So Team Japan recently played an exhibition game against a team of Central League players and were completely embarrassed.

Or rather, should I say, Kenshin Kawakami was embarrassed.

Kawakami was the second pitcher to come into the game yesterday (following Tsuyoshi Wada) for Team Japan and promptly served up 9 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits (2 homers) and a walk. He couldn't retire a single batter in his outing and ended up throwing 34 pitches to 9 batters.

It probably didn't help that the inning started off with an error. But giving up a double and then two homeruns back-to-back isn't quite the recipe for success either. Kawakami then proceeded to walk the next batter and gave up 4 consecutive singles before being yanked.

Masahiro Tanaka came in to try and stop the bleeding. He manage to get two quick outs but then gave up two consecutive doubles. Tanaka threw 2 innings and gave up 2 runs (both earned) on 6 hits and 3 strikeouts.

Team Japan's offense didn't make things any easier. As a team, they went 4-for-31 with 2 runs, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. And the four hits Team Japan hit were by two players, Tsuyoshi Nishioka (2 singles) and Shuichi Murata (single and homerun).

28,227 fans were on hand to watch Team Japan get their butts spanked by Central League players.

For those interested, the CL roster.

Pitchers
LHP  Tetsuya Utsumi     2.31 ERA, 7-7     Yomiuri Giants
RHP  Kentaro Nishimura  3.05 ERA, 6-2     Yomiuri Giants
LHP  Tetsuya Yamaguchi  2.19 ERA, 6-2     Yomiuri Giants
LHP  Akifumi Takahashi  2.57 ERA, 0-0     Chunichi Dragons
RHP  Ryo Watanabe       1.90 ERA, 5-2     Hanshin Tigers
RHP  Hayato Terahara    3.36 ERA, 16 Svs  Yokohama Bay Stars
RHP  Kan Otake          3.89 ERA, 5-10    Hiroshima Carp
RHP  Takehiko Oshimoto  2.94 ERA, 4-3     Yakult Swallows

Position Players
C    Masaumi Shimizu     .250, 16 R, 2 RBI   Chunichi Dragons
C    Yoshiyuki Ishihara  .259, 25 R, 37 RBI  Hiroshima Carp
C    Masakazu Fukukawa   .179, 13 R, 18 RBI  Yakult Swallows
INF  Ryota Arai          .167, 2 R           Chunichi Dragons
INF  Takashi Toritani    .291, 48 R, 49 RBI  Hanshin Tigers
INF  Keichi Hirano       .277, 32 R, 15 RBI  Hanshin Tigers
INF  Akira Higashide     .334, 49 R, 21 RBI  Hiroshima Carp
INF  Kenta Kurihara      .330, 47 R, 58 RBI  Hiroshima Carp
INF  Kenzo Kawashima     .221, 31 R, 15 RBI  Yakult Swallows
INF  Hiroyasu Tanaka     .307, 39 R, 34 RBI  Yakilt Swallows
OF   Yoshiyuki Kamei     .256, 28 R, 14 RBI  Yomiuri Giants
OF   Ryosuke Hirata      .254, 2 R, 6 RBI    Chunichi Dragons
OF   Ikuro Katsuragi     .273, 20 R, 24 RBI  Hanshin Tigers
OF   Tatsuhiko Kenjo     .242, 35 R, 24 RBI  Yokohama Bay Stars
OF   Seiichi Uchikawa    .360, 53 R, 42 RBI  Yokohama Bay Stars
OF   Yuki Yoshimura      .259, 42 R, 57 RBI  Yokohama Bay Stars

Mike asked about Tanaka's appearance so I figured I'd throw up his pitch-by-pitch performance.

Pitch     km/h
Slider    137
  Grounder to second
Fastball  147
Fastball  146
Slider    137
Slider    138
Slider    133
  Strikeout
Slider    138
Fastball  152
  Double
Curve     --
--        --
Fastball  --
  Double
Fastball  145
Slider    136
Shuto     148
Fork      134
  Strikeout
Curve     122
Slider    133
Fastball  145
  Single
Slider    132
Fastball  144
  Grounder to second
Slider    136
Fork      137
  Grounder to short
Fastball  142
Curve     125
Slider    134
Slider    132
  Single
Slider    132
Fork      136
  Single
Shuto     140
Shuto     143
Fastball  148
Fork      135
Slider    134
Shuto     144
  Infield hit
Fastball  145
Shuto     146
Fork      137
  Strikeout

Just a small update for Team Japan. Uniform numbers for all the players have been assigned.

They are as follows:

2  Masahiro Araki      INF
3  Hiroyuki Nakajima   INF
6  Shinya Miyamoto     INF
7  Tsuyoshi Nishioka   INF
10 Shinnosuke Abe      C
11 Kenshin Kawakami    P
13 Hitoki Iwase        P
15 Masahiro Tanaka     P
16 Hideaki Wakui       P
17 Yoshihisa Naruse    P
18 Yu Darvish          P
19 Koji Uehara         P
21 Tsuyoshi Wada       P
22 Tomoya Satozaki     C
23 Norichika Aoki      OF
25 Takahiro Arai       INF
28 Kyuji Fujikawa      P
31 Masahiko Morino     OF
39 Akihiro Yano        C
41 Atsunori Inaba      OF
46 Takahiko (GG) Sato  OF
47 Toshiya Sugiuchi    P
52 Munenori Kawasaki   INF
55 Shuichi Murata      INF

Incidentally, Takahiko Sato will be allowed to play under his GG Sato name.

Source: Yahoo Sports

Senichi Hoshino announced the finals rosters for Team Japan 2008.

Manager / Coaches
Manager                   Senichi Hoshino
Batting Coach             Tabuchi Kouichi
Fielding & Running Coach  Kouji Yamamoto
Pitching Coach            Yutaka Ohno

Pitchers
Koji Uehara         Yomiuri Giants
Kenshin Kawakami    Chunichi Dragons
Hitoki Iwase        Chunichi Dragons
Kyuji Fujikawa      Hanshin Tigers
Yu Darvish          Nippon Ham Fighters
Yoshihisa Naruse    Lotte Marines
Tsuyoshi Wada       Softbank Hawks
Toshiya Sugiuchi    Softbank Hawks
Masahiro Tanaka     Rakuten Golden Eagles
Hideaki Wakui       Seibu Lions

Catchers
Shinnosuke Abe      Yomiuri Giants
Akihiro Yano        Hanshin Tigers
Tomoya Satozaki     Lotte Marines

Infielders
Masahiro Araki      Chunichi Dragons
Takahiro Arai       Hanshin Tigers
Shuichi Murata      Yokohama Bay Stars
Shinya Miyamoto     Yakult Swallows
Tsuyoshi Nishioka   Lotte Marines
Munenori Kawasaki   Softbank Hawks
Hiroyuki Nakajima   Seibu Lions

Outfielders
Masahiko Morino     Chunichi Dragons
Norichika Aoki      Yakult Swallows
Atsunori Inaba      Nippon Ham Fighters
Takahiko (GG) Sato  Seibu Lions

I'll see if I can post some stats up a little later.

The original pool of 77 players has been officially cut down to 39. There are also a couple of new names on the list to account for players that have done well so far this season (like GG Sato).

The final roster of 24 will be decided sometime in the middle of July.

Pitchers (16)
Koji Uehara, Yomiuri Giants
Kenshin Kawakami, Chunichi Dragons
Hitoki Iwase, Chunichi Dragons
Kazuki Yoshimi, Chunichi Dragons
Minoru Iwata, Hanshin Tigers
Kyuji Fujikawa, Hanshin Tigers
Tomoyuki Kubota, Hanshin Tigers
Yu Darvish, Ham Fighters
Yoshihisa Naruse, Lotte Marines
Shunsuke Watanabe, Lotte Marines
Tsuyoshi Wada, Softbank Hawks
Yuki Kume, Softbank Hawks
Toshiya Sugiuchi, Softbank Hawks
Masahiro Tanaka, Rakuten Eagles
Hisashi Iwakuma, Rakuten Eagles
Hideaki Wakui, Seibu Lions

Catchers (6)
Shinnosuke Abe, Yomiuri Giants
Akihiro Yano, Hanshin Tigers
Ryoji Aikawa, Yokohama Bay Stars
Yoshiyuki Ishihara, Hiroshima Carp
Tomoya Satozaki, Lotte Marines
Toru Hosokawa, Seibu Lions

Infielders (10)
Michihiro Ogasawara, Yomiuri Giants
Masahiro Araki, Chunichi Dragons
Hirokazu Ibata, Chunichi Dragons
Takahiro Arai, Hanshin Tigers
Shuichi Murata, Yokohama Bay Stars
Shinya Miyamoto, Yakult Swallows
Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Lotte Marines
Munenori Kawasaki, Softbank Hawks
Hiroyuki Nakajima, Seibu Lions
Yasuyuki Kataoka, Seibu Lions

Outfielders (7)
Yoshinobu Takahashi, Yomiuri Giants
Kazuhiro Wada, Chunichi Dragons
Norihiro Akahoshi, Hanshin Tigers
Norichika Aoki, Yakult Swallows
Atsunori Inaba, Ham Fighters
Saburo Oomura, Lotte Marines
GG Sato, Seibu Lions

Senichi Hoshino, the Japanese manager for the 2008 Olympic Baseball Team, has picked 77 players as potential candidates to make the final roster of 24. The final roster will be ready by the end of June. And then starting on August 2nd (through August 7th) the Olympic bound squad will begin training for the Olympic event set to begin on the 13th in Beijing.

Pitchers (42)
Masanori Hayashi, Yomiuri Giants
Koji Uehara, Yomiuri Giants
Hisanori Takahashi, Yomiuri Giants
Tetsuya Utsumi, Yomiuri Giants
Kentarou Nishimura, Yomiuri Giants
Kenshin Kawakami, Chunichi Dragons
Hitoki Iwase, Chunichi Dragons
Kenichi Nakata, Chunichi Dragons
Yoshihiro Suzuki, Chunichi Dragons
Takashi Odawara, Chunichi Dragons
Minoru Iwata, Hanshin Tigers
Kyuji Fujikawa, Hanshin Tigers
Tomoyuki Kubota, Hanshin Tigers
Takeharu Kato, Yokohama Bay Stars
Atsushi Kizuka, Yokohama Bay Stars
Kan Otake, Hiroshima Carp
Yoshinori Sato, Yakult Swallows
Kyohei Muranaka, Yakult Swallows
Mikinori Kato, Yakult Swallows
Yu Darvish, Ham Fighters
Hisashi Takeda, Ham Fighters
Mitsuo Yoshikawa, Ham Fighters
Micheal Nakamura, Ham Fighters
Masaru Takeda, Ham Fighters
Yusuke Kawasaki, Lotte Marines
Yasutomo Kubo, Lotte Marines
Yoshihisa Naruse, Lotte Marines
Shunsuke Watanabe, Lotte Marines
Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Lotte Marines
Shota Ooba, Softbank Hawks
Tsuyoshi Wada, Softbank Hawks
Kenji Ootonari, Softbank Hawks
Yuki Kume, Softbank Hawks
Toshiya Sugiuchi, Softbank Hawks
Koji Mise, Softbank Hawks
Masahiro Tanaka, Rakuten Eagles
Kohei Hasebe, Rakuten Eagles
Hisashi Iwakuma, Rakuten Eagles
Shinya Okamoto, Seibu Lions
Hideaki Wakui, Seibu Lions
Daisuke Kato, Orix Buffaloes
Chihiro Kaneko, Orix Buffaloes

Catchers (8)
Shinnosuke Abe, Yomiuri Giants
Motonobu Tanishige, Chunichi Dragons
Akihiro Yano, Hanshin Tigers
Ryoji Aikawa, Yokohama Bay Stars
Yoshiyuki Ishihara, Hiroshima Carp
Masakazu Fukuwa, Yakult Swallows
Tomoya Satozaki, Lotte Marines
Toru Hosokawa, Seibu Lions

Infielders (16)
Michihiro Ogasawara, Yomiuri Giants
Masahiro Araki, Chunichi Dragons
Hirokazu Ibata, Chunichi Dragons
Masahiko Morino, Chunichi Dragons
Takahiro Arai, Hanshin Tigers
Shuichi Murata, Yokohama Bay Stars
Kenta Kurihara, Hiroshima Carp
Kenzo Kawashima, Yakult Swallows
Shinya Miyamoto, Yakult Swallows
Hiroyasu Tanaka, Yakult Swallows
Sho Nakata, Ham Fighters
Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Lotte Marines
Toshiaki Imae, Lotte Marines
Munenori Kawasaki, Softbank Hawks
Hiroyuki Nakajima, Seibu Lions
Yasuyuki Kataoka, Seibu Lions

Outfielders (11)
Yoshitomo Tani, Yomiuri Giants
Yoshinobu Takahashi, Yomiuri Giants
Kazuhiro Wada, Chunichi Dragons
Norihiro Akahoshi, Hanshin Tigers
Tasuhiko Kinjo, Yokohama Bay Stars
Yuki Yoshimura, Yokohama Bay Stars
Norichika Aoki, Yakult Swallows
Hichori Morimoto, Ham Fighters
Atsunori Inaba, Ham Fighters
Saburo Oomura, Lotte Marines
Hitoshi Tamura, Softbank Hawks

Team Japan beat Taiwan behind a gutsy performance by ace Yu Darvish. He pitched 7 full innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits (1 HR), 3 walks, 1 hbp, and 6 strikeouts. When he left the game, he had already thrown over 95 pitches (I can't remember the exact number and I can't find any info on any of the Japanese media sites).

The game started off with a single by Nishioka, followed by a sac bunt by Kawasaki. Aoki followed with a grounder to first, moving Nishioka over to third. The following batter, Aoki, initially appeared to have been struck by a 2-2 ball, but the umpire ruled that the ball instead bounced out of the mitt and struck him on the elbow. But no matter, Aoki quickly followed with a single second and third, scoring the first run of the game. Abe followed with another single, setting up a first and second situation for Murata with two out. But Chien-Fu Yang bore down and retired Murata on a fly to left.

There would be no scoring for either team until the bottom of the sixth when Yu Darvish surrendered a 2-run shot to Chin-Feng Chen (DH). After the 2-run homer, things looked a little bleak for Japan -- outside of that first inning, the Japanese offense sputtered (3-for-16, 1 walk, 1 K, and 2 GIDPs). But things would quickly change in the top of the 7th.

Murata started off the inning by getting hit in the back. Inaba followed with a single to right, at which point Miyamoto replaced Murata at second. Satozaki laid down a bunt to move the runners over, but Taiwan pitcher Chien-Fu Yang threw to third, a costly mistake that lead to a bases load, no outs situation. Out went Yang and in came Po-Hsuan Keng. Unfortunately, Keng couldn't hold things down.

Number 9 hitter Oomura laid down an unexpected squeeze bunt, scoring Miyamoto from first to tie the score. Okamura followed with a single to right, pushing Inaba over home plate for the go-ahead run. Out when Po-Hsuan Ken and in came Fu-De Ni. He too couldn't cool off Japan.

Kawasaki hit a single through the right side, scoring Satozaki from third and moving Okamura to second. Number 3 Aoki (who up until this game was fairly quiet with the bat), walked to load the bases. Out went Fu-De Ni and in came Chin-hui Tsao. Much like the two relievers that came in before him, Tsao had a rough time.

Clean-up batter Arai singled to right, scoring Okamura. With the bases still loaded, Abe dropped a single to left scoring Kawasaki and Aoki. Tsao then managed to get Miyamoto to fly out to left for the second out of the inning. He then hit Inaba and struck out Satozaki to finally end the inning.

Japan managed to send 12 batters to the plate and scored 6 runs to put the game further out of reach.

Taiwan had a chance to score in their half of the 7th, but couldn't manage to get that timely hit -- they left runners on first and second (both were walked).

The 8th inning ended quickly for both Japan and Taiwan. But the 9th inning saw Japan score three more runs (including a 2-run shot by Arai) to make the score 10-2.

Fujikawa and Uehara both pitched an inning of relief a piece and faced the minimum 3 hitters.

Japan is involved in a big game against Korea tonight in the Asia Baseball Championships: a loss to Korea will mean elimination from the Olympics. So it is imperative they beat Korea tonight if they want any chance of making it to the Peking Olympics.

GAME UPDATES:
Bottom of the 8th
#4 (Dong-ju Kim): Single to center
#5 (Dae-ho Lee): HBP
#6 (Jin-man Bak): Sac bunt. Runners move up a base. 1-out.
#7 (Jong-wook Lee): Sac fly to left. Runner on third scores. Runner on second stays. 2-out
#8 (In-seong Jo): Single to left. Runner on second moves to third. 2-out.
#9 (Kyung-oan Park): Pinch hitter. Caught looking, strike three!

End of the 8th, 4-3 Japan

Top of the 9th
#1 (Nishioka): Ground out to first. 1-out.
#2 (Kawasaki): Single to left. 1-out. Stolen base. Runner on second.
#3 (Aoki): Deep fly to left. Runner stays at second. 2-out.
#4 (Arai): Fly out to right. 3-out.

End of the top of the 9th, 4-3 Japan

Bottom of the 9th
Uehara comes in for Iwase
#1 (Sung-ho Jang): Pop fly to second. 1-out.
#2 (Young-min Ko): Swinging strike three. 2-out.
#3 (Taek-Keun Lee): Pop out to first.

JAPAN WINS! 4-3.

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Naruse started off the game but was removed for Kawakami in the 4th after giving up a run and leaving a man on second with 2 outs. Kawakami closed out the inning on a grounder to third.

Kawakami pitched through to the bottom of the 6th with two outs and runners on first and second and then was lifted in favor of Iwase. Iwase walked the next batter to load the bases and then ended the jam with a strikeout.

Iwase is still on the mound for Japan in the bottom of the 8th.

Uehara comes in for Japan, top of the 9th.

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