Power Pros Forum

March 31, 2011

It was an off day today, and I took the free time to take the team's mind off of yesterday's game. I decided to treat the team to a sushi bar once our plane landed in Nishinomiya, home of the Hanshin Tigers. Everyone had a very good time, especially Martinez, who loves to eat.

April 1-3, 2011

I decided I wasn't going to do the long recaps for every single series. This will just be a quick summary of the games.

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 9 - Hanshin Tigers 3
W - Zheng Ma (2-0)
L - Atsushi Nomi (1-1)
HR - Efren Martinez (4,5)
Craig Brazell (3)

Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 8 - Hanshin Tigers 1
W - Andrew Nelson (1-1)
L - Jason Standridge (1-1)
HR - Efren Martinez (6)
Takashi Toritani (1)

Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 8 - Hanshin Tigers 2
W - Alberto Blanco (2-0)
L - Yasutomo Kubo (0-2)
HR - Ethan Mason (2)
Efren Martinez (7)

April 4-6, 2011

After the sweep of the Tigers, we come in to Tokyo to face some very tough competition in the Giants. Hopefully all goes well.

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 3 - Yomiuri Giants 2
W - Cristobal Rodriguez (1-1)
L - Tetsuya Yamaguchi (1-2)
HR - Shinnosuke Abe (3)
Yoshiyuki Kamei (2)
Arthur Collins (4)


Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 2 - Yomiuri Giants 3
W - Yuya Kubo (1-0)
L - Johnny Swagger (0-1)
HR - Hayato Sakamoto (1)


Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 1 - Yomiuri Giants 4
W - Hideki Asai (1-0)
L - Shin-Ming Chen (0-2)
SV - Yuya Kubo (5)
HR - Michihiro Ogasawara (2)
Efren Martinez (8)

After the 6 games, which saw the Aliens go 4-2, they stand in 3rd place in the Central League with an 8-4 record, a half-game back of the Beef and Carp.

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Nobody has taken Martinez yet, I imagine you'll really want him now after this stretch he's had.



Yes, yes, I know. Hubris and all that jazz.

I'll take Martinez for whatever pitcher I had.

(ha)

Holy shit he's good! I'll take him

Martinez announces that, at the end of the season, he'll eat a steak for every home run he hits

I already took him Skittles.

U no get Efren.

Really AgentP? Are you trying to be a dick?

The Efren issue will be settled via the greatest situation-resolver ever - rock-paper-scissors. Both parties please PM their decisions to me, and the winner will be edited in the post with the roster on it on page 2.
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April 8, 2011

Pregame Notes: We're facing the Swallows today, we need to watch out for elite leadoff man Nori Aoki and the heart of the order consisting of sluggers Josh Whitesell, Kazuhiro Hatakeyama, and Wladimir Balentien. As for pitching, we go up against control artist and ace pitcher Masanori Ishikawa. Him and the bullpen, consisting of top-flite relievers Tony Barnette and Chang-Yong Lim make this a very interesting matchup.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 7 - Yakult Swallows 0

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-5, 2B, 2 R, .333
A. Collins - 2-5, RBI, R, .288
R. Perez - 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R, .365
E. Martinez - 1-4, RBI, SF, .377
D. Sarfate - 2-5, HR (2), 2 RBI, R, .316
A. Weiss - 1-4, SB, .392
W. James - 3-4, R, SB, .360
E. Mason - 1-4, RBI, R, .298
Z. Ma - 1-4, .182

Swallows Batting
N. Aoki - 1-4, .271
H. Tanaka - 1-4, K, .241
J. Whitesell - 1-3, .429
PR - Y. Iihara - 0-1, .000
K. Hatakeyama - 1-4, .216
W. Balentien - 0-3, .186
S. Miyamoto - 0-3, K, .255
S. Kawabata - 0-3, K, .184
R. Aikawa - 1-3, K, .143
M. Ishikawa - 0-1, .000
T. Oshimoto - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Kawashima - 0-1, K, .000
K. Akigawa - 0-0, .000
K. Kyuko - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Fukuchi - 0-1, K, .000

Aliens' Pitching
Zheng Ma - 9 IP, 5 H, 6 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1.07 (W, 3-0)

Swallows Pitching
Masanori Ishikawa - 3.2 IP, 11 H, 0 K, 7 ER, 4.76 (W, 1-0)
Takehiko Oshimoto - 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 9.64
Katsuki Akagawa - 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5.68
Kentaro Kyuko - IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1.29

Player(s) of the Game: <- Arthur Collins and Zheng Ma

Postgame Notes - We got off to a great start in the top of the first with a 4-run attack headlined by a homer by Daniel Sarfate. He doesn't have much of a personality, but the kid can sure play the game well in all facets of the game.

Ma was brilliant once again. He threw another complete game shutout for his 3rd win of the season. I made the right call slotting him in as the #1.

My best move for tonight was keeping faith in Ma. I could have easily pinch hit for him in the top of the 7th or taken him out after giving up 2 straight hits in the 9th. I trusted him, however, and his confidence is through the roof. His dad was right about his English getting better, as he walked up to me after the game and told me: "Thank you, Coach Huitt. For trusting in me." I told him he deserved it, and then told him to go to the rest room so he could ice his golden arm.

Collins couldn't believe he won co-player of the game honors. Both of us thought Perez or Sarfate deserved it, but Perez is a nice guy and Sarfate barely shows any emotion except for on the field, so I doubt either one of them were losing sleep over it.

Perez! Aoki! Weiss!

April 9, 2011

Pregame Notes: Nelson bounced back nicely in his second start of the season against the Tigers. We'll need him to perform like he did then, and not like he did in his first start.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 9 - Yakult Swallows 1

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-5, 3B, RBI, .339
A. Collins - 1-5, R, K, .281
R. Perez - 1-4, 2 R, BB, .357
E. Martinez - 5-5, HR (9), 3 RBI, 2 R, .431
D. Sarfate - 1-5, .306
A. Weiss - 3-4, 2B, HR (2), 3 RBI, 2 R, .418
Def Sub - E. Robertson - 1-1, .667
W. James - 3-5, 2B, HR (1), 2 RBI, R, .382
E. Mason - 2-5, .308
A. Nelson - 2-3, R, .182
P. Gomez - 0-1, .250
J. Robinson - 0-0, .000
M. Jones - 0-0, .000

Swallows Batting
N. Aoki - 1-4, K, .270
H. Tanaka - 1-4, K, .241
S. Kawabata - 0-3, K, BB, .184
K. Hatakeyama - 1-4, .216
J. Whitesell - 1-3, .429
S. Miyamoto - 0-3, .245
W. Balentien - 0-2, RBI, .178
R. Aikawa - 1-3, K, .154
S. Tateyama - 0-1, .000
K. Akagawa - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Fukuchi - 0-1, .400
K. Kyuko - 0-0, .000
PH - Y. Matsumoto - 0-1, .333
K. Matsuoka - 0-0, .000
T. Barnette - 0-0, .000

Aliens' Pitching
Andrew Nelson - 6 IP, 5 H, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 ER, 3.00 (W, 2-1)
James Robinson - IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0.00
Max Jones - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0.00

Swallows Pitching
Shohei Tateyama - 4.1 IP, 13 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 8 ER, 5.12 (L, 2-1)
Katsuki Akagawa - 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 6.43
Kentaro Kyuko - 2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1.00
Kenichi Matsuoka - 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5.00
Tony Barnette - IP, H, 0 ER, 2.08


Player(s) of the Game: <- Efren Martinez and Andrew Nelson

Postgame Notes - This team has done a great job of getting out to early leads so far. This game was no different, as we jumped out to a 3-run first thanks to an RBI single by Martinez and a double by Weiss that drove in 2.

Speaking of Weiss, he hit an absolute monster shot in the 4th inning that traveled about 460 feet (140 km)!

Walter James made one of the best defensive plays I've ever seen. He fielded a grounder that went past the 2nd base bag, caught it on the left side of the infield, and threw the ball across his body to get the out at 1st. James is without a doubt the best fielding 2nd basemen in the league, in my opinion.

Martinez has just been the best. A 5-5 night including his 9th homer of the year. The one bad thing about him is that he thinks he's faster than he really is. He was burned trying to steal 2nd and trying to go from 1st to 3rd on a single to left field.

Nelson was on point today. He pitched a strong 7 innings, earning this win.

Mason and Robinson both got injured today. Their injuries aren't serious, and they've been listed as day-to-day. Greene optioned both players down to the secondary squad, where he told me they would be for 10 days. He called up reliever Tony Scott and catcher Aaron Jackson to take their places, he texted me their skills:

Tony Scott, #58, RP
149 DD, 2SFB, SLD 1, KN 7

Aaron Jackson, #44, C
2EDFDEE

Scott looks like he might have some staying power, a knuckleballer who can throw 92 mph is very unique.

April 10, 2011

Pregame Notes: We face flamethrower Yoshinori Sato in the series finale. Luckily, we hit fastballs well, but he also throws a plus slider, which we should see a lot of.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 4 - Yakult Swallows 0

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 1-5, R, .328
A. Collins - 1-4, RBI, .279
PH - P. Gomez - 1-1, 2B, .400
R. Perez - 1-5, SB, .344
E. Martinez - 2-4, HR (10), RBI, R, .435
D. Sarfate - 0-4, .288
A. Weiss - 1-4, 2B, R, .407
W. James - 3-4, 3 2B, RBI, R, .407
R. Morgan - 1-3, BB, .222
A. Blanco - 2-3, 2B, RBI, .200
PH - E. Robertson - 0-1, .500
T. Scott - 0-0, .000
J. Swagger - 0-0, .000

Swallows Batting
N. Aoki - 1-4, .269
H. Tanaka - 4-4, .290
S. Kawabata - 0-3, .184
K. Hatakeyama - 1-4, .220
J. Whitesell - 0-4, 2 K, .391
S. Miyamoto - 1-4, .246
W. Balentien - 0-4, 3 K, .163
R. Aikawa - 1-4, .161
Y. Sato - 0-1, .000
K. Akagawa - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Fukuchi - 0-1, .400
K. Kyuko - 0-0, .000
K. Matsuoka - 0-0, .000
PH - Y. Matsumoto - 0-1, .333


Aliens' Pitching
Alberto Blanco - 7 IP, 6 H, 4 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1.17 (W, 3-0)
Tony Scott - 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0.00
Johnny Swagger - 1.1 IP, 0 H, K, 0 ER, 4.91 (SV, 2)

Swallows Pitching
Yoshinori Sato - 5.2 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 4 ER, 3.57 (L, 0-1)
Katsuki Akagawa - 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 6.14
Kentaro Kyuko - 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0.90
Kenichi Matsuoka - 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4.09


Player(s) of the Game: <- Arthur Collins and Alberto Blanco

Postgame Notes - We swept 'em! Great series!

Martinez hit his 10th homer of the year, becoming the first player to hit that mark for the season. Perez affectionately gave him the nickname "El Toro," meaning "the bull." I found it to be quite fitting.

James and Sarfate will be switching spots in the batting order after this game. I'm loving what I'm seeing from the second baseman, who has shown he can split the gaps with ease.

We go up against the Dragons and the Carp for the next 2 series. I won't be doing my long-winded recaps for them, but I will for the series after those 2.

Yay you are doing this again.

All my guys did meh!

April 11-13, 2011

We're looking to continue our hot streak as we face the Chunichi Dragons. Blanco seemed pretty ticked off that he doesn't get to face his brother in this go-around.

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 9 - Chunichi Dragons 2
W - Wally Burton (2-0)
L - Enyelbert Soto (0-3)
HR - Efren Martinez (11)
Daniel Sarfate (3)

Robinson and Mason both healed from their injuries this game. Greene still has to wait 8 days before promoting them because those are the rules.

Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 5 - Chunichi Dragons 4
W - Geoff Taylor (2-0)
L - Koji Mise (0-1)
SV - Johnny Swagger (3)
HR - Alex Weiss (3)
Kazuhiro Wada (2)

Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 8 - Chunichi Dragons 5
W - Johnny Swagger (1-1)
L - Masato Kobayashi (0-1)
SV - Bryan Wade (1)
HR - Kazuhiro Wada (3)
Rolman Perez (3)

April 15-17, 2011

That's 6 straight wins for us now. We're really on a roll. We are facing the Carp, and luckily for us, we will not be seeing their ace, Kenta Maeda, in this series. Fortunately, I can't say the same for the Carp, as they face our ace Zheng Ma in Game 1.

Game 1

Nagoya Aliens 4 - Hiroshima Carp 2
W - Zheng Ma (4-0)
L - Nobuhiro Shinoda (2-1)
SV - Tony Scott (1)
HR - None

Game 2

Nagoya Aliens 5 - Hiroshima Carp 3
W - Andrew Nelson (3-1)
L - Tomohiro Umetsu (0-2)
SV - Johnny Swagger (4)
HR - Efren Martinez (12)


Game 3

Nagoya Aliens 4 - Hiroshima Carp 1
W - Alberto Blanco (4-0)
L - Ren Nakata (0-1)
SV - Johnny Swagger (5)
HR - Efren Martinez (13)

Back-to-back-to-back sweeps of the Swallows, Dragons, and Carp, respectively, give us 9 straight wins and a 3.5 game lead over the Beef in the Central League. This is almost becoming too easy...

Speaking of the Beef, that's who our next series is against! They really want to prove that they're the best new team in the NPB and not us, so they should play much better than in our first matchup.

I've learned that Robinson and Mason will be up in time for the series finale. Thank goodness, because Morgan is just not cutting it as a hitter.

A. Martinez is a boss!
B. I think that 2nd game vs. the Carp is a typo

April 18, 2011

Pregame Notes: We face the Beef again. It's our second series versus them. They're currently 3.5 games behind us in the Central League standings, and you can bet they want to trim that lead down.

Boxscore:

Nagoya Aliens 4 - Kobe Beef 4

Aliens' Batting
A. Henderson - 2-5, R, K, SH, .310
A. Collins - 1-6, .280
R. Perez - 3-6, RBI, .351
E. Martinez - 1-5, R, BB, .366
D. Sarfate - 1-5, R, BB, .278
A. Weiss - 2-5, RBI, R, K, .402
W. James - 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, K, E, .382
R. Morgan - 1-5, .135
W. Burton - 0-3, 2 K, .000
M. Jones - 0-0, .000
PH - J. Simpson - 0-1, .333
R. Diaz - 0-0, .000
PH - G. Lopez - 0-0, SH, .000
C. Rodriguez - 0-0, .000

Beef Batting
N. Takaguchi - 1-6, 2B, 2 RBI, R, .366
T. Ohnuma - 2-5, RBI, BB, .320
S. Morino - 1-6, K, .337
T. Imanami - 1-6, .219
I. Nakamura - 1-4, 2B, R, 2 BB, .255
J. Hisamoto - 1-5, R, .323
K. Saeki - 0-5, .226
R. Ono - 1-4, RBI, R, BB, .226
Y. Miura - 1-2, SH, .111
PH - R. Fujii - 0-1, .200
A. Hirai - 0-0, .000
PH - K. Nishiguchi - 0-1, .333
Y. Yoshikawa - 0-0, .000
A. Takahashi - 0-0, .000

Aliens' Pitching
Wally Burton - 6 IP, 7 H, 0 K, 4 BB, 4 ER, 3.00
Max Jones - IP, H, K, 0 ER, 1.29
Ricardo Diaz - 3 IP, H, 0 ER, 0.93
Cristobal Rodriguez - 2 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 0 ER, 0.00

Beef Pitching
Yasushi Miura - 8 IP, 10 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 4 ER, 3.19
Akira Hirai - 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2.89
Yuji Yoshikawa - IP, H, 0 ER, 1.54
Akifumi Takahashi - IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 5.40

Player(s) of the Game: None

Postgame Notes - Ugh, a tie...

It was a good game today, though. Both bullpens did excellent work.

The Beef scored 4 in the second inning off of Burton, but we got it back with a 3-run 4th and a 1-run 5th. James drove in 2 of the runs in the 4th with a double.

Burton was very erratic today, but he ate 6 innings and kept us in the game, which was good enough.

Rodriguez has yet to allow a run this season. He's been the best setup man so far in a league that has some pretty good ones.

Our winning streak came to an end at 9, but our streak of not losing rolls on!

Wow! A tie! I've never seen that in season before!