2008.4.14 NPB Power Rankings
Posted by simoncurrie on 2008 April 14日 Monday
Previous week’s ranking in brackets. Still tight as ever in the PL with the 5 teams (except Orix) within 2 games of the league leader. And thanks to westbaystars’ pitching game scores comment at EWC, we know whose been rocking early this season.
1. Hanshin Tigers(3) 11-3 .786
Went 4 – 1 last week, and big bro “Aniki” Kanemoto got his 2000th hit to ensure his place in the Meikyukai (the old boys club version of a hall of fame).
2. Chunichi Dragons(1) 8-5-1 .615
A tough week going 2 – 3 losing close fought games to Hanshin, then beating up on Hiroshima. Losses were by 2 runs or less though.
3. Saitama Seibu Lions(4) 12-9 .571
A win some, lose some 3 – 3 week. But Brazell is absolutely smokin’ right now, he already has 8 homeruns which is 3 more than anyone else in the league, smashing one of them in a 15-5 win over Chiba.
4. Tokyo Yakult Swallows(2) 7-6 .538
An even tougher week going 1 – 3, a loss to the Carp sandwiched by rainouts, and losing the series against the Giants. Losses here were also by 2 runs or less.
5. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks(6) 11-10 .524
Dropped 2 games against Orix, but won 2 against Seibu. Hitting just fine, but not getting consistent pitching performance with their super staff, on paper, allowing 4.2 runs per game, the second worst in the PL.
6. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters(7) 11-9 .550
A 4 – 2 week where 1 win was by 2 runs, and all remaining games were decided by 1 run, including a 1-0 nailbiter shutout win by Darvish over Iwakuma’s Eagles. Being a fighters fan must do bad things to your heart.
7. Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles(5) 10-10 .500
Swept Orix, but got swept by the Fighters. Two great pitching performances with a 0-1 complete game loss by Iwakuma, and a 3-0 shutout by Tanaka.
8. Chiba Lotte Marines(8) 10-11 .476
A Jekyll and Hyde week slugging it out in the Seibu series (18 RS – 19 RA), then a series of pitching duels against the Fighters (6 RS – 5 RA).
9. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants(10) 5-8-1 .385
The sleeping Giant half awoke, going 3-1-1 against the crosstown Swallows and the lowly BayStars.
10. Hiroshima Toyo Carp(11) 5-7-1 .417
Rain washed away 2 games, 2 gritty wins, and 2 blowout losses to Chunichi last week.
11. Orix Buffaloes(9) 8-13 .381
Starting to slip from the PL pack with a 2-4 week. Getting swept by the Eagles, including a brilliant 10K shutout performance by Tanaka, is not a good sign.
A 1-3 week where they offered a helping hand in reviving the Giants, and they also played the Tigers. You can’t win games when you score 2.8 runs per game in a hitters park (and allow 5.3 runs per game).
The man keeps on slugging, in fact he managed to raise his slugging percentage over the past week, amazingly enough.
13GP 54PA 11R 6HR 15RBI .340/.426/.830 7BB 0HBP
NPB Power Rankings | said
[...] together some Korean Power Rankings later today, but you can satiate your PR urges right now with Simon’s latest edition covering the NPB. A few changes and a new team at the [...]
westbaystars said
Chunichi’s Kawakami was sent down to ni-gun a couple days ago due to an illness. So he won’t be back for a little more than a week. I didn’t see what the illness was, just “体調不良.”
simoncurrie said
Thanks for the link Aaron and for the info on Kawakami, Westbaystars-san. 体調不良 eh, good ol’ vagueness at work. Yeah, no additional info on his diary either, as expected.
http://www.kk11.jp/diary.html
Sponichi speculates that he’ll be back on the top team and pitching on the 22nd. Guess, we’ll see.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2008/04/12/14.html