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04/27/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: This Week In JBall! (4/20/04-4/25/04)"

This Week In JBall! by Henry Lu
Your weekly resource for the exciting world of Japanese Baseball
Standings (current through April 25, 2004) Central League Won Lost Tied Pct. GB Hiroshima 12 9 0 .571 -- Hanshin 11 10 0 .524 1.0 Chunichi 8 8 1 .500 1.5 Yakult 9 9 0 .500 1.5 Yokohama 9 9 1 .500 1.5 Yomiuri 8 12 0 .400 3.5 Pacific League Won Lost Tied Pct. GB Daiei 16 8 1 .667 -- Seibu 16 10 0 .615 1.0 Orix 11 12 0 .478 4.5 Lotte 11 15 0 .423 6.0 Nippon Ham 10 14 1 .417 6.0 Kintetsu 10 15 0 .400 6.5	ERA Leader Board (current through April 25, 2004) Central League Pacific League Rank Player ERA Rank Player ERA 1st Ishido (Yakult) 1.25 1st Kawajiri (Kintetsu) 2.08 2nd Fukuhara (Hanshin) 1.33 2nd Matsuzaka (Seibu) 2.14 3rd Otake (Hiroshima) 1.50 3rd Gulin (Daiei) 2.36 4th Mullen (Yokohama) 2.05 4th Iwakuma (Kintetsu) 2.90 5th Yamamoto (Chunichi) 2.53 5th H. Kobayashi (Lotte) 2.96

This Week's Highlight -- April 21, 2004: Shinjo Hits Career Home Run 150
Tsuyoshi Shinjo smacked 2 homers (4,5) and 3 rbi's in a 10-7 Nippon Ham Fighters victory over the Seibu Lions at Seibu Dome. The second homer marked his 150th career home run in Japanese Baseball. Shinjo played 10 seasons (1991-2000) with the Hanshin Tigers, where he hit .249 with 145 homers and 518 rbi's. His next 3 seasons (2001-2003) were in Major League Baseball, where he hit .245 with 20 homers and 100 rbi's for the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants. Nippon Ham picked up Shinjo for the 2004 season with the expectation that his rock-star charisma would stimulate ticket sales for Fighters' home games at Sapporo Dome. (Henry Lu, HLu@BaseballGuru.com)