Game Notes: Darvish vs Orix

» 03 May 2011 » In npb »

Summary: Nippon Ham wins 6-3 in 10 innings.

Yesterday, the old saying held true: it ain’t over ’til it’s over. I went to bed after the eighth inning of the Nippon Ham-Orix game. Having watched Yu Darvish and Hiroshi Kisanuki battle to 3-1 Fighters lead, I figured it was a safe bet that Orix wouldn’t make a comeback, considering that they had only managed two hits over the first eight innings.

I would have lost that bet. With two on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Mike Hessman came up as a pinch hitter and singled on the first pitch he saw, scoring Makoto Moriyama from second and advancing Shingo Nonaka from first to third. Aarom Baldiris followed up with another single, tying the game at 3-3.

After catcher Fumihito Suzuki ended the Orix rally with a flyout, relief ace Mamoru Kishida opened the 10th with two quick strikeouts, before walking Eiichi Koyano. Atsunori Inaba reached on a Baldiris error, then Kazuya Murata singled, setting up a bases loaded situation for Sho Nakata, who cleared ’em with a triple. 6-3, Nippon Ham.

Orix went down in order in bottom of the 10th, and that’s how it ended.

That was what I missed. What I saw was a pretty good pitching matchup between Kisanuki and Darvish. Kisanuki had the Fighters’ number the first two trips through the lineup, limiting them to three hits and no runs. All the damage came in the seventh, when he clearly looked fatigued, but was was to some extent let down by a couple of unfortunate plays in the field.

The first was came against Inaba, who opened the inning with a bouncer down the first base line. Seung-Yeop Lee casually jogged over to it, veering into foul territory, snagged the ball, and stepped on first. Foul ball.  It seemed harmless enough, but he looked like it would have been an easy out had he kept his feet in fair territory. A few pitches later, Inaba scored Ham’s first run with a solo home run.

The second came after Yoshihisa Hirano came in to relieve Kisanuki. With two outs and a runner on second, Hirano induced a soft fly to right-center from Kensuke Tanaka. It looked like an easy out off the bat, but Orix’s outfield had Tanaka played so shallow it went for a run-scoring double that gave Nippon Ham a 3-1 lead.

Darvish was his usual self, which is to say he was quite a bit different from his last appearance, against Softbank a week ago. Darvish used his “slow” delivery this week, the one where he pauses at the top of his kick. Contrast that to last week, when he pitched with somewhat of an abbreviated delivery and was a bit quicker to the plate.

Darvish also went with a slightly different arsenal against Orix. Most of his breaking stuff was of the downward-breaking variety, curveballs, forkballs, changeups and softer, downward-breaking sliders, as opposed to the primarily fastball/horizontal slider repertoire he attacked Softbank with last week. A bit surprising was that Darvish just wasn’t getting strikes called on fastballs off the outside corner. There were a couple of borderline calls that would have resulted in strikeouts had they gone his way.

After the first three innings, I seriously thought Darvish had a chance to no-hit the Buffaloes’ listless offense. As it turned out, he held them to two hits through the first eight innings, allowing only two hard-hit balls, one of them a long foul by T-Okada. Orix did of course have that rally in the ninth, which seems to be the trend with them — no offense the first two times through the order, then a late threat. Perhaps their advance scouting and game preparation has yet to come together.

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  1. Patrick
    Dan
    03/05/2011 at 8:54 am Permalink

    I’m loving these detailed Game Notes posts. Hope to see more as the season progresses!

  2. Patrick
    EJH
    03/05/2011 at 10:16 am Permalink

    “Perhaps their advance scouting and game preparation has yet to come together.”

    Perhaps Orix simply sucks.

    Or, if you believe in karma, maybe Orix is getting what they deserve after Okada made a sham of the Pacific League when he selected Lotte for the postseason at the expense of Nippon Ham last year.

  3. Patrick
    Patrick
    03/05/2011 at 10:33 am Permalink

    Nice to have you back, EJH. I have some content on Yokohama coming up and I’m looking forward to your comments on it 🙂

    Orix’s lineup certainly does suck. Their rotation is good though. Perhaps your favorite guy Nashida should have brought in a reliever to close out the game instead of sending Darvish out for the ninth.

  4. Patrick
    EJH
    03/05/2011 at 8:08 pm Permalink

    Patrick: I have been here all along. I am just a very quiet person.

    I think that was a tough call in the 9th yesterday. I am no fan of Nashida, but I think I probably would have done the same thing with Darvish. You have to consider that, while Darvish may have been tired, he is the most determined guy in NPB and the alternative would have been most likely Takeda Hisashi and his ever tightening sphincter. Takeda has gotten off to a fantastic start this year (although he has not been tested yet; his saves are of the 3-run variety), but I have a hard time believing he is not still the same pitcher that choked over and over in tight situations the past two seasons. Sometimes statistics can be deceiving.

    Anyway, since I knew Nakata Sho would come through with a big hit like he always does, I was not terribly concerned when Ham went to extra innings.

    I have one suggestion for NPB. Why not make all regular season games 9 innings? The current situation where we do not know how many extra innings will be possible (if any at all) is kind of awkward. I think the league should just declare that there will be no extra innings in the regular season and accept a few extra tie games. There would be no harm in that and it would make life easier for already over-worked and rather simple minds of men in the dugout like Mr. Nashida.

    I shall be waiting in great anticipation of your Yokohama content. I am sure it will not suck as much as the BayStars do.

  5. Patrick
    Billy D
    04/05/2011 at 7:41 am Permalink

    Nice write-up, Patrick. I didn’t got to reply your last analysis of Chan Ho Park and his ability to induce contact, thus, groundballs in contra to swinging strikes. He was serviceable for the Phillies in 2009, I recall, earned his spot as the fifth starter. He was always into jam but hanged around long enough to notch his team an opportunity to win. Of course, those below average innings rendered him a bullpen guy. It’s interesting to see Park back to a rotation. Let’s see how this last.

    It must be an emotional moment for Rakuten to play in Tohoku, again. Sendai is a great town with good people. I hope they can enjoy at the ballpark like normal baseball fans, no fear.

  6. Patrick
    Yakamashii
    04/05/2011 at 7:43 am Permalink

    “a bouncer down the first base line. Seung-Yeop Lee casually jogged over to it, veering into foul territory, snagged the ball, and stepped on first. Foul ball. It seemed harmless enough, but he looked like it would have been an easy out had he kept his fee in fair territory.”

    Fair/foul is determined by where the ball is when it falls, when it is touched, or when it leaves the field of play, not by the location of the fielder’s feet (Rule 2.00, FAIR BALL and FOUL BALL).

    By the way, I think all FEES are WAAAAAY off-base…ba-zing…

  7. Patrick
    Patrick
    04/05/2011 at 8:27 am Permalink

    “Fair/foul is determined by where the ball is when it falls, when it is touched, or when it leaves the field of play, not by the location of the fielder’s feet (Rule 2.00, FAIR BALL and FOUL BALL).”

    Lee fielded the ball behind first base. It looked like the ball had bounced in fair territory (note that I had a rather low-quality internet feed) before reaching first base, so to me it looked it it was touched for the first time, behind first base in foul territory. Either way it was a close play and Inaba ran it out.

  8. Patrick
    Yakamashii
    04/05/2011 at 5:46 pm Permalink

    It still doesn’t matter. If it had settled in fair ground before passing first base and was still in fair territory at the moment it went over the bag, then it was fair. The way you describe the situation, perhaps Lee could have made it an easier call by hustling to the ball and “framing” it above fair territory behind the bag, but if it was really fair to begin with and Lee was behind the bag, then it wouldn’t have made a difference.

  9. Patrick
    Billy D
    09/05/2011 at 7:49 am Permalink

    Yaka, I know this is a bit out of topic, but I’ll bring it up since it concerns the fundamentals of baseball detail. Isn’t the ball a foul if it didn’t pass the air above the bag and landed in foul terr., REGARDLESS of its first landing before it bounced out of infield terr. AND THEN fall on foul terr.?

  10. Patrick
    Yakamashii
    10/05/2011 at 12:25 am Permalink

    Billy D, I’m not sure I understand your question.

    Fair ball:
    -Ball bounces in fair territory before passing first/third base and is in fair territory the moment it passes over first/third base (further bounces are irrelevant)
    -Fielder touches ball while _ball_ is in fair territory (position of fielder’s body irrelevant)

    Foul ball:
    -Ball bounces in fair territory before passing first/third base, but is in foul territory the moment it passes over/beyond first/third base (further bounces are irrelevant)
    -Fielder touches ball while _ball_ is in foul territory before it has been ruled fair (foul pop-up, bounding ball headed toward foul territory before passing first/third base, again, position of fielder’s body irrelevant)

    The point is that the position of the ball when it is touched or touches something or leaves the playing field determines fair or foul.

    A fielder can “save” a ball going foul by touching it in fair territory before it goes foul. Likewise, a fielder can “make” a ball foul by waiting until it rolls foul and touching it then. Patrick’s point was that Lee could have hustled up to “save” the borderline ball and make the out. True, but it’s all about the position of the ball, not the player’s feet or body.