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Eagles vs Buffaloes Postgame: Home-field cookin’

KLEENEX STADIUM, SENDAI - The Eagles wrapped up a dominating season series with the Orix Buffaloes, in the process clinching home field advantage in the 1st stage of the Climax Series with a come from behind 4-3 victory in front of almost 20,000 screaming fans on a chilly Friday night.

Rookie Hiromichi Fujiwara (5-4) was a little shaky early on, giving up a 2-run blast by RF Shinji Shimoyama and a fielder's choice RBI by SS Koji Yamasaki in the top of the second inning.

Rakuten struck back quickly however with a pair of runs in the bottom of the 2nd and 3rd innings, with the bottom half of the lineup doing most of the damage once again.  Fernando Seguignol started things off with a great 9-pitch at-bat, eventually drawing a walk.  Todd Linden singled to left, and Jin Nakatani grounded one through the left side of the infield, loading up the bases with two outs.  Leadoff hitter Yosuke Takasu cracked a 137km (85mph) fastball grounder into center field, scoring Seguignol and Linden to cut the lead to one.

The Eagles came roaring back the very next inning, again with some clutch 2-out hitting.  Orix starter Yasunari Takagi (1-2) started to lose control of the strike zone, walking Daisuke Kusano on four pitches and Seguignol on five, setting the stage for Linden who belted a 2-2 fastball into the left field corner for a 2-RBI double.  Linden actually ended up on 3rd base on the play but was unable to score.  The damage was already done however.

Fujiwara settled down after that, scattering just 4 more hits (all singles) over the next 6 innings. He was also helped out by some great deep outfield catches by Linden and RF Toshiya Nakashima.  Kazuo Fukumori came on to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his team-leading tenth save of the year.

While the victory will relieve a little pressure on the Eagles, their final two games still have postseason ramifications, as they face 1st place Nippon Ham in Sapporo tonight, and finish off the regular season at home against their 1st stage opponent, the Softbank Hawks.  They'll definitely want to finish strong to keep their momentum as they enter their first ever postseason!

Pitching

24-year old rookie Fujiwara continues to see his stock rise and is undefeated in his last seven starts (3-0).  The lefty showed a lot of poise after surrendering a three run lead early on, basically shutting down the Buffaloes offense after the second inning.  Has Rakuten finally found their left-handed starter?  All signs are pointing to yes at this point.

Hitting

Takasu and Linden provided all the offense Rakuten needed on this night.  Takasu (3 for 3, 2 RBI, 1 BB) has now brought his batting average up over the .300 mark, and Linden (2 for 3, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R) is rapidly approaching the .300 level himself.  Seguignol also played an important role in the scoring, going 1 for 2 with two walks and two runs scored.

Next Game

The Eagles travel up to Sapporo today to face the Pacific League winning but Yu Darvish-less Fighters.  Both teams have nothing really to play for, but could end up meeting in the 2nd stage of the Climax Series later this month.

Me and Gen

* Note - I got to meet up with the venerable Gen Sueyoshi of Yakyu Baka before the game.  We chatted briefly about websites, baseball (of course), and some other topics.  With both of us being Eagles fans I'm sure our paths will cross again soon!

I picked up a 55-200mm lens for my Nikon yesterday afternoon as well.  I took a ton of photos, too many to put in this post, so you can find them on this page.

http://theeaglesblog.com/eagles-vs-buffaloes-oct-9th-2009

GO EAGLES!!!