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05/04/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: This Week In JBall! (4/26/04-5/4/04)"

This Week In JBall! by Henry Lu
Your weekly resource for the exciting world of Japanese Baseball
Standings (current through May 4, 2004) Central League Won Lost Tied Pct. GB Hanshin 15 12 0 .556 -- Yokohama 13 12 1 .520 1.0 Chunichi 12 12 1 .500 1.5 Hiroshima 14 14 0 .500 1.5 Yomiuri 13 14 0 .481 2.0 Yakult 11 14 0 .440 3.0 Pacific League Won Lost Tied Pct. GB Seibu 21 13 0 .618 -- Daiei 16 14 2 .533 3.0 Nippon Ham 16 15 1 .516 3.5 Orix 13 16 0 .448 5.5 Kintetsu 14 18 0 .438 6.0 Lotte 14 18 1 .438 6.0	Batting Leader Board (current through May 4, 2004) Central League Pacific League Rank Player Avg Rank Player Avg 1st Shima (Hiroshima) .377 1st Seguignol (Nippon Ham) .427 2nd Suzuki (Yakult) .368 2nd Kitagawa (Kintetsu) .364 3rd Kinjo (Yokohama) .365 3rd Matsunaka (Daiei) .360 4th Abe (Yomiuri) .364 4th Ogasawara (Nippon Ham) .359 5th Inoue (Chunichi) .351 5th Muramatsu (Orix) .354

This Week's Highlight -- April 29, 2004: Yomiuri Giants' Offense Reaches Historic Levels
Yomiuri cranked their powerhouse offense up a notch with a 17-4 victory over the Yakult Swallows at Jingu Stadium. The Giants pounded out 23 hits, including 4 home runs. With Tuffy Rhodes and Shinnosuke Abe each hitting a pair of longballs, Yomiuri brought their April home run total to 50, a new Central League single-month record. The previous record of 46 was held by the 1984 Chunichi Dragons. The next day, April 30, 2004, marked the end of the month, and Hiroki Kukubo extended the Giants' record total to 52 by homering twice in a 4-3 win over the Hiroshima Carp at Tokyo Dome. Yomiuri came up short by only one home run on the Japanese record of 53, set by the 1986 Seibu Lions. (Henry Lu, HLu@BaseballGuru.com)