Battle of the Champions

It appears the Marines are able to beat up their opponents in the virtual world as well. [Baseball Prospectus]

Game 1: Marines 10 White Sox 1.

Wow! That really does look like a replay of the Nippon Series. A few small innings with one really big one. The "Marine-gun offense" strikes again. And Watanabe's submarine motion really kept the Sox off balance while throwing strikes close to 70% of the time.

So far, this is a really interesting simulation of a proposed Chiba Lotte Marines - Chicago White Sox matchup. The Marines, so far, are also beating up the White Sox, like they did the Tigers.

Game 2 [Baseball Prospectus]

White Sox 4 Marines 3

Iguchi hits a sayonara grand slam in the 9th to tie the series at one apiece.

Kobayashi imploding with the Marines holding a 4-1 lead in the 9th? Not like we've seen that before either.

Yes, sorry, that should have been White Sox 5 Marines 4.

You guys are too funny.

I thought Bobby would've pulled starter Kobayashi after he gave up the double in the 9th, instead of letting him pitch until the bases were loaded, especially with only a 3 run lead. But, I haven't seen many Marines games, so he would do this? (Even though he is tagged to ride his starters.)

Very entertaining, anyways.

The Marines dropped the final three games at Chiba Marine Stadium. Read all about:

Game 3: Chicago 7 - 6 Lotte
Game 4: Chicago 12 - 4 Lotte
Game 5: Chicago 5 - 2 Lotte

My impression of Serafini during the season was a little different than what happened in Game 3. What I'd seen of Serafini gave me the impression that he'd get himself into and out of a lot of jams without giving up too many runs, if any at all. It was like he pitched better with runners on base, and didn't come undone. Sure, if you get yourself into enough jams, some runners are going to score, but I wouldn't have expected him to pitch so well and then suddenly self destruct like that. But then, the sample size of what I saw of him was a bit too small to say anything for sure.

Bobby yet again sticking with Yabuta and coming back with him in the 8th after he let in a couple of runs in the 7th is surprising. Maybe his "riding pitchers" value was set too high. Can't imagine any manager in the playoffs riding their pitchers unnecessarily when there are lots of bullpen options.

Anyways, the Marines put up a good fight in the simulated series with games that could've gone either way. Would be interesting to see the results of past and future Battle of Champions as well.