Series Recap: Both series get knotted up

Tigers 3, Cardinals 1 -


Kenny Rogers Kenny Rogers Kenny Rogers Kenny Rogers. Heres a fun fact about today, one of the NFL's best rookies in recent years (Shawne Merriman) got suspended for steroids. Let me go ahead and try to find a column about that. Oh wait, there aren't any. It's not even in the top 5 NFL stories on Yahoo. Kenny Rogers has a smudge of dirt on his hand and all of the sudden reactionary cunts like Dan Wetzel make a huge deal of it. Whoooa it's almost like Gaylord Perry didn't make a career out of that! Anyway, the game. There was no real semblance that this was a game at any point until the ninth inning, when Todd Jones proved that you can suck and still save a three run lead. You can argue about Zumaya and Walker and Rodney being better choices to close, but in a three run game, it doesn't really matter all that much. Teams with a three run lead in the ninth win something like 98% of games.

Fighers 5, Dragons 2

Fuck, I can do this hold on.





FUCK.



Ok, ok.

Ok. The Fighters got a two-run single from Makoto Kaneko in the seventh to take a 3-2 lead and hand forty-one year old Masahiro Yamamoto a loss. Fernando Seguignol added on a two-run home run in the eighth for the final scoreline, and Micheal Nakamura picked up the save. Rookie Tomura Yagi went 6 for the Fighters, allowing just 3 hits and a walk, but two of the hits were solo homers, by Fukudome and Hirokazu Ibata.

Series Recaps: The AL can't hit Braden Looper and Tyrone Woods gets the Bonds treatment

Cardinals 7, Tigers 2

Not much of a chance to point out strategic moves in this game, as the Cardinals handily won the battle of the starters and it was an AL game. I didn't watch any but the last inning of it so I can't comment on the umpiring. I bet the Tigers weren't expecting to lose to Anthony Reyes. It was the first NL World Series win since Game 6 in 2003. All of the sudden, I find myself not rooting against the Cardinals so much. Or at least not caring much if they win. It would rub it in the face of all those AL superiority cunts, and also would make the Mets look better in retrospect even though everyone smart will know that it doesn't matter much.

Dragons 4, Fighters 2

A poor start for my predictions as Kenshin Kawakami overcame early jitters to put up a good effort for he Dragons. Tyrone Woods was walked twice and went 1-2. Alex Ochoa has a chance to become one of very few players to win a World Series and a Japan Series. Bonus points if you find out who the others are with baseball-reference, because I'm sure not that dedicated.

Japan Series Preview

CL Winner) Chunichi Dragons (87-54-5) (All other stats for CL as of Oct. 10th)
653 RS, 482 RA (.647 pyth %)
Team Avg: .270/.333/.409
Team ERA: 3.10


PL Winner) Nippon Ham Fighters (82-54-0)
567 RS, 452 RA (.611 pyth %)
Team Avg: .269/.323/.418
Team ERA: 3.05
Defeated Softbank Hawks 3-0 in the second stage of the PL Playoffs

Based purely on momentum, this series looks to be the Fighters for the taking. Nippon Ham came into the last week of the season in second place by one game against Seibu, and with Softbank just two games behind facing them in a huge three game series. The Fighters plugged Softbank, sweeping them and taking first place after Seibu faltered against Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines. After a pitching-dominated two game sweep of the Hawks in the second stage (The #1 seed gets an automatic win in the PL playoffs) in which they allowed just one run, Nippon Ham will look for more of the same against the Dragons.

Chunichi came into September with a nine game lead on my beloved Hanshin Tigers, and despite a 16-4 record put up by Hanshin (who have the coolest curse in baseball), still managed to wrap up the season early last week with a five-run twelvth inning on the Yomiuri Giants.

The Pacific League winner has won the last three Japan Series, with the last CL title coming by Yomiuri as a four game sweep back when they still had Hideki Matsui in his prime. However, two of the last three series have gone to seven games.


Dragons Regular Lineup
Masahiro Araki (R) 2B, .297/.337/.355, 2 homers, 28-35 SB
Hirokazu Ibata (R) SS, .280/.353/.363, 8 homers, 17-29 SB
Kosuke Fukudome (L) RF, .351/.436/.648, 30 homers, 11-13 SB
Tyrone Woods (R) 1B, .312/.403/.640, 47 homers, 143 RBI's
Alex Ochoa (R) CF, .278/.345/.429, 15 homers, 77 RBI's
Kazuki Inoue (L) LF, .308/.338/.475, 11 homers (263 AB's)
Masahiko Morino (L) 3B, .278/.319/.390, 9 homers, 50 RBI's
Motonobu Tanishige (R) C, .229/.343/.343, 9 homers, 70 BB's

The Dragons are led by former Red Sox farmhand Tyrone Woods, who won the CL HR (47) and RBI Titles (144) hitting behind Kosuke Fukudome. Before getting into Japanese baseball, Woods was a firefighter in Tampa. Fukudome, probably the crown jewel of the Nippon League after Daisuke Matsuzaka gets posted this offseason, won the batting title at .351 and also led the CL in OBP (.436), SLG (.648), doubles (46), and runs scored 115).

Another key player is Alex Ochoa, who was the man Chunichi signed after the ridiculous voiding of Kevin Millar's contract. Ochoa, however, has gotten old enough that Dragons manager Hiromitsu Ochiai loves to put him in LF through double switches that involve CF Hidenori Kuramoto (.215/.266/.237) when the Dragons have the lead. Chunichi has no real bench hitters to throw out there when the series shifts to Hokkaido and allows the DH, look for Kuramoto to get some starts in center at that point.

Araki and Ibata, despite their mediocre bats (especially Araki's), have both won back-to-back CL Gold Glove awards and back-to-back CL Best Nine (think Sporting News All-Star nomination, except voted on by over 200 people and people give a shit) appearances. Inoue is ancient, so he may very well be the DH in Hokkaido. Tanishidge is also pretty old, but he's had a long and established career (177 homers and 1406 hits, 1 Best Nine spot in 1998).

Fighters Regular Lineup
Hichori Morimoto (R) LF, .285/.343/.413, 9 homers, 13-22 SB
Kensuke Tanaka (L) 2B, .301/.358/.415, 7 homers, 21-28 SB
Michihiro Ogasawara (L) 1B, .313/.397/.573, 32 homers, 100 RBI
Fernando Seguignol (B) DH, .295/.356/.532, 26 homers, 77 RBI
Atsunori Inaba (L) RF, .307/.355/.522, 26 homers, 75 RBI
Tsuyoshi Shinjo (R) CF, .258/.298/.416, 16 homers, 62 RBI
Jose Macias (B) 3B, .229/.264/.344, 3 homers, 21 RBI
Shinji Takahashi (R)/Shinya Tsuruoka (R) C, .258/.289/.363 and .241/.251/.340
Makoto Kaneko (R) SS, .254/.300/.380, 6 homers, 7-8 SB

The Fighters lineup is keyed around a deadly 3-4-5, with Ogasawara, Seguignol, and Inaba all being equally dangerous. Ogasawara led the PL in Home Runs (32), RBI's (100), and extra-base hits (64). He has a couple of years experience at third base, so manager Trey Hillman (rumored to be a possible managerial candidate for the Texas Rangers) may play him at third while they lose the DH so that Seguignol can stay in the lineup. Ogasawara also won back-to-back Best Nine awards at third before Bobby V's club swept the voting last year (even Matt Franco won a Best Nine in 2005!). Another reason to do this is because Jose Macias can't hit. Even in the Nippon Leagues.

Seguignol put up solid numbers again in his third season for the Fighters, he's now over 100 homers in the Nippon League. A fun fact about Fernando is he was once traded straight up for John Wetteland, and that his son is named "Kendall". Inaba had one of the best seasons of his had an exemplary career, which even had included a workout to judge potential MLB interest at one point. The 26 homers this year is a career high.

Morimoto has had a career season for the Fighters, mostly fueled by his batting average (career .231 coming into this season). Kensuke Tanaka, his fellow twenty-five year-old tablesetter, got his first chance to play this season and came through with a huge year. Kaneko is a pretty solid shortstop overall, with no real strengths and no real weaknesses. Takahashi had a HUGE year in 2004, hitting .285/.345/.535 with 26 homers, but since then has battled injuries and ineffectiveness. Tsuroka is a pup.

Tsuyoshi Shinjo is one of the most popular players in Japan thanks to his wacky antics, and this will sadly be his final year as he has announced he will retire after the year. Shinjo has 3 Best Nine Appearances and 8 Gold Gloves, including 6 in a 7 year span. He is also probably naked right now. Or dressed as Darth Vader. My favorite Shinjo antic is that for a few games late in the season, he had a scrolling LCD belt buckle and put messages on it. I only wish I knew what they said.

Dragons Staff
Kenshin Kawakami (R) 16-7, 2.55, 189-39 K/BB in 212 innings
Kenta Asakura (R) 12-6, 2.83, 103-33 K/BB in 149 innings
Masahiro Yamamoto (L) 11-7, 3.38, 121-36 K/BB in 167 innings
M. Soto (R) 9-3, 2.25, 81-23 K/BB in 125 innings

CL Hitoki Iwase (L) 2-2, 1.33, 40 saves, 42-8 K/BB in 54 innings
Masafumi Hirai (R) 5-3, 2.32, 22 holds, 43-16 K/BB in 62 innings
Katsunori Okamoto (R) 4-1, 3.46, 18 holds, 55-25 K/BB in 52 innings
Yoshihiro Suzuki (R) 1-0, 1.71, 8 holds, 54-15 K/BB in 52 innings
Yuichi Hisamoto (L) 2-2, 1.76, 3 holds, 19-12 K/BB in 30 innings

You couldn't ask for 3 more experienced starters for a playoff series. Kawakami is only 31, but has already shown that he is an elite pitcher, he's never had a "dominant" season but he's very consistent. Twenty-five year-old Asakura broke through in a big way this year, as his career ERA before this year was 4.18, most of the improvement came from cutting his walks. 41-year-old Yamamoto became the oldest player in Nippon history to throw a no-hitter this year, and has been a franchise icon for the Dragons since joining them in 1988. He also pitched in America briefly for the Vero Beach Dodgers, where he acquired the screwball. I have next to no information on this Soto kid, but his numbers are threatening enough that I might start him ahead of Yamamoto.

Iwase has won the saves crown the last two years, and is as good as it gets in the late game. The rest of the pen is the class of the CL, but not quite up to the Nippon Ham pen. Hisamoto is the only lefty, which limits the matchups that Ochiai can play late in games.

Fighters Staff
Tomura Yagi (L) 12-8, 2.48, 108-51 K/BB in 171 innings
Yu Darvish (R) 12-5, 2.89, 115-64 K/BB in 150 innings
Satoru Kanemura (R) 9-6, 4.48, 57-43 K/BB in 143 innings
Naoyuki Tateishi (R) 3-2, 2.72, 26-15 K/BB in 49 innings

CL Michael Nakamura (R) 5-1, 2.19, 39 saves, 67-20 K/BB in 65 innings
Hirashi Takeda (R) 5-3, 2.09, 40 holds, 61-8 K/BB in 81 innings
Hideki Okajima (L) 2-2, 2.14, 20 holds, 63-14 K/BB in 55 innings
Yoshinori Tateyama (R) 3-3, 3.06, 8 holds, 30-10 K/BB in 47 innings
Oshimoto 5-0, 1.50, 6 holds, 30-16 K/BB in 36 innings

The Nippon Ham resurgence can be traced directly to their top two starters, rookie twenty-two year-old Tomura Yagi and sophomore twenty-one year old Yu Darvish. Darvish, best known for being caught smoking at age eighteen and being sent back to the Hokkaido training complex, won Game 1 of the Second Stage with a complete game 1 ER gem. Yagi won Game 2 with a shutout. Kanemura was actually banished for the Second Stage because he called out manager Trey Hillman after he was not allowed a chance to win his tenth game of the season, saying that a foreign manager doesn't care about his players stats. They have kissed and made up, but look for him to be on a short leash anyway as he is by far the worst starter in this series for either team.

Mike Nakamura (former Blue Jay) dominated in his first season in the Nippon Leagues, leading the PL in saves. Takeda actually was better last season, when he had a 0.79 ERA in 34 innings. Okajima has closing experience with Yomiuri, and rebounded after a couple of poor years in a row. The other two aren't as good, but lets face it, if we get to those two, the game probably isn't close.

Chunichi has the clear advantage in the rotation, Nippon has the clear edge with the bats, and a slightly better bullpen. Last year, Bobby V demolished the overmatched Tigers in the JS, 4-0. I like Chunichi a lot, but I think the Fighters bring Hokkaido it's first Nippon League Title.

Fighters in 6.

Japanese Baseball: Matsuzaka and Saito have a duel for the ages

Pacific League Playoffs
Seibu 1, Softbank 0 - Both Kazumi Saito and Daisuke Matsuzaka came into this game dealing, and it was a true pitchers duel as Kazuhiro Wada doubled in the games only run in the seventh when Hiroyumi Nakajima and Alex Cabrera strung together back-to-back singles with nobody out. Both pitchers threw a complete game, Saito went eight, giving up four hits and two walks, while striking out nine. Matsuzaka went all nine, yielding just six hits and striking out thirteen and hitting four different batters. Sadaharu Oh decided to seperate his best hitters out while letting Jolbert Cabrera bat third, and Jolbert left five runners on base.

Central League Playoff Push
Hanshin 5, Yomiuri 3 - Hanshin put up a furious rally in the eighth to win their ninth out of ten and pull within two of the Chunichi Dragons in the CL. Tomoaki Kanemoto hit his twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth homers of the year, including a three-run shot in the eighth to break up a 2-2 tie. Kyuji Fujikawa gave up a run in the ninth to raise his ERA to 0.7, but picked up his seventeenth save. Yoshinobu Takahashi hit his fifteenth homer in the top of the eighth to tie the game for the Giants.

Yokohama 3, Chunichi 2 - Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada played the percentages and got burned in the eighth. With a 2-0 lead, he brought in LHP Masato Kobayashi to face three left-handed hitters in a row, and despite walking the first, he had gotten a strikeout and a quick popup. He then turned to RHP Shinya Okamoto (4-1), as there were three right-handed hitters in a row. Okamoto walked the first batter, then gave up a three-run game losing homer to Shuuichi Murata (33rd). Marc Kroon picked up the save for the Bay Stars, his twenty-sixth. Chunichi's magic number stayed at four.

Hiroshima 4, Yakult 3 - In a game dominated by ex-MLB players, the Swallows jumped off to a 3-1 lead off a homer by Adam Riggs, his thirty-eighth (good for third place in the CL). Alex Ramirez hit his twenty-fifth homer, a three-run bomb that made a loser out of Masaki Hayamashi (2-4). Shinjo Takatsu picked up his thirteenth save with a shaky (1 bb, 1 h) ninth.

Japanese Baseball Update - A Dicky Gonzalez sighting!

Rakuten picks high school fastballer Tanaka in draft- Apparently the Japanese draft system is just a little different from ours. In the first round, every team may select any player, and then through a complex lottery (with records and all that), players claimed by multiple teams are awarded to one team for exclusive negotiation rights. Teams that fail to recieve the player get an alternate pick, which may also be subject to lottery. Tanaka was named on the most bids in the first round, with 4. He throws around 95 and in his free time, has a thing for grafitti. Naoichi Domoue was selected by three different clubs and awarded to Chunichi, despite being a shortstop who hit fifty-five homers in high school.


Somewhere, the Japanese version of this man is screaming at people about this.

The standings in the CL show us a two team race down the stretch:
CL
Chunichi 75-49-5, .605, -- (M# 12)
Hanshin 75-55-4, .577, 3
Yakult 64-64-2, .500, 13
Yomiuri 62-71-2, .466, 17.5
Hiroshima 56-70-5, .444, 20
Yokohama 52-76-3, .406, 25

In Chunichi's last game, they were stifled by Dicky Gonzalez, who pitched a four-hitter to win 4-1. The amazing Kosuke Fukudome provided the only offense for the Dragons, a solo shot in the second inning. He is leading the CL in batting average (.356), OBP (.441), OPS (1.110), doubles (40), and runs (105).

In the PL, where the season ends a little earlier because they actually HAVE a playoff system, we're looking at this:
x-Seibu 79-53-2, .598 -- (M# 2)
x-Nippon Ham 80-54-0 .597 0.0
x-Softbank 75-53-5 .586 2.0
Lotte 63-69-1 .477 16.0
Orix 51-80-3 .389 27.5
Rakuten 45-83-4 .352 32.0

Bobby Valentine's squadron will not be defending their title this year. Seibu has 2 games left, Nippon Ham and Softbank have 3, 2 of which are against each other. Lets all root against Seibu, who are best known for unleashing Kaz Matsui on the American mainland. Those sick bastards.

Either way, with all three having already clinched, expect a playoff preview sometime in the near future. The rest of the season is still VERY important, because after seeing it's top two teams lose in it's first two years of adopting a playoff system, the Pacific League has guaranteed the winner of the regular season both the bye, homefield, AND one free win in a best-of-five.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Dragons P Masahiro Yamamoto for becoming the oldest player in Japanese baseball history to throw a no-hitter, 3-0 over Hanshin. Yamamoto, 41, held the Tigers without a hit or a walk (the perfect game was ruined by an error). Hanshin is relying heavily on other teams to help them win the CL, as they are a pathetic 5-13-1 against the front-running Dragons.