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Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 5 Postgame: Sayonara

© www.rakuteneagles.jp

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SAPPORO DOME, SAPPORO - The Rakuten Eagles surprising season came to an unfortunate close Saturday evening, as they fell to the Nippon Ham Fighters 9-4 in the fifth game of the Climax Series, 2nd Stage.  The loss also closes the book on manager Katsuya Nomura, who was not offered the skipper's job for the 2010 season, but may return to the team in some honourary capacity.

© Yahoo! Japan

As I mentioned in the preview, rookie Hiromichi Fujiwara had a chance to show what he was made of on the big stage.  Unfortunately, only the Fighters fans liked what they saw.  The young lefty lasted a scant two innings before getting the hook, but not before giving up 5 hits and 4 earned runs, including a 2-run homer by Hichori Morimoto.  Koji Aoyama started the third for the Eagles and put in four solid shutout innings, allowing the offense to claw back to within a run, before the wheels fell off in the seventh frame.  The Fighters managed to tack on an additional two runs, both charged to Aoyama, as Shinichiro Koyama came in to record the final two outs of the inning.  Rakuten got one back in the top of the 8th off of a Fernando Seguignol single, and had runners at 1st and 2nd base with only one out.  Takayuki Kanamori slammed the door shut however, striking out Todd Linden and Masato Nakamura to kill the rally.

In a repeat of Game 2, Nomura once again decided to see how many relievers he could pitch in one inning.  After recording the first out, Koyama gave up a single to Morimoto.  Kanehisa Arime entered the game to face fellow lefty Atsunori Inaba.  True to form, Arime walked Inaba on five pitches (he did the exact same thing in Game 2) and was promptly replaced by Tsuyoshi Kawagishi.  I wonder what the record is for most appearances without recording an out is?  Kawagishi got Shinji Takahashi out, and in a surprising move Nomura replaced Kawagishi with Game 3 starter Hisashi Iwakuma to face Terrmel Sledge.  In addition to pitching on just one day's rest, Iwakuma is not a power pitcher, relying on his forkball and velocity changes to induce ground balls.  And Sledge did hit a ground ball.  The only problem was that the ground it landed on was somewhere in the right field bleachers.  The series' MVP cranked a 1-0 fastball high into the stands, a 3-run shot that chased any hope of an Eagles comeback.  Iwakuma could only smile wistfully as the balled sailed over the outfield wall.

Hisashi Tanaka came into the top of the ninth to finish off the visiting team, sending the home crowd into a frenzy as they celebrated their third trip to the Nippon Series in four years.

© www.sanspo.com

After watching the Fighters receive their awards, the Eagles made their way out to right field to salute their supporters.  In a very, very classy move, the Fighters coaches and players came over to congratulate Nomura on his career, and helped join in to toss the 74-year-old in the air for a final time.

Pitching

It was too much to expect Fujiwara to silence the Fighters' bats; the team is just too strong and experienced in big games like this.  Hopefully Fujiwara will be able to take something positive away from his first career postseason start.  He had a great second half of the season this year, and will be expected to continue his development over the winter.

Aoyama pitched effectively in relief, but the wheels came off in a hurry in the seventh inning.  As was the case all season for the bullpen, the wheels may come off early or they may come off late, but make no mistake about it, they're gonna come flying off at some point.  The devil on my shoulder is telling me that Arime should be set on fire like a witch.  The angel on my other shoulder however is telling me that Arime should be frozen in a block of ice and buried somewhere in the Antarctic.

I just can't get mad at Iwakuma for giving up the home run to Sledge.  He'd have to be caught on video clubbing baby seals for him to end up in my bad books; he just seems like a really, really nice guy.  While the tears he shed in the dugout may have been for letting his team down, they would've been nowhere close to the playoffs if not for his solid performances all year long.

Of course, I've always got a little second guessing left to spare for the outgoing manager.
Pop quiz: If all you need is one out against one batter to save the season, would you go with:

• Your veteran pitcher who'd been struggling with his signature pitch and had one days rest, or
• Your young flamethrowing phenom who has a 96+ mph fastball and gutted out a complete game victory the previous night?

Leave your answer in the comments and we'll see who's right, the NPB Hall of Famer who has over four decades of professional baseball experience, or the gaijin blogger who was last seen playing D-class beer league softball four years ago, after a non-descript high school baseball "career".

Hitting

The top of the lineup finally all went cold at the same time, combining to hit just 3 for 16 (.188) on the night.  Fighters starter Shugo Fuji pitched a no-hitter through three innings, keeping the Eagles at bay while his own team built up a lead.  The clutch hitting that Rakuten had shown in the Softbank series was markedly absent against Nippon Ham.  The Eagles left five men in scoring position during the game and failed to convert them into runs.  It was just a bad time to go cold.

Next Season

While this may mark the end of the year for the Eagles, it won't be the end of the year for this website.  I'll continue to crank out the player reports, roster changes, draft results, perhaps some guest writers, and hopefully an interview or two with some of the players.  Expectations will be high (perhaps unrealistically) for this team next season, and before you know it Spring Training will be knocking on our door.  Thanks to everyone who's joined me in making this project a success, it's been one heck of an introduction into the world of Japanese baseball!

GO EAGLES!!!

Related posts:

1. Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 2 Postgame: Paradise Lost
2. Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 3 Postgame: Meltdown
3. Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 4 Postgame: Not over yet
4. Eagles vs Fighters Postgame: Sleeping on the job
5. Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 3 Preview

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.