The 2018 Chiba Lotte Marines season is in full swing. New skipper Tadahito Iguchi‘s squad looks much different from 2017’s team, who finished with arguably the worst season in the 67 years of franchise history. At this point last season, Itoh’s Marines couldn’t hit, couldn’t pitch, and certainly couldn’t get many W’s but this year? …
Tag: Katsuya Kakunaka
SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVIN’S EASY
It looked like Our Marines were back on course for a successful summer campaign after we won our first 7 out of 10 games in August. Around mid-month it became clear that barring anything crazy we’d be locked in at 3rd place for the rest of the season. Our post-season status was secured by a …
Interleague’s Over, Time to Beat Up on Pa-League
Our annual sojourn into the unknown wilderness of the Central League is complete. It’s time to take care of essential business – beating up on the rest of the Pacific League. First up, our eternal rivals from the other side of town, Seibu. Lotte @ Seibu, 24 June Lotte 7, Lions 6 WP: Ayumu Ishikawa …
Limping into Interleague
Our Marines went 2-3 on a week that started with a bang, but ended with a whimper – and even some boos. Lotte fell to 6 games back of the first place Hawks, but still hold onto 2nd over the Fighters by 1.5 games, and A-class status over Seibu by 5 games. Lotte @ Fighters, …
Lotte Week In Review: Holding Steady, Lots of Positives
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 …
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, …
Series Report: Lotte @ Orix, 1-3 April 2016
Our Marines took to the road for the first time this past weekend, taking two of three games from the Orix Buffaloes in Osaka. Just like the sakura all around Chiba Prefecture, Our Marines have also blossomed quite beautifully into a first place team over the weekend, sitting atop the PL with a 5-3 record. …
2016 Preview: Sta-Men In My Mind
[cs_section id=”” class=” ” style=”margin: 0px; padding: 45px 0px; ” visibility=”” parallax=”false”][cs_row id=”” class=” ” style=”margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; ” visibility=”” inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” bg_color=””][cs_column id=”” class=”” style=”padding: 0px; ” bg_color=”” fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″][cs_text id=”” class=”” style=”” text_align=””]Like most baseball fans, I like to use my free time in the pre-season planning for …