Series Roundup: Eagles at Marines
What had the chance to be a sweep quickly crumbled to a two games to one series loss, which this team simply cannot afford at this point in the season.
Game one saw Mr. Hyde make an appearance. Rasner pitched his best game of the season, throwing one-hit ball over seven innings en route to a 4-0 victory.
The middle frame of the series saw Kohei Hasebe take the mound. With the Eagles protecting a slim 2-1 lead, the lefty uncorked a wild pitch that scored not one, but two Lotte runners. Rakuten never recovered from that blunder, dropping the game 3-2.
Rakuten looked to salvage a series victory on Sunday, and with Masahiro Tanaka taking the mound optimism was high. The Eagles managed yet again to turn victory into defeat, this time courtesy of the defense. Up 3-0 in the third inning, SS Kensuke Uchimura bobbled an easy grounder to put the leadoff batter aboard. Lotte promptly cashed in when the next batter, Yoshifumi Okada, cracked a double to right center field. The next inning Lotte would tie up the game, again due to a Rakuten error. With runners on first and second base, Kiyota hit a shot to right center, scoring Kim Tae-Kyun. RF Teppei had a chance to throw out Kiyota at second but Uchimura couldn't field the ball cleanly, causing it to skip beyond third base, allowing Ohmatsu to score as well, tying the game at three. The scorer gave Teppei the error, however I think it should've went to Uchimura. Nevertheless the game would remain deadlocked at three until the bottom of the 12th inning, where Imae smashed a 3-run Sayonara Home Run to end the game in spectacular fashion. Marines 6, Eagles 3.
As I said at the top, Rakuten had the chance to sweep this series yet they came away winning only one. This team just cannot afford to literally throw away opportunities like this. Call it bad luck, call it what you will, but it's getting to be pretty infuriating to watch this team play. It's all there on paper: solid pitching, speed, hitting, power... yet it's very rare that any of these attributes are in sync with each other. It's going to be a long October finishing out the schedule I'm afraid...
Gaijin lines and videos inside.
Series Roundup: Eagles vs Lions
Coming off of a dominant performance by Masahiro Tanaka on the 8th, Rakuten looked to build some momentum heading into the week against the Seibu Lions. Marty Brown's team left Sendai disappointed however, dropping the opening and closing game of the series, with a rainout sandwiched in between.
Hisashi Iwakuma (7-7, 2.85) has been struggling recently, surrendering three or more earned runs in his last three starts. This trend continued on Tuesday, bowing out after giving up four runs in just four innings. The Lions offense ran roughshod over the Eagles, winning 9-3. There was some concern that he would miss his next start, but soon afterwards manager Brown reported that he had no plans for 'Kuma to skip his next assigned start.
Thursday's match featured Satoshi Nagai (7-8, 3.45) in a pitcher's duel with Masamitsu Hirano, at least for the first five innings. Takeshi Yamasaki hit his 21st homer of the year, a 2-run shot, to put Rakuten in front 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, but the boys from Saitama came back with their own 2-run home run, courtesy of Tatsuyuki Uemoto. The Lions won 4-3. Like many games this year there's been a home run that swings the game in the opponent's favour, and the Eagles have rarely been able to respond accordingly.
Video highlights and the gaijin lines inside.
Series Roundup: Eagles at Fighters
Optimism was high heading into this series in Sapporo after sweeping the Marines earlier in the week. The mood quickly changed however as the home team outscored Rakuten 18 to 7 in the first two games of this set, both Eagles losses.
The first game featured the team's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, also known as Darrell Rasner. Relatively speaking this was a 'good' start by Rasner, who allowed three runs over five innings. Things quickly fell apart after he exited the game though as a five run 7th inning quickly ended the Eagles chances. Rakuten would drop the opener 10-4.
Game two was very similar to the first. With the game tied at one, the Fighters exploded in the sixth, dropping seven runs on starter Takashi Kawai and the Eagles bullpen. By the time the dust settled, Nippon Ham had 18 hits en route to an 8-3 victory.
On Sunday the team managed to rally around their young ace Masahiro Tanaka, not that he needed much help. The fans in Sapporo witnessed some classic Ma-kun (if you can call anything from a 22 year old classic), as he went the distance, striking out 11 and surrendering a single solo homer.
Video highlights and the gaijin lines inside, as always.
Series Roundup: Eagles vs Marines
As this August heatwave continues to punish northern Japan, it would appear that the Eagles too have started to warm up. In the sweep of the Lotte Marines the Eagles began to resemble their 2009 form - aggressive running, solid pitching, timely hits, and home runs. Let's see if this was just a blip on an unimpressive 2010 season, or the start of a push up the standings.
Hisashi Iwakuma (7-6, 2.69) didn't have his best stuff on Tuesday, but it was just enough to keep the Marines at bay. Norihiro Nakamura hit a three run blast, and the Eagles held on to take the opener 5-3.
Lefty Kohei Hasebe (3-2, 5.85) went seven innings but left the game trailing 3-2. Koji Aoyama came on in relief, and Rakuten got some heroics from Teppei Tsuchiya and Takeshi Yamasaki to complete the come from behind victory. Shinichiro Koyama picked up his ninth save of the season.
Satoshi Nagai (7-7, 3.43) had a chance to complete the sweep on Thursday night, the eve of the Tanabata Festival, and didn't disappoint, going the distance as the Eagles beat the Marines 9-3. Rarely used catcher Suguru Ino and Daisuke Kusano both collected three hits and a pair of RBI, powering Rakuten to their first series sweep since July 8th, also against the Marines.
Video highlights, and the foreign players series stats, and some other breakdowns after the break.
Series Roundup: Eagles vs Buffaloes
The Eagles dropped two of three at home last week. In the series opener, the bullpen couldn't stop a threat in the sixth inning, giving up four runs just after they'd scored four themselves, losing 6-4. Former closer Tsuyoshi Kawagishi (2-5, 5.70) took the loss.
Takashi Kawai (1-2, 4.10) started the second game but couldn't keep the ball in the park as three Buffaloes home runs put the visitors up by five runs early. T. Okada blasted a pair, his 23rd and 24th of the season. Rakuten tried to make a game of it late, but ultimately fell 8-5.
Sunday's game marked the return of Masahiro "Ma-kun" Tanaka (9-6, 2.83), one of the league's best pitchers, and he didn't disappoint, striking out six in a 94 pitch, six inning performance. The bullpen was able to hold onto the lead this time, as Koji Aoyama and Shinichiro Koyama prevented Orix from the series sweep. Koyama picked up his seventh save of the year, and Randy Ruiz hit his seventh home run, a solo shot.
Video highlights, and the foreign players series stats after the break.
Eagles vs Fighters Postgame: Close But No Cigar
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - The Nippon Ham Fighters broke out with an early five run lead, then held on to stave off a late rally by the Eagles, winning 5-4 last night. Hisashi Iwakuma (6-5) took the loss. Video highlights inside.
Eagles vs Hawks Postgame: Shutout
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - The Rakuten Eagles got shut out for the tenth time this season, falling 4-0 to the Softbank Hawks. The home team could only muster five hits off of Fukuoka's pitching, striking out 11 times in the process. Video after the break.
Eagles vs Hawks Postgame: Night of the Living Rasners
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - Darrell Rasner (3-7) went seven strong innings for the third straight time last night, picking up his second consecutive win. He's somehow managed not to lose a game since May 24th. Marty Brown, I don't what you've done with Razzy, but keep it up! Video highlights inside.
Eagles @ Lions Postgame: Runned & Gunned
SEIBU DOME, SAITAMA - The Eagles got involved in a shootout this afternoon; unfortunately they weren't able to get the last shot in as the hometown Lions split this two game series with an 8-4 victory. Rakuten starter Satoshi Nagai (4-7) got roughed up, allowing 10 hits, 2 home runs, and 6 earned runs over just 3 1/3 innings. Video highlights inside.
(Still haven't installed Photoshop on this computer after a format, so we'll have to make do with the stock banners for now.)
Eagles vs Lions Postgame: Powered By Ruiz
SEIBU DOME, SAITAMA - Randy Ruiz broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the eighth inning with a three run shot to centerfield, and Hisashi Iwakuma (6-4) scattered three hits over seven innings to pick up the win against the Pacific League leading Seibu Lions. The Eagles are now on a four game winning streak. Boxscore and video highlights inside.
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Yakyu Baka » NPB
- NPB: Roster Changes for 9/4/2010 September 4, 2010Pacific League Roster Updates Added to the Active Roster Nippon Ham Fighters - Sunaga, Hideki P Rakuten Eagles - Kitani, Hisashi P Removed from the Active Roster Nippon Ham Fighters - Ishii, Yuya P Rakuten Eagles - Hasebe, Kohei P […]
- Tsuyoshi Nishioka scores 100th run September 4, 2010Tsuyoshi Nishioka (LOT) recorded his 100th run scored last night and became just the third player in franchise history to reach the 100 run milestone (the last Lotte player to do it was Hiromitsu Ochiai in 1985 with 118; the other player is Kaoru Betto with 108 in 1950). […]
- Kanemoto, Shimoyanagi, Hiyama to return to Tigers next season? September 4, 2010It seems the Tigers feel Tomoaki Kanemoto, Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi, and Shinjiro Hiyama are all still capable of putting up numbers and are considering them as pieces of the puzzle for the 2011 season. […]
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2009 Season Standings
2009 Playoffs, 1st Stage
16th Win 11-4
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Eagles win 2-0
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