On Thursday, the Chiba Lotte Marines beat the Hiroshima Carp 23-2, bolstered by a Japan-record 15-run sixth inning and a grand slam by third baseman Toshiaki Imae as part of a five-run third. (Mainichi Daily News – NPB boxscore – Marines boxscore w/ innings) The previous Japanese record for runs in a single inning was reportedly 14, but I cannot seem to find out who or when that was set. I was able to find multiple instances of 13 runs in a single frame including Hanshin in the 6th vs. Sankei (now Yakult) [May 27, 1969], Yomiuri in the 6th vs. Hanshin [June 23, 1972], and Yakult in the 1st vs. Chunichi [April 22, 1998]
Former NY Mets manager Bobby Valentine is helming the Marines and was told before the season that his contract would not renewed for 2010 and beyond. A group seeking to keep on Valentine has collected 100,000 signatures on a petition that they will send to the front office on Monday. After Saturday’s set of games, Chiba Lotte is currently 5th in the Pacific League (24-29-3) and 8 games behind the Nippon Ham Fighters. Last season, they finished 4th place in their league with a 73-70-1 record, just missing the playoffs by a half-game.
On April 18 in US baseball, the Cleveland Indians scored 14 runs in the second inning of a 22-4 win over the NY Yankees. It was the Yankees’ third home game at the new Yankee Stadium. The major league record for most runs scored in a single inning by one team is 18, set by the Boston Red Sox in the 7th frame of a June 18, 1953 game against the Detroit Tigers – the final score of that one: 23-3. (Retrosheet)
While browsing for Koshien clips on Nico last week, I came across a pleasant surprise. It turns out that the same person who ran last year’s inaugural tournament that pitted 16 anime & manga-based teams against each other in a sim bracket has already started doing it again this spring. This time around (Nico link), the tournament has been dubbed “Koshien Dream Match” (甲子園ドリームマッチ), the field has been doubled to 32 teams, and the game has been upgraded to Pawapuro 15. It took two months but the first round wrapped up on Saturday so if you’d like read those results and the 2nd round matchups, feel free to continue. Read the rest of this entry »
Both Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday and Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine began publication on the same day 50 years ago – March 17, 1959 – and they have been doing anniversary celebrations over the past year including the release of a joint issue on March 19, 2008, and the production of two crossover video games: a DS baseball game, Sunday X Magazine Nettou! Dream Nine (website), on Feb. 26th and a PSP fighting game for the PSP called Sunday VS Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen! (website) on Mar. 26th. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you ever wanted to see characters from your favorite anime series face off on a ballfield diamond? Well, some enterprising Japanese person set up a 16-team tournament using Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 14 to simulate the matches and posted the results on NicoNicoDouga with some added graphics to make them seem more televised. While there were obvious baseball inclusions such as Oofuri and Dokaben, there were also a few obscure choices like Maple Senchi and shojo manga Muteki no Venus by Ayumi Shiina. An added bonus was that the uploader also took the time to craft relevant chants for each team (i.e. “Star Rise” from Bamboo Blade), which made the whole thing all the more authentic, at least as much as a video game can be real.
Anyway, if you are a baseball nerd like myself and if you want to watch the matches, there is a video playlist containing them in sequence but for those who are not (and also lack Nico accounts), I’m also posting the results after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the rules in baseball that may not be obvious to casual baseball fans is that a batter can run to first if the catcher drops the third strike (i.e. the ball is not “legally caught”) and fails to tag him out when first base is open or when there are two outs. It still counts as a strikeout for the pitcher and the runner gets to stays on base if he reaches. (This has sometimes led to MLB pitchers getting four strikeouts in an inning.)
Well, during a tournament game between teams from Yokohama and Tokai, the Yokohama catcher dropped what would have been the third strike to close out the inning and the entire defense walked off the field toward the dugout. As the Tokai batter was walking back to the dugout, someone told him to run to first. He did and then went to second, then to third before scoring all the way home. The two other runners on base also scored, making it a three-run strikeout and expanding Tokai’s lead to 6-0.
At least the umpire was nice enough to explain the situation and outcome to the crowd.
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