Japanese Baseball Update, June 2010

Glenn Davies, Tokyo Japan

 

Central League

The Giants continued their strong start to the season with a two game sweep of the Seibu Lions in an interleague series over this past weekend. Even the Pacific League leading Lions were no match for the pitching and hitting depth of the 2009 Japan Series Champions, taming the Lions 4-0 and 5-1. The Tigers and Dragons continue to build a lead on the playoff chasing bottom half, and unfortunately, this looks unlikely to change by the end of the season. The Swallows making the news only for the ‘yes he will...no he wont’ resignation chatter about their manager Shigeru Takada. If the Swallows continue to lose at this rate the decision may be made for him.

Alex Ramirez (YOM) leads the HR race with 18 over Hanshin’s Greg Brazell with 16. Other ex-major leaguers in the mix include Yakults’s Aaron Guiel with 16 HRs so far (along with a stellar .208 avg). Matt Murton has been the first year surprise for the Tigers, hitting .351 8HR  21RBI so far, mainly in the lead off spot. Media darling so far this season has been Shun Tohno (YOM). The Giants pitcher has emerged from obscurity with an 8-1 1.81 record so far as a starter.

 

			Games back	Winning Pct.
1	Giants	32-18	-	.640
2	Tigers	27-22	4.5	.551
3	Dragons	26-25	2	.509
4	Bay Stars	20-29	5	.408
5	Carp	20-31	1	.392
6	Swallows	14-33	4	.297

 

Pacific League

The Pacific league lead continues to switch back and forth between the Lions and Marines so far this season. Chiba fans, upset by the bizarre and often comical problems that beset the club with the firing of Bobby Valentine, have started to show the form they thought only possible with him at the helm. Kim Tae-gyun has been the surprise package, signing a 3-year, 7 million$ contract with the club this past off season from the Korean league Hanhwa. In Korea he hit .310 188HR 701 RBI in a 9 year career, and has started off in Japan with .293 12HR 34RBI in 53 games. The Hawks look likely to hold on to third for the rest of the year as the Buffaloes and Eagles cant seem to win more than 1 in a row at any point, and lack the quality pitching that the Hawks seem to have in abundance.

 

Big surprise so far? The Fighters. Yu Darvish (set to be the next big thing off to the states) is 4-4 with an ERA of 1.67…the team cant buy a hit batting .259 as a team with 24 HRs…the Giants in the CL have 78 do far…every other team in the PL has at least 30.

 

			Games back	Winning Pct.
1	Lions	34-21	-	.618
2	Marines	32-20	0.5	.615
3	Hawks	31-23	2	.574
4	Buffaloes	25-27	5	.480
5	Eagles	24-28	1	.461
6	Fighters	21-29	2	.420