Yomiuri righthander Jeremy Powell doused the Yokoham lineup with a boatload of breaking pitches Tuesday and became the first foreign hurler to win ten games for three different organizations by going 6.1 innings of one run, three hit ball in a 5-1 victory at Tokyo Dome. Only 34,051, the Giants smallest crowd of the year, turned out to see the second division faceoff. 

Daisuke Miura started for Yokohama and wasn't much good at all, as he went seven innjings of four run, 11 hit ball for his 12th loss. 

Yomiuri centerfielder Takahiro Suzuki doubled into the rightfield corner with one out in the first and leftfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to left to drive him in for a 1-0 lead. One out later, Miura walked the next two men to load the bases, but shortstop Tomohiro Nioka struckout to cool the offensive heat. 

They tacked on two more in the third, as Takahashi got a one out hanging slider and socked it into the rightfield seats. First baseman Seung-yeop Lee walked. One out later, catcher Shinnosuke Abe tripled down the leftfield line and Lee crossed to make it 3-0. 

Powell no hit the Bay Stars over the first four innings and struckout five in a row at one point. But he was presented with his first threat in the fifth when Yokohama had two on and nobody out. However, a groundout to short and a double play ball enabled Powell to extricate himself from the predicament. 

In the sixth, though, Powell walked shortstop Takuro Ishii with one gone and second baseman Kazuya Fujita doubled to leftcenter. Rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo grounded to Nioka, who went to first, and Ishii hustled home to put it at 3-1. Third baseman Shuichi Murata grounded to second for the third out to strand Fujita. 

Yokohama subsequently had a man on third with one out in the seventh on a double and a groundout. Yomiuri helmsman Tatsunori Hara decided to go to the bullpen for Masanori Hayashi and he induced a strikeout and a comebacker to keep the lead intact. 

The Giants got that back in the seventh when Takahashi singled to center and was pinch run for by Shigeyuki Furuki. One out later, third baseman Hiroki Kokubo walked. Abe singled to right to pack the sacks. Nioka outran a ground ball toward short and Furuki scurried in to hike it to 4-1. A strikeout and a flyout supressed further home invasions. 

Yokohama had two on and one out against reliever Kiyoshi Toyoda in the sixth, but that was liquidated on a groundout and a strikeout. 

Pinch hitter Motohiro Yoshikawa walked to commence the bottom of the inning for Yomiuri and was pinch run for by Makoto Kosaka. One out later, Furuki rolled a bunt down the third base line and beat it out. Murata, in endeavoring to get Furuki at first, threw the ball away and Kosaka motored to the plate on the miscue to heighten it to 5-1. 

Toyoda permitted two more Stars batters to reach in the ninth with one away, but catcher Kazunari Tsuruoka grounded into a 4-6-3 gsame ending twin killing to turn the lights out. 

Powell is the 11th hillsman overall to register into double figures for a trio of different ballclubs. It was his first win in five weeks and also terminated a Giants six game losing skein. 

For Yomiuri, Lee was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .316. Powell was 1-3 and is at .113. 

With Hanshin just not willing to give an inch, the Chunichi Dragons have to earn their way toward clinching the Central League flag and they took another step toward accomplishing that Tuesday, routing the Hiroshima Carp 8-0 at Nagoya Dome. The triumph was their 43rd of the year at home, tying a team record for that particular ballpark while starter Kenta  Asakura tied a personal best with his 11th win in the wake of eight superb innings of five hit ball where he fanned ten and walked just two. 

Masayuki Hasegawa, who has a history of being homer prone, was victimized by a big bomb as part of his five innings of six run, six hit pitching for Hiroshima to stumble to 1-2. 

In fact, Hasegawa was behind before he realized what hit him, as Chunichi second baseman Masahiro Araki leadoff the bottom of the first with a bunt down the third base line for an infield hit and shortstop Hirokazu Ibata whistled a shot into the rightfield corner and Araki jetted around the diamond to the plate on the double for a 1-0 lead. 

That was enlarged in the second when centerfielder Hidenori Kuramoto singled to left and catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to right. Following a pair of strikeouts, Ibata laced one up the rightcenter gap for a two run triple and a 3-0 advantage. 

Hiroshima had men on first and third in the third, but a strikeout and a double play interdicted that scoring chance. They also had two on and one out in the fourth and that went awry on a flyout and strikeout. 

The double play ball sank a two on and one out uprising in the sixth by Hiroshima as well. The Dragons then stopped pussyfooting around and put this baby away in their turn at bat. With one out, Ibata walked. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome was next and Ibata stole second. As soon as that happened, it was decided that since Fukudome had a 21 game hit streak that they should put him on. That brought up first baseman Tyrone Woods, who blistered a forkball over the leftcenterfield wall in retaliation for the insult and the home team was enjoying a 6-0 edge. 

They should have just called this thing at that point since the Carp would muster only one hit the rest of the way against Asakura and the three relievers Chunichi shot caller Hiromitsu Ochiai opted to employ in the ninth. 

The final Dragons tallies happened in the eighth when Araki reached on another infield knock and Ibata singled to left. Fukudome bounced back to Hiroike, who threw wildly and Araki hotfooted it to the plate. Woods grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but leftfielder Kazuki Inoue legged out an infield hit and Ibata crossed and that was how it ended, 8-0. 

Ibata finished a homer short of his second career cycle. 

Asakura had been 0-3 in his last five starts, which is a little ominous for Chunichi since he and Kenshin Kawakami haven't pitched that well the last month at a time when they have to begin looking toward the Japan Series. 

Fukudome was 0-3, so his hitting spree is over. 

Of the 16 times that Chunichi has whitewashed the opposition this season, 14 of them have been at home. 

For Chunichi, Woods was 1-4 and is at .298. 

In an outing that everybody from his teammates to a Dodgers scout was calling his best of the year, Hanshin southpaw Kei Igawa wove a three hit shutout of the Yakult Swallows Tuesday at Meiji Jingu Stadium to keep his side within three games of the Chunichi Dragons with a 4-0 victory. He was clocked at 93mph. No Swallows baserunner made it past second and two of the four men he allowed to reach were erased on double plays. 

Masanori Ishikawa started for Yakult and was doing fine until the sixth,when the Tigers got a hold of him and knocked him out. That puts him at 10-8 on the campaign. 

Yakult centerfielder Norichika Aoki singled to right to begin the game, but Igawa then retired the next 11 in a row. 

Ishikawa initially kept pace, coping with a two on, two out dilemma in the second and not permitting Hanshin anything else with the exception of a fifth inning single. 

In the sixth, though, Tigers third baseman Kentaro Sekimoto singled to left with one away and first baseman Andy Sheets singled to right. One out later, rightfielder Osamu Hamanaka singled to center to cash Sekimoto in. Shortstop Takashi Toritani walked to load the bases. That was it for Ishikawa, who was spelled by Masato Hanada. Catcher Akihiro  Yano singled to center and both Sheets and Hamanaka dashed in for a 3-0 lead. Second baseman Atsushi Fujimoto grounded out to limit the destruction. 

However, Fujimoto got aboard in the ninth on an infield hit and advanced to second on a sacrifice and then to third on a groundout. Sekimoto singled to right to chase Fujimoto in and that was your final, 4-0.  

It was Igawa's second shutout. Dodgers scout Keiichi Kojima stated that "I was rather impressed" after revealing thast he had been following Igawa around all year. Igawa was drilled on the left hip by rightfielder Ryuji Miyade early in the game. He received summary treatment in the dugout and retook the hill. 

This is the first time ever that Hanshin has won 80 games in consecutive seasons. 

Aoki had two of the three safeties off of Igawa and now has a nine game hit string. He needs 21 knocks in the remaining ten games to attain 200. He already leads the league in that category for 2006. 

Yano is 5-17 with 16 RBIs this year with the bags juiced. 

For Yakult, first baseman Adam Riggs was 0-4 and is at .297. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez was 1-3 and is at .274. 

For Hanshin, Sheets was 1-4 with a walk and is at .307. 

Yakult Reliever Hirotoshi Ishii had shoulder surgery, but no other details were released. He will be hospitalized for a week. 

Yokohama Former aces Akio Saito and Hiroki Nomura will join the staff of incoming skipper Akihiko Oya as his pitching coaches. Both men had been working as baseball commentators lately. 

Yomiuri Lefthander Takanobu Tsujiuchi made his Hawaiian Winter League debut and it was a good one, striking out three in two shutout innings on 38 pitches after coming on in the fourth for the Honolulu Sharks against the Waikiki Beach Boys Tuesday. He was clocked at 91mph and allowed only one hit. A scout for the Royals said that he liked the young southpaw's heater as well as his size and body type. He is scheduled to make a start on the eighth for his next outing. 

Tsujiuchi has been taught a circle change in Hawaii, though no word on whether he used it here, especially since he threw mostly fastballs. 

Ace Koji Uehara spent some time on the phone with four children who had received bone marrow transpalnts at Tokai University Hospital. He urged them to make the best of each day. He also answered questions from them before heading off to pregame practice. 

Outfielder Takayuki Onishi has decided to retire. Mostly a career spare outfielder, Onishi leapt to infamy a few seasons back when he broke the ribs of plate umpire Atsushi Kittaka during a rhubarb by kicking him. Onishi later apologized by getting on his hands and knees in Kittaka's hosptial room and doing dogeza (bowing on one's hands and knees). He also had his pay cut and received a short suspension. He should have been banned for life and gone to jail, but Nagoya prosecutors declined to file charges. Good riddance.  

First baseman Seung-yeop Lee took coach Kazunori Shinozuka'a fungo bat and tried to hit some fly balls to the team's outfielders, but instead sent one into the upper deck and hit the roof with another. Oh well, nice try, I guess. 

Owner Takuo Takihana was asked about lefthander Kimiyasu Kudoh and while Takihana complemented Kudoh on his contributins in terms of relaying his pitching knowledge to the other hurlers, he also said that he will talk to manager Tatsunori Hara and they will make a rational final decision after that. 

The Giants have hired a mental health professional to help the players with matters that might require counseling as well with how they can best focus themselves on the field. 

Miscellaneous Thanks to all the interest in Waseda Jitsugyo High ace Yuki Saito, area businesses in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture are experiencing an uptick in sales due to the ongoing Kokutai High School baseball Tournament that Waseda is participating in. One traditional style Japanese inn, called a minshuku, sent their expression of gratitude to Saito through the press for their being sold out right now. 

Komadai Tomakomai High advanced to the final of the tourney by edging Toyodai Himeji High 3-1 Tuesday. Ryuya Nakazawa homered to right on a slider to break a 1-1 deadlock in the sixth to clear the way for the win. Ace Masahiro Tanaka entered in the third with his squad behind 1-0 and threw seven shutout innings on three hits. He also homered in the ninth to provide Komadai with an insurance run. Dating back to the trip to the U.S., he has a 33.1 inning scoreless streak going. 

They will faceoff again against Waseda Jitsugyo High in the final because that school squeaked by Shizuoka Shogyo High 4-3 in front of 6,800. Saito went all the way and struckout nine. 

All of the roiling nonsense about Saito's handkerchief has caused the manufacturer of the item, which was a limited edition version for gift giving season a couple of years back, to begin putting them out again. No word on when they will go back on sale, though.I'm not sure why, though, people feel a need to have that particular handkerchief. Man, the Japasnese can be weird sometimes. 

By the way, more than 2,000 fans camped out overnight in hope of getting tickets. Many of them didn't and had to watch the game from a nearby perch that overlooks the ballpark. 

The American League playoffs got underway Tuesday and Hideki Matsui went 0-4 as the Yankees, behind the pitching of Chien-ming Wang, went up early and stayed there for an 8-4 victory over Detroit. This was the first time in his MLB career that Matsui went hitless in a first game of any postseason series.