PACIFIC LEAGUE UPDATE
Glenn
Davies, Tokyo, Japan.
The top three teams in the PL continue to
jostle for position. The Nippon Ham Fighters emerged in May as the team
to beat
and moved into first place, now with a two game cushion over the second
place
Softbank Hawks (24-19-3) and a record of 28-19. They have been the best
of the
form guide at 7-3 over the last 10 and have scored a league best 210
runs in 47
games (no other team has 200 yet). The Seibu Lions (24-21-2) have
dropped from
first to third with a run of 2-7 with 1 tie in their past 10 games and
a PL
worst team ERA of 3.76. The bottom three
teams stayed as they were in April, with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 4th at 21-24, the Rakuten Eagles in
fifth (20-24-2), and the Orix Buffaloes in last place (18-30-1), 10.5
games
back from first. Orix have not won a series with any team since the
first week
of May, and have been outscored by opponents 185 runs to 194 in their
first 49
games of the season.
Noteworthy
·
Sho Nakata of the Fighters leads the PL HR and RBI
standings with 17HRS so far in 171 at bats and 45 RBIs. Dae-Ho Lee
(FUK) is in
second with 11HRs, tied with Nobuhiro Masuda (FUK), Luis Cruz (CHI),
and Takeya
Nakamura (SEI).
·
Two-way Fighters star Shohei Otani remains
unbeaten with a record of 6-0 with a
1.66 ERA in 7 starts so far this season, he leads the PL in wins. In
terms of
batting, the two-way star is currently hitting .196 with 3HR and 9RBIS
in 52 at
bats so far.
·
Brandon Dickson (ORI) leads the PL in ERA with a 1.44
in 9 starts so far this season. Dickson has a record of 5-3 and is
second in
wins behind Otani. Dickson went 9-10 3.33 in 2014, and 8-8 2.77 in 2013
for the
Buffaloes.
·
Tomomi Takahashi (SEI) leads the PL in saves with 14
from 19 appearances so far this season (0-0 14SV 0.95ERA).
·
2014 Sawamura award winning Orix starter Chihiro
Kaneko made his first appearance for the club this past week. Kaneko,
who has
been rehabbing from elbow surgery in the off-season, appeared in three
innings
of relief for the Buffaloes giving up 7 hits and a HR while striking
out 1.
·
Highly touted and failed 2014 rookie starter Yuki
Matsui has continued to defy predictions with a strong start to the
season as
Rakuten Eagles closer. Matsui has 10 saves and an ERA of 0.43 in 17
games so
far this season and has shown none of the nerves that plagued his 2014
season.
