Orix Buffaloes 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 

Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LWLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The run production woes continue.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Orix	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	4	1
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: Hirano (3-1, 2.52 ERA) L: Tateyama (3-3, 2.36 ERA)

What do you need to know? After Wednesday’s blowout victory over 2011 Japan Series champion Fukuoka, the birds are a bit constipated run-wise.

Not fun.

Tokyo	Order	Orix
Fukuchi (LF)	1	Moriyama (CF)
Tanaka (2B)	2	Nonaka (LF)
Milledge (CF)	3	Ohbiki (SS)
Balentien (RF)	4	Lee (1B)
Hatakeyama (1B)	5	Gotoh (2B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Baldiris (3B)
Aikawa (C)	7	Kawabata (RF)
Morioka (SS)	8	Suzuki (C)
Tateyama (P)	9	Nishi (P)

Tokyo got off on the wrong foot in the top of the second when a 1-2 Tateyama offering (maybe a forkball?) headed straight down the middle and Baldiris clubbed it into the stands in left for the first run of the game.

Tanaka then led off with a single in the bottom of the fourth, and was pushed over to third thanks to two beanballs (Balentien and Miyamoto receiving). Aikawa came through with a clutch walk that forced Tanaka home, but Morioka was once again unable to do anything productive at the plate with the bases loaded.

1-1.

And that was basically

Tateyama was decent, but he got zero run support.

it on offense for the birds.

Orix scored again in the top of the fifth. It was only one run, but it was more than enough.

1-2 Orix.

Tokyo loaded the bases once again in the sixth, but Fujimoto took Morioka’s place as the goat this time.

Orix put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth with Oshimoto on the mound. A leadoff walk was followed by Lee’s second home run in as many games.

1-4 Final.

Pitching

Tateyama took the loss on seven innings (98 NP), three hits (1 HR), three strikeouts, one walk (2 HBP), and two runs allowed (both earned). His record is now 3-3 with a 2.36 ERA.

Hidaka pitched a scoreless eighth, but Oshimoto allowed two more runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach. Hidaka now sports a 0.60 ERA through 18 appearances, and Oshimoto is now up to 2.12 on the ERA meter in as many appearances.

Hitting

Hatakeyama and Aikawa had two-hit games. Other than that, there wasn’t anything to write home about. Balentien earns two hat tips for an HBP and BB.

Baldiris takes one for: a) being the first to follow two hit Tokyo batsmen, and b) hitting a homer in his first at-bat.

Notes

Tsubamegun, meet Offensive Slump. Offensive Slump, Tsubamegun.

Morioka, as great as he is both as a player and a teammate, is 0-3 in bases-loaded situations over the last two days.

Fujimoto pinch hit for Morioka on both Saturday and Sunday in important situations. We can only imagine what that is doing to Morioka’s head. Not good, no matter how you look at it.

Tokyo outhit Orix 6-4, but your birds weren’t able to hit when it mattered. Same story three games in a row.

Milledge was back in center field tonight. He had an easy night as only one of Orix’s four hits came near him.

How we lost this game is beyond me.

Now that Tanaka is no longer on bunt duty, the Tsubamegun faithful are strenuously looking forward to the days, weeks, and months when he’s a consistent threat at the plate (in addition to his thus far gold glove performance in the field).

Strenuously.

Your Tokyo Swallows will be in Chiba on Tuesday and Wednesday for a two-game set against the Pacific League’s leading team. Both games start at 6:15PM.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/20/52012-orix-home/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/04/03/quickies-april-3-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=quickies-april-3-2012 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/04/03/quickies-april-3-2012/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:06:17 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12129 Tokyo News

• Today’s home opener versus the Hanshin Tigers was obliterated by very unfriendly weather, so the clocks of the Tokyo faithful have been reset to 6PM Wednesday evening. We’ll see you there.
• Miyamoto took a pitch in the upper calf (just below the back of the knee) during Sunday’s game, and he’s apparently still feeling some discomfort. Ogawa was thinking about giving him the day off today, but the weather ended up rendering that decision unnecessary. If he feels alright tomorrow, then Miyamoto will likely start at third.
• Hatakeyama took a batted ball in the eye today. Wonderful. He’s talking like he’s OK, but his doctor says he has a broken eye socket. Stay tuned for additional updates on his condition. In the meantime, someone please tell Takeuchi to put his game face on.
• Orlando Roman was scheduled to start today’s game against Hanshin. His start will be skipped, and the Swallows will instead send Tateyama to the mound tomorrow.

Around the Central League

• Chunichi vs Yokohama got stormed out as well.
• In the absence of another Central League game to watch, I tuned in to the Hiroshima-Yomiuri contest. I must admit that it was quite enjoyable. Hiroshima’s starter, Kan Ohtake, and his amazing infield defense kept the Yomiuri bats at bay, and Houlton pitched well but wasn’t able to get through the sixth inning (his curve looks alright though). Sarfate looked just as nasty as ever in the ninth, and the Yomiuri were humbled by an 0-4 scoreline.

Around the Pacific League

• Saitama-Chiba got rained out due to all the holes under the cover at Seibu Dome. Excuse me for asking, but what’s the point of putting a dome on your stadium if it can’t keep out nasty weather? Meatheads.
• Fukuoka got shut out up in Tohoku, 0-4. This was a low-hitting affair all around, but Fernandez did hit his first homer of his second stint with the Eagles.
• Orix outhit Hokkaido at Sapporo Dome. In fact, three players recorded three hits each in helping the Buffaloes outlast the Fighters, 5-4.

T-minus just a bit over a week til liftoff.

We’re back with fresh intro/outro bookend music (care of Dave’s handiwork) and our prognostications about the 2012 NPB season!

With less than two weeks to go until opening day (Friday March 30th, 6PM, Tokyo Dome), we run through where we think the 12 NPB teams will finish the season with extra-special emphasis placed on your beloved Tokyo birds.

Key points:

• How much better will Yokohama be this year?
• What does Tokyo’s opening day roster look like?
• Can Yomiuri be stopped?
• Will Fukuoka and Chunichi repeat?

And you’ll never believe who we picked to win the Pacific League.

Enjoy!

Errata: At one point Christopher might have mentioned Schafer, but he actually meant Hart. 

The country's most famous knuckleballer will be playing in Japan in 2012.

Chunichi Dragons

• Signed reliever Jorge Sosa to a one year deal. Sosa has a 4.72 ERA through 294 big league appearances.

Yomiuri Giants

• NPB Tracker thinks the Giants should be legitimate contenders this year.

Hanshin Tigers

• Kubo and Hirano finally re-signed. The team shaved 40 million yen off of Kubo’s salary and tacked 30 of it onto Hirano’s.
• According to NPB Tracker, Hanshin are a lot like Tokyo before the 2011 season–on the outside looking in.

Hiroshima Carp

• This write-up over at NPB Tracker says that the Carp will be fielding another strong starting rotation even though Kuroda opted to spend another season in MLB.

Yokohama Baystars

• Alex Ramirez came down with the flu last weekend despite the fact that he allegedly got a flu shot before leaving the US. Funny things, those flu shots.
• First year manager, Kiyoshi Nakahata, who has been out of action with the flu, returned to spring camp on Tuesday donning the requisite facial mask. He hammed it up pretty big-time for the reporters on hand, so he seems to be feeling pretty well now.
• Patrick Newman says that the team should be a lot more fun to watch this year even though they look destined for a bottom-half finish once again.
• The team reported that it planned to kick the tires on three prospective imports at some point during spring camp. Wes Bankston, Chris Nowak, and Oscar Salazar are the players hoping to be offered a contract.

Pacific League News

• Fukuoka (Softbank) may have found a way to ensure a few more wins by signing Brad Penny from MLB. Penny notched double-digit wins for the Detroit Tigers last season but was released at the end of the season after playing out a one year contract.

Elsewhere in Japanese Baseball

• Gen has a handy post detailing the various suspensions handed out by Japan’s student baseball administrative body. The infractions range from smoking to beating the piss out of younger players. One suspension was meted for purchasing a train ticket in an illegal manner. Huh?
• Female knuckleball phenom, Eri Yoshida (20), will be pitching in the Kansai Independent Baseball League once again as she signed a deal with the 2011 champion Hyogo Blue Sandars. You may remember that Yoshida started her pro career in the KIBL back in 2009 with the now inactive Kobe 9 Cruise. She then signed with the Chico Outlaws early in 2010. Here’s an article with a little more information on what Yoshida experienced during her two seasons of minor league baseball in the US.

Kawakami back with the Dragons this year

Chunichi Dragons

• Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances.
• It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively.
• Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this season. He has experience playing all over the field, so he should give the Dragons several options in terms of where they can put him.
• The team lured the team’s former starter, Kenshin Kawakami, back from MLB. The last time he played in a Dragons uniform was the 2008 season when he recorded a 9-5 record and a 2.30 ERA. He moved to the Atlanta Braves as a free agent after that. Kawakami pitched well in 2009, but is now regarded as a bust in MLB. He spent most of last season at AA and ended the season with an ERA well above eight. Six million dollars for a crappy year at double A? Yikes.

Yomiuri Giants

• First year players Scott Mathieson (P) and John Bowker (OF) were unveiled to the media on Friday.

Hanshin Tigers

• Much like Tokyo, Hanshin has yet to figure out who will be manning center field this season. A number of names have been floated, including Ryo Asai, Shunsuke, Wei-Chu Lin and rookie Hayata Ito.
• Matt Murton’s wife has still not given birth to the couple’s third child, so there’s a very good chance that he will miss the beginning of spring camp.
• It looks like pitcher Yasutomo Kubo will re-sign with the team some time this week, but infielder Keiichi Hirano is still holding out.

Hiroshima Carp

• Brand new Carp pitcher, Cam Mickolio, and right-handed bat, Nick Stavinoha, were formally introduced to the media on Friday.

Yokohama Baystars

• The new Baystar uniforms are apparently due to be unveiled this weekend. Alex Ramirez may be one of the guys modeling the new kit.

Pacific League Notes

• Kiko Arai, daughter of Orix Buffaloes farm team manager, Hiromasa Arai, is highly attractive. Exhibit A, she was recently crowned Miss Japan.
• Hokkaido received the posting bid money (more than US$50 million for Yu Darvish) from the Rangers. Unfortunately for Hokkaido, however, investors are still guaranteeing the relative strength of the yen over the dollar and euro, so the amount received was basically the equivalent of a couple thousand dollars at today’s exchange rate.

Let's get this deal done already.

• The talk of Araki and Ibata switching back to their original positions, 2nd and short, respectively, continues. Not that anyone cares.
• Victor Diaz might be on the team’s radar. Diaz played in Korea in 2009.

Yomiuri Giants

• Hayato Sakamoto, Yomiuri’s prized homegrown shortstop, has been reaping the benefits of Shinya Miyamoto’s guidance this month. Hey, aren’t those trade secrets? You little git, give us those notes!

Hanshin Tigers

• New Hanshin manager, Yutaka Wada, has given in to Takuya Asao lust and is now babbling about having Fujikawa pitch the 7th inning. If…IF!… he has another top notch closer on hand. Which he doesn’t. And by the way, Mr. Wada, Fujikawa will continue to blow it in the playoffs no matter when you plug him into the game. Sorry.

Hiroshima Carp

• Hiroki Kuroda signed with the Yankees (one-year US$11 million deal). No word yet on whether or not Hiroshima plans to keep waiting.

Yokohama Baystars

• GM Shigeru Takada has injected some young blood into his wing of the building by hiring former Bobby Valentine (Chiba era) front office brain, Shun Kakazu. The 30-year-old has some MLB experience under his belt in the form of serving as San Francisco’s point man on talent in Japan. He has no pro playing experience, however, which makes him rare in front office operations as Patrick Newman pointed out.

Around the Pacific League

• The big news on Yu Darvish will be arriving with in the next few days. The deadline for an agreement is 5PM EST on the 18th (7AM Japan Standard Time on Thursday the 19th). That’s precisely 24 hours after the deadline for a decision on the Norichika Aoki situation.

It's the third year in a row that they've shared the podium together.

Shinya Miyamoto, Tokyo’s veteran infielder and now 41 years of age, was voted the best defensive third baseman in the Central League this season. It was the third time that he has won the honor in as many seasons.

That is, of course, in addition to the six Golden Gloves he had previously won at short.

By the way, Golden Gloves is not referring to boxing in this case. It’s the Japanese version of the Gold Glove awards in MLB.

Norichika Aoki, the team’s center fielder, won his sixth straight Golden Glove this season.

Aoki was second in outfielder voting behind Yomiuri’s Chono. Chono had his name checked by 192 of the 243 voters while Aoki received 179 votes. The third and final outfielder awarded a Golden Glove was Chunichi’s Ohshima (84 votes).

Balentien was tied with Yomiuri’s Suzuki for 11th place with six votes each.

Aikawa (C) and Tanaka (2B) both finished second in voting for their respective positions while Hatakeyama was third in the voting for first base, and Kawabata was fourth at short.

Tateyama and Ishikawa finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in voting for pitchers.

Below are the nine players selected for both the Central and Pacific Leagues.

Central League

Position	Name	Team	Times	Notes
P	Takuya Asao	Chunichi	1
C	Motonobu Tanishige	Chunichi	5	1998, 2006-07, 2009, 2011
1B	Kenta Kurihara	Hiroshima	3	2008-09, 2011
2B	Keiichi Hirano	Hanshin	2	2010-11
3B	Shinya Miyamoto	Tokyo	3 (9 total)	3B = 2009-11 SS = 1997, 1999-2003
SS	Takashi Toritani	Hanshin	1
OF	Hisayoshi Chono	Yomiuri	1
OF	Norichika Aoki	Tokyo	6	2006-11
OF	Yohei	Ohshima	1

Pacific League

Position	Name	Team	Times	Notes
P	Masahiro Tanaka	Tohoku (Rakuten)	1
C	Toru Hosokawa	Fukuoka (Softbank)	2	2008 (Saitama), 2011
1B	Hiroki Kokubo	Fukuoka	2	3B = 2010-11 2B = 1995 (Daiei)
2B	Yuichi Honda	Fukuoka	1
3B	Nobuhiro Matsuda	Fukuoka	1
SS	Hiroyuki Nakajima	Saitama (Seibu)	2	2008, 2011
OF	Yoshifumi Okada	Chiba (Lotte)	1
OF	Yoshio Itoi	Hokkaido (Nippon Ham)	3	2009-11
OF	Tomotaka Sakaguchi	Orix	4	2008-11

Click here to view the page in Japanese on NPB’s website.

Fukuoka win the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

The following are the results of the 2011 Japan Series. Pacific League champion, Fukuoka, host Central League pennant winner, Chunichi, for the first two games of a best-of-seven series. Games three through five are to be played at Nagoya Dome, and the final two games, if necessary, will be played once again at Yahoo Dome.

This is a rematch of the 1999 Japan Series, back when the Hawks were known as Fukuoka Daiei. Back then, current Fukuoka manager, Akiyama, was the team’s captain, Johjima was behind the plate, and current Tohoku manager, Hoshino, was at the helm for Chunichi. Hoshino’s opposite number in the Fukuoka dugout was none other than the venerable Sadaharu Oh.

Fukuoka won the championship that year.

Game 1 
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 12, 2011 at 1PM

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	4	1
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
W: Asao L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi - Chen Fukuoka - Wada				HR: Wada (Chunichi) solo in 7th off Wada. Koike (Chunichi) solo in 10th off Mahara.

	Chunichi		Softbank
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa DH
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo 1B
6	Tanishige C	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Koike LF	8	Fukuda LF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Chen P		Wada P

Chunichi lead series 1-0.

Game 2
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 13, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	7	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	0
W: Hirai L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi -Yoshimi Fukuoka - Sugiuchi

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo DH
6	Koike LF	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Fukuda 1B
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yoshimi P		Sugiuchi P

Chunichi lead series 2-0.

Game 3
Nagoya Dome
Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 6:00 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	4	12	1
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	4	1
W: Settsu L: Nelson S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Settsu Chunichi - Nelson				HR: Tamura (Fukuoka) 2-run off Nelson in 4th Hosokawa (Fukuoka) solo off Suzuki in 8th

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Tanishige C
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata RF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Ohshima CF
9	Settsu P	9	Nelson P

Chunichi lead series 2-1.

Game 4
Nagoya Dome
Wednesday November 16, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
W: Houlton L: Kawai S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Houlton Chunichi - Kawai

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Nomoto RF
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Houlton P	9	Kawai P

Series tied 2-2.

Game 5
Nagoya Dome
Thursday  November 17th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	5	10	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
W: Yamada L: Chen			Starters: Fukuoka - Yamada Chunichi - Chen

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Tamura RF	6	Koike RF
7	Hasegawa CF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Yamada P	9	Chen P

Fukuoka leads series 3-2.

Game 6
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 19th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
W: Yoshimi L: Wada S: Asao			Starters: Chunichi - Yoshimi Fukuoka - Wada

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Yoshimi P		Wada P

Series tied 3-3.

Game 7
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 20th, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Fukuoka	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	X	3	8	0
W: Sugiuchi L: Yamai S: Settsu			Starters: Chunichi - Yamai (RHP) Fukuoka - Sugiuchi (LHP)

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yamai P		Sugiuchi P

	Play-by-Play	Score (CD-FH)
Chunichi 1st	Sugiuchi pitching. 1. Araki ground out (GO) to 3rd. 1 out. 2. Ibata K's looking. 2 outs. 3. Morino GO to pitcher.	0-0
Fukuoka 1st	Yamai pitching. 1. Kawasaki GO to second (1-1 count). 1 out. 2. Honda single to center (1-0 fastball). 3. Uchikawa up with Honda taking a big lead. Honda caught trying to steal second (he was safe, actually). Uchikawa K's looking.	0-0
Chunichi 2nd	4. Blanco sticks around with a full count for a few pitches. Sugiuchi flipping back and forth between heaters and sliders. Blanco watches ball four. 5. Wada, responsible for both of Chunichi's runs last night, pops a 2-2 fastball up to 2nd. 1 out. 6. Hirata up with man on 1st. K's swinging at 2-2 changeup. 2 outs. 7. Fujii up. 1-0 fly out (FO) to center.	0-0
Fukuoka 2nd	4. Kokubo GO to 1st. 1 out. 5. Matsunaka GO to short. 2 outs. Yamai looks sharp. Sharper than Sugiuchi at this point. 6. Matsuda K's looking on the third pitch of his at-bat.	0-0
Chunichi 3rd	8. Tanishige, hitless so far in postseason play, comes to the plate against Sugiuchi. K's swinging at the third pitch he sees. 9. Ohshima 1-2 infield fly to short. 2 outs. Sugiuchi's control looking better now. 1. Araki foul fly near 1st base.	0-0
Fukuoka 3rd	7. Tamura lucky bloop hit over Blanco's head. Araki chases it down. 8. Hasegawa rips a double to center that Ohshima should have caught. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. 9. Yamazaki quickly gets the count to 3-0. Draws a four pitch walk with the help of a couple squeeze bunt feints. Bases juiced. Yamai yanked. Kobayashi takes the mound. 1. Kawasaki up. Bases loaded. No outs. Full count. Kawasaki draws a walk! Tamura scores from 3rd. 2. Honda 1-2 foul fly to the catcher. 1 out. Kobayashi yanked. Nelson in to pitch. 3. Uchikawa almost has his head taken off by an errant 1-2 pitch. 2-2 pitch is weakly popped up to right. Hasegawa holds at 3rd. 2 outs. 4. Pops the first pitch he sees up to center.	0-1
Chunichi 4th	2. Ibata easy GO to short. 1 out. 3. Morino K's swinging. 2 outs. 4. Blanco grounds first pitch to left for Chunichi's first hit. 5. Wada FO to right.	0-1
Fukuoka 4th	Nelson, Chunichi's third pitcher, is still on the mound. 5. Matsunaka fouls what would've been an extra-base hit off the wall in right. He then draws a walk. 6. Matsuda successfully sac bunts Matsunaka over to second. 1 out. 7. Tamura 2-2 pitch FO to center. Matsunaka stays on 2nd. 8. Nelson intentionally walks Hasegawa. 2 outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 9. Yamazaki up. Quickly behind 0-2. 2-2 pitch sliced to shallow right. Matsunaka just gets past the tag. If the throw had been on line, then he would've been out. 1. Kawasaki, with runners on corners and 2 outs, lines out to left.	0-2
Chunichi 5th	Sugiuchi pitching. 6. Hirata full count. Infield single to pitcher. 7. Fujii watches as Hirata gets his signs mixed up and is thrown out in a rundown between 1st and 2nd. 1 out. Full count. GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 8. Tanishige K's with a feeble swing.	0-2
Fukuoka 5th	Nelson still pitching. 2. Honda K's on 3 pitches. 3. Uchikawa GO to pitcher. 2 outs. 4. Kokubo swings a golf club and misses again. K.	0-2
Chunichi 6th	Sugiuchi's 6th inning. 9. Ohshima K's swinging at a slider. 1 out. That was Sugiuchi's 6th K tonite. 1. Araki FO on 2-2 pitch to left. 2 outs. 2. Ibata, picking his eternal wedgie the whole time, comes to the plate. 2-2 broken bat GO to 3rd.	0-2
Fukuoka 6th	Nelson's 4th inning. 5. Matsunaka K's looking. The ump is calling a very wide zone tonite. TBS keeps showing us replays of the pitches with the camera directly behind the pitcher. Wow. 6. Matsuda infield single to short. Beats the throw after a fantastic grab by Araki. 7. Tamura, batting .360 so far in this series, is 1-2 tonite. Matsuda steals 2nd safely on 1st pitch. Tamura accidentally moves the runner over on a check-swing tap to 1st. 2 outs. 8. Hasegawa up with runner on 3rd. 0-1 pitch FO to 3rd.	0-2
Chunichi 7th	Sugiuchi pitching. 3. Morino 1st pitch hard grounder back to the pitcher. 1 out. 4. Blanco guessing wrong on sliders, but bounces one past the second baseman for his second base hit of the night. 2nd baseman should've had it, but it was to his backhand side. 5. Wada K's swinging. 2 outs. 6. Hirata watches the count go to 3-0, swings way too early at a third consecutive changeup, then draws a fourth ball. Runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. 7. Fujii watching Sugiuchi continue his onslaught of changeups. Fujii falls behind 0-2, then pulls back to 2-2. K's on yet another changeup.	0-2
Fukuoka 7th	Asao on the mound. How many innings is he going to pitch? 9. Cabrera (PH for Yamazaki) K's swinging at three straight pitches. Asao owned him there. Embarrassing. 1. Kawasaki draws a nine pitch walk. 2. Honda 'safety' bunt attempt is met with a good fielding play by Asao. 2 outs. Kawasaki safe on 2nd. 3. Uchikawa single scores Kawasaki from 2nd. Uchikawa reaches 2nd on the play. 4. Kokubo GO to 3rd.	0-3
Chunichi 8th	Falkenborg pitching. 8. Tanishige, still without a hit in 42 post-season at-bats, K's swinging yet again. 9. Nomoto (PH for Ohshima) K's swinging on 3 pitches. 2 outs. 1. Araki K's swinging as well. Dominating performance by Falkenborg. Chunichi in all sorts of trouble.	0-3
Fukuoka 8th	Iwase takes Asao's place ono the mound for Chunichi. 5. Matsunaka works the count full. K's swinging at a high slider. 6. Matsuda GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 7. Tamura bounces a single up the middle into center field. 8. Hasegawa manages to lift the 2-2 pitch over Araki's head for a single. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 2 outs. 9. Hosokawa fouls off the first two pitches he sees. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh pitches as well. He finally K's looking at the 8th offering from Iwase. Last three outs for Chunichi.	0-3
Chunichi 9th	Falkenborg takes the mound again. 2. Ibata, 2 for 24 so far in this series, falls behind quickly 0-2. But then Ibata does the improbable and lines the ball of Falkenborg's throwing arm (elbow?). He reaches 1st safely, and Falkenborg, in obvious pain, is out of the game. Ibata on 1st. No outs. Morifuku takes the mound. He looks a little nervous. 3. Morino falls behind 0-2. GO to short, but Morino beats the DP throw. 1 out. 4. Blanco FO to right. 2 outs. Fukuoka switching pitcher to Settsu to try and get the final out. 5. Wada takes a strike down the middle. Strike two on the outside corner of the plate. But then Wada works a full count. However, Wada went down swinging at a fastball down the middle.	0-3
Fukuoka 9th	Let the celebrations begin!	0-3 FINAL

Fukuoka wins the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

Central League

2nd place Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs 1st place Chunichi Dragons

All games will be played at Nagoya Dome, home of the Chunichi Dragons.

*As 2011 Central League champions, Chunichi enters the best of seven series with a one game advantage. In other words, just pretend that the Dragons and Swallows already played the first game and that the Dragons won. Yes, we agree that it’s stupid.

Pacific League

3rd place Saitama Seibu Lions vs 1st place Fukuoka Softbank Hawks

All games will be played at Yahoo Dome, home of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

*As 2011 Pacific League champions, Fukuoka enters this best of seven series with a one game advantage. In other words, just pretend that the Hawks and Lions already played the first game and that the Hawks won. Therefore, they already lead the series 1-0.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 0

Tokyo Swallows 0

Streak: Drew 1   Last 5: LLLLD

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Not a very enjoyable day at Jingu. This game was called after five innings of steady drizzling. The mound had just about turned to mud.

Fukuoka

With no run support, this one was a wash.

1. Kawasaki SS
2. Honda 2B
3. Uchikawa LF
4. Kokubo 1B
5. Tamura RF
6. Matsuda 3B
7. Hasegawa CF
8. Hosokawa C
9. Iwasaki P

Tokyo

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Hatakeyama 1B
4. Balentien RF
5. Guiel LF
6. Miyamoto 3B
7. Morioka SS
8. Aikawa C
9. Tateyama P

Tateyama threw a one-hitter through five and allowed only walk. He mixed in six strikeouts as well to keep Softbank off the board.

But Tokyo’s offense was again unable to get anything going.

Iwasaki was effective enough as he was able to get our right-handed batters to chase his low-and-away slider on several occasions. He gave the Swallows three walks and an HBP (Guiel picking up right where he left off), but the rest of Tokyo’s lineup was unable to make him pay.

Tokyo had the bases juiced in the third with two outs, but nothing came of it. In the fourth, again with two outs, it was runners on first and second, but no dice. And in the fifth there was only one out and Tanaka was standing on second, but both Hatakeyama and Balentien struck out waving at outside sliders to end the threat.

So it’s good that we didn’t drop another game, yes, but Tokyo really should have scored at least one run.

Tateyama’s ERA now rests at 1.66 after those five scoreless innings.

Tanaka was the only player to record multiple hits in this contest. He was also the only player from either team to reach base twice.

Tokyo’s next series is a short two-game affair at home against Orix on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Both games start at 6PM.

Notes:

Kawabata was diagnosed with a bruised thigh and will likely be unavailable for three weeks.

Tokyo has several other options at short. Araki, Morioka, Onizaki and Fujimoto are a few of the names that you’re likely to see in the next month or so. Unfortunately, they have not yet registered a hit between them (although, to be fair, Araki and Fujimoto have yet to register an at-bat this season).

Balentien is leading the league with a .352 batting average and mammoth .781 slugging. However, he’s hitting only .200 with runners in scoring position. Trying to do too much?

The only regular whose average is currently worse with runners on second and/or third is Whitesell (.154).

Tateyama takes a seat as the grounds crew was called in.