Rookie southpaw Yoshihisa Naruse, with no small amount of pressure on him, dazzled the Orix Buffaloes Wednesday with seven innings of one run, three hit ball to make a two run second inning double by second baseman Takeshi Aono stamdup for a 2-1 victory. Naruse is 4-3 with a 3.51 ERA and Aono is hitting.300 with an .833 OPS as manager Bobby Valentine continues to develop players to give the organization something to look forward to next year.

Wes Obermueller started for Orix and his night was over early, as he had some control problems at the outset and thus was cooling his heels on the bench after onlyu 1.2 innings of two run, two hit ball with three walks on 43 pitches.

Naruse permitted only one baserunner during the first four innings, and that on a walk, even striking out the side in the second to keep the Buffs bats at bay. 

In the bottom of the second, Lotte DH Benny Agbayani carromed a 3-1 cutter off the rightfield wall for a double and rightfielder Val Pascucci waited out his obligatory walk a game. Third baseman Toshiaki Imae attemped to bunt the runners over, but he tapped it out in front of the plate and catcher Tetsuya Matoyama was all over it, gunning the ball to third for the force. Centerfielder Saburo Omura lined a ball to rightcenter, where centerfielder Shinji Shimoyama ran it down. But Aono got a cutter on the outer half of the plate and drilled it up the leftcenterfield alley and Imae scored all the way from first behind Pascucci for a 2-0 lead. 

Naruse had men on second in both the fifth and sixth and turned them into spectators. But in the seventh, DH Kazuhiro Kiyohara laced a one out double down the leftfield line and leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani walked. The runners advanced on a wild pitch. First baseman Ryota Aikawa flied out to center and Kiyohara tagged up and headed home to make it 2-1. Backup centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu walked. Third baseman Ikki Shimamura, though, swung at a high fastball and flied out to left for the third out. 

Lotte reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta and closer Masahide Kobayashi were both flawless in their one inning apiece and this thing was history, the Marines halting a three game losing streak. 

Lotte first baseman Kazuya Fukuura was back in the saddle Wednesday after missing a month with a broken finger and was 1-3 with a walk and is at .326. 

Orix rightfielder Karim Garcia was ejcted after objecting to a called strike three in the fifth. He finished 0-2 with two strikeouts and is at .225. 

For Lotte, rightfielder Matt Watson was 0-2 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .278. Agbayani was 1-3 with a walk and is at .281. Pascucci was 0-2 with two walk and is at .229. 

The Nippon Ham pitching staff continues to be excellent this season, as starter Tomoya Yagi and three relievers governed the Seibu Lions on two runs, one earned, and eight hits, but they were up against Daisuke Matsuzaka and so the Tokorozawa nine is back in sole possession of first place with a 2-1 triumph. Matsuzaka went all the way for his seventh complete game on seven hits and a run while striking out seven and walking only one and delievered a mere 118 pitches to rise to 12-4. 

Yagi fought himself, as he needed 119 pitches to get through five innings and he is now 9-7 with a 2.76 ERA. 

Seibu had the bases loaded with two outs in the first, but third baseman Takeya Nakamura flied out to right. 

Nippon Ham had two on and two out in the second before a strikeout bid adieu to that chance. That was their last threat of the night. 

The Lions put two more on with one out in the third and the big hit didn't come. 

Finally, in the fourth, Seibu ended the monotony of zeros on the scoreboard when DH Hisashi Takayama doubled to left and went to third on a sac bunt. Centerfielder Shogo Akada flied out to right and Takayama tagged up and broke for home for a 1-0 lead. 

They would luck into a run in the fifth, as second baseman Hiroshi Hirao walked and, one out later, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada grounded to third baseman Naoto Inada for what should have been an inning ending double play, but he muffed it. Nakamura, who had a birthday yesterday, singled to center and registered Hirao to make it 2-0. 

Matsuzaka, who was clocked at 95mph, was so dominant that only two balls reached the outfield in the first four innings and ten for the game, six of those on hits. The only mistake he made was in the ninth when he left a fastball right in the heart of the plate to DH Fernando Seguignol, who punished it into the rightfield seats to cut it to 2-1. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to right and went to second on a sac bunt. But a grounder to short and a grounder to second turned second base into a rest stop and assured the Lions of winning the season series with the Fighters. 

Yagi has lost his last three decisions. 

For Seibu, first baseman Alex Cabrera was 1-3 with two walks and two strikeouts and is at .315. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 2-3 with a walk and is at .266. 

The Rakuten Golden Eagles had a 6-0 advantage after three innings, but that was whittled down to 6-3 before the Hawks rose up for three in the ninth to level it at six all. The Eagles then blew a big bases loaded, one out opportunity in the 11th  and a two on and nobody out chance in the 12th to end in a 6-6 tie. The standoff dropped the birds of prey back into second place by a half of a game. 

Tsuyoshi Wada started for Softbank and was terrible, giving up six runs on seven hits in three innings to put his side in a colossal hole. 

Yasuhiro Ichiba started for Rakuten did fairly well, eight innings, three runs, seven hits, but closer Kazuo Fukumorti forgot to bring pitches with some movement out of the bullpen with him and so the Meiji University product was deprived of a win. 

While the Hawks were generating a lone hit through the first third of the contest, Rakuten went on the warpath right from the get go. Leftfielder Rick Short singled to left with two out and third baseman Jose Fernandez conked one over the leftfield wall for a 2-0 lead. 

In the second, Eagles rightfielder Akihisa Makita walked with one out and catcher Akihito Fujii singled to left. Shortstop Tatsuya Shiokawa doubled to left and Makita checked in at home. Centerfielder Tetsuya Iida singled to left and plated the other two runners and it was 5-0. 

They tacked on another in the third when first baseman Katsumi Yamashita walked and, two outs later, Fujii doubled to right and Yamashita put it in fourth for the plate for a 6-0 edge. They would get only two infield hits from there through the ninth. 

Softbank answered in the fourth, as centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to right and continued to the plate on shortstop Munenori Kawasaki's double to left. One out later, leftfielder Nobuhiko Matsunaka doubled to right for an RBI to shave it down to 6-2. First baseman Julio Zuleta singled to right. But a flyout and a strikeout hindered them from creeping closer. 

From the fifth through the seventh, the Hawks garnered only an infield hit and Ichiba struckout the side in the seventh. But in the eighth, pinch hitter Hiroshi Shibahara singled to center and Omura walked. Kawasaki grounded into a 6-4 force. DH Hidenori Tanoue flew out to center and Shibahara tagged up and scored to make it 6-3. 

Fukumori wandered in from the pen and Zuleta singled to center and rightfielder Jolbert Cabrera doubled to leftcenter. One out later, second baseman Yuichi Honda smashed a shot to Fernandez, who couldn't corral it, and Zuleta crossed on what was ruled an error. The runners moved up on a groundout. Omura singled to left and propelled both runners home to knot it at six all. Kawasaki singled to right. Omura rounded third and lit out for home. But Makita's throw beat him and the inning was over. 

Softbank would attempt to force the issue again in the 11th when Cabrera doubled to deep right and went to third on a sac bunt. Honda lifted a fly ball to relatively shallow left. Cabrera tagged up and sprinted toward home. But Koichi Sekikawa fired a strike to Fujii and Cabrera was ruled out. 

Rakuten packed the sacks in the bottom half with one out, but backup second baseman Satoru Morimoto got the ball back home quickly for the force and another groundout made all this an empty gesture. 

Rakuten loaded the bases once more in the 12th with one out. But a 4-2 force and a groundout to first concluded it. 

Eagles helmsman Katsuya Nomura grumbled that he regretted bring Fukumori into the game because his pitches didn't do anything. 

As a side note, the game was interrupted at one point for 24 minutes due to a thick fog that rolled in. 

For Softbank, Zuleta was 3-5 and is at .294. Cabrera was 2-5 and is at .277. 

For Rakuten, Eric Valent, who came into the game as a pinch hitter before moving into left, was 0-1 with a walk and is at .121. Short was 1-4 and is at .316. Fernandez was 1-5 with a walk and is at .305. 

The problem for Hillman is that even if he was interested, it would be counterproductive to say that while his team in the heat of a pennant race. So we'll have to wait after the season to see how this truly shakes out. But the KC organization is such a mess right now that working for them can't be that inviting. 

Orix Lefthander Dan Serafini is tentatively scheduled to start against Softbank on the 22nd. He was clocked at 94mph on the sixth in the Western League. He has been out with an arm injury, but before that, his fastball hadn't had much life, perhaps due to coming back too soon from leg surgery last offseason. If his velocity is truly back Orix could play havoc with the pennant race. 

Seibu Fox Sports has put its own price tag on Daisuke Matsuzaka, $100 million. They break that down as a $25 million posting fee plus a five year deal at $15 million per. 

In addition, according to Sports Nippon, scouts from both the Cubs and Pittsburgh were at Wednsday's game. The same report also listed the Dodgers and Red Sox as being interested in Matsuzaka to go along with Baltimore, Seattle and the Yankees. This is the first time that I have seen Boston's and Los Angeles' names brought up pertaining to the righthander. By the way, the Pirates had FOUR scouts evaluating Matsuzaka, make of that what you will. 

Arizona sent Jim Marshall to scout Matsuzaka earlier this season. Scout Bill Singer has been in country this week and has looked at the two Yakult players who might go on the auction block, but there was no indication that former Dodgers pitcher Singer was there Wednesday when Matsuzaka started. 

On the Dodgers interest, they appear to be poised to make what will be a relatively token bid. Reliever Takashi Saito, though, has reportedly asked his team to acquire Matsuzaka should be become available.