Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 3 Preview

22Oct/092

Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 3 Preview

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Wait, game 3? What happened to game 2??? I figured I'd get these numbered properly (at least in my opinion); since the Eagles are losing the series two games to zero, it only makes sense to me that tonight's contest should be named game 3. Don't like it? Well, I don't like how grown men spit on the floor inside an office building here in Japan but there ain't much I can do about it.

After last night's crushing defeat in the bottom of the 9th inning I'm left with three questions, two of which will come into play tonight:

Can the Rakuten lineup keep pumping out the runs? They've scored a whopping 23 runs over their first three postseason games. The production is going to run out, the question is... when?
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Can Hisashi Iwakuma go the distance yet again? We saw the Eagles' bullpen in all their glory last night. The relief core obviously can't keep the Fighters in check, so it's going to be all on Iwakuma's shoulders.
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The third and final question is perhaps the most intriguing. What if the Eagles win, not only tonight but tomorrow as well? They'll have burned up their three best starters, their bullpen is in shambles, and they'll probably need not one, but two starts from a selection of pitchers that range from mediocre to below average. I still think it was a mistake not to pitch 'Kuma last night, but we'll see if this question is even worth discussing after tonight's contest.

Pitching Matchup

The veteran Hisashi Iwakuma (1-0, 2.00) makes his second postseason start tonight. As I already mentioned it is going to be critical that the big right-hander give the Eagles a quality start and try to keep the Fighters off the scoreboard early. We'll see in the first few innings how much the loss demoralized the Eagles and energized the Fighters.

Keisaku Itokazu has the unenviable task of matching up against the seasoned Iwakuma. With Darvish out of the lineup Itokazu becomes Nippon Ham's top arm from the right side. He ended the season well, albeit against inferior competition. The stakes are higher in the postseason though so we'll have to see how the 3-year pro settles into tonight's game.

#21
Hisashi Iwakuma
Throws: Right
Age: 28
NPB Seasons: 10

	ERA	W	L	S
Season	3.25	13	6	0
vs Nippon Ham	3.86	2	1	0

Last 3 Starts	W/L	IP	ER	R
10/16 vs. Softbank	W	9	2	4
10/6 vs. Lotte	ND	6	2	2
9/29 vs. Softbank	ND	6	5	5

#20
Keisaku Itokazu
Throws: Right
Age: 25
NPB Seasons: 3

	ERA	W	L	S
Season	4.56	4	5	0
vs Rakuten	1.50	1	0	0

Last 3 Starts	W/L	IP	ER	R
10/6 vs. Seibu	ND	7	3	3
9/30 vs. Orix	W	7	1	1
9/19 vs. Orix	W	9	1	1

Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp

Who's Hot

CF Teppei Tsuchiya and DH Takeshi Yamasaki, batting in the 3 and 4 spots respectively, continue to be the straws that stir Rakuten's drink in the playoffs. The duo have combined to hit .409 (9 for 22) with 4 walks, 1o runs scored, 3 home runs, and 10 runs batted in this postseason.

Catcher Jin Nakatani (.571, 2 runs scored) has been on fire since starting game 2 of the Softbank series. Outfielder Toshiya Nakashima (4 for 6, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR) has also played excellently in the two games that he's started as well.

Who's Cold

As my girlfriend would say, "Kazuo Fukumori is in a dark place right now." I'd also add that most of the bullpen is right down in that hole with him at the moment. And while I am being very critical of the Eagles relievers, the Fighters' bullpen didn't do much better last night. Rakuten was just better at failing that Nippon Ham was.

While the 3/4 spots have been white hot, the 1/2 spots in the lineup have been cold as a mother-in-laws' stare. 2B Yosuke Takasu and SS Naoto Watanabe haven't been setting the table very well at the top of the batting order, hitting a combined .188 (3 for 16, 0 RBI) in the past two games. From the 5 spot, after Yamasaki, 1B Fernando Seguignol now has a .200 batting average in the postseason.

First pitch is at 6:15 pm local time, 2:15 am PST.

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About Andrew

Andrew has lived in Japan since 2006, spending time exploring the Tohoku region. He frequently attends Rakuten Eagles games in Sendai. You'll find him sitting along the 3rd base line drinking Guinness wearing a #46 Teppei jersey, next to a Japanese girl in a #5 Seguignol jersey. You can follow him on Twitter if that makes you happy.

Tagged as: 2 Naoto Watanabe, 21 Hisashi Iwakuma, 4 Yosuke Takasu, 44 Jin Nakatani, 46 Teppei Tsuchiya, 5 Fernando Seguignol, 62 Kazuo Fukumori, 64 Toshiya Nakashima, 7 Takeshi Yamasaki, Climax Series, Nippon Ham Fighters Leave a comment

Comments (2) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

muratafan
October 22nd, 2009 - 12:56

Ugh…..I had a bad feeling about Fukumori and if you’ll notice in my prior comments, I said the ‘league would catch up to him next year.’ I guess I should’ve said THIS post-seasons.

An 85 mph fastball? Almost too easy.

The Eagles MUST get a decent reliever – maybe Igarashi – in order to take the next step or, at least, avoid ‘B’ class next year. The starting rotation is very, very solid and very, very young. Decent hitting, but no power aside from Yamasaki and Seggy/Linden.

I’m kinda with you on this one: it doesn’t look good down 2-0 with the remaining games all at Sapporo Dome.

This off-season is an absolutely critical one for the Eagles. Do they ’stand pat’ and pat themselves on the back or do they – as did Orix – simply think that next year will be as easy to repeat as this year?

There is a very fine line with this team. They are average in ERA (of course much of that is due to the bullpen), dead last in HRs and only an average hitting team. It wouldn’t take much to bring them to ‘B’ class and their achilles heel showed up again.

Get a good reliever, pray that Yamasaki somehow manages to keep the fire burning (Kanemoto REALLY slowed down this year) and hope that Seggy/Linden are re-signed and are healthy and ready to go…and next year looks bright.

But that’s an awful lot of question marks!

( REPLY )
- Andrew
  October 22nd, 2009 - 13:36
  
  Yep, you called it earlier this year on Fukumori!
  
  I honestly don’t know what Nomura is thinking when it comes to managing his pitching staff.
  
  I’ve already criticized his starting rotation schedule for this series; now they’re kind of up $#!% creek without a paddle even if they do win games 3 and 4.
  
  And then last night, he micromanages the 8th inning, making 4 pitching changes to get 2 outs, then just leaves Fukumori to get slapped around in the 9th. Granted there was almost nobody remotely useful left to replace Fukumori, but for crying out loud, he’s showing no sense of vision. Not for later in a game, or for later in a series. Maybe his memory is finally going…
  
  Seriously though, you can’t have a closer whose fastball tops out at 92 mph and regularly throws it in the 87-89 range without having some nasty junk to back it up, which he doesn’t. Maybe they can convert a starter from either ichi-gun or ni-gun to a closer so they can just burn their arm up every time out, but almost everyone on the staff has gotten a shot at the closer role this year… and failed.
  
  Thanks for the great comment again muratafan, and try to keep hope alive!

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« Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 3 Postgame: Meltdown Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 2 Postgame: Paradise Lost »

2009 Playoffs, 1st Stage

  16th Win 11-4
  17th Win 4-1
  Eagles win 2-0

2009 Playoffs, 2nd Stage

  21st Loss 9-8
  22nd Loss 3-1
  23rd Win 3-2
  24th Loss 9-4
              Fighters win 4-1

2009 Season Standings

Teams	G	W	L	T	GB	GR
Fighters**	144	82	60	2	-	0
Eagles*	144	77	66	1	5.5	0
Hawks*	144	74	65	5	1	0
Lions	144	70	70	4	4	0
Marines	144	62	77	5	7.5	0
Buffaloes	144	56	86	2	7.5	0

** Clinched Division | * Playoff Berth
Last update: 10/12 @ 12:48am JST

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