Comments on: 10/18/09 — Central League Climax Series — 1st Stage — Tokyo vs Chunichi (Game 2)

By: flick

flick — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:49:19 +0000

What the heck, Kawamoto and Kinugawa has the flu as well….
According to an article on Sponichi, today’s battery will probably consist of Yoshinori…. and Aikawa!!!
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2009/10/19/04.html

By: flick

flick — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:44:35 +0000

Yup…
And the thing was, they were going to replace Tateyama with a pinch-hitter if Kawamoto did something, which would have made sense, unless that pinch-hitter was Kinugawa…wtf?
Ultimately, Kawamoto only broke his bat, so Tateyama came to the plate, grounded out, and was on the mound again, which in hindsight, backfired on our ass…

So, Takagi and Yuki are apparently out because of the flu, which leaves… Yoshinori! You’re our only hope!

By: David Watkins

David Watkins — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:01:50 +0000

With all three games of the first stage played in the second-ranked team’s stadium, and the first-place team getting an automatic win in stage two, it doesn’t seem as though NPB has much love for underdogs.

It’s just that with only six teams in each league, they don’t want a third placed team with possibly a losing record (just like us) to be able to easily reach, and ultimately take, the Japan series.

So if Tokyo do go all the way, then they will have done it the hard way and thus will have more of a claim on being the true “Nippon-Ichi”.

I guess stacking things in favour of final league finish was the only way the playoff system could be approved by all the teams and come into use.

By: David Watkins

David Watkins — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:56:23 +0000

That Swallows 7th inning was typical Takada.

Get the leadoff man on, then gift the opposition an out before your bottom of the order follow with two quick outs. Utter wastefulness.

By: Andrew Ondo

Andrew Ondo — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:00:58 +0000

With all three games of the first stage played in the second-ranked team’s stadium, and the first-place team getting an automatic win in stage two, it doesn’t seem as though NPB has much love for underdogs.

Is there any reason other than some sort of bizarre death instinct on Takada’s part for pinch-hitting Hatakeyama for Onizaki in the 9th? He had the error, yes, but that was in the first, and Yuji’s actually been hitting the ball lately.

Hopefully this doesn’t have implications for tonight’s starting roster…

By: Zorgon

Zorgon — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:30:55 +0000

Oh, and to echo what Mac said in the last post, the posts really do help, even if I have seen the game. Since I don’t understand Japanese and my knowledge of baseball isn’t encyclopedic, I don’t understand the different types of hitters or how good each player is at what they do. Going back through the game pitch by pitch helps me to understand the players, the bad managerial decisions, the culture of whats going on, and et cetera. Obviously, it isn’t feasible to do this all of the time, but it’s really helped me out for these two playoff games.

By: Zorgon

Zorgon — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:25:25 +0000

An exciting game, but a disappointing one. I kind of felt that nearly all hope was lost when the Dragons snuck in that run through a lot of sacrificing to get Tanishige to 3rd. Nevertheless, we really had a perfect storm coming into the 9th inning. Having D’Antona and Guiel back-to-back seemed to make me think that we could do something, but I could feel that a lot of hope was lost when D’Antona struck out.

No one to blame but ourselves for this one, had plenty of opportunity to tie, but just didn’t take it. It could be due to the impatience at the plate, as you pointed out. But I’m no baseball expert, so I have no idea, really. But I’m learning as I go, so I suppose I’ll know some day why we specifically lost this game.

Still, I’m totally stoked for Game 3! I’ll have to go to my morning classes immediately afterwards, but it will be well worth it if I can go to them with the feeling of victory.