Japan Times (Free subscription) | 09/02/2008
CHIBA — Despite sitting fifth in the Pacific League standings, there's a lot of fight left in the Chiba Lotte Marines. On Thursday night, Toshiaki Imae made sure they could still fight for a spot in the Climax Series. Read the full story
Japan Times (Free subscription) | 09/02/2008
CHIBA — Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine revealed to a small gathering of reporters on Tuesday that in late July he was asked to resign by someone in the Lotte front office. Valentine was discussing the possibility of managing Japan at the WBC when he made the revelation. Read the full story
The Big Lead (Free subscription) | yesterday
... goes. Videos can be seen here and here . Apparently Komiyama taught himself the pitch when Chiba Lotte Marine’s manager Bobby Valentine asked him to see if he could make the ball “shake.” If that sort of thing happened in to an MLB player, he’d probably be on the phone to his agent and his union rep before the skipper walked out the door. So is Komiyama the next Matsuzaka? Is “The...
Hot Foot (Free subscription) | 08/29/2008
Satoru Komiyama, currently a reliver for the Chiba Lotte Marines, has invented a new pitch called “The Shake.” Komiyama pitched for the Mets in 2002 as a reliever, with a 5.61 ERA in 25 appearances. The shake, is a variation of a knuckleball and splitter, and travels around 55 MPH (87 kilometers per hour). Here is a video [...]
