The Chunichi Dragons pennant dreams were severely crippled Monday when Hiroshima starter Masayuki Hasegawa went eight innings of three run, six hit ball and rightfielder Shigenobu Shima drove in three runs for a 5-3 Carp victory at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. Yomiuri now needs just one win or a Dragons loss to win the 2007 Central League pennant. 

Takahashi Ogasawara started for Chunichi and went two innings of one run, three hit ball in a no decision. 

Carp shortstop Eishin Soyogi doubled to left with two outs in the second and Shima also doubled to left for a 1-0 lead. Catcher Yoshikazu Kura was intentionally walked. But Hasegawa struckout to strand the runners. 

However, in the third, Dragons catcher Motonobu Tanishige homered to right with one out and, following another out, second baseman Masahiro Araki doubled to left. Shortstop Hirokazu Ibata singled to right to boost Araki in to make it 2-1. 

But Hiroshima overturned that in the fourth against Kenta Asakura when third baseman Takahiro Arai singled to center and leftfielder Tomonori Maeda doubled to right, Arai rumbling home from first. Soyogi outran a ground ball toward second and, one out later, Kura flied out to left. Maeda tagged up and hotfooted it home to go up 3-2. 

But Hasegawa has been homer prone during his career and the longball would bite him in the sixth, as Ibata took him to the downs in left to knot it at three all. 

The Carp, though, surmounted that blow in the eighth against Yoshihiro Suzuki when Maeda doubled to left with one out and Soyogi walked. Shima laced a shot up the rightcenter gap for a two RBI triple to send the fish up 5-3. Backup catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara flied out to left. Shima tagged up and tried for home, but reserve leftfielder Yoshinori Ueda gunned him down. 

Katsuhiro Nagakawa came on for the ninth seeking to wrap it up and third baseman Masahiko Morino singled to center. The next two men struckout, but centerfielder Byung-kyu Lee singled to left. Ryota Arai pinch hit for Suzuki and flied out to left and it was game setto. 

Nagakawa has now tied Yasuhiro Oyamada for the 2002 team single season saves record with his 30th.

For Chunichi, Lee was 2-4 and is at .258. First baseman Tyrone Woods was 0-4 with three strikeouts and is at .273. 

For Hiroshima, centerfielder Alex Ochoa was 0-3 with a walk and is at .305. 

Hanshin third baseman Makoto Imaoka, who, since driving in 147 runs two years ago has been through injury and a horrid batting slump that have rendered him almost impotent at the plate (contemplate the Freudian implications of THAT) since, drove in five runs Monday to help the Tigers finally clinch third place in a 9-7 victory over Yokohama that consigned the Bay Stars to a fourth place showing. Hanshin starter Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi went five innings of one unearned run ball on three hits for his tenth win, the club's bullpen barely holding on to the triumph for him. 

Yuji Yoshimi started for Yokohama and went 4.2 innings of five run, five hit ball while striking out four and walking three to trip to 3-3. 

Tigers second baseman Kentaro Sekimoto singled to right with one out in the first and first baseman Andy Sheets grounded into a 5-4 force. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto beat out a tapper toward second. Imaoka then crushed one into the leftcenterfield seats for a 3-0 lead. It was his first homer in 134 plate appearances. 

The Stars put two on in the bottom half with one out, but that was sabotaged by a double play ball. 

But in the second, Yokohama first baseman Yuki Yoshimura walked and leftfielder Takahiro Saeki singled to right. Rightfielder Seiichi Uchikawa grounded into a 1-5 force. One out later, Yoshimi singled to center. Saeki put it in fourth for home, but centerfielder Kodai Sakurai's peg arrived at the plate before he did and Saeki was meat. 

It remained 3-0 until the fifth, when Shimoyanagi singled to left and, two outs later, Sheets and Kanemoto walked to load the bases. Imaoka lined a shot off the glove of second baseman Toshihisa Nishi and into right to spring two in and raise it to 5-0. Rightfielder Lin Wei-tzu flied out to right for the third out. 

However, the Stars began to chip away in their ups. Uchikawa walked and, one out later, pinch hitter Shigenori Kuremoto got aboard on an unsuccessful fielder's choice to put men on first and second. Nishi grounded one to shortstop Shuta Tanaka, who was making his first start since September, 2003, and he fumbled it to fill the bags. Shimoyanagi was angered by Tanaka's not making anything of what should have been a double play and slammed his glove to the ground. Catcher Ryoji Aikawa grounded to Tanaka, who flipped to Sekimoto, who fired to first late and Uchikawa was in to reduce it to 3-1. Centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo flied out to leave the runners loitering. 

They would make further inroads in the seventh against Jeff Williams. Shortstop Takuro Ishii outran a ground ball toward third and, two outs later, Aikawa also got aboard on an infield hit. Kinjo socked a Williams offering into the leftfield bleachers to shrink the deficit to 5-4. 

Tomoyuki Kubota finished the inning for Williams and was nearly perfect in the eighth as well for his 54th hold, a new NPB record. 

Takeharu Kato, though, would allow Hanshin to expand their lead in the ninth, though. Catcher Akihiro Yano singled to center and was sacrificed to second. One out later, Shinjiro Hiyama, pinch hitting for Kubota, was intentionally walked to get to Sekimoto, who singled to left to cash Yano in. Sheets doubled to right and Hiyama and Sekimoto both sojourned to the promised land. Kanemoto singled to right and it was 9-4. Imaoka singled to right and that was all for Kato, who was spelled by Takumi Nasuno, who retired Lin on a groundout. 

Darwin Cubillan was chosen to work the ninth for the Tigers and sub leftfielder Takanori Suzuki doubled to center. Nishi doubled to right for an RBI. Aikawa singled to center. Manager Akinobu Okada thus felt compelled to wave in closer Kyuji Fujikawa, who induced a 4-6-3 double play out of Kinjo. But third baseman Shuichi Murata got a cookie and crunched it into the leftfield stands to make it 9-7. Yoshimura flew out to center and that was the ballgame, Fujikawa now within one of the single season pro yakyu saves record of 46. 

Hanshin infielder Takashi Toritani, whose every inning of every game streak was severed Sunday, was inserted as a defensive replacement in the ninth in order for him to continue his string of 456 consecutive games played. He said that he is still experiencing pain in his right side. 

Shimoyanagi was apologetic about his emotional display while he was on the hill.

For Hanshin, Sheets was 1-4 with a walk and is at .243. Lin was 1-5 and is at .297. 

With rennovations being made to Koshien Stadium, including moving some of the seats forward, which will reduce the amount of foul territory, manager Akinobu Okada wants to play a game there next spring with no fans in attendance so that the players and umpires can get a feel for what it will be like playing under the new conditions. 

Yakult Reliever Shingo Takatsu, who has had a terrible year, is said to be on the bubble, but his fate won't be known until they consult with whomever will be their new manager. Takatsu, the NPB all times saves leader, still wants to continue his career, no matter what his disposition with the Swallows is. 

Yokohama Pitchers Ken Tsutsumiuchi, Masahiro Sakumoto, Shigeo Inamine, Shinya Goto and Ryuichiro Iida as well as outfielder Mitsuru Tanaka were released. 

The Bay Stars will reportedly work pitcher Yusaku Iriki out. Iriki has also auditioned for Orix. 

Miscellaneous Scouting officials Bob Engel and Hidenori Sueyoshi from the Seattle Mariners met with Osaka Toin High School slugger Sho Nakata Monday for an hour and 40 minutes, but the highly sought after teenager indicated that he will play in Japan first and if he develops enough confidence then he might go to MLB. Had the M's been able to pull off signing Nakata it would have been front page news all over Japan, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Engel said that out of consideration for Nakata as well as his school, he would have no comment. However, according to Sankei Sports, Seattle offered him in the neighborhood of $2.5 million to sign. 

For info on getting Japan Series tickets, see NPB's official website. 

Next year's draft will not be split like it has been the last couple of years. 

Inferior umpiring raised its ugly head again Monday during the one game playoff between San Diego and Colorado, as not only was the Rockies' Garrett Atkins denied a home run on a bad call, but the game itself would be decided in the bottom of the 13th when plate umpire Tim McClellan didn't hustle to get himself a good view of a play at the plate on a sacrifice fly attempt and called Matt Holliday safe on a headfirst slide even though catcher Marty Barrett had knocked Holliday's hand away from the dish after he received the one hop throw. Barrett then tagged Holliday after dropping and recovering the ball for what should have been the second out, but McClellan gave a rather meek safe call and the game was over. The odd thing was that Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, Barrett and manager Bud Black didn't argue the ruling. At the very least, they should have asked them to get together and discuss the play. 

I have done some umpiring myself (though many years ago) and I know the look that was on McClellan's face: it is one that arises out of sheer guessing. McClellan just leisurely sauntered off to the side about ten feet away from the plate as the throw was being made from the outfield rather than anticipating where the throw was going to be and getting in position to see it. Anyone who has played Little League should have known what position you need to be in to see that play, but time after god damned time, I see MLB umpires, who are being paid an average of $250,000 a year, ten or 15 feet away up the first base line attempting to judge plays at home. How the fuck does this go on? If these umpires are afraid of being hit by the ball or getting tangled up with players then they should seek another line of work. This is just inexcusable and challenges the integrity of big league contests. At some pint, the public is going to get fed up with these displays of laziness and incompetence. 

And to add to that was the revelation that former Angels and White Sox pitcher Scott Schoenweiss, who is currently with the Mets, was found out to have been taking steroids. Man, it sucks to be a baseball fan sometimes. 

Incidentally, Colorado second baseman Kazuo Matsui was 2-6 with a sac fly in the faceoff with the Padres. 

The Yankees will leave Kei Igawa off the playoff roster. No surprise there. 

Masumi Kuwata said Monday that he would like to pitch for the Pirates again.