Lions Weekly Digest: Akiyama's streak, losing skid ends in split with Rakuten

Akiyama's 31 game hit streak ended on Tuesday

The Seibu Lions split the short two-game series with the Rakuten Golden Eagles as they end a four game skid which dated back from last week. 

The first game against Rakuten saw a good pitcher's duel as it lived up to the hype between Kazuhisa Makita and Takahiro Norimoto. Makita went seven innings and let the defense do the work, with several double plays and even a pickoff happening.

Runs did not come until the sixth inning, where a key hit by Tomoya Mori with two runners on broke the scoreless draw. Naoto Watanabe would be up with the bases loaded and add he another run on an RBI groundout as there was no play at home plate.

Rakuten got a run back in the seventh, but Makita forced a double play to limit the damage as the defense conceded the run. The drama came in the ninth, where Tomomi Takahashi allowed a leadoff hitter and Zealous Wheeler came in with a pinch hit double to tie it at 2-2. It was Takahashi's second blown save of the season, but it kept a chance for Shogo Akiyama to extend his hitting streak, where he was 0-4 up to that point.

After a scoreless bottom of the ninth and Esmerling Vasquez took the 10th, the stage was set. Vasquez forced a double play of his own to give the Lions a chance. Akiyama ended up walking on an outside pitch and wouldn't swing away at something that was off target. This ended his streak at 31 games with a hit, but he got on base as he promised, saying he wasn't concerned about having a possible record. He was two games short of the All-time NPB record at 33 and one short of the Pacific League record at 32.

After Hideto Asamura was on base, Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura was up with two outs. On a two strike pitch, Koji Aoyama hung a pitch on the outside corner and Okawari-kun pulled it to the Lions' Oendan for the second Sayonara win of the year. The current NPB home run king hit his 26th home run of the year and in hindsight, it might been smarter to walk him for Mori.

It didn't look like the Lions would do well on Rakuten's bullpen after Norimoto had a strong outing of eight strikeouts. Relief pitchers Rhiner Cruz and Yuki Matsui were also automatic with six straight batters retired in the 8th and 9th innings before Aoyama came out for the 10th. 

Game 2 saw a great start from Ryoma Nogami, as he pitched eight scoreless innings with only two hits. The Lions would get two runs from a 2-RBI double from Mori in the first inning. Okawari-kun would add two more in the fourth with a 2-RBI single down the LF line, from a two out rally.

The Lions would strand the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th and it would come back to bite them. Norio Tanabe elected to keep Nogami in for the ninth with a 4-0 lead and 100 pitches. He would allow two straight singles before Wheeler would hit a three-run home run to make it a one run game.

Tomoni Takahashi came in and allowed a single from Willy Mo Pena to put the tying run on base. After he was able to retire two batters, Akihisa Makida came in and found the gap, scoring the pinch runner from first and Takahashi blew his second save in as many nights.

The Lions had their chance to walkoff with runners in the 9th and 10th innings, but the bunting wouldn't get anything done as execution was off. They even bunted a runner over to second with Ginjiro Sumitani batting next with two outs, where it wouldn't help in any form.

Vasquez would have the bases loaded in the 11th inning and allowed the game-losing base hit from Tatsuro Iwasaki, who only made his eighth at-bat of the season. It was a dumpster fire of a game for Lions fans after what looked promising for eight innings.

There is no excuse for Tanabe to leave Nogami in as long as they did and he should have put in a specialist when Wheeler was batting. Takahashi has been underused at times due to less save situations occurring, but even he gave up a big hit where it is partially his fault.

It's never good to limp into the All-Star break by going 1-5 in your last six games, but the Lions have just pulled that. The good news is, the Chiba Lotte Marines had an eight game losing streak of their own during this span and broke it with a win. Seibu is still six games ahead of the fourth place Marines as they couldn't score runs until their last game vs. Orix.

Being backed in to this isn't a good feeling, but the Lions are exactly what their record is. They appear to be an above average team, but nothing great and nowhere near contender status. Thankfully, they're not in the Bottom 3 of the Pacific League and can still turn things around, but Takahashi has hit a rough funk which he will hopefully snap out of it.

We will have more Lions and other NPB thoughts coming this week now that we're at the All Star Break.

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Lions Weekly Digest: Akiyama's streak lives, but bats fail

The Seibu Lions had a rough week going 1-4 with two games remaining before the All-Star break. This included games against the Orix Buffaloes and a rough trip in Hokkaido against the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Game 1 against Orix was a classic pitcher's duel and a rematch of opening day with Brandon Dickson and Kazuhisa Makita. The game was under three hours and players would swing early in their at bats to make the game quick.

The Lions had multiple chances squandered including a bases loaded situation with no outs. Tomoya Mori would strike out, Ryota Wakiya would ground out and Shogo Saito would ground out to ruin the chance. However, another came in the sixth inning where Okawari-kun doubled with one out. Mori would move him to third on a ground out giving Wakiya a chance for redemption. On a full count pitch, he sliced one opposite field to the left field and Okawari-kun scored easily from third.

That ended up being the only run of the game as Makita went eight strong innings without a run. He overcame a leadoff double in one inning and Ginjiro Sumitani threw out two runners trying to steal second base.

Makita benefited from some great defense behind him where Okawari-kun flashed the leather and even Hideto Asamura helped turn a double play. Regardless, he didn't allow any dangerous contact where the outfielders had to show off their range. We were relieved when Norio Tanabe put in closer Tomomi Takahashi for the ninth, as he struck out the final two batters with the tying run on base. He got his second consecutive save in as many days. Fittingly, Dickson and Makita were involved with opening day's 1-0 result and the only run was scored in the sixth inning, just like Tuesday.

Game 2 vs. Orix was one that should be forgotten by Lions fans. Ryoma Nogami had a poor start with no location nor control which created a batting practice environment for the Buffaloes. He couldn't get an out in the fourth inning and already allowed five runs on his own.

Ryoichi Adachi had two home runs and was a double short of the cycle against the Lions. Former Lion Esteban German also was dangerous, getting three hits on the night. It was 10-0 Buffaloes after five innings, which gave some reserves a chance to play in garbage time. Third round draft pick rookie Shuta Tonosaki made his debut as a pinch runner for Okwari-kun and scored on a sacrifice fly. He would later get his first career base hit later in the game.

Even backup catcher Masatoshi Okada hit his first home run in his NPB career. The only thing left to decide, was Shogo Akiyama's hitting streak being alive or not. He walked twice, but the Lions got enough hits in the 8th inning to get him a chance in the ninth. Akiyama extended his hitting streak to 28 games with a solo home run to left field. In the end, it was a 12-6 beatdown thanks to a bad outing from Nogami.

Game 1 in Hokkaido lived up to its billing of a pitcher's duel. Shohei Otani and Takayuki Kishi both went eight innings but only one emerged.

Otani showed signs of vulnerability early on and had a few instances with runners on base, but the Lions couldn't get the clutch hit to score a run. A few plays involved great defense from Hiromi Oka where he dived for a ball and caught a liner from Yuji Onizaki.

Kishi had a perfect game through six innings and allows a walk in the seventh, but one mistake in the eighth ended up being the difference. Kensuke Kondo had a leadoff double to end the bid for a no hitter and the Fighters bunted him over to third. After the successful sacrifice bunt, Oka would pull off a safety squeeze, where the ball bounced down the first base line but stayed in fair territory to score the only run of the game.

Hirotoshi Masui would close out the Lions with a 1-2-3 ninth inning and the pitcher's duel was finished.Kishi out pitched Otani, but it won't reflect on the scoreboard. If anything, we like what we're seeing from him going forward.

Game 2 against the Fighters saw both starters not lasting long. Kohei Arihara went two innings, but lacked control with four walks. After hitting Takumi Kuriyama with the bases loaded, he would allow a grand slam to Asamura to give the Lions a 5-1 lead.

Unfortunately, Ken Togame would allow a three-run home run in the third to Kensuke Kondo to ruin all momentum. A meltdown fourth inning would follow with three more runs all charged to Togame, including some key hits from Kensuke Tanaka and Takuya Nakashima.

Tanabe elected to put in Yosuke Okamoto, which is a move we disagreed with in long relief and a wild pitch with inherited runners made it 7-5 after four innings. He would allow another run in the sixth where Shota Takekuma would not get the outs needed with inherited runners and that would prove to be the difference.

Mori would get a two-RBI single with the bases loaded in the seventh off Michael Crotta, but Anthony Seratelli couldn't follow up and tie the game. While it's easy to blame the bats for this, Togame just had a poor start and couldn't recover after the meltdown fourth inning. The Fighters would improve their record in one-run games to 13-4.

There wasn't a sense of urgency by putting in Okamoto, who we view as a mop up pitcher. They gave high leverage opportunities for Kazuki Miyata as well.

Game 3 saw a bad outing from the Lions' defense. Yusei Kikuchi had a bases loaded jam with no outs and successfully got the ground ball needed, but Asamura couldn't handle the throw from Okawari-kun and two runs scored as a result as the ball was in the outfield.

Kikuchi didn't pitch terribly until the fifth inning, where he failed to cover first base and could have gotten a double play, but it resulted in a 3-6 fielder's choice and a run came home to keep the inning alive. He would allow a run to score and later a barrage of hits would come. Brandon Laird would break the game open with a three-run home run to put the Fighters up 8-0 and it marked the second bad outing from Kikuchi.

From a hitting standpoint, Luis Mendoza was dealing and there wasn't a clutch hit in sight. He won his second straight head-to-head game against the Lions with plenty of run support. 

This four-game losing streak is the longest for the Lions this year. The pitching wasn't there, but neither was the clutch hitting outside of Tuesday's win over Orix.

We can only hope this is a short term thing, but the concerns have to be there for the hitting, who've been inconsistent and scored in bunches for the season. The Lions were expected to have questionable pitching and this weekend's games outside of Kishi and Makita's starts had its first set of bad outings.

The good news is, Shogo Akiyama's hitting streak stayed alive through all five games with at least one hit. At 31 games, he is currently two short of the NPB record and could tie it after two games against the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Seibu will presumably see Takahiro Norimoto this week, but he is not invincible. It will be hard to sweep Rakuten for two games with their ace on the mound for one, but being swept at home would be unacceptable.

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Shogo Akiyama named Pacific League MVP for June

Shogo Akiyama won the Pacific League hitting MVP for the second time this year, beating out Yuki Yanagita of Softbank for the month of June award. He previously won this award for the month of March/April and is in the hunt to be the batting champion.

In the month of June, Akiyama hit .448 with an on base percentage of .495.  He had a hit in every game with the exception of June 2 against the Chunichi Dragons.

"I didn't think I'd be able to receive the [Pacific League] MVP award in June because I received it once [in April]," Akiyama said in reaction as translated by @Maple_Ash.

Akiyama has been one of the most consistent hitters for the Lions and by hitting leadoff, he gets the most at bats among players in NPB. Yanagita might have been more deserving with his ability for his pop, but there is no denying that both players were worthy of this award.

Softbank's 1B Lee Dae-Ho beat out Ikuhiro Kiyota of Chiba for the Pacific League hitting MVP for the month of May.

It's been an interesting journey for Akiyama, as he had a down season hitting .259 in 2014. He was even batting sixth in the lineup throughout the year, as it wasn't a fun season for the Lions finishing fifth. Akiyama became the second player in NPB history to have back to back months of 40 hits or more, a distinction that Ichiro Suzuki once had.

As Jim Allen of Kyodo News wrote, Akiyama has been padding some of his stats on more inferior pitchers, while Yanagita hasn't had as significant of a drop.

From observation, Akiyama has been playing to slice the ball and hit for the singles most recently. He's done a good job at finding the gaps in the infield or creating a soft liner for a base hit. Last night against the Orix Buffaloes, he extended his hitting streak to 28 games with a solo home run in the ninth inning.

While this pace of hitting .370 throughout the whole year might be unsustainable, Akiyama and Yanagita are both chasing history towards Matt Murton's single season NPB record of 214 hits. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but we here at Graveyard Baseball are thankful that Akiyama has given us something to enjoy.

"There were few games in June [that] I could pile up many hits," Akiyama said. "So June became a good month for me. In March and April, I worked furiously. And that made me realize [I was] a little fatigue. I thought my conditioning [was] inferior to that of April. Though I don't intend to change [my conditions] every month, some things happened to occur at the same time."

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Four Lions added to the 2015 NPB All Star Series as roster was finalized

Four Saitama Seibu Lions were added to the NPB All-Star Series last week to already include an impressive group of players from the same team. Tomoya Mori, Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura, Hideto Asamura and Shogo Akiyama were already voted in by the fans.

Here are the additions to the NPB All-Star Series with the choices coming from Fukuoka Softbank Hawks manager Kimiyasu Kudo. For pitchers, we will post the statline of (Wins - Losses), ERA/FIP/WHIP. For position players, we will post the statline of BA/OBP/SLG. Stats will be based on the completion of games after July 5.

We will also include a quote from each player in reaction to being selected as an All-Star. Translations courtesy of @Maple_Ash

Lastly, Wes and Christian speak their thoughts on all four players getting in.

Ken Togame: (7-3), 2.54/4.15/1.21
(No quote about being selected)

Tatsushi Masuda: (2-3), 2.97/1.38/1.15, 27 Holds
"Players were chosen in first order. To be playing professional baseball and participate in the All-Star game, that was my dream. I'm strange to a bunch of other strangers, so I hope to be friends with the other Lions players."

Tomomi Takahashi: (1-1), 1.99/3.09/0.99, 4 Holds, 20 Saves
(We're also going to assume there's a joking laughing matter in this)

"[Kudo] entrusts me to be the closer with [Rakuten Eagles closer Yuki] Matsui. I want to learn my name because my face is characteristic."

C Ginjiro Sumitani: .192/.233/.231
"Lots of Lions players are participating in the All-Star Game. I want to work so that fans can admire me." 

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Togame deserves recognition for a solid early campaign, but with some of his numbers disagreeing, maybe this is a sign of being a little lucky. His FIP is inflated mostly because he walks a good amount and he gives up a lot of solo home runs which is the one area that FIP punishes pitchers. 

His WHIP shows that he's keeping his hits to a low level which could either be the fantastic work of the Lions defense, luck, or a combination of both. It would be interesting to see a further study into Togame's season when it comes to whether or not he's producing a good level of weak contact or not.

The back end of the bullpen deserves a whole lot of credit for what they've done this season. They've really been a reliable tandem and with Japanese pundits slobbering over the good amount of saves from Takahashi, I look the other way and smile at how clean those two have been this season.

They don't walk really anyone and they don't give up the long ball. That's all you can ask for when it comes to relievers. FIP really rewards Masuda for the amount of strikeouts and not giving up a single home run this season.

Takahashi would be in similar FIP territory if his strikeout numbers were more like his ones in previous years but in this case, its his set up man who's besting him there. We have to expect his WHIP to go up a little bit but you have to wonder if his strikeout numbers will make a return as well, something has to give for Takahashi. Both are well deserving of this honor, though not for the reasons many Japanese pundits will point to (like saves and holds).

Sumitani has been a hole behind home plate with his bat, but the current All-Star team has shown guys who have elite defense can qualify for the All-Star Series. Fans voted in Softbank's Kenta Imamiya as the Pacific League's shortstop as he is known for his gold glove on the infield. 

"Gin-Chan" has been reliable behind the plate, keeping passed balls down to a minimum with only a handful of wild pitches allowed. He is best at throwing guys out to second base and his arm is a weapon in itself. Better yet, he is effective at blocking the plate in crunch time as shown on several plays at home. Kudo wanted his defense for the series and it wouldn't be surprising if he starts one of the two games. Motohiro Shima of Rakuten was voted in by the fans, but he is battling an injury and is most likely out. Someone else should be his replacement for one of the games while Sumitani takes the other.
With eight all stars in total, we're happy that both Takahashi and Masuda were included to the team. We were guessing that at least one starter would get in and Togame ended up getting the nod, beating out Ryoma Nogami and Kazuhisa Makita.

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Lions Weekly Digest: Beat goes on for Akiyama, Kikuchi

The Seibu Lions went 3-2-1 against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Chiba Lotte Marines for a successful week of baseball. Notably, Shogo Akiyama continued his hit streak to 26 games. 

Game 1 against the Hawks came on Monday in Tokyo Dome with a sea of yellow thanks to a corporate giveaway by Softbank. The game itself was a pitcher's duel, but it had a slow start from Kazuhisa Makita.

After having runners on the corners, All-Star SS Kenta Imamiya, mostly known for his defense broke the tie with an RBI single in the second inning. Shuhei Fukuda would also get a clutch two-out hit with a double off the wall, and Tomoya Mori made a mistake in right field by trying to catch the ball. A second run would score on the hit and the Hawks would lead 3-0.

The Lions weren't short of chances though, which there were at least two runners on base in four of the nine innings. It took a brilliant catch by Seiichi Uchikawa to save one run and the Lions would only score one from a bases loaded single by Yuji Onizaki.

In the ninth inning, Hawks closer Dennis Sarfate was in a jam. Seibu had Akiyama and Takumi Kuriyama both on base, but Hideto Asamura flied out and Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura struck out for the third time of the night to end it. Makita couldn't get the third out of the second inning which made the difference, but Shota Takeda out-dueled him for his second win against the Lions in as many weeks.

Game 2 had a slow start from Ryoma Nogami as he allowed a barrage of hits and two runs in the first inning. However, Ernesto Mejia hit a three-run home run in the third and it gave them the lead for good. Kuriyama hit a three-run home run to pad the lead to 6-2.

Nogami would settle in from innings two through six, allowing minimal threats from teh dangerous Hawks lineup. He would only allow a solo HR to Nobuhiro Matsuda in the seventh, but ended any extra damage by stranding two runners on base after it.

The ninth inning saw Okawari-kun hit a grand slam for the 14th of his career and the 22nd home run of the season. The Lions cruise to a 10-3 victory, making things comfortable for players and fans alike.

Game 3 saw a decent outing from Chun-Lin Kuo, where he only gave up a solo HR to Yanagita in the first inning through five. The Lions bats would contribute with a HR from Ryota Wakiya and Hideto Asamura. Even Mori threw a runner out at home plate while playing in right field.

However, the bullpen would be dodging bullets through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings with Shota Takekuma, Esmerling Vasquez and Tatsushi Matsuda. All three pitchers had runners on base and would strand them each time. The ninth inning was there the nightmare would occur as Tomomi Takahashi saw his first save situation since June 14 with a 3-1 lead. He allowed a barrage of hits including an RBI double down the line and an infield single where he chose to throw home to keep the lead, but it backfired and the Hawks tied it. Uchikawa would take the game and series for the Hawks with a Sayonara sacrifice fly.

Takahashi was due to have a blown save somewhere, but rest ended up being rust for the Lions' closer. If I was managing, he could have played in Monday's game during the eighth inning just to get work knowing Tuesday was an off day. In perspective, the Hawks are still the team to beat, no one can deny this.

The last game came with a price, as Mori became limited heading into the next series as he injured himself making a catch against the wall in Fukuoka.

Things became more interesting in a home stand against Chiba, where everything was unpredictable. Takayuki Kishi allowed five runs through 6.2 innings while the Lions pounced on Karakawa in the first four innings for four runs.

Okawari-kun had a solo HR and gave Seibu the lead with an RBI single in the sixth, but Kishi couldn't get the shutdown inning after Norio Tanabe elected to use him for another inning after already having 113 pitches. Katsuya Kakunaka was the nemesis of the night, as he had a triple, double and a backbreaking triple with 2 outs with the last being in the seventh against Kishi.

The Lions bullpen miraculously got out of Kishi's jam in the seventh and didn't allow a run through 5.1 innings of work. This included Yosuke Okamoto, Shota Takekuma and Kazuki Miyata taking an inning each. They were able to induce the ground ball as Okamoto and Takekuma forced double plays. Kakunaka had a great chance to put the Marines in front, but was denied by the Lions pitchers.

Seibu had their own chances in extra innings, including a bases loaded situation in the 11th inning. But Mejia grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to end the frame. The 12th inning also saw a chance when Fumikazu Kimura was bunted over to second base and Mori was allowed to pinch hit with two outs. He was hit by a pitch giving Akiyama a chance to be the hero. However, he hit a 4-3 groundout, causing the Lions fifth tie of the season.

It was a down game for Kishi combined with a miraculous effort by the bullpen, but the bats weren't clutch in the late innings. A few blunders from Kimura in RF caused an extra run to score and the Lions continued to give their fans a scare with runners on base. While they could have won this one, they nearly lost as well.

Game 2 was continuing the brilliant season from Ken Togame, where he went eight strong innings. He allowed a first inning home run from Kakunaka, but he would settle in mostly with only a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

Okawari-kun would start the scoring in the bottom of the 1st for the Lions, with a three-run home run on a 3-1 pitch. Kuriyama would hit a solo home run as well as reserve outfielder Shogo Saito. The Lions took a patient approach at the plate and it paid off, forcing Hideaki Wakui to throw more pitches per batter.

He would only last four innings and Okawari-kun would tack on two more RBIs through doubles. After what was a demoralizing tie, the bats woke up in crunch time against one of the Marines' better pitchers for an 8-2 win.

Game 3 against the Marines saw dominance from Yusei Kikuchi, where he had 7.1 strong innings allowing only an RBI groundout. He had seven strikeouts on the day and silenced the top of the Marines order with only two hits and three walks.

Asamura would draw first blood for the sacrifice fly and Ginjiro Sumitani would have the game winning hit on an RBI double after Shogo Saito was bunted over to second base. Okawari-kun would add insurance with another home run, hitting one in each of the three games against Chiba.

The Lions would take the series with a 3-1 win, with the monkey off their back against the Marines. Previoiusly, the Lions lost three consecutive series against Chiba and would only win one out of three, but this time they go 2-0-1. What also makes this remarkable is how they did it with Ryota Wakiya at 1B and Tomoya Mori on the bench, only having one at bat the whole series.

Kikuchi has gone 37.1 innings and only allowed four earned runs in his last five outings with four of them being wins. After having a lot of hype out of high school, he's having a strong run and beginning to look like what many envisioned him to be. Hopefully he keeps it up and doesn't get injured or hide any pain like he did in the past.

With Seibu having a winning week, we will always take it even if it wasn't the most attractive. The Hawks are the team to beat and there is no shame in losing to them, even though game three had a heartbreaker. Biggest takeaways is that they're still competitive and fighting through the stretch.

Hitting could always be better, but the starting pitching has been teh bright spot with five out of six starters allowing three earned runs or less. No one would have thought Kishi would allow the most in a given week before the season. It's a shortened week against Orix and Hokkaido as we hope for another winning one ahead. Winning three out of five would be acceptable, but it's easy to want four wins.

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2015 NPB All-Star Home run Derby: The Candidates

The Home run derby nominations were announced for the NPB All-star home run derby on July 2. The rules are simple, with two players from both the Central and Pacific League who will duke it out to have the title.

Here, we will list the candidates nominated on both sides, showing who takes my vote and who could be a dark horse. We will show their HR totals and slugging percentage. Stats are based on games completed through July 3.

Central League:

C/1B Shinnosuke Abe (Yomiuri): 4 HR, .376 SLG

OF Yoshihiro Maru (Hiroshima): 11 HR, .432 SLG

3B Hector Luna (Chunichi): 5 HR, .447 SLG

1B Jose Lopez (Yokohama): 13 HR, .496 SLG

OF Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (Yokohama): 12 HR, .537 SLG

OF Takayuki Kajitani (Yokohama): 4 HR, .444 SLG

2B Tetsuto Yamada (Yakult): 17 HR, .546 SLG

OF Yuhei Takai (Yakult): 4 HR, .350 SLG

Verdict: Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and Jose Lopez
Dark Horse: None

It's clear cut that Yamada should be in this competition having the most home runs of the bunch, but does he have the endurance for it? Not so sure. Kazuhiro Hatakeyama would have been the better candidate among Yakult players. Lopez and Tsutsugo seem like the more safe players for this competition. While Hector Luna appears to have the pop, he doesn't look built for just home runs. 

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Pacific League: 

3B Nobuhiro Matsuda (Fukuoka): 21 HR, .575 SLG
OF Yuki Yanagita (Fukuoka): 17 HR, .633 SLG
OF Yoshio Itoi (Orix): 7 HR, .361 SLG
1B Sho Nakata (Hokkaido): 21 HR, .533 SLG 
2B Luis Cruz (Chiba): 13 HR, .483 SLG
OF Ikuhiro Kiyota (Chiba): 9 HR, .536 SLG
3B Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura (Seibu): 23 HR, .584 SLG
2B Hideto Asamura (Seibu): 9 HR, .451 SLG
OF Shogo Akiyama (Seibu): 7 HR, .533 SLG
DH/C/OF Tomoya Mori (Seibu): 13 HR, .517 SLG
OF Kazuo Matsui (Rakuten): 8 HR, .395 SLG

Verdict: Sho Nakata and Okawari-kun
Dark Horse: Luis Cruz 


The Pacific League is very clear cut on who to vote for. While Matsuda has the same number of home runs as Nakata, the latter is built for a derby. Okawari-kun being the home run leader in all of NPB should make him an automatic lock if he wants to participate in it. 

Luis Cruz could be an interesting candidate, mostly known for his defense he quietly has shown some pop this year. It wouldn't hurt to see him get a crack in the home run derby. Tomoya Mori would also be interesting as a fresh face to NPB, but is still too raw.

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With the A's Playing Terrible, We're Thankful for the Lions

The year of 2015 has already been an eventful time for me as a baseball fan. The decision to not only follow NPB, but also writing about it has increased the level of thoughts in my mind when it comes to baseball. With the Oakland A's finding themselves in the AL West cellar to start the year, I'm thankful for my newly adopted team, the Seibu Lions.

Yes, I have the Los Angeles Dodgers too, but with them being my second team, they don't consume all my thoughts like the A's and Lions have. So after the July 31st trade deadline, it looks like the Seibu Lions will be the baseball team that most consumes my hopeful energy.

As an A's season ticket holder, I've been attending some maddening, bullpen blow ups from the A's and then coming home to watch the Lions on my laptop and see the start to magical seasons from Shogo Akiyama and Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura. For my own baseball sanity, thank god for the Lions.

What is it that makes a team over 5,000 miles away so wonderful? Maybe it's the freshness of Japanese baseball, the exciting atmospheres, that include interesting Japanese intricacies that make the game Japan's own.

Sure, I still scoff at Norio Tanabe's decision to bunt runners over with Shogo Akiyama (though the Lions have the lowest amount of sac bunts, thank god) but I'm still fascinated to be given a whole new look to the game I've loved since I was a little boy.

It's not even just the Lions, I'm mesmerized by the Japanese traditions like the singing of each team's cheer song during the "Lucky" 7th inning, the funny balloons, and even our rival Chiba's wonderful traveling fans.

The way the Japanese cling to their stars is unlike anything I've seen here in America, the craziness of Shohei Otani has sure encapsulated my attention. It simply makes Fernando Mania look quite tame, to be quite honest.

I was told by the experts not to expect much from the Lions because they simply didn't have the pitching to compete in the Pacific League. And when their true ace, Takayuki Kishi started the season trying to get his oblique right, I was concerned. And then Yusei Kikuchi, Ken Togame, Ryoma Nogami and Kazuhisa Makita stepped up and assured me that it's all nothing to worry about.

The offense was supposed to be good, and they have been, but I stand here today and I think they still have an extra gear they haven't met yet.

The bullpen was supposed to just have two solid back end guys and that's it, and that's kind of how it's been, but no matter what, I feel a lot better about it than the A's and Dodgers bullpens!

Sure, I know that our rivals in the Pacific League in the Hawks and Fighters have their strengths that we have to worry about, but I look at my Lions and think, maybe a magical season is possible.

A magical season that would make me forget about the disappointment of the A's October failures of recent years, and make me smile endlessly and feel tied to the boys from Saitama forever.

Sure, this is a homer post, but I already love this team and whether they break my heart or not, they're every bit my team as the A's, Oakland Raiders, and San Jose Sharks.

Ganbarre Raionzu, I'm ready for whatever they throw at me.

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