Saitama-Seibu-Lions

Which is great, except it was against my team. At least I got me another Adam Jones bobblehead. 24 June NPB Saitama Seibu Lions (2) at Rakuten Eagles (6). Ryohei Isaka tosses his first complete game win as the Eagles dominate Seibu for the win, improving their record to 32-35-1 in fifth. Getting close to fourth… MLB San Diego Padres (3) at Tampa Bay Rays (5). The Rays FINALLY snap their losing streak and prevent the sweep. Hopefully this is a sign that Tampa Bay is turning things around. They get to face the weak Diamondbacks this weekend allowing the Upton brothers to battle. Their record improves to 43-29, still tied for second. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“A lot of this happened last night.”] [/caption] Florida inexplicably went and replaced their manager, Fredi Gonzalez, yesterday and Edwin Rodriguez stepped in as interim manager. I still don’t understand why this happened, but I guess we’ll have a new manager next year. 23 June NPB Hanshin Tigers (9) at Hiroshima Carp (4). I was really hoping that Hiroshima would have a better showing coming off of some relatively solid interleague play. He’s on the wrong team, but Toritani had himself quite the night (4 H, 2 RBI). Go Toritani! The Carp record drops to 26-37-2, still in fourth. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Action shot!”] [/caption] I just can’t miss seeing the Fish when they’re in town. I let nothing stand in my way, even the dental surgery I had last night. It was with a sore jaw that I saw them rock Baltimore last night. New York got its chance to beat up on the Orioles and the Indians to improve their record. Now it’s time for Florida. ...

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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Seibu gets its revenge.”] [/caption] Hiroshima takes an ugly loss from the first place Lions, but at least they won the day before. 25 May NPB Saitama Seibu Lions (10) at Hiroshima Carp (7). Takeya Nakamura blew this game open in the third with a grand slam. Hiroshima desperately tried to recover in the 8th with a five-run rally partially fueled by a Kenta Kurihara blast, but it wasn’t enough. The Carp record drops to 19-28-0 in fifth. ...

The Rays were the only MLB team I follow with a game yesterday, which they promptly went ahead and blew. 24 May NPB Saitama Seibu Lions (0) at Hiroshima Carp (3). Eric Stults is really starting to bring it all together. His second win comes against a tough first place Seibu team. Hiroshima’s record improves to 19-27-0 in fifth. Rakuten Eagles (0) at Chunichi Dragons (3). Can’t totally blame Rasner for this one, especially not when the Rakuten bats are silent. He turned in a quality start, after all. Rakuten is now 21-28-0 in fifth. ...

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. ...

The Lions went and slaughtered my precious Golden Eagles, leaving them with something to think about over the next two off days. It was not a great day for my favorite baseball teams. 05 May NPB Rakuten Eagles (3) at Seibu Lions (19)! The Lions really dished out some punishment. Rakuten is still miraculously in fourth place with its 16-21-0 record, but that’s no real consolation since there’s a three-way tie for first 6.5 games up. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“I get to experience good weather at Nats Park for the first time since Opening Day above.”] [/caption] Who would have expected Liván Hernández to have a sub 1.00 ERA and one of the best records in baseball at this point in the season? Why do the Marlins seem to drop the first game of every series? Will either of these trends end? I hope one definitely does! ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“375” caption=“Dave’s trying to do the same pose as Slicky in the bottom right corner.”] [/caption] Rainout makeups, but an otherwise uneventful day for baseball. 3 May NPB Rakuten Eagles (5) at Seibu Lions (4). It brings me great joy to see my least favorite Pacific League team, the Lions, lose. Keep up the good work, Rakuten (16-19-0, 4th) Hiroshima Carp (3) at Yokohama BayStars (1). Another solid win for Hiroshima, who has had some problems with the BayStars this year. They’re now tied for fourth with Yokohama at 14-18-0, but that will change tomorrow since they play again. ...