Opening Day at Nagoya Dome. The two starters were mirror images of each other. For Yakult, there was Kazuhisa Ishii, onetime major leaguer and a southpaw while for the Dragons you had Kenshin Kawakami, perhaps soon to be headed to the bigs and a righthander. Both men pitched very well, Ishii going seven and allowing two runs on seven hits and 101 pitches, but he left behind. Kawakami permitted three runs on eight hits in eight innings and would emerge the victor because Chunichi rose up for a fiver in the bottom of the eighth against the Swallows pen to prevail 7-2. Kawakami is now 3-0 in five career Opening Day assignments. 

Yakult had two on and two out in the second and wasted the opportunity because Kawakami retired the next 13 men in a row. 

The Nagoya crew then jumped on top in the third when Kawakami singled to right and shortstop Hirokazu Ibata doubled to right. One out later, rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome doubled to right to cash the runners in for a 2-0 lead. 

Chunichi had two on and two out in the sixth and Ishii popped up catcher Motonobu Tanishige to escape the dilemma. 

The Swallows finally dented Kawakami in the seventh, as leftfielder Alex Ramirez singled to left and, one out later, motored to third on shortstop Shinya Miyamoto's single to right. Third baseman Hirobumi Watarai grounded to second and Ramirez found paydirt to reduce the deficit to 2-1. 

They would subsequently pull in front in the eighth when Mitsuru Manaka produced a pinch hit single to center and, two outs later, first baseman Adam Riggs kabonged a Kawakami offering into the centerfield bleachers to make it 3-2 birds. 

That lasted as long as a bag of chips around a bunch of potheads. In the home ups, Fukudome outraced a dribbler against Masao Kida and was liquidated on a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of first baseman Tyrone Woods. Centerfielder Byung-kyu Lee doubled off the leftcenterfield wall. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura lined a 3-1 forkball up the leftcenter gap and to the wall for an RBI double. Leftfielder Masahiko Morino was intentionally walked. Masaru Sato was brought in from the pen. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, pinch hitting for Tanishige, singled to center and that sprung Nakamura in. Out went Sato and in came Masato Hanada. Michihisa Sawai pinch hit for Kawakami and doubled to left, scoring Morino. Ibata tripled to right and two more flew home to hike it to 7-2. Ibata finished a homer short of the cycle. 

Santiago Ramirez spelled Kawakami and was touched for a leadoff single, but he induced a double play and a groundout to bring the curtain down on the proceedings. 

Catcher/manager Atsuya Furuta made his first start behind the platefor Yakult since last June and went 0-3 as well as coming up empty guiding his relievers to tempering that big late rally by the Dragons. 

Japanese women's  long jump record holder Kumiko Ikeda threw out the ceremonial first pitch. She isn't a baseball fan at all despite having a father who is a bigtime Dragons follower, but they invited her to do it for the name recognition. 

For Yakult, Riggs was 1-4 with two RBIs and is at .250. Ramirez was 2-4 and is at .500. Rightfielder Aaron Guiel was 1-4 with three strikeouts and is at .250. 

For Chunichi, Woods was 0-3 and is at .000. Lee, who was slotted in the five hole, was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .250. 

The spiel I wrote the other day about how well Hanshin first baseman Andy Sheets, leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto and catcher Akihiro Yano have abused Hiroshima Opening Day starter Hiroki Kuroda was inoperative Friday, as Kuroda had a very good cutter and effectively paired it with his shuuto to carve up the Tigers bats on four hits in seven innings and 96 pitches while allowing just an unearned run in a 4-1 Carp victory. The Sheets, Kanemoto and Yano triumvirate were a combined 1-11 in this one. 

Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi, who is 38, became the oldest man to ever be tapped for an Opening Day start and he did an okay job of it, going six innings of two run, eight hit ball in six innings and 95 pitches for the loss. 

Both Kuroda and Shimoyanagi were perfect for two, but in the third, Hiroshima centerfielder Jun Hirose doubled to left and catcher Yoshikazu Kura singled to center. Kuroda sacrificed Kura to second while Hirose held. Shortstop Eishin Soyogi flied out to center and Hirose tagged up and galloped in for a 1-0 lead. 

Kuroda was tagged for a knock with two outs in the bottom of the inning and then put the next seven batsmen away without incident to cruise through five. 

His squad bought him some insurance in the sixth, as Arai doubled to left with one out and rightfielder Shigenobu Shima walked. One out later, centerfielder Yoshinori Ogata singled to left to load the bases. Kura beat out a ground ball toward third and Arai rumbled across to put it at 2-0. Kuroda lined out to second to paralyze the remaining runners. 

Kuroda would have his worst patch in the last of the frame, when second baseman Kentaro Sekimoto reached on an infield hit and Lin Wei-tzu, pinch hitting for Shimoyanagi, singled to right. But shortstop Takashi Toritani bounded into a 4-6-3 double play and, following a walk to centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi, Sheets flied out to left to derail the offensive train. 

In the seventh, though, second baseman Akihiro Higashide booted Kanemoto's grounder. Two outs later, Kanemoto was at third when Yano singled to left to pick Kanemoto up and halve the Carp advantage to 2-1. That would be the final safety of the night for the Tigers. 

Hiroshima pulled further ahead in the eighth against reliever Makoto Yoshino, as leftfielder Koichi Ogata walked with one out and Yoshinori Ogata lashed a shot against the rightcenterfield fence for an RBI double. Kura singled to left. Shigeru Morikasa pinch hit for Kuroda and that provoked Hanshin boss Akinobu Okada to wave Masashi Sajikihara in. Morikasa sizzled a single to left to send Ogata across and make it 4-1. 

Takaya Kawauchi was given the ball for Hiroshima, but after getting his first man, he walked the next two and gave way to rookie Hirofumi Ueno, who walked his man in his pro debut to pack the sacks. Katsuhiro Nakagawa took over for Ueno and Kanemoto flew out to shallow left and third baseman Makoto Imaoka struckout for the third out. 

Nagakawa popped a man up and struckout the two after to seal it. 

Hanshin has dropped its last six when they have convened an Opening Day in the Osaka area and have been defeated on the season's first day overall their last three running. 

In a bizarre historical note, Shimoyanagi collected the Tigers first hit of the 2007 campaign with a chopper that he beat out in the third. The last time a pitcher had the first knock of a season for his team was Tatsuo Komatsu of Chunichi back in 1988. 

Kuroda became only the second Carp pitcher ever to make five straight Opening Day starts. The other one was hall of famer Ryohei Hasegawa in the 1950's. 

Kanemoto's consecutive full games played streak is now at 1043. The quad muscle that he injured in the waning days of spring training is still only at about 80%, he says. 

For Hanshin, Sheets was 0-3 with a walk and is at .000. Lin was 1-1 and is at 1.000. 

Tetsuya Utsumi fought his control in the first third of the ballgame Friday against Yokohama, as they marked him up for two runs, four hits and three walks, but he made an adjustment and cakewalked through the other four innings of his tenure on the hill and back to back homers by Yomiuri enabled them to reclaim the lead for a 3-2 victory at Yokohama Stadium. Utsumi became the first kyojin lefthander to win a start on the first day of the season since Masaichi Kaneda in 1965. 

Daisuke Miura has known only frustration on Opening Day, as he went six innings of three run, eight hit ball to tie a record held by 1970's Lions ace Osamu Higashio of losing six straight season inaugurating starts.

In fact, Miura threw a first pitch slider to leadoff man and rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi in the top of the first and the Keio University product pounded it into the rightcenterfield seats about 425 feet away for a quick 1-0 lead. It was also the first time in Central League annals that anyone had gone yard beginning a top of the first on the first pitch. It was the sixth time that an NPB batsman had kicked off such a game with a dinger, three in each league, but the other five were after the hitter had seen two pitches or more. 

The very next delivery Miura spun plateward was wacked into the rightcenter alley for a double by leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani, who went to third on a groundout. But a lineout and flyout kept him from home. 

Yokohama answered in their turn when second baseman Toshihisa Nishi walked and was forced out at second when shortstop Takuro Ishii's sac bunt attempt was immediately grabbed by catcher Shinnosuke Abe, who fired to second in time. One out later, third baseman Shuichi Murata walked. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to center to slingshot Ishii in and make it one all. If Suzuki keeps going like he has all spring he could end up receiving a Comeback Player of the Year citation. 

The Bay Stars then couldn't get a man home from third with one out in the second. But in the third, Utsumi walked Kinjo with one out and, one out later, Suzuki singled to center. First baseman Yuki Yoshimura singled to center and Kinjo scampered in for a 2-1 edge. 

That lasted about as long as a joint laying near a member of the Grateful Dead. In the top of the fourth, Yomiuri first baseman Seung-yeop Lee got an 89mph fastball on the outer half of the plate and thumped it over the lefttcenterfield wall to level it at two apiece. Second baseman Luis Gonzalez was next and worked the count full before leaning on a seventh pitch 88mph fastball that was up and out over the plate and despositing it in the leftfield stands to hand the Giants a 3-2 lead. Nice way to break into Japan.

They threatened again in the sixth, when Tani singled to left with one out and went to second on a groundout. Lee walked. Miura struck Gonzalez on the lefthand and that jammed the basepaths. However, Abe, who had hits in each of his two previous trips up, grounded out and Yomiuri would realize only one more hit for the rest of the ballgame. 

Utsumi struckout the side in the fifth and left a man on second in the sixth before fashioning a spotless seventh. Relievers Masanori Hayashi and Kiyoshi Toyoda locked it up with a combined six up, six down, with Toyoda striking out the side to cap it off in style. 

Yokohama is zero for their last four Opening Day battles. 

The only other man to slug a first pitch of a game into the great beyond on Opening Day was Motohiro Moroki of Hankyu (now Orix) against Nankai (now Softbank) at Osaka Stadium (which no longer exists) on April 7th, 1962. 

Takahashi has homered in each of his last three Opening Days. The record is five, held by former Yomiuri third baseman Shigeo Nagashima. Takahashi is only the sixth man to do that. 

Speaking of Nagashima, he made his first trip to an opposition ballpark since his stroke three years ago. 

Giants outfielder Takahiro Suzuki made his first Opening Day start in his 11 year career. They also serve who stand and wait. 

Miura reached 2000 innings pitched lifetime in the sixth, the 83rd man to do so. 

For Yomiuri, Lee was 1-2 with a walk before he left with a shoulder problem. He is at .500. Gonzalez was 1-3 and is at .333. Damon Hollins struckout in a pinch hit appearance and is at .000. 

Yomiuri Righthander Jeremy Powell is expected to miss 6-8 weeks after having right knee surgery. He will rehab it in Phoenix before returning to Japan. 

Ace Koji Uehara stretched out his longtossing Friday down in the minors. 

Koshien Tournament Ogaki Nichidai High School slipped by Miyakonojo Izumigaoka High 4-1 Friday to advance into the quarterfinals. 

Kansai High School destroyed Sozo Gakuendai Fuzoku High 12-0 and its ace, Fumiya Kawabe, put himself in the tournament record books with a 77 pitch three hit complete game shutout. That breaks the old mark of 78 pitches previously held by Minoru Matsumoto of Maebashi High, who did it against Hieizan High School in a 1978 perfecto. Masumi Kuwata once had an 83 pitch CG for PL Gakuen High against Tenri High. Matsumoto never played pro ball.  Kawabe, who checks in at 5'7" and 156 pounds, closed it out in the ninth on only six pitches. 

In the highest profile matchup of the day, Koryo High defeated Hokuyo High 5-3. Koryo starter Yusuke Nomura went six innings before he was relieved with a 5-0 lead, but when the replacement got into a jam, Nomura climbed the hill once again to stem the bleeding. He then went to first base and came on again to pitch part of the ninth and end the game. He ultimately went 8.1 innings and struckout ten while surrendering no runs on three hits. 

Miscellaneous Anyone who is familiar with the biography of former Nankai and Hanshin pitcher Takenori Emoto, a rather restless soul to say the least, perhaps isn't suprised about this development: he will head up the national baseball team of Thailand. The Thai aggregation will compete in the Asian olympic qualifying tournament in November in Taiwan. Emoto, who has also been a baseball commentator, was most recently affiliated with the Samurai Bears/Kyoto Firebirds. Lotsa luck Takenori. You're going to need it. 

Toronto has signed former Yomiuri and New York Mets minor league pitcher Yusaku Iriki after a tryout. Iriki will return to Japan to await the processing of his work visa. When that is finished, he will be dispatched to their AA club and put in the starting rotation. Iriki was suspended for 50 games in 2006 after failing a urine test for performance enhancing substances. 

Kei Igawa will start for the Yankees Saturday in an exhibition game against Detroit, where he will work on refining the command of his changeup. Then he will make his MLB regular season debut on the sixth against Baltimore. 

Tampa Bay third baseman Akinori Iwamura batted leadoff Friday against Cincinnati and went 2-3 with an RBI to raise his spring average to .200. 

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 1-4 Friday against Atlanta. 

Finally, a couple of websites you will want to visit: the first is the result of a book that Rob Fitts, the author of Remembering Japanese Baseball, is completing about former Yomiuri hall of fame outfielder Wally Yonamine. Click Here.

The second is another creation of Mike Plugh about Waseda University freshman Yuki Saito. Click Here. The cool thing about the stuff that Mike is doing is that he often gets to stuff about Japanese baseball I don't have the time for, so if you read Japan Baseball Daily, Japanese Baseball.com, Seattle Marinerds  and Mike's stuff, that will give you a good dose of knowledge of the subject. It becomes especially important that they continue writing since this will become strictly a statistical and historical site after this season ends. There will be no day to day reports next year like you see now. It kinda sucks because I am getting a thousand visitors a day at the moment, but I only have so much time and there are other things I would like to do besides baseball and I want to speed up the pace of stats and historical info that are introduced into the site.