Tag Archives: Yuki Yanagita

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 15, 2022

Japan’s baseball week ended in a trio of blowouts, two won by last-place teams. There was one riveting tie, and another one that leaves us wondering what’s up with the umpires and the Lotte Marines when they play in Osaka.

Let’s get to them shall we?

Sunday’s games

Buffaloes 8, Marines 5: At Osaka Dome, the Lotte Marines may have thought they caught a break with the umpires when Roki Sasaki‘s nemesis, inflammable umpire Kazuyuki Shirai, was not behind the plate on Friday or Saturday in the first two games against Orix.

Continue reading NPB news: May 15, 2022