Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Oh an one more thing- that liar Kuwata suuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccckkkkkkkkksssssssssss. he he he

Standings through 8/28:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........67-46-4 .593....*.....L1.......3-6 (1)
2) Seibu Lions...........67-49-1 .578...1.5....W1......4-6
3) Lotte Marines........58-57-3 .504..10.0...W3......8-2
4) Ham Fighters.........55-58-2 .487..12.0...L2.......4-5 (1)
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..52-61-2 .460..15.0...L2.......6-4
6) Orix Blue Wave......42-70-2 .375..24.5...W1......4-6

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......61-45-3 .575....*....L1.......4-4 (2)
2) Yakult Swallows.......56-49-2 .533...4.5...W4......8-2
3) Tokyo Giants...........60-53-3 .531...4.5...L2.......4-5 (1)
4) Hanshin Tigers.........54-55-1 .495...8.5...W7......7-3
5) Yokohama Baystars...45-57-3 .441.14.0...W1......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........45-62-0 .421.16.5...L7........3-7

Pacific League Scores
◆Seibu Lions 3 x 2 Daiei Hawks◆
After getting spanked by 16 runs the previous night, the Seibu Lions came back with a 1 run win to pull back within 1 1/2 games of the leading Hawks. Yesterday's game focused on the offense, when today's game focused on pitching. Seibu starter Kazuyuki Hoashi went 8 innings spreading out 8 hits and only giving up 1 run, while striking out 8 to pick up the win. Alex Cabrera started it off by providing a 2 run HR in the 3rd off of Daiei Starter Nagisa Arakaki to give Seibu the lead, and Takeya Nakamura was hit by pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the 3rd run, which was just enough to hold the Hawks at bay who scored 1 run in the top of the 9th with 2 doubles.

WP: K. Hoashi (7-3)
SV: K. Toyoda (9)
LP: N. Arakaki (10-8)
HR: J. Cabrera #19, Bot 3rd 2R (SL)
......J. Zuleta #31, Top 5th Solo (DH)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
DH..0..0..0..0..1..0..0...0..1..2
SL..0..0..2..0..0..0..1...0..x..3
Seibu Dome, Attendance=38,000
Seibu 13W-10L 0T (vs Daiei)

◆Lotte Marines 4 x 2 Kintetsu Buffaloes◆ (12 Inn.)
The Lotte Marines needed 12 innings to hold beat the Buffaloes, and they added 1 game to their hold on the last playoff spot in the PL. In the top of the 12th inning, Lotte got 3 doubles by Lee Seung Yeop, Tomoya Satozaki, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka off of Kintetsu pitchers Kazuo Fukumori and Jesse Carrasco to break the 2-2 tie, and Masahide Kobayashi pitched the 11th and 12th innings for the win. Lotte has won 8 of their last 10, and are now over the .500 mark. Lotte was down by 1 going into the 9th inning, but Julio (they plump when you cook 'em, ballpark) Franco hit a triple to left field off of Kintetsu starter Jeremy Powell to score Jun Inoue with the tying run.

WP: M. Kobayashi (7-5)
LP: K. Fukumori (2-4)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..12..R
LM..0..0..0..1..0..0..0...0..1...0....0....2...2
KB..0..1..0..0..0..0..1...0..0...0....0....0...2
Osaka Dome, Attendance=22,000
Lotte 16W-8L 0T (vs Kintetsu)


◆Blue Wave 9 x 5 Ham Fighters◆
The Ham Fighters lost some more ground on the Lotte Marines in the fight for the last playoff spot, as the Ham Fighters starter Carlos Mirabal lasted just 3 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs and 9 hits, including 4 hits in the 1st inning. Daisuke Hayakawa, Takashi Miwa, and Mitsutaka Goto each had 3 hits a piece to power the Blue Wave offense.

WP: H. Kawagoe (6-8)
LP: C. Mirabal (8-9)
HR: Y. Mukae #3, Top 9th Solo (BW)
......T. Tsuboi #10, Bot 9th 2R (HF)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
BW.1..0..1..4..0..0..0...2..1..9
HF..0..2..1..0..0..0..0...0..2..5
Sapporo Dome, Attendance=23,000
Orix 8W-14L 0T (vs Ham Fighters)

Central League Scores
◆Yakult Swallows 6 x 3 Tokyo Giants◆
The Yakult Swallows have moved into sole posession of 2nd place in the Central League by a mere .002 points, and now only trail Chunichi by 4 1/2 games. Alex Ramirez broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a 3 run HR off of Giants starter Masumi Kuwata, and that was all the Swallows needed on a rainy night to hold off the Giants. The Swallows have now won 5 in a row, and are at a season high 7 games above .500.

WP: Ishidou (5-5)
SV: R. Igarashi (28)
LP: M. Kuwata (3-5)
HR: Nioka #6, Top 2nd 2R (TG)
......A. Ramirez #17, Bot 3rd 3R (YS)
......R. Petagine #25, Top 6th Solo (TG)
......A. Iwamura #38, Bot 7th Solo (YS)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
TG..0..2..0..0..0..1..0...0..0..3
YS..0..2..3..0..0..0..1...0..x..6
Jingu Stadium, Attendance=42,000
Yakult 8W-15L 1T (vs Giants)

◆Hanshin Tigers 5 x 2 Hiroshima Carp◆
The Tigers are red hot and have won 7 in a row, to move back within one game of the .500 mark. Tigers starter Trey Hodges pitched 7 innings of 2 run ball, after losing 3 of his last 5 games started, to pick up his 2nd win of the season. 5 Hanshin starters had multi-hit games, and they put up 1 run in the 4th through 6th innings to give Hanshin the lead.

WP: T. Hodges (2-3)
SV: T. Kubota (1)
LP: T. Kawauchi (7-7)
HR: S. Shima #26, Top 1st Solo (HC)
......T. Kanemoto #29, Bot 5th Solo (HT)
......G. LaRocca #36, Top 7th Solo (HC)
......S. Hiyama #13, Bot 8th Solo (HT)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HC..1..0..0..0..0..0..1...0..0..2
HT..1..0..0..1..1..1..0...0..1..5
Koushien Stadium, Attendance=53,000
Hanshin 12W-10L 0T (vs Hiroshima)

◆Yokohama Baystars 3 x 2 Chunichi Dragons◆
The Yokohama Baystars broke their 4 game losing streak by winning a close one in Nagoya Dome. Shuichi Murata hit a solo HR in the top of the 2nd inning, and Yokohama held the lead the rest of the game on the pitching of Takeharu Kato, who went 7 innings giving up only 7 hits and 2 runs.

WP: T. Kato (4-4)
SV: K. Kadokura (2)
LP: K. Asakura (3-2)
HR: Murata #12, Top 2nd Solo (YB)
......T. Woods #39, Top 4th Solo (YB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YB..0..1..0..1..1..0..0...0...0..3
CD..0..0..0..1..0..0..1...0...0..2
Nagoya Dome, Attendance=38,000
Yokohama 8W-14L 2T (vs Chunichi)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

ganbare swallows! i didn't expect this and i hope they keep on winning. yakult have been losing many players in the last few seasons but they still do failry well. some grand finale between chunichi and yakult would be nice indeed.



i am glad they start winning but i wish they would have started winning a month ago[:(]

HOME RUNS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhodes, YG 41
Woods, YBS 38
Iwamura, YS 37

RUNS BATTED IN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Woods, YBS 89
Iwamura, YS 88
Rhodes, YG 88

maybe it is a little too early still to be talking about individual stats but from looking at the stats today there are three players having a good shot at 2-kan.

www.geocities.com/s_borisov/jb2004/clleaders.html

Congrats, Billy Bob. I was watching Furuta rather closely last night. I think he's wondering whether. Are you?

Oh yes, one more thing, Billy Bob! Thanks for your hard work on this thread. Still very much appreciated by this ball fan/player.

Thanks guys.[:o] I was a little drunk last night after the Swallows won to move into 2nd, so the summaries weren't 100% Billy material, but it's better than what Kyodo throws out.

Well at least I get the priveledge of seeing my birds in 2nd for one more day because tonight's game is most definitely rained out. I also like how Iwamura has been kickin butt to move into 2nd place for RBI's. Alky, it's a real outside shot, but if Tyrone (I can hit the ball as far as Tiger) Woods can just get some more hits, he's got a real outside shot at the Triple Crown. Greg (Livin' La Vi) LaRocca also has a shot at 2 titles with 36HR and 88 RBI.


The Headline over on Yahoo Japan for this pic reads "Giants Fall Into 3rd, Kuwata KO'd After Giving Up 5 Runs"

Standings through 8/29:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........68-46-4 .596....*.....W1......4-5 (1)
2) Seibu Lions...........67-50-1 .573...2.5....L1.......3-7
3) Lotte Marines........58-58-3 .500..11.0...L1.......8-2
4) Ham Fighters.........56-58-2 .491..12.0...W1......5-4 (1)
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..53-61-2 .465..15.0...W1......6-4
6) Orix Blue Wave......42-71-2 .372..25.5...L1.......4-6
(*The line underneath the 3rd place team is the last spot for the playoffs)

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......62-45-3 .579....*....W1......4-4 (2)
2) Yakult Swallows.......56-49-2 .533...5.0...W4......8-2
3) Tokyo Giants...........60-53-3 .531...5.0...L2.......4-5 (1)
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-55-1 .500...8.5...W8......8-2
5) Yokohama Baystars...45-58-3 .437.15.0...L1.......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........45-63-0 .417.17.5...L8........2-8

Pacific League Scores
◆Daiei Hawks 8 x 5 Seibu Lions◆
The Daiei Hawks put away a close game in the top of the 9th inning by scoring 3 runs on only 2 hits when Lions reliever Koji Onuma walked 3 Hawks batters, Katsuhiko Miyaji hit an RBI single to right field to score Nobuhiko Matsunaka, and Kenji Jojima scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-4 in favor of the Hawks. The Lions came back in the bottom of the 9th with a solo home run off of the bat of Shogo Akada, with one out G.G. (Takahiko) Sato walked, but Alex Cabrera struck out swinging to end the game.

WP: M. Sato (1-1)
SV: K. Mise (23)
LP: T. Hoshino (3-3)
HR: H. Nakajima #25, Bot 7th Solo (SL)
......S. Akada #9, Bot 9th Solo (SL)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
DH..0..0..4..0..0..0..0...1..3..8
SL..0..2..0..0..0..1..1...0..1..5
Seibu Dome, Attendance=31,000
Daiei 11W-13L 0T (vs Seibu)

◆Kintetsu Buffaloes 3 x 2 Lotte Marines◆ (10 Inn.)
For the second straight day, the game between Lotte and Kintetsu went into extra innings, but this time the Buffalo came out on top, and only needed one extra inning to put away the Marines. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Buffalo right fielder Koichi Isobe, who is hitting .373 against Lotte, hit a 2-2 fastball into the seats in right field for the sayonara victory, and stopping Lotte's 3 game winning streak. Lotte had a 2-1 lead until the bottom of the 6th inning when Kintetsu left fielder Katsumi Yamashita drove in the tying run on Dan Serafini's first pitch.

WP: H. Carrasco (8-8)
LP: K. Yamasaki (0-3)
HR: K. Isobe #23, Bot 10th Solo (KB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..R
LM..0..0..0..1..1..0..0...0..0...0...2
KB..0..1..0..0..0..1..0...0..0...1...3
Osaka Dome, Attendance=22,000
Kintetsu 9W-16L 0T (vs Lotte)


◆Ham Fighters 8 x 1 Blue Wave◆
The Ham Fighters moved back to within 1 game of the Lotte Marines by beating the Blue Wave thanks to a strong pitching performance by Satoru Kanemura, who started and went 7 innings giving up only 1 run on 3 hits. Kanemura is now a perfect 6-0 vs Orix on the year. Tsuyoshi Shinjo provided more than enough offense on his only hit of the day, a bases clearing double in the bottom of the 2nd inning to give the Ham Fighters a 4-0 lead. Orix starter Masahiko Kaneda lasted just 2 innings, giving up 5 runs to take the loss in his first start against the Ham Fighters this year.

WP: S. Kanemura (12-6)
LP: M. Kaneda (2-6)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
BW.0..0..0..0..0..1..0...0..0..1
HF..1..4..2..0..0..1..0...0..x..8
Sapporo Dome, Attendance=26,000
Ham Fighters 15W-8L 0T (vs Orix)

Central League Scores
◆Yakult Swallows x Tokyo Giants◆
POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN

◆Hanshin Tigers 17 x 2 Hiroshima Carp◆
The Hanshin Tigers continue to be red hot, and have won their 8th straight game to get back to the .500 mark, while the Hiroshima Carp continue to fall deeper into the cellar with their 8th straight loss. Tigers outfielder Shigeru Hiyama provided more than enough offense with 2 and 3 run home runs, while the rest of the Tigers pounded out 17 hits for a total of 19. In all, the Tigers sent 46 batters to the plate, and had 29 base runners. Hiroshima starter Katsuhiro Nagakawa was chased after just 3 innings, giving up 9 hits and 6 runs. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 57-22 during this winning streak.

WP: H. Santo (2-0)
LP: K. Nagakawa (2-3)
HR: S. Hiyama #14, Bot 2nd 2R (HT)
......S. Hiyama #15, Bot 3rd 3R (HT)
......S. Shima #27, Top 4th Solo (HC)
......A. Yano #9, Bot 7th 2R (HT)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HC..0..0..0..1..1..0..0...0..0..2
HT..0..3..3..2..3..0..5...1..x..17
Koushien Stadium, Attendance=53,000
Hanshin 13W-10L 0T (vs Hiroshima)

◆Yokohama Baystars 3 x 2 Chunichi Dragons◆
The Chunichi Dragons just survived a comeback by the Yokohama Baystars in the top of the 9th inning to move 1/2 game up on 2nd place Yakult. With the Dragons up 6-2 going into the 9th inning, Hitoki Iwase took the mound and gave up a 2 out, 2 run double to Hitoshi Taneda. But with the tying run at the plate, Iwase got Katsuaki Furuki to ground out to 2nd to end the game. Taneda went 2 for 4 driving in 3 of Yokohama's 4 runs, while Kosuke Fukudome hit a 2 run HR in his 2nd game back from the Olympics.

WP: S. Nagamine (2-0)
LP: T. Yoshikawa (1-1)
HR: K. Fukudome #22, Bot 3rd 2R (CD)
......K. Tsuruoka #2, Top 5th Solo (YB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YB..0..1..0..1..1..0..0...0...0..3
CD..0..0..0..1..0..0..1...0...0..2
Nagoya Dome, Attendance=40,000
Chunichi 15W-8L 2T (vs Yokohama)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ Sadaharu Oh Now The Most Winningest Manager
The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks Manager Sadaharu Oh moved past Shigeo Nagashima into 1st place for most wins by a manager, with his 1,035 win of his career. Oh started his managing career in 1984 with the Tokyo Giants, and compiled a 347-264-39 record. After a brief absence, he came back with the Daiei Hawks in 1995 and has won 688 games to date with them.

◆ Tani Out For the Rest of Season
Orix outfielder and Japan olympic representative Yoshitomo Tani will miss the rest of the season after spraining his ankle in Japan's 1-0 loss to Australia in the Athens Olympics. He sprained his ankle while trying to beat out a ground ball for the final out.
(Sports Hoichi)

◆ 200 Sacrificed Lions
Tatsuya Ozeki of the Seibu Lions became the 26th person in NPB history to collect 200 sacrifice bunts on August 28th, vs the Daiei Hawks at Seibu Dome in the 1st inning off of Nagisa Arakaki. His first sacrifice bunt came back on April 22, 1998 vs the Orix Blue Wave.
(Jiji Press)

◆ 3 Million Tigers Fans
The Hanshin Tigers have drawn 3 million fans this year faster than any other year in club history. With 53,000 fans in attendance for the Aug. 28 game at Koushien, they hit 3,0180,000 fans through the 59th home game, breaking last years mark by 5 games. They are averaging 51,153 fans per home game.
(Jiji Press)

◆ Kintetsu, Orix Sign Formal Contract


◆ Fans Speak Their Opinions

Standings through 8/30:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........68-46-4 .596....*.....W1......4-5 (1)
2) Seibu Lions...........67-51-1 .568...3.0....L2.......3-7
3) Lotte Marines........59-58-3 .504..10.5...W1......8-2
4) Ham Fighters.........56-58-2 .491..12.0...W1......5-4 (1)
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..53-61-2 .465..15.0...W1......6-4
6) Orix Blue Wave......42-71-2 .372..25.5...L1.......4-6
(*The line underneath the 3rd place team is the last spot for the playoffs)

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......62-45-3 .579....*....W1......4-4 (2)
2) Yakult Swallows.......56-49-2 .533...5.0...W4......8-2
3) Tokyo Giants...........60-53-3 .531...5.0...L2.......4-5 (1)
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-55-1 .500...8.5...W8......8-2
5) Yokohama Baystars...45-58-3 .437.15.0...L1.......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........45-63-0 .417.17.5...L8........2-8

Pacific League Scores
◆ Lotte Marines 12 x 1 Seibu Lions ◆
In the only game on the night due to the typhoon, the Lotte Marines brought out their bats, and they brought them out early, scoring 8 runs in the first three innings. Seibu starter Atsushi Okamoto lasted only 2 innings, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits. After striking out the first two batters in the bottom of the 2nd inning, he allowed 6 Marine runners to reach base, 5 of them on hits including a 2 RBI triple by second baseman Koichi Hori and a 2 run HR by centerfielder Benny Agbayani. Okamoto has given up 6+ runs in 3 straight starts now, but this is his first loss of the 3.

Lions relief pitcher Koji Mitsui was the next victim giving up 6 runs through 4 innings of work, including a 3 run bomb by substitute left fielder Tetsuya Kakiuchi, pinch hitting for Jun Inoue who went 3-3 with a triple and 2 doubles. Matt Franco also added 3 hits, while Koichi Hori and Kazuya Fukuura each added 2 a piece in the Marines 17 hit attack. The Lotte Marines are now 16-8 in August with one more game left this month tomorrow against the Lions.

WP: N. Shimizu (8-10)
LP: A. Okamoto (1-1)
HR: B. Agbayani #32, Bot 2nd 2R (LM)
......T. Kakiuchi #2, Bot 6th 3R (LM)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
SL..0..0..0..0..0..0..1...0..0..1
LM..1..5..2..0..0..4..0...0..x..12
Chiba Marine Stadium, Attendance=30,000
Lotte 13W-9L 1T (vs Seibu)

◆ Blue Wave x Kintetsu Buffaloes ◆
POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN

◆ Daiei Hawks x Nippon Ham Fighters ◆
POSTPONED DUE TO TYPHOON

Central League Scores
NO GAMES TODAY

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ Court urges baseball not to approve merger
The Japanese baseball commissioner's office on Monday postponed a vote on a hotly contested merger between the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Orix BlueWave, after a court appealed for time to consider a request from the players' association to block the tie-up. The delay was the latest hitch in the two teams' merger plans a realignment that has been at the center of a debate over the fate of Japanese baseball's two-league system.

Players and fans have strongly opposed the merger, fearing it would lead to fewer teams and a single league for the first time since 1955. Last Friday, the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association sought an injunction from the court against the merger. At a meeting called by the commissioner's office Monday, management from the 12 baseball teams decided to abide by the Tokyo District Court's request not to vote on the merger yet, a commissioner's office spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The spokesman said the teams would "meet soon to vote again" but declined to elaborate. It's not clear when the court will reach its verdict on whether Kintetsu and Orix can push ahead with consolidation to try to reverse their deteriorating finances and dwindling ticket sales. Court officials refused to comment on the case. But the prospect of drawn-out legal action could complicate matters for team owners, who are expected to reach the three-fourths majority needed for the merger to proceed when they meet on Sept. 8.

Kintetsu and Orix both in the Pacific League and based in western Japan announced in June that they would merge, and signed a formal deal last week. A merger is expected to eliminate as many as 100 jobs for players and team personnel. Since the teams' initial announcement, several team owners have come out in favor of scrapping the six-team Pacific League and forming a new 10-team league combining the surviving teams with the six teams of the Central League.

In July, the Seibu Lions' owner told team owners that he was considering a merger, and other Pacific League teams have been listed as possible candidates. The players have called upon the Nippon Professional Baseball organization to postpone the merger plan for at least one year, and have threatened to strike this season in protest. Although no date has been set, a player strike could wipe out the Japan Series and perhaps a Major League All-Star tour of Japan in November.

Separately, on Monday, Japan's anti-monopoly regulator said it would investigate the Nippon Professional Baseball organization if the owners rejected Internet services company Livedoor's expected bid in November to start a new baseball team. Livedoor, based in Tokyo, has said it would form a new club to fill the spot left by the Kintetsu-Orix merger, after its attempt in June to purchase the Buffaloes from the team's parent company, railway operator Kintetsu Corp., was rejected.
asia.news.yahoo.com/040830/ap/d84phka03.html

Standings through 8/31:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........68-47-4 .591....*.....L1.......4-6
2) Seibu Lions...........68-51-1 .571...2.0....W1.....4-6
3) Lotte Marines........59-59-3 .500..10.5...L1.......7-3
4) Ham Fighters.........57-58-2 .496..11.0...W2......5-4 (1)
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..53-62-2 .461..15.0...L1.......5-5
6) Orix Blue Wave......43-71-2 .377..24.5...W1......5-5

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......63-45-3 .583....*....W2......4-4 (2)
2) Tokyo Giants...........61-53-3 .535...5.0...W1......5-4 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......56-50-2 .528...6.0...L1.......7-3
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-56-1 .495...9.5...L1.......8-2
5) Yokohama Baystars...45-59-3 .433.16.0...L2.......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........46-63-0 .422.17.5...W1......2-8

Pacific League Scores
◆ Blue Wave 12 x 4 Kintetsu Buffaloes ◆
The Blue Wave beat the Buffalo by breaking open the game in the bottom of the 8th inning after Kintetsu came back to within one run. Orix sent 9 players to the plate in the bottom of the 8th inning, and seven of them came in to score. Four straight singles helped Orix pull away by 3, then 2nd baseman Hidemitsu Saito broke it open with a 3 run double to put the game out of reach. Before today's game, Saito had only 1 hit in 10 games during August, hitting .077 for the month. But, he is hitting .352 against Kintetsu this year.

WP: DS Koo (4-8)
SV: K. Yamaguchi (15)
LP: T. Kawajiri (4-8)
HR: K. Isobe #24, Top 1st Solo (KB)
......H. Kitagawa #14, Top 1st Solo (KB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
KB..2..0..0..0..0..0..1...1..0..3
BW.0..0..4..0..0..1..0...7..x..5
Yahoo BB Stadium, Attendance=34,000
Orix 8W-11L 2T (vs Kintetsu)

◆ Ham Fighters 12 x 2 Daiei Hawks ◆
The Ham Fighters came alive after being stopped by typhoon #16 the previous night, to pound the Hawks with 5 HR's. The Fighters chased Daiei starter Junji Hoshino for his shortest outing of the year, just 2 innings on 45 pitches, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, including 3 home runs. Hoshino has lost 4 of his last 6 starts. The Fighters got 17 hits, including 4 by Tsuyoshi Shinjo who only needed a HR to hit for the cycle. Sherman Obando hit a solo HR in the top of the first inning, and now has a 7 game hitting streak, where he's hitting .455.

WP: Y. Iriki (2-2)
LP: J. Hoshino (6-8)
HR: F. Seguignol #40, Top 1st 2R (HF)
......S. Obando #7, Top 1st Solo (HF)
......K. Kimoto #8, Top 2nd Solo (HF)
......T. Tsuboi #11, Top 4th 2R (HF)
......S. Takahashi #22, Top 5th Solo (HF)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HF..4..2..0..2..1..2..0...0..1..12
DH..0..0..1..0..0..1..0...0..0..2
Fukuoka Dome, Attendance=47,000
Ham Fighters 8W-13L 2T (vs Daiei)

◆ Seibu Lions 5 x 2 Lotte Marines ◆
Alex Cabrera hit a solo home run in the top of the 2nd inning for his 20th HR, giving him 4 consecutive years with 20 or more home runs, as the Lions beat the Marines to stop a 2 game losing streak and gain another game on Daiei. The Marines came back to tie the game at 2 a piece in the bottom of the 4th inning when left fielder Jun Inoue hit a 2 out RBI triple to right field to score Toshiaki Imae from first to tie it up. But Seibu took the lead again for good in the top of the 8th inning on a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Hiroyuki Oshima scoring Jose Fernandez. The Lions added 2 more after that with back to back RBI hits from Tomoaki Satou and Shogo Akada. Tomoki Hoshino got the win by coming on to strike out Kiyoshi Hatsushiba with the go ahead run at 3rd to end the 7th inning.

WP: T. Hoshino (4-3)
SV: K. Toyoda (10)
LP: Y. Yabuta (3-3)
HR: A. Cabrera #20, Top 2nd Solo (SL)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
SL..0..2..0..0..0..0..0...3..0..5
LM..0..0..0..2..0..4..0...0..0..2
Chiba Marine Stadium, Attendance=29,000
Seibu 10W-13L 1T (vs Lotte)

Central League Scores
◆ Chunichi Dragons 9 x 3 Hanshin Tigers ◆
Pitcher Kei Igawa of the Tigers must hate Nagoya Dome by now, as he picked up his 3rd loss there, and 4th overall this year against the Dragons as the Tigers 8 game winning streak came to a halt. Igawa was pulled after 3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits, and is now only one loss behind Jason Beverlin of the Yakult Swallows for most in the CL. The Tigers have now lost 10 straight games at Nagoya Dome. For the Dragons, Kosuke Fukudome hit his first HR since coming back from the Olympics, a 2 run shot in the 1st inning, and then pitcher Kenshin Kawakami helped his own cause with a 2 run shot in the bottom of the 4th after the Tigers pulled to within 2. Kawakami picked up his league leading 14th victory, his 9th at Nagoya Dome, and 4th against the Tigers.

WP: K. Kawakami (14-6)
LP: K. Igawa (10-10)
HR: K. Fukudome #23, Bot 1st 2R (CD)
......K. Kawakami #2, Bot 4th 2R (CD)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HT..0..0..0..3..0..0..0...0..0..3
CD..3..0..2..2..1..0..1...0..x..9
Nagoya Dome, Attendance=34,000
Chunichi 15W-9L (vs Hanshin)

◆ Hiroshima Carp 10 x 9 Yakult Swallows ◆ (11 Inn.)
The Hiroshima Carp blew a 6 run lead in the 8th inning, and almost blew a 3 run lead in the 11th, as they barely squeaked by the Swallows to stop their 8 game losing streak. The Carp started out by taking a nice lead of 5 runs in the first two innings off of Yakult starter Masanori Ishikawa, with Greg (Livin' La Vi) LaRocca doing most of the damage on a 3 run HR in the top of the first. The Carp extended the lead out to 6 runs on Shigenobu (aka Gojira) Shima's 2 run dinger in the top of the 7th, but then Hiroshima starter Yasuhiro Oyamada ran into some trouble after cruising along the 1st 7 innings giving up only 1 run and scattering 4 hits.

For the Swallows in the bottom of the 8th, the first 3 batters reached base, and when Carp reliever Kenta Satake came on with the bases loaded and nobody out, 3rd baseman Akinori Iwamura greeted him with a 2 run single, giving him 91 RBI's on the year so far (1st in CL). The next batter Atsuya Furuta got a hit to reload the bases, and then Alex Ramirez promptly cleared them on a 2-0 pitch, to tie the game at 7 all.

The game remained tied through the 10th inning, when Yakult closer Ryota Igarashi took the mound and quickly got 2 outs. The next batter, Koichi Ogata took Igarashi's first offering into the seats in right. After consecutive doubles by Greg LaRocca and Shigenobu Shima, Andy Sheets got the 4th straight hit off Igarashi to send him to the showers, and give Hiroshima a 3 run lead. It looked as if the Swallows were out of gas in the bottom of the 11th, as the first 2 batters grounded out to second, but then Shinya Miyamoto and Akinori Iwamura got back to back hits, and catcher Atsuya Furuta drove them in with a double to right just beyond the diving glove of Shigenobu Shima. With the tying run at 2nd base, up to the plate came Alex Ramirez again, with a chance to pick win it with his 3rd HR on the night, but he struck out on a slider down and away to finish the game. Alex Ramirez is hitting .433 in his last 7 games, finishing August with 28 RBI's, and is currently in a 9 game hitting streak.

WP: K. Hiroike (2-2)
SV: M. Hayashi (1)
LP: R. Igarashi (3-3)
HR: G. LaRocca #37, Top 1st 3R (HC)
......A. Ramirez #18, Bot 2nd Solo (YS) aiiin
......S. Shima #28, Top 7th 2R (HC)
......A. Ramirez #19, Bot 8th GRAND SLAM (YS) AIIIIN!!
......K. Ogata #24, Top 11th Solo (HC)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..R
HC..3..2..0..0..0..0..2...0..0...0....3..10
YS..0..1..0..0..0..0..0...6..0...0....2...9
Jingu Stadium, Attendance=14,000
Hiroshima 11W-12L (vs Yakult)

◆ Tokyo Giants 2 x 1 Yokohama Baystars ◆
He didn't really look like an Olympic representative, but Yoshinobu Takahashi helped to bring in the winning run when Yokohama pitcher Takeo Kawamura's throw to first went wild, and Tuffy Rhodes was able to score from 1st base. Takahashi hit a weak grounder out in front of home plate, but since Takahashi was running hard to try and beat the throw, Kawamura had to hurry his throw and it went wild down the right field line. Takahashi got a hit on the play. The Yokohama Baystars tied the game in the top of the 8th inning on a 2 out single by centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura, but the Giants lucked out on the errant throw, and Hiroshi Kisanuki closed out the game in his 3rd straight relief appearance. Kimiyasu Kudo started the game for the Giants, but was unable to pick up the win after Yokohama tied the game in the 8th, and he still sits on 200 wins.

WP: Hayato Nakamura (2-0)
SV: H. Kisanuki (4)
LP: T. Kawamura (4-7)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YB..0..0..0..0..0..0..0...1..0..1
TG..0..0..1..0..0..0..0...1..x..2
Matsuyama Stadium, Attendance=30,000
Giants 12W-11L (vs Yokohama)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

Standings through 9/1:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........69-47-4 .595....*.....W1......5-5
2) Seibu Lions...........69-51-1 .575...2.0....W2.....4-6
3) Lotte Marines........59-60-3 .496..11.5...L2.......6-4
4) Ham Fighters.........57-59-2 .491..12.0...L1.......5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-62-2 .466..15.0...W1......6-4
6) Orix Blue Wave......43-72-2 .374..25.5...L1.......4-6

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......64-45-3 .587....*....W3......4-4 (2)
2) Tokyo Giants...........62-53-3 .539...5.0...W2......6-3 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-50-2 .533...6.0...W1......7-3
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-57-1 .491.10.5...L2........8-2
5) Yokohama Baystars...45-60-3 .429.17.0...L3.......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........46-64-0 .418.18.5...L1.......1-9

Pacific League Scores
◆ Kintetsu Buffaloes 4 x 3 Orix Blue Wave◆
Hisashi Iwakuma sure needed some dramatics for his league leading 14th win, as he went the full 9 innings for the win. In the bottom of the 9th inning with the score 4-1 in favor of the Buffaloes, Iwakuma stayed in to try for the complete game victory and his 7th complete game of the year. The first batter he faced Mitsutaka Goto hit a single to right, but Iwakuma quickly came back to get Jose Ortiz on a fly to center, and Takeshi Hidaka to ground out to 2nd. With 2 outs, Keiichi Hirano hit a single to left to put runners at the corners, then pinch hitter Ryutaro Tsuji hit an RBI single to left to make it 4-2. Left fielder Yuichiro Mukae stepped up and hit a 1-0 slider to the left field corner to put runners and make it 4-3. With the tying run at 3rd, and the winning run at 2nd, Iwakuma then got Arihito Muramatsu to strike out to end the game. Hirotoshi Kitagawa provided most of the offense for Kintetsu going 2-4 with 3 RBI's, including a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 8th.

WP: H. Iwakuma (14-1)
LP: T. Aiki (3-2)
HR: S. Shimoyama #2, Bot 7th Solo (KB)
......H. Kitagawa #15, Bot 8th 2R (KB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
KB..0..0..0..0..0..1..1...2..0..4
BW.0..0..0..0..0..0..1...0..2..3
Yahoo BB Stadium, Attendance=13,000
Kintetsu 12W-8L 2T (vs Orix)

◆ Daiei Hawks 6 x 5 Nippon Ham Fighters ◆
Tsuyoshi Wada struggled a little bit in his first start since coming back from Athens, but Tadahito Iguchi helped him out with 3 RBI's to help Daiei beat the Ham Fighters. In the top of the 1st inning, Wada was welcomed back by Fernando Seguignol who hit a 2 run shot to left field, his 41st on the year, tops in the PL. The Hawks came back in the 2nd inning on a 2 run double by Iguchi to give Daiei a 5-2 lead. The Fighters came to within 1 run twice on an RBI single by Kuniyuki Kimoto in the 4th, and a solo HR by Tsuyoshi Shinjo in the 5th, but they couldn't add anymore. Iguchi finished the game going 4-5 with 3 doubles.

WP: T. Wada (9-4)
SV: K. Mise (24)
LP: I. Shoda (8-5)
HR: F. Seguignol #41, Top 1st 2R (HF)
......N. Matsunaka #39, Bot 4th Solo (DH)
......T. Shinjo #18, Top 5th Solo (HF)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HF..2..0..0..2..1..0..0...0..0..5
DH..2..3..0..1..0..0..0...0..x..6
Fukuoka Dome, Attendance=46,000
Daiei 14W-8L 2T (vs Ham Fighters)

◆ Seibu Lions 2 x 0 Lotte Marines ◆
Daisuke Matsuzaka showed exactly why he was chosen for the Olympic squad in his first game back from Athens, with a complete game shutout over the Lotte Marines. Matsuzaka struck out 16 Marine batters, and only gave up 4 hits over the course to pick up his 9th win. The Lions ace only allowed 1 runner to reach 3rd base, and he struck out at least 2 batters every inning except for the 3rd and 9th innings where he only struck out one. Matsuzaka got all the support he needed on a 1st pitch HR by DH Masahide Kaizuka in the top of the 5th.

WP: D. Matsuzaka (9-6)
LP: S. Komiyama (3-4)
HR: M. Kaizuka #13, Top 5th Solo (SL)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
SL..0..0..0..0..1..1..0...0..0..2
LM..0..0..0..0..0..0..0...0..0..0
Chiba Marine Stadium, Attendance=27,000
Seibu 14W-10L 1T (vs Lotte)

Central League Scores
◆ Chunichi Dragons 4 x 1 Hanshin Tigers ◆
The Hanshin Tigers just can't win at Nagoya Dome, losing again there, while mustering only 5 hits. Lefty veteran Masahiro Yamamoto started for the Dragons, and went 6 1/3 innings giving up 4 hits and only 1 run on a HR by Hanshin's Makoto Imaoka. Yamamoto is now 7-0 vs Hanshin this year in 8 starts, and 8-1 at Nagoya Dome. The game was scoreless until the Dragons jumped on top with a 4 spot in the bottom of the 4th with Yamamoto helping his own cause on a bases loaded hit to center field driving in 2 runs off of Hanshin starter Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi.

WP: M. Yamamoto (11-4)
LP: T. Shimoyanagi (7-5)
HR: M. Imaoka #24, Top 7th Solo (HT)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HT..0..0..0..0..0..0..1...0..0..1
CD..0..0..0..4..0..0..0...0..x..4
Nagoya Dome, Attendance=32,000
Chunichi 16W-9L (vs Hanshin)

◆ Yakult Swallows 11 x 10 Hiroshima Carp◆ (11 Inn.)
For the second straight night, the fans at Jingu were on the edges of their seats in another extra inning seesaw game, but this time Yakult came out on top. The Hiroshima Carp blew a 3 run lead when Ken Suzuki hit a 3-1 pitch into the right field seats off of Carp starter Hiroki Kuroda, making his first start since Athens, giving the Swallows a 4-3 lead. Left fielder Atsunori Inaba followed with a solo HR putting Yakult up by 2. But in the next inning, the Carp came right back to retake the lead on an RBI double by catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara, at 6-5. Yakult then tied it on a solo HR by Olympic captain Shinya Miyamoto.

Shigenobu Shima dealt Yakult a big blow with a 3 run HR to right in the top of the 6th, but Alex Ramirez' 2 solo HR's brought the Swallows back to within one, and leadoff batter Mitsuru Manaka in the bottom of the 9th hit a homer to tie it at 10 all. The game stayed tied until the 11th inning, but this time Yakult closer Ryota Igarashii got through the top half unscathed this time. The game looked like it was headed into the 12th after the fist to Swallows batters struck out, but Shinya Miyamoto singled to center, and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, then catcher Atsuya Furuta hit a ball down the left field line to score Miyamoto from 2nd for the sayonara win. Ken Suzuki and Alex Ramirez both went 3-5 with 3 RBI's a piece for the Swallows, and it was the 2nd straight night Ramirez hit 2 home runs, as he extends his hitting streak to 10 games. The Carp have now lost 9 out of their last 10.

WP: R. Igarashi (4-3)
LP: K. Nagakawa (2-4)
HR: K. Suzuki #11, Bot 4th 3R (YS)
......A. Inaba #16, Bot 4th Solo (YS)
......K. Ogata #25, Top 5th Solo (HC)
......S. Miyamoto #7, Bot 5th Solo (YS)
......S. Shima #29, Top 6th 3R (HC)
......A. Ramirez #20, Bot 6th Solo (YS) aiiin
......A. Ramirez #21, Bot 8th Solo (YS) aiiin
......M. Manaka #3, Bot 9th Solo (YS)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..R
HC..0..2..0..1..3..3..0...0..1...0....0..10
YS..0..0..0..5..1..1..0...2..1...0....1...11
Jingu Stadium, Attendance=14,000
Yakult 13W-11L (vs Hiroshima)

◆ Tokyo Giants 4 x 3 Yokohama Baystars ◆
The Tokyo Giants took their second straight game from the Baystars, but this time they waited until the bottom of the 9th to win it. The Giants were down by 1 run going into the bottom of the 9th, but Tuffy Rhodes hit his league leading 42nd home run to tie the game at 3 off of Ken Kadokura. Hiroki Kokubo followed with a double down the left field line, then right fielder Yoshinobu Takahashi was intentionally walked, and Roberto (I dream of) Petagine grounded into a double play, but Kokubo was able to advance to 3rd on the play. Kadokura walked the next 2 batters to load the bases, and pinch hitter Akira Eto hit a deep fly down the left field line just beyond the reach of Yokohama left fielder Ryusuke Minami for the sayonara win. Kadokura blew his 2nd save in 4 appearances, and spoiled what would've been a birthday present for starter Yoshihiro Doi.

WP: B. Sikorski (5-3)
LP: K. Kadokura (3-7)
HR: K. Furuki #10, Top 5th Solo (YB)
......R. Petagine #26, Bot 5th 2R (TG)
......T. Woods #40, Top 7th Solo (YB)
......R. Aikawa #7, Top 8th Solo (YB)
......T. Rhodes #42, Bot 9th Solo (TG)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YB..0..0..0..0..1..0..1...1..0..3
TG..0..0..0..0..2..0..0...0..2..4
Osaka Dome, Attendance=48,000
Giants 13W-11L (vs Yokohama)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

Some news to read this morning:

Strike Decision
www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040902wo52.htm

Daily Yomiuri's Hot Corner
www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040902wo54.htm

PL's 2nd Merger
www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040901wo53.htm

Fukudome Suffers Broken Finger


Sasaki To Have Elbow Surgery

Standings through 9/2:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........69-47-4 .595....*.....W1......5-5
2) Seibu Lions...........69-51-1 .575...2.0....W2.....4-6
3) Lotte Marines........59-60-3 .496..11.5...L2.......6-4
4) Ham Fighters.........57-59-2 .491..12.0...L1.......5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-62-2 .466..15.0...W1......6-4
6) Orix Blue Wave......43-72-2 .374..25.5...L1.......4-6

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......65-45-3 .591....*....W4......5-3 (2)
2) Tokyo Giants...........62-53-3 .539...5.5...W2......6-3 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-51-2 .528...7.0...L1.......6-4
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-58-1 .487.11.5...L3........7-3
5) Yokohama Baystars...45-60-3 .429.17.5...L3.......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........47-64-0 .423.18.5...W1......2-8

Pacific League Scores
NO GAMES PLAYED

Central League Scores
◆ Chunichi Dragons 5 x 4 Hanshin Tigers ◆
Well, at least Hanshin can look forward to the fact that they don't have any more games at Nagoya Dome. The Tigers were looking like they might break the Nagoya losing streak, but then Hanshin starter Shinobu Fukuhara lost it in the bottom of the 5th inning, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits including a 3 run homer by Alex Ochoa to give the Dragons the lead. Hanshin broke out early this time with 1 run in the first inning on Makoto Imaoka's RBI double, and they added 3 more runs in the second on back to back RBI hits from Norihiro Akahoshi and Kentaro Sekimoto. After the Dragons came from behind, the Tigers had a shot to tie the game in the top of the 9th inning with the tying run at 3rd and 2 outs, but Tomoaki Kanemoto grounded out to second to end the game. Shinobu Fukuhara picks up his 4th loss against Chunichi this year, and 3rd at Nagoya Dome.

WP: Y. Hisamoto (1-0, 3.98 ERA)
SV: H. Iwase (16, 3.24 ERA)
LP: S. Fukuhara (9-10, 3.73 ERA)
HR: A. Ochoa #21, Bot 5th 3R (CD)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HT..1..3..0..0..0..0..1...0..0..4
CD..1..0..0..0..4..0..0...0..x..5
Nagoya Dome, Attendance=32,000
Chunichi 17W-9L (vs Hanshin)

◆ Hiroshima Carp 3 x 2 Yakult Swallows◆
Aka Gojira Shigenobu Shima definitely loves hitting at Jingu stadium, and against Yakult. Shima jumped on the Swallows pitching again early as he hit a 2 run opposite field double to left scoring 3rd baseman Takuya Kimura and 1st baseman Greg LaRocca. The Swallows came right back with 1 run on an RBI single by Akinori Iwamura, who now has 94 RBI to top the CL, but that was the only hit Yakult could muster off of Hiroshima starter John Bale as he cruised along until the 8th inning without giving up a hit. Then in the 8th inning Yakult made it a 1 run game with 2 hits and an RBI double by catcher Atsuya Furuta, but Bale struck out Ken Suzuki with the bases loaded to end the threat. Kan Otake came on in the 9th inning and walked two Swallows to put the winning run on, but he got pinch hitter Hirobumi Watarai to ground out in front of the plate to end the game.
Shigenobu Shima is hitting .389 against Yakult this year, with 21 RBI's, and has 8 RBI's in the past 3 games at Jingu, hitting .438 for the 3 game series.

WP: J. Bale (8-8, 4.31 ERA)
SV: K. Otake (11, 3.12 ERA)
LP: Y. Sakamoto (3-2, 5.85 ERA)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HC..2..0..0..0..0..1..0...0..0...3
YS..1..0..0..0..0..0..0...1..0...2
Jingu Stadium, Attendance=14,000
Hiroshima 12W-13L (vs Yakult)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

Power Rankings #10 (8/27 - 9/2)[ul]
[*] 01) Daiei Hawks - Team BA of .293 is just too high.
[*] 02) Seibu Lions - Matsuzaka really does come through when needed, 16 strikeouts against Chiba.
[*] 03) Chunichi Dragons - You know, the Dragons are only a .500 team on the road...
[*] 04) Tokyo Giants - Come on guys, if Yakult wasn't hurting so much for pitching, you'd be all alone below Yakult. With all those superstar batters, still in 5th for team BA at .276.
[*] 05) Yakult Swallows - Good job in beating the Giants, but just couldn't get pitching against the Carp.
[*] 06) Lotte Marines - Finally have scored more runs than they've given up, 603-600.
[*] 07) Nippon Ham Fighters - Don't count these guys out just yet.
[*] 08) Hanshin Tigers - I thought the "Road Trip of Death" was over? or was that the NAGOYA road trip of death....
[*] 09) Kintetsu Buffaloes - Just accept the fact that you won't make the playoffs.
[*] 10) Yokohama Baystars - Are you guys THAT dependant on Sasaki?
[*] 11) Orix Blue Wave - Thank the Carp for your 1 and probably only week out of the last spot.
[*] 12) Hiroshima Carp - Losing 8 in a row? Team ERA of 5.09 says it all. Score 10 runs, but still manage to lose....
[/ul]

Off the point but .....

One thing that amuses me about Baseball is the these old guys (coach I presume) wearing the players uniforms!

why? I don't know of any other sport that does it

You bring up a good point, and I don't know an exact reason, but one main reason why baseball is probably the only sport where the coaches wear team uniforms is because the coaches and managers will actually get out on the field during pre-game workouts and hit balls to the players, and the pitching coaches actually throw batting practice to the players. Most other sports coaches and managers wear suits, well it just wouldn't look right for a manger to wear a suit and start throwing batting practice...[;)]

Uh unfortunately yeah. In the last month I can only remember two or three games that Yokohama was not winning or tied in the 8th. They went on to lose nearly all of those. They have two guys in their bullpen who have 7 or more losses EACH. But the problem is usually the 8th not the 9th and they wouldnt use Sasaki except for the 9th. so someone blows the game in the 8th and then Sasaki would never come at all, so was no reason to even have him. I remember one game was tied from the 8th so they kept bringing a different bullpen guy waiting to get the lead but finally the guy blew it in the 11th so Sasaki never came. Cant he sometimes come in the 8th or when the game is tied to hold them so the offense can win it? The "closer" now has 3 wins and two of them are after he blew the game but the offense came back to win. Including one time when he gave up 3 runs in extra innings but Tyrone Woods hit a sayonara grand slam. That is a "win"?? nope....Yokohama needs serious 8th/9th inning help. If they had it, they would be fighting with Giants and Swallows for 2nd. I have seen them blwo games without even giving up a hit. Like a walk, a dead ball and a wild pitch and the guy scores from second to win. Or the Giants game the other night, error and Tuffy scores from FIRST to win the game. Their team is not bad, especially offense and starting pitching, Mullen should have at least 10 wins by now if not for blown games.

Standings through 9/3:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........70-47-4 .598....*.....W2......6-4
2) Seibu Lions...........69-52-1 .570...3.0....L1......4-6
3) Lotte Marines........59-60-3 .496..12.0...L2.......6-4
4) Ham Fighters.........58-59-2 .496..12.0...W1......5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-63-2 .462..16.0...L1.......5-5
6) Orix Blue Wave......43-72-2 .374..26.0...L1.......4-6

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......66-45-3 .595....*....W5......6-3 (1)
2) Tokyo Giants...........62-53-3 .539...6.0...W2......6-3 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-51-2 .523...8.0...L2.......6-4
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-57-1 .491.12.0...L3........7-3
5) Yokohama Baystars...46-60-3 .434.17.5...W1......2-7 (1)
6) Hiroshima Carp.........47-65-0 .420.19.5...L1........2-8

Pacific League Scores
◆ Daiei Hawks 6 x 4 Kintetsu Buffaloes ◆
Hiroshi Shibahara must be the savior of the Daiei Hawks after breaking a 4-4 tie with a 2 out 2 RBI single to left to help the Hawks win. After the Hawks jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a 2 run HR by Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Kintetsu came back to tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the 6th inning when Daisuke Masuda hit a bases loaded 2 RBI single to left off of Daiei Starter Kazumi Saito, knocking him out of the game. But in the top of the next inning, Daiei answered right back when Hiroshi Shibahara hit a bases loaded single driving home Tadahito Iguchi and Nobuhiko Matsunaka to take the lead. Tadahito Iguchi was also hot during the game going 3-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, he is hitting .500 over his past 4 games.

WP: M. Satou (2-1, 3.89 ERA)
SV: K. Mise (25, 2.51 ERA)
LP: Y. Takagi (1-7, 5.46 ERA)
HR: N. Matsunaka #40, Top 1st 2R (DH)
......M. Abe #7, Bot 2nd 2R (KB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
DH..3..1..0..0..0..0..2...0..0..6
KB..0..2..0..0..0..2..0...0..0..4
Osaka Dome, Attendance=19,000
Daiei 15W-8L 0T (vs Kintetsu)

◆ Nippon Ham Fighters 3 x 2 Seibu Lions ◆ (10 Inn.)
Alex Cabrera must hate baseball stadiums with roofs after tonights game. He hit a high towering fly ball in the top of the 10th inning that probably would've easily cleared the 150 meter mark if it didn't hit the roof of Sapporo Dome. The ball deflected off of the roof into left fielder Kazuda Shimada's glove for the 3rd out of the top of the 10th inning. Seibu had a 2-1 lead until Ham Fighter Kuniyuki Kimoto hit a sacrifice fly to left scoring Fernando Seguignol to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th. After Cabrera flexed his muscles but hit the roof to end the top of the 10th, the Ham Fighters won the game on an RBI single by Kimoto who also tied the game in the 8th.

WP: Y. Tateyama (3-5, 3.59 ERA)
LP: S. Osada (2-2, 2.92 ERA)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..R
SL..1..0..1..0..0..0..0...0..0...0...2
HF..1..0..0..0..0..0..0...1..0...1...3
Sapporo Dome, Attendance=25,000
Ham Fighters 10W-13L 0T (vs Seibu)

Central League Scores
◆ Chunichi Dragons 2 x 0 Hiroshima Carp ◆
The Dragons continue winning, and are sure to get a magic number soon as they won their 5th straight behind 3 hit pitching from 3 different pitchers. Domingo Guzman powered the Dragons pitching with 7 innings, allowing only 2 hits and striking out 5 in continuing his perfect record against the Carp this year for his 6th win against them in as many starts. The game was tied at 0 until the top of the 5th inning when Dragons catcher Motonobu Tanishige drew a bases loaded walk to force in the first run, which is all Guzman needed for the win. Tanishige also added a solo HR in the top of the 7th for all of the runs on the night.

WP: D. Guzman (10-4, 3.78 ERA)
SV: H. Iwase (17, 3.18 ERA)
LP: S. Sasaoka (3-7, 4.48 ERA)
HR: M. Tanishige #15, Bot 7th Solo (CD)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
CD..0..0..0..0..1..0..1...0..0..2
HC..0..0..0..0..0..0..0...0..0..0
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, Attendance=14,000
Chunichi 15W-6L (vs Hiroshima)

◆ Yokohama Baystars 6 x 4 Yakult Swallows ◆
The Baystars finally got the Swallow monkey off their back, as they got their first win against the Swallows at Yokohama Stadium this year. Before tonight's game, Yakult was 9-0 with 1 tie at Yokohama on the year. Yakult is also starting to show signs of wear and tear in the pitching department with 3 starters on the DL. The Swallows sent middle reliever Yuya Kamada to the mound and he was pounded early by the Baystars, starting with a 2 run HR by Takahiro Saeki, followed by a solo shot by Tyrone Woods who is now only 1 behind Tuffy Rhodes for the CL HR title. Yakult climbed to within 2 in the top of the 4th, but the Baystars came right back to knock out Kamada with 2 runs in the bottom of the 4th. On a side note, Yakult pitcher Dicky Gonzalez came off of the DL after suffering a broken pinky finger, and has now pitched 11 1/3 innings without giving up a run.

WP: C. Bowers (5-1, 4.42 ERA)
SV: K. Kadokura (3, 4.50 ERA)
LP: Y. Kamada (1-3, 6.42 ERA)
HR: T. Saeki #18, Bot 1st 2R (YB)
......T. Woods #41, Bot 1st Solo (YB)
......R. Aikawa #8, Bot 4th Solo (YB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YS..0..0..0..2..0..0..2...0..0..4
YB..4..0..0..2..0..0..0...0..0..6
Yokohama Stadium, Attendance=15,000
Yokohama 5W-15L 1T (vs Yakult)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

Standings through 9/4:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........71-47-4 .602....*.....W3......7-3
2) Seibu Lions...........69-53-1 .566...4.0....L2.......4-6
3) Ham Fighters.........59-59-2 .500..12.0...W2......5-5
4) Lotte Marines........59-61-3 .492..13.0...L3.......5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-64-2 .458..17.0...L2.......4-6
6) Orix Blue Wave......44-72-2 .379..26.0...W1......4-6

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......66-46-3 .589....*....L1.......6-4
2) Tokyo Giants...........63-53-3 .543...5.0...W3......7-2 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-53-2 .518...8.0...L3.......6-4
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-59-1 .482.12.0...L4........6-4
5) Yokohama Baystars...47-60-3 .439.16.5...W2......3-7
6) Hiroshima Carp.........48-65-0 .425.18.5...W1.......3-7

Pacific League Scores
◆ Orix Blue Wave 3 x 2 Lotte Marines ◆
The Lotte Marines fell out of 3rd place and the final playoff spot with a loss to the Blue Wave. Orix starter was able to keep the Marines bats under control for 8 innings, spreading out 8 hits and only giving up 1 run on a solo HR by Benny Agbayani in the second. Lotte had a 1-0 lead on Benny's homer, but Orix came right back the next inning to take the lead on an infield single by Arihito Muramatsu making it 2-1 Blue Wave. Another run was added in the top of the 8th when Lotte shortstop Makoto Kosaka muffed a ground ball to him from Kazuhiko Shitoani. The Marines came back in the bottom of the 9th with a 2 out hit by 3rd baseman Toshiaki Imae, but the next batter Kouji Hirashita grounded out to second ending the game.

WP: H. Kawagoe (7-8, 4.10 ERA)
SV: K. Yamaguchi (16, 4.06 ERA)
LP: H. Kobayashi (8-6, 4.31 ERA)
HR: B. Agbayani #33, Bot 2nd Solo (LM)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
BW.0..0..2..0..0..0..0...1..0..3
LM..0..1..0..0..0..0..0...0..1..2
Chiba Marine Stadium , Attendance=25,000
Orix 15W-8L 0T (vs Lotte)

◆ Daiei Hawks 5 x 4 Kintetsu Buffaloes ◆ (10 Inn.)
The Daiei Hawks needed 1 extra inning to hold off Kintetsu, as pinch hitter Noriyoshi Omichi took the first pitch from Kintetsu pitcher Katsunari Yoshikawa into the left field seats breaking the tie and giving the Hawks a 5-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning. Hawks closer Koji Mise continues to struggle in Osaka Dome. He was 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA in his 6 previous appearances in Osaka, and he gave up the tying run in the bottom of the 9th on a solo HR to pinch hitter Hiroaki Onishi. He struggled in the 10th inning allowing 2 batters aboard on a double and base-on-balls, but then he was pulled for Shintaro Yoshitake. After giving up an RBI single to 2nd baseman Eiji Mizuguchi to bring the game within 1, he got shortstop Masahiro Abe to pop out in foul territory along the first base side to end the game with runners at the corners.

WP: K. Mise (4-2, 2.73 ERA)
SV: S. Yoshitake (1, 3.24 ERA)
LP: K. Yoshikawa (4-3, 2.66 ERA)
HR: H. Onishi #10, Bot 9th Solo (KB)
......N. Omichi #1, Top 10th 2R (DH)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..R
DH..0..0..1..0..1..0..1...0..0...2...5
KB..0..0..0..0..0..0..0...2..1...1...4
Osaka Dome, Attendance=28,000
Daiei 16W-8L 0T (vs Kintetsu)

◆ Nippon Ham Fighters 5 x 4 Seibu Lions ◆
The Ham Fighters are back in control of the 3rd PL playoff spot after beating the Lions in another 1 run game in Sapporo. The Fighters jumped on Lions starter Chih-Chia Chang early, chasing him after 4 innings. Fernando Seguignol hit a solo shot in the 3rd, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo added a 2 run shot in the 4th giving the Fighters a 4-0 lead. The Lions made a comeback starting in the 6th inning with home runs by Alex Cabrera and Kosuke Noda to bring the Lions within 2, but they fell short by 1. Closer Yukiya Yokoyama picked up his league leading 27th save, and is now 2 ahead of Hawks closer Koji Mise.

WP: S. Ejiri (5-1, 5.68 ERA)
SV: Y. Yokoyama (27, 3.52 ERA)
LP: CC Chang (8-7, 3.61 ERA)
HR: F. Seguignol #42, Bot 3rd Solo (HF)
......T. Shinjo #19, Bot 4th 2R (HF)
......A. Cabrera #21, Top 6th Solo (SL)
......K. Noda #2, Top 7th 2R (SL)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
SL..0..0..0..0..0..1..2...1..0...4
HF..0..1..1..2..1..0..0...0..x...5
Sapporo Dome, Attendance=35,000
Ham Fighters 11W-13L 0T (vs Seibu)

Central League Scores
◆ Tokyo Giants 2 x 1 Hanshin Tigers ◆
Hanshin is rather streaky lately, after winning 8 in a row to get back to the .500 mark, they've now lost 4 in a row. On a rainy night in Koushien, there wasn't much hitting going on as both teams only got a combined 10 hits, but Yoshinobu Takahashi provided all the offense the Giants needed with a 2 out 2 run homer in the top of the 6th inning off of Hanshin starter Keichi Yabu. Giants starter Yuya Kubo went 7 innings giving up only 1 run and striking out 7 to get the win. Takahashi went 2-4 increasing his average against Hanshin to .362, and .442 at Koushien. Keichi Yabu only gave up 3 hits, but the Tigers offense couldn't support him.

WP: Y. Kubo (5-5, 4.19 ERA)
SV: H. Kisanuki (5, 4.80 ERA)
LP: K. Yabu (5-8, 2.93 ERA)
HR: Y. Takahashi #25, Top 6th 2R (TG)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
TG..0..0..0..0..0..2..0...0..0..2
HT..0..0..0..0..0..0..1...0..0..1
Koushien Stadium, Attendance=53,000
Giants 9W-15L 1T (vs Hanshin)

◆ Hiroshima Carp 8 x 4 Chunichi Dragons ◆
The Hiroshima Carp used the long ball to down the Dragons, as they scored all but 1 of their 8 runs off of homers. Shigenobu Shima started it off by hitting a 2 run shot off of Dragons starter Kenta Asakura. The Dragons pulled to within 1 in the 4th inning, but then the Carp charged ahead on 3 homers in the bottom of the 5th by Yoshinori Ogata, Greg (Livin' La Vi) LaRocca, and Takahiro Arai to take an 8-2 lead. Asakura lasted only 1 inning, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, picking up his 2nd loss against the Carp this year. Carp starter Takaya Kawauchi picked up only his 2nd win in his last 7 starts, going 6 innings while giving up only 4 hits.

WP: T. Kawauchi (8-7, 5.37 ERA)
SV: K. Otake (12, 3.09 ERA)
LP: K. Asakura (3-3, 4.08 ERA)
HR: S. Shima #30, Bot 1st 2R (HC)
......Y. Ogata #3, Bot 5th Solo (HC)
......G. LaRocca #38, Bot 5th 2R (HC)
......T. Arai #5, Bot 5th Solo (HC)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
CD..0..0..0..2..0..0..0...0..2..4
HC..3..0..0..0..4..0..1...0..x..8
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, Attendance=12,000
Hiroshima 7W-15L (vs Chunichi)

◆ Yokohama Baystars 11 x 1 Yakult Swallows ◆
The Yakult Swallows continue to struggle without their regular starting pitchers, and have now lost 3 in a row. Yokohama starter Daisuke Miura made his first start since the Olympics, and he went the distance to pick up his first win after losing his last 4 starts before leaving for Athens, striking out 12 Swallows batters. For the Swallows, starter Katsutoshi Ishido lasted just 4 innings, giving up 4 runs, and the bullpen didn't fair well either giving up 7 more runs over the next 4 innings, including 5 home runs. Hitoshi Tamura went 3-5 with 4 RBI's on 2 HR's. He has a 5 game hitting streak in which he is hitting .579.

WP: D. Miura (6-6, 3.97 ERA)
LP: K. Ishido (5-6, 7.03 ERA)
HR: T. Kinjo #11, Bot 3rd 3R (YB)
......H. Tamura #34, Bot 5th 3R (YB)
......S. Uchikawa #15, Bot 5th Solo (YB)
......T. Ishii #10, Bot 6th Solo (YB)
......H. Tamura #35, Bot 7th Solo (YB)
......S. Uchikawa #16, Bot 7th Solo (YB)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YS..0..0..0..0..0..1..0...0..0..1
YB..0..1..3..0..4..1..2...0..x..11
Yokohama Stadium, Attendance=17,000
Yokohama 6W-15L 1T (vs Yakult)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ Beverlin Out For Season
Yakult starter Jason Beverlin will need to have season ending elbow surgery on his right elbow, and will likely take 1 year to return, leaving next years season up in question as well. His injury was originally daignosed to take 4 weeks to heal, but after returning to the US for consultation, it was decided he will need surgery to repair the damaged ligament.

◆ Woods Makes New HR Club Record
With his 41st home run of the season on Friday Sept 3 against the Yakult Swallows at Yokohama Stadium, Tyrone Woods has set a new club record for homers in a season at 41, breaking the mark he set last year of 40. Yokohama still has 30 games left this season. This is his 2nd season with 40+ HR's.

◆ 1,000 Strikeouts
Tomoaki Kanemoto has struck out for the 1,000th time in his career during the Sept. 4th game against the Giants at Koushien Stadium, to become just the 37th player in NPB history to reach the mark. His first strikeout was back on June 2, 1992 vs the Hanshin Tigers when he was with Hiroshima.

◆ Kanemoto 10th in Games Played
Tomoaki Kanemoto set another mark during the Sept. 4th game vs the Giants, as he is now tied for 10th in baseball history for consecutive games played in, currently at 872 consecutive games. 1st on the list ahead of Cal Ripken is Sachio Kinugasa of the Hiroshima Carp at 2,215.

Standings through 9/5:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........72-47-4 .605....*.....W4.......8-2 *Z
2) Seibu Lions...........70-53-1 .569...4.0....W1.......4-6
3) Lotte Marines........60-61-3 .496..13.0...W1.......5-5
4) Ham Fighters.........59-60-2 .496..13.0...L1........5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-65-2 .454..18.0...L3........3-7
6) Orix Blue Wave......44-73-2 .376..27.0...L1........4-6
*Z= clinched playoff spot

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......66-47-3 .584....*....L2.......6-4
2) Tokyo Giants...........63-53-3 .543...4.5...W3......7-2 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-54-2 .514...8.0...L4.......5-5
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-59-1 .482.11.5...L4........6-4
5) Yokohama Baystars...48-60-3 .444.15.5...W3......4-6
6) Hiroshima Carp.........49-65-0 .430.17.5...W2.......4-6

Pacific League Scores
◆ Lotte Marines 5 x 3 Orix Blue Wave ◆
The Lotte Marines broke their 3 game losing streak, and are now back in 3rd place in the playoff battle. Benny Agbayani gave the Marines a 2-0 lead on an RBI single in the bottom of the 3rd, but Orix came right back the next inning on a sacrifice fly from Ryutaro Tsuji to make it 2-1. Lotte added another run on a solo home run by left fielder Jun Inoue, who is hitting .407 through his past 7 games, and then Lotte broke it open in the 8th on another solo shot by catcher Tasuku Hashimoto, followed by a double by Toshiaki Imae, another hit from Inoue, and then a sacrifice fly by shotrstop Makoto Kosaka to make it 5-1. In the top of the 9th, Orix loaded the bases on three hits off of Lotte closer Masahide Kobayashi, and with 2 outs, left fielder Keiichi Hiranohit a 2 RBI single to left making it 5-3, but the next batter centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa hit a fly ball to left ending the game. Lotte starter Shunsuke Watanabe went 8 innings allowing only 1 run on 4 hits.

WP: Shunsuke Watanabe (11-6, 3.68 ERA)
LP: Kazuya Motoyanagi (6-11, 5.96 ERA)
HR: Jun Inoue #3, Bot 6th Solo (LM)
......Tasuku Hashimoto #13, Bot 8th Solo (LM)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
BW.0..0..0..1..0..0..0...0..2..3
LM..0..1..1..0..0..1..0...2..x..5
Chiba Marine Stadium , Attendance=22,000
Lotte 9W-15L 0T (vs Orix)

◆ Daiei Hawks 6 x 5 Kintetsu Buffaloes ◆
The Daiei Hawks came back from a 4 run deficit to beat Kintetsu and win their 4th straight, and they also clinched at least a 3rd place finish in the Pacific League, guaranteeing themselves a playoff spot. Kintetsu took an early 4-0 lead with the help of a 2 run homer by right fielder Koichi Isobe, and an RBI single by third baseman Osamu Hoshino. With the score 3-5 going into the 8th inning, the Hawks mounted a comeback off of Kintetsu relief pitchers Toyohiko Yoshida and Katsunari Yoshikawa by getting 6 hits including solo home runs by Hisano Arakane and Nobuhiko Matsunaka, then the go ahead RBI single by second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. Matsunaka is now just 1 HR behind PL leader Fernando Seguignol of the Ham Fighters in his quest for the PL triple crown, he is in the lead for batting at .354 and RBI with 113. Kintetsu starter Kevin Beirne went 6 2/3 innings allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits, but the bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Yoshikawa had a 0.96 ERA against Daiei in his 8 previous appearances this year, but he faced 7 batters in just 2/3 of an inning giving up 4 hits and 2 runs for the loss.

WP: Junji Hoshino (7-8, ERA)
SV: Shintaro Yoshitake (2, ERA)
LP: Katsunari Yoshikawa (4-4, ERA)
HR: Hirotoshi Kitagawa #16, Bot 1st 2R (KB)
......Koishi Isobe #25, Bot 7th Solo (KB)
......Hisao Arakane #3, Top 8th Solo (DH)
......Nobuhiko Matsunaka #41, Top 8th Solo (DH)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
DH..0..0..0..0..0..1..1...4..0...6
KB..2..0..1..0..1..0..1...0..0...5
Osaka Dome, Attendance=30,000
Daiei 17W-8L 0T (vs Kintetsu)

◆ Seibu Lions 4 x 1 Nippon Ham Fighters ◆
Lions starter Kazuyuki Hoashi pitched a solid performance going 8 innings and giving up only 4 hits while striking out 6 to help Seibu prevent the Ham Fighters from sweeping the weekend series at Sapporo Dome. The Lions got all the offense they needed when third baseman Jose Fernandez hit a line drive 2 run home run into the left field seats, only after Alex Cabrera missed a home run when he hit the roof of Sapporo Dome again for an out. Hoashi is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA over his last 3 starts. Ham Fighters starter Satoru Kanemura pitched 8 innings as well, but gave up 4 runs picking up his 1st loss at Sapporo Dome this year.

WP: Kazuyuki Hoashi (8-3, 4.35 ERA)
SV: Kiyoshi Toyoda (11, 0.87 ERA)
LP: Satoru Kanemura (12-7, 4.04 ERA)
HR: Jose Fernandez #31, Top 4th 2R (SL)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
SL..0..0..2..2..0..0..0...0..0...4
HF..0..0..0..0..1..0..0...0..0...1
Sapporo Dome, Attendance=39,000
Seibu 14W-11L 0T (vs Ham Fighters)

Central League Scores
◆ Tokyo Giants x Hanshin Tigers ◆
CALLED DUE TO RAIN IN THE TOP OF THE 2ND INNING.


◆ Hiroshima Carp 6 x 5 Chunichi Dragons ◆
Hiroshima seems to like seesaw games as of late, as both teams lost the lead before the Carp finally won the game on an RBI single by Greg LaRocca in the bottom of the 9th. LaRocca went 4-5 with 3 RBI including his 39th homer on the year, and is hitting .500 so far in the month of September. Chunichi took an early lead on a 3 run homer by leftfielder Masahiko Morino, but then Greg LaRocca pulled the Carp back within 1 on his 39th homer of the year, giving him 95 RBI on the year to lead the CL. The Carp scored 1 run in the next 2 innings to take the lead at 4-3, but then the Dragons came back to tie it in the top of the 5th on a groundout by Morino, giving him 4 RBI on the day. Chunichi took the lead on a solo homer by leadoff batter Hirokazu Ibata, but Masufumi Hirai couldn't hold the lead as he gave up 2 back to back RBI singles to Shigenobu Shima and LaRocca. Shima went 2 for 5 giving him 162 hits on the year leading the CL.

WP: Kenta Satake (1-0, 4.66 ERA)
LP: Masafumi Hirai (5-6, 4.32 ERA)
HR: Masahiko Morino #4, Top 1st 3R (CD)
......Greg LaRocca #39, Bot 1st 2R (HC)
......Takahiro Arai #6, Bot 2nd Solo (HC)
......Hirokazu Ibata #5, Top 9th Solo (CD)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
CD..3..0..0..0..1..0..0...0..1..5
HC..2..1..1..0..0..0..0...0..2..6
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, Attendance=15,000
Hiroshima 8W-15L (vs Chunichi)

◆ Yokohama Baystars 5 x 3 Yakult Swallows ◆
The Baystars swept the Yakult Swallows at Yokohama Stadium, after they had not won a game there versus the birds all year. The Swallows lost their 4th straight, and are quickly seeing any pennant chances fade away. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura had a bases loaded 2 RBI double to give Yokohama the lead in the bottom of the 2nd, and it would've been a 3 RBI hit but Tyrone Woods was thrown out at the plate. The Baystars then scored 3 more in the bottom of the 6th on back to back RBI hits from right fielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo and second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa to make the game 5-2. Yokohama starter Takeharu Kato went 7 innings giving up only 4 hits to pick up his first win against Yakult in 5 appearances. Tamura is on a 6 game hitting streak where he is hitting .435.

WP: Takeharu Kato (5-4, 3.16 ERA)
SV: Ken Kadokura (4, 4.57 ERA)
LP: Masanori Ishikawa (9-8, 4.34 ERA)
HR: Ken Suzuki #12, Top 9th Solo (YS)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YS..0..0..0..1..0..1..0...0..1..3
YB..0..0..0..2..0..3..0...0..x..5
Yokohama Stadium, Attendance=14,000
Yokohama 7W-15L 1T (vs Yakult)

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ Anti-Merger Demonstration
1,300 people held a demonstration to show their opposition to the merger between the Orix Blue Wave and Kintetsu Buffaloes, organized by what is known as the "Thinking of the Future of Osaka Committee". In Osaka city, along what is known as Main Street, the demonstrators marched about 5 kilometers holding signs such as, "Listen to the fans voices!", and "Against the Easy Merger!"

Image from Jiji Press

Standings through 9/6:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........72-47-4 .605....*.....W4.......8-2 *Z
2) Seibu Lions...........70-53-1 .569...4.0....W1.......4-6
3) Lotte Marines........60-61-3 .496..13.0...W1.......5-5
4) Ham Fighters.........59-61-2 .492..13.5...L2........5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-65-2 .454..18.0...L3........3-7
6) Orix Blue Wave......45-73-2 .381..26.5...W1.......5-5
*Z= clinched playoff spot

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......66-47-3 .584....*....L2.......6-4
2) Tokyo Giants...........63-53-3 .543...4.5...W3......7-2 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-54-2 .514...8.0...L4.......5-5
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-59-1 .482.11.5...L4........6-4
5) Yokohama Baystars...48-60-3 .444.15.5...W3......4-6
6) Hiroshima Carp.........49-65-0 .430.17.5...W2.......4-6

Pacific League Scores
◆ Orix Blue Wave 5 x 2 Nippon Ham Fighters ◆
The Ham Fighters fell a 1/2 game out of the final playoff spot in a game where they just couldn't get clutch hitting. If you exclude the 2 home runs, the Ham Fighters never had a runner past second base the entire game. Four of the Ham Fighters batters had multiple hit games, but they could only muster 2 runs, as they couldn't get that clutch hit. The Fighters took an early 2-0 lead on solo home runs by Sherman Obando and Tsuyoshi Shinjo in the 4th and 5th innings, but then the Blue Wave came marching right back to take the lead. In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Blue Wave scored 3 runs on 5 straight hits including a 2 run homer by center fielder Daisuke Hayakawa, and an RBI single from DH Arihito Muramatsu that should've been ruled an error on the wild throw from Fighters second baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto. It looked like Muramatsu might have had the throw beaten, but the throw was off mark enough for it to clearly be an error.

Orix added 2 more in the bottom of the 6th, on a wild pitch from Fighters relief pitcher Akio Shimizu, and then an RBI single from right fielder Keiichi Hirano making it 5-2 for the final score. Muramatsu went 3-4, and is now hitting .387 at YahooBB Stadium. Korean pitcher Dae Sung Koo went 6 2/3 innings striking out 6 and giving up 2 runs for the win, his 2nd of the year against the Ham Fighters. He is 2-2 vs the Fighters this year in 4 apperances, but has only a 1.42 ERA against them.

WP: Dae Sung Koo (5-8, 3.84 ERA)
SV: Kazuo Yamaguchi (17, 3.96 ERA)
LP: Yasuku Iriki (2-3, 6.31 ERA)
HR: Sherman Obando #8, Top 4th Solo (HF)
......Tsuyoshi Shinjo #20, Top 5th Solo (HF)
......Daisuke Hayakawa #2, Bot 5th 2R (BW)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HF..0..0..0..1..1..0..0...0..0..2
BW.0..0..0..0..3..2..0...0..x..5
YahooBB Stadium, Attendance=18,000
Orix 9W-15L 0T (vs Ham Fighters)

Central League Scores
NO GAMES TODAY

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ Players strike looms as merger nears reality
The first-ever strike in Japanese baseball loomed Monday as management and players put themselves on a collision course over the approval of a ballclub merger, two days before a key meeting of the club owners decides on the future course of professional baseball.

Representatives of the 12 clubs approved the merger between the Orix BlueWave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes at an extraordinary executive committee meeting of Nippon Professional Baseball, hours after the players association decided to go on strike unless the merger plan is shelved.

The approval came after the NPB committee put it on hold for a week after the Tokyo District Court made a nonbinding request Aug. 30 not to approve the merger until a court decision is made on the association's request for an injunction against the merger.

The district court rejected the injunction request last Friday and the association appealed to the Tokyo High Court, which turned it down earlier Monday.

In its meeting in Kobe, the players association set a Friday 5 p.m. deadline for NPB officials to meet their demands before walking out on all regular-season games of the top and minor-league teams scheduled every Saturday and Sunday in September.

"We will strike if Wednesday's meeting of the owners produces a decision that results in a reduction in the number of ballclubs," said Atsuya Furuta, head of the players association.

"We are aiming for Saturdays and Sundays in September as the candidate dates for the strike," Furuta said. "We hope negotiations will be held until the last minute to avert a strike."

The Yakult Swallows catcher was referring to talks between representatives from baseball management and the association, which are expected to be held Thursday and Friday.

Observers said, however, it will be hard for both sides to reach a compromise deal in such a short period.

Furuta said all of the players' representatives at Monday's meeting agreed on the decision in the end, although some initially argued for an indefinite strike.

"We are determined to face a situation in which we might not be allowed to use locker rooms and other stadium facilities or have one-300th of our annual salaries cut per day," he said when asked about the possibility of facing a lockout by management.

"I know there are various opinions but we have to fight. We wanted to avoid creating a sense of disappointment by doing nothing and we believe the fans support our decision," Furuta said, adding he believes no compensation would be demanded by management.

The association is demanding that the Orix-Kintetsu merger be shelved for one year and that in-depth discussions and talks be held during the period to assess the advisability of the merger.

The association is also calling for player-management debate in a bid to ease working conditions for the players and requirements for a third party trying to own a new ballclub, in addition to requests to revamp the amateur draft system and reassess the revenue-sharing methods.

After hearing the news, top NPB officials said they will seek the players' understanding through negotiations in the hope that a strike can be averted.

"I don't think the players really want to stage a walkout, which annoys the fans. We would like to hold honest talks and seek understanding from them toward our decision," said Hajime Toyokura, the Central League president who chaired Monday's meeting.

Toyokura added it is difficult to make up for the games that would be canceled by the strike threatened by the players association, noting that the postseason calendar makes it hard to complete the regular-season schedule.

Baseball would lose 18 games in the Central League and 12 in the Pacific League if the players go ahead with the strike as planned.

"It's a very tough strategy that they chose Saturdays and Sundays. Nothing is going to work out right if we fail to live up to expectations of the fans and baseball loses its popularity because of a strike," Hanshin President Katsuyoshi Nozaki said after voting for the merger.

Eleven clubs voted in favor of the merger with one abstention --by the Hiroshima Carp, who refrained from balloting citing its heavy dependence on the local community and difficulties in ignoring the voice of fans opposing a contraction.

The NPB committee members also agreed that each ballclub will consider asking its own association of players for compensation for revenue lost by the planned strike.

The latest move by the players association came two days before a meeting of ballclub owners, who are likely to rubber-stamp the Orix-Kintetsu merger and decide on the setup of pro baseball for the next season.

The merger plan, which first surfaced in mid-June, is aimed at bailing out the struggling Osaka-based railway operator Kintetsu Corp., the owner of the debt-ridden Buffaloes.

It also triggered a move toward a shift to one-league baseball with a reduced number of teams from the two-league system that has been in place since 1950.

The Pacific League clubs support the move through mergers of financially troubled teams but the majority of the clubs in the more popular Central League claim the two-league format should be maintained.

Last time the owners met in July, Seibu Lions owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi dropped a bombshell by saying another merger in the Pacific League that would follow the Orix-Kintetsu case was in the pipeline.

Tsutsumi did not elaborate at the time and no specific plans have yet to be put forward about the second merger since then.

But his remarks triggered speculation about a possible switch to a one-league system featuring 10 teams and attention is now focused on the outcome of Wednesday's owners meeting, which Tsutsumi is scheduled to attend.

The NPB executive committee did not take up the issue of realignment or the second merger at its meeting on Monday.
asia.news.yahoo.com/040906/kyodo/d84u6nk00.html

Standings through 9/7:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........72-48-4 .600....*.....L1.........7-3 *Z
2) Seibu Lions...........70-53-1 .569...3.5....W1.......4-6
3) Lotte Marines........61-61-3 .500..12.0...W2.......6-4
4) Ham Fighters.........59-61-2 .492..13.0...L2........5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..54-65-2 .454..17.5...L3........3-7
6) Orix Blue Wave......45-73-2 .381..26.0...W1.......5-5
*Z= clinched playoff spot

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......67-47-3 .588....*....W1......7-3
2) Tokyo Giants...........63-54-3 .538...5.5...L1.......6-3 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-54-2 .514...8.5...L4.......5-5
4) Hanshin Tigers.........55-59-1 .482.12.0...L4........6-4
5) Yokohama Baystars...48-60-3 .444.16.0...W3......4-6
6) Hiroshima Carp.........49-65-0 .430.18.0...W2.......4-6

Pacific League Scores
◆ Lotte Marines 7 x 4 Daiei Hawks ◆
The Lotte Marines jumped on Hawks starter Tsuyoshi Wada early with 3 HR's in their win, and are now a full game ahead of the Ham Fighters who didn't play because of typhoon #18. Wada was sent to the showers after only 2 innings of work, giving up 8 hits and 6 earned runs. The first blow came in the top of the first inning when 1st baseman Kazuya Fukuura hit a 2 run home run to right field. In the 2nd inning, Wada ran into trouble as he gave up 5 hits in a row, 2 of them home runs off the bats of catcher Tomoya Satozaki and second baseman Koichi Hori. He then gave up another hit and a walk before getting right fielder Tetsuya Kakiuchi to strike out for his final out on the night. Wada was previously 2-0 vs the Marines with a 1.69 ERA in his previous 2 starts throwing 8 innings per game.

On the other side, Marines starter Naoyuki Shimizu lasted 7 innings spreading out 7 hits while giving up 4 runs. Shimizu had not won a game this year vs. Daiei in 4 starts going 0-3 with a 6.48 ERA, and an even higher ERA of 10.80 at Fukuoka Dome, but the Marines bats helped him to his first win against the Hawks this year. Kazuya Fukuura went 3-4, and is hitting .483 through his last 7 games.

WP: Naoyuki Shimizu (9-10, 3.40 ERA)
SV: Masahide Kobayashi (18, 4.02 ERA)
LP: Tsuyoshi Wada (9-5, 4.33 ERA)
HR: Kazuya Fukuura #11, Top 1st 2R (LM)
......Tomoya Satozaki #6, Top 2nd Solo (LM)
......Koichi Hori #13, Top 2nd 3R (LM)
......Tadahito Iguchi #20, Bot 5th 2R (DH)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
LM..2..4..0..0..1..0..0...0..0..7
DH..0..0..2..0..2..0..0...0..0..4
Fukuoka Dome, Attendance=33,000
Lotte 15W-9L 2T (vs Daiei)

◆ Orix Blue Wave x Nippon Ham Fighters ◆
POSTPONED DUE TO TYPHOON #18

◆ Kintetsu Buffaloes x Seibu Lions ◆
POSTPONED DUE TO TYPHOON #18

Central League Scores
◆ Chunichi Dragons 5 x 3 Tokyo Giants ◆
The Chunichi Dragons are edging ever so closer to getting a magic number to clinch the Central League pennant, and the comeback win tonight vs the Giants certainly helped. The Dragons sent ace and CL wins leader Kenshin Kawakami to the mound who was 3-2 vs the Giants going into tonights game, while the Giants countered with Hisanori Takahashi who threw a complete game shutout in his last start vs the Dragons on 8/26. What looked on paper to be a pitchers duel, started out with the bats taking the show. The Dragons scored first when catcher Motonobu Tanishige hit an RBI single to center, but the Giants came right back to take the lead on a 2 run home run by Hiroki Kokubo. Kokubo got his first RBI's since Aug 22 vs Hiroshima, a span of 9 games. Chunichi came right back to tie the game in the top of the next inning on an RBI single by second baseman Masahiro Araki.

The Giants took the lead in the 3rd inning on Kokubo's second home run of the night that just landed inside of the foul pole in left field. The game remained that way until the 8th inning, with both pitchers shutting down the opposing batters including 12 in a row retired by Takahashi. In the top of the 8th inning, Alex Ochoa hit a game tying RBI single to right field, and that caused relief pitcher Hayato Nakamura to come on for Takahashi to try and get 2 more outs to retire the side. He got the first batter he faced, Tanishige to fly out to center field, but then he walked pinch hitter Masahiko Morino to load the bases, and then proceeded to walk the next batter, pinch hitter Mitsunobu Takahashi on 4 straight pitches to bring in the go ahead run for Chunichi. Chunichi added 1 more in the top of the 9th, then Dragons closer Masufumi Hirai came on to retire the Giants in the bottom half, including striking out pinch hitter Kazuhiro Kiyohara, who made his first appearance since June 19th when he broke a bone in his hand on a HBP. Apparantly some idiot jumped on the field disrupting the game in the 8th.

WP: Kenshin Kawakami (15-6, 3.15 ERA)
SV: Masafumi Hirai (5, 4.26 ERA)
LP: Hisanori Takahashi (5-7, 4.87 ERA)
HR: Hiroki Kokubo #37, Bot 1st 2R (TG)
......Hiroki Kokubo #38, Bot 3rd Solo (TG)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
CD..1..1..0..0..0..0..0...2..1..5
TG..2..0..1..0..0..0..0...0..0..3
Tokyo Dome, Attendance=55,000
Chunichi 11W-11L 1T (vs Giants)

◆ Hanshin Tigers x Yakult Swallows ◆
POSTPONED DUE TO TYPHOON #18

◆ Hiroshima Carp x Yokohama Baystars ◆
POSTPONED DUE TO TYPHOON #18

Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ August MVP's Announced
The Monthly MVP's for August were announced on Sept 7th for both the Central and Pacific Leagues. In the Central League the pitching award went to Kenshin Kawakami of the Chunichi Dragons who had 4 wins in 5 starts in August. This is Kawakami's second monthly MVP award this season, he won the award back in May as well. The CL batting award went to Akinori Iwamura of the Yakult Swallows who hit 11 home runs. He only hit .292 for the month, but he had 27 RBI's for his first career monthly MVP award.

In the Pacific League, the pitching award went to Hiroyuki Kobayashi of the Chiba Lotte Marines, as he had 3 wins in 4 starts including a complete game victory against Kintetsu. The batting award went to Tadahito Iguchi of the Daiei Hawks, who hit .425 with 5 HR's and 19 RBI's for his first career monthly award as well.

◆ Hori hits 300 doubles
Koichi Hori of the Chiba Lotte Marines hit career double number 300 during the Sept 7th game vs the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks at Fukuoka dome in the first inning, to become the 41st player in NPB history to reach that number. His first double came back on May 2, 1989 vs Kintetsu.

NEWS:
◆Will Fans Support A Strike?
According to a survey taken by Mainichi Shimbun between September 3-5, 48% of people polled said they would support the players if they were to go on strike. 19% said they would not support the players, while 30% stated they had no interest. A total of 4,571 people were approached, and 2,589 answered, a 57% answer rate.

When asked about the current 2 league system, 43% said that 2 separate leagues were best, while 18% said that if they were given a choice they would take the 2 league system, with a total of 61% in favor of the 2 league system. Only 8% stated that they favored or would choose a 1 league system, and 27% stated no interest.

When the 61% that favor a 2 league system were asked for a reason, 44% stated that they liked having an All Star game and Nippon Series, while 39% stated that the merger was ignoring the fans voices, and 15% stated that if the number of teams was decreased, the number of baseball players would also decrease. When the 8% that prefer a 1 league system were asked for a reason, 57% stated that they could see more teams play each other, while 33% stated that teams in the red would have a chance to turn themselves around economically.

◆ 2005 season to have 6 teams in CL, 5 in PL

Standings through 9/8:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........73-48-4 .603....*.....W1........7-3 *Z
2) Seibu Lions...........70-54-1 .569...4.5....L1........4-6
3) Lotte Marines........61-62-3 .496..13.0...L1........5-5
4) Ham Fighters.........60-61-2 .496..13.0...W1.......5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..55-65-2 .458..17.5...W1.......4-6
6) Orix Blue Wave......45-74-2 .378..27.0...L1........4-6
*Z= clinched playoff spot

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......67-48-3 .583....*....L1.......6-4
2) Tokyo Giants...........64-54-3 .542...4.5...W1......6-3 (1)
3) Yakult Swallows.......57-55-2 .509...8.5...L5.......4-6
4) Hanshin Tigers.........56-59-1 .487.11.0...W1.......6-4
5) Yokohama Baystars...48-61-3 .440.16.0...L1.......4-6
6) Hiroshima Carp.........50-65-0 .435.17.0...W3.......5-5

Pacific League Scores
◆ Daiei Hawks 5 x 2 Lotte Marines◆
The Hawks used a 2 run homer by catcher Kenji Jojima to take a 3-1 lead in the first inning over Lotte after starter Akichika Yamada gave up a solo HR to Koichi Hori in the top of the inning, and then it was easy sailing from there on to the win. Yamada gave up just 4 hits over 7 innings of work while striking out 8, giving up just the 1 run. DH Julio Zuleta hit a solo shot in the 4th inning to put the Hawks up 4-1, he also went 2-2 in the game, breaking out of a 2-16 slump in his previous 6 games. Hawks closer Koji Mise pitched 1 1/3 innings for his league leading 26th save, clocking his 10th appearance vs Lotte this year, all without giving up a run. Meanwhile Dan Serafini took his first loss against the Hawks, as he was 3-0 with a 3.08 against them in 6 games, going into tonights game.
(Pitcher Dan Serafini and Julio Zuleta were both ejected and can expect heavy fines after Zuleta charged the mound when a pitch from Serafini sailed behind his head.)

WP: Akichika Yamada (6-2, 3.88 ERA)
SV: Koji Mise (26, 2.67 ERA)
LP: Dan Serafini (5-4, 4.04 ERA)
HR: Koichi Hori #14, Top 1st Solo (LM)
......Kenji Jojima #34, Bot 1st 2R (DH)
......Julio Zuleta #32, Bot 4th Solo (DH)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
LM..1..0..0..0..0..0..0...1..0..2
DH..3..0..0..1..0..0..1...0..x..5
Fukuoka Dome, Attendance=44,000
Daiei 10W-15L 2T (vs Lotte)

◆ Nippon Ham Fighters 12 x 5 Orix Blue Wave ◆
Flashy Tsuyoshi Shinjo went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI's and 3 runs scored to help the Fighters edge closer to the Marines in the playoff race. The Ham Fighters started off early by greeting Orix starter Takashi Aiki with a hit to center field on the very first pitch of the game from Shinjo, then a 1-0 HR by second baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto, so Aiki only threw 3 pitches and was down 2-0. Orix came back to make it 3-2 until the 4th inning when the Fighters took a big lead on only 3 hits, but they were helped out by Aiki who walked 2 and hit another in the inning, leading to 4 more Ham Fighter runs, making it 7-0 when Michihiro Ogasawara hit a 2 RBI bases loaded single to right field. Ogasawara only went 1-5 on the night, but this year he is hitting .441 with 22 RBI's vs the Blue Wave. The Blue Wave made it kind of interesting in the 5th by coming back to within 2 runs on sacrifice fly by shortstop Makoto Shiozaki, but the very next inning, the Ham Fighters came back with another 4 spot highlighted by a 2 RBI single from catcher Shinji Takahashi. Shinjo picked up his 2nd homer in as many games in the top of the 9th.

WP: Takehiko Oshimoto (7-7, ERA)
LP: Takashi Aiki (3-3, ERA)
HR: Kuniyuki Kimoto #9, Top 1st 2R (HF)
......Jose Ortiz #24, Bot 4th Solo (BW)
......Tsuyoshi Shinjo #21, Top 9th Solo (HF)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HF..2..1..0..4..0..4..0...0..1..12
BW.1..0..1..1..2..0..0...0..0..5
YahooBB Stadium, Attendance=21,000
Ham Fighters 16W-9L (vs Orix)

◆ Kintetsu Buffaloes 8 x 7 Seibu Lions ◆
In what should have been a great pitching duel between 2 team aces and Olympians Hisashi Iwakuma and Daisuke Matsuzaka, turned out to be a bit of a worry for Seibu in their loss to Kintetsu. Matsuzaka pitched the first inning, but was pulled after complaining about some pain in his buttocks region. No specifics are available, maybe in tomorrow's news. Kintetsu took an early 4-0 lead, with the help of a 3 run homer by Buffalo first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa off of Lions reliever Kazumasa Azuma who took over for Matsuzaka. Seibu came back to tie it in the 5th with 5 hits off of PL win leader Hisashi Iwakuma, with the tying run driven in by Jose Fernandez on an 0-2 pitch. Kintetsu took a 8-5 lead when Kitagawa drove in his 4th RBI on the night. Going into the 9th inning, with the score 8-6 Kintetsu, the Lions put the tying run at 3rd base with 2 outs, but catcher Kosuke Noda grounded out to second. Iwakuma went 7 innings striking out 9, but gave up 5 runs in his 15th win, tying his career high which he set last year. He is now 4-0 vs Seibu.

WP: Hisashi Iwakuma (15-1, 2.56 ERA)
SV: Kazuo Fukumori (9, 5.40 ERA)
LP: Shuichiro Osada (2-3, 3.26 ERA)
HR: Hirotoshi Kitagawa #17, Bot 3rd 3R (KB)
......Jose Fernandez #32, Top 4th Solo (SL)
......Shinji Shimoyama #3, Bot 6th Solo (KB)
......Takahiko (GG) Sato #3, Top 8th Solo (SL)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
SL..0..0..0..1..3..0..1...1..1..7
KB..0..0..4..0..0..1..3...0..x..8
Osaka Dome, Attendance=18,000
Kintetsu 13W-13L (vs Seibu)

Central League Scores
◆ Tokyo Giants 2 x 1 Chunichi Dragons ◆
Giants starter Koji Uehara pitched his first complete game this year, and only gave up 4 hits en-route to his 10th win of the season, his 4th straight year of double digit wins. The Dragons-Giants games are usually always close, and this was no exception. Both teams only combined for 3 hits through the 4th inning, and a combined 12 hits in the entire game. Uehara got all the support he needed when left fielder Takayuki Shimizu drilled the first pitch thrown to him into centerfield for a double, scoring Uehara from 3rd, and second baseman Toshihisa Nishi all the way from 1st. Dragons starter Masahiro Yamamoto picked up his 4th loss against the Giants this year, his 3rd at Tokyo Dome.

WP: Koji Uehara (10-5, 2.92 ERA)
LP: Masahiro Yamamoto (11-5, 3.47 ERA)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
CD..0..0..0..0..0..0..1...0..0..1
TG..0..0..0..0..2..0..0...0..x..2
Tokyo Dome, Attendance=55,000
Giants 12W-11L 1T (vs Chunichi)

◆ Hanshin Tigers 4 x 1 Yakult Swallows ◆
Yakult continues to struggle, as Dicky Gonzalez made his first start since coming to Japan, but the Swallows bats just couldn't find life against last years CL MVP Kei Igawa. Gonzalez went 5 innings but only gave up 2 runs, both solo home runs. He always had runners on base every inning, but managed to get out of the jams. On the Tigers side, Tomoaki Kanemoto hit 2 homers giving him 31 on the year, the first time he's hit 30 HR's since 2000 when he was with the Carp. Igawa went 8 innings striking out 8, and giving up only 1 run for the win, his 4th against the Swallows this year. Kanemoto was only hitting .253 against the Swallows this year, but he went 3-4 to raise that average to .276. The Swallows have now lost 5 straight, while the Tigers stop their 4 game losing streak.

WP: Kei Igawa (11-10, 3.71 ERA)
SV: Tomoyuki Kubota (2, 4.55 ERA)
LP: Dicky Gonzalez (1-1, 1.10 ERA)
HR: George Arias #24, Bot 2nd Solo (HT)
......Tomoaki Kanemoto #30, Bot 3rd Solo (HT)
......Tomoaki Kanemoto #31, Bot 7th Solo (HT)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YS..0..0..1..0..0..0..0...0..0..1
HT..0..1..1..0..0..0..1...1..x..4
Koushien Stadium, Attendance=53,000
Hanshin 12W-10L (vs Yakult)

◆ Hiroshima Carp 9 x 5 Yokohama Baystars ◆
Can anybody stop Shigenobu Shima? The Carp rightfielder went 3 for 5, including the go ahead 2 run homer in the 6th inning helping the Carp to their 3rd straight win. Hiroshima now has the top 2 hitters in the CL in Shima (.344) and Greg LaRocca (.332). With the Carp up 3-0 on Tomonori Maeda's 3R shot in the bottom of the 1st, giving him 20 on the year and 3 straight years with 20+ homers, the Baystars came back in the 3rd with a 5 spot highlighted by center fielder Hitoshi Tamura's 36th HR on the year, tying the club record for HR's by a Japanese player. But, Hiroshima had 7 players with multiple hits, and used 9 hits over their final 4 innings to tie the game and win it.

WP: John Bale (9-8, 4.22 ERA)
LP: Teruaki Yoshikawa (1-2, 6.19 ERA)
HR: Tomonori Maeda #20, Bot 1st 3R (HC)
......Hitoshi Tamura #36, Top 3rd 3R (YB)
......Shigenobu Shima #31, Bot 6th 2R (HC)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YB..0..0..5..0..0..0..0...0..0..5
HC..3..0..0..1..1..2..1...1..x..9
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, Attendance=11,000
Carp 11W-9L (vs Yokohama)

Individual Player Stats
Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ From what I could gather on the news, the Orix-Kintetsu merger was approved by the owners, and it was announced that there is NO other merger in the works. Next season will be 2 leagues, 6 CL and 5 PL. The owners also announced they would review the league initiation fee for new members. I'll just wait for the people that get paid to translate the stories, and link to them.

Here's a nice artcile written up by Jim Allen and Shintaro Kano from the Daily Yomiuri covering the owners' meeting yesterday.
www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040909wo51.htm

Players representative Atsuya Furuta has stated that there's a possibility that a strike could be averted if NPB were to allow a new entry into the league to replace the club being lost because of the merger. Livedoor is the most likely candidate at the moment, and is still currently seeking to make a new club, but rumours have also been flying about the independant league team Shidax possibly joining the PL as the 6th team. The latter is highly unlikely, but still a possibility. The Players Association Managing Executive, Tetsu Matsubara also submitted 1.2 million signatures collected from the fans asking to freeze the merger for 1 year, over to NPB.

In unrelated news, the NPB commisioner is fining the Giants 5 million yen for their dirty under the table tactics in trying to recruit a Meiji University player, and the scout who handed over the money is officially banned from recruiting players until January 31 of next year. Talk about a slap on the wrist, if I was commisioner, the fine would be more like 50 million, plus the loss of a 1st AND 2nd round draft pick this year, with the loss of a 2nd round pick next year. Plus, the agent who handed over the money would be removed for life.

I know it's a little late, but I've been a bit busy. In this case I just have to compliment Ibata on that major league slide to score that run off of Alex's hit in the 5-3 Chunichi win on Tuesday evening.

reference:
"In the top of the 8th inning, Alex Ochoa hit a game tying RBI single to right field, and that caused relief pitcher Hayato Nakamura to come on for Takahashi to try and ..."

And the station really liked it. They showed it about ten times. It was a beauty, and it's that kind of style that wins championships.

Hats off to you, Ibata.

Standings through 9/9:

Pacific League.........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Daiei Hawks..........73-48-4 .603....*.....W1........7-3 *Z
2) Seibu Lions...........70-54-1 .569...4.5....L1........4-6
3) Ham Fighters.........61-61-2 .500..12.5...W2.......6-4
4) Lotte Marines........61-62-3 .496..13.0...L1........5-5
5) Kintetsu Buffaloes..55-65-2 .458..17.5...W1.......4-6
6) Orix Blue Wave......45-75-2 .378..27.5...L2........4-6
*Z= clinched playoff spot

Central League..........W..L..T..PCT...GB.Streak..Last 10
1) Chunichi Dragons......68-48-3 .586....*....W1......7-3
2) Tokyo Giants...........64-55-3 .538...5.5...L1.......6-4
3) Yakult Swallows.......58-55-2 .513...8.5...W1......4-6
4) Hanshin Tigers.........56-60-1 .483.12.0...L1........5-5
5) Yokohama Baystars...49-61-3 .445.16.0...W1......5-5
6) Hiroshima Carp.........50-66-0 .431.18.0...L1........5-5

Pacific League Scores
◆ Nippon Ham Fighters 7 x 5 Orix Blue Wave ◆
Ham Fighter 3rd baseman Michihiro Ogasawara went 2-4 with a solo HR and 3 RBI to help the Ham Fighters take a 1/2 game lead in the PL playoff race. In Ogasawara's first at bat, he gave the Fighters a 1-0 lead with a HR off of Orix starter Shinji Taninaka. Catcher Shinji Takahashi added another solo homer in the top of the 4th to make it 2-0, but Orix came back in the bottom of that inning with the tying run on an RBI single to right by shortstop Mitsutaka Goto. The Fighters went up 3-2 on a sacrifice fly by Tsuyoshi Shinjo in the 5th, but Orix answered right back on a sacrifice fly from left fielder Ryota Aikawa. Ogasawara got his 2nd RBI on the night to give the Fighters a 5-3 lead in the 7th with a double off the base of the center field wall, and then his 3rd RBI on a bases loaded walk in the 8th, followed by DH Tsutomu Ishimoto's sacrifice fly making it 7-3.

Fighter starter Carlos Mirabal went 6 innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits for the win after getting shelled his last start at YahooBB Stadium giving up 7 runs in just 3 innings. He is now 3-2 vs Orix on the year. Ogasawara upped his batting average against Orix to .444, with 25 RBI's and 6 HR's.

WP: Carlos Mirabal (9-9, 5.34 ERA)
LP: Shinji Taninaka (1-4, 6.93 ERA)
HR: Michihiro Ogasawara #15, Top 1st Solo (HF)
......Shinji Takahashi #23, Top 4th Solo (HF)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
HF..1..0..0..1..1..1..1...2..0..7
BW.0..0..0..2..1..0..0...0..2..5
YahooBB Stadium, Attendance=22,000
Ham Fighters 17W-9L (vs Orix)

Central League Scores
◆ Chunichi Dragons 8 x 3 Tokyo Giants ◆
200 game winner Kimiyasu Kudo must want to be known forever as Mr. 200, as he failed for the 3rd straight time to get win 201. Chunichi got a 5 spot highlighted by Omar Linares pinch hit 3 run homer to pull the Dragons from behind for a 4-2 lead. Linares was pinch hitting for Dragons starting pitcher Takashi Ogasawara, who left after just 4 innings giving up solo HR's to 1st baseman Roberto (I dream of) Petagine, and 2nd baseman Toshihisa Nishi. Incidentally, Petagine only came on in the 2nd inning after starter Kazuhiro Kiyohara was pulled, however no details are available yet as to what happened. The next batter after Linares, 2nd baseman Masahiro Araki followed with another home run, signaling the showers for Kudo after the inning ended. Chunichi had 2 more solo home runs to make it 8-3, and the Giants couldn't get a clutch hit off of the Dragons bullpen, as they were 0-3 with runners in scoring position after giving up the lead. Kudo is now 1-3 against the Dragons in 6 games, and raised his ERA against them to 6.75. For the Dragons,

WP: Shinya Okamoto (8-3, 1.86 ERA)
LP: Kimiyasu Kudo (9-6, 4.40 ERA)
HR: Roberto Petagine #27, Bot 2nd Solo (TG)
......Toshihisa Nishi #24, Bot 3rd Solo (TG)
......Omar Linares #3, Top 5th 3R (CD)
......Masahiro Araki #3, Top 5th Solo (CD)
......Kazuki Inoue #11, Top 6th Solo (CD)
......Motonobu Tanishige #16, Top 8th Solo (CD)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
CD..0..0..0..0..5..1..0...1..1..8
TG..0..1..1..0..1..0..0...0..0..3
Tokyo Dome, Attendance=55,000
Chunichi 12W-12L 1T (vs Giants)

◆ Yakult Swallows 4 x 0 Hanshin Tigers ◆
Second year pitcher Yuhei (Little Ishii) Takai has turned out to be a blessing to the Yakult starting rotation so far, as he threw 6 innings of shutout ball to pick up his 2nd win after being called up to replace Jason Beverlin, and helped the Swallows to stop their 5 game losing streak. Akinori Iwamura got things started off for the Swallows in the top of the first , taking a 3-2 pitch over the centerfield fence for his 39th HR on the year. The Swallows loaded the bases the next inning, and center fielder Misturu Manaka hit a 2 RBI single to make it 3-0. Takai gave up only 4 hits to the Tigers, and only allowed 1 runner to reach 3rd over his 6 innings. Olympian Hirotoshi Ishii followed by pitching 2 more scorelss innings giving up only 1 hit while striking out 4, and Ryota Igarashi completed the shutout by retiring all three batters he faced. The Tigers could only muster 5 hits and have now lost 5 of their past 6 games. Hanshin starter Shinobu Fukuhara picks up his 4th loss against the Swallows on the year. Hanshin right fielder Shinjiro Hiyama went 0-4, and is now hitting just 1-20 (.050) in his last 5 games.

WP: Yuhei Takai (2-0, 4.58 ERA)
LP: Shinobu Fukuhara (9-11, 3.78 ERA)
HR: Akinori Iwamura #39, Top 1st Solo (YS)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YS..1..2..0..0..0..0..0...1..0..4
HT..0..0..0..0..0..0..0...0..0..0
Koushien Stadium, Attendance=25,000
Yakult 11W-12L (vs Hanshin)

◆ Yokohama Baystars 3 x 1 Hiroshima Carp ◆
It was a must win for Yokohama or fall into the cellar, and Cedrick Bowers pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 run to pick up the win for Yokohama. He has now won 4 out of his last 5 starts, his 2nd against Hiroshima now with an 0.98 ERA in 3 starts. The game was scoreless until the 5th inning when Yokohama loaded the bases against Hiroshima ace Hiroki Kuroda, and 3rd baseman Hitoshi Taneda brought home 2 runs on a single back up the middle. Hiroshima came back with one run in the bottom half off of a sacrifice fly from Takuya Kimura, but that was all they would get. Cedrick ran into trouble in the 8th inning by loading the bases on a double and 2 base on balls, but Ken Kadokura came in to get Yokohama out unscathed by getting two groundouts.

WP: Cedrick Bowers (6-1, 4.06 ERA)
SV: Ken Kadokura (5, 4.45 ERA)
LP: Hiroki Kuroda (5-8, 5.24 ERA)

.....1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..R
YB..0..0..0..0..3..0..0...0..0..3
HC..0..0..0..0..1..0..0...0..0..1
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, Attendance=10,000
Yokohama 10W-11L (vs Hiroshima)

Individual Player Stats
Pacific League Stats Leaders

Central League Stats Leaders

NEWS:
◆ Fines For The Brawl
Julio Zuleta and Dan Serafini have received the amounts they will be fined for their fight on Sept 8th. After Julio Zuleta hit a 145 meter bomb off of Serafini, in his next at bat, a pitch from Serafini sailed behind Julio's head, and Julio didn't like it as he charged the mound. Both players were ejected, and it was Julio's 3rd time already this year. Julio Zuleta is being fined 100,000 yen with a 1 game suspension, and Dan Serafini gets only the 100,000 yen fine.

◆ Sacrifices Galore
In the game on Sept 9th between the Nippon Ham Fighters and the Orix Blue Wave, both teams combined for 5 sacrifice flies, tying the Pacific League record for sac flies in a single game. Nippon Ham hit 3 and Orix hit 2. The record was set back on June 7, 1990 in a game featuring Orix vs Daiei, and it's the 4th time it's happened overall.

Power Rankings #11 (9/3 - 9/9)[ul]
[*] 01) Daiei Hawks - Clinched a playoff spot, and they're still fighting....well at least one player.
[*] 02) Seibu Lions - Give Cabrera a stadium without a roof please. In Sapporo Dome he hit it 4 times in 3 games.
[*] 03) Chunichi Dragons - If NPB sticks with tradition, which player will get the MVP? No one person sticks out other than pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
[*] 04) Tokyo Giants - Why is Kiyohara so popular? I just don't get it. 37 strikeouts in 87 at bats? That means he strikes out 43% of the time......
[*] 05) Yakult Swallows - If they could teach Iwamura to actually make contact with the ball more, he might have had over 60 HR's by now. Leads the CL in strikeouts with 149.
[*] 06) Nippon Ham Fighters - I predict the team that can reach 3 games over .500 will get the last playoff spot. Neither team can get there.
[*] 07) Lotte Marines - See above.
[*] 08) Hanshin Tigers - Batting last in the CL at .273, there's talk of replacing Arias next year.....
[*] 09) Kintetsu Buffaloes - I'm going to love hating this team next year, should've asked for a buyer first.
[*] 10) Yokohama Baystars - Didn't know you guys would fight that hard just to avoid the cellar for the 3rd straight year. Maybe if you put your hopes on the pennant in the same way.....
[*] 11) Hiroshima Carp - Need to take a lesson from the Atlanta Braves on how pitching can win pennants....Starters have a 5.09 ERA.
[*] 12) Orix Blue Wave - 30 games under .500.....well at least you can take pleasure in the fact that Ichiro's team is just as bad.
[/ul]

And for the record, this NOT because the giANTs were behind it, right? In other words, if it were the Chunichi Dragons, or the Yakult Swallows, or any other team in the NPB, the punishment dished out should be the same. "Under the table" negotiations are not setting a good example for youngsters excersizing fair play and good sportsmanship.

"Give Cabrera a stadium without a roof please. In Sapporo Dome he hit it 4 times in 3 games."

What's the rule on that, Billy Bob? Am I right in thinking that when they first started using these domes, The Big Egg, over here they said any ball hitting the roof was a homerun? That's not always the case now, is it?

In Cabrera's case, all 4 of the balls deflected down back to the field, and they were recorded as fly outs......That's gotta suck. In most places I know, the rules state that any ball hitting an object in fair territory is considered in play. If I'm not mistaken, in the few instances where the ball got lodged in the roof, it was ruled a ground rule double. But that's just going from memory, which could be wrong.