Orix-Buffaloes

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“It’s from the Baltimore series, but there was no way I could make it to Puerto Rico for this one. “] [/caption] 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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“This is what I think happens to Min after reading these baseball posts.”] [/caption] 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… ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“The old Shea home run apple. I hate this thing.”] [/caption] 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. ...

After embarrassing the team, acting like a primadonna, insulting the manager, and making everyone involved look bad, Hanley Ramirez either apologized to his teammates or the team has decided not to make a fuss about it, because he was back in the lineup last night doing fairly well. Thank god that’s over. The Marlins are rarely in the news, but I don’t want them in there because of this. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“I love this shot of Abe “] [/caption] Josh Johnson tosses a shutout and the Rays win, but the red teams I love (Eagles, Carp, to a certain extent, the Nats) lose. 18 May NPB Hiroshima Carp (2) at Orix Buffaloes (11). Somehow I don’t think Hiroshima is going to win the Interleague title. The Carp drop to 16-26-0 in fifth. Their only saving grace is that the Swallows have been absolutely sucking recently, keeping them out of last. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“I did a search for “blooper” in Flickr to express my frustration and this unexpectedly came up. Not what I had in mind, but it relieves some of the stress.”] [/caption] My PS3 decided to stop reading discs correctly for the second time in its lifespan, temporarily halting my video game NPB season with the Carp just about to widen the gap between third and fourth by beating the Swallows. Hopefully I get the system back before next week, but it’s leaving me at a loss for stuff to play this week. Looks like L4D2 and Sam & Max will be getting my attention. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“No witty captions today, sorry.”] [/caption] 9 April NPB Hiroshima Carp (0) at Yokohama Baystars (5). Not the outcome I would have expected, but Yokohama is deceptively strong at times (and Hiroshima is pretty weak this year). Orix Buffaloes (8) at Rakuten Eagles (3). Orix made some serious upgrades in the off-season, but I wonder if they can keep this pace up all season. MLB Toronto Blue Jays (7) at Baltimore Orioles (6). The Orioles blow their home opener and not many are surprised. Tough break for the (orange) birds. ...

It’s still just under two weeks before the MLB baseball season is set to start, but the NPB has already gone and started its season. To be more specific, the Pacific League started its season last Saturday, but their second series won’t begin until the Central League starts on Friday. Are things looking good for my favorite squad? Nope, they’re 0-3 in their first series against the Orix Buffaloes. Tanaka and Iwakuma had pretty solid starts, but the run support wasn’t quite right to make either game a win. ...

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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Today’s post brought to you by Coca-Cola (Not really! Please don’t sue me!)”] [/caption] Ok, so I’m being a little dramatic in the title, but with David gone and most of the day occupied by riding bullet trains across Japan, the day was definitely on the dull side. [caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“375” caption=“The thrilling remains of a lunch eaten on an exciting train ride to Fukuoka.”] [/caption] ...