BASEBALL
Hawks, Swallows win in Climax Series
The Softbank Hawks and Yakult Swallows were winners in Climax Series action on Friday night. In the Pacific League, the Hawks downed the Seibu Lions 7-2, while the Swallows beat the Chunichi Dragons 2-1 in the Central League.
Softbank was clinging to a 3-2 lead with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning at Yahoo Dome when third baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka put the game away with a grand slam home run off Lions closer Kazuhisa Makita. The Hawks are now just one win away from a trip to the Japan Series.
Swallows starting pitcher Kyohei Muranaka and five relievers limited the Dragons to five hits at Nagoya Dome. Second baseman Ryosuke Morioka and centerfielder Norichika Aoki had RBI singles for Yakult, which won its second consecutive game to even the series at two games apiece.
The Hawks and Lions return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Yahoo Dome, while the Swallows and Dragons play at 6 p.m. at Nagoya Dome.
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15 Comments
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Tel Porter
So currently am I correct in saying that Central League is locked up at 2-2 while Hawks are 3-0 over Seibu in Pacific League?
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pawatan
That is correct!
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Tel Porter
All bird Japan Series is my prediction.
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pawatan
Seems like a good one. Swallows over Hawks!
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jinjapan
not only do the hawks start the series with a 1-0 advantage, all the games are played at hawks home field. what a scam !!
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pawatan
The Lions deserve a distinct disadvantage for sucking all season. The Hawks deserve an advantage for winning the league by 17.5 games. As Lotte proved last year, these disadvantages are not impossible to overcome if you are a quality team (which Seibu clearly is not).
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jinjapan
if they're that good ,they shouldn't need such an advantage . then the weaker team should get the handicap . isn't that how handicaps usually work ?
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pawatan
They don't need the advantage; they earned the advantage. There should be a reward for winning your league and a simple 1 game advantage like in MLB is just not enough. I like the punitive nature of the system - you have a chance, but you better be damn good if you don't finish first. Like Lotte last year.
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calm down
I'm with pawatan everywhere..except the final,history wont repeat, Hawks couple of classes above the rest and look set to tear strips off the Dragons in the final
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multitasker
Yeah, Lions were outclassed by a great Hawks team, but I hope they lose to whoever wins the CL. Next year, the NBL will have 3 divisions, with 1 wild card. You watch! (yeah, right!)
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multitasker
Hey, P. What happened to the Marines this year? I know they lost Nishioka, but why did they finish last? And do you think Iguchi will be back?
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pawatan
It was the perfect storm of tons of injuries, bad player moves (always bad karma to trade your player rep unexpectedly during the season, getting nothing in return, and to the Giants to boot) and bad gameday coaching.
They didn't have much power last year and with the new ball, lack of power bats (Kim Tae Kyun, biggest power hitter on the team, hit one or two on the season before calling it quits in June) the team only had 46 all year. The entire team! They were hanging tight until late July but fell apart once Iguchi stopped hitting.
He'll be back, unfortunately - he's great half the year and a giant lead anchor around the offense the rest of the year. We got away with it last year but no chance this year.
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papaclanc
Pawatan, what exactly do you *mean *by this? Whether or not they have "earned" the advantage is irrelevant and certainly not jinjapans point.
The point was it is an unnecessary advantage if a team is stronger. I agree. If you look at MLB, this past post-season was very entertaining, with multiple upsets that would have been nigh impossible here.
For me, the team that wins the division title *does *get something, namely the recognition of *being *the season title holder. The postseason should be a separate season, and the only advantage should be the one extra home game.
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pawatan
Au contraire! As has been mentioned before my Chiba Lotte Marines won 6 out of 8 consecutive road games to get to the Nippon Series last year, then won another two in the series (and two more at home) to win it all. It was shockingly entertaining, probably much more than the MLB playoffs this year.
We Lotte fans migrated en masse to Seibu for the first round games - outnumbering Seibu fans in their stadium. How awesome!
Nah, it's just not enough. The playing field shouldn't be so level.
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papaclanc
Youre right, one team did it last year in Japan (and it was stirring), but its certainly not the norm.
At any rate, I like the idea of the postseason being a fresh start. Never dug games of loaded dice.
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