Pro Yakyu Game of the Week: 4/13

Again, I failed to give any advanced notice, and nobody came. Oh, well. Now you all now know, Tuesday nights at 6:00 PM JST will be the Pro Yakyu Game of the Week.

If niibu_yaa-san is up to it, and the Daiei game at Yahoo! BB is available, I'll leave the play-by-play to him next week. What do you think?

Here this the transcript to this evening's game:

TRANSCRIPT generated on: 2004/04/13 20:35
CHATROOM: Pro Yakyu Game of the Week/Yakult vs. Yokohama
MODERATORS: westbaystars

18:10: westbaystars - Welcome to the Pro Yakyu Game of the Week for April 13, 2004.
18:11: westbaystars - Yokohama is hosting Yakult at Yokohama Stadium.
18:11: westbaystars - Mulan is on the mound for Yokohama, and got the first two Swallows to ground out to the right side.
18:13: westbaystars - Mulen strikes out the next batter, and Yakult goes down in order in the first.
18:13: westbaystars - ----
18:13: westbaystars - Bottom of First
18:13: westbaystars - ----
18:15: westbaystars - Ishidoh is on the mound for Yakult.
18:15: westbaystars - He faces Ishii Takuro, who gounds the ball through the left side.
18:16: westbaystars - It's fielded by the shortstop deep, closer to third than short, and has no play.
18:16: westbaystars - Infield hit.
18:16: westbaystars - Suzuki Takanori is next.
18:17: westbaystars - And he is *not* sacrificing.
18:18: westbaystars - Instead, he hits a comebacker to Ishidoh, who turns to fire to second for one,
18:18: westbaystars - and the relay to first is in time. Double play.
18:18: westbaystars - Runners erased for Murata.
18:20: westbaystars - After breaking his bat on a foul ball up the left line, ...
18:20: westbaystars - ... Murata pops up the right field line - and Suzuki Ken loses the ball!
18:20: westbaystars - Running out toward right, he just raised his shoulders in confusion.
18:21: westbaystars - The next pitch is taken high for ball two, that evens the count to 2-2.
18:22: westbaystars - After a couple more foul balls, Murata goes down swinging for the final out.
18:22: westbaystars - Yokohama got their lead-off runner on, but it turned out to be
18:22: westbaystars - three up, three down.
18:23: westbaystars - At the end of one complete, there is no score.
18:23: westbaystars - ----
18:23: westbaystars - Top of Second
18:23: westbaystars - ----
18:24: westbaystars - Ramirez leads off the second inning for Yakult, hitting .306 with 4 home run so far this season.
18:25: westbaystars - I believe that Yokohama's pitcher's name is spelled Mullen. Sorry about that in the first.
18:26: westbaystars - He works the count full to Ramirez before Ramirez rips the ball through the left side for a single.
18:26: westbaystars - Suzuki Ken steps up.
18:27: westbaystars - Suzuki is batting .259 with two homers so far this season.
18:27: westbaystars - He raps the ball up the middle, and Mullen fails to stab it.
18:28: westbaystars - It goes by second base and into center field.
18:28: westbaystars - Ramirez holds at second.
18:28: westbaystars - With runners at first and second and nobody out, .208 batting Furuta comes up.
18:28: westbaystars - This is a pretty bad start for the 15 year veteran catcher.
18:29: westbaystars - But he keeps the hit parde going and lines a base hit to left.
18:30: westbaystars - Ramirez kicks third and heads on home. Yakult scores first.
18:30: westbaystars - Inaba comes up next.
18:34: westbaystars - And Inaba slices the ball up the middle for Yakult's fourth base hit in a row.
18:34: westbaystars - This one was hit harder than Furuta's, so Suzuki holds at third.
18:34: westbaystars - With the bases loaded and nobody out, Yokohama's pitching coach goes out to have a word.
18:35: westbaystars - The announcers said that Mullen's family have come to Japan this week and are watching on TV.
18:36: westbaystars - Shiroishi grounds his first pitch to third, the throw to home forces Suzuki,
18:36: westbaystars - and the relay to first is in time - double play!
18:36: westbaystars - That makes it runners at second and third with two outs.
18:36: westbaystars - And opposing pitcher Ishidoh at the plate.
18:37: westbaystars - Ishidoh is swinging pretty well, but not getting wood on the second strike pitch.
18:37: westbaystars - But the next pitch is pulled up the first base side.
18:38: westbaystars - One run is in. The throw home, is *not* in time as the second run crosses the plate.
18:38: westbaystars - Ishidoh helped his own cause with a two-run single.
18:38: westbaystars - Yakult now leads 3-0.
18:38: westbaystars - And Iida lines Mullen's first pitch to him to Ishii at short to retire the side.
18:39: westbaystars - But it was one pitch too late for Yokohama as Yakult scores first, leading 3-0.
18:39: westbaystars - ----
18:39: westbaystars - Bottom of Second
18:39: westbaystars - ----
18:40: westbaystars - Woods leads off the second, batting .364 so far this season.
18:43: westbaystars - But he grounds out to Miyamoto at short for the first out.
18:43: westbaystars - Kinjyoh, batting .455, steps in. Kinjyoh has been hot since open-sen.
18:43: westbaystars - But, he flies out to Ramirez in left for the second out.
18:43: westbaystars - Tamura comes up next.
18:45: westbaystars - Batting .167, he lifts a high fly to right. It's high enough for Inaba to run in, camp under it, and retire the side.
18:45: westbaystars - After two complete innings, Yakult leads 3-0.
18:45: westbaystars - ----
18:45: westbaystars - Top of Third
18:45: westbaystars - ----
18:46: westbaystars - ***
18:47: westbaystars - Chunichi leads Yomiuri 1-0 in the top of the second.
18:47: westbaystars - Hanshin leads Hiroshima in the bottom of the first.
18:47: westbaystars - Nippon Ham 2-0 Orix
18:47: westbaystars - Other games are still scoreless.
18:47: westbaystars - ***
18:48: westbaystars - Miyamoto leads off the third inning for Yakult.
18:48: westbaystars - And he strikes out swinging at a high pitch for the first out.
18:50: westbaystars - Iwamura, batting .303, lifts a 1-strike, 3-ball pitch to straight away center.
18:50: westbaystars - Kinjyoh has plenty of time to get under it and take it in for the out.
18:50: westbaystars - Ramirez, who started off the second with a base hit, steps in.
18:52: westbaystars - After Mullen fell down delivering a pitch, Ramirez rips the ball at Ishii at short.
18:52: westbaystars - Ishii smothered the ball, but couldn't stop it completely.
18:52: westbaystars - It's apprently ruled an infield hit.
18:54: westbaystars - Suzuki Ken grounds the ball to the right side, right to Uchikawa at second.
18:54: westbaystars - The throw to first retires the side.
18:54: westbaystars - Yakult got a base runner, but failed to score.
18:54: westbaystars - ----
18:54: westbaystars - Bottom of Third
18:54: westbaystars - ----
18:56: westbaystars - Uchikawa, batting .452, leads off the bottom of the third for Yokohama.
18:57: westbaystars - After working the count full, Uchikawa goes down swinging at a good pitch on the outside corner.
18:58: westbaystars - Catcher Aikawa comes up next.
18:59: westbaystars - And he goes down swinging at a pitch out low.
18:59: westbaystars - Two quick outs.
18:59: westbaystars - Next is pitcher Mullen.
19:00: westbaystars - And he goes down looking.
19:00: westbaystars - Ishidoh struck out the side in order.
19:00: westbaystars - At the end of three complete, Yakult continues to lead 3-0.
19:00: westbaystars - ----
19:00: westbaystars - Top of Fourth
19:00: westbaystars - ----
19:03: westbaystars - Furuta leads off grounding to the left side.
19:03: westbaystars - Murata makes a fine stab going toward short, comes up, and throws Furuta out.
19:03: westbaystars - One down.
19:04: westbaystars - That brings Inaba to the plate.
19:05: westbaystars - Inaba lines a pitch over Murata's head and into left field.
19:05: westbaystars - Suzuki brings the ball back in to hold Inaba at first.
19:09: westbaystars - Shiroishi lines a one hopper to Kinjyoh in right. It's hit too hard for Inaba to advance past second.
19:09: westbaystars - Ishidoh comes up bunting, and sacrifices the two runners along this time.
19:10: westbaystars - That makes it two out with runners at second and third.
19:10: westbaystars - Iida steps up to the plate.
19:12: westbaystars - But he grounds the ball just left of the second base bag.
19:12: westbaystars - Ishii plays the ball, fires to first, and the side is retired.
19:13: westbaystars - Yakult got runners to scoring position, but didn't get that final hit.
19:13: westbaystars - Going to the bottom of the Fourth, Yakult still leads 3-0.
19:13: westbaystars - ----
19:13: westbaystars - Bottom of Fourth
19:13: westbaystars - ----
19:14: westbaystars - **** Nippon Ham 2 - 0 Orix ****
19:14: westbaystars - **** Seibu 0 - 0 Lotte in 4th ****
19:15: westbaystars - Ishii leads off the fourth for Yokohama.
19:15: westbaystars - **** Hanshin and Hiroshima are now tied 3-3 ****
19:16: westbaystars - And Ishii watches strike three slide on over the plate.
19:16: westbaystars - One out. Suzuki-kun coming up.
19:17: westbaystars - He grounds the ball up the middle, but Miyamoto comes over and plays the hop off the mound near the second base bag.
19:17: westbaystars - The throw to first is in time, two quick outs.
19:18: westbaystars - Murata works the count full.
19:19: westbaystars - Then lines the ball to left, well within Ramirez' range, and Yokohama is retired in order for the fourth time
19:19: westbaystars - this evening.
19:19: westbaystars - At the end of four complete Yakult 3 - 0 Yokohama.
19:19: westbaystars - ----
19:19: westbaystars - Top of Fifth
19:20: westbaystars - ----
19:20: westbaystars - Miyamoto rips Mullen's first pitch to him up the middle.
19:21: westbaystars - But Uchikawa mades a back-hand grad of the ball, turns, and fires to first.
19:21: westbaystars - One out.
19:22: westbaystars - Iwamura strikes out looking for the second out.
19:23: westbaystars - Ramirez swings at Mullen's first offering to him and grounds out to third.
19:23: westbaystars - Hey, that was a quick half inning for Yakult.
19:23: westbaystars - ----
19:23: westbaystars - Bottom of Fifth
19:23: westbaystars - ----
19:26: westbaystars - Woods strikes out swinging at a high 2-2 fastball.
19:27: westbaystars - Kinjyoh follows by lining out to right. Two down.
19:29: westbaystars - Tamura lines a shot over the third baseman's head and into the left field corner.
19:29: westbaystars - He kicks first, and runs into second base standing up.
19:30: westbaystars - Uchikawa grounds the ball between the third baseman and shortstop, but
19:30: westbaystars - Iwamura gets to the ball and throws him out at first.
19:30: westbaystars - That retires the side.
19:30: westbaystars - Well, at least Yokohama now has one base runner over the limit.
19:30: westbaystars - ----
19:31: westbaystars - Top of Sixth
19:31: westbaystars - ----
19:32: westbaystars - Suzuki Ken leads off for Yakult.
19:34: westbaystars - And he grounds out to Uchikawa at second for the first out.
19:35: westbaystars - Furuta rips his second hit of the evening, this one through the left side of the infield.
19:37: westbaystars - Inaba lifts a high fly ball to center, that Tamura takes in for out number two.
19:38: westbaystars - With Shiroishi at the plate, Furuta attempt to steal second.
19:39: westbaystars - But he's thrown out by Aikawa for the final out of the inning.
19:39: westbaystars - Yakult got a base runner, but left nobody on.
19:39: westbaystars - ----
19:39: westbaystars - Bottom of Sixth
19:39: westbaystars - ----
19:40: westbaystars - ****
19:40: westbaystars - A quick look at other games, and it looks like Chunichi has a 7-0 lead over the Giants.
19:40: westbaystars - And Hanshin took the lead against Hiroshima 4-3 in the 4th.
19:41: westbaystars - Lotte leads Seibu 2-0 in the 5th.
19:41: westbaystars - Nippon Ham now has a 4-0 lead over Orix in the 4th.
19:42: westbaystars - And Daiei leads Kintetsu 2-0 in the 4th.
19:42: westbaystars - ****
19:44: westbaystars - Aikawa strikes out on a full count pitch, swinging in front of a changeup.
19:44: westbaystars - One out.
19:44: westbaystars - Pinch hitter Furuki come up for Mullen.
19:45: westbaystars - But he grounds out to Suzuki Ken at first who takes the ball to the bag himself.
19:45: westbaystars - Two outs.
19:45: westbaystars - That brings us back to the top of the order in Ishii.
19:45: westbaystars - And he swings at the first pitch, and lifts it high to center.
19:46: westbaystars - Iida comes forward a little bit, very slowly, and the side is retired.
19:46: westbaystars - Yokohama goes down in order yet again.
19:46: westbaystars - At the end of six complete, Yakult 3 - 0 Yokohama.
19:46: westbaystars - ----
19:46: westbaystars - Top of Seventh
19:46: westbaystars - ----
19:48: westbaystars - **** Chunichi's lead over the Giants is 7-1. ****
19:48: westbaystars - Kawamura comes in as the BayStars' second pitcher.
19:49: westbaystars - And he gets Shiroishi to ground out for the first out.
19:50: westbaystars - Ishidoh bats for himself, and goes down swinging on three pitches.
19:50: westbaystars - Two quick outs.
19:52: westbaystars - Iida worked the count full before lining out to Kinjyoh in right.
19:52: westbaystars - Kinjyoh threw the ball into the right field stands, and the side is retired in order.
19:52: westbaystars - ----
19:52: westbaystars - Bottom of Seventh
19:52: westbaystars - ----
19:54: westbaystars - Suzuki-kun leads off Yokohama's Lucky Seven.
19:54: westbaystars - He hit one deep, but foul, the other way just left of the left field foul pole.
19:55: westbaystars - After another foul ball, Suzuki grounds out to Shiroishi at second. One out.
19:57: westbaystars - Murata lifts a high fly to the right side of the infield.
19:57: westbaystars - Both Shiroishi and Suzuki Ken get under it, but it's Suzuki who pulls it in.
19:57: westbaystars - Two outs.
19:57: westbaystars - Woods is swinging at the first pitch, and lifts it deep to center.
19:58: westbaystars - But not deep enough as Iida pulls it in well in front of the warning track.
19:58: westbaystars - Yokohama goes down in order yet again.
19:58: westbaystars - At the end of seven complete, Yakult 3 - 0 Yokohama.
19:58: westbaystars - ----
19:58: westbaystars - Top of Eighth
19:58: westbaystars - ----
19:59: westbaystars - Kawamura continues to pitch for Yokohama.
20:00: westbaystars - He faces number two Miyamoto to start the eighth.
20:01: westbaystars - Miyamoto lines a 2-2 pitch right at Woods at first.
20:01: westbaystars - Not moving anything but his glove arm, Woods takes the ball in for the first out.
20:01: westbaystars - Iwamura grounds the ball to Woods at first.
20:01: westbaystars - This time Woods has to move, as he scoops the ball to the covering Kawamura.
20:01: westbaystars - Two outs.
20:02: westbaystars - Ramirez steps up to the plate, and the announcers start fretting about the /ippatsu/.
20:03: westbaystars - That's not a good omen.
20:03: westbaystars - Kawamura is a great pitcher, and even when he's on, he suffers from sudden
20:03: westbaystars - cases of /ippatsu-byou/.
20:04: westbaystars - Well, the count is run full to Ramirez.
20:04: westbaystars - And the pay-off pitch is called strike three on the outside corner.
20:04: westbaystars - Ramirez was starting to head to first, but instead walks back toward the third base dugout.
20:04: westbaystars - Whew.
20:05: westbaystars - ----
20:05: westbaystars - Bottom of Eighth
20:05: westbaystars - ----
20:06: westbaystars - Kinjyoh leads off the bottom of the eighth again Ishidoh, who has only allowed two hits so far.
20:08: westbaystars - And he goes down singing at a slow curve. One out.
20:09: westbaystars - Tamura raps his second base hit off of Ishidoh this evening, a line drive to center.
20:10: westbaystars - That brings up Uchikawa.
20:12: westbaystars - Furuta and Shiroishi seemed to get crossed up on ball three and had a meeting.
20:12: westbaystars - Afterwhich, Shiroishi surrendered his first walk of the game, on four pitches.
20:12: westbaystars - Saeki will come up to pinch hit for Aikawa.
20:13: westbaystars - And Wakamatsu-kantoku is making a move.
20:14: westbaystars - Shiroishi is out and Ishii Hirotoshi comes in.
20:16: westbaystars - Ishii's first pitch to Saeki is called strike one on the inside corner.
20:18: westbaystars - But Saeki grounds the ball to third.
20:18: westbaystars - The throw to second gets one.
20:18: westbaystars - And the relay to first gets Saeki by a step.
20:18: westbaystars - The side is retired.
20:18: westbaystars - Yokohama made their biggest threat of the evening, but came up empty.
20:19: westbaystars - At the end of eight complete, Yakult 3 - 0 Yokohama.
20:19: westbaystars - ----
20:19: westbaystars - Top of Ninth
20:19: westbaystars - ----
20:20: westbaystars - Suzuki Ken leads off against Kawamura, still in there.
20:21: westbaystars - Who's in to catch now?
20:21: westbaystars - Well, Suzuki breaks his bat grounding out to second. One out.
20:22: westbaystars - Furuta, who has two hits on the evening along with his first RBI of the second,
20:22: westbaystars - comes up next.
20:22: westbaystars - Odajima is the new catcher.
20:23: westbaystars - I thought he looked a lot younger than Nakamura.
20:23: westbaystars - Furuta grounds to the right side.
20:23: westbaystars - Woods fields the ball, tosses to the covering Kawamura, and we have two outs.
20:24: westbaystars - Inaba comes up next.
20:25: westbaystars - He grounds the ball up the middle.
20:25: westbaystars - Fielding by Uchikawa just right of the second base bag.
20:25: westbaystars - He fires to first, and gets Inaba for the final out.
20:25: westbaystars - Going to Yokohama's last chance, Yakult continues to lead 3-0.
20:25: westbaystars - ----
20:25: westbaystars - Bottom of Ninth
20:25: westbaystars - ----
20:27: westbaystars - Ishii continues on the mound, trying to save Yakult currently riding a five game losing streak.
20:27: westbaystars - Taneda leads off for Yokohama, pinch hitting for Kawamura.
20:29: westbaystars - But he goes down swinging on a 2-2 pitch. Down to two outs.
20:30: westbaystars - Back to the top of the order in Ishii.
20:32: westbaystars - Ishii is fouling off a lot of pitches to stay alive.
20:34: westbaystars - Finally, after about 10 pitches, he grounds the ball to the left side of the infield.
20:34: westbaystars - Ishii (the pitcher) fields the ball running toward third, turns, fires, and gets Ishii (the batter)
20:34: westbaystars - for out number two.
20:34: westbaystars - Suzuki lines Ishii's second offering right back at him.
20:35: westbaystars - And it's snabbed for the final out of the game.
20:35: westbaystars - Yakult has broken their five game losing streak, taking Yokohama 3-0.
20:35: westbaystars - ****
20:35: westbaystars - Game Final
20:35: westbaystars - Yakult 3 - 0 Yokohama
20:35: westbaystars - ****

Would like to do the live chat here in Connecticut USA but the time difference makes it time for work. I do like to look at script of BayStars' games. Any idea if Pete Walker is going to pitch that game? If not when would he pitch?

I saw mention of Walker a few days ago while watching a game. There was a farm report that stated that Walker had defeated the ni-gun Giants that afternoon. On the one hand, it means that Pete is with the farm team for at least 10 days from when he was sent down (which I don't know). On the other hand, he pitched well and should be called back up soon.

Yokohama has recently signed left handed pitcher Sedric (sp?) Bowers of AAA Darmas (sp?). But they state that Bowers will start at with the SeaRex (the farm team) for education first. So this signing shouldn't effect Walker's chances of being called back up in the short term.

Thank you for the information.

I'd love to take a crack at a few games in the future, unfotunately this week/month I just haven't been good for that. Sorry for the inconvience of not posting sooner. Lightly pencil me in for a May game. I'd like to take a chance at improving from last year.