Central League race hits stretch turn

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Nippon Ham closer Micheal Nakamura jumps in celebration as first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara completes the game-ending double play to give the Fighters their first regular season title since 1981 on Wednesday, Sept. 27 (Photo Source: Sankei Sports)

Interleague standings

PL starters, October 12 K. Saito, FSH - Yagi, NHF

Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Time is not on the Hanshin Tigers' side, but an impressive 17-4 run in September has left them in position to catch Chunichi should the Dragons stumble.
October 1-2: Full Story
Sept. 30: Yamamoto helps Chunichi halt Hanshin's 9-game winning streak
Sept. 29: Tigers turn up heat on Dragons
Kyodo: Ogasawara wins two titles, K. Saito claims pitching triple crown as PL ends season

Fighters clinch first place in Pacific League
Asahi Shimbun -- Trey Hillman's Nippon Ham Fighters took care of business Wednesday evening at Sapporo Dome, beating the SoftBank Hawks 4-1 behind a pair of 4th-inning home runs from Kensuke Tanaka and Fernando Seguignol.
The result means that the Fighters are guaranteed to finish first in the PL standings, receiving a bye into the second round of playoffs.
September 27: Full Story
John E. Gibson: Seibu's win over Lotte not enough
Jim Allen: Kanemura's cow reflects odd system
Daily Yomiuri: Valentine confident about signing top high school pick

Golden Eagles land top prospect Tanaka
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Masahiro Tanaka, the most sought-after player in pro baseball's high school draft, was scooped up by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
September 25: Full Story
CL: Giants greenlight Kuwata's departure
PL: Seibu has chance to clinch 1st place Tuesday
Also: Kanemura hit with playoff suspension for bashing Hillman

Benny, Marines slam Fighters
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Benny Agbayani broke up a tie game with a seventh-inning grand slam as the Chiba Lotte Marines left home winners with an 8-4 victory over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
September 24: Full Story
Related: Nippon Ham to question Kanemura for criticizing Hillman

Dragons' veteran Yamamoto no-hits Tigers
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Masahiro Yamamoto became the oldest pitcher in Japanese baseball history to throw a no-hitter Saturday as the Chunichi Dragons beat the Hanshin Tigers 3-0 and extended their CL lead to six games.
Backed by home runs from Hirokazu Ibata and Tyrone Woods, Yamamoto (9-7) displayed superb control and pitched his first career no-hitter at 41 years and one month after striking out five and issuing no walks in a 97-pitch outing at Nagoya Dome.
September 16: Full Story
John E. Gibson: Yamamoto holds Hanshin hitless in crucial battle
Photo: The Chunichi lefty delivers a pitch.
Also: Yamamoto with a traditional bunch of flowers.
Pitch-by-pitch: "It's not like we haven't seen Yamamoto before," Hanshin manager Akinobu Okada said. "We just aren't hitting here [at Nagoya Dome]."
More: Yamamoto got 18 of his 22 batted ball outs on breaking balls, mentioning afterwards that his "off-speed pitches worked really well." Well, indeed.
PL: Darvish wins 10th straight for Fighters

Kawakami's gem helps Chunichi extend lead
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Kenshin Kawakami threw eight shutout innings as the Chunichi Dragons trounced the Hanshin Tigers 7-0 to widen their Central League lead to five games Friday.
Kawakami (15-5), who had lost his previous three starts, held Hanshin to three hits while striking out 10.
September 15: Full Story
PL: Kataoka, Liefer lift Seibu to victory
Jim Allen: Sacrificing sacred cows in Japan

Nippon Ham earns final PL playoff spot
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Fernando Seguignol and Atsunori Inaba homered as the Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Orix Buffaloes 4-2 for their fourth straight win and secured the final spot of the three-team Pacific League playoffs.
September 10: Full Story

Lee homers twice to snap Tigers' streak
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Lee Seung-yeop homered twice and drove in all three runs as the Yomiuri Giants blanked the Tigers 3-0 Thursday night at Koshien Stadium to snap Hanshin's seven-game unbeaten streak.
September 7: Full Story
Jim Allen: CL's adoption of playoffs a step forward

CL set to follow PL's 3-team playoff system
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- The Central League will introduce a three-team, two-stage playoff system next year that has gained the Pacific League fan support, the Nippon Professional Baseball executive committee decided Monday.
September 4-5: Full Story
Kyodo: Monthly MVP awards for August
Also: Iguchi, Jojima to play in MLB-Japan All-Star series

CL, PL agree on interleague, playoff plans
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- The Central League and the Pacific League agreed Wednesday to have 24 interleague games for each club and postseason playoffs for both leagues from next year.
August 24: Full Story

Waseda Jitsugyo wins summer title
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Yuki Saito worked tirelessly on the mound yet again to lead Tokyo's Waseda Jitsugyo to its first national high school baseball championship title after a 4-3 victory over Komadai Tomakomai from Hokkaido on Monday.
In a replay of Sunday's game that ended in a 1-1, 15-inning tie, Saito struck out 13 in his fourth complete game in as many days.
August 21: Full Story
Related: Yomiuri Shimbun story
Photo: Waseda players rush out to the mound after Saito's 948th and final pitch in seven games.
More: A bird's-eye view of the fully packed Koshien Stadium.
Earlier: Aces rule as Komadai, Waseda tie to force replay

Ogasawara leads Fighters past Marines
John E. Gibson, Daily Yomiuri -- Michihiro Ogasawara clubbed a pair of solo home runs as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters jumped back into the win column by knocking off the defending Japan Series champion Marines 5-3 at Tokyo Dome.
July 12: Full Story
Jim Allen: Fighters find solid combination
Asahi Shimbun: Ex-Tiger Arias surprised to be wearing orange and black

Fighters equal club mark with 11th straight win
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Yu Darvish forgot to pack his jersey, but he certainly brought his good stuff to the mound on Friday.
Behind the 19-year-old Darvish, the Fighters tied a franchise record that had stood for 45 years by beating the Seibu Lions 7-1 for their 11th consecutive victory.
July 7: Full Story
Also: Oh takes leave for surgery
Jim Allen: Dragons' Sato puts new fire into pitches

Kawakami, Dragons hold off Giants
Yomiuri Shimbun -- The steadily sinking Yomiuri Giants showed a bit of spunk Thursday night, but an eight-run deficit against the league leaders was a bit too much to overcome.
Kenshin Kawakami notched his 10th win and the Chunichi Dragons, overcoming some late home runs by the Giants, posted a 9-5 victory on Thursday night to sweep their three-game series at Tokyo Dome.
July 6: Full Story
Jim Allen: Fans deserve to choose their stars

Asakura shuts out Giants on five hits
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Kenta Asakura pitched his first shutout in four years and Hirokazu Ibata and Tyrone Woods went deep as the Chunichi Dragons blanked the Yomiuri Giants 4-0 on Tuesday.
July 4: Full Story
PL: Seibu rallies past SoftBank to stay on top
Kyodo: Monthly MVP awards for June
Also: Managers' picks complete All-Star rosters
Earlier: Six Tigers picked for All-Star series

CL-leading Dragons beat Swallows in 11 innings
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Hidenori Kuramoto hit a tiebreaking two-run blast with two out in the 11th inning and Yoshihiro Suzuki worked a scoreless bottom half for his career first save, lifting Chunichi to a 6-4 win over Yakult.
June 29: Full Story

Marines take all six games from Giants
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Three solo homers and one base-running gaffe of epic proportions helped PL-leading Chiba Lotte to a 3-2 win over Yomiuri.
Matt Franco, Tomoya Satozaki and Shoitsu Omatsu slugged solo homers for Lotte, all off Yomiuri ace Koji Uehara (2-2).
The offense was enough as the Marines caught a huge break when Lee Seung-yeop's 3rd-inning two-run homer was wiped out because Tatsuya Ozeki failed to step on third base before crossing home.
June 11: Full Story
Kyodo: Tigers retake CL lead with Imaoka's sayonara hit
Rob Smaal: Hawks' twin taters win it for the girls

Matsuzaka homers, mows down Tigers
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out 14 batters and added a two-run home run on Friday as the Seibu Lions rallied past the Hanshin Tigers for a 10-1 pounding.
June 9: Full Story

Abe powers Giants over Matsuzaka, Lions
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Despite being in up to their necks against Seibu Lion ace Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Yomiuri Giants gutted out an impressive 4-2 victory on Friday night at Tokyo Dome.
June 2: Full Story
Related: Kyodo roundup for Friday
Yomiuri Shimbun: Kawakami ties monthly mark
Rob Smaal: Eagles slugger Fernandez takes it to the limit
Dave Wiggins: It's worn around your neck, but is it all in your head?

Marines prevail behind Satozaki, Swallows' gaffes
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- Although it was a battle between the teams with the best interleague records, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows limped out of Chiba 4-2 losers on Thursday after suffering a pair of self-inflicted wounds.
May 31 - June 1: Full Story
Earlier: Nine-run inning helps Giants escape 5-game slide

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