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 Tigers @Nagoya Dome, May 3rd - May 5th; WHERE HAS THE BATTING GONE?

Today’s post will be the beginning of my new condensed series so I can keep updating you without it taking huge chunks of time out of my life. Let me know if there’s something missing that you’d like to see added. Comment on this page or tweet at me @chunichisoul

Alright Dragons fans, it’s time for a recap of the Golden Week series against the Hanshin Tigers at the Nagoya dome! The Golden Week is a series of public holidays conveniently linked together to give people a bit of time off in May. The games against Hanshin were perfectly lined up with the week which meant earlier play times for all/most to enjoy.

Game 30 of the season was a doozy. Would the Dragons continue their good run against the Tigers or would it all come undone with the loss of Shuhei Takahashi?

In the first inning a wild pitch from Jordan allowed Yamato to reach home to open up the score for Hanshin, 0-1. However, the Dragons would reply immediately as Hirata leveled up the scores with a single to send Ohshima home to make it 1-1. Tetsuya Tani then squared one up to hit right as he sent Hirata home to take the lead, 2-1. Haraguchi would level things up with a sac fly in the 4^th, but a solo homer from Katsura in the 5^th inning combined with a double from Ohshima in the 7^th would give the Dragons an opening win to the series, 4-2.

Filthy bat flipping Iori. FILTHY.

That would be the end of the scoring and the game as the Dragons closed out as 4-2 winners. A second win and another tidy performance from Jordan Norberto who keeps showing great poise as a starter striking out 6 in his 7 innings.  Shinji Tajima grabbed a hold and Koji Fukutani claimed another save. Questions will be asked of Shintaro Fujinami’s performance however as he probably should be doing better.

Game 31 would see another sporadic appearance from elusive starter Kazuki Yoshimi. The Dragons starting rotation has been anything but concrete since the start of the season but the reg – dereg cycle that Yoshimi is stuck in is a bit dizzying. Tetsuya Tani started at third base again following Shuhei’s injury and the Tigers fronted up  Yuya Yokoyama to start things off. Neither pitcher had a win leading into this game it was to be a race to see who would get things going.

Yoshimi in for Jordan would be the only change ahead of this game.

The Tigers would get things underway in the 4^th inning as Central League RBI leader Mauro Gomez’s single gave the Tigers a 0-1 lead.  Yutaro Itayama added another to the score as he put Fukudome home. Haraguchi would rub more than a fair share of salt into the wounds  as with Itayama and Gomez on base, Yoshimi’s pitch was abruptly dispatched into the bleachers for a 3-run homer, his first as a pro; 0-5 on the scoreboard.

The flurry continued In the 5^th as Gomez was at it again getting two RBIs this time to make things 0-7. Not good reading for Dragons fans! Yoshimi was rightfully withdrawn following his poor showing for Ryuya Ogawa. Another pitcher change however would inspire more scoring as Hiroto Fuku gave up RBIs to Hojoh and Haraguchi to put the game beyond all doubt at 9-0. Haraguchi was at his best while Yoshimi was at his worst in a poor, one sided loss to the Tigers. 

The Dragons only managed 3 hits in this game (Araki with two of them) and looked absolutely dire at times with the bat. Credit to the Tigers pitchers for doing the job (17 hits!) as they completely  destroyed us on the day.  It was Yoshimi’s first loss in 2 years (a lot of it has been out injured) and 6 years since conceding 5 runs in a single inning in what was an uncharacteristic performance from a man that has notched 20 win seasons.  

The game was also marked by a second consecutive no-hitter from Dayan Viciedo, but the big man wasn’t in the worrying mood following the game as he is happy with how he’s swinging.

Game 32 was to be another one not to write home about for the Dragons as the batting line-up once again failed to launch.

Hernandez was promoted for the error-prone Masahiko Morino and Yoshimi was also de-regged from the team to end the changes to the squad.

Ryosuke Oguma and Randy Messenger would start on the mound for their respective teams but it was the former who would be ruled out early on as he went down with injury. Haraguchi returned a pitch right at Oguma and struck him on the right forearm. Looks like it stings.

The most positive highlight for the Dragons would come early, as Nanita pulled of a worldy to keep Hanshin out of the game.

Hanshin wouldn’t really do much better with the bat today but they did it when it mattered in the 7^th inning when Daisuke Yamai was put into the stands by a Yamato home solo homer to put the scores at 1-0 where the game would end.

 The only real positive to come out of the game today was that Nanita continues his fantastic form with the bat as he got another safe hit away. Yamai’s 4^th loss already this season does for damning reading and Oguma’s injury adds to an increasingly long list of players with niggles and pains.

It wasn’t to be a very golden week for Dragons fans, but the Tigers did deserved to win the last two games. One win was all we could come away with and it left the Dragons on an even .500 winning percentage safely sitting in 4^th place.

In other news Yudai Ohno is back in training following his elbow discomfort with the hope of making a comeback this month. With Oguma now out as well and Yoshimi still being used sparingly, the starting stocks are looking a little bare as the Dragons look for someone with a reliable arm.

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.

On the Farm: Chunichi Dragons v Softbank Hawks (April 26th-27th)

Hee-haw what a hootenanny we had down on the farm this week!  We was down on the ranch in NAH-GOE-YAH spitting tobacky and throwing curve balls as the Dragons faced off against the Softbank Hawks in another rain affected series. We had two games with the third being called off because of the weather and it would be a win a piece to each side but Softbank inflicted the larger of the damage.

Game 1 of the series was a cricket score in favour of the Hawks as they ran out 10-0 winners after a 6 run blow-out by Yudai in the second inning marked particularly painfully by a three run homerun to Go Kamamoto. Yuu Sato would also be dealt the same punishment in the 3^rd inning by Takuya Kai to put the Hawks up to 9-0 in 3 innings. The game was also showed a return for Asao who has been worried with niggling injuries since sometime last year. He would unfortunately be the last to give up a run as Takuya struck a double  to put the game to rest at 10-0 in the 7^th inning.

Pitching

As mentioned,  it was a bit of a disaster for Yudai who pitched 1 1/3 innings, including 4

deliveries, and gave up 5 hit, 6 runs and 2 walks. Awful.  Yuu Sato faired a bit better  as he was given a long relief role despite being battered in his first full inning. Sato pitched 4 2/3 innings, striking out 5 and walking two for 3 runs.  Asao was tidy in his only inning despite giving up a run. He fanned two and conceded 3 hits. Mituma was even more impressive in his inning as he struckout two batters and gave up a walk for no loss. Ogawa and Kaneko finished out the last inning with no particular stats to worry the scorers.

One of those days I guess, but giving up 9 runs in the first two isn’t exactly forgivable. Then again, neither is not mounting a meaningful counter-attack.

Here's Asao's return to the mound: 

Batting

Kei Nomoto just keeps doing what he needs to and surely he isn’t too far away from replacing the likes of Fukuda or Morino in the first-team squad. The first-baseman raked 3 hits in his 4 plate-appearances on a day where his team-mates didn’t really help him out. The only other hits went to Watanabe, Tomonaga, Tamura and Kato who all scored singles. Pretty damning assessment. One does have to assume that the Softbank pitchers were on point, or the boys were swinging at everything as no walks were issued in the game. That really just makes Nomoto's form all the more impressive.

Some Nomoto highlights: 

A pretty bad game for the Dragons but well, you win some you lose some.

Game 2 of the series was a much closer affair and much nicer result for the Dragons. After going up 3 runs early against Daisuke Matsuzaka, Chunichi were able to keep a hold of their lead and add one more to their total in the 9^th inning to seal a 4-1 win.

Shinji Iwata got his third win of the Western League season while Matsuzaka sits with two losses from three games.

Pitching

Iwata done good.

Shinji Iwata has pitched really well in his last start and did it again today as he pitched out 6 innings taking a whopping 9 strikeouts while only conceding 2 walks, 4 hits and a run against 23 batters. You have to be impressed with the strikeout column. For 6 innings that’s some decent pitching. Ryuya Ogawa took 2 and 2/3 innings of perfect relief pitching, striking out two and avoiding giving an inch to the batters with a mini no-no. Sobue took his man out in 2 balls while Takeshi Kaneko got the save with another inning of no hits and no walks.

Quite exciting numbers coming from the pitching today but it does make one curious as to how good the Hawks batters were on the day.

Tamura lightly tapping the accelerator

Batting

Well, the man making all the 2-gun highlights was at it again today. Kei Nomoto once again put his firm foot down to state his case to be an 1-gun call-up. 3 hits and a walk in 4 plate appearances. Honestly, the guy is untouchable at the moment. Nomoto averages .438 in the Western League. If those kinds of numbers don’t deserve a call-up I will never understand what will. Tomonaga and Ishikawa both had two hits to their names and it was the latter and Watanabe that picked up the only RBIs of the game. Anderson Hernandez also picked up a single while Hitoshi Tamura got himself a walk and a hit for his hard work on the day.

Overall a much improved performance on the previous day in all aspects. The pitching was much better and the batting line-up did what it was supposed to do. Kei Nomoto might have to knock a bit harder to get Tanishige’s attention. Lord knows what’s keeping him in the reserves at the moment. He’s certainly doing all he can.

Here's some more Nomoto highlights from Wednesday:

That’s all for the Western League at the moment as there will be a recess until the 6^th when the Dragons play the Carp. There will however be a small Cup tournament at the Nagaragawa ball park in Gifu called the “Bay Blues Cup” during the Golden Week holidays.(May 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd) I don’t really know too many details but it seems to be 3 games against industrial league teams; Nishino Transportation, Mitsubishi-Hitachi Power Systems Yokohama and 77 Bank.  I will try and report on the games if I can find some info! 

Regular Season: Dragons vs Baystars @Yokohama, April 26th – 28th; Who wants to see some dingers?!

After a good couple of series at home it was time for the Dragons to make the trip back to Kanto to face off against the DeNA Yokohama Baystars. The Dragons made quick work of the Baystars in Nagoya earlier this season, and apart from a bore 0-0 draw, it was all positive for the Chunichi boys. Now, away from home, how would the team face up?

This was actually a series I had tickets to due to my fan club membership but due to the stadium being about an hour away from my workplace and a good 2 hours away from home, I decided against attending this time around. Regret it already. Nevermind!

Game 24 of our season would be a battle of the recently retired managers and Tanishige, a legend for the Baystars and the Dragons, came up against the only foreign manager in the league, Alex Ramirez. Tanishige started his career in Yokohama and if you look at the league finishes before and after he left, well, maybe there was a bit of correlation between Tanishige and success.

Jordan was brought up to take on the Baystars in his 3^rd start for the Dragons this year. Kenta Ishida would be his opposing number, starting for Yokohama.

The action would start with the Baystars today. Kuwahara lead-off with a single while Ishikawa was fanned by Jordan. Shotaro Ide hit what looked like it was going to be a single into the left-field, but a fumble from Nanita allowed Kuwahara to get on to third base. The dangerman Tsutsugo would step up next for the ‘stars and a sac fly into the right would be enough to score Kuwahara and open the scores, 1-0. Jamie Romak was walked the next ball, but a hit into foul territory from Kuramoto resulted in an easy catch to end the innings.

The Baystars would continue the scoring in 2^nd inning as Yanagida (not the good one) lead off with a walk. Tobashira was induced into a ground out before Ishida was fanned by Jordan to leave a runner on second with two outs. Kuwahara, the scorer in the first inning would be the next to step-up and it would be a handy hit into left field to send Tobashira on his way, 2-0.

A quiet few innings followed before the DeNA men had another breakthrough in the 4^th. Kuramoto would get a hit but the poor man’s Yanagida would fly out to a Jordan change-up. Tobashira took a liking to another pitch as he moved Kuramoto to 3^rd and put himself on 1^st. up would come the pitcher, Ishida and from a hit in the infield, he was able to safely score Kuramoto and put himself on 1^st base, 3-0. Kuwahara and Ishikawa would subsequently fall victim to consecutive fly-outs to end the inning.

With batting looking a bit dire, it was time for the Dragons to turn it on and get back into the game. At the top of the 5^th the magic would start with a Viciedo double. Nanita would oblige his Hispanic compatriot with a hit of his own into the centre to allow Viciedo to score, 3-1. The rally cry was there, but with Hirata hitting into a double play and Donoue being struckout by Ishida, the innings was over in quick fashion.

A personnel change would come for Yokohama in the 6^th as Shibata was brought in for Ide, but the new defensive shift couldn’t stop Shota Sugiyama from clearing the fence to rake a solo homer, 3-2. 

Fukuda was brought in to pinch-hit for Jordan but a ground out was all that would result. A bit worrying for a guy who was absolutely mashing it in the 2-gun team earlier in the year. Ohshima would be the next at the plate and the centre-fielder would treat the visiting fans to a rare occurrence. On a count of 1-2, Ohshima opened up his shoulders and whacked one into the right stand. 3-3. 

Back to even terms in no time at all. Araki and Takahashi would try to push the score to a winning margin, but it wasn’t to be with both grounding out to end the inning.

With the Baystars now on the back foot, Fujioka was brought to the mound to change the flow after a scoreless batting stanza. While he would find success removing Viciedo, a hit and a walk to Nanita and Hirata put the pressure on. While Fujioka fanned Donoue, Ramirez was happy to take him off and replace him with Tanaka. It wouldn’t prove to be the most astute of decisions as Sugiyama continued to fire as Romak mis-fielded a hit into the right allowing Nanita and Hirata to score to put the Dragons into a winning position for the first time of the day. 3-5.

 Tani continued the mayhem as he scored Sugiyama with his double to make it 3-6. Ohshima finished off the inning as he was struckout by Tanaka.

The force was definitely with the Dragons at this point as they sought to put the game well out of reach in the 8^th. After Araki and Takahashi failed to put up any resistance, up stepped the big Cuba, the man, the moment, the dude, Dayan Viciedo. Squaring up his foe, allowing the count to go to full, El Tank saw his moment and connected sweetly with a delivery in the middle of the plate. Sensing the homerun immediately, Viciedo dropped his bat in the “to hell with you bat” style and pumped up as ever jogged the diamond, 3-7.

 It would be the last of the scoring as Tajima closed out the 9^th for no score to cap off an exciting come from behind victory.

3 big dingers in a great turn around win for the Dragons and yet another poor showing from the Baystars. 

Highlights

Game 25 would be a different affair all together with the ever predictably unpredictable Daisuke Yamai on the mound. Yasutomo Kubo would pull the strings with the ball for the Baystars. Both pitchers were winless going into this game. Who would be the first to break their streak if either?

The scoring would start early in the bottom of the first. Yamai induced Aranami into a ground out to start things off. Ishikawa now stepped up to the plate and on a count of 2-1, launched Yamai into the stands to grab a solo home run to rattle the Dragons early, 1-0.

Otosaka fell victim to a change up while Tsusugo got to base. Ide would however give Yamai one of his only 2 strikeouts of the game to end the inning.

The Baystars continued their assault in the third. Aranami flew out to centre but Ishikawa took a sneaky bunt option which caught all by surprise and beat Yamai on the bounce as he ran through first base.  Otosaka next up hit a double to move runners onto 2^nd and 3^rd. With Tsutsugo next up and more than a few worries adding up over Yamai’s pitching, it was no surprise that the big Yokohama hitter would make something happen.  A hit to the short-stop would see Tsutsugo out at first, but it allowed Ishikawa to run home and score to make it, 2-0. Ide would be the last batter of the inning as his foul ball was caught by Viciedo.

Still showing dangerous signs, something that couldn’t be said of the Dragons line-up, the ‘stars took to the 4^th inning. It would be a near carbon copy of the 1^st inning as Kuramoto ground out at second allowing Hyuma to walk-up. Then, on a count of 1-0, Hyuma dispatched Yamai into the stands just right of the backscreen to make it 3-0.  Yamai was visibly disappointed as he should be. He hadn’t thrown too bad stuff up to this point but, well, it only takes one bad ball.

Yamai would unfortunately be at the end of another dinger in the 6^th as after a strike, Tsutsugo  got his 8^th homer of the season in almost the exact same spot as Hyuma. A change-up delivery in the outside track was punished with authority to put the Baystars 4-0 to the good.

 Yamai would close out the inning with no further messy situations, but conceding 3 homeruns in 6 innings musn’t be a great feeling.

The Dragons would mount a counter-attack of sorts in the top of the 7^th inning with Nanita leading off with a double. Hirata then managed a single to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd. Donoue now stepped up to survey the situation and the infielder would continue his good form with the bat as he hit a single to let Nanita run home, 4-1. Sugiyama’s single would then load up the bases with Morino coming in to pinch-hit for Yamai. The veteran would read his pitches well and elect to walk to take the score to 4-2. Kubo, who had pitched well, was withdrawn for Tanaka who up until today had a 0.00 ERA for the season. Ohshima was able to hit a sack fly off Tanaka to allow Hirata to score to make it 4-3. Kamezawa was withdrawn for Tani to pinch-hit, but the man in form couldn’t make anything happen as he ground into a double play to end the inning.

The bottom of the 7^th inning brought Iwase to the mound and Tani onto second base to replace Kamezawa who had a fantastic game defensively showing his speed when ground fielding.

Tobashira started off the proceedings with a single. Kuwahara was brought in to pinch-hit for Tanaka but couldn’t make the best of his chance as he flew out. Aranami was then withdrawn for Jamie Romak who was given a walk by Iwase to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd. Thanks to a rare mis-field from Donoue, Ishikawa then helped load the bases with what probably should have been the start of a double play. Otosaka would be the hero as his single scored two batters to move the score to 6-3. Tsusugo would not let up as he also singled to send Ishikawa home, 7-3. Iwase, not doing his job, was taken off for Achira, the man doing the work in the 2-gun. And while he loaded the bases after fanning Yanagida, he escaped by inducing a ground out from Hyuma to end the inning.

The final nail in the coffin came in the top of the 8^th as after Achira dismissed Tobashira, Kuwahara took a liking to tasty looking middle of the box straight ball and scored the 4^th Baystars homerun of the night, 8-3.

The Dragons tried their hardest to fight back in the 9^th but it would be to no avail as Gifu native, Tomoya Mikami shut the Chunichi batting line-up down to end the game.

Not a great start lead to a minor comeback but Iwase not hitting his straps meant that the game was taken away from the Dragons despite turning the tide. Had it been a different pitcher maybe it would have been a different story but we’ll never know.  There were some good performances with the bat with Ohshima, Nanita, Hirata, Donoue and Sugiyama all registering two hits a piece, but it wasn’t a line-up that combined well enough together today. Credit goes to Kubo for crafting good game at the start of the game to set-up the win for the Baystars. Major questions still over Yamai’s head with some wondering why a younger starter isn’t given a chance ahead of him, but as a stop-gap while Ohno is out, Yamai appears to be the man that Tanishige wants. Credit I think needs to go to Achira who made his first appearance this season for the first team and did well despite conceding a homerun. Hopefully he will be considered for long-relief duties in future.

Highlights：

Into Game 26 of the season and it was to be Oguma, who was one hit away from a no-hitter in his last start against the Baystars took the mound against the Baystars. Yoshiki Sunada, yet to claim a win this season was his opponent in the final game of the series before the Dragons moved to Hiroshima for the weekend games.

Iwase removed from the first team as the only change in registration following his less than average performance. 

It was an unusually cagey opening that would be broken in the third inning by the Baystars. A double from Tobashira started things before Sunada failed in his attempt to bunt. It wouldn’t matter however as one of yesterday’s homerun heroes, Masayuki Kuwahara continued where he left off hitting another one into the bleachers to open the scores at 2-0. Ishikawa and Otosaka could not add to the bracket and left the lead at two.

It would be an immediate reply from the Dragons as Sunada walked Viciedo to begin the innings. Nanita was beaten by a changeup, but the ever influential Ryosuke Hirata was brought to the plate. The captain has made his presence known since returning from injury at the outfielder would add to his homerun tally for the season with a lovely strike into the left stand, 2-2.  

Donoue would be walked to follow up, but Katsura fly-out and Donoue’s failed steal ended the inning prematurely.

Oguma kept up his good job as he kept the Baystars quiet. An error made by Takahashi in the 5^th was the only black mark on an otherwise good defensive performance.

The 6^th inning would be opened up by Takahashi and the young star would well make up for his mistake in the field, slamming another homerun into the left stand. 2-3 the score!

Viciedo would continue things with a single and Nanita would add to that with a single that allowed the Cuban to move to third base.

Obviously sensing danger, Ramirez decided to substitute in Zach Petrick for Sunada. It wouldn’t stop a thing as Hirata made another telling contribution by singling Viciedo on his way home.

Donoue was caught at second to tally the first out of the inning bringing Iori Katsura to the plate. Katsura has shown a penchant for homers and today would be no different as he whalloped a 3-run homerun to send the scores to 2-7! 

It was a magnificent bat-flip to follow as Katsura hit a fantastic no-doubter to continue the heated competition for the catcher’s spot between he and Sugiyama and had Tanishige grinning ear to ear.

 Oguma continued the mayhem as he hit a double but Ohshima and Araki couldn’t take advantage.

The last of the scoring would come in the 7^th inning. Nogawa would replace Petrick, and start things off by walking Shuhei. Lack of control was noticeable as he also walked Viciedo. Now correcting, Nogawa struck out Nanita and induced a ground out from Hirata but it was a timely triple from Donoue that sent Shuhei and Viciedo home to score and make it 2-9.

Hiroto Fuku was given the ball for the last 2 innings and the young lefty did well to close out the remaining innings under little pressure. He was able to strike out Romak and Tobashira in a row while inducing a ground out from Yamashita to end the inning and a fantastic hard hitting display.

All things went to plan for the Dragons today and Oguma gained a little more confidence after being battered by the Carp a week ago. No one can underestimate the influence of Hirata though as it seemed the whole team took a lift when he started doing his thing.

Overall a very positive series for the Dragons where we saw plenty of dingers and most importantly a series win. 

On the Farm: Chunichi Dragons v Orix Buffaloes (April 22nd - 24th)

ODELAY-HI-HOOO

It's time for a slightly delayed, but another, farm report! For the first time in a while the 2-gun team was able to have a 3 game series and it was up against the Buffaloes again, this time in Nagoya. The Buffaloes have been pretty bad in the Pacific League and the Western League with the Dragons having the best of most of the match-ups in the latter.

It wouldn't be all that straightforward for the Dragons this time around as they recorded a win and two losses. There would however be a couple of rare homers through this series to give me a little bit more to write about.

Game 1 was to mark the return of Raul Valdes who has been out of reckoning since sustaining an injury either early this year or late last year. The 38 year-old Cuban and former Phillie, is probably not going to see a whole lot of first team action this year, but looked very good on his return. 23 year old Hiroki Kondo would however go some way to taking the limelight away from Valdes with his key performance with the bat.

Pitching

Valdes back in business.

Valdes threw down a strong 5 innings where he only gave up 2 hits and a walk while fanning 3 to keep things scoreless. A strong comeback. Yuu Satoh took up a relief inning and also kept things scoreless, giving up 2 hits and fanning 1. Achira continued his great form with a scoreless inning while Ogawa took two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning. Kaneko fanned 3 in his full inning and Yamamoto, also coming back from injury, threw out his one batter to end the game.

Kondo in fine form.

Batting

Kei Nomoto would be the first to tee off against Umida in the 5th, sending one of two Dragons homeruns over the fence. As mentioned, Hiroki Kondo continued his great form in the 2-gun as he hit a marvelous homerun in the 7th against Tsukada and grabbed a hit to continue building up his burgeoning reputation. Akasaka would also raise some eyebrows as he made the best two at-bats as he scored 3 from 2 hits. Hitoshi Tamura, the veteran, also picked up a hit and a walk in his 4 at-bats.

A 5-0 win were the spoils in a fairly dominant performance from the bullpen and a some good hitting from some key batters. Nomoto and Kondo have certainly been pushing for first team selection and I wouldn't be surprised if the latter is offered a full-time contract before the year is out.

Game 2 marked another return to a man on the comeback trail as Tomoya Yagi, a former Buffalo, made his first start of the year. This was also a game where Shinnosuke Ogasawara was given a relief role for the first time in his 2-gun career. It is worth mentioning that Hikaru Itoh, the starting catcher for Orix last year and Takahiro Okada another usual starter were in the line-up for the Buffaloes. Kondo would rock some worlds again, but it would the Orix who would leave victorious.

Yagi, more goat than man.

Pitching

Yagi didn't cover himself in glory as he gave up 4 runs, including a 2-run homerun to Okada, and 6 hits in only 3 innings. Ogaswara didn't do much better as the youngster continues to adjust. The lefty gave up 3 runs including a home run to Sugimoto plus 5 hits and a walk in 4 innings. Nomura would be another returning from injury as he saw off 3 batters taking one strikeout as Ohba finished things as he gave up one hit but kept things scoreless in the final inning.


Batting

Kamezawa promoted

The only real positive and scoring moment was from Kondo as he hit a 2-run homerun in the 4th against Matsuba. Kondo also managed to milk a walk as he did just about all he could to try and push the Dragons along. Kamezawa hit two and stole a base to help build his case for a return while no other batters really stood out in an unfortunate loss.

Not a great game for the team as a whole but Kamezawa and Kondo ensured it wasn't an amazing embarrassment, 2-7.

In Game 3 the ball would be put in the safe hands of Junki Ito who is 2-0 this season in the Western League so far. It would however end up being a bit of a massacre as Orix ran out 4-11 winners. Things would start well for the Dragons as they put up 2 runs on the board in the first two inning, but a 3-run homerun from Hikaru Ito in the 3rd off Ito's pitching gave the Buffaloes the lead. A Tamura double would put the Dragons ahead in the 4th. In the 5th Hamada gave up 2 runs and a Nishikawa blow-out in the 7th, where he leaked 5 runs, ensured a pretty bad loss.

Nishikawa a bust?

Pitching

Junki Ito would only throw three innings as he gave up 4 hits and 2 walks along with Itoh's homer to finish off very shakily. Considering how good he has been of late, it's a surprise that he was taken apart so quickly. Hamada picked up where Ito left off as he gave up two runs in his 2 innings. Yamamoto would keep things quiet in his 1 inning as he struckout one and gave up a single hit. Nishikawa however would face 7 batters however and only manage to take two outs as he haemorraged  5 runs. Ohba took the last out of the inning and kept the Buffaloes quiet in the 8th as he took 2 strikouts but gave away 3 walks and a hit. Nomura pitched out the 9th inning in 11 balls taking 3 straight outs.

Batting

Nomoto continues to impress

Kei Nomoto picked up 3 hits today including an RBI and a walk in a fantastic display at the number 5 batting spot. Kondo only managed a walk today despite his consecutive homers. Tamura picked up 2 RBIs and a walk to add to his good performance in the previous game. Kamezawa grabbed another 2 hits and a walk in his 4 at-bats in what would be enough to earn himself a recall to for the series against the Baystars. Abe would be one of the worst of the day as he made an error and struck out three times.

A big 4-11 win for the Orix and a pretty disappointing loss for the Dragons. Some good performances from Tamura, Kondo and Kamezawa in there however helped alleviate some of the heavy feelings about the series.

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!