Yomiuri starter Hiroshi Kisanuki went six innings of one run, five hit ball while striking out three and walking none against Hiroshima Thursday at Osaka Dome for his second straight win and it appears that he is now fully back after fighting shoulder problems and inconsistency over the last three seasons now that he is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in three times out. 

Masayuki Hasegawa started for Hiroshima and was rocked for five runs on eight hits in four innings to absorb his first loss of 2007. 

The Giants grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when, after a popped up bunt resulted in a double play, catcher Shinnosuke Abe belted an 89mph fastball that was below the knees off of the facade of the fifth level in right. 

The Carp equalized it in the third, though, as rightfielder Shigeru Morikasa doubled down the leftfield line and catcher Yoshikazu Kura singled to center to bring Morikasa home to make it 1-1. Hasegawa then bounced into a double play and Kisanuki retired ten of the next 12 after that before he was pulled at the end of the sixth due to discomfort in his left hamstring. 

Yomiuri would subsequently coalesce to dispose of Hasegawa in the fourth. Leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani doubled to the leftfield wall and completed the circuit on a single to center by third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara. First baseman Seung-yeop Lee doubled off the leftfield wall. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka singled to center for two RBIs. One out later, Second baseman Takuya Kimura singled to center. Centerfielder Damon Hollins singled to left and that retrieved Nioka to lend the Giants a 5-1 advantage. 

Victor Marte supplanted Hasegawa for the fifth in his first appearance of the season and Ogasawara singled to left with one out and Lee walked. Nioka doubled off the wall in left and that plated Ogasawara. Makoto Kosaka pinch ran for Nioka. Abe flew out to left and Lee tagged up and scurried in. Kimura doubled up the leftcenter alley and Kosaka cruised home to raise it to 8-1. The would only get two more hits the rest of the way and the Carp mustered only a hit off of three relievers to wrap this thing up quietly. 

Yomiuri has now won each of its last four series. 

Kisanuki, who largely left his forkball at home here, was clocked at 91mph while using a lot of sliders and fastballs. 

For Hiroshima, Marte would go two innings of three run, four hit ball for an ERA of 13.50. 

For Yomiuri, Lee was 2-2 with two walks and is at .299. Hollins was 1-4 and is at .250. 

The Hanshin Tigers blew a 7-1 lead Thursday at Nagoya Dome, with Hidenori Kuramoto's two run pinch hit single and shortstop Hirokazu Ibata driving in some insurance with an RBI single in the seventh for a 9-7 Chunichi Dragons victory at Nagoya Dome to give the Nagoya side the series two games to one. Ryan Vogelsong started for Hanshin and was decent for four innings, but his pitches began to rise in the zone in the fifth and his opponent realized five runs out of it to get back into a contest that appeared headed for a rout. 

Kenshin Kawakami started for Chunichi and his ERA ballooned to 5.04 after he was tattooed for five runs on eight hits in four innings plus, so credit for the triumph went to reliever Franklyn Gracesqui after a pair of double play balls helped him evade difficulties in the sixth and seventh. He is now 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in six appearances. 

The Tigers had two on and nobody out in the first, but third baseman Makoto Imaoka lined out to stall it. 

In the second, though, rightfielder Lin Wei-tzu, in his first start in five games, singled to right and so did catcher Akihiro Yano. One out later, Vogelsong smoked a double to leftcenter and both Lin and Yano sprinted home for a 2-0 lead. 

The Dragons halved that in their turn, as leftfielder Masahiko Morino singled to center and third baseman Norihiro Nakamura doubled to left. Centerfielder Byung-kyu Lee flied out to right on the tenth pitch of his at bat and Morino tagged up and found paydirt to make it 2-1. A pair of groundouts held Nakamura on second. 

But Hanshin pushed another run across in the third when first baseman Andy Sheets singled to right and, one out later, Imaoka singled to left. Lin flied out to right and Sheets tagged up and crossed to stretch it to 3-1. 

Tigers centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi then catalyzed a rally in the fifth, as he singled to left and Sheets reached on an infield hit. Kawakami hit leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto on the right hand and that loaded the bases. Masato Kobayashi was summoned from the bullpen and Imaoka singled to center to chase Akahoshi and Sheets in. One out later, Yano grounded to Nakamura, who (I'm guessing) threw it past Ibata at second trying to turn two and both Kanemoto and Imaoka flew around to score for a 7-1 edge. Hiroki Kongo came on to spell Kobayashi and walked second baseman Atsushi Fujimoto. Vogelsong grounded into a twin killing to quell the uprising. 

But Vogelsong retook the mound and walked pinch hitter Ryosuke Morioka. Ibata picked on the first pitch he saw and seared it to left for a double. Second baseman Masahiro Araki doubled to left on the first delivery he saw and added two RBIs to his stats. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to left to convert Araki. One out later, Morino walked. Following another out, Lee walked to pack the sacks and Vogelsong was given the hook in favor of Hirotaka Egusa. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami pinch hit for catcher Motonobu Tanishige and singled to center to send in two more and shave the Tigers lead to 7-6. Masaumi Shimizu pinch hit for Morioka and struckout for the third out. 

Hanshin had two on and one out in both the sixth and seventh before he induced the GIDPs that undermined the Tigers hopes in those frames. 

Tomoyuki Kubota went to the center of the diamond for the Tigers to begin the seventh and was apparently just too pumped up. Nakamura singled to left and Lee doubled to right. Kuramoto pinch hit for Gracesqui and singled to center, Nakamura and Lee journeying to the promised land to put the Dragons up 8-7. Kuramoto advanced on a sac bunt. Ibata spanked a single to center and Kuramoto sped in to make it 9-7. 

Hanshin would produce only one more baserunner over the final two innings and he was erased on a double play, Hitoki Iwase scooping up his fifth save in the ninth. 

Vogelsong told the press after it was over that, "we lost because of me even though my teammates played hard behind me." 

For Chunichi, first baseman Tyrone Woods was 0-3 with two walks and two strikeouts and is at .321. Lee was 1-2 with a walk and a sac fly and is at .292. However, his average with runners in scoring position is only .235 and his OPS is .750. Even so, compared to what Chunichi got out of centerfield last season, that has been a godsend for them. . 

Yokohama catcher Ryoji Aikawa connected for a grand slam in the top of the first inning and starter Takeharu Kato took it from there, as he went eight innings of one run, four hit ball and struckout ten on 123 pitches in a 14-1 crushing of Yakult at Meiji JIngu Stadium Thursday. The first two games of this series were rained out, so we won't know who won this series until later in the schedule when those matches are made up. There was also an ejection and a near brawl in this one, but more about that later. 

Kazuhisa Ishii started for the Swallows and lasted only a little over an inning before he was pulled. His final line read: one inning, nine runs, eight earned, six hits and three walks to decline to 1-2. 

Bay Stars second baseman Toshihisa Nishi commenced the faceoff with a triple to right and shortstop Takurao Ishii singled to center for a 1-0 lead. One out later, third baseman Shuichi Murata singled to center. Following another out, first baseman Yuki Yoshimura walked to load the bases. Ishii then unloaded a wild pitch and Ishii crossed. Centerfielder Masaaki Koike walked to repack the sacks. Aikawa Clubbed an Ishii offering into the leftfield bleachers and just like that it was 6-0 visitors. Kato walked. Nishi struckout, though, and the guns were silent. 

Well, temporarily.After a strikeout and a groundout foiled a Yakult opportunity in the bottom of the first, Yokohama came back in the second and laid another whippin' on Swallows pitching. Ishii plunked Ishii. Don't you love reading that? He went to second on a wild pitch. Rightfielder Seiichi Uchikawa singled to right to usher Ishii in. Murata doubled to left and Uchikawa circled the bases. Ishii was ordered to have a shower by catcher/manager Atsuya Furuta and Kosuke Matsui was entrusted with the ball. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to right. Yoshimura grounded to second and Murata loped in to put it at 9-0. One out later, Aikawa was intentionally walked to get to the pitcher's spot and Kato whiffed, but the fact was that the Bay Stars had already batted around twice in the game and it was still early. 

From the second through the fourth, the only baserunners Yakult had were on HBPs. They then had two on and two outs in the fifth, but leftfielder Alex Ramirez struckout and Kato also retired the next five men in a row after that.

In the fifth, Aikawa walked and went to second on a sacrifice. Nishi singled to center and it was 10-0. 

Now here is where it got a little hairy. Furuta was playing in his 2000th career game, becoming the 37th man in history to that mark but the first catcher ever who had played university and industrial league ball before accomplishing that. In the top of the seventh, Nishi homered to left. Ishii singled to right and was pinch run for by Takehiro Ishikawa. Ishikawa then took off and stole second, which infuriated Furuta because of the ten run lead thw Bay Stars were enjoying. "Hey asshole, what are you, some kind of fucking idiot or something?" Furuta shouted to Ishikawa in Osaka dialect. Furuta then had reliever Masataka Endo hit Uchikawa in the back with a pitch. That brought up Murata. Endo threw a hanging curve ball and when Murata ducked, it struck him in the top of the helmet. The plate umpire immediately ejected Endo under NPB's kikenkyu (dangerous pitch) rule while the benches cleared. Nothing happened other than the usual shouting and pointing on the part of the players, but Furuta argued with the xrew chief that if Murata didn't duck the pitch wouldn't have hit him. When he wasn't getting anywhere with that, he said the magic word and got tossed. Yuhei Takai ascended the bump and struck backup centerfielder Katsuaki Furuki out and elicited a grounder out of Koike to put the inning to rest. 

Yakult centerfielder Norichika Aoki then came up in the bottom half and stroked one over the rightfield wall to cut it to 10-1. They would put just one more man on from there on in. 

Yokohama didn't lay down their bats after Furuta's protest and pinch hitter Takahiro Saeki singled to center in the top of the ninth and Nishi, who finished a double short of the cycle, singled to left. Ishikawa grounded to third baseman Ryuji Miyade, who miplayed it into a two run run scoring error, and Ishikawa went to second on the miscue and to third on a groundout. Murata grounded to first and Ishikawa crossed for the 14-1 outcome. 

After the game, Yokohama shot caller Akihiko Oya made the lame excuse that he had Ishikawa run to have him practice stealing even though First baseman Adam Riggs was playing behind the runner and wasn't holding him on. Really, this was egregious violation of the players code and one wonders what Oya was thinking. 

Nonetheless, Yokohama is now one game above .500 again. 

The last time that Furuta was ejected was in June of 1996 and it is only his second. The Swallows also lost in Furuta's 1000th and 1500th career games. 
 

For Yakult. rightfielder Aaron Guiel was 2-3 with an HBP and is at .182. Ramirez was 0-3 with an HBP and is at .308. Riggs was 0-2 with an HBP and is at .135. 

Shinobu Fukuhara will be called up Friday and will start on Sunday.

Yokohama Team president Kuniaki Sasaki visited the NPB commissioner's office and apologized for the Takumi Nasuno incident. Nobody has been disciplined over that and why have a rule about rookie signing bonuses if yo aren't going to enforce it?

Miscellaneous Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was 0-4 Thursday in a 6-2 loss to San Francisco. 

Mariners centerfielder Ichiro Suzuki was 2-4 Thursday in a 6-5 loss to Minnesota. Catcher Kenji Johjima was 0-3. 

Yankees righthander Wang Chien-ming made a rehab start in the minors and permitted three runs on five hits while striking out four in five innings Thursday. 

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 1-4 with a walk in a 6-4 victory over Texas. 

The Japan Scholastic Baseball Association will formally call for the names of 170 coaches and officials who received money from NPB scouts in violation of Japanese mateur rules. With the Seibu investigation wrapping up with a big anti-climax, it could be that the only way we will find out more inforation about illegalities in the wooing of top high school and college players will be exposing them and making them talk.