It's Official!

So yesterday I checked the Softbank website and found that they had finally released a statement stating that they had agreed to a contract with Kam Loe. Woo! As much as I would have liked to have posted that news when I saw it, I couldn't because I was just about to leave to go to San Antonio for the day with my brother. For those in Texas, we all know that it's playoff time for High School football. My Brother and I went to check out two playoff games at the Alamodome. The first between Gregory-Portland and Killeen (my brother lives in Portland so he wanted to watch them play) and the second game between my Alma Mater Hendrickson High School and Port Lavaca Calhoun. Unfortunately, GP didn't fair so well but I am happy to report that HHS won 31-30 and are advancing to the next round! Go Hawks!

So, Kameron Loe did agree to a contract with the Softbank Hawks. Kam agreed to the contract around the same time as another Right Handed Pitcher Justin Germano. Germano came to the Hawks from The San Diego Padres with a 5.27 ERA and a record of 8-16 over four years of service in the MLB.

FUKUOKA, Nov. 28 (20:32) Kyodo

The Softbank Hawks have agreed to the signing of major league right-handers Kameron Loe and Justin Germano, the team said Friday.

Loe's deal is worth 190 million yen over two years, while Germano will ink
a one-year deal for 50 million yen, team sources said.

The 27-year-old Loe has a 19-23 career record with a save and a 4.77 ERA in five major league seasons -- all with the Texas Rangers. He was 1-0 with a 3.23 ERA in 14 relief appearances this past season.

Germano went 0-3 with a 5.98 ERA in 12 games with the San Diego Padres in
2008. He is 8-16 with a 5.27 ERA over four years in the majors. Both players
are expected to join the team's starting rotation.

What really excites me is the last sentence of that release. Kameron will be given a chance at the starting rotation which I know is what he really wants to do! Remember, if you ever want to check out the Softbank Hawks official website, just look on the right column under links! It even already in Google Translator!! Just keep in mind that not everything on the page translates and that some words don't have a direct translation in English. Oh well, I think we can live through it.

-Holly

P.S. I know this post changes texts right in the middle of it. My little text choice button has seemed to have disappeared right before my eyes. A little weird but I think it has to do with the fact I put that block quote in and I don't know how to take it off. If you know how to work the block quote button, please, please, please feel free to tell me! Hahaha...Please!

EDIT: (A few moments after publishing) Okay so in my published post, the text fixed itself. I have no idea how it did that but it did. Plus, my text button is back. I have no idea what I am doing.

"The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love."
-Bryant Gumbel

The Wisdom of Teeth and Thanksgiving

I am super sorry about my recent hiatus, I have had just about the most miserable Thanksgiving of my life. Wednesday, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I actually got to go completely under for the ordeal but in the end, I was in a whole lot of pain! The first few hours were okay but, once the numbness in my mouth left I just about died in pain. Luckily though, the Doc prescribed me Vicodin. Vicodin is now my new temporary best friend. Apparently, after my procedure while I was in 'recovery', I was laughing uncontrollably and stating that I had had fun and wanted to 'to do it again!' There is nothing as funny as someone on sedatives, even if it is yourself.

Well, Thanksgiving came and went. I was only able to each cranberries (which I love!!) and mashed potatoes covered in gravy. After supper, I found that desserts were much easier to eat. Especially the homemade sweet potato pie my dad made. At least I didn't have the chance to stuff my face this year; that is never good.

That's enough about my teeth and eating troubles. In baseball news, on Wednesday the Rangers put Kameron Loe on Unconditional Release Waivers. And of course, we all know that he will eventually sign with the Softbank Hawks.

TOKYO, Nov. 27 (18:40) Kyodo

The Texas Rangers said Wednesday they have placed right-hander Kameron Loe on unconditional release waivers and expect him to sign with the Softbank Hawks.

''The club has placed Loe on irrevocable waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. Loe is expected to sign with the Softbank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League,'' the Rangers said in a press release.

His deal is worth $2 million over two years, according to U.S. media outlets.The 27-year-old Loe has a 19-23 career record with a save and a 4.77 ERA in five major league seasons -- all with the Rangers. He was 1-0 with a 3.23 ERA in 14 relief appearances this past season.

Loe is known to occasionally bring his 2-meter-long pet snake, named Angel, to ballparks.

Obviously, because Kam hasn't signed a contract yet is the reason why the Hawks haven't even recognized him yet on their website. I've got a feeling that Kam is going to be a really popular player in Japan.

Anyways, onto some weird stuff. I have found that the Japanese are obsessed with knowing blood type. I asked my roommate about this (she is into Japanese Culture ect.) and she said that knowing someones blood type in Japan is like knowing someones eye or hair color here. If you go to the website for the Softbank Hawks and look at the roster, some players do have their blood types recorded. However, I really noticed this when I was looking at the "cheerleader" page. All of the girls have little bios and on them is their blood type. Weird...

When searching for pictures, I have noticed that lots of the pictures include fans holding yellow balloons. At first, I thought this was some type of very popular souvenir that everyone bought until I was doing a little research. The balloons are actually used as a little 'ritual' during the seventh inning. At the beginning of the seventh, almost all of the fans will pull out a couple of yellow balloons similar those used to make balloon animals. Some people write the names of their favorite players on them. Then, they will blow them up and wave them around during the inning. Finally, when the inning is over the all release the balloons free to fly around the stadium. Yeah pretty freaky.

-Holly

"Baseball is reassuring. It makes me feel as if the world is not going to blow up."

-Sharon Olds

-This Sporting Life

Workin' hard at hardly workin'

What does one do when they are stuck for four hours calling Alumni and Friends of TCU with a double monitor system? Post another Blog! Yeah! I can sense the excitement! Anyways, so while I'm here at work with nothing to do I figured I could go ahead and introduce myself a little.

I'm Holly and I am currently a freshman at Texas Christian University. I am double majoring in News-Editorial Journalism and Strategic Communications (AKA Advertising/Public Relations). I might minor in broadcast journalism but only if TCU brings back broadcast journalism with emphasis in sports broadcast. One day, I want to use all of that to eventually get a job with a MLB team or MLB. A girl can dream right?

Here at TCU, I am attempting to get involved and so far, I think I'm doing a good job. I have been initiated into the sisterhood of The Alpha Delta Pi sorority. I love it!! It is super fun and I love all of my sisters! I just recently had an interview for a positions on the TCU Diamond Darlings Squad. Diamond Darlings is the marketing team for the TCU baseball team. They might be the only other girls on campus that believe that the diamond that is a girl's best friend is actually made of grass, dirt and chalk. I should know by the weekend after Thanksgiving if I get a position on the squad. I will have a very excited post if I do! :)

Baseball wise, I played baseball/softball for at least seven years of my life. I never played any select ball just Little League and some Pony/Colt. My last two years I played for my high school. I enjoyed it immensely however, I decided to quit softball so I could focus on band. Neither my coaches or band directors were too interested me participating in both. Once I quit, I became a big fan of MLB. I think it was my way of retaining all of the memories I had from my past year plus, I had a big brother around that was always watching Rangers' baseball. My love for baseball grew each day and now I impress my own family with my knowledge and love for the sport.

I first saw Kameron Loe pitch one summer day while I was in Corpus Christi visiting my brother. Ironically, the game that I watched was the game that was considered to have reversed the Rangers' season. It was the Rangers versus the Pirates. Kameron Loe was starting and only because pitcher Brandon McCarthy recieved a blister on his finger. Before this Kameron Loe had been sent down to AAA and without even making an appearence with the RedHawks, he was back up with the Rangers to make the start. Kameron pitched an amazing Eight innings, fanning seven and only allowed five hits. He even a had a good day at the plate! In two at-bats he grounded out, walked and even got a hit. He eventually scored a run to help his own cause too! From that moment on, I fell in love with the big guy and became a steadfast fan!

Well, thats about it for now. I am happy to say that this post took almost my whole shift (four hours). Tomorrow I get to go home to Austin for Thanksgiving so that means my next few posts will be from Austin! Hopefully, those posts will be my firsts about Japanese baseball!

-Holly

P.S. Wish me luck on my statistics test tomorrow!

"Baseball games are like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two are ever alike."

-W. P. Kinsella

To Tickle the Brain...

So, as promised, here are my funny stories that revolve around me attempting to meet Kam Loe. It should be quite clear by the second or third story that I didn't ever really have the best of luck...

At the beginning of my summer after my High School graduation I declared a summer goal: To get a picture with Kameron Loe. I had only received his autograph once before in California and it wasn't that great of an experience because he was quickly swarmed with card collectors. At the beginning of my summer, Kam Loe was pitching for AAA Oklahoma. In July, Oklahoma would be playing AAA Round Rock which is very close to my house. I marked that four-game series on every calendar I had, and began the long waiting process. When the first game finally arrived I was soooo freaking excited. I could not sit still any part of the day. So, Long story short, Kam Loe never came out of the locker room that game or any of those games for that matter. He got called up to the Rangers the day of the first game. My luck!

A few days after I moved up here to Fort Worth, Ranger Pitcher C.J. Wilson held one of his Guitar Hero Challenges. Kam Loe had once again gotten the call to the Big Leagues so I just took a guess that he would make an appearance at the GH Challenge. Somehow, I convinced my new roomie to travel with me to Dallas. So we drove to Dallas and we were thirty or so minutes late because we got lost. Big time lost too. We finally got there and we milled around for a while. I saw Kam Loe. I ran to the bathroom right quick before I initiated any sort of interaction. When I came out, he was gone. Yep...Good Luck Adventure Number two!

For my bestie's birthday, I bought her and I tickets to a Rangers game. This game was super special for her because he favorite player, pitcher Brandon McCarthy, was making his first start of the season after a long stint on the DL. What made the game ideal for me was that Kam Loe was still up with the Rangers; it was another opportunity to meet Kam Loe! My bestie and I stood out by the bullpen to wait for Bcar and Kam during the pregame. Bcar eventually showed up but Kam didn't. Basically, after the game was over, I found out that Kam got sent back down to AAA Oklahoma. However, the worst news was that AAA Oklahoma would be playing at AAA Round Rock and I couldn't go because the series was in the middle of the week. How terrible...

Yeah. I don't really think there is a need for any more explanation. I have the worst luck.

-Holly

"A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings."
-Earl Wilson

The Birth of a Blog...

Thursday, November 20th could possibly be one of the most surprising days of my life. I had entered my dorm room after getting out of stats class an hour early (Thank Goodness! I am not a Math person whatsoever...) and sat down at my computer. I did my daily sweep of websites and when I got to LoneStarBall.com (LSB) I read "Kam Loe to Japan". My heart sank. Kameron Loe was my favorite player and had been since the summer of 2007 and now, he was headed to Japan for at least one year. Almost immediately upon reading that line I began crying (embarrassing, but true) and even awoke my roommate from her mid-afternoon nap with a few choice words.

Although this move was not the best one for his followers, like me, it was obviously a good move for him. To my understanding he will get to be a starting pitcher, not a reliever. He will also got a nice little raise too! The more and more I thought about this, the more and more I realized what a great opportunity Japan actually was for Kam.

Friday night I sat in my dorm thinking. I couldn't just let my favorite player drift into the unknown world of Japanese baseball without some sort of following. By doing just a few searches of NPB (Japan's Professional League) I found out that most of the first-hand sources were in Japanese. I realized that keeping up with Kam would be quite difficult if there wasn't one controlled source in English reporting. I knew that there was a very little chance of anyone else picking up the idea of reporting on Kam's status in Japan so I quickly picked up the idea and started brainstorming.

That, my friends, is how "Keepin' up with Kam" was born. Now just to clarify, I don't intend to report on every game...just the ones he pitches in. Why? Because keeping up with one player in Japan is hard enough let alone reporting on every game. However, when summer roles around and College work takes a break, I may find myself posting a little more.

Here are some basic details:

-The Player: Kameron Loe

-The Position: RHP (Right Handed Pitcher)

-The Team: The SoftBank Hawks

-The City: Fukuoka, Japan

-The Stadium: The Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome

-The Level: Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) - Puro Yakyū (Japanese for Professional Baseball)

-The League: The Pacific League

-The Rules: Much like the American League, The Pacific League uses a Designated Hitter unlike its counterpart the Central League.

-The Season: Begins late March to early April ending in October

I know those details are quite broad but I think they are a good start to help 'grasp' the idea of Japanese Baseball. I plan on doing my next couple of posts on myself, which should involve a few funny baseball stories. After that, I will then attempt to go more in-depth with some of the topics listed above. I also want to do a post about some of the 'oddities' that I have already found in Japanese culture in Baseball. Hopefully, all of that will keep me busy until the season starts!

-Holly

"There's no crying in Baseball!"
-Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks)
- A League of Their Own