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Live Blog! Eagles vs Buffaloes

Pregame - Well it looks like they're going to make a go of it.  It's been wet and rainy all morning here in Sendai, but with the regular season winding down and the previous rainout games already rescheduled it would appear that we're in store for a sloppy and wet affair this afternoon.  Sloppy and wet are good for certain activities, like sex and mud wrestling, but for baseball...

For the Eagles, rookie Hiromichi Fujiwara faces Kazuki Kondoh.  Fujiwara has 1 win in his last 3 starts with 2 no-decisions, with the win coming against Orix back on September 10th.  The left-hander is 3-4 on the season with a 4.20 ERA.  Kondoh (8-10, 5.28 ERA) is 1-2 in his last 3 starts, losing his last games versus the Eagles.  It looks like Nomura is continuing to use a 6-man rotation, hoping someone can join Iwakuma and Nagai as possible playoff starters so Ma-kun can help out the bullpen.

Linden is back starting in left field, replacing Nakashima.  Masato Nakamura will start in right field instead of Miyade.  Rakuten leads the season series with 16 victories against 4 defeats.

Top 1st - Sakaguchi singles to get things started for Orix.  The centerfielder continues to wreak havoc on Rakuten's pitching staff.  He advances to second on a sac bunt and to third on a flyout, but Rhodes hits a towering fly ball to center to end the threat.

Bottom 1st - Masato Nakamura doubles to lead things off for Rakuten.  Watanabe and Teppei both ground out.  The Eagles batters weren't able to find any holes in Orix's infield yesterday either.  The rain-soaked field won't make it any easier to squeeze ground balls through the defense.  Yamasaki walks to put runners at 1st and 2nd, but Seguignol strikes out on a nice slider by Kondoh to end the inning.

Top 2nd - Of course as soon as I mention the infield, Gotoh bounces one just past Watanabe for a single.  Things are quickly over though on a strike 'em out / throw 'em out play at 2nd base.  Catcher Jin Nakatani fires a laser to Takasu, catching Gotoh by a mile.  2 strikeouts this inning by Fujiwara.

Bottom 2nd - Kusano grounds out to 1st, Takasu grounds out to short.  The Hawks and Marines are tied at 1 in the first inning.  Lions and Fighters start their game in about half an hour.  Linden cranks a double to center that just misses being a home run by a foot.  Nakatani is up next.  He's got an unorthodox batting stance; basically it looks like he's always going to bunt.  Can't say it's really working for him either; he's hitting .156 on the season, and flies out to 1st base to end the inning.

Top 3rd - Takasu is shaken up momentarily after getting taken out trying to convert a double play.  Looks like he's okay though.  Fujiwara is looking strong so far, consistently getting ahead in the count.

Middle 3rd - Mr. Carasco is back!!!  He's been mysteriously absent for a couple months now.  Rumour has it that he was arrested trying to import some counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags from Thailand...

Bottom 3rd - The Eagles batters have been working the counts pretty deep so far, and now they're starting to fly out to the outfield instead of grounding out.  It's an improvement I suppose...  Teppei continues to lead the Pacific League in hitting, 11 points higher at .333 than Nippon Ham's Itoi.  He adds to his lead, singling to right and advancing to 3rd on a Yamasaki hit.

Looks like the infield holes are starting to open up!  Seguignol singles up the middle, scoring Teppei.  Eagles 1 - Orix 0

Top 4th - Marines lead the Hawks 2-1 on a "timely hit" by Ohmatsu.  Is there such a thing as an "untimely hit"?  Rhodes complains about a check swing strike.  I dunno how that guy can complain about seeing anything with his helmet pulled down so low like that!  I wonder if he saw himself fly out to center again.  Shimoyama belts a ground-rule double, Orix on 2nd and 3rd.

Great play at the plate!  A fly ball is hit to center and the runner at 3rd tags up.  Teppei catches the ball and relays the ball to Watanabe as Kitagawa sprints home.  Nakatani does a superb job blocking the plate, not budging an inch as Kitagawa slides into his leg.

Bottom 4th - Bases loaded for Nakamura, as Takasu, Linden, and Nakatani all reach base, the latter with a bunt single.  Kosaka pinch runs for Takasu, who'll probably get some treatment on his injury from earlier in the game.  TIMELY HIT!!!  A double to the center field wall scores Kosaka and Linden.  Eagles 3 - Orix 0

Teppei walks, loading the bases again for Yamasaki, but he hits into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.  Kondoh is starting to lose control of his pitches, with his pitch count already over 80 in just 4 innings.  The Lions put up 3 runs in the first against the Fighters.  Fighters management are searching the internet for information on how to clone Darvish.

Top 5th - Yokoyama hits a 2 out, 2 strike ground ball double to keep Orix alive here in the 5th inning.  Sakaguchi hits a full count single to right, scoring Yokoyama.  Eagles 3 - Orix 1

Sakaguchi reaches 2nd on a ball in the dirt.  Nerves starting to set in?

The Marines have exploded for 5 runs so far in the top of the 4th inning, and now lead Softbank 7-2!

Bottom 5th - Seguignol fouls a pitch off his leg, then rubs dirt on the wound.  I've seen him to this numerous times this season to any part of his body that gets hurt.  Is this some kind of crazy Panamanian voodoo?!?!

DOUBLE!  Seggy rumbles into second with a stand-up double to left center.  Experience the POWER OF DIRT!!!

Seggy almost gets picked off at 2nd base, and probably would have if Tamasaki held on to the ball.  Seguignol got his first (and probably only) steal of the year 2 nights ago.  He gets a good laugh about the pickoff attempt after he picks himself up off the dirt.  He's wearing a lot of it now, and should probably change his uniform between innings or else he might detonate from all that dirt power.

Kosaka draws a walk, but Linden grounds into a double play.

Top 6th - Attendance looks pretty good despite the weather.  Seibu has extended its lead over Nippon Ham, 5-0 in the 3rd.  Softbank has clawed back for 2 runs, now trailing Lotte 7-4 in the 4th.

Kitagawa leads off the inning with a single, followed by Rhodes, who strikes out.  Again.  He's been slumping lately with only 2 hits in his last 22 ABs.  Not bad for someone who prefers to bat blind.

Bottom 6th - Kondoh's up over 100 pitches now.  I wonder who decides how to Romanize the player's names.  I've seen Kondo, Kondou, and Kondoh before.  I kinda like the look of the superfluous "H".

Nakatani continues the game of his life and singles to right, followed up by an infield high chopper single by Nakamura.

Watanabe leans in, attempting to bunt the runners ahead a base.  I wonder what would happen if he just through himself in front of the pitch, would it be a HBP?  From what the movie "Mr. Baseball" said about NPB, as long as you don't step on the plate, anything goes!  Watanabe bunts -- right back to Kondoh, who throws out Nakatani at 3rd.  Before the All-Star break the Eagles were bunting with ease, frequently scoring on squeeze plays at home.  Recently though they've been quite ineffective in getting bunts down properly.  Naoto has got to get that ball down the first base line in these situations.

Teppei shows Naoto how it's done, laying a picture perfect bunt down the first base line... safe!  Yamasaki is up next.

Wild pitch!  Kondoh chucks one in the dirt, allowing Masato to score from 3rd.  Naoto and Teppei also advance on the passed ball. Eagles 4 - Orix 1

Yamasaki flies out to center, but it's not deep enough for Watanabe to score.  Seguignol walks, loading up the bases for the 3rd time this afternoon.  Kusano comes within a few feet of hitting the money shot, but the right fielder snags the deep ball with his back against the wall.

Top 7th - Fujiwara finishes off the 7th at 98 pitches as the Buffaloes go down 1-2-3.  From what I've read about Nomura's managerial style over at Yakyu Baka (here, here, & here), he'll probably ride young Fujiwara today until his arm falls off.  Can't say I blame him, the Eagles' relief pitchers range from average to abysmal for the most part.

Bottom 7th - The camera catches Watanabe and Yamasaki having a chat in the dugout.  Takeshi Yamasaki reminds me of Bolo Yeung, probably best known as Chong Li in "Bloodsport".  I wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with either of them.

Kondoh suddenly remembers how to pitch, striking out Linden and Nakatani to end the inning.  Linden strikes out about once every 3 ABs.  It's like he thinks he's Dean Palmer, but without the homerun power.  Part of it is from getting used to the NPB strike zone, but even back in the USA he was a free swinger.  He's particularly vulnerable to sliders and breaking balls inside. This time he struck out on an outside pitch... so that's a good sign?

Top 8th - Announced attendance of over 19,000 at Kleenex Stadium here in Sendai, which is a great crowd on a gloomy day to finish off Silver Week.  I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

With two runners on base, Rhodes chops one to second to end the inning.  I still don't know how he makes contact with the ball, it's like Luke Skywalker and that laser ball thingy in Star Wars.  They show Rhodes chillin' on the bench afterwards, where he promptly crams his pinky into his nose, then sticks his middle finger in his mouth.  Ohhh so close.

Bottom 8th - Ryuji Miyade pinch hits for Masato Nakamura, signalling the end of the night for the right fielder.  Although Masato and Fujiwara will proabably get Hero of the Game awards if Rakuten hangs on, I think an award should go to catcher Jin Nakatani as well.  He played an excellent game today both offensively and defensively, and even split a bat in half with a judo chop.  Maybe it was a fastball.

Top 9th - The closer of the minute is Shinichiro Koyama.  Kazuo Fukumori had emerged as the Eagles' closer over the 2nd half of the season, but has become erratic in recent outings.  Enter the bespectacled Koyama, who's having a strong 2nd half of the season himself.

Game over!  Koyama strikes out the side (!!!) further positioning himself as the possible closer by getting the save, but more importantly sealing the win for Rakuten.

Final Score: Eagles 4 - Orix 1

Postgame - Sure enough, Nakamura and Fujiwara are the Heroes of the Game, thereby receiving the coveted Kit-Kat pillow.  Fujiwara scattered 9 hits over 8 innings with 4 strikeouts and no walks, and never appeared to be in much trouble throughout the game.  Nakamura went 3 for 4 (2 doubles), knocking in 2 runs and scoring another.

If the Eagles can get their middle relief in order then they have to be considered as a threat to not only make the Climax Series, but the Nippon Series as well.  They've got a pretty deep bench, and Nomura has been able to tweak the lineup to the point where there isn't a major weakness from 1 to 8.  The catchers at the 9 spot is a concern, but with two capable defensive catchers on the roster Nomura has been able to pinch hit at the 9 spot when necessary.

Rakuten's win, combined with Softbank's loss puts the Eagles just 1 game behind the Hawks for 2nd place in the Pacific League.  The first round of the Climax Series is a best of 3 game affair, with all 3 games being played at the 2nd place team's stadium!  Personally I think this is an absolutely retarded system; there's no reason that it shouldn't alternate.

Of course if Rakuten happens to be in 2nd by the end of the season, then it's the best system ever and never ever should be changed.

Up next is a critical stretch which in all likelihood determine whether Rakuten will be celebrating its first playoff birth in their 5 year history or not.  First up is a 3 game series in Saitama against the Seibu Lions, followed by a 4 game series at home vs Softbank and another 2 games at home against Seibu.

GO EAGLES!!!