Marinerds, etc.

Last game. Here we go.

                     

Nishioka ss                Kawasaki ss
Kiyota cf                  Honda 2b
Iguchi 2b                  Ortiz dh
Saburo rf                  Kokubo 1b
Imae 3b                    Tamura rf
Imaoka?! dh                Matsunaka lf
Taekyun 1b                 Matsuda 3b
Ohmatsu lf                 Hasegawa cf
Satozaki c                 Yamasaki c
 
Naruse                     Sugiuchi

Top of the first (M 0, H 0)
Nishioka fly out to right field.
Kiyota groundout to short.
Iguchi strikes out swinging.

Bottom of the first (M 0, H 0)
Kawasaki strkes out swinging.
Honda grounds out to short.
Ortiz grounds out to second.

Top of the second (M 0, H 0)
Saburo hits a pop fly out to right.
Imae hits a pop fly out to right as well.
Imaoka grounds out to short.

Bottom of the second (M 0, H 0)
Kokubo grounds out to second.
Tamura strikes out swinging.
Matsunaka hits a pop fly out to left.

(It's 6:30pm and the first two innings are done...)

Top of the third (M 0, H 0)
Taekyun hits a LINER to short and Kawasaki jumps to catch it. Oops.
Ohmatsu walks! First base-runner of the game! OMG! One on, one out.
Satozaki singles through Sugiuchi's legs and up the middle. First HIT of the game! Two on, one out.
Nishioka hits a pop fly to right. Two down, two on.
Kiyota grounds out to second, force on Satozaki for the fielder's choice 6-4. Three down.

Bottom of the third (M 0, H 0)
Matsuda hits a pop fly out to center.
Hasegawa grounds out to short.
Yamasaki strikes out stupid. Three down.

Top of the fourth (M 0, H 0)
Iguchi hits a pop fly out to straight center.
Saburo walks.
Imae hits a fly ball into the gap... and Hasegawa makes the catch at the wall, two down, one on.
Imaoka hits another pop fly out to right. Three down.

Bottom of the fourth (M 0, H 0)
Kawasaki grounds out to first (3-1).
Honda hits a fly ball to center, caught. Two down.
Ortiz singles to left for the first Hawks runner of the game just as I was thinking "Wow, Naruse has a perfect game so far." He points to the sky when he gets to first base, if that matters.
Kokubo hits a pop fly out to second, three down.

4 innings over and it's 7:06pm.

Top of the fifth (M 4, H 0)
Taekyun strikes out swinging.
Ohmatsu hits a pop fly out to left.
Satozaki singles to left! That makes him 2-for-2 today...
Nishioka singles all the way out to the left corner. Two on, two out.
Kiyota walks -- so bases loaded, two out... that was apparently the 84th pitch of the night for Sugiuchi.
Iguchi is apparently hit by a pitch, on his leg (it looked like a wild pitch at first to be honest). Satozaki scores, 1-0.
Saburo ALSO walks. Oshidashi! Nishioka scores. 2-0.
Imae hits a bouncing grounder that bounces over Sugiuchi, and past a diving Kawasaki. Kiyota and Iguchi score on the single. 4-0.

97 pitches and Sugiuchi is switched off the mound to Masahiko Morifuku. (Sugiuchi seriously looks like he's going to cry but he also seems quite aware that there must be tons of cameras on him so instead he's towelling off sweat and getting a drink.)

Imaoka hits a pop fly out to right and that ends the bleeding for now.

Bottom of the fifth (M 4, H 0)
Tamura hits a pop fly out to right.
Matsunaka... ?! grounds out to first but it goes through Taekyun into right field and is called an E3. (I could almost see calling it a single.) One on, one out.
Matsuda hits a pop fly to right. One on, two down.
Hasegawa hits a pop fly out to center. Three down.

Top of the sixth (M 4, H 0)

Morifuku is off the mound and TSUYOSHI WADA HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING. Holy carp. Well, he hasn't pitched in 4 days, but... we'll see. He was untouchable before...

Taekyun strikes out.
Ohmatsu grounds out to second.
Satozaki grounds back to the mound. Three down.

Bottom of the sixth (M 4, H 0)
Tanoue pinch-hits for Yamasaki and grounds out to short.
Kawasaki also grounds out to short.
Honda hits a pop fly to left and it's the 7th inning... at 7:53pm...

Top of the seventh (M 4, H 0)
Nishioka grounds out to short.
Kiyota pops a fly out to right. Two down.
Iguchi singles to right-center. One on, two out.
Saburo hits a pop fly to right-center, caught by the rightfielder. Change.

Bottom of the seventh (M 4, H 0)
Ortiz hits a pop fly to right.
Kokubo strikes out swinging.
Tamura singles to center.
Matsunaka strikes out swinging.

Top of the eighth (M 7, H 0)
Falkenborg on the mound in place of Wada.

Imae singles to short.
Heiuchi pinch-hits for Imaoka comes up bunting and successfully bunts up Imae, 2-4. One down, runner at 2nd.
Taekyun singles back to the right-field wall, driving in Imae. 5-0.
Ohmatsu hits a HOME RUN TO RIGHT which brings in Taekyun as well. 7-0.
Satozaki singles up the middle. That makes him 3-for-4, btw. One on, one out again.
Nishioka grounds into a fielder's choice, 5-4. So still one on, but now two out.
Kiyota strikes out.

Naruse is still in there -- only 89 pitches to this point.
And the camera crew keeps showing very grumpy-looking Hawks players in the dugout.

Bottom of the eighth (M 7, H 0)
Matsuda singles to center. One on, no out.
Hasegawa grounds into a double play, 5-4-3. Two down.
Tanoue singles to right... one on, two out.
Kawasaki strikes out swinging. (I think that's 6 strikeouts for Naruse.)

Settsu in for the Hawks pitching now.

Top of the ninth (M 7, H 0)
Iguchi grounds out to third.
Saburo hits a pop fly out to left.
Imae singles to left. One on, two out.
Fukuura pinch-hits for Heiuchi and strikes out.

Last 3 outs for Softbank... and Naruse is still in there.

Bottom of the ninth (M 7, H 0)
Honda hits a pop fly out to left. (2nd pitch.)
Ortiz hits a pop fly out to right. (First pitch.)
Kokubo swings at the first pitch, strike one. Fouls off the second pitch, strike two. Third pitch is in the dirt, ball one.

Kokubo breaks his bat hitting the ball to short. Nishioka, who started crying as Kokubo was at the plate, MAKES THE CATCH and then collapses on the ground crying.

The Marines are going to the Japan Series!

Um... some screenshots. I don't know, I feel weird about this entire thing. Like, I'm happy for the Marines players that I've been watching the last few years... but at the same time I feel kind of funny to see Bobby's guys up there going to the Japan Series without Bobby. (To be fair, Nishimura did say that "we couldn't have gotten here without the last manager, who I was a coach for in the 2005 Japan Series", but still.)


Heiuchi, because this is my blog and I can put him in here.


Nishioka before the final out.


Naruse before the final out.


Nishioka after the final out, crying.


Helping Nishioka up and off the field.


Grumpy Akiyama-manager in the Hawks dugout.


Doage (not of Nishimura, they only threw him twice. I didn't catch who this was.)


Saburo and Iguchi.


Hayden Penn and Bill Murphy back in the dugout.


Nishimura's speech.


Pennant banner thingy.


Final ceremony starts.

I got home from work just in time for the second at-bat of the game and realized I may fall asleep if I don't figure out a way to stay involved in the game, so I'm going to liveblog. (It's been a long week and I'm pretty tired.) Feel free to email/IM/comment if you're also watching.

(I don't know a feed online, I'm watching on BS1. I think there are several on justin.tv though.)

                     

Nishioka ss                Kawasaki ss
Kiyota cf                  Honda 2b
Iguchi 2b                  Matsunaka lf
Saburo rf                  Kokubo 1b
Imae 3b                    Tamura rf
Imaoka?! dh                Petagine! dh
Taekyun 1b                 Hasegawa cf
Ohmatsu lf                 Matsuda 3b
Matoba c                   Tanoue c
 
Naruse                     Sugiuchi

Top of the first (M 0, H 0)
Nishioka grounds out to second.
Kiyota singles to center! One on, one out.
Iguchi walks -- 1st and 2nd, one out.
Saburo strikes out swinging.
Imae hits a low fly ball to center and Hasegawa runs in for the catch. 3 out, change.

Bottom of the first (M 0, H 0)
Kawasaki singles to left.
Honda sac bunts right in front of the plate, 1-4 play. One out, runner at 2nd.
Matsunaka walks. 1st and 2nd, one out.
Kokubo strikes out swinging. 1st, 2nd, two out.
Tamura walks, the 4th ball being a pitch aimed at Matoba's left foot pretty much and bounces in the dirt and gets away. (I suppose people can't advance more than one base on a wild pitch if the guy walks?). So, bases loaded, 2 out.
Petagine strikes out swinging. Inning over.

Top of the second (M 3, H 0)
Imaoka hits a ball way out to right for a double. 2nd, no out.
Taekyun manages to catch one on the end of his bat and bloop it to right field for a single. 1st and 3rd, no out.
Ohmatsu WALLOPS one to right field that sails up up and away for a home run. BOOM. Everyone scores. 3-0.
Matoba grounds out to short as he is often wont to do. One out.
Nishioka strikes out swinging. Two out.
Kiyota walks. One on, two out.
Kiyota steals second on the first pitch to Iguchi. 2nd, two out.
Iguchi takes forever but finally strikes out. Change.

Steve pointed out in the comments that Ohmatsu's homer is already on Youtube, an hour later or so.

Bottom of the second (M 3, H 0)
Hasegawa grounds out to first, Naruse covering the bag. One down.
Matsuda grounds out to third.
Tanoue strikes out swinging. Change.

I want to mention that they saw fit to put up on the screen during this inning an announcement that the dollar is the lowest against the yen that it has been in 15 years. Ugh.

Top of the third (M 3, H 0)
Saburo strikes out swinging.
Imae pops out to shallow left, Kawasaki making the catch.
Imaoka hits one to shallow center and Hasegawa runs in and makes a diving sliding catch to get it. Change.

Bottom of the third (M 3, H 0)
Kawasaki bunts up the left side but Imae is too quick for him. One down.
Honda singles up the middle. One on, one out.
Matsunaka walks -- two on, one out.
Kokubo grounds into a 6-4-3 double play. Change!

For some reason you can't hear announcers on the BS1 broadcast but you CAN hear the vendors yelling "How about a beer?"

Top of the fourth (M 3, H 0)
Taekyun singles to left. One on, no out.
Ohmatsu walks on 5 pitches. Two on, no out.
Matoba FAIL. Sac bunt, Tanoue scoops it up and fires to third, gets Taekyun and then Matsuda throws to first and barely doubles up Matoba as well, 2-5-3 double play. 2nd, two out.
Nishioka grounds out to short. Change.

Bottom of the fourth (M 3, H 0)
Tamura hits a pop fly out to left. One down.
Petagine grounds out to first. Two down.
Hasegawa grounds out to third. Change.

Top of the fifth (M 3, H 0)
Kiyota grounds out to third.
Iguchi singles to left. One on, one out.
Saburo grounds back to the mound for a 1-4-3 double play. Change.

Bottom of the fifth (M 3, H 1)
Matsuda... that was odd, he grounded to short, Nishioka moved over and got the ball, and when he transferred the ball from his glove to his hand and went to throw, the ball slipped out of Nishioka's hand and Matsuda was safe at first. They're calling it a hit, it seems. One on, no out.
Tanoue comes up bunting and eventually bunts Matsuda over, SB3-4. 2nd, one out.
Kawasaki singles to left, bringing home Matsuda for the first Hawks run. 3-1.
Honda grounds to short. Kawasaki is out on the 6-4 force but Honda is safe at first. 1st, two out.
Matsunaka is called out on strikes. Change.

Top of the sixth (M 3, H 1)
Imae grounds out to third.
Imaoka walks.
Taekyun fails, fouls, and strikes out swinging. One on, two out.
Ohmatsu is called out on strikes. Change.

Bottom of the sixth (M 3, H 1)
Kokubo strikes out swinging.
Tamura also strikes out swinging.
Petagine ALSO strikes out swinging! Whoa!

Lucky 7 inning time.

Top of the seventh (M 3, H 1)
Matoba hits a pop fly to right field.
Nishioka walks.

That's it for Sugiuchi -- 121 pitches and 6.1 innings and he's out of the game.
He's replaced on the mound by... TAKEHITO KANAZAWA!?!? WTF?

Nishioka steals 2nd on the 2-2 pitch. 2nd, one out.
Kiyota grounds out to second. 3rd, two outs.
Iguchi strikes out. Change.

The WTF on Kanazawa, btw, is that he was on the Fighters for a year or two. We got him in a trade with the Hanshin Tigers wherein both teams got rid of guys they couldn't release without feeling bad -- we gave them former ROY Itsuki Shoda, who they subsequently released and he's now playing in Taiwan. The Fighters released Kanazawa too, and he passed the 12-team tryouts and ended up playing for Orix, and then they traded him to the Hawks, and here he is pitching in the postseason. How WEIRD. I seriously rarely watch the Hawks and had no clue that Kanazawa was pitching well this year. Good for him, I suppose, but it's still freaking me out.

Lucky 7 for the Hawks, now. What's with all the red today? Red jerseys, red balloons... are any Hawks fans reading this and can clue me in? It's a bit odd for a team whose colors are black and yellow, y'know.

Bottom of the seventh (M 3, H 1)
Hasegawa hits a pop fly out to left.
Matsuda hits a pop fly to right.
Tanoue hits a pop fly out to center. Whee.

Top of the eighth (M 3, H 1)
Saburo hits one out to center. It... bounces on the centerfield wall and then back onto the field? Is it a home run or a ground rule double? It's unclear, and the umpires and Nishimura are going to have a little chat, and watch a little video, it seems...

It's called a ground-rule double. Okay.

Kanazawa leaves the mound, anyway, and is replaced by little lefty Masahiko "Monkeyboy" Morifuku.

Imae grounds out to third. Saburo still on 2nd, one out.
Imaoka grounds out to short. Saburo to 3rd, two out.
Taekyun is INTENTIONALLY WALKED (!?) to put runners at the corners, two out...
Ohmatsu hits a pop fly up, caught just foul of first. Change.

Lucky for the Hawks that it wasn't a homer by Saburo, I guess.

Bottom of the eighth (M 3, H 1)
Kawasaki hits a pop fly to right-center, Kiyota running out for the catch. One down.
Honda is called out on strikes.
Matsunaka grounds out to short, and... headslides into first?! Whoa.
double play to shortstop, headslide to first

Bottom of the eighth (M 3, H 1)
Keisuke Kattoh takes the mound for the Hawks.

Matoba pop fly to right.
Nishioka strikes out swinging.
Kiyota also strikes out.

Well... it comes down to the theoretical last three outs of the game...

Bottom of the ninth (M 3, H 1)

Naruse is still on the mound. Okada comes in to play center for the Marines. Kiyota moves to left.

Kokubo hits a pop fly out to left. One down. Two outs remaining...
Tamura strikes out swinging.
Ortiz pinch-hits for Petagine and hits a pop fly up, up, out to left, and CAUGHT! Three out!

Game over. Marines are now tied 1 and 1 game with the Hawks (thanks to the 1st-place team 1-game advantage).

Complete game for Naruse. Not too shabby.

I didn't think I could deal with another afternoon in the sun -- not feeling so great after watching the semi-finals yesterday -- so instead I'm watching the final game on TV and liveblogging it.

Toyodai                    Tokaidai
-------                    --------
Sakai rf                   Ishimine cf
Uehara 2b                  Tanaka ss
Kimura lf                  S. Suzuki dh
D. Suzuki 3b               Fushimi c
Satoh c                    Yoshikawa 2b
Horikoshi dh               Matsukuma lf
Hayashizaki ss             Takeuchi rf
Ogata cf                   Sakaguchi 3b
Samejima 1b                Ohno 1b
   
Fujioka (6-1, 1.07)        Sugano (5-0, 0.44)

And so it starts. Except that BS1 isn't showing it yet and I am on pins and needles waiting!

Top of the first (Toyo 0, Tokai 0)
Sakai grounds out to second on the third pitch.
Uehara hits a fly that lands in right for a single. One on, 1st.
Kimura hits a low pop fly out to left. Two out, 1st.
Suzuki grounds out to second. Three out.

No strikeouts for Sugano -- kinda odd. Wonder if he's tired after throwing 142 pitches yesterday.

Bottom of the first (Toyo 0, Tokai 0)
Ishimine walks (Fujioka's control seems a bit off, maybe he's nervous).
Tanaka comes up bunting and does infact bunt, pitcher to first. One out, 2nd.
Suzuki hits a pop fly out to right, Ishimine can't move up on it. Two out, 2nd.
Fushimi strikes out swinging, three down! First strikeout of the game.

BTW, Shota Ishimine is Tokai's captain this year, and has also been on the national collegiate team for a while. Also, Ishimine and Sho Suzuki were the two guys who hit home runs in yesterday's game against Keio.

Also, Jingu looks relatively empty! I thought it'd be full today, though maybe it'd help if the FINAL had been Keio-Tokai...

Top of the second (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Satoh singles to center on the first pitch.
Horikoshi bunts to the pitcher, advancing Satoh. One out, 2nd.
Hayashizaki grounds out to third; Two out, 2nd.
Ogata hits a long fly ball into the right-field corner that goes for a double! That scores Satoh -- 1-0 Toyo.
Samejima fouls off a bunch for a pretty long at-bat, eventually grounding to first where Ohno dives for the ball and throws to Sugano covering first in time -- three out.

Satoh and Hayashizaki are also on the national collegiate team. Sugano seems to be warming up a bit, he hit 150 km/h on the gun a few times and is throwing that obnoxious slider of his, so we'll see. Doesn't look as sharp as he did yesterday, though he could just be pacing himself. Still, he gave up one run in 24 innings of this tournament so far before today. Toyo has the slight advantage here in having a bunch of decent pitchers even if none of them are as good as Sugano at his best.

Bottom of the second (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Yoshikawa of the funky kick swing grounds out to the mound.
Matsukuma strikes out swinging -- that's two for Fujioka.
Takeuchi grounds out to third, three down.

Tokai's ouendan is still doing the funky sequence they did yesterday -- Pirates of the Caribbean, Popeye, Space Battleship Yamato, and then a variety of other typical Koshien type songs (like that Bakufu Slump one I can't remember the name of)

Top of the third (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Sakai hits a pop fly out to center.
Uehara singles to center. One out, 1st.
Kimura singles to left, that'll move Uehara to 2nd. One out, 1st and 2nd.
Suzuki hits a pop fly out to center. Two out, 1st and 2nd.
Satoh lines back to the mound and Sugano catches the ball for the third out.

Takayama is warming up in the bullpen for Tokai. Sugano hasn't struck anyone out yet, but he seems pretty unfazed by this all.

Bottom of the third (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Sakaguchi strikes out swinging.
Ohno hits a pop fly foul, caught by the second baseman.
Ishimine hits a single to center (of course it'd be Ishimine, he's probably the best player on the team.)
Ishimine steals second and also reaches third on the errant throw during Tanaka's at-bat. Two out, 3rd.
Tanaka grounds out to second -- three out.

Top of the fourth (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Horikoshi grounds back to the mound.
Hayashizaki strikes out swinging and that is Sugano's first one of the day.
Ogata grounds back to the mound, that's three.

Bottom of the fourth (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Suzuki hits a pop fly out to right.
Fushimi hits a pop fly out to center.
Yoshikawa grounds out to short -- the throw to first is high but Samejima makes the tag as he comes down jumping. Cute.

Top of the fifth (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Sugano is still out there on the mound, for the record. He's up to 70 pitches through 4.

Samejima grounds out to first, unassisted.
Sakai grounds out to second, Sugano covering first as the 1st and 2nd baseman went for the grounder. Two out.
Uehara grounds out to short.

This game has suddenly started going REALLY fast, it's only 2:09pm right now.

Bottom of the fifth (Toyo 1, Tokai 0)
Matsukuma strikes out swinging.
Takeuchi grounded out to first.
Sakaguchi singles to left. Two out, 1st.
Ohno strikes out looking -- wow.

Top of the sixth (Toyo 3, Tokai 0)
Kimura grounds to third but Sakaguchi fumbles the ball and Kimura reaches first on the error.
Suzuki... oh wow. Suzuki doubles to right -- a ball back to the wall in center-right -- and Kimura runs all the way around to home, slides in the same time the ball gets there, and it looks like Kimura missed the plate on his way in and is tagged out. Lucky for Tokai. One out, 2nd.
Satoh grounds out and Suzuki moves to third -- Two out, 3rd.
Horikoshi doubles to left and Suzuki scores. 2-0. Two out, 2nd.

Looks like this may be nearing the end for Sugano, two guys are warming up for Tokai... but not yet apparently.

Hayashizaki also singles to left -- and Horikoshi dives easily around the throw at home to score, 3-0. And THAT is it for Sugano. Poor kid.

Lefty Ryota Takayama comes in to pitch for Tokai.

Hashimoto pinch-hits for Ogata and grounds to the mound, three down.

That's pretty huge though -- not sure if Tokai will be able to turn this game around the way they're going.

Bottom of the sixth (Toyo 3, Tokai 0)
Toyo fielding changes: Takimoto enters the game playing CF, batting 8th.

Ishimine grounds out to second.
Tanaka singles to center.
Suzuki strikes out swinging and Tanaka steals second -- so that's two out, 2nd.
Fushimi strikes out swinging too -- that's seven for Fujioka.

Also I love Tokai's ouendan -- it's nothing like Big 6, just a bunch of guys, maybe 5 of them, wearing baseball outfits instead of gakuran, dancing on the platform and sometimes holding up "T O K A I" signs and whatnot.

If Toyodai is 120 years old, I have to wonder why it didn't end up in Tokyo Big 6 instead of Tohto?

Top of the seventh (Toyo 5, Tokai 0)
Samejima strikes out looking.
Sakai walks (but two of those balls in a row were slow curves, funny stuff)
Uehara bunts and is barely out, moving Sakai to second. Two out, 2nd.
Kimura SLAMS ONE OUT OF THE PARK IN LEFT! Man, you could tell that was gone the second it left his bat -- so that's a 2-run homer for the Tohto League batting champ. 5-0.
Suzuki pops one foul and Ohno makes the catch at first. Three down.

Bottom of the seventh (Toyo 5, Tokai 0)
Yoshikawa hit a pop fly out to center while BS1 was showing the news.
Matsukuma grounds out to third.
Takeuchi singles to right.
Sakaguchi hits a pop fly to shallow right and the second baseman makes the catch.

Top of the eighth (Toyo 5, Tokai 0)
Tokai changes pitchers from Takayama to Akama. I think they also just said Matsukuma was switched out for Iwamoto in left field.

Satoh grounds out to third.
Horikoshi grounds out to short.
Hayashizaki singles to left.
Takimoto ... doesn't get an at-bat as Hayashizaki gets caught stealing second on the first pitch. Three out.

Bottom of the eighth (Toyo 5, Tokai 0)
Ohno singles to left.
Ishimine hits a pop fly out to right.
Tanaka hits a pop fly foul between third and home.
Suzuki strikes out swinging -- that's eight for Fujioka.

Top of the ninth (Toyo 5, Tokai 0)
Takimoto grounds up the middle and is barely out, nice play there by Tanaka.
Samejima hits a liner to second.
Sakai grounds out to second.

Well, this is it -- last three outs of the game to see what Tokai can do. Fujioka is still on the mound for Toyo, he's up to 105 pitches through eight.

Bottom of the ninth (Toyo 5, Tokai 0)
Fushimi hits the first pitch he sees out to centerfield... and it's caught.
Yoshikawa walks.
(Mound conference ensues. But Fujioka stays.)
Yamane pinch-hits for Iwamoto and strikes out swinging on a slider. Down to the last out...
Takeuchi grounds out to second and that's the game!

(I should note that the final two at-bats took forever, these guys fouled off a ton, and there was a pitchout or two. But...)

Toyo is the champion!

Cheers of "Akio! Akio!" go up for a doage for the Toyo manager, 63-year-old Akio Takahashi... and they end up dropping him, heh. (He blames it in his interview on them spending all their energy winning the tournament.)

Next is an interview with team captain Keisuke Kanuma, who was yesterday's game hero as well.

Next, an interview with Takahiro Fujioka, today's game-winning shutout-pitching guy, who is just like "Dude, my pitches all worked today. I'm really happy."

I took a few photos of my TV at the end:

Just a heads-up that since tonight's Carp-Fighters game (June 1st) seems to be scheduled to play on BS1, I am planning to be home and liveblog it. Game is at 6pm Japan time if you want to watch with me.

                     

Kensuke 2b                 Higashide 2b
Hichori lf                 Soyogi ss
Itoi cf                    Amaya cf
Nioka dh                   Kurihara 1b
Koyano 3b                  Tomonori Maeda (?!) dh
Shinji 1b                  Hirose rf
Yoh Dai-Kan rf             Jeff "Fio" Fiorentino lf
Tsuruoka c                 Ishihara c
Kaneko! ss                 Kokubo 3b

Keppel (6-1, 3.60)         Ohtake (0-0, 0.00)

OMG NO INABA! I guess he banged up his leg worse than I thoguht.

It occurs to me that last time I liveblogged the Fighters, Keppel was also the starting pitcher. Huh. And this is Kan Ohtake's first start of the season -- he had shoulder problems in the preseason. Urawa Gakuin pride... EXCEPT WHEN PLAYING AGAINST THE FIGHTERS! But I AM totally hoping Ryota Imanari makes an appearance tonight...

Top of the first (F 0, C 0)
Higashide walks.
Soyogi grounds out to second, Higashide advances. One out, 2nd.
Amaya grounds deep to second and Kensuke can't make a grab and throw on the play, so it's an infield single. One out, 1st and 3rd.
Kurihara strikes out and Amaya steals second on the third strike; Two out, 2nd and 3rd.
Tomohiro Maeda grounds out to second for an easy play. Three down. Whew.

Bottom of the first (F 3, C 0)
Kensuke walks.
Hichori grabs an outside pitch and grounds it up the middle and Higashide makes a nice run for the ball but Hichori JUST beats out the throw at first -- and Kensuke was actually off stealing second on the pitch, so he's totally safe. No out, 1st and 2nd.
Itoi bunts, a nice clean one, catcher to Higashide covering first. One out, runners at 2nd and 3rd.
Nioka strikes out; 2 out, 2nd and 3rd.
Koyano hits one up the left side that is barely barely fair, but it IS fair, so there! He gets a double and everyone else scores. 2-0. Two out, 2nd.
Shinji singles up the middle through Ohtake's legs, to center. Koyano scores, 3-0. Two out, 1st.
Yoh lofts one to left field and Fiorentino runs it down. Three out.

Maybe Ohtake is NOT ready for prime time again. Although that was kind of a lucky ball on Koyano's part.

Also, they seriously list Fiorentino as "Fio" (フィオ) in katakana. I'm not sure I'd seen him play yet this year, come to think of it.

Top of the second (F 3, C 0)
Hirose grounds to the mound, not an easy play but Keppel makes it.
Fiorentino grounds out to second.
Ishihara grounds out to second. Quick inning!

Bottom of the second (F 3, C 0)
Tsuruoka grounds to third and the ball bounces off Kokubo's glove! Whoops. They rule that an error.
Kaneko! comes up bunting... and bunts successfully. One out, 2nd.
Kensuke singles to right! Tsuruoka advances, so, one out, 1st and 3rd.
Hichori... hold on, Kensuke gets caught stealing during Hichori's at-bat, 2-6. Two out, 3rd. Hichori gets up to a 3-1 count and the umpire runs to the media booth for a minute and starts waving his hands around and nodding but nothing actually happens. Huh? Anyway, Hichori walks. Two out, 1st and 3rd.
Itoi grounds out to short. Three down.

Top of the third (F 3, C 0)
Kokubo grounds out to third.
Higashide grounds out to second.
Soyogi grounds out to third.

Have I mentioned recently how good Koyano has gotten? I don't want to jinx him, but...

Bottom of the third (F 3, C 0)
Nioka singles up the left, just through Soyogi's glove!
Koyano grounds into an easy double play, 6-4-3. Whoops, I jinxed him :(
Shinji hits a pop out to second and that's it, three down.

Top of the fourth (F 3, C 3)
Amaya walks.
Kurihara doubles into the gap in left-center, and Amaya gets to third... actually, I wonder if he could have scored on that, but it's hard to tell. No out, 2nd and 3rd.
Maeda grounds out to second, BUT Amaya finally does score. 3-1 One out, 3rd.
Hirose singles to left. Kurihara scores. 3-2. One out, one on. Hmm...
Fiorentino grounds out to the mound, advancing Hirose. Two out, 2nd.
Ishihara hits one out to right field and it's just beyond the outstretched glove of Dai-Kan Yoh for a double. Crap! Hirose scores, 3-3.
Kokubo grounds out to third to end the inning.

Bottom of the fourth (F 3, C 3)
Yoh grounds out to short.
Tsuruoka grounds out to third.
Kaneko! grounds out to short.

Hey, the Marines are pounding the Giants 4-0. Hooray!

And for some reason they decide to show Kosuke Fukudome making a diving catch in the PNC Park outfield in the lovely Pittsburgh rain.
Then next, Ichiro got his 2100th hit? Neat...

Top of the fifth (F 3, C 3)
Higashide hits a pop fly out to Hichori.
Soyogi grounds out to third.
Amaya grounds up the RF line and Kensuke makes a spinning play on it. Whoosh!

Bottom of the fifth (F 3, C 3)
Kensuke hits a big fly ball out to right.
Hichori singles to right! Hooray! One out, 1st.
Itoi grounds to second -- quick flip to Soyogi and Hichori is out, but Itoi is safe at first on the fielder's choice. Two out, 1st.
Nioka strikes out and that's it.

YMCA time.

Top of the sixth (F 3, C 3)
Kurihara walks.
Tomonori Maeda grounds back to the mound and is easily thrown out at first. Kurihara to 2nd.
Hirose also grounds to the mound. Kurihara stays, so two out, 2nd.
Fiorentino hits a pop fly to left. Three out.

It's already La La La Fighters time? Really?

Bottom of the sixth (F 3, C 3)
Koyano hits a pop fly out to right.
Shinji hits a pop fly out to right.
Yoh hits a grounder up the right side but Kurihara dives for it and gets it back to the bag in time.

Carpu, Carpu, Carpu Hiroshima...

Top of the seventh (F 3, C 3)
Ishihara singles to center-right.
Kokubo... well, Ishihara steals second on the 2-1 pitch, before Kokubo ultimately strikes out swinging. One out, 2nd.
Higashide takes forever and grounds out to third. Two out, 2nd.
Soyogi grounds back to the mound.

Bottom of the seventh (F 3, C 3)
Tsuruoka grounds out to a leaping Ohtake.
Kaneko! singles to center.
Kensuke hits a fly out to left. Two out, 1st.
Hichori... singles to left! Two out, 1st and 2nd!
Genghis Khan chance music starts after the Hiroshima mound conference ends!
Itoi hits one to right and it's just a single! Damn! Two out, bases loaded!
Switch to the Kita no Kuni Kara chance theme... and the CF cameras can't stay steady.
Nioka hits a pop fly out to right :( :( :(

Grar. That sucked!

Top of the eighth (F 3, C 4)
Masanori Hayashi takes the mound for the Fighters -- Keppel is done after 7.

Amaya hits a pop fly caught by Kaneko in shallow center.
Kurihara singles to left. One out, 1st.
Tomonori Maeda hits a pop up into the cavernous realms of the foul territory at the Sapporo Dome and it is caught. Two outs, 1st.

A pitching change...? Apparently so. Hayashi sits down and Hisashi Takeda comes out in his place.

Hirose singles up the middle. Aw, crap. Two outs, 1st and 2nd.
Fiorentino crap crap crap crap HISASHI YOU SUCK um, Fiorentino singles to left, and Kurihara scores. 4-3. Akamatsu pinch-runs for Fiorentino at first base. Two outs, 1st and 3rd.
Ishihara grounds out to second and that's the inning. But...

Bottom of the eighth (F 4, C 4)
Some kid named Hideki Kishimoto replaces Kan Ohtake on the mound for Hiroshima. (Akamatsu enters from being a PR to playing left.)

Koyano strikes out swinging at a pitch in the dirt.
Shinji grounds out to short.
Yoh HITS A HOME RUN TO LEFT-CENTER! Whoa! It was going and going and... and it entered the stands! 4-4!
Tsuruoka hits a pop fly out to center.

Ryota was the first guy to high-five Yoh back at the dugout after Nashida-kantoku. And they showed a shot of Itoi making a guts pose after the home run was hit. Heh.

I'm just sad they couldn't have Ryota pinch-hit for Tsuruoka and enter the game and...

Top of the ninth (F 4, C 5)
Naoki Miyanishi takes the mound for the Fighters. (I nearly just typed Mishima. I really have to get college ball off my brain.)

Kokubo singles to left.
Higashide bunts to third -- Koyano gets the ball to Kaneko for the force at second, but no double play. Still, nice play! One out, 1st.
Soyogi... watches Higashide steal second. And then... he smashes one to centerfield. Not a homerun in the cavern that is the Sapporo Dome, but it goes for a double and scores Higashide. Argh. 5-4

Yuichiro Mukae is pinch-hitting for Soichiro Amaya, and Brian Wolfe is coming out to replace Naoki Miyanishi on the mound.

Uh what? Shigenobu Shima is pinch-hitting for Mukae.

Shima grounds out to third. Two out, 3rd.
Kurihara walks. Two out, 1st and 3rd.
Tomonori Maeda is still hitting. WTF. grounds out to third to end the inning.

Bottom of the ninth (F 4, C 5)
Ryuji Yokoyama enters on the mound for Hiroshima and Shogo Kimura takes over in left. Akamatsu moves to center.

Kaneko fails to check a third swing at a pitch in the dirt. Doh.
Kensuke hits a pop fly to center.
Hichori OMG! I was positive that was a pop out to center and then it hit the back wall JUST above a jumping Akamatsu, and Hichori gets a triple! Holy crap! Two out, tying run at 3rd...!
Itoi grounds out to short and that is the game.

NPB box score

Damn.

I'm actually mostly pissed off that I didn't get to see Ryota Imanari play, when I think about it. Saw him sitting in the dugout, but even this weekend at Kamagaya everyone was like "I hope we can see Ryota play at the Tokyo Dome..."

Whoa, the Carp mascot Slyly is at the Sapporo Dome, that's kind of crazy, didn't know he toured as far up as Hokkaido...

I give you your game hero, Eishin Soyogi, whose line for the night reads: Ground out to 2nd, ground out to 3rd, ground out to 3rd, ground out to short, go-ahead RBI double. Yeah.

I happen to be home and the Fighters-Tigers game happens to be on BS1 to kick off interleague, so I happen to be trying to liveblog it!

Wish I was there though. Koshien is one of two pro stadiums in Japan that I haven't seen the Fighters play at. (I've been there plenty, just haven't been there for a FIGHTERS game.)

I have a Tokyo Big 6 Weekend Photopost in the works, but I've been sick or something the last few days, REALLY tired.

                     

Kensuke 2b                 Murton cf
Hichori lf                 Hirano 2b
Inaba rf                   Toritani ss
Koyano 3b                  Arai 3b
Itoi cf                    Johjima c
Shinji 1b                  Brazell 1b
Kaneko! ss                 Sakurai rf
Tsuruoka c                 Katsuragi lf
Keppel p                   Kubo p

Top of the first (F 0, T 0)
Kensuke grounds out to short. Hichori strikes out. Inaba... grounds out to second. That took all of like 3 minutes.

Bottom of the first (F 0, T 0)
Murton gets to a full count before grounding out to second. Hirano singles to center. One on, one out. Toritani... watches a pitch go by low and THE PITCHOUT IS SUCCESSFUL and Hirano is caught stealing! Two outs. But then Toritani walks. Oops. One on, two out. Arai grounds into a fielder's choice, short to second. Three out.

Man, are these special interleague uniforms again for Hanshin? The weird trim isn't nearly as bad as some past ones they've pulled, I suppose.

There's Kanemoto on the bench -- I assume they're keeping his games played streak alive even if the innings one isn't...

Top of the second (F 0, T 0)
Koyano singles to center! One on, no out. Itoi follows it with a low fly ball to right, caught. One on, one out. Shinji hits a couple fouls, including one that gets Brazell to dive headfirst into the camera well, before ARGH grounding back to the mound for a double play, 1-6-3. Three down. Sigh.

Bottom of the second (F 0, T 0)
Johjima hits a pop fly up to right. Brazell hits one up the middle for a single. One on, one out. Sakurai hacks one down the left field line and Koyano throws it to second for the force, no double play though. One on, two out. Katsuragi grounds up towards first and Shinji makes the out. Three down.

Johjima looks older than I remember him. I guess he always had some salt-and-pepper hair, but it just looks like more now? I mean, he's only a year older than me...

Yay! "Shiroi Ball Fantasy"! See, the Pacific League is cooler because we HAVE a league song.

Top of the third (F 0, T 0)
Kaneko fouls one off his leg (ouch - at least it was the one with the shinguard) before getting called out on strikes. Doh. Tsuruoka hits a high fly to shallow center, caught by Toritani. Keppel also hits a high fly pop, this time to right, caught, three outs.

Bottom of the third (F 0, T 0)
Kubo grounds out to short. Murton strikes out swinging! Hirano grounds out to Kaneko. Hooray!

Top of the fourth (F 2, T 0)
Kensuke singles to left while I am downstairs putting in laundry. Hichori bunts him up to second, SB1-4, 2nd, one out. Inaba Jump!! singles to left and Kensuke scores!!! 1-0!! Unfortunately, Inaba tries to get to second on the play and is out in a rundown, 7-4-3. Two out. Koyano hits a long fly ball to right and Sakurai alllllllmost gets it but it bounces off his arm and falls for a double!!! 2nd, two out. Itoi walks! 1st and 2nd, two out. Shinji hits a grounder to short and it TAKES A BAD BOUNCE AND GOES THROUGH TORITANI for a hit! Safe at first, Itoi at second, and Koyano scores! 2-0!! 1st and 2nd, two out. Kaneko grounds out to second.

Still, two runs! Even though I'm not there, it'd be nice to see the Fighters win one :)

Bottom of the fourth (F 2, T 0)
Toritani grounds out to first, unassisted. Arai hits a pop fly to right. Johjima grounds to third and Koyano is AWESOME and makes this awesome running snag and throw to first.

Dear the MLB: This is how defense SHOULD be.

Top of the fifth (F 2, T 0)
Tsuruoka strikes out. Doh. Keppel grounds to third -- nice try but the throw barely beats him to first base. Kensuke also strikes out. Three down.

This is unrelated, but hearing the announcers pronounce Keppel as "Kep-peh-ru" reminded me of how today at my JHS we were talking about animals, and trying to get people to prounounce a "Wolf" as one syllable in this country is near impossible -- just like how when Brian Wolfe is pitching, he becomes "u-ru-fu", and I can't convince Fighters fans of his one-syllableness either.

I am going to also say that the most amusing thing of this half-inning was watching the police come and escort three people out of the front row of seats behind home plate, including a dude in a Kanemoto jersey with a big yellow and black afro wig. You know, if you're going to go sit somewhere you don't have tickets for, does it make any sense to sit right behind home plate in the front row and be super-conspicuous?

Bottom of the fifth (F 2, T 0)
Brazell hits a BIG BIG BIG FOUL BALL!1!11 HAHAHAHA no, seriously it barely missed the foul pole in left. Then he hits ANOTHER HUGE FOUL BALL but this time to right. Well, anyway, a few balls and fouls later, when the stadium is no longer being faked out, he singles to right. One on, no out. Sakurai gets called out on strikes. 1st, one out. Katsuragi grounds into a double play, 4-6-3, and that's the inning! Yay.

Top of the sixth (F 2, T 0)
Hichori grounds out to third. Inaba hits a pop fly out to left. Koyano, unfortunately, gets called out on strikes. Three down.

Bottom of the sixth (F 2, T 0)
OMG SHINJIRO HIYAMA IS PINCH-HITTING!!!!!! but he grounds out to second. :) Murton grounds out to second. Hirano grounds out to first with the pitcher covering.

For the record, it's 7:30pm. I have to go take my laundry out in about 15 minutes.

Also, Kubo got replaced on the mound by YUSUKE KAWASAKI!!!!!!! Holy crap!
He looks totally different in a Tigers uniform. And he's wearing #62.
I find it somewhat amusing that a former Lotte pitcher was followed by a former Lotte reliever... in interleague.

Top of the seventh (F 2, T 0)
Itoi strikes out looking. Shinji...has to wait a minute for a pitching change, as the TV cuts to the Hanshin bullpen, where we see Ryo Watanabe warming up.

So, Watanabe replaces Kawasaki on the mound. The Tigers fans start blowing up their balloons. I hope they all pop by the time they get released.

Shinji walks on four straight pitches. 1st, one out. Kaneko grounds into a double play ARGH. 6-4-3. So much for popping.

Bottom of the seventh (F 2, T 1)
Toritani walks. Arai hits a grounder to third that is barely fair and Koyano makes the grab and turns to get the ball to second in time to catch a sliding Toritain for the force. 1st, one out. Johjima hits a grounder that glances off of Keppel's left glove to go into center; Arai makes it all the way to third. 1st and 3rd, one out.

Nashida, Shimazaki, and a host of interpreters go to the mound to go have a talk with Keppel, but he is apparently still in the game.

Brazell grounds to short. Kaneko throws to second for the force, but Arai scores and there is no throw to first. 1st, two out. And 2-1.

ANIKI HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING that is to say Kanemoto is pinch-hitting for Sakurai. Also Shunsuke Fujikawa is pinch-running for Brazell at first. And Kanemoto singles to second, kinda -- it glances off a diving Shinji and Kanemoto is safe by the time Kensuke gets the ball. 1st and 2nd, two out... Katsuragi grounds out to second. Whew.

Top of the eighth (F 2, T 1)
Few changes in the field: Katsuragi moves to first, Shunsuke Fujikawa takes right field, and... and Keisuke Kanoh!?!?! enters in left field. Wow, I'm really out of it -- I had no idea he was playing the outfield since Johjima came along, but it makes sense. (He was a catcher before, see...)

Tsuruoka strikes out looking. So does Keppel. Kensuke strikes out swinging at a low pitch.

Bottom of the eighth (F 2, T 1)
Mitsunobu Takahashi pinch-hits for Ryo Watanabe.... and is called out on strikes. Matt Murton strikes out swinging. Hirano grounds out to first unassisted.

Top of the ninth (F 4, T 1)
Ken Nishimura replaces Ryo Watanabe on the mound.

Hichori walks. Inaba OMFG!!!!!! Inaba HITS A HOME RUN INTO THE NETTING IN DEAD CENTER! Yeah!!!! Hichorinaba both score, making it 4-1!!! Koyano fouls one that actually smacks the umpire in the head... whoops. And then he strikes out. Whoops.

Hirotaka Egusa replaces Ken Nishimura on the mound.

Dai-Kan Yoh pinch hits for Itoi and strikes out. Shinji grounds out to end the inning.

But YAY INABA! That's kinda funny -- I'm not sure it would be all that easy for a batter to actually AIM for that net in center, let alone hit a home run there.

Keppel is up to 113 pitches but still on the mound going into the bottom of the 9th, apparently... Yoh enters in left field and Hichori moves to center.

Bottom of the ninth (F 4, T 2)
Toritani... argh. Toritani hits a home run to left field, apparently. Yoh climbed on the wall to try to get it but it hits the left foul pole. 4-2. Arai singles to center... Johjima grounds into a double play!!! 5-4-3. Umm... Sekimoto pinch-hits for Fujikawa and doubles to center, over Hichori. Doh. 2nd, two out. Kanoh grounds to the mound and that's the game!

FIGHTERS WIN IT 4-2!!!

Well, I finally saw them win a game, I suppose, although it's really not the same as being there and getting to sing with my friends afterwards...

Looks like if there is a game hero, it is indeed Keppel... (not Inaba??) Araki-interpreter is ushering Keppel somewhere.

It's Keppel's first complete-game win. I'm gonna try to take down the hero interview:

- How do you feel?

It's a great day, great baseball atmosphere, I'm just happy we're winning some games now, hopefully we can put some more wins together.

- Are you tired?

A little bit.

- We heard that last year you were mainly a reliever. When was the last time you completed a game?

Last complete game? Wow. Uhh... a LONG time ago. 3 or 4 years? When I was playing with Craig Brazell.

- How do you like Koshien?

This place has a great atmosphere. I'd like to thank the Sapporo fans for coming down, but it's also amazing of you guys for filling this place up.

- The team has a four-game winning streak, what's your goal now?

[laughs] I think it's still gonna be to win!

...and that's about it.

Dude, I just saw a few of my friends on TV in the Fighters cheering section -- gonna go be jealous of people. Yay Fighters!

I almost missed the start of this game because of Koshien -- Tsuruga Kehi just beat Tenri after a pretty nailbiting end. I was cheering for Kehi because I've actually been to Tsuruga, plus I saw them play last year at Koshien. (Unfortunately, they played against Teikyo, so I was cheering against them then, but I really liked their ace Yamada, who now plays for Orix.)

BS1 came into this game late, so I'm starting from the bottom of the first. I'll fill in the plays before this and the lineups in a bit. Trying to do this in a slightly more "sokuhou" style and less of a liveblog this time.

As always, feel free to ping me on IM/email/comments. I'm also in the japanesebaseball.com Koshien chatroom today.

                     

Honda 2b                   Kensuke 2b
Kawasaki ss                Nioka dh
Ortiz lf                   Inaba rf
Kokubo 1b                  Shinji 1b
Tamura rf                  Itoi cf
Lee Bum-ho dh              Koyano 3b
"Wall" Hasegawa cf         NAKATA SHO OMG lf
Matsuda 3b                 Ohno c
Tanoue c                   Kaneko! ss

----------                 ----------
Kenji Ohtonari             Masaru Takeda

Top of the first (F 0, H 0)
Groundout to third, single to right, 6-4-3 double play. I didn't see it.

Bottom of the first (F 0, H 0)
Kensuke hits a pop fly to center. (empty, 1 out)
Nioka grounds out to short. (empty, 2 out)
Inaba singles to right! (1st, 2 out)
Shinji strikes out. (3 out)

Top of the second (F 0, H 0)
Kokubo grounds out to short. (empty, 1 out)
Tamura also grounds out to short. (empty, 2 out)
Lee strikes out swinging. (3 out)

Bottom of the second (F 0, H 0)
Itoi strikes out. (empty, 1 out)
Koyano hits a pop fly to right. (empty, 2 out)
Nakata strikes out. (3 out)

Top of the third (F 0, H 0)
Hasegawa grounds out to short. (empty, 1 out)
Matsuda fouls off a ton before striking out. (empty, 2 out)
Tanoue grounds out to short. (3 out)

Wow, this game is going really fast -- it's only 1:39pm. Second Koshien game hasn't even started yet.

Bottom of the third (F 1, H 0)
Ohno hits a pop fly to center. (empty, 1 out)
Kaneko HITS A HOME RUN INTO THE FIRST FEW ROWS OF THE LEFT-FIELD STANDS!!!!!! 1-0!!! (empty, 1 out)
Kensuke grounds to second, but it's deep and the play isn't in time!!! SAFE! (1st, 1 out)
Kensuke steals second during Nioka's at-bat when Tanoue drops the ball : (2nd, 1 out)
Nioka hits a sharp liner to 1st, which Kokubo dives for and runs back to the bag in time. Kensuke to third. (3rd, 2 out)
Inaba walks on four straight pitches!!! (1st and 3rd, 2 out)
Shinji... unfortunately, pops out foul and Tanoue makes the catch. (3 out)

Still, Kaneko!!! Hooray!!!

Top of the fourth (F 1, H 0)
Honda hits a low pop fly to center. (empty, 1 out)
Kawasaki grounds out to second. (empty, 2 out)
Ortiz grounds out to third. (3 out)

Bottom of the fourth (F 1, H 0)
Itoi golfs one up to center. (empty, 1 out)
Koyano singles to right!! (1st, 1 out)
Nakata hits a pop fly out to second. (1st, 2 out)
Ohno hits a pop fly to right. (3 out)

HEY OUENDAN, WHY DO WE NOT HAVE A SONG FOR OHNO? NO, REALLY?

Top of the fifth (F 1, H 0)
Kokubo lines out to third, GREAT grab by Koyano! (empty, 1 out)
Tamura hits a pop fly, caught by Kensuke. (empty, 2 out)
Lee hits a pop fly out to Inaba. (3 out)
(Lee first hit this one HUGE shot that fortunately was JUST foul. Whew.)

Bottom of the fifth (F 1, H 0)
Kaneko strikes out :( (empty, 1 out)
Kensuke hits a pop fly out to left. (empty, 2 out)
Nioka hits a foul and... it's caught. (3 out)

Top of the sixth (F 1, H 0)
Hasegawa grounds out to short. (empty, 1 out)
Matsuda grounds out to short too. (empty, 2 out)
Tanoue ALSO grounds out to short! (3 out)

Bottom of the sixth (F 1, H 0)
Inaba hits a pop fly out to right. (empty, 1 out)
Shinji hits a grounder to second and Honda makes a nice play on it. (empty, 2 out)
Itoi hits a foul fly caught by Matsuda. (3 out)

Is it REALLY already time for Izayuke Wakataka Gundan? 2:34pm...

Top of the seventh (F 1, H 1)
Honda ...bunts? to the pitcher and is out. (empty, 1 out)
Kawasaki grounds right to first, unassisted. (empty, 2 out)

Pitcher switch: Shintaro Ejiri replaces Masaru Takeda on the mound. Not really sure why as Masaru only threw 74 pitches, but...

Ortiz... singles to left on a full count after Ejiri throws like 3 pitches way the hell outside. Doh. (1st, 2 out)
Kokubo doubles to right and.... and... and Ortiz scores oh crap. 1-1.
Tamura grounds out to Kaneko. (3 out)

Sigh. Ejiri, you make me sad. :(
8 groundouts to Kaneko today, pretty crazy.

Bottom of the seventh (F 1, H 1)
Koyano hits a pop fly out to center. (empty, 1 out)
Nakata strikes out swinging. (empty, 2 out)
Ohno singles to left!!!! (1st, 2 out)
Kaneko grounds out. Doh. (3 out)

Top of the eighth (F 1, H 1)
HOORAY! YOSHINORI TATEYAMA TAKES THE MOUND FOR THE FIGHTERS! I WILL NOW PUT A TOWEL OVER MY HEAD.

Lee walks. (1st, no out)
Pinch-runner - Kenji Akashi replaces Bum-Ho Lee at first.
Hasegawa comes up bunting and is successful eventually, Tateyama making the play. (2nd, 1 out)
Matsuda strikes out. (2nd, 2 out)
Tanoue strikes out too! (3 out)

Thank you, Tateyama :)
(Uh, why is the stadium organ playing "Do the Hustle"?)

Bottom of the eighth (F 1, H 1)
Kensuke hits a pop fly out to left. (empty, 1 out)
Nioka doubles into the gap in left-center!!!! (2nd, 1 out)
Pinch-runner - Toshimasa Konta replaces Tomohiro Nioka at 2nd.

Pitching change: Tadashi Settsu replaces Kenji Ohtonari on the mound.
"Kita no kuni kara" chance music for Inaba. Let's see what he can do with it...

Inaba strikes out :( (2nd, 2 out)
Shinji grounds out to the mound. (3 out)

Grr. This is what I get for saying the game is fast. Koshien's second game finished, Hanasaki won 4-0. Next up is Nichidai-san...

Top of the ninth (F 1, H 1)
Pitching change: Naoki Miyanishi replaces Tateyama on the mound.

Honda strikes out. (empty, 1 out)
Kawasaki also strikes out! (empty, 2 out)
Ortiz hits the ball to center and OMG ITOI ITOI ITOI AMAZING BUCKET CATCH!!!!! (3 out)

Come on Fighters -- let's end this game!

Bottom of the ninth (F 1, H 1)
Player changes: Ryuma Kidokoro takes over in center and Hasegawa moves to left. Settsu is still pitching.

Itoi grounds out to second. (empty, 1 out)
Koyano walks on four straight pitches. (1st, 1 out)
Nakata gets up to a full count and walks on a pitch that nearly hits him in the head. (1st and 2nd, 1 out)
Pinch-runner: Kazuya Murata runs at 1st for Sho Nakata.
Tsuboi pinch-hits for Ohno... and gets hit in the leg! Runners advance! (Bases loaded, 1 out)
Kaneko ... oh the suspense. Gets up to 2-0, then a few fouls later is 2-2, then a waaaay outside pitch for 3-2... come on!

....

...

4-2-3 DOUBLE PLAY. Inning over.

Oh geez. This SUCKS.

Top of the tenth (F 1, H 1)
Player changes: Murata in left, Tsuruoka catching, and Brian Wolfe is going to pitch.

Kokubo hits a long fly ball to Itoi. (empty, 1 out)
Tamura hits a fly ball to right. (empty, 2 out)
Akashi grounds out to short. (3 out)

Brian Wolfe hit 151 km/h and they got excited about it.
Also I am amused that Hitoshi Tamura changed his name spelling so now it's the same as Toshihisa Nishi's last name (仁志).

Bottom of the tenth (F 1, H 1)
Brian Falkenborg takes over pitching for Tadashi Settsu.

Kensuke strikes out. (empty, 1 out)
Konta singles to right!! (1st, 1 out)
Konta steals second during Inaba's at-bat. (2nd, 1 out)
Inaba hits a pop fly out to left. (2nd, 2 out)
Shinji strikes out. (3 out)

Top of the eleventh (F 1, H 2)
Pitching change: Hisashi Takeda takes over for Brian Wolfe.

Hasegawa hits a pop fly out to Itoi. (empty, 1 out)
Matsuda hits a home run to straightaway centerfield, it goes "thunk" in the aisle between Fighters fans and bounces back onto the field. Argh, 2-0
Tanoue grounds out to second. (empty, 2 out)
Honda grounds out too. Whatever.

Bottom of the eleventh (F 1, H 2)
Uh, Mahara is in for the Hawks.

Itoi grounds out to second. (1 out)
Koyano hits a pop fly to center. (2 out)
Murata groundout to second, game over.


Screw this, I'm going to watch Koshien for a bit. No, that means I'm not watching the hero interview or anything else.

The game's on BS1, so I don't have to figure out the new pay-to-view streaming video thing!

Getting this up to speed in a moment. The pregame is already on, with some elementary school choir girls singing the national anthem...

                     

Honda 2b                   Kensuke 2b
Kawasaki ss                Nioka dh
Ortiz lf                   Inaba rf
Kokubo 1b                  Shinji 1b
Tamura?! rf                Itoi cf
Lee Bum-ho dh              Koyano 3b
"Wall" Hasegawa cf         NAKATA SHO OMG lf
Matsuda 3b                 Tsuruoka c
Tanoue c                   Kaneko! ss

----------                 ----------
Sugiuchi (15-5, 2.36)      Darvish (15-5, 1.73)

Feel free to ping me in comments or on email/IM if you want to chat about the game!

Wow, didn't realize Darvish and Sugiuchi had the same W/L record last year. It's funny given that Sugiuchi is barely bigger than me.

Weird to see an opening day lineup for the Hawks without Nobuhiko Matsunaka on it, but he's still recovering from knee surgery and working out in the minors. Poor guy.

Top of the first (F 0, H 0)
Honda strikes out swinging. Kawasaki catches an outside pitch on his bat and lines out to short. Ortiz strikes out swinging too!

Nice start for Darvish!

Bottom of the first (F 0, H 0)
Kensuke grounds out to second. Nioka hits a pop fly out to right (caught at second). Inaba fouls a few off before striking out.

(It's nice to see that the crowd still does the clapping to Sky High for Nioka.)

Top of the second (F 0, H 2)
Kokubo leads off with a single to right... and Tamura follows it up with a single to center past a diving Kaneko, Kokubo going to second. Lee bunts up the right side, advancing the runners. Hasegawa grounds to first and... and Shinji can't get ahold of the ball, and by the time he's got it under control, all runners are safe, Kokubo scoring on the error. 1-0. Matsuda grounds to short -- Kaneko to Kensuke is an out at second but Matsuda slides in headfirst at first base ahead of the tag (ugh, I hate headfirst slides, though at least his, he slid onto his stomach instead of just reaching out with his fingers). Tamura scores, 2-0. Tanoue... well, the first pitch bounces in the dirt and Tsuruoka can't block it, so Matsuda is off to second base. Anyway, Tanoue eventually hits a high pop fly that is caught by Kensuke Tanaka to end the inning.

Ow.

It's 1:30pm and I just put in my laundry, so I have to remember to go add fabric softener at 2:10pm.

Bottom of the second (F 0, H 2)
Shinji leads off with a single to center. Itoi grounds one up the middle, off Sugiuchi's glove, and Kawasaki dives to get it and, while still on the ground, without even transferring the ball out of his glove, flicks the ball to Honda at 2nd to get Shinji on a fielder's choice. Koyano... well, during Koyano's at-bat Sugiuchi makes a pickoff throw and totally catches Itoi with a huge lead, so a rundown ensues and Itoi is out. Anyway, Koyano eventually grounds out to second to end the inning.

Top of the third (F 0, H 3)
Honda strikes out swinging, dropped third pitch thrown to first. Kawasaki singles to center. Ortiz... watches Kawasaki steal second, and then strikes out swinging. Kokubo singles to left and Nakata throws the ball in but it's way over the plate, so Kawasaki scores and Kokubo makes it to second. 3-0. Tamura strikes out swinging to end the inning.

I don't really blame Sho Nakata for that one -- Kawasaki was already off running on the hit, it would have probly been pretty hard for most people actually make that an out at the plate.

Wow, look at Kokubo strutting around with that big "C" on his uniform.

Bottom of the third (F 1, H 3)
Sho Nakata strikes out swinging. Tsuruoka grounds out to third. Kaneko singles to center! Yay! Kensuke walks, so there are two on. Nioka singles to left! Kaneko scores!! 3-1 Two runners on still! Inaba JUMP! lines out to third :(

Still, we got a run! Hooray.

Top of the fourth (F 1, H 3)
Lee got hit by a pitch but I was putting in fabric softener so I didn't see where. Hasegawa bunted him up. Matsuda strikes out. Tanoue hits a pop fly out to center.

They keep showing flashbacks to Akiyama and Nashida as players, it's kinda wacky.

Bottom of the fourth (F 1, H 3)
Shinji strikes out. Itoi singles to right! Koyano doubles to center, and Itoi goes to third! Nakata Sho walks, and the bases are loaded! Tsuruoka strikes out, sadly. Kaneko... grounds out up the first-base line, Sugiuchi throwing the ball to first. Argh. :(

Top of the fifth (F 1, H 4)
Honda hits a pop fly out to center, but Kawasaki singles to center. Kawasaki steals second AGAIN during Ortiz's atbat. Ortiz strikes out, whew. Kokubo doubles to center, over Itoi and hitting the back wall, and Kawasaki scores easily. 4-1. Tamura strikes out! Whew.

It has just been brought to my attention that the Giants are CLOBBERING the Baystars over at the Tokyo Dome right now -- it's the 6th inning and the Giants are already up 15-1 -- Daisuke "Hama no Bancho" Miura started for Yokohama and gave up 14 runs (9 earned) in 4 innings. Holy crap. That's two home runs apiece for Sakamoto and Ogasawara and Yoshinobu, as well as one each for Edgar Gonzalez and Shinnosuke Abe.

On the other hand, I will point out that Bancho has one terrible game EVERY pre-season IIRC -- I was there when he was down 10-1 after 4 innings at Jingu last year, but he came back to have a reasonable year. Good to get it out of his system before it counts, right?

Bottom of the fifth (F 1, H 4)
Kensuke hits a pop fly out to center. Nioka singles to left! Inaba hits a pop fly out to left. Shinji grounds out to second to end the inning. Doh.

Time for YMCA! Hey, it's actually English words instead of Hideki Saijo's "Youngman"... wacky.

Top of the sixth (F 1, H 4)
Lee strikes out. Hasegawa grounds out to third. Matsuda grounds out.

Great, it's time for La La La Fighters, the Fukuhara Miho pop song that was really grating on me last year, but after a winter of getting semi-decent at singing it at karaoke, I don't hate it nearly as much (but still vastly prefer Hayami Kentaro's "Fighters Spirits", the Kamagaya song). Fortunately, BS1 saves us from the song by showing highlights of the game.

Bottom of the sixth (F 3, H 4)
Itoi walks and Koyano singles to center! Sho Nakata almost gets hit in the foot with a pitch, the pitch bounces in the dirt and both runners advance on it. Anyway, NAKATA SINGLES TO LEFT!!! and both runners score and the organ plays Popeye the Sailor Man for some reason and whatever, I'll take it. 4-3! Kazuya Murata pinch-runs for Sho Nakata at first base. Tsuruoka comes up bunting and is successful, Murata to second! And finally some Genghis Khan chance music! Hooray. Kaneko hits a grounder up the first-base line, and Kokubo makes a nice dive to get it and back to the base in time for the out, Murata advancing to third. Kensuke... grounds out to short :(

Time for Izayuke Wakataka Gundan, the Hawks theme, except again, BS1 cuts away from it. Teehee.

I would like to say right now that seriously -- you know how I spent two years making fun of Sho Nakata and all -- but if he's going to actually continue working his butt off and stop being such a jackass this year, I will support him. It's nice to see him grow up, basically.

Top of the seventh (F 3, H 4)
Tanoue strikes out. Honda also strikes out. Kawasaki barely misses a grounder to right that goes just foul, and then hits a grounder to third instead that Koyano snags and gets to first just in time. Three down!

Bottom of the seventh (F 3, H 4)
Pitching change: Sugiuchi out, Tadashi Settsu in.

Nioka singles to center! Inaba JUMP!!! shakes the centerfield cameras -- and Inaba himself strikes out :( Shinji sadly hits into a 4-6-3 double play and that ends the inning.

Oh, I forgot to mention this, but during the earlier innings, finalized plans to go to Koshien next week for Senbatsu! (with Shinigami from the japanesebaseball.com forums.) We'll be there on Tuesday and Wednesday and part of Thursday! If you're going or live in the Osaka area and want to hang out and chat baseball, drop me a line!

Top of the eighth (F 3, H 4)
Darvish is up to 118 pitches but is apparently continuing to pitch... 11 strikeouts already!

Ortiz hits a pop fly out to right. Kokubo strikes out! That's 12! Tamura grounds to short, Kaneko throws the ball to first, but it bounces in the ground and Shinji can't get it and hold onto it for the out, so Tamura is safe. Not sure if that's a shortstop error or a first baseman error (probly the former). Lee hits a high pop fly and Kensuke makes the catch to end the inning.

Anyone want to take bets on when Tamura gets injured for the first time this season, by the way?

And the other PL games are OVER:
Seibu beats Lotte 2-1. Naruse had a no-no into the 6th inning, lost it and lost the game (two solo homers by Hiroyuki Nakajima and Dee Brown, apparently), and even BETTER, Brian Sikorski made the save against his former team. Eat THAT, Lotte front office!
The Buffaloes beat Rakuten 1-0. Man, that's harsh. Poor Iwakuma. He and Chihiro Kaneko both went the distance, Iwakuma throwing 107 pitches and Kaneko 106; the only RBI was on a Keiji Ohbiki hit. Hosei pride, yo.

Bottom of the eighth (F 3, H 4)
Brian Falkenborg takes over on the mound for the Hawks.

Itoi hits a grounder up the first base line. Kokubo throws it to Falkenborg, but Falk and Itoi both reach the bag at the same time and the tie seems to go to Itoi for an infield hit. Koyano sadly strikes out. Kazuya Murata! comes up to bat and scoops one out of nowhere, loops it to third, where it JUST bounces out of Matsuda's glove, for a hit. And here's pinch-hitting Tsuboi, who we saw in the on-deck circle a bit ago!!! But rather than the Tsuboi fanfare they're playing the Kita no Kuni Kara chance theme. Anyway, Tsuboi... grounds up the right-field line. Kokubo gets the ball and throws to second in time to get Murata, but the relay back to first is not in time to catch Tsuboi (Falkenborg comes in to cover, and collides with Kokubo). So, runners at the corners for Kaneko... who unfortunately hits a pop fly out to right. Doh.

Top of the ninth (F 3, H 5)
Darvish is still out there pitching. Shota Ohno has taken over the catching duties for the Fighters.

Hasegawa strikes out (there's number 13). Matsuda hits a biiiiiig one out there to the gap in right-center and makes it all the way around to third for a triple, yikes. Tanoue hits a pop fly to right but the relay is not in time... so it's a sacrifice and Matsuda scores, 5-3. Honda hits a fly out to left to end the inning.

Last chance... it'll be pretty sad if Darvish throws a complete game and strikes out 13 and still loses, really.

Bottom of the ninth (F 3, H 5)
Closer Takahiro Mahara is in for the Hawks.

Kensuke hits a pop fly to short. Nioka grounds out to second. So it's down to Inaba... Inaba strikes out and that's the game, Hawks win it 5-3.

How sad.

Kokubo is the game hero. "How do you feel right now? Good opening game?" "Well... uhh... there are 143 more games after this, but sure, it's nice to win the opener. Getting 5 runs off of Darvish is pretty damn good for us, too."

Two screenshots (well, camera shots of the TV...)


Hello, Mr. Captain, sir.


Final score, with the Kokubo banner in the Hawks stands.


I would like to humbly submit that Kawasaki is equally responsible for Kokubo being game hero, as Kokubo doesn't get those RBIs if Kawasaki doesn't get on base, steal second, and run his butt off to home on the Kokubo hits. I mean, yeah, Kokubo did score the first Hawks run of the game, I'm just saying.

Tomorrow's game is on BS1 again, but I'm not sure whether I'll live blog or not.

Okay, I made an executive decision this morning to go Jingu for Soukeisen (the Waseda-Keio rivalry grudgematch), on the hunch that something weird was going to happen and it was going to involve Tatsuya Ohishi. I was right on both counts, but I'll be writing a separate post about that.

As a result, I'm at home tonight again, and I'm going to semi-liveblog much like yesterday, which is a lot less stressful than trying to write down every play of the game. As usual, you can come join the chatroom on japanesebaseball.com or comment here or whatever.

                     

Sakamoto ss                Kensuke 2b
Matsumoto cf               Hichori lf
Shaven Doppleganger 3b     Inaba rf
Rami-chan dh               Shinji 1b
Turtleface rf              Sledge dh
Tani lf                    Koyano 3b
Shinnosuke c               Itoi cf
Lee 1b                     Tsuruoka c
Furuki 2b                  Kaneko! ss

----------                 ----------
Utsumi (9-11, 2.95)        Darvish (15-5, 1.73)

Yes, Darvish is starting for the Fighters, so apparently all of that DOOM AND GLOOM we have been hearing is either the Fighters trying to deceive the media, or them just not wanting to get our hopes up, or... who knows.

All I have to say is, if he struggles out there, they BETTER pull him the minute it seems he's having trouble.

6:17 Game on. Sakamoto hits a pop fly out to lead off. Hooray.
6:18 Matsumoto grounds out to short.
6:20 OGASAWARA'S CLEAN-SHAVEN DOPPLEGANGER STRIKES OUT!!!!!

Well, that's a good start so far. Let's hope he can keep it up!

6:28 Inaba two-out single followed by a Shinji single to right, advancing Inaba to third... I'll take that!
6:31 But then Sledge strikes out and that's the first inning down. 0-0.

6:33-6:41 Rami leads off with a double to right, followed by a Kamei strikeout that takes bloody forever, and a Tani strikeout, and an Abe groundout. Darvish still looks good!

6:46 My once-per-game moment of "Thank GOD we converted Itoi from being a pitcher" just happened, of course (he singled to right-center). And Tsuruoka bunted him up. Now we're just hoping Kaneko can drive him in...
6:50 Nope, strikes out. So that's two innings down, still 0-0.

7:05 I was getting all ready to write "Nothing interesting happened in the third inning except SY Lee getting caught stealing second, ha ha" except then with two outs INABA LAUNCHED A HOMERUN INTO THE RIGHTFIELD STANDS right at two Giants-towel-wearing people, making it 1-0 Fighters!! and Shinji followed it up with a double and this is getting exciting!

Also after hearing the Fighters ouendan sing "Shiroi Ball Fantasy", which is the Pacific League renmeika (official league song), I am wondering, does the Central League have a renmeika too?

7:09 Sledge launches a single to left, scoring Shinji! That makes it 2-0 Fighters!!

7:11-16 Weird play there, Koyano hit a hard grounder up the middle and the throw didn't beat Sledge to second. Ha! So still with two outs, the Fighters are attacking... two on for Itoi... who BOOM! Double to right! Sledge and Koyano score! 4-0 Fighters! And Utsumi is being summarily escorted off the mound for being unable to get left-handed batters out. Shun Tohno enters the building. And strikes out Tsuruoka.

So that's 3 innings down now, Fighters have a 4-0 lead!

7:26 Um, Ramirez got a hit and Yoshiyuki Kamei hit a two-run homer to left field that bounced off the foul pole, so now it's 4-2 Fighters. Doh.

7:34 Kensuke walk, Hichori hit, Inaba pop out,
7:38 Shinji strikes out :( So still 4-2 Fighters, now through 4 innings.

7:44 Giants are pulling this two-out stuff too now, with Furuki and Sakamoto AND MATSUMOTO getting hits, three in a row... luckily Matsumoto's was to shallow center and Itoi was able to charge it but... DANGEROUS...
7:48 OGASAWARA STRIKES OUT! YAY! And leaves all 3 guys still on base.

Darvish's best pitch tonight, by the way, seems to be his curveball, which has actually been landing for strikes almost all of the time, and seems totally unhittable. 148km/h might be the fastest I've seen a pitch of his, too.

7:53 Fighters go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 5th, so it's still 4-2 Fighters, now through 5.

8:15 Still 4-2 through 6. Darvish is finished for the evening and Naoki Miyanishi replaced him. Also, I HATE "Toukon Komete", the Giants song.

8:35 Still 4-2, now through 7. Kiyoshi Toyoda pitched the bottom of the 7th, anyway, and Takayuki Kanamori comes out to pitch the top of the 8th...

8:50 Finally some CHANCE MUSIC! Genghis Khan theme for Kaneko, who comes up with one out in the bottom of the 8th. (Itoi singled -- he's 3-for-4 today -- and Tsuruoka bunted him up.) Unfortunately he grounds back to the mound. By the way, Kimura Shota is pitching the 8th apparently.
8:52 No he's not. Norihito Kaneto replaces him to pitch to the lefty Kensuke Tanaka.
8:54 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang chance music.
8:56 Fly out, inning over, still 4-2 after 8 innings. I think it's Hisashi Takeda time...

8:57 Why yes, it is Hisashi Takeda time.

9:06 ...and now it is two outs in the top of the 9th with Kamei on first. SO close. Come on...!

9:08 Shinnosuke Abe hits a pop fly! Out to right! Right to Inaba!

FIGHTERS WIN IT 4-2!!!!
Darvish gets the win and Hisashi gets the save, I believe.

Well, that at least guarantees all three games will happen at the Tokyo Dome! Hooray!

Nashida admits in the manager's interview, "Brian Sweeney was prepared to start today as well -- if Darvish hadn't been okay..."

Few TV shots for fun:


Hisashi time!


Final score, and ouendan.


Darvish interview!

For various reasons I'm home to watch the first game of the Japan Series. At least this year I *can* see it on BS1. I probably won't be home for any of the other games, though.

I'm liveblogging, but I'm not going to be translating every batter -- more like, as stuff happens that I want to call out, I'll note it here. To be honest, I'm still working on Draft photoposts as I watch the game. I've been discovering neat things about some of these guys as I work on it.

There's also a chatroom on japanesebaseball.com if you want to come in and chat about the game.

                     

Sakamoto ss                Kensuke 2b
Matsumoto cf               Hichori lf
Shaven Doppleganger 3b     Inaba rf
Rami-chan dh               Shinji 1b
Turtleface rf              Sledge dh
Tani lf                    Koyano 3b
Shinnosuke c               Itoi cf
Kimutaku 1b                Tsuruoka c
Furuki 2b                  Kaneko! ss

----------                 ----------
Gonzalez                   Masaru Takeda

6:16pm: Sakamoto strikes out to start the game. That makes me happy.

6:21pm: Hey, how many former Fighters can you spot in the Giants' lineup? (There are three.) Or more like, can you guess how many guys in their lineup were actually DRAFTED by the Giants? (There are three.) Whereas the Fighters lineup has exactly one guy in it that has played for any other teams in Japan -- everyone else came up through our system or in the case of Sledge was signed with us first.

Anyway, three up three down in the first for the Giants. Whee.

6:26pm: Three up three down for the Fighters in the first. Also, Shinnosuke Abe looks like freaking BATMAN with this weird orange thing on his chest protector. WTF.

6:31pm: uh, Yoshitomo Tani just hit a ball into the front row of the Fighters' cheering section in left field. So uh, 1-0 Giants. But everyone else went down peacefully in the top of the 2nd.

6:39pm: Terrmel Sledge shows Tani how a REAL MAN hits a home run and sends one about 10-15 rows back IN CENTER FIELD. YEAH! 1-1!

6:48pm: Two on! Two on! Two hits! And sadly Makoto Kaneko is rung up on a called third strike to leave Itoi and Tsuru-chan standing there. Two innings down.

6:54pm: Highlights from the 1981 Japan Series on BS1! Korakuen showdown! And the Fighters ouendan are singing "Shiroi Ball Fantasy", the Pacific League song, which is usually only for interleague. Cool!

7pm Inaba singles, Shinji hits one to short that even Wonderboy can't come up with, Sledge... grounds out. Oops. That's three innings...

7:05-9pm Soka-soka boy Koyano dives for a nice play on Matsumoto. Ogasawara's clean-shaven doppleganger singles, and it's really weird seeing him standing next to Shinji both wearing #2. Rami hits one out to the gap in left-center but Itoi is too good to let it fall. And Kamei grounds out to Kensuke!

7:24pm I don't like how the Giants have so many guys on base. But at least Shinji saved Masaru from totally bobbling a bunt there. Now if only he could strike out Wonderboy to end this threat.... CRAP, Wonderboy hits it to left. At least it's not a home run, it bounces against the wall just below the yellow line, but that's gonna be a double and score both of the dudes currently on base. 3-1 Giants.

7:38pm Hey, Kensuke and Hichori singled and now Inaba's up and there's an Inaba jump and only one out in the bottom of the 5th, I should pay attention! Except Inaba strikes out :( And Shinji grounds out. And that's 5 innings gone.

7:58pm Bottom 6th, two on, Itoi at bat, no outs, Genghis Khan chance theme!

7:59pm BUNT FAILS. Two on, Tsuboi pinch-hitting, one out, still chance theme.

8pm ...Gonzalez has left the building. Now introducing Yamaguchi...

8:04pm ...now introducing pinch-hitter Nioka instead...

8:08pm and Nioka singles to left, Koyano scores! 3-2 Giants still, but we're catching up!

8:11pm Chitty Chitty Bang Bang chance theme sees Kaneko strike out and Kensuke hit a fly ball out to center. Sigh.

8:15pm Great, Yoshinori Tateyama takes the mound for us. Fortunately the Giants already have the lead, so he can't possibly give it to them.
8:18pm And Hayashi is already out there. So both recent former Giants have appeared.

8:21 Shinnosuke on second, Tani on third, and Kimutaku batting, no out. I hates Giants, I do.

8:29 I went away for a minute or two and suddenly Ejiri is pitching and Seung-Yeop Lee is batting and singling in a run. Grr. 4-2 Giants.

8:31 Ejiri strikes out Wonderboy!

8:56 It's the bottom of the 8th and nothing's really changed. Though Daisuke Ochi is out there now, so maybe they will.

9:15 I'm so lazy. Now Marc Kroon is out there, for the top of the Fighters order...

9:17 Kensuke hits a weird grounder just over Kroon that takes a weird bounce that Wonderboy can't get either! Infield single.

9:21 Hichori grounds out to short (on like a 3-1 pitch), Kensuke to second. Mound conference for Kroon, eh?

9:23 Inaba, fly ball to right, Kensuke tags up to third, but...

9:25 SHINJI HITS A DOUBLE TO THE WALL! Kensuke scores, 4-3 Giants. Kita no Kuni Kara chance theme continues...

9:29 Sledge walks, on a pitch in the dirt, after a full count and some fouls. OMG SUSPENSE.

9:34 Koyano gets called out on a third strike. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT CALL?

Man, that sucks. I hope the Fighters win tomorrow, they really need to at least split the Sapporo games.

I'm mildly sick, which is why I am at home right now on Saturday afternoon instead of down at Jingu watching Hosei lose (argh). I had a fairly bad case of nausea over the night, and right now my stomach still hurts a ton when I move, so I'm trying to sit still and watch the game.

There's also a chatroom on japanesebaseball.com if you want to come in and chat about the playoff games, both Central and Pacific League.

                     

Takasu 2b                  Kensuke 2b
Naoto ss                   Hichori lf
Teppei cf                  Inaba rf
Takeshi SMASH dh           Shinji 1b
Seggy 1b                   Sledge dh
Nakashima lf               Koyano 3b
Miyade! rf                 Itoi cf
Kusano 3b                  Ohno c
Nakatani c                 Kaneko! ss

----------                 ----------
Fujiwara (5-4, 4.04)       Fujii (7-5, 3.53)

Almost exactly the same lineups except Miyade in place of Linden and Ohno in place of Tsuruoka.

Still waiting for the BS1 broadcast to start. I have to admit -- I might kind of screw things up today a bit just because I'm feeling kind of crappy. I'm half doing the liveblog in order to make myself pay closer attention to what is going on.

Top of the first (F 0, E 0)
Takasu fly out to second, Watanabe lineout to third. NOW we get signal... just in time to see Teppei out on a called third strike.

Bottom of the first (F 1, E 0)
Kensuke grounds out to second. Hichori gets an infield single to short (seems Seggy dropped the ball at 1st base). Inaba singles to right-center, Hichori moving to second. Shinji walks, bases loaded! Sledge hits a fly ball out to center for a sac fly as Hichori scores and Inaba goes to third. 1-0! Two out for Koyano, who lines out to second.

Top of the second (F 1, E 0)
Yamasaki hits one out to center.... caught by Itoi. Seguignol hits a hard grounder that glances off Fujii's left arm before going just right of up the middle, and Kensuke Tanaka dives for it and makes the throw to second in time. (Coaches check Fujii - guess he's okay.) Nakashima grounds back to the mound to end the inning.

Bottom of the second (F 4, E 0)
Itoi hits a single to left that falls in front of a running Nakashima. Ohno bunts, successfully, to the mound, moving Itoi up, one out. Kaneko hits a pop up that Takasu catches just in fair territory by third base. Kensuke hits a huge fly ball that arcs out to center and almost looks like a home run but bounces off the wall -- he makes it to third for a triple! Itoi scores. 2-0. Hichori OMG HICHORI HITS A HOME RUN TO LEFT-CENTER, RIGHT OVER THE WALL INTO THE FIRST FEW ROWS OF THE "HICHORI SEATS"! Kensuke scores too, so that's 4-0. Inaba grounds out to first, Seggy throwing it to a covering Fujiwara.

Top of the third (F 4, E 0)
Miyade! strikes out swinging. Kusano grounds back to the mound and Nakatani grounds out to short and that's a quick inning.

Bottom of the third (F 4, E 0)
Koji Aoyama in to pitch for Rakuten.

Shinji singles to left past two diving outfielders. Sledge also singles to left, advancing Shinji to second. Koyano fails to bunt and hits a popup pretty much straight up, caught by Nakatani, one out. Itoi walks, and that is bases loaded!! ...for Ohno, who strikes out (Shota, sweetie, you need to stop swinging at those totally low and outside pitches). Kaneko grounds to third for the force at second. So much for bases loaded with one out :(

Top of the fourth (F 4, E 3)
Takasu singles to left (first hit for Rakuten... huh). Watanabe grounds into a fielder's choice, 5-4. Teppei hits a pop fly out to center. Yamasaki singles to center too, Watanabe going to second. Seguignol singles to right past a lunging Kensuke, and Naoto Watanabe scores, Yamasaki going to second. 4-1. Then Nakashima walks, so the bases are loaded for His Tallness, Miyade, who singles to center. Yamasaki scores. Seguignol comes home but the ball is a little off-course for Ohno to make a play on it, so Seguignol also scores. 4-3. Kusano hits a pop fly to short to end the inning.

Bottom of the fourth (F 4, E 3)
Kensuke grounds out to second. Hichori singles to center. Inaba... well, Inaba gets to a full count, but at 2-2, Aoyama succeeds in picking Hichori off first base. Oops. Two out. Inaba grounds out and that's all for the inning.

Top of the fifth (F 4, E 3)
Nakatani singles to right. Takasu bunts up Nakatani. Rakuten chance music starts for Naoto Watanabe, who hits a pop fly up to Itoi in center, nobody goes anywhere. Teppei hits a pop fly... foul! Caught by Shinji! Yay.

I have to tell you that I am losing concentration for this game, but I'm going to try to make it through, hopefully to see the Fighters clinch. My brain keeps telling me, "You really want to go lie down and be more comfortable than sitting at your computer..."

And to make things worse, Hosei lost 5-1, and Kagami has the flu, so I won't see him pitch again at all this year (well, I suppose he might be in one of these other college games, maaaaybe, but unlikely).

Bottom of the fifth (F 4, E 3)
Shinji grounds out. Sledge walks. Koyano hits a fly out to Teppei. Itoi hits a fly ball caught by third base. Three down.

YMCA time.

Top of the sixth (F 4, E 3)
Shintaro Ejiri takes over on the mound for Fujii. I feel indebted to point out that they are also both Waseda graduates, since my brain is still lamenting missing Big 6 today.

Yamasaki hits a pop fly up, caught by Kaneko. Seguignol lofts one to left field, caught by Hichori. Linden pinch-hits for Nakashima and hits one to the left-field wall that Hichori has to step back on to get the rebound from the wall, for a double. Miyade is pinch-hit for by Masato Nakamura, and we get a pitching change, Ejiri to Hayashi.

Nakamura grounds out to short to end the inning.

Bottom of the sixth (F 4, E 3)
Aoyama still on the mound. Linden to left and Nakamura to right.

Ohno is BEING PINCH-HIT FOR BY SHO NAKATA who goes down on three pitches, two swinging and one looking. Doh. Kaneko fakes everyone out with a shot to left but it's caught in front of the wall. Kensuke walks. Hichori hits a pop fly to right and that's the inning.

Top of the seventh (F 4, E 3)
Hayashi still on the mound. Tsuruoka enters as catcher.

Kusano strikes out swinging.

Okay, Hayashi is out, Kanamori is in.

Kenshi pinch-hits for Nakatani and grounds out to second. Takasu grounds out too. Yay.

Bottom of the seventh (F 6, E 3)
Motohiro Shima in as catcher.

Inaba grounds out to short. Shinji singles to right. Sledge... well, first Shinji advances to second on a pitch that gets away from Shima. Anyway, Sledge singles to right, and Shinji scores! 5-3!!. Koyano singles up the middle, Sledge to second. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang chance music for Itoi...

...and Koji Aoyama is off the mound in place of Shinichiro Koyama. Seriously not a bad outing by Aoyama, who apparently is from Hakodate anyway.

Anyway, Itoi grounds to short and Koyano is out on the force at second, but Sledge goes to third, so two outs and runners at the corners. Tsuruoka grounds up the left-field line... to third... it stays fair and there is no throw, so Sledge scores. 6-3! Tsuru safe at first and Itoi goes to second. Kaneko grounds into a fielder's choice, 6-4, force on Tsuruoka, to end the inning. But that was a PRETTY BIG INNING!

Also, in the meantime, Tokyo University, who was in a 1-0 game for 9 innings, tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th and goes into extra innings against Rikkio! I'd love to see Todai actually win a game this year, but it doesn't seem likely. And Rikkio's Tomura is on the draft hopefuls list. But still.

Top of the eighth (F 6, E 4)
Watanabe singles to right. Teppei hits a pop fly out to center. Yamasaki walks, and here's a mound conference. Seguignol singles to right, scoring Watanabe, moving Takeshi to second. 6-4. Linden strikes out! Nakamura strikes out too! Hooray. Kanamori gets out alive.

Bottom of the eighth (F 9, E 4)
Kensuke hits a fly ball out to left. Hichori singles to right. Inaba...

...has to wait a minute, pitching change to Kanehisa Arime.

Anyway, Inaba walks. So that's two on, one out.

And here's another pitching change! Arime changes to Kawagishi.

Shinji grounds out to short. Two outs. But Hichorinaba advance to 2nd and 3rd. Also, Jingisukan chance music. Sledge...

..will also have to wait for a pitching change as we have just switched from Kawagishi to HISASHI IWAKUMA. Yes, Kuma has entered the building! We can also see Darvish hanging out in the Fighters dugout. Oh, and Shima changes to Fujii at catcher, too.

Anyway, Sledge

SLEDGE HITS A 3-RUN HOMERUN WAY THE HECK ALL THE WAY OUT TO THE RAKUTEN CHEERING SECTION. OH MY.

Okay, so Sledge, Hichori, and Inaba all score -- we now have a 9-4 ball game.

I'll admit it, I didn't even see how Koyano got out to end the inning after that. That was cool.

Top of the ninth (F 9, E 4)
Hisashi Takeda has entered the building. Also Naoto Inada takes over at first base.

Kusano singles to right, Fujii hits a pop fly out, and Takasu grounds to second... oh. Kusano is tagged out on his way past by Kensuke, so two outs, but Takasu is safe at first.

And a whole bunch of fans thought it was a double play and threw streamers onto the field, so now they have to take a minute to clean those up before play can continue. Heh.

Anyway, Naoto Watanabe is up... and he grounds out to short and that is ACTUALLY the game, and the Fighters are GOING TO THE JAPAN SERIES AGAIN.

Hichori is game hero and Sledge is CS MVP. Wow!

TV shots and silly camera tricks:


Hichorivision homerun highfive.


Sho Nakata split.










Now if only there was ANY chance in hell that I could actually get a ticket to a Japan Series game :( Seriously, if there is anyone out there who can help me out...