From our other sites
The story
The Hanshin–Carp game ended in a 6-4 comeback win for the Carp, extending their winning streak. Hanshin jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but the Carp struck back in the 2nd and 3rd to take the lead, with Nakamura Shosei starring on 3 hits and 2 RBIs, including the go-ahead timely hit. That means Hanshin’s pennant-clinching has been put off. The thread was split on everything from leaving the starter in too long and the pinch-hitting calls, to questionable umpiring and plans for next season’s roster.
Hanshin 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 |4
Hiroshima 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 X |6
[Battery]
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
As for Saiki (Hanshin pitcher) talking about a posting-system move — that's premature by about a million years.
If he gets a hit, he stays; if he flies out weakly, he's off the roster.
Yeah… still a tall order.
They pulled off bizarre plays ("chinpa" — comically bad/blooper plays) this whole game and still lost?
Guess they just didn't have enough chinpa in them.
Two pitches that were clearly strikes got called balls, lmaoooooo
Still no ABS (automated ball-strike system) — guess next year's three-peat is already locked in too.
Call 6 might've been a tough one, but call 1 was inexcusable.
Hanshin's just floundering all on their own.
Sure, the franchise's first-ever back-to-back title is a lock,
but Fujikawa Kyuji is nowhere close to a great manager.
This isn't a world where a mediocre manager can pull off back-to-back titles — have you not learned that from watching since the '90s?
Rough, but that's on them.
Wouldn't it make more sense to just head over to Yokohama Stadium?
Good to see — next season actually looks promising.
If they'd cut the zombies back in July, wouldn't they have had a real shot at the Climax Series?
If the title got decided while they were en route somewhere, they couldn't exactly celebrate — that'd feel all wrong.
A win today would've clinched it outright, so they must've had the celebration all set up just in case.
Doing the victory toss on enemy turf just hours after losing the actual game would look pretty lame.
If it were Koshien they could just stick around, but who knows here.
Well, tomorrow's another night game, so they'll probably still be in Hiroshima anyway.
Not everyone feels that way — that's exactly why it's more popular than the "tax league" (a mocking nickname for the Pacific League).
If Hazuki really said there were 6 including himself, then there's still a hidden zombie and the "Seared Fork Master" (a joking nickname) lurking somewhere.
Fork's still managed to build up some trust, so…
Those two still can't relax either — teams will probably line up to pass on them before the draft even starts.
Drop Itohara too, his batting average is done for, and pull up some hot young guys from the minors instead.
There ARE no hot young guys in form!!!!!!!
They've already got Hanshin completely figured out.
Could end up even worse than that infamous 33-4 series.
Though honestly, the Giants or DeNA wouldn't escape a blowout against them either.
If the Giants were merely even with Hanshin head-to-head, they'd have won the pennant easily anyway.
Though a Giants team that's been getting crushed by Hanshin doesn't deserve the title either.
Background and Talking Points
Hanshin lost to Hiroshima in regulation, pushing back the pennant-clinching decision even though their magic number had already been lit. Despite grabbing a 4-0 lead in the first inning, they let it slip away, and the thread was heavy with criticism of the starting pitcher and bullpen usage and the pinch-hitting decisions, though some posters pushed back in defense of manager Fujikawa, leaving opinion split. Several exchanges also centered on close calls — worth noting for readers is that NPB has not fully rolled out automated ball-strike assistance (the so-called “robot umpire”), so judgment on borderline pitches still comes down entirely to the umpire’s eye. Some posts questioned why regulars like Kinami and Itohara keep getting everyday at-bats, with a recurring view that this year’s Hanshin leans heavily on the individual power of its top-of-the-order hitters. Other comments tied the situation to the Giants’ results, framing the “delay” in terms of how many games remain.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Central League C 6-4 T [10/3] — Carp win again — Nakamura Shosei’s 3-hit, 2-RBI go-ahead timely hit — Hanshin’s pennant clinch put off.”
Leave a Reply