Central League champion: CHUNICHI DRAGONS
October
The Dragons Tyrone Woods grand slam bought his team closer to league victory on Oct 9.
And the next day Woods contributed a 3 run homer and a grand slam again, giving the
Dragons a 9 to 3 victory over the Giants. It earned the Central League title for this season.
The Dragons, on Oct 8 managed to beat the BayStars. The Tigers, however lost to the Giants in the 10 inning game 1 to 5. The Carp beat the Swallows.
All eyes are on whether the Tigers can keep on winning, and if the Dragons might lose a couple of games from Oct 3. The Dragons won its first 2 games against the Carp, but lost the one on Oct 5. The Tigers didn't give up, winning 2 games against the Swallows from Oct 3. The Giants, won on Oct 3, lost the next day, and won again on Oct 5 on Shinnosuke Abe's 3 run home run.
On Oct 1, the Giants again lost to the Carp. The Swallows beat the BayStars 9 to 4.
Sept
On Sept 29, the Tigers beat the Dragons for its 9th win in a row. But it lost the next day.
The BayStars beat the Swallows on Sept 29 and again the following day.
The Giants took its 5th loss in a row in a game against the Carp on Sept 30.
The Dragons Tyrone Woods blasted 2 home runs for his team's 5 to 4 win over the BayStars on Sept 26. The Dragons won the next too games. The Tigers, which is trying to catch up also won all 3 games from Sept 26 against the Carp. The Giants lost against the Swallos on Sept 27 and the next day.
The Dragons Tyrone Woods grandslammed to help his team beat the Swallows 9 to 1 on Sept 22. The Swallows losing streak ended at 3 the next day and won again the following day. The Carp beat the BayStars on Sept 22 and again the next day. But the BayStars won with the comeback of Matt Krone on Sept 24. The Tigers clobbered the Giants 11 to 2 on Sept 23 and won again the next day.
The Dragons beat the BayStars on Sept 18 but lost a see-saw game the next day. The Dragons won on Sept 20. The Tigers in the 11th inning had a lucky win against the Swallows on Sept 18, and won the next day too. The Carp managed to halt it's losing streak at 4, by beating the Giants 4 to 3 on Sept 18. The Giants Hiroki Kokubo grandslammed to help his team win 7 to 5, the next day.
The top 2 teams faced eachother from Sept 15.The Dragons won 2 games in a row. The Sept 16 game was special as pitcher Masa Yamamoto achieved a no-hitter game as the oldest pitcher at age 41. The following day, the Tigers won with a homer by Tomoaki Kanemoto. On Sept 16, the Giants beat the BayStars. But lost the next day. The Swallows Alex Ramirez marked his 100th RBI on Sept 16 to help his team beat the Carp 4 to 3.
The Dragons clobbered the Giants on Sept 11. The Tigers that day beat the Carp with 2 homers by Tomoaki Kanemoto. The 2 days it won too. The BayStars Shuichi Murata's home run helped his team defeat the Swallows on Sept 14.
The Dragons on Sept 8 lost in the 10th inning to the Carp. It managed to win the next day on Alex Ochoa's home run. On Sept 10, it won with a series of home runs, 12 to 4. The Giants beat the Swallows in all 3 games from Sept 8. The Tigers defeated the BayStars on Sept 9 and 10.
On Sept 5, the Dragons beat the Swallows, but lost the next 2 games. The Giants lost to the Tigers on Sept 5, and thanks to Lee Seung Yeop's 2 homers on Sept 7, the Giants won 3 to 0. The BayStars succumbed to its 7th straight loss in a game against the Carp on Sept 5, but ended the losing streak on Sept 7.
On Sept 2, the Dragons beat the Giants with Kosuke Fukudome's 3 run home run. But the next day, the Giants Chiang Chien-ming shut out the Dragons in a 4 to 0 game. The Tigers on Sept 2 beat the BayStars and so did it the next day. The Swallows Akinori Iwamura slammed 2 homers, and took the team to a 8 to 4 win over the Carp on Sept 2. The Carp won the next day.
League standing as of end of Sept
1. Chunichi Dragons
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
4. Yomiuri Giants
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
Aug
The Tigers tried to fight it chance to win the league by facing the Dragons from Aug 29.
It won the first game with homers.
The next day it finished the game a draw.
On Aug 31, the Tigers won on Osamu Hamanaka's 2 run home run.
On Aug 29, the Giants defeated the Carp 6 to 0 to promote itself to 4th place.
The Giants won again the next day, but lost on Aug 31.
On Aug 29, the Swallows Adam Riggs and Hiroyasu Tanaka homered for the team's 4 to 1 win over the BayStars.
Riggs homered a 2 run the next day to help his team win.On Aug 31, it won again.
The Dragons on Aug 26, marked its 4th loss in a row in a game against the BayStars. But the next day, Tanishige hit well to stop his team's losing streak. The Giants Koji Uehara on Aug 25, marked his 100th career win in a 5 to 2 game against the Tigers. The Giants Hiroki Kokubo homered on Aug 26, and Tetsuyam Utsumi won his 10th game. The next day, the Tigers stopped its losing streak at 5.
The Dragons, on Aug 22,clinched the game against the Swallows in the 12th inning on Alex Ochoa's RBI hit. It lost the next 2 days. The Tigers lost to the Carp 3 days in a row from Aug 22. The Giants new pitcher from Taiwan Chiang Chien-ming contributed in a 3 to 1 game against the BayStars on Aug 22. The Giants won again the next day, but lost on Aug 24 to hits by the BayStars Shuichi Murata.
The Dragons starter Kenshin Kawakami clinched his 14th win on Aug 18 against the Giants in a 6 to 1 game. The Dragons beat the Giants the next day too, 3 to 0. On Aug 20, the Giants at last won. Young pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi pitched well. The Tigers lost to the Swallows 11 to 12 on Aug 18, but won the next 2 days. The Carp beat the BayStars on Aug 18. The BayStars won the next 2 days.
The Tigers celebrated Tomoaki Kanemoto's 1000th game of full appearance with a 6 to 1 win over the BayStars on Aug 15. The next day the Tigers won on Osamu Hamanaka's game winning hit in the 10th inning. But on Aug 17, it lost. The Dragons lost on Aug 15 to the Carp, but won the next day with home runs by Motonobu Tanishige and Alex Ochoa. The Giants beat the Swallows 10 to 3 on Aug 15, but lost the next day to Adam Riggs 3 run home run in a 2 to 11 game. On Aug 17, the Giants Jeremy Powell won his first game in over 80 days.
The top 2 teams faced either from Aug 11. The Dragons clinched a competitive game the first day, and the next day won by a huge margin 11 to 1. It won again on Aug 13. The BayStars won 6 to 1 over the Swallows on Aug 11, but lost the next day to Akinori Iwamura's 2 home runs. It's 0 t 2. nd it lost on Aug 13, 3 to 8. On Aug 11, the Giants lost to the Carp 1 to 2 and fell to 5th place and lost again the next day. On Aug 13, the Giants at last defeated the Carp 11 to 6.
In the only game of the league on Aug 8, the Tigers defeated the BayStars 4 to 1. The next day the Tigers won again for its 5th straight win. On Aug 9, the Tigers was in a mess with a players and the skipper Akinobu Okada suspended after arguing with the umpire and also lost 6 to 10. On Aug 9, the Dragons managed to win with 2 home runs by Tyrone Woods, and a home run by Kosuke Fukudome to defeat the Carp 8 to 6. The Giants beat the Swallows and emerged to 4th place on Aug 9, while the Carp fell to 5th place. But the Giants lost the next day 2 to 7.
The Dragons on Aug 4 defeated the Swallows,and the next 2 days as well. The Giants lost to the BayStars on Aug 4, and as a result the Giants fell to last place. But the next day, with Lee Seung Yeop's 3 RBIs defeated the BayStars and returned to 5th place. On Aug 6, Yoshinobu Takahashi's homer helped set the stage for the Giants 4 to 1 win. The Tigers on Aug 5 clinched the game from the Carp 11 to 7 and then again the next day on Tomoaki Kanemoto's 3 run home run.
On Aug 1, the Dragons lost for the first time in 7 games. It's 3 to 4 to the BayStars. Then it lost again on Aug 2. The Dragons won on Aug 3, 9 to 7. The Giants Lee Seung Yeop marked his career 400th home run. And in the 9th he drove in a dramatic 2 run, to take his team to a 4 to 2 victory over the Tigers. Lee helped the Giants win again the next day with a 2 run homer. The Giants however lost 1 to 5 on Aug 3. The Swallows Akinori Iwamura slammed 2 home runs, and Greg LaRocca a 3 run for the team's 8 to 3 win over the Carp on Aug 1. The teams finished a draw the next day. The Carp won on Aug 3, 2 to 1.
League standing as of end of Aug
1. Chunichi Dragons
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
4. Yomiuri Giants
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
July
The Dragons Kosuke Fukudome contributed again in the game against the Giants on Jul 28 to win 2 to 0.
The Dragons won the next 2 games.
The Tigers won on Akihiro Yano's sacrifice fly against the Swallows, 2 to 1 on Jul 28 and
won the next day too. On Jul 30, it was a draw.
The Carp's Shigenobu Shima slammed a 2 run for his team's 2 to 1 win over the BayStars on Jul 28.
Shima homered and hit in a total of 4 RBIs the next day to take his team to a 6 to 3 win.
On Jul 30, the BayStars won 10 to 4.
In the first game after the all star break on Jul 25, the Dragons Kosuke Fukudome got the team going with his RBI hits over Kei Igawa, beating the Tigers 7 to 2. The Dragons won again on Jul 26, 5 to 2 and the next day on home runs by Tyrone Woods and Kosuke Fukudome. The Giants lost to the Carp 2 to 4 despite Lee Seung Yeop's home run on Jul 25, but managed to win the next day with homers by George Arias, Shinnosuke Abe and Yoshiyuki Kamei. On Jul 27, the Giants won an 11 inning game, 5 to 4. The Swallows clobbered the BayStars 10 to 1 on Jul 25. But the BayStars won the next day.
The rainy season has been disrupting games. On Jul 17, the Dragons and the BayStars finished a draw in the middle of the game due to rain. The Swallows beat the Carp 10 to 1. The Giants played only on Jul 19 against Tigers and lost 0 to 1.
From Jul 14 the top 2 teams faced eachother. The Tigers won 7 to 2 against the Dragons then again 2 to 1 thanks to Tomoaki Kanemoto's RBI hit. On Jul 16, the Dragons won on Motonobu Tanishige's 2 run home run. The BayStars beat the Carp in a 10 inning game, 2 to 1 on Jul 14. On Jul 16, the Carp won 4 to 2 on Tomonori Maeda's home run. The Giants lost its 9th game in a row against the Swallows in a 3 to 4 game on Jul 14. The Giants losing streak ended the next day with a 11 to 9 victory. The Giants won again on Jul 16, 4 to 3 thanks to Kenji Yano's home run.
The Dragons won its 8th game in a row on Jul 11. It's against the Swallows in a 5 to 3 game. The Tigers beat the Carp 2 to 1 that day, and again the next day, 4 to 2. The Giants lost its 7th game in a row on Jul 11. It's in a 1 to 5 game against the BayStars. It lost on Jul 12 as well.
The Giants lost on July 7 and the next day too to the Carp and fell to 5th place. It lost again on Jul 9. The Dragons defeated the BayStars on July 8. The Swallows beat the Tigers on 4 to 3 on Jul 9.
The Dragons defeated the Giants in all 3 games from Jul 4. The Tigers beat the BayStars on Jul 4,lost the next day practically due to heavy rain, and won on Jul 6, 2 to 1. The Carp lost 2 games in a row against the Swallows from Jul 4 but won on Jul 6 , 7 to 6.
The Giants losing streak ended on July 1 at 10 and Koji Uehara earned his 3rd win. It's in a 4 to 2 game against the Tigers. The next day the Giants Tetsuya Utsumi shut out the Tigers. The Dragons clinched a see-saw game against the Carp on July 1, but it lost the next day as the Carp's Hiroki Kuroda hurled a shut out game. The BayStars Tatsuhiko Kinjo finished the game with his hit, 2 to 1 over the Swallows on July 2. The following day, the Swallows won.
League standing as of end of July
1. Chunichi Dragons
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yomiuri Giants
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
June
The Dragons tied with the Carp 5 to 5 on June 30.
The Tigers clobbered the Giants 11 to 0.
The BayStars clinched an 11th inning game against the Swallows 7 to 6.
The Dragons lost on June 27 against the Swallows 1 to 3, but won the next day 6 to 3 on Tyron Woods home run and the following day too on Hidenori's 2 run home run, 6 to 4. The Tigers finished the game a draw on June 27 against the Carp, but won the next day on Tomoaki Kanemoto's 2 run home run. The Giants succumbed to its 9th loss in a row in its 1 to 3 game against the BayStars on June 29.
Games were back to matches within the league from June 23. The Swallows Rick Guttormson contribute with his bat, hitting in 2 runs, and also earned his 5th win in a 7 to 4 game against the Tigers. The Swallows beat the Tigers the next day again 6 to 3. On June 25, the Tigers won 3 to 1. The Carp's Sean Douglass clinched in 9th win in a 2 to 1 game over the BayStars on June 23. The BayStars won the next day 9 to 6. The Giants lost 4 to 2 to the Dragons and fell to 4th place on June 23 and the next 2 days too.
League standing as of June 30
1. Chunichi Dragons
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
4. Yomiuri Giants
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
May
The Giants lost 5 to 10 to the Swallows in a homerun competition on May 5, but the next day rookie Tetsuya Utsumi hurled over the distance and won.
The Giants won on May 7 too.
On May 5, the Tigers Akihiro Yano blasted 3 home runs and his team won 13 to 11 against the BayStars. The Tigers lost the next day 4 to 1 but won on May 7.
The Carp clinched its 3rd win in a row on May 5 in a 9 to 5 game against the Dragons, lost the next day 1 to 6, but won on May 7.
The Tigers Kentaro Sekimoto ended the game against the Giants on May 2 with a home run. It's 5 to 4. The Giants won the next day, but the day after, the Tigers clinched the game in the 10th inning, this time on Akihiro Yano's RBI. The Swallows skipper and player Atsuya Furuta drove in a run to finish the game 2 to 1 against the Carp on May 2. The Swallows lost the next 2 games. And BTW, Shinji Sasaoka of the Carp marked his 100th win on May 4. The Dragons Kenshin Kawakami shut out the BayStars in a 4 to 0 game on May 2. The Dragons went on to win the next 2 games.
League standing as of May 31
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yomiuri Giants
4. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
April
On Apr 28 the Giants defeated the Dragons. It was the other way around the next day.
On Apr 30, the Giants Tomohiro Nioka did something unheard of. He grand slammed twice. He also had a 2 run home run. The Giants won 15 to 4.
The Swallows beat the Tigers on Greg LaRocca's 3 run home run on Apr 28, 2 to 6. The Tigers won the next 2 games.
The BayStars Takahiro Saeki blasted a 3 run home run on Apr 28 to help his team win 4 to 3 over the BayStars. But the Carp won on Apr 30
The Giants Jeremy Powell won his 4th game on Apr 25, hurling over the distance in a 3 to 1 game against the Carp. The 2 teams tied the next day. On Apr 27, the Carp won 7 to 0. The Tigers Osamu Hamanaka blasted a 3 run homer on Apr 25, and a solo home run to take the Tigers to a 10 to 2 win over the BayStars. The Tigers clinched the next 2 games. Tyron Woods 2 run homerun helped the Dragons defeat the Swallows 7 to 2 on Apr 25. The Dragons won the next day, but lost on Apr 27.
A competitive game of Tigers vs the Giants on Apr 21 was ended with South Korean slugger, Lee Seung Yeop's 2 run home run in the 11th inning for a 3 to 2 finish. The next day the Giants won on Kenji Yano's 3 run home run, 6 to 1, but lost on Apr 23 as the Tigers Makoto Imaoka blasted a 3 run homer. On Apr 21, the Swallows smashed the BayStars Marc Kroon to win 5 to 4. The next day 2 days, the BayStars won. On Apr 23, the Carp stopped its winning streak with Shigenobu Shima's 2 home runs. It's 13 to 0 against the Dragons.
On Apr 18, the Giants' Jeremy Powell shut out the Swallows in a 1 to 0 game. But the next day the Giants winning streak ended in a 2 to 8 game. The Dragons Tyron Woods blasted a 2 run home run to take his team to a 3 to 0 win over the Tigers on Apr 18, and he finished the game the next to win 4 to 3. The Carp defeated the BayStars 12 to 3 on Apr 18 but lost the next day 3 to 4 and the day after 5 to 12.
The Tigers Kei Igawa marked his 1000th strike out on Apr 14, and earned a win in a 7 to 0 game against the Carp. The next day the Tigers won thanks to contributions by Andy Sheets. But it lost on Apr 16 1 to 2. The BayStars and the Giants finished a 5 hour game on Apr 14 a tie. On Apr 16, the Giants won 8 to 7. The Swallows Atsuya Furuta marked his 2000th hit that day and won the game against the Dragons 2 to 1.
The only match on Apr 11 was the Giants against the Carp. Jeremy Powell who was formally with the Buffaloes hurled over the distance for his 2nd win in a 5 to 0 game.The next day, the Giants beat the Carp again with homers by Kenji Yano and Yoshinobu Takahashi. On Apr 13, 38-year old Masumi Kuwata earned his first win in 600 days in a 9 to 1 game. The Tigers, on Apr 12 lost to the Dragons 5 to 7, and again the next day. The BayStars beat the Swallows that day 2 to 0.
On Apr 7,The Giants Koji Uehara, in the 9th inning succumbed to the Dragons Kazuyoshi Tatsunami's grand slam and lost 1 to 5. But the next 2 games, the Giants won. Greg LaRocca who's this season playing for the Swallows blasted 2 homers to help his team win over his former team the Carp 8 to 2 on Apr 7. However, the Swallows los the next 2 games. The Tigers beat the BayStars 5 to 2 on Apr 7. The next day, the Tigers Tomoaki Kanemoto marked a record tie of consecutive game appearance with Cal Ripken Jr. On Apr 9, Kanemoto broke the world record, and his team clinched it too.
Former Major League Kazuhisa Ishii started for the first time since his return to Japanese baseball on Apr 4. It's with the Swallows. But he gave up a 200th memorial home run to Yoshinobu Takahashi and an RBI hit to Hiroki Kokubo. In the end the Giants won 5 to 4. The Giants won agains the next day 9 to 2. In that game 42 year old Kimiyasu Kudo pitched well. However the Giants had a disaster in that game. Pitcher Hisanori Takahashi who was sitting in the pinch was hit by a foul ball and fracture his face bone. On Apr 6 the Giants won against 7 to 4. n The BayStars and the Dragons played a dynamic game on Apr 4 which included Tyron Wood's grand slam, and 2 homers by Hitoshi Tamura. But the game finished an 8 to 8 tie. On Apr 6 the Dragons won 3 to 2. After a rain out day, on Apr 5 the Tigers clobbered the Carp with 2 home runs by Osamu Hamanaka. It's 10 to 1. On Apr 6, the teams finished a tie.
On Apr 1, the Swallows clinched the game in the final inning 3 to over the Tigers, but lost the next day. The Dragons won its 2 games against the Carp, and both were 3 to 2. The BayStars Shuichi Murata blasted a 3 run homer and a solo too on Apr 1 to defeat the Giants 9 to 1. But in the 3rd game Lee Seung Yeop and Yoshinobu Takahashi's consecutive homers helped the Giants win 7 to 4.
League standing as of April 30
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Hanshin Tigers
4. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
March
Opening the season on Mar 31, the Tigers faced the Swallows led by new skipper Atsuya Furuta who dubs as the team's long time catcher as well.
The Swallows won 4 to 3.
The Giants blasted. It's new South Korean player Lee Seung Yeop homered.
Koji Uehara hurled over the distance to win 12 to 2 over the BayStars.
The Carp beat the Dragons 2 to 0. Its the first win for its American skipper Marty Brown.
LAST SEASON CHAMPION: HANSHIN TIGERS
Final league standing in 2005
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yokohama Bay Stars
4. Yakult Swallows
5. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants
6. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
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