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.
Week In Review, Vol. 10
Since there was no review last week, I'm just skipping number nine and moving on to week 10. Rakuten's been enjoying a good run during the Interleague play, thanks in large to the offense. While the Eagles went 4-1 last week they haven't been able to gain much ground in the standings; all the Pacific League teams are doing well against their Central League counterparts.
Eagles vs Tigers Postgame: Streakin’
© rakuteneagles.jp
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - The Rakuten Eagles continued their strong play of late with their second walk-off (sayonara) hit in the past three games, and are now undefeated in five. Teppei Tsuchiya provided the heroics last night, along with a strong debut by Randy Ruiz and a surprisingly effective effort by starter Darrell Rasner. You know what's inside, just click it.
Week In Review, Vol.8
This irregular interleague schedule is really messing with my writing... that and I'm getting busier and lazier at the same time. And my wife's co-worker gave me a bottle of scotch. Let's see who did what last week!
Eagles vs Giants Postgame: The Chono Show
© giants.jp
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - Home runs proved to be the Eagles' Achilles Heel once again, as the visiting Giants put three into the outfield stands, two off of starter Hisashi Iwakuma. Rookie Hisayoshi Chono knocked two out, including the game winning homer in the top of the ninth inning, off of Tsuyoshi Kawagishi's first pitch. Hiroshi Katayama (1-1) took the loss. Box score and video inside.
Eagles @ Lions Postgame: Timely Teppei
© sanspo.com
SEIBU DOME, SAITAMA - The Eagles came out victorious in another squeaker yesterday afternoon in a game which they probably should've lost. Kenji Tomura made his second start for the ichi-gun squad, and was bailed out by a breakout performance by Teppei Tsuchiya. The usual shenanigans after the break.
Eagles vs Buffaloes Postgame: Sweeps Week
© www.rakuteneagles.jp
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - The Eagles continue to burn hot and cold, this time being on the happy side of a sweep against the struggling Orix Buffaloes. Rakuten has now been a part of three consecutive sweeps, victorious against the Fighters and Buffaloes with a loss to the Hawks in between. Read on how it all fell in to (and nearly out of) place after the break.
Eagles vs Lions Postgame: No Relief, No Problem
© www.rakuteneagles.jp
Leave it to young Masahiro "Ma-kun" Tanaka to stop the Eagles' bleeding. The right-hander carried the team on his broad shoulders and went an economical 10 innings to notch Rakuten's first win of the season. This time it was the Lions' bullpen that choked, walking in the tying run in the 8th inning. Box score, video, and some extra thoughts after the jump.
Eagles vs Fighters CS Game 3 Postgame: Meltdown
Source Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp
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SAPPORO DOME, SAPPORO - Boxing and baseball have few, if any similarities to each other. I suppose that both sports use a type of glove. Both sports require years of training, precision timing, and pinpoint accuracy, but at their core they are two different animals entirely. There is however, one facet, one feature, one story that not only links boxing to baseball, but to almost every competitive sport known to man -- Getting Old.
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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
17th Win 4-1
Eagles win 2-0
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21st Loss 9-8
22nd Loss 3-1
23rd Win 3-2
24th Loss 9-4
Fighters win 4-1