It was pound your opponent into the ground day in the Pacific League Thursday and Seibu kicked it off by shellacking the Orix Buffaloes 15-6. Lions starter Takayuki Kishi was hit hard early and then settled in to assemble six innings of five run, eight hit ball to go to 3-1 on the year while Buffaloes starter Atsuhiro Mitsuhara, who was given that assignment for the first time in two years, was bothered and bewildered for seven runs, five earned, on seven hits in 3.1 innings to be stained with the defeat. 

Orix leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu singled to center with one out in the top of the first and third baseman Greg LaRocca got a fastball right down Broadway and mortared it into the centerfield bleachers for a 2-0 lead. 

In the second, shortstop Keiji Obiki, who is now the top favorite for Rookie of the Year, doubled to right with one out and second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to left to get Obiki in. One out later, centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi singled to left. Muramatsu walked to load the bases. LaRocca singled to left and Mizuguchi and Onishi both arrived at the pay station to up it to 5-0. DH Tuffy Rhodes lined out to first to strand the runners. 

The Lions awoke in the bottom stanza and leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada doubled to right and, one out later, rightfielder Takahiko Sato walked. Catcher Toru Hosokawa singled to left and Wada scored. Following another out, second baseman Yoshihito Ishii doubled to left and Sato beat a hasty path home to make it 5-2. Mitsuhara plunked centerfielder Kazuki Fukuchi, but shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima struckout to terminate the fusillade. 

Mitsuhara had an easier time in the third and then was stung again in the fourth. With one out, Larocca fumbled Hosokawa's ground ball. Third baseman Hiroshi Hirao walked, as did Ishii, to jam the basepaths. Fukuchi doubled to right for two RBIs and Nakajima doubled to leftcenter for another pair to lend the Lions a 6-5 lead and knock Mitsuhara out in favor of Mamoru Kishida. First baseman Alex Cabrera walked. One out later, DH Jeff Liefer walked and the bags were juiced once more. Sato cleared the bases with a double to left and now Seibu was boasting a formidable 9-5 advantage. 

The Lions blew a two on and two out chance in the fifth, but what they did in the sixth made that academic. Wada stepped up with one out and blasted a shot over the leftfield wall. Liefer, not wanting to neglect his team's faithful in the rightfield seats, powdered another Kishida pitch there and it was 11-5. 

The Buffaloes retorted mildly in the seventh on two out singles to right by LaRocca and Rhodes and a double to right by first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa to slice it to 11-6. That was their final knock. 

Seibu saw that and raised the Buffaloes three more in the bottom segment when Hirao reached on Obiki's error and Ishii walked. Fukuchi singled to center to load the bases. A run scored somehow (passed ball?) and then Nakajima clouted a shot into the leftfield bleachers and that was how it ended, 15-6. 

The last time that the Lions came from five back to win a game was on September 6, 2003 against Daiei. They have won their most recent four matches. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 3-4 and is now tops in NPB with a .383 average. Rhodes was 1-4 and is at .266. 

For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-4 with a walk and is at .309. Liefer was 1-4 with a walk and is at .250. 

Every member of Nippon Ham's starting lineup had at least one hit Thursday, as Yoshinori Tateyama went six innings of two run, five hit ball in a solid outing that saw the Fighters rout the Chiba Lotte Marines 8-2. Tateyama is now 2-3. 

Yasutomo Kubo started for Lotte and was dunned for four runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings for his second loss. 

Lotte loaded the bases with nobody out in the first on two singles and a walk, but Tateyama struck the next two men out and third baseman Takeshi Aono lined out to third to screw it up. Tateyama then retired the following nine men in a row. 

Fighters leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi singled to left with two outs in the second and catcher Shinya Tsuruoka walked. Third baseman Yang Chung-shou tripled to leftcenter and it was 2-0. Centerfielder Hichori Morimoto lined out to first for the third out. 

In the third, DH Fernando Seguignol singled to right and first baseman Eiichi Koyano smashed a Kubo offering into the leftfield seats for a 4-0 lead. 

Lotte subsequently helped the Fighters out in the fifth by running itself out of the inning. DH Benny Agbayani walked and catcher Tomoya Satozaki was hit by a pitch. Second baseman Koichi Hori squared around to bunt and whiffed. Agbayani and Satozaki had both strayed too far off of second and first and Tsuruoka gunned it to second baseman Kensuke Tanaka, who was over too late to whip the tag on Agbayani, but he got Satozaki in a rundown and the Marines backstop was tagged out. One out later, shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka singled to left. But centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa flied out to left and they would then go quietly in the sixth. 

Lotte finally dented Tateyama in the seventh when Aono doubled to leftcenter and continued home on Agbayani's double to left. Hisashi Takeda was entrusted with the ball and Agbayani advanced to third on a groundout and tagged up and scored on a fly ball to right by pinch hitter Tasuku Hashimoto to get within 4-2. 

Nippon Ham, though, broke it open in the ninth against three relievers. Soichi Fujita entered for his 500th career appearance and Tanaka and rightfielder Atsunori Inaba each doubled off the rightfield wall to put it at 5-2. Seguignol singled to center. Fujita exited and in came Satoru Komiyama. Koyano singled to left to send Inaba in. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko grounded one to Komiyama with an "excuse me" swing and Komiyama decided to go to second with it, but Koyano was safe. Yusuke Kawasaki was hailed in from the bullpen and backup leftfielder Toshimasa Konta singled to right, Koyano galloping home. One out later, reserve third baseman Yuji Iiyama singled to center and that made it 8-2. 

Michael Nakamura retired three of the four men he encountered in the ninth to lock it up. 

Fujita became the first man ever to begin his career with 500 consecutive relief appearances. The overall record for most straight relief stints without a start is 526 by Takehiro Hashimoto (Seibu, Hanshin). Fujita is the 79th man in history to attain half a millenium in mound assignments. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 3-5 and is at .268. Yang was 1-3 with two strikeouts and is at .250. 

For Lotte, Zuleta was 0-3 with an HBP and two strikeouts and is at .240. Rightfielder Matt Watson was 0-4 with three strikeouts and is at .269. Agbayani was 1-3 with a walk and is at .250. 

Softbank starter Akio Mizuta wasn't very good Thursday against Rakuten at Fukuoka Dome, but he didn't have to be since the Eagles pitching staff staged a meltdown and was abused for 11 runs on 17 hits in an 11-4 loss to the Hawks. Rakuten starter Lin En-yu went two innings of two run, five hit ball to decline to 1-2, but my question is how long is manager Katsuya Nomura going to continue with second year pitcher Shingo Matsuzaki, who has flat sucked since turning pro. Matsuzaki was tilted for three runs on five hits in 2.1 innings and now has 5.06 ERA, but he has been so bad you would have thought it was much worse than that. 

Mizuta, for his part, went 5.1 innings of three run, four hit ball and struckout five while walking two for his second triumph. 

Mizuta walked centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya to open the game and shortstop Tatsuya Shiokawa pushed a bunt past the mound for a hit. One out later, DH Jose Fernandez was plunked and that loaded the bases. Mizuta also nailed third baseman Rick Short with a delivery and that forced Tsuchiya in for a 1-0 lead. First baseman Takeshi Yamasaki, who has been a terror lately, wasn't here, grounding into a rally killing double play. 

Hawks leadoff man and centerfielder Naoyuki Omura then leadoff the bottom half with a single to center and second baseman Yuichi Honda singled to right. Leftfielder Adam Huzdu singled to left to pack the sacks. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked to force Omura in. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo rolled over on a slider and grounded it to short, who went around the horn for a double play while Honda crossed to make it 2-1. 

In the second, Softbank shortstop Satoru Morimoto doubled to rightcenter with two outs and Omura singled to center for the RBI to enlarge the advantage to 3-1. 

Matsuzaki climbed the hill for the third and Hyzdu singled to center and Matsunaka grounded into a 4-6- force. Matsunaka advanced on a groundout and moved to third on Shibahara's chopper that was beaten out for a hit. DH Brian Buchanan carromed a hanging slider off the rightfield fence for a long single and Matsunaka eased in to enhance the disparity to 4-1. 

Yamasaki homered to left in the fourth to make it 4-2. But in the fifth, Matsunaka got a hanging breaking ball and thumped it into the rightfield stands to put it at 5-2. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo walked and went to second on a sacrifice. One out later, catcher Hidenori Tanoue singled to center and it was 6-2. 

Fernandez put some good wood on a Mizuta offering in the sixth and tucked it in the leftfield seats to narrow it to 6-3. They would never be that close again. 

That is because in the sixth, Omura singled to center and Honda singled to left. The runners moved up on a wild pitch. One out later, Matsunaka was intentionally walked to swell the bags. Following another out, Shibahara jackhammered an 86mph fastball from Hirosh Tobe into the rightfield stands for Shibahara's first grand slam since 2000 and a 10-3 lead. 

They tacked another on in the seventh when pinch hitter Mitsuru Honma singled to left and Omura singled to right. Honda walked. Hyzdu flew out to left and Honma tagged up and tan in to improve it to 11-3. 

Rakuten posted a run in the ninth on pinch hitter Fumitoshi Takano's walk, a single to center by backup catcher Akihito Fujii that got Takano over to third and a double play ball to make it 11-4. Tsuchiya flew out to right and this baby was a memory. 

Lin said that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before this start and was tired. Eagles coaches didn't take that news too well. 

For Softbank, Hyzdu was 2-4 with a sac fly and is at .313. Buchanan was 1-5 with two strikeouts and is at .281. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 1-3 with an HBP and is at .238. Short was 1-2 with a walk and an HBP and is at .322. 

Now let's look at the totals here: you can't out corrupt figures on the amateur levels because it would cause what would probably be a temporary upheaval. With logic like that, Ikei should join the Bush Administration. . 

Amateur organizations have called for making the names known, but Ikei insists that he feels no pressure to do so. "It is actually they who really don't want those names put out there," Ikei said. Outfuckingrageous.