Regular Season: Dragons vs Giants @Tokyo Dome, May 5th-8th; Viciedo: destroyer of worlds, Naomichi to the rescue

A week behind at the moment, farm stuff is on hold indefinitely while I catch up. 

The Dragons took on Yomiuri Giants, in what I am now choosing to dub the “Mr Baseball Classic,” for three whopper games at the Tokyo Dome. Somewhat mixed feeling for Dragons fans as the Giants have the potential to punish, the Dragons line-up hasn’t been firing and our away form hasn’t been too hot. I certainly wasn’t expecting much out of the series but who knows. It’s baseball and in the current state of the Central League, there’s really no such thing as an upset as all the teams are pretty inconsistent and no one team is showing any particular dominance so far this season.

Game 34 of the season would see Shunta Wakamatsu up against the young Jun Hasegawa for the first face off at the Tokyo dome this season between the two teams.

Takeshi Kaneko would come in for the injured Ryosuke Oguma for the only team change.

The opening blow would come off the bat of Soichiro Tateoka in the third as he drove home Seiji Kobayashi two make it 1-0 to the Giants. Hasegawa’s first outing of the season looked to be progressing until the Dragons made their comeback in 5^th inning as a Hirata sac-fly allowed Ohshima to come home to score, 1-1. Ricardo Nanita would push the Dragons into a winning position with a hit into the right sending Masahiro Araki into score, 1-2. With that Makoto Tahara was brought in to relieve for Hasegawa and his first contribution to the game was an awful baulk to third which allowed Viciedo to trot home to open the deficit to 1-3. Truly absent minded. Hernandez would make things worse for Tahara as he hit for two bases sending Nanita home to make it 1-4.  Sakamoto would do his best to bring things back with his solo homer in the 6th.

However another Hirata hit would put Araki into score to keep the difference at three, 2-5. Hernandez would continue his run of RBIs to send his captain and Viciedo into score making it 2-7 on the night. A big win!

Hernandez hit 3 RBIs today to certainly stake his claim over the likes of Masahiko Morino and Tetsuya Tani for the spot at third-base. The only thing that will count against him is the foreign player limit of four on the roster. Araki absolutely raked as he hit four in five at-bats. Stunning from the veteran chasing his 2000^th career hit. Hirata was the man of the moment though as he came through at important intervals to claim two RBIs with Ricardo Nanita claiming the final scoring hit.

Game 35 would see a return to the mound for Drew Naylor while Imamura, the pitcher responsible for the Giants loss against the Dragons in Nagoya earlier this season, would be Naylor’s rival on the night.

The night would start off on a sour note for Chunichi as, after one strikeout,  Naylor was withdrawn from the mound after suffering from some elbow soreness. Not great for the starting rotation when you include Oguma’s injury against the Tigers. Hiroto Fuku was brought on for long-relief duties  and had one scary moment against Sakamoto, as Fuku’s pitch was sent clanging into the fence and luckily not over it. Fuku however stayed calm and fanned Garett Jones to end the inning.

Scoring started for the Dragons at the top of the second as Viciedo opened his shoulders inhis first plate appearance of the night and swiftly sent Imamura’s pitch over the fence for a solo homer and the first run of the game, 0-1. 

The party would continue for the Dragons attack as Katsura’s hit loaded the bases allowing the unlikely hero, Fuku, to bat home his first pro-RBI, 0-2. Imamura’s wayward pitching continued against Ohshima as a walk bumped in another run before  Hirata hit home two to make it 0-5. With the batting line-up now coming full circle, Viciedo stepped up, addressed the situation, and with runners on 1^st and 3^rd, dispatched another pitch over the fence to claim a 3-run homer! 

His second, in the same inning, in a consecutive at-bat! Crazy scenes!  Hayato Sakamoto would claim one back through a solo homer in the 4^th.

That would be all she wrote as the Dragons ran out 1-8 winners.

Viciedo was the man on the night to make a massive difference. 4 RBIs, two homeruns in 4 plate appearances. El Tank has been rolling along very nicely. Big wraps too for young Fuku who ran out as winning pitcher as well as achieving  his first RBI in pro-ball. Another big win against the Giants, as good as it gets really. The injury to Naylor isn’t the best, but neither have his performances been in honesty.  It will be interesting to see who fills the 6’5” peg in the starting rotation.

Game 36 would see the return of former Bluejay, Raul Valdes to the starter’s mound for his first appearance of the season. I must admit I was thinking the 38 year old would be lucky to make any type of appearance this year. Injuries have helped. Hayato Takagi would start for the Giants to try and claim his 3^rd win of the season.

Yuu Satoh and Valdes were the only two addition to the squad while Drew Naylor's injury saw him de-registered from the roster for the time being.

The Dragons would be the ones to start the party as Naomichi Donoue launched one into the right stand to grab a solo homer. 

Araki would take advantage of Valdes’ surprise good contact and send the Cuban pitcher home to score in the 5^th. Hirata would then oblige Ohshima as his sac-fly allowed the number 8 speedster to score and make it 0-3. Donoue would however be in the midst of things again in the 6^th as he sent Nanita and Hernandez home with timely single to make it 0-5. Kataoka hit back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer into the left stand.

It would be Donoue again, with the bases loaded, hitting a high Mathieson pitch into the outfield  to send 3 home and make it 2-8. Hirata would continue the damage in the 8^th inning with a 3-run homer off Yamaguchi to firmly rub the salt into the wounds of the Giants to make it 2-11

. 

The Giants would take a liking to Takeshi Kaneko in the 9^th though as Kamei hit a 2-run homerun to make it 4-11.

The last laugh would be had by Kaneko however who closed out the game with no further loss.

You can take nothing away from Naomichi Donoue today as his performance with the bat was nothing short of outstanding. He claimed a personal best of 6 RBIs on the night while his captain, Ryosuke Hirata picked up 4.  A season high of 17 hits marked a stark contrast to the batting line-up that failed to show up against Carp and the Tigers.  Valdes also marked his return with a well-earned win where his unique throwing style picked up 7 strikeouts giving up 2 earned runs.

Three great wins for the Dragons and the first sweep of the Giants at the Tokyo Dome since 2006 when the Dragons won the Central League with a team studded with the likes of Tyrone Woods, Masahiko Morino and a certain Masahiro Araki (who is now 86 hits away from the magic 2000).  Not much of an omen really with the up and down form of this team, but certainly a refreshing change in the breeze to send a buoyant Dragons into the day break with 3 big wins under their belt. The win would send the Dragons top of the league, but as Tanishige mentioned “there’s still about 100 games left…”

Regular Season: Dragons v Carp @Mazda Stadium, April 29th - May 1st; We don't Mazda stadium, oh no, we loathe it.

It was another 3 games in Hiroshima this weekend after a series win against the Baystars during the week. The previous trip to visit the Carp in Hiroshima was a bit of a disaster with a rain delay protecting the Dragons from the sweep, but the same luxury wouldn't be on offer this time around as the weather was looking good over Western Japanese skies as 3 games were up for grabs. The Carp have been in somewhat spectacular form of late with the batters producing a fair share of runs. Ryosuke Kikuchi has been at the heart of the batting while Maru and Arai have been making headlines as well, the latter mostly for his passing 2000 career hits in the midweek fixtures against the Yakult Swallows.

Shuta Wakamatsu was up to the mound for another start in Hiroshima after being somewhat unsuccessful in his last bout while Hiroki Yokoyama started on the mound for the Carp.

The main squad change for the Dragons was the departure of the misfiring Fukuda for the on-fire Kei Nomoto who was finally rewarded for his superb run in the 2-gun team where he is averaging over .400

Game 27 started off well for the Dragons in the top of the 2nd as a walk to Viciedo brought with it a rally of singles from Nanita and Hirata. With bases loaded Donoue hit a sac fly into right field to allow Viciedo to score to make it 1-0. Scoring would continue through Katsura who hit a single to let Nanita score to make it 2-0. Wakamatsu's attempt at a bunt would however end in agony as he bunted into a double play to end the inning.

It would take until the 4th inning for the Carp to be inspired into a counter-attack. Kikuchi was fanned by Wakamatsu but 3 straight walks to Maru, Matsuyama and Eldred loaded up the bases to put the in-form Seiya Suzuki up to the plate. A hit to centre allowed the the Carp to get back on level terms as Maru and Matsuyama ran home to make it 2-2. Abe took the 4th walk of the inning to load up the bases again but Wakamatsu escaped as he fanned Ishihara and induced Yokoyama into a ground out.

The Carp would pile on the pain in the following inning. Tanaka grounded out at second while Kikuchi hit a triple to stand on third. Maru then allowed his team-mate to get in to home with a single to take the lead for the first time of the day. Matsuyama then stepped up and hit a double into right-field sending Maru home to make it 4-2. It would end the night for Wakamatsu and bring Matayoshi in to stem the tide. But the side-arm would give up a double to Suzuki to turn the game on its head and establish a 4-run lead, 6-2.

At the top of the 6th, there would be some positives for the the Dragons as Takahashi was given a walk to start the inning. Up was brought Viciedo who hit a big dinger in the backscreen to give the Dragons some hope at 6-4.

Nanita's following hit would end the night for Yokoyama who was replace by Imamura. Hirata hit a single to join Nanita and a bunt from Donoue set the two up on 2nd and 3rd base. Morino was brought on to pinch-hit for Katsura and the veteran milked a walk to load the bases. A chance was now given to the in-form Nomoto to pinch-hit for Matayoshi but the form wouldn't convert over this time as the worst possible outcome was achieved as Nomoto grounded into a double-play to end the inning.

It would prove to be a costly miss for the Dragons as in the 6th, with Okada coming in for Matayoshi. The inning would start with the removal of Kikuchi and Tanaka but a walk to Maru stopped the succession of outs. Matsuyama then stepped up with a double to allow Maru to score, 7-4. Further damage was inflicted by Eldred who hit a single to get Matsuyama home and make it 8-4. Seiya Suzuki otherwise in fine form, fell victim to Okada with a fly out to end the 6th.

The damage would increase in the 7th as Abe got on base and was bunted to 2nd by Ishihara. Arai came in to pinch-hit but ground out at short but allowed Abe to get into an easy scoring position at 3rd. At 2 outs, Okada's pitch got the better of his catcher and allowed Abe to score, 9-4.

The rest of inning passed without incident aside from a notable triple from Ohshima in the 9th but a Kamezawa fly to the catcher ended the game at 9-4. Another pretty devastating loss to the Carp in Hiroshima. There were chances to get back into the game after going down early, but the Carp were just too good with the bat today in their home environment. Suzuki and Matsuyama were particularly devastating.

Game 28 of the season would be spell out a first appearance for Junki Ito who was in line for a start against the Giants in Kyushu before the earthquakes ensured the games would be called off. With his de-registration following that game it was reported that he wasn't in the best of moods. That kind of showed when he pitched in the 2-gun as he gave up a 3-run homer to Hikaru Ito in an 11-4 loss to Orix. I was personally surprised he was given a chance on the back of that performance, but perhaps it was a promise that needed to be fulfilled. The youngster would however be up against former Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda in what would be a David and Goliath like battle.

Ito pitched well in his first 3 innings, well at least as well as the score can suggest, but the opening innings was marred by an injury to golden boy, Shuhei Takahashi. A particularly hard pitch in the 4th rattled Shuhei's bat and also managed to fracture a bone in his right hand ending his participation in the game early. He is set to go under the knife on the 6th of May, and young slugger is optimistic that he will be back "in 2 weeks." That seems unlikely, but it has opened the way for Masahiko Morino who was subbed in after Takahashi's injury.

It was to be an untimely injury as it spurred the Carp into life. Matsuyama's ground out was followed by a Brad Eldred solo donger to open the scores at 1-0.

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 Suzuki would make way to base care of a poor throw from Morino at third bringing Abe to the fore. Abe then hit a timely two-base hit to ensure Suzuki would score to make it 2-0. Ishihara could not continue the scoring as he ground out at third and Kuroda played all around Ito to strike out and end the inning.

The Dragons crept back in the top of the fifth. Nanita and Hirata were unreliable this time around as they both fell victim to Kuroda but a single from Donoue allowed Sugiyama to approach the plate. The catcher has been very good in this pinch situations and his following two base hit allowed Donoue to score to put the scores at 2-1. Ito, the pitcher in a hitters situation was unable to help out Sugiyama at second as he ground out to a sinking pitch.

Just as you thought the Dragons were working a way back into, the Carp taketh away. In the bottom of the fifth Ito gave up singles to Tanaka and Kikuchi brought Maru to the plate. The skillful outfielder took one look at a dodgy Ito pitch and sent the following one into the crowd for a three-run homerun, 5-1.

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Matsuyama would then fly-out before Eldred took advantage of a Donoue fumble to get onto 1st base. It wouldn't matter in the end as consecutive fly-outs to Suzuki and Abe ended things.

The game was getting harder and harder to watch for Dragons fans an after the 6th inning, one couldn't be blamed for turning off the telly. With Matayoshi now replacing Ito, he took two quick outs to get rid of Ishihara and Kuroda. Tanaka and Kikuchi would repeat what they did in the 5th to put runners on first and second. Maru would then repeat the exact same thing he did in the previous innings by sending a ball into the right-hand stands to make it 8-1 with a consecutive 3-run homer.

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Matsuyama would thankfully ground out to end things but what a disaster for the Dragons.

The Chunichi boys would start things positively in the top of the 7th as Hirata doubled to begin things. Donoue tried to get things moving but his grounder to second base only allowed his captain to 3rd. Now with Sugiyama at the plate, the catcher did what he does best as he smacked another single to make it 8-2. Fujii pinch-hit for Matayoshi but unsurprisingly failed to contribute while a grounder to first spelled the end of Ohshima and the innings.

To add insult to injury the Carp would continue their assault as they took a liking to Hiroto Fuku in the 8th. Ishihara would fall early, but hit into left from Tobayashi, which was then fumbled by Nanita, allowed the Carp man to second. Tanaka picked up his third hit of the night and scored Tobayashi to make it 9-2. Kikuchi couldn't make the most of things this time as he ground out in the infield. Fuku made sure then not to give Maru a third consecutive homer as he hit the Carp man to move runners to 1st and 2nd. Akamatsu's hit however would send Tanaka on his way home to put the score into double digits at 10-2. Arai would then pile on the misery with a double, sending both Maru and Akamatsu into the sheds, 12-2. Just, ugh.

Dragons would try to limit the damage in the 9th as Hirata doubled and Sugiyama was walked, but Fujii couldn't make the difference as the game ended at 12-2. A pretty bad loss. Hirata's two doubles and Sugiyama's two singles were about the only thing to write home about and with Takahashi set to be out for a semi lengthy period, the darkness seemed to be setting.

Game 29, the last of the series, had the objective of nothing more than avoiding the sweep.

Shingo Takeyama, a catcher and Ryuya Ogawa were added to the team to replace the injured Shuhei and the shell-shocked Ito.

Aussie Drew Naylor started this game (there's a really good interview with Drew on the JapaneseBaseball podcast here) with 28 year old Yuya Fukui starting for the Carp.

First blood would be drawn by the Carp in the bottom of the first. Tanaka would be walked to start things while Kikuchi bunted him to 2nd. Maru would then again be allowed to walk while a fumble from Morino at third allowed Arai to move to load the bases. Naylor would take down Matsuyama with a strikout, but a walk to Suzuki meant that the Carp would take the lead 1-0 after Tanaka trickled into base. Naylor would be able to fan Abe however to end the inning.

The Dragons started their counter-attack in the third as Naylor started things off with a double. A high and straight one at Ohshima saw the outfielder grounded out at second while Naylor moved to third. Kamezawa then came into bat and his timely double put Naylor home to even the scores up at 1-1. Morino struck out to put two outs on the board but that wouldn't worry Viciedo as he doubled to send Kamezawa home to make it 1-2. Nanita would then ground out to end the innings.

Just to let all know, as it is golden week in Japan, I have just a few drinks to go with a BBQ, so the report may get more interesting or less coherent as we go from here. Let's see what happens!

The Carp struck back in the third inning. A walk to Kikuchi would start things while Maru would get to base at the expense of his team-mate to move to first. He would however steal second to make up for any ground lost. Arai would take another walk while Matsuyama's grounder would get Maru to third but have Arai out at second. Suzuki's single however would get the scores to 2-2 and a poor throw from Ohshima ensured runners on 2nd and 3rd however Abe was unable to make anything of it as the inning ended.

The Dragons would rally once more at the top of the 4th as Hirata started things off with a walk. Donoue singled, but after a fumble from Suzuki in right field Hirata was able to make it home to allow the Dragons to take the lead at 2-3. A hit from Sugiyama plus a bunt from Naylor would put runners on 2nd and 3rd but Ohshima couldn't make the most of it. Kamezawa loaded the bases with a walk but Morino could only fly-out to end the inning.

Chunichi extended their lead in the 5th as Viciedo and Nanita got onto base to start things. Hirata's double would send Viciedo home to make it 2-4 to the Dragons. This enforced a change for the Carp as Fukui was withdrawn for Toda. Toda however could not prevent Donoue's triple as he sent two home to put the Dragons 2-6 to the good. Toda would keep his nerve however and see out the rest of the inning.

The bottom of the fifith would break my and many Dragons hearts. Two outs would start the inning as Kikuchi and Maru ground out but the last out would remain elusive as Arai got on to base followed by Matsuyama. With Suzuki now up to bat, you wouldn't blame anyone for walking him, but on a 1-0 count he hit a single to make it 3-6. Abe continued things for the Carp as he hit two home to make it 5-6. Naylor now just hanging on gave a hit to Aizawa before Eldred was brought on to pinch-hit for Toda. The American slugger was to be judge, jury an executioner as he struck a powerful three-run homerun to take the lead for the Carp and leave a frustrated and broken Naylor to think about what could have been.

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The Australian pitcher gave an almighty yell when bat connected with ball and one could only feel sorry for him as the ball sailed over the fence to take the lead for the carp at 8-6.

Maru would return to inflict the pain in the 6th inning as after another Morino fumble, Kikuchi took to 1st base while Maru threw the bat and made another homerun to send the scores to 10-6.

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Relatively deflated, the Dragons made back one run in the final inning as Hirata made a single followed by Donoue's out. Nomoto would hit as a pinch-hitter for Sugiyama to put runners on 1st and 2nd while Fujii sent Hirata home to make it 10-7. Tani would try his best to make the most of the situation but flew out to end the game.

3 very bad losses in Hiroshima and really there can be no excuse. The Dragons were over powered in all games and didn't pitch well enough in the tiny Mazda stadium. While they were able to muster 16 hit to the Carp's 10 in the final game, it wasn't when it counted and the homeruns given up to Maru and Eldred really hurt efforts to get back into the game.

Takahashi's injury will also be a big talking point out of these games and with Morino making two errors in his starting debut this year, there will be question marks as to who can fill in there long-time. My hope is to see Donoue move to 3rd with Tani or Hernanez at short-stop. Ishikawa has been the main third-baseman for the 2-gun team, but he is far from good enough for the first-team at the moment.

Starting pitchers are also a worry as none of the three did well enough. Wakamatsu has it in him but I am worried about Naylor. I think the Aussie can be very, very good on his day, but his control and reading of the batters could be better. He may well still be settling in in Japan but if you look at someone like Jordan, you have to wonder how much that really counts. I want him to do well, but I'm worried he can't succeed outside of the Nagoya dome and Jingu at this rate. The Junki Ito experiment was one that had to be done, but well, the less said the better. He's still young though and has a spot in the starting rotation of the second team.

Bring on the Tigers for the next round of games over the Golden Week!

NB: Due to time constraints and the imminent birth of my first child, I will be trying out a much more condensed and less time-consuming method of match reports. It currently takes me about 3 hours to get one of these up and running with all the gifs. I want to continue this blog, so making it more concise is the best I can do. I hope you guys don't mind the new format.

Regular Season: Dragons vs Swallows @Nagoya Dome, April 22nd-24th; Duels decided at the death.

The Dragons and Swallows shared 38 runs in the three game series at Nagoya Dome in some big scoring, big hitting innings that included 7 home runs. The two teams made a joke of the "pitcher paradise" tag the Nagoya dome has to serve up a great meal of baseball fit for an Italian extended family visit. The Swallows have been very up and down this year but they are still an outfit not to be trifled with. We lost two games fairly convincingly at Jingu early this year and only sweet revenge would do in the first reverse fixture. 

As there is so much action in these games, I'm going to save my sanity a little bit and only talk about the scoring innings. I've already put this report off for too long as it is! 

Game 21 of the season would be marked with the new bluish alternate "Shoryu" uniforms given out to all members of the crowd and worn by the team. The dome was a wonderous wash of blue as Shunta Wakamatsu took to the mound in the first. Unfortunately Manager Tanishige was out of the game with the flu. The addition of the day was the return of Ryosuke Hirata. Would he be able to make an instant impact on his return?

The batting didn't go to plan for the Swallows in the first, but it certainly did for the Dragons. Ohshima would lead off in the regular way and hit a single to start things off positively. Araki's hit into left would allow Ohshima to skip to third while the veteran approaching (slowly) 2000 hits sat on first. With Ohshima now in a scoring position, Takahashi would oblige and smack a single into the left field to make it 1-0.

 Now with runners on 1st and 2nd, Ishikawa on the mound for the Swallows must have got the nerves coming up against Viciedo as he walked the big man to load bases. In the purplest of patches, Ricardo Nanita stood up to the plate to single to make it 2-0. 

Hirata's first plate appearance back from injury would be an easy one as he too was walked to allow Takahashi to score, 3-0. Donoue would then connect with one to nick a single to allow Viciedo in to make it 4-0 in the first. 

With bases still loaded, Sugiyama, Wakamatsu and once again, Ohshima, couldn't inflict any further damage. 

Yakult would get back into the game in the 3rd as after a Sakaguchi single, Wakamatsu gave up consecutive walks to Kawabata and Yamada to load the bases. Vladimir Balentien wouldn't waste time putting his stamp on the game as he hit a single to send two home, 4-2. The scoring would continue with a center sacrifice fly from Yuhei to allow Yamada to score to make it 4-3. Imanami would fall victim to Wakamatsu to put two outs on the board but a single from Ohbiki would even up the scores at 4-4. Nakamura would be the last to fall to end the inning and begin the sucking of teeth among the Dragons staff. 

The batting line-up and Ishikawa would help save Wakamatsu's blushes in the next batting stanza. Nanita would start things off with a double while a ground out for Hirata allowed the Dominican to move to third. Donoue took a walk to put runners on 1st and 3rd and it would be Sugiyama who would restore the lead with a single of his own to send Nanita home and make it 5-4. A sac bunt from Wakamatsu allowed runners to 2nd and 3rd while another walk to Ohshima loaded up the bases once again. That was enough for the Swallows skipper, Manaka, as he pulled Ishikawa from the mound to be replaced by Matsuoka. It wouldn't stop Araki though, as he hit to put two runners home but found himself out as he overreached in bizarre fashion getting tagged out on the way to second base, 7-4. 

Chunichi's attack would continue in the 5th as Hirata got straight to work, teeing off on Kazahari, sending him over the fence to make it 8-4. 

Donoue's single would take him to first before Sugiyama obliged once again with a triple to send the short-stop home to make it 9-4. 

Wakamatsu, Ohshima and Araki would unfortunately leave the catcher hanging on third base as they all failed to register a hit. 

Yakult made a return in the 6th as Ohbiki started things off with a double. Nakamura would be given a walk and that was enough for Shigekazu Mori, the head coach and stand-in for Tanishige tonight, to replace Wakamatsu with Takuya Okada. A fly out from Tanaka would allow Ohbiki to third and a sacrifice fly from Sakaguchi would allow him to score to make it 9-5. Okada would then help Kawabata on his way as he ground out to end the inning. 

Perez would take the next inning for the Swallows, but the reliever would face a stiff start. After dismissing Takahashi, Viciedo took a walk before Nanita went out to a short-liner. With Viciedo on second Hirata made his next big contribution with a double to send the big Cuban into score to make it 10-5. Donoue would then fly out to end the inning. 

Yakult would score once more in the 8th as Sobue started off the inning for the Dragons. The former Toyota man allowed two runners to base before he was replaced by Hitoki Iwase. The veteran ground out Takeuchi, but with a runner now on third, Sakaguchi made contact with a hit at the second baseman to allow Ohbiki to score for the second time on the night, 10-6. Kawabata would end the inning once again as he holed out to second. 

It would not be the end of the story as the Dragons immediately replied. A triple from Takahashi to lead-off the inning made it easy work for Viciedo, as he sent the youngster from Kanagawa home to make the scores 11-6.

Fukutani would have some nerves in closing out the game but ultimately ended things without issue. 

A fantastic return for Hirata including a homer, 2 RBIs and a walk that lead to a team mate scoring capped off a great night for the captain. Wakamatsu would barely walk away with the win, but you would normally expect a better performance. His radar was off a bit today but his team bailed him out this time.  

Game 22 of the season was once again highly contested. The Swallows bat well when on song, but their pitching doesn’t run too deep. The opposite could probably be said for the Dragons who have a pretty good bullpen and a decent starting rotation with an on/off batting line-up but given some recent form there has been room for optimism.

Another Saturday night back at the Nagoya dome and the team was back in their regular jerseys. Yoshimi was thrown back into the rotation following his rest after last pitching against the Giants and it would be Swallows ace Ogawa who would start things off for the Tokyo side.

The Dragons would draw first blood in the bottom of the first. Donoue, batting at 2 today, scored a double after Ohshima grounded out at short stop. Shuhei’s ground out to first base would then allow Donoue to move into a scoring position at third. With Viciedo now up to bat, the odds of a scoring play increased but the big Cuban was given a walk by Ogawa to put runners on 1^st and 3^rd. It would however be the in-form, all round good guy, Ricardo Nanita that would send home Donoue on a 2-2 count with a hit into left-field,1-0.

 Hirata would unfortunately strikeout to end thing, stranding Viciedo on third.

Yakult would get one back in the top of the third as Yoshimi gave up a homerun to none other than last year’s “Triple-Three” man, Tetsuto Yamada, 1-1.

The scores would not remain the same for long as at the bottom of the same inning, Ohshima tripled to move to third which allowed Donoue to score him with a single to make the scores 2-1. Things wouldn’t stop there as after Shuhei struck-out, Viciedo took a liking to an Ogawa pitch to slam a double and send Donoue home, 3-1 runner on second. Nanita would once again prove decisive as he clobbered his first homer in Chunichi colours into the right stand to make it 5-1. 

Hirata would hit to get on base to follow, but Hernandez ground out into a double play to end the inning.

Life would be sucked out of the game for a short while but it would rev back into the swing of things in the top of the 6^th with Yoshimi pitching to Balentien. While the wiley pitcher removed the Netherlands international, he gave up consecutive hits to Yuhei and Ohibiki to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd, 5-2. Takeuchi would step up and his hit combined with Ohshima’s poor return allowed Yuhei to step home. Nakamura would now step up to the plate with Ohbiki on 3^rd and Takeuchi on 2^nd and the catcher hit a sacrifice fly to Hirata in right-field to allow Ohbiki to score., 5-3. Ogawa would be switched out for Tanaka and Yoshimi allowed the pinch-hitter a walk to first. A consecutive walk to Sakaguchi led to Yoshimi’s replacement by Takuya Okada who coaxed a strikeout from Kawabata to end the inning. 

Still in control, the Chunichi bullpen kept things quiet going into the final inning. So too the Yakult pitchers.

Into the top of the 9^th and Fukutani would be given responsibility to clean up and seal another win. A strikeout of Yamada set things to a good rhythm to start off, but a very nonchalant solo homer from Balentien put a bee in the bonnet as the score crept up to 5-4. 

 Yuhei would be the next batter up, and with a fly out, the count was at two outs. Only one more to go; a walk to Ohbiki however convinced Tanishige that this was the moment for an experience arm as he called Iwase up to the mound to relieve the encumbent closer. Things wouldn’t improve however as Iwase gave up a hit to Araki to put 2 runners on base. Still good. All calm, only one more. Nakamura would be the next to walk up to bat. A big swing from the catcher rose, and rose and rose….finally into the right hand stands to nestle with the green-clad Yakult supporters.  A homerun to turn things around in the 9^th, 5-7.  Iwase, in complete disbelief, finished off the inning but was obviously shell-shocked.

Ondrusek would be the saviour for the Swallows in the bottom of the 9^th however as despite valiant efforts to get back into the game from Morino and Kudo, the big American closed out what was to be an unlikely win as he struck out Takahashi with a fork-ball to end the game.

What a game. The Dragons have won in similar circumstances this season a few times already and it’s never fun being on the wrong end of it. Viciedo took two walks and an RBI today to end another good performances and the 2 RBIs for Nanita, including his first homer in Japan, was a delightful takeaway from the game as well. Yoshimi looked okay coming back but will be obviously a little disappointed with the result, but the most disappointed will be Iwase who has the NPB record for saves, who blew his chance to close out the game and add to his legendary tally.  Peres would be the winning pitcher for the Swallows with Ondrusek claiming the save.

Game 23 would see the likes of Drew Naylor, the Swallow destroyer, to the mound for the final game of the series. The Aussie has never lost to the Swallows in 5 outings, would he be able to maintain that record?  Rookie, Hara, who came up against Naylor at Jingu earlier this season started for the Swallows.

The only change for the Dragons today was the addition of Achira as a long-term reliever to replace Yoshimi. 

Things would not start well for Naylor as after removing Sakaguchi, he gave up a hit through centre to hit leader, Kawabata. With the ever dangerous Yamada up at the plate, it would take only a mild lapse in control to see the ball sail over the fence. With the count at 2-2, Naylor would be the less happier of the duellers as Yamada sent the Australian’s pitch into the stand to make things 0-2. 

Naylor would strike back against Balentien with a strikeout, but gave a walk to Yuhei. Ohbiki couldn’t make it count this time as he had in previous games as he struck out as well to end the inning.

It wouldn’t be long for the Dragons to reply as in the bottom of the first Ohshima struck a triple to move into a scoring position at third. Donoue took a walk to bring Shuhei to the plate. The youngster would unfortunately ground out at short stop, but Yohei “Speedy Gonzalez” Ohshima took off home to make it 1-2. Viciedo would however ground out into a double play to prematurely end the innings. 

Yakult would take the initiative again in the 3^rd inning as after striking out Kawabata, Naylor, now wary of Yamada, walked the Yakult 2^nd baseman. A wild pitch from Naylor would however allow Yamada to move to 2^nd. Imanari, in to replace Balentien who went off with an injury, would not profit from the situation, but Yuhei would as he hit Yamada home. However, underestimating the outfield arm, he found himself out at second to end the inning. Naylor seems to have good spurts, but his penchant for giving up early runs isn’t an endearing quality. Naylor would however see out 7 innings in the end as Takuya Okada once again came into to relieve in the 8^th inning and duly took 3 straight outs.

Akiyoshi would be brought to the mound for the Swallows in the 8^th inning and Fujii would be brought in to pinch hit for Okada. Fujii won the first battle of the inning as he managed an infield hit to get to first base. Ohshima would not endear himself to Fujii as a ground ball to short stop saw the latter out at second base. Donoue elected to walk to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd. Shuhei would then follow Donoue’s lead and take a walk of his own to load the bases with Viciedo coming in to bat.  One can only hope for the best with Viciedo. He leads the team in RBIs, homers and average. When he steps up to bat, you know something special will happen. Reasonably fresh off a walk-off homerun against Hanshin, could he work some similar magic against the Swallows? The answer? Yes. With a 3-1 count, Viciedo lunged into a tasty looking pitch and sent that little white spherical good thing into the centre-right stand to claim a game turning, grandslam homerun, 5-3.

The ball was once again thrown to Fukutani to make the save. Thankfully, the closer would find his range tonight as he ended the inning to complete the save and claim a fantastic 5-3 turn around win.

Viciedo was the hero once again and his only telling contribution with the bat today was the big one. Hirata was the best of the batter today as he picked up 2 hits and a walk in his 4 plate appearances.

Another win eluded Naylor, but it was a win 2 years in waiting for Okada. Most importantly, or least, depending on your perspective, was the loss-less streak against the Swallows for Naylor. 6 straight games against the Tokyo team for no loss. Not a bad record to have!

We had three fantastic games this week with a lot of drama, a lot of runs and some good heroes. Hirata’s comeback series was superb and the line-up looks all the more impressive with him in it. Yoshimi continues his return to full fitness but he’ll be unhappy with the loss, albeit not going against him.

Now perched at 2^nd on the table, things are looking good from up on high. If some key personnel, namely Yudai Ohno, can make a comeback quick smart, there will be not much wrong with the team that’s supposedly in transition. A very unpredictable Central league has helped things, but so far so good early on! 

Regular Season: Dragons vs Tigers @Nagoya Dome, April 15th-17th; Viciedo the Tiger Killer; It's a walk off!

Before I get into the report I would just like to thank all of you, my readers, for doing what you do best, read. Since I started this blog a little under a month ago, I have received over 1000 views. That's a big complement to me and I really appreciate those of you reading what I write. I enjoy writing and I love talking about the Dragons so it's great to have so many to share with. Thank you all. I hope I can continue to keep the updates as frequent as I can, and maybe with a bit of luck, I might be able to make some improvements and throw up some feature articles when I get a bit of time off work.

Anyway, enough with the pleasantries. Lets get to the naughty bits. A big 3 games against Hanshin in our glorious home in Nagoya. The Tigers gave us a good match-up a the Kyocera dome in the opening series and 3 closely fought games lead to the Dragons walking way as 2-1 series losers. Dayan Viciedo announced himself to the NPB in those three games with 3 magnificent dongs. Would he be able to replicate the magic in Nagoya Dome? Let's see if the Tiger terror strikes fear into Hanshin hearts and turn them into the veritable kawaii kitties they can be.

Game 18 of the Dragons season started on a fine Friday night in the Nagoya Dome. Dominican Jordan Norberto made his second start in the rotation as Atsushi Nohmi started on the mound for the Tigers. Jordan wasn't able to grab a win in his starting debut as a draw against the Baystars was all the team could muster, but the lefty pitcher looked good in that outing and if the batting fired, he would get a win.

It was a solemn night however as Japan was rocked with a series of earthquakes in the southern island of Kyushu where the prefecture of Kumamoto was particularly affected. Masahiro Araki is a native of the area and it is possible that he was left out of the side on compassionate grounds. His family is okay for the time being as the prefecture continues to be rocked. Hiroto Fuku as well, a member of JR Kyushu last year, sent out his regards and well wishes to his former teammates and co-workers.

As for team changes; Toshiya Okada and Daisuke Sobue came in for an injured Yudai Ohno and a misfiring Ryuya Ogawa. The blow to Ohno is a big one as the Chunichi injury list grows, but the team would have to do without him as it was planned to move Daisuke Yamai back to the starting rotation to replace the influential lefty.

Now for the action:

Jordan worked through the first of the Tigers batting line-up grounding out two. The final out would come from a greedy Egoshi who was gunned down at second base by Katsura as he tried to steal.

The bottom of the second inning would bring the Dragons out for the first attack. Yohei Ohshima would start off well as he hit into the left to pick up a single. Taiki Mitumata, the former Buffalo, took one for the cause as he bunted to allow the speedster, Ohshima to get to second. Takahashi struck-out for what would not be the first time tonight to bring Viciedo to the plate with 2 outs and a runner on second base. The big Cuban rarely disappoints in these situations as he hit a single to put Ohshima into a scoring position at third base. Ricardo Nanita would step up to the plate as the 5th batter. I've become a bit of a Nanita fan as I really like his swing. It has a quick action and he uses a short bat, but it looks cool. That swing would come in handy as the 34 y/o outfielder knocked one into right field to allow Ohshima to score, 1-0.

Tetsuya Tani would come in behind the Dominican and the infielder would take to the first pitch served at him as he knocked it into a gap in the right field to allow Viciedo to score, 2-0.

 Akasaka would however not be able to continue the scoring as he grounded out to second to end the inning.

Jordan would continue his own assault on the Tigers batting lineup as he went through three batters very quickly to turn over the reigns to the Chunichi attack once more. The innings would start of similarly to the last with two quick outs to begin the inning. Katsura struck-out while Jordan lackadaisically tried to put his bat in the general zone as he struck-out as well. Ohshima came up to bat once more and it was the same result as his previous at-bat, as the outfielder nicked another single through left-field. Mitsumata, this time without the luxury of an out up the sleeve to move Ohshima around again, grabbed a single of his own to put runners on first and second. Nohmi, still unable to get that last out, then faced young Shuhei Takahashi. Another pinch moment player, Shuhei took advantage of the off-tempo Nohmi and thrust his bat to guide the ball to the centre field to help Ohshima on his way home, 3-0.

 With runners in front of him, Dayan Viciedo walked in to the situation he is made for. The tank did not disappoint as he whalloped a high and straight one into left field bleachers to rest triumphantly among the deflated Tigers fans, 6-0.

Nanita would add to his collection of hits but Tani couldn't recreate his first inning magic as he flew out to Egoshi in right field.

With the game all but won in the first two innings, Jordan could afford to be a bit more relaxed in his approach but still put in a great shift to lock the Tigers out of the game.

 Nohmi found himself knocked out of the game after two innings as the Tigers went through 5 pitchers to finish out the game. For Jordan's first win, he served up only a single strike, gave up two walks and two hits in his 7 innings. Daisuke Sobue and Katsuki Matayoshi would fill in the last 2 innings to close out a big 6-0 win.

Ohshima had a great game with the bat and apart from scoring twice, he picked up 3 hits and a walk from his 5 plate appearances. Viciedo did similarly well. Aside from his 3-run homerun, he also added 2 hits to his 4 plate appearances. The lack of strikeouts for Viciedo so far is very impressive as he has been making contact extremely frequently. While he seems to excel at hitting the higher balls, his ability to dig out the lower ones has been a joy to behold. Special mentions too for Nanita (2H 1RBI 1W) and Tetsuya Tani (2H 1RBI 1W) who both added to the selection headaches for Tanishige. Tani and Mitsumata played well in the central infield positions which had been previously occupied by Araki and Donoue. The team looks good defensively at least. A massive 14 hits as well marked a watershed moment for the batting line-up that has struggled to put together anything substantial recently.

A great big win to start the series, and Viciedo showed that he likes the Tigers pitching, a lot, with his 4th homer against Hanshin in as many games.

Highlights:

Full game links on the Dragons Ustream. Innings 1-5 and 6-9.

Game 19 was to be another night to remember for all the right reasons. Daisuke Yamai stepped out of the bullpen tonight to start as he was called up to replace the injured Yudai Ohno. Yuta Iwasada would start on the mound for the Tigers.

Only one team change for the game as Jordan Norberto was put to rest and was de-registered from the team. Junki Ito, who has been regularly starting in the 2-gun, was added to the roster for the games against the Tigers. One interesting caveat to the line-up this game was the placement of Nobumasa Fukuda in left-field. Tanishige, obviously unimpressed with Akasaka's performance, decided he wanted to add kick to the line-up and place someone who is normally a first or third baseman out in the great deep green of the outfield. Mitsumata and Tani would retain their positions after their good performances.

Yamai started things on the Saturday afternoon and looked uncharacteristically in control of things as he only gave up 3 walks in his scoreless first 4 innings. Conversely, the Dragons batting line up looked uncharacteristically dire as Iwasada kept the line-up to only one hit (to Nanita) in the opening 4 innings.

Nanita's first double in the 2nd

 It was however at the top of the 5th that things would start to get interesting.

Umeno, the Tigers catcher, latched onto one to register the first Tigers hit and the second hit of the day. Iwasada was brought to the plate but failed to trouble anyone as he went out bunting. Umeno would steal his way to second base while Toritani was walked by Yamai to put runners on first and second base. Up stepped former Minnesota Twin, Tsuyoshi Nishioka to assess the situation. Nishioka hit a double to bring Umeno home, 1-0.  Egoshi would follow and he continued the scoring as he hit a sacrifice fly to allow Toritani to score, 2-0. Mauro Gomez would end the scoring stanza with a single of his own to put Nishioka through home base, 3-0. It all changed very quickly as the Tigers took advantage of some average pitching with some good hitting to set a good platform moving forward.

A counter-attack was launched in the bottom of the 5th as Tani and Sugiyama both hit singles, but another disappointing at-bat from Akasaka, pinch-hitting for Yamai, ended any hopes to immediately pin back the Tigers.

Okada would take over from Yamai and pitch well to keep the scoreline at 3-0. The counter-attack from the Dragons would continue to struggle as only one hit, a double from Nanita, could be mustered until the bottom of the 8th.

Nanita's 2nd double of the night in the 7th

While Tajima continued Okada's good work of keeping the Tigers out at the top of the inning, it was now getting to crunch time. Many times have the Dragons faded out toward the end of the game, but it wouldn't be the case this time. As Iwasada was withdrawn for Fukuhara, the pressure seemed to lift as Sugiyama started the stanza with a single. Tajima was then withdrawn for Atsushi Fujii. The much maligned outfielder has been nothing short of awful this season. The strikeouts, the very little production, the everything. Fujii just hasn't been with it. It was then a surprise when the same man hit a triple to score Sugiyama and bring the scores to 1-3.

 Fukuhara was then quickly exchange for former Dragon, Akifumi Takahashi as the Tigers went into damage control. It worked momentarily with the dismissal of Ohshima but it would be Morino, pinch-hitting for Mitsumata, The veteran would ground out to second, but it would be enough to allow Fujii to slink into home to make it 2-3. Shuhei would unfortunately strikeout to end the inning. The game now in the balance, Iwase was brought to the mound and after claiming two victims, Koji Fukutani took over for one batter who he also sent on his way with an outer course change-up.

Now, at the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 runs to get to claim the win, it would be Mateo charged with saving the game from the hungry looking Dragons. Viciedo would take the first at bat and continue his great run of contact with a double.

 Nanita would take a walk to get runners onto first and third. Tomonaga came on as a pinch-runner for Nanita to end the Dominican's night. Tetsuya Tani would unfortunately blow a bunting opportunity to be declared out. Next, up stepped Donoue, who had been subbed in earlier in the previous fielding innings. The #63 was given order to take a stroll to load the bases with 1 out. Mateo was reportedly having trouble getting his slider to work properly and the closer now had his work cut out for him. It was now Sugiyama's turn to step up to the plate to see if he could force a win or at least a draw out of the game. The catcher caught a hold of one to send it over the centre-fielders head, Viciedo came to home plate, scoring and now beckoning Tomonaga to come in for the win and it was the pinch-runner who would seal the victory 4-3 thanks to a walk-off double from the always reliable Sugiyama. Scenes. Tanishige had the biggest grin on his face as his team pulled of a momentous victory in the closing moments of the game.

Fukutani would be credited with the win for his 1/3 of an inning (baseball is weird isn't it?) and Mateo was credited with the loss and probably rightly so.

One would struggle to say this was a "deserved" victory. I certainly felt we got away with it but it speaks volumes that the team was willing to dig deep and try and bail Yamai out. 3 runs is a very chaseable total and it was great to have the batting lineup respond. It helped that the pitching wasn't on point either. The unlikely hero was Atsuhi Fujii who has looked like he couldn't hit the broadside of a heifer with a banjo recently, but it was a telling contribution from the Toyohashi native to get the ball rolling on the comeback trail.

Sugiyama and Nanita had the pick of the statistics with 2 hits and a walk a piece.

You can watch the 9th inning here:

Game 20 would prove to be another nail-biter as the game would once again be decided in the 9th inning. Drew Naylor took the mound for the Dragons while it was Minoru Iwata for the Tigers looking to help his team avoid the sweep.

Anderson Hernandez made his return to the team following Jordan's de-registering as Akasaka dropped from the first team to spend some time with the seconds after his average performances so far in the series.

Naylor opened proceedings in the first inning showing good pace and allowing one hit and striking out one to end his inning.

The Dragons attack started early as while Ohshima failed to get off the mark, Donoue, restored to the starting line-up, cracked a double to start things off. Shuhei, coming in at now his trademark 3rd spot in the line-up joined in the fun and smashed a double of his own that reached the right field fence and maybe should have been caught by Egoshi. But nonetheless, the Dragons were on the board, 1-0.

Viciedo's ground out would allow Shuhei to get on third, but Nanita couldn't make it count as he struck-out to end the inning.

Lots of action early on! The parries and thrusts would continue until the top of the fourth inning as Egoshi picked off a single to start things off. Gomez grounded out but that allowed Egoshi to gain ground and move to second base. Now, here's where it gets interesting. With Hague now up to bat, Egoshi had the guile to make a play to steal third base. While Sugiyama picked up on the run, a poor throw that Takahashi couldn't deal with allowed Egoshi to safely get into third and with ball passing the 3rd baseman and floating into the crowd, the Hanshin man took order to walk off to the home plate to even up the scores at 1-1. Naylor had been watching his man, but 9 times out of 10 a catcher will pick off a steal at third. Credit to Egoshi for having the courage to give it a go and for succeeding.

The next scoring play would come in the 6th inning and it was to be the Dragons to take the lead for a second time. Takahashi and Viciedo both took singles to begin the innings and who else but Nanita was there to hit a double to send home the big Cuban to take a 2-1 lead. It would spell the end of the night for Iwata to bring Ando to the mound. Tani would mess up another bunt as a mishit from Fukuda ended up grounding into a double play to end the inning. 

The Dragons would come close to extending their lead in the 7th inning as Daiki Enokida replaced Ando and immediately allowed Sugiyama a single. Tomonaga came in as a pinch-bunter for Naylor to allow Sugiyama to second. Ohshima then took a dead ball to walk onto first while Donoue topped one to send the ball into the catchers hand. Takahashi would however take a scenic walk down the dirt road to load up the bases but uncharacteristically, Viciedo failed to make the best of the situation as he foul fly ball was caught to end the inning. A very tense ending was to be upon us. Tajima took down Nishioka, Egoshi and Gomez while the Dragons batters once again tried to push through to no avail as the former Dragon, Akifumi Takahashi took Fujii and Sugiyama out of the game with consecutive strikeouts following a sacrifice bunt from Araki earlier on to end the inning. 

At the top of the 9th, it was the Tigers last chance to get something out of the game. Either a leveler to take it into extra time or a winner to snatch an unlikely victory. Koji Fukutani would once again take up closing duties. Things started well for the pitcher as he ground out Hague to start things. Toritani would hit a single before Yokota forced his captain into a ground out at second while moving to first base. This brought out Imanari to pinch-hit for Takahashi. Imanari hit into right field giving time for the speedy Yokota to get to third. Kanemoto, the Hanshin skipper then decided to go for broke as he brought in Kosuke Fukudome, who had been under an injury cloud, to pinch-hit for his last catcher, Okazaki. Whether it was the stature of the former Dragons star, the heat of the moment or just general nerves, Fukutani was sweating buckets for what was a mild, early Spring evening. The young closer stepped up, threw down his pitch and there was a sound of wood on ball as Fukudome somewhat miraculously split first and second to register a hit and even up the scores at 2-2. 

Naylor was now denied a win in any case and Fukutani had blown his save. Amazingly, Fukutani was one of 4 pitchers on the day in the NPB to blow their saves. A poor day for closers!

The inning would end with a ground out on Takayama. Now without a recognized catcher, the Tigers threw the gear on Imanari to see out what was left of the game.

Takamiya took over from Takahashi in the bottom of the 9th and he was able to rip through Hernandez, Ohshima and Donoue to ensure that we would need extra innings to decide the game. 

Matayoshi would have the honours to take the 10th inning and the man who looks a lot like Lupin III, dismissed Nishioka and Egoshi, gave a hit to Gomez and took credit for the centre-fly out of Matt Hague. 

Takahashi would be at the head the bottom of the 10th inning and the prodigal son would keep doing what he does best, finding a way to base, as he elected to walk to first. Takamiya was then withdrawn to allow Fukuhara to try and restore parity. Viciedo would be the man to take guard. At a count of 3 balls and 1 strike the eyes of the Cuban glistened like sunlight reflecting off a cube of ice in a glass of Havana Club Reserva, it was coming. Here it was. a 140km straight ball on outer path. A big, hearty swing from the Tank and a longful gaze after the ball as it sailed into the right outfield bleachers to end the game with a walk-off homerun. 4-2. Who says baseball isn't exciting? A point to the dugout and a bit ol' smile on Dayan's face capped off another brilliant end to a game that honestly looked like it was getting away from us.

Tanishige apparently wasn't all that optimistic going into the final innings. He commented that "Whatever (Viciedo) did, he was going to be forgiven. It wasn't thought he'd get the excitement up, but he done did it."

Highlights:

A 3-game sweep of the Tigers would be a just reward for the fighting spirit of the team. They took advantage of poor pitching when it was presented and they backed up those that didn't perform. Ricardo Nanita has to be close to the player of the series as no one could stop his hitting. He has looked much improved this year and is certainly a valuable player with his present form.


In other news, due to the earthquakes in Kumamoto and Oita prefecture, the regional games scheduled against the Giants in Kumamoto and Kagoshima have been cancelled. All NPB teams have been collecting donations for the disaster stricken region and my heart goes out to them as well. The team has already decided on helping things with a 2 million yen donation ($20,000ish).

Tanishige has been ruled out of the weekend games with the Swallows after he was diagnosed with type-A influenza. Shigekazu Mori, the head coach, is expected to stand in his place. That's about all he needs to do anyway. Stand and watch. I wish Tanishige a speedy recovery.


As of Monday, Junki Ito has been de-registered by the team which makes one wonder why he was registered at all as he failed to play any part in the two games he was available for.

It has also been announced that June 18th will be "Girls Day" at the Nagoya dome and all the ladies will receive a snazzy jersey for turning up.

There's also something else that I picked up on twitter that I thought that I would translate and share. It's the Dragons injury list. It's quite a long one when compared to the other teams and it is worrying in particular the amount of pitchers we have missing.

Chunichi Dragons Injury List
Number	Position	Name	Injury/Illness
6	OF	Ryosuke Hirata	Left groin/pelvic pain
18	P	Shota Suzuki	Side pain
20	P	Ryosuke Nomura	Right shoulder pain
22	P	Yudai Ohno	Left elbow discomfort
23	IF	Issei Endo	Right shoulder inflammation
26	OF	Mastaka Iryo	Body pain (unspecified)
36	IF	Ryota Ishioka	Slipped disc hernia
41	P	Takuya Asao	Right shoulder inflammation
42	P	Juan Jaime	Right shoulder pain
44	P	Raul Valdes	Left shoulder pain
51	P	Masashi Yamamoto	Back pain
58	P	Tomoya Yagi	Left elbow pain
68	C	Ryuichiro Akasaka	Fractured right thumb
203	P	Seiya Nakagawa	Right calf pain
210	P	Kaito Goya	Left shoulder pain

I can say however that Ryuichiro Akasaka appears to be on the mend as he appeared as a pinch-hitter against the Hawks in Tuesday's farm game, as did Ryosuke Hirata. Still, the amount of pitchers out injured is a worry with Endo and Asao in particular leaving holes. Jaime was very unlucky to get injured in his Spring training and is still recovering. He was brought in as a closer to cover for Fukutani, but with Iwase now back in action it looks unlikely that he'll be needed. Still a pitcher that can supposedly hit over 160km/h might be worth looking at if he can get back on his feet. 

That's it for a big day of news and big 3 wins for the Dragons! 

Regular Season: Dragons vs Giants @Nagoya Dome, April 8th-10th; Ohno's creation, Tie frustration, What in tarnation?

Alrighty, we're a little bit behind schedule but here's the what went down on the weekend between the Dragons and the Giants. The Giants have been in good nick this season proving that their batting has more depth to it than last year and that the pitching staff are just as good as they've always been.

Those of you familiar with the 1980s Tom Selleck goes to Japan experience, Mr Baseball might think that the Giants are the Dragons biggest rivals, and while you'd be technically correct, the really, really correct answer is everyone hates the Giants and the Tigers share a more intense hatred than anyone else. It's hard to nail down a "rival" for the Dragons, but geographically, it probably is more likely to be Hanshin with Osaka being closer. The Giants of course have been possible larger rivals due to the tag and tow between to two in vying for the Central League over the past decade or so.

Whatever the case may be, we were in for a cracker of a game with both teams having a fair share of wins heading into the match up.

The biggest news in the lead-up to this one would probably be the continued absence of Ryosuke Hirata who has been sidelined with injury as well as the return of pitching duo Kazuki Yoshimi and Hitoki Iwase from their respective long-term injuries. Iwase in particular would be making his comeback after nearly 2 years out of the game.

Game number 13 of the season was a return to the opening day starters as Yudai Ohno and Kyosuke Takagi took to the mound to start things. There would be good energy from the first inning from Ohno as he ran through the top order in succession nabbing Chono through a ground out and striking out Tateoka and Sakamoto. Takagi would follow suit, but would give up a base to Araki before seeing off Takahashi and Viciedo.

The second inning would bring much more excitement for both teams as the first scoring plays of the game took shape. Ohno would grab Garrett's scalp before allowing Cruz a base. This brought to the plate the 26 year old, Taishi Ohta who quite frankly, bullied Ohno, sending the lefty pitcher over the fence to register the first two runs of the game, 0-2.

View post on imgur.com

Ohno would give up one more hit to Murata but nabbed Kobayashi and Takagi to finish the inning.

The strike back from Chunichi would be swift as in the bottom of the second the Nagoya team hit back. Ohta would catch Nanita's foul ball before Fujii and Donoue managed to find themselves on 3rd and 1st base respectively. Katsura would fall victim to Takagi's change-ups as he struck out. Ohno would be the man to take guard and it would the pitcher that would help draw first blood as his timely hit into left-field sent Fujii home and moved Donoue onto second, 1-2.

 The scoring wouldn't stop there however as Ohshima joined the party with a line-drive to even up the scores at 2-2.

Araki could not help turn the score into a leading one as he flew out to center to end the inning.

Scoring would pick up again in the 4th. Fujii hit a double to lead off the inning while Donoue helped Fujii to third with a sacrifice bunt. Katsura would take up the bat for the next plate appearance and the young catcher would once again make a telling contribution with his bat as he ground out, but allowed Fujii to score to make it 3-2.

The game would close out without much incident as Ohno claimed man of the match honours for his RBI and winning pitching. Lots of credit too has to go to Naomichi Donoue who's fielding has been beyond reproach since replacing Issei Endo.

Game 14 would be, well at least for me, an exciting 0-0 (maybe that's the soccer fan in me) where the game took its tips and turns but unfortunately didn't pan out in the way either team had really hoped. Kazuki Yoshimi made his long awaited return to the mound as he started and finished 7 scoreless innings while a return was also made by Hitoki Iwase after his almost 2 years out of the first team.

The game was a very cagey one with both teams not doing their best with the pitches given to them and not converting when it was important. Mr Gibson of the J-Ball podcast pointed out to me that, while I was caught up with the excitement, both teams had a habit of swinging at bad pitches. He was probably right.

Young Kazuto Yaguchi kept up the pace with the veteran Yoshimi but it was the Giants pitcher who walked away with slightly better stats as he only allowed 2 hits and struck out 7 batters in his seven innings. Yoshimi however would have to settle for 5 conceded hits and 6 strikouts in his seven.

The most tense moment of the game was to come in the 7th inning when Yoshimi was replaced by Shinji Tajima. Usually one of the Dragons best relievers, Tajima did the unthinkable and loaded up the bases with walks following Kamei's short-fly out. Chono, Tateoka and Sakamoto walked to base and Tanishige was quick to yoink Tajima off the mound. He was to be replaced by the returning Iwase who was to come up against American slugger, Garrett Jones. Some tense moment followed as the veteran closer sized up his target, but it would be Iwase who would come out the savior as Jones hit into a double play to end the inning. Big sighs of relief from the crowd combined with a rambunctious roar for the triumphant return of the legendary pitcher.



Unfortunately there would be little else to write home about  as the game entered extra time only for nothing to come of it. 13 combined hits in total from both teams; not great. Iwase and Yoshimi's return however made for happy watching for Dragons fans looking forward.
Yoshimi has since been de-registered from the first team as he continues his reconditioning to get back to peak fitness.
Another milestone would be reached this game as Masahiro Araki made his 2000th game appearance. Araki is also only 99 away from 2000 hits. Let's hope he can do it this season




Game 15, the last of the series would be an unfortunate loss due to some very poor relieving innings. The game had far more to it than the previous one, but still a lot of negatives for the Dragons who just didn't do well enough against an inconsistent but dangerous Giants team.

Drew Naylor would start things for the Dragons while Nobutaka Imamura was on the mound for the Giants.

Naylor would start things off well, striking out Chono and ripping through the first two hitters to finish the first inning. The Chunichi reply was threatening as Araki made his way to first an then second as Shuhei ground out at first. Viciedo would then take a walk, but the problematic #5 spot in the line-up continued to be so as Akasaka struck out to end the first inning.

Some nervous moments would come for the Aussie in the second as he allowed a double to Garrett Jones but removed Cruz. Naylor would then give up a walk to Kita and Murata to load the bases for the first real tense moment of the game. Naylor would however fight back courageously to strikeout Kobayashi and Imamura to end the inning.

Obviously fired up, the Dragons went out to make it count in the bottom of the 2nd. Fujii continued his poor form as he flied out but Donoue would continue his good form with a single. Katsura continued his streak with the bat as he moved Donoue to third before Naylor fell victim to Imamura. Ohshima with his second at bat of the day would be the hero as he sent Donoue in to score with a timely hit into the left field, 1-0.

Katsura would unfortunately be gunned down at the home plate, perhaps reaching too far,  after a hit from Araki fell to right field.

The pitchers would trade notes for the next 3 innings or so showing good poise and purpose but it would be Imamura's turn to dig himself out of trouble in the 5th. After dismissing Araki, Imamura gave up a hit to Takahashi and a stroll to Viciedo. Akasaka's hit to the third-base allowed Takahashi to move to 3rd but sacrificed Viciedo at second to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Fujii would be the next to elect for a walk as Imamura loaded the bases. The sign was sent to the Giants bench and the starter was swapped out for Tsuchida who easily struck out Donoue to end the inning and escape a very pinch moment, scores still at 1-0.

The top of the 6th would see the equalizer from the Giants as a hit from Chono followed by a sacrificial bunt from Tateoka moved the former onto second. Sakamoto would strike out, but the American, Jones would make it all count by hitting a double to even up the scores at 1-1. Cruz would add himself to the bases but Naylor would once again strike out Kita to end the inning.

The score wouldn't remain the same for long however as Katsura made contact once again this series to move to first. Naylor would attempt a bunt but would ultimately fail to bring Ohshima to the plate. The multi golden glove winner hit a double into right field to put himself on second with Naylor on third. Recent record maker, Masahiro Araki would be the man in the spotlight as he converted his pitcher and centre-fielder's hard work by hitting a single down the ground to allow Naylor to score, 2-1.

Obviously foreseeing something bad on the horizon (pehaps a bad moon?) Giants manager, Yoshinobu Takahashi changed out his reliever to bring in Tone. Shuhei would fly out but allow runners to move to second and third. Two outs now gone brought Viciedo to the plate but he was walked to load the bases once again. The problematic #5 spot in the line-up reared it's ugly head again as Kudo, who had come in as a pinch runner for Akasaka, was replaced by Masahiko Morino who was making his first appearance of the season. The veteran has been turning it on for the 2-gun team, but unfortunately it wasn't to transfer to the biggest stage as he struck out to end the inning.

Naylor got mad with
himself.

Entering the 7th, things were going to get bad for the Dragons as after nabbing Murata, Naylor then gave up hit to Kobayashi and Friday night homer-hero, Ohta. Tanishige decided he'd had enough of the Aussie and the ball was given to Matayoshi to close out. A low slider would ground out Ohta as he was short of his ground at second base, but Tateoka would make the best of the situation as he hit one into the right-field to even up the scores at 2-2. Things would go from bad to worse for Matayoshi as he now gave up a double to Sakamoto to stretch the lead to 2-4. Unsurprisingly the right handed reliever was told to sit on the pine as Ryuya Ogawa came on to try and salvage the game. Ogawa would give up a hit to Jones to join Yoshikawa on base (Yoshikawa had come on to pinch-run for Sakamoto). Cruz would add to the condemnation of the bullpen as he doubled to send both runners home, 2-6. Hiroto Fuku, the rookie, would then face up against Daisuke Nakai who was pinch-hitting for Tone and would give up a hit to allow Cruz to canter home, 2-7.

There was a little bit of magic in the 8th as Donoue helped Chono on his way with this lovely piece of work.

One destructive innings however would be all she wrote for Dragons fans as the team failed to get itself back into the game. Only two more hits would come for the Dragons in the 8th and 9th inning but that would accompany two double-plays as well to end a pretty shocking game. It was all won and lost in the 7th and the Dragons have only themselves to blame for not getting more out of this one.

Matayoshi was apologetic in the aftermath explaining that "I didn't put it where the catcher had set it up."Tanishige however was in a much more philosophical mood as he put down the loss to "We came out to fight and we went down fighting." He was however quick to highlight the positives of the pitching as he mentioned how solidified the starting rotation is now compared to the start of the season. With Yoshimi, Oguma and Jordan all coming in and doing well, things do look positive. He did however say he would give some thought over the problematic number 5 spot in the line-up as Nanita, Akasaka and others have failed to impress in that spot so far to give Viciedo the support he needs.


In other new, Drew Naylor has since had a pow-wow with his "Japanese Dad," pitching coach Shigekazu Mori and translator, Luis Francis. The three apparently had a two hour chat about possible new approaches for Naylor in coming games.

Next games are against Hiroshima with one out in the countryside of Kure. Wakamatsu, Jordan and Oguma should be set to record some wins against a team I certainly consider we are equal to.