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November 13, 2007

Nippon Prospectus

The Japan Series

by Mike Plugh

A lot has happened in the NPB over the last month. The high school amateur draft was held—a topic for another day—and the exciting race for the Japan Series crown has now come and gone. We're also already considering the future names and faces from the Japanese leagues who might grace the rosters of your favorite MLB club next season. However, before we get to those topics in future articles, let's talk about the Japan Series. The Chunichi Dragons, second-place finishers in the Central League, took on the defending champion Nippon Ham Fighters, who'd repeated as the Pacific League’s top club in 2007. How did they get there, and what went down?

As I wrote in my playoff preview, the Dragons were very good down the stretch and dominated every team other than Yomiuri during the season's last two months. The absence of Kosuke Fukudome was damaging to the Dragons’ run at first place, but a well-balanced lineup anchored by Tyrone Woods in the cleanup spot kept the offense moving. The Dragons opened the playoffs in a best-of-three matchup with the light-hitting Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers are regulars in the Central field, but haven’t shown anything resembling championship form in recent years. Chunichi sent ace Kenshin Kawakami, a potential 2008 free agent, to the mound to start Game One, and he set up a short series by going seven strong innings of two-hit, no-walk, nine-strikeout baseball. Chunichi took the contest easily, 7-0. In my playoff preview, I'd noted that the key pitcher for Chunichi was Kawakami, and he lived up to the challenge. The key player I identified was Masahiko Morino, and he was the offense for Chunichi in Game One, going 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBI, three of which came on a game-breaking three-run homer in the sixth inning. The series was as good as over in the first inning of Game Two, when 23-year-old Hanshin starter Keiji Uezono gave up five runs, essentially handing the Dragons a berth in the League Championship series against Yomiuri.

In the opener against Central League regular season champion Yomiuri, the Dragons managed to piece together a well-pitched game, using six different hurlers. Takashi Ogasawara got the start and went five strong frames, and Hitoki Iwase, a highly prized 2007 free agent on MLB's radar, closed it out by striking out three over 1 2/3 innings. Kawakami didn’t bring his best stuff to Game Two of the series, but fortunately for the Dragons neither did anyone on the Giants’ staff. The Dragons won an important second game, and looked to sweep Yomiuri by turning to promising third-year pitcher Kenichi Nakata. The 25-year-old Dragons’ righty rose to the challenge against their bitter rivals, striking out 11 over 7 2/3 innings. The Giants' pitching had overachieved and sometimes dominated during the regular season, but it couldn’t earn a single win and looked fairly bad in the short-lived series.

So Chunichi earned a berth in the Japan Series, even without Fukudome, where they eagerly awaited the challenge of facing all-world talent Yu Darvish and the Fighters. The Fighters enjoyed a bye in the first round of the Pacific League playoffs, then managed to do away with Bobby Valentine’s Chiba Lotte Marines in a dramatic five-game series which started off with Darvish taking Game One with a dominating complete game. It concluded much the same way, as Darvish took the mound in the decisive Game Five on short rest, and provided his team with the quality start it needed to get back to the Japan Series. He didn’t bring his best stuff to the park, but 6 2/3 innings of one-run baseball was all the Fighters needed to earn the opportunity to defend their title against Chunichi.

Having reached the Japan Series first thanks to quirky Japanese scheduling, the Fighters enjoyed nine days off, allowing Darvish to take the mound again at full strength. The Dragons rested for seven days and could respond with their ace, Kawakami. Game One saw Kawakami come out wild—he walked the leadoff batter to open the Japan Series, giving manager Trey Hillman the honor of being the first manager to employ the sacrifice bunt in this year's championship set. Kawakami responded to the free out by walking the number-three batter, setting up an intriguing matchup with Fernando Seguignol, who had starred in the 2006 Japan Series. Seguinol delivered a moon shot home run to give Nippon Ham a quick three-run lead. Darvish was at his best, striking out 13 in another complete game, so the Fighters looked poised to run away with the title again after getting a quick 1-0 lead in the series.