Chiba Lotte Marines starter Yoshihisa Naruse was tagged for a season worst 11 hits Wednesday in his 6.1 innings on the hill, but the Softbank Hawks couldn't defeat the spell the southpaw seems to have over the Pacific League right now and so the birds of prey were subjected to a 5-1 loss at Chiba MarineS Stadium. They left then men on. 

Jayson Stanridge started for Softbank and went four innings of five run (four earned) ball on seven hits for his first defeat of the year. 

The Hawks put men on second and third with two outs in the first, but a flyout to center neutralized it. 

Lotte centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa then singled to center in the bottom segment and centerfielder Hitoshi misplayed it to allow Hayakawa to advance to second. First baseman Kazuya Fukuura singled to center and Hayakawa flashed across the plate for a 1-0 lead. 

Softbank put men on first and third with two outs in the second, but a grounder to short made it moot. 

However, in the third, Hawks shortstop Munenori Kawasaki grounded one into the hole between first and second. Second baseman Jose Ortiz was able to glove it, but his off balamce throw was wide and Kawasaki was safe on the infield hit. Catcher Hidenori Tanoue singled to right. DH Hiroki Kokubo singled to left to score Kawasaki and tie it up 1-1. Tamura singled to center to load the bases and they had Naruse on the ropes. But a shallow flyout to left, a popup and a strikeout took care of the threat. 

They packed the sacks again in the fourth with a pair of two out hits and a walk, but Tamura lifted a can of corn to his opposite number and another Softbank chance went by the boards. 

The Marines would then basically ice it during their turn. Catcher Tomoya Satozaki singled to right and leftfielder Shoitsu Omatsu singled to center. Ortiz doubled against the leftfield wall and Satozaki skated in. Two outs later, shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka singled to center and Omatsu and Ortiz registered at the pay station. Stanridge plaunked Hayakawa. Fukuura singled to left and Nishioka hotfooted it home to hike it to 5-1. Stanridge and two relievers retired the next 13 after that. 

When Kokubo spanked a single to left with one out in the seventh, Marines boss Bobby Valentine went to the bullpen for Shunsuke Watanabe, of all people. One out later, leftfielder Naoyuki Omura walked. Third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda grounded out, though, and the Marines advantage survived intact. 

Yusuke Kawasaki was substituted for Watanabe in the eighth and rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara doubled down the leftfield line with one out. Following another out, Munenori Kawasaki,.who grounded one toward first. Fukuura fileded it and flipped it to Yusuke Kawasaki, but he was just a tad slower than the Softbank speedster and it was an infield hit. Valentine got on the horn to Tadahiro Ogino, who bahised Tanoue on a flyout and then spun a 1-2-3 ninth for his first pro save. 

For Lotte, Ortiz was 1-4 and is at .291. DH Julio Zuleta was 0-3 and is at .275.

This is kind of unfair. Yu Darvish, who could be the number two starter for a few MLB teams right now, squared off against the Rakuten Golden Eagles and went eight shutout innings of five hit, five strikeout, three walk ball to solidify his hold on the Pacific League MVP with his 15th win in a 6-0 final for Nippon Ham at Tokyo Dome. They are now two up on second place Softbank and their magic number to clinch is eight. They also qualified for the playoffs. 

Masahiro Tanaka started for Rakuten and went 6.2 innings of five run, seven hit ball to fall to 10-6. 

Fighters second baseman Kensuke Tanaka tripled to right with one out in the first and DH Atsunori Inaba singled to right for a 1-0 lead. 

It became 2-0 in the second when shortstop Makoto Kaneko got an 86mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and lined it into the leftfield seats. Tanaka then retired 13 of the next 15. 

Darvish had permitted only a single through five, but in the sixth, the Eagles put men on first and third. However, a strikeout and a lineout double play rebuffed it. 

Something almost like that happened in the seventh, too, as the first two Rakuten hitters reached on singles, but a double play ball and a flyout punctured that and Darvish and Takayuki Kanamori combined to bury the next six after that to put it in the books. 

But just to remove all doubt, the Nippon Ham lineup finally got to Tanaka in the bottom of the seventh when rightfielder Takahito Kudoh doubled to right and went to third on a sacrifice. Kaneko walked. Pinch hitter Yukio Tanaka, in his last plate appearance ever at Tokyo Dome, Nippon Ham's onetime homeground, singled to right to welcome Kudoh in while Kaneko turned and burned for third.. Centerfielder Hichori Morimoto flied out to right and Kaneko tagged up and crossed. Tanaka scalded one to right that must have taken an odd hop somewhere because he circled the bases on it for an inside the park two run homer to widen it to 6-0. 

The Eagles haven't scored a run in their last 34 innings and have now dropped their most recent four. This is the first time in their short history that they have been blanked in three consecutive games. 

After it was over, Yukio Tanaka formally announced to the Tokyo fans that he was retiring. He began his career in Japan's capital when they were still playing at old Korakuen Stadium. He had 30 hits at that ballpark and 818 at Tokyo Dome. 

Darvish became the first Fighters pitcher to amass 200 strikeouts since Isamu Kida in 1980. He was clocked at 92mph. 

Masahiro Tanaka now has 175 strikeouts, seventh on the all time list for pitchers fresh out of high school. 

For Nippon Ham, first baseman Fernando Seguignol was 0-2 with a walk and is at .241. 

The Seibu Lions are going to do no better than a fourth place finish this season, but number two starter Hideaki  Wakui is going to get himself a Sawamura Award after he picked up his 17th win with 7.1 innings of three run, five hit ball while striking out five and walking four against Orix at Osaka Dome 

Yoshihisa Hirano started for the Buffaloes and went seven innings of four run, nine hit ball while striking out five and walking one for his 13th loss. 

Centerfielder Takumi Kuriyama commenced the match with a walk and, two outs later, jogged home on the front end of a missile into the leftfield seats by first baseman Alex Cabrera for a 2-0 lead. 

But in the bottom half, Wakui walked first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa and third baseman Greg LaRocca with two outs and rightfielder Chad Allen singled to right to send Kitagawa in. Second baseman Mitsutaka Goto tripled to right for two more to go up 4-3. Third baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto flied out to left for the third out and Wakui found a groove and dominated from that point forward, scattering a pair of singles through seven. 

Hirano allowed a one out double in the third and a two out double in the fourth, but that was all. Another runner, who was on thanks to s single, was marginalized in the fifth as well. 

Seibu generated two singles in the sixth, but that was sandwiched around a double play ball and that was all she wrote there. 

However, in the seventh, Lions third baseman Takeya Nakamura singled to left with one out and catcher Ginjiro Sumitani doubled to left. Kuriyama singled to right and Nakamura and Sumitani sojourned to the promised land for a 4-3 edge. 

Wakui's control would then go south in the eighth, as leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu legged out an infield hit and Kitagawa walked. The runners advanced on a wild pitch. It was therefore decided to intentionally walked LaRocca to set up a double play opportunity and get to Allen, who struckout. Koji Mitsui came on for Seibu and pinch hitter Masahiro Abe flied out to left. Makita pinch hit for Kimoto and grounded to third to preserve the lead. 

Lions Jeff Liefer played the part of insurance man in the ninth by parking a Komatsu delivery in the rightfield stands to gorw it to 5-3. 

Closer Alex Graman dispensed with three of the four men he encountered in a hitless ninth to cap it off. 

Wakui was clocked at a season high 91mph. It perhaps bears noting that Daisuke Matsuzaka's single season tops in wins was also 17. So Wakui has effectively replaced him, but for a hell of a lot less money. 

Orix helmsman Terry Collins was furious and was heard engaging in some spontaneous cruelty to furniture in the clubhouse. He then grumbled to the press that the players won't put what they have been taught into practice. "I'm fed up!" he declared.

For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .298. 

Orix DH Tuffy Rhodes will return to the U.S. on the 21st and said that he intends to be back with the Buffaloes in 2008. He also expressed satisfaction with this 2007 campaign that saw him hit .291 with 42 homers and 96 RBIs. The former Cub added that he will work this offseason on polishing his baserunning and defense. 

Softbank First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka has some pain in his right calf and sat Wednesday's game out. He is day to day.