Buffs Stampeed into First
Discussion in the NPB News forum
Comments
More Buffaloes Trivia
[ Author: moto-rithifruss | Posted: Jun 27, 2001 6:48 PM
]
The Buffaloes are also the ONLY team to have never won a Japan Series. This seems somewhat like a Boston Red Sox curse in how they lost their last three.
In 1979, they lost in 7 games to the Hiroshima Carp, and missed winning the Japan Series by a would be gyakuten sayonara double, had it not been six inches foul.
In 1980, up 3 games to 2, they lost their last two games to the Hiroshima Carp, for the second year in a row.
In 1989, they were up 3 games to 0 and then proceeded to lose four straight to the Giants.
In 1979, they lost in 7 games to the Hiroshima Carp, and missed winning the Japan Series by a would be gyakuten sayonara double, had it not been six inches foul.
In 1980, up 3 games to 2, they lost their last two games to the Hiroshima Carp, for the second year in a row.
In 1989, they were up 3 games to 0 and then proceeded to lose four straight to the Giants.
About
This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
Copyright (c) 1995-2024 JapaneseBaseball.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.
It's been 12 years since the Osaka based team has won a pennent. And the team has finnished last the past two years in a row. So the Buffaloes are hungry for greener pastures. And like the Giants last year, their finding it with the long ball.
Of their Japan leading 429 runs scored, 207 of them have been driven in on home runs. Last night (6/25), 6 of their 7 runs were via 4 homers (solo by Matoyama, two solo shots by Gilbert, and a two-run homer by Nori (Nakamura Norihiro). For the month of June, Gilbert's 9th inning insurance home run gave the team 40 on the month. After a 41 home run May, it's the first time a team has had back to back months with 40 or more home runs since Seibu did it in May and June of 1983 (51 and 44 respectively). It also marks the 15th game in a row that a Kintetsu batter (usually at least either Rhodes or Nakamura) has hit a ball out.
But wait! The trivia doesn't stop there. Kintetsu also becomes the first team to reach 40 wins this season, even beeting out the Giants (now 39 and 30) who had such a phenomenal start. Another similarity to the front running Giants is that Kintetsu has the worst ERA in Japan right now while the Giants have the worst in the Central League (4th in Japan). Yet, despite such a bad ERA, Buffaloe starter Maekawa became the fist 10 game winner of the season in both leagues - beeting out Lotte's Kuroki who had lost 3 in a row after winning his first 9. He's the first Buffaloe pitcher to reach double digit wins in 4 years - and he's done it before the All Star break!
With Seibu struggling up to the .500 mark, 4.5 games now seperate the new league leaders from 5th place. Nippon Ham is the only team under .500, way out of there. As the temperature is rising, so is the pennent race. "Atsu pa!" ("Hot Pacific!")