May 5, 2015
PACIFIC LEAGUE UPDATE, APRIL 2015
Glenn Davies, Tokyo
Japan
The end of the first six weeks in the Pacific
league (PL) was no less surprising than that of the CL with the highly
touted
Orix Buffaloes (11-1-22) heading straight into the cellar and staying
there,
while the Seibu Lions (19-1-11), who could only manage 63 wins and 5th place last season, are currently
hitting a PL best .263 and pitching a PL best 2.74. The Nippon Ham
Fighters are
half a game back in second with a 19-12 record, while last year’s Japan
Series
champion Softbank Hawks are sitting in third, two games back with a
record of
17-13-2. The Chiba Lotte Marines sit in 4th place with a 14-18 record, while
the Rakuten Eagles are in 5th at 13-17-2.
Orix are 3-7 in their last 10 and do not look like they
will hit their way out of it anytime soon with a team average of .241
(second
worst in the PL) and a team ERA of 3.48 (worst in the PL).
Noteworthy
·
Two-way Fighters star Shohei Otani is a perfect 5-0
with a 0.80 ERA in 5 starts so far this season, while hitting .212 with
2HR and
5RBIS in 34 at bats so far. He leads the PL in wins and ERA.
·
Sho Nakata of the Fighters leads the HR race with 10
so far in 133 at bats.
·
Tomomi Takahashi (SEI) leads the PL in saves with 10
from 13 appearances so far this season.
·
Softbank Hawks closer Dennis Sarfate notched his 100th Japanese
baseball save this
past week. He has a perfect 0.00 ERA in his 16 and 2/3rds innings
pitched this
season.
·
Taiwanese star Daikan Yoh of the Nippon Ham Fighters
is expected to miss up to 6 weeks with a broken bone in his hand. Yoh
hit .293-25-85
last season with the Fighters, but was a pedestrian .167-1-9 so far
this season.
