This was a tight game, with the lone run in the game’s first six innings coming on a broken-up double play. But then in the seventh, Jefry Marte homered off Robert Corniel, and in the eighth, both he and Jerry Sands got RBI hits off Kyle Bird. On our end of things, Masashi Itoh pitched…
All that waiting to go to a baseball game, and this is what I’m treated to? Three innings in which we get guys on base, all of which got squelched by a double play. Thirteen hits against, including a home run. One error (that led to a run). Three mid-inning pitching changes while I insist…
Masashi Itoh has been a pleasant surprise as a rookie pitcher, but other teams have made him pay for his mistakes. Today was no exception, as two Giants hitters took him deep. A third took Shintaro Fujinami to dead center. Teruaki Sato’s completion of home runs against every other CL team in his rookie year?…
I’ll be honest with you. I predicted the Tigers would go 1-2 against the Buffaloes and they did. I predicted they would go 1-2 against the Hawks and they did. I predicted they would sweep the Fighters and they did. So a part of me was hoping to be right about a 1-2 finish against…
After yesterday’s slugfest, fans on both sides of this battle of the felines were looking forward to more long balls and dramatics. Instead, they were treated to a pitchers’ duel that was aided by the umpires calling a very wide strike zone. The result is that Masashi Itoh’s full-count mistake against Hotaka Yamakawa in the…
Despite seeing the Giants set up runners on the corners in multiple innings on this night, Masashi Itoh got himself out of many jams. However, he definitely did not have his best stuff. Luckily, super-rookie Teruaki Sato looked ready to carry his teammate, even the entire team, on his broad shoulders. His first two at-bats…
The Baystars were coming into this weekend having won three straight series against their opponents. When they took the first of this series, it looked as though they might make it four. But Masashi Itoh’s gem on Saturday evened things up, and then it would be up to Joe Gunkel to defend his undefeated record…
Masashi Itoh played high school baseball at Yokohama Stadium, so his first pro mound in the ballpark probably was not as intimidating as it would be for some freshmen. He was celebrating his 25th birthday as well, though he says he did not really think about that very much as he went about his business….
If Friday’s loss left a bad taste in the mouth of Tigers’ fans, you’d better believe it did the same to the Tigers’ players. And they made the Baystars pitchers in particular pay the price. This one was a no-doubter from the onset, and though I was in attendance, I missed the first inning, which…
As a fan, it is always a nervous proposition seeing a rookie pitcher starting against the orangemen. Whether they are injury- (or corona-) plagued or not, they still have a certain swagger against our men, which often turns them into little boys. On this night, though, the freshman kept his composure despite having a man…