Hokkaido-Nippon-Ham-Fighters

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Everyone loves a walk-off win. Go Rays!”] [/caption] I think the date in my Scores That Matter titles are getting confusing now that they’re applying to the day before’s games. They are gone as of today. 6 April NPB Hiroshima Carp (3) at Yakult Swallows (2). The 7-game losing streak is snapped, bringing the Carp to 2-7-0, but still in last. Rakuten Eagles (3) at Nippon-Ham Fighters (1). Nippon-Ham is having a really tough time. Not what you’d expect from last year’s Pacific League Champions. The Eagles are 4-8-0 and are still in fifth. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“160 games in for some teams.”] [/caption] 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. [caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Sorry Min”] [/caption] 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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“There’s always optimism on Opening Day. Look at the huge smile on Teddy!”] [/caption] 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. ...

It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. It’s all old news by now, but the World Series champions for this year were the New York Yankees. Powered by a ridiculous performance by Hideki Matsui, the Yanks pulled far ahead early in the game as Matsui clobbered anything Pedro Martinez threw at him. It wasn’t a massacre, but it wasn’t pretty either. World Series Time-Lapse by Robert Caplin from Robert Caplin on Vimeo. ...

The pride of my trip to Japan no doubt has to be the 12 jersey collection I brought home with me. Here is a quick rundown of each of the jerseys, a little background behind each, and what I think of it. I’m gonna cover them in the order that I got them, so that puts the Giants jersey a little later, even though that was the first game I went to. ...

It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. Look at that, a World Series actually amounting to something in this day and age. Heck, with Pettitte on the mound tonight, we may even get a Game 7 for the first time in ages! The series started out with a real bang and looked like it would be close after Cliff Lee took the mound against Sabathia, but it quickly took a turn for the Yankees as they mostly dominated the next three games with great performances from Burnett, Pettitte, and Sabathia. ...

It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. We now know all the participants in the championship series for both countries. In the states we have the Philadelphia Phillies squaring off against the New York Yankees starting tonight. Both of these teams are pretty solid, so it should be a competitive and close series. If it goes to Game 7, I’ll be ecstatic. There hasn’t been a Game 7 World Series since 2002 and we’re in dire need of some drama. ...

When you’re on a 2.5 week trip, it hardly seems like it’s ever going to end, but it was my last day in Tokyo and it felt pretty surreal. It would be my last chance to tie up all my loose ends, so I headed out to get my final souvenirs and replace that stupid sake cup that I broke. The plan was to go over to the Square Enix store to grab a CD for Min, the Tokyo Seibu Loft to try and replace the sake cup, somewhere to find another bag because my suitcase was now too full to travel, the Tokyo Dome to get Fighters jerseys for Eric, and maybe a CD shop to look for a live Persona music DVD/CD. ...

It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. Things aren’t looking good for the Dodgers. Their supposed strong point, their bullpen, is being totally trashed by the brutal Phillies offense. In fact, their starting pitching, Kuroda excluded, has been their most dominant factor and the only thing that’s been keeping them afloat most of these games. Still, you can only blow so many leads before I stop believing that your team can actually put wins on the board. In fact, the Dodgers are nice and down three games to one with little hope of winning tonight to actually make this a series. Padilla will be pitching against Cole Hamels and, since Vicente is responsible for the only Dodgers win, this is really their last chance. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“375” caption=“This guy is rocking a sick happi. I wish I had one too.”] [/caption] Three days in Sapporo. One to fly in, one to catch a game, and one to fly out. We really only needed two, but the remote location and the unpredictability of flights and baseball game lengths warrant three. It’s a real shame too, because if we had rolled our arrival date into our baseball watching day, we would have seen Yu Darvish pitch. ...