Tag Archives: Jefry Marte

Baseball, Commentary, Free, News

NPB games and news, Sept. 11, 2019

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Pacific League

Lions 4, Hawks 1

At MetLife Dome, Seibu seized first place with a win over SoftBank, Zach Neal (10-1) allowed a run over seven innings, to win his fifth straight start.

He didn’t walk a batter for the second-straight game and didn’t allow a base runner until Alfredo Despaigne homered to lead off the Hawks’ fifth.

Here is Neal’s hero interview along with closer Tatsushi Masuda.

Tomoya Mori hit a two-out, three-run double in the third off Rei Takahashi (11-4) in an otherwise solid start. Masuda worked a 1-2-3 ninth to record his 100th career save.

The Lions who won the PL last season are in first place for the first time this season.

Game highlights are HERE.

Marines 6, Buffaloes 4

At Zozo Marine Stadium, Leonys Martin hit his third two-run homer in a week in Lotte’s four-run second and hit a solo homer, his 14th in 42 NPB games in the third as Lotte handed Orix its ninth-straight loss.

Game highlights are HERE.

Eagles 3, Fighters 1

At Tokyo Dome, Rakuten’s Jabari Blash hit his 32nd home run, and Ginji Akaminai broke a 1-1 ninth-inning tie with a two-run, bases-loaded single off Nippon Ham closer Ryo Akiyoshi (0-5).

Alan Busenitz (4-2), announced as the PL’s pitcher of the month for August earlier in the day, walked two batters and hit another in the eighth, but pitched out of it to earn the win in relief. Yuki Matsui recorded his 35th save.

Game highlights are HERE.

Central League

BayStars 10, Giants 4

At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA’s Neftali Soto homered three times, once to each field, to retake the lead in the CL home run race with his 39th as he bids for his second-straight league home run title.

The video is HERE.

Dragons 3, Carp 2, 10th inning

At Mazda Stadium, Chunichi’s Yota Kyoda led off the 10th inning with his third home run, off Kyle Regnault (6-3) in a come-from-behind win over Hiroshima.

Tigers 6, Swallows 3

At Koshien Stadium, Jefry Marte hit a two-run home run as Hanshin hammered Yakult’s Yasuhiro Ogawa (4-12) for six runs over five innings.

Here’s the video of Marte’s home run.

Yakult’s Munetaka Murakami improved his record for home runs by a teenager with his 33rd.

Commentary, Paid Content

Life in NPB’s results lane

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On Friday, the Sankei Sports did their duty in reporting for the Hanshin Tigers by declaring that Jefry Marte is the team’s scapegoat.

The paper “reported” that the Hanshin Tigers need to get Yangervis Solarte signed and in uniform as soon as possible because Marte “has come to a complete stop.”

“What can we do, we put runners on base,” mused Tigers manager Akihiro Yano after Marte went 0-for-4 with runners on, three times with a man in scoring position in the Tigers’ 7-2 loss on Thursday to the DeNA BayStars.

“I’m sure he goes up to the plate with that focus. He has the desire. We just need a little more production.”

With two outs in the first and a runner on second, Marte took a borderline third strike on a 3-2 pitch. In the third, with the game tied 2-2, Marte miss-hit a high 0-1 fastball and lined out to strand a runner at second.

With two on and two outs in the fifth and the Tigers trailing 3-2, Marte swung and missed at two nasty splitters from rookie Shinichi Onuki.

Marte basically swung at strikes and didn’t swing out of the zone, but because he failed three times in a row. But here’s the kicker, had he hit bullets to shortstop three straight times, he also would be considered a failure.

That’s because once a player gets beyond the three true outcomes of a strikeout, a walk or a home run, the only measure of success is what happens after the ball is in play and out of the batter’s hands. Players who do everything they can to get themselves out but still reach base on fluke hits are heroes. Guys who line out are failures.

The scapegoat machine

Going 0-for-4 is evidence of a lack of ability or effort when your team or its beat writers are looking for a scapegoat, and finding scapegoats is a big part of a Hanshin Tigers beat writer’s job.

Marte’s never had 400 plate appearances in one season at any level above Double-A. Japanese pitching is different. If it were easy, so many hitters wouldn’t fail here right off the bat.

Matt Murton, who was beloved in his first season with the Tigers in 2010, later became fodder for the Tigers’ scapegoat machine, as he talked about in March 2019.