1 post tagged “japanese pro baseball”

Yokohama Baystars vs Yomuri Giants 4/8/2008

Last night Ohya blew the game late.  We'll see how they do today.

1st Inning:

Missed the Giants up.

 Bottom of the 1st:

Ishii Takuro flied out to right field.  2 outs.  Missed Toshisa's out.

Kinjoh.
He's been hitting .324 so far this year, doing better than last season.  He does a pretty good job of sitting through pitch counts and running up the count.  Ground out on a hopper.

2nd Inning.

Top of the 2nd:
There's aways a threat that the Giants can go off and score a ton of runs with the likes of Ramirez, Abe and Lee in the lineup.  Abe and Lee killed the Baystars last season (not to say that the rest of the Giants did not give the Baystars pitchers a miserable time last summer).  Yesterday, Abe and Lee did not cause too much damage, but Lee managed to get on base. 

Abe flied out to left field.

Sakamoto is up to bat.  Last night he has that big home run that put the Giants up 3-1.  Sakamoto flied out to center, dependable Kinjoh with the out. 

Kimura up.  He had a dent game last night, but he looks like the typical grizzled old Japanese cat you see in the Samurai dramas on TBS.  Grounded out.

Bottom of the 2nd:
Murata Shuichii is up.  The reigning Central Leauge home run champion.  He has not knockd many balls out of the park recently.  He has been sitting on the first pitch each time, but he's much more patient at the plate than he was two summers ago.  A infield blooper that was mishandled by Sakamoto.  Single for Murata. 

Saeki-san.  He played left field last year and now they've moved him to 1st base to probably save his legs--he's an effective hitter and I dont kow why Ohya is now trying to small ball with a guy who is pretty dependable at the plate.  Now they're letting him hit, a ball on the far, far, far outside of the plate and a strike.  Barely in the strike zone.  Good thing there isn't a Vlad in NPB who can crush those types of pitches.  Strikeout.

Yoshimura Yuki.  Last night he has a huge home run and had a big hit late that was squandered by Ohya.  Bad swing on his first strike and was caught looking on a sinker on the outside of the plate.  So far Yuki -san is tied for first in the CL for homers...4.  A nice single in the gap.  He has a really nice swing.  Very fluid.

JJ Bigbie.  Yep, from Hobart IN.  Two strikes way on the inside of the plate.  Utsumi is trying to get him to bite on the outside and he's probably going to bring it inside of do a changeup.  Changeup.  Bigbie struck out.  Makes me sick that a guy who shows up on the Mitchell report has old Ta

Aikawa Roji.  Hit into the infield and snapped up by Sakamoto for the force out at 2nd. 

0-0 after two.  Last night BS1 had problems with running commercials during at bats for both the Baystars and Giants.  Missed Aikawa's solo jack in the 5th yesterday.

3rd Inning:

Top of the 3rd:
The Giants starting picher, Tsumi struck out.

Takahashi up to bat.  Second stirke on the outside of the plate, just looking.  Nasumo is doing pretty well so far.  He's working the outside of the plate now.  He's probably going to come up with a change-up.  Looked off speed, Takahashi did not get a whole lot of contact and he's out.

Two outs.  Nasumo is doing a good job of keeping the hits on the ground.  35.  foul tip and its 1 and 2.  2 outs.;  Nasumo is starting to work the inside of the plate and his next pitch was to the outside and he gave him one down the center of the plate and he flied out to left field.

Bottom of the 3rd:
Nasumo up to bat.  For those not familiar with NPB, the CL is much like the NL in MLB, where there is no designated hitter while the PL (Pacific League) is more like the AL in MLB in that they have the designated hitter.  Nasumo watched himself strike out. 

Uchigawa.  His fielding was a bit suspect as the season went on last year, pretty disappointing when he lost a game against the Swallows late in the season.  He took the second pitch deep into left for a double; the pitch was right down the plate and he got good contact.

Ishii Takuro.  The face of the Baystars...until the emergence of Murata Shuichi and Yoshimura Yuki last season.  He took the third pitch way inside for a strike.  The next pitch was in the dirt, Uchigawa steals third.  Abe didn't get that ball down.  2-2 with a runner on third.  Ishii flied out to shallow left. 

Kinjoh's up with two down and a runner on third.  First pitch high and to the outside.  1-0.  Down the pipe for a strike.  1-1.  Low and outside for ball 2.  Inside for strike two.  Outside for ball 3, though it looked like a strike.  I'm not going to complain.  Utsumi walked Kinjoh with a ptich way to the outside.

Now he's in some trouble with Murata with 2 on.  These are the moments when Murata comes up huge.  We'll see.  Inside for ball one.  He cant walk Murata because Saeki is after him...its pick your poision.  Outside for ball two.  Abe's giving Utsumi a talk--Murata needs to be patient, he's ahead in the count and can work the pitches now.  He's going to try...and down the center for a strike with Murata watching.  Outside and high for ball 3.  Big pitch for Utsumi now coming up.  And Murata singled into the third out.

The Baystars need to score runs since they are anemic on offense at best.

4th Inning.

Top of the 4th:
Osagawa is up.  Last night he was neutralized, but last season he gouged the Baystars for several big hits. 

Lee.  Swung at a high pitch for one strike.  High and to the inside for ball two.  Waited on an outside ptich for ball three and swung away on a ball edging to the outside.  Full Count.  Blooper for the third out.  Again, BS1 managed to miss the first two batters for the Giants.  For a nation that is as baseball crazy as the Japanese, television except for the sports channels do not seem to understand the flow of games. 

Bottom of the 4th.
Saeki up to bat; he's one of the more dependable hitter for the Baystars, probably the reason why he and not Suzuki is a every-day player.  Saeki was hitting about .432 late in the season.  And we missed Saeki's at bat...but he's out number one.  BS1 sucks at baseball telecasts.

Yoshimura is sitting on a 2-2 count.  Fouled the next pitch outside the third base line.  Took a ball low and to the outside, sitting on a full count.  Fouled the ball off his left foot, looks like it hurt even with the shin guard.  Walked with a pitch low and to the outside. 

Jay Jay fouled to the first line bleachers, 0-1.  Flied out to left field. 

Aikawa.  Dependable catcher, though he wasnt able to gun down a guy stealing second yesterday, he was able to gun down Suzuki pinch running for Lee late in the game at third.  1-1.  Outside for strike two.  Struck out on  a checked swing.

5th Inning.

Top of the 5th:
I really love the Japanese version of the Table-Mate II commerical...so many lazy Americans.  Only 5900 Yen.  Whoo whoo.  I bet the Giants probably bought a ton to eat thier bento while watching game tape of the Baystars.  Then there';s the old Japanese rocker who looks like a bad extra in a 1980s hair band video. 

Abe sitting on a 3-1 count.  And walked on a pitch high and to the inside.

Sakamoto.  High for ball one.  He's such a tall and lanky player and he's probably able to get those pitches to the outside that most guys would not try.  Fouled for strike one.  1-1, one on.  Flied out to right field, Yoshimura on point. 

Kimura.  Down the gut for strike one.  Low and inside for ball one.  Hopefully Nasumo can keep the ball on the ground to get the double play...  High for ball 2.  65 pitches in 4 and 1/3 innings.  Not bad so far.  Flied out to right field.  Yoshimura getting a good amount of work this inning.

Utsumi up to bat.  Nasumo working the outside for strike one.  Utsumi getting contact but Murata was able to relay to second for force the third out.

Bottom of the 5th:
Missed Nasumo's out.  Uchigawa managed to drop a hit in center field for a single.

Ishii Takuro, 0-2 for tonight.  Ohya is working the small ball having Takuro bunt.  1-0.  Fouled down the third base line.  1-1, one down and Uchigawa on first.  2-1.  (Chiba is rocking the Seibu Lions 8-0)  and Takuro with a nice hit into right field for a single, Uchigawa to second. 

Kinjoh.....Tatsuko!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( I can hear Katoh-san right now)  Low and inside for ball one.  Upstairs for strike one, 1-1.  Fouled off the top of his bat into the press box behind the plate for strike two, 1-2.  Fouled into the first base line bleachers.  1-2.  Fouled off the top of his bat into the third base line bleachers.  1-2.  The last three pitches were to the outside.  2-2.  Murata on deck.  Flied out.  Two down.

Murata Shuichi; already doing so so tonight, getting contact, but with not real effect in the game.  Watched the ball go by for strike one.  0-1.  Chest high and outside for strike two.  Looks like he's geting out...you can see it in his eyes.  Fouled to the first line bleachers.  0-2.  Struck out on a low pitch.  Bad swing.  He's reaching for the hits now.  He just lets that first pitch go by without taking swing. 

6th Inning.

Top of the 6th:
Here's that crazy rock band guy with the permed hair and lime green suit.  My eyes are really hurting.

Seeing the replays of Murata's strike out jsut show he really, really, really should not have swung...he really reached on that last pitch.  Big time.

Takahashi up to bat.  Top of the 6th.  Nasumo upstairs for strike one with Takahashi swinging away.  He must have a man changeup to get him.  Takahashi popped out to Aikawa. 

Base hit for the Giants.  Yay.  Jay Jay missed that grounder barely. 

Ogasawara up.  Ball one to the outside.  Ramirez on deck.  Swung away upstairs for strike one.  1-1.  Fouled to third base bleachers, 1-2.  Struck out on a high pitch swinging away. 

Ramirez up...a dangerous hitter.  Played for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows last season, where he played for the past four seasons.  He's been a fixture in NPB for some time.  Fouled for strike one.  0-1.  Need to stay ahead of the count with Ramirez.  Outside and high for ball 1.  1-1.  And Ramirez took it deep to left for a 2 run jack.  Yep, the Baystars really needed to score runs earlier when they had men in scoring position.  Doesn't help Murata is in a bit of slump right now and they can't get past second base.

2-0 Giants.

Only down two runs which isn't a lot since the Baystars are capable of scoring runs in bunches. 

Lee swung on a pitch to the outside for strike one.  And Lee flied out to center. 

Bottom of the 6th:
Man on the replay, Nasumo just threw a nice meatball to him down the plate.  Ugh.  Bad pitch for a contact hitter like Ramirez.

Saeki took the first pitch for a strike.  Second in the dirt for ball one.  1-1.  Low and outside for strike two. 1-2.  And hit right to the 1st baseman.  First out.

Yoshimura up to bat; at this point the Baystars need to get some contact and get on base.  Yuki-san took the first one inside for strike one.  Upstairs for ball one.  1-1.  Swung upstairs for strike two.  1-2.  They cant get contact on the ball at all and Yoshimura took it inside (not over the plate by the way) for strike three.

Nothing.  Nothing at all for the Baystars.  They cant get a hit let alone put men in scoring position.  Jay Jay up to bat.  Pretty sure we'll be rolling into the 7th inning down 0-2.  And he struck out on a pitch down the pipe. 

7th Inning.

Top of the 7th:
Why do I torture myself watching the Baystars.  My first summer they were a comedic 35 game out of first place.  Last year they would get to second or third and then would completely collapse; as they did before the interleague series, but were able to rebound feasting on PL teams while the rest of the CL leaders struggled big time with the PL teams.  Then they fell apart in the heat of August, when their offense completely vanished. 

New pitcher in.  1-1 for Abe.  Abe fouled down the first base line for strike two, 1-2.  Outside for ball two.  2-2.  Kuwahara  is doing...okay.  Abe popped out to Murata...spoke too soon...he bumbled that one away.  its Baystars baseball again.  Making bad mistakes.  Lazy fielding.  Now his hitting is going to continue to struggle.

Sakamoto bunting, the Giants looking to small ball with no outs.  Strike.  1-1.  Sakamoto swung, but Aikawa could not gun down get Abe at second--Takuro could not handle the ball.  Bad fielding is killing us...again.  Terrible defense.  And Sakamoto was able to advance Abe to third.  Its not Kuwahara's fault that Takuro could not handle the ball.  Now Nishi is out there...or was it Nishi that missed that throw?  Not sure.  Looks liek the Giants will be up 3-0 soon.

Kimura up.  Fouled for strike one.  Last night Kuwahara worked a good inning.  And Abe scored on a Kimura single that Kuwahara cold not field.  No one was behind him to get it.  Great job.  Terrible defense by the Baystars.  This is why they are 2-7-1.  Why the Giants are 2-7-1 is strange.  Pinch running for Kimura.

Small balling again with Utsumi to move up Wakita the pinch runner, not a bad idea since he is the pitcher.  Nishi lost the ball on a easy play.  Are you fucking serious?!  Wow.  Bad throw though.  Really bad throw though since Nishi is short.  What happened to Saeki?  What the fuck are they doing out there?  Of course Ohya is going to blame this on his pitchers when his guys cant field at all.  All the good will from last year's improved season is all for nothing. 

Takahashi.  Strike one swinging away at a ball down the plate.  Outside for ball one.  This is pathetic.  I'm glad I didnt waste my money going to this game.  Strike two on a check swing.  1-2.  Fouled down the first base line.  1-2.  Takahashi brough in a run, 4-0 Giants. 

This game is over.  I'm pretty confident that the Baystars wont find any offense in the next three innings at bat...and this is if they dont give up more runs either. 

2-0.  Kuwahara is falling in love with the outside of the plate though the Giant player is all over the plate right now.  Ridiculous.  Ridiculous.  He should have given him some chin music to get him off the plate.  3-1.    Yuki-san with the only decent fielding in this inning.

Bottom of the 7th:
Why watch the rest of the game?  Well, other than being a hopeless fan of this band of losers, there's always a faint glimmer of hope for the Baystars, they've had huge innings before and all they need is to score a run or two to keep it close and knock some confidence in the Baystars hitters, which looks like Utsumi has done a good job of befuddling the Baystars hitters. 

Utsumi is still out there doig a helluva job with controlling the Yokohama lineup.  Aikawa is out and here we are with Nishi, an anemic hitter at best.  Why they kept this guy, I dont know other than to continue to legitimize or highlight the stupidity of trading Tamura the offseason before last season.  Two outs and the Baystars cant hit the ball.

I doubt Uchigawa will do any better.  Strike down the middle.  2-1.  And Uchigawa flied out to center.

8th Inning. 
What the hell?  Does the Yokohama organization even have talent scouts?  Do they even scout the other team?  Utsumi has that "I own these guys" look on his face as he's pitching.  The Baystars have not even threatened him at all in this game.  Not at all.  No one has made it past second and thy have not pushed Utsumi all that much at the plate.  There is so much talent in the world that could play at this level in Japan but they bring a bunch of non-MLB talent white guys over here who cant get the job done.  No one can field the ball at all, including Takuro and even Nishi i cant field.  They'll be 2-8-1 after tonight and they might as well get rid of the old guys who are jsut dragging down the team and let the younger players play.

Sato is pitching.  Took Ogasawara high for strike one.  Outside for ball one.  Ogasawara flied out to left field, Uchigawa didn't drop the ball this time.  He's probably better suited for playing in left field too since he's a righty. 

Ramirez up.  Upstairs for strike one.  He's 2-3 tonight.  Fouled off the tip of his bat for strike two.  0-2.  Murata fielded his gounder for the second out.

Lee up.  Lee's struggling this year hitting .167 so far.  1-0.  Fouled for strike one.  1-1.  Satoh is pitching pretty well so far.  Outside for ball two.  2-1. Fouled for strike two.  2-2.  Struck him out looking.

Bottom of the 8th:
The Baystars need to get some offense going in the 8th, because I'm pretty sure the Giants are going to bring out Marc Kroon and he's pretty unhittable early in the season and does pretty well with a lead especially if the other team isnt hitting too well (but, he also has a tendancy to get rocked if he does not quickly get through the inning...since he only has a blazing fast ball and not much else...that's why he's in Japan).

Takuro singled into an out.

Kinjoh is on a 3-0 count.  The Baystars need to get guys on base.  A pitch way on the inside that was a strike.  Wow.  Bullshit.  Solo jack by Kinjoh.  We could have used that earlier in the game.  Yomuri would be smart to bring in a reliever now that Utsumi has put in 7 1/3 innings. 

Murata.  Fouled deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep into the stands.  He's looking and got strike two.  0-2.  All of his bats have been with him behind the count.  Rough night for him.  Low and to the outside for ball one.  1-2.  Wow.  Inside pitch, way, way, way inside for strike three.  An Oh-fer night for Murata.

Saeki.  Strike one looking.  Fouled deep in left, 0-2.  Flied out to end the inning. 

There is no offense.  This is terrible.  Terrible. 

Japanese television does air the highlights from MLB, but focusing only on the Japanese players--on the only four important players, Ichiro, Matsuzaka, Matsui and Iwamura. 

9th Inning.

Top of the 9th:
New pitcher, Kobayashi.  Took Abe for strike one.  Outside for ball one.  1-1.  Inside and Abe flies out to Saeki for the first out. 

Sakamoto up to bat.  Having a...so-so night.  Inside for strike one.  0-1.  Sinker with a lot of movement for strike two.  0-2.  Waaaay on the outside for ball one.  Sakamoto hit into some amazingly competent fielding for the second out.  Amazing they were able to do that. 

Kobayashi is keeping the balls o nthe ground.  Low for ball one.  Wakiya swung on a low pitch for strike one.  1-1.  Outside for ball two.  2-1.  Fouled off the tip of his bat for strike two.  2-2.  On the outside corner for ball three.  Wakiya swung away on a low pitch for strike three.

Bottom of the 9th:
Kroon looking to slam the door on the Baystars., his team for the past four seasons before the Giants signed him to big money.  The fans are giving Kroon the thumbs down, but I guess they forget the saves he's blown during the past four years as well; but you can say signing with the Giants is akin to a Red Sox player signing with the Yankees. 

Key is the get in a deep count with Kroon when he cant overpower you with his 161kph fastball. 

Took Yoshimura upstairs for strike one.  Low slider for ball one.  Keep him throwing and you can get him frustrated if he cant get the quick out.  Yuki fouled for strike two.  1-2.  Yuki swung on a HIGH ball...

Taknori Suzuki is up.  This game is over.  They are not forcing Kroon to pitch.  He cant maintain a 161 kph fastball forever.  Suzuki legged the hell out of that single.  Hustle baby, hustle. 

Ozeki is up.  Hopefully he can get Kroon in a deeper pitch count.  Keep Kroon pitching and wear him down and force him to move away from his fastball...which is his only effective pitch at times.  Fouled for strike two.  0-2.  In the dirt for ball one.  1-2.  Keep him pitching and he'll give you a nice good hittable ball.  And Ozeki got a good hit...error on Yomuri.  Two on. 

Kroon has lost games before and blown leads before, so no better time than now.

Toshisa....uh oh.  And he hit into the double play.  Yep.  Figures.  The weakest hitter on the team. 

There are some positives that came out of this game:
1.  Nasumo with the exception of the two run homer that Ramirez nailed pitched a rather good game.  If Murata did not finger fuck that pop up, there is a good chance they would have faced a 0-2 deficit.
2.  The Baystars bullpen is pretty capable of pitching well.  With the exception of terrible fielding on the part of the position players, they look like they can carry the team.  The bad defense will end up taxing the bullpen later in the season.

Lots of bad though:
1.  There is again, no offense for the Baystars.  It's very disturbing that they cannot get hits when they really need them and can't advance runners.  Putting Murata up with 2 outs for him to come out with a run is asking a lot.  He really struggled in the past two games. 
2.  They cannot field.  This is really, really, really disturbing.  Offense comes and goes in cycles, but if you have good defense you can grind out wins here and there, but if you have no defense at all, there's no chance for your team and right now the Baystars are mediocre on defense. 

If they cannot remedy at least the defense issue, the offense will come, Murata is too good to fall off completely when he has Kinjoh, Saeki and Yoshimura in the same lineup, but if they cannot make the routine plays on defense, they are going to get slaughtered this season no matter how strong the bullpen looked in the past two games.  Eventually with the way Ohya uses his bullpen, he'll wear them out and they'll end up being ineffective. 

They're now 2-8-1 and I don't see anything getting better for the Baystars anytime soon.

Depressing when I had a lot of home for the team.

Why the hell are they having interviews with the Giants players after the game at the stadium that's played over the stadium's PA system; they don't do that for any other NPB team...again, another reason why I hate the Yomuri Giants--while people in the States can hate the Yankees, the Giants have a history of having the rules bent for them so they can win, they always have an unfair advantage.  You have to obliterate them completely (aka Sahdaru Oh, the former Giants great used to get four strikes at the plate....) in order to win.  But that's okay, Hanshin may end up beating them for the CL title to play in the Japan Series...which would be hilarious (that's if the Giants get to the Climax Series before the Japan Series). 

Looks like another long summer.