Wanna Watch A Ballgame?

I may have have the best news ever. Last night, while messing around on the computer, I successfully found a live broadcast of the Softbank game. Tonight, using the same software, I am currently watching the Hawks battle the Orix Buffaloes....it's 0-0 in the top of the 5th.

What is this magical FREE software you ask? It's called TvAnts. All you have to do, is download and watch. While everything is almost everything is in Japanese (the scoreboard on the screen is simple enough to follow), I find it fascinating to listen to the crowd. Drums, whistles, chanting, they are never quiet.

The program quality is pretty good. The screen that loads is a little small but, you can maximize it if you want. The only thing is that the larger screen is a little grainy. A few times it will freeze but, it usually fixes itself pretty quickly. Really though, no complaints considering the feed is coming all the way from Japan.

On perk is that TvAnts just isn't Japanese TV shows. It has numerous Chinese and Korean channels, as well as lots of American channels. I watched the MLB network for a while on it earlier.

Here are the instruction after you have downloaded the software:

-Open up TvAnts and allow for the Channels to load on the screen.

-Once they have loaded, scroll down to where the non-english Characters begin.

-Look for NPB: Fukuoka... in the title.

-Double Click and let it buffer.

-Sit back, and enjoy the game.

*If you can't locate the feed the way described above, just type "NPB" in the search box at the top of the screen and it should come up then. Be sure it has "Fukuoka" in the title so that you load the right game.

-Holly

P.S. I pre-apoligize for spelling/grammatical errors. It's 12:40am and I just got back from a full day at Six Flags. Soooo tired.

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.

Hawks Take Two Against The Carp

The Softbank Hawks won both games of a two game series against the Hiroshima Carp to begin Spring Training play over the weekend.

On Saturday, Hawk pitching had a strong outing against Carp hitters by allowing just five hits and no runs as the Hawks went on to beat the Carp 3-0.

In the second game, on Sunday, the Hawk offense took over as they lit-up Carp pitchers with 11 hits over eight innings to beat the Carp 7-2.

The Softbank Hawks will look to better their spring training record to (3-0) on Wednesday, the fourth, against the Rakuten Eagles at the Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome. This will be the first game played at the Yahoo! Dome this season.

Funny little note: I got all of this information from the box scores on the Softbank website. Instead of saying "11" or "eleven" for the number of hits in the second game, it said "November". Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, "they got November hits in eight innings". It's weird because no other number was its corresponding month. Just another great mystery of Google Translator.

-Holly

"England and America should scrap cricket and baseball and come up with a new game that they both can play. Like baseball, for example."

-Robert Benchley

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