Power Pros Forum

August 14, 2012

We're playing the Swallows today, we have to maintain our 1.5 game lead!

Tokyo Yakult Swallows (46-50-7) - 6
Hanshin Tigers (57-45-3) - 2

Swallows:

Lineup:
1. Kazuki Fukuchi – LF (1-4, K)
2. Hiroyasu Tanaka - 2B (3-4, 2B)
3. Norichika Aoki – CF [RF] (2-3, HR [14], SF, 3 RBI)
4. Aaron Guiel – RF (2-4, K, HR [26], 1 RBI)
- Shin'ichi Takeuchi – DEF REP [1B]
5. Jamie D'Antona - 1B (1-4, 2B)
- Yasushi Iihara – DEF REP [CF]
6. Shinya Miyamoto - 3B (1-4)
7. Takahiro Araki – SS (1-4, 2B, 1 RBI)
8. Ryohei Kawamoto – C (1-4, DP, HR [9], 1 RBI)
9. PITCHER (0-3)

Pitcher(s):
Masanori Ishikawa (9 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned, 0 K’s)

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Riki Kawamoto – CF (2-4, 2B, HR [5], 1 RBI)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (0-4)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (1-4)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (1-4)
5. Kiyoshi Abe – C (1-4, 2B)
6. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (1-3, 2B, DP)
7. Takahiro Arai - 3B (1-3)
8. Matt Murton – LF (0-3, DP, 1 RBI)
9. PITCHER (0-3)

Pitcher(s):
Tsuyoshi Moriyama (5 1/3 innings, 5 runs, 5 earned, 2 K’s)
Kenta Abe (1 1/3 innings, 1 run, 1 earned, 0 K’s)
Kiyoshi Toyoda (1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 K’s)

MVP(s):
Masanori Ishikawa – Threw a complete game
Norichika Arai – Gave the Swallows the lead with a 2-run homerun in the 1st.

WP: Masanori Ishikawa (3-5)
LP: Tsuyoshi Moriyama (5-5)
S: --

Nishinomiya Sports
August 15, 2012
Ishikawa Shuts Down Tigers
– Masanori Ishikawa
– Norichika Arai

Meiji Jingu Stadium, Shinjuku, Tokyo – The Swallows bested the Tigers yesterday, in a 6-2 game. Moriyama’s struggles continued, as he only went 5 1/3 innings, letting up 5 runs, but striking out 2 in the process. The Swallows jumped on Moriyama early, with Aoki going yard in the first, to immediately make the score 2-0. Moriyama did show his dominance that he had back in high school, getting out of a jam, with runners on the corners, and 1 out, he struck out Guiel, and got D’Antona to fly out to Tani to end the inning, and the threat.

Also, Toritani had an excellent play at short, diving to make the stop, and throwing out Miyamoto from deep in the hole, to end the inning. 2 innings later, Kawamoto catches a sharply hit liner to him, and guns out the runner at home, to get yet another assist.

Luckily the Giants lost yesterday as well, so we still maintain our 1.5 game lead.

- Takaharu Sonada

August 21, 2012

We only have a 2 game lead on the Giants going into this series, we need to take at least 2 games!

Hanshin Tigers (61-46-3) - 5
Yomiuri Giants (57-46-5) - 2

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Riki Kawamoto – CF (1-4)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (1-4, 3B, DP)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (1-4, 2B, 1 RBI)
4. Kazuteru Tani – LF (1-4, 2B)
5. Kiyoshi Abe – C (1-3, SB, IBB, 1 RBI)
6. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (1-4, HR [10], 3 RBI)
7. Takahiro Arai - 3B (0-3)
8. Ivan Adamsky – RF (1-3, 2B)
9. PITCHER (1-3)

Pitcher(s):
Minoru Iwata (7 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned, 2 K’s)
Tomoharu Yoshimi (2 innings, 0 runs, 1 K)

Giants:

Lineup:
1. Yoshiyuki Kamei – CF (2-5, K, HR [19], 2 RBI)
2. Edgar Gonzalez - 2B (2-5, K)
3. Michihiro Ogasawara - 3B (1-4, DP)
4. Hayato Sakamoto – SS (1-4)
5. Tetsuya Matsumoto – LF (1-4)
6. Hisayoshi Chōno – RF (1-4, K)
7. Seung-Yeop Lee - 1B (0-4)
8. Kazunari Tsuruoka – C (2-4, 2B)
9. PITCHER (1-2)
- Yoshitomo Tani – PH (1-1)
- Takahito Kudoh – PH (1-1, 2B)

Pitcher(s):
Tetsuya Utsumi (6 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned, 0 K’s)
Tetsuya Kaneto (2 innings, 0 runs, 0 K’s)
Daisuke Ochi (1/3 inning, 3 runs, 3 earned, 0 K’s)

MVP:
Tomoaki Kanemoto – Hit a walk-off 3-run homerun!

WP: Tomoharu Yoshimi (7-2)
LP: Daisuke Ochi (7-5)
S: --

Nishinomiya Sports
August 22, 2012
Tigers Win in Walk-off fashion!
– Tomoaki Kanemoto
Photo courtesy Hideki Sugiyama

Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo – A pivotal game results in a clutch win for the Tigers. The game was tight from the beginning, with it going back and forth, in fact Giants pitcher, Tetsuya Utsumi, was throwing a no-hitter, that is until Iwata (our pitcher) comes up to bat, and hits a liner to center, giving the Tigers their first hit. It must hurt to lose your no-hitter against a pitcher, and in the 3rd inning, no less. In the next inning, it didn’t get better for Utsumi. Fumihiko Saito hit a leadoff triple, and Toritani knocked him in right after with an RBI double, making the score 1-0. After Abe’s RBI single, Kanemoto hits a blast to left, but Matsumoto makes a nice catch and saves a run.

In the top of the 6th, Iwata got himself in a jam, having runners on 2nd and 3rd, with 2 outs; he gets the Giants catcher, Kazunari Tsuroka, to pop out to third. But in the next inning, Kamei ties the game up with a 2-run homerun to right-center, the score stayed the same until the 9th.

The 9th inning as a whole was exciting, rookie Tomoharu Yoshimi was pitching, and his “floating” fastball was doing some extra floating. But the Giants still hit off of him, and with no outs, Kanemoto made an awesome diving catch to rob Kamei of an RBI, and almost doubles up Kudoh, who had just pinch-hit for the pitcher, and had gotten a double. Then, with runners on second and third, Gonzalez hits a bomb to center, Kawamoto makes the catche, and throws a strike to home, getting out the runner, Tsuroka, to end the inning, and thus keeping the score tied at 2.

The bottom half of the 9th was just as exciting. Tani leads off hitting a double that just barely hit the top of the fence, then after intentionally walking Abe, Kanemoto steps up to the plate. He watches the first pitch, and then the second pitch was a meatball right down the heart of the plate, Kanemoto crushed it, hitting a 153 meter (502 feet), 3-run, walkoff homerun to dead center!!! We interviewed him right after the game, he said “It feels great to do this again, I’ve been missing hitting homeruns! Well, I guess then was a good time to get my 10th of the season!”

- Takaharu Sonada

October 3, 2012

We're playing the BayStars, both of us have clinched a play-off berth, but regardless, let's go out with a bang!

Yokohama BayStars (73-65-5) - 9
Hanshin Tigers (75-66-3) - 6

BayStars:

Lineup:
1. Kazuya Fujita – SS (2-5, 2B)
2. Yuki Takamori – C (2-5, 2B, 1 RBI)
3. Seiichi Uchikawa - 1B (2-4, 1 RBI)
4. Shuichi Murata - 3B (3-4, 3 HR [39, 40, 41], 6 RBI)
5. Alex Ramirex – RF (2-4)
6. Jose Castillo – 2B (2-4, 2 2B, DP)
7. Terrmel Sledge – LF (1-4, HR [22], 1 RBI, K)
8. Yuki Yoshimura – CF (1-4, 2B, K)
9. PITCHER (0-0)
- Tatsuya Shimozono – PH (0-1)
- Tatsuhiko Kinjoh – PH (0-1)
- Takahiro Saeki – PH (0-1)
- Naoto Inada – PH (0-1)

Pitcher(s):
Shigeru Kaga (3 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 K’s)
Kenjiro Tsuruoka (1 IP, 0 R, 0 K’s)
Kentaro Kuwahara (2 IP, 0 R, 0 K’s)
Shigeki Ushida (2 IP, 0 R, 0 K’s)
Shun Yamaguchi (1 IP, 0 R, 0 K’s)

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Riki Kawamoto – CF (3-5, ROE)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (3-5, 2B, 2 RBI)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (4-5, 3 2B)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (1-4, HR [38], 3 RBI, IBB)
5. Kiyoshi Abe – C (1-5)
6. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (1-5, HR [17], 1 RBI)
7. Takahiro Arai - 3B (2-5, 2B, CS)
8. Matt Murton – LF (0-3, IBB)
- PITCHER (0-1)
9. PITCHER (2-3)
- Alan Spaikes – PH [LF] (1-2)

Pitcher(s):
Masaru Takeda (4 1/3 IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 K’s)
Kenta Abe (1 2/3 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 K’s)
Kiyoshi Toyoda (1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 K’s)
Shinji Matsuka (1 IP, 0 R, 0 K’s)

MVP:
Terrmel Sledge – Gave the BayStars the lead with a solo homerun in the 6th

WP: Kentaro Kuwahara (3-3)
LP: Kenta Abe (4-4)
S: Shun Yamaguchi (42)

Nishinomiya Sports
October 4, 2012
A Bad Sign
- Terrmel Sledge

Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama – The Tigers lost. They lost a game they should have won. In the second inning, they had a 6 run lead, which was slowly chipped away at (mainly by Murata, who hit 3 homeruns). And by the 5th inning, it was a tie game. At least Kanemoto flashed some leather by making an amazing diving catch to end what otherwise was a horrible inning. Takeda, who has been having a decent season at best, left the game, throwing only 4 1/3 innings, and letting up 6 runs. Kenta Abe came in to try and hold the game. He did not. He let up 2 runs of his own, giving the BayStars their first lead of the game. After an 1 2/3 innings Toyoda came, also giving up 1 run. Hopefully the Tigers can shape up for the playoffs, and win the Pennant!

- Takaharu Sonada

Final Standings
Yomiuri Giants (80-58-5) --
Hanshin Tigers (75-66-3) 6.5 GB
Yokahama BayStars (73-65-5) 7 GB
Hiroshima Toyo Carp (71-70-3) 10.5 GB
Tokyo Yakult Swallows (66-70-8) 13 GB
Chunichi Dragons (69-74-1) 13.5 GB

End of season statistics - 2012
Sorry, I forgot to do this last year...

Batters:
NAME, AVERAGE, HOMERUNS, RBI
Riki Kawamoto, .275, 8 HR, 60 RBI
Fumihiko Saito, .299, 1 HR, 46 RBI
Takashi Toritani, .291, 17 HR, 85 RBI
Kazuteru Tani, .259, 38 HR, 111 RBI
Kiyoshi Abe, .278, 15 HR, 77 RBI
Tomoaki Kanemoto, .268, 17 HR, 91 RBI
Takahiro Arai, .227, 11 HR, 54 RBI
Matt Murton, .236, 11 HR, 46 RBI
Kenji Johjima, .348, 5 HR, 15 RBI
Keisuke Kanoh, .125, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Katsuhiko Saka, .400, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Keiichi Hirano, .304, 0 HR, 2 RBI
Wei-Chu Lin, .217, 2 HR, 12 RBI
Ivan Adamsky, .158, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Kodai Sakurai, .241, 3 HR, 20 RBI
Alan Spaikes, .292, 0 HR, 5 RBI
Hidekazu Hoshi, .500, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Pitchers:
NAME, ERA, WINS-LOSSES
Minoru Iwata, 2.57, 13-5
Atsushi Nohmi, 3.33, 15-9
Seth Greisinger, 3.72, 6-9
Masaru Takeda, 4.76, 10-10
Tsuyoshi Moriyama, 5.66, 7-8
Shota Kimura, 3.47, 1-4
Hirotaka Egusa, 4.37, 3-3
Kenta Abe, 3.60, 4-4
Kiyoshi Toyoda, 4.71, 3-5
Shinji Matsuka, 3.38, 4-3
Tomoharu Yoshimi, 2.98, 7-2
Kyuji Fujikawa, 4.02, 2-4 (29 saves)
Toshiharu Tamaki, 8.31, 0-0 (Sent down to 2nd string)
Randy Messenger, 3.38, 0-0 (Sent down to 2nd string)

Pretty sub-par year, eh?

Round 1:

October 20

Hanshin Tigers: 2
Yokohama BayStars: 1

Tigers lead series 1-0

October 21

Hanshin Tigers: 7
Yokohama BayStars: 3

Tigers advance!

Round 2:

October 24

Yomiuri Giants: 12
Hanshin Tigers: 8

WP: Tetsuya Utsumi
LP: Seth Greisinger
S: --

Notes:
Giants had 8-run 5th

Giants lead series 2-0

October 25

Yomiuri Giants: 5
Hanshin Tigers: 3

WP: Dicky Gonzalez
LP: Masaru Takeda
S: Marc Kroon

Giants lead series 3-0

October 26

Yomiuri Giants: 4
Hanshin Tigers: 6

WP: Tsuyoshi Moriyama
LP: Shūgo Fujii
S: Kyuji Fujikawa

Giants lead series 3-1

October 27

Yomiuri Giants: 2
Hanshin Tigers: 4

WP: Minoru Iwata
LP: Norihito Kaneto
S: Kyuji Fujikawa

Giants lead series 3-2

October 28

Yomiuri Giants: 3
Hanshin Tigers: 5

WP: Atsushi Iwata
LP: Tetsuya Yamaguchi
S: Kyuji Fujikawa

Series tied at 3!

October 29

Yomiuri Giants: 7
Hanshin Tigers: 9

WP: Shinji Matsuka
LP: Sawai
S: Kyuji Fujikawa

Tigers win series 4-3!!!

Tigers advance to the championship, and will be playing the Chiba Lotte Marines!

Nippon Baseball Sports News
October 30, 2012
Tigers Stage an Incredible Comeback!

Tokyo Dome, Tokyo – After falling 3 games to none, the Tigers come back and win the series to advance in hopes of winning their first championship in 28 years! Surely, this is a series to remember.

- Yura Seki

Nishinomiya Sports
October 30, 2012
Tigers Win! And Have The Greatest Comeback in History!


Tokyo Dome, Tokyo – The Tigers win! They win! They’re going off to the championship to face the red-hot Marines. This, folks, is a series that will go down in history. The Tigers are down 3 games to none, but somehow, they regroup. They win 4 in a row, to take the League, and head off into the final round of the playoffs. Kyuji Fujikawa had an excellent series, saving all 4 games the Tigers won, without giving up a run. It almost seems as if he left behind his sub-par regular season statistics to bring back the old Fujikawa, right when we need him. And let me tell you, this next series, against the Marines, will NOT be easy.

- Takaharu Sonada

I'll post the final round tomorrow.

*Ahem*
Hanshin Tigers! F*** YEAH! Comin' again to be the m*****f***** champs, yeah!

Congratulations, man!

Thanks, man. I was embarrassingly excited when we won that 4th game. But, it was awesome.

That YES! scared the heck out of me. I clicked on it, and my speakers were cranked from my sister listening to music, and it was loud. My dad's looking at me funny now. Congrats on advancing!! I'm hoping to continue my log, since I haven't played video games since last Monday night or so.

lulz, "THIS VIDEO MADE ME A MAN" - Greatest thing evur


Thanks! And you should continue your log!

"Alright guys, we were swept by them in our last appearance in the finals in 2005. We have to have a strong showing, and show them that we aren't the same team anymore!" I said to the team just before the game started.
"Let's get our first Pennant in 28 years!"

November 3, 2012
Fight For the Pennant!
Game 1

Hanshin Tigers: 4
Chiba Lotte Marines: 1

WP: Tomoharu Yoshimi
LP: Yasuhiko Yabuta
S: Kyuji Fujikawa
HR: Kiyoshi Abe

Tigers lead series 1-0

November 4, 2012
Game 2

Hanshin Tigers: 11
Chiba Lotte Marines: 6

WP: Atsushi Nohmi
LP: Yuki Karakawa
S: --
HR(s): Kim Tae-Kyun, Kazuteru Tani

November 6, 2012
Game 3

Chiba Lotte Marines: 2
Hanshin Tigers: 1

WP: Shunsuke Watanabe
LP: Seth Greisinger
S: Hiroyuki Kobayashi

Tigers lead series 2-1

November 7, 2012
Game 4

Chiba Lotte Marines: 2
Hanshin Tigers: 0

WP: Shingo Ono
LP: Masaru Takeda
S: Hiroyuki Kobayashi
HR: Toshiaki Imae

Series tied at 2

November 8, 2012
Game 5

Chiba Lotte Marines: 1
Hanshin Tigers: 2
F/12

WP: Shinji Matsuka
LP: Hiroki Ueno
S: Kyuji Fujikawa

Tigers lead series 3-2!

Notes:
Shoitsu Ohmatsu is out for 3 days

November 10, 2012
Game 6

Hanshin Tigers: 8
Chiba Lotte Marines: 4

WP: Minoru Iwata
LP: Tomohisa Ohtani
S: --
HR: Saburo Ohmura

Tigers win series 4-2!!!

Nippon Baseball Sports News
November 11, 2012
Tigers Win First Championship in 28 Years!
- Fans cheer on as the Tigers take the Pennant

Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo - The Tigers, who weren't doing their best in the beginning of the season, have won the Pennant! They took the title from the Chiba Lotte Marines in a 6 game epic. Congratulations Tigers, a well deserved win!

- Yura Seki

Nishinomiya Sports
November 11, 2012
Tigers Win!


Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo - The Tigers did it! They won! They won! They won! The Tigers defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines (who had swept them 7 years ago) in a 6 game epic. The whole city was exploding with glee as the Tigers made the final out of game 6. They have done it, 28 year, 28 LONG years, and the Tigers have finally won! We spoke with GM Jack Allen after the party, "Damn. This was a great series. And, thankfully, we came out on top! We won! The Pennant is ours!"

To Jack, and the rest of the team, congratulations. A season we all thought wouldn't amount to anything, with our struggling in the first couple of months, turned out to be the best season I've ever seen.

And thank you. Thank you for giving this to us here in Nishinomiya.

- Takaharu Sonada

"We won!" I said to the team the next as we were all still so excited.
The series was well fought, but in the end, we were victorious.
Champions of Japan, The Hanshin Tigers!

Sweet! Congrats! Also, this is my first post during a summer vacation day, since yesterday was a holiday, and Sat. and Sun. were weekend days. But yeah, winning the pennant is awesome!!

Damn dude, you already have summer vacation? Lucky.

But hey, thanks. It was awesome.

AWARDS

Batting/Pitching:
Pitcher of the Year: Minoru Iwata
Shortstop of the Year: Takashi Toritani
Outfielder of the Year: Kazuteru Tani

Fielding:
Outfielder: Kazuteru Tani, and Matt Murton

Accolades:
Rookie of the Year: Fumihiko Saito
Pitching Rookie of the Year: Tomoharu Yoshimi
Wins: Minoru Iwata
ERA: Minoru Iwata

The Owner came up to me and said, "Jack, you're contract has been extended. You'll be sticking here for at least 5 more years."
And then he left.
I jumped for joy as I left the building and headed home after a long season. We came out on top!

Nishinomiya Sports
November 24, 2012
Big (And Shocking) News

Nishinomiya, Hyōgo - It has just been made official that the Tigers have released veteran third-baseman, Takahiro Arai. He stated that he wanted to leave earlier in the year, seems like the Tigers listened. Kanemoto has made it clear that he will be sticking around for one more year, and is perfectly fine with moving to the bench if needed.

- Takaharu Sonada

I was sad that we had to let him go, but it was what he wanted, so we let him go. I wish him the best of luck, where ever he may be next season.

DRAFT
December 7, 2012

1st Round: Tetsuji Katsuki - OF
AGE, NUMBER, 2ND POSITION, B/T, TRJ, CON, POW, RUN, ARM, FLD, E RES
24, 9, 1B/3B, S/R, 2, C, D, C, A, B, B
2nd Round: Ryo Katsuki - 1B
AGE, NUMBER, 2ND POSITION, B/T, TRJ, CON, POW, RUN, ARM, FLD, E RES
22, 19, N/A, L/L, 3, C, B, B, C, C, C
3rd Round: Michiro Furuhashi - OF
AGE, NUMBER, 2ND POSITION, B/T, TRJ, CON, POW, RUN, ARM, FLD, E RES
28, 67, C/1B, L/R, 3, E, B, E, C, E, E

FA

NAME, AGE, NUMBER, POSITION, 2ND POSITION, B/T, TRJ, CON, POW, RUN, ARM, FLD, E RES
Kazuhiro Wada, 40, 5, OF, N/A, R/R, 3, C, A, E, E, E, C
NAME, NUMBER, TOP SPD, CON, STAM, PITCHES
Hitoki Iwase, 13, 137 km/h (85 mph), B, F, Hard slider - 3, Slider - 2

Very, VERY good off-season. We signed one of the best hitters in the league, we got some serious talent from the draft, and we picked up Iwase, who should help out the bullpen immensely.