Finally Back

I feel like I have neglected my blog and my readers. I hate that feeling. I have been extremely busy this past week. I left TCU last Friday and since then I have unpacking, organizing, and job searching. I am happy to say that all three of those were successfully completed.

Now, onto baseball. Unfortunately, the guy who usually does the write ups on the Hawks' games has been inactive since mid-April so I don't have any full game writes for you. I do have the box score from Kameron's last start, though: 5/4 Start

I can tell from the box score things didn't go too well but, if we all keep thinking positive, I know great things will come from Kameron and the whole Softbank Team.

A neat thing I found while I was surfing the Softbank site was that they list all of the songs they use during a game. From a certain players walk-on song to the victory tune that is played after a win, it's all listed on the site. I know a lot of people (including me) that have heard songs at ball games and can never find the song title or artist. That's just one of my random findings on the Hawks' website.

Once again, if you're on Twitter, my ID is rain_holly. If you follow me, send me an @reply so I know you read my blog. Also, for the Facebookers out there, there is a Softbank Hawks fan page. Just put "Softbank Hawks" in the search bar and it should come up. Join the group and show your love for the Hawks!

Have a good night - or day if you're in Japan :)

-Holly

P.S. I will be updating more frequently now that it's summer! Woo - no more being nocturnal to study for finals!

I Have Failed...

I completely forgot that today (Monday) was kameron's next start. Usually, the team has off on Mondays so I was expecting him to start tomorrow.

As usual, the Hawks are the visitors when Kameron starts. Next week though, he should get his first at the Yahoo! Dome. That should be really exciting!!

I might actually try to stay up and watch his start tonight because I don't have a class or a final tomorrow to wake up for! I also have an Economics paper I really, really need to finish, lots of studying to do and I just promised my roommate I would pull and all-nighter with her (oh the joys of college, right?). If I do stay up, I will take screen shots or something for those of you who can't stay up.

Speaking of finals, this week is finals week at TCU, which not only means lots of studying, but it also means that it will be my last week in DFW until August. I'm so sad. My Dad already came on Saturday to take most of my stuff back to Austin. My side of the room is bare as it is missing all of my baseball decor.

Next Start:
Hawks (V) v.s. Buffaloes (H)
Time: 6:00 p.m. Japan time, 4:00 a.m. CST
Look for the Orix Buffaloes feed on TvAnts

I don't know why I didn't say this earlier, but I have a twitter. I love twitter and I have the most random tweets. If you want to see my goofy side, following my twitter would be a good place to start. www.twitter.com/rain_holly check it out! Oh, and if you have a twitter, feel free to follow me and I will follow you!

Woo! Go Kameron!

-Holly

Start

Just a quick reminder that you can watch Kameron's fourth start for the Hawks live early tomorrow morning - 4:00AM CST. The Hawks (9-11-1) will be facing the Lions (9-11-1).

-Holly

All Sorts of Confusing

So, in my last post, I said Kameron's last was at home. I'm pretty sure I was wrong. For some reason, I saw Tokyo Dome and instantly thought Yahoo! Dome. Woops. So actually, Kameron didn't start at home last time either. That means his first three starts have all come on visiting turf. Not cool. Even his next start looks to be scheduled for away. In fact, if the rotation and everything stays the same, he won't get to pitch for the home town crowd until May 12th. Of course, he pitches on Tuesdays too, which means if you want to watch him pitch, you have to get up early on a weekday. Very frustrating...

In other news, if you are interest in reading actual write ups about the Hawks' games, you can go here. To make it easy, the following are the links to the games Kameron has pitched in:

1st Start - Hawks v.s. Eagles Box Score
3rd Start - Hawks v.s. Fighters Box Score

The guy didn't do a write up for the second game so you can go here for the box score from the second game (I can't remember if I have already put the link up for it or not).

Next Start Alert:

• Japan Date and Time: Tuesday, April 28th at 6:00pm @ The Seibu Dome (Seibu Lions)
• U.S. Date and Time: Monday, April 27th at 4:00am CST on TVants (Look for Saitama Seibu Lions feed)

I can't believe it but, two weeks from tomorrow will be my last day at TCU until the Fall. Everyone said college would go by fast - I believe them now. For my summer I will be at home in Austin, watching lots of baseball and, my personal favorite, sleeping until noon.

-Holly

Game Day

Once again, Kameron will be pitching tomorrow morning at 4:00am CST. For the first time this season, Kameron will be starting at home, in the Yahoo! Dome. They will be playing the Nippon Ham Fighters. Have fun if you're staying up! Good Luck to Kameron!

Game Day/Morning

If you have nothing to do tomorrow and can stay up late or wake up early, Kameron will be pitching tomorrow morning at 4:00am CST. The Hawks will be the visitors once again so, your best bet to find the game on TvAnts will be to search for "NPB", and to locate the home feed of the Seibu Lions.

This will be Kameron's second start for the Hawks. Currently, he is 0-1 with a 5.68 ERA.

-Holly

If You're Up Again...

I thought that I would just let everyone know that I just watched Kameron pitch one perfect inning for Softbank. If you are looking for the game, once again, download the TvAnts program mention two posts ago. In the search bar, type NPB. Instead of selecting Fukuoka.... select Tohuko Golden Eagles. The Hawks are away, making the only feed available the Eagles' home feed.

One note: If you are watching, the program tends to stop playing after innings are over: No fear, the feed will come back after a while.

Enjoy if you are watching! This is truly an awesome day.

-Holly

If You're Up...

Today (Japan)/Tomorrow (U.S.), Kameron will be making his first official start with the Hawks. The games starts at 6:00pm Japan time or 4:00am C.S.T. (I think...feel free to correct me if I am wrong).

As I stated in my earlier post, I believe you will be able to watch the game live via TvAnts if you are interested in watching. The game will be an away game so, I'm not 100% sure it will be Fukuoka in the title as I described last post. They will be playing the Golden Eagles so try to look for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles somewhere in the title.

That's it for now, off to study and such.

-Holly

"Watching a spring training game is as exciting as watching a tree form its annual ring."
~Jerry Izenberg

Video

I'm going to be headed to Austin today to go to the Rodeo this weekend. Before I did though, I thought I'd share a video I found of Kameron in post game conference. The best thing about it is that it shows clips of him pitching in games and there is not a Japanese translator over his voice.

Also, there is an article with video but, as usual, makes little to no sense. If your still interested in reading attempting to read it, you can find it here.

Finally, I am sad/happy/still undecided to announce that writing will no longer be in my professional outlook. I am changing my major to Business Finance. Business/Money type stuff has always been in my family--one of my Grandfather's owned his own business and my other Grandfather was the County Auditor. My brother is an accounting major and currently works in a County Auditor's office. I guess I'm just next in line.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

-Holly

Two Outings to Report On

Last Wednesday (3/18), Kameron made his second start in pre-season action as the Hawks beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 4-3. He went five innings allowing three runs off of six hits. He walked none, struck out two, and earned a no-decision. He finished the game with an ERA of 2.77.

Today, Kameron made his third start against the Hanshin Tigers and earned his first win as Hawk. In the 5-3 victory, Kameron went six innings allowing three runs off of five hits. He walked two and struck out three. The Hawks were really helped out by two errors made by Tiger fielders that led to two Hawk runs. American Brian Falkenborg sealed the deal by stopping Tiger batters one last time to earn himself a save and Kameron a win.

Kameron is now 1-0 in pre-season play with an ERA of 3.32.

-Holly

"Baseball is a harbor, a seclusion from failure that really matters, a playful utopia in which virtuosity can be savored to the third decimal place of a batting average. "
~Mark Kramer

Kameron Secures Spot in Starting Rotation

On Thursday, Softbank officials announced that Kameron had secured the open spot in the starting rotation. If the rotation used for the pre-season games is similar to the regular season rotation, we can expect to see Kameron as the second or third starter. For the most part, Kameron has pitched after fellow American D.J. Houlton this pre-season.

On the same day, Kameron started and went five innings in a 1-1 tie against the Yokohama Baystars. In his five innings of work, Kameron allowed just two hits, struck out three, walked three and allowed just one run. This was his second outing in the 'official' pre-season and just his first start. His two appearances together total for eight innings with an ERA of 1.13.

I believe we can expect to see Kameron's next outing on either Wednesday the 18th against the Chiba Lotte Marines or Friday the 20th against the Dragons.

For those of you that are curious about other former Rangers in Japan, Kevin Mench and the Hanshin Tigers will be at the Yahoo! Dome a week from Tuesday on the 24th of March for a three game series against the Hawks. As for Jason Botts and the Nippon Ham Fighters, they too will travel to the Yahoo! Dome for a three game series beginning on April 10th.

Yeah for Spring Break!

-Holly

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."
- Babe Ruth

Hawks now 4-3 in Pre-Season Play

The Hawks have continued their pre-season play, now 4-3 after seven games. On Thursday (3/5), Kameron pitched a near flawless three innings in a 2-1 win over the Rakuten Eagles. He came in the 4th inning after fellow American starter D.J. Halton. Halton went three innings, giving up the only Eagle run, a home run, in the top of the second. In Kameron's three innings of work he allowed no runs, one hit, no walks and fanned five. He needed 37 pitches to get past ten batters.

More fun with the Google translator: It took me a while to realize Kameron had even pitched in this game because Google translator translated his name to "Russia". No comment.

Sorry this is rather short and sloppy. It's the week before spring break here at TCU which translates to "lots-o-tests" week. Enough said.

-Holly

“I hate tests”
-Many a college students, including me.

This Just In: Online Translators Stink.

I really, really wish I could tell you how Kameron pitched in an intersquad game yesterday, but I can't. Google translator has finally failed on me; not that it was exactly sufficient beforehand either. All I can really say is this: He pitched in his first intersquad game yesterday (the 22nd). As for the exact details, I'm not too sure. It's like someone wrote out a sentence on a piece of paper, cut out each individual word, put them all in a glass and started drawing out words to reform the sentence again. I will take a guess, though. I'm going to guess three hits and two runs.

You take a look and tell me what you think:

Pitcher Justin foreigner Jamano New (26 = San Diego Padres) low pitcher Cameron (27 = Rangers) 2 showed a pitching mound in the first intrasquad game. Jamano pitcher hits and no runs three times a pitcher hit a low two runs twice. Pitcher Jamano "The breaking ball is a different day. Today's game was so good curve ball." Low pitcher is "a good pitch for a strike at all" good mouth feel. Akiyama Director "(the struggle for Rothe's) come in full. Have found something good," wrote the future.

The Bold part is what I think might be referring to the game. Your guess is as good as mine...unless you can read Japanese or the Gibberish above.

In better news, I found a picture!!

I'm sure I just made every one's Monday a little better. I don't know about you, but I woke up with a big case of the Mondays this morning.

-Holly

"Life will always throw you curves, just keep fouling them off... the right pitch will come, but when it does, be prepared to run the bases."

-Rick Maksian

More Stories

Here are few stories that surfaced over the past days:

Click here for the article about the two other American pitchers joining the Hawks this season. While it really isn't relevant to Kam Loe, there is a picture of all three pitchers.

Click here to read an article released after the Japanese press met with kameron. He mainly discusses his off season workout and his pitch selection.

Click here to read an article with Koji Akiyama's (the Manager) reaction to the three new American pitchers. There are brief sections on each player with descriptions and quotes.

Click here to watch a video of the three players and the manager during the press conference. While the players talk in English, there is a loud Japanese translation played over them. With that said, the video is still pretty neat to watch. Judging from the reaction of Japanese journalists during the photo op at the end, they seem pretty amused by the three Americans.

-Holly

"I've come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen."
-Bob Lemon

Three Foreign Pitchers to Join the Team Today and Spring Training Assignments Released

The three new American Pitchers acquired over the off season will join the rest of the Softbank team today. You can click here for the official article from the Hawks' website in an online translator. The basic idea of the article is easy understand however, there are two quotes, one being from Kameron, that are a little difficult to get.

Also, the group assignments for spring training were also released today. All three of the newly acquired American pitchers were assigned to Group 'A', including Kameron Loe. To see the complete spring training schedule, check out this post I did awhile back.

Spring training officially starts February, 1st in the City of Miyazaki.

-Holly

P.S. Go Steelers!!

"I don't care how long you've been around, you'll never see it all"
-Bob Lemon

A Statistics Lesson

I am always the first one at school to throw out the "I will never use this outside of school" complaint to teachers. Math class was always the first class I criticized because it didn't take me but two seconds of Algebra my freshman year to realize that math was not my expertise. Some of my arguments were as followed:

• Algebra I: "When will I ever have to solve for 'x' as a History major?" (I had considered majoring in History...that is until I heard the words "History Paper")
• Geometry: "Do veterinarians really need to have the formula for the area of an octagon memorized?" (I wanted to be a vet...then I watch an episode of emergency vets and nearly got sick)
• Algebra II: "Factorization? I'm pretty sure music majors don't need to know the factors of 71. What? It's a prime number? See!" (Of course I went through the whole music major phase...that is until the dreaded music theory class I took my senior year.)
• Pre-Calculus: "I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure journalists don't need to know how to find the missing side of a triangle by using Sin, Co sin or Tangent." (I'm happy to say the whole journalism thing is still accurate.)
  

I would have put down my argument for my recent statistics class, but I didn't have too. I actually used something I learned from that class in a real-life problem. Yeah!

So, what did I do? I found out the Mean (average) height of all the players on the Softbank Roster (as of 1/22/2008), found the Standard Deviation of the data and used it see exactly where the heights of the American Players fit with the rest of the squad.

The mean height of all 74 players on the roster:

• 181.6cm or approximately 6 feet.

The Standard Deviation for all 74 players on the roster:

• 5.5 cm or approximately 2 inches.
  

Without going into too much detail, Standard Deviation is the measure of the dispersion the data set is from the mean. Basically, it tells you how far a particular number is from 'normal' in a data set. Doctors often use it to track the heights of children to make sure they grow at a normal rate. Most data (99.7%) falls within three standard deviation of the mean. If a particular number is not within three standard deviations, it is usually labeled an outlier. A scientist running an experiment with an outlier may suspect an error or a child's height that is considered an outlier can alert a doctor of a disorder.

On the chart above, the center dash in the mean. The rest of the marks are the +/- Standard deviations up to three. As you can see, the third + standard deviation is 198.1cm. Kameron Loe's height is 201cm. This means that Kameron's height is outside of the third standard deviation, thus putting him in the .3% of data that lies outside the third. Luckily though, he is not alone. His fellow American teammate Brian Falkenborg is listed as 200cm., which also puts him past the third standard deviation. The rest of the Americans' heights fall within the third standard deviation.

Basically, I just proved mathematically that Kameron will be a lot taller than his teammates. Haha. Hey, it was a good way to pass the time. This long off season continues...but not for too long!

-Holly

"Baseball is a habit. The slowly rising crescendo of each game, the rhythm of the long season-These are the essentials and they are remarkably unchanged over nearly a century and a half. Of how many American institutions can that be said?"

-George Will

Back in Business

Now that the Holiday season has passed and 2009 has replaced 2008, it is time to get back to business. Over the Holidays, there was not much news on the Softbank site however, they did announce the Jersey Numbers of their Foreign Players:


Chris Aguila - Outfielder - 04

Kameron Loe - Pitcher - 00

Brian Falkenborg - Pitcher - 25

Justin Germano - Pitcher - 34

D.J. Houlton - Pitcher - 54 (Previously 00)


All of the Players are new and were acquired during the off season except for D.J. Houlton who is the foreign player returning from last season.

The Hawks also have the profiles of the new players up. Click here to see Kameron's profile. Obviously, there is not a picture yet. I expect that to appear sometime in late January. At the bottom there is, what I believe to be, a career achievements list, however, I wouldn't even suggest trying to read/understand it. It's not impossible to get some of it, it's just a little very mind boggling. Plus, it says the same thing for every pitcher.

I will now leave you with an interesting bunch of statistics (Wow! I am actually finding use to something I've learned....)

Heights of 10 randomly* selected players from the Softbank Hawk's Roster (In CM):

189, 174, 180, 189, 179, 201, 178, 178, 179, 193

*Except for one...I have a feeling you will know which one it is after one glance at the numbers. Haha! When I get back to Ft. Worth I will go through an actual random selection of heights and put them through a little test I learned in Statistics. What I find should show us just how "far out" Kameron's height will be from the rest of the team. Too bad I didn't think about this sometime last semester; I could have got some extra credit...

Wow. Kameron should be really, really proud of himself: He has me reading for fun and doing math in my spare time.

-Holly

"Baseball is the only game left for people. To play basketball, you have to be 7 feet 6 inches. To play football, you have to be the same width."
-Bill Veeck

Some actual news

Yesterday I went to Dallas to try and catch up with Kameron while he was dropping off Angel and Craig's (from the Snake Pit) office. I was about 30 or so minutes away when Craig called me to tell me Kameron had already left the office. Yet again, my luck didn't exactly work out. Oh well. As I told Craig, I have become pretty immune to my bad luck getting the best of me. I am happy to report though, that I got to meet Angel! At first I was a little afraid. After a while though, I got used to her and was a little more comfortable around her. I must admit, she was pretty cool.

I got to visit a while with Craig about some news on Kameron. I was very happy to learn what Kameron's new jersey number will be. He had a choice of several different numbers - one being 43 - but he decided to go with...Double Zero!! Thats right, 00. One of the biggest guys in the NPB will be wearing the smallest number. That is quite an unique choice.

As for now, I think Kameron is just getting ready to move out to Japan and getting ready for spring training to work on that "wa". I was reading a review of the book "You Gotta Have Wa" and it said that "Wa" can be translated as “experience of calmness or reflection”, or “a spirit of tranquility and peace". When it comes down to it, finding your own personal "wa" is like finding yourself in Japanese culture. It is an assimilation into Japanese culture for foreign players. The team takes the whole "wa" thing so serious that no wives or girlfriends are allowed during spring training. Now that is intense. If you want to read the book reivew you can click here. "You Gotta Have Wa" sounds like a pretty interesting book that can be useful in understanding Japanese baseball. I might even pick it up over my Christmas break. It can be found on Amazon for $0.01 and $3.99 shipping and handling.

All I have to say now is that Kameron should be proud of himself; he has me reading books for fun. Haha!

-Holly

P.S. I had a great time meeting everyone from the Snake Pit! I really have to thank them a lot for all the help I've recieved on this blog and for letting me meet the beautiful Angel!

"Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?"

-Jim Bouton

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 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