2008魔将ウォッチ 4/22

１本塁打4打点と静かな週でしたが、今季初死球！を私が見に行った先週火曜の試合で披露してくれました、さすが魔将！

18試合 74打席 13得点 7本 19打点 .313/.392/.734 （打率／出塁率／長打率）8四球 1死球 12三振

まだ長打率はダントツでセリーグ1位です。打率も3割以上なのですが、これはさすがに2割6－8分あたりで落ち着くでしょう…

2008.4.22 NPB Power Rankings

I’m rather busy at the moment, so I’ll try to keep this short. Previous week’s ranking in brackets.

1. Hanshin Tigers(1) 15-4 .789

Continues to roll right along with yet another 4-1 week. 4 of the top 7 in CL OBP with Akahoshi (.451), Arai (.415), Kanemoto (.413), and Toritani (.395) explain their position up top.

2. Chunichi Dragons(2) 12-6-1 .667

Can stake a claim for the top spot in the Hanshin series starting tonight.

3. Saitama Seibu Lions(3) 14-9-1 .609

Went undefeated in 3 games (2-0-1) in a short 4 game week that got reduced to 3 games by rain. Outslugging the rest of the league with its 26 homeruns, 7 ahead of the nearest competitor.

4. Tokyo Yakult Swallows(4) 9-9 .500

Continues to slip with a 2-3 week. Saw the 2-1 win on Tuesday against Yokohama, but that’s not much to write home about. Lim continues to look fantastic, not allowing a run in 7 appearances while only allowing 5 baserunners. He may return to the setup role when/if Igarashi returns from injury, in which case the duo could become the Betancourt-Borowski of Japan, at the very least.

5. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters(6) 13-11 .542

Another smallballrific week with game scores being 3-3, 2-4, 3-1, 4-2, and 2-4. I saw that last game on Sunday up in Hokkaido, great crowd and a funky dome in the great white north of Japan. Winning record but currently being outscored 69-77. Could they repeat Hanshin’s success last year as a playoff team with a negative run differential? Maybe.

6. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks(5) 13-13 .500

Dropped 2 out of 3 against perennial playoff rivals Fighters for a 2-3 week.

7. Chiba Lotte Marines(8 ) 13-13 .500

Went 3-2 against the Eagles and the Buffaloes to bring the record up to .500.

8. Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles(7) 11-13 .458

A 1-3 week against the Marines and Lions. Iwakuma is in top form as he battles Darvish for the ERA lead with miniscule 0.46.

9. Hiroshima Toyo Carp(10) 7-10-1 .412

Won 2 of 3 against the ever slumping Giants as the teams swap spots.

10. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants(9) 7-12-1 .368

Lost both series against the Dragons and the Carp, losing both of Uehara’s starts as the ace gave up 10 runs in 9 innings over two starts.

11. Orix Buffaloes(11) 10-15 .400

Hitting bombs (19 HR is 2nd in PL) but unable to get hits with any regularity (.219 BA is only 1 point better than league worst Fighters, and probably the worst once adjusted for park factors), and league worst pitching staff sporting 4.10 ERA means the team’s at the bottom of PL.

12. Yokohama BayStars(12) 4-13 .235

Going 1-3 this past week actually raised the team’s winning percentage, can’t get much lower than that.

Aaron Guiel Watch

Still batting over .300, expect that to come down to his more typical 260-280 range though. A relatively quiet week with 1HR and 4RBI as he gave up his CL lead in the latter category, but earned his first HBP of the season in the game I saw at Jingu last Tuesday.

18GP 74PA 13R 7HR 19RBI .313/.392/.734 8BB 1HBP 12K

Pitchers Watch:

Koji Uehara (Giants) – 2 painful starts giving up 10 total runs

4GS 25IP 19/8 K/BB 5HR 17RA 6.12ERA

Kenshin Kawakami (Dragons) – back with the big club yesterday after a short spell in the minors for an unspecified ailment, not scheduled to start in the Tigers series though

2GS 15.2IP 13/1 K/BB 4HR 8RA 4.60ERA

Masahiro “Ma-kun” Tanaka (Eagles)

5GS 41IP 38/15 K/BB 2HR 12RA 2.20ERA

Shota Ohba (Hawks) – the rookie continues to serve up the long ball

5GS 30.2IP 35/4 K/BB 8HR 10RA 3.44ERA

Yu Darvish (Fighters) – yet another CG victory

5GS 43IP 42/5 K/BB 0HR 3RA 0.46ERA 3CG