Every Year is Golden Year in Chiba
I wasn’t sure what would be the most interesting aspect of Spring Camp in Ishigaki this year. Typically I’ve enjoyed watching the pitchers the most as their performance is probably closest to what we’ll see from them in a real game. So I suppose I was mostly interested in seeing how our new pitching acquisitions …
It finally hit me – I mean really hit me – that the 2014 NPB Season is coming so very soon sometime around 11am on 12 February. Sure, Spring Camp has been open for almost two weeks now, but at that time I was able to stand next to the bullpen in lovely Ishigaki and watch some of our best pitchers…
Look at those finely attired gentlemen on the left – that, ladies and gentlemen, is your 2013 Chiba Lotte Marines draft class. 6 men were chosen with regular draft picks (that is, players to be added to the 70 man roster) and one Ikusei player
This weekend, Spring Camps open for all NPB teams. Needless to say I have been waiting very impatiently for this time since October. We’ve got a lot of baseball ahead of us – camp in February, open-sen in March, the start of the Pacific League Season, Interleague play, the rest of the PL season, and inevitably a return to the Climax Series (and the Nippon Series) for Our Marines. It’s almost 10 months of baseball, and on 1 February 2014 it all kicks off.
I had most of a post written here way back in February 2012, but I never got around to posting it or the pictures associated with it.
Happy 2014 from We Love Marines! Now that the 2013 season is officially in the books with Rakuten as champs and Our Marines in a strong second place1, it’s time to review some of the players and moments that made this season so memorable.
Friends, I’d like to tell you that this season ended with another storybook run to a Nippon Series title a la 2010, but it’s not going to be.
Our Marines fought hard through so much this year, but ultimately they – we – lost the last two games to Rakuten in Sendai. That’s 2-0 on Saturday, and after a rainout on Sunday, an 8-5 loss to send Rakuten to the Nippon Series on Monday.
Friends, this was a hard-fought win. I said in yesterday’s writeup that this one was a must win, and win we did. It was classic playoff baseball – Our Marines needed some heroics to overcome the great pitching of Rakuten’s Norimoto and boy did we get it both from the mound and at the plate.
In another fine example of the lack of skill I have at picking games, Rakuten beat Our Marines and Naruse 2-0 in the first game of the CS Final Stage. It’s not the end of the world by any means – a reasonable observer would expect Rakuten to have the edge in this one thanks if nothing else to Tanaka, and sure enough Tanaka was the difference.
Lotte Fans!
LOTTE FANS!
Our Marines did it! They quickly forgot Sunday’s Game 2 and put together a complete 4-1 victory!
The pitching – wonderful. Karakawa, Uchi, Rosa, and Masuda kept the game fully under control.
The batting – a huge homer by Daichi (the Lion Killer), Iguchi, and a game-sealing 2-run triple by Kakunaka.
The tickets are booked for SENDAI! We’re in the Climax Series Final Stage!