Tag Archives: Neftali Soto

NPB news: May 18, 2022

It’s Wednesday and, I’m here for pitcher Junya Nishi swinging the bat, for Leonys Martin sayonara home runs and for Chusei Mannami to turn up the power. I swear, if you can’t like delightful players like Junya Nishi and Chusei Mannami, you seriously can’t enjoy baseball.

We also had some former Dragons throwing cold water on the idea that Akira Neo, who has failed to hit a lick in 3-1/2 pro seasons, should pitch and play shortstop.

OK. Let’s get to it.

Marines 1, Eagles 0, 10 innings: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Hideaki Wakui returned to his second pro team and held them scoreless but was knocked out after taking a hard one-hopper off his right thigh and catching it between his legs before getting the leadoff batter in the fourth.

Continue reading NPB news: May 18, 2022

NPB news: May 10, 2022

On Tuesday we learned that Nippon Ham Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo has asked the club to reward players in their salary evaluations for playing like he did. And let’s just say, Shinjo has a high opinion of how much he contributed to his team’s victories as a player, but his “Don’t worry be happy” facade slipped a little after Tuesday’s game.

We also had Masahiro Tanaka on the mound as the Pacific League-leading Rakuten Eagles tried to extend their franchise-record winning streak to 11 straight decisions and some bad COVID news for the Chunichi Dragons.

Shall we get started?

Continue reading NPB news: May 10, 2022