Tohoku-Rakuten-Golden-Eagles

[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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Rakuten gets the nod for today’s picture since the Carp blew their lead on the Giants.”][/caption] 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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“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.”][/caption] 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. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Two straight wins at Mazda Stadium by the Tigers. When will the Carp stop the bleeding?!”][/caption] 31 March Hanshin Tigers (6) at Hiroshima Carp (4). The Carp are now 1-4-0 and in last place. Rakuten Golden Eagles (13) at Chiba Lotte Marines (4). The Eagles are now 2-5-0 and in fifth place. The bats seem to have awakened for Rakuten. Hiroshima gets closer, but still lags behind Hanshin. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“They’re off to a poor start, but hopefully they’ll start to bounce back soon”][/caption] This is a new idea I had to help me better track the records of the teams that I follow. Check it out weekdays if you care about the Marlins, Rays, Carp, Golden Eagles, Nationals, or Orioles. Since Japanese games are played 13 hours ahead and that can get pretty confusing, I’ll just post the scores on the day they happened in GMT -5 ...

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=“That’s the second largest autographed baseball I’ve ever seen!”] [/caption] The last full day of the trip! Even though I was ready to go home, it still felt like I had unresolved business out in Japan. I wanted to go home and be back in my apartment and not traveling, but I also wanted to stay and watch more Japanese baseball and chow down on more curry. ...