The Rakuten Golden Eagles made an official announcement about the return of pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. The 32-year old pitcher returns from New York where he spend seven years with the New York Yankees. The 32-year old RHP has opted to return to Japan after the Yankees did not quite hurry to re-sign him. In fact…
Dutchie Rick van den Hurk was simply lights out today as he clinched his tenth victory of the season. Van den Hurk lasted seven innings and got just enough run support to earn the win as the Softbank Hawks defeated the Orix Buffaloes 1-0. In a real pitching matchup between Van den Hurk and Yushi…
With the Pacific League’s Climax Series (the NPB semi-finals) tied at two, thanks to an extra win awarded to the Softbank Hawks as the winner of the regular competition, the Softbank Hawks took on the Rakuten Golden Eagles in game four and beat their opponent 4-3 after blowing a 2-0 lead. In game four, Dutchie Rick…
Wladimir Balentien, who has played for the Yakult Swallows in the past six years is trying to get a deal with his club for another year and perhaps more. But the Swallows are having their doubts. Not only are they worried about the fact that Balentien is injury prone, they also are not happy with…
Today the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks took on the Nippon Ham Fighters in Sapporo. On the mound for the team from Fukuoka was Rick van den Hurk, who was on pace to break the record of consecutive win for a new pitcher in the NPB and for a foreign pitcher in the NPB. With a 4-0 record…
The two Dutchies that play in the Japanese professional league, the NPB, were very successful today in game two of the Climax Series, the semi finals of Japanese Pro Baseball. Curacao born Wladimir Balentien bounced back from a hitless game yesterday. His team, the Yakult Swallows, were not so successful yesterday either as they fell…
