Baseball: Yoshii to step down as Marines manager after last-place finish

The Lotte Marines announced Sunday that Masato Yoshii is stepping down as manager of the Pacific League club at the conclusion of the season.The 60-year-old Yoshii told Lotte he would resign the previous day, taking responsibility for the team's last-place finish in the PL.The Marines, based in Chiba near Tokyo, are set to finish their slate of regular-season games Sunday with a losing record against all five of the other PL clubs.Yoshii wrapped up his playing career as a pitcher for the Marines in 2007 after also having stints with the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Montreal Expos.He …READ FULL ARTICLE