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 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 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 Carp Postgame: Season Sweep!
© rakuteneagles.jp
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - Masahiro Tanaka and Motohiro Shima teamed up to hand the visiting Hiroshima Carp their second straight loss Sunday afternoon. Ma-kun went the distance for the complete game victory, and his battery mate Shima went 3 for 3 including the game winning RBI. Rakuten swept the season series (4 games) against the Carp. Box score and video highlights inside.
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!
Week In Review, Vol.7
The week begins on Wednesday, doesn't it? Head inside for the latest late edition of the Week In Review.
Week In Review, Vol.6
The Eagles slid into the pre-interleague play on a 4 game losing streak, let's see if anyone made The Good list, how many people made The Bad list, and if you can guess who's all alone on The Ugly list.
Eagles @ Fighters Postgame: Grand Slammed
CHIYOGADAI STADIUM, HAKODATE - Ma-kun gets roughed up for the first time this season, leaving the game after giving up a grand slam in a 7-3 loss. Box score and highlight video inside.
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.
Series Roundup: Eagles vs Fighters, April 23rd – 25th
The Rakuten Eagles got their first (victorious) series sweep of the season, taking out the Nippon Ham Fighters under rain, clouds, and sun (sometimes all at the same time). Game recaps and video highlights after the break.
Last Series (Away)
13th: Win 4-0
14th: Loss 3-2
15th: Loss 6-3
Current Series (Away)
17th @ 6:00 pm
18th @ 6:00 pm
19th @ 6:00 pm
2010 Season Standings
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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
2009 Playoffs, 2nd Stage
21st Loss 9-8
22nd Loss 3-1
23rd Win 3-2
24th Loss 9-4
Fighters win 4-1