Yomiuri starter Chiang Chien-ming told the press Monday that he hoped to toss a shutout Tuesday, but he looked rather rocky in the first third of his start against Chunichi at Tokyo Dome and, in fact, got behind 2-0. But the middle of the Giants order then woke up as Chiang began to settle down and they ultimately seized a 7-2 victory that terminated the Dragons win streak at three. Chiang went seven innings of two run ball on five hits and struckout one while walking two on 123 pitches and is now 1-0. 

Chunichi starter Masahiro Yamamoto, seeking his 192nd win lifetime and who has a delivery that appears as if it was taught to him by Rube Goldberg, couldn't keep his pitches down consistently and he was around for only 4.1 innings and was drilled for seven runs on nine hits and 87 pitches to accept blame for the adverse outcome. 

Yamamoto was shaky at the outset too, as Yomiuri rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi kicked off the bottom of the first by beating out a ground ball toward second. But he was erased on leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani's 6-4-3 double play ball. However, third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara singled to center and first baseman Seung-yeop Lee doubled into the leftfield corner. That would all go to waste, though, as second baseman Luis Gonzalez struckout. 

Chunichi subsequently pulled in front in the second when centerfielder Byung-kyu Lee doubled to rightcenter and, one out later, leftfielder Masahiko Morino homered to left for a 2-0 lead. 

Chiang was getting into a lot of deep counts and a man doubled off of him in the third, but he was stranded. The Dragons would generate just two more hits the rest of the way. 

In the last of the third, Tani walked with two outs and Ogasawara smoked a first pitch hanging slider into the leftcenterfield seats to knot it at two all. 

In the fourth, Yomiuri shortstop Tomohiro Nioka stepped in and pounded a Yamamoto delivery over the leftfield wall and they had a 3-2 edge. 

They went on to dispense with the big southpaw in the fifth. Takahashi was plunked and was sacrificed to second by Tani, who last put down such a bunt came three years ago. Ogasawara laced a double to rightcenter and Takahashi rambled in. Lee singled to right to cash Ogasawara in. Gonzalez doubled down the leftfield line and that knocked Yamamoto out of the ballgame. Lefthander Akifumi Takahashi was summoned from the bullpen and he doubled to leftcenter for two RBIs to hike it to 7-0. That was their final knock of the night. They would load the bases with two outs later in the inning, but Yoshinobu Takahashi popped up to hold the score there. 

Chiang walked two men to begin the sixth, but he induced a double play ball and a grounder to short and then got three of the four men he saw in the seventh before submariner Yushi Aida and veteran Hiroki Sanada fashioned a perfect inning apiece to ice it. 

The Giants are known for being weak against southpaws, but not Tuesday. The lefty hitting core of Ogasawara, Lee and Abe were 7-9 against Yamamoto and Takahashi through that fifth inning. I'm not sure how much stock I would put in that since Yamamoto was leaving pitches that should have been hit and Lee just absolutely kills mistakes anyway, no matter from which side of the hill they come from. Ogasawara, though, has hit nearly .320 for his career against lefthanders and he has a .338 average lifetime at Tokyo Dome from his days when Nippon Ham used it as their home ballpark (1997-2003). By contrast, at Sapporo from 2004-2006, Ogasawara has been pretty average there with a .279 mark. 

But just to rain on that parade a bit, Takahashi was 0-3. 

Chunichi has now lost its first Tokyo Dome battle of a season the last four years. 

For Chunichi, Woods was 0-4 and is at .000. He is 0-13 on the season. Byung-kyu Lee was 1-4 and is at .250, but he is becoming increasingly comfortable, which the Dragons hope will portend good results. The truth is that the last couple of seasons the Nagoya side was getting just about nothing out of center because they were using all field and no hit Hidenori Kuramoto. So even if Lee hits only .250-.260, that is still miles ahead of what they had been producing there. 

For Yomiuri, Seung-yeop Lee was 3-4 and is at .357. Gonzalez was 1-4 and is at .214. Centerfielder Damon Hollins was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .250. Chiang, whose dad was watching from the stands, was 0-2 with a walk and is at .000. 

Coaches at Softbank have been fiddling with Hayato Terahara's form to beat the band since they drafted him a few years ago, but after giving up on him and trading him to Yokohama, the Miyazaki native is saying that he is more mechanically sound than he has ever been and it showed Tuesday, as he went eight sparkling innings of one run, four hit ball on a mere 103 pitches for his first win of the year in a 3-2 final over Hiroshima at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. He was clocked at 92mph. 

Shinji Sasaoka started for the fish and it looked as if he wasn't going to be around long when he was roughed up for a total of three runs early, but he found a groove and retired nine of his last ten hitters to accrue six innings of three run, six hit ball on 63 pitches for the loss. I think that manager Marty Brown would take that everytime from the ancient righthander, provided that his anemic offense can coalesce to provide Sasaoka with some run support. 

Terahara was in mild trouble in the first because after shortstop Eishin Soyogi singled to right, a bad pickoff throw allowed Soyogi to advance to second. He then moved over to third on a sac bunt. But the next two men grounded out and popped out respectively and Terahara escaped unscathed. 

The Bay Stars then eased in front in the second, as third baseman Shuichi Murata singled to right and leftfielder Takanori Suzuki doubled to left. First baseman Yuki Yoshimura flew out to right and Murata tagged up and busted home. Rightfielder Katsuaki Furuki singled to center to plate Suzuki for a 2-0 lead. 

However, Terahara left a cutter in Hiroshima rightfielder Shigenobu Shima's wheelhouse in the home version and Shima clubbed it into the rightfield seats to reduce the deficit to 2-1. 

Yokohama grabbed that right back in the top of the third, as second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to left and shortstop Takuro Ishii singled to center. Centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo grounded into a 4-6 force. Murata doubled to left and Nishi romped in to raise it to 3-1. That was their last safety until the ninth. 

Terahara wasn't giving any quarter, either, as the two baserunners he endured through the fifth were binned on double play balls and he cruised through the eighth, where manager Akihiko Oya opted to go to the pen for closer Mark Kroon for the ninth. 

Kroon put the first two men away on fly balls, but leftfielder Tomonori Maeda singled to right and moved to second on a wild pitch. Third baseman Takahiro Arai singled to right to send Maeda in and get it within 3-2. But Shima struckout and that was that. 

If you're a ballplayer and you've just turned 39, little could be sweeter than cracking a grand slam on your birthday. But that is what Hanshin leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto did, and it was good for all of his team's runs, to spearhead a 4-3 victory over Yakult at Meiji Jingu Stadium Tuesday. Kanemoto also saved the day later in the contest, but more about that later. Yakult has now lost four straight out of the box for the first time in 22 years, when they went 0-5-1 to begin the regular schedule. 

Getting lost in the birthday heroics of the respected Kanemoto was Hanshin starter Esteban Yan, who struggled somewhat during five innings of three run, six hit ball for his first ever win in Japan. 

Masanori Ishikawa started for the Swallows and he was no good, as he was tagged for four runs on seven hits in five innings for his first defeat of 2007. 

Yan permitted only two hits through four while Ishikawa had a bit of a tougher time, beating back a two on, two out challenge in the third and having to get past a two on, nobody out predicament in the fourth. 

But Ishikawa would take a turn for the worse in the fifth, as Yan beat out a ground ball toward short with one out and, following another out, centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to right. First baseman Andy Sheets reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Ishikawa got behind to Kanemoto 3-1 and threw him a slider. Kanemoto crushed it over the centerfield fence and it was 4-0. That was the last Tigers hit of the evening. 

Yan would then scuffle in the home edition and nearly gave it away. Rightfielder Aaron Guiel walked and, one out later, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto singled to center. Catcher Masakazu Fukukawa singled to left to usher Guiel in. Mitsuru Manaka pinch hit for Ishikawa and singled to right to pick Miyamoto up. One out later, second baseman Hiroyasu Tanaka singled to center and that drove Fukukawa in to tighten it up to 4-3. First baseman Adam Riggs, though, flew out to center to let Yan off the hook. 

Kentaro Hashimoto entered to replace Yan for the sixth and leftfielder Alex Ramirez doubled to center and Guiel walked. Hashimoto then struckout the side to leave them loitering. 

Tomoyuki Kubota succeeded Hashimoto and he had two on and two out in the seventh before a flyout ended the inning. 

Jeff Williams took over for Kubota in the eighth and Guiel walked for the third time and advanced to second on a sac bunt. One out later, Fukukawa singled to left. Kanemoto charged the ball and unleashed a strike to catcher Akihiro Yano, who slapped the tag on Guiel, and that frame went into the books. 

Kyuji Fujikawa ascended the hill to close it out in the ninth and walked centerfielder Norichika Aoki with one out, but he popped the next man up and Riggs struckout to make it a memory. It was the Tigers third consecutive triumph. 

The four RBIs also moved Kanemoto into the top 20 all time with 1197, surpassing Hanshin hall of famer Fumio Fujimura. Kanemoto has also been on the winning side his last five April 3rds. 

For Yakult, Riggs was 1-5 and is at .118. Ramirez was 1-4 and is at .250. Guiel was 0-1 and is at .182. 

For Hanshin, Sheets was 1-3 with a walk and is at .214. Yan was 1-2 and is at .500. Lin Wei-tzu grounded out in a pinch hit appearance and is at .500.

Hiroshima Pitcher Sean Douglass, whose arrival in Japan has been hindered by an inflammed elbow, will arrive in Japan on the sixth. It is hoped that he can be back with the Carp in about a month after he was examined and told that his elbow has healed. That is very good news for a suspect rotation. 

Yakult Pitcher Dicky Gonzalez is gone for the season after he was diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament. He will be gone for a year. At this point, the Swallows don't plan to buy out the remaining year of his two year contract. 

Yomiuri The Giants will be putting replica uniforms on sale this month that use retired player numbers. For info, go Here.

With Yuya Kubo being too inconsistent to be trusted as a setup man in the bullpen they are going to try to turn him into a starter. He was tenetatively scheduled to make an Eastern League start Tuesday. 

Koshien Stadium In a tournament of upsets, we ended up with two no name schools playing for the tournament championship Tuesday, and it was Tokoha Gakuen Kikugawa pulling out a comeback victory over Ogaki Nichidai High School by a 6-5 margin at Koshien Stadium. It goes without saying that this was Tokoha's first ever Koshien title and was the first time cine 1978 that a school from Shizuoka Prefecture had finished on top of the heap when the dust cleared. They had to do it with three straight come from behind thrillers, the first time since Seiseiko High in 1958 that any school has done that beginning with their quarterfinal match. 

Tokoha was down 4-3 going into the eighth when Ryuichi Maeda doubled with two outs and completed the circuit on an RBI single by catcher Ryoya Ishioka. An error got Ishioka into scoring position and also put a man on first before Keisuke Takano rammed the first pitch he saw back through the middle to plate Ishioka with the go ahead tally.

Ogaki ace Takayuki Morita threw 643 pitches in the five games he was involved in, around a third less less than Waseda Jitsugyo High ace Yuki Saito did in last summer's unforgettable Koshien series, but he also was in fewer games than Saito. 

The head coach of Tokoha, Tomoyuki Morishita, was the team captain of the Hamamatsu Shogyo High side that was the last Shizuoka Prefecture nine to grab a Koshien championship. 

Miscellaneous Tampa Bay third baseman Akinori Iwamura singled to left and walked in four times up Monday in his major league debut in a 9-5 loss to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium while his father Yoshiaki watched from the stands. 

Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui, needing 13 hits for 2000 for his combined NPB/MLB careers, went 0-4. 

Hideki Okajima had a rude welcome to MLB in a game against Kansas City Monday, as his first pitch was assaulted for a monster bomb to leftcenter by Kansas City backstop Buck. Okajima thus became just the seventh pitcher ever to have his first big league delivery taken to the downs. Only four pitchers have suffered that indignity in an NPB game in that organization's history. Okajima was clocked at 89mph. KC won it 7-1 and Gil Meche tries to prove that his contract isn't the worst one in MLB history. 

Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who made yet more noises, albeit subtly, about leaving his team via free agency to the Japanese press Sunday (though he made a remark akin to "no more mr. nice guy"), beat out a bout a 40 foot dribbler for a hit in four at bats Monday against Oakland. That knock ignited a four run rally, which was capped off by a three run jack to center by Richie Sexson in a 4-0 victory. Mariners starter Felix Hernandez went eight shutout innings and struckout 12 while scattering three hits in a dominant performance. 

Ichiro then went out Tuesday and had two run scoring hits in four at bats and catcher Kenji Johjima was credited with an RBI double that should have just been a single and an error in the M's 8-4 victory over a very unlucky Joe Blanton and his Oakland A's. 

Tuesday, Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus was working his 4600th game Tuesday, which made me feel old. I have said this before but I never tire of saying it: I remember when Dave worked with Dick Enberg, who replaced Buddy Blattner, with the Angels back in the 1960's and early 1970's, a time when southern California had a bunch of hall of fame plaques calling the action for its major sports teams. You had Vin Scully paired with the efficient and understated Jerry Doggett, Chick Hearn (with Hot Rod Hundley as his sidekick), Jiggs MacDonald with the L.A. Kings plus Dick did the Rams games.  Don Drysdale, iirc, replaced Niehaus in the booth with the Angels. Unbelievable. 

Tuesday, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw off the mound at Kaufman Stadium in preparation for his start against them later this week. He spun about 50 pitches up to the plate while reporters were kept off the field. 

Colorado second baseman Kazuo Matsui got his 2007 off to a fine start with two hits and an RBI in an 8-6 defeat by Arizona and followed up on that Tuesday by going 1-5 with an RBI in a 4-3 come from behind victory over the snakes. 

An NPB board met Monday and formally eliminated the kibouwaku (the Yomiuri Shimbun translated that as "free selection") part of the collegiate/industrial league draft. The high school phase will be held on October third while the second one will be conducted on November 20th. They also approved a range of possible penalties for those violating rules regardking amateur players. Those could be keeping a team out of the draft for two years, holding them out of the first round of a draft, a fine of up to 10 million yen (about $80,000) and banning the player(s) involved for a time to be determined or a combination thereof. That gesture should help to alleviate the concerns of amateur officials. 

They have also established a committee to look into draft format proposals. That committee will have its first meeting on the 20th.

However, the same board couldn't decide on whether to interrupt the 2008 season in order to send players to the Beijing olympics. So that decision has been put off. 

The six Pacific League teams have formed an entity that will sell game highlights on cell phones.While all these geniuses are doing shit like that, I would suggest that their efforts would be bettwe concentrated on marketing their product on the internet to foreign audiences. But NPB just cannot see anything beyond Japan's boundaries and they are screwing themselves and baseball fans becuase of it. 

Japan Times columnist Wayne Graczyk has his baseball media guide about to hit the streets. If you go to the Japan Ball website and order now, you can get a discount on it. For those of you just getting your feet wet with regards to the sport over in Japan it would be a nice introduction for you in getting familiar with ho these players are.