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Oh, the humanity.

Rami-chan, Seth, whatever we shout at you while you’re playing, the truth is that seeing you in those hideous uniforms, that nasueous orange, well it (sob), it rips a little piece of our hearts out every time because you (weep), you were ours and we wanted to keep you. Really we did. It wasn’t our fault. (Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo.)

You guys are traitors and should probably be hanged, but you get exonerated by the fact that we have disloyal owners.

On the bright side, Tokyo’s stellar centerfielder, Norichika Aoki, made his fourth Best Nine. Our congrats to him.

All of that aside, the Central postseason awards went to:

MVP: Alex Ramirez, Yomiuri Giants

Best IX:

P: Seth Greisinger, Yomiuri Giants
C: Shinnosuke Abe, Yomiuri Giants
1B: Seiichi Uchikawa, Yokohama BayStars
2B: Akihiro Higashide, Hiroshima Carp
3B: Shuuichi Murata, Yokohama BayStars
SS: Takashi Toritani, Hanshin Tigers
OF: Alex Ramirez, Yomiuri Giants
Norichika Aoki, Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Tomoaki Kanemoto, Hanshin Tigers

Pacific League postseason awards:

MVP: Hisashi Iwakuma, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Best IX:

P: Hisashi Iwakuma, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
C: Tooru Hosokawa, Saitama Seibu Lions
1B: Alex Cabrera, Orix Buffaloes
2B: Yasuyuki Kataoka, Saitama Seibu Lions
3B: Takeya Nakamura, Saitama Seibu Lions
SS: Hiroyuki Nakajima, Saitama Seibu Lions
OF: Atsunori Inaba, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
Takumi Kuriyama, Saitama Seibu Lions
Rick Short, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
DH: Tuffy Rhodes, Orix Buffaloes

Free agents started the negotiating season yesterday (click the link to see NPB Tracker’s write-up.)

They tell us it's not possible to promote a tournament in which they're participating, but we can do better. People can be told about the Asia Series. Yes, we can.

The baseball season will draw to a close this weekend with the 2008 Asia Series, pitting the champions of NPB’s Japan Series, KBO’s Korea Series, CPBL’s Taiwan Series, and the CBL champions against one another in a three-day round robin single-game tournament, followed by a one-game championship between the top two teams on Sunday.

Sadly, the event, one of the few in which fans can see how the different leagues stack up in a direct way, has been, as always, poorly promoted, if at all.  The Seibu Corporation, which has plastered its train lines with posters celebrating the Saitama Seibu Lions’ Japan Series Championship and offered a sale at its department stores, crammed with scuffling housewives who wouldn’t know a thing about the Lions were it not for the sales, but has its promotion of the Lions’ participation in the Asia Series, in Tokyo this year, invisible.

For those who, like us, are interested, here’s the schedule:

(All games at Tokyo Dome.)

Thursday, November 13th:

12:00 – Tianjin Lions (CBL) vs. Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (CPBL)
6:00 – Saitama Seibu Lions (NPB) vs. SK Wyverns (KBO)

Friday, November 14th:

12:00 – SK Wyverns vs. Tianjin Lions
6:00 – Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions vs. Saitama Seibu Lions

Saturday, November 15th:

12:00 – Saitama Seibu Lions vs. Tianjin Lions
6:00 – SK Wyverns vs. Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions

Championship Game, Sunday, November 16th:

2:00 – Round Robin Runner-up vs. Round Robin Winner

You can follow the results here with us and see updated standings on our Game Results page.

Saitama Seibu Lions 3

Yomiuri Giants 2

(Tokyo Dome)

The Saitama Seibu Lions came back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat the Yomiuri Giants in the deciding game seven of the 2008 Japan Series Championship.

It was Saitama’s first Japan Series championship since 2004 when it beat the Chunichi Dragons in seven games. Saitama is the winningest franchise in NPB over the past 30 years as far as Japan Series titles are concerned. 2008 is their 13th title against eight losses overall (including three by Seibu precursor, Nishitetsu). The Lions won five Japan Series titles during the 80′s, three during the 90′s, and this is now their second title so far this decade. From 1986 to 1992, in fact, Saitama won the title six times (they did not appear in the 1989 series which Yomiuri eventually won).

Yomiuri is the winningest Japan Series contender of all time, but they have not had nearly the amount of success as the Lions over the last three decades. They are tied with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows for number of Japan Series wins during that time with five. Yomiuri last appeared in a Japan Series Championship in 2002 when it beat the Saitama Seibu Lions in four straight games.

Yomiuri now has 20 Japan Series titles against 11 losses.

With 14 year veteran, Fumiya Nishiguchi, pitching for the visiting Lions, Yomiuri got off to a quick start. With the bases loaded, Yomiuri scored one run on a Nishiguchi wild pitch in the first inning.

In the second inning, Yomiuri shortstop, Hayato Sakamoto, drove a Nishiguchi meatball into the left field stands. 2-0 Yomiuri.

Nishiguchi (2 Hits; 3 K’s; 2 BB’s; 1 wild pitch; 2 earned runs; 9.00 ERA) was pulled after the second inning, and Lions first year manager, Hisanobu Watanabe, paraded out most of the rest of his starting pitchers in a desperate attempt to get some stability on the mound. It worked last night with Kishi, so why not try it again, right?

Well, stability is what he got. Starters Kazuhisa Ishii and Hideaki Wakui, both coming off of lackluster performances earlier in the series, pitched two innings of perfect baseball each. Then Tomoki Hoshino pitched a perfect seventh and claimed the win in the process. Finally, closer Alex Graman came on for the last two innings and retired all six batters he faced. After getting four runners on base during the first two innings, Yomiuri was completely shut down for the last seven.

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fifth, and following two excellent innings by Ishii (including 2 strikeouts), Hiram Bocachica replaced the lefty in the lineup with two outs and nobody on. Yomiuri starter, Tetsuya Utsumi, had been very sharp up until that point, but he left one hanging a little too high up in the zone and Bocachica drilled it into the orange people sitting in left. 2-1 Yomiuri.

After two unbelievable innings by Wakui (including four strikeouts), and a solid seventh care of Hoshino, it was time for the Lions batters to start dealing with Yomiuri’s impressive set-up duo of Daisuke Ochi and Kiyoshi Toyoda.

After escaping from a pinch in the seventh, Ochi came on again in the eighth, and he promptly plunked Saitama second baseman, Yasuyuki Kataoka, with some chin music. Kataoka immediately stole second, and he was then bunted over to third by outfielder Takumi Kuriyama.

Kataoka scored on a weak grounder to third by Hiroyuki Nakajima. 2-2.

Then the cracks in Ochi’s armor finally started to show. He walked the next two batters he faced and gave up an rbi single to first baseman and Japan Series sensation, Hiroshi Hirao. 3-2 Saitama.

Ochi, pitching in his fifth game of the series, gave up two runs off of two hits. He also had two strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter. His Japan Series ERA rose to a still respectable 2.35 while taking the loss for the home team.

Toyoda also had a bit of a hiccup when he gave up his first Japan Series hit in recent memory. Pinch hitter, Shougo Akada, ended up on third base after hitting one to within about half of a meter of the top of the wall in right. (That’s why they don’t open the outfield doors when the visiting team is batting.)

Toyoda escaped from the inning without further damage, however, and then it was up to Graman to take the mound again and work through the business end of the Yomiuri lineup.

First, Kimura Takuya, who scored on the wild pitch in the first, struck out swinging. Then Ogasawara grounded out to first base.

With two outs, and trailing by one run, Alex Ramirez stepped up to the plate.

Ground ball to shortstop. Soft toss to first. Championship over.

Saitama won the series 4-3, and like Yomiuri, the team played without the help of some of their bigger bats. G.G. Satou, Craig Brazell and Toru Hosokawa were injured for much or all of this series.

All in all, four Lions batters reached base twice in this game. Kataoka, Nakajima, Nakamura and Hirao were the biggest headaches for Yomiuri in that respect.

Saitama cleanup hitter, Nakamura, had an interesting series at the plate. He was hitless for the fifth time tonight, but drew another two walks. He went only 3-24 in the series (.125 BA), but all of his hits were home runs. He drove in seven rbi’s with those three dingers, and he also drew six walks.

Hiroshi Hirao, on the other hand, had an unequivocally stellar series. He went 8-14 at the plate with two home runs, six rbi’s and one plunking for a .571 batting average. He didn’t play in the first and third games, and came on as a sub in the second and fifth, but he had an impact in most every game he played. His OBP was .600 during this series.

Nakajima also had a solid series. He was very good on defense and went 8-25 from the plate with two jacks, six rbi’s, two plunkings and two walks. His .414 OBP is very respectable against pitching as strong as he saw.

But the winner of the Japan Series MVP was the pitcher who won games four and six, Takayuki Kishi.

He started game four and pitched a complete-game shutout on November fifth before being called in to pitch 5.2 innings of relief last night (Nov. 9th). He threw 147 pitches in game four and another 91 in game six. In 14.2 innings of work Kishi gave up 10 hits and two walks against 16 strikeouts. His Japan Series ERA is 0.00.

Congratulations to the Saitama Seibu Lions and all of their fans on a great season and a remarkable Japan Series Championship victory!

Saitama Seibu Lions 4

Yomiuri Giants 1

(Tokyo Dome)

Well, folks, there’s going to be a game seven.

Saitama starter, Kazuyuki Hoashi, only made it through 3.1 innings, but Takayuki Kishi, another starter, saved the day by pitching 5.2 innings of shutout relief.

Hoashi gave up one run off of six hits, but he didn’t strike anybody out, and he issued one walk.

Hisanori Takahashi, Yomiuri’s starter, fared about the same. He got yanked after only 52 pitches (two innings!).

Providing the offense for Saitama was Hiroshi Hirao, the Lions first baseman. He went 3-4 on the night with a single, a three-rbi double and a solo home run. For the record, he drove in all four of Saitama’s runs tonight.

Also hitting well for Saitama was Tomoaki Satou. He went 3-4 with three singles. Meanwhile, Nakamura drew three walks, and both Kuriyama and Nakajima went 1-3 with two walks apiece.

Suzuki and Ramirez had a decent night on offense for Yomiuri, but only one run was produced.

Kishi (2-0, 0.00) took the win for Saitama while Takahashi (0-1, 6.14) went home with the loss.

The deciding game seven is tomorrow night at Tokyo Dome starting at 6:15 PM.

Yomiuri Giants 7

Saitama Seibu Lions 3

(Seibu Dome)

A seventh inning Wakui meltdown was the story of this game.

One out into the inning, riding a decent six frames of two-hit, one-run baseball (with six K’s against one walk), the wheels came completely off the Wakui express.

Prior to the great unraveling, Saitama was protecting a 2-1 lead. The Lions managed to score a single run in both the first and third innings off of Yomiuri starter, Kouji Uehara (who lasted only three innings, by the way), and Wakui had given up a solo home run to Abe in the second.

But then the tune of the downhill slide went a little something like this:

First, Ramirez doubled, then Abe brought him around on a single to right. All tied, 2-2.

Then Kamei immediately doubled to center to put guys on second and third.

That was followed by a triple by Wakiya that just barely stayed in the park. 2-4, Yomiuri.

Wakiya promptly trotted across home plate when Sakamoto roped a double to left. 2-5, Yomiuri.

And that was the end of Wakui’s night.

The truly shocking thing was that most of those hits only required one or two pitches. It wasn’t like guys were battling Wakui and fouling off pitch after pitch. The pitches just kept floating right over the middle of the plate, and the very next camera angle (for five batters in a row) generally showed the ball ricocheting off the outfield wall.

And now with the emergence of Daisuke Ochi as a postseason pitching machine, the Yomiuri bullpen is arguably better than the starting rotation–and I’m not really even counting Kroon.

Yes, Kroon was partly responsible for several dozen of his team’s wins during the regular season, but I’ll take Kiyoshi Toyoda (a former Seibu Lion) in the postseason anyday. When Toyoda pitches in the playoffs, batters do not make it to first base. Period.

Speaking of Kroon, he came on in the ninth and gave up a home run and a single before recording the third out.

Yomiuri now leads this series three games to two. The teams head east to Tokyo Dome for games five and six (if necessary).

Game five is on Saturday and starts at 6:15 PM.

Yomiuri Giants 0

Saitama Seibu Lions 5

(Seibu Dome)

Takayuki Kishi, Saitama’s 23-year-old starter that finished the regular season with a 3.42 ERA, had the game of his career tonight.

The second-year righty out of Tohoku Gakuin University pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout. He gave up one walk against 10 strikeouts in a dominating display that involved 147 pitches.

Yomiuri never managed to get more than one runner on base in any single inning.

Seth Greisinger, Yomiuri’s starter, got tagged for five runs (all earned) in five innings (and change) of work. He was yanked in the sixth before he was able to record a single out because Nakajima singled to lead off and Nakamura drilled his second two-run homer of the game (the plus-sized third baseman has now hit three home runs in the last two games). 5-0 Saitama.

Greisinger (9.00 ERA) gave up six hits and hit one batter while striking out only two. This was definitely not the same pitcher that we have grown accostomed to seeing over the past two seasons.

Game five, the final installment of this series at Seibu Dome, starts at 6:15 PM tomorrow night.

The series is now tied at two games each.

Yomiuri Giants 6

Saitama Seibu Lions 4
(Seibu Dome)

Saitama starter (and former Tokyo ace), Kazuhisa Ishii (7.50 ERA), took the mound for his first appearance in the Japan Series since 2001 and hoped to continue the good form he displayed during the Climax Series.

Ishii gave up six hits (including two doubles and two home runs) during his six innings on the mound. He struck out four, walked two and was charged with one wild pitch and five runs (one of which came via a wild pitch in the first).

Things looked pretty bad for Saitama after Yomiuri’s sixth inning with the score 0-5, but the top half of Saitama’s order started to get things going. Following Bocachica’s leadoff strikeout, Kataoka and Kuriyama both singled off of Yomiuri starter, Tetsuya Utsumi. That put runners on first and third because Kataoka had stolen second prior to Kuriyama’s base hit to left.

Nakajima then plated Kataoka with a single to center for Saitama’s first run of the night. 1-5 Yomiuri.

Then Pacific league home run champ, Nakamura, who hasn’t done much of anything during the playoffs, stepped up to the plate. By this point, Utsumi (5.1 IP, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 7 K’s, 5.06 ERA) had been replaced by Nishimura, and with two men on, Nakamura promptly deposited one of his pitches into the orange-filled bleachers in left. 4-5 Yomiuri.

But that was it for Saitama’s offense. They only managed one base runner after the four-hit explosion in the sixth, and that was by way of a walk.

Yomiuri set-up man, Daisuke Ochi, made his third appearance of this series, pitching a scoreless seventh and eigth, and still boasts an impressive 0.00 ERA in this championship series.

Suzuki and Ramirez both hit home runs off of Ishii, and Ogasawara added an insurance run in the eigth with a solo shot to right. The story of the night was Suzuki who went 3-4 with three rbi’s, ran the bases well (scored in the first) and played excellent defense. Ramirez hit into his third double play in as many games while going 2-4.

Kroon got the save (with a little help from the umpire) while working a scoreless ninth.

Game four is tomorrow night at Seibu Dome. First pitch is at 6:15 PM.

Saitama Seibu Lions 2

Yomiuri Giants 3

(Tokyo Dome)

A 9th inning sayonara homer from Alex Ramerez was the difference as Yomiuri evened the 2008 Japan Series at one game a piece.

Yomiuri took an early 2nd inning 0-1 lead off Lions starter Hoashi, before the Lions hit back in the top of the 4th.  A Kataoka double off Yomiuri starter Takahashi followed soon after by a homerun from Nakajima put the Lions ahead 2-1.

And at 2-1 it stayed until the bottom of the 6th when Kamei,  pinch hitting for pitcher Takahashi, hit a double to bring home Sakamoto to tie the scores at two all.

And so the the bottom of the 9th, where Ramirez hit a Okamoto pitch out of the park to provoke scenes of vomit inducing celebrations and back slapping from the muppets in orange.

The teams now take a day off before travelling the short distance west to Tokorozawa Tuesday for games 3, 4 and 5 at the Seibu Dome.

Saitama Seibu Lions 2

Yomiuri Giants 1

(Tokyo Dome)

Saitama drew first blood in this series on the back of an eight-inning, one-hit performance by starter Hideaki Wakui. Providing the run support were left fielder, Taketoshi Gotou, who slugged a solo home run over the wall in center in the fifth, and shortstop, Hiroyuki Nakajima, who belted a similar long-ball an inning later.

Mr. Tatsunori Hara, Yomiuri’s manager, gambled by having Kouji Uehara start game one against Wakui. My choice would have been Greisinger, but that’s just me. Not that Uehara pitched badly–he lasted seven innings, gave up only five hits plus one walk and a single hit batter. Pretty solid start, actually, but those two home runs were all it took.

Alex Graman took the mound in the ninth, and he looked to be in a little trouble after Takuya Kimura managed to beat the throw to first to make it one on with no outs. But Saitama second baseman, Yasuyuki Kataoka, displayed his range up the middle a second time and kept Yomiuri from moving pinch-runner, Takayuki Terauchi, over to second on a hard grounder up the middle off of Michihiro Ogasawara’s bat. In fact, Saitama nearly got the double play on that one, but that would have to wait.

With a man on first and one out, down by a run in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Ramirez stepped up to the plate. Nightmare, right? Ramirez had had Yomiuri’s only hit of the game before Kimura led off with a single in the ninth. Ramirez’s double in the fourth inning, aided by a bit of luck when the ball got away from Saitama right fielder, Hiram Bocachica, allowed Takahiro Suzuki to score (Suzuki had reached base on an error to lead off the inning, so Wakui didn’t get tagged with that run).

Fortunately for Saitama, Ramirez hit into the inning-saving play that the Lions just barely missed out on during Ogasawara’s at-bat. Ramirez slapped into a game-ending 1-6-3 double play, and the Saitama Seibu Lions will head back to Seibu Dome with no worse than a 1-1 split after the first two games of this series.

Game two is tomorrow night, again at Tokyo Dome, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:15 PM.