A passed ball on strike three for what should have been the last out of the game ignited a doubles barrage by the Seibu Lions Thursday at Nagoya Dome to enable the visitors to rally for an 8-6 victory. This was also a game that saw Seibu debut its two foreign pitchers, Alex Graman and Chris Gissell, who were tagged for four and two runs respectively to allow the Dragons to get out to a lead they, at the end of the day, couldn't protect. 

Chunichi pushed across the first run of the contest in the first off of Graman, as second baseman Masahiro Araki doubled to left and went to third on a balk when Graman didn't come to a full stop while in the set position. One out later,  shortstop Hirokazu Ibata bounced to shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, who went to the plate in an attempt to get Araki, but it was late and it was 1-0 Dragons on the fielder's choice. 

But in the third, the Lions overcame that and temporarily seized the advantage when catcher Toru Hosokawa walked and third baseman Ryota Arai booted second baseman Keisuke Mizuta's ground ball. Graman plunked centerfielder Shogo Akada and the bases were loaded. Following a popout, Nakajima singled to right to chase Hosokawa in. DH Akira Etoh then spanked a cutter back through the middle to cash Mizuta in with a single and put it at 2-1 Seibu. First baseman Kevin Liefer grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, though, to stem the uprising. 

The Dragons, however, rocked Grmman in the bottom stanza. DH Kazuyoshi Tatsunami catalyzed thngs with a double to left and Araki singled to right. Rightfielder Atsushi Fujii laced one up the rightcenterfield gap and as the speedster was seeing his way to third, Tatsunami and Araki safely arrived home. Fujii then came home in the inning himself, probably on a wild pitch, and Chunichi was on top 4-2. 

Seibu retaliated with a drive into the centerfield stands by leftfielder Takahiko Sato in the top of the fourth to cut it to 4-3.

Gissell ascended the hill for the last of the fourth and plunked Arai. Centerfielder Hidenori Kuramoto laid down a sac bunt, but Gissell threw it away, placing runners at second and third. Backup catcher Masaumi Shimizu singled to center to get them in and expand it to 6-3 Dragons. 

The Lions would do the tighten up in the sixth, as Sato singled to left and scored on a double down the leftfield line by rookie backup catcher Taichi Yoshimi. Mizuta singled to left. Sato crossed on a passed ball (I think) and it was a one run equation at 6-5.

Yuichi Hisamoto was assigned the closer's role in this one since 2005 closer Hitoki Iwase started and induced a groundout and a strikeout. That brought up reserve rightfielder Takumi Kuriyama, who also fanned, but the ball got by substitute backsto Yoshio Koyama and Kuriyama made it to first. Nakajima seared a double to right and Kuriyama sped in. Etoh howitzered a shot off the rightfield fence for a double and the RBI. Backup first baseman Taketoshi Goto lined a double to left to push Etoh across and it was 8-6 Lions. 

Chikara Onodera fashioned a perfect inning in the bottom of the inning, keeping the Dragon on the infield, to put it in the bag. 

The only pitching highlights for Chunichi was a one hit scoreless frame by Masato Kobayashi and a perfect inning by Atsushi Nakazato.

Tomoki Hoshino and Masahiro Tazaki each spun scoreless innings and the latter was credited with the win. 

Etoh also walked to accompany the two hits in five times up, the best game he has had in a long while. ocked at 88mph. 

Hanshin Ace Kei Igawa threw 54 pitches Thursday and gave himself an 80 out of 100. 

Chris Oxspring threw 56 pitches in the bullpen Thursday. He will start Friday against Orix. He was setup for a practical joke Wednesday by first baseman Andy Sheets, who told them that the rest of the players would be wearing their uniforms to a party celebrating the end of the first phase of spring training. So when Oxspring appeared in his uniform, the room where the party was being held exploded with laughter. 

Batting instructor Kozo Shoda said Thursday that the Tigers won't be platooning at second base anymore as they did last season with Atsushi Fujimoto and Kentaro Sekimoto. 

Hiroshima Infielder Akihiro Higashide announced Thursday that he got married to his now wife KanaYamaguchi late last November and then had the ceremony in Hawaii in December. They met in high school and had been boyfriend and girlfriend for eight years. 

Yakult Even if it's spring training, one still hopes to see one's team win even if those victories are ultimately meaningless. Thursday, my Swallows finally got off the shnide with a 4-2 triumph over the SK Wyverns in a practice game. Kazuhisa Ishii started for Yakult and permitted both Wyverns runs on five hits in two innings. He was clocked at 85mph and had problems throwing strikes. 

However, at least lefty Shugo Fujii and righthander Rick Guttormsen each went three shutout innings on one hit. 

Yomiuri Pitching coach Takao Obana hinted that righthander Masumi Kuwata and lefthander Yukinaga Maeda will get into Saturday's exhibition game against Softbank at Fukuoka Dome. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka, who has been hindered by a leg injury, is tentatively penciled in to start at short. 

In addition, southapw Kimiyasu Kudoh will open on the hill for the kyojin (Giants). Kudoh threw 70 pitches in the bullpen Thursday in preparation for that start. He is also a former Hawk. 

Infielder Joe Dillon will start in an instructional league game on Wednesday. He has missed time recently due to a back problem.

Yomiuri chairman TsuneoWatanabe guarenteed a pennant Thursday. He forecasts that the Giants will be 2-3 games up at the all star break and then surge to take it by ten. He also predicted that there was no way that either Orix or Rakuten will win the Pacific Legaue title, that their most likely opponents in the Japan Series would be either Softbank or Lotte.

A trainer said that third baseman Hiroki Kokubo's aching calf is probably not due to a muscle pull. He expects the veteran slugger to be able to practice again beginning Saturday. 

WBC Well, here is something that should give the Mariners front office the willies: during Thursday's workout at Tokyo Dome, rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki was practicing leaping the railing of the box seats on the side of the field to catch the ball. This is actually something that Ichiro had played around with at (insurance company) Field, even occasionally doing so during games, though I don't recall him ever actually making a catch while springing up on the railing. 

Let's hope he not only doesn't kill himself by trying to be superman in the field, but that he does better at the plate than the .188 (3-16) he registered during the four pre-WBC exhibition games. 

The Japan pitchers, as has been chronicled in past articles, have been complaining about how slick the WBC balls are. That is about to end, as a shipment of Mississippi mud used to rub balls up in the big leagues has arrived in Japan. 

China manager Jim Lefebvre, pictured here exchanging pleasantries with Japan helmsman Sadaharu Oh, said that his team has a "tremendous challenge" ahead when it meets Japan, which he characterizes as one that could very well end up in the tournament final. 

Miscellaneous Another scandal has broken out surrounding Komadai Tomakomai High School, which is in the midst of preparing to play in the upcoming spring Koshien Tournament. According to Japanese press outlets, following their graduation ceremony, ten members of the baseball team and another four who were part of the school's basketball club went out and illegally drank and smoked at an izakaya (a hole in the wall bar). They raised so much of a ruckus that someone from a neighboring bar called the cops and one and all were arrested. In Japan, the legal drinking and smoking age is 20. 

The school was then informed, who in turn, contacted the Hokkaido Baseball High School Baseball Federation. The head of that federation then paid a visit to the school's principle, which is unusual at this stage of the investigation. The principle told the press that even though the students were graduates, he feels a moral responsibility in all this since that institution's ethics training "obviously didn't reach them." 

Last year, a coach for the school was suspended for a year and the club's head coach  was severely reprimanded for an incident that involved violence within the team and an ensuing cover up. The school went on to win the summer Koshien Tournament anyway, but at this point, it would certainly not be out of character for it to pull out of the upcoming tournament as a show of contrition to the parents of the pupils as well as to society at large. It is unlikely they will be compelled to do so by the Japan High School Baseball Federation because it involved players who had already graduated when the incident occurred. 

Former Nippon Ham pitcher Masaru Imazeki, now working as a baseball commentator, suggested that high school baseball officials shouldn't overreact to this. Rather, they should punish only those who are directly responsible and not players who are endeavoring to live by the rules. "It would have too large of an effect on tenth and 11th graders who are working their tails off and [fallout from a severe punishment] could also have an effect on their future ability to get jobs. When there is a scandal, people already look at the baseball program and the school as if they were criminals. That isn't the case and society should warmly watch over players who are doing the right thing."

Imazeki has a point. There was a recent case in Japan where a private trade school's CEO was caught embezzling its funds. The infamy engendered in that case has made employers hesitant to hire new graduates of that school due to the Japanese sense of collective responsibility even though the students had no involvement in any illegality. 

A professor from Hosei University who was asked by Sankei Sports to comment on all this ignored the issue of the players and instead asserted that the focus should be on what is going on with the leadership at Komadai Tomakomai, that maybe they are being too indulgent with their students. 

To be frank, what those kids did is pretty pro forma teenage nonsense. I did those things and a hell of a lot more in high school and am glad I did because I got them out of my system. By the time I started college, I was ready to put all that goofy crap aside and get down to business. I don't smoke and I don't drink anything stronger than diet coke now and haven't for 25 years. The hue and cry over Yu Darvish's smoking and this incident is patently ridiculous. Let the legal system do its thing on the underage drinking issue and then move on. Sheesh. 

Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima made his MLB exhibition debut Thursday against San Diego and struckout twice from the two hole in the order, though he didn't have any problems defensively. Johjima, though, did blame himself for the two run bomb given up by has been Kevin Appier to Walter Young in the second. Why, I don't know. 

In that same game, Shin-soo Choo was in rightfield for Seattle with Ichiro being absent and made a hell of a fine forehand diving catch after a long run. 

White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi went 0-2 aganst Colorado, grounding out and popping out, after being inserted into the six slot in the lineup. 

Rockies righthander KeiichiYabu came out for a perfect inning on a called strike three and two grounders to first. 

New York Mets second baseman Kazuo Matsui went 0-4 Thursday in an exhibition game against St. Louis, failing to get out of the infield. Matsui said afterward that he did get pitches to hit, but didn't do anything with them. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi had an RBI ground single through the left side in four trips. 

Indians minor league pitcher Kazuhito Tadano threw a shutout inning, striking out two, against Houston to get a save in a 5-2 Tribe victory. 

Hideki Matsui did sit out Thursday's exhibition game against Philadelphia as expected, but did hit and field well in practice, indicating that his knee has improved since it swelled up the other day. 

Hideo Nomo admitted on his homepage that he had negotiated with Orix over a three week period, but the two sides couldn't reach agreement and talks broke off. Nomo then signed with the White Sox.