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05/19/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: This Week In JBall! (5/11/04-5/19/04)"

This Week In JBall! by Henry Lu
Your weekly resource for the exciting world of Japanese Baseball
Standings (current through May 19, 2004) Central League Won Lost Tied Pct. GB Hanshin 20 17 0 .541 -- Chunichi 17 17 1 .500 1.5 Yomiuri 19 19 0 .500 1.5 Yokohama 17 17 1 .500 1.5 Hiroshima 18 19 0 .486 2.0 Yakult 16 18 0 .471 2.5 Pacific League Won Lost Tied Pct. GB Seibu 28 16 0 .636 -- Daiei 23 18 2 .561 3.5 Nippon Ham 22 20 1 .524 5.0 Kintetsu 20 23 1 .465 7.5 Orix 17 22 1 .436 8.5 Lotte 16 27 1 .372 11.5	Home Run Leader Board (current through May 19, 2004) Central League Pacific League Rank Player HR's Rank Player HR's 1st Abe (Yomiuri) 21 1st Seguignol (Nippon Ham) 17 2nd Rhodes (Yomiuri) 18 2nd-tie Matsunaka (Daiei) 15 3rd Arias (Hanshin) 16 2nd-tie Wada (Seibu) 15 4th Imaoka (Hanshin) 12 4th Jojima (Daiei) 14 5th LaRocca (Hiroshima) 11 5th Fernandez (Seibu) 12

This Week's Highlight -- May 16, 2004: Iwakuma Goes to 8-0 with 2-Hit Gem
Kintetsu's Hisashi Iwakuma tossed a complete-game gem in an 8-1 victory over the the Seibu Lions at Osaka Dome. Iwakuma finished with 9 innings of work, 2 hits, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. He improved to a league-leading 8 wins against no losses, along with a 2.01 ERA, 5 complete games, 1 shutout, and 58 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched. (Henry Lu, HLu@BaseballGuru.com)