I skipped this feature last week but it’s back. (Not that anyone really missed it.)
Playoff Run Standings (after 9/21 games) – * = clinched playoff spot
Central League
1st – *Yomiuri (—; 13 games left)
2nd – *Chunichi (9 GB; 11 left)
3rd – Hanshin (23.5 GB; 13 left)
4th – Hiroshima (24 GB; 14 left)
5th – Yakult (25 GB; 17 left)
Pacific League:
1st – Nippon-Ham (—; 15 games left)
2nd – Softbank (3.5 GB; 11 left)
3rd – Rakuten (5.5 GB; 16 left)
4th – Seibu (9.5 GB; 13 left)
Clips:
Chunichi’s Araki steals his 34th base of the season against Yokohama’s Futoshi Kobayashi during Saturday’s game at Nagoya Dome. The Dragons won 5-2.
Akihiro Yano hits a 2-run homerun off Yomiuri’s Marc Kroon with 2 outs in the 11th to give Hanshin a 5-3 lead on Tuesday 9/15.
Highlights from Orix’s 11-1 rout over Softbank on Wednesday. Kazuki Kondo pitched a complete game for the Buffaloes, giving up only five hits and three walks.
Rakuten scoring 8 runs in the 6th inning of their Saturday 10-4 win over Chiba Lotte.
Rakuten’s Teppei Tsuchiya hits a grand slam in the 9th vs. Softbank in a 7-4 Sept. 11 win paired with a Fukuoka radio call.
From yesterday’s Carp-Swallows game, an infield hit by Hiroshima’s Akamatsu evens up the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the 9th and Andy Phillips wins it with a single. Phillips also had an 2-run homer in the 1st and finished with 4 RBI on the night.
This one has an interesting behind the plate angle. Nobuhiro Matsuda hits a solo shot off Kazuhisa Ishii in the 3rd for Softbank’s only run in their 8-1 loss Saturday to Seibu. In that same game, Seibu’s Takaya Nakamura hit his Pacific League-leading 40th home run in the 6th off Toshiya Sugiuchi.
Here’s a side shot of Nakamura’s 40th.
Retro Clip:
August 28, 1992 edition of MLB Super Stadium, back when Barry Bonds was on the Pirates! Don’t ask me why “Wayne’s World” is playing in the background at the start.
AL standings are through August 26th (confirmed by checking Baseball Reference). They talk about David Cone being traded from the Mets to the Blue Jays (for Jeff Kent & Ryan Thompson) and end with Bret Boone, who become the first third-generational Major League player by debuting with the Mariners, by looking at cards of his grandfather Ray Boone and father Bob Boone.
I also found a 2009 pre-game from before June 1st’s Mariners-Orioles game. It’s strange to see the NL & AL standings held up on cards but I guess that makes it easy to see the three divisions in each at a glance.
