 2-0 lead. But, despite the run support, Glynn imploded in the bottom of the 5th by giving up 3 runs and the game as well. It all started when Takuro Ishii doubled to right along the foul line and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Tsubasa Aizawa then walked which brought up pinch hitter Go Kida who doubled to left center to make it 2-1. Then, Akihiro Higashide brought in two more with a single to center to give Hiroshima a 3-2 lead. Yokohama added another run in the top of the 6th thanks to a wild pitch by pitcher Takeshi Komatsu which tied the game at 3 a piece. Now, what spelled the end for Yokohama in this game was their defense. Much like Hiroshima the night before, commiting costly errors at the wrong time hurt the BayStars but it wasn't as bad in my opinion because Hiroshima had already taken the lead by the time the bottom of the 8th rolled around.

Hiroshima outfielder Masafumi Suenaga at the plate.

Soichiro Amaya singled to left in the bottom of the 8th and Yokohama then changed pitchers taking out Yuya Ishii and putting in Yasuhiro Oyamada. After consecutive walks to Kenta Kurihara and Scott McClain, Yuki Yoshimura misplayed a fly ball (and believe me folks it was terrible) hit by Andy Phillips that went for 2 runs and made it 5-3 Hiroshima. After that, Takuro Ishii used the squeeze bunt play to bring McClain in from 3rd base to add another insurance run to make the final score 6-3.

Also interesting was that Hiroshima closer Katsuhiro Nakagawa earned his 150th career save in this game but I couldn't get a picture of the screen because by this time it had started to rain heavily and about 200 people were jammed into the concourse trying to stay dry. All in all, a great game but Yokohama's errors cost them big time. Hopefully, they'll have better luck against Hiroshima ace Kan Otake tonight.

Katsuhiro Nakagawa after receiving flowers commemorating his 150th save.

(Photo courtesy of the Chugoku Shimbun Online. 写真：中国新聞）

Pro Yakyu Super Summer Extravaganza Day #1: Yokohama vs. Hiroshima @ Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium 07/31/09

2009-08-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Good Evening from Hiroshima, Japan everyone. I’m officially on the road for the start of my “Pro Yakyu Super Summer Holiday Extravaganza” in which I will be bringing you Pro Yakyu coverage from almost all parts of Japan. The trip started today (July 31st) when I arrived in Hiroshima for a Carp series against my Yokohama BayStars. But before I go on, I’d like to apologize in advance for this blog. I’m writing this blog entry on July 31st, 2009 but you may be reading this sometime in the distant future. The simple reason for that is because the 旅館 (Japanese style inn) I’m staying at does not have internet access and therefore I can’t update my blog. But rest assured, I just came out of the game a few hours ago so my mind is fresh and brimming with memories of the game. And believe me folks, this game was one to remember when it was all said and done.

Ok, so after eating my daily dose of Hiroshima Okonomiyaki, I headed to the stadium at around 4pm and I could immediately tell that the atmosphere of baseball in Hiroshima had changed. I mean, nothing against the old 広島市民球場 (Hiroshima Municipal Ballpark) but when you walk outside of Hiroshima Station, you can tell that baseball is cool again in Hiroshima and this is in large part because of the new stadium in my opinion. All along the way to the stadium, there are many restaurants and vendors selling various Carp goods and food as well. But the true beauty of going to the new stadium is when you actually walk up to it for the first time. It’s like a breath of fresh air and trust me, if you ever went to the old stadium, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Hands down, Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium is one of the best ballparks in Japan and if I could recommend one stadium to see a game at, this would be it. Don’t let the name fool you as that became secondary after today’s game.

Takuro Ishii having a laugh before the game.

Takuro thinking about the game at hand.

Seiichi Uchikawa walking back to the dugout after warming up in the outfield.

"Hama No Ojisan" Kimiyasu Kudoh signing some things for a few young BayStars fans.

Now as for the game itself, this one was one for the ages in my opinion. It was long yet exciting. It was like pulling teeth because it was very painful to watch at times. It had more twists and turns than a rubix cube. It was the perfect introduction to Mazada Zoom Zoom Stadium for me. The starting pitchers for the game were Yuji Yoshimi for the Stars and Takahiro Aoki (who I’ve seen about 50 times this season already) for the Carp. Both pitchers started out ok with Yoshimi having controls problems through the first couple of innings. Yoshimi’s only mistake was giving up a solo home run to Andy Phillips in the bottom of the 2nd to put Hiroshima on the board first.

Hiroshima lead off hitter Akihiro Higashide at the plate.

Yokohama lead off hitter for the night Tatsuhiko Kinjoh batting right-handed (don't see much of that these days). Kinojh is a switch-hitter too for those out there that didn't know.

And from there things got quiet for the next few innings with both Aoki Taka and Yoshimi each retiring the next nine batters in order. But in the top of the 6th, Yokohama struck back when Seiichi Uchikawa singled to left and then was brought home by and RBI double by Shuichi Murata which tied the game at 1 a piece.

Yokohama starter Yuji Yoshimi warming up in between innings.

Yoshimi pondering what he's going to do next.

Then, things got interesting for the Stars in the top of the 7th when Yuki Yoshimura singled to lead of the inning. After being moved over to second on a bunt by Takehiro Ishikawa, pinch hitter Tatsuya Shimozono walked to put runners on second for the next pinch hitter Dan Johnson. Now honestly, Johnson's batting average has been anything to brag about but he does have 13 home runs on the year, well 14 now because he launched a monster shot to right field which made it 4-1 Yokohama.

But then, things took a turn for the worse. Like a bad movie script, Yokohama's relievers decided to suck and coughed up 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th which gave Hiroshima the lead again. It all started when pitcher Kousuke Katoh decided to hit Takuro Ishii with a pitch (Katoh is now my most hated player on Yokohama for obvious reasons too). After Takuro was checked out by the trainers and was ok thankfully, pinch hitter Jun Hirose doubled to left to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Now, I fully believe in Karma and what happened next was because of the deadball that happened earlier on in my opinion. Akihiro Higashide hit a routine grounder to short but Takehiro Ishikawa misplayed the ball for an error and Takuro scored from 3rd to make it 4-2. And what happened after that was also due to Karma as well in my opinion. By this time, Hiroki Sanada had replaced Katoh but it didn't matter who was on the mound as pinch hitter Masafumi Suenaga TRIPLED to right center field which tied the game at 4 a piece. But Hiroshima wasn't done yet as Soichiro Amaya singled to center to give Hiroshima the lead which made it 5-4.

But Yokohama wasn't finished as Takehiro Ishikawa singled to second to lead off the top of the 9th. After that, he was moved over to second on a bunt hit by Tatsuya Shimozono. Shimozono then stole second and after a fly out by pinch hitter Shingo Takeyama, pinch hitter Yoshiyuki Kuwahara grounded into a force out at third as Ishikawa was tagged out at home on the play. Then, Hiroshima closer Katsuhiro Nakagawa threw a wild pitch which brought in Shimozono and tied the game at 5 and also Kuwahara advanced to second on the play. Kazuya Fujita then singled to left which put runners on 1st and 3rd and after that, Seiichi Uchikawa hit a grounder to third which Scott McClain misplayed for an error and allowed Kuwahara to score to make it 6-5. Shuichi Murata then singled to right to bring in Fujita and that made it 7-5.

Hiroshima tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the 9th but could only manage one run on a sacrifice fly by Jun Hirose despite Shun Yamaguchi's control problems and the score ended up at 7-6 on a wild night in Hiroshima. As I said earlier, Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium was great and it was probably the most fun I've had at a baseball game in quite sometime. The atmosphere in Hiroshima is great for baseball as I can't remember it being so lively at the stadium in Hiroshima. If any team needed a turnaround in terms of marketing and attendance, it was the Carp and hopefully, fans can enjoy the new stadium and great baseball for years to come.

Hiroshima closer Katsuhiro Nakagawa sweating bullets so to speak after he had just blown his save chance.

Yokohama closer Shun Yamaguchi sweating bullets so to speak as he was in the middle of his own little jam in the bottom of the 9th.

Game hero Shuichi Murata being interviewed for TV after the game.

On the Road in Nagano: Yokohama vs. Yomiuri @ Nagano Olympic Stadium 07/22/09

2009-07-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone. It's been a little while I know, but I haven't had much time for Pro Yakyu as of late with the Japanese school term ending for the summer holidays. And because of the summer holidays (and the boredom that comes along with it partially), I have this burning desire to write about and go to Pro Yakyu games and I will be doing just that this summer. So, as a sort of treat to everyone out there, I decided to kick things off by making a "culture trip" to Nagano to take in some sites and whatnot. Oh yeah, and there just happened to be a baseball game being hosted in Nagano that didn't affect my travel plans whatsoever when I planned this trip. A strange coincidence indeed.

So, I arrived at Nagano Station at around 12:30pm and after checking my bag into the hotel where I would be staying at, I went back to the station and proceeded to the Nagano Olympic Stadium shuttle bus area. And much to my surprise, none other than the Yomiuri Giants had a bus waiting for them right near where the shuttle buses were. So, as you can imagine, when they were heading towards the bus, they were immediately hounded by at least 20+ people wanting autographs. But, as the players went into the bus and sat down, none other than Marc Kroon came over to where I was standing and shook my hand. Now for those of you who don't know, during the 2007 season, I used to travel around and see the BayStars at wherever they went. And as such, I kind of made it a point to always say "hi" to Marc (it was his last season in Yokohama). So, I guess because I went to so many games, Marc remembered who I was. Now, I hadn't seen Marc in quite some time but when he came over and shook my hand, I got goosebumps. We had a short one minute chat before he headed onto the bus and headed to the stadium. I was in shock to say the least. I guess it was one of those "fan moments" people tend to have when talking with their favorite players and whatnot.

Now, as for the match itself, this looked really good on paper because of the pitching match up. The Giants sent out Wifrin Obispo and Yokohama countered with ace Daisuke Miura. Since being called up to the top team, Obispo has been on fire for the Giants and has turned heads to say the least. Suffice to say, I actually enjoyed watching the Giants play in this game and no that was not a typo (I’m also preparing myself for the numerous amounts of stones and other foreign that will be hurled in my general direction after I post this article too). Nowadays, whenever I see the Giants, I see a lot of players I don’t even recognize. It seems to me like Yomiuri is getting younger in some areas so to speak and it’s obviously working as they have had an iron grip on first place in the Central League for what seems like an eternity now. So while I still don’t really care for Yomiuri, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due.

Former Nippon Ham Fighter Takahito Kudoh.

But aside from all that, the story of the game for me was Yomiuri starter Wifrin Obispo. After a rocky start in the first inning which included a bunt hit and a hit batter, Obispo became untouchable and went on to throw his first complete game on 120 pitches while only giving up 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 7. Obispo really deserves to be on the top roster at this point and I’m glad that the Giants didn’t demote him after Kroon was ready to come of the disabled list. So, congratulations to Obispo on this accomplishment in his career and I hope to see him at least one more time this season before it ends.

Wifrin Obispo reacting after throwing a pitch.

Obispo delivering a pitch.

Wifrin Obispo getting ready to deliver a pitch.

Daisuke Miura standing on second after hitting a double in the 3rd.

Miura immediately after hitting the ball.

Miura getting ready to hit the ball.

Yokohama on the other hand, was really a huge letdown by the way they played. It simply amazes me that about 2 weeks ago, they were riding a really impressive 5 game winning streak but now have reverted to their old ways. Bad pitching and the disease known as “iipatsu byou” (a disease in which pitchers have been known to give up an extraordinary amount of home runs throughout the course of a season) were Yokohama’s main problems. The lack of offense too also contributed to this loss as well but when your ace pitcher is serving up homeruns like nobody’s business, well that takes precedence in my opinion.

Michihiro Ogasawara or rather his “clean-shaven dopplelganger” as my friend Deanna from Marinerds would say, started things off for the Giants by hitting a solo home run to left in the top of the 1^st to give Yomiuri an early 1-0 lead. Then in the top of the 2^nd, the home runs continued as Yoshiyuki Kamei and Shinosuke Abe each hit solo home runs to right field (Abe’s barely cleared the wall) to give Yomiuri a 3-0 lead which basically spelled the end for Yokohama. While Yokohama ace Daisuke Miura didn’t really pitch all that well, he did help out with the bat by leading off the bottom of the 3^rd with a double to left. Miura then was then moved over to third on a single by Yokohama leadoff hitter Takehiro Ishikawa and was later brought home on a sacrifice fly to center by Seiichi Uchikawa which cut Yomiuri’s lead to 2. However, that’s about all the offense could do as the Giants kept on going. Shigeyuki Furuki tripled in a run in the top of the 7^th which was the only run of the game which didn’t come by the long ball and gave Yomiuri a 4-1 lead and Ogasawara’s clean-shaven doppleganger added 2 more in the top of the 8^th with a 2 run home run to left which was his second on the night. Yokohama 1^st baseman Dan Johnson added a solo shot of his own to center in the bottom of the 9^th hoping to start something for Yokohama’s offense but it wasn’t meant to be as Yomiuri scored often and early to put away Yokohama 6-2.

Alex Ramirez taking some batting practice before the game.

Michihiro Ogasawara's clean-shaven doppleganger watching his first home run of the night sail into the left field stands in the first.

Yomiuri catcher Shinosuke Abe hitting a home run in the 2nd inning.

Not a very good way for Yokohama to head into the All-Star break and here's hoping that they can have a respectable second half. But all in all, it was a great time as I did end up in the outfield around the 5th inning and got to cheer with some of my friends who had also made the trip to Nagano.

Yokohama closer Shun Yamaguchi and Yuta Sekiguchi greeting people at the entrance before the game. I think like the first 100 or so people in the gate also got a free BayStars fan book as well.

Shingo Takeyama and Takehiro Ishikawa also greeting people by the entrance gate I was at.

Down by the Bay Edition #1: Yokohama vs. Hirshoima @ Hamasta Plus Photopost 07/05/09

2009-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hello once again everyone. This year has not been so kind to my favorite NPB team, which is the Yokohama BayStars. They have been beat down, constantly humiliated, and just plain outplayed this season to the tune of a 23-46 record (as of 7/5/09). So, it comes as little surprise that I haven’t been to an actual home game since the pre-season. Logistics also has a small part to play in this as well but mainly it is because of the performance of the team. But despite the fact that I’ve been ashamed of the team to say the least, I’ve never stopped following the team and as a result, I lifted my personal “ban” on team home games and decided to go to my old stomping grounds at Yokohama Stadium on July 5^th. And quite honestly, I’ve got to say that this was the best game I’ve been to all year.

Memories of the past 3 years came flooding back to me as I purchased my ticket and entered the stadium. The smell of the popcorn and fried foods in the air, the all but to familiar dance contest and sutapuri (or stadium photos where they take pictures of random people through out the stadium at certain times during the games) made me feel at home again. I spent my time in between my seat and sitting with some of my friends who have season seats at the top of the stadium and it was just like old times again. I was truly like a little kid at the ballpark. Today’s game against the Carp would be the last day game until September because the team will switch over to night games for every home game because of the summer heat (I believe).

But before I get to the game, I’d just like to comment on baseball merchandise. Now, every once in a while, you find this cool piece of merchandise that you just have to but when you see it. Well, today was one of those days as I bought this little towel at the stadium:

In my opinion, the Hiroshima-Toyo Carp have some of the best merchandise in Pro Yakyu in my opinion. Today’s piece of merchandise features the Carp bat boy holding a shumai (Chinese dumpling which is the famous food in Yokohama) on a stick with Yokohama written everywhere on the towel. This was the first time I’d ever seen this towel anywhere so I got 2 of them and it makes for a great novelty having lived in Kanagawa for 3 years and all.

As for the game itself, the starting pitchers for the day were Tom Mastny for Yokohama and Takahiro Aoki for Hiroshima. As it turns out the game would be decided by what has been Yokohama’s “Achilles Heel” for a long time now and that’s starting pitching. Mastny was solid for about 2 innings of work and then things started to go down hill from there. New Hiroshima outfielder Andy Phillips put Hiroshima on the board first with a 3 run home run in the top of the 3^rd inning. Hiroshima right fielder Shigenobu Shima also added a solo shot of his own in the top of the 4^th to make it 4-0 Hiroshima. But not to be outdone, Yokohama slugger Shuichi Murata countered with a two run shot of his own in the bottom of the 4^th to make it 4-2 Yokohama. Midway through the 5^th inning however, Yokohama reliever Kimiyasu “Hama no Jisan” Kudoh came in to replace Tom Mastny and promptly gave up a sacrifice fly to Shima, which made it 5-2 Hiroshima. It’s always a treat to see Kudoh pitch these days. Yokohama responded when pinch hitter Hiroyuki Ohnishi hit a timely groundout to short in the bottom of the 5^th to make it 5-3 Hiroshima. Not really that impressive but a run is a run after all and I’ll take it.

New Hiroshima slugger Andy Phillips watches his 3 run homer fly into the stands in the 3rd inning.

Andy Phillips crosses home plate after rounding the bases.

Yokohama starter Tom Mastny.

Mastny after throwing a pitch.

Hiroshima starter Takahiro Aoki winding up for the pitch.

Takahiro Aoki again.

But perhaps Yokohama’s biggest chance came during the bottom of the 7^th inning, which ironically was our “lucky seven”. Tatsuhiko Kinjoh started things off with a walk. After that, pinch hitter Tatsuya Shimozono hit a single to left. After a sacrifice bunt by Takeya Ishikawa moved Kinjoh and Shimozono over third and second respectively. Then, Takahiro Saeki came in as a pinch hitter (to a loud applause too I might add) and hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 5-4 Hiroshima. You could just feel the excitement in the air at Hamasta as the next batter; Yuki Yoshimura came up to the plate. Yoshimura ended up striking out to end the inning and killed Yokohama’s chance to score that tying run.

Yokohama centerfielder Tatsuya Shimozono standing at second base.

Takahiro Saeki watches as he hits a sacrifice fly in the 7th.

Now, as I said in my previous post about Sendai, I think that it is great that Tashiro-kantoku put Yoshimura in the lead off spot to try and change things up. But PLEASE, end this experiment or whatever it is NOW. While there is no questioning that Yoshimura has the talent, the simple fact is that he strikes out too much for his own good and really shouldn’t be in the lead off spot. Yoshimura went 1-4 in this game with three strikeouts and that in my opinion, is enough reason to raise the red flag. I would suggest that Tashiro-kantoku give Uchikawa another shot to lead off because he seems to be coming around with the bat nowadays as he’s leading the team with a .312 average. I would much rather see contact from the lead off spot than strikeouts. Or, if they’re really adamant about having the lead off hitter steal bases, then put Ishikawa back in the lead off spot and move Yoshimura down in the lineup where he can swing for the fences because their numbers are almost identical with Yoshimura having the slight edge over Ishikawa.

Hiroshima added an insurance run via a sacrifice fly by Andy Phillips in the top of the 9^th which made it 6-4 and ultimately spelled the end for Yokohama.

Hiroshima closer Katsuhiro Nakagawa. He picked up his 22nd game in this game.

Kimiyasu Kudoh walking back to the dugout with second baseman Toshihisa Nishi.

Kudoh getting ready to warm up.

Kudoh winding up for a pitch.

Atsushi Kizuka throwing a pitch.

Kizuka looking at the mound while doing some of his pre-pitch stretches.

And while I should’ve been disappointed with the result, I wasn’t because I thought that Yokohama played well at least offensively. They’ve shown great improvement in that department since the beginning of the season and should be commended as such. The problem is that Yokohama continues to have issues with their pitching, mainly their starters not being able to go deep into games and as a result, end up relying too heavily on their bullpen. A recent comment by Tashiro-kantoku surprised me when he responded to a question about taking Les Walrond out of the rotation. He admitted that the team has no pitching and that they must wait for the young pitchers to develop at 2-gun. Well, since the season is pretty much over anyways, why not give the youngsters some experience at the big league level? I’m just saying that it certainly couldn’t hurt in their development process to get some of that experience under their belts so to speak.

Aside from the piece above, there was little to dislike about this game despite the result. It was great going back to where my Pro Yakyu journey began and I hope to bring you some more editions of “Down by the Bay” in the near future as a part of me still takes great pride in talking about the Yokohama BayStars even though I don’t get out to see them as much as I used to and that the season has been a rough one to say the least.

MOVE ON BAYSTARS!!!!

Hiroshima shortstop Takuro Ishii. The day before this game, Takuro hit his 100th career home run. Kind of ironic that he hit it at Yokohama Stadium where he played for almost all of his career. Congratulations to Takuro for reaching this accomplishment in his career.

Takuro warming up before the game with Eishin Soyogi.

Takehiro Ishikawa warming up at second base before the game.

Catcher Takeshi Hosoyamada going after a ball that got away after Scott McClain struck out.

Lions Classic 2009 Game #1: Seibu vs. Softbank @ Seibu Dome 6/28/09

2009-07-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Hopefully, you are all doing well and staying cool in this hot weather or dry in this rainy weather for that matter. So, on Sunday June 28th, I went to my first Lions Classic game of 2009. Now for those of you who don't know what Lions Classic is, it's an event or rather sets of games where Seibu breaks out their uniforms from the past or throwbacks. This year Lions Classic runs from June 27th until August 27th during select games and you can purchase special goods in honor of the bygone eras. Also too, Seibu offers ticket packages in which you can get tickets for multiple Lions Classic games as well as a piece of special merchandise only exclusive to that particular ticket package.

For this game or rather series against the SoftBank Hawks, Seibu donned the uniforms they wore in the 1980s so many players like Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Koji Akiyama (who ironically is now the manager of the SoftBank Hawks) wore these jerseys during their time with Seibu. Also too, Seibu will wear the throwback uniforms against all the Pacific League teams so if you are in the area, you should check it out as it's a really neat experience. Information about Lions Classic can be found here (all in Japanese of course).

Saitama Seibu 3rd baseman Takeya "Okawari" Nakamura modeling Lions Classic.

I got to the stadium right when the gates opened and after buying my Lions Classic goods, I was extremely disappointed to learn that my seat was in probably one of the worst locations to take pictures in the entire stadium which was in the upper "B" seats right behind the net and right next to the press box. And to top it all off, I was in the highest possible row there was so I did the best I could with the pictures I took. So yeah, I'm giving a big "finger of shame" to Seibu's lousy online "play guide" ticket shop for reserving such a bad seat for me (and I'm a Platinum fan club member to boot so go figure). But despite that, it was half price because of my fan club membership so I guess it wasn't all bad. Another weird thing too, there were heaps of foreigners sitting in the same area as me and it's quite strange that whenever I go to see Seibu in the reserved seats area, all the foreigners I see at the Dome usually sit in that area which strikes me as odd. I have no idea why this is the case but it was a nice change to hear the very monotonous MLB style "Let's Go Wasdin" chants while SoftBank was batting. Not really though, as it distracted me from watching the game and it messed up the vibe that the SoftBank ouendan was creating. Oh yeah, I'm a Japanese baseball purist through and through HA HA!

As for the game itself, the starting pitchers for the day were John Wasdin (Seibu) against DJ Houlton (SoftBank). Now honestly, I haven’t been that high on Wasdin this year as I think he is more suited to be in the bullpen rather than a starter. He was strong for the first 2 innings but by the time the third inning rolled around, he started to lose his control and he proceeded to give up 3 runs in the following 2 innings. In the top of the4^th, Nobihiko Matsunaka walked to start things off for SoftBank. Then, Hiroki Kokubo singled to left which led to perhaps one of my most my favorite moments of the game. Now you see, once upon a time, I came across a team when I was starting to become a Pro Yakyu fan. I started to follow that team in 2006 and instantly became a fan of a certain player who I had only read about in a few online reports previous. At the end of the season, this player was traded to the Hawks for a young pitcher and I, like many others, were confused and kind of sad because the trade was so sudden and the player was a “native son” of sorts to the area in which the team was located. That player was none other than Hitoshi Tamura and of course the team was Yokohama. I still am a huge Tamura fan despite that fact that he is injury prone and has rotten luck with that over the course of his career. So naturally, I cheered when Tamura singled to right to make it 2-1 Seibu (Hiroyuki Nakajima had hit a 2 run homer to right center in the bottom of the 1^st to give Seibu the early 2-0 lead). A little while later, Nobuhiro Matsuda hit an RBI single to center to tie the game at 2 a piece. But, the tie wouldn’t last long as GG Sato would hit a 2 run homer to right to put Seibu back on top 4-2. Softbank would then answer in the top of the 5^th when Jose Ortiz hit a towering fly ball to left field which bounced off the foul pole and therefore was called a home run to make the score 4-3 Seibu. Softbank then took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 7^th on a 2 run home run by Matsunaka. But again, it wouldn’t last as Takumi Kuriyama would hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 8^th to tie the score yet again at 5-5. But, the game would ultimately be decided in what has been Seibu’s main weakness this year and that is pitching. Koji Mitsui came on to pitch in the top of the 9^th and gave up an RBI double to Jose Ortiz and which made it 6-5 SoftBank and after that, Seibu reliever Koji Onuma gave up another RBI single to Hiroki Kokubo which made it 7-5 SoftBank and that’s where the score ended up.

Saitama Seibu starter John Wasdin and his leg kick.

Wasdin again.

Wasdin holding the ball.

Wasdin sharing a laugh with catcher Ginjiro.

Overall, a great game by both teams that ultimately ended up spoiling the nostalgia of the day because it was Lions Classic after all. But besides Lions Classic, the story of the day was the SoftBank Hawks. Now seriously, did any of you out there think that the Hawks would be playing at this level right now in the season after they experienced a number of changes during last off-season? After having the best record in the 2009 Inter-League Series for the second consecutive year, SoftBank looks poised for a playoff run this season and they are indeed playing like they belong there in October. Once again, a great and exciting game by both teams that ended up with a loss for Seibu. Lions Classic is not off to a good start this year and hopefully it can improve over the next 2 months.

Also too, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by none other than Lions manager Hisanobu Watanabe. The batter was current SoftBank manager Koji Akiyama who was a teammate with Nabe-Q for a number of years. Akiyama managed to foul off Watanabe's pitch to the delight of the crowd.

Nabe-Q winding up for the pitch.

Nabe-Q after throwing the pitch.

From the Vault: Nippon Ham vs. Shonan Searex @ Fighters Stadium 05/16/09

2009-06-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. With the rainy weather continuing here in

Japan

and me feeling a lot better these days, I’m getting caught up with things here on the old blog. Honestly though, with me trying to get back into shape and staying at school until 5pm or later every night, it’s hard to put forth the energy to write about Pro Yakyu. I’m trying to create a schedule for my activities everyday but it just doesn’t seem to be working. But nonetheless, I’m going to keep at it and hopefully I’ll be able to get these posts up at decent times rather than a few weeks after the fact. But also, I guess the purpose of my blog was to get the word out about Japanese Baseball so I guess it’s the experience that counts in the end. So with all that being said, I’ve decided to create a new “series” of sorts called “From the Vault”. These will be the games that I either: A. Never got around to posting or B. Just plain forgot to write about. I think these game reports will also have more of a commentary feel to them, as I will talk more about my opinions on things related to the teams rather than focusing on the actual games themselves.

Ok, with my opening out of the way, let’s get down to business. On Saturday May 16^th, I took a “little” trip to Kamagaya, Chiba to attend my first Nippon Ham Fighters 2-gun or minor league game. Now in my opinion, Fighters Stadium is one of the best stadiums for a minor league game but it is also very inconvenient because of its location. But still, you can’t help but admire what the Fighters have done in terms of making Kamagaya into its own little separate brand. I think that my minor league team the Shonan SeaRex and the Fighters have many things in common in this aspect. Both teams have their own mascot, their own ouendan (cheer groups) for home games and merchandise and they play in an actual stadium and not some baseball ground like other teams do. But unlike Shonan, I get the impression and the feeling that the Fighters 2-gun fans are more dedicated to their team. Now don’t get me wrong, I know and often sit next to people who only go to Shonan games, but usually the people I see at the games are the same people I see at BayStars games and they only go if there’s something important happening or if the BayStars are out of town. Yes, geography has something to do with it (the Fighters are based in Hokkaido and their farm team is based in Chiba), but you can’t help but notice again, how great of a job the Fighters have done in making their 2-gun team into a separate brand of sorts. Cubby (their mascot) is on posters and buses and just about everywhere in the Kamagaya/Funabashi area and quite honestly, it’s really cool. Plus, those green Kamagaya jerseys are some of my favorite Japanese baseball jerseys and again are really cool.

Fighters Stadium mascot Cubby. Seriously, I've never seen a mascot actually partake in the actual performance of ouenka before. This was very cool to see.

As for the game itself, I was quite disappointed in the way that Shonan played. They didn’t hit and were completely sloppy on defense. The starters for each team were Kentaro Kurihara for Shonan and Mitsuo Yoshikawa for the Fighters. Yoshikawa only went five innings despite pitching pretty good and only giving up one run which was a solo homer to Shonan shortstop Takayuki Kajitani. Kentaro Kurihara on the other hand was lousy giving up 7 runs and nine hits through 5 1/3 innings. But to his credit, not all of those runs were his fault and some of them were also due to Shonan’s lousy defense (Keijiro Matsumoto and Shingo Nonaka in particular). So actually, only about 4 runs or so were his fault due to bad pitching but regardless, the Fighters took advantage of Shonan’s faults and made them pay for it in what was a totally one sided game for them.

Nippon Ham starter Mitsuo Yoshikawa.

Shonan starter Kentaro Kurihara.

Also too, before the game, Nippon Ham wunderkind Sho Nakata received his April farm league MVP award and another award too I think (I forgot what it was though). This would be the last time to date that I would see Nakata at a 2-gun game as he was called up to the main squad a few weeks later and has been there ever since (as of 6/24/09 he has been demoted to 2-gun again). I can now say that I saw Nakata when he was just starting out and when he becomes this big star that everyone sees him becoming, I can brag about seeing him in 2-gun when he was just starting.

Sho Nakata receiving his April MVP award for 2-gun.

Nakata bowing to the fans on the first base side after receiving his award.

Nakata hitting a single that bounced off the outfield wall.

Oh yeah, and after the game I received some more Shonan autographs of the following players:

Takayuki Kajitani

Atsushi Kita

Shoma Sato

Hiroaki Ohnishi

A really nice haul for the game (especially Ohnishi) that added to the collection nicely.

Hiroaki Ohnishi warming up before the game.

Ohnishi after the game heading to his car. Great matching hat and shirt ensemble too "Hiro".

As always, here’s the box score for the game:

English

Japanese

2009 Interleague Madness: Rakuten vs. Yokohama in Sendai A.K.A. Totallly Owned

2009-06-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. This past weekend, Saturday June 13^th and Sunday June, 14^th, I took a trip to Miyagi Prefecture in north

Japan

to see the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles take on the Yokohama BayStars at the ever famous Kleenex Stadium Miyagi. Now despite the name of the stadium as possibly being on of the worst ever, the stadium itself is a really nice place and Rakuten has done quite well in terms of marketing and really capturing the attention of the people in Miyagi and the surrounding areas. They drew 20,000+ crowds for the two games this past weekend and it was great to see people supporting the Eagles. The Rakuten eagles have only been in existence for about 5 years but already they are pushing themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Pacific League and quite frankly, the team has gotten my attention and I’m listening. I can’t explain it but there’s a charm about the Eagles that makes them attractive in my opinion and I think I’ve somewhat become enamored with them as they are my second favorite team along with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in the Pacific League, who both are behind Seibu of course. Maybe it’s their young stud pitchers Hisashi Iwakuma and Masahiro Tanaka, or maybe it’s the manager, Katsuya Nomura (highly doubtful on this one), but I like the Rakuten Eagles and really when I can’t cheer for Seibu , I can see myself putting on some maroon and pulling for the Eagles.

This is MR.CARRASCO, one of Rakuten's many mascots. He is known for doing crazy things such as stunts on a dirt bike and literally climbing the very small wall in the outfield and jumping into the stands. He totally rocks.

But before I go on, I’d just like to say thank you to Michael Westbay from JapaneseBaseball.com for the camera advice he gave on one of my previous posts. I’m still learning the ropes with my new camera so to speak and hopefully, as time goes on, this blog can serve as sort of a personal history to showcase my improvement in picture taking.

But enough joking aside, this weekend totally sucked for Yokohama. Now we all know that the Stars aren’t having the best season this year but after this weekend series, I can now officially say that they are content to be bottom feeders in NPB. I mean seriously, totaling 7 hits and 0 runs in two games just means utter fail. Yokohama is serving up its fans a double order of fail fries with a triple order of weak sauce every time they take the field seriously. It’s gotten to the point where I just don’t care enough about the team enough to pay attention to them aside from reading the sports news everyday to see how they did. And while I will always be a BayStars fan as they got me though some hard times a few years back, I absolutely refuse to be “a carp in a pond that eats whatever is fed to him” and I feel that that’s what many BayStars fans are as they just keep blindly following the team and hope that the team can win. They could learn a thing or two from the Chiba Lotte fans. Yeah, believing in your team is one thing, but when your team is in a tailspin and going downward with no end in sight, surely you must question what can be done to fix the team right? As a consumer, I want to get the most bang for my buck and am using this as a chance to explore other teams and take my interest in NPB to the next level. So basically, I use Yokohama as an excuse to go on road trips as I’ll be going to Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium in late July to see the new stadium when the Stars have a series there.

Dan Johnson or "DJ" as he likes to be called. I don't know what happened but he isn't playing that well these days.

Yokohama centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjoh. Honestly, I like Kinjoh but it seems like this may be his last year in Yokohama.

New lead-off man Yuki Yoshimura. I admit, while the concept of Yoshimura as a lead-off hitter is intriguing, he strikes out way to much for my taste and shouldn't be batting lead-off in my opinion.

Seiichi Uchikawa trying to be gangster in left field before the game. All kidding aside though, I really like Uchi and honestly, I think that Tashiro-kantoku should give him a shot to lead-off again.

As for the games themselves, Yokohama was totally outclassed from the start. The starters for Game 1 were Ryan Glynn for the Stars and Satoshi Nagai for the Eagles. This was a typical start for Glynn as he gave up runs early in the game and didn’t receive any run support whatsoever from the offense. Rakuten needed little effort to win this game as they mainly used Glynn’s erratic control against him to do so.

After a fly out to left by Daisuke Kusano to start the bottom of the 2^rd, Tsuchiya Teppei walked and then advanced to third on a single to right by Kenshi. Yosuke Hirashi also walked to load the bases and then Rakuten catcher Motohiro Shima walked to make it 1-0 Rakuten with the bases still loaded. Then, leadoff hitter Naoto Wantanabe singled to center to make it 3-0 Rakuten and that’s where the score stayed until the bottom of the 8^th where Daisuke Kusano would add another run on an RBI double to make it 4-0 Rakuten. Again, Rakuten didn’t need all that much to win the game as they only had 6 hits total and 5 of them were singles.

But Satoshi Nagai on the other hand, totally handcuffed Yokohama by throwing a complete game while allowing 2 hits and striking out 8 while walking 4. Perhaps this will make Rakuten manager Katsuya Nomura appreciate what pitching he has instead of grumbling about how Iwakuma and Tanaka ore the only good pitchers there are and how he can’t send them out everyday to start. I guess I’m a spoiled Yakyu fan as earlier in the week, I saw Hideaki Wakui of the Lions also go the distance against Hanshin. Two complete games in one week is a great thing.

But to Yokohama’s credit I did see some things I liked. While I get on Ryan Glynn a lot, he did pitch great after giving up those 3 runs there’s no denying that. And also, I like what Tashiro kantoku did in mixing things up with the starting lineup. Now frankly, while having Yuki Yoshimura lead off and Dan Johnson bat second is not such a good thing in my opinion, he did something different and I think that deserves a little credit. But even that is stretching it out and can’t hide that fact that things were not so good in Sendai this weekend for the Stars.

Now, I had hope for Game 2 to be honest with you because Yokohama’s ace, Daisuke Miura, took the mound for Game 2 against the brick wall known as Hisashi Iwakuma. But alas, even “Hama No Bancho” was not enough to overcome defeat as he got hammered. Miura wasn’t his normal self as his control seemed a bit off and besides that, one of my friends told me that he hurt his leg or something during his last start so it’s also quite possible that he has been playing hurt as well.

Yokohama Ace Daisuke Miura warming up before starting the 1st inning.

Miura just before throwing his first pitch of the game.

Miura looking cool in his shades and practice uniform before the game.

Hisashi Iwakuma right before throwing a pitch.

Hisashi Iwakuma right after throwing a pitch.

Hisashi Iwakuma yet again.

Rakuten exploded and did most of their damage in the 5^th and 6^th innings by scoring 7 runs and totaling 9 hits in those two innings as well. Rakuten DH Takeshi “Hulk Smash” Yamazaki went 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored and catcher Akihito Fuji went 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Seriously, if the Japanese were to ever make their own version of “The Hulk”, Takeshi Yamazaki would be the perfect guy to fill the role as he’s not only a decent sized guy, but he has the temper to boot.

Rakuten outfielder Teppei touching up first base during a pickoff attempt by Ryan Glynn during Game #1.

Teppei advancing to third on a single by Rakuten first baseman Kenshi during Game #1. It was the same play as the picture above too ironically.

Catcher Akihito Fuji standing on first base after recording his third hit of the day during Game #2.

Rakuten left fielder Masato Nakamura just after hitting a single in the 5th inning of Game #1.

Daisuke Kusano stealing second base.

But despite Yokohama continuing its losing ways, Sendai was great as always. Kleenex Stadium Miyagi is a gorgeous stadium and Rakuten has done a lot to improve it, although those Lawson “Group Seats” in the right field stands are totally stupid and messed up part of the charm of the stadium which were the little hills in the outfield where you could sit and lay your blanket out just like in the countryside stadiums (left field still has the hill where people sit). So, if you ever get the chance to go, please do as you won’t regret it.

http://www.rakuteneagles.jp/game/scoreboard/index/2009061401.html#5

http://www.rakuteneagles.jp/game/scoreboard/record/2009061301.html

http://bis.npb.or.jp/eng/2009/games/s2009061400792.html

http://bis.npb.or.jp/eng/2009/games/s2009061300781.html

And finally, I leave you with this photo:

BayStars veteran pitcher Kimiyasu Kudoh. When it comes to this season, the look on Kudoh's face pretty much sums up how I feel when I think about the BayStars. I think this is going to be my mandatory introduction photo for all BayStars related posts this year.

Interleague Madeness 2009: Hanshin vs. Seibu @ Seibu Dome or A G'DAY for baseball

2009-06-12T04:18:00.001-07:00

Hello again everyone. On Wednesday, June 10^th, I went to the Seibu Dome for another rare weeknight game against none other than the Hanshin Tigers. I attended this game with my friend Mike, who lives in the general area nearby and honestly we didn’t know what to expect other than there would be a lot of Hanshin fans at the stadium. We had both wanted to see either Hideaki Wakui or Takayuki Kishi pitch and we got our wish when the starters for the game were announced as Hideaki Wakui going for the Lions and Minoru Iwata for the Tigers. Now, I believe that this was Iwata’s first start of the year as he had been hurt to start the season. I really didn’t know what to expect from him but he went way above and beyond the call in my opinion as this game was a total pitching match and it was pitching ironically that ended up deciding who won the game. This was also my first time seeing Hanshin live this season so, I was pretty pumped about that. And even though I detest most Hanshin fans because of their attitudes and manners, you cannot help but admire and appreciate the atmosphere of a ball game whenever and wherever Hanshin plays, be it on the road or in Kansai.

Hanshin got things going in the top of the first when 3^rd baseman Takahiro Arai hit a home run to deep right field to give Hanshin an early 1-0 lead. But, in the bottom of the first, Seibu responded when Takumi Kuriyama doubled to deep right center and promptly after that, Hiroyuki Nakajima blasted a 2 run home run to center field to put Seibu on top 2-1. But Hanshin wouldn’t stand idle for long as Tomoaki Kanemoto would give Hashin the lead again in the top of the 3^rd on a two run RBI single to center allowing Keiichi Hirano and Norihiro Akahoshi to both score. Both batters had been walked previously by Wakui and interestingly enough, those were his only two walks of the game. And for the next few innings, Kanemoto’s RBI single would stand as the difference maker until the bottom of the 6^th when Yasuyuki Kataoka doubled to right to start off the inning. After a sacrifice bunt by Takumi Kuriyama moved Kataoka over to third, Hiroyuki Nakajima grounded out to short allowing Kataoka to score which tied the game at 3-3 and from there the game got interesting.

Hanshin 3rd baseman Takahiro Arai crossing home plate after hitting a home run in the top of the 1st.

Arai standing on second after getting a hit in the 6th. Feel free to add your own caption.

Arai swinging at a pitch.

Arai swinging at another pitch.

Yasutuki Kataoka after swinging at a pitch.

Tomoaki "Aniki" Kanemoto striking out in the top of the 8th.

Kanemoto taking a short breather in between pitches.

Kanemoto getting ready to swing at a pitch.

Norihiro Akahoshi not looking happy after a called strike.

Shinjiro Hiyama fouling off a pitch.

Seibu infielder Hiroshi Hirao. Hard to believe Hirao is a 15 year veteran.

Hirao coming up to the plate.

Both pitchers had dominated the game each giving up 3 runs a piece and limiting their hits and walks. But 2/3 of the way into the 8^th inning, Mayumi kantoku decided it was time for a pitching change when he brought in Scott Atchison to replace Iwata. I’m not so sure I agreed with that decision, as it was good for the end of the 8^th when Atchison got out of a jam with runners on first and third with two outs by getting Nakajima to ground out to end the inning. But it was Atchison and later Jeff Williams who blew it for Hanshin. After striking out “Okawari” Nakamura to start the bottom of the ninth, Atchison walked Hiroshi Hirao, who was then lifted for pinch runner Haruki Kurose. Kurose then advanced to third on a GG Sato single to right. Tomoaki Sato was then intentionally walked (why Mayumi did this, I’ll never know) and Atchison was pulled in favor of lefty Jeff Williams. Catcher Tsumitani Ginjiro was lifted for pinch hitter Yutaro Osaki and Williams walked Osaki on four straight pitches to bring home the winning run for Seibu, giving them a 4-3 victory over the Tigers. Hey, it wasn’t the way I’d prefer to win but I’ll take it, as a win is a win after all.

Saitama Seibu ace Hideaki Wakui.

Wakui again.

Hanshin starter Minoru Iwata.

Iwata after throwing a pitch.

Iwata waiting for a ball after throwing a pitch.

The conference in the top of the 8th and the Iwata's finish.

Wakui got the win for Seibu and Iwata took the loss for Hanshin. As I said earlier, both pitchers were outstanding and their numbers were pretty much the same (see box score below) but, I have to say that Iwata impressed me more because he was more “economical” with pitches having only thrown 99 pitches by the time he was lifted in the bottom of the 8^th whereas Wakui ended up throwing 141 pitches by going the distance. I really love Wakui as Seibu’s ace and think the world of him but I can’t help but think in the back of my mind how much damage these complete game/high pitch counts will do to him in the future.

Game hero Yutaro Osaki addressing the crowd after the game.

Also as a little side story, former Saitama Seibu Lion Craig Brazell made his return to the Seibu Dome but ended up going 0-4 in the contest. It’s great that Craig was able to get another shot to play in Japan after being let go by the Lions after the end of last season. For the time being at least, he seems to getting along nicely and has become an instant hit with Hanshin. Hopefully, he helps the team and has a productive season. And as a treat for all the readers out there, here are some shots of Brazell in his new uniform. Not bad pictures if I do say so myself. I think these are the first in game shots of him in a game but I’m not really to sure if they are or not.

Craig Brazell shot #1.

Craig Brazell shot #2.

Craig Brazell shot #3.

Craig Brazell shot #4.

Home Sweet Home in Ogano, Chichibu: 2-gun Saitama Seibu vs. Tokyo Yakult

2009-06-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. I'm slowly trying to get my backlog of posts done but until they get posted, here's something special I did today. Now as many of you know, I used to live near Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture for nearly 3 years and I used to frequent Yokohama BayStars games quite often (almost everyday to be exact). But last year I moved out to Chichibu City in Saitama to continue working as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). So, you can imagine my surprise that Seibu actually hosted a game out near where I live and that meant I ONLY had to take a 30 minute bus ride over a mountain to go see a game Woo Hoo!!! Ogano town is actually in the western part of the Chichibu District of Saitama which basically means it's even deeper in the mountains than Chichibu City is and is further away from civilization. But, the area has it's charm and I do enjoy going there.

And also, because this was a local game in my area, baseball clubs from all over Chichibu came to watch the game and I spent almost the entire game in the outfield with one of my school’s baseball club. It was very fun and I got to know the kids a little better after it was all said and done. In addition, I recently purchased a Cannon PowerShot SX10 IS and used it to take pictures at a game for the first time so you may notice that the quality of my pictures has gotten better. I was quite pleased with how the pictures came out and I’m glad I just decided to get a new camera to replace my crappy point and shoot with it’s fuzzy pictures. But, enough with all that and let’s get to the game shall we?

The weather was gorgeous for the game on Sunday and Seibu did quite well in terms of attendance drawing almost 2,000 people to the game with the actual total being 1,861. Before the game too, Seibu held a サイン会 or autograph session in which the first 100 people to line up in front of the autograph tent got the chance to receive a signature from a player after paying a 200 yen fee. After paying, you received a numbered ticket with the letter A, B, C, D, or E on it and whoever sat in that particular chair that’s whose autograph you got. I was fortunate enough to get pitcher Koji Onuma’s autograph because he wasn’t signing at all. It appears that Seibu does this regularly before each local 2-gun game they play as they did it in Kumagaya and Omiya as well. Also too, I spent the morning with a student of mine autograph hunting before the game and got really sunburned in the process. But, the effort paid off as I made off with quite a number of autographs that day. Here’s a list of players that I got to sign (excluding Onuma) in no particular order:

Tomohito Yoneno (Yakult)

Masayoshi Miwa (Yakult)

Takayuki Shimizu

Taketoshi Gotoh (who is a really nice guy too btw)

Hideto Asamura

Takuya Hara

I was really angry that I just barely missed getting Shogo Akada’s autograph but despite that, I did quite well I feel as I did get Shimizu’s autograph which I really wanted to begin with.

But I do have a gripe with Seibu though about something. Now I’m not condoning anyone for their personal habits but smoking in an exposed tent in front of little children is a bad thing. It’s no secret that ballplayers smoke but if your going to do it, please do it in an enclosed area. Maybe they just didn’t do a good job of covering the tent up or whatever but that really got to me as these children look up to the players as role models and often imitate what they see. I experience this sort of thing everyday and it’s something I don’t really like to see.

Tokyo Yakult starter Shun Takaichi.

Seibu Starter Ryohei Fujiwara thinking before the game.

The starting pitchers for the game were Shun Takaichi for Yakult and Ryohei Fujiwara for Seibu. Right out of the gate, Fujiwara was bad, as he had zero control as he couldn’t find the strike zone and walked 2 batters in the first inning alone. Yakult struck first on a bases loaded sac fly by Takayuki Saito to make it 1-0 Yakult in the first. Yakult added another run in the top of the 2^nd when 3^rd baseman Ryosuke Morioka hit a solo homer to left that made it 2-0 Yakult. Then, in the top of the 3^rd with 2 on, Yakult centerfielder Tsuyoshi Ueda blasted a 3 run shot to left center to make it 5-0 Yakult. After this, Fujiwara was finished and it seemed that this was going to be a quick game for the Swallows. But, in the bottom of the 4^th inning, something started to happen. Now, I don’t know if it was the clean country air in Chichibu or Yakult just decided to call it a day, but Seibu came back with a vengeance over the next 3 innings. Taketoshi Gotoh started things off for Seibu with a two run homerun in the bottom of the 4^th that made it 5-2 Yakult. Yakult struck back and added another run in the top of the 5^th courtesy of an RBI single by Yakult right fielder Munenori Shida which made it 6-2 Yakult.But not to be outdone, in the bottom of the 5^th, Seibu struck again as Takuya Hara hit a bases clearing triple with 2 on to make it 6-4 Yakult and then Gotoh singled to left for an RBI which pulled Seibu with in one making the score 6-5 Yakult.

Saitama Seibu 1st baseman/DH Taketoshi Gotoh crossing home plate after hitting his 2 run home run in the bottom of the 4th.

Gotoh again going for it all, YEAH!

Before the game, there was a local Taiko drum group that performed for the pre-game entertainment. What’s funny is that they ended up staying for the entire game and would start playing after Seibu scored a run. Needless to say, Seibu set off the Taiko quite a bit as they broke the game open and then some in the bottom of the 6^th. Seibu left fielder Hidekazu Hoshi led of the inning with a walk. Then, Keisuke Mizuta hit a two run homer to deep left to make it 7-6 Seibu. But not to be outdone by his teammate, 3^rd baseman Naomichi Umeda hit his own home run to deep left center to make it 8-6 Seibu. Now, you think that this would be it right? Not even close as Seibu was just humiliating Yakult by this point. Shogo Akada and Takuya Hara drew consecutive walks and were moved over to third and second respectively by a Hiroyuki Oshima single to load the bases. Then, the man of the day himself came to the plate in the form of Taketoshi Gotoh and promptly hit a 2 run RBI double to make it 10-6 and put runners on third and second. What happened next was just incredible as Takayuki Shimizu SMASHED a 3 run home run into the riverbed behind the stadium to make it 13-6 Seibu and as a result of this, Shimizu also managed to send a horde of about 30+ kids into the riverbed to try and get the ball. One of my students actually managed to get the ball so it was pretty neat. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a Japanese baseball game to date. But Seibu wasn’t even done after all this. Keisuke Mizuta decided that 13 runs wasn’t enough and hit his second home run of the inning to left center to make it 14-6 Seibu. After that, the inning was finally over as was the game for the most part. Yakult managed to add another run in the 7^th counrtesy of a bases loaded walk by Yakult shortstop Yuji Onizaki but by that time it really didn’t matter as the damage had been done as Yakult would go down quietly in the 8^th and 9^th innings.

Takayuki Shimizu swinging at a pitch early in the game.

This is FORMER Gomiuri Giant Takayuki Shimizu. He looks 1 million times better in these colors than those other ones. Kutabare Gomiuri!!! And yes, he is really really popular with the Seibu fans.

All in all, a truly fantastic game by Seibu despite a rocky start by both the pitching and the hitting and plus the game being played in my backyard basically added to the excitement as well. Both teams did really well I feel and I honestly didn’t know that both teams turned the game into a slugfest as well until I checked the box scores after the game. Plus, seeing my students happy made me feel pretty good too as some of them were able to catch some practice balls that the players threw into the stands in between innings. It’s really great if you are a teacher and are able to share some of your student’s interests as they open up to you a little more and actually listen to what you have to say. If you guys ever get the chance to go to a 2-gun game then by all means go. For 1000 yen and 9 innings of baseball, what better way is there to spend a sunny afternoon on the weekend?

As usual, here’s the box score from the game:

http://bis.npb.or.jp/eng/2009/games/fs2009060700742.html

http://www.seibulions.jp/farm/scoreboard/record/2009060701.html

Shogo Akada is NOT happy with that strike call!

Yakult Swallows catcher Tomohito Yoneno

Saitama Seibu pitcher Tetsuya Iwasaki. He has on of the wildest wind ups I have ever seen seriously.

Takuya Hara using his batting eye to draw a walk.

Yakult outfielders Munehiro Shida and Tsuyoshi Ueda reacting after Tetsuya Hara's triple.

Saitama Seibu catcher Shota Nakata going for the bunt.

2009 Interleague Madness: Yokhama vs. Saitama Seibu @ Seibu Dome 5/22 & 5/23 A.K.A. "When Worlds Collide"

2009-05-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

Yokohama first baseman Takahiro Saeki on the ground after committing an error in the 7th inning of Saturday's contest. Seriously, why is Saeki even still in the lineup? And yes, Saeki's 2 run home run in the game STILL doesn't change the fact that he's atrocious on defense. This is kind of what I feel like after I watch a BayStars game nowadays to be honest with you.

Hello all. It's been a little while I know but I've been feeling under the weather for a few weeks and am now just starting to get better. Honestly, I thought I had caught the "新型インフルエンザ" or "New Type Influenza" (Swine Flu as some of you may call it) but it turns out that I may have just had a really bad cold and sore throat that hit due to the season changing. I have like 6 games I need to write up and hopefully all of them will get posted this week so I will most definitely get caught up with things here. But anyways, on to the recap shall we?

On Friday May 22nd and Saturday May 23rd, I went to see the Yokohama BayStars do battle with the Saitama Seibu Lions. Now, these games were important for a number of reasons:

1. I decided that I was going to cheer in the outfield for the BayStars. Prior to that, it had been quite sometime since I actually cheered for the BayStars (the opening series in Nagoya doesn't really count as I was mainly talking with my friends from Kansai in the back and only glancing at the game). But I decided that no matter how bad they would be, that I'd cheer for them the entire game. But, since I remembered that I now have a "Yakyu Blog", I did split my time on Saturday between the right field cheering section and my field level seat to get some great pictures too by the way as you will see in a minute or so.

2. These match ups were between my 2 favorite teams from the Central and Pacific Leagues respectively. Now, it wasn't that hard to make up my mind who I was going to cheer for but it did feel awkward going to the Dome and cheering against the Lions this time around. I would be lying if I didn't say it wasn't. With me it's always the BayStars first and the Lions second whenever they play each other, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

3. I got to see "Tashiro's BayStars" first hand for the first time. Now, I'm sure you are all aware that former manager Akihiko Oya was replaced by former Shonan SeaRex manager Tomio Tashiro before interleague play began last week. Now that I've had some time to dwell on the move, I'd like to state how I feel about it.

I think the move is good but it came a little to late if you ask me. I feel that Ohya should have been let go at the end of last season which would have given Tashiro the chance to choose his own coaching staff and what not (had management decided to promote him at that time). So if Tashiro fails. I'm not going to blame him because he was thrust into this situation. Also, while I've stated that I do feel bad for Ohya, at the same time, I am disappointed at him and the BayStars management also because he failed to own up to his part of of the team's bad start and should have officially stepped down. But instead, he let management put him on "rest" and therefore, he'll probably slip out the back door unnoticed while the team goes in a different direction. I really can't buy into this whole "sabbatical" thing to be quite honest with you and still, there's a chance he could come back if the team improves (albeit a slim one).

Game #1 on Friday was a match up of aces so to speak as the pitching match up was Hideaki Wakui going for the Lions against Daisuke Miura of the BayStars. This was my second time seeing Miura this year and he wasn’t that much better than when I saw him on Opening day to be quite honest with you. But, it didn’t matter how good or bad Miura was because the story for this game was Yokohama’s offense. Now, for a good chunk of this young 2009 season, the BayStars have done NOTHING on offense. They’ve repeatedly failed to drive runners in let alone get on base. So, it came as quite a surprise to me when they hammered Wakui. It was like they were taking out the past month and a half on Wakui and it felt pretty good even though I felt bad for Wakui at the end of the night as well. Almost each starting member of Yokohama’s starting lineup had at least one hit with Shuichi Murata being the lone exception as he struck out 4 times in the contest (seriously, is anyone else getting sick of Murata’s all or nothing uppercut swing because I know I sure am). Also too, Yokohama’s new American slugger, Dan Johnson, hit a triple in the first inning which was really cool and kind of funny seeing him leg out a triple because Johnson is a really big guy I would assume that he hasn’t hit that many triples in his career (2 to be exact). Johnson seems to be finding his groove here in NPB which can only be a good thing and I wish him all the best and hope that he can continue producing for the BayStars.

The Lions too, weren’t that bad either as they scored in consecutive inning in the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th innings. But, it didn’t really matter as Yokohama’s bats couldn’t be stopped. My friends and I agreed that this was the best game for Yokohama this year so far as Tashiro kantoku seems to be getting settled in as the manager of the BayStars. The starting lineup was evidence of this as he had Seiichi Uchikawa batting leadoff. This was the first time in a long time (if ever) that I had seen Uchikawa batting leadoff and surprisingly, it makes sense I think.

Miura picked up the win for Yokohama and Wakui took the loss for Seibu. It was really good to actually cheer for the Stars again as I got many blank looks when I came to the Dome with my Lions bag that had all my cheer towels and whatnot in it. But I assured all my friends that the Stars are still my #1 team in NPB. Stats in English and Japanese can be found below:

Japanese

English

Yokohama Ace Daisuke Miura warming up before the game. He's my second favorite Japanese player right after Takuro Ishii.

Miura again. Even if the Stars don't come close to winning anything in the next few years, at least (and I hope) "Bancho" will get to retire in a Yokohama uniform.

But before that, I have to say that I spent Game 2 going back and forth between my field level seat and the outfield. It was my second time sitting in the new field view seats @ Seibu Dome and I’ve got to say that the view was a lot better on the 1^st base side as the seats seemed a lot closer to the action than the 3^rd base ones did. But anyways, onto Game 2 of the series and here we go…

To put it bluntly, all good things must come to an end as Yokohama’s momentum from Game 1 didn’t last. Game 2 was the exact opposite of Game 1 as Seibu struck first in terms of scoring and didn’t let up. The starters for the game were Ryan Glynn for Yokohama and Kazuyuki Hoashi for the Lions. Now for Ryan Glynn this season, things haven’t been going so well for him. As it stands now, he’s 2-5 with a 3.99 ERA through 8 games this season. Now granted, not all of this is his fault mainly because of the lack of run support he's gotten in his starts, but performances like this game don't really help him. 8 of Glynn's 9 hits he gave up in the game came in the first 2 innings he pitched plus he gave up 6 runs (5 earned). But, to Yokohama's credit, they did manage to fight back by scoring 2 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. So, maybe Tashiro kantoku is indeed having an effect on the Stars as I can't even remember when they tried to comeback in a game under Ohya's watch.

Saitama Seibu starter Kazuyuki Hoashi.

Hoashi delivering a pitch.

Yokohama starter Ryan Glynn. I swear that Glynn is going to cause me to short circuit by the end of the season.

An early conference on the mound in the 2nd inning.

Anyways, what really impressed me with Seibu is the performance of starter Kazuyuki Hoashi. To be honest, what's been killing Seibu this year is their pitching (the bullpen mainly in my opinion). Yes, their offense has been streaky at times too, but the pitching worries me more. So, the Lions needed a pitcher to step up and Hoashi did just that. He went out and dominated for six innings and pitching until the 8th while giving up 4 runs and striking out five. Although, he gave up 2 runs a piece in the 7th and 8th innings which makes me question how long he can actually go. But all in all, a great performance by Seibu and a tough loss for the Stars. At least it was better than last year when they got swept by Seibu at the Seibu Dome and had to deal with Kaz Ishii, who is a BayStars killer in my opinion because every time I've seen him face the Stars, he dominated them to the point of humiliation.

As always, the box scores from the game are below and after that, you can view some of the the many photos I took and because these were special games, I've posted many of them.

Japanese

English

Guess who?

Yokohama relief pitcher Yuya Ishii.

Yokohama left fielder and WBC star Seiichi Uchikawa. Hard to imagine that only 2 seasons ago, hardly anybody knew about him.

Yokohama relief pitcher Atsushi "Wildman" Kizuka.

Yokohama rookie Hitoshi Fujie. I actually like him a lot and think he's gonna be a great pitcher.

Yokohama second baseman Toshiyuki Kitagawa attempting to tag Hiroyuki Nakajima out at second after Nakajima hit a double to center field.

Yokohama third baseman Shuichi Murata hits a single to right in the top of the 7th.

Yokohama center fielder Tatsuhiko Kinjoh reacts after grounding out to short.

Saitama seibu second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka.

On The Road In Matsuyama 5/10: Tokyo Yakult vs. Hiroshima @ Botchan Stadium Part 2

2009-05-19T04:36:00.001-07:00

Hello once again everyone. So, a few weeks back as you all know, I went to Matsuyama to see the Yakult Swallows take on the Hiroshima Toyo-Carp at Botchan Stadium. These days, whenever I go see the Birds play, there’s one thing or rather one person I’d like to see at each game. That player is Shohei Tateyama. I was really hoping to see Tateyama pitch in one of these games and can you guess what the pitching match up for the day was? It was none other than Shohei Tateyama going for the Swallows against Takahiro Aoki of the Carp. So right off the bat, I’ve got to give the Birds all the credit in the world and a free pass from any “constructive criticism” about the team for a while even though it makes me angry to see Tateyama get ZERO love from the Birds in terms of merchandise. But, aside from that little jab now, no more dissing the Birds for a while. The attendance for this game was 14,981, which was pretty good. I thought that more people would’ve come out for the Sunday game but nonetheless, Yakult drew good numbers for both games in Matsuyama.

This is Hiroshima first baseman Kenta Kurihara. Seriously, this guy is an amazing ballplayer.

Kurihara again. By the way, do you notice anything strange about this picture? Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't really see many pro ballplayers doing this sort of thing or at least I haven't. Bonus points to Hiroshima for including this baseball fundamental during their practice time.

New Hiroshima outfielder Scott McClain taking his swings before the game.

Hiroshima second baseman Akihiro Higashide in the batting cage while manager Marty Brown plays with a bat.

Hiroshima starter Takahiro Aoki.

The game itself was much like the previous day. Both pitchers started off pretty good but Hiroshima starter Takahiro Aoki ran into trouble in the 3^rd inning. After a groundout by pitcher Shohei Tateyama to start the bottom of the 3^rd, Yakult shortstop Keizoh Kawashima singled to left and then Yakult left fielder Kazuki Fukuchi singled to right which put runners on first and third. And then, Aoki singled to right to make it 1-0 Yakult and Botchan Stadium promptly erupted. Seriously, the ovation that Aoki got was loud.

After that, Hiroshima finally got on the board in the top of the 5^th. THE MAN, Takuro Ishii, doubled to left to start off the inning and then advanced to 3^rd on a groundout by Hiroshima 2nd baseman Eishin Soyogi. After that, Sohichiro Amaya hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Takuro to tie the game at 1 a piece. However, that's all that Tateyama would give up as Hiroshima couldn't score any more runs for the rest of the game.

But not to be outdone, Yakult came back in the bottom of the 6^th with a vengence. After a line out to first by Aaron Guiel and a flyout to right by Shinya Miyamoto, catcher Ryoji Aikawa singled to right. Then, Yakult second baseman Hiroyasu Tanaka hit a grounder to second which Hiroshima second baseman Eishin Soyogi misplayed for an error and that put runners on first and third. Then, Takada kantoku made the play of the game in my opinion when brought in Shinichiro Takeuchi to pinch hit for Tateyama even though the fans want to see Tateyama pitch anpther inning at least. Takeuchi promptly singled to left to make it 2-1 Yakult and put runners on 1^st and 2^nd. But Yakult wasn't done yet. Shortstop Keizoh Kawashima singled to right to score Hiroyasu Tanaka from 2^nd but due to the slide from Tanaka, catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara missed the ball and Takeuchi came around to score as well to make it 4-1 Yakult.

After that, Masao Kida and Ryota Igarashi would hold Yakult scoreless for the next 2 innings and this allowed Yakult super closer Chang-Yong Lim to pick up his 10^th save of the season. Naturally, Shohei Tateyama picked up the win by going 6 strong innings and giving up 1 run while striking out 7. It was just a pleasure to see Tateyama pitch and I hope I can see him pitch at least one more time before the season is over.

Yakult starter Shohei Tateyama. Sorry, all the pictures I took of Tateyama turned out bad. But, it still doesn't diminish the great season he's having.

Tateyama again.

Yakult setup man Ryota Igarashi warming up before the 8th. So, if Igarashi does indeed make it big and go to the Majors after this season is over, I can officially say that I saw him way back when. Oh yeah, and that's Shinya Miyamoto talking to an umpire in the background too.

Ryota Igarashi throwing the ball...

Now, I've got to say that Yakult has surprised me this season so far. As of this writing (05/20/2009) they are in second place in the central with a record of 22-13. Hopefully, they can continue to play well as I'd like to see a team other than the Giants, Tigers, and or Dragons in the Central League postseason this year. So keep it up Yakult and I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing you at Jingu on the last day of Inter-League play when you host the Lions.

The final score for the game.

On The Road In Matsuyama 5/09: Tokyo Yakult vs. Hiroshima @ Botchan Stadium Part 1

2009-05-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. On Saturday May 9^th, I went on a little road trip to Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture, which is on the island of Shikoku, to catch a few local games. The Tokyo Yakult Swallows hosted a 2 game series against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp at Botchan Stadium in Matsuyama. So naturally, these being “local” games, I just had to go. Right off the bat, this trip was worth it just because of the pitching match up in the first game, which was Colby Lewis of the Carp going against Ryo Kawashima of the Swallows. But before I talk about the game, I’d like to write a little bit about the stadium itself.

I was really surprised by Botchan Stadium. Not only is it really huge but it’s also very clean as well. Plus, there was a wide variety of food to choose from inside the stadium and outside as well. Sometimes these local stadiums leave much to be desired in terms of location, concessions, and overall enjoyment. But, Botchan delivered and I would highly recommend going to this stadium if you are ever in the area. And also, outside of the stadium there was a little memorial to commemorate Japan’s victory in the WBC this year. It was really cool and awe-inspiring at the same time.

Now for those of you who don’t know, this is Norichika Aoki. He’s probably one of Japan’s best hitters and an all around cheerful guy in my opinion.

This is Aoki's WBC Medal. Seriously, What!? This thing looks so cheesy to be completely honest. I mean come on Bud Selig, with all that revenue you pulled in from the WBC, could you have at least tried to make a more elegant design or something? But it is a gold medal after all...

Here's the WBC display outside of Botchan Stadium. On the very left you have Aoki's profile with his personal stats from each game he played in during the WBC and to the right of that you have a display of Team Japan's WBC uniforms (Home and Away). These are actual jerseys that Aoki himself wore and the white one has signatures from everyone that was on Team Japan. Right next to that you have Aoki's gold medal and right next to that you have the box scores from all of Team Japan's games during the WBC. This display was totally cool IMHO.

I also have to say that at this game I got to meet an “old friend” of mine named Ishii Takuro for the first time this year. Now for those of you who don’t know, Takuro used to be the face of the Yokohama BayStars for many years and had spent his entire 20+ year career with the until he was released last off-season when Yokohama decided not to give him a new contract (which is something I still have not forgiven Yokohama for and am still pissed at). But, I’m not going to rant about that issue and stir the pot because I still love and support Takuro wherever he may be at. He looks happy with the Carp this season and I’m happy for him. Although, I believe that Takuro is starting to show his age a little bit as he couldn’t convert a couple of plays on defense that he might’ve been able to do a few years ago. But despite that, he is still THE MAN and I’m happy I got to see him play.

Takuro taking his swings in the batting cage.

Takuro practicing his base running before the game.

Takuro sizing up his bat .

Takuro getting ready to start his hitting routine. Honestly, I'd never thought that I'd see that batting stane again.

Norichika Aoki, Kenta Kurihara and Yoshiyuki Ishihara all being honored for being a part of Team Japan before the game.

The game started off as a pitchers duel between Lewis and Kawashima, Ryo. Neither pitched seemed to budge as the outs just kept on coming. But, Yakult would strike first in the bottom of the 4^th as left fielder Kazuki Fukuchi would double to start things off for Yakult. Aaron Guiel would later drive Fukuchi in with a double to right after working a great at bat against Lewis (something like 10+ pitches as I lost count). Unfortunately for the Birds, this was all that they managed and Hiroshima would end up making them pay for this in the next few innings (with the help of some errors from Yakult).

Up until this point, Swallows pitcher Ryo Kawashima had pitched a no-hitter through 4 innings but in the top of the 5^th, Hiroshima put a stop to that. Newly signed Carp Scott McClain walked to start off the inning. After that, he advanced to second on a Scott Seabol groundout and then Takuro came up to the plate. Takuro hit a single to left shattering Ryo Kawashima’s no-hitter and advancing McClain to third. Then, Hiroshima catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara hit a grounder to Yakult shortstop Keizoh Kawashima that he misplayed for an error and this allowed McClain to score from third and make it a tie game. I also noticed that Ryo Kawashima was starting to lose his control as he walked 2 batters in this inning and one of the batters was pitcher Colby Lewis.

Hiroshima struck again in the top of the 6^th and this time they made it really count. Masato Akamatsu lead of the inning with a single to left center field and then Sohichiro Amaya (who is having a pretty good season so far in my view) doubled to right center to move Akamatsu over to 3^rd. Takada-kantoku decided that Ryo Kawashima’s night was over and brought in Kenichi Matsuoka to relieve him. It didn’t really matter who was pitching at that point as the next batter, Kentaro “Smoking Gun” Kurihara as I like to call him, promptly singled to right, which scored Akamatsu and Amaya to make it 3-1 Yakult. Kurihara advanced to second during the throw home also. Scott McClain struck out, as did Scott Seabol to give Yakult a quick 2 outs but right after Sebol struck out, Yakult catcher Ryoji Aikawa attempted to pick off Kurihara, who had a big lead at second. This didn’t work out as the ball totally went over Hiroyasu Tanaka’s head and allowed Kurihara to advance to 3^rd. Then, Takuro Ishii a.k.a. THE MAN singled to right to bring in Kurihara to make it 4-1 Hiroshima and that’s where the score would end up for this game.

Colby Lewis was amazing as he went 7 innings and scattered 4 hits in that timeframe while striking out seven and giving up 1 run while picking up the win. Ryo Kawashima took the loss for Yakult. I had hoped for a better performance from him but I guess things don’t always work out. But, he did carry a no-hitter into the 5^th inning so I was glad to be able to see that. Hiroshima closer Katsuhiro Nagakawa also picked up his 10^th save of the year in this game as well.

All in all, a great game for Hiroshima on what was a beautiful sunny day in Matsuyama. I’m expecting Marty Brown (Hiroshima’s manager) and his crew to do great things this year and they didn’t disappoint me today. Plus, I was really happy that I got to see Takuro again as it’s still so strange not seeing him in a Yokohama uniform. But again, I can see that Takuro is happy this season and is contributing to the team and I’m all for that.

Yakult starter Ryo Kawashima.

Hiroshima starter Colby Lewis.

The final score for the day.

And because this was a local game, here's a random bonus picture from my album:

Yakult first baseman Jamie D'Antona warming up before the game.

05/02 In the middle of nowhere : Saitama Seibu vs. Rakuten in Kumagaya

2009-05-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks. Things have been busy lately and I put this post on the back burner and completely forgot about it. I wrote it the day after the game but haven't had time to upload the pics from it until now.

*****Disclaimer*****
Hello everyone. This is just a little note to everyone that I decided NOT to do my Golden Week baseball schedule as I decided to go to Matsuyama in Shikoku next week. So in order to save money for that, I only did one game during Golden Week this year. Plus, it's also amazing how much you can get done around the house when you don't have to work. And besides too, the last 2 days of Golden Week here were just bad because of the weather so yeah.
*****End Disclaimer*****

Well, it is officially "Golden Week" here in Japan and you all know what that means right? That means I'm off to the stadium and the fun won't stop until I have to go to work again (which is next Thursday btw). So to kick this off, I decided to make a small change in my plans. I originally intended to go to Odawara to see the Shonan SeaRex take on the Yakult Swallows in a 2-gun match up but due to the fact that I booked my plane tickets and hotel for Matsuyama in Shikoku for this upcoming weekend, I decided to stay local. It just so happened that Seibu's 2-gun squad was hosting a game in Kumagaya City, which is in the north central part of Saitama Prefecture where I live and is only an hour away by train. So naturally, this being a "local game", I just had to go as my so-called "gimmick" as a Pro Yakyu fan is to go to these out of the way places to see baseball games.

The stadium itself was a nice little stadium and very spacious too in my opinion. One of the better local stadiums I've been to as the grounds were very clean and the stadium was also kept up as well.

Ironically too, the reported attendance for this game was 2,480 which really surprised me as there didn't look to be that many people there (maybe about 600 in my opinion) so I don't really know where they got this figure from. Or maybe too there were actually 2,480 people there but I just didn't realize it.

But anyways, the starting pitchers for the day were Ryohei Fujiwara for Seibu and Ryuhei Terada for Rakuten. Seibu got to Terada early and they never let up as they cruised to an easy victory. Overall, Terada pitched 5 innings giving up 10 runs (7 earned) while walking 6 and striking out 1. He also needed 131 pitches to get through the 5 innings. I don't know why he was left in so long but maybe, Rakuten's bullpen nedded a rest or maybe Matsui-kantoku just decided to let Terada get the experience. But whatever the case was, he got rocked and didn't look good either. Plus on top of all that, his control was atrocious as he threw a whole bunch of wild pitches and seemingly couldn't find the strike zone either as he issued six free passes as well. Probably due to this, the game went a little over 3 hours which was probably the longest amount of time I've ever been at a 2-gun game to date.

Rakuten starter Ryuhei Terada

Saitama Seibu starter Ryohei Fujiwara

Saitama Seibu reliever Koji Mitsui. Some of you may remember him from when he tried not once but twice to go to the Majors via the posting system this past off season and was unsuccessful.

Mistui again

The story for Seibu on the other hand was their offense. Every member of the starting lineup reached base at least once and 7 out of nine players that started the game had a hit. It seems like almost every Seibu game I've gone to this season, whether it be an 1-gun or a 2-gun game, Seibu's bats show up and just steamroll the competition. Yutaro Osaki was the star of the game in my opinion as he went 4-5 with and RBI and 2 stolen bases. It's also weird too that this was my first Seibu 2-gun match up but somehow, I felt as if I already knew about most if not all of the players on the team. Is it possible that I indeed am abandoning Yokohama and turning more into a Seibu fan? Probably not, but it is strange to say the least.

Overall, Seibu's 2-gun squad really impressed me both on offense and defense. It's nice to actually learn about each 2-gun squad and learn who may be playing for the team in the future. I really enjoyed this game and I hope that I can go to a few more this year.

Box Scores

English

Japanese

Saitama Seibu warming up before the game

Saitama Seibu first baseman Hiroyuki Ohshima doing his routine before the game.

Saitama Seibu centerfielder Kenta Matsusaka. He hit a 3 run home run in the game.

Saitama Seibu 2nd baseman Takuya Hara at the plate

Haruki Kurose laying down a bunt in the bottom of the 5th inning.

4/29 Seibu vs SoftBank @ Seibu Dome: Showa Day Showdown

2009-04-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hello once again everyone. Yesterday was Showa Day in Japan and the weather was great for a ballgame. So, I went to see the Saitama Seibu Lions for the first time during the regular season at Seibu Dome as they took on the SoftBank Hawks. Honestly, Seibu has been far from impressive to start the season in my opinion as they are in 4^th place in the Pacific League and are playing .500 ball with an 11-11 record. But on the other hand, they aren’t that far behind the Ham, Rakuten, and Orix who are each 12-9 so one good winning streak by Seibu could turn things around in their favor. As of right now, they are on a 2 game winning streak and hopefully they can add to it in the coming days.

As I said earlier, yesterday was Showa Day here in Japan and many people had the day off and as a result, many people came to the ballpark. Almost the entire 3^rd base side was full and the total crowd was 28,855. The pitching match up for the day was Kaz Ishii going for the Lions against D.J. Houlton going for the Hawks. Also, this was my first game sitting in the outfield stands and cheering for Seibu. I’ve never been able to sit in the outfield before so this was a neat experience.

A couple of SoftBank pitchers joking around before the game.

SoftBank starter Toshiya Sugiuchi jogging in the outfield before the game.

Seibu starter Kazuhisa Ishii.

Ishii again.

Leo, the Lions mascot, is KING at Seibu Dome. Seibu did the right thing by keeping Leo and Leona when they changed the team logo last off-season.

As for the game itself, both Ishii and Houlton started off great. But, D.J. Houlton ran into a brick wall named Hiram Bocachica in the 3^rd inning as “Boca” smacked his first home run of the day to centerfield to make it 1-0 Seibu. Ishii, on the other hand, cruised through the first 3 innings but ran into trouble in the 4^th. After allowing a walk to SoftBank leadoff hitter Yuichi Honda, Ishii then committed an error by misplaying Munenori Kawasaki’s bunt and looked really bad doing it by ending up by ending up on the ground after he tripped. He then threw a wild pitch that allowed Honda and Kawasaki to advance to third and second respectively. But somehow, he managed to escape. After his wild pitch, he managed to strike out Nobuhiko Matsunaka. Then, he got Hiroki Ohkubo to hit a grounder to Seibu third baseman Takeya “Okawari” Nakamura that he promptly threw to home to get Honda out. And after that, Yuya Hasegawa struck out swinging to end the inning and Ishii was able to get out of a huge jam. Boca struck again in the bottom of the 5^th as he hit his second home run of the day to left field to make it 2-0 Seibu. Then, Ishii got into more trouble in the 6^th after managing to get the first 2 outs in the inning. It started when Kawasaki doubled to left for Softbank’s first hit of the game on a ball that “Okawari” just missed catching by about an inch. Yes, Ishii managed to carry a no hitter into the 6^th inning, which was amazing considering he bailed himself out in the 4^th inning. But much like the 4^th, he got himself into trouble again as he walk both Matsunaka and Ohkubo to load the bases. But again, Ishii managed to strike out Hasegawa to end the threat and once again get himself out of a jam despite hit chance for a no-hitter being ruined.

Seibu then went on to score 5 runs in the bottom of the 7^th to break the game open, which included an RBI hit by Ginjiro (catcher) that also went for an error because of a misplay by left fielder Yuya Hasegawa and a 2 run double by Yasuyuki Kataoka and a two run homerun by Takumi Kuriyama. SoftBank only managed to score 2 runs and had only five hits in the game so it shocked me when they couldn’t capitalize on Ishii’s mistakes and potentially do some damage.

Ishii ended up ended up with the win for Seibu while Houlton took the loss. All in all, a great experience finally being able to sit in the outfield section at Seibu Dome for once. Being able to see Kaz Ishii throw a couple innings of no-hit ball was great and I wish he could've gone the distance and thrown a no-hitter. A great victory for Seibu and let's hope they can get a streak going.

Game Hero #1 Hiram Bocachica.

Game Hero #2 Kazuhisa Ishii.

The infamous Seibu bass drum. It always gives Seibu's cheer songs and extra kick.

Box Scores

English

Japanese

Golden Week Update and beyond....And a few other things as well.

2009-04-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and I agree with that statement and here's why:

(Photo courtesy of the Chicago Tribune)

FINALLY, after all these years of being ridiculed for being a hockey fan and supporting what WAS perhaps the worst team in all of sports, The Chicago Blackhawks advanced to the second round of this year's Stanley Cup playoffs and will face the Vancouver Canucks in the next round. Now I know that Vancouver turned it on in the second half of the season and the Hawks utterly sucked against them, but let's forget about that for now and just be thankful that we are advancing for the first time since 1996. Nikolai Khabibulin a.k.a. "The Bulin Wall" (the goaltender in the picture)was freaking amazing as were the rest of the Hawks players in this series against the Calgary Flames and showed that they could battle back and are indeed hungry. So once again, congratulations to The Chicago Blackhawks and know that this Blackhawks fan is cheering for you guys on the other side of the Pacific Ocean:

NOW, with that little rant out of the way, let's get back to the topic at hand shall we?

I thought I’d write this little message to let everyone know what to expect on the blog over the next week or so. And for those of you who don’t know what Golden Week is, you can learn more about it here.

Usually, I end up going somewhere but this year since my teams are in the area this year, I’m not really going out so to speak. Here’s a tentative list of where I’ll be going. Some games are “set in stone” while others really aren’t.

Wednesday April 29^th (Showa Day) Saitama Seibu vs. Softbank (Seibu Dome)

Saturday May 2^nd Shonan SeaRex vs. Tokyo Yakult (2-gun Odawara Kyujyo)

Sunday May 3^rd Saitama Seibu vs. Rakuten (2-gun Seibu Kyujyo #2 or 西武第二)

Now for the following games from May 4^rd to May 6th, I’m not really set on where I’m going. But, it’s going to be a toss-up between the Saitama Seibu series against Rakuten at Seibu Dome and the 2-gun games between Shonan and Yomiuri at Giants Kyujyo. I’m going to at least one of the Shonan/Yomiuri games at Giants Kyujyo and maybe 2 at Seibu Dome. It also all depends on whether or not I get randomly selected for Lions fan club events during Golden Week as well.

And also, I did some research and found out that it was logistically possible to make a quick trip to Shikoku in the near future so I'll be heading down there to see 2 games between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp at Bochan Stadium in Matsuyama. I'm really looking forward to this as I've never been to Shikoku before and of course, I get to go see baseball games at out of the way baseball stadiums that no one really cares about YEAH!!! The games are on the 9th and 10th of May and are a night game and a day game respectively.

So I guess I am going somewhere for Golden Week albeit a week later.

04/19 Orix vs Rakuten @ Tokyo Dome: Kishida's Revenge

2009-04-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

What’s up everyone? On, April 19th, I went to the final game of the Orix Buffaloes“Home Series” against the Rakuten Eagles at Tokyo Dome. I must say that I felt really bad about not going to see Seibu play at the Seibu Dome this weekend but it turns out that these 2 games were far better than what Seibu had ended up doing as they got swept by Nippon Ham in their series this past weekend (which is now last weekend cause I wrote the blog the day after this game and just got around to posting it now).

The starting pitchers for the day were Darrell Rasner for Rakuten and Mamoru Kishida for Orix (who’s probably my favorite pitcher on the entire Orix pitching staff). Today, it was Orix’s turn to flex their muscles and dominate. Orix got to Rasner early in the game when in the second inning, Tuffy Rhodes hit what would be his first homer of the day to right field to make it 1-0 Orix. Then, after getting Greg Larocca to ground out and giving up a single to Mitsutaka Gotoh, Jose “Mayo” Fernandez came to the plate. Now, last season, Jose played for the Eagles and actually improved his stats from the 2007 season but still, Rakuten decided not to give him a new contract for the 2009 season citing that he committed too many errors on defense. Oh boy, did Rakuten ever regret that as “Mayo” came out with a vengeance today as he went 4 for 4 against his former team. For his first hit of the day, he took a fastball offering from Rasner in the 3^rd and promptly made the score 3-0 Orix. Jose also had a timely hit to center in the 4^th, a hit to left in the 5^th, and a hit to center in the 6^th that was misplayed for an error by Rakuten centerfielder Akihisa Makida that allowed him to go for extra bases. Rasner only lasted 3 and 1/3 innings before being chased out of the game and his replacement, Kouki Wantanabe, didn’t fare any better either by promptly getting hammered as well. The highlight of his outing in my view was giving up a 3 run home run to Alex Cabrera which went 140m and landed in the upper deck balcony seats (yes everyone, Alex still has it when it comes to his monster power) and right after that giving up yet another home run to Tuffy Rhodes which went to left center and was his second of the day. It was totally strange as the he day before, Iwakuma totally handcuffed Orix by throwing eight strong innings and even retiring eleven batters in a row but today, the bats came out swinging and Orix got their revenge. But, that is the game of baseball for you as one day you could be on your game, and the next day you could be off it.

Jose "Mayo" Fernandez crossing the plate after his 2 run homer in the bottom of the 3rd.

Mr. Buffaloes crossing the plate after hitting his first homer of the day.

Former New York Yankee Darrell Rasner. This was not one of his best days to put it nicely.

The offense however, was not what impressed me the most about this game though. Not taking anything away from Orix’s bats, this game was pitcher Mamoru Kishida’s moment to shine and boy did he ever. I’ve always thought very highly of Kishida for some strange reason and maybe it’s because every time I’ve seen him pitch, he’s done really well. It’s like Kishida was hell bent on toping Hisashi Iwakuma’s performance the day before and went out with a purpose. Kishida ended up going the distance while pitching the first complete game shutout of his young career. I was really surprised when I saw him come out to throw in the top of the 9^th and I was even more surprised that Ohishi-kantoku let him. Kishida only needed 109 pitches to get through 33 batters and scattered 8 hits while striking out 6 and only issuing one free pass.

Orix starter and new "Eagles Killer" Mamoru Kishida. Please Kishida, live up to your new nickname.

Kishida warming up before the game.

Honestly, I’m not that big of a fan of Rakuten or Orix but after these 2 games, but maybe I should try to get to more games of each respective team. It was also pretty neat that the games were the exact opposite of each other as the day before, as each respective team dominated each other. These 2 games were well worth the 4500-yen ticket price for each of the games and I left each game more than satisfied. It’s always nice to see great pitching and also see Tuffy and Alex smash home runs. All in all, a great weekend series at Tokyo Dome and honestly, I can’t say that I’ve been to that many great games at that stadium. But again, both of these games were a blast and well worth the money. So hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while now and that’s go to a Fighters home game at Tokyo Dome. It's looking up folks.

Also too if I didn’t mention it before, with each game that I report, I’ll be linking game stats for each game so that you can see for yourself how each player did. I’ll post links in English (usually from the NPB Site) and Japanese (usually from one of the team’s sites) as well.

English

Japanese

Former Yomiuri Giant and Chiba Lotte Marine Makoto Kosaka.

The final score for the day.

"Hero Interview" with Kishida and Fernandez. I'm really not a big fan of these.

Orix bowing to the fans and thanking them after the game.

04/18 Orix vs Rakuten @ Tokyo Dome: Iwakuma corrals the Buffaloes

2009-04-22T06:18:00.001-07:00

Hello once again everyone. It's Sunday April 19th and I just got back from the final game of the most amazing two game series I have ever seen. But before I go on about that, as usual I have to give you all a little back story to these games. Seriously everyone, words alone can not describe how freaking awesome both of these games were.

Ok, so in Japanese Baseball, teams sometime play what are known as 地方ゲーム　or local (regional) games. These games are usually played at rural out of the way baseball stadiums in which most people probably have never heard of or even care about. But sometimes teams play these games in the major stadiums as well. The purpose of these games are twofold I feel. First, it gives the local people in these areas a chance to see games that they would not normally see and second it promotes the game of baseball in the rural areas of Japan. So, being the eccentric baseball fan that I am, I go to these games whenever I can.

Also for these games, I managed sit in the "Excite Seats" or field level seats. Now, this will probably be the only chance I will ever get to sit in these seats so that made the games even more enjoyable. These seats are practically impossible to get as they are only available to Giants fan club members. Stupid Giants, I really wish they would just go away but then, who would I take my baseball frustrations on? Hanshin perhaps? I dunno really.

The "Excite Seats" at Tokyo Dome. You can clearly see that the last two rows are raised a bit. I was sitting in the first row (Yeah!!!) and therefore got to kick the playing surface. How does it feel you may ask? It's squishy and perhaps that's the reason that whenever there's a hit, all the black stuff comes up out of the surface.

Rakuten taking batting practice.

Buffaloes Mascot Neppie posing for pictures and getting the crowd riled up before the game. Hey, at least it's not Giabbit. Anyone but Giabbit...

Orix infielders Alex Cabrera and Mitsutaka Gotoh warming up before the game.

Sometimes before a Japanese baseball game, teams receive flowers from certain people from a company or a town or whomever if a company or whomever sponsors a game. Today's special presents were 2 giant plastic Dydo water bottles. Dydo is a drink company here in Japan. Often times, I can't figure out what this place (Japan) is all about.

Rakuten infielders Norihiro Nakamura and Takeshi Yamazaki (and I use the term infielder loosely here because he is the everyday DH) warming up before the game.

The starters for the day were Hisashi Iwakuma for Rakuten and Kazuki Kondoh for Orix. The story of the day was obviously Hisashi Iwakuma and his total dominance of the Orix lineup but what didn't get a lot of coverage in my opinion was the fact that Kondoh didn't really pitch that bad either. He only gave up 2 hits in his first 5 innings of work one of which was a timely hit by Norihiro Nakamura in the 1st inning. His only other mistake in my opinion was in the 6th inning when he gave up a two run homerun to Rakuten third baseman Daisuke Kusano. Other than that, this was a classic case of a pitcher getting zero run support from his team and it costing him the match. Kondoh ended the day by going 7 and 1/3 innings while giving up 4 runs and striking out 2 and walking 4 although he did throw 118 pitches which was a little disturbing to me. Rakuten broke the game open in the 8th by adding 4 more runs on 5 hits and Marcus Gwyn pitched a scoreless ninth to end the game for Orix.

But again, the story of the day was Hisashi Iwakuma. Honestly, I'm still speechless as I finish typing this on early Wednesday morning. He retired 18 batters in a row from the 3rd to the 6th inning and only needed 97 pitches to get through his 8 innings of work. I'm still wondering why he didn't win the WBC MVP award instead of Matsuzaka, seriously. He ended the day by going 8 innings striking out 5 and giving up no runs. He didn't walk anybody either so that's bonus points in my book.

Overall, a great game by Rakuten by getting to Orix's pitchers. Needless to say, this game didn't disappoint and was worth going to. It's always fun to go to games of other teams as you never know what to expect.

Orix infleider Osamu Hamanaka playing catch during the intermission with the outfielders while Cabrera and Kondoh warmup in the background.

Orix Starter Kazuki Kondoh.

Rakuten Starter and WBC Hero Hisashi Iwakuma.

Iwakuma shot #2. Throwing to first base with Naoyuki Ohmura on first.

Iwakuma shot #3. Winding up for the pitch.

"New" Orix outfielder Naoyuki Ohmura whom Orix "traded" for in the off-season. They practically fleeced Softbank in a one-sided trade in my opinion. Ohmura also played for Orix (Kintetsu) earlier in his career as well.

THAT'S MR. BUFFALOES TO YOU!!! GET IT RIGHT!!!

Kondoh shot #2. Rakuten third baseman Daisuke Kusano is on first.

Mr. Buffaloes reacting after grounding out in the bottom of the 4th.

EDIT: I almost forgot, here's the box scores in both English and Japanese for this game. So, if you follow a certain player on either of these teams you can just click the link and get whatever you need. Stats are courtesy of the Rakuten Eagles Website in Japanese and the official NPB site for English.

English

Japanese

04/12 Let's Go Shonan SeaRex: A glimpse into the "Futures"

2009-04-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hello once again everyone. I decided to branch out so to speak and go to my very first Eastern League Challenge Match at BayStars Kyujyo in Yokosuka, Kanagawa on Sunday April 12th, 2009. Now, what is an Eastern League Challenge Match you might ask? Well, simply put, it’s a minor league game with a bunch of special rules. You have one minor league squad which in this case was the Shonan SeaRex facing off against a team of assorted players from all the various teams in the Eastern League. So, no teams from the Western League i.e. Chunichi, Orix, Hiroshima, Softbank, and Hanshin participate in these special matches. It seems that all the Eastern League teams have these matches a few times a year, which is good for the young talent. Also, for this game, I was joined by JapaneseBaseball.com Administrator Michael Westbay. It's always a pleasure to catch a game with Westbay-san as our conversations usually spill over into other things besides baseball. And plus, it's great to talk about the BayStars in English with someone else and that's what we did and at great length too. And also, some of the photos from the game were taken by Westbay-san and he has given me permission to use them, so thank you Michael and I hope to see you again at the ballpark in the near future.

The Futures Team players themselves are mostly 育成選手 or developmental players but not all of them are. The developmental players have a triple digit number on their backs and can be usually seen playing in minor league or 2-gun games. This is their official team number and not their number on the Futures Team too by the way. They are on the roster but are not allowed to play in any major league or 1-gun games. Recently too, teams have began to recruit talent from overseas and sign them to these developmental contracts so that the players can take what they learn about baseball here in Japan back to their home countries which in turn will help promote the game of baseball in their home countries. Some examples of this are players such as Wei Chen (SeaRex #113) and Jin Chao Wang (SeaRex #114) who are from China and are on my team the Shonan SeaRex or people like Rafael Fernandez who is from Brazil and plays for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (Swallows #115). Again, I don’t know much more about these players other than that there is a special draft along with the regular one in which teams can choose players and that there are cases in which these developmental players “graduate” to the top team and become contributors as was the case with Norihiro Nakamura and the Chunichi Dragons a few years back. Again, my knowledge about these players, the draft, and everything about this subject is limited, so if I made a mistake in reporting anything, please correct me and feel free to add whatever else you know about instructional players in the comments section below.

Yomiuri Giants catcher Takahiro Ijuin showing off his Futures uniform for me after I asked him to pose for a picture. Not really though, he was just going to buy a drink from the vending machine.

Yomiuri Giants pitchers Takanobu Tsujiuchi purposely looking down after buying a drink from the vending machine.

As I said earlier, the game itself was played at BayStars Kyujyo, which is part of a training complex for the Yokohama BayStars located in the Southeastern part of Kanagawa Prefecture in Yokosuka. For those that don’t know, Yokosuka houses a large number of military personnel from both the United States and Japan. The training complex is located right next to a Japanese Defense Force base next to the sea so there was a nice breeze at times throughout the game. The starting pitchers for the day were Shoma Satoh for Shonan and Da-Wei Zhu of the Saitama Seibu Lions for the Futures squad. Once again, please note that not all of the players on the Futures team were instructional players as Da-Wei Zhu is one of the exceptions. Now, from my understanding of the rules, the Futures team is supposed to be made up of players from every other team in the Eastern League. So, I was quite surprised to see that the entire starting lineup was almost entirly made up of Chiba Lotte and Yomiuri players with each team having 4 starting members in the lineup. The lone exceptions in the starting lineup were Shogo Saitoh and Da-Wei Zhu of the Saitama Seibu Lions. I only saw 1 Nippon Ham player at the game and that was pitcher Toshinori Asanuma and I don’t recall there being any Yakult Swallows or Rakuten Eagles players at the game either. So, in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but feel that this was an exhibition match for Yomiuri and Chiba.

The field and training complex building in the background.

Futures pitcher Da-Wei Zhu went 4 innings, striking out 2 while giving up 1 hit and a walk. This was my first time seeing Zhu in action and I hope that if a slot opens up in the Seibu bullpen, that he will be considered. As a matter of fact, the entire pitching staff only allowed a total of 4 hits throughout the entire game and did a great job of holding runners when Shonan did actually put people on base.

Satoh too, pitched a great game early on in my opinion as he dominated the Futures team by striking out 5 and allowing only 2 hits in his first 4 innings of work. His only downfall however was his bout of “ippatsu byou” in the bottom of the 5^th inning when he gave up a home run to Saitama Seibu outfielder Shogo Saitoh with Ryuji Otani (Chiba Lotte #125) on second to make it a 2-0 game. Seriously, can any pitcher within the BayStars organization not give up a home run in a single game or better yet go consecutive starts without giving up a home run? Or if they don’t give up any home runs, how about not giving up more than 3 runs in a game let’s say. I say let’s try to keep it low in terms of scoring. But, these days, that's asking too much from the pitching staff I guess (at least at the top level).

Shonan starter Shoma Satoh (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

Former BayStars pitcher now Shonan pitching coach Takeo Kawamura looking on from the dugout. I'm going to assume that this picture was taken after Satoh gave up that home run. (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

Futures starter Da-Wei Zhu. (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

But anyways, after another quick inning by Shonan, pitcher Naoki Mitsuhashi came in to replace Satoh and when I heard his name over the loudspeaker, I knew we were in for trouble. Now, I don’t have anything against Mitsuhashi, in fact I like him a lot. But, it seems like every time I see him pitch at the ballpark, he seems to leave his control at home so to speak and give up a lot of runs. While he didn’t give up a lot today, he still managed to give up one. After 2 quick groundouts to start off the bottom of the 6^th inning by Yuto Ikuyama (Chiba Lotte #130) and Masashi Yoshida (Chiba Lotte #133), centerfielder Kenji Sato singled to right and after that, Kazunao Yamamoto (Yomiuri #105) doubled to deep left to make it 3-0 Futures.

From there, the next few innings went quickly and then we came to the top of the 9^th or Shonan's last chance to get some runs. It was weird that Shonan was the home team but yet they were batting at the top half of each inning rather than at the bottom. So, after Yuki Takamori flied out to right to start the inning, pinch hitter and local SeaRex rockstar, Yosuke Shimokubo, doubled to center and then Toshiyuki Kitagawa singled to center to put runners on 1^st and 3^rd. After that, pinch hitter Tatsuya Shimozono hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 3-1 Futures but that's all Shonan could do as the next pinch hitter, Toshiki Kurobane stuck out to end the game for Shonan even though the Futures team batted in the bottom of the 9^th.

Overall, the Futures team showed great promise by just doing the little things to keep Shonan off the bases. Hopefully, these players will someday grow into great baseball players and then I can tell people about how I saw them when they were just starting out. Minor League games are truly great folks as you can kick back and relax and enjoy a game of baseball and escape everything else. And finally before I forget, you can find out more information about the Futures team and Eastern League Challenge Matches here.

Guess who decided to show up at the training complex with the team? Yup, you guessed it, none other than Shuichi Murata himself. Hopefully, he can get back to full strength soon cause God only knows the BayStars need his offense more than ever now.

Futures outfielder Shogo Saitoh after hitting his 2 run home run. (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

Yosuke Shimokubo rounding first base in the top of the 9th inning. (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

Shonan first baseman Yuki Takamori tossing the ball to pitcher Noaki Mitsuhashi to get Futures second baseman Masashi Yoshida out at first. (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

The final score of the day. (Photo courtesy of Michael Westbay at JapaneseBaseball.com)

04/05 Opening Weekend in Nagoya: Finale

2009-04-16T04:25:00.000-07:00

Hello again all. I’m running a little behind with things on the blog here so I'm hoping to get caught up within the next few days. On Sunday April 5^th , I found myself back at Nagoya Kyujyo to see the Dragons play in another exhibition game. This time the Toyama Thunderbirds from the BC League were in town and they squared off in what would be a completely one sided match up for Chunichi. Despite that, it was a great experience and it gave me my first glimpse of the BCL League live and up close. The starting pitchers were Yamato Osanai for the Thunderbirds and Kazuyuki Akasaka for Chunichi. Oh, and before I forget, you can check out the Toyama Thunderbirds of the BCL League at their homepage here.

Honestly, I'm not going to say much about the game itself as this game was brutal as Chunichi called it a day in the second inning which also saw 13 hitters come to the plate as well. Chunichi had 8 runs on 8 hits in the bottom of the second alone and it just went on and on from there. Chunichi scored in every which way possible from errors to home runs. Honestly, it looked like Toyama starter Yamato Osanai was throwing batting practice to Chunichi for the entire time that he pitched.

I mean seriously, I felt really bad for the Thunderbirds and their fans because apparently, the team offered some sort of tour package for the fans as there were two buses from Toyama parked outside of the stadium (one for the players and the other for fans). I can say that I share the Thunderbird's' pain because the day and my entire opening series weekend wouldn't get any better by the time this day was over. You know, coming all this way to see your team play and hopefully win but instead having to watch them be humiliated. But despite all of this, the Toyama fans never stopped cheering for the team even as the lead got bigger and bigger and that's what impressed me the most. The atmosphere of the game was pretty much the same as the previous day against Toyota. You could relax and stretch out a little more. There were however, more people there than the previous day because it was a Sunday and Sunday is the one day of the week where people don’t usually work here in Japan and possibly too because the weather was bright and sunny and it was an all around great day for a baseball game.

Chunichi starter Kazuyuki Akasaka warming up before the game.

Toyama Thunderbirds starter Yamato Osanai.

Toyama Thunderbirds DH Yasushi (Ota).

Toyama third baseman Masayuki Ueda with one of the umpires in the background. Yep, There were only two official NPB umpires at the game (one behind the plate and one at second) so they had 2 trainers or some people from Chunichi man first and third. They actually did a great job.

Chunichi outfielder and DH for the day, Lee, Byung-Gyu at the plate.

And speaking of Lee, today's signature of the day is none other than Lee Byung-Gyu himself. Because as you know, I try to make it a point not to leave a minor league game empty handed.

Toyama right fielder and superstar Daishi (Nagamori). And why is he a superstar you might ask? Well...

Because he has his own banner of course.

Toyama's other banner for outfielder Naoya Fujioka.

The final score of the day. It wasn't pretty as you can see.

The Toyama Thunderbirds thanking their fans after the game.

After the game at Nagoya Kyujyo, I went to the Nagoya Dome for the third and final game of the opening series between the BayStars and the Dragons. The stating pitchers were Futoshi Kobayashi for the BayStars and Wei-Yin Chen for the Dragons. Much like the previous game, Chunichi called it a day early on as they got to Kobayashi early in the game, scoring 4 runs in the first inning. The inning started off with Masahiro Araki fouling out to right. Then, Hirokazu Ibata walked and Masahiko Morino promptly doubled to move Ibata to third. After yet another walk to Tony Blanco and Kazuhiro Wada striking out, new Chunichi superstar Kei Nomoto walked to give Chunichi a 1-0 lead. It wouldn't stop there as Atsushi Fuji would single to short to make it 2-0 and then former Yokohama catcher Motonobu Tanishige would double to center to make it 4-0 Chunichi. Kobayashi would settle down after this and pitch another 3 and 2/3 innings allowing only 1 hit in that time frame until the bottom of the 5^th when Tony Blanco would reach base and then proceed to second on an error by Kobayashi and then Wada singled to left to make it 5-0 Chunichi.

Wei-Yin Chen on the other hand, was far worse in my opinion as he walked 5 batters through 6 innings while striking out 4 and allowing 3 hits (ironically, his first hit came off of the bat of Kobayashi as he doubled to deep right in his first at bat). But somehow, Yokohama could not capitalize on Chen's mistakes and score runs. It really was bad baseball by Yokohama as not only could they not score runs but also they had 3 errors in this game to go on top of that and that made me lower my head in shame as I seem to be doing all the time nowadays when I go and see the Stars in action.

The night wasn't over for Chunichi however, as Atsushi Fuji would hit his second home run of the season off of Yokohama reliever Hiroki Sanada in the bottom of the 6^th to make it 6-0 Chunichi and that's where the score would end up. If it's not “ippatsu byou” with Yokohama's pitchers, it's always something be it loss of control, too many walks, or hit batters or whatever. But in the end, Wei-Yin Chen would pick up the victory for the Dragons and Kobayashi would take the loss for the Stars. It's also interesting to note that, Yokohama has lost their last seven opening series games as they were swept at the Kyocera Dome by Hanshin in 2008 and lost the final game of the 2007 opening series against Yomiuri at Yokohama.

But, good news Stars fans, as of this writing (09/04/15) the BayStars have won 3 of their last four games so it seems that they may be turning things around despite the fact that it's 2 weeks into the new season. So, that's something to cheer about for Stars fans as the season is still young and there's a lot of time to fix things.

Overall, the trip to Nagoya was fun and I had a great time. This was my second time going on the road to see an opening series and this time around it was much better because I got to see not only my favorite team play but also, I got to see a BC League and an Industrial League play for the first time. I really want to go to a game in each respective league this year and perhaps I will get the chance to do so.

Until then everyone, I'll leave you with a picture of a famous local dish from Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture called “Kishimen” which is a thin noodle that resembles the more thicker udon in taste and texture. I always call it udon's “little brother” just for a laugh.

The world famous "Kishimen". If you ever get a chance to go to Nagoya, please eat it. It's quite tasty.

04/04 Nagoya Opening Weekend Day 2: The Good and the Bad

2009-04-07T06:09:00.001-07:00

Hello once again everyone. I hope you are all enjoying the start of the 2009 baseball season here in Japan. After a really bad start to the season on Friday, I decided to branch out so to speak during my stay here in Nagoya. I had read on the Chunichi site that the minor league squad was hosting an exhibition match against the Toyota Motor Company. You can get more information about Toyota's team here if you are interested (web page is in Japanese only of course). But anyways, I decided to check it out as I had never been to Nagoya Kyujyo before. I've got to tell you that this was a great experience and going to Nagoya Kyujyo was easily the highlight of my trip. When I initially got to the stadium, I was amazed at it's location. Nagoya Kyujyo is located in a more residential area located near Otobashi station on the Tokaido Line (Jr Tokai) which is one stop from Nagoya station. I found it hard to believe that Chunichi played home games here for over 40 years.

Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) at the park across the street from the ballpark.

The field from behind the net.

View of the 3rd base side.

View of the 1st base side.

The game itself was very good despite rainy weather that started around the 5th inning or so. Most people expected Chunichi to win (and they did), but it wasn't as easy of a victory as most thought it would be as Toyota made Chunichi work to earn the victory. The starting pitchers for the day were Katsutoshi Satake for Toyota and Soma Yamauchi for Chunichi.

Toyota Starter Katsutoshi Satake

Chunichi Starter Soma Yamauchi warming up before the game.

Toyota wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the 1st when Toyota center fielder Sho Aranami (who is from Kanagawa and attended Yokohama High School yeah!!) doubled on the 2nd pitch he saw to lead off the game. After he advanced to third on a groundout, shortstop Takashi Ogino hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0 Toyota.

And after that Toyota held Chunichi scoreless for the next few innings by showing some great fundamental baseball. But alas, it didn't last as Chunichi scored their first run in the bottom of the 4th. Takehiro Donoue led off the bottom of the 4th with a double to center. Then, due to the miscalculation (bad timing) of shortstop Takashi Ogino, Byung-Gyu Lee hit a double to center to score Donoue and tie the game at 1 a piece. Ogino timed his jump wrong and as a result, the ball went over his head for a hit.

Oh yeah, it was in the bottom of the 3rd when this guy came over and sat right in front of me:

So, Lee was just sitting and watching the game and I was taking score when these 2 really attractive young women came and sat down right beside me. They were obviously drooling over Lee and eventually started whispering back to one another and giggling. They caught Lee's attention and he turned around and sort of chuckled. Then, one of the women turns to me while I was taking score and says: "Oh, that's so awesome. You know all this baseball stuff and you're writing it down in English." Lee then looks at me and points his head towards them as if to say: "Looks like you've got some fans of your own." The other women asked me why I was taking score. And I told here that this is what I like to do and that I was in town on vacation to support my baseball team (Yokohama) and that I write a blog as a hobby and whatnot. They thought that was neat and as the inning ended, the girls giggled again and went back to their seats as Lee went back into the dugout. And before anyone asks, NO, I did not get a picture of the women so don't ask.

Back to the game, Toyota charged back in the top of the 5th to take the lead again after an RBI single with one on by my new favorite Toyota player Sho Aranami. But Chunichi scored 1 in the bottom of the 7th when Naomichi Donoue singled and then Hiroki Nakagawa doubled to center to tie the game up at 2 a piece. And finally, Chunichi finally put Toyota away when Kyohei Iwasaki and Isei Nakamura singled and Takehiro Donoue walked to load the bases and Hidenori Kuramoto hit a sac fly to center to give the Dragons a 3-2 lead and that's where the game ended up.

Both teams played a great solid game game in rainy weather and it was well worth it and plus the game was also free admission so that's another plus as well. I thought Toyota had a decent chance of pulling off an upset but in the end Chunichi came back and won the game as most everyone expected. Also, during the game the resident Chunichi ouendan (cheer group) a.k.a. two guys who were singing Chunichi ouenka (cheer songs) for the entire game sang "Happy Birthday" to shortstop Kyohei Iwasaki as it was his birthday so that was a nice little treat too.

And as always when I go to a minor league stadium, I never come away empty handed. Before the game, I was able to ask Chunichi infielder Tomas De La Rosa if he could throw me a ball. I got a few blank stares from people also as I was talking to De La Rosa entirely in Spanish and I guess that people don't really hear Spanish that often so I kind of had to tell some people that I can speak Spanish in addition to English and Japanese to which I got a lot of "Sugoi" (wow or awesome) comments. He promised me he would and sure enough after the top of the 3rd was over, he threw a ball over the fence to me and I thanked him for it. A really great guy who is way over with the fans too by the way as he had A LOT of people that wanted his signature. This ball was also my first NPB ball I have ever recieved at a game.

My first official NPB game ball .

Chunichi infielders Tomas De La Rosa and birthday boy Kyohei Iwasaki warming up before the game.

Toyota lead off hitter and center fielder Sho Aranami laying down a sacrifice bunt.

Toyota DH Eisaku Hirose putting the ball into play.

Toyota thanking the fans after the game was over.

The final score of an excellent and well played game.

And now onto the bad of the good and the bad. I went to the Nagoya Dome for Game 2 of the opening weekend series between the Chunichi Dragons and the Yokohama BayStars and once again I felt let down and left the stadium with a bad taste in my mouth about Yokohama. The starters for the game were Ryan Glynn (making his first start for his new team) for Yokohama and Kazuki Yoshimi for Chunichi. Glynn got hammered in his first start going only 4 innings and giving up 5 runs while Yoshimi on the other hand utterly humiliated the Stars by going the distance and throwing a shut out. Yokohama's "ippatsu byo" continued as Chunichi rookie Kei Nomoto hit the first home run of his young career in the bottom of the second. It was a two run shot into the right field stands and the dome lit up after that. I even gave him a round of applause despite the fact that I was sitting in the Yokohama cheering section. And the following day, his image was plastered on the front page of every sports newspaper in Nagoya because of it. New Chunichi Dragon Tony Blanco added 2 more runs in the bottom of the 3rd with a double to center field with the bases loaded making it 4-0 Chunichi. After that, center fielder Atsushi Fuji hit a solo home run to right making it 5-0 Chunichi and Chunichi's final run came in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and Yokohama reliever Takeharu Katoh throwing a wild pitch which allowed Masahiko Morino to score from third making it 6-0. Yoshimi picked up the win for Chunichi and Glynn took the loss for Yokohama in his first start for them.

The final score for the night game at the Nagoya Dome.

I know that this game was only the second game of the season but it's going to be a long season by the Bay as the suffering will continue so to speak. Seeing an Industrial League team (Toyota is an Industrial League team right?) play better ball than a pro team is utterly pathetic and Yokohama should be ashamed of themselves and how they played in this game. I'm going to stop here before I make this a 5 page rant on how bad Yokohama is as it will only infuriate me more.

Sorry for the lack of pictures at the Nagoya Dome in this post but my camera takes bad pictures inside all of the Domes here in Japan. So instead, I took 3 videos of some new Yokohama Ouenka (cheer songs) for the 2009 season and will upload those videos to my youtube account later this week. Interesting to note that Ryan Glynn has his own song this year and it is all in English. Now, I'm not talking about 1 line that's like "Let's Go Ryan" or something like that, the ENTIRE song is in English (with the exception of the last line of course which is always in Japanese no matter what) and the Yokohama ouendan (cheer group) actually wrote the song in English (with the exception of his name which was written in katakana) on the cards they were holding up. The point I'm trying to make is that even if you can't speak a lick of Japanese and are just in Japan visiting and going to a BayStars game or whatever, you too can now take part in the cheering by singing this song to support Ryan Glynn and Yokohama. Pretty cool in my opinion.

Anyways, that wraps it up for this post. The next post will be much much shorter and should be up in the next few days. Hopefully, everyone is enjoying the season so far regardless of which team you support and once again, good luck to all the teams this year.

04/03 Opening Day in Nagoya: More of the same from Yokohama.

2009-04-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone. I'm officially on the road in Nagoya for the 2009 opening series between the Yokohama BayStars and the Chunichi Dragons. The game last night went really fast as it went just a little over 2 hours and everyone was able to get home at a decent time. The story of the night for me was Yokohama's dismal pitching and missing chances at scoring runs. As the title says, it seems like they haven't changed a bit from last season. Chunichi used the long ball to put away Yokohama 4-1.

New Chunichi Dragon Tony Blanco homered to center in the second. Masahiko Morino and Kazuhiro Wada added 2 more runs via the longball to center in the 4th and Wada homered again in the 7th to left field and that's all that the Dragons needed for the night. Yokohama's only run came on a weak ground ball to short by Toshihisa Nishi in the top of the 3rd. Yokohama ace Daisuke Miura went 7 innings giving up 4 runs and striking out 5 while taking the loss for the Stars. Chunichi pitcher Takuya Asao on the other hand, almost went the distance but ended up going 8 innings striking out 4 and giving up a run. Hitoki Iwase also recored his first save of the seaon for the Dragons as well.

As I said earlier, Yokohama had a few chances to score but missed out. The biggest chance was in the top of the eighth with runners on first and third with one out. Nishi was up to bat and can you guess what he did? He grounds out into a double play to end the inning. That really hurt and I seem to remember him doing this on more than a few occasions last season as well. Anyways, it wasn't all bad for Yokohama as the biggest thing was new rookie Noriharu Yamazaki going 3 for 3 in the game. He really impressed me and I think he should be in the lineup even after Shuichi Murata comes back.

Oh yeah, I made a new friend also. So, I got to the stadium rather early and after a Miso Katsu don lunch at the next door AEON shopping mall, I sat down next to the stadium. Then, this kid walks by wearing a Yokohama cap and we start talking about the Stars and baseball in general. His name is Keita and he's from Shizuoka. He's a junior high school student and he's a quarter Japanese just like me (his dad is half just like my mom is). Turns out, he collects baseballs from games and has more than 50 of them. He told me that he collected 3 foul balls from a Western League game at Nagoya Kyujyo the previous day. It seems that all the people I meet at games are either younger or older than me but in the end, I guess we are all baseball fans.

Inside the Nagoya Dome. NO SMOKING!

The final score with Doala. Seriously, he scares the you know what out of me.

The Dragons taking the field to start the game.

New BayStars pitcher Les Walrond jogging in the outfield. He seems to be getting over with the fans.

And finally, Miso Katsu with some udon on the side! ￥890 at the local AEON shopping mall. Plus, you can get the bigger size (大盛り) for no extra charge. Great deal.

3/29 Seibu Vs Yakult: Seibu's Revenge

2009-04-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. After a bad loss on Saturday the 28^th, the Lions rebounded with a victory on Sunday March 29^th The Seibu lineup was at “full strength” so to speak with Yasuyuki Kataoka and Hiroyuki Nakajima back in the lineup batting in their usual spots in the lineup (1^st and 3^rd respectively). The starting pitchers for the day were Fumiya Nishiguchi for the Lions and Lee, Hye Cheon for the Swallows. The crowd turnout was decent as there was about 12,000 or so people there for the game. The Swallows had a maybe 300 fans there which was a great and hopefully, the fans will come out and support the team more this year than in previous years.

The Lions got on the board first when Kataoka tripled to start off the game for Seibu in the bottom of the first and then Takumi Kuriyama hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 1-0 Seibu. This took us to the top of the third where Yakult charged back when　Shinichi Takeuchi hit a home run with two on into the right field stands to make it 3-1 Yakult.

But, not to be outdone this time around, the Lions flexed their muscles and showed what their full lineup was capable of and made a bold statement to anyone watching.

Shogo Akada led off the bottom of the third with a walk. Yoshiyuki Kataoka then collected his second hit of the day with a double to left and after that, Takumi Kuriyama singled to right to drive in Akada to make it 3-2 Swallows. Seibu then blew the game open as the pride and joy of Seibu, Hiroyuki Nakajima, blasted a 3 run home run into a sea of Swallows fans (right field) to make it 5-3 Seibu. But the Lions were far from finished. After a flyout by Okawari Nakamura, G.G. Sato and Akira Eto singled to right and left respectively to put runners on first and second which brought up Hiram Bocachica, who promptly doubled to deep left to make it 6-3 Seibu. Seibu catcher Toru Hosokawa then singled to left to make it 7-3 Seibu. WOW! I mean seriously, even though I was in the right field stands, I gave the Lions a standing ovation after the inning was over. 11 batters, 6 runs, and 7 hits; those were the inning totals for Seibu. You can clearly see now that losing Nakajima and Kataoka to the WBC clearly hurt the Lions this spring. But, with them back in the lineup, they sky is the limit for this Seibu team and I look forward to a great year from them. Kataoka was 3-4 on the day and it just goes to show you that when you have a good leadoff hitter, things fall into place.

Yakult still managed to score with a sacrifice fly by Jamie D’Antona in the top of the 5^th to make it 7-4 Seibu. But, Seibu broke the game open in the bottom of the 5^th as Shogo Akada hit a home run with Hiram Bocachica on third to make it 9-4 Seibu, Yakult scored 2 more runs in the top of the eight on a Keizo Kawashima double but they could do no more as Seibu defeated the Swallows 9-6.

Nishiguchi got the win in a rather lackluster effort in my opinion. He went 5 innings while giving up 4 runs and 5 hits and striking out 1. He also walked 4 batters which was not good either in my opinion. Yakult starter Lee took the loss went 3 innings while giving up 8 hits and 7 runs and no strikeouts. He also walked 2 batters. Alex Grahman also picked up his second save of the preseason with a scoreless ninth inning.

All in all, it was a great warm-up for Seibu and I’m looking forward to many great games at the Seibu Dome this year. Seibu really impressed me in this game as it looked like they haven’t lost a step (at least when they are at “full strength” so to speak). Yakult showed that they can hit and there pitching was decent aside from Lee so I think I’m going to pay a little bit more attention to them this season and hopefully, they can move up in the Central League standings this year.

Newly acquired Swallows pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba. He looked good in the game by throwing a scoreless inning.

Aaron Guiel. Come to think of it, my friend Deanna from Marinerds was right, he does look like someone. Can you guess who it is?

Swallows starter Lee, Hye Cheon practicing his bunting before the game.

Seibu Pitcher Takayuki Kishi and Yakult pitching coach Daisuke Araki. Looks like Kishi is asking him how to throw a forkball.

Morning workouts at the Seibu Dome for Yakult.

The final score for the day. Lots of hits on both sides.

3/28 Seibu vs Yakult: Yakult Strikes Again

2009-03-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone. So, on Saturday, I decided to stay “close to home” and go to a Lions pre-season game at the Seibu Dome. It wasn’t really that close to be honest as the Seibu Dome is about an hour and ten minutes from where I live but still, it’s the closest stadium to where I live so I was happy not to have to go that far. The Saitama Seibu Lions faced off against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in a brutal match up for the Lions as you will see in a minute. Last week on Thursday (March 26th) the Swallows made an example of the BayStars by pounding them 10-1 at Jingu Stadium and Yakult pretty much continued their dominating ways in this game as well.

But before I go on about the game, I’d like to point out that the Seibu Dome has a different look this year as the team (or whomever) has added some new seating areas to the stadium. This is a welcome change to the Seibu Dome in my opinion and was probably long overdue in the eyes of many.

The first area of seats are called the “Field View Seats”. Very catchy name I know but regardless, the seats are located right next to the bullpen area on each side of the stadium and are basically the same thing as the “Excite Seats” at the Tokyo Dome or better yet, they are the same thing as the "Field Reserved Seats" at Skymark Stadium in Kobe. They are ￥4000-￥4500 per ticket and will be hard to come by in my opinion as the Seibu Fan Club gets to buy tickets in advance and will probably purchase these seats almost always.

The second area of seats are the “Dugout Terrace” and are for groups of 5 people. They are pretty much the same thing as the "Picnic Boxes" at Chiba Marine Stadium but closer to the field. And also too, Seibu has added an area within the stadium itself too. This new area (1st and 3rd base side naturally) features new restaurants and daycare facilities among other things and it looks really awesome to be quite honest with you. Here's a link with some official photos courtesy of Seibu: Official Photos

Now, onto the game itself. The game was brutal for Seibu as they looked bad despite getting 7 hits in the game. Granted, Seibu didn't have Kataoka or Nakajima in the line up but still, they got beat really bad. The starting pitchers for the day were Takayuki Kishi for Seibu and Shohei Tateyama for Yakult. Tateyama pitched a great game for the Swallows whereas Kishi not so much. Ok, despite winning the MVP award in the Japan Series last year and probably putting on one of the best pitching displays I’ve ever seen, Kishi has looked not so good during the pre-season this year. He didn’t make the cut for “Samurai Japan” and has left me (and many others I assume) scratching their heads. The best way I can put it is that Takayuki Kishi is an enigma. Kishi ended up giving up 5 runs in the game yet somehow managed 8 strikeouts. I really just don't get it but that's Kishi for you.

Kishi managed to pitch the first 2 innings with ease but he ran into trouble in his next 2. New acquired Swallow Jamie D’Antona hit his 4^th home run of the preseason with a solo shot to right. D’Antona really impressed me during these 2 games at the Seibu Dome as he hit well and played all around great baseball. He should be a great player for Yakult this year.

Then, in the top of the 4^th with 2 men on, Aaron Guiel hit a 3 run home run to right to make it 4-0 Yakult and from there, the Swallows never looked back.

In the top of the 6^th, Yoshiyuki Noguchi hit a sacrifice fly to left and Yasushi Iihara came in to score from third to make it 5-0 Yakult. Seibu managed to score their only run of the game in the bottom of the 6^th when Taketoshi Gotoh singled to right to drive in Takumi Kuriyama from third to make it 5-1 Yakult.

Yakult, however, was not finished for the day as they added 3 more runs in the top of the 8^th. Yakult managed to load the bases on a walk, an error by Seibu third baseman Takeya “Okawari” Nakamura, and a failed double play attempt by Seibu first baseman Takayuki Shimizu. After that, Yakult scored a run on a passed ball by Seibu catcher Kousuke Noda and after that, Hiroyasu Tanaka singled to left to drive in the other 2 runners which made it 8-1 Yakult and that's where the game ended up.

Shohei Tateyama picked up the win for the Birds while Kishi was stuck with the loss despite almost getting into double digit strikeouts. All in all, it was a great first game at the Seibu Dome for the year and plus, I got to cheer for the Swallows which is something I never do. Perhaps, in my free time I'll work on practicing their cheer songs a little more. Oh and if you want to find out more about the Swallows, you can go visit my friends Garrett, Chris, and Dave over at Tsubamegun Central as I like to call it. They do a good job of covering the Birds and their blog is well worth a look in my opinion.

Seibu fans going crazy at the start of the game.

Yakult fans cheering their team while some fans prepare to cheer for their local celebrity right fielder by holding Canadian flags.

Former Yomiuri Giant now Saitama Seibu Lion Takayuki Shimizu. The crowd loves him despite his past and I think he will help the Lions out this year.

開幕戦 (Opening Day) and other notes.

2009-03-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

Hello again all. I hope everyone is doing well and preparing for the upcoming season. Just a few little notes on my plans for opening day here in Japan.

I will be heading to Nagoya to see the BayStars open their season (as is my custom)against the Chunichi Dragons. Also, I will be attending some interesting games at Nagoya Kyujyo (not the Nagoya Dome where the top level games are at) as well during the day seeing as the Dragons games are all at night. The first game is on Saturday where the Chunichi Dragons farm team faces off against Toyota (the car company)in an amateur exhibition match. And the next day, we have Chunichi facing off against the Toyama Thunderbirds of the BCL League. This is my first time seeing a company baseball team (Toyota) and a BCL League team so it's going to be a whole new experience for me. Also, come to find out, there's a BC team in Gunma out near where I'm at called the Gunma Diamond Pegasus whose website can be found here: Gunma Diamond Pegasus Baseball Club

Their season however, is a short one, so the opportunity to see games is relatively short but I'm planning to go to 2 games in early June and possibly one during Golden Week in early May.

Again, it's going to be a long couple of days next week and I'll be bringing my computer along and will try to get some blogs posted up ASAP after the games.

And with that, it's only one more week until the Pro Season officially begins.