[tehsuigi]

2038 Japan Series
It will be a rematch of last year's with the Hanshin Tigers winning the CL pennant and disposing of the Yomiuri Giants in 4 games at Hanshin Koshien Stadium. This time, the Shizuoka Arrows have home field advantage, and this time the Tigers had the better season record. This is gonna be interesting...

Game 1: Shizuoka 3, Hanshin 2
This one almost went down to the wire, with Hanshin tying the game in the top of the 4th off a 1B Jushiro Yoshimoto RBI single, and it staying that way until the 8th. At that point, the Tigers put their closer, ex-Arrow Yasunaga Suzuki in. And the one knock against Suzuki in his time at Shizuoka was his propensity for giving up home runs...which he did to RF Luis Alejandrez in the bottom of the 8th. Narihira Kimura earned the win with his two innings of relief, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks but no runs and 4 strikeouts.

Game 2: Shizuoka 4x, Hanshin 3 (18 innings)
Yes, you read that right. EIGHTEEN INNINGS. They were gonna call this one a tie if the Arrows failed to score! The Arrows leapt out to a 3-0 lead after 2 innings courtesy of a pair of triples, one each from Luis Alejandrez and Yui Nakamura, but gave it all back when Tigers DH Shinya Kochi slugged a 3-run bomb off Arrows starter Kim Chae-bong in the top of the 3rd. And it stayed that way for 14 innings, before Arrows defensive replacement Keiki Arakaki hit a double, and Alejandrez scored him on a single to walk it off. The relievers after Kim's 7 innings were the closer Kimura, leftie Rintaro Takashima, setup man Masaji Hayashi, rightie Shuta Kurokawa, and finally emergency SP Tetsuro Shishido, who earned the win. Good thing there's an off-day tomorrow.

Game 3: Shizuoka 4, Hanshin 3
Another one-run win for the green guys, and this one also required bullpen assistance. Shizuoka starter Hiromitsu Nishi left the game in the 4th with a sore elbow, with Hisaji Sakaguchi earning the win and a blown save with his two innings of work, Takashima getting the save. The save was blown by a solo home run from Tigers pitcher Luis Morales, in the bottom of the fifth, who in turn gave up a 2-run home run to Arrows 1B Tomosaburo Morioka the next half-inning. The Tigers got 11 hits, but only two for extra bases.

Game 4: Hanshin 4, Shizuoka 0
So much for the postseason sweep. The Hanshin Tigers finally got on the board in the Japan Series with a strong outing from starter Takaharu Tsuchiya, scattering two hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings. This game was all zeroes until the bottom of the 6th, when Hanshin rung up all four runs on Shizuoka starter Joe Rogers, including a 3-run bomb from catcher Tomotaka Oh.

Game 5: Hanshin 4, Shizuoka 0
Not a typo, the Tigers got a dominant performance from their starter, Yohsuke Kobayashi, who pitched a complete-game 2-hitter, striking out 10 arrows. 3 errors by Shizuoka didn't help matters, even though the winning run was a 1st-inning bases loaded walk from Tigers 2B Noah Smith. Back to Shizuoka we go, and things are getting tense...

Game 6: Shizuoka 7, Hanshin 0
When Arrows ace Shigejiro Matsumoto is on, he makes anyone look silly. Matsumoto struck out 15 Tigers over 8 shutout innings, allowing only two hits and a walk, and setting a Pacific League record in the process. The Arrows pummelled Hanshin's pitchers, including old friend Eiji Hoshida, with every starter getting at least one hit. The final out was made by Tigers right fielder Kazuhisa Yoshikawa, grounding out to the second baseman Keiichi Sugiyama. With that, Shizuoka erupted again. That's three in a row.

With a .345/.345/.665 slash line and 10 hits in 29 at-bats, Arrows RF Luis Alejandrez won the Japan Series MVP.

Get it? A(r)row?