Rakuten starter Yasuhiro Ichiba was dealing for five innings, having allowed only a run on one hit, albeit on a high pitch count, but he ran out of gas in the sixth and allowed two runs and then relievers Shinji Taninaka and Toyohiko Yoshida were tagged for a run apiece in the seventh and that effectively put it out of reach, as Chunichi starter Kenta  Asakura knocked down three incipient Eagles rallies with twin killings during eight shutout innings in a 5-0 victory at Nagoya Dome. Asakura, who has made manager Hiromitsu Ochiai and his predecessors tear their hair out over unfilfilled promise, is now 3-0 while Ichiba was hung with his Japanese baseball worst sixth defeat. 

Asakura was perfect for three innings before Rakuten centerfielder Koichi Sekikawa leadoff the fourth with a single to left and, one out later, rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to center, Sekikawa making the left for third. However, first baseman Jose Fernandez grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to waste the energy. 

That was applauded in the home espisode, as rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome went up to the plate sitting on Ichiba's slider and 
got one on the outer half with the count 2-0 and obliterated it, rocketing it deep into the leftcenterfield seats for a 1-0 lead. 

Asakura subsequently faced a bases loaded, one out predicament in the fifth and eliminated it by luring Ichiba into slapping it back to him and initiate a 1-2-3 double play. 

In the sixth, the Dragons obtained a little more space on the scoreboard when Fukudome doubled to left with one out and first baseman Tyrone Woods walked. Leftfielder Alex Ochoa doubled to left to cash Fukudome in. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami flied out to center and Woods tagged up and crossed. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige walked. Second baseman Ryosuke Morioka singled to right to pack the sacks. But Asakura was next and he struckout to hold it at 3-0. 

Fernandez singled to center in the top of the seventh and lollygagged it so much getting down to first that the rifle armed Kuramoto nearly threw him out. This really set his boss, manager Katsuya Nomura, off and who can blame him. More about that later. Leftfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi singled to left. Second baseman Rick Short flied out to right. Third baseman Katsumi Yamashita, though, grounded to shortstop Hirokazu Ibata, who flipped to Morioka, who passed it on to Woods and Asakura evaded damage once more. 

Ibata then leadoff his side's round at the plate with an infield hit and went to second on a sac bunt. Fukudome doubled to left and Ibata set the controls for the heart of the dish. One out later, Ochoa singled to right to redeem Fukudome and widen it to 5-0. 

Rakuten produced only two knocks spread out over the last two innings and it was over, ending a string of five straight losing Sundays for Chunichi. 

Asakura was clocked at a high of 91mph. 

Fukudome's dinger gave him ten on the campaign in his 33rd game, the fastest homer pace of his career. This was his first round tripper in ten games. 

On the incident with Fernandez, Nomura fumed, "His presence is ruining the team. He isn't going out there busting his butt to win. He is doing the worst that is humanly possible." 

To add to Nomura's ill mood, Short was taken out after the seventh due to shoulder pain after just rejoining the club following a previous injury. It is thought to be due to a bruise he somehow suffered so he is day to day. 

For Chunichi, Woods was 0-2 with two walks and is at .286. Ochoa was 2-4 and is at .333.

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 2-4 and is at .308. Short was 0-3 and is at .305. 

Hanshin Tigers senior director Senichi Hoshino was informed what was going on with the wrangling with the Murakami Fund and went off to the press after the talk was over, saying that he is going to be fired because Murakami wants to sell the team. He then asked why the fund's director. Yoshiaki Murakami, hasn't been arrested. "[Live Door founder Takafumi] Horie was caught, how come [Murakami] hasn't?  Heaven is going to punish him for all this." 

Lefthander Jeff Williams threw 32 pitches in the bullpen Sunday and then went out and engaged in some fielding drills. 

Hiroshima Closer John Bale will be out three weeks after suffering a left groin injury Saturday while throwing a pitch. No word on who will step in to Bale's slot, but Katsuhiro Nagakawa has closed before, so he seems to be the most logical choice. 

Yokohama The hand injury that lefthander Yoshihiro Doi sustained is getting better and he did some longtossing Sunday while saying that he is able to throw "without much pain." He will reportedly begin throwing in earnest again Monday and could be back on the roster as soon as Wednesday in a best case scenario. 

Yomiuri Catcher Shinnosuke Abe came down with a fever so he was held out of Sunday's game. 

Outfielder Yoshiyuki Kamei batted third and started in right Sunday in an Eastern League game against Seibu's affiliate and slugged a two run homer as part of a 3-5 day. Kamei is recovering from a broken rib. 

Also involved in that game was rookie lefthander Takanobu Tsujiuchi, who was taken deep for a monster bomb in the second inning, but then settled in and no hit the opposition from the third through the seventh, getting five of his six strikeouts on slow curve balls. He walked two with nobody out in the eighth and then surrendered a double off the wall and was given the hook a little later, ultimately being charged with four runs in 7.2 innings and picking up his second victory in a 9-4 decision. 

Miscellaneous Mets second baseman Kazuo Matsui was 2-5 with a walk Sunday against Milwaukee in a ten inning 6-5 
loss. 

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 0-4 with an HBP Sunday against Minnesota in a 9-7 victory. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was 0-2 Sunday against Arizona in a 7-5 defeat. 

Injured Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui has contracted a slight fever of about 100 degrees, but it hasn't affected his appetite, according to press reports. He still has some residual pain from the wrist surgery and has taken some painkillers for it, but is trying to use them as little as possible. 

Seattle rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki was 2-4 with a walk Sunday against Anaheim to extend his hititng streak to nine games. Catcher Kenji Johjima was 1-4 in a 5-4 victory. 

There is a new independent league in the works in the Hokuriku Shinetsu Region (Toyama, Ishikawa, Nagano and Niigata Prefectures). Right now, it is still in the organizational stages, but it will be comprised of one team apiece frome each of the aforementioned prefectures and they hope to get play underway in spring, 2007. The organizers are currently looking for sponsors. They have signed on Shinji Mizushima, who is known for the famous baseball manga (comic book) series Dokaben as a meda adviser. 

At the risk of receiving a lot of hostile mail, is anyone else out there disturbed by major league baseball players using pink bats Sunday? I recognize that breast cancer is an important cause (as is colon cancer, but breast cancer gets a lot more attention for some reason), but why didn't they just require that the players wear skirts too? Hell, since it's for breast cancer, why not make them wear bras? How about putting lace skirting around the bases? The earth right now is in the process of being cored out by all the former old time MLB players spinning in their graves. 

The best way to handle this without baseball looking completely ridiculous, which it did, would have been to cut some PSAs with players and female family members and turn the Sunday Night Baseball game into a mini-telethon. They could have had a pre-game cermony where players are shown handing in checks to contribute to the cause and boxes for contributions could have installed at each of the MLB stadiums to collect money Sunday for research into that disease. 

Listen, for better or worse, when we guys go to baseball games, and it is mostly men who are into sports, we don't want to see either the sport or its players girlied up. This is yet another example of how Major League Baseball has no pride and only questionable marketing smarts. 

You will never see NFL players wearing pink helmets or pink socks or whatever and you will never see it in the NBA, either. They have done it in the NHL with pink hockey sticks, but nobody cares about hockey in the U.S. and the Canadians are kinda fruity anyway even if the players are rough customers indeed.

Come on MLB, have some freaking dignity!