Our Marines ended the week an even 3-3, still snugly sitting 2.5 games behind PL leaders Daiei and 1.5 up on 3rd place Hamu. Seibu @ Lotte, 17 May Lotte 5, Seibu 2 WP: Ayumu Ishikawa S: Yuji Nishino LP: Isamu Satoh Notables: Hosoya (KEI!) 2 RBI, Despaigne 2 RBI Seibu @ Lotte, 18 May Lotte …
We Can Never Have Too Much Excitement
This week in Lotteland began with a well-pitched, strategic, tight loss on the road to hated Daiei and step-by-step devolved into a jamboree of ecstatic pinstriped gents dancing across the plated. Or is that evolved? Regardless, it was one hell of an interesting week. Daiei Game 1 Mr Hard Luck Loss Ayumu Ishikawa vs Rick …
Coming Back Strong
The 2016 version of Our Marines is nothing if not an exciting bunch. As I mentioned in the last post, this week started out pretty terribly before turning into something wonderful, and the exact same thing could be said of the recently concluded 3-game home set with the Buffs. Let’s take a deeper look. Orix …
Something I Needed to See
There is something I really needed to see on Thursday. The big win you see in the score next to this text? Yes, that, but specifically that 9th inning. What a glorious way to win a game! Let’s go back a bit. Craig pointed out the mess that was Sunday’s game at the tail end …
Any Way the Wind Blows
Our Marines went 4-1 this past week, sweeping a pair of games in the Seibu Dome and taking two of three in a home set over the Fighters. As you may recall, one Marines blogger (OK, it was me) took a positive approach toward Lotte dropping three of four the week prior to last. Well, …
No Schism In My Optimism Prism
Our Marines lost three of four games at home this past week, falling off their first place perch in the process. Lotte dropped both games against the Hawks in a rain shortened weekday set, and then split a short weekend pair with the Buffaloes. Sure, I’m not exactly jumping for joy after winning just one …
Kumamoto Earthquake Relief
Pro baseball players from all around Japan have been volunteering to help raise money and collect donations for the Kumamoto earthquake relief effort. Here’s a video of Our Marines joining the SoftBank Hawks in collecting donations before their game on Tuesday in Chiba. If you would like to make a contribution too, here are a …
Lottocracy Spring
This past week will be remembered for a couple of career firsts for two of Our Young Marines. The week started with Kota Futaki getting his first career win in a complete game effort on Tuesday afternoon in Sendai. Later in the week in Sapporo, Takuya Takahama hit his first career home run on Friday, …
First Time Through the Order
Our Marines have now faced all five of their Pacific League foes, coming out of the first stretch of the season at 8-5-1. Lotte has three series wins, one series tie, and one series loss in the first go around. That one and only series loss came at the claws of the Seibu Lions just …
Sometimes a Tie is a Win
A quick perusal of Tuesday’s box scores shows a 4-4 tie in Fukuoka for Our Marines. Boring game? No – FAR from it. In my opinion this was the best game of the year, and I think a good indicator of the true character of this Chiba Lotte squad. Early Innings Daiei starter Wada’s line …