Quick on the heels of last night’s gloomy disappointment was today’s afternoon game, the second with Orix. The pitching matchup featured Watanabe Shunsuke (who was 0-2 on the season to date despite a 2.40 ERA) and Kanako Chihiro (1-2 with a 5.30 ERA). Watanabe has always pitched well at Chiba Marine, so optimism was running …
Author: Steve Novosel
I've gotta write, usually my voice is shot from yelling too much during Lotte games!
Game Report: Orix vs Lotte, 4/28
The Marines returned home on Tuesday after the 3-2 road trip to Sendai and Tokorozawa to face the 10-9 Buffaloes. The first series with Orix didn’t go so well, with Lotte losing all 3 games in Osaka a few weeks ago. Taking the hill tonight was Kobayashi, facing Orix pitcher Kondo. There were alot of …
Game Report: Lotte vs Seibu, 4/26
John’s already made a post on this game but I wanted to give a detailed breakdown and my thoughts on this Marines victory! Lotte came into the rubber game of this series looking for another strong pitching performance against the powerful bats of Seibu. Up to the task for Lotte was 20-year old starter Ohmine, …
Lions Tamed Again
I wish I had gone to the game today but I left it too late. A hitting frenzy today out at the Seibu Dome in beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures – a big difference to yesterday. It would have been a great day out there with a 11-5 win and the beautiful weather. Hopefully we …
Game Report: Lotte vs Seibu, 4/25
The 6 game road trip continues for Lotte; today was game 2 versus last year’s Nippon and Asia Series champion Seibu. Naruse was making his second start of the season today. He was a bit shaky in his first start against Rakuten last week, giving up 4ER in 5 innings, but Lotte won that game …
Game Report: Lotte vs Seibu, 4/24
Lotte came into tonight’s tilt with Seibu looking to continue the recent good pitching, and more importantly, their second road win of 2009. Well done on the first, not so great on the second. Taking the hill tonight was Karakawa Yuki, who has shown signs of excellence in his second year. Facing Karakawa was Lions …
Game Report(s): Lotte vs Rakuten, 4/21-23
Due to life infringing upon my baseball-watching time I’ve been unable to blog anything from the first two games of this series. Actually, there was nothing to blog from Game 1, as it was rained out due to monsoon-like conditions at the lovely K-Stadium Miyagi. As an aside, I am quite looking forward to visiting …
Game Report: Softbank vs Lotte, 4/19
I didn’t get a chance to go to this one due to my short trip out of the country (I’m typing this in Malaysia). John went instead of me, and from what I can tell it looks like I should be glad I missed it. Here we have: a) Another pitching implosion. A group effort, …
Game Report: Softbank vs Lotte, 4/18
On Saturday, John and I drifted down to Chiba Marine Stadium for the first of 2 weekend clashes vs visiting Softbank. Going into this game we were one game ahead of the Hawks — coming out of it, we were tied. The problem, same as all season, was the pitching. On the mound was the …
Bobby 2010
As anyone who follows the baseball scene in Japan knows there has been some controversy regarding the contract status of Bobby V. Last year, it was originally reported that 2008 was to be Bobby’s last year with the team. All sorts of rumors were flying — US sports media reported that Bobby was rumored to …