Japanese Baseball Update, July 2010

Glenn Davies, Tokyo Japan

 

Central League

The heat of summer is upon us in Japan, and the race for the Central League title is promising us an equally scorching time. The Giants 5-9 so far in July have stumbled a little as of late, allowing the Tigers to make a race of it and close the gap to half a game. They continue to hit the ball well but pitching has been the major issue, losing games 6-7, 10-8 , and being swept by the Dragons mid-month allowing them to further entrench themselves in third. At the other end of the scale the Baystars have gone 10-25 to sink like a stone to the cellar of the CL. The Baystars have tried to add a much needed bat in their line up by signing Brian Harper (4-5 in his debut this week) from Triple A Sacremento, but even his 5 HRs in 51 Abs looks unlikely to see them out of the race for the playoffs by Mid August. The Swallows new manager Shigeru Takada has been a minor miracle for Yakult, brining them back from the dead to fourth place and 8.5 back of the playoffs. The late addition of Josh Whitesell has sparked the offense into life with 4HRs in 15 games with the club.  Matt Murton continues to be the surprise star package of the season, hitting .356 with 10HRs and 56 RBIs at the top of the Tigers order.

 

			Games back	Winning Pct.
1	Giants	49-36	-	.576
2	Tigers	47-35-1	0.5	.573
3	Dragons	46-41-1	3.5	.529
4	Swallows	35-47-2	8.5	.357
5	Carp	33-49-2	2	.402
6	Bay Stars	30-54	4	.427

 

 

Pacific League

The battle for the top three places intensified over the past month with early season frontrunners the Softbank Hawks hitting a strong rein of form to reclaim second place from Chiba. The Lions have been cruising as of late, 8-8 so far this season and the upcoming three game series with the Hawks and then Chiba will be telling. The Fighters have finally been matching pre-season form and predictions with a 7-3 run earlier this month. Change of Manager and change of direction? Unfortunately the direction is down and Mart Browns Eagles have not shown any of the form that saw them finish 3^rd last season under legendary manager Nomura. A sixth place finish for the Eagles, although probably a fair indictment of the skill level and experience of the club, will probably spell the end of Brown. Third year infielder Jose Ortiz of the Softbank Hawks leads the PL homerun race with 21 round trippers so far, his previous stop at Chiba in 2008 saw 11 as a career high here in Japan. The pitcher to watch? Yu Darvish has slowly been turning his season around and showing some of the MVP form he is capable of, but the star present is Hideaki Wakui of the Lions. Wakui, successor to Matsuzaka in the staff ace role is 11-5 in 18 starts this season with an ERA of 2.80.

 

			Games back	Winning Pct.
1	Lions	53-39	-	.576
2	Hawks	49-40-3	2.5	.551
3	Marines	47-39-2	0.5	.547
4	Fighters	45-45-2	4	.500
5	Buffaloes	43-45-2	1.5	.483
6	Eagles	40-46-2	1.5	.465

 

 

 

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