Eagles vs Swallows Postgame: Rare Form
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KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - Hisashi Iwakuma had a rare off-game yesterday afternoon versus the visiting Yakult Swallows, and the Rakuten defense didn't help him out either. Iwakuma (4-4) went 8 innings, but only two of the four runs he allowed were earned. Box score and video highlights inside.
Eagles vs Tigers Postgame: Streakin’
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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.
Eagles @ Carp Postgame: Welcome Back, Phillips
Original Photos © sanspo.com
KURE NIKOH STADIUM, HIROSHIMA - Rakuten manager Marty Brown and 1B Andy Phillips faced off against their team from last season, the Hiroshima Carp, last night. Both Phillips, Norihiro Nakamura and starter Satoshi Nagai had strong games for the Eagles, powering them to a 6-4 victory. Head inside for the box score and some stats (no video though).
Eagles vs Buffaloes Postgame: Mr. Dependable
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KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - In another closely contested battle, the Eagles dove their way to a 2-1 victory this afternoon in front of over 16,000 fans to kick off Golden Week in Japan. Hisashi Iwakuma won his fourth straight game for Rakuten, and Tsuyoshi Kawagishi picked up his 4th save of the year despite loading the bases in the 9th inning. Box score and video highlights after the break.
Eagles vs Buffaloes Postgame: A New Hope?
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KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - With the offense still on life support and the team reeling from a series sweep at the hands of the Softbank Hawks, the team got a huge boost from a couple of unlikely sources: the defense and the bullpen. Marty Brown went five-deep into his bullpen last night to eek out a 2-1 victory in an 11 inning marathon. Box score, video highlights, and some new found positivity after the break.
Eagles vs Marines Postgame: Answering The Call
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TOKYO DOME, TOKYO - Well, it looks like my power has been finally realized. Just mere hours after posting a scathing review of the Rakuten offense earlier today, the bats came alive, powering the 'home' team to an 8-2 win in front of over 40,000 fans. Box score, video, and more mind control after the break.
Eagles @ Hawks Postgame: The Way It Is
FUKUOKA, FUKUOKA - Call it a comfort zone, call it a safety net, call it what you will, but the Eagles just plain play better when Hisashi Iwakuma or Masahiro Tanaka are pitching. There are no bullpen worries; they go 9 and even 10 innings by themselves. They just seem to be a calming influence to the team when they take to the mound. Tonight was no exception as Rakuten evened up the 3 game series by a score of 8-3. Box score, video, and my collection of in-game tweets after the break.
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.
Eagles vs Marines Postgame: You Gotta Have Wan
KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - As all of Japan awaited the arrival of Typhoon Melor, the Eagles and Marines managed to squeeze in Bobby Valentine's final NPB game, although perhaps Bobby wished they didn't as Rakuten blasted the popular manager out of Japanese baseball with a 9-0 win. With the win the Eagles lowered their magic number to one!
The Eagles began the rout in the fourth inning. Marines starter Yuki Karakawa (5-8) was going along just fine, retiring the first two batters of the inning, when the home team shocked the youngster with 6 straight hits. Catcher Jin Nakatani started the scoring with a single to center, scoring Fernando Seguignol. With runners now on 1st and 3rd, CF Ryo Hijirisawa cleared the bases with a double that LF Ohmatsu failed to catch, the error putting the Eagles ahead 3-0. Hirjirisawa then scored on a Masato Nakamura single, and the lead was four.
In the fifth inning, 3B Daisuke Kusano connected for his 5th homerun of the year, depositing it into the right field seats.
The Rakuten offense continued to put the hurt on Karakawa in the seventh. With two runners in scoring position, speedy Kensuke Uchimura (the shortest player in NPB at 163cm, or 5ft 3in) lined an RBI single to left. Kusano continued his strong night, cranking a 1-1 fastball into right field for a bases-clearing double. That marked the end of the night for the 20-year old righty. Karakawa's line on the night: 6.1 IP, 10 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 8 R, 5 ER.
The Eagles completed the slaughter in the 8th, as Uchimura picked up his second RBI of the night on a fielder's choice grounder.
Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp
Pitching
While supposed staff aces Hisashi Iwakuma and Masahiro Tanaka have been steadily worsening down the stretch drive, Sataoshi Nagai (13-7) has proven to be Rakuten's most reliable pitcher over the second half of the season. The 25-year old right hander is 5-1 over his last seven starts with a crisp 2.00 ERA. Nagai had a very economical outing Wednesday night, facing only three batters over the minimum through seven innings, fanning six Marines. With the game already in the bag, Tsuyoshi Kawagishi replaced Nagai, pitching a perfect 8th and 9th inning to close out the game.
Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp
Hitting
Teppei who?!? The PL leading hitter's replacement in centerfield, Ryo Hijirisawa, has surprised everyone with how well he's played since replacing Teppei on Monday. He's batted .500 (4 for 8), with a pair of runs scored and RBI in two games so far. Maybe he likes the rain, who knows?
Daisuke Kusano continued his excellent season with 3 RBI and a solo homer, and even little Uchimura got into the action with a pair of RBI.
Next Game
The Eagles get a well-deserved rest today as the typhoon attacks all of Japan. Tomorrow night they're back at it, looking to continue their dominance over the cellar-dwelling Orix Buffaloes. Rakuten needs only to win one of their three remaining games to lock up 2nd place, let's hope they get it over with early!
Eagles vs Marines Game 24 Preview
Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp
The Eagles finish off a stretch of five games in five nights in Sendai tonight and will face a familiar foe, hopefully under better conditions. The Marines won a wet one last night 5-2 in what was manager Bobby Valentine's final home game. While it's nice for him to go out on a high note in front of his fans, I hope the Eagles can rebound quickly from the loss an inch closer to home field advantage in the playoffs.
Click to enlarge
The pressure is squarely on Rakuten. Lotte, long eliminated from reaching the playoffs, will be trying to win one last game for their manager while the Eagles have to win two of their final four games to clinch second place in the Pacific League. Nippon Ham locked up first place last night so the race is down to Rakuten and Softbank.
The weather might not be any better at Kleenex Stadium than it was at Marine Stadium however, as rain is forecasted to begin in the afternoon.
Photo © Yahoo! Japan
Pitching Matchup
Satoshi Nagai (12-7, 3.57) will try to add one more win to his breakout season tonight. He last pitched on September 30th in a complete game victory at home over the Hawks. Despite this, the 25-year old has not pitched well at home, or against the Marines for that matter.
- @ Kleenex Stadium: 11 GS, 4 W, 5 L, 10 HR, 3.66 ERA
- Vs Lotte Marines: 3 GS, 0 W, 1 L, 1 HR, 4.86 ERA
The Eagles will be in tough, facing young right-hander Yuki Karakawa (5-7, 3.48). Although he's got a mediocre record, he's performed quite well versus Rakuten (2-1, 2.41). He'll be looking to avenge his most recent loss, which came at the hands of the Eagles on the 19th of last month.
Who's Hot
The Eagles' batters got cooled off (literally and figuratively) in Chiba last night. The lone bright spot was Ryo Hijirisawa (2 for 4, 2 RBI) who was playing for the injured Teppei. If Tsuchiya can go tonight, Nomura should consider moving Hijirisawa over to right field.
Who's Cold
Second baseman Naoto Watanabe is 2 for 12 (.167) in his last three games. With Teppei out of the lineup at the 3-spot, Rakuten is depending even more on the speedy 29-year old to kick-start the offense.
Catcher Jin Nakatani is continuing to receive the bulk of the playing time over Motohiro Shima recently; it looks like Nomura is going with the more experienced player through this stretch drive. He's batting just .133 (2 for 15) over the last seven games though. Shima was just starting to swing the bat well when he got planted on the bench. Both catchers are comparable defensively; Nomura should give Shima a chance, then just ride whoever is hotter into the playoffs.
First pitch is at 6pm local time, 2am PST.
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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