2009 Central League Climax Series Breakdown: Chunchi Dragons vs Yomiuri Giants
by Gen on Oct.21, 2009 @ 3:50 pm, under NPB, Postseason
I've listed out stats for players I thought might be starting for their teams. I based my selections on the number of times a player appeared in the starting line-up and the number of games they fielded at various positions.
Catching
Chunichi Dragons
| Tanishige, Motonobu | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .208 | 298 | 62 | 9 | 33 | 62 | 44 | 3 | .634 |
| vs Giants | .149 | 47 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 0 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Abe, Shinnosuke | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .293 | 409 | 120 | 32 | 76 | 87 | 34 | 10 | .943 |
| vs Dragons | .236 | 72 | 17 | 3 | 9 | 19 | 3 | 0 |
First Base
Chunichi Dragons
| Blanco, Tony | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .275 | 549 | 151 | 39 | 110 | 157 | 48 | 14 | .880 |
| vs Giants | .289 | 90 | 26 | 7 | 18 | 19 | 7 | 3 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Kamei, Yoshiyuki | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .290 | 490 | 142 | 25 | 71 | 74 | 45 | 5 | .864 |
| vs Dragons | .176 | 68 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 2 |
Second Base
Chunichi Dragons
| Araki, Masahiro | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .270 | 582 | 157 | 2 | 38 | 70 | 25 | 4 | .624 |
| vs Giants | .307 | 88 | 27 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 0 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Wakiya, Ryota | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .268 | 231 | 62 | 2 | 16 | 52 | 10 | 3 | .649 |
| vs Dragons | .267 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 1 |
Third Base
Chunichi Dragons
| Morino, Masahiko | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .289 | 546 | 158 | 23 | 109 | 95 | 72 | 8 | .881 |
| vs Giants | .239 | 92 | 22 | 5 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 2 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Ogasawara, Michihiro | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .309 | 514 | 159 | 31 | 107 | 107 | 60 | 4 | .927 |
| vs Dragons | .274 | 84 | 23 | 5 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 2 |
Shortstop
Chunichi Dragons
| Ibata, Hirokazu | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .306 | 569 | 174 | 5 | 39 | 66 | 72 | 6 | .770 |
| vs Giants | .304 | 92 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 2 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Sakamoto, Hayato | BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS |
| 2009 | .306 | 581 | 178 | 18 | 62 | 101 | 44 | 4 | .941 |
| vs Dragons | .297 | 91 | 27 | 1 | 11 | 19 | 8 | 1 |
Outfield
Chunichi Dragons
| BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS | |
| Wada, Kazuhiro | |||||||||
| 2009 | .302 | 517 | 156 | 29 | 87 | 56 | 68 | 2 | .914 |
| vs Giants | .247 | 81 | 20 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 0 | |
| Fujii, Atsushi | |||||||||
| 2009 | .299 | 401 | 120 | 10 | 49 | 79 | 23 | 1 | .781 |
| vs Giants | .262 | 61 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 4 | 1 | |
| Nomoto, Kei | |||||||||
| 2009 | .251 | 175 | 44 | 2 | 13 | 34 | 6 | 4 | .623 |
| vs Giants | .256 | 43 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | |
Yomiuri Giants
| BA | AB | H | HR | RBI | SO | BB | HBP | OPS | |
| Ramirez, Alex | |||||||||
| 2009 | .322 | 577 | 186 | 31 | 103 | 88 | 21 | 4 | .891 |
| vs Dragons | .462 | 93 | 43 | 10 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 1 | |
| Matsumoto, Tetsuya | |||||||||
| 2009 | .293 | 371 | 109 | 0 | 15 | 59 | 21 | 4 | .665 |
| vs Dragons | .250 | 68 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 1 | |
| Suzuki, Takahiro | |||||||||
| 2009 | .262 | 220 | 53 | 1 | 8 | 44 | 13 | 3 | .628 |
| vs Dragons | .125 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
Pitching
Chunichi Dragons
| Starter | Bullpen | |
| Innings Pitched | 905.1 | 384.1 |
| Earned Runs | 336 | 118 |
| ERA | 3.34 | 2.76 |
Starters
| ERA | G | CG | W | L | IP | BF | H | HR | SO | BB | HBP | WP | R | ER | |
| Ogasawara, Takashi | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 3.13 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 118.0 | 487 | 104 | 10 | 86 | 34 | 2 | 4 | 47 | 41 |
| vs Giants | 0.00 | 1 | o | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chen, Wei-Ying | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 1.54 | 24 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 164.0 | 644 | 113 | 10 | 146 | 40 | 3 | 2 | 32 | 28 |
| vs Giants | 2.91 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 52.2 | 215 | 50 | 7 | 47 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 17 |
| Yoshimi, Kazuki | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2.00 | 27 | 5 | 16 | 7 | 189.1 | 750 | 166 | 10 | 147 | 33 | 3 | 6 | 52 | 42 |
| vs Giants | 3.86 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 21.0 | 85 | 20 | 5 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 9 |
| Iwase, Hitoki | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2.12 | 54 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 46.2 | 196 | 41 | 2 | 34 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 11 |
| vs Giants | 5.68 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.1 | 26 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Asao, Takuya | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 3.49 | 67 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 113.1 | 464 | 108 | 6 | 96 | 24 | 6 | 4 | 47 | 44 |
| vs Giants | 2.16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8.1 | 32 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Starter | Bullpen | |
| Innings Pitched | 913.2 | 394.1 |
| Earned Runs | 293 | 134 |
| ERA | 2.89 | 3.06 |
Starters
| ERA | G | CG | W | L | IP | BF | H | HR | SO | BB | HBP | WP | R | ER | |
| Gonzalez, Dicky | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2.11 | 23 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 162.0 | 643 | 134 | 11 | 113 | 25 | 7 | 2 | 42 | 38 |
| vs Dragons | 1.46 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 37.0 | 141 | 23 | 2 | 23 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| Utsumi, Tetsuya | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2.96 | 27 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 179.2 | 730 | 161 | 23 | 115 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 66 | 59 |
| vs Dragons | 11.25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.0 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Obispo, Wirfin | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2.54 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 58.2 | 233 | 44 | 7 | 48 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| vs Dragons | 3.52 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 23.0 | 92 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Kroon, Marc | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 1.26 | 46 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 50.0 | 206 | 36 | 1 | 57 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 7 |
| vs Dragons | 0.00 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ochi, Daisuke | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 3.30 | 66 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 71.0 | 294 | 63 | 6 | 70 | 22 | 2 | 5 | 28 | 26 |
| vs Dragons | 3.68 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14.2 | 60 | 12 | 1 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Seasonal Team Stats
vs. Stats
| G | W | L | T | RS | RS/G | RA | H | HR | SO | BB | HBP | DP | SB | ERR | BA | ERA | |
| Dragons | 24 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 90 | 3.8 | 104 | 202 | 25 | 162 | 68 | 11 | 21 | 8 | 15 | .254 | 4.07 |
| Giants | 24 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 104 | 4.3 | 90 | 217 | 32 | 181 | 44 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 5 | .267 | 3.70 |
Season Stats
| G | W | L | T | RS | RS/G | RA | H | HR | SO | BB | HBP | DP | SB | ERR | BA | ERA | |
| Dragons | 144 | 89 | 46 | 1 | 605 | 4.2 | 508 | 1243 | 136 | 968 | 432 | 51 | 112 | 81 | 84 | .258 | 3.17 |
| Giants | 144 | 89 | 46 | 1 | 650 | 4.5 | 493 | 1375 | 182 | 1043 | 349 | 64 | 71 | 84 | 84 | .275 | 2.94 |
Quick Analysis
The Giants easily have one of the toughest (and deepest) line-ups in the NPB: the line-up boasts 4 players with 25+ homer runs, three of which hit 30+ home runs and features two players with 100+ RBIs.
But make no mistake, the line-up can still be controlled -- they were shut out 7 times during the regular season this year and even went through a streak of three straight shut-out losses back in April. And for those keeping score, three of those shut-out losses came at the Tokyo Dome.
The Giants pitching staff won't be at 100% as they'll be short Seth Greisinger and Yuya Kubo. While losing Greisinger may not end up hurting the Giants in terms of direct match-ups (he was 1-2 with a 5.56 ERA vs the Dragons this season), it does mean that the rotation gets shorter. And with Yuya Kubo going down with the flu, the fifth man in the rotation now becomes the Giants' third choice.
While the Giants are favorites to win the Climax Series, make sure to keep your eye out on the Dragons. Especially if Kazuhiro Wada continues to hit well, Masahiko Morino comes out of his mini-funk, and Tony Blanco starts hitting them out.
Incidentally, here are some perhaps interesting numbers about home runs, the Giants, and the Tokyo Dome:
- Of the 182 home runs the Giants hit, 96 were hit at the Dome, or about 53%.
- Of the 123 home runs Giants' pitchers surrendered, 64 were at the Dome, or about 52%.
- Of the 25 home runs the Dragons hit against the Giants, 14 came at the Dome, or about 56%.
- Of the 32 home runs the Giants hit against the Dragons, 22 came at the Dome, or about 69%.
