Climax Series
2nd stage: Giants vs Dragons
The series began on Oct 22 at the Tokyo Dome.
The Dragons Lee Byung Kyu hit it off with a home run. Tyrone Woods followed.
The Giants equalized on Yoshitomo Tani's home run.
The Dragons Norihiro Nakamura hit in a run to take the lead.
The Giants lost 3 to 4. The Dragons tied with the Giants with 1 game win each.
The Giants already before the game was given a win as it's the league champion.
On Oct 23, the Giants blasted. Michihiro Ogasawara slammed a 2 run home run, then
grand slammed.
Alex Ramirez blasted a 2 run homer. Lee Seung Yeop homered too.
The Giants won the 2nd game 11 to 2.
On Oct 24, the Giants starter was Tetsuya Utsumi. For the Dragons, Kenshin Kawakami.
The Giants catcher Kazunari Tsuruoka sitting in for Shinnosuke Abe homered.
The Dragons Kazuhiro Wada slammed a 2 run.
Lee Seung Yeop gave the Giants a lead with a 3 run homer.
Tyrone Woods homered. The Dragons equalized with Motonobu Tanishige's double.
The game ended in the 12th inning a 5 to 5 tie.
The Giants need only 1 more win to advance to the Japan Series.
On Oct 25, Tyrone Woods homered, and on his sacrifice fly, the Dragons took the lead.
The Giants Alex Ramirez with a 2 run homer took over the lead from the Dragons.
In the end,the Giants won 6 to 2.
Ramirez was named MVP.
1st stage: Tigers vs Dragons
The series kicked off on Oct 18. Dragons ace pitcher Kenshin Kawakami was back
after an injury. He pitched well.
And his teammate supported him. Tyrone Wood hit in a run.
Masahiko Morino slammed a home run. The Dragons won 2 to 0.
On Oct 19 the Tigers Takashi Toritani homered twice garnering 4 runs for his team.
The Tigers won 7 to 3 against the Dragons.
The game on Oct 20 was a good game. But it was in the last inning, that the game moved.
Tyrone Woods slammed a 2 run home run off Kyuji Fujikawa.
With this win, the Dragons won the 1st stage.
The Tigers skipper Akinobu Okada was in tears as it's his final game as he's leaving the team after this season.
October
On Oct 10, if the Giants lose and the Tigers win, the Giants would clinch the pennant.
That's what happened. The Giants, on Shinnosuke Abe's home run and an RBI double beat the Swallows.
The Tigers had a good start with homers by Tomoaki Kanemoto and Kenichi Sekimoto but
the BayStars Shuichi Murata slammed a 3 run home run. The Tigers lost.
The Giants won the Central League pennant 2 years in a row.
The top 2 teams faced eachother on Oct 8. The Giants Lee Seung Yeop doubled a 2 RBI. Alex Ramirez homered. The Giants won 3 to 1 and gained 1st place. The Tigers fell to 2nd.
On Oct 6, the Tigers lost to the Swallows. The Giants didn't have a game. The teams tied for first place.
On Oct 3, the Tigers lost to the Swallows, the Giants didn't play. The Tigers was back tying for the league title with
the Giants.
The Dragons on that day won its 6th game in a row while the BayStars lost its 14th consecutive game.
On Oct 4, the Tigers tied against the Swallows. The Giants lost to the Dragons and dropped to 2nd place.
Final league standing.
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Chunichi Dragons
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yakult Swallows
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
September
On Sept 29 the Tigers Makoto Imaoka homered. Tomoaki Kanemoto had a 2 run homer. The Tigers beat the Carp
and the Carp fell to 4th place. The Carp lost against the next day.
On Sept 27, the Giants and the Tigers faced eachother. The Giants Lee Seung Yeop had 2 run homer, and helped the Giants win and tie with the Tigers for first place. The next day, the Tigers won and the Giants was back to 2nd. By the way, that day the Carp played its final game at the Hiroshima Stadium which will be demolished after 51 years. The Carp beat the Swallows in front of a crowd of 30,609. The Carp will have a new stadium to start the new season next year.
On Sept 22, the Giants played against the Carp. The Tigers the BayStars. The top 2 teams both won. The next day, both the Giants and the Tigers played a 12 inning game and tied. So both teams were still tied for 1st place. But on Sept 25 the Tigers won and the Giants lost. The Giants fell to 2nd place.
From Sept 19, the Giants faced the Tigers. And a miracle. The Giants defeated the Tigers in all 3 games and tied for 1st place. The Giants also extended its winning streak to 10.
The Giants winning streak extended to 6 on Sept 16, beating the BayStars with Lee Seung Yeop's 3 homers.The Giants also beat the BayStars the next day. From Sept 16, the Tigers won 2 of 3 games against the Dragons. The Carp won 2 over the Swallows.
From Sept 12, the Tigers lost 2 games against the Carp. The Giants clinched a see-saw game against the swallows on Sept 12, and won the next 2 games too. The BayStars Shuichi Murata was blasting from Sept 12 in all 3 games against the Dragons of which his team won 2.
The Tigers are back on track defeating the Swallows in all 3 games from Sept 9. The Dragons won its 5th game in a row on Sept 10. It's in the game against the Giants. The Giants won the next day to stop the streak on Shinnosuke Abe's home run. The Carp won 2 of 3 games against the BayStars.
The Tigers losing streak ended at 5 on Sept 6 beating the Carp, but lost the next day. On Sept 5, the Giants Seth Greisinger clinched his 14th win in a game against the Swallow. The Swallows won the next day. From Sept 5 the Dragons won all 3 games against the BayStars.
The Tigers did poorly against the BayStars from Sept 2. It lost 2 games, and were lucky a game was rained out. The Giants on Sept 2 lost to the Carp, but won the next 2 games with great contribution by Michihiro Ogasawara. The Swallows on Sept 4 clinched its 6th win in a row. Its by defeated the Dragons.
League standing as of September 30
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Yomiuri Giants
3. Chunichi Dragons
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yakult Swallows
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
August
The top 2 teams faced eachother from Aug 29. The Giants clinched the first, but the Giants won
the next 2 games.
The Carp won the first 2 games against the Dragons. On Aug 31, Tyrone Woods homered twice for the Dragons
for a win.
The Swallows won 2 games from Aug 30 against the BayStars.
On Aug 26, Olympic team members were back with their team. The Tigers won its 5th game in a row by defeating the Dragons.But lost the next day. The Giants Shinnosuke Abe, the national team catcher slammed a 3 run homer and his team won 7 to 3 against the BayStars on Aug 26. On Aug 27 the Giants won its 4th game in a row. Koji Uehara started and won the game. The Carps Colby Lewis won his 12th game on Aug 26.
The Tigers, from Aug 19 won all 3 games against the Carp. The Giants won 2 games against the Swallows. The Dragons won on Aug 19, lost to the BayStars the next day.
From Aug 15, the Tigers lost all 3 games against the BayStars. The Giants managed to beat the Carp only on Aug 16 with homers by Alex Ramirez and Yoshitomo Tani. The Dragons lost its 4th game in a row on Aug 16, but won the next day with a 3 run homer by Tyrone Woods in the game against the Swallows.
On Aug 12, the Tigers was defeated in its 5th consecutive game by the Giants Michihiro Ogasawara's 2 run homer and Alex Ramirez 3 run. The next day the Tigers Tomoaki Kanemoto blasted a 3 run homer to end the losing streak. The Carp lost to the Dragons on Aug 12, but won the next day on Scott Seabol's 2 run home run and also the game on Aug 14. The Swallows won 2 games against the BayStars of 3 from Aug 12.
On Aug 7, the Tigers lost its 4th game in a row. It's in a game against the Carp. Tomas Delarosa's homer helped the Dragons win against the Swallows that day while the teams tied the previous day. That BayStars Toshihisa Nishi slammed a 2 run homer against the Giants on Aug 7 to help his team win. The next day the Giants won.
On Aug 3 the Tigers Tomoaki Kanemoto had 5 base hits and his team beat the BayStars. The next day the BayStars won with good pitching by veteran starter Daisuke Miura, and won again on Aug 5. The Giants and the Dragons won 1 game each.
League standing as of August 31
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Yomiuri Giants
3.Chunichi Dragons
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yakult Swallows
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
July
From Jul 28, all teams won 1 game and lost 1 game.
On Jul 25 the Tigers Kentaro Sekimoto grand slammed to beat the Dragons. Sekimoto hit in the only runs the next day. But on Jul 27 the Dragons won. The Giants clinced the game on Jul 25 on Yoshitomo Tani's "sayonara" RBI over the Swallows. The Giants won the next 2 games too. The Carp won 2 games against the BayStars while the BayStars won 1.
From Jul 21, the Giants beat the Tigers in the first and 3rd games. The Dragons won its first 2 games against the Carp. The BayStars Yuki Yoshimura is hitting well. On Jul 21 he slammed a 3 run homer to help his team win over the Swallows. Thought the BayStars lost the next day, Yoshimura homered a 3 run on Jul 23 for his team's win.
From Jul 18, the Tigers won 2 games in a row against the Dragons. But on Jul 20 the Dragons won with homers by Tyrone Woods and Kazuhiro Wada. The Giants beat the BayStars in the first 2 games. On Jul 20, Tomohiro Nioka who earlier this month was caught in a extramarital affair with TV personality Mona Yamamoto started for the first time in 4 months. He failed to contribute and his team lost. The Carp lost its 5th game in a row that day, in a game against the Swallows.
The Tigers lost to the Swallows on Jul 15, won the next day, but lost again on Jul 17. With that win the Swallows rose to 4th place. The BayStars slugger Shuichi Murata is amazing. He homered against the Carp on all 3 days from Jul 15, to head the league with 25 home runs. The Giants lost to the Dragons in 2 games from Jul 15.
The Giants rosed to 2nd place on Jul 11 by beating the BayStars, and the Dragons losing to the Swallows. It kept 2nd place winning the next 2 games. The Tigers however remained far ahead on top winning on Jul 11 and 13.
On Jul 8 the Tigers recorded its 7th win in a row. It defeated the Giants. It played against the Giants on Jul 10 but lost that time to Yoshinobu Takahashi and Shinnosuke Abe's homers. The Dragons lost its first 2 games against the Carp from Jul 8, but managed to win in the 11th inning on Jul 10 thanks to Tyrone Woods home run.
From July 4, the Tigers won all 3 games again, this time against the BayStars. The Dragons beat the Tigers on Jul 4, but lost the next 2 games. In the last one, Michihiro Ogasawara grand slammed. The Carp one 2 games against the Swallows and tied in one.
From July 1, the Tigers won 3 games in a row against the Dragons. The Giants Alex Ramirez homered twice on July 1 but his team lost to the swallows. His team managed to win the next 2 games. The Carp won the first 2 games from July 1 against the BayStars.
June
On June 27, the games were back played in their respective leagues.
The Dragons Kazuyoshi Tatsunami homered for his team's 2 to 1 win over the BayStars.
The BayStars won the next game.
The Carp@beat the Giants with Kenta Kurihara's 3 run home run on June 27.
The next day the game was stopped after the 7th inning due to the rain with the game a tie.
On June 29, the Giants won on Alex Ramirez's grand slam.
The Tigers played on June 28, in which it beat the Swallows but lost the next day.
League standing as of June 30
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yomiuri Giants
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yakult Swallows
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
May
From May 16, the Tigers won its first 2 games against the Swallows and lost the 3rd one due to
Kazuki Fukuchi's home run.
The Dragons on May 18 won on Kazuhiro Wada's RBIS hit against the BayStars. The Dragons
also beat the BayStars on May 16.
The Giants lost the first 2 games to the Carp, but on May 18, Marc Kroon struck out 3 batters in
a row, enabling the Giants to keep the lead and win.
On May 13, Colby Lewis pitched well to win his 5th game. That's against the Tigers. But the Tigers won the next 2 games. The Dragons stopped it consecutive games loss record at 4 by beating the Swallows on May 14. The Giants from May 13 lost the first 2 games against the BayStars but managed to win the 3rd on Shinnosuke Abe's RBI hit.
The Tigers for the first time this season lost its 2nd game in a row on May 9. Following a rain out game it won on May 11 against the BayStars to stop the loss there. The Giants lost against the Dragons on May 9 but won the next 2 games, including a dramatic RBI hit by Alex Ramirez.
On May 7, the Tigers beat the Giants for the 2nd game in a row, despite tense mood after its slugger Tomohiro Kanemoto received a pitch in the head. Kanemoto, later in the game slammed a home run. The next day, the Giants won on Alex Ramirez's 2 run home run. The Dragons won 2 games from the Carp from May 7. The Swallows did the same against the BayStars.
From May 3, the top 2 teams faced eachother. The Tigers clinched the first with 2 run homer by Takahiro Arai and a 3 run by Keiichi Hirano.The Tigers lost the next, but won the game on May 5. The Giants won all 3 games against the Swallows. The Carp clinched its 4th win in a row on May 4, but lost the next day.
The Dragons Kenshin Kawakami was back as a starting pitcher on May 1. On the back of Tyrone Woods home run, he earned his 1st win in a game against the BayStars. The Tigers and the Giants both lost that day.
League standing as of May 31
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yomiuri Giants
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yakult Swallows
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
April
The Dragons Norihiro Nakamura blasted a 2 run homer to help his team win 4 to 1 against the Yokohama on Apr 29.
The Dragons winning streak was stopped at 3 the next day.
The Tigers Takahiro Arai's home run ended the game on Apr 30 against the Swallows.
The Giants managed to win on Apr 29 by lost to the Carp the next day.
On Apr 25, the Giants won its 4th game in a row by defeating the Tigers 3 to 1. But it lost the next day with ace pitcher Koji Uehara being knocked out. On Apr 27, Marc Kroon walked a runner with bases full, giving the game to the Tigers. The Swallows won from Apr 25, the first 2 games from the Dragons. But lost the 3rd game. The BayStars won on Apr 25 and 27 against the Carp.
On Apr 22, the Dragons Kenichi Nakata pitched a shut out game for the first time. It's in a 8 to 0 game against the Tigers. That day the Giants Tetsuya Utsumi earned his 2nd win in a 6 to 1 game against the BayStars and the Giants won again the next 2 games against the BayStars.
On Apr 16, the Tigers 39 year old pitcher Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi, with only 97 pitches hurled over the distance. The Tigers beat the Carp 5 to 1 for its 4th win in a row. The Giants, on Apr 18 won it's 2nd game in a row defeating the Carp. For the Carp it was it's 4th loss in a row, but averted from stretching it with a victory the next day.
On Apr 11, the Dragons new player who was with the Lions til last season, Kazuhiro Wada blased with a grand slam and a 3 run home run.The Dragons beat the Carp 7 to 3. The Giants Seth Greisinger won his first game from his former team, the Swallows on that day. But the Giants was clobbered by Adam Riggs 3 run home run the next day. Tigers fans were elated on Apr 12 as 40 year old Tomoaki Kanemoto finally had a hit after hitless 19 times at bat. And that was his career 2000th hit.
The Giants began to finally show recovery with a tie against the BayStars on Apr 8, and the next day with a 2 run homer by Alex Ramirez and Matt Kroon closing the game. On Apr 9 the Carp's Colby Lewis pitched super fast balls, and his team beat the Swallows 1 to 0.
The Giants lost 2 games to the Tigers from Apr 4. But on Apr 6, it blasted with Yoshinobu Takahashi's single, and a grand slam by young player Hayato Sakamoto. The Swallows won its 3rd game in a row on Apr 4 on Aaron Guiel's 3 run homer. But it lost to the Dragons the next 2 games. The Carp lost the first game on Apr 4 but defeated the BayStars in the next 2 games.
On Apr 1, Koji Uehara started for the Giants for the first time in 2 years. But he gave up homers and his team lost again 3 to 4 against the Dragons. The next day, the Giants lost against although it was Tetsuya Utsumi starting. It's the 5th loss in the row which is it's record worse from the opener. And finally on Apr 3, with consecutive homers by Yoshinobu Takahashi, Yoshiyuki Kamei, and Michihiro Ogasawara, the Giants won. On Apr 1 the Tigers former Carp players blasted including Tomoaki Kanemoto with a 3 run homerun to defeat the Carp 5 to 3. The Tigers winning streak continued until the next day. The Swallows meanwhile has been in great shape. On Apr 3 it won on Aaron Guiel's 2 run home run.
League standing as of April 30
1. Hanshin Tigers
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yakult Swallows
4. Yomiuri Giants
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
March
The season kicked off for the league on Mar 28.
The Dragons Kenshin Kawakami has been invincible as an opening pitcher.
This time, his team didn't lose but didn't win either in a 12 inning game which
finished 12 to 12 against the Carp.
Alex Ramirez was booed by the crowd in Jingu Stadium which was his home ground til last season.
He homered for the Giants. But the Giants lost 2 to 6.
In fact, the Giants lost the next 2 games.
The Tigers won an opener for the first time in 4 years, defeating the BayStars 4 to 2.
Veteran Tomoaki Kanemoto contributed to the Tigers 2 more wins in a row.
LAST SEASON CHAMPION: CHUNICHI DRAGONS
Final league standing in 2007
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Hanshin Tigers
4. Yokohama Bay Stars
5. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
6. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
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