8:35 PM: … and that’s a wrap from Japan, where Japan wins Game 2, 5-0. We’ll be back at it again tomorrow morning, barring rain. Right now, everyone is taking pictures, exchanging gifts, laughing, and forging friendships that will last a lifetime. 

Goodnight from Siatama. I’ll try to live blog tomorrow’s games. We start at 9 AM Friday Siatama Time, which I think is like 2:30 AM last Tuesday in Richmond. 

8:31 PM: We head to the seventh, still down 5-0. Richmond has settled into a nice groove defensively with scoreless innings from JD Stemhagen, Henry Knighton and Avi Greene. Actually, I can’t remember who was pitching when Japan hit its home run to right field. Doesn’t matter. JD, Henry, Avi, and Brendan have each pitched well the last 4 innings. We need to get the Batz rolling. Funny — I dictated that sentence and “bats” came out as “Batz.” Good sign???

8:06 PM: Richmond got its first clean inning in the bottom fourth. John Garbett will lead off the top fifth.

7:58 PM: Richmond’s 4th inning rally fell short. After Sandy Kuhn got hit by a pitch (he’s fine after some magic spray from the Japanese team) and JD Stemhagen singled, Richmond failed to score and is down 4-0 going to the bottom of the fourth. Brendan Engle takes over on the mound.

7:50 PM: 1 homerun puts Japan up 4-0 (Dude hit one to RF that I think Annabelle is still running after it) but Richmond has settled down and is playing very good defense. 

7:45 PM: Richmond failed to score in the top 3rd despite what I will call an infield single by Avi Greene (I am being generous here but my parents are avid readers of this blog and as far as I know I’m still in the will so we’ll call it an infield single. The shortstop’s throw was wide and Avi made a nice ballet move to avoid the tag at first. He promptly got gunned down trying to steal 2nd.) Henry Knighton takes the mound for Richmond, down 3-0.

7:30 PM: Japan scored 2 and now leads 2-0 after 1. JD Stemhagen nailed a guy at second trying to steal for the second out and August Lange made a nice play to field a grounder for out number three. Now we go to the second.

7:15 PM: Game two is underway. Richmond fails to score in the top of the first despite a single by Mason Quigley. John Garbett takes the mound for the away team.

7:00 PM: Richmond drops game 1 7-4. They only had a chance to play 2.5 innings because of time. We scored two runs in the top of the third after a double by Harper Perry scored George Dewey White, who had reached on an error. Cam Paoloni singled to score Harper. 

The second game will start soon. 

6:30 PM: Richmond got a little something going there in the top of the second. Three consecutive singles followed by a dart from Julian Raffenot scired 2. We’re in business. We go to the bottom of the second and Cam Paoloni takes over on the mound.

6:15 PM:  After one inning Japan leads Richmond 3-0. A couple of errors caused some problems for us. We go to the top of the second.

Thursday 6:00 PM — It’s a beautiful night for baseball here in Saitama! Game 1 just started and game two will begin immediately after the conclusion of game one. Each kid will play in one game tonight.
Richmond just went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. Harper Perry takes the mound in the bottom of the first.

I’ll do a few blog entries as the evening proceeds. Text me if you just can’t stand the wait and want more frequent updates.