シーズン後の行き先が話題の中日チェン投手、この特番は一見の価値ありです。
2009年8月16日 スポスタ 台湾出身のサウスポーチェンの物語 出演:陳偉殷 故郷の大先輩 郭源治 二軍時代の恩師 小林聖始 元同僚 樋口龍美 協力:チェンの家族 スポスタは企画自体もそうですが、編集もなんつーか面白いですね 。
Posted by japanstats on 2009 September 16日 Wednesday
シーズン後の行き先が話題の中日チェン投手、この特番は一見の価値ありです。
2009年8月16日 スポスタ 台湾出身のサウスポーチェンの物語 出演:陳偉殷 故郷の大先輩 郭源治 二軍時代の恩師 小林聖始 元同僚 樋口龍美 協力:チェンの家族 スポスタは企画自体もそうですが、編集もなんつーか面白いですね 。
Posted in 01_日本語, baseball, information, MLB, NPB, opinion | Tagged: チェン, プロ野球, メジャー, 郭, 台湾, 名古屋, 大豊, 中日 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 July 24日 Friday
プロ野球チームをつくろうオンライン2(やきゅつくオンライン2)をフォスター鯖で無課金でずっとやってますが、どうやら壁にぶちあたってる感じがします。
メジャー上位はキープできてるんだけど、CT出場が合計1回、しかも初戦敗退… そろそろ引き際かな。
3ペナに貯金して、今回の1ペナでカード引きまくったけど、出たのが最高コスト☆6、しかも現在これがチーム最高コスト、今サイクルはかなりヤヴァイかも…あー、名前出して自慢できる選手すらいない…orz
Posted in 01_日本語, baseball, NPB, opinion | Tagged: つくろう, やきゅつく, オンライン, ゲーム, セガ, プロ野球, 無課金, sega | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 June 30日 Tuesday
Nothing remotely close to data crunching here, just observations over the years (so, obviously, there will be mistakes and omissions).
The art of predicting can be tricky. Nobody knows exactly how to predict the future. I was curious how some Japanese pitchers would project to MLB so I created an index based upon past Japanese pitcher performances.
http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.gsp?forum=21&thread=59243
There’s of course the big x-factor, the cultural and environmental and mental adaptation process that players crossing the Pacific (in both directions) have to endure. Some thrive (Nomo, Okajima, Saito, etc. with the latter two outperforming their NPB records), some fail (Kobayashi, Fukumori, Igawa, etc.), some fluctuate (Irabu, Matsuzaka, etc.), some thrive then fade (Sasaki, Takatsu, etc. though this might be due to more age and wear and tear) and others meander (a little early to tell but Kawakami and Uehara seem to be adapting well). I don’t think there’s a large enough sample size yet for reliable equivalencies when it comes to pitchers.
Position players, on the other hand, are more predictable creatures, so their production are more predictable when making the NPB=>MLB move. BA/OBP drops somewhat, HR gets cut in half (and SLG drops accordingly), defence is usually above par (except whatever happened to Kaz Matsui), and many hitters change their approach at the plate (Godzilla not swinging for the fences, Iwamura exchanging power for on base ability, Little Matsui exchanging power for speed, Ichiro becoming more or less a slap hitter, etc.)
So, predicting Darvish? Well, he pitches half his games in the most pitcher friendly park in Japan (Sapporo Dome) in front of a solid defence, so right there are strikes one and two against him if he makes the move across the pond, unless he ends up in Petco with the Pads, Safeco with the Mariners (only possibility?), or at the Coliseum with the A’s, since most modern and ancient MLB parks are of the hitter friendly variety.
So, as the usual caveat goes, pitching is much less predictable than hitting, on a season by season basis.
Just my rambling 2 yen late at night when I should be sleeping.
Posted in 02_English, baseball, MLB, NPB, opinion | Tagged: darvish, equivalency, japanese, major leaguers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 June 29日 Monday
This season’s Lions Classic games have begun with Seibu wearing its home uniforms from the dynasty era. (Koji Akiyama #1 and Hisanobu Watanabe #41 flanking Kazuhiro Kiyohara #3.)
Well, the uniform design was used until quite recently as it can be seen here with a young Daisuke Matsuzaka wearing it.
However, the Lions were unable to replicate their success of the awesome uniforms as the team has lost its first two games wearing it against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks managed by former Lions star Koji Akiyama. Incidentally, another former 80’s Lions star, Hisanobu Watanabe, is currently managing the Lions, so the ceremonial first pitch for Sunday’s game was old teammates Watanabe facing off against Akiyama, and Koji fouled the pitch off to the third base side.
Saitama Seibu Lions looking great (except for the lack of stirrups and addition of the Nike logo) in losing the first two games wearing these classic uniforms 3-10 and 5-7.
You can see the ceremonial first pitch here, Akiyama’s front foot slips but he still makes contact with NabeQ’s pitch.
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, NPB, opinion | Tagged: akiyama, dice-k, lions, matsuzaka, saitama, seibu, uniform, watanabe | 1 Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 June 26日 Friday
An idea to replace the money losing Asia Series (since it lost its title sponsor Konami, the Series lost 2-oku yen (approx. $2m) last year, yeah small change for a Hanshin Tigers import suketto) has been floated.
It will pit the Japan Series champions against the Korea Series champions in an one game showdown at a regional stadium in November (no dome? must be in southern Japan then).
Japan used to host Korea in an all-star series (similar to the now defunct NPB-MLB all-star series) format back in the 90’s but it got cancelled due to lack of fan interest. But the champion clubs meeting each other in this manner will be a first.
The problem with this newly and severely reduced format is the exclusion of Taiwan. The Uni-President 7Eleven Lions made it to the Asia Series final last year and only lost to the depleted Saitama Seibu Lions in a sayonara walkoff fashion. The Taiwanese clubs have been putting up solid efforts, so it’s a shame to lose them. Maybe once Taiwanese baseball is back in order from its current post-scandals shambles, they can host an NPB-KBO-CPBL championship, as their climate suits November ball the most.
The one game showdown idea will be put forth in July for approval.
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, NPB, opinion, tokyo | Tagged: asia series, CPBL, KBO, konami, lions, saitama, seibu, SK, uni-president, wyverns | 2 Comments »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 June 7日 Sunday
More for my archival purposes than anything, the link to all Japanese baseball related Sports Illustrated articles going back to the 50’s! You can read how Japanese baseball itself and how it is viewed by Americans have gradually and significantly changed over the decades. (via Japanesebaseball.com)
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, MLB, NPB, opinion | Tagged: Japan, si, sports illustrated, vault | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 May 25日 Monday
Prior to the start of the interleague game at Yokohama between the BayStars and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Sunday 24 May, infamous former slugger Jose Canseco faced off against former BayStar and Seattle Mariner closer Kazuhiro “Daimajin” Sasaki in a ceremonial “at bat”.
Because Canseco wanted to launch a homerun into the stands at the expense of Daimajin, he repeatedly asked for “one more pitch” resulting in a 9 pitch ceremonial at bat (which is reminiscient of Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s ceremonial first at bat against Hichori Morimoto last season in Fukuoka), but the attention seeking PED whistleblower could not reach the short porch of Yokohama Stadium.
Canseco had faced Sasaki 3 times during their MLB careers, and after the ceremonial at bat Canseco commented that “Sasaki’s fastball and forkball were just as I remembered from our playing days, I should’ve practiced more for this occasion”.
(Canseco is in Japan to participate in his first MMA tournament (aside from celebrity boxing matches), the DREAM Super Hulk Tournament in Yokohama Arena on Tuesday 26 May, his first match will be against former MMA novice and Korean giant Choi Hong-man who stands 218cm (7’2″) tall.)
Original Japanese article after the break
Posted in 02_English, 03_Translations (英訳ポートフォリオ), baseball, information, MLB, NPB | Tagged: a's, athletics, baystars, canseco, ceremonial, choi hong-man, daimajin, dream, first pitch, Japan, jose, kazuhiro, mariners, mma, oakland, ped, sasaki, seattle, steroids, super hulk, yokohama | 1 Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 May 11日 Monday
“Pro Yakyu Team wo Tsukuro Online 2” (Yakyu-Tsuku Online) is an online NPB card collecting and simulation game by Sega. It can be played for free, but you also have an option of paying 980 yen per month in order to earn more in-game points to use and unlock some goodies such as “legend” players like Boomer Wells, Koji Yamamoto, and Taigen Kaku (sorry, no Sadaharu Oh or Shigeo Nagashima in the game). The interface is entirely in Japanese, but you probably don’t need to be a Japanese wiz to enjoy the game. There’s even a handy wiki site (Japanese, obviously) answering almost any question that arises.
Yakyu-Tsuku Online is not an in-browser game like CSFBL, so you’ll need to download what seems to be unnecessarily heavy and glossy client program to play the game. The client allows you to manage your team, as well as watch how your team plays out its games (you can’t make any in-game managerial decisions, that’s left up to the rather stupid AI manager, but your opponents online are in the same bag).
Here’s how the game works, more or less.
Enough with the game overview, here’s my thoughts after playing for about a month (1 cycle).
Here’s what the game client looks like. The lineup screen of my team. (Players like Yu Darvish, Kyuji Fujikawa, and Michihiro Ogasawara each cost 10 which makes lineup juggling challenging when total cost is low if you’re lucky enough to have drawn these superstars):
And the 3D game simulation screen (you can skip this and go straight to the box score, and you can also see a hideous uniform on display here, my team’s got a more classic look):
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, NPB, opinion | Tagged: つくろう, やきゅつく, オンライン, チーム, プロ野球, game, online, pro yakyu, sega, sim | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 May 3日 Sunday
な、なんと埼玉西武ライオンズがあの世界のニューヨークタイムズにフィーチャーされました。記事の趣旨は松坂のポスティングによってボストン・レッドソックスがワールドシリーズを勝ちとっただけでなく、西武ドームを改修できてその上に2008年の日本シリーズ(そしてアジアシリーズ)に勝ったので、松坂のポスティングは両球団にとって有利な結果だったという結論を出しています。
記事の中では特にトイレの改修・増築と日本のウォッシュレットの素晴らしさについて触れています(笑)が、その他にも費用が人工芝の張替え、クラブハウス改修、電光掲示板のリニューアル、フィールドシートとテラスシートの設置、新売店の設置、選手の補強にも使われたと書かれています。
気になる当時約60億円($51m)のポスティング費の内訳は、なんと40%以上の約26億円が税金で、約28億円が球場の改修、そして約6億円が選手補強にあてられたそうです。
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, MLB, NPB, opinion, tokyo | Tagged: タイムズ, ドーム, ニューヨーク, ボストン, ライオンズ, レッドソックス, 球場, dice-k, 西武, lions, matsuzaka, NY, seibu, Times, 埼玉, 松坂 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by japanstats on 2009 April 22日 Wednesday
In addition to Yahoo! Japan broadcasting all Pacific League games online, all Yokohama BayStars home games at Yokohama Stadium have also become available online starting this season. The PL games are IP restricted, so you need to work around that if you live outside of Japan (myp2p.eu is one option), I’m not sure about the BayStars home games.
EDIT: The BayStars online service seems to only provide video by half-inning (which is a pain) and appears to be tape delayed by 20 minutes at least. Then again, if you avoid Japanese sports news, then this might as well be live on gameday.
Posted in 02_English, baseball, information, NPB | Tagged: baystars, media, online, pacific league, pl, streaming, TBS, yahoo, yokohama | 2 Comments »