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09/22/2006 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Final Weeks of the Season"
Japanese Baseball News: Final Weeks of the Season
Japanese Baseball News: The Monday Report By Glenn Davies,Tokyo Japan |
| Central League News | ||
 | The Dragons continued their charge to the CL pennant over the past week. Ace starter Kawakami improved his record to 16-5 in a 9-1 win over Yakult last night. The Dragons lowered their magic number to clinch to 12 and sit 5 games ahead of the Tigers with 19 games to play. The Dragons and Tigers have been on a tear, both going 8-2 in their last 10 but it looks to be too little too late for the Tigers and did not help that the 2 losses were against the Dragons. Akihika Oya was named Yokohama manager for 2007. Oya replaces Ushijima who has been unable to get Yokohama in the running for the pennant after finishing third last season. Oya was the manager of the Baystars in 1998 when Yokohama won the Japan Series. | |
| Pacific League News | ||
 | In a strange turn of events the Fighters start the weekend in first place after 2 weeks of amazing baseball. The Fighters are 12-3 in September and are on a 5 game winning streak going into tonight's game against the hapless Marines. The Fighters swept the Marines earlier this week and split a series with the Lions after taking 2 of 3 from the Hawks. With a one game lead and only 4 to play in the season the Fighters may hold on an complete an unlikely pennant win forcing the Hawks and Lions-perennial PL powers into the playoff round. To make it even more exciting, the Hawks play their last 2 games of the season against the Fighters in Sapporo and the Lions face the Marines at home. Too close to call... | |
| Batting Leaders | ||||||||||||
Central | Team | Avg. | HR | RBI | Pacific | Team | Avg. | HR | RBI | |||
| 1 | Fukudome | Dragons | .354 | 28 | 91 | 1 | Matsunaga | Hawks | .330 | 19 | 76 | |
| 2 | Lee | Giants | .318 | 40 | 97 | 2 | Short | Eagles | .323 | 4 | 33 | |
| 3 | Aoki | Swallows | .312 | 10 | 49 | 3 | Cabrera | Lions | .323 | 31 | 100 | |
| 4 | Sheets | Tigers | .309 | 18 | 70 | 4 | Ogasawara | Fighters | .320 | 32 | 96 | |
| 5 | Iwamura | Swallows | .307 | 29 | 67 | 5 | Kawasaki | Hawks | .312 | 3 | 26 | |
| Pitching Leaders | ||||||||||||||
Central | Team | ERA | W | L | Sv | Pacific | Team | ERA | W | L | Sv | |||
| 1 | Kuroda | Carp | 1.86 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 1 | Saito | Hawks | 1.66 | 18 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2 | Fukuhara | Tigers | 2.11 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | Matsuzaka | Lions | 1.89 | 17 | 4 | 0 | |
| 3 | Kawakami | Dragons | 2.46 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 3 | Yagi | Fighters | 2.58 | 11 | 8 | 0 | |
| 4 | Utsumi | Giants | 2.75 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 4 | Davey | Buffaloes | 2.62 | 10 | 8 | 0 | |
| 5 | Asakura | Dragons | 2.85 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Ono | Marines | 2.68 | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2006 Standings |
| Central | W | L | T | Pct% | GB | Pacific | W | L | T | Pct% | GB |
| Chunichi Dragons | 75 | 47 | 5 | .615 | M12 | Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters | 80 | 52 | 0 | .606 | - |
| Hanshin Tigers | 73 | 55 | 4 | .570 | 5.0 | Seibu Lions | 78 | 52 | 2 | .600 | 1.0 |
| Yakult Swallows | 62 | 64 | 2 | .492 | 15.0 | Softbank Hawks | 71 | 51 | 5 | .595 | 2.0 |
| Yomiuri Giants | 62 | 69 | 2 | .473 | 17.5 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 61 | 69 | 1 | .469 | 18.0 |
| Hiroshima Carp | 55 | 69 | 5 | .444 | 21.0 | Orix Buffaloes | 49 | 83 | 3 | .380 | 29.5 |
| Yokohama Bay Stars | 51 | 75 | 3 | .405 | 26.0 | Rakuten Eagles | 44 | 82 | 4 | .349 | 33.0 |
