Hiroshima seized the upper hand initially when rightfielder Shigenobu Shima reached on an infield hit with one out in the first and second baseman Greg LaRocca singled to center. Shortstop Andy Sheets and centerfielder Koichi Ogata both walked to force Shima in with a 1-0 lead. But any further scoring was inhibited when Giants killer Kenta Kurihara grounded into a double play. 

The Giants then saw that one one and raised the Carp another, as second baseman Toshihisa Nishi kicked off the bottom of the inning with 
a long single off the leftfield wall and leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to right. Centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes singled to right as well to plate Nishi and Shimizu successfully made for third. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi grounded into a 6-4-3 double play while Shimizu crossed for a 2-1 Yomiuri advantage. 

After blowing a men on second and third, two out opportunity in the second, they added one in the third, as Shimizu singled to center, went to second on a groundout, advanced on Takahashi's infield hit and trotted in when first baseman Roberto Petagine crashed a shot off the centerfield fence for the RBI double to make it 3-1. Davey, though, struck third baseman Hiroki Kokubo out and lured catcher Shinnosuke Abe into a groundout to strand the two runners. 

Yomiuri kept on chipping away. In the fourth, second baseman Tomohiro Nioka singled to left and was erased on a 6-4 force off the bat of 
Kuwata. Kuwata was sacrificed to second. Shimizu ratcheted one down the rightfield line to drive Kuwata in on the double and it was 4-1 Giants. 

Hiroshima had two on and one out int he fifth and left them out there. Yomiuri then put it beyond the Carp's reach in their ups. Takahashi
belted a shot 455 feet into the rightfield seats for his first dinger in 15 games and 66 plate appearances. Petagine singled to left. Kokubo 
crushed one into the leftfield stands to make it 7-1 and send Davey to the showers. 

The Carp snatched its second and last tally in the sixth when Kurihara and third baseman Kenjiro Nomura singled to right and Kurihara moved around on two subsequent ground ball outs, leftfielder Tomonori Maeda getting the RBI, to put it at 7-2 Giants.

In the seventh, Abe singled to left with two outs off of  Kemta Tamayama and Nioka got  an 0-1 high fastball and punished it into the leftcenterfield bleachers for his first homer of the campaign and a 9-2 lead. Giants reliever Hiroshi Sato then retired six of the last eight Carp batters to seal it. 

Kokubo has eight homers in nine games, justifying all the all star votes he is receiving. 
 

Photo:  Yomiuri's Hiroki Kokubo Muscles One Out of the Yard

Teruaki Yoshikawa made his first pro start for Yokohama and was yanked after surrendering three runs on four hits in three innings. 
The relief corps then really let things get out of hand when they were buffeted for a combined nine runs on nine hits in five total innings. 

Igawa allowed two runners to reach in the first and three more in the second, even walking Yoshikawa. He extricated himself from those 
dilemmas and then struckout the side in the third. In the home portion of that inning, catcher Akihiro Yano singled to center and was sacrificed to second. Centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to center. Shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled center to slingshot Yano across. Second baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to right to welcome Akahoshi home. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto walked to load the bases. Rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama flied out to left and Fujimoto tagged up and scored to make it 3-0 Tigers. 

But Igawa couldn't make it stick. In the fourth, rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo singled to center and Hitoshi Taneda singled to left. The runners were sacrificed up 90 feet. Shuichi Murata was dispatched to the batter's box to pinch hit for Yoshikawa and he rifled a slider into the rightcenterfield bleachers to equalize it at three all.

Yokohama then pulled ahead in the fifth on an infield hit from centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura and a bomb into the leftfield seats by first baseman Tyrone Woods for a 5-3 Stars lead.

Hanshin was up to that challenge, however, as Fujimoto got aboard on an error by Woods and Imaoka clubbed a first pitch slider beyond the leftcenterfield wall to deadlock it at 5-5. It was Imaoka's first homer in 12 games. 

In the seventh, the Tigers used a single to left by Fujimoto and Kanemoto's first tater in six games to left on an 0-1 87mph fastball from Takeo Kawamura for a 7-5 edge. 

In their next turn at bat, they put it in the refrigerator off of Kazumasa Azuma when third baseman Takashi Toritani went yard for the first time in his pro career to straightaway center on a fifth pitch 88mph fastball on the inner half of the plate. One out later, pinch hitrer Ikuro Katsuragi walked. Akahoshi outran an infield grounder. The runners moved up on a groundout. Imaoka guided an Azuma delivery into the leftfield corner and it was 10-5. Azuma attempted to spot a fastball on the outside corner, but it ran back over the plate and was up, Kanemoto massacring it into the centerfield stands to grow the advantage to 12-5. Jerrod Riggan was tagged for a pair of knocks with one out in the ninth, but induced two ground balls to ice it. 

Toritani's first homer was in his 45th plate appearance. Lately, he has been doing a better job of turning on that inside heat, which he couldn't handle in the earlier part of the campaign. 

Imaoka was hit on the wrist by a Yoshikawa pitch in the first, but obviously suffered no ill affects from it. Unfortunately, the same wasn't true of George Arias, who aggravated his hamstring problem running to first in the fifth and he was ultimately removed. He is day to day. 

Kanemoto played in his 800th consecutive game, tying him for 15th on the all time list. It was also his 655th straight match playing in 
every inning of every battle. 

The two homers Igawa was dunned for put him back on top of the league in that department with 16. 

Kawakami has been almost as good as he was in 2002 before accepting this assignment, but he's human and he was behind early this time. 
Centerfielder Atsunori Inaba leadoff the first with a single to center and went to second on a sac bunt. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura reached on an infield hit. Ramirez executed a 3-0 cutter that Kawakami was tring to run under the former Indian's hands and it 
disappeared into the great wide open in leftcenter for a 3-0 advantage. 

Kawashima struckout the side in the second. But in the third, the Dragons made their first sojourn to the plate when catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to left and went to second on a sacrifice. Second baseman Masahiro Araki reached on an infield hit. Shortstop Hirokazu Ibata flied out to right and Tanishige tagged up and crossed to make it 3-1. 

In the fourth, Yakult answered with second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi's two out homer to leftcenter and it was 4-1 Swallows. 

Tanishige responded with a long distance call to the leftfield bleachers in the fifth to cut it to 4-2. One out later, Araki dented the rightfield wall for a double. Ibata walked. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to center and Inaba cut Araki down at the plate. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome grounded to second and that was that.

Yakult then went back up by three in the sixth. Ramirez leadoff with a single to right, only to be doubled off when first baseman Ken Suzuki
lined to his opposite number, Hiroyuki Watanabe. Catcher Atsuya Furuta took Kawakami over the centerfield wall and it was 5-2. 

Chunichi didn't quit, though. With one out, Kawashima ran a 90mph fastball up there trying to hit the inside corner. Fukudome swung 
and clean and jerked it more than 420 feet away into the centerfield seats to make it 5-3 Swallows. 

In the home edition, however, Iwamura poleaxed a fastball from reliever Takashi Ogasawara into the rightcenterfield bleachers for a 6-3
Yakult lead.

With one out in the ninth, Tanishige drilled one into the centerfield stands to make it 6-4. One out later, Araki singled to right and Ibata singled to center and Tatsunami was up representing the winning run. But the veteran grounded out to first to turn out the lights. 

Tanishige was 3-4 to raise his average to .306. It was his fourth consecutive three hits or more game. During that stretch, he is 14-17 with four homers.

Ramirez's blast was his 99th in Japan and he did it with his mom and dad in the stands. He told the pressthat it was the first time his 
\parents had ever seen him homer when they were in attendance. It was his first jack in 16 games. For his career against Kawakami, he is 20-42 with five homers, making him one of the few CL hitters glad to see the righthander on the hill. 
 

Photo:  Kosuke Fukudome Homers Against Yakult Thursday

The parent company has made very conservative projections for the coming fiscal year due to the bad Japanese economy. But those could
 

For those of you who are interested in going to a dinner and discussion event with former Hanshin skipper Senichi Hoshino, it will be held at the Grand Pacific Meridian Hotel in Odaiba, Tokyo on
June 23rd from 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and tickets are 18,000 yen, which includes both dinner and the discussion. If you just want to see the discussion, it will set you back 6500 yen. The hotel also reportedly has a deal for those coming in to see the event if you are thinking about staying there. For more info, you can call Club Tourism during normal business hours at: 03-5998-2233. Do not send me emails asking about more info about this since this is all I know.

Angels farmhand Yoshitaka Mizuo tossed a scoreless eighth inning for the team's Salt Lake City affiliate on one hit Thursday against New Orleans. 

St. Louis outfielder So Taguchi had a sixth inning pinch hit single
Thursday against Pittsburgh in a 6-3 redbirds victory. 

San Diego reliever Akinori Otsuka fashioned a perfect ninth inning Thursday against Colorado at (beer company) Field and ended up with his fourth win when the Padres posted the winning run the top of the 

Seattle rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to four
with a single to left in five at bats against Cleveland Thursday, but the M's three game winning string ended with a 9-5 loss. Suzuki later drove in a run with a groundout. Unfortunately, he was also charged with his first error of the season when he let a single to right get by him, the runner reaching third on the play. 

Now they have to face Pedro Martinez, who makes them look like a Little League team whenever he pitches against them, Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling in a series this weekend with Boston and the local sports radio talkers are positing that this will be when local fans start abandoning the former contenders.