Justin.tv has unfortunately been shut down.
It's been a great resource and allowed me to enjoy Japanese baseball in a way I would never have guessed years ago when my in-laws were still sending/bringing us VHS and DVD recordings of games.
It has also been the best, easiest place to find recorded playoff games the last few years.
But now it's gone and there are alternatives out there, Reddit NPB is a good resource for finding games.
Update: Where the heck am I going to watch college football games? Go Dawgs!
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Dragons Trade Kyohei Iwasaki to Orix for Taiki Mitsumata
In one the few trade deadline moves Chunichi sent Kyohei Iwasaki to Orix in exchange for Taiki Mitsumata. I don't know a ton about Orix's roster, but I imagine this was a move to add a little depth to their middle infield as it doesn't appear to be a move that would improve Chunichi's playoff chances, at least for this season.
Iwasaki is 28-years old and wasn't seeing much time with the ichi-gun team this year. He had less than 100 plate appearance at ichi-gun in his career with the Dragons. He's a bit of a light hitter and hasn't had much success as a hitter in his ni-gun career either, though he did have a fairly high OBP this year. I'm sure Orix is looking to add him for his defense and hoping he'll at least be able to get on base at a reasonable rate. I don't know if they are planning to use him much, maybe for late-inning defense.
Though this looks to be minor trade, Mitsumata could eventually turn out to be an interesting player. He is only 22-years old and was a 2nd-round draft pick of the Buffaloes out high school in 2010. So far he's been about a .230ish hitter in ni-gun and has had limited opportunities at ichi-gun. He showed power in high school hitting double-digit home runs in his final year at Shutoku HS. He's not likely to give Chunichi much this year, but he's young and still has time to improve.
For the time being I'm liking this trade. I think Mitsumata has a chance to be a better player than Iwasaki is or will be and hopefully can be a future middle-infield piece for the Dragons. Chunichi needs more middle-infield prospects, it's kind of a weakness right now as they've had to sign a foreigner to play shortstop, pretty uncommon, and have an aging second-baseman. So far the prospects they have haven't stepped up and though Shuhei Takahashi is looking promising right now he's probably more of a corner infielder than a middle-infielder long-term. This hopefully will end up being a trade that benefits both teams, Orix in the short-term and Chunichi in the long-term.
Iwasaki is 28-years old and wasn't seeing much time with the ichi-gun team this year. He had less than 100 plate appearance at ichi-gun in his career with the Dragons. He's a bit of a light hitter and hasn't had much success as a hitter in his ni-gun career either, though he did have a fairly high OBP this year. I'm sure Orix is looking to add him for his defense and hoping he'll at least be able to get on base at a reasonable rate. I don't know if they are planning to use him much, maybe for late-inning defense.
Though this looks to be minor trade, Mitsumata could eventually turn out to be an interesting player. He is only 22-years old and was a 2nd-round draft pick of the Buffaloes out high school in 2010. So far he's been about a .230ish hitter in ni-gun and has had limited opportunities at ichi-gun. He showed power in high school hitting double-digit home runs in his final year at Shutoku HS. He's not likely to give Chunichi much this year, but he's young and still has time to improve.
For the time being I'm liking this trade. I think Mitsumata has a chance to be a better player than Iwasaki is or will be and hopefully can be a future middle-infield piece for the Dragons. Chunichi needs more middle-infield prospects, it's kind of a weakness right now as they've had to sign a foreigner to play shortstop, pretty uncommon, and have an aging second-baseman. So far the prospects they have haven't stepped up and though Shuhei Takahashi is looking promising right now he's probably more of a corner infielder than a middle-infielder long-term. This hopefully will end up being a trade that benefits both teams, Orix in the short-term and Chunichi in the long-term.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
PSSBL Game at Safeco Field
I was very fortunate to be able to participate in a charity baseball game put on by the league I play in for the benefit of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Alaska and Washington. It was a great experience in one of my favorite places in the world and I'm glad I was able to share it with my family and some great guys and benefiting a great cause.
Please visit the Make-a-Wish website to see some of the stories of children who have benefited from the organization and the effect it's had on these children and their families.
Also a very, very cool story here about 18-year old Xander Bailey's wish to become a pro soccer player and his day as a Seattle Sounder, put together by Make-a-Wish and Sounders FC.
CL Race Tightens Up
With Yomiuri on a semi-skid, Hiroshima treading water, Chunichi playing pretty good ball and Hanshin playing really good ball the Central League race has tightened up considerably. All four teams are now within 4.5 games of each other and could probably end up finishing in any order 1-4.
Chunichi has been a little banged up, but are starting to get their players back. Yoshimi has returned and started a couple games, Araki is back and Luna and Hirata should be joining the ichi-gun team within the next couple weeks. In the meantime their replacements have been chipping in and Shuhei Takahashi has joined the big club.
The Dragons will face the Carp in six of their next nine games, important games in what is currently a battle for third and fourth in the standings.
Also, congratulations to Hitoki Iwase who increased his NPB all-time record for saves by picking up save No.400 in Chunichi's victory Saturday over Yomiuri.
Chunichi has been a little banged up, but are starting to get their players back. Yoshimi has returned and started a couple games, Araki is back and Luna and Hirata should be joining the ichi-gun team within the next couple weeks. In the meantime their replacements have been chipping in and Shuhei Takahashi has joined the big club.
The Dragons will face the Carp in six of their next nine games, important games in what is currently a battle for third and fourth in the standings.
Also, congratulations to Hitoki Iwase who increased his NPB all-time record for saves by picking up save No.400 in Chunichi's victory Saturday over Yomiuri.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Dragons Pull Even For Third Place
Thanks to an excellent performance by Daisuke Yamai, Chunichi was able to defeat Hanshin yesterday and move into a tie for third place with the Tigers. The Dragons scored a run in the 8th to break a 1-1 tie and Yamai and Iwase were able to escape jams in the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings to preserve the victory.
Chunichi had been stuck in 4th place since nearly the start of the season, but the Cental League has been tightening up. Interleague play was good to the Dragons as they gained ground against Hanshin and Hiroshima. Hopefully Chunichi can keep it up and make the Central League race interesting down the stretch, the season is almost half over already. Hiroshima has been coming back down to earth so 2nd place isn't out of the question.
Asao is back, and pitching well, and Yoshimi could be back as soon as next month. That should help. Hirata is banged up now, hopefully he won't be out for long. Anderson Hernandez has gotten hot and given the team a boost as Naomichi Donoue has slumped back to the bench. Outside of Yomiuri, all of the Central League teams have flaws so really any of the other teams could find themselves playing in the Climax Series.
The Dragons are making a run, get fired up Dragons fans!
Chunichi had been stuck in 4th place since nearly the start of the season, but the Cental League has been tightening up. Interleague play was good to the Dragons as they gained ground against Hanshin and Hiroshima. Hopefully Chunichi can keep it up and make the Central League race interesting down the stretch, the season is almost half over already. Hiroshima has been coming back down to earth so 2nd place isn't out of the question.
Asao is back, and pitching well, and Yoshimi could be back as soon as next month. That should help. Hirata is banged up now, hopefully he won't be out for long. Anderson Hernandez has gotten hot and given the team a boost as Naomichi Donoue has slumped back to the bench. Outside of Yomiuri, all of the Central League teams have flaws so really any of the other teams could find themselves playing in the Climax Series.
The Dragons are making a run, get fired up Dragons fans!
Friday, May 23, 2014
Dragons Hat from Ebbets
Ebbets Field Flannels currently has this Doragons hat for sale
http://www.ebbets.com/product/Chunichi-Doragons-1950-Ballcap/Ballcaps
http://www.ebbets.com/product/Chunichi-Doragons-1950-Ballcap/Ballcaps
Saturday, May 10, 2014
One Month In
The Dragons currently sit in 4th place after the first five weeks of the season. At this point the Central League's top three teams are bunched within a few games of each other and bottom three teams are bunched together with about 5 games separating the two groups. There is still a long way to go though and 5 games doesn't mean much at this point.
So far the offence has been stronger than it's been for several years, but the regulation ball has been traveling well this year and that probably has a lot to do with it. Still Oshima and even Araki have been doing well at the top of the lineup and Luna and Hirata have hit very well in the 3-4 spots. Morino and Wada have been contributing, especially of late. Ogasawara has hit well in his role and Naomichi Donoue and Masato Matsui were hitting well, but have slumped lately.
Both Luna and Wada are near the top of the league with 7 home runs and 27 RBI each, but outside of those two they comparatively haven't hit for a ton of power and currently rank last in the league in home runs and 5th in runs scored. Their runs scored numbers aren't that far from the pack though, only Hanshin and Yakult have scored a lot more runs than Chunichi so far.
Though they rank third in the Central in runs allowed, run prevention seems to be what's holding the Dragons back. I can't imagine Chunichi hitting much better than they have so far, but I could definitely see some improvement in their pitching and defense. For the Dragons to be playoff contenders they will have be one of the top pitching staffs, which is what they've been in the past. So far Daisuke Yamai has been the only consistent starter. They have gotten some surprise contributions from Kenta Asakura, Yudai Kawai and Tatsuro Hamada, but they will need more consistency from Yudai Ono, Daniel Cabrera and a healthy Kaz Yoshimi for Chunichi to stay in the race. The bullpen has been pretty good so far, except for a few blowups. I've been impressed with Daisuke Sobue the few times I've seen him as well as some of the other young bullpen arms. Outside of Wada in left field there is no reason why the Dragons shouldn't be a solid defensive team, I don't know what their overall defensive numbers are (or any source in English that would show them), but they've definitely had some sorry moments.
Going forward Chunichi needs to continue hitting at their current level, get some more consistency from their starting pitching and keep looking to improve their foreign players roster, they have three foreign spots that they've gotten almost no production from. If they can do any of that they can certainly stay in the race for the long run.
So far the offence has been stronger than it's been for several years, but the regulation ball has been traveling well this year and that probably has a lot to do with it. Still Oshima and even Araki have been doing well at the top of the lineup and Luna and Hirata have hit very well in the 3-4 spots. Morino and Wada have been contributing, especially of late. Ogasawara has hit well in his role and Naomichi Donoue and Masato Matsui were hitting well, but have slumped lately.
Both Luna and Wada are near the top of the league with 7 home runs and 27 RBI each, but outside of those two they comparatively haven't hit for a ton of power and currently rank last in the league in home runs and 5th in runs scored. Their runs scored numbers aren't that far from the pack though, only Hanshin and Yakult have scored a lot more runs than Chunichi so far.
Though they rank third in the Central in runs allowed, run prevention seems to be what's holding the Dragons back. I can't imagine Chunichi hitting much better than they have so far, but I could definitely see some improvement in their pitching and defense. For the Dragons to be playoff contenders they will have be one of the top pitching staffs, which is what they've been in the past. So far Daisuke Yamai has been the only consistent starter. They have gotten some surprise contributions from Kenta Asakura, Yudai Kawai and Tatsuro Hamada, but they will need more consistency from Yudai Ono, Daniel Cabrera and a healthy Kaz Yoshimi for Chunichi to stay in the race. The bullpen has been pretty good so far, except for a few blowups. I've been impressed with Daisuke Sobue the few times I've seen him as well as some of the other young bullpen arms. Outside of Wada in left field there is no reason why the Dragons shouldn't be a solid defensive team, I don't know what their overall defensive numbers are (or any source in English that would show them), but they've definitely had some sorry moments.
Going forward Chunichi needs to continue hitting at their current level, get some more consistency from their starting pitching and keep looking to improve their foreign players roster, they have three foreign spots that they've gotten almost no production from. If they can do any of that they can certainly stay in the race for the long run.
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