Ding-dong the season's dead

143 games, 58 wins, 82 losses.

Well, the Dragons have failed to see October for the 4th year straight as we bow out in our worst position in the league in 19 years. A 4 straight years of "B-Class" (wins under 50%) results is the worst in club history since the 2-league system was introduced. We're going through some dark times and to be honest it doesn't look like it's going to get much better in the near future.

I'm going to take this opportunity to do a bit of a season wrap-up with some broad strokes while I'll take another look at the 2015 draft class in another post in a similar vein to what I did at the all-star break. I'll then give a run down of the most recent news regarding free agencies, the draft and staff movements in my next post.

Right, well, where to begin. At the beginning of the season, I like many others had my expectations relatively low for the Dragons and I predicted them to finish second last. My expectation were raised slightly however in the opening quarter of the season as the Dragons managed to keep pace with the league leaders due to a bit of sparkling form from Shuhei Takahashi, Ricardo Nanita and Dayan Viciedo as well as a bit of luck running into some teams that hadn't sorted their stuff out. As we progressed to the middle of the season there were some hopeful moments where we were still in play-off contention and the optimist in me thought this team in reconstruction might just have enough in the tank to get into the final play-off spot. However after a bit of dip and then the acrimonious sacking of manager Motonobu Tanishige, the team never looked like going anywhere but the bottom two places. The Dragons were somewhat lucky that the Tigers at times made us look good, but in the end we crawled to a very poor end to the season capped off by two extra innings losses to the Giants in Tokyo, one a grand slam given up by probably our best player of  the season, Shinji Tajima and another, final inning goodbye see you later loss tossed up by Daisuke Sobue.

Bullpen

Let's first talk a little about the heroes of this season. Shinji Tajima with his 31 scoreless innings from opening day probably tops the lot. He created a new NPB record for doing so, and equalled a club record set by Akifumi Takahashi (now of the Tigers) for consecutive scoreless innings/games pitched. Tajima probably would have even more impressive stats if he hadn't been called up to become the team's closing pitcher. Despite being brought into the piece fairly late he still earned 17 saves to go along with his 21 hold points. He ends the season with a 3-4 record and a 2.44 ERA. Certainly another great successor to the line of bullpen pitchers the Dragons have produced over the years. He was recognised for his efforts as he collected the "Crown Award" from Chunichi which is a gift of a new model Toyota Crown to the player considered to the best during the season.

Our bullpen pitchers are just about the only thing I can't complain about. Toshiya Okada, Katsuki Matayoshi and Ryuya Ogawa all did magnificently well in my opinion. Ogawa had a bit of a breakout season this year and his 0.947 WHIP really impressed me. Okada has been a mainstay in the bullpen along with Matayoshi and I think we have a lot of depth in this area. Hiroto Fuku and Yu Sato, the rookies this year took part in relief sessions here and there and did their jobs without being spectacular. Also kudos to Daisuke Sobue who started the season as the second team closer and ended up being the late innings reliever in the first team; a 1.087 WHIP rating for him.

Starting Rotation

As for starting pitchers, most have been terribly unlucky with getting wins due to a terrible Kazuki Yoshimi came back into the team after surgery last season and held down his spot in the rotation. He went 6-7 this year but certainly deserved better. There was one game against the Tigers this year that he had to win by himself as he hit the winning RBI in a 1-0 win. He pitched 131 innings this year which is the most work he's done since 2012 which is a good sign going forward. Still only 31, he'll be a mainstay for a few more years to come. A 3.08 ERA is still a little bit high considering his early career stats, but still, the veteran did extremely well this year in difficult circumstances.
offense, but

Jordan Norberto, the first year Dominican, was another bright light in the rotation and his ability to keep opposing batters off foot with his ability to hurry through pitches was very effective particularly in the opening half of the season. As the season progressed however I got a feeling that batters got a better read on him and he started leaking more runs. He ended the season with a 6-6 record and a fairly high ERA of 4.24. His 108 strikeouts for the season was a team high.

Yudai Ono worked his socks off as the season's proclaimed ace this year and on the second game he played when he returned from injury he pitched a very solid shut out which I thought was going to be the start of a rebirth. Not so apparently. In decisions this year Ono was 7-10 and 5th in total strikeouts for the Dragons. He wasn't particularly bad but not particularly outstanding. He was however one of the hardest workers with 3 completed games and over 120 innings pitched.

Raul Valdes the Cuban veteran showed his usefulness and was the second best starter behind Jordan in terms of strikeouts per 9 innings. A 6-7 record is certainly respectable given his age and the ability of the team but he also gave up the most homeruns of the pitchers with 17 of his pitches clearing the fences.

I would last of all like to talk in detail about Ryosuke Oguma who has impressed me a lot. He
went out injured in the first third of the season and it took him a long while to get back but his stats are the best of the starters. He had a 5-2 record in 8 starts, the best winning percentage of any starter aside from Yu Sato who only started and won one game. An ERA of 2.80 also doesn't look too bad when you assess his contribution overall and I would dare say he may well have won 10 games this year had he been fit. In his first start of the year he shut down the Baystars with a 93 ball, 1 hit shutout in Nagoya. He was the only Chunichi to get a shut-out this year apart from Ono. I think we can grow to expect a bit more from the man whose name translates to "little bear."

I could go on forever about our starters, but these are the main guys I felt worthy of mention. I will of course talk about the trials and tribulations of our 2015 #1 draft pick Shinnosuke Ogasawara in another post as his story is a nice one to tell.

Batting

This is where the stories get a bit dark, but the main thing to come out of it was Yohei "Even Year" Oshima who came out to play this year cracking a .298 BA and hitting for the cycle in the process. He finished second in the central league charts for hits behind Ryosuke Kikuchi of the Carp with 174 and 3rd in stolen bases behind Tetsuto Yamada and Kikuchi with 26 (although he was caught stealing 12 times. If my SABR thinking is right, that's a really poor success rate). As our lead-off hitter he really did his job this season after being fairly bang average last year. A bright to slightly dimmed light in a very dark season.

For most improved bat of the season I have it as a two way tie between Shuhei Takahashi and Nobumasa Fukuda, both coincidentally guys that played the majority of the season at 3rd base.　Takahashi went ham in his first 20 or so games averaging over .400 with a few homers and all the rest. That of course quietened down a bit but he still was performing well until he broke a bone in his hand to enforce an extended break on the sidelines.  In that time, the Dragons tried all manners of stop-gap solutions at 3rd base with Tetsuya Tani, Naomichi Donoue and Masahiko Morino among others brought in to try and make the position their own. It wasn't however until Fukuda was given the green light that we started seeing more production at that position. Fukuda went on to hit a personal best 10 homeruns this year with a .744 OPS and a .265 average. He finished the season in left field to accommodate the return of Takahashi who showed some of his early season prowess and ended with a .251/.319/.369 slash line.

Both I think had outbreak seasons this year and if Ricardo Nanita isn't retained, we might see Fukuda out the left pocket to add a bit more pop to the line-up if Viciedo and Takahashi remain the incumbents at 1st and 3rd respectively. Masahiko Morino also made a bit of a statement when Viciedo was injured claiming the highest OBP of any of the Dragons batter this season. It might well be a headache for selection next year.

Dayan Viciedo of course is the man that has probably attracted the most attention and his 22 homers helped the Dragons about as much as could be hoped. He hit fairly well for average at .272 and was third in the team for most walks behind Hirata and Oshima. He was also third in hits for team behind Oshima and Naomichi Donoue. Injuries cut short his season, but the Dragons are in talks to keep him on and there's a good chance he could be producing even better next year.

Lastly a couple of mentions for Donoue and Hirata. Donoue became the starting short-stop this year after an injury to Issei Endo and his defense has been nothing short of fantastic. He only hit .257 this year but put wood on ball enough times to tally 116 hits for the season.

Hirata too had a good season when fit going over the fence 14 times in a personal best season. A .248 BA  is pretty disappointing however but he was the most walked player on the team taking the short jog to first base 72 times.

I could go on about others, like Nanita, but I don't want to make this entry any more encylopedic than it has to be.

Catchers

Just a little appendage here about the catchers. We started the season with Iori Katsura and Shota Sugiyama  battling it out to be everyday catcher and I think we finished with Takuya Kinoshita and Sugiyama as the two most likely candidates going forward. Sugiyama started the majority of games this season but Kinoshita showed very good promise with the bat in the limited time he was given. I was expecting at the beginning of the season for there to be a 3 way battle for the catcher's mitt this year and there has been. Sugiyama hit a .260/.340/.357 slash line in probably one of the best batting performances from a Chunichi catcher in some time.

I feel sorry for Katsura in a way who is a very talented catcher in his own right, but he'll be either put to work on the farm or maybe looked at as a trade chip. But who am I kidding, nobody trades anyone in the NPB.


Against the others

We had a terrible record against Hiroshima (7-17)  and Yakult (9-16) this year. No surprise that both teams have two of the best batting line-ups in the league either as most of the time we were well out gunned.

The only team we had a winning record against was the Giants (13-11) which is a welcome surprise. Unsurprisingly perhaps, we got away the most hits against the Giants out of all Central league opponents with 227 hits. ERA as well was the best at 2.91 second to DeNA with 2.99. Given that the Giants finished 2nd this year,  I think this is one of the positives we can take away from the year. At least we were a nuisance for Yomiuri. That is satisfying.


Conclusion

Honestly, it has been a terrible season. With all the back office drama to go with the results it's just awful. I've experienced a very similar thing with the Twins in the MLB this year so needless to say that uh, baseball hasn't been nice to me this year.

The Dragons still really haven't overcome the losses of their veterans but I am confident with the pitching side of things. If we can get in one more quality starter in the draft this year, the rotation will be pretty set for the next 3 or 4 years. We have quite a few young guys that can come in and do things in the bullpen (although Mori wants to bring in foreign help, probably a closer) and there are others that given a bit of luck could develop into really good starting arms in the future.

Our batting however worried me. With Oshima and Hirata looking at the free agent market, we would be dead without them at the current time. There is no one in the Dragons system that can do what these two do and losing them would kill our hopes of winning anything in the near future or getting into A-Rank season territory. There is the potential in this team, even in the bats, to produce some really solid hitting but it hasn't come about yet. I  do however think that we discovered a lot this year about who can do what and I think that is important. Next year production at short-stop will be I think a key point of interest and it will be on Donoue and possibly Endo to get their batting up to a good standard. Left-field will also be another interesting position going forward given Nanita's injuries and age and Fukuda's recent experience there. We'll see what happens.

For the time being. All I can say was, well, at least that's over now.

Regular Season: Dragons v Tigers @Nagoya Dome, May 3rd - May 5th; WHERE HAS THE BATTING GONE?

Today’s post will be the beginning of my new condensed series so I can keep updating you without it taking huge chunks of time out of my life. Let me know if there’s something missing that you’d like to see added. Comment on this page or tweet at me @chunichisoul

Alright Dragons fans, it’s time for a recap of the Golden Week series against the Hanshin Tigers at the Nagoya dome! The Golden Week is a series of public holidays conveniently linked together to give people a bit of time off in May. The games against Hanshin were perfectly lined up with the week which meant earlier play times for all/most to enjoy.

Game 30 of the season was a doozy. Would the Dragons continue their good run against the Tigers or would it all come undone with the loss of Shuhei Takahashi?

In the first inning a wild pitch from Jordan allowed Yamato to reach home to open up the score for Hanshin, 0-1. However, the Dragons would reply immediately as Hirata leveled up the scores with a single to send Ohshima home to make it 1-1. Tetsuya Tani then squared one up to hit right as he sent Hirata home to take the lead, 2-1. Haraguchi would level things up with a sac fly in the 4^th, but a solo homer from Katsura in the 5^th inning combined with a double from Ohshima in the 7^th would give the Dragons an opening win to the series, 4-2.

Filthy bat flipping Iori. FILTHY.

That would be the end of the scoring and the game as the Dragons closed out as 4-2 winners. A second win and another tidy performance from Jordan Norberto who keeps showing great poise as a starter striking out 6 in his 7 innings.  Shinji Tajima grabbed a hold and Koji Fukutani claimed another save. Questions will be asked of Shintaro Fujinami’s performance however as he probably should be doing better.

Game 31 would see another sporadic appearance from elusive starter Kazuki Yoshimi. The Dragons starting rotation has been anything but concrete since the start of the season but the reg – dereg cycle that Yoshimi is stuck in is a bit dizzying. Tetsuya Tani started at third base again following Shuhei’s injury and the Tigers fronted up  Yuya Yokoyama to start things off. Neither pitcher had a win leading into this game it was to be a race to see who would get things going.

Yoshimi in for Jordan would be the only change ahead of this game.

The Tigers would get things underway in the 4^th inning as Central League RBI leader Mauro Gomez’s single gave the Tigers a 0-1 lead.  Yutaro Itayama added another to the score as he put Fukudome home. Haraguchi would rub more than a fair share of salt into the wounds  as with Itayama and Gomez on base, Yoshimi’s pitch was abruptly dispatched into the bleachers for a 3-run homer, his first as a pro; 0-5 on the scoreboard.

The flurry continued In the 5^th as Gomez was at it again getting two RBIs this time to make things 0-7. Not good reading for Dragons fans! Yoshimi was rightfully withdrawn following his poor showing for Ryuya Ogawa. Another pitcher change however would inspire more scoring as Hiroto Fuku gave up RBIs to Hojoh and Haraguchi to put the game beyond all doubt at 9-0. Haraguchi was at his best while Yoshimi was at his worst in a poor, one sided loss to the Tigers. 

The Dragons only managed 3 hits in this game (Araki with two of them) and looked absolutely dire at times with the bat. Credit to the Tigers pitchers for doing the job (17 hits!) as they completely  destroyed us on the day.  It was Yoshimi’s first loss in 2 years (a lot of it has been out injured) and 6 years since conceding 5 runs in a single inning in what was an uncharacteristic performance from a man that has notched 20 win seasons.  

The game was also marked by a second consecutive no-hitter from Dayan Viciedo, but the big man wasn’t in the worrying mood following the game as he is happy with how he’s swinging.

Game 32 was to be another one not to write home about for the Dragons as the batting line-up once again failed to launch.

Hernandez was promoted for the error-prone Masahiko Morino and Yoshimi was also de-regged from the team to end the changes to the squad.

Ryosuke Oguma and Randy Messenger would start on the mound for their respective teams but it was the former who would be ruled out early on as he went down with injury. Haraguchi returned a pitch right at Oguma and struck him on the right forearm. Looks like it stings.

The most positive highlight for the Dragons would come early, as Nanita pulled of a worldy to keep Hanshin out of the game.

Hanshin wouldn’t really do much better with the bat today but they did it when it mattered in the 7^th inning when Daisuke Yamai was put into the stands by a Yamato home solo homer to put the scores at 1-0 where the game would end.

 The only real positive to come out of the game today was that Nanita continues his fantastic form with the bat as he got another safe hit away. Yamai’s 4^th loss already this season does for damning reading and Oguma’s injury adds to an increasingly long list of players with niggles and pains.

It wasn’t to be a very golden week for Dragons fans, but the Tigers did deserved to win the last two games. One win was all we could come away with and it left the Dragons on an even .500 winning percentage safely sitting in 4^th place.

In other news Yudai Ohno is back in training following his elbow discomfort with the hope of making a comeback this month. With Oguma now out as well and Yoshimi still being used sparingly, the starting stocks are looking a little bare as the Dragons look for someone with a reliable arm.

Regular Season: Dragons vs Baystars @Yokohama, April 26th – 28th; Who wants to see some dingers?!

After a good couple of series at home it was time for the Dragons to make the trip back to Kanto to face off against the DeNA Yokohama Baystars. The Dragons made quick work of the Baystars in Nagoya earlier this season, and apart from a bore 0-0 draw, it was all positive for the Chunichi boys. Now, away from home, how would the team face up?

This was actually a series I had tickets to due to my fan club membership but due to the stadium being about an hour away from my workplace and a good 2 hours away from home, I decided against attending this time around. Regret it already. Nevermind!

Game 24 of our season would be a battle of the recently retired managers and Tanishige, a legend for the Baystars and the Dragons, came up against the only foreign manager in the league, Alex Ramirez. Tanishige started his career in Yokohama and if you look at the league finishes before and after he left, well, maybe there was a bit of correlation between Tanishige and success.

Jordan was brought up to take on the Baystars in his 3^rd start for the Dragons this year. Kenta Ishida would be his opposing number, starting for Yokohama.

The action would start with the Baystars today. Kuwahara lead-off with a single while Ishikawa was fanned by Jordan. Shotaro Ide hit what looked like it was going to be a single into the left-field, but a fumble from Nanita allowed Kuwahara to get on to third base. The dangerman Tsutsugo would step up next for the ‘stars and a sac fly into the right would be enough to score Kuwahara and open the scores, 1-0. Jamie Romak was walked the next ball, but a hit into foul territory from Kuramoto resulted in an easy catch to end the innings.

The Baystars would continue the scoring in 2^nd inning as Yanagida (not the good one) lead off with a walk. Tobashira was induced into a ground out before Ishida was fanned by Jordan to leave a runner on second with two outs. Kuwahara, the scorer in the first inning would be the next to step-up and it would be a handy hit into left field to send Tobashira on his way, 2-0.

A quiet few innings followed before the DeNA men had another breakthrough in the 4^th. Kuramoto would get a hit but the poor man’s Yanagida would fly out to a Jordan change-up. Tobashira took a liking to another pitch as he moved Kuramoto to 3^rd and put himself on 1^st. up would come the pitcher, Ishida and from a hit in the infield, he was able to safely score Kuramoto and put himself on 1^st base, 3-0. Kuwahara and Ishikawa would subsequently fall victim to consecutive fly-outs to end the inning.

With batting looking a bit dire, it was time for the Dragons to turn it on and get back into the game. At the top of the 5^th the magic would start with a Viciedo double. Nanita would oblige his Hispanic compatriot with a hit of his own into the centre to allow Viciedo to score, 3-1. The rally cry was there, but with Hirata hitting into a double play and Donoue being struckout by Ishida, the innings was over in quick fashion.

A personnel change would come for Yokohama in the 6^th as Shibata was brought in for Ide, but the new defensive shift couldn’t stop Shota Sugiyama from clearing the fence to rake a solo homer, 3-2. 

Fukuda was brought in to pinch-hit for Jordan but a ground out was all that would result. A bit worrying for a guy who was absolutely mashing it in the 2-gun team earlier in the year. Ohshima would be the next at the plate and the centre-fielder would treat the visiting fans to a rare occurrence. On a count of 1-2, Ohshima opened up his shoulders and whacked one into the right stand. 3-3. 

Back to even terms in no time at all. Araki and Takahashi would try to push the score to a winning margin, but it wasn’t to be with both grounding out to end the inning.

With the Baystars now on the back foot, Fujioka was brought to the mound to change the flow after a scoreless batting stanza. While he would find success removing Viciedo, a hit and a walk to Nanita and Hirata put the pressure on. While Fujioka fanned Donoue, Ramirez was happy to take him off and replace him with Tanaka. It wouldn’t prove to be the most astute of decisions as Sugiyama continued to fire as Romak mis-fielded a hit into the right allowing Nanita and Hirata to score to put the Dragons into a winning position for the first time of the day. 3-5.

 Tani continued the mayhem as he scored Sugiyama with his double to make it 3-6. Ohshima finished off the inning as he was struckout by Tanaka.

The force was definitely with the Dragons at this point as they sought to put the game well out of reach in the 8^th. After Araki and Takahashi failed to put up any resistance, up stepped the big Cuba, the man, the moment, the dude, Dayan Viciedo. Squaring up his foe, allowing the count to go to full, El Tank saw his moment and connected sweetly with a delivery in the middle of the plate. Sensing the homerun immediately, Viciedo dropped his bat in the “to hell with you bat” style and pumped up as ever jogged the diamond, 3-7.

 It would be the last of the scoring as Tajima closed out the 9^th for no score to cap off an exciting come from behind victory.

3 big dingers in a great turn around win for the Dragons and yet another poor showing from the Baystars. 

Highlights

Game 25 would be a different affair all together with the ever predictably unpredictable Daisuke Yamai on the mound. Yasutomo Kubo would pull the strings with the ball for the Baystars. Both pitchers were winless going into this game. Who would be the first to break their streak if either?

The scoring would start early in the bottom of the first. Yamai induced Aranami into a ground out to start things off. Ishikawa now stepped up to the plate and on a count of 2-1, launched Yamai into the stands to grab a solo home run to rattle the Dragons early, 1-0.

Otosaka fell victim to a change up while Tsusugo got to base. Ide would however give Yamai one of his only 2 strikeouts of the game to end the inning.

The Baystars continued their assault in the third. Aranami flew out to centre but Ishikawa took a sneaky bunt option which caught all by surprise and beat Yamai on the bounce as he ran through first base.  Otosaka next up hit a double to move runners onto 2^nd and 3^rd. With Tsutsugo next up and more than a few worries adding up over Yamai’s pitching, it was no surprise that the big Yokohama hitter would make something happen.  A hit to the short-stop would see Tsutsugo out at first, but it allowed Ishikawa to run home and score to make it, 2-0. Ide would be the last batter of the inning as his foul ball was caught by Viciedo.

Still showing dangerous signs, something that couldn’t be said of the Dragons line-up, the ‘stars took to the 4^th inning. It would be a near carbon copy of the 1^st inning as Kuramoto ground out at second allowing Hyuma to walk-up. Then, on a count of 1-0, Hyuma dispatched Yamai into the stands just right of the backscreen to make it 3-0.  Yamai was visibly disappointed as he should be. He hadn’t thrown too bad stuff up to this point but, well, it only takes one bad ball.

Yamai would unfortunately be at the end of another dinger in the 6^th as after a strike, Tsutsugo  got his 8^th homer of the season in almost the exact same spot as Hyuma. A change-up delivery in the outside track was punished with authority to put the Baystars 4-0 to the good.

 Yamai would close out the inning with no further messy situations, but conceding 3 homeruns in 6 innings musn’t be a great feeling.

The Dragons would mount a counter-attack of sorts in the top of the 7^th inning with Nanita leading off with a double. Hirata then managed a single to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd. Donoue now stepped up to survey the situation and the infielder would continue his good form with the bat as he hit a single to let Nanita run home, 4-1. Sugiyama’s single would then load up the bases with Morino coming in to pinch-hit for Yamai. The veteran would read his pitches well and elect to walk to take the score to 4-2. Kubo, who had pitched well, was withdrawn for Tanaka who up until today had a 0.00 ERA for the season. Ohshima was able to hit a sack fly off Tanaka to allow Hirata to score to make it 4-3. Kamezawa was withdrawn for Tani to pinch-hit, but the man in form couldn’t make anything happen as he ground into a double play to end the inning.

The bottom of the 7^th inning brought Iwase to the mound and Tani onto second base to replace Kamezawa who had a fantastic game defensively showing his speed when ground fielding.

Tobashira started off the proceedings with a single. Kuwahara was brought in to pinch-hit for Tanaka but couldn’t make the best of his chance as he flew out. Aranami was then withdrawn for Jamie Romak who was given a walk by Iwase to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd. Thanks to a rare mis-field from Donoue, Ishikawa then helped load the bases with what probably should have been the start of a double play. Otosaka would be the hero as his single scored two batters to move the score to 6-3. Tsusugo would not let up as he also singled to send Ishikawa home, 7-3. Iwase, not doing his job, was taken off for Achira, the man doing the work in the 2-gun. And while he loaded the bases after fanning Yanagida, he escaped by inducing a ground out from Hyuma to end the inning.

The final nail in the coffin came in the top of the 8^th as after Achira dismissed Tobashira, Kuwahara took a liking to tasty looking middle of the box straight ball and scored the 4^th Baystars homerun of the night, 8-3.

The Dragons tried their hardest to fight back in the 9^th but it would be to no avail as Gifu native, Tomoya Mikami shut the Chunichi batting line-up down to end the game.

Not a great start lead to a minor comeback but Iwase not hitting his straps meant that the game was taken away from the Dragons despite turning the tide. Had it been a different pitcher maybe it would have been a different story but we’ll never know.  There were some good performances with the bat with Ohshima, Nanita, Hirata, Donoue and Sugiyama all registering two hits a piece, but it wasn’t a line-up that combined well enough together today. Credit goes to Kubo for crafting good game at the start of the game to set-up the win for the Baystars. Major questions still over Yamai’s head with some wondering why a younger starter isn’t given a chance ahead of him, but as a stop-gap while Ohno is out, Yamai appears to be the man that Tanishige wants. Credit I think needs to go to Achira who made his first appearance this season for the first team and did well despite conceding a homerun. Hopefully he will be considered for long-relief duties in future.

Highlights：

Into Game 26 of the season and it was to be Oguma, who was one hit away from a no-hitter in his last start against the Baystars took the mound against the Baystars. Yoshiki Sunada, yet to claim a win this season was his opponent in the final game of the series before the Dragons moved to Hiroshima for the weekend games.

Iwase removed from the first team as the only change in registration following his less than average performance. 

It was an unusually cagey opening that would be broken in the third inning by the Baystars. A double from Tobashira started things before Sunada failed in his attempt to bunt. It wouldn’t matter however as one of yesterday’s homerun heroes, Masayuki Kuwahara continued where he left off hitting another one into the bleachers to open the scores at 2-0. Ishikawa and Otosaka could not add to the bracket and left the lead at two.

It would be an immediate reply from the Dragons as Sunada walked Viciedo to begin the innings. Nanita was beaten by a changeup, but the ever influential Ryosuke Hirata was brought to the plate. The captain has made his presence known since returning from injury at the outfielder would add to his homerun tally for the season with a lovely strike into the left stand, 2-2.  

Donoue would be walked to follow up, but Katsura fly-out and Donoue’s failed steal ended the inning prematurely.

Oguma kept up his good job as he kept the Baystars quiet. An error made by Takahashi in the 5^th was the only black mark on an otherwise good defensive performance.

The 6^th inning would be opened up by Takahashi and the young star would well make up for his mistake in the field, slamming another homerun into the left stand. 2-3 the score!

Viciedo would continue things with a single and Nanita would add to that with a single that allowed the Cuban to move to third base.

Obviously sensing danger, Ramirez decided to substitute in Zach Petrick for Sunada. It wouldn’t stop a thing as Hirata made another telling contribution by singling Viciedo on his way home.

Donoue was caught at second to tally the first out of the inning bringing Iori Katsura to the plate. Katsura has shown a penchant for homers and today would be no different as he whalloped a 3-run homerun to send the scores to 2-7! 

It was a magnificent bat-flip to follow as Katsura hit a fantastic no-doubter to continue the heated competition for the catcher’s spot between he and Sugiyama and had Tanishige grinning ear to ear.

 Oguma continued the mayhem as he hit a double but Ohshima and Araki couldn’t take advantage.

The last of the scoring would come in the 7^th inning. Nogawa would replace Petrick, and start things off by walking Shuhei. Lack of control was noticeable as he also walked Viciedo. Now correcting, Nogawa struck out Nanita and induced a ground out from Hirata but it was a timely triple from Donoue that sent Shuhei and Viciedo home to score and make it 2-9.

Hiroto Fuku was given the ball for the last 2 innings and the young lefty did well to close out the remaining innings under little pressure. He was able to strike out Romak and Tobashira in a row while inducing a ground out from Yamashita to end the inning and a fantastic hard hitting display.

All things went to plan for the Dragons today and Oguma gained a little more confidence after being battered by the Carp a week ago. No one can underestimate the influence of Hirata though as it seemed the whole team took a lift when he started doing his thing.

Overall a very positive series for the Dragons where we saw plenty of dingers and most importantly a series win. 

Regular Season: Dragons vs Carp @Hiroshima, April 12th & 14th; Carp batter Dragons (and not in the tempura way)

Only two games were squeezed out this week as rain stopped play on the 13th. Maybe the water helped the Carp swim toward victory as they flattened the water averse Dragons in the third game of the series. A modest win would be the victors spoils in game one, but overall, it was a 13-2 series loss for the Dragons where hitting was a major problem.

Our first game was to be the first regional round for the Dragons as we headed out into the Hiroshima countryside to Kure City top play at what is a regular venue for these kind of games. The regional rounds bring teams all over the place to areas that don't otherwise see a lot of baseball or in a way to expand the fan base. The Dragons will be playing the Giants in regional Kyushu next week and will play their own regional games in Gifu city and in Shizuoka at later points in the city. It's a lovely initiative and gets the game out to more fans than the usual and gives a bit of a different atmosphere for the players.

Kure City Ballpark

Game 16 of the season would be at the Kure City ballpark as the Dragons played Hiroshima for the second time this year. The previous outings ended in a 2-1 series win for the Dragons in Nagoya with some pretty good performances to get the season rolling. What would come of things in Hiroshima though?

Shunta "Doctor K" Wakamatsu would start on the mound this game as per the rotation with Yusuke Nomura starting things off for the Carp.

Things would start remarkably well for Chunichi in the first inning. Nomura walked Ohshima to start things and hits to Araki and Takahashi quickly had the bases loaded with Viciedo coming up behind. The big Cuban slugger would continue his 13 game home run drought as he only managed a single to help Ohshima home.

With bases still loaded, Ricardo Nanita would unfortunately strike out and Fujii would make a complete meal of the chance as he ground out into a double play. The problems of the number 5 spot reared its ugly head again as it did against the Giants. The problem of Fujii not hitting his stride remains.

The Carp would turn equal things immediately in the bottom of the first. Tanaka with a single, Kikuchi flying out and Maru with a single put runners on 1st and 2nd with Chunichi OB, Hector Luna coming up to bat. A hit through centre from the Dominican sent Tanaka on his way home and Maru onto third. The Carp would turn the equalised score into a winning one when Brad Eldred hit left to Nanita, allowing Maru to run home but it was a fumble from the outfielder that allowed Luna to progress to third base, 2-1. Wakamatsu would however recover as he removed the dangerous Arai along with Suzuki to end the inning.

The Dragons would only must two more hits all game as they failed to claw the losing score back. Carp would improve their winning score in the 6th as Eldred added to his RBI with a home run, 3-1.

View post on imgur.com

A disappointing showing from the batting lineup. Wakamatsu didn't do a bad job, but he certainly didn't have much back up. Although he will be disappointed with only being able to take 4 strikeouts home with him after 8 hard worked innings. Takahashi and Viciedo both got on base twice this game, but that's about all that was positive about the batting today. 5 Chunichi hits to 9 Carp hits was the main difference today.

Game highlights:

The game schedule for the 13th would not go ahead, but starting pitcher plans would be moved to the 14th as Ryosuke Oguma took the the mound for his second start of the year. His near perfect spell in Nagoya last week was a joy to behold, but could he repeat the heat in Hiroshima? We went back to the Carp's natural home, not a stream, but the iconic Mazda Stadium.

Game 17 would be nothing less than a demolishing of the Dragons as the Carp ran riot in the home ground, driving home 10 runs to the Dragons one. Oguma, who had previously only considered one hit against the Baystars, conceded 8 hits including two homeruns in his 4 innings.

Kris Johnson would keep things quiet for the Carp.

The score would be opened by the Dragons in the 3rd inning as hits from Araki and Takahashi put the two on 3rd and 2nd base respectively.  Viciedo would then force Luna into an error (his first of the 3 on the night) at third to load the bases. Nanita would then get the chance to put his name in lights, but shorted out a couple of the neon bulbs as he ground out but allowed Araki to score, 0-1. Fujii would then put his best foot forward and forthrightly strikeout to end the inning.

The pain train would be on it's way for the Dragons in the bottom of the third. Johnson and Tanaka were quickly removed by Oguma, but it was the jackrabbit, Kikuchi that hit a single to get on base, this would be the first of many hits for the very in form second baseman. Batting at 3, Maru got the call and quite happily dispatched Oguma into the stands to make the score 2-1.

Luna would fly out to right field to make sure the pain stopped at just 2-1. At least for the time being. A rally from the Dragons would not be forthcoming as despite Donoue profiting from another Luna fumble, the lineup would not be able to make the Dominican pay for his mistake.

More excitement was to come in the 4th, if you are a Carp fan that is, as Brad Eldred decided it was time for another ball to join the fans as he smashed another over the fence to add to the homer he got off Wakamatsu in Kure 2 nights previous. 

This would be the inning that would bring the pain. Arai edged closer to his 2000 career hits with a single. Ishihara would later join him, but Johnson striking out would leave only one batter in reserve. This would prove to be more than enough as Tanaka singled to load the bases. Oguma, with his trademark pokerface looked unfazed, but a single from Kikuchi into left field would allow Arai and Tanaka to move home to make it 5-1. The scoring wouldn't stop there as Maru sent home Ishihara to make it 6-1. Thankfully the madness would stop with Luna grounding out. 

There wouldn't be a lot of time for a counter-attack thanks from the Dragons as they failed tomake anything count in the top of the 5th before the maraudering Carp went on another blitz, pressing their already sizeable advantage. Two walks to Eldred and Arai forced Tanishige's hand to pull Oguma from the mound as Ogawa went in to relieve. Ogawa would serve up another wallk to load bases. Ishihara would get a dead-ball to see another Carp float to home plate to make it 7-1. Johnson would not offer much help, but singles from Tanaka and Kikuchi put the Carp 9-1 up to beat the already dead horse of the Dragons defense. 

The last scoring play of the day would be Amaya sending home Arai to make it 10-1 in the bottom of the 6th. Shell-shocked, the Dragons seemed to give up as the game was taken well away from them. The Carp as well, seemingly happy with 10, played out the rest of the game at a much lower intensity. A clobbering that Chunichi will not be particularly happy with. The 8 runs conceded by Oguma was also a new personal low for the pitcher as he will look to rebuild in his next appearance.

 For the masochists in you, here are some highlights:

Two not so great results came out of the trip to Hiroshima but the Dragons will be back home for the weekend against the Tigers. 

So far in the aftermath, Ogawa has found himself sent to the seconds after he failed to stem the tide twice in his two appearances. Daisuke Sobue will be into the team to replace him.

With the batters failing to perform in these two games, eyes have been cast to when Ryosuke Hirata will be back but Tanishige is not looking to rush the captain back into the side. There have been suggested that he might be back next weekend against the Swallows, but I'm skeptical.