「全球場Tour」 Part 4 of 13: Skymark Stadium, Kobe (Orix Buffaloes vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks)
I'm typing this post as I ride the Shinkansen, and posting it after I get home. I wasn't planning on riding the Shinkansen on the way home from Kobe. I really wasn't. But why am I? Extra innings, that's why. xD a riveting 3-run, 9th-inning comeback by Orix tied the game, but after 3 innings nothing was decided, so the game ended in a 4-4 tie. And SoftBank has Kokubo to blame for that.
Pre-Game Stuff:
-I left my hotel around 7 AM... didn't get to the stadium until about 11. xD; I thought I only had time to get tickets and go in, and I was only partly right, as they didn't open the doors until about 1hr15min before the game.
-Merchandise bought: a Buffaloes flag, a CD with Sky (the Orix theme song), and an Arihito Muramatsu (#3) wristband. And boy did Muramatsu let me down today.
-Boy am I glad Orix sucks. Most of the seats are general admission, and there were plenty of good seats available in the infield GA sections. Even after venturing to the upper deck once, I still was able to get about a 7th-row seat on an aisle along the 1st base line, right next to the Orix bullpen. (You'll see a lot of Orix bullpen pics in the photo album.)
-What my co-workers told me after I told them I was going to Skymark Stadium (formerly Green Park): "That stadium is the most similar to a major league ballpark." And boy were they right. Stands all around the stadium except for center field, and upper deck seats from home plate all the way to the foul poles. My (admittedly poor) estimate on the # of seats: about 45k?
-I wore both my Matsunaka wristband and Muramatsu wristband to show my neutrality, along with a Chunichi hat to show my true loyalties. XD Although I started cheering for Orix at the end because I wanted to see both a close game and a Sayonara. I got one of the two, and that ain't bad.
-Today's starting pitchers: SoftBank's Tsuyoshi Wada vs. Orix's Yoshihisa Hirano. And the lineup for SoftBank was the exact same as on Thursday's game, except in a much different order.
Onto the game...
Top 1st: SoftBank wastes no time in getting to Hirano, as after a leadoff walk to Honda and a sacrifice bunt by Honma, a grounder by Tamura was fielded nicely by Orix shortstop Keiji Ohbiki, but he went to 3rd and Makoto Shiozaki apparently missed the tag, as Honda was called safe. Matsunaka then doubles to center to cash 1, but that's all they get. 1-0 Hawks
Bottom 2nd: I decide to start a Left On Base count for Orix, as they strand 2 this inning, making their total 3 for the game so far. Can they beat the Dragons from yesterday? (Oh, and also, I really love the fact that they put the ouendan lyrics for each player on the Jumbotron.)
Top 3rd: Single by Honda, single by Honma, and after Tamura struck out, Matsunaka walked to load the bases. Enter Hiroki Kokubo, who doubled to left to score 2. Ohmura then followed that up with a sac fly to give the Hawks 3 for the inning. 4-0 Hawks
Bottom 3rd: The day starts to come apart for Kokubo. He misjudged a grounder by Ohnishi that went over his head (in his defense, it was a weird bounce) and into left for a hit. And then 2 batters later, he muffs a grounder by Kitagawa. Luckily, SoftBank doesn't pay for this one. For THIS one. (5 LOB for Orix)
Bottom 4th: Orix gets on the board by way of a Shiozaki solo homer. (Shiozaki also had a nice defensive stop in the top of the 2nd) But the next 3, who I swear all have batting averages under .200 (Shiozaki too), go down in order. 4-1 Hawks
Bottom 5th: Only one thing to note: 1 more runner left on base for Orix. (6 so far)
Top 6th: I think Buchanan is in a slump. I don't think he got a hit all day, and in this inning he grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Bottom 6th: One more LOB for Orix, as they strand Shimoyama at 3rd despite the fact that he got there with only one out.
Top 7th: It must be a Pacific League thing to play the other team's theme in the top of the 7th, because Orix did that too for SoftBank.
Bottom 7th: Orix wastes a leadoff single by Ohbiki, as the next 3 go down in order.
Top 8th (at least I THINK this was the inning.): I love the way they do their out-of-town scoreboard update here. They show how many runs were scored by inning, displaying a half-inning at a time. A lotta gasps for when Nippon Ham followed up a 5-run inning with a 6-run inning (en route to an 18-3 win over Rakuten. Atta boy insert-name-of-NFL-kicker-here!), as well as when Hanshin opened their game with a 7-run 1st inning. I made sure to cheer loudly for Chunichi. xD Oh yeah, and a 1st-and-3rd-2-outs chance was wasted by Buchanan.
Bottom 8th: A leadoff hit gets followed up by a double play, and the fans start flocking home. And you wonder why I'm heading home on the Shinkansen tonight. xD
Bottom 9th: After an out by Toshiya Tsuji, the Buffs get 3 consecutive hits by Eiji Mizuguchi, Ohbiki, and Hiroaki Ohnishi. You could tell Muramatsu was eager to end the game, as he went down swinging wildly. Enter Kitagawa. He hits a slow grounder to 3rd, and the game is ovNO WAIT KOKUBO BOBBLED THE BALL!!! His 2nd error of the game gives Orix and their fans new life, as Greg Larocca comes up to the plate... he drops a base hit in right, and that ties the game! Enter in pinch hitter, Buffaloes legend Tuffy Rhodes. ...Intentional walk, which I don't blame them for, because Orix's Under .200 Crew is coming up next, starting with Shiozaki. Grounder to short, and we're going to extras. (10 LOB for Orix--yes, they beat Chunichi in that category) 4-4 Tie
Bottom 10th: The Buffaloes get runners on 1st and 2nd thanks to a single by Mizuguchi and a walk by Ohnishi, but Muramatsu ends the inning on a hard grounder to first that required a nice glove save by Matsunaka. (12 LOB)
Top/Bottom 12th: Last chance for both teams, can either finish this game? Nope. Both sides go down 1-2-3 in the final frame. FINAL SCORE: Hawks 4, Buffaloes 4
Meanwhile, in Hiroshima, the Dragons (mainly Tyrone Woods, with another 2-HR outing and 6 RBIs) opened a can of whoopass on the Carp! But they didn't break the tie at the top, as Yomiuri won as well. (This was a day where the top 3 teams in the CL showed who was boss, as each of them won in blowout fashion)
But anywho, here are 54 pictures from Skymark Stadium--all of them are baseball-related, as I didn't really have time to explore the city before going home. After all, I gotta work tomorrow. Although with this being a close game, I wish I had bought postcards from Kobe!
Speaking of which, I wrote about 12 of them (Hiroshima ones) on the Shinkansen to Kobe--I'll send what I have tomorrow. I got a LOT, BTW--I'll be able to include everyone I sent to last time, and many others I'm kicking myself for not sending one to last time!
Also, here's Sky, the theme song of the Orix Buffaloes. This one toes a fine line between being good and being cheesy. But it rocks nonetheless. xD
Ooh, one more (and cross-posted to the Hiroshima post): It's crappy YouTube quality (and sung by fans), but here's the Hiroshima Carp theme. Hey, there's only one part you really need to know. xD
UP NEXT:
Golden Week! 3 games in 3 days, and 4 in 7!
4/29 Yokohama Stadium (Yokohama BayStars vs. Chunichi Dragons)
4/30 Meiji Jingu Stadium, Tokyo (Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs. Yomiuri Giants)
5/1 Chiba Marine Stadium (Chiba Lotte Marines vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters)
5/5 Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows)
P.S. Fun fact about this 4-day weekend: I appeared on the Jumbotron at ALL 3 STOPS. XD
Pre-Game Stuff:
-I left my hotel around 7 AM... didn't get to the stadium until about 11. xD; I thought I only had time to get tickets and go in, and I was only partly right, as they didn't open the doors until about 1hr15min before the game.
-Merchandise bought: a Buffaloes flag, a CD with Sky (the Orix theme song), and an Arihito Muramatsu (#3) wristband. And boy did Muramatsu let me down today.
-Boy am I glad Orix sucks. Most of the seats are general admission, and there were plenty of good seats available in the infield GA sections. Even after venturing to the upper deck once, I still was able to get about a 7th-row seat on an aisle along the 1st base line, right next to the Orix bullpen. (You'll see a lot of Orix bullpen pics in the photo album.)
-What my co-workers told me after I told them I was going to Skymark Stadium (formerly Green Park): "That stadium is the most similar to a major league ballpark." And boy were they right. Stands all around the stadium except for center field, and upper deck seats from home plate all the way to the foul poles. My (admittedly poor) estimate on the # of seats: about 45k?
-I wore both my Matsunaka wristband and Muramatsu wristband to show my neutrality, along with a Chunichi hat to show my true loyalties. XD Although I started cheering for Orix at the end because I wanted to see both a close game and a Sayonara. I got one of the two, and that ain't bad.
-Today's starting pitchers: SoftBank's Tsuyoshi Wada vs. Orix's Yoshihisa Hirano. And the lineup for SoftBank was the exact same as on Thursday's game, except in a much different order.
Onto the game...
Top 1st: SoftBank wastes no time in getting to Hirano, as after a leadoff walk to Honda and a sacrifice bunt by Honma, a grounder by Tamura was fielded nicely by Orix shortstop Keiji Ohbiki, but he went to 3rd and Makoto Shiozaki apparently missed the tag, as Honda was called safe. Matsunaka then doubles to center to cash 1, but that's all they get. 1-0 Hawks
Bottom 2nd: I decide to start a Left On Base count for Orix, as they strand 2 this inning, making their total 3 for the game so far. Can they beat the Dragons from yesterday? (Oh, and also, I really love the fact that they put the ouendan lyrics for each player on the Jumbotron.)
Top 3rd: Single by Honda, single by Honma, and after Tamura struck out, Matsunaka walked to load the bases. Enter Hiroki Kokubo, who doubled to left to score 2. Ohmura then followed that up with a sac fly to give the Hawks 3 for the inning. 4-0 Hawks
Bottom 3rd: The day starts to come apart for Kokubo. He misjudged a grounder by Ohnishi that went over his head (in his defense, it was a weird bounce) and into left for a hit. And then 2 batters later, he muffs a grounder by Kitagawa. Luckily, SoftBank doesn't pay for this one. For THIS one. (5 LOB for Orix)
Bottom 4th: Orix gets on the board by way of a Shiozaki solo homer. (Shiozaki also had a nice defensive stop in the top of the 2nd) But the next 3, who I swear all have batting averages under .200 (Shiozaki too), go down in order. 4-1 Hawks
Bottom 5th: Only one thing to note: 1 more runner left on base for Orix. (6 so far)
Top 6th: I think Buchanan is in a slump. I don't think he got a hit all day, and in this inning he grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Bottom 6th: One more LOB for Orix, as they strand Shimoyama at 3rd despite the fact that he got there with only one out.
Top 7th: It must be a Pacific League thing to play the other team's theme in the top of the 7th, because Orix did that too for SoftBank.
Bottom 7th: Orix wastes a leadoff single by Ohbiki, as the next 3 go down in order.
Top 8th (at least I THINK this was the inning.): I love the way they do their out-of-town scoreboard update here. They show how many runs were scored by inning, displaying a half-inning at a time. A lotta gasps for when Nippon Ham followed up a 5-run inning with a 6-run inning (en route to an 18-3 win over Rakuten. Atta boy insert-name-of-NFL-kicker-here!), as well as when Hanshin opened their game with a 7-run 1st inning. I made sure to cheer loudly for Chunichi. xD Oh yeah, and a 1st-and-3rd-2-outs chance was wasted by Buchanan.
Bottom 8th: A leadoff hit gets followed up by a double play, and the fans start flocking home. And you wonder why I'm heading home on the Shinkansen tonight. xD
Bottom 9th: After an out by Toshiya Tsuji, the Buffs get 3 consecutive hits by Eiji Mizuguchi, Ohbiki, and Hiroaki Ohnishi. You could tell Muramatsu was eager to end the game, as he went down swinging wildly. Enter Kitagawa. He hits a slow grounder to 3rd, and the game is ovNO WAIT KOKUBO BOBBLED THE BALL!!! His 2nd error of the game gives Orix and their fans new life, as Greg Larocca comes up to the plate... he drops a base hit in right, and that ties the game! Enter in pinch hitter, Buffaloes legend Tuffy Rhodes. ...Intentional walk, which I don't blame them for, because Orix's Under .200 Crew is coming up next, starting with Shiozaki. Grounder to short, and we're going to extras. (10 LOB for Orix--yes, they beat Chunichi in that category) 4-4 Tie
Bottom 10th: The Buffaloes get runners on 1st and 2nd thanks to a single by Mizuguchi and a walk by Ohnishi, but Muramatsu ends the inning on a hard grounder to first that required a nice glove save by Matsunaka. (12 LOB)
Top/Bottom 12th: Last chance for both teams, can either finish this game? Nope. Both sides go down 1-2-3 in the final frame. FINAL SCORE: Hawks 4, Buffaloes 4
Meanwhile, in Hiroshima, the Dragons (mainly Tyrone Woods, with another 2-HR outing and 6 RBIs) opened a can of whoopass on the Carp! But they didn't break the tie at the top, as Yomiuri won as well. (This was a day where the top 3 teams in the CL showed who was boss, as each of them won in blowout fashion)
But anywho, here are 54 pictures from Skymark Stadium--all of them are baseball-related, as I didn't really have time to explore the city before going home. After all, I gotta work tomorrow. Although with this being a close game, I wish I had bought postcards from Kobe!
Speaking of which, I wrote about 12 of them (Hiroshima ones) on the Shinkansen to Kobe--I'll send what I have tomorrow. I got a LOT, BTW--I'll be able to include everyone I sent to last time, and many others I'm kicking myself for not sending one to last time!
Also, here's Sky, the theme song of the Orix Buffaloes. This one toes a fine line between being good and being cheesy. But it rocks nonetheless. xD
Ooh, one more (and cross-posted to the Hiroshima post): It's crappy YouTube quality (and sung by fans), but here's the Hiroshima Carp theme. Hey, there's only one part you really need to know. xD
UP NEXT:
Golden Week! 3 games in 3 days, and 4 in 7!
4/29 Yokohama Stadium (Yokohama BayStars vs. Chunichi Dragons)
4/30 Meiji Jingu Stadium, Tokyo (Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs. Yomiuri Giants)
5/1 Chiba Marine Stadium (Chiba Lotte Marines vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters)
5/5 Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows)
P.S. Fun fact about this 4-day weekend: I appeared on the Jumbotron at ALL 3 STOPS. XD