Interleague: PL nips CL 105 to 104

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Japanese Pro Yakyu 2005

Bobby Valentine-led Chiba Lotte Marines conclude their strong interleague campaign with a 24-11-1 record, a full game ahead of the runner-up Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (Photo Source: Sankei Sports)

JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Hiroyuki Oshima and Takahiko "G.G." Sato both hit their first homers of the season Saturday as the Seibu Lions belted five homers in a 17-hit attack to end their interleague schedule with an 11-1 victory over the Yakult Swallows.
June 18: Full Story
Also: Lions rookie Wakui sinks Swallows for 1st win
Pitch-by-pitch: To follow up on a previous post, over the full 2005 interleague schedule position players saw 0-2 pitches in the strike zone 25% of the time.

Marines win to claim interleague title
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Kazuya Fukuura turned the game around with a two-run homer and Naoyuki Shimizu pitched seven strong innings Friday as the Lotte Marines beat the Yakult Swallows 5-1 to secure sole possession of first place in the interleague standings.
June 17: Full Story
Also: Marines pass muster by taking interleague title

Giants sweep Eagles behind Kudo
By Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Kimiyasu Kudo produced a superb start as the Yomiuri Giants wrapped up their first-ever interleague campaign with a 4-0 victory over the expansion Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Tokyo Dome.
Kudo, 42, allowed a hit and a walk and struck out eight in seven innings to lead the Giants to their fourth straight victory.
June 16: Full Story
Also: Hawks still in running to cash in
Related: Thursday's roundup
Dave Wiggins: Flamboyant Shinjo plays as good as he looks
Pitch-by-pitch: 36 games, 146 plate appearances, zero missed fastball swings!
That's exactly what Hiroshima Carp outfielder Tomonori Maeda has accomplished in interleague play. The veteran left-handed hitter saw 257 fastballs, while attemting 81 cuts with the following results: in play - 66%, fouled off - 34%, missed - none.
Maeda averaged .328 with a .131 isolated power (20 hits, five doubles, one homer in 61 at-bats) when putting fastballs into play.
As for pitches of a different variety, he hit the same .328 (22-for-67, not including six strikeouts) but had seven home runs along with one double for an IPw of .328.

Swallows put off Marines' celebration
By John E. Gibson, Daily Yomiuri -- The Yakult Swallows have something this season's Pacific League teams pine for: success against the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Yakult got seven strong innings from lefty Shugo Fujii and scored all its runs with two outs to defeat the PL's front-running team 4-1 in front of 11,009 spectators on a soggy Wednesday at Jingu Stadium.
June 15: Full Story
Also: Darvish smokes Carp in debut
Related: Kyodo roundup

Rhodes hits 350th HR in Giants' win
Daily Yomiuri -- Tuffy Rhodes homered for the fourth straight game with his 350th home run in Japan as the Yomiuri Giants continued their high scoring ways Tuesday with a 9-3 interleague victory over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Tokyo Dome.
June 14: Full Story
Photos: Giants vs Eagles
Also: Marines want it all
Related: Tuesday's recaps
Pitch-by-pitch: Tuffy Rhodes has been ways better against opponents' heat since we looked into his splits a couple weeks ago. The Giants slugger has hit five home runs so far in June, including four in the last four games, with his milestone blast being the only one off a pitch other than the fastball.

Kiyohara, Shimizu lead rout of Seibu
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Kazuhiro Kiyohara belted a pair of three-run homers and had seven RBIs and Takayuki Shimizu hit a grand slam as the Yomiuri Giants outslugged the Seibu Lions for a 19-3 walloping in interleague play Sunday.
Kiyohara moved into sole possession of sixth place in the all-time home-run list in Japanese baseball with 506 homers.
June 12: Full Story
College: Aoyama Gakuin University wins national collegiate championship
Photos: Tigers leadoff man Norihiro Akahoshi hits his first career homer at Koshien in 1,055th at-bat
Pitch-by-pitch: Takeya Nakamura of the Lions has hit five home runs in six games against the Giants. The burly corner infielder went 8-for-24 with 10 RBI in the interleague series.

Offense helps Kawahara beat former team
By Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- The Yomiuri Giants had a blast with their past on Saturday, belting former closer Junichi Kawahara for three home runs, but it was not enough to keep the Seibu Lions from pounding the Giants 12-5 in an interleague game on Saturday evening.
Young Seibu star Takeya Nakamura helped himself to some fat pitches as he homered and drove in four runs to make Kawahara a winner in his return to Tokyo Dome.
June 11: Full Story
Pitch-by-pitch: Kawahara touched for five hits
Roundup: Tigers take fight out of Nippon Ham
Photo: Tigers vet Akihiro Yano drives a 3-1 fastball to dead center for his first career grand slam
Wayne Graczyk: Thanks to the efforts of many, baseball remains intact despite merger

Yoshii snaps BayStars' winning streak
By Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Orix righthander Masato Yoshii continues to be the surprise of the season, holding host Yokohama to four hits and one run over six innings to improve to 3-0 in four starts.
The 40-year-old had recorded just two wins in the two seasons since returning from the major leagues in 2003.
June 10: Full Story

Kubo solid in Marines' rout of Giants
Daily Yomiuri -- The Chiba Lotte Marines and Yasutomo Kubo got their revenge.
One day after losing a ill-tempered game to the Yomiuri Giants, Benny Agbayani homered and drove in three runs to lead the Marines to a 10-2 rout Thursday night at Chiba Marine Stadium.
June 9: Full Story
Roundup: Fukuhara pitches second shutout as Hanshin sweeps Orix
Dave Wiggins: Manuel's Japan rep gets newfound life
Lions 4, Swallows 1: Seibu starter Fumiya Nishiguchi (8-3) picks up the win with six scoreless frames, striking out six. The Lions make the most out of their chances, scoring four runs on just six hits against Yakult's Ryo Kawashima (5-3).

Seibu holds off stubborn Yakult
By Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Nothing has come easy for the Seibu Lions this season. Lefty Kazuyuki Hoashi pitched eight shutout innings before faltering in the ninth as the Lions won a 3-2 nailbiter over the Yakult Swallows on Wednesday.
June 8: Full Story
Jim Allen: Interleague highs and lows
A quote from the article above: "Nine times out of 10, an 0-2 pitch will be nearer the Panama Canal Zone than the strike zone."
Is it really so? Well, let's take a look at what the 2004 data says.
The table below shows percentage of 0-2 pitches in the strike zone (Z%) and how often hitters chased pitches out of the zone (Ch%) for all position players and for those with at least 25 home runs last season.
The chase percentage was included to gauge an amount of pitches near the strike zone, close enough to make the batter swing.

2004	Z%	Ch%
CL	25.2	19.3
25+	23.5	20.5
PL	25.0	20.5
25+	20.5	19.6

To put it into perspective, Russian League batters saw 34% of 0-2 pitches in the zone in 2003, while chasing at a rate of 30%. A sample of 2004 Major League data gives us 33% and 31% figures, respectively.
Speaking of individual players, the 2004 Triple Crown winner Nobuhiko Matsunaka had the highest Z% of 28.6 among PL hitters with 25-plus homers (5.5 Ch%), Fernando Seguignol's 13.0 mark was the lowest (32.5 Ch%).
Makoto Imaoka led CL power threats with 33.7 Z% (22.8 Ch%) [Shigenobu Shima was second at 31.2 and 34.9], while Tyron Woods had a Z% of just 12.8 (22.7 Ch%) [Koichi Ogata was next to last with 13.0 and 14.9].
Finally, where does the brand new interleague play stand as far as the 0-2 pitches are concerned? A large enough sample suggests the following: 25 Z% and 22 Ch%. Hmm, so what was the article saying about the lack of preparation? But that's another story.

Watanabe to take over as chairman
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- The Yomiuri Giants said Tuesday former team owner Tsuneo Watanabe will be appointed team chairman of the Central League club.
"The Giants are facing a historical crisis now. It is time that the team rebuild itself and aim to become champions again," Watanabe said.
June 7: Full Story
Roundup: Chunichi beats Rakuten to keep winning streak going
Related: Marines stay perfect vs Giants
Pitch-by-pitch: SoftBank starter Toshiya Sugiuchi gives up five extra-base hits, including three home runs, in a 5-2 loss to Hiroshima.

Shimoyanagi vs. Watanabe duel a draw
Daily Yomiuri -- With two of the most successful pitchers in each league on the mound, the Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers got a pitchers' duel that ended in a 1-1, 12-inning tie at Koshien Stadium.
Submarine right-hander Shunsuke Watanabe allowed a run on four hits in nine innings for the Marines, while Tigers southpaw Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi allowed a run in eight innings.
June 5: Full Story
Roundup: Yakult avoids a sweep by Rakuten
Pitch-by-pitch: Former CL home run champ Takeshi Yamasaki, now with the Eagles, has six homers in last seven games, with five of the shots coming against lefthanders.

Mullen mows down high-flying Hawks
By John E. Gibson, Daily Yomiuri -- All it took for the Yomiuri Giants to shake off fatigue was a spirit-lifting performance from newcomer Scott Mullen.
The southpaw cruised through 8-1/3 innings on six hits while boosting morale with 11 strikeouts in his fourth game to lead Yomiuri past the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 3-2 Friday night at Tokyo Dome.
June 3: Full Story
Photo: Mullen earns first win since joining Yomiuri
Also: Sugiuchi wins back-to-back monthly MVP awards

Kawashima dazzles Orix in Yakult win
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Second-year righthander Ryo Kawashima pitched a four-hitter over seven strong innings, carrying the CL-leading Yakult Swallows to a 4-1 victory over the Orix Buffaloes for their fifth straight win Thursday.
Kawashima (5-2) won his fourth consecutive decision.
June 2: Full Story
Related: Shimizu homers twice to help Giants break string of ties
Pitch-by-pitch: Brad Thomas of the Fighters pitched three innings of no-hit relief against the Giants on Thursday in his first ichi-gun appearance in almost two months.
The lefthander, who was rocked for 15 earned runs in just six innings over three early-season starts, lowered his ERA to 15.00.

Time to look forward for a change
By Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Early-inning bunts are decreasing, and spring training is slowly becoming less regimented. Eventually, everyone will understand they are selling a game, not a religion.
June 1: Full Story
Also: Zuleta, Hawks teach Tigers powerful lesson
Pitch-by-pitch: Rakuten starter Hiroki Yamamura allows five runs on five consecutive hits and leaves without getting an out, tying an NPB record by giving up four homers in an inning against Yokohama on Wednesday

Dragons walk by Matsuzaka, Lions
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-6) issued three straight walks with none out in the fifth inning, and Chunichi took advantage of the situation to score two runs on a Masahiro Araki single and a Kazuyoshi Tatsunami bases-loaded walk in a 2-1 victory over Seibu at Nagoya Dome.
Masahiro Yamamoto (4-2) threw a four-hitter over seven scoreless innings.
May 31: Full Story
Related: Daily Yomiuri roundup for Tuesday
Photo: Rick Guttormson earns his first win in Japan, lifting Yakult to the top of interleague standings

Waseda wins Tokyo Big Six spring title
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Waseda University defeated Keio University 4-1 to capture their first Tokyo Big Six League title in three years by topping the standings with a maximum five points on Tuesday.
May 31: Full Story
Photo: Waseda University claims 37th league title
Related: Junior lefthander Ken Miyamoto, who pitched on two days' rest after his 4-2 complete game victory in the opener of the crucial best-of-three series against Keio on Saturday, went eight strong innings with seven strikeouts at Jingu Stadium on Tuesday.
Miyamoto finished the spring with a 6-1 record, leading the league with 0.73 ERA in 61 2/3 innings.
The deciding third game was originally scheduled for Monday, but was postponed a day because of rain. Keio had tied the series at one game each with a 6-4 win on Sunday.

Tigers' Shimoyanagi improves to 6-0
Daily Yomiuri -- Veteran lefty Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi kept his mark spotless with six innings of scoreless pitching as the visiting Hanshin Tigers blanked the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 4-0 in a Monday night interleague makeup game.
May 30: Full Story
Also: World Baseball Classic agreement still far away

Dragons earn first interleague series win
Daily Yomiuri -- It took a full rotation through interleague play, but the Chunichi Dragons finally won a series.
The defending Central League champions came back from an early three-run deficit to defeat the Softbank Hawks 4-3 in 10 innings on Sunday.
Chunichi is just 6-15 in interleague play.
May 29: Full Story
Sunday's roundup: Satozaki propels Lotte with grand slam
Pitch-by-pitch: Tuffy Rhodes went 0-for-6 with four whiffs in Kyojin's 3-3 tie against the Buffaloes on Sunday. With two on and two out in the 12th, Rhodes couldn't contain himself following a called third strike, earning himself an all-time high ninth career ejection (Sankei Sports photo coverage). Orix skipper Akira Ogi is tied for 5th with five early exits.
The real problem of late for Rhodes, though, has been his struggle with opponents' heat. In fact, he missed with 43% of his fastball swings over the last 15 games, while getting little results when he did make contact.
At the very same time, the Giants' slugger averaged .364 with a whopping .591 isolated power when putting breaking balls into play.

Oyamada hangs tough to stop Lions
By Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- The final out was the hardest, but Hiroshima's Yasuhiro Oyamada overcame a painful body blow to knock out the Seibu Lions 4-0 at Invoice Seibu Dome on Friday night.
The Carp right-hander threw a four-hitter, though the Lions provided him with a tough ending, hitting the pitcher with a drive off his chest for a two-out infield single in the bottom of the ninth.
May 27: Full Story
Roundup: Marines romp over BayStars
Also: Amateur baseball a hit in small cities
Pitch-by-pitch: Giants' Mullen tagged for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings, yields six line drives

H. Kobayashi wins fifth straight start
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Akira Otsuka hit a go-ahead solo homer and Hiroyuki Kobayashi drove in a run on a squeeze bunt as the Lotte Marines pulled away with a two-run fourth inning to beat the Yomiuri Giants 5-3 at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday.
May 25: Full Story
Related: Wednesday's recaps by Daily Yomiuri
Also: Valentine takes issues with World Cup
Pitch-by-pitch: Daisuke Matsuzaka fans 12 Swallows to record double-digit strikeouts for the third game in a row (Ks 1-6, 7-12).

Eagles slowest ever to 10 wins in PL
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Fumitoshi Takano and Hidemitsu Saito hit back-to-back RBI singles off Yuya Ishii (2-1) in the sixth inning as Rakuten ended a five-game losing skid and picked up only its 10th win this season with a 3-2 triumph over Chunichi.
Kevin Hodges (2-5) limited the damage to a run in 7-1/3 innings of work.
May 24: Full Story
Roundup: Marines defeat Giants 11-0 in series opener; Lee homerless
Also: Baseball pioneer uniform goes on display

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