I slept from 1am-8am today, so I wasn't awake for the game. I decided it didn't matter, as I couldn't WATCH it anyway. Grr. I'm going to translate the game anyway here for my own benefit; gives me an excuse to really read stuff and then I'll also have it for my records.
(I did watch the Astros-White Sox game though. I am in love with Joe Crede. I think I need to do a "Postseason All-Cute Team" post soon.)
Today's game was another blowout by the Marines against the Tigers. The Tigers put up Andoh (11-5, 3.39) against the Marines' Shunsuke Watanabe (15-4, 2.16), who is one of the most awesome pitchers in the NPB, because he's a submariner and I'm biased. But he's been amazing through the postseason, and again pitched a hell of a game last night -- a complete game, 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR... and 111 pitches thrown. God, I love this guy. Some people elsewhere are saying he'll be the MVP if/when the Marines win the series, but I'm personally expecting it to be Imae or Satozaki, and that was even before I saw tonight's scores.
Bobby V played with the lineups a bit for this evening, while Okada kept his the same. Tonight we saw bench-man Heiuchi starting at second, Satozaki DH'ing and Hashimoto catching (god, don't you just love a team that can DH one of its catchers?), Lee over at first base, and Fukuura benched... and Imae batting eighth for whatever reason.
Starting lineups:
CF Akahoshi SS Nishioka
SS Toritani 2B Heiuchi
1B Andy Sheets DH Satozaki!
LF Kanemoto CF Saburo
3B Imaoka! LF Matt Franco
RF Hiyama RF Benny Agbayani
DH Kataoka 1B Seung-Yeop Lee
C Yano 3B Imae
2B Fujimoto C Hashimoto
P Andoh P S. Watanabe
It's sort of fun, because again, I get to "watch" the game as I go through translating the scoreboard. Yes, I'm biased in my translations as well. Sue me.
First inning top: Hanshin (0H 0M)
Akahoshi grounds out to second. Toritani strikes out swinging. Sheets grounds out to first.
First inning bottom: Chiba (0H 1M)
A good start. Nishioka doubles to right. Heiuchi sac bunts, advancing Nishioka to third. Satozaki grounds out to short. Saburo grounds to third, but Tigers 3B Imaoka makes a throwing error. Saburo safe at first. Nishioka scores. While Franco is at bat, Saburo steals second. Franco walks. Benny grounds out to shortstop.
Second inning top: Hanshin (0H 1M)
Kanemoto grounds out to short. Imaoka grounds out to third. Hiyama flies out to right.
Second inning bottom: Chiba (0H 2M)
Seung-Yeop Lee walks. Imae singles to right-center, Lee advances to third. Hashimoto grounds into a 6-4-3 double play, but Lee scores. Nishioka flies out to left.
Third inning top: Hanshin (0H 2M)
Kataoka singles to center. Yano singles to left-center, advancing Kataoka to second. Fujimoto pops out foul to first base. Akahoshi grounds into a 6-4 fielder's choice, advancing Kataoka to third; Yano is out at second. Toritani grounds to second, Akahoshi out on the force.
Third inning bottom: Chiba (0H 2M)
Do not go gently into those three outs... Heiuchi flies out to left. Satozaki grounds out to first. Saburo is called out on strikes.
Fourth inning top: Hanshin (0H 2M)
Whee, a quick inning. Andy Sheets grounds out to short. Kanemoto flies out to second. Imaoka strikes out swinging.
Fourth inning bottom: Chiba (0H 2M)
Matt Franco flies out to left. Benny Agbayani flies out to right. Seung-Yeop Lee lines out to second.
Fifth inning top: Hanshin (0H 2M)
Watanabe continues to own the Tigers. Hiyama grounds out to second. Kataoka pops out foul to third base. Yano flies out to left.
Fifth inning bottom: Chiba (0H 2M)
Imae singles to center. In case you're not paying attention, that's 6 straight hits in 6 straight Japan Series at-bats. Hashimoto lines out to short. Nishioka grounds into a 6-4-3 double play, Toritani to Fujimoto to Sheets; Imae out at second.
Sixth inning top: Hanshin (0H 2M)
Fujimoto strikes out swinging. Akahoshi singles to center. While Toritani is at bat, Akahoshi steals second. Toritani then singles to left, advancing Akahoshi to third, but Sheets grounds into a 4-6-3 double play, Heiuchi to Nishioka to Lee. Hee.
Sixth inning bottom: Chiba (0H 7M)
This part rules. Heiuchi starts things off with a whisper, getting called out on strikes. Satozaki singles to left. Saburo hits a 2-run homer into the left field stands! Satozaki scores. As if that wasn't enough, Matt Franco compliments it with a solo home run into the right field stands! Benny hits a double to left field, and it's curtains for Andoh.
Andoh's line for the evening: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 86 pitches. Ouch. Hirotaka Egusa takes over on the mound for the Tigers.
Seung-Yeop Lee likes this new pitcher, blasting his second pitch into the right field stands for a 2-run homer. Benny scores. Man. Imae singles to center -- that's 7 straight Japan Series hits. Hashimoto strikes out called, and Nishioka flies out to left. Wheeeee.
Seventh inning top: Hanshin (0H 7M)
More ownage by Watanabe. Kanemoto grounds out to second. Imaoka strikes out swinging. Hiyama grounds out to second.
Seventh inning bottom: Chiba (0H 7M)
No fog today. Hatsushiba pinch-hits for Heiuchi, grounding out to third. Satozaki grounds out to short. Saburo grounds out to third.
Eighth inning top: Hanshin (0H 7M)
Masato Watanabe comes in to play 2B for Lotte, batting second and replacing Hatsushiba. Wei-Tzu Lin pinch-hits for DH Kataoka, popping out foul to third. Yano grounds out to short. Sekimoto pinch-hits for Fujimoto, popping out foul to first.
Eighth inning bottom: Chiba (0H 10M)
Sekimoto stays in at second base for the Tigers. It doesn't help. Ohtsuka pinch-hits for Franco, singling to left. Benny Agbayani is up to bat next, but pitcher Egusa seems to have lost his control at this point -- Ohtsuka reaches second on a wild pitch, and then reaches third on another wild pitch! As if this wasn't bad enough, ball four on Benny is another wild pitch. Benny reaches second base, Ohtsuka scores. Holy crap. Morozumi comes in to pinch-run for Benny. Seung-Yeop Lee grounds out to first. Imae singles to right, scoring Morozumi! That makes him 8-for-8 in the Japan Series! Hashimoto hits the ball back to the fence in right-center field for a triple, and Imae scores. Nishioka flies out to shortstop. Masato Watanabe grounds out to shortstop.
Ninth inning top: Hanshin (0H 10M)
Ohtsuka stays in as center fielder for the Marines; Morozumi stays in as left fielder, and Saburo moves from center to right field. It doesn't really matter, as Akahoshi grounds out to first, Toritani grounds out to first, and Sheets flies out to right.
And that's game.
Hirotaka "Control? What's that?" Egusa's line for the night:
2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, and 43 pitches thrown.
Shunsuke "Sub Marine" Watanabe's line, again:
9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR, 111 pitches thrown.
Gosh, they made Watanabe and Imae the game MVP's. I wonder why? :)
Holy crap, actually, it turns out that Imae's 8-for-8 hitting streak set a new Japan Series record. Cool.
Digest movie up here! I highly recommend watching it. Watanabe is a joy to watch pitching.
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