No more weekday games - I'm working!

If you've been following, you know that my work visa expires at the end of October. In order to remain in Japan legally, I needed to find a job quickly. And I did. Starting tomorrow. Which means I won't be going to any more weekday baseball games. With the minor-league season over, there was only the Tohto Baseball League, but I was hoping to see a few more of those doubleheaders. Even today's planned games were washed out, so it'll be next season at the earliest to revisit that league.

I will be checking out some Tokyo Big 6 League action in a couple of weeks, as well as some Top League Rugby the weekend after. Early November will see two championship soccer games at the National Stadium. After that, the blog will probably be pretty quiet for a while as there's not that much of interest over the winter months here other than the unfortunately named bj-league and the Asia Ice Hockey League. I'll likely check out a game or two in each of those leagues.

In the long run, I'm hoping for another large-scale baseball trip next summer in the US and the NFL road trip is always in the back of my mind. It all depends on how the job goes. For now, check back occasionally for updates.

Best,

Sean

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Tokyo Tennis Troubles

As I write this, the Toray Pan Pacific Open is taking place at Ariake Coliseum. I was planning to spend a day there but a spate of upsets has led me to change my mind. Venus Williams lost her first match yesterday, as did 1st-seed Dinara Safina. Serena Williams had already pulled out, so 3 of the top players are gone before the 3rd round. With the good seats going for over $100 for the quarterfinals, I've decided to save my money for now.

Next week sees the men's tour visit Tokyo in the form of the Rakuten Japan Open. However, world #1 Roger Federer has just pulled out, and Rafael Nadal was not planning to attend. So again the big draws are missing. There's still some big names coming such as Andy Murray and U.S. Open Champion Juan Martin Del Potro, so I'm not sure if I'll see some early round action.

Best,

Sean

Update: I found a job (oh no!) and start on Thursday, so won't be checking out any matches at either tournament.

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Connecticut Defenders moving to Richmond, VA

Back in July I visited Norwich, CT to see a game between the Connecticut Defenders and Harrisburg Senators. A brief but powerful afternoon rainstorm rendered the field unplayable and the game was called. I was upset but optimistic that I could return in the next couple of years to catch a game there.

Sadly, my optimism was unfounded. The Defenders have announced that they are moving to Richmond, where they will take up residence at the Diamond, former home of the Richmond Braves. In the minors, team relocation is an annual occurrence; there are well over 150 teams in the various affiliated leagues so it's natural that a few will be sold every off-season. I've seen the AAA Vancouver Canadians move to Sacramento and the AAA Ottawa Lynx head down to Allentown, just two of several Canadian teams that moved south. Last year, Tucson moved to Reno while Richmond left for Gwinnett, GA. I'm sure there's dozens of other examples. The upshot is that when you have a chance to see a game on the road, you should take it - you never know when that team will be packing up for greener pastures.

Best,

Sean

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MLB 2010 schedule released

While I was in Hawaii, MLB released their tentative 2010 schedule. It's great for roadtrippers to get a schedule so early, you can plan your trips well in advance. Unfortunately for me, the matchup I was looking forward to happens at the end of season.

Next year will see the grand opening of Target Field in Minneapolis so I have to go visit the new ballpark. The Blue Jays, who I like to watch on the road despite recent disappointments in Pittsburgh (2008) and New York (2009), will not travel to Target Field until October 2010. This is the last series of the season, and I'll wager that by then the Jays will be well out of the pennant race. As well, I really want to do the NFL trip next season, so an October baseball series is not likely.

As it looks like I'll be watching other teams in Minny, I'll wait for the nearby minor league teams to release their schedules before planning the big trip. However, Toronto does have an interesting West Coast swing in Phoenix and Anaheim in late May, so I'll put that on the 'think-about' list.

In the meantime, if you're looking to plan your own MLB Roadtrip 2010, the schedule is here.

Best,

Sean

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Tohto University Baseball - Two games on Monday!

University Baseball in Tokyo

Most baseball fans in Japan are familiar with the NPB as well as the high school game: both are widely televised nationwide. However, there's another level of baseball that doesn't get as much exposure as it should: university baseball. Within Tokyo alone, there are two leagues that consist of 27 teams total. Each league plays games in the spring and autumn and provide a great chance to catch future prospects at their most polite.

The players bow before the game

The first and more widely known circuit is the Tokyo Big 6 League, featuring six of the larger schools in the area. They play games on weekends at Jingu, home of the Yakult Swallows. I have seen some of these games on television occasionally but have yet to see one in person, since my weekends are usually busy. I'll be rectifying this oversight in a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, there's another league known as the Tohto University Baseball League which plays their games on weekdays. The 21 teams in this league are divided into 4 "divisions" and teams are relegated and promoted between divisions. The top 3 divisions have 6 teams while there's only 3 teams in division 4.

Each season (i.e. twice a year, once during spring and once during fall), there is a simple round robin where each team plays a best-of-three series against each other team in their division (except in division 4, where 2 series are played). If the first two games of a series are split or one game is tied, then a third rubber match is played, but should one team sweep the first two games, the third is cancelled. The team that wins the series is awarded 1 point, and after the round robin, the team with the most points is the champion for that season. Overall win/loss records are used in the event that two teams have the same number of points. So it's technically possible to finish behind a team that has a worse record but more points, although I'm sure it doesn't happen that often.

I only discovered the Tohto league website yesterday while I was looking for info on the Big 6 league. I noticed that Division 2 had two games scheduled for this morning at Jingu's #2 Stadium, which I had yet to visit. So I woke up early and took the train over to Gaienmae station, and made the short walk up to the stadium.

Jingu #2 Stadium



This ballpark is located right next to the main Jingu Stadium. However, it is more than just a baseball stadium: along the first base side is a large driving range. I guess space is at a premium in central Tokyo, and since the stadium is not used much, they've found a creative way to generate more revenue. The interesting thing about this is the 100-foot high netting that rises beyond the outfield fence to protect the surrounding neighborhood from golf shots that might be too powerful.



Due to the driving range (shown above) though, there aren't many seats - the bowl extends both ways from home plate but only out to about a third of the way down the lines, as you can tell from the picture above. The good news is that they've actually left two sections unprotected by the ubiquitous fences, so you can get a clear view of the action at home plate. But if you sit too far back in this section on the first base side, you can't see the right fielder as he is blocked by the driving range. Bizarre.

There are two levels of seating: a lower two-tiered section with a small walkway between, and then an upper section of benches which was closed off for today's games. The overhang from the upper section provides good cover for the lower seats. Even those seats near the front were shaded for the most part today as the sun traveled low in the sky behind the stadium. All seats are 1,300 yen and you can sit where you please (except where the cheering sections sit).



Another cool feature here was the scoreboard - it was manually operated but also had the lineups posted. Which means that someone needed to write down every name before the game, as well as to change names during the game. The nameplates were blackboards and chalk seemed to be used. That's a lot of work for a scoreboard operator. When a team was at the plate, their DH would be displayed, but when pitching, it would be the pitcher showing in the DH's spot. Check the pic below for an example: note how the team on the left has the DH showing, while the team on the right has the pitcher (Togame) displayed. It also looks like the game is in progress, but that's because there are 15 innings showing; the shot below was taken after the game.



Overall, I was surprised at how different and unique this place was compared to the other stadiums I've seen this year. It'd be a great minor league park but I guess they make more money using it as a driving range, a sad commentary on priorities here. Anyway, I'll try to come back for more games this season.

Game 1 - Senshu University 3 - Kokushikan University 4 (10 innings)

The first game got underway at 9:57 am, which I am sure is the earliest I've ever seen a pitch thrown. Not much happened until the 3rd when a sacrifice fly brought home the game's first run for Kokushikan. Senshu, alma mater of Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda, replied with two in the 4th, helped by an error, but they left the bases loaded. In the bottom half, right fielder Mizuguchi (below) smacked a homer to tie the game, but Senshu responded quickly with a Konoue double to regain their 1-run lead.



In the bottom of the 7th, a leadoff single and a throwing error put a man on second with nobody out for Kokushikan, still trailing by 1. A sacrifice and then a perfectly executed squeeze brought the runner home and we were tied. Nothing was settled in the next two innings, so we headed to extras. After reliever Higuchi struck out the Senshu side in the 10th, Kokushikan's leadoff hitter Shimazu bunted for a single and advanced to second when Senshu pitcher Kataoka threw wildly. The next batter also bunted and the throw to first went wild again, allowing Shimazu to trot home with the winning run. Three errors by Senshu were their downfall as they lost 4-3 in 10 innings, with two unearned runs making the difference.


Senshu's Konoue pops up here

There were 6 sacrifice bunts in this game as well as two strikeouts on bunts. Really an overused option here in Japan. Kokushikan starter Izawa went 9 innings and 137 pitches, scattering 12 hits but only giving up those 3 runs (1 unearned). He didn't get the win though, but at least his team did. Otherwise not much to comment about in this game, it took 2:41, which seems to be a bit long for this league. But it was still a decent match that ended on the last play.

Game 2 - Tokyo University of Agriculture 1 at Nihon University 5

I didn't keep score for this game, but the star was Nihon's starter Togame. He went 9 innings, giving up only a homer among 7 hits, and striking out only 1. His defense was great, which it has to be when your pitching to contact. What I found most interesting was his unorthodox delivery. He would throw with all his might and then drop his head down so low as he released that his hat would fall off on nearly every pitch. Even when warming up, he threw so hard that he would stumble if the footing wasn't right. It was fun to watch, the pics below show what I mean.


Look at his face in the left picture, then check out how his head drops and his hat falls off. You could have a great drinking game predicting how many times his hat falls off for each batter.

I thought Togame's mound opponent Yoshihara was also quite good for Nodai (Agricultural U in Japanese), but a bases clearing double was his undoing in the 5th and Nodai never threatened to make it close after that. This game took just 1:57, which has to be the shortest game I have ever seen in Japan. If someone can explain to me why the big leagues take so much longer here, I'd love to know.


Fouled off by Nodai's Tanaka

Cheering Sections

As is the norm in Japan, cheering sections were present today. For both games though, only the side on 3rd base had a full cheering section. The first base teams had some students yelling support but nobody actually leading cheers. I'm not sure if this is a rule within the stadium or just a coincidence. In any case, the cheering groups are rather small - Senshu had 3 female cheerleaders, a guy with a saxophone, and two male cheer "managers" who wear black suits and perform exaggerated arm movements when leading the cheers. They are pictured below.



The Tokyo University of Agriculture had far more supporters, with about 8 or so managers and a 10-member band, along with 3 female pom-pom pushers. But the funniest bit was when they scored their only run of the game. The cheer squad pulled out two daikon each (daikon is a large white radish) and danced while waving them in the air. As they are the "Farm" school, it only makes sense to celebrate with a large vegetable. Turns out that this celebration is famous throughout Japan and there's actually a Daikon Dance performed on other occasions. Check out the pic below - if you click on it and look at the larger version, you will see the daikon under their seats!



Nihon University had a section of about 20 well-dressed students (below) who sang their school song (I'm guessing that's what it is) whenever they scored. Kokushikan had just a few students supporting them, but hey, it was 10am on a Monday, so I'm sure everyone else was in school!



Random Thoughts

The round-robin rules are quite interesting. If a team won every series 2-1, it would have a 10-5 record for 5 points, whereas a team that won 4 series 2-0 and lost one series 1-2 would have a 9-2 record but only 4 points. But the 5 points would win the title for that season.

There are plenty more university baseball leagues around the country, but it's tough finding reliable up-to-date info on all of them. I wish Japan would upgrade their sports info with something like ESPN, where I could track this stuff in one place. I'm sure some of these guys will be drafted, particularly Togame, but I can't find much useful stuff on him.

It amazed me how many people showed up for the game at 10 am. Although 1,300 yen is not cheap (compared to free for the minors in some cases), the location of the stadium is close enough that I save on the transport cost, so it's about the same at the end of the day. I really enjoyed the games today, even though it was only division 2, and will make an attempt to see some division 1 games later this week.

Nihon University players bowing to their fans after the game

Best

Sean

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Canada takes the Bronze at Baseball World Cup!

It continues to amaze me that the more I look for sporting events that I could travel to, the more I discover. This past couple of weeks saw the 2009 World Baseball Cup played in Europe. Hosted by 8 countries with the finals held in Italy; the competition featured 22 teams, from powers like the USA and Cuba down to European minnows such as Sweden and the Czech Republic. I would have loved to have been able to make a trip to a few of these games, although I expect the logistics would have been difficult. Still, making this sort of trip is what I aspire to.

I won't go into detail here on the outcome, other than to say it's great that Canada grabbed 3rd place in the tournament. It's true that some countries were unable to send their best players. Japan, for example, could only send players from their industrial leagues as their university leagues are currently in action (more on that in a future post). So it's not entirely surprising that they were knocked out after round 2. But Canada did send a strong team and they were rewarded with a 12-3 composite record and the bronze medal. I didn't realize that Canada is ranked 7th in the world, but here's hoping that they're able to keep things going for the 2012 Olympics. Oh wait. Baseball's out of the Olympics. So guess it's the 2012 WBC to hope for.

The USA defeated Cuba 10-5 in the final to take their 2nd consecutive World Cup and 4th overall. Cuba still leads with 25 titles, including 8 consecutive between 1984 and 2005.

Best,

Sean

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Giants win the Eastern League - why ties suck in baseball

It was an interesting finish to the Eastern League here in Japan. The Yomiuri Giants had gone on an 11-3 run in September and with 1 game left in the 108-game slate, they were tied for first with both Shonan and Lotte. However, Japanese baseball allows tie games, so their records were not identical. Both Yomiuri and Shonan had 59-46-2 records for a .562 winning percentage, while Shonan was 60-47-0 to stand 3rd at .561. You might wonder how that is: all 3 teams are 13 games over .500 and have played 107 games - their percentages should be the same, right? Nope, ties are ignored in the calculation. So Shonan is punished for not tying two games. Imagine if a team went 1-0-107, tying all but one game. Their percentage would be 1.000 - a perfect season! Another way of looking at it is that 0-0-2 is considered better than 1-1-0. Coming from a hockey background, where ties count 1 point and wins 2, I find this rather silly and unfair. Ties should be included in percentage calculations as 1/2 a win.

Anyway, Lotte and Yomiuri played each other today at Giants Stadium. The winner would notch the championship, while idle Shonan (who close out the season tomorrow against Yakult) could only watch. Interestingly, if Yomiuri and Lotte tied their game today, then Shonan would have a chance for the pennant tomorrow. But sadly it was not to be. The Giants defeated Lotte 9-5 to clinch the title; their 23rd. And with the big-league Giants also winning the Central League, it marks the 15th Kyodai V (brothers victory) in their history. Ugh. I didn't realize the junior team had the same obnoxious attitude as their much-hated CL counterparts, but next season, I'll be rooting for everybody else to put them in their place. Preferably last place.

Sadly, I was otherwise occupied today so couldn't go to the game, but I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed watching the baby Giants celebrate. The Giants will now play the Western League champion Chunichi Dragons next Saturday in Toyama, which is rather far from Tokyo. So I won't be going there either.

I also missed the Big 6 university games on Saturday due to a sudden visit from an old friend, so I'll try to go in the next couple of weeks. I also found out about another college league that plays weekday games, so I might see some of those should I find time this week. Finally, there's also a women's tennis tournament in town this week, so I'm going to try to catch at least one day of action. So it should be a busy week as I return to sports-watching mode. Check back mid-week for updates and some photos.

Best,

Sean

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Giants clinch, Frontale wins the first leg, NRL playoffs

Giants win their 3rd consecutive title behind Obispo

A few weeks ago, I watched Wifrin Obispo pitch in a minor league game for the Giants against Yakult. While I was in Hawaii, he was recalled to the big club and has been pitching well. Today, he started against Chunichi and pitched 7 good innings, giving up only 5 hits and a walk. Unfortunately, one of the hits was a 3-run homer from veteran catcher Motonobu Tanishige, but this was the only blemish. The offense managed to put together 5 runs and the bullpen held the lead, giving Obispo 5 wins against only 1 loss, with a tidy 2.66 ERA.

Sadly, this victory gave the Giants their third straight Central League title. Their celebration was an orgy of beer spraying as the players tried to soak each other with bottles of Asahi. Such a waste! I am not a fan of the Giants, who dominate Japanese baseball in much the same way the Yankees and Red Sox do in MLB, so 3 titles in a row is particularly bothersome. And with the Yankees clinching their playoff berth on the same day (in Japan at least), it's doubly depressing. But I'm glad to see Obispo succeed, and I know that I lucked out watching this kid pitch from 100 feet away for free just three weeks before he started a critical game.

I should note that Chunichi is solidly in second place in the CL and will host Hanshin, Yakult, or Hiroshima in the first round of the Climax series. These 3 teams are all within 1.5 games of each other but are about 8 games below .500. So it's a rather ugly race and I'd expect Chunichi to dispose of whichever team takes 3rd place and challenge the Giants for the CL title.

In the Pacific League, the Nippon Ham Fighters are choking away their lead and now have only a 3.5 game cushion on the Softbank Hawks . The Rakuten Golden Eagles stand 3rd with a 2-game lead on 4th-place Seibu. It's certainly a much more interesting race than anything happening in MLB. But the bad news is that the only Tokyo-area team to host games in the playoffs will be the Giants and I don't know if I can stomach a game there.

Frontale knocks off Nagoya

Today was the first leg of the Asian Champions League quarter-finals. Kawasaki Frontale hosted Nagoya Grampus in an afternoon tilt. A first-half goal from Aussie national Joshua Kennedy gave Grampus a 1-0 lead, but Frontale replied with two in the second half from Kengo Nakamura and Juninho to win 2-1. They travel to Nagoya next week for the second leg, and if Frontale can hold on, they'd advance to the semi-finals against either an Uzebekistan or Saudi Arabian team. They'd play the first leg on the road in one of those two countries - now there's a road trip worth thinking about!

NRL semi-finals this weekend

Back in May I saw Brisbane defeat the Gold Coast in National Rugby League action in Australia. Well, it's a long season there, and the playoffs are finally underway. In the first round, the Broncos, who finished 6th, visited the 3rd place Titans in a rematch of the game I saw, and won 40-32. Due to the odd playoff system, both teams advanced to round 2, where Gold Coast lost to 8th-place Parramatta Eels, while Brisbane beat the 1st place Dragons (who were upset by the Eels the week before).

This weekend sees Brisbane travel to Melbourne while the surprising Eels take on the Canterbury Bulldogs. The two winners meet in the Grand Final on October 4th. I'll be cheering for Brisbane, but they are heavy underdogs. I'll let you all know what happened next week.

Best,

Sean

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Rakuten Golden Eagles 7 at Yomiuri Giants 12 (Eastern League) - September 22, 2009

The minor league season is drawing to a close here in Japan, and I wanted to visit Giants Stadium one more time as it is the best place to watch a game for me. My friend Hiroshi, a Giants fan who had never seen a minor league game, joined me.

I've described the stadium previously, but there was one small difference today: there was a shuttle bus from the station to the stadium. The bus only runs on weekends and holidays though, but we're in the middle of a 5-day long weekend, so it was available. It runs every 20 minutes from 11:00 to 12:40 for the 1:00 game, and saves you the 10-minute walk up 283 stairs.

The shuttle bus

Due to the holiday I was expecting a large crowd and wasn't disappointed. There were 1,823 people there, compared to an average weekday crowd of around 400. By the time the game started, nearly every seat was taken and the atmosphere was comparable to a minor league game in the States. We were able to get two seats behind the plate, but they were relatively far away as all the front row seats were filled. So there aren't many pics from this game.

The Giants were hosting Rakuten, who I had seen two weeks earlier in Lotte. In that game, they made 4 errors and only had two hits while being shut out. In today's game their offense was hitting on all cylinders as they took a 6-0 lead in the 5th inning. Unfortunately their defense was abysmal yet again: 2 errors in the 5th allowed the Giants to score 5 runs (4 unearned) and 2 more miscues in the 6th led to 2 more runs. Rakuten had managed to score a run in between, so we were tied at 7 after 7 innings.

The Giants then brought in ex-Blue Jay Micheal Nakamura (pictured below) who pitched a perfect 8th inning. In the bottom half, Rakuten veteran pitcher Hiroki Yamamura threw away a sacrifice bunt 9their 5th error!) and Yomiuri capitalized, scoring 5 runs, highlighted by a monster 3-run homer from Seung-Yeop Lee. Nakamura pitched a quick ninth and the Giants had overcome a 6-run defecit to win 12-7.

Another ugly game from Rakuten who knocked out 16 hits but allowed 8 unearned runs. There's a reason they are in last place. The Giants meanwhile took over the lead in the Eastern League, a half-game in front of Lotte and Shonan. The Giants have a home-and-home with the Marines this weekend which should settle the pennant. I'll let you know who wins next week.

Thoughts on the Japanese minors

I was planning to see a Futures game today down in Yokosuka, but I'm not feeling all that well, so I'll skip it. Which means that my minor league schedule is finished for the year. Overall, I really enjoyed going to all these games - high-quality baseball, often for free. Sure, some of the stadiums are terrible, but it beats the big leagues here. I often wonder why the NPB doesn't upgrade their minor-league system as they could easily draw decent crowds with night games in decent stadiums, but I'm not complaining. I feel like I happened upon a secret and I'm happy if it stays that way. Next year I'll either be working or out of Japan and won't make any weekday games, which is rather depressing. But if I'm still here, I do hope to make it down to Kansai for some Western League games - there's still 5 parks I've yet to see. As always, check back here for updates.

Best,

Sean

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Sportsless in Hawaii

I've just returned from a fantastic 10-day trip to Hawaii. I don't want to get into the details of the trip, but would highly recommend Volcanos National Park on the Big Island - hiking through volcanic craters and watching lava flowing at night are just two highlights.

What was unique about this trip was that I didn't watch a single sporting event - not live nor on TV. Obviously, Hawaii doesn't have any pro sports teams, but the University of Hawaii has several teams and there was a women's volleyball tournament going on while I was in Oahu. But when there's beaches and sunsets and plenty of other stuff to do, it's tough to go watch a sport I really don't like. So I didn't.

Still, I expected to watch a game or two on the tube. But I forgot that Hawaii is 6 hours earlier than the East Coast and 3 hours earlier than the West Coast. Which means most weekday games are on between 1 pm until 7 pm. This is prime beach time followed by happy hour time, so I didn't make an effort to watch a single game (helped by the fact that the MLB pennant races are pretty dull). I did catch the scores on ESPN after getting back, but I was usually too tired to watch SportsCenter, so I missed lots of news, such as the fact that the NHL pre-season has started.

Weekend games are a bit better, starting at 7 am, but even then you don't want to spend time indoors when you could be outside in the glorious sun. And with college football on now, there wasn't much MLB to be seen. After a couple of days, my mind actually stopped thinking about sports. It wasn't until I was at the airport yesterday afternoon that I remembered the NFL and caught the last quarter of the Bears-Steelers game at a bar before boarding the plane.

Now I'm back in Japan and will check out a couple of minor league games to get back in the swing of things. It's a 5-day weekend here so I expect some big crowds, especially for today's game which features the Rakuten Golden Eagles against the Giants. Look for the report here tomorrow.

Best,

Sean

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Rakuten Golden Eagles 0 at Chiba Lotte Marines 5 (Eastern League) - September 9, 2009

Lotte Urawa Field was the first minor league park that I had seen this season, and I had arrived rather late not realizing how few seats are available. I ended up at the end of a very uncomfortable bench that did not provide a good view of the action. I wanted to see this place once more from a different perspective, so I got out to Musashi Urawa station early enough to grab a seat right by the fence on the 3rd base side. Unfortunately, I was still pretty far from home plate; it looks like the real fans are there about 90 minutes before game time to take the best spots. Even then, the closest seats are halfway down the baseline, there are no seats next to home plate like at Yakult Toda Field.

The Game

There's no need to describe how to get here or the park itself; I've done that before. I'll just mention some of the game highlights.

Satoru Komiyama started for Lotte - you might remember him from his one season with the Mets back in 2002, (although you probably don't, he didn't do much). Komiyama has had a long career in Japanese baseball, first pitching for the Marines back in 1990. From what I can gather, he was sent down earlier this year as he posted an ERA over 10 in just 11 innings with the big club. But he's only pitched in 13 innings for the minor league team, which suggests he's been hurt for most of the season. When his named was announced as the starter, the Lotte fans murmured appreciatively. He's one of Japan's most famous pitchers, and to see him here was a nice surprise. He's warming up in the picture below.

Rakuten sent En-Yu Lin to the hill. He's a Taiwanese prospect with only 4 innings in the minors this year, which leads me to believe the injury that caused him to miss the Olympic qualification last year was quite serious.

It looked like a good pitching matchup, and it was. For 2 innings. Komiyama faced 6 batters over 2 frames, walking one but getting him on a double play. I guess it's was a rehab start since he was replaced by Yoshihide Kanda, a 7-year veteran whose never been good enough to stick for a whole season with the top team.

Meanwhile, Lin pitched 3 scoreless innings himself before being replaced by Hiroshi Katayama, a young pitcher who has struggled this year in the minors. That's when the pitching duel ended.

Kanda maintained the pace set by Komiyama, going 6 strong innings, yielding only a single and a hit batsman.

Katayama was not nearly as effective, loading the bases with nobody out in the fourth, only to escape on a pop out and double play. In the 5th, he loaded the bases again with nobody out. This time, he was not so lucky as DH Akira Otsuka, a Lotte veteran, doubled to center for 2 runs. The throw to third got away (the first of 4 Eagle errors) and another run scored as Otsuka moved to third. He came home on a groundout to make it 4-0 Marines.

Naotaka Takehara on second after a double

They added another unearned run in the 6th and really, with Kanda pitching so well, the game was over then. Tomohiso Nemoto pitched a quick 9th to end the game as the Marines rewarded their faithful fans with a 5-0 victory. The Eagles had only 2 hits and those 4 errors, which is not a recipe for success.

The game took only 2:22, which was great as rain was threatening near the end. Certainly the story was Kanda, who was pitching with confidence and baffling the Rakuten hitters. I should note that Lotte leads the Eastern League while Rakuten is in last place; this game certainly made that clear.

Chase Lambin

Before the game, I was sitting next to the field with my friend Joe as Chase Lambin, a one-time Marlins farmhand, walked by. He noticed our two pasty white faces and was surprised - not many foreigners make it out to these games. He asked "What language are you guys speaking?" - clearly not used to hearing English around Musashi Urawa.

After the game, we were just hanging out next to the park, where the players have to walk past to get to the clubhouse. I was taking pictures of Komiyama as he signed autographs. I saw Lambin walking and Joe went up to congratulate him. Lambin, who displayed a great sense of humour, said "For what?" Joe, who knows little about baseball, said "Ummm, for having a good game". As Lambin was 0-4 with an error, I think he knew that Joe had no idea what he was talking about and said, "Oh, cuz we won". Pretty funny.

After that, Lambin chatted with us for a few minutes while signing autographs for other fans. I was interested in his routine playing for the minor league team. Turns out he lives near Chiba Marine Stadium where the big team plays and has to take an hour and a half train out to Musashi Urawa, leaving at 7 am. They start stretching at 9:30 for a 1 pm game, and he said he doesn't get home till 6 or 7 most nights, so it's really a full-time job. Just like a Japanese salaryman I thought. Anyway, it was fun chatting with him and his wife Sara and their interpreter and I thank Chase for giving us some time. He's wearing #43 below.

I did a little research after I got home and found out that he played in Albuquerque last season, hitting .300 with 14 homers. Not sure why those numbers weren't good enough for a September call-up or a look-see with another team. But when he had a chance to try out for a Japanese team, he jumped at the chance, winning a spot with the Marines. Unfortunately, he was only hitting .192 here with the big club in limited at bats so they sent him down. He's hitting around .220 in the minors, so it looks like he's having trouble adjusting to the Japanese game, but he seems to have a very positive attitude so here's hoping he's back here next season.

What is most interesting about Chase is that he has his own blog. He's articulate and funny, and it's fascinating reading about his experiences in Japan, especially his thoughts on playing in the games. There's some great non-game stuff on there that most athletes would be loath to make public, including a video of him dancing on a table at a bar in Sapporo. I encourage you to have a look if you have time; it's definitely one of the better ballplayer blogs you'll see.

Thanking the Fans

Today was the last game of the season at Lotte Urawa. After the game, the players all formed along the 3rd-base line to thank their fans for their support, as you can see below. It was a nice touch and the fans all stood and applauded. I think this is true fan appreciation and something that could be done elsewhere.

Lining Up for Autographs

Finally, I mentioned that Komiyama is a very famous pitcher in Japan. After the game, he was singing autographs on the road that leads to the clubhouse. In the States, I would expect a mob of people to surround him, pushing and shoving to get an autograph. But here everybody lined up and waited their turn; one-by-one Komiyama signed their memorabilia until there was nobody left. It was nice to see the respect the fans have for each other as well as the players.

Break Time

I'm off to Hawaii in 2 days, and won't be updating the blog much while I am gone as there's not much to see in terms of live sports. I'm back on the 21st and will see two minor league games and then a college/major tripleheader to finish off the regular baseball season. Check back in two weeks for updates.

Best,

Sean

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