A Number a Day, Jan 9-12

I'm not going to do this during the weekend of Jan 13-16 on account of the fact that I'm going to Boston for the MIT Mystery Hunt.


Do you remember when Freddy Sanchez was the lone All-Star for the Pittsburgh Pirates? Yeah, nobody else does either. But that's when I bought this shirt, when I was in Pittsburgh for CMU Carnival or something and decided I wanted another Pirates t-shirt that wasn't for someone named Jason (ie, I already had Bay and Kendall). And I kinda liked Freddy Sanchez and didn't trust Zach Duke. So.

Anyway, he's #12 for the 12th, even though I realize that's not the number he wears on the San Francisco Giants.


I flipped a coin. Kenshin Kawakami won for being #11 on the 11th, though it's just as well as I don't really want anyone at work to ask me about Darvish :)

You know, what's really nostalgic is how this was the Game 1 matchup in both the 2006 and 2007 Japan Series... and both times, the team that lost that Game 1 ended up winning the entire thing.

(Also, my post for Game 1 of the 2007 Japan Series is probably one of the funniest things I ever wrote on this blog, period.)

Anyway, I wonder what Kenshin will be up to this year. I thought he was super-awesome when he was on Chunichi, wanted him to succeed in the MLB, but last I heard he was basically in the AA team for the Braves and just kind of stoically doing his best like a good Japanese boy. His contract finished last year, so... I guess we'll see what happens next. It'd be awesome if he came back to Japan and was on the Carp with Yusuke Nomura, who I basically see as the second coming of Kenshin... but yeah, that's not very likely.


This may be the oddest one I'm doing this month, but #10 on the 10th is the entire 2010 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles roster, in the shape of a giant 10. I wore this shirt a LOT around the earthquake time as a show of solidarity for Tohoku.


#9 for the 9th could only be one man for me, Yasushi Iihara of the Yakult Swallows. Iihara's this really funny-looking righty-batting outfielder who unfortunately only kicks ass when he's given regular playing time, and just really wasn't in 2011 so he kind of had a bad year. The thing is, he's that kind of player that people like me want to cheer for -- fringe, good guy, working hard, just so damn close to being the awesomeness that you know he can be, etc.

The other thing is, at the time I started seriously going to Swallows games a few years ago and learning the songs, he actually had the easiest song of all the Swallows, so it was the first one I learned. (It has since changed and become more difficult.) Anyway, assuming Aoki is out of the picture for 2012 I hope Yasushi gets a chance to kick ass and take names again.

A Number A Day, Jan 6-8

My #8 for the 8th is one of my all-time favorite players, Makoto Kaneko of the Nippon Ham Fighters. Kaneko's birthday is Nov 8th and I often wondered if that's why he wears #8.

It's really hard not to like him -- he's not a superstar by any means but he's been a solid player for his career, anchoring shortstop for the Fighters for pretty much the last 15 years or so. His glove is generally much better than his bat, but that doesn't stop him from doing crazy things like opening the 2009 season by batting .423 over the first month with like 8 doubles and I forget what else. And batting out of the 9-spot all the time, too! He also served as team captain and as player representative for the league -- he's just kind of a natural leader. Trey Hillman also said that Kaneko was one of the few Japanese players who would actually talk straight to him, like "If you had a booger on your nose, Kaneko's the only guy on the team who'd tell you."

Also we cheer for him by holding up Shinsengumi banners, how awesome is that? His player color is light blue, too, which I think is super-pretty.

For the record, btw, this is a t-shirt, not a jersey -- the Fighters "replica t-shirts" this year are actually really nice and have the asymmetrical colors/sleeves/etc on them. I'm just not particularly a fan of the new front logo, but you can't see that...


I'm not actually sure Tomochika Tsuboi will manage to get a contract for the 2012 season, and he was last seen with the Orix Buffaloes anyway, but for me, #7 on the 7th is Tsuboi when he was this amazing hotshot outfielder for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Actually, this is the first Japanese baseball t-shirt I ever bought, in September of 2003, when the Fighters's home stadium was still the Tokyo Dome. So it actually has a lot of sentimental value. I met several of my best friends in Japan because of this shirt, even. Tsuboi never had another great year like 2003 (where he hit .330 and played in almost every game), but he did hang around with the team for several years, mostly as a 3.5th outfielder. He had actually made a name for himself with the Hanshin Tigers originally, which is probably why he had a lot of fans already when he came to the Fighters and to Hokkaido (before the Fighters moved up there, the only teams anyone could really watch were the Giants and Tigers). Also, they kept his fanfare "PL~ Aogaku~ Toshiba~ (Hanshin!) Tsu-bo-i~~~" which, according to one of my friends who followed him to the Fighters from the Tigers, brought tears to her eyes the first time she heard it. :)

He's the son of a former pro player as well, Shinzaburo Tsuboi. The younger Tsuboi definitely had a longer career and a hell of a lot more fans, anyway.

The funny thing about this shirt is that I noticed Tsuboi originally because he was left-handed and wore high socks and happened to wear my lucky #7, but then it actually turned out he's totally the sort of player I tend to completely fall in love with. I love how that works out!


This will surprise everyone except Pau, but I do actually own a Tomoaki Kanemoto #6 shirt, so he's #6 on the 6th. What is slightly weirder is that I don't have any other 6's... I never did get a Yukio Tanaka jersey/shirt, had too many Dragons shirts to get Ibata, and had been resisting Sho Nakata as the new #6 for the Fighters for a while, though maybe I should get over that.

Anyway, Kanemoto is the Iron Man of Japanese Baseball -- his consecutive-games-played streak of 1492 games is also the world record (and the 904 consecutive games of every inning played as well). At this point it's kind of strange watching him play because he's like 43 and slowing down in left field but can still sure swing the bat and hit home runs (notably he seems to do so every time I see him at Jingu) but since the Hanshin Tigers are in the league without a DH, and are probably keeping him until he retires or dies...

I bought this t-shirt the first time I went to Osaka, in 2006, before I had really developed any NPB prejudices aside from "Screw the Giants". I think I've actually worn it to more MLB games than NPB though, because it amuses me to wear it to Detroit Tigers games.

A Number A Day, Jan 3-5

This has been kind of amusing so far.



My housemate Jenny just took this photo for me. Last night she said "I didn't realize you were WEARING these every day! I thought it was just a queue of photos!"

Anyway, #5 for the 5th is Takuro Ishii, in his Baystars era. I was and am a huge Takuro Ishii fan... he's just a very enigmatic player, with a very unique career that NOBODY will ever have again for various reasons. He started out in 1989 signing with the Baystars (then the Yokohama Taiyo Whales) as an undrafted pitcher from Ashikaga HS, whose name at the time was Tadanori Ishii. After 4 years of not making it as a pitcher for the most part (although he DOES have 1 win to his name at the major-league level with the Stars, he had a 1-4, 5.69 ERA in 28 games), he switched to being a shortstop, changed his name to Takuro, and went on to get over 2400 hits in a FANTASTIC career, anchoring the Baystars championship 1998 team. Then after the 2008 season the Baystars decided to cut him because he's old (but hung onto Saeki, WTF?) and so Takuro signed with the Hiroshima Carp and is still kicking ass despite that he turned 41 this summer.

I look forward to visiting his plaque in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame someday. He is the only player in NPB history besides Tetsuharu "God of Batting" Kawakami to have 2000+ hits and a pitching win.

Also somewhat funny is that I have a Baystars #5 jersey -- which is the number that Hichori Morimoto (my #1 for the 1st) wears with them now -- but it's not Hichori's :)



I've had so many times in my life I've had to find a 4th, but this was the first time I had to find a 4, and failed. So I'm cheating, and #4 for the 4th is actually #44.

I was a pretty big Mike Cameron fan when he played for the Mariners, because Safeco has this cavernous outfield and he was just awesome at running around it. Being a right-handed batter didn't help him at all in that place, but he still hit well anyway. I got this shirt when I spent a week in NYC over the summer of 2005 and went to some Mets and Yankees games, and Cammy had gone to the Mets and I was sad about it. Oddly, I haven't really followed his career since I went off to Japan, so it's nice to see that he had a few more good years.

(I think my favorite current player wearing #4 is actually Meiji University's Takashi Uemoto, oddly enough. And his brother wears #4 for Hanshin...)



#3 on the 3rd is the Seibu Lions' Hiroyuki Nakajima, mostly because 1) this is the first time I've actually worn this t-shirt and 2) I'm wondering whether he'll let the Yankees dick him around or not. (Answer: No. But I wonder what'll happen when he goes back to Japan.)

I guiltily bought this t-shirt at the last Lions-Fighters game I went to... like, I went out of the stadium wearing all my Fighters gear and bought the shirt from a Lions vendor claiming it was a "souvenir", then when I got back into the stadium where my friends were, shoved it into my bag without letting anyone know what it was. I figured, though, there was a chance Nakaji may end up on an MLB team I care about and thus it'd be neat to meet him. Alas.

I thought about Kazuyoshi Tatsunami for the 3rd. It was close. I wear that shirt a LOT though. Believe it or not, I don't actually have a Kensuke Tanaka shirt at all.

A Number A Day, Jan 2012

Last time I did this was the countdown to Opening Day 2007. This time I'm just doing this for the heck of it. Instead of real baseball players, I'm trying this month to wear a baseball t-shirt or uniform for every day of the month that I have one. I don't ACTUALLY have one for every single number between 1 and 31, though I'm close.

So far I've worn them on the 1st and 2nd:



For #2 on the 2nd I decided to go with Kenji Johjima during his Mariners phase, partially because I came to Seattle for New Year's weekend.

Johjima was a curious character for me because I'd been familiar with him for a long time, being a Pacific League All-Star catcher and all, but never actually saw him in person until he came to Seattle. But at his first Mariners Fanfest in early 2006, I actually did briefly meet him and get him to sign a (Japanese) baseball card for me, which both of us were delighted by. I was happy when he did well in 2006 and 2007, and sad that it didn't work out for him in the long run. It's nice to see him being somewhat successful back in Japan again, though it sucks to see him injured all the time.

(Runner-up for #2 was either a Johjima jersey or an Ogasawara jersey, but just didn't feel like schlepping them up here with me.)



The obvious #1 for me is Hichori Morimoto. Not only will this month end with his birthday on January 31st, but this is still one of my favorite t-shirts (and he's still one of my favorite baseball players). This shirt was made during the 2008 season for the special "colors" associated with various Fighters players, so Hichori was green, Kensuke was pink, Kaneko blue, Darvish black. I think Inaba was gold.

Of course, now Hichori plays for Yokohama and wears #5 and changed his "character color" to yellow, but... whatever.

Your 2011 Japan Series Champions, the Hawks

But it's 6:30am here in Seattle, so I'm going to sleep in a bit. Unlike the last time I was watching a Japan Series game in the US (the 2006 Fighters-Dragons series), you have plenty of other places to learn about what happened during the game in English these days, so you should go take a look at them.

Personally, I really wanted this series to go to seven games, so I'm happy for that, at least. I thought it was pretty silly of the Dragons to let Ochiai go as manager, in the midst of what is clearly the most successful run in franchise history. (The Dragons were in the Series in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2011, although they only won it in 2007.) His contract was up at the end of October, so the Dragons were paying him a million yen a day for the postseason.

Curiously, the last time the Hawks won the Japan Series was in 2003 against the Tigers, and in that series the home team won every game. This time, the home team lost every game until the final game, and even funnier, four games were decided by 2-1 scores (game 1, 2, 4, and 6, with the Dragons winning 3 of those), and the other 3 games were shutouts.

As a primary Pacific League fan, the Hawks are a very frustrating team to go up against in recent years, as they have a pitching staff to die for and a fairly stacked lineup as well. And it was particularly heartbreaking to see the Fighters fall behind them this year. So I suppose I was pulling for Chunichi in this series, but when things happen like Tanishige going 0-for-23, there's only so much you can do.

Kokubo as the MVP was a little bit odd (it felt like it really should have been one of the pitchers, didn't it?) but it was kind of amusing when they pointed out to him during the interview that he, at the age of 40, had ousted his manager Akiyama from the oldest Japan Series MVP, as a 37-year-old Akiyama had gotten that award in 1999 when the Hawks beat Chunichi then. (And at that time Kokubo and Matsunaka were a LOT younger! It was definitely weird watching Matsunaka hobble home and flop onto home plate for the 2nd run of the game tonight, let's just put it that way.)

Anyway, the Jingu Taikai is in a few days, and then after that is the month of fan festivals and rookie unveiling events and holiday parties, and then in January starts rookie training, and February is spring training... Japan is nice in that baseball season never *truly* ends, if you're a crazy diehard fan. Which makes it all the more sad to me that I'm not there anymore.

(2 weeks until I move to San Francisco!)

Monday Foto: Soukeisen

Actually, this is just me being too tired to write ANYTHING about the four games I attended this weekend, where Waseda won both of the Soukeisen games (6-2 and 4-2) and Yakult won on Saturday night 3-2 but the Giants won on Sunday night 6-2.

This is my favorite photo I took all weekend:



Waseda's Shota Sugiyama slides headfirst into 3rd base for a triple. It's really rare to see a headslide from the "oh my god he's flying towards us!" perspective!

Friday Foto: Draft Aftermath, the paper version

For amusement value, I often like to buy the daily sports papers after a big event has happened, to see their different takes on it (and occasionally to cut out articles to stick up on the wall or whatever).

Anyway, here's your spread of the "big" papers today:



Let's see, first, 4 out of 6 have Sugano on the cover. None have Fujioka.

Upper left, Sports Hochi (a Giants-based paper anyway) has "Impossible! Chosen by Nippon Ham in the lottery!"

Upper right, Sankei Sports (aka Sanspo) has "Hara is completely stunned! Nippon Ham stole Sugano!!" (where 強奪 really means more like "plunder" or "extort", a very strong version of steal)

Middle left, Sponichi has a big "SUGANO SHOCK!!" with tears in his eyes and a note about "He could enter Nihon Seimei or..."

Middle right, Nikkan has "Sugano is stunned! He may refuse to sign!"

Then in non-Sugano news, Daily Sports, a Tigers-based paper, has "Hayata Itoh is the 2nd incarnation of Shinjiro Hiyama!" in the lower left :)

Also in non-Sugano news, Tokyo Chunichi Sports has THEIR front page headline, "Morimichi got his big job done and picked Shuhei Takahashi!"

---

Sponichi and Nikkan have the Fighters' 7th-round pick Takumi Ohshima (from the Waseda University softball club) on their SECOND PAGE. With his softball team, being a dork with softballs and baseballs, etc. Apparently, for the record, Ohshima is some kind of ungodly good softball player who's done things like hit homeruns in 13 consecutive games, was a world-class Japanese softball team member up through high school, and basically went to a tryout earlier this month and passed -- the scouts liked his large frame and power. (It's unclear to me how good his batting will translate to baseball.) Amusingly one scout even says "Sure, he has no experience in baseball, not since elementary school, but we think he'll be an interesting project".

There's not as much on Fujioka as expected, but I kinda like it that way. Papers have photos of him with captain and 3rd-round pick Daichi Suzuki and with his parents. It's expected that he will get Number 18 as Naruse already has 17.

Can you imagine a Lotte rotation of Karakawa, Naruse, Ueno, Fujioka, and Shunsuke? That's just crazy. It's like my fantasy team or something.

Yusuke Nomura, for the record, seems pretty happy going home to Hiroshima and wants to face Tomoaki Kanemoto.

And for fun, here's Yokohama HS's Otosaka and Kondoh.

Draft 2011 Liveblogging

Will be done here. I'm going to finish up a pre-draft photopost (ongoing college player photopost is here) in the morning and the draft itself is in the afternoon.

I'm on pins and needles as usual -- just like last year I was so worried about where Ohishi and Kagami were going to end up, this year I'm hoping Takahiro Fujioka ends up somewhere good. But there are a ton of other guys I'm worried about too, of course.

And yeah, I've been to 22394092309439 games in the last month but haven't been blogging about them here. I apologize for that, especially the lack of Tokyo Big 6 coverage in what has been one of the more interesting semesters in recent history. But well, I'm returning to the US on Nov 3rd. So, busy.

[Moving the "liveblogging" part below the draft chart. Also I made a new label for these draft tables -- "Draft Results". Then I can look back through my 6 years of draft tables without going through all of my posts with "draft notes" and photos and such under "draft".]

Name                   Pos  HS/Univ/Company         T/B   DOB          Ht/Wt  
--------------------   ---  ---------------         ---   ----------   -------
Dragons: 
1 Shuhei Takahashi      IF  Tokaidai Kofu HS        R/L   01/18/1994   185/83
2 Kentaro Nishikawa     P   Seiryo HS               R/R   04/18/1993   184/72
3 Shinji Tajima         P   Tokai Gakuen Univ       R/R                181/84
4 Takehiko Tsuji        P   Nittai Univ             R/R   07/27/1989   182/86
5 Takahiro Kawasaki     P   Tsu Higashi HS          R/R   08/02/1993   186/77
6 Sanghun Song          P   信一高校 (HS in Korea)   R/R   02/24/1993   190/93

Swallows: 
1 Shuhei Takahashi
  Ryuhei Kawakami       OF  Kosei Gakuin HS         R/R   05/08/1993   181/80
2 Ryohei Kiya           P   Nihon Bunri Univ        R/R   04/07/1989   180/85
3 Wataru Hiyane         IF  Nihon Seishi Ishinomaki R/R   06/20/1987   180/73
4 Yuya Ota              P   Nihon Seishi Ishinomaki L/L                175/73
5 Yuji Nakane           P   Tohoku Fukushi Univ     R/R   09/07/1989   180/80
6 Masato Furuno         P   Mitsubishi Junko Kobe   R/R   09/27/1986   178/78

I1 Takeaki Tokuyama     P   Ritsumeikan University  R/S   07/21/1989   185/83
I2 Hugo Kanabushi       P   Hakuoh University       L/L   05/22/1989   180/71

Giants: 
1 Tomoyuki Sugano
  Ryuya Matsumoto       P   Eimei HS                L/L   04/29/1993   193/78
2 Nobutaka Imamura      P   Osaka Gakuin Univ HS    L/L   03/15/1994   180/73
3 Ryuji Ichioka         P   Oki Computer Gakuin     R/R   01/11/1991   179/70
4 Kyosuke Takagi        P   Kokugakuin Univ         L/L   09/05/1989   183/79
5 Go Takahashi          IF  Nihon Bunri HS          R/R   04/30/1993   183/75
6 Yuki Egarashi         P   Toshiba                 R/R   11/14/1986   183/78
7 Seiji Tahara          P   Kurashiki Oceans

I1 Kazuki Mori          P   Shiritsu Kashiwa HS     R/R   06/23/1993   185/92
I2 Mizuki Tsuchida      P   SIL Ehime               R/R   01/01/1990   181/91
I3 Shogo Shibata        P   Meiji University        L/L   04/13/1989   175/70
I4 Yoh Yoshikawa        C   Rakuhoku HS             R/R                183/102
I5 Takashi Amemiya      P   BCL Niigata Albirex     R/R   07/06/1987   174/83
I6 Takahiro Watanabe    P   BCL Niigata Albirex     L/L   08/26/1992   173/70

Tigers: 
1 Hayata Itoh           OF  Keio University         R/L   05/08/1989   178/84
2 Hiroaki Saiuchi       P   Seiko Gakuin HS         R/R   07/19/1993   182/80
3 Naoto Nishida         OF  Osaka Toin HS           R/L                187/92
4 Kazuo Itoh            P   Tokyo Kokusai Univ      R/R   12/13/1989   184/82
5 Ryoma Matsuda         P   Hasami HS               R/R   02/08/1994   183/83

I1 Seiya Hirokami       C   Gunma Diamond Pegasus

Carp: 
1 Yusuke Nomura         P   Meiji University        R/R   06/24/1989   177/75
2 Ryosuke Kikuchi       IF  Chukyo Gakuin Univ      R/R                171/69
3 Takaya Toda           P   Shonan HS               L/L   06/10/1993   180/66
4 Shohei Habu           OF  Waseda University       R/L   08/16/1989   180/76

I1 Hajime Tominaga      P   SIL Tokushima           R/R   06/20/1989   179/80
I2 Masataka Nakamura    OF  SIL Kagawa              R/R   11/07/1983   183/90
I3 Kohei Tsukada        P   Waseda University       R/R   08/24/1989   192/89
I4 Kazuma Mike          OF  Shiritsu Wakayama HS    R/S                180/76


Baystars: 
1 Takahiro Fujioka
  Ryuya Matsumoto
  Yujo Kitakata         P   Karatsu Shogyo HS       R/R   01/25/1994   180/80    
2 Shuto Takajo          C   Kyushu Kokusai HS       R/R   05/03/1993   176/79
3 Yuki Watanabe         IF  Kanzei HS               R/R   04/09/1993   180/74
4 Masayuki Kuwahara     IF  Fukuchiyama Seibi HS    R/R                171/73
5 Tomo Otosaka          OF  Yokohama HS             R/L   01/06/1994   183/75
6 Mikihisa Travis Samura P  Urasoe Shogyo HS        R/R   10/09/1993   191/80
7 Hyuma Matsui          IF  Mitsubishi Hiroshima    R/R   03/17/1991   180/80
8 Komura Toru           P   Chigasaki Nishihama HS  L/L                177/76
9 Takuro Itoh           P   Teikyo HS               R/R   04/02/1993   185/86

I1 Kosuke Tomita        P   SIL Kagawa              R/R   04/24/1988   186/88
I2 Masashi Nishimori    C   SIL Kagawa              R/R   12/29/1987   182/80

Hawks: 
1 Shota Takeda          P   Miyazaki Nichidai HS    R/R   04/03/1993   187/77
2 Shoji Yoshimoto       P   Adachi Gakuen HS        R/R   06/26/1993   186/75
3 Masayoshi Tsukada     IF  Hakuoh Univ             R/L   07/23/1989   180/79
4 Naoki Shirane         P   Kaisei HS (Shimane)     R/R   04/28/1993   185/98
5 Shinya Kayama         P   JX-ENEOS                L/L   11/23/1989   172/62

I1 Go Kamamoto          OF  Sairyo HS               R/L   09/03/1993   180/80
I2 Kyohei Kamezawa      IF  SIL Kagawa              R/L   10/15/1988   174/73
I3 Shota Miura          P   Iwate University        R/R   11/10/1989   177/67
I4 Takashi Shimizu      P   Gunma Diamond Pegasus   L/L   05/15/1984   177/76
I5 Shinya Arasaki       IF  Nihon Bunri University  R/L                171/73
I6 Akihiro Sasanuma     C   All Ashikaga Club       R/R   07/17/1987   183/81
I7 Kazuya Iida          C   SIL Kochi               R/R   03/10/1986   182/83

Fighters: 
1 Tomoyuki Sugano       P   Tokai University        R/R   10/11/1989   185/86
2 Go Matsumoto          IF  Teikyo HS               R/R   08/11/1993   180/80
3 Shingo Ishikawa       OF  E. Osaka Kashiwara HS   R/R   04/27/1993   178/73
4 Kensuke Kondoh        C   Yokohama HS             R/L   08/09/1993   172/83
5 Toshiharu Moriuchi    P   JR Higashinihon Tohoku  R/R   01/02/1985   180/80
6 Naoyuki Uwasawa       P   Senshudai Matsudo HS    R/R   02/26/1994   187/85 
7 Takumi Ohshima        C   Waseda Univ Softball    R/L   02/14/1990   180/97

Lions: 
1 Ken Togame            P   JR Higashinihon         R/R   11/07/1987   183/82
2 Hirotaka Koishi       P   NTT Higashinihon        L/L   04/13/1987   177/85
3 Hitoto Komazuki       C   Tonan HS                R/R   04/21/1993   176/86
4 Kyohei Nagae          IF  Kaisei HS (Mie)         R/L   05/07/1993   173/75
5 Shotaro Tashiro       OF  Hachinohe University    L/L   12/13/1989   177/72

I1 Komei Fujisawa       C   Matsumoto University    R/L   11/11/1989   180/80

Buffaloes: 
1 Shuhei Takahashi
  Ryoichi Adachi        IF  Toshiba                 R/R   01/07/1988   178/74
2 Takuya Shimada        IF  JR Higashinihon         R/R   01/22/1987   178/76
3 Tatsuya Satoh         P   Honda                   R/R   07/26/1986   178/75
4 Tomoyuki Kaida        P   Nihon Seimei            L/L   09/02/1987   178/78
5 Ryuji Shoji           C   J-Project               R/R   02/01/1987   176/81
6 Yuki Tsutsumi         IF  Saga Ryukoku HS         R/L   09/21/1993   172/70
7 Shuhei Kojima         IF  Sumitomo Metals Kashima R/L   06/05/1987   177/75
8 Takayoshi Kawabata    OF  JR Higashinihon         R/R   02/04/1985   176/80

I1 Daiki Inakura        OF  Kofuku HS               R/R   05/11/1993   180/85
I2 Shoki Kakihara       IF  Tosu HS                 R/R                175/75

Eagles: 
1 Takahiro Fujioka
  Yoshitaka Mutoh       P   JR Hokkaido             R/R   07/22/1987   177/72
2 Yoshinao Kamata       P   Kanazawa HS             R/R   10/26/1993   177/75
3 Takumi Miyoshi        P   Kyushu Kokusai HS       R/R   06/07/1993   173/74
4 Takero Okajima        C   Hakuoh Univ             R/L   09/07/1989   174/68
5 Rintaro Kitagawa      OF  Meitoku Gijuku HS       R/L   06/21/1993   185/82
6 Hiroaki Shimauchi     OF  Meiji University        L/L   02/02/1990   180/75

I1 Takahiro Jinbo       OF  Hokkaido Transys        R/R   12/09/1986   174/76

Marines: 
1 Takahiro Fujioka      P   Toyo University         L/L   07/17/1989   183/85
2 Yuhei Nakaushiro      P   Kinki University        L/L   09/17/1989   182/72
3 Daichi Suzuki         IF  Toyo University         R/L   08/18/1989   176/76
4 Naoya Masuda          P   Kansai Kokusai Univ     R/R   10/25/1989   176/80

-----------------------

I've got the TV on but the show isn't on yet. Hmm.

Well, here's a nice blank grid to fill in as things go!

4:53pm The show is starting!!!

5pm They're announcing the teams and representatives, who are coming into the room in waiver order, so, I'm going to get prepared with the waiver order for the first round:

5:10pm: They showed Fujioka and Sugano in their college's press rooms, and Nomura with Shimauchi and Shibata and the rest of the Meiji club in their dorm. It's very quiet as people submit their first round picks...

Marines: Takahiro Fujioka
Baystars: Takahiro Fujioka
Eagles: Takahiro Fujioka
Carp: Yusuke Nomura
Buffaloes: Shuhei Takahashi
Tigers: Hayata Itoh
Lions: Ken Togame
Giants: Tomoyuki Sugano
Fighters: Tomoyuki Sugano
Swallows: Shuhei Takahashi
Hawks: Shota Takeda
Dragons: Shuhei Takahashi

So Nomura goes home to Hiroshima unchallenged, Itoh is going to Hanshin (oi), Togame as a sleeper pic to Seibu, and Takeda to the Hawks as expected. And WTF on challenging Sugano.

5:20 Lottery #1 is for Fujioka and... he's going to CHIBA MARINE!

I'm actually happy for him. He can get to ichi-gun quicker in a currently weak team like this, AND it means that the Marines now have BOTH of my absolute favorite Toyodai pitchers EVER (the other being Ueno). Also it's great for him in that he's from Gunma and his family can come see him play.

5:22 Lottery #2 is for Takahashi Shuhei... and .... and he's going to Chunichi after the Chunichi rep Takagi actually seemed to screw up the draw.

5:26 Lottery #3 is for Tomoyuki Sugano. WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY SO IMPROBABLE I CAN'T BELIEVE THE FIGHTERS ARE GOING FOR HIM. And would you believe it but SUGANO IS GOING TO THE FIGHTERS??!?!

Hara looks pissed. I wonder if Sugano will actually sign or will pull some kinda stunt. Jason Coskrey just invoked the word "Chono"...

Well, anyway, it's time for the backup first round picks...

Baystars: Ryuya Matsumoto, P
Eagles: Yoshitaka Mutoh, P
Buffaloes: Ryoichi Adachi, IF
Giants: Ryuya Matsumoto, P
Swallows: Ryuhei Kawakami, OF

5:35 second lottery... and Matsumoto is going to the Giants.

For the record, I LOVE the Adachi pick.

Baystars finally get a first-round pick with Kitakata from Karatsu Sho HS. Yay for Saga-ken players!!!

Okay, shortly stuff will go into waiver order for the rest of the picks.

Your overall first round picks:
Marines: Takahiro Fujioka, LHP, Toyo University
Baystars: Yujo Kitakata, RHP, Karatsu Shogyo HS
Eagles: Yoshitaka Mutoh, RHP, JR Hokkaido
Carp: Yusuke Nomura, RHP, Meiji University
Buffaloes: Ryoichi Adachi, IF, Toshiba
Tigers: Hayata Itoh, OF, Keio University
Lions: Ken Togame, RHP, JR Higashinihon
Giants: Ryuya Matsumoto, LHP, Eimei HS
Fighters: Tomoyuki Sugano, RHP, Tokai University
Swallows: Ryuhei Kawakami, OF, Kosei Gakuin HS
Hawks: Shota Takeda, RHP, Miyazaki Nichidai HS
Dragons: Shuhei Takahashi, IF, Tokaidai Kofu HS

5:45pm It's off TV here and I'm basically kinda thumbing through the draft magazines to dig up info while looking at the Sportsnavi and such to see what the picks are... hm, sounds like Kozo has a justin.tv feed as well.

It was nice to see Fujioka's interview, he seems nervous but happy. Sugano... I couldn't really read what he was saying.

6pm NAKAUSHIRO TO LOTTE!!!! TAKAJO TO YOKOHAMA!!!! that's so cool! Nakaushiro is also super-interesting and Takajo was my favorite catcher not named Suzuki in this last Koshien :)

6:13pm Teikyo connection with the Fighters continues as we get captain Go Matsumoto. He's a great raw pick, kinda like Sugiya, very talented shortstop, I saw him at Koshien as a freshman. Great pick.

I am also, btw, a fan of the Rakuten picking Kamata in the second round, glad Saiuchi has gone already too. A little surprised Matsumoto went before Itoh Takuro to be honest -- wonder what's up there. We'll see :)

6:15 Third round starts. Softbank took Yoshimoto in the second round, I guess they are going for a monopoly on "Nantoka no Darvish" HS pitchers this year.

6:28 Still entering data but OMG Miyoshi goes to Rakuten? Glad to see both him and Takajo get picked, though. Awesome.

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It's 7:50pm and the main draft is over. I guess ikusei is starting. Interesting to see which guys DIDN'T get drafted, in some ways, I suppose.

Shogo Shibata, the nice boy with Behcet's disease, got chosen in the Ikusei rounds, by the Giants. Not sure how I feel about that.

Lots of interesting Ikusei picks honestly. I've seen a lot of the indie league guys play, actually. Have a photo with Seiya Hirogami.. just posted one of Iida catching for Irabu... heard about Takashi Shimizu pitching his no-hitter... so wacky.

Everyone is wondering what's up with this Waseda Softball guy for the Fighters... apparently he was a world-class softball player, but how does that project to baseball? There's got to be some bizarre story here.