A pinch hit solo homer to left by Takuya Kimura knotted the Yomiuri Giants tilt with the Chiba Lotte Marines at 3-3 and the home side left two on in the ninth to blow a chance to win it in a deadlocked final at Chiba Marine Stadium. Shingo Ono started for Lotte and was excellent, going six innings of two run, one earned, ball on four hits and 86 pitches in a no decision. 

Hisanori Takahashi started for Yomiuri and was afflicted with some unsound defense behind him during his six innings of three run, two earned, pitching on seven hits. His pitch count was borderline at 98.. 

The first inning passed uneventfully, but in the second, first baseman Seung-yeop Lee doubled to rightcenter and tagged up and moved to third on a fly ball. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe grounded to second and Lee crossed for a 1-0 lead. 

In the third, though, third baseman Toshiaki Imae singled to center and, one out later, centerfielder Akira Otsuka singled to left. Second baseman Takeshi Aono flew out to right and Imae tagged up and advanced to third. DH Kazuya Fukuura doubled to right and Imae jogged in while Otsuka had the jets on. Second baseman Luis Gonzalez mishandled the relay and Otsuka was able to score on the error. First baseman Julio Zuleta sliced a double into the rightfield corner and Fukuura journeyed home for a 3-1 edge. 

Both sides had men on third with two outs in the fourth and stranded them. 

Yomiuri then slimmed the disparity in the fifth when Otsuka dropped Abe's fly ball and shortstop Ryota Wakiya singled to right. The runners were sacrificed along. Centerfielder Takahiro Suzuki grounded to Aono, who gunned it to catcher Tomoya Satozaki, who applied the tag on Abe. Sub rightfielder Damon Hollins singled to left to chase Wakiya in and make it 3-2. Leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani walked to pack the sacks. But third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara grounded to second to leave them on. 

Yomiuri had men on second and third with one out in the seventh and they became statuary due to a flyout and a groundout. 

So 3-2 it was until Kimura checked in to commence the ninth against rookie Tadahiro Shunichi Ogino. Kimura got a slider and drove it into the first row of the leftfield stands and it was 3-3. One out later, an error by shortstop Nemoto and a walk put the winning run in scoring position, but two flyouts to left calmed that down. 

Lotte rightfielder Saburo Omura then opened the bottom half with an infield hit and was forced out at second on backup leftfielder Daisuke Hayakawa's grounder to the pitcher. Scrubeenie third baseman Masato Watanabe singled to left. Nemoto, though, flew out to left and reserve second baseman Hisao Heiuchi struckout to bring the curtain down. 

Takahashi did a good job keeping his pitches down and had good control. He also batted eighth as manager Tatsunori Hara did a little experiment with putting speedster Takahiro Suzuki in the nine hole in order to have sort of a double leadoff man kind of thing. It went nowhere in this one. 

Second line catcher Kazunari Sanematsu got both Nishioka and pinch runner Koji Hirashita attempting to steal while standing in for Abe. 

For Lotte, pinch hitter Matt Watson was 0-1 and is at .333. Zuleta was 1-4 and is at .333. 

For Yomiuri, Gonzalez was 0-4 and is at .289. Hollins was 2-2 with a walk and is at .289. Lee was 1-3 and is at .231. 

Seibu backup first baseman Takeya Nakamura went yard in the bottom of the ninth Monday against Softbank reliever Keisuke Kato and then couldn't make the best of a further scoring opportunity in the inning in what became a 3-3 tie at Seibu Dome. Hideaki Wakui started for the Tokorozawa outfit and went six innings of three run (two earned) ball on five hits in a no decision. 

Nagisa Arakaki started for the Hawks and was in for just two innings and allowed a run on one hit while striking out two. 

After a first inning that saw the two teams combine for five groundouts and a strikeout, Wakui walked Kokubo with one gone in the second and he went to second on a groundout. DH Brian Buchanan singled to right and Kokubo came around for a 1-0 lead. 

But with two outs in the home version, Lions first baseman Jeff Liefer got a pitch up in the zone and toasted it into the rightfield seats to level it at one all. They would subsequently put two more runners on. However, second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi struckout and that was that. Their next hit wouldn't come until the sixth. 

Softbank had two on and one out in the third and they rotted on the basepaths. It was pretty placid after that until Hawks first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka reached on Liefer's boot of a ground ball in the sixth and Kokubo woke everyone up with a blast over the leftcenterfield wall that put it at 3-1. That would be the final safety of the day for the birds of prey. 

Seibu reacted with a run in the bottom portion, as centerfielder Kazuki Fukuchi outran a ground ball and, one out later, shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima walked. DH Alex Cabrera singled to left to pick Fukuchi up and make it 3-2. Two groundouts hindered any more scoring. 

Kato ascended the hill for the ninth attempting to seal it. With one away, he went 3-2 to Nakamura, who got a fastball he could handle and slugged it into the rightcenterfield stands for a 3-3 standoff. A single and a two out walk setup a shot at obtaining the winning run, but sub catcher Kosuke Noda flew out to center and it went into the books as a tie. 

There is a part of the Seibu Dome where players have to walk up 109 steps to get to the clubouse. Softbank manager Sadaharu Oh wondered if he would be able to handle it, but was delighted to have found that it was no problem for him. 

Seibu is now 10-2-5 this spring. Five ties in 17 games? That's pretty amazing. I think the record for a season is something like 18, but don't quote me on that. They haven't lost any of their last 14 times out. 

For Softbank, Buchanan was 1-3 and is at .262. C.J. Nitkowski also got into the game and struckout two during his unblemished inning to reduce his ERA to 2.00.

For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 and is at .208. Liefer was 1-3 and is at .395. 

Onetime ace Tomohiro Kuroki, who career has been slowed by shoulder issues, tossed a scorless inning against Softbank Sunday and is now unscored upon in four spring innings. He acquired a shuuto and it has made him more effective to the point that he could very well be on the Opening Day roster. Let's hope so. In his prime, Kuroki could shut down MLB all star lineups. 

Nippon Ham Outfielder Hichori Morimoto was interviewed by the Japanese women's magazine an an (they use small caps for their name). That issue will hit the stores in May. 

Ryan Glynn was perfect during his six innings on the hill Sunday, as the Fighters grabbed a 6-2 decision from Chunichi. He was clocked at 91mph. Glynn hadn't pitched well this spring, so this no doubt made manager Trey Hillman feel a little more comfortable having him in the rotation. 

Orix Former Buffalo Katsuhiko Maekawa went on trial for the first time Monday over a hit and run incident that eventually resulted in his release from the ballclub. Maekawa plead guilty and blamed the incident on his own mental weakness and lackadaisical attitude. He also indicated that once the trial was over and he is sentenced then he would personally apologize to the victim. He further indicated that he hopes to restart his baseball career once this has all been sorted out. 

Rakuten Infielder Jose Fernandez will miss the first two games of the regular season due to flying back home to be with his wife, who will be giving birth. He is expected to be back on the 27th. 

Outfielder Rick Short will also be departing Japan for the same reason on the 26th and will return to Japan on April 1st. 

Koji Aoyama started Sunday's game against Seibu and fashioned five shutout innings on two hits, but after talk that he couldn end up in the rotation, Aoyama will apparently be the righthanded setup man in the pen. Manager Katsuya NOmura recognizes that this rotation isn't all that great, but he hopes to ensure that what games are within graps of winning don't get away from them due to too many ineffectual arms in the relief corps. 

Yasuhiro Ichiba went three innings in the above game and was tagged for a run on four hits. Not great, but still good enough for him to not be demoted to the minors. 

Seibu The special investigative committee appointed by Seibu holdings to look into the recent scouting scandal met with members of the Lions accounting department (seeking expense receipts) as well as the player personnel people and questioned them for a while, though in the press conference that followed they didn't reveal what they had been told. However, it appears that a team of lawyers have been hired to help with the questioning and data collection. Among those on the to do list in terms of questioning are rookie Takayuki Kishi and youngster Hironori Matsunaga. In addition, former Seibu employees will also be deposed. 

Team president Hidekazu Ota apologized after hearing about the stiff disposition imposed on Tokyo Gas pitcher Yuta Kimura, who will have to sit the year out. Ota is also reportedly hinting that he may, in fact, resign to take responsibility for the scandal after earlier expressing his intention to continue in his present job, though that will be contingent on what the investigative committee comes up with. 

As for Kimura, he will be allowed to practice with his team and is still eligible for the upcoming November draft. Sankei Sports, though, says that Kumrua is contemplating sitting that draft out as a way to repay his gratitude to Tokyo Gas. 

Centerfielder Shogo Akada has a pulled hamstring and will thus be on the DL when the regular season gets underway this weekend.