The Central League schedule reconvened Friday and Yomiuri catcher Shinnosuke   Abe kicked it off with a bang, as he cracked two homers and drove in six runs to spearhead a 12-6 rout of Hiroshima at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. That widened the Giants lead in the standings to four games over second place Chunichi and Abe is now second in the circuit in both homers and RBIs. 

Jared Fernandez started for the Carp and was shelled for seven runs on ten hits in 7.2 innings to decline to 3-6.

Yomiuri starter Norihito Kaneto is now tops in the league among rookies with six wins after 6.2 innings of five run (one earned) ball on six hits.

The two sides generated only two singles between them over the first third of the contest, but when Fernandez had to face the Giants lineup for the second time here he got hurt. Leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani singled to left in the fourth and third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara walked. Abe got a hold of a knuckleball and belted it into the rightcenterfield seats for a 3-0 lead. 

In the fifth, rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to right with two outs and Tani singled to left. Ogasawara singled to center and plated Takahashi. Abe singled to right and Tani reported. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka doubled down the leftfield line and Ogasawara was in. First baseman Seung-yeop Lee singled to left and Abe crossed to hike it to 7-0 and knock Fernandez out of the ballgame in favor of Ryuji Yokoyama, who struck the next man out to end the uprising. 

Kaneto, meanwhile, was dominating the Hiroshima lineup, permitting only one hit through five and an infield knock in the sixth. His teammates then heaped more tribute on him in the top of the seventh against Michito Miyazaki, as Ogasawara singled to right and was pinch run for by Ryota Wakiya. Abe doubled to left. Nioka singled to left and Wakiya headed in to make it 8-0. Two strikeouts and a flyout stalled the attack. 

However, the Carp would get back in it when they came up in the bottom of the frame when backup shortstop Makoto Kosaka booted first baseman Kenta Kurihara's ground ball and third baseman Takahiro Arai went yard to right to cut it to 8-2. One out later, centerfielder Alex Ochoa, in his first game back in Japan, singled to left. Following another out, catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara doubled into the leftfield corner. Jun Hirose pinch hit for Miyazaki and clubbed a Kaneto delivery into the leftfield bleachers to get within 8-5. Kentaro Nishimura was summoned from the bullpen and got the next batter, but it was a competitive match again. 

Well, maybe not. In the eighth, Koji Hiroike ascended the hill for Hiroshima and pinch hitter Noriyoshi Omichi walked. Reserve rightfielder Kenji Yano ripped a shot off of Hiroike's body that carromed away from the Carp infielders and went as a weird double. Tani doubled to leftcenter to see Omichi and Yano in. One out later, Abe, needing a triple for the cycle, blistered a fastball on the outer half of the plate into the leftfield stands to tear it open to 12-5. 

Hiroshima countered in their turn when Kurihara singled to right with one out and Arai beat out a ground ball for an infield hit. One out later, Ochoa singled to right and Kurihara found paydirt. But rightfielder Shigenobu Shima flied out to left and the inning ended with the score 12-6. 

Koji Uehara gave up a two out double to right to pinch hitter Shigeru Morikasa in the ninth and a single to right to second baseman Akihiro Higashide, but struck Kurihara out to lock it up. 

Abe is hitting .462 in his eight games in the cleanup slot.

For Hiroshima, Ochoa was 2-4 and is at .500. Fernandez was 0-1 and is at .000. 

For Yomiuri, Lee was 2-5 and is at .265. Centerfielder Damon Hollins was 0-5 with two strikeouts and is at .249. 

Hanshin The Tigers will be a major player in the free agent market this coming offseason, as they will go after Hiroshima third baseman Takahiro Arai, Seibu leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada and Rakuten rightfielder Koichi Isobe. They will also bring in more foreign players, probably meaning that slumping first baseman Andy Sheets has played his last season in a Tigers uniform and could be heading to retirement. Also don't be suprised if Osamu Hamanaka is packaged in a trade for pitching help to the Pacific League, where he can DH. 

To keep them sharp, Hanshin had five of its relievers pitch in a Western League game Wednesday. 

Pitcher Ryan Vogelsong threw 32 pitches in the bullpen Friday at about 70% of full strength. Vogelsong is currently on the shelf with a shoulder inflammation malady, but said that if he feels no pain then he can begin ramping up to getting ready to compete at the top team level again. 

Hiroshima Taxi squad pitcher Esmailin Caridad was signed to the regular roster and will make $45,000 whle wearing number 95. He has gone 0-0 in 18 minor league games with a 1.95 ERA. 

Yakult The parent company had its stockholders meeting Wednesday and one man queried whether the Swallows would be getting some substantial on field help this offseason and, if not, would they think about selling the team? Management replied that they will be looking to acquire more helpful talent after the season ends and they will not be offloading the ballclub for the time being. A club official also asked for patience since injuries to their top two relievers, Ryota Igarashi and Hirotoshi Ishii, who both had major surgeries that will keep them out until sometime next year, and others have impeded their ability to compete thus far. 

Pitcher Seth Greisinger had a slight fever Wednesday and was taken to hospital early Thursday, where he was put on an I.V.. He will still start Saturday, though. 

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 1-4 Friday against Kansas City in an 8-1 defeat. 

Yokohama Seven Bay Stars players were born in the 55th year of the reign of Emperor Showa (commonly called Hirohito), or 1980. So they have formed a club to get involved in helping to expand interest in NPB through charity events and baseball clinics. They also have a homepage.

Yomiuri Pitcher Jeremy Powell experienced more pain in his surgically repaired right knee and so his comeback has been put off. 

Taxi squad pitcher Wilfin   Obispo was signed to the team's regular roster and will make 4.8 million yen (about $40,000) in salary and was given a ten million yen (approximately $80,000) signing bonus. He said that his goal is to reach 100mph on the radar gun in a top level game. 

Obispo pitched in an Eastern League game Thursday and went seven shutout innings of two hit ball while striking out six. He was clocked at 95mph. 

Miscellaneous Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui was 0-4 Friday in a 2-1 win over Oakland. 

Boston righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 60 pitches in the bullpen Friday and then remarked that he is thinking about how to spend the all star break with his family, leading to speculation that he doesn't believe he will be named to the American League squad. Part of that is due to Matsuzaka not being happy with how he has fared in his inaugural big league campaign. 

Tampa Bay third baseman Akinori Iwamura was 1-3 with a walk in a 2-1 defeat to Cleveland. 

Congratulations to Houston infielder Craig Biggion and Toronto DH Frank Thomas, who reached 3,000 hits and 500 homers respectively. Bigio did ti as part of a 5-6 effort, making it especially memorable for him, not to mention that he attempted to stretch the signature basehit into a double and was thrown out by a mile. Thomas was ejected late in his big game, so the circumstances for both men were a little wacky. 

Ichiro and the Mariners were off Thursday, but he is nearing 3,000 hits for his combined MLB/NPB careers. He has 2742 going into Friday and is likely to get at least 100 more before the end of the season, so he will be within about 150 knocks of that figure at the end of 2007, meaning that you chould see him get there by the end of July or the beginning of August, 2008. He will reach 2,000 hits just for his MLB career in 2009. Ichiro also has a definite shot at the world record set by Pete Rose for most career hits in pro baseball, but he will have to play until at least age 42 to realize that. He would also eclipse 3,000 safeties in MLB by so doing. 

Pirates reliever Masumi Kuwata got both men he faced Friday against Florida. 

Colorado second baseman Kazuo Matsui was 0-4 with a walk Friday against Houston in a 9-8 loss. 

NPB officials announced that interleague games this year drew 2,048 more fans per outing compared with the same phase of the schedule in 2006. 

Yuki Saito continues to exert a presence even when he isn't playing, as he is on the front page of the  USA Baseball  official website. Remember that a year ago at this time hardly anyone had heard of him.