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NPB Update: The Japan Series Begins Saturday

October 26, 2009 in Sports by Tom Langston (calaggie) | No comments

The two regular-season champions in each league – the Yomiuri Giants (Central) and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (Pacific) – will face each other in this year’s Japan Series (aka Nippon Series, 日本シリーズ). The first two games of this 7-game series will be played in Hokkaido’s Sapporo Dome, the next three at Yomiuri’s Tokyo Dome, and the final two back at the Sapporo Dome.

Japan Series schedule
Gm 1: Oct. 31 – Yomiuri at Nippon-Ham
Gm 2: Nov. 1 – Yomiuri at Nippon-Ham
Gm 3: Nov. 3 – Nippon-Ham at Yomiuri
Gm 4: Nov. 4 – Nippon-Ham at Yomiuri
Gm 5: Nov. 5 – Nippon-Ham at Yomiuri (if necessary)
Gm 6: Nov. 7 – Yomiuri at Nippon-Ham (if necessary)
Gm 7: Nov. 8 – Yomiuri at Nippon-Ham (if necessary)

This is Hokkaido’s fifth trip to the Japan Series – they previously went in 1962 (as the Toei Flyers), 1981, 2006 and 2007 and won twice (1962 & 2006). In comparison, Yomiuri has participated in the Series on 31 previous occasions – the latest was in 2008, where they lost to the Saitama Seibu Lions in seven – and have won 20 championships (last one in 2002). In this way, the Yomiuri Giants are kind of like the New York Yankees (MLB), who have won 26 World Series and will play in its 40th Series – this time against the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies.

The Giants and Fighters played four games against each other during the regular season and split the season series 2-2. The two franchises have also previously faced off in the Japan Series: in 1981, the Giants defeated the Fighters 4 games to 2 with righthanded pitcher Takashi Nishimoto earning MVP honors.

Like always, a few videos:

The pennant-clinching out for the Giants in their 8-2 win as Marc Kroon gets Motonobu Tanishige to line out to third. That’s manager Tatsunori Hara being interviewed after the game.

Highlights from Nippon Ham’s 9-4 series finisher over Rakuten, including Terrmel Sledge’s 3-run homer in the 8th. He had 10 RBI in the series: five in both games 1 and 4.

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NPB Update: On To The Second Stage!

October 20, 2009 in Sports by Tom Langston (calaggie) | No comments

Both the Central and Pacific Leagues have finished stage 1 of their Climax Series. The Chunichi Dragons and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles now move on to stage 2 to face their leagues’ regular season champions (the Yomiuri Giants and the Nippon-Ham Fighters, respectively) with a one-game disadvantage. Each stage 2 matchup begins Wednesday and proceeds for consecutive days at the regular season champions’ home domes until the Japan Series competitors are decided. (Final regular season standings via Japanball.)

Central C.S. 1st Stage
Gm 1 – Yakult 3, Chunichi 2 [boxscore]
Gm 2 – Chunichi 3, Yakult 2 [boxscore]
Gm 3 – Chunichi 7, Yakult 4 [boxscore]
Chunichi wins series, 2-1

Central C.S. 2nd Stage – Yomiuri vs. Chunichi
(Yomiuri already ahead 1-0; all games at Tokyo Dome)
Gm 1 – Wed. Oct. 21
Gm 2 – Thu. Oct. 22
Gm 3 – Fri. Oct. 23
Gm 4* – Sat. Oct. 24
Gm 5* – Sun. Oct. 25
Gm 6* – Mon. Oct. 26
* if necessary

Pacific C.S. 1st Stage
Gm 1 – Rakuten 11, Softbank 4 [boxscore]
Gm 2 – Rakuten 4, Softbank 1 [boxscore]
Rakuten wins series, 2-0

Pacific C.S. 2nd Stage – Nippon-Ham vs. Rakuten
(Nippon-Ham already ahead 1-0; all games at Sapporo Dome)
Gm 1 – Wed. Oct. 21
Gm 2 – Thu. Oct. 22
Gm 3 – Fri. Oct. 23
Gm 4* – Sat. Oct. 24
Gm 5* – Sun. Oct. 25
Gm 6* – Mon. Oct. 26
* if necessary

Above: highlights from Chunichi’s series-clinching win over Yakult. Plays include Dragons rightfielder Kei Nomoto throwing out Kazuhiro Hata at home in the 5th (Motonobu Tanishige also did a good job in blocking the plate), veteran Kazuyoshi Tatsunami (age 40) driving in 2 runs on a pinch-hit double and getting cheers when he is replaced by pinchrunner Masaaki Koike, Takuya Asao getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the 8th by inducing an inning-ending double play, and Hitoki Iwase striking out Norichika Aoki to finish it. [In a case of bad timing, five Yakult players tested positive for influenza A during the series including Ryohei Kawamoto, who hit a 2-run home run in Game 2.]

In the Pacific, Rakuten easily handled Softbank with its combination of solid pitching – both Eagles starters, Hisashi Iwakuma (Game 1) and Masahiro Tanaka (Game 2), went the full nine innings – and chunks of offense, scoring 3 runs in the 1st, 4 in the 3rd, and 3 in the sixth during Game 1. However, Iwakuma wasn’t perfect in his win as he gave up 4 runs in the fourth, two of them unearned. (Skip to 1:57 in the above video to see Softbank’s runs in Game 1.)

The Japan Series begins on October 31st, just to let you know, and we should know which team will represent each league by next Tuesday.

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NPB Tuesday: October 6, 2009

October 6, 2009 in Sports by Tom Langston (calaggie) | No comments

Over the past week in the Pacific League, Softbank clinched a playoff spot on Wednesday, Rakuten clinched their playoff berth on Saturday (its first ever!), and leader Nippon Ham finally seized the league title today after 2nd place Rakuten lost to Lotte 5-2. Just in case Rakuten had won, the Fighters beat Seibu 5-4 on a 12th-inning sacrifice fly. The PL Climax Series should go like this: Rakuten will face Softbank in a three-game series and the winner of that will face Nippon Ham in a best-of-7 with a one game disadvantage.

In the Central League, the struggle for third place continues although Hiroshima seems pretty much out of contention by losing 7-3 to Yokohama on Sunday. Hanshin and Yakult are a half game apart after Tuesday and both are below .500. Yakult has 4 games left to play while Hanshin only has 3 left; coincidentally, the Tigers’ final two are against the Swallows on Oct. 8th & 9th.

As you can probably tell, this weekly feature is late by a day. I’m having some fits of lethargy (a bad excuse) so I’m only going to embed two videos. The first is the bottom of the 12th & celebration from Nippon Ham’s Tuesday win. Listen at the beginning for an stadium organ version of “We Are The Champions”.

The other is the first part of the “hero interview” after Rakuten clinched its first playoff spot ever. The team was formed to even out the Pacific League after Orix & Kintetsu merged in 2004 and this was just their 5th season in existence. 2009 was also their first winning season – their previous best was 67-75-2 (.452) and 4th place in 2007. The last one to speak in this clip is Fernando Seguignol, a Panaman switch-hitter who has bounced between the Japanese and US major leagues. He’s hitting .252 with 14 HR and 54 RBI through Tuesday.

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NPB Monday: September 28, 2009

September 28, 2009 in Sports by Tom Langston (calaggie) | No comments

In the past week, Yomiuri clinched its 3rd straight Central League regular season title on Wednesday, putting Chunichi securely in 2nd place. (The Giants also had a 10-game winning streak end when they lost 10-1 loss to Chunichi on Monday.) Third place is being fought over by Yakult, Hanshin, and even Hiroshima. In the Pacific League, leader Nippon-Ham is close to clinching a playoff spot and in position for the league title while Softbank & Rakuten are neck-and-neck in 2nd and 3rd. Seibu has an chance at advancing, currently four behind Rakuten.

Digest of the Giants’ CL-clinching win and their celebration afterward. [Japanball, boxscore]

Segment on a morning show the day after where a guy talks with many of the players.

While in Pittsburgh for the G-20 summit, Japanese PM Hatoyama threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Pirates game (9/25) and also received #18 jerseys from both the Pirates and the Dodgers. That number was worn by Masumi Kuwata, who briefly played for the Pirates in 2007, and also by current Dodgers pitcher Yosuke Kuroda. [Japanball]
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NPB Monday: September 21, 2009

September 21, 2009 in Sports by Tom Langston (calaggie) | No comments

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.
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