An infield hit and a throwing error in the bottom of the ninth at Tokyo Dome made the Yomiuri Giants Central League champions for the first time in five years, the longest the club has gone without grabbing a flag, in a wild 5-4 finish over crosstown rival Yakult. Tetsuya Utumi started for the kyojin and didn't pitch very well, five innings of four run (three earned) ball on five hits while striking out two and walking three in a no decision, credit for the win thus being bestowed on reliever Takahiko Nomaguchi, who who tossed a scoreless ninth on a hit. 

Masanori Ishikawa started for the Swallows and went five innings of three run, four hit ball and struckout two without walking anyone, but relievers Shohei Tateyama and Masato Hanada couldn't maintain a 4-3 lead and that was all she wrote. 

Both sides were slow getting out of the offensive gate in the first two innings, but in the third, Yakult centerfielder Norichika Aoki reached on a two out infield hit and second baseman Hiroyasu Tanaka singled to left. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez got a cookie and crunched it into the leftcenterfield seats for a 3-0 lead. 

However, Yomiuri second baseman Luis Gonzalez went yard to left in the home edition for just his third homer of the season to trim it to 3-1. 

They would take care of the remainder of the debt in the fourth, as third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara doubled down the rightfield line and Ishikawa left a sinker in the middle of the zone to first baseman Seung-yeop Lee, who absolutely murdered it, rocketing it approximately 490 feet away into the upper region of the rightfield stands for a mammoth two run homer and a 3-3 deadlock. They would generate only one more hit, though, through seven. 

But Utsumi would have control problems in the fifth, when catcher Ryohei Kawamoto doubled to leftcenter and Ishikawa grounded to Utsumi, who threw it to shortstop Tomohiro Nioka and Kawamoto was hung up between second and third. Unfortunately for the Giants, one of their fielders was called for interfering with the runner and Kawamoto was allowed to go to third. Aoki walked to load the bases. Tanaka grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and Kawamoto crossed to put his side ahead 4-3. Ramirez and rightfielder Aaron Guiel also walked to repack the sacks, but first baseman Kazuhiro Hatakeyama flied out to right and Utsumi escaped with the minimum damage. 

Hiroshi Kisanuki succeeded Utsumi and walked two in the sixth with one out, but he retired the next five straight to get through the seventh. 

The Swallows would then hassle Kisanuki again in the eighth, as Hatakeyama singled to center and shortstop Shinya Miyamoto laid down what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt. But Kisanuki was all over it and gunned it to second for the force. Third baseman Yasushi Iihara bunted for a basehit. But a flyout and a strikeout killed the opportunity off. 

They would get a man to second with one out in the ninth against Nomaguchi, but a flyout and a groundout stranded him. 

Following two strong innings by Brian Sikorski, Tateyama went to the center of the diamond for Yakult in the ninth and ge plunked Ogasawara in the knee. Takahiro Suzuki pinch ran for him and got himself picked off. Lee walked and was sacrificed to second. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe was intentionally walked. Kenji Yano pinch hit for Nomaguchi and ripped a shot off of Tateyama's glove. The ball carromed over toward second base and Yano beat it out to pack the sacks. Backup centerfielder Takayuki Shimizu chopped a ground ball out near second base. Miyamoto gloved it, but he was off balance and threw it over Hatakeyama's head. Abe put it in gear and arrived at home with a headfirst slide and the pennant race was decided. 

This was the 40th title for the Giants in their history, 31 of those after the two league system was created in 1950. This triumph was before their biggest crowd of the year, 46,260. 

They then went and emptied 3,000 bottles of beer, 360 bottles of champagne and a couple of casks of sake on each other during the postgame celebration. Infielder Ryota Wakiya dressed himself in a high school girl's uniform and ran around spraying everybody with the suds. 

The Lee dinger gave Yomiuri four lefthanded hitters with 30 homers in the same season, the first time ever that has occurred. 

This was the ninth time that a pennant was decided on a sayonara victory in NPB annals, the Giants being in three of those (1990, 2000, 2007). 

For Yakult, Ramirez was 1-4 with a walk and is at .349. He needs two more hits for 200. Guiel was 1-4 with a walk and is at .244. Because of he has more than 30 roundtrippers and a relatively high OBP but 142 strikeouts and a low batting average,  he is kind of an uber Rick Lancelotti. What sets that off, though, is a .234 mark with runners in scoring position, which is why he has only 75 RBIs despite the fact that the three guys hitting ahead of him are hitting around or better than .300. 

For Yomiuri, Gonzalez was 1-3 and is at .257. Lee was 1-3 with a walk and is at .273. Centerfielder Damon Hollins was 0-2 and is at .259. 

If there is one thing that demonstrates how bad the Hanshin offense has been this season, it was not only being two hit over seven innings Tuesday by Yokohama rookie Kentaro Takasaki 5-0 for his first pro win, but it was also the 17th time they had been blanked in 2007. Yuya Ando was also in for just four innings, exhibiting another huge issue for them, starters who don't get deep into ballgames. This is a team that needs a major retooling if they have any hopes of competing in 2008. 

The Tigers put two men on with two outs in the first, but third baseman Makoto Imaoka grounded out and it was over for them offensively, one of the two knocks they garnered being erased on a double play. 

The Bay Stars then set to work on Ando, as he plunked rightfielder Seiichi Uchikawa to begin the bottom of the first and went to second on a sacrifice. Centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo singled to center and Uchikawa sped home for a 1-0 lead. Third baseman Shuichi Murata singled to center, but a groundout and a flyout paralyzed them. 

In the second, shortstop Kazuya Fujita outran a ground ball toward short and went to second on a groundout. Takasaki singled to right to chase Fujita in for his first pro hit and RBI. Uchikawa singled to center. Catcher Ryoji Aikawa beat out a grounder toward short to load the bases. Kinjo flied out to right and Takasaki tagged up and crossed. Murata grounded to shortstop Shuta Tanaka, who let it go through the wickets, and Uchikawa reported to raise it to 4-0. Leftfielder Takahiro Saeki struckout to stall the attack. 

They put two more on in the third with one away, but a strikeout and a flyout bogged it down. 

Hanshin reliever Kentaro Hashimoto struckout the side in the fifth, but in the sixth, he left something in the wheelhouse of Kinjo, who plastered it into the rightfield seats to make it 5-0. That was the final safety of the entire match.

For Yokohama, Matt White was flawless in the ninth and is at 5.28.

For Hanshin, Darwin Cubillan spun a perfect eighth and is at 3.36. 

Yomiuri There was an interesting piece in Hochi Sports linking the fate of Japanese prime ministers to baseball. On six of the seven occasions that a prime minister's administration has lasted one year or less, the Giants have won the pennant. The reign of prime minister Shnzo Abe recently collapsed after exactly 365 days in office. 

There is also apparently another jinx, as the paper put it, whereby if Chunich wins the pennant it portends a change of P.M.'s. Three times, in seasons in which the Dragons finished atop the Central League, a prime minister was ousted due to corruption scandals. 

Miscellaneous Who were these idiots calling for the head of Mets manager Willie Randolph? Geez, some people need to chill out. The only ones to blame for that collapse are the players, especially the collapse of that bullpen. Indeed, one can blame GM Omar Minaya more than Randolph for not obtaining or developing pitchers who can go more than five or six innings. Willie just got caught up in a Twilight Zone of a last month. 

Speaking of managers, in a no brainer, Detroit extended Jim Leyland through 2009. What, they waited until now? I hope that the delay was due to Jim wondering how much longer he wanted to be a skipper and not the front office being too cautious.