Kimiyasu Kudoh started for the Giants and he didn't exhibit the kind of form that he did in his last few winning outings, but desite surrendering nine hits in six innings, he limited Yokohama to three runs to keep Yomiuri in it before they rallied for the triumph. The Giants have won all eight of Kudoh's starts this season. 

Yokohama grabbed the first lead of the ballgame  when leftfielder Takahiro Saeki homered to right in the second to make it 1-0. 

In the third, Kudoh was taken deep again, this time to left by second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa, and it was 2-0 Stars.

Yokohama threatened again in the fourth, as Saeki doubled to leftcenter and rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kino outran an infield tapper. But Hitoshi Taneda lined into a double play and catcher Ryoji Aikawa struckout to foil it.

Kudoh then got hit around some in the fifth, as shortstop Takuro Ishii scorched one down the rightfield  line for a double with one out and Uchikawa walked. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to right to load the bases. First baseman Tyrone Woods singled to left to plate 
Ishii to widen it to 3-0. Saeki, though, grounded into a 6-2-3 double play to short circuit a potential big inning. 

In the bottom of the inning, the Giants got off the snide when Mullen hung an 0-2 changeup over the heart of the plate and first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara crushed it more than 450 feet to dead center to make it 3-1 Yokohama. It was Kiyohara's first dinger in 12 games. 

The Stars had men on second and third with one out in the sixth, but the next two men fanned to keep it close.

Giants rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi smoked a Mullen delivery to the opposite field and into the leftfield seats and it was 3-2 Yokohama.

Mullen then couldn't get anyone out in the eighth. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo battled Mullen for eight pitches before socking a 3-2 fastball into the leftfield stands to knot it at three all. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe torqued a shot off the rightfield wall and initially thought it was gone, but when it carromed off the fence, he put it in fourth and motored to third for a triple. Takeharu Kato mosied in from the bullpen. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka walked. One out later, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi got jammed on an 88mph fastball, but flared it into center and Abe trotted home. The runners moved up on a groundout. Centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes drilled one into the rightfield corner for a two run double and it was 6-3. Takahashi singled to center to convert Rhodes to make it 7-3 Giants.

Brian Sikorsky came on in the ninth endeavoring to close it out and and didn't get it done cleanly. Uchikawa leadoff with a single to center. 
One out later, Woods thundered a Sikorsky offering into the leftcenterfield bleachers to shrink the deficit to 7-5. But the Yokohama revolt ended there, as Saeki struckout and Kinjo popped up to short to put it in the books. 

Kokubo has nine homers in his last ten games. 

The Giants have homered three times or more in a game 14 times this season and are still on pace to shatter the single season NPB team homer mark by a long way. 

Each of the starters evaded a two on, two out situation in the first and Yamamoto had two more on in the second and wriggled out of that. But after that, each man found his groove and neither was in any serious trouble until the seventh, when Fukuhara walked both leftfielder Kazuki Inoue and first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige laced a 91mph fastball into the rightcenter alley and Inoue and Watanabe made like bats out of hell for the plate on the double for a 2-0 lead. 

Hanshin would fail to muster even one knock over the final three innings and first baseman George Arias struckout to bring the curtain down on the match and the club bid sayonara to first place, which was assumed by Chunichi. 

Tanishige's string of multihit games ended, but his 1-3 night raised his average to .307. 

New York Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui is still lighting it up with the bat, as he blasted his eighth homer of the year to right Friday against Tampa Bay at hat glorified garage they call a ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of a 2-4 one RBI evening in a 7-5 victory. 
He also extended his hitting streak to nine to raise his average to .317, tops on the team. He is also the number one Yankee for walks, RBIs and runs scored. 

Meanwhile, Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki had to face Pedro Martinez at Fenway Park Friday in a game against Boston and the Dominican great racked up his 13 win in 13 appearances against the 
M's. Ichiro finished with a 2-5 night, singling off of Pedro in the fifth
to drive a man in and then stealing third, and doubling off of closer Keith Foulke in the ninth. The main news here, though, was that the M's scored four runs off of their biggest nemesis in club history. Coming in, Martinez had an ERA of 1.00 against Seattle. But the Bosox rallied to prevail 8-4. Ichiro is itting .330. 

Dodgers righthander Hideo Nomo has put on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to May 20th due to a bad nail on his index finger. 

Indians farmhand Kazuhito Tadano fashioned five shutout innings on three hits Thursday against Atlanta's minor league affiliate,  striking out four, for his first win of the season.

Chicago White Sox reliever Shingo Takatsu came on to pinch the ninth of a tie game against the Angels at Comiskey Park and tossed a perfect ninth. The pale house then pushed the winning run across 
n the bottom of the inning and the former Yakult closer had his third

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was inserted in Friday's game against Houston as a late ining defensive replacement. When his turn at bat came in the tenth, he was pinch hit for. The redbirds took it in a sayonara victory 2-1. 

San Diego reliever Akinori Otsuka protected a 4-3 lead against Milwaukee with a perfect eighth and the Padres went on to seize the day 5-3 and remain in first place. Let's hope that Jack McKeon is paying attention because Otsuka, at least right now, should be an all star. 

Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui faced off against Florida's Dontrelle Willis Friday and singled in four at bats. He was picked off after that hit. The Marlins won it 2-1. He is hitting .257. 

The New York Post claims that the Mets, becuase Matsui has already made ten errors this season, are looking at moving Matsui to second next year and will put Jose Reyes back at short. Team officials won't officially comment on the report. 

Shidax pitcher Takahiko Nomaguchi, who will likely be Yomiuri's number one draft choice this fall, started an exhibiton game against 
Yamaha's industrial league squad and went seven innings of one run ball on three hits. He struckout six.

The Japanese players union is looking to reduce the number of days on the active roster per season required to qualify for free agency from 150 to 120 has been refused by the owners, who countered with a small minded offer of 140-145 days. The union is also groping for other ways to increase the frequency of player movement.