Fighters send reeling Giants to 5th straight loss

Japanese Pro Yakyu 2006

Shane Spencer congratulates Tomoaki Kanemoto (right) on his tiebreaking three-run homer in the 8th inning as Hanshin comes from behind to beat Rakuten 5-2 on Tuesday, May 30 (Photo Source: Sports Hochi)

Interleague standings

Yomiuri Shimbun -- After a hot start that saw them soar to 14 games over .500 by May 11, the Yomiuri Giants have not only come down to earth, they've crashed headfirst into it.
Yu Darvish shut down Yomiuri with a complete-game effort as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters sent the reeling Giants to their fifth straight loss with a 12-2 interleague decision on Tuesday at Sapporo Dome.
May 30: Full Story
Kyodo: Spencer, Kanemoto blasts carry Tigers past Eagles

Seibu solves Hanshin's pen for walk-off win
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Late-inning situations in close games against the Hanshin Tigers usually mean trouble for opposing teams.
The Seibu Lions had their share of problems making contact, but Hiroyuki Nakajima broke through against Japan's best bullpen and Seibu won the rubber game of their three-game interleague set with a 5-4 walk-off victory in 10 innings on Sunday.
May 28-29: Full Story
Asahi Shimbun: Marines sweep Giants
Related: Bad shoulder has Y. Takahashi back on shelf
Valentine to CL bigwigs: Playoff system works

Tigers blank Lions, move on top of CL
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Fourth-year southpaw Hirotaka Egusa picked the perfect time to surpass his career win total.
Egusa (5-2) came up with a masterful effort in shutting down the Seibu Lions to lead his club into first place in the Central League with a 2-0 interleague shutout on Saturday afternoon.
May 27: Full Story
Kyodo: Fukuura, Agbayani help Marines sink Giants in 10th

Giants' Powell finally falls
Yomiuri Shimbun -- All good things must come to an end. And so it goes for Yomiuri righthander Jeremy Powell.
Hiroyuki Kobayashi tossed a five-hitter and the Chiba Lotte Marines defeated the Giants 7-2 Friday night at Tokyo Dome, dealing Powell his first loss in seven decisions this season.
May 26: Full Story
Rob Smaal: A little piece of baseball history now belongs to Guttormson

Yakult's Guttormson no-hits Rakuten
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Rick Guttormson added the latest chapter to the sorry and short history of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles - tossing the first no-hitter against them.
Guttormson (4-2) became the 72nd pitcher in Japan pro baseball history to toss a no-hitter when he mowed down the Eagles in a 6-0 victory at Jingu Stadium.
May 25: Full Story
John E. Gibson: Yagi extends win streak as Fighters foil Giants
Kyodo: Thursday's roundup
Also: Rakuten signs outfielder Valent
Dave Wiggins: BayStars' closer Kroon really brings the heat
Mainichi: Hoshino will resign as Tigers' director if Murakami controls Hanshin
AP: American manager Brown at home in Hiroshima

Giants' Utsumi blows away Fighters
John E. Gibson, Daily Yomiuri -- Amid steady thunder rumbling outside Tokyo Dome, the Central League's front-runners were able to kick up a storm of their own on Wednesday.
Tetsuya Utsumi fired a complete game and the Yomiuri Giants showed they will not be a pushover as the rest of the CL chases them for the top spot, beating the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 4-1 in front of 41,922.
May 24: Full Story
Jim Allen: CL leaders out of touch with fans
Kyodo: Hirao homer helps Seibu nudge past Chunichi

Marines ride sacrifice flies to 9th straight win
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- A year ago, the Chiba Lotte Marines overpowered one opponent after another with raw firepower. This year, the Marines have become snipers.
On Sunday afternoon, the Marines efficiently picked off the Chunichi Dragons with good pitching, excellent base running and three sacrifice flies in a 3-2 victory, their ninth straight.
May 21: Full Story
Related: Kyodo roundup

Marines take PL lead with 8th straight win
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Naoyuki Shimizu threw a four-hitter as the Lotte Marines shut out the Chunichi Dragons 5-0 in interleague play Saturday to extend their winning streak to eight games and take sole possession of first place in the Pacific League standings.
May 20: Full Story
Jim Allen: Marines catch divine wind

Dragons lose shutout streak, game to Marines
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- The Chiba Lotte Marines snapped the Chunichi Dragons' shutout streak in the fourth inning and put their own seventh straight victory away in the ninth.
Although his season has been a struggle, third baseman Toshiaki Imae came up big at the finish with a sayonara double that lifted the Marines to a 2-1 win at Chiba Marine Stadium on Friday evening.
May 19: Full Story
Kyodo News: Friday's roundup
Pitch-by-pitch: The BayStars use the whole field to get six linedrive hits off Lions' ace Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Dragons extend shutout streak to four games
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Mitsuru Sato and Hitoki Iwase combined to scatter nine hits as Chunichi blanked Orix to match an NPB record with its fourth shutout victory in as many games.
May 18: Full Story
John E. Gibson: Zuleta knocks in four as Hawks wing it to beat Giants
Pitch-by-pitch: Kenta Kurihara and Takahiro Arai of the Carp hit back-to-back blasts and the rest of Thursday's home runs.

Giants' Nishimura keeps firing goose eggs
Yomiuri Shimbun -- Kentaro Nishimura pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, and two relievers completed the shutout on Wednesday as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the SoftBank Hawks 4-0 to win for the second straight night.
May 17: Full Story
Kyodo News: Woods powers Chunichi to 3rd straight shutout victory
Jim Allen: Injury plague will test Giants mettle
Asahi Shimbun: Zuleta is a nice guy unless you throw baseball at him
Mainichi Daily News: Matsui back at Yankee Stadium for first time since wrist surgery
Stephen Ellsesser: A WBC curse for Matsui?

Cabrera batters Giants in 3-game sweep
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- The Lions scored five runs in the first inning and overcame a late Giants rally for an 11-8 victory. Behind five hits by Alex Cabrera and three RBIs by Kazuhiro Wada, Seibu completed a three-game sweep of the Central League leaders and evened its interleague record at 3-3.
May 14: Full Story
Kyodo: Sunday's roundup
Dave Wiggins: A Giants June swoon is likely on the horizon
Rob Smaal: Swallows' LaRocca busts out
Also: An interview with Marty Brown
MLB: H. Matsui apologizes for injury

Another multihomer night for LaRocca
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Greg LaRocca homered twice in an 11-run fourth inning as the Yakult Swallows overcame a 6-0 deficit to beat the Seibu Lions 14-8 in interleague play on Wednesday.
May 10: Full Story
Yomiuri Shimbun: Hot LaRocca blows Lions away
Jim Allen: Is pitching up and in fighting dirty?

Tigers whip Marines in interleague opener
Japan Times -- Andy Sheets and Makoto Imaoka both homered and Chris Oxspring pitched 5 1/3 strong innings as the Hanshin Tigers defeated the Lotte Marines 7-2 on the opening day of interleague play on Tuesday.
May 9: Full Story
Related: Daily Yomiuri recap
Kyodo: PL officials frown at CL's playoff plan
Also: Brown, Romano slapped with fines
Mainichi: Japanese boys just want to play ball
JapaneseBaseball.com: CL umpire Koichi Uemoto passes away

Interleague play represents fresh challenge
Daily Yomiuri -- Although it is only May, the moment of truth may well be at hand as interleague play starts on Tuesday.
The three teams which figured most prominently in last year's postseason all solidified their positions with the best records in interleague play.
May 8: Full Story

Hawks move within one game of first-place Lions
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- The Hawks got to second-year standout Hideaki Wakui before he could find his rhythm and by the time he sorted things out, SoftBank was in control and heading into interleague play in good form.
May 7: Full Story
PL: Buffs bust up Marines
Also: Marines add RHP Justin Miller
CL: Kokubo, Dillon power Yomiuri to victory

Zuleta, Matsunaka hit milestone homers
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- On a day of milestones at Seibu Dome, the SoftBank Hawks got some unexpected mileage out of Hayato Terahara.
Terahara earned his first complete game victory in over three years and Julio Zuleta homered twice as the Hawks came from a run down to clobber the front-running Seibu Lions 11-3.
May 6: Full Story
CL: Giants' Utsumi earnes third complete-game victory

Ogasawara powers Fighters past Lions
JapanBall.com/Kyodo -- Michihiro Ogasawara homered and drove in three runs Thursday as the Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions 4-1 to snap a three-game losing streak.
May 4: Full Story
CL: Yano's 10th-inning single lifts Tigers over Giants
Kyodo News: Carp outfielder Ogata out with broken finger
Also: TV ratings for Yomiuri Giants'games hit record low
Photo: Carp veteran Shinji Sasaoka wins his 100th game as a starter with six sharp innings. The 38-year-old righthander joins Yutaka Enatsu as the only hurlers to reach 100 starting wins along with 100 career saves.

Furuta has last word as 9th-inning hit beats Carp
Jim Allen, Daily Yomiuri -- As much as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows have struggled this season, Atsuya Furuta proved he still has a flair for the dramatic.
After losing an argument on a Swallows home run that was called back, the player-manager singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Swallows defeated the Hiroshima Carp 2-1 at rainy windswept Jingu Stadium on Tuesday evening.
May 2: Full Story
Japan Times: Sekimoto nails 'sayonara' homer as Tigers down Giants
PL: Eto goes yard, knocks in five runs in Seibu victory
Kyodo News: Giants to acquire Chinese lefty Wu
Yomiuri Shimbun: Hamanaka, Powell CL's April MVPs
Pitch-by-pitch: Dragons touch BayStars' Miura for five linedrive hits as Kawakami throws two-hit shutout.
Marines 6, Hawks 4: Toshiaki Imae goes 5-for-5, while Tomoya Satozaki strikes out five times in six at-bats.

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