Chunichi first baseman Tyrone Woods has made Yomiuri his patsies this season, as he connected for another homer off of them, but most importantly, he banged an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth at Nagoya Dome to spearhead the Dragons to a 6-5 victory. That enabled reliever Shinya Okamoto to notch his second win of the year for the Nagoya crew while Giants submariner Yushi Aida was hung with his first top level loss of his career.

Hiroshi Kisanuki started for Yomiuri and had another fine outing, 5.1 innings of one run, five hit ball before he was pulled in the sixth when he got into a jam. 

On the hill for the Dragons was Kenshin Kawakami, who finally looked like an ace now in spinning seven innings of one run, eight hit ball in a no decision. 

The Giants had men on first and third with two outs in the second, but that brought up Kisanuki, who grounded out. But in the third, Yomiuri third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara drilled a Kawakami delivery into the rightcenterfield seats for a 1-0 lead. The former Fighter now has a new personal best 16 game hitting streak. 

Meanwhile, Kisanuki was dominating. Chunichi mustered only one hit over the first four innings and had pitched to the minimum. However, in the fifth, Woods stopped by to sock one of Kisanuki's offerings into the centerfield seats and it was even at one all. 

Yomiuri reacted by putting the squeeze on Kawakami in the sixth with a one out double to leftcenter by first baseman Seung-yeop Lee and a single to left by shortstop Tomohiro Nioka. But catcher Shinnosuke Abe grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to foil the opportunity. 

The Dragons then made things difficult for Kisanuki. Kawakami doubled off the centerfield wall and shortstop Hirokazu Ibata singled to right. Second baseman Masahiro Araki slapped a comebacker to Kisanuki, who checked Kawakami and fired to second for the force. Shigeki Noguchi, a southpaw, was summoned from the bullpen to face lefthand hitting rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome and popped him up. Woods was intentionally walked. Leftfielder Masahiko Morino, another lefty batter, struckout to deep six that chance. 

Yomiuri put the first two men of the seventh on due to singles, but that was sabotaged on a strikeout, a groundout and a flyout.

Yuichi Hisamoto took over for Kawamoto in the eighth and walked Ogasawara. One out later, Nioka singled to right. After another out, Takuya Kimura pinch hit for second baseman Ryota Wakiya and singled to left to barely cash Ogasawara in on a bang bang play at the plate and Nioka motored into third while Kimura snuck into second on the relay.Centerfielder Takahiro Suzuki smoked a shot off the glove of Araki, who couldn't quite flag it down, and it went into right to allow two runs to score. Kenji Yano, pinch hitting for Noguchi, singled to center and Suzuki busted for third. . Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to right to redeem Suzuki and it was 5-1. 

Unfortunately for the Giants faithful, Hiroki Sanada followed Noguchi to the mound for the Giants in the bottom portion and couldn't defend the lead.  Ibata singled to right and Araki singled to center, Ibata skating into third. Fukudome flew out to right and Ibata tagged up and crossed. Woods singled to right. Morino homered to right and just like that it was even again at five and Sanada was sent to the showers in favor of Masanori Hayashi, who retired two of the next three to quiet the Chunichi guns. 

Okamoto rendered Yomiuri hitless in the top of the ninth and now it was time for the Dragons' turn. Ibata singled to right with one out and went to second on a groundout. Fukudome was intentionally walked to get to Woods. But Aida threw a first pitch sinker that didn't drop in the zone and Woods wacked it into rightcenter and the Dragons losing skid was history. 

Ogasawara has had two 15 game hitting sprees in his career. He is presently hitting .315. 

For Chunichi, Woods was 3-4 and is at .306. He is 12-20 against the Giants this season with five homers and 11 RBIs. 

For Yomiuri, Lee was 1-5 and is at .256.

Hiroshima leftfielder Tomonori Maeda had the last hit of the entire ballgame with Yakult Thursday and it was a doozy, a three run circuit clout that provided his side with a 5-4 victory after they had fallen behind 4-2. Masayuki Hasegawa started for the winners and was awful, being tagged with four runs on four hits, so Ryuji Yokoyama stood in for him and fashioned three shutout innings on only 37 pitches to grab his first shiroboshi of the campaign. 

Kenichi Matsuoka started for the Swallows and had surrendered two runs on five hits and walked three before he put two more runners on in the fifth and reliever Yuhei Takai saw one of his pitches get slaughtered by Maeda for the big bomb. So Matsuoka's final line was four runs, six hits amd four walks in four innings in a no decison, the defeat being slung on Takai's shoulders. 

Matsuoka walked Carp leadoff man and shortstop Eishin Soyogi to begin the first and, one out later, Soyogi sprinted home on a double to left by first baseman Kenta Kurihara, who is just nuclear right now, for a 1-0 lead. 

But Swallows leftfielder Alex Ramirez singled to right in the second and first baseman Shinichi Takeuchi went yard to left for his first homer of the year and a 2-1 advantage. 

Hiroshima struck back in their ups when rightfielder Shigeru Morikasa took Matsuoka over the rightfield wall to equalize it at two apiece. 

Hasegawa, though, just couldn't keep Yakult away from the promised land. He walked Matsuoka and rightfielder Aaron Guiel in succession. Shortstop Shinya Miyamoto singled to right to load the bases. Hasegawa was given the boot by manager Marty Brown, who waved Yokoyama in. Ramirez singled to left and that propelled both Matsuoka and Guiel in for a 4-2 edge. Third baseman Yasushi Iihara singled to left, but Miyamoto was thrown out attempting to get to third. Takeuchi struckout and Yokoyama and four other relievers allied to no hit the Swallows for the duration. 

Hiroshima packed the sacks themselves in the fourth on a walk and a pair of one out singles, but two flyouts impeded the progress there.

Matsuoka, however, walked Kurihara in the fifth and third baseman Takahiro Arai singled to right. Southpaw Yuhei Takai was tapped to handle the lefthand hitting Maeda, but let a porkchop over the plate and Maeda went whole hog to right to spring the fish into a 5-4 lead. 12 of their next 13 men would be banished without a peep. 

Swallows centerfielder Norichika Aoki is zip for his last three games to cut his average to .375 and he was also thrown out attempting to steal second in the fifth. 

For Yakult, Guiel was 0-1 with a walk and two HBPs and is at .250. Ramirez was 2-4 and is at .327. 

A homer to right in the eighth by Yokohama third baseman Shuichi  Murata broke up a 6-6 standoff and enabled the Bay Stars to pick up a 7-6 victory against Hanshin at Yokohama Stadium Thursday. Esteban Yan started for the Tigers and was rocked for six runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings in a no decision. 

Yuji Yoshimi started for Yokohama and limited Hanshin to two runs on eight hits in five innings, but the bullpen went squirrely and made his win evaporate. 

Tigers centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to left with one out in the top of the first and stole second. One out later, leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto singled to center and Akahoshi blazed in with a 1-0 lead. 

But in the home segment,. shortstop Takuro Ishii walked with one out and leftfielder Takahiro Suzuki doubled to right. Murata singled to left and Ishii crossed to knot it at 1-1. A strikeout and a flyout kept it there. 

Hanshin loaded the bases in the top of the second and then Yoshimi struckout the side to excape any damage. 

Unfortunately, Yan wasn't so blessed. In the bottom half, first baseman Yuki Yoshimura doubled to left and catcher Ryoji Aikawa singled to right. Yoshimi flied out to center and Yoshimura tagged up and scurried in. Second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to center and Ishii singled to right to jam the basepaths. Suzuki grounded to second and Aikawa traipsed home to make it 3-1. 

In the third, centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo homered to right and it was 4-1. 

The Tigers loaded the bases yet again in the fourth with two away, but that was rent asunder when Akahoshi lined out to third. 

And the hits just kept on coming for Yokohama. In the last of the above inning, Ishii singled to left and was forced out at second on Suzuki's grounder. Yan balked and Suzuki moved to second. One out later, rightfielder Katsuaki Furuki singled to right and Suzuki came around to expand the Bay Stars hegemony to 5-1. 

Hanshin third baseman Makoto Imaoka smote a pitch from Yoshimi into the rightfield bleachers in the fifth to pare the deficit to 5-2. 

Yokohama compensated for it when they came to bat in the inning, as Aikawa singled to center and Hitoshi Taneda, pinch hitting for Yoshimi, walked. One out later, Ishii singled to right and drove Aikawa in to raise it to 6-2. Suzuki struckout to halt it right there. 

Stars reliever Shigeki Ushida was perfect in the sixth. In the seventh, though, shortstop Takashi Toritani singled to right and Akahoshi singled to center. One out later, Kanemoto walked to fill the bags. Atsushi Kizuka was substituted for Ushida and Imaoka struckout, but rightfielder Lin Wei-tzu singled to center off of Takumi Nasuno and Toritani and Akahoshi both raced home to put it at 6-4. Catcher Akihiro Yano grounded to second to end the uprising.

They would then tie it in the eighth, as Joselo Diaz assumed the mound duties for Yokohama and pinch hitter Atsushi Fujimoto singled to center with one out and Toritani's ground ball was mishandled by Ishii for an error. Akahoshi walked to load the bases and first baseman Andy Sheets also walked to force Fujimoto in. Kanemoto flied to left and Toritani tagged up and toed the dish to make it 6-6. Imaoka grounded to short and closer Mark Kroon was flawless in the ninth to hold the line for Yokohama. 

And they came up roses in the bottom portion when Murata got a 1-2 95mph fastball on the outer half from Jeff Williams amd went the other way with it and landed it in the rightfield stands for the win. 

The Stars are now in first for the first time in three years and they have taken their last five. 

For Hanshin, Sheets was 1-4 with a walk and is at .252. Lin was 1-4 with a walk and is at .339. Yan was 0-2 and is at .222. 

First baseman Tyrone Woods was fined 50,000 yen (about $400) and given the usual written reprimand for getting tossed by the plate umpire Wednesday. He responded that "if you look at the video of the at bat, you can see that all I said to him was "that ball was inside." Woods was still steaming about itThursday and took it out on the Giants pitching staff. 

Yomiuri Second baseman Luis Gonzalez made a rehab start in the minors Thursday and went 2-2 before he was pulled. He had been out with a hand injury. He is 3-8 in three Eastern League games. He will be brought up in the next day or two and Masakuni Odajima will be sent down to make room. 

Miscellaneous Thanks to two errors by shortstop Julio Lugo, Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka had a bad first inning and surrendered five runs, but he settled down and they ultimately carved out an 8-7 victory over Seattle Thursday in a makeup game at Fenway Park. Matsuzaka was charged for seven runs, all earned (how is THAT possible given Lugo's miscues?) on five hits and walked or hit six men while striking out just one. 

Seattle centerfielder Ichiro Suzuki is still zip for May, as he went 0-3 with two walks while catcher Kenji Johjima, who had a drive headed for the leftcenterfield seats knocked down by a strong wind blowing in, was 0-4 with an RBI. Ichiro did, though, steal his 41st first straight base without being thrown out, a new American League record. The MLB mark is 50 by Vince Coleman. 

The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from Texas Thursday 4-3 and 5-2, with Mariano Rivera picking up saves in both ends of it. Leftfielder Hideki Matsui was 4-8 with two RBIs, three of the knocks being doubles. He needs two more hits for 2000 for his combined MLB/NPB careers. 

Outside of Ichiko, the most famous high school baseball program ever in Japan, Osaka Taiikudai Naniwa Shogyo High, which just used to be known as Naniwa Shogyo High untiil recent times, has now been found to have used illegal athletic scholarshipsto lure players to its team. So has Teikyo High, as the Japan High School Baseball Federation issued its final report on the number of schools and their identities who have violated recruiting rules. 7,971 players have bebefited by the scholarships and tuition reductions at the miscreant schools, all but one of which are private and number in at 376. 190 of them have contended during the Koshien Tournament at one time or another. 

All the schools named have to withold the affected players out of competition until May 31 and hire new baseball program administrators. 

The lone public school was Fukusho High in Fukuoka. The principal there told the press that they didn't think they were breaking any rules, but that they will follow the lead of the JHSBF. Only three of its players are affected, though.