A little late in reporting, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka (LOT) collected his 200th hit off Chihiro Kaneko in the 4th inning.  Nishioka becomes the second player this season to record 200 hits.

UPDATE 5:02pm JST - Nishioka ended up going 3-for-4 for his 27th modasho of the year.  That breaks the single season record Ichiro's set in 1996.

Matt Murton (HAN) just collected his 200th hit of the year.  It was a solo homer to lead-off the top of the 7th inning with Kazuki Yoshimi (CHU) on the mound.

In other 200-hit news:

Norichika Aoki (YAK) went 1-for-5 and now has 197 hits with 10 games remaining.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka (YAK) went 1-for-4 and now has 198 hits with 5 games remaining.

On September 2nd, Tsuyoshi Nishioka (LOT) was batting .328 and was on track to finish the season with a 196 hits.  Since then, he's gone on a bit of a tear and went 28-for-63 (.444) and is now on track to finish the season with 204 hits.  An impressive push from Nishioka down the stretch.

Note: this isn't to take anything away from Matt Murton or Norichika Aoki.  They have also increased their hit rates since September 2nd -- Murton went from batting .343 to .352 and Aoki from .350 to .358.

I think it's also safe to say that at this point, Munenori Kawasaki is out of the running.

The numbers:

The estimates:

Based on the current rates:

The numbers:

The estimates:

Based on the current rates:

The numbers:

The estimates:

Based on the current rates:

Road to 200

The numbers:

The estimates:

Based on the current rates:

I've added Kensuke Tanaka, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Munenori Kawasaki back into the mix, as per Steve's suggestion.

The numbers:

The estimates:

Based on the current rates:

Murton and Aoki are still in good shape. Tanaka and Nishioka still have a decent shot, but a few of 0fers could derail them. And at this point, it seems like Kawasaki is more of less out of the running.

Incidentally, since 8/1:

With under 30 games remaining for both the Hanshin Tigers (29) and Yakult Swallows (27), I thought it might be time for another countdown to 200 hits post.

The numbers:

The estimates:

Assuming the current rate at which the two players are hitting, Murton is on pace the finish the season with 213 hits and Aoki 207 hits.

Murton's 170 hits ties George Altman (set in 1968) for second on the single season hit list for first year foreign players.  Phil Clark sits atop of the single season hit list for first year foreign players with 174 (set in 1997).

Murton also has a shot at breaking the NPB record of 210 hits set by Ichiro Suzuki in 1994.

Norichika Aoki (YAK) recorded his fourth multi-hit game in a row by going 4-for-5 on Wednesday night. For the month of August, Aoki currently has 12 multi-hit games (out of 21).

In order to finish with 200 hits, Aoki will need to collect 41 hits over his next 33 games.

Other players that might have a shot at 200:

Assuming about 4 at bats per game:

Based on the numbers, Aoki probably has the best chance, followed by Murton. Kawasaki, Tanaka, and Nishioka probably won't be able to reach 200 unless they go on some crazy hitting streaks.