BASEBALL
Hawks win Japan Series with 3-0 shutout of Dragons in game 7
The Softbank Hawks shut out the Chunichi Dragons 3-0 in the decisive seventh game of the Japan Series at Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka on Sunday night. The victory was the first by a home team in the series, and it gave the Hawks their first Nippon Professional Baseball title since 2003.
Softbank opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning on shortstop Munenori Kawasaki’s bases loaded walk off Dragons reliever Masato Kobayashi. Catcher Katsuki Yamazaki added an RBI single in the fourth, and left fielder Seiichi Uchikawa completed the scoring with a two-out RBI single in the seventh.
Hawks starter Toshiya Sugiuchi pitched seven clutch innings, limiting the Dragons to just three hits while striking out eight. Relievers Brian Falkenborg, Masahiko Morifuku and Tadashi Settsu recorded the final six outs, giving the Hawks their fifth Japan Series title in franchise history.
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17 Comments
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0
NetNinja
This is very good for Japanese Baseball.
For some years now the NPB has been in debt. The Yomuiri Giants own the lion's share of the blame buying up and purchasing all the talent they could in order to win Championship. Finally after many years it would appear that the Pacific League is on par for balancing out the league
Currently only 4 teams in the Central League are profitable (Ticket Sales, Merchandising) Hanshin, Yomuiri, Chunichi, and Yakult. The other two aren't making money
Pacific League Softbank, Nippon Ham Fighters and Rakuten and Chiba Of course, there's one more team. Hahahhahahaha
Now here's my question. Congratulations Softbank, Otosan!! Will we get a discount this month or just more cute commercials?
0
afterthequake
Congrats to the Hawks for winning their 5th World Series!!!!
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ironchef
Dragons didn't deserve to win. Their hitting was atrocious throughout the series. I feel sorry that Ochiai had to go out like that, but the Hawks were just better overall.
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gyouza
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gyouza
Ah - got it! the game was 3-0. Apologies! Was looking at the big picture!
0
shanabelle
And now it looks like the Giants are trying to buy up all of Soft Bank's stars..Murata, Sugiuchi, Houlton, ...typical! Ginats, just but the whole team and be done with it!!
1
Yubaru
NPB is not interested in giving all the teams a fair chance at winning, never going to happen either as long as Watanabe heads the Giants.
Congrats to SB, they were the better team and earned the victory.
-2
Dotobock
Hawks won well deserved. They should have won by more than 3 runs. In one inning they had no outs and bases loaded then the next 3 batters were not able to drive in runs. Hawks is a big team. They have lots of money. They almost always play in front of full or nearly full capacity at home. The fans in Kyushu are great. The 4 big teams in Japan are. Giants, Tigers, Dragons and Hawks. These teams probably make some money the other 8 teams probably do not make money from their baseball teams. All of the four big teams buy free agents, not only Giants. Tamura and Uchikawa came from Yokohama, Hosokawa from Seibu, Kokubo from Giants. The Hawks have a lot of imports. Uchikawa who is arguably the best hitter in Japan came to Fukuoka from Yokohama this season. The reason why Uchikawa chose Hawks was because he wanted to go to the best team possible. He was tired of playing for the worst team in Japan.
The Dragons line up was not very impressive. Tanishige in the post season was 0 for 45!!! THe only hitter who was actually hitting for Dragons was Araki the lead off. He was hitting somewhere around 300 in the post season. The other players were hitting below 100. THough Blanco looked OK in the last game getting two hits. Once Hawks got more than 2 runs, with the weak line up Dragons have I knew it would be almost impossible for Dragons to catch up.
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billyshears
Inning after inning of average pitching and totally inept batting. It's pretty much the same in both leagues. Japanese baseball is going down the drain
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Dotobock
Sugiuchi is a quality pitcher though. In the last WBC he was outstanding. He has had many solid seasons but Dragons line up is not very good, I agree. Their baseball is to get one or two runs then holding onto the lead with good pitching and bull pen. It has worked but it is not very entertaining watch. Japanese baseball is not going down the drain, far from it. This Hawks team was solid. I would like to see this team play against the best team in the world. I am sure they can beat any team on a good day.
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billyshears
If you don't think Japanese baseball is going down the drain (becoming less and less popular and losing a lot of athletic youngsters to soccer), how do you explain the continuing plummet in TV ratings (even the "climax series" was not televised on regular channels and Yomiuri have almost completely dropped their everyday coverage of the Giants) and declining attendances coupled with the woeful abilities of most professionals that allows many veterans over 35 to continue playing? That Nihon Series, despite playing out to the last game, was a total bore to watch for the neutral because of the complete ineptness of the batting. Even some of the fans of the finalists must have found themselves nodding off at times.
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lostrune2
In baseball, more than most sports, one team can beat any team on a good day. That's why they play so many games (144-162) in order to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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Dotobock
The attendance in baseball has not changed much over the past 20 or 30 years quite contrary to what some newbies think. The 4 big teams play in nearly full capacity almost daily and the rest play in emtpy stadiums. Actually, Tigers used to play in empty stadiums up until quite recent and so did Dragons when they played in Nagoya Stadium before the dome. So what you say could not be further from the truth. Either you are panic mongering or you enjoy being negative. As for TV, people watch less TV now. If you want to watch baseball you can watch it on the internet, cable. You need to pay for it. It is the same trend in soccer in Europe too. They have stopped televising most games. While baseball is not the only team sport in Japan any more and soccer is gaining popularity J League is no where near pro baseball´s popularity. If Japan´s baseball is going down the drain then I doubt Japan would be back to back WBC champions. The level is high and so is the popularity. If you are one of those vulgar obese flag waving American types then I suggest you to stick to American baseball.
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Dotobock
So they play 144 games in Japan Series? The things I learn on the internet.
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pawatan
Completely incorrect, unless NHK is no longer a "regular channel".
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pawatan
Dotobock
What is an "empty stadium"? The worst average attendance this year was Yokohama, and they still averaged ~16,000 or so.
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Dotobock
WHat I meant by an empty stadium was maybe 40% to 70% or so. Something in that range. While teams like Yokohama do not draw that much on weekday nights they do however draw a lot of people on weekends. Like all other teams in Japan. This as far as I can remember has been the same. Attendance do go up and down slightly each year but not all that much. It is pretty stable. I actually prefer half empty stadiums. I can easily move around and get good seats and the trains are less crowded when you leave and the atmosphere is always good whether the stadiums are packed or not.
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