Japanese
Baseball Update, September 2010 by Glenn Davies
Japanese
Baseball Update, July 2010 by Glenn Davies
Japanese
Baseball Update, June 2010 by Glenn Davies
Almost time
for the mid-season all-star break here in
Central
League
CL topping
Yakult are the Indians-like surprise package so far this season, six games
ahead of the second place Dragons, and eight over the third placed Tigers
is far from what was predicted by many back in April. 8-2 in their last 10
including a three game sweep of the floundering Giants makes them look fairy
unstoppable at present. Slugging duo Kazuhiro
Hatakeyama (.295 11 35)
and Vladimir Balentien (.264 17 34) have combined
well with stellar pitching from Shohei
Tateyama (7-1 1.50) and Yoshinori (5-3 2.66) to
keep the team at the top, and its hard to see anyone catching them by the
end of September.
The Dragons, Tigers, and Giants, in that order, look likely
to beat up on each other for the rest of the season to contend for the second
and third playoff spots. So far this season all have been as equally woeful
with the bat, hitting a team .235, .252, and .239 respectively. Team pitching
for all three at about 2.82 keeping them in games and making them competitive.
The Giants, as always, have the youth and depth to go on a tear, as the Tigers
and Dragons nurse concerns about the age and durability of their older
stars.
Team |
W |
L |
T |
GB |
Yakult
Swallows |
36 |
22 |
7 |
- |
Chunichi
Dragons |
33 |
31 |
1 |
6 |
Hanshin
Tigers |
31 |
33 |
1 |
8 |
Yomiuri
Giants |
27 |
36 |
4 |
11.5 |
|
25 |
35 |
5 |
12 |
|
24 |
40 |
5 |
15 |
Pacific
League
Two horse
race anyone? Softbank and
Takeya Nakamura
(Seibu) has been the lone highlight for the Lions so far, leading the league
with 25 HRs (.275 25 52).
Rakuten under fiery manager Hoshino have been better
as of late, but Chiba appear most likely to come through and claim third
as the pitching is already there (2.39 team ERA) and have had a recent strong
showing against the Fighters and Lions. Orix hold
on to third at present, but have lost two of three from their past three
series, and seem to regularly mess up the little things to lose leads late
in games.
Team |
W |
L |
T |
GB |
Softbank
Hawks |
43 |
22 |
3 |
- |
|
42 |
23 |
2 |
1 |
Orix Buffaloes |
32 |
34 |
4 |
11.5 |
|
30 |
33 |
3 |
12 |
Rakuten
Eagles |
30 |
36 |
3 |
13.5 |
Seibu
Lions |
28 |
36 |
2 |
14.5 |