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Dayum, James is doing well

So is Johnny

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PM me then. I'd love to see what you can come up with.
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May 1, 2011

Pregame Notes: We can't get swept here. No way, no how. Luckily, we have our hottest pitcher, Alberto Blanco, taking the hill, so I'm confident in this game. As for who we're facing, we'll be taking on the hard-throwing righty Hirokazu Sawamura. He's one of the better young pitchers in the game, so this should turn out to be a close one.

Also, I'll be giving Gruber the start today, half due to the higher-ups (they know who they are) recommending it to me and the other half being that James didn't look too well over the past few days.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 6 - Yomiuri Giants 0

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-4, 2 HR (2,3), 4 RBI, 2 R, .294
A. Collins - 1-4, R, SB, .293
R. Perez - 2-4, HR (6), RBI, R, .336
E. Martinez - 1-4, RBI, .366
D. Sarfate - 0-4, .254
A. Weiss - 1-4, .349
H. Gruber - 0-2, BB, .429
E. Mason - 0-3, .261
A. Blanco - 2-3, 2B, 2 R, .235

Giants' Batting
D. Fujimura - 0-4, .202
Y. Kamei - 1-4, 2B, .235
S. Abe - 0-3, K, .194
H. Chono - 1-3, .383
H. Sakamoto - 0-3, .195
Y. Takahashi - 0-3, K, .365
?. Kimura - 0-3, .217
M. Ogasawara - 0-3, .204
H. Sawamura - 0-1, .091
PH - S. Takahashi - 0-1, .115
N. Kaneto - 0-0, .000
M. Nakamura - 0-0, .000
PH - T. Ohta - 0-1, .000

Aliens' Pitching
Alberto Blanco - 9 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1.23 (W, 6-0)

Giants' Pitching
Hirokazu Sawamura - 5 IP, 6 H, 0 K, BB, 4 ER, 2.72 (L, 2-2)
Norihiro Kaneto - 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4.63
Michael Nakamura - IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0.93

Player(s) of the Game: <- Alberto Blanco and Efren Martinez

Postgame Notes - A great win to avoid the sweep.

Martinez continued his absolute tear by driving in the game's first run with an RBI single in the bottom of the first. He's making a legitimate run at a Triple Crown here.

Perez contributed with a solo bomb of his own in the 3rd. He's been overshadowed due to Martinez's heroics, if you will, but he's been probably the best shortstop in the NPB so far.

Henderson flashed some rare power as well, hitting a 2-run, 410-foot bomb in the 5th to break the game open to 4-0. He then hit ANOTHER one to embiggen the lead to 6-0. He's hit more homers in May than he did in all of April!

Sarfate has been scuffling a bit at the plate so far. I'll likely move him down to the 7 spot and move Weiss and James up to the 5 and 6 spots in the lineup.

As for our pitching, well, Blanco was nothing short of amazing. He went the full 9 innings, and while he wasn't missing bats (only 2 K's), he was certainly missing barrels (only 2 hits). Actually, Blanco himself had as many hits as the Giants did! He scored more runs than them too! He certainly brought his A-game today, and with it comes his reward: his 6th win of the season.

Interleague play is coming up! No long-winded recaps until then!

Martinez would like to apologize for his very disappointing game. He promises to do better, or else he'll stop eating burgers for a week

Hans Gruber went 0-2?!

DOES NOT COMPUTE!

May 2-4, 2011

We have the last series of our homestand with the Swallows. Let's close it out well!

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 3 - Yakult Swallows 2

W - Wally Burton (4-0)
L - Kyohei Muranaka (0-2)
SV - Johnny Swagger (7)
HR - Efren Martinez (20)
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (2)

Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 11 - Yakult Swallows 3

W - Geoff Taylor (4-0)
L - Yuki Shichijyo (1-3)
HR - Adam Henderson (4)
Efren Martinez (21, 22)
Walter James (3)

Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 3 - Yakult Swallows 3

HR - Rolman Perez (7)
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (3)

May 6-8, 2011

The 8th will be the day Blanco's been waiting for - to have the opportunity to face his brother Tony.

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 6 - Chunichi Dragons 7
W - Takuya Asao (2-1)
L - Johnny Swagger (1-2)
SV - Hitoki Iwase (5)
HR - Efren Martinez (23,24)
Takehiro Donoue (1)

Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 6 - Chunichi Dragons 1
W - Andrew Nelson (5-2)
L - Wei-Yin Chen (2-5)
HR - Joel Guzman (4)
Walter James (4)
Arthur Collins (5)
Efren Martinez (25)

Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 2 - Chunichi Dragons 1
W - Cristobal Rodriguez (2-0)
L - Hitoki Iwase (0-4)
HR - Joel Guzman (5)
Efren Martinez (26)
Walter James (5)

May 9-11, 2011

As it turns out, Blanco (Tony, that is) did not play in the game his brother started. Alberto still pitched well, but he looked very disappointed. I assured him he'll get his chance before the season ends. Speaking of that game, it had a great finish, as Walter James hit a walk-off shot into the left field bleachers, his fifth homer of the season. Hopefully we as a team can ride this momentum going into this series against the Carp.

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 3 - Hiroshima Carp 2
W - James Robinson (1-0)
L - Kenta Maeda (2-5)
SV - Bryan Wade (2)
HR - Adam Henderson (5,6)
Yoshihiro Maru (5)

Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 6 - Hiroshima Carp 1
W - Geoff Taylor (5-0)
L - Bryan Bullington (4-2)
HR - Efren Martinez (27)

Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 7 - Hiroshima Carp 3
W - Shin-Ming Chen (1-3)
L - Giancarlo Alvarado (1-3)
HR - Efren Martinez (28,29)

We have a 6-0 record versus the Carp after that sweep. Even Maeda couldn't stop us...

We have two days off before our first interleague series as a franchise. It happens to be at home, versus fellow expansion team Osaka Lightning, who are 4th in the Pacific League currently.

That went quick

Well Maeda isn't looking to good this year. Not as good as his cousin Skyhawks phenom Toshiyuki Maeda who threw a perfect game in the Independent League Finals.

May 14, 2011

Pregame Notes: It's a battle of aces, as Zheng Ma takes on the Lightning and their ace, Shunsuke Taki. Taki only tops out at 90 mph but has a superb curveball and an even better changeup. I expect him to get a lot of groundballs, and I also expect a fairly low-scoring game, at least for them.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 6 - Osaka Lightning 2

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-5, 2 2B, .306
A. Collins - 1-4, HR (6), 2 RBI, R, .272
R. Perez - 4-4, 2B, HR (8), 2 RBI, R, .307
E. Martinez - 1-4, .354
A. Weiss - 0-4, .311
W. James - 2-4, 2B, R, .344
D. Sarfate - 3-4, HR (5), 2 RBI, R, SB, .275
E. Mason - 0-4, .230
Z. Ma - 2-3, R, .190
PH - E. Robertson - 0-1, .333
C. Rodriguez - 0-0, .000

Lightning Batting
N. Takaguchi - 0-4, R, K, .223
R. Katsuragi - 3-4, R, K, SB, .271
T. Muraoka - 3-4, 2B, RBI, K, .232
A. Maruta - 1-4, RBI, K, .317
G. Sebastien - 0-4, 3 K, .320
J. Burnheart - 0-4, .296
N. Hisamoto - 0-4, .228
S. Matsuzawa - 0-3, K, .224
S. Taki - 1-1, 1.000
T. Shigetani - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Hatano - 0-1, .000
D. Yasumoto - 0-0, .000
PH - I. Takei - 0-1, .254
Y. Ohshima - 0-0, .000

Aliens' Pitching
Zheng Ma - 8 IP, 8 H, 7 K, 0 BB, 2 ER, 2.21 (W, 6-1)
Cristobal Rodriguez - IP, 0 H, K, ER, 3.26

Lightning Pitching
Shunsuke Taki - 3.1 IP, 11 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 4 ER, 4.40 (L, 3-5)
Tetsuya Shigetani - 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1.80
Daisuke Yasumoto - 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2.13
Yutaka Ohshima - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2.14

Player(s) of the Game: <- Rolman Perez

Postgame Notes - Good way to start out interleague play.

Moving Sarfate down to the 7th spot has put less pressure on him, resulting in better play. He drove in the first run of the game with a solo shot off of Taki in the bottom of the 2nd.

The Lightning would tie it up in the third thanks to an RBI single by catcher Taiei Muraoka that just barely landed fair. Luckily for us, the tie was quickly broken in the bottom of that very inning thanks to a solo blast by Rolman Perez.

Collins gave us some breathing room by crushing a 433-foot 2-run bomb to center field. Taki hung a changeup, and by then it was clear he had nowhere near his best stuff today. He was taken out after Perez doubled off him, only going 3.1 innings, very disappointing for him.

As for our guy, well, Ma was on point. He went 8 strong, giving up 2 runs. What impressed me most was his ability to get out of his own jams, as he got into 2 in the 3rd and 6th innings, but managed to escape while giving up only 1 run in each of those innings.

Rodriguez finished the game off with a 1-2-3 9th inning.

I noticed that the Lightning lineup is mostly comprised of lefties, which is especially good considering we have two lefties in Nelson and Blanco starting the last 2 games.

Nice win PPJ!!!

Loving the log

May 15, 2011

Pregame Notes: The #2 guys square off, as Andrew Nelson takes on Hideo Umeki. Umeki is a hard thrower, topping out at around 95 mph. He doesn't have great control, however, and his two other pitches, a splitter and a slider, are okay, but not great. He does currently have the best ERA on the Lightning at 2.72.

Nelson's ERA currently stands at 3.26, and a good outing here could possibly push him below 3.00.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 4 - Osaka Lightning 2

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 1-4, HR (7), RBI, R, 2 K, E, .305
A. Collins - 0-3, BB, .267
R. Perez - 0-2, 2 BB, .303
E. Martinez - 3-4, RBI, .363
A. Weiss - 0-4, .304
W. James - 2-3, 2B, R, BB, .350
D. Sarfate - 0-4, .269
E. Mason - 1-2, R, 2 BB, SB, .234
A. Nelson - 0-3, R, 2 K, .188
PH - L. S. Cho - 0-1, .250
J. Swagger - 0-0, .000

Lightning Batting
N. Takaguchi - 2-4, .229
R. Katsuragi - 2-4, R, .276
T. Muraoka - 2-4, .238
A. Maruta - 1-4, RBI, K, .316
G. Sebastien - 1-4, R, .318
J. Burnheart - 2-4, .301
N. Hisamoto - 0-4, RBI, E, .222
S. Matsuzawa - 0-4, K, .218
H. Umeki - 1-2, K, .500
Y. Ohshima - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Shiotake - 0-1, .000
T. Shigetani - 0-0, .000
PH - T. Nedu - 0-1, .000


Aliens' Pitching
Andrew Nelson - 8 IP, 9 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 1 ER, 2.95 (W, 6-2)
Johnny Swagger - IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2.70 ( SV, 8 )

Lightning Pitching
Hideo Umeki - 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 K, 5 BB, 1 ER (3 R), 2.65 (L, 4-4)
Yutaka Ohshima - 2.1 IP, H, K, BB, ER, 2.31
Tetsuya Shigetani - IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1.71

Player(s) of the Game: <- Andrew Nelson and Efren Martinez ( I was tinkering around with visual effects here)

Postgame Notes - 2 in a row, this team is playing very well.

The Lightning struck first in the top of the 4th, as second baseman Akinobu Maruta singled down the right field line to drive in a run.

However, we got back in the bottom of the 5th thanks to an error by first baseman Naoto Hisamoto (the uncle of Jun Hisamoto, the Beef's first baseman) that allowed 2 runs to score. In all, we would score 3 in the inning to take a 3-1 lead. Henderson game us an insurance run in the bottom of the 7th with a solo shot.

We held that lead for the rest of the game, as Johnny closed it out for his 8th save despite giving up a run.

Nelson was superb, going 8 strong and only giving up the one run in the 4th. He was also the one who hit the ball that Hisamoto made an error on, so he did make contributions in more than one facet of the game.

This series, and all other interleague series, only went 2 games, so it looks like we earned the sweep. We'll play the last place Fukuoka FreeAgents at home, and I'm very optimistic about it.

Good job on the win. Way to come back. I love the nail-biters

Nice work, Nelson!

You too, Henderson!

May 16, 2011

Pregame Notes: We face the last of the other expansion teams in a 2-game series, as we are taking on the Fukuoka FreeAgents. They're currently last in the Pacific League, but they are a very young team and will likely improve going forward. Then again, we're even younger and we're in first in our league!

We send out Alberto Blanco, who is looking to go 7-0, while the FreeAgents send out righty Kisho Kagami. Kagami is a hard thrower, but not much else. Though he does have a 2.10 ERA, the best of any FreeAgents starter.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 5 - Fukuoka FreeAgents 2

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-4, 3B, R, BB, SB, .309
A. Collins - 0-4, .261
R. Perez - 2-4, 2B, RBI, R, .308
E. Martinez - 2-4, RBI, .366
A. Weiss - 1-4, R, SB, .302
W. James - 1-4, RBI, .348
D. Sarfate - 2-4, HR (6), RBI, 2 R, K, SB, .274
E. Mason - 3-4, RBI, .250
A. Nelson - 0-1, SH, .200
C. Rodriguez - 0-0, .000
PH - H. Gruber - 1-1, .500
J. Swagger - 0-0, .000

FreeAgents' Batting
Y. Kai - 2-4, .174
K. Saka - 0-4, K, .235
T. Hidaka - 1-4, R, K, .214
F. Caraballo - 1-4, HR (5), 2 RBI, R, .221
G.G. Sato - 0-3, K, .165
K. Kanoh - 0-3, .231
H. Nakazawa - 0-3, 2 K, .235
T. Araki - 0-3, .194
K. Kagami - 1-2, K, .500
A. Takahashi - 0-0, .000
S. Fujii - 0-0, .000
PH - Y. Ohsaki - 0-1, K, .183
K. Abe - 0-0, .000

Aliens' Pitching
Alberto Blanco - 7 IP, 5 H, 6 K, 0 BB, 2 ER, 1.42 (W, 7-0)
Cristobal Rodriguez - IP, 0 H, K, 0 ER, 3.10
Johnny Swagger - IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2.55 (SV,9)

FreeAgents' Pitching
Kisho Kagami - 6 IP, 8 H, K, 2 ER, 2.27
Akifumi Takahashi - 0.2 IP, H, BB, 2 ER, 2.78
Shugo Fujii - 0.1 IP, H, 0 ER, 2.33
Kenta Abe - IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 6.48

Player(s) of the Game: <- Rolman Perez (I'm keeping the new picture style)

Postgame Notes - 3 in a row, and Blanco is now 7-0.

The FreeAgents got off to a good start, as cleanup hitter Francisco Caraballo hit a 2-run shot in the top of the first off a Blanco mistake pitch. That was all they could muster, as Blanco beared down and did not give up a run for the rest of the game.

Sarfate drove in our first run with a solo shot that juuuust got over the left field wall. I'm really glad I moved him to the 7 spot, he looks much more comfortable there.

The pitching would criuse right along until the bottom of the 6th, when, after a Weiss single and stolen base, an RBI single by Walter James tied it up at 2.

In the bottom of the 7th, with the go-ahead run on 3rd, Perez came through in the clutch with an RBI double to give us a 3-2 lead. Martinez would drive him in with an RBI single to give us an important insurance run.

The bullpen did its job, as Rodriguez pitched a scoreless 8th and Johnny closed out the 9th for his 9th save of the season.

Nice job getting the win

May 17, 2011

Pregame Notes: We send Burton out to face the FreeAgents' #1 starter, veteran Daisuke Yamai. Yamai is best known for 1) his glasses, and 2) the fact that he threw a combined perfect game in 2007 with the Dragons in the championship clincher.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 1 - Fukuoka FreeAgents 0

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-4, 2B, R, K, .313
A. Collins - 1-4, .261
R. Perez - 1-4, .306
E. Martinez - 0-3, .360
A. Weiss - 0-3, .297
W. James - 1-3, 2B, .347
D. Sarfate - 0-2, BB, .271
E. Mason - 0-3, .244
W. Burton - 0-2, K, .200
PH - E. Robertson - 0-1, .286
J. Swagger - 0-0, .000

FreeAgents' Batting
M. Suenaga - 5-5, .226
Y. Kai - 2-4, K, SH, .182
G.G. Sato - 1-4, .167
J. Bagsman - 1-4, 2 K, .214
F. Caraballo - 0-4, .216
K. Saka - 1-4, K, .236
T. Hidaka - 1-4, .215
T. Araki - 1-3, K, .197
PH - J. Matsui - 1-1, .222
D. Yamai - 0-2, .000
PH - D. Tanaka - 0-1, .000
M. Fujihara - 0-0, .000
PH - H. Nakazawa - 0-1, .233

Aliens' Pitching
Wally Burton - 8 IP, 11 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, 2.38 (W, 5-0)
Johnny Swagger - IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2.41 (SV, 10)

FreeAgents' Pitching
Daisuke Yamai - 6 IP, 3 H, 2 K, 0 ER, 3.81
Masanori Fujihara - 2 IP, 2 H, BB, ER, 2.86 (L, 0-2)

Player(s) of the Game: <- Wally Burton

Postgame Notes - 4 in a row, an interesting way to win this one.

Yamai and Burton were engaged in a pitchers' duel for the ages, as neither of them allowed a run, with Yamai going 6 innings and Burton going 8.

The lone run was scored off a wild pitch, of all things. Adam Henderson was the man who scored the run, and Masanori Fujihara earned the hard-luck loss because of it.

We were outhit 13-5, yet still got the win. Burton did a great job of scattering the hits around.

Johnny got his 2nd save in as many days, his 10th of the year.