It's from the Baltimore series, but there was no way I could make it to Puerto Rico for this one.

Leo Nuñez likes giving everyone near heart attacks. He blew the save last night, but Florida still managed a win thanks to Dan Uggla.

29 June (David’s Birthday!)

NPB
Yomiuri Giants (12) at Hiroshima Carp (9). Six Giants homered (Ramirez homered three times) to put the Giants way ahead of Hiroshima who managed quite an offense themselves. An ugly game that puts them at 27-40-2. At this rate Yakult might pass them.

Rakuten Eagles (0) at Orix Buffaloes (3). Few teams play more erratically than the Orix Buffaloes, but they’re doing consistently well against the Eagles this year. Tanaka’s Tuesday role is not doing the Eagles any favors as he gives up three over eight and the team moves to 32-38-2, good for last in the PL.

MLB
Oakland Athletics (4) at Baltimore Orioles (2). A pretty solid start for Brian Matusz, but it just wasn’t enough to keep the Athletics at bay. I’m a little bitter that I’ll be missing Matt Wieters bobblehead night today, so that’s all I’ve got for Baltimore. They are 23-53.

New York Mets (6) at Florida Marlins (7). The Marlins were lucky to win this one in the ninth thanks to a walk-off single by Dan Uggla. The game also featured a Hanley Ramirez grand slam, but far fewer homers than the night before. Florida remains in fourth, but now holds a 37-40 record.

Tampa Bay Rays (5) at Boston Red Sox (8). The pitching just wasn’t there for Jamie Shields who gave up a few too many to an ailing Boston team. Tampa needs to take two out of three in this series to regain second and the wild card. The Rays now sit at 44-32 in third.

Washington Nationals (7) at Atlanta Braves (2). The Nats do everyone in the East a favor by knocking down the Braves and winning their first in ages. It’s a good thing, because Washington starters whose names don’t contain Strasburg have been seriously struggling of late. Their last place record improves to 34-44.

Strasburg pitched again and it wasn’t quite as magical, but part of that was due to a bad mound. He still has a sub 3.00 ERA (2.19) and struck out another eight. Rock on Strasburg.

11 June

NPB
Nada.

MLB
New York Mets (5) at Baltimore Orioles (1). Back-to-back series against the two New York teams can’t be good for Baltimore. R.A. Dickey brings the knuckleball back to confound the Orioles hitters.

Washington Nationals (2) at Cleveland Indians (7). Throwback jersey night does not go well for Luis Atilano. I bet that Atilano gets optioned soon (or goes when Chien-Ming Wang comes back up).

Florida Marlins (14) at Tampa Bay Rays (9). I hate it when the Rays lose, yet I love it when the Marlins win. I can tell that I’m a huge Marlins fan, because I was ecstatic to see them crushing the Rays. Tampa definitely has a potent offense to catch up, but the Fish proved to be too much. I think it’s great that Florida seems to have Tampa’s number a good portion of the time. I think this could develop into a real rivalry.

12 June

NPB
Hiroshima Carp (6) at Saitama Seibu Lions (2). There’s nothing better than having your team beat one of the best in the Pacific League. Kan Otake notches his first win for the season and the Carp actually see some power without Kurihara.

Yakult Swallows (4) at Rakuten Eagles (1). My two least favorite teams are the Swallows and the Lions. Hirohima did its part and beat Saitama, but Rakuten falls on an uncharacteristically bad night for Iwakuma, who gives up two earned runs.

MLB
Mets (3) at Orioles (1). I’m really starting to get fond of Hisanori Takahashi, even if he was a Giant back in Japan. He hurls seven innings and only gives up one. Nice work.

Nationals (1) at Indians (7). Fausto Carmona is having a real resurgence this year. He completely blanks the potent Washington offense while enjoying another seven-run game.

Marlins (5) at Rays (6). A real close one that came down to the wire, but Carlos Peña’s offense the past week has been red hot. Tough loss for Florida.

13 June

NPB
Carp (4) at Lions (2). Giancarlo Alvorado does his job over six to earn yet another win. Justin Huber, Kurihara’s DL replacement, even goes yard in Kenta’s honor. The Carp end the weekend at 25-34-2, good enough for fourth by 3.5.

Swallows (3) at Eagles (1). Tanaka gives up two in another uncharacteristically bad game to a team whose new manager is paying dividends. Rakuten’s record drops to 29-33-1, good enough for fifth.

MLB
Nationals (9) at Indians (4). If the Nationals bats awaken every time Strasburg comes out to toss, his record is going to balloon. He tosses 5.1 innings and ends up walking five, but I put part of the blame there on his super-shaky mound. The Nats record improves to 31-33, which is only good enough for last in the competitive NL East.

Mets (11) at Orioles (4). The Orioles get brutalized by the Mets, giving up four home runs, two of which went to David Wright. Their record is a miserable 17-46.

Marlins (6) at Rays (1). Chris Volstad and the Marlins serve up Jeff Niemann’s first loss of the season and I love it. Mike Stanton still hasn’t hit any home runs, but since he came up last week he’s been hitting a solid 0.368 with an OPS of 0.981. Not too bad. The power is definitely coming. Florida’s record improves to 31-32, barely edging out the Nats for fourth, while the Rays drop into a tie with the Yankees with their 40-23 record.

This is what I think happens to Min after reading these baseball posts.

Only the NPB had games (as far as teams I care about) yesterday, leaving me with little to do but think about how excited I am to see Strasburg pitch today and hear about Stanton’s performance in Philadelphia. Can’t wait until tonight. Until then…

7 June

NPB
Orix Buffaloes (21) at Hiroshima Carp (10). What in god’s name happened here? Only two of the seven pitchers Hiroshima sent out to the mound managed to not give up a run. This game was UGLY, featuring five home runs by Orix and two by Hiroshima catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara. The Carp record is 22-34-1, which, remarkably, puts them in fourth, somehow.

Rakuten Eagles (0) at Yomiuri Giants (1). Darrel Rasner is really starting to pitch like he wants to keep his job. Nice work, Darrel, but the Rakuten record falls to 28-30-1 in fifth.

MLB
No games (from anyone I care about)

Sayonara!

The old Shea home run apple. I hate this thing.

My friend Lee has somehow got his girlfriend into baseball, probably by pure force of will. This would be great, except she’s a Mets fan now and she loves to trash talk each time the Mets beat the Marlins. Thanks, Lee.

4 June

NPB
Softbank Hawks (4) at Hiroshima Carp (5). A huge fourth inning, including two RBIs by Eric Stults, puts Hiroshima just far enough ahead to win the game.

Rakuten Eagles (12) at Yokohama BayStars (0). Rakuten’s bats awoke in a BIG way, with four home runs, three of which were solo shots, off of Yokohama.

MLB
Boston Red Sox (11) at Baltimore Orioles (0). Didn’t I already recap this game? Oh yeah, this is an MLB game. Juan Samuel’s managerial debut didn’t seem to go very well at all.

Cincinnati Reds (2) at Washington Nationals (4). Liván Hernández pitches what should have been a win, but the offense doesn’t pick up the pace until the 7th.

Florida Marlins (3) at New York Mets (4). Anibal gives up one too many and that was all the Mets needed.

Tampa Bay Rays (6) at Texas Rangers (9). Seems like every time Wade Davis gets above 0.500 with his record, he’s gotta lose one to make up for it. It’s not all that bad, though. Longo homered.

5 June

NPB
Hawks (9) at Carp (3). Takahiro Aoki had a tough day, giving up five in 3.2, dooming the Carp.

Eagles (5) at BayStars (4). A much more respectable effort by Yokohama. Also a surprisingly weak start by Iwakuma that is won thanks to a Randy Ruiz blast in the 9th.

MLB
Marlins (1) at Mets (6). The less said about this start the better. I wish Nate Robertson could only pitch against the Phillies.

Rays (1) at Rangers (6). The Rays slide continues. Lucky them that New York is having some difficulties too, but Boston is playing Baltimore. They need to step it up.

Red Sox (8) at Orioles (2). I’m only upset about this because it helps the Sox look respectable against the Rays.

Reds (5) at Nationals (1). Man, everyone had trouble today, didn’t they. It’s just a guess, but I think Atilano isn’t long for this rotation starting Tuesday when Strasburg comes up.

6 June

NPB
Eagles (10) at Yomiuri Giants (4). I always take great pleasure in seeing the Giants stomped, even if Ma-kun gave up an unprecedented three runs. This win streak is also great for a team that needs to start winning if it doesn’t want the NPB to fire all of its American coaches. Their record improves to 25-29-1. I can almost smell 0.500!

Orix Buffaloes (6) at Carp (1). So much for capitalizing on opportunities when the Giants lose. This disappointing loss puts their record at 21-31-1. 0.500 baseball is a long way off.

MLB
Marlins (6) at Mets (7). The Fish manage to screw up yet another Ricky Nolasco start and give the Mets a sweep and Yin something to goad about to me. Nice work, Marlins. You are now 28-30 in fourth.

Red Sox (3) at Orioles (4). Nick Markakis gets the walk-off win to salvage this series for Baltimore whose abysmal record improves to 16-41.

Reds (5) at Nationals (4). An extra innings loss. The Nats normally get much better relief work from Capps, but he’s been human the past few starts. They are in last with a 27-31 record.

Rays (9) at Rangers (5). Not Garza’s best stuff, but it gets the job done. Their record improves to 37-20, but New York and Boston are knocking on their door if they can’t hold it together.

Ok, so this space isn’t really about Lost, but how great was it? Oh yeah, there was baseball played too.

21 May

NPB
Hiroshima Carp (7) at Softbank Hawks (1). Kenta Maeda is a beast. Really. This guy is the best pitcher in the Central League with his 1.59 ERA and he’s consistently dominant.

Yomiuri Giants (4) at Rakuten Eagles (5). Always good to see the Giants lose.

MLB
Baltimore Orioles (5) at Washington Nationals (3). Shocked that the Nats dropped any to Baltimore, but I guess it can happen sometimes.

Tampa Bay Rays (1) at Houston Astros (2). This was an even worse loss. At least it wasn’t a blowout.

Florida Marlins (0) at Chicago White Sox (8). Mark Buehrle really dominates Florida teams and Ricky Nolasco had a terrible outing.

22 May

NPB
Carp (4) at Hawks (7). Hiroshima gets some runs in on the starter, but it’s not enough to hold back the Hawks’ strong offense.

Giants (5) at Eagles (3). Rakuten can’t afford to lose games Iwakuma starts. Sure, he gave up three, but the relief core gave up the winning runs.

MLB
Marlins (1) at White Sox (4). Another bad game for the Fish. The offense just couldn’t solve White Sox pitching.

Orioles (6) at Nationals (7). Sloppy pitching by both teams, but the Washington offense came out on top.

Rays (4) at Astros (2). This is much more like it. No more losing to bad teams, Tampa.

23 May

NPB
Saitama Seibu Lions at Carp. Rained out. The Carp end the weekend 18-27-0 in fifth.

Eagles (7) at Chunichi Dragons (2). Something happened to Chunichi’s starter, because he was pulled after 3.2 after only giving up three. It’s strange to see Rakuten’s offense awaken at random times, but it does exist. They close the weekend at 21-27-0 in fifth.

MLB
Orioles (3) at Nationals (4). Washington wins this one in extras on a walk-off home run by The Hammer, Josh Willingham. Washington closes the weekend at 23-22, tied for third with the Marlins.

Marlins (13) at White Sox (0). The recent trend is for the Fish to kick major ass whenever Josh Johnson is on the mound shutting out the opposing team. Johnson destroys the Sox over six while the Fish hit five home runs, two by Cody Ross alone. Their record sits at 23-22 in third.

Rays (10) at Astros (6). David Price has an uncharacteristically bad start, but the Rays offense helps him out by scoring a ridiculous amount of runs while the bullpen held the Astros to only one. Tampa Bay’s record jumps to 32-12, putting them a HUGE six games up on the Yankees.

I bet it was this partly this guy's fault, too.

When you have a series against the Giants (and you’re the Hiroshima Carp), things can get ugly. PYS 2010 has taught me that as well, where my version of the Hiroshima Carp are barely a fourth place team.

23 April

NPB
Hiroshima Carp (4) at Yomiuri Giants (10). The Giants offense is potent, to say the least.

Nippon-Ham Fighters (2) at Rakuten Eagles (11). Hokkaido really can’t catch a break, can they?

MLB
Los Angeles Dodgers (1) at Washington Nationals (5). Luis Atilano makes his MLB debut for the Nationals and manages to notch his first win in the same day. Congratulations, Luis.

Baltimore Orioles (3) at Boston Red Sox (4). What’s good for Boston is always considered bad to me. The Orioles continue to get a tough break.

Toronto Blue Jays (6) at Tampa Bay Rays (5). Not how I would have wanted it, but there’s still two games left in the series.

Florida Marlins at Colorado Rockies. Postponed for rain.

24 April

NPB
Fighters (0) at Eagles (3). I can’t complain about how well Rakuten is doing against Hokkaido.

Carp (4) at Giants (7). Hiroshima answers back with some runs, but the Fish can’t notch quite enough for the win.

MLB
Dodgers (4) at Nationals (3). LA comes back right away to win a close one.

Marlins (4) at Rockies (1). Game 1 of the series made up from yesterday. Get ready for a doubleheader.

Blue Jays (3) at Rays (9). Tampa Bay answers back with some serious run support.

Orioles (6) at Red Sox (7). So close! Baltimore is really struggling to get another win.

Marlins (1) at Rockies (8). The Fish get knocked around by the mountains.

25 April

NPB
Fighters (3) at Eagles (4). Rakuten completes the series sweep, which is great for their record and should push them further up in the standings. The Golden Eagles end the week at 12-16-0, still in fifth.

Carp (2) at Giants (8). Like the Eagles, the Giants sweep the Carp, devastating their place. Hiroshima closes the week at 10-15-0, surprisingly just a game back from the fourth place Swallows.

MLB
Orioles (7) at Red Sox (6). It’s funny when an Orioles win provides so much excitement, but that’s what happens when your team is only 3-16 in dead last.

Dodgers (0) at Nationals (1). These are the types of games that Washington has to win if they want to compete. The Nats are putting together quite the season with their 10-9 > 0.500 record so soon in the season. New York also had a good weekend while Florida had a poor one, which means all three of those teams are tied at 10-9, 1.5 games back on the Phillies in second.

Blue Jays (0) at Rays (6). If David Price keeps pitching like this…Wow. Nice work. Tampa Bay’s 14-5 record is good enough a 1.5 game lead on the Yankees for first place.

Marlins (4) at Rockies (8). Another series loss for Florida. Just a little disappointing, but at least they’re still only 1.5 GB from first with that same 10-9 record as everyone else.

160 games in for some teams.

Words cannot describe how great it is to FINALLY have the 2010 season underway for both leagues! Since we had an MLB-only post last week, we’ll start with the NPB.

Sorry Min

What an unfortunate week it’s been for me to root for the Carp and the Eagles. Both teams put together three wins over the last week, which is pretty shameful.

Hiroshima faced off against two tough teams last week, the Giants and the Tigers, but managed to get their miraculous win over the Swallows who have had a hot start to the season. In other non-reputable news, Marty Brown, skipper for the Carp, got thrown out of the game on Sunday. He currently leads NPB managers in the number of times thrown out of a ballpark.

Rakuten has had a 100% better week with two wins, but it was still a pretty poor performance. The Hawks were supposed to be a pretty easy win for them, but they only took one of the series. The struggling Fighters provided their sole other win. Thank God the Eagles don’t have to face Darvish this week.

The Florida Marlins: America's Only Baseball Team With Cheerleaders

It’s been just two days since the MLB season started, but they’ve already been pretty exciting. A great play by Mark Buehrle, an exciting game from the Yankees and Red Sox, Obama throwing the first pitch, fantastic pitching performances by Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, and Johan Santana, and the exciting debut of Jason Heyward for the Braves.

My Fish didn’t fare too well against the Mets losing 1-7 against Johan Santana. It brought Johnson’s lifetime record against the Mets finally down to 7-1 in an outing in which he gave up four runs. There’s not much you can do against Santana, so it was pretty disappointing. Hopefully they can bounce back against the Mets tonight.

Tampa Bay opened last night against the Orioles in a real nailbiter that went down to the wire. Thanks to Carl Crawford, the Rays were able to win in a walk-off in the 9th. It was good to see the bullpen hold Orioles pretty close and give the Rays a chance to score the runs they needed. This team could go places this year.

Enjoy this new Longoria commercial for New Era caps.

There's always optimism on Opening Day. Look at the huge smile on Teddy!

3 April

NPB
Yomiuri Giants (6) at Hiroshima Carp (5). The Carp fall to 1-6-0 and are last in the Central League.
Softbank Hawks (10) at Rakuten Golden Eagles (6). The Eagles take a hit to 3-7-0 and are in fifth place in the Pacific League.

4 April

NPB
Yomiuri Giants (10) at Hiroshima Carp (3). The Carp fall to 1-7-0 and look awful in last in the Central League.
Softbank Hawks (3) at Rakuten Golden Eagles (2). The Eagles fall to 3-8-0 and are still in fifth place in the Pacific League.

5 April

MLB
Florida Marlins (1) at New York Mets (7). Josh Johnson loses his first game against the Mets (lifetime 7-0) while the Mets grow their Opening Day win streak to five games. The Marlins are 0-1. They are naturally tied for last place.
Philadelphia Phillies (11) at Washington Nationals (1). President Obama’s message of Hope couldn’t buoy the Nats over the Phils. They held a lead until the floodgates opened for the Phillies in the 5th. Then things just got ugly. The Nationals are 0-1 and tied for last.

Rakuten gets the nod for today's picture since the Carp blew their lead on the Giants.

2 April

NPB
Yomiuri Giants (5) at Hiroshima Carp (4). The Carp fall to 1-5-0 in last in the Central League.
Softbank Hawks (6) at Rakuten Golden Eagles (8). The Eagles are now 3-6-0 and in fifth place in the Pacific League.

When I woke up this morning, the Carp were actually up on the Giants and primed to win. It all fell apart by the time I got to work. Hiroshima couldn’t mound a counter-offensive and dropped another game at home.

Rakuten looks look to end their funk by beating the soft target that is the Hawks of late. The Eagles took the lead early and kept the offense going to stymie the Hawks who continued to mount counteroffensives. Juan Morillo couldn’t quite hold the Hawks to no runs in the 9th, but still managed to hold a two-run lead.

Since I didn't talk about the NPB yesterday I didn't get a chance to put up another picture of a baseball babe. Sorry Min, that won't happen again.

1 April

NPB
Hanshin Tigers at Hiroshima Carp. Appears to have been rained out. The Carp remain at 1-4-0 in last in the Central League.
Rakuten Golden Eagles (2) at Chiba Lotte Marines (3). The Eagles are now 2-6-0 and in fifth place in the Pacific League.

It was too good to be true for the Eagles to start a win streak. They go on to face the Hawks tomorrow. Softbank has been having a hard time recently, so it’s a good time for Rakuten to start performing.

Meanwhile, the Carp will go on to face the Yomiuri Giants in a series that can only be saved by a miracle. Is five games in a little early to start getting so dramatic about the Carp’s misfortunes? Probably, but I don’t see much good coming out of a series with the Giants.

Just in case you were wondering about the relevance of the picture, it’s obvious, isn’t it? The Carp were playing the Tigers today. These girls are on the Hanshin Tigers racing team, a totally different sport.