Inter-league: Dragons vs Hawks @YahooAucDome, May 31st - June 2nd; Hawks get the swoop on Dragons

The start of inter-league play! One of the more interesting caveats of the season to break up the monotony of playing the same 5 times over and over again! The Pacific League has been the better between the two leagues of late and the inter-league competition would be another proving ground to see how teams on either side are fairing.

The Softbank Hawks in Fukuoka would be the first challenge for the 2^nd placed Dragons. The Hawks are of course the reining Japan Series and Pacific League Champs and after a rocky start to the season, sit perched high on the table with no signs of slowing down.

In Game 1 Shinnosuke Ogasawara was in the limelight for the lead up as the first draft rookie had been hyped up for his first start on his pro debut against the Hawks. Ogasawara would make a minor record on his appearance becoming the first high school rookie to debut on the opening day of inter-league play. A very specific record, but a nice one to have nonetheless. Rick Van den Hurk would be the starter for the Hawks and the lanky starter would prove to be a tough challenge to overcome.

Ogasawara pitched with great poise, control and balance in the opening 2 innings as his change-up wreaked havoc on the Softbank line-up.  He didn’t wait long for his first career strike-out as he took care of Makihara in quick time. After seeing Imamiya ground out, Ogasawara then struck-out Hawks star, Yuki Yanagita to end the inning. A very promising start.

The Dragons opened the score first in the 3^rd inning through Ricardo Nanita as he belted his 3^rd homerun of the season making it 0-1.

The Hawks would return fire in the bottom of the 3^rd through Imamiya who got the first hit against Ogasawara on the evening and the first RBI as he split the centre, 1-1. It was however to be former Hawk, Kyouhei Kamezawa that would strike back in the top of the 4^th to give the lead to Chunichi once more with a sacrifice fly, 2-1. Ogasawara would keep the Hawks out of the game as he pitched a total of 5 innings for 1 earned run, 4 strikeouts and 7 walks. Hiroto Fuku took over for one inning with Daisuke Sobue taking the other to keep a hold of the Hawks attack and give Ogasawara the best chance possible to get his first win on his pro debut.  In the 8^th inning, Fukutani was given the chance to keep the good work going but after taking two outs he gave up consecutive hits to Uchikawa and Hasegawa.  Matsuda then evened up the scores with a a single while Nakamura rifled in a 3 RBI double to stretch the winning score to 5-2. Fukutani had absolutely blown it. With only one out to get he let it slip away. Possible mentally unprepared for such a battering, the Chunichi counter-attack was rendered useless by Dennis Sarfate who ripped through Nomoto, Ohshima and Kamezawa to end the game, claim the save and most importantly the win.

 One can only feel frustrated for Ogasawara who had a debut win in his sights. It all came down to Fukutani though and the poor lad was devastated in the post-game barely being able to look at his team-mates. Needless to say, Fukutani was sent down to the 2-gun after his performance. Tajima looks set to be the closer for the time being.

Ogasawara however fulfilled and exceeded my expectations. His first few innings were absolute dynamite. He looks to have gotten a bit bigger since being drafted and his 140km+ straight balls and his change-up looked really good. He seems to have a decent curve ball on him as well which he didn’t quite get working on the night. The weapons seem to be there he just needs to put them to good use. My benchmark for him in the game was to remain at 1 earned run for 5 innings and he did that with gusto. I’m very proud of the young man.  I hope we get to see more of him this season.

Game 2 of interleague play would see Shunta Wakamatsu take to the mound to try and reverse his bad luck of late, losing his last 4 games on the trot. Tsuyoshi Wada would be his opposite number on the mound with the veteran Hawks pitcher only losing 1 game and winning 6.

Donoue started things of brightly in the second as he hit Viciedo home to open the scoring in the 2^nd. Hirata would then chip in with some of the good stuff at the right time as in the 3^rd inning the Chunichi captain cracked three run homer into the stands to make it 0-4.

Viciedo would end the scoring in the 5^th inning with an RBI single to send Ohshima home. Wakamatsu pitched out the game very well as the Hawks struggled against his wizardry. Wakamatsu claimed 8Ks in 8 innings giving up 2 walks and only 3 hits. A tremendous return to form. This writer however is a tad pessimistic as he things the Pacific League boys just haven’t had the time to figure him out like the Central League batters have. Hirata and Viciedo both had two hits a piece today and figured prominently in the reckoning. Good win for the Dragons to bounce back from the previous evenings unfortunate loss.

Game 3 against the Hawks would bring with it a bit of nostalgia for the Dragons fans as former starter Kenichi Nakata started for the Hawks. The Kyushu-born pitcher had some good years with the Dragons but was still looking for his first win of the season. Raul Valdes would take the ball to start the Dragons pitching.

These kind of match ups interest me. Do former players, particularly pitchers, have an inside knowledge that helps them against their old team mates? I can only think there has to be something to that line of thinking.

Anyway, it was to be the reverse of my thinking to start off as former teammates Nakata and Fujii did battle in the 1^st inning only for the latter to come out the winner as he whacked a solo homer into the stands to start things off for the Dragons, 0-1.

The Hawks would reply immediately however as with only one out taken, Valdes loaded up the bases. Hasegawa would take the opportunity to but the Hawks into the lead with a 2 RBI single followed by Matsuda’s sac-fly to make the scores 3-1. Nanita’s second solo homer of the series in the fourth but the Dragons back in reaching distance.

But the Hawks would taketh away through Imamiya’s solo homer in the 4^th to make it 4-2 and restore the two point gap.

Hiroto Fuku was brought in to replace Valdes but the youngster couldn’t stem the tide; he didn’t get much help from his teammates either. Honda looked to be on his way to grounding out but a poor pick up from Kamezawa got the veteran home as well as scoring Tsuruoka. Uchikawa would then rub salt into the wounds with an RBI single to blow the score out to 6-2.

The Dragons failed to rally and only mustered 3 hits from their 9 innings, two of which were homeruns. So concluded another poor showing from the batters that were shown up by their former pitching staff.

A 1-2 loss over the series was a result I probably would have taken at the beginning of the series but if not for Fukutani’s head explosion in the first game, we might have been celebrating a series win. Wasn’t to be and now we’ll have to redeem ourselves against Rakuten in Nagoya. 

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.

On the Farm: Chunichi Dragons v Softbank Hawks (April 19th & 20th)

Keep  movin' movin' movin', though Hawks be disapprovin' keep those runners movin', home side! Don't try to understand em' just mash, crash and slam 'em, soon we'll be smilin' side by side. Our pitchers are frustratin' those Ks will be waiting, if we don't get that control down right. HOME SIDE!

Ahem, yes, the Western theme continues as we continue to follow the Dragons farm team and their adventures in the Western League. Things have been going remarkably well for the team with the losses few and far between. A lot of the good performers have so far gone up to the first team and done well, most noticeably Tetsuya Tani has carried on his superb form.

Michihiro Ogaswara's team headed down to the Hawks Baseball Park Chikugo where the Softbank team normally plays it's 2-gun and 3-gun games. We had another incidence where a 3-game series was turned into a 2-game series because of rain on the 21st. This also hampered recovery efforts in Kumamoto so a called off game was really the least of the worries.

2 games and another two wins to follow. Some good batting on the 19th and some good pitching on the 20th ensured a series win once more for our talented 2-gun players.

Game 1 of the series would see a return to the mound for Yudai Kawai while Yosuke Shimabukuro took up duties for the Hawks. Yudai had a typical blow out after a few innings, but it wasn't to be too detrimental to the team's overall success. The Dragons opened the scoring in the 1st with Hirata hitting home Kondo and the lead was extended to 0-4 in the 4th. One run given up in the 4th and then 4 runs given away in the 5th made it a 5-4 scoreline in favour of the Hawks. With things scoreless until the 9th, Ishikawa scored 2 runners to put the Dragons ahead and secure the win.

Pitching

Kaneko with the save.

Yudai Kawai as mentioned did reasonably well but 4 conceded runs in his 5th inning meant that he was yoinked from the mound fairly early on. Yudai did however take 5 strikeouts but threw 2 walks and allowed 7 hits off his 4 2/3 innings. 93 balls in his spell meant that he probably is lacking a bit of stamina. Yuu Sato would take 1 2/3 innings to strike out and walk two out of his 7 batters faced, helping stem the tide of runs. Ryuya Ogawa, who was in the opening day squad for the big leagues, took 1/3 of an inning and took 4 balls to strikeout his only batter. Achira would walk away as the winning pitcher as he threw down 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and walk but taking a strikeout to stay scoreless. Takeshi Kaneko took the last inning and got the save taking two strikeouts despite giving up two hits.

Kondo showing the good
stuff

Batting

Young Kondo would be in the midst of all the good things about the batting today as he put in a superb 4 at-bats. The youngster notched 2 hits, a walk and a sacrifice hit. A great contribution. Ryosuke Hirata continued his rehabilitation as he hit 2 including an RBA to go with a walk in his 4 plate appearances. Infielder, Abe started to show signs of settling in as he scored twice and hit two RBIs to go with a walk in a very good appearance with the bat. Ishikawa would be another to carve up the Hawks pitching as he made a telling contribution with 3 hits including 2 RBIs and a walk in his 4 at-bats. Special mention too goes to Ryuichiro Akada who made his comeback as a pinch-hitter after being sidelined with a broken thumb. The catcher with an American grandfather hit two from two to end a good days work. There were plenty of good contributions with the bat, maybe too many to list.

A good performance from the batters and relievers saved the game after some shoddy pitching from Yudai early on. A 5-8 win were the spoils. Credit goes to Abe and Mizowaki, particularly the former, for their fantastic displays in the field.

Here's some highlights from the 9th inning:

Game 2 would prove to be a much closer affair as Chunichi managed to hold on to a 0-2 lead that was achieved in the second inning to close out what would end up being a series sweep. Shinji Iwata would be the man on the mound for the Dragons as a recovering former Major Leaguer, Daisuke Matuzaka would be the Hawks starter for the day. Takuma Kato, and Mizowaki would start things for the Dragons in the second inning to get on base and it was successive RBIs from Watanabe and Kamezawa that ultimately sealed the win.

Iwata with his 1st win

Pitching

Iwata defied his critics today as he pitched out 6 1/3 innings to out-pitch his opposite number. Iwata gave up only 4 hits and a walk as he claimed 6 strikeouts. Ryuya Ogawa had an easy task in his one inning as he gave up one hit against 4 batters. Achira took 2/3 of an inning and took 2 strikeouts against his two batters to continue to stifle the Hawks batting. Takeshi Kaneko finished things up with the save as he conceded one hit but struck out two to finish the game.

It was a really good start from Iwata that got things going. If he can keep his up who knows what might be around the corner, but he still has a lot to prove.

Batting

Tamura made his first full
appearance for the 2nds.

Veterans Hirata and Tamura would be the only one to walk away without a hit as the lineup all
had at least one to their name. Tamura made his full debut since his move from the Baystars and only managed to get on base once through a walk. Kamezawa would have the best performance of the game with an RBI, two walks and 3 stolen bases. Not bad! Nomoto would be the only other to walk away with more than a single approach to base as he got a hit and a walk for his troubles.

Against the likes of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Edison Barrios, it is no real surprise it was a low-scoring game but a fantastic performance from Kamezawa with the bat a and a solid performance form Iwata with the ball ensured an unspectacular but well worked win.

Here's some of Kamezawa's highlights from the game:

Two wins in two games to take away from Fukuoka with plenty of positives. 

Lastly, if you have a Pac-TV account, you can watch the Softbank 2-gun games which means you can watch the Dragons team play live when they go up against the Hawks at home.

On the Farm: Chunichi Dragons v Hanshin Tigers (April 8th, 9th & 10th)

Weeeee're back on the farm after a very short intermission as I'm trying my best to catch up on some reports. We are in for a 3 gamer in today's report as for whatever reason no game was called off this time around. The Dragons took on the Hanshin Tigers in the second farm series clash of the Western League season. It would be an unfortunate overall loss to the Dragons, but there were lots of runs in an exciting three games against our geographically closest rivals.

The first game saw 2-gun regular starter, Yudai Kawai take the mound once again while Masaru Iwasaki took up duties for the Tigers. There would be a number of first-team hopefuls in the side as Okada took up the ball again today while Kamezawa, Hernandez and Akasaka played roles in the field and with the bat.

Pitching

I better shape up, coz we
need a....relief pitcher...

It would be the ubiquitous, Yudai to start things off and he would keep things tidy until his last inning where he allowed the Tigers back in the game with Naomasa Yokawa and others striking back to make the score 4-3 in the 6th. Yudai would finish with 6 strikeouts giving up 6 hits and a walk.  Achira would clean up the 6th inning as he run through 3 batters for no loss. Toshiya Okada would unfortunately give up 2 runs, including a homer,  against the 4 batters he faced, taking one strikeout in the process. Takeshi Kaneko restored some respectability as he remained scoreless after 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and a hit but taking a strikeout. Mitsuma would take up closing duties and let go of another run. He would end his one inning with a strike, a walk and a hit to his name.

Not the greatest of work from the pitching staff.

Homerun to the Tokyo
suburb, Akasaka

Batting

Batting started off well in the first inning. Hernandez would send Kamezawa to make it 1-0 with 2 outs before Akasaka, fielding at first-base today, sent one over the fence to bring himself and Hernandez home to make it 3-0 in the first. A further RBI would be added by the man of the moment, Kondo to make it 4-0 in the 5th. Kondo would grab two hits today and strikeout twice in his 4 at-bats. Other notable performances go to Ishikawa who milked two walks as well as Kamezawa and Hernandez who both claimed two hits a piece.

Not a great day at the office for the bullpen, but these are the lessons that must be be learned at this level. A 4-6 loss at home is never a good look.


Game 2 of the series would be even less close as the Tigers made a blowout in the 5th against Iwata to pile on the runs and claim a 3-7 win.

Among the starting members today were some familiar faces with Muto returning to the second squad while Akasaka, Yusuke Matsui, Hernandez and Takeyama would make some contributions with the bat. New draftees, Takuya Kinoshita and Toshiki Abe would start while Yuu Satoh would relieve. Starting on the mound again was the ever erratic Shinji Iwata while Kouki Moriya took the mound for the Tigers.

Pitching

Iwata continues to struggle.

Iwata did well until the 6th inning but the remaining stats are what matters. The experienced starter conceded 5 in 4 1/3 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 walks while taking 6 strikes. Mitsuma finished off the 6th inning, gave up a hit and a walk but remained scoreless. Yuu Satoh took 2 strikeouts in his two scoreless innings against 6 batters. Unfortunately, Mutoh would give up a further two runs in his disappointing relief inning. Nishikawa took the tail inning and was able to remain scoreless as he took down his 3 batters with 9 balls.

Iwata might be lucky to keep his contract by the end of this year if he shows no further improvement.

Not to be confused with
ヒルナンデス

Batting

Hernandez would be the pick of the batters as he picked off two RBIs in two hits. Two strikeouts however tarnished that good record. Mizowaki would be the only other to register an RBI today for the Dragons as he helped the team to a 1-0 lead in the 3rd. Mizowaki would also make another hit as well as striking out to end his day. Watanabe, playing in left-field,  would also hit two, striking out once. Akasaka could make no notable contribution today while Matsui and Takeyama both struck-out as pinch hitters. Furumoto would be the only other to register some meaningful statistics as he got a hit and a walk as DH today.

2 losses in a row and both have been mostly due to blow-outs by the starting pitchers. All in all though, this is the development team. The main worry however is that the experienced ones are the one's stuffing it up.


The last game of the series taking place on Sunday, would be a refreshing but nail-biting win. Shinnosuke Ogasawara would continue in the starting rotation for the second team but once again find himself a bit lacking. Kamezawa, Hernandez and Takeyama would start in the field while Yusuke Matsui found himself at the DH.

Kohyo Aoyanagi would start on the mound for the Tigers.

Adapting to big ball takes time.

Pitching

Ogasawara opened things up and his starting jitters would continue as he gave up 3 in his second inning. Control seems to still be an issue as the youngster game up 4 walks and 4 hits to accompany his 4 strikes in 5 0/3 innings. Kaneko would not slow down the scoring either as he gave up a hit and a run to go with his single strikeout in 1 1/3 innings. Okada would restore some essence of sanity by keeping things scoreless against 5 batter in 1 inning. Muto would take home winning honours despite pitching only 2/3 of an inning, giving up a hit and a walk. Daisuke Sobue would grab another save for his collection, once again running through 3 batters in quick succession taking two strikeouts.

A much better showing...or at least a luckier one but the slow progress of Ogasawara is a minor worry. Easy to forget he is only 18 though.

A man that needs No-motto.

Batting

Kamezawa would be one of the scorers today after he walked twice. Hernandez grabbed two RBIs and walked once while Matsui grabbed a hit and walk for his troubles. Furumoto was the pick of the bunch as he hit twice and walked twice to do very little wrong. An unlikely hero would however emerge as Kei Nomoto came in as a pinch-hitter to claim a game winning double. Takeyama unfortunately would only trouble the scorers with a strikeout.
Young Watanabe would also show good form today as he picked up an RBI, took a walk, stole a base and struck out once.

A good performance from the batters saw this one out, but it did take some 8th inning heroics from Nomoto to make it possible.

A very mixed bag of results for the 2-gun team this round, with no huge standouts. Hernandez did his reputation no harm, but with Jordan and Naylor in the starting rotation and Ricardo Nanita in decent form, it's currently unlikely we'll see a return for the Dominican for a little while. My guess would be a drop in form from Nanita and disappointment with Donoue might bring the stocky infielder back into the fold.

In other roster news, Shota Tomonaga has been spending time with the first team, while Kazuki Yoshimi will be taking time off to recover after being de-reg'd despite starting against the Giants on Saturday. Akasaka as well is currently with the first team side after his home-run performance.