Tag Archives: A.J. Cole

NPB news: July 19, 2022

We had baseball on Monday this week. I didn’t report on it but we had baseball. From those games, you should know: 1) the Yomiuri Giants became the first Japanese major league team to surrender grand slams in four consecutive games, 2) they still handed the Yakult Swallows their sixth straight loss and their eighth out of nine, 3) the Seibu Lions took over first place in the Pacific League, and 4) the Nippon Ham Fighters became the latest team to suffer a raft of infections, with manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo among those in quarantine.

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Tuesday, two days after Tokyo reported a coronavirus positivity rate of nearly 50 percent, I saw a line waiting to get into a free PCR testing site near the station next to mine. I’ve passed by there once or twice a week for the past four months, and this was the first time they didn’t have staff standing in front urging people to come in and get tested.

The big news Tuesday was not baseball, even Shohei Ohtani bowing out of pitching in the All-Star game, but the retirement of figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu. That had been looming since yesterday but after a hard Sunday, I kind of shutdown on Monday, so I’m just sort of restarting before my day job picks up again on Wednesday.

The pennant race projections are back for the first time in a while, so check it out, and if they hold up, people are going to have to check out the Pacific League’s tie-breaking format.

Tuesday’s games

Tigers 3, Carp 0: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Aaron Wilkerson (5-4) pitched out of just one tough inning as he struck out seven over 5-2/3 innings. Fumiya Hojo drew a two-out walk in the second and scored the first run on a Ryutaro Umeno single off Carp starter Hiroki Tokoda (8-6).

Takamu Nakano singled to lead off the third and scored, before Hojo doubled in Teruaki Sato in the sixth. Suguru Iwazaki earned his 20th save as the Tigers edged past the Giants into fourth place.

The win was the Tigers’ second against the Carp this season, and their first in Hiroshima.

Continue reading NPB news: July 19, 2022

NPB news: July 14, 2022

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Because Monday is “Marine Day,” the national holiday where Japanese are encouraged to enjoy the seaside and many get in over their heads, literally, the Pacific League will begin its weekend series on Saturday instead of Friday.

Perhaps this will encourage more people to go to the ballpark rather than the ocean. In 2016 for example, 10 people were reported to have drowned over the three-day weekend. Unfortunately, World Drowning Awareness Day comes a week later, this year on July 25.

Anyway with a light schedule tomorrow, it’s like Japanese baseball said, “We’ve only got three games on Friday so we’d better get a lot of action in today.

Orix and SoftBank played longball, Nippon Ham is looking very much unlike the team we’ve seen the last three seasons, the Seibu Lions showed some skill at defusing explosive situations, Shogo Akiyama had a hit in Hiroshima, which was three fewer than the Yomiuri Giants managed against Hanshin, and Seiichi Uchikawa was pressed into service, making his debut in his 22nd season as a pro in his first game in the outfield in forever.

Thursday’s games

Buffaloes 3, Hawks 2: At Fukuoka Dome, Orix’s Kotaro Kurebayashi decided a home run derby with his fourth of the season, breaking a 2-2 eighth-inning tie against former closer Yuito Mori (0-4).

Continue reading NPB news: July 14, 2022