Climax Series
2nd stage: Chunichi Dragons vs Yomiuri Giants
From Oct 21, the 2 team faced eachother at the Tokyo Dome.
The Giants starter Dicky Gonzalez was in a mess from the 1st inning.
He gave up 5 runs, including a homer to Tony Blanco and Kei Nomoto.
The Dragons won the first game 7 to 2.
In the next game, the Giants faced a pitcher the team's not faired well against.
It's Wei-Ying Chen. But Michihiro Ogasawara hit in a run. Shinnosuke Abe homered.
The Giants won 6 to 4.
On Oct 23, the Dragons Masahiko Morino slammed a 2 run home run off the Giants starter Hisanori Takahashi.
Then the Giants Alex Ramirez homered followed by Yoshiyuki Kamei to equalize.
Then pinch hitter Ryota Wakiya had an RBI hit.
The Giants beat the Dragons 5 to 4.
And finally on Oct 24, on Yoshitomo Tani's grand slam, the Giants defeated the Dragons 8 to 2 to advance
to the Japan Series.
1st stage: Yakult Swallows vs Chunichi Dragons
The games on Oct 17 was played at the Nagoya Dome.
The Dragons Kazuhiro Wada homered. But the Swallows Jamie D'antona slammed a 2 run to give his team
a 3 to 2 win.
The next day, bad news for the Swallows. 3 of its players were found to have caught the
A type flu virus, meaning it can possibly be the contagious H1N1.
It was again a competitive game.
The Dragons Masahiro Araki helped his team win on his RBI hit.
It was 3 to 2.
On Oct 19, more Swallows players were out due to the flu.
As to the game, Kazuhiro Wada slammed a 2 run home run.
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami who's set to retire after this season hit in a run.
The Dragons won its 2nd game 7 to 4 and advanced to the 2nd stage.
Central League champion: TOKYO GIANTS
October
The last game of the regular season was played on Oct 12. The Swallows beat the Giants.
But that didn't affect the team ranking.
On Oct 9 the Swallows beat the Tigers. With that win, the Swallows secured 3rd place in the league meaning it can advance to the Climax Series.
Final standing
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yakult Swallows
4. Hanshin Tigers
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
September
The Giants winning streak ended at 10 games on Sept 28, losing against the Dragons. It lost the next day.
On Sept 30 the Giants won in a game which marked the Dragons Kazuyoshi Tatsunami's retirement game.
The Swallows won its 6th game in a row on Sept 28 to the Tigers, but lost the next 2.
The Carp, from Sept 28 beat the BayStars in all 3 games.
The Giants continued to perform well, winning all 3 games against the Carp from Sept 25. The Tigers clinched 2 of 3 games against the Dragons. The Swallows surged to 3rd place on Sept 26 beating the BayStars and stayed there with another win the next day with a 2 run homer by Norichika Aoki.
THe Giants from Sept 21 beat the Dragons in all 3 games and clinched the league pennant on the 23rd. It's the Giants 3rd league victory in a row, and the 33rd time in total. The Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara was tossed up in the air 8 time. The Swallows won 2 games of 3 against the Carp. The BayStars beat Tigers in 2 of 3.
The Giants Shinosuke Abe slammed a 3 run homer on Sept 19. He grandslammed the next day. And the Giants won all 3 games against the Swallows. From Sept 19 the Dragons won only 1 of 3 games against the BayStars. The Tigers marked its 3rd loss in a row on Sept 19, but managed to win the next day against the Carp with a 3 run homer contribution by Tomonoaki Kanemoto.
From Sept 15, the Giants lost the first 2 games against the Tigers,but on Sept 17 won in the game Wirfin Obispo started. The Dragons Soichiro Amaya blasted a 3 run home run on Sept 15 to defeat the Carp. The next day, the Dragons lost, but won the day after and secured its spot to play in the Climax Series. The Swallows consecutive lost stopped at 9 on Sept 16 by beating the Dragons and also won the day after.
The Giants won 2 games against the Carp from Sept 11. 1 was rained out. The Swallows kept on losing more games. That's against the Dragons. It extended its losing streak to 8 on Sept 13. The Tigers won 2 of 3 games against the BayStars and replaced the Swallows for 3rd place on Sept 13.
The Giants from Sept 8 faced the BayStars. Shinnosuke Abe contributed to the team's win with 2 homers in the first game. The Giants lost the next, but on Sept 10 with another 2 homers by Abe won. On Sept 8 the Dragons Chen Wei Ying shut out the Tigers. The Dragons also won on Sept 10. The Swallows lost its 5th game in a row on Sept 10, and all 3 against the Carp.
The Giants finished the game on Sept 4 a tie against the Swallows but managed to win the next 2 games with homers by Shinnosuke Abe. The Dragons stopped its losing streak at 4 on Sept 6 in the game against the BayStars. The Tigers won 2 of 3 games from Sept 4 against the Carp.
The Giants Michihiro Ogasawara contributed to his team's win in 2 games from Sept 1. He homered a 2 run against the BayStars in the first game. In the next game he ran with all his might around the bases on Alex Ramirez's base hit, and he came home to clinch the game. The Dragons lost all 3 games against the Carp. On Sept 2, the Tigers won its 3rd game in a row by defeating the Swallows. But lost the next day.
League standing as of September 30
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Hanshin Tigers
4. Yakult Swallows
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
August
The Giants Yoshinobu Takahashi played for the first time this season on Aug 28 after recovering from a rear pain.
The Giants however lost that day to the Tigers.
The next day it was learned Yoshinobu plans to have a surgery which means he'll probaly miss the rest of the
season. The Giants won on Alex Ramirez home run that day, but lost the next game.
The Dragons won 2 games from Aug 28 against the Swallows.
The Giants from Aug 26 won all 3 games against the Dragons. The Carp won 2 games agains the Swallows. The Tigers won the first 2 games against the BayStars while in the 3rd game BayStars Daisuke Miura shut out the Tigers.
The Giants Tetsuya Utsumi did not pitch well on Aug 22 and lost the game to the Swallows. But the Giants won the next 2 games. The Dragons, competing closely behind the Giants also won 2 of 3 games from Aug 22. It's against the BayStars. The Tigers managed to beat the Carp in 2 games.
From Aug 18, the Giants won all 3 games against the BayStars. The Dragons won it's 13th game in a row specifically against the Carp, but that winning streak ended on Aug 20 with home runs by Andy Phillips and Scott McClain. The Tigers from Aug 18 won 2 of 3 games against the Swallows.
The Giants faced the Tigers from Aug 14 and lost 2 of 3 games. The Dragons consecutive win stopped at 3 with its defeat to the Swallows on Aug 16. The Carp's Andy Phillips blasted with a 3 run home run on Aug 14 to defeat the BayStars. Although his team lost the next day, with another 3 run home run on Aug 16, the Carp won.
The Giants won its 6th game in a row on Aug 12. It's against the Carp with a 3 run home run by Yoshiyuki Kamei and a grand slam by Shinnosuke Abe. But the Giants lost on Aug 13. The Dragons won 2 of 3 games against the Tigers from Aug 11. The Swallows Norichika Aoki contributed to his team win over the BayStars on Aug 11. But the next 2 games, the BayStars Seiichi Uchikawa hit homeruns to beat the Swallows.
The Giants beat the Swallows in all 3 games from Aug 7, thanks to home runs by Yoshiyuki Kamei. The Dragons lost to the BayStars on Aug 8 but clinched 2 other games to stay closely behind the Giants. The Carp beat the Tigers in 2 of 3 games and rose to 4th place.
On Aug 4, the Giants Yoshiyuki Kamei's home run gave his team a win over the Carp. The next day the game ended a tie. The Dragons won the first 2 game from Aug 4 against the Tigers, but lost on Aug 6. The Swallows defeated the BayStars on Aug 4 but lost the next 2 games.
On Aug 2 the Giants beat the Tigers, but it was the other way around the next day due to Kodai Sakurai's 2 run home run. The Dragons lost on Aug 2 but defeated the Swallows in a 11 inning game the next day. The Carp beat the BayStars on Aug 2,while the BayStars won the following day with Yuki Yoshimura's home run in the 10th inning.
League standing as of August 31
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yakult Swallows
4. Hanshin Tigers
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
July
The Tigers Craig Brazell homered a 3 run to beat the Giants on Jul 31.
The Dragons lost to the Swallows.
Te Carp lost to the BayStars at home.
The regular season resumed after the all star break on Jul 28. The top 2 teams faced eachother. The Dragons consecutive game win was halted on Jul 29 losing to the Giants, but won on Jul 30. The Swallows win in a row ended too on Jul 29 at 4 in the game against the Carp. The Tigers won all 3 games against the BayStars.
On Jul 20, the Giants faced its 2nd loss in a row, but won the next to games against the BayStars and was able to celebrate in smile, skipper Tatsunori Hara's 51st birthday. The Dragons continue to do well, winning its 8th straight game against the Carp on Jul 22. On Jul 20, the Tigers pitcher and catcher were those both in their 40s. Unfortunately, they lost to the Swallows. On Jul 22, the Swallow Shohei Tateyama shut out the Tigers.
The Giants played against the Tigers from Jul 17. The team lost 2 of 3 games. The Dragons, meanwhile clinched its 6th win in a row on Jul 19 by playing the BayStars, on the way to catching up with the Giants. The Carp lost is 6th game in a row on Jul 17, but the losing streak was ended in the game against the Swallows the next day.
The Giants starter Shun Tohno had his first shut out win ever against the Swallows on Jul 15. The next day the Giants consecutive win record was ended at 5. The Dragons lost against the Tigers on Jul 15, but by winning the next 2 games the Dragons rose to 2nd place in the league. The Carp's consecutive loss reached 5 on Jul 16 in the game against the BayStars.
The Giants and Tigers played competitive games from Jul 10. The Giants clinched the first, 12th inning game. The next game finished a tie. Then on Jul 12 the Giants won and Tetsuya Utsumi hurled over the distance. The Swallows won the first but lost 2 against the BayStars. The Dragons won all 3 against the Carp.
On Jul 7, the Giants succumbed to its 3rd loss in a row. It's in the game against the BayStars. The next game the Giants won on Hayato Sakamoto's home run. On Jul 9 new pitcher Wirfin Obisto hurled well again to help the team win. The Swallows lost to the Dragons on Jul 7 but won the next 2 games. THe Carp defeated the Tigers in 2 games.
On Michihiro Ogasawara's home run the Giants beat the Dragons on Jul 3. But the Giants lost the next 2 games. The Tigers Craig Brazell slammed a 2 run home run against the Swallows on Jul 3. The Tigers lost the next day but won on Jul 5. The Carp beat the BayStars on Jul 3,the next day it was clobbered. Then on Jul 5 new player Andy Phillips slammed a 3 run home run to help the Carp win.
The Giants lost a close game on Jul 1 against the Carp, but won the next day on the successful debut of Wirfin Obisto. That day, the Dragons consecutive game victory was ended by the Tigers at 8. The BayStars Kasuya Fujita's 2 run home run helped the BayStars beat the Swallows and 46 year old Kimiyasu Kudo won his 2nd game.
League standing as of July 31
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Chunichi Dragons
3. Yakult Swallows
4. Hanshin Tigers
5. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
June
On June 30, the Giants beat the Carp while for the Carp its 4th loss in a row.
The Swallows lost to the BayStars.
The Dragons won its 7th straight game by defeating with Tigers with a grand slam by Atsushi Fujii.
On Jun 26, teams were back playing within their own league. The Giants Lee Seung Yeop contributed with homers in the 3 games against the Swallows of which the Giants won 2. In the last of the series, starter Tetsuya Utsumi hurled over the distance. The Tigers managed to clinch 2 games too from the BayStars. The Carp lost all 3 games against the Dragons.
League standing as of June 30
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Yakult Swallows
3. Chunichi Dragons
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Hanshin Tigers
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
May
The Giants beat the Carp on May 15. With a draw between won agains on May 17.
From May 15, the Swallows beat the Tigers in all 3 games. The Dragons did too against the BayStars.
The Giants winning streak ended at 6 on May 13. And it lost another game on May 14 to the BayStars. The Dragons consecutive loss was stopped at 3 on May 12 by beating the Swallows. But lost the next 2 games. The Tigers, Tomoaki Kanemoto's home run gave another elder teammate Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi his first shut out win.
On May 8, the Giants Michihiro Ogasawara blasted a 3 run home run,then Lee Seung Yeop a 2 run with which the team beat the Dragons. The BayStars Seiichi Uchikawa slammed a home run in 3 games in a row and his team beat the Tigers.
The BayStars Shuichi Murata blasted a 2 run home run against the Giants on May 5 to clinch the game. The next day, the Giants young Hayato Sakamoto with a homer finished the game. on May 7, the Giants had 3 homers in one inning to win. The Dragons lost a shut out game against the Carp on May 5, but won the next 2 games. With games rained out, the Swallows played the Tigers only on May 7 and won.
The Giants and Tigers faced eachother from May 2 in Koshien. The Giants clinched the first competitive game and the next game too with good batting by the young Hayato Sakamoto. But lost on May 4. On May 2 Scott Maclain slammed his first home run as a member of the Carp and his team beat the Swallows. The next 2 games the Swallows won as Norichika Aoki homered in both games. The BayStars beat the Dragons in the first game, but lost the next 2.
April
The Giants was shut out by the Carp in 2 straight games from Apr 28.
On Apr 30 it finally won with a 3 run home run by Michihiro Ogasawara.
On Apr 28, the Swallows Jamie D'antona slammed a 2 run home run and stopped he team's
consecutive game loss at 5 and won all 3 games against the Dragons.
The Tigers Takayuki Arai who was not contributing at last blasted.
He had 4 RBI hits on Apr 28 and the Tigers won 8 to 4 against the BayStars.
The Tigers lost the next game, but on Apr 29 won on Tomoaki Kanemoto's RBI hit.
On Apr 21, Seth Greisinger shut out the Swallows and struck out 11. The Giants clinched its 6th win in a row on Apr 23. It's the next day, in the game against the Dragons, the Giants winning streak was ended. On Apr 25, the Giants had a dramatic win on Yoshiyuki Kamei's 3 run home run. The next day the Dragons won.
The Giants Alex Ramirez slammed a 2 run home run. Lee Seung Yeop had 2 homers to beat the Dragons on Apr 17. The Giants won the next 2 games too. The Swallows new player Jamie D'antona slammed 2 home runs to help his team beat the Carp on Apr 17. The Swallows clinched games on Apr 18 and 19 as well. On Apr 17, the Tigers Tomoaki Kanemoto blasted a league leading 8th 3 run home run, and beat the BayStars. The Tigers won the next game but lost the following day.
In the only game in the league on Apr 14, the BayStars beat the Carp. It won the next but lost on Apr 16. The Giants won in the game Seth Greisinger started against the Swallows on Apr 15, but the Giants lost the next day despite 2 homers by Michihiro Ogasawara. The Dragons beat the Tigers on Apr 15, but lost to homers by Takashi Toritani and Tomoaki Kanemoto
The Tigers Tomoaki Kanemoto blasted 3 homers on Apr 10. It's against the Giants. But the Giants Kazunari Tsuruka with a 3 run home run and a single helped his team win. The next day the Giants recorded its 5th win in a row. The teams tied on Apr 12. The Carp on Apr 10 played at its new home ground. But it lost to the Dragons. The Carp won the next 2 games. The BayStars ended its losing streak at 7 on Apr 10. Daisuke Miura earned the win. The next day it lost but won on Apr 12.
The Giants won its first game of the season on Apr 7. Pitcher and starter Hisanori Takahashi started a hitting spree to help the team beat the BayStars. The next 2 games Michihiro Ogasawara contributed with homeruns and RBI hits to defeat the BayStars. On Apr 7 the Tigers Tomoaki Kanemura was incredible, finishing the game with an RBI hit for the Tigers to beat the Carp 11 to 10. He was even astounding the next day slamming 3 home runs and beating the Carp again. But on Apr 9 the Carp won. The Dragons won its 4th game in a row on Apr 7 defeating the Swallows. The streak was ended the next day. The Dragons lost again on Apr 9.
The Giants appeared to have a good start in the season opener on Apr 3. It's with Michihiro Ogasawara's 2 run homer, and a homer by Alex Ramirez. But starter Seth Greisinger gave up runs after another to the Carp and did not last 5 innings. The Giants lost 3 to 6. The Giants despite 2 homers to lead on Apr 4, failed to win as new closer Michael Nakamura gave up a 3 run homer to Kenta Kurihara. On Apr 5, the teams finished the game a tie. The Dragons new player Tony Blanco slammed a 2 run homer. Kazuhiro Wada, 2 homers to help the Dragons beat the BayStars 4 to 1 in the opening game. It won the next day too 6 to 0. And on Apr 4 clinched its 3rd win in a row. The Tigers Tomohiro Kanemoto homered and also had an RBI hit on Apr 3. Kentaro Sekimoto blasted a 3 run homer to give the Tigers a 5 to 2 win over the Swallows. The Tigers lost the next 2 days.
League standing as of Apr 30
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Yakult Swallows
3. Hanshin Tigers
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Chunichi Dragons
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
LAST SEASON CHAMPION: YOMIURI GIANTS
Final league standing in 2008
1. Yomiuri Giants
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Chunichi Dragons
4. Hiroshima Toyo Carp
5. Yakult Swallows
6. Yokohama Bay Stars
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