Softbank 11, Seibu 3 (Game 2)
Softbank 6, Seibu 1 (Game3)
And so the evil Kaz Matsui-enabling bastards are vanquished in their home dome by the Softbank Hawks. After winning game one by a 1-0 result, Softbank's bats stepped up and creamed the weak non-Matsuzaka Seibu pitchers. Both games were close through the first couple of innings, then Softbank's superior bats won out on the poor Lions bullpen. It was 5-3 after seven in game two, and then Seibu launched a five run inning in the ninth to make it a laugher, keyed by home runs from Matsunaka and Zuleta. The big key that came out of game two? Never trust anyone named Ishii.
In game three, back-to-back walks in the eighth set up a huge three-run blast by Zuleta to put the game out of reach. Softbank will advance to the second stage of the PL to meet the #1 seed Nippon Ham Fighters. They will have to win three out of four to advance.
Cardinals 6, Padres 2 - Bochy's been ruining this series for the Padres faithful throughout, so it was only fitting that he ruined the one chance he had to get back into the game as well.
With runners on the corners and nobody out in the eighth, and TLR's platoon pitcher system fully in place, a lefty was brought in to turn around Josh Bard. Would Bochy respond by pinch-hitting with Mike Piazza? No, he would let Bard ground out, pinch-hit with Piazza AFTER the fact, and then lead us into a situation where TLR could bring in the right-hander to retire him. Well, at least San Diego fans have the Chargers.
Showing posts with label seibu lions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seibu lions. Show all posts
Monday, October 09, 2006
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Japanese Baseball: Matsuzaka and Saito have a duel for the ages
Pacific League Playoffs
Seibu 1, Softbank 0 - Both Kazumi Saito and Daisuke Matsuzaka came into this game dealing, and it was a true pitchers duel as Kazuhiro Wada doubled in the games only run in the seventh when Hiroyumi Nakajima and Alex Cabrera strung together back-to-back singles with nobody out. Both pitchers threw a complete game, Saito went eight, giving up four hits and two walks, while striking out nine. Matsuzaka went all nine, yielding just six hits and striking out thirteen and hitting four different batters. Sadaharu Oh decided to seperate his best hitters out while letting Jolbert Cabrera bat third, and Jolbert left five runners on base.
Central League Playoff Push
Hanshin 5, Yomiuri 3 - Hanshin put up a furious rally in the eighth to win their ninth out of ten and pull within two of the Chunichi Dragons in the CL. Tomoaki Kanemoto hit his twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth homers of the year, including a three-run shot in the eighth to break up a 2-2 tie. Kyuji Fujikawa gave up a run in the ninth to raise his ERA to 0.7, but picked up his seventeenth save. Yoshinobu Takahashi hit his fifteenth homer in the top of the eighth to tie the game for the Giants.
Yokohama 3, Chunichi 2 - Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada played the percentages and got burned in the eighth. With a 2-0 lead, he brought in LHP Masato Kobayashi to face three left-handed hitters in a row, and despite walking the first, he had gotten a strikeout and a quick popup. He then turned to RHP Shinya Okamoto (4-1), as there were three right-handed hitters in a row. Okamoto walked the first batter, then gave up a three-run game losing homer to Shuuichi Murata (33rd). Marc Kroon picked up the save for the Bay Stars, his twenty-sixth. Chunichi's magic number stayed at four.
Hiroshima 4, Yakult 3 - In a game dominated by ex-MLB players, the Swallows jumped off to a 3-1 lead off a homer by Adam Riggs, his thirty-eighth (good for third place in the CL). Alex Ramirez hit his twenty-fifth homer, a three-run bomb that made a loser out of Masaki Hayamashi (2-4). Shinjo Takatsu picked up his thirteenth save with a shaky (1 bb, 1 h) ninth.
Seibu 1, Softbank 0 - Both Kazumi Saito and Daisuke Matsuzaka came into this game dealing, and it was a true pitchers duel as Kazuhiro Wada doubled in the games only run in the seventh when Hiroyumi Nakajima and Alex Cabrera strung together back-to-back singles with nobody out. Both pitchers threw a complete game, Saito went eight, giving up four hits and two walks, while striking out nine. Matsuzaka went all nine, yielding just six hits and striking out thirteen and hitting four different batters. Sadaharu Oh decided to seperate his best hitters out while letting Jolbert Cabrera bat third, and Jolbert left five runners on base.
Central League Playoff Push
Hanshin 5, Yomiuri 3 - Hanshin put up a furious rally in the eighth to win their ninth out of ten and pull within two of the Chunichi Dragons in the CL. Tomoaki Kanemoto hit his twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth homers of the year, including a three-run shot in the eighth to break up a 2-2 tie. Kyuji Fujikawa gave up a run in the ninth to raise his ERA to 0.7, but picked up his seventeenth save. Yoshinobu Takahashi hit his fifteenth homer in the top of the eighth to tie the game for the Giants.
Yokohama 3, Chunichi 2 - Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada played the percentages and got burned in the eighth. With a 2-0 lead, he brought in LHP Masato Kobayashi to face three left-handed hitters in a row, and despite walking the first, he had gotten a strikeout and a quick popup. He then turned to RHP Shinya Okamoto (4-1), as there were three right-handed hitters in a row. Okamoto walked the first batter, then gave up a three-run game losing homer to Shuuichi Murata (33rd). Marc Kroon picked up the save for the Bay Stars, his twenty-sixth. Chunichi's magic number stayed at four.
Hiroshima 4, Yakult 3 - In a game dominated by ex-MLB players, the Swallows jumped off to a 3-1 lead off a homer by Adam Riggs, his thirty-eighth (good for third place in the CL). Alex Ramirez hit his twenty-fifth homer, a three-run bomb that made a loser out of Masaki Hayamashi (2-4). Shinjo Takatsu picked up his thirteenth save with a shaky (1 bb, 1 h) ninth.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Japanese Baseball - Pacific League Playoff Preview Part II: Seibu Lions vs. Softbank Hawks
#2 seed) Seibu Lions (80-54-2)
645 RS, 556 RA (.574 pyth %)
Team Avg: .275/.342/.421
Team ERA: 3.64
#3 seed) Nippon Ham Fighters (75-55-5) (1 game left to play)
553 RS, 468 RA (.582 pyth %)
Team Avg: .260/.325/.374
Team ERA: 3.12
Season Series: 10-9-1 Seibu
This will be a classic three game set held in the Seibu Invoice Dome (the Invoice Dome? I thought Enron Field was bad.), a struggle between heavy hitting and great starting pitching that involves the two best pitchers in the Pacific League and arguably the two best in all of Nippon baseball. Both teams come in on kind of a down note, as Seibu choked away a two game lead for the top seed with 3 games to play and Softbank rolled over for Nippon Ham to allow them the top seed. This is the third straight year that 2004 Japan Series winners Seibu have made the PL playoffs.
Any discussion of Seibu begins with Daisuke Matsuzaka. The soon-to-be Mariner/Yankee/Met starter has been overshadowed a bit this year by Softbank ace Kazumi Saito, but still finished 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 186 1/3rd innings (all of these are good for second place in the PL behind Saito). However, an ill omen for the Lions came when Matsuzaka was bombed in his last start by Bobby Valentine's Marines, giving up a season high five earned runs on seven hits, two walks, and two hit batsmen. Matsuzaka took a line drive off of his pitching arm in the start before that, and while he wouldn't use that as an excuse, it's clear that something may indeed be off about him.
If Matsuzaka is still hurting, this will be a tough series for the Lions to win, and the key for them will once again be the offense. They led the PL in runs, almost 100 runs greater than second place Nippon Ham. The key to the Seibu attack is former MLB 1B Alex Cabrera, who has put up another stellar year, hitting .315/.404/.564 with 31 homers, good for second in the league behind Michihiro Ogasawara. Beyond Cabrera, there is the declining left fielder Kazuhiro Wada, who put up 19 homers and hit .298/.392/.493, and one of the rising stars of Japanese Baseball, 23 year old shortstop Hiroyumi Nakajima (.306/.368/.481, 19 homers). The rest of the lineup doesn't have much power, the Lions get most of their offense via a very high team OBP (.342, the second place team, Nippon, finished at .325); there isn't a player who had more than 125 at-bats with an OBP under .327. Former MLB'er Jeff Liefer may play a role in this series as well, as he provided yet another power hitter down the stretch, socking 13 homers in just 143 AB's.
Beyond Matsuzaka, the Seibu staff is pretty ordinary. Their second best starter, Hideaki Wakui, put up a 12-8 3.24 line. The bullpen, led by young closer Chikara Onodera (7-3, 2.82, 29 saves), is pretty non-descript compared to the Nippon Ham 1-2-3. Those two are the only pitchers on the staff with an ERA under 3.49 besides Matsuzaka, which led to their uninspiring middle of the table performance in runs allowed (556 is good for third, but they are only 14 ahead of the fifth place Orix Buffaloes, as compared to 88 behind the second place Fighters). Tsutomo Ito will have to hope that Matsuzaka can give him a quality start, or the Seibu team may be in trouble.
Softbank comes into the first stage of the playoffs with an injured starter as well, as third starter Nagisa Arakaki (13-5, 3.01) was hospitalized with an accute infection of the intestine. The good news for Softbank manager Sadaharu Oh is that he may not need a third starter with obvious Sawamura Award candidate Saito (18-5, 1.75, 205 K's in 201 IP) and Softbank's own Wada, left-hander Tsuyoshi (14-6, 2.98, 136 K's in 163 IP). It doesn't get any easier in the bullpen, where Oh can hand the game over to twenty-three year old Takahiro Mahara (0-4, 1.66, 29 saves of his own) and bridge the gap with the Okas: Fujioka (2.34, 26 holds) and Takeoka (1.88).
The Hawks also have the fortune of owning LF Nobuhiko Matsunaka, who led the league in OPS by hitting .327/.454/.532, and 1B Julio Zuleta, who smacked 29 homers with a 879 OPS. Unfortunately, the Hawks have very little else in their lineup. CF Nayoki Omura and SS Muneori Kawasaki both are solid table-setters, but then it starts to get sketchy. The regular fifth hitter is ex-Indian and Dodger Jolbert Cabrera, who only managed a .263/.317/.401 line, and from there it gets uglier.
That said, I'd be shocked if the Hawks didn't find a way to win this series. They do have the best pitcher and the best hitter, it's only three games, and the best starters often seem to punish the strike zone enough to take away the huge OBP advantage that Seibu enjoys. I'll say the Hawks sweep 2-0 and move on to take on the Fighters.
Once we get to the Nippon Series, I will run a preview of the CL winner juxtaposed with the winner of the PL. Until then, look for periodic updates as they come in.
645 RS, 556 RA (.574 pyth %)
Team Avg: .275/.342/.421
Team ERA: 3.64
#3 seed) Nippon Ham Fighters (75-55-5) (1 game left to play)
553 RS, 468 RA (.582 pyth %)
Team Avg: .260/.325/.374
Team ERA: 3.12
Season Series: 10-9-1 Seibu
This will be a classic three game set held in the Seibu Invoice Dome (the Invoice Dome? I thought Enron Field was bad.), a struggle between heavy hitting and great starting pitching that involves the two best pitchers in the Pacific League and arguably the two best in all of Nippon baseball. Both teams come in on kind of a down note, as Seibu choked away a two game lead for the top seed with 3 games to play and Softbank rolled over for Nippon Ham to allow them the top seed. This is the third straight year that 2004 Japan Series winners Seibu have made the PL playoffs.
Any discussion of Seibu begins with Daisuke Matsuzaka. The soon-to-be Mariner/Yankee/Met starter has been overshadowed a bit this year by Softbank ace Kazumi Saito, but still finished 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 186 1/3rd innings (all of these are good for second place in the PL behind Saito). However, an ill omen for the Lions came when Matsuzaka was bombed in his last start by Bobby Valentine's Marines, giving up a season high five earned runs on seven hits, two walks, and two hit batsmen. Matsuzaka took a line drive off of his pitching arm in the start before that, and while he wouldn't use that as an excuse, it's clear that something may indeed be off about him.
If Matsuzaka is still hurting, this will be a tough series for the Lions to win, and the key for them will once again be the offense. They led the PL in runs, almost 100 runs greater than second place Nippon Ham. The key to the Seibu attack is former MLB 1B Alex Cabrera, who has put up another stellar year, hitting .315/.404/.564 with 31 homers, good for second in the league behind Michihiro Ogasawara. Beyond Cabrera, there is the declining left fielder Kazuhiro Wada, who put up 19 homers and hit .298/.392/.493, and one of the rising stars of Japanese Baseball, 23 year old shortstop Hiroyumi Nakajima (.306/.368/.481, 19 homers). The rest of the lineup doesn't have much power, the Lions get most of their offense via a very high team OBP (.342, the second place team, Nippon, finished at .325); there isn't a player who had more than 125 at-bats with an OBP under .327. Former MLB'er Jeff Liefer may play a role in this series as well, as he provided yet another power hitter down the stretch, socking 13 homers in just 143 AB's.
Beyond Matsuzaka, the Seibu staff is pretty ordinary. Their second best starter, Hideaki Wakui, put up a 12-8 3.24 line. The bullpen, led by young closer Chikara Onodera (7-3, 2.82, 29 saves), is pretty non-descript compared to the Nippon Ham 1-2-3. Those two are the only pitchers on the staff with an ERA under 3.49 besides Matsuzaka, which led to their uninspiring middle of the table performance in runs allowed (556 is good for third, but they are only 14 ahead of the fifth place Orix Buffaloes, as compared to 88 behind the second place Fighters). Tsutomo Ito will have to hope that Matsuzaka can give him a quality start, or the Seibu team may be in trouble.
Softbank comes into the first stage of the playoffs with an injured starter as well, as third starter Nagisa Arakaki (13-5, 3.01) was hospitalized with an accute infection of the intestine. The good news for Softbank manager Sadaharu Oh is that he may not need a third starter with obvious Sawamura Award candidate Saito (18-5, 1.75, 205 K's in 201 IP) and Softbank's own Wada, left-hander Tsuyoshi (14-6, 2.98, 136 K's in 163 IP). It doesn't get any easier in the bullpen, where Oh can hand the game over to twenty-three year old Takahiro Mahara (0-4, 1.66, 29 saves of his own) and bridge the gap with the Okas: Fujioka (2.34, 26 holds) and Takeoka (1.88).
The Hawks also have the fortune of owning LF Nobuhiko Matsunaka, who led the league in OPS by hitting .327/.454/.532, and 1B Julio Zuleta, who smacked 29 homers with a 879 OPS. Unfortunately, the Hawks have very little else in their lineup. CF Nayoki Omura and SS Muneori Kawasaki both are solid table-setters, but then it starts to get sketchy. The regular fifth hitter is ex-Indian and Dodger Jolbert Cabrera, who only managed a .263/.317/.401 line, and from there it gets uglier.
That said, I'd be shocked if the Hawks didn't find a way to win this series. They do have the best pitcher and the best hitter, it's only three games, and the best starters often seem to punish the strike zone enough to take away the huge OBP advantage that Seibu enjoys. I'll say the Hawks sweep 2-0 and move on to take on the Fighters.
Once we get to the Nippon Series, I will run a preview of the CL winner juxtaposed with the winner of the PL. Until then, look for periodic updates as they come in.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Japanese Baseball Update - A Dicky Gonzalez sighting!
Rakuten picks high school fastballer Tanaka in draft- Apparently the Japanese draft system is just a little different from ours. In the first round, every team may select any player, and then through a complex lottery (with records and all that), players claimed by multiple teams are awarded to one team for exclusive negotiation rights. Teams that fail to recieve the player get an alternate pick, which may also be subject to lottery. Tanaka was named on the most bids in the first round, with 4. He throws around 95 and in his free time, has a thing for grafitti. Naoichi Domoue was selected by three different clubs and awarded to Chunichi, despite being a shortstop who hit fifty-five homers in high school.
Somewhere, the Japanese version of this man is screaming at people about this.
The standings in the CL show us a two team race down the stretch:
CL
Chunichi 75-49-5, .605, -- (M# 12)
Hanshin 75-55-4, .577, 3
Yakult 64-64-2, .500, 13
Yomiuri 62-71-2, .466, 17.5
Hiroshima 56-70-5, .444, 20
Yokohama 52-76-3, .406, 25
In Chunichi's last game, they were stifled by Dicky Gonzalez, who pitched a four-hitter to win 4-1. The amazing Kosuke Fukudome provided the only offense for the Dragons, a solo shot in the second inning. He is leading the CL in batting average (.356), OBP (.441), OPS (1.110), doubles (40), and runs (105).
In the PL, where the season ends a little earlier because they actually HAVE a playoff system, we're looking at this:
x-Seibu 79-53-2, .598 -- (M# 2)
x-Nippon Ham 80-54-0 .597 0.0
x-Softbank 75-53-5 .586 2.0
Lotte 63-69-1 .477 16.0
Orix 51-80-3 .389 27.5
Rakuten 45-83-4 .352 32.0
Bobby Valentine's squadron will not be defending their title this year. Seibu has 2 games left, Nippon Ham and Softbank have 3, 2 of which are against each other. Lets all root against Seibu, who are best known for unleashing Kaz Matsui on the American mainland. Those sick bastards.
Either way, with all three having already clinched, expect a playoff preview sometime in the near future. The rest of the season is still VERY important, because after seeing it's top two teams lose in it's first two years of adopting a playoff system, the Pacific League has guaranteed the winner of the regular season both the bye, homefield, AND one free win in a best-of-five.
Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Dragons P Masahiro Yamamoto for becoming the oldest player in Japanese baseball history to throw a no-hitter, 3-0 over Hanshin. Yamamoto, 41, held the Tigers without a hit or a walk (the perfect game was ruined by an error). Hanshin is relying heavily on other teams to help them win the CL, as they are a pathetic 5-13-1 against the front-running Dragons.
Somewhere, the Japanese version of this man is screaming at people about this.
The standings in the CL show us a two team race down the stretch:
CL
Chunichi 75-49-5, .605, -- (M# 12)
Hanshin 75-55-4, .577, 3
Yakult 64-64-2, .500, 13
Yomiuri 62-71-2, .466, 17.5
Hiroshima 56-70-5, .444, 20
Yokohama 52-76-3, .406, 25
In Chunichi's last game, they were stifled by Dicky Gonzalez, who pitched a four-hitter to win 4-1. The amazing Kosuke Fukudome provided the only offense for the Dragons, a solo shot in the second inning. He is leading the CL in batting average (.356), OBP (.441), OPS (1.110), doubles (40), and runs (105).
In the PL, where the season ends a little earlier because they actually HAVE a playoff system, we're looking at this:
x-Seibu 79-53-2, .598 -- (M# 2)
x-Nippon Ham 80-54-0 .597 0.0
x-Softbank 75-53-5 .586 2.0
Lotte 63-69-1 .477 16.0
Orix 51-80-3 .389 27.5
Rakuten 45-83-4 .352 32.0
Bobby Valentine's squadron will not be defending their title this year. Seibu has 2 games left, Nippon Ham and Softbank have 3, 2 of which are against each other. Lets all root against Seibu, who are best known for unleashing Kaz Matsui on the American mainland. Those sick bastards.
Either way, with all three having already clinched, expect a playoff preview sometime in the near future. The rest of the season is still VERY important, because after seeing it's top two teams lose in it's first two years of adopting a playoff system, the Pacific League has guaranteed the winner of the regular season both the bye, homefield, AND one free win in a best-of-five.
Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Dragons P Masahiro Yamamoto for becoming the oldest player in Japanese baseball history to throw a no-hitter, 3-0 over Hanshin. Yamamoto, 41, held the Tigers without a hit or a walk (the perfect game was ruined by an error). Hanshin is relying heavily on other teams to help them win the CL, as they are a pathetic 5-13-1 against the front-running Dragons.
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