• Recaps USA Major League World Series
• Scores, Standings, Stats USA Major League post-season

JAPAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2000

Giants take lead
FUKUOKA (Japan) - The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants collected ten hits, including three homeruns to shutout Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, 6-0 and take a 3-2 lead in the Nihon Series.
Rookie pitcher Hisanori Takahashi went the distance, striking out twelve and allowing only two hits. The Giants took the lead in the second when Yoshinobu Takahashi homered. In the fifth, Akira Eto also homered. Then, in the seventh, Eto singled and Shinichi Murata connected for a two-out, two-run homerun to make it 4-0. The Giants added two more runs in the eighth ona two-run singled by Yoshinobu Takahashi. The Hawks managed to get only two hits, one in the second and one in the fifth, off Hisanori Takahashi.
(October 27)
Line Score
Standings
Scores

Giants level Series
FUKUOKA (Japan) - The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants on Thursday defeated Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, 2-1, to level the Nihon Series at two games apiece. The three runs were all scored in the first two innings, with Akira Eto hitting a decisive homerun.
The Giants again scored the first run of the game. In the first inning lead-off hitter Toshihisa Nishi walked, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Kazuhiro Kiyohara. The Giants added two more singles to load the bases, but a double play ended the inning, before more runs could be scored. In the home first, designated hitter Melvin Nieves homered with two outs to tie the score, but then in the top of the second Giants-third baseman Akira Eto hit a lead-off homerun to give the Tokyo-team a 2-1 lead. And it stayed that way as the pitchers of both teams didn't gave away much more scoring opportunities. Especially, Giants-starter Masaki Saito was very effective. The Hawks, however, could have scored a second run in the seventh, when Koji Akiyama singled and hitter Tadahiro Iguchi came to bat. Akiyama, a speedy runner was caught stealing and while he argued the call he was the second out of the inning. Moments later Iguchi tripled. Hideki Okajima relieved Saito and got pinch-hitter Noriyoshi Omichi to pop to second to come out of the inning and went on to save the game.
(October 26)
Line Score
Standings
Scores

Giants win Game Three
FUKUOKA (Japan) - The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants came back to win Game Three in the Nihon Series, beating Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, 9-3. The Giants broke a 3-3 tie in the third inning, scoring four runs. After a shaky start, Giants-pitcher Koji Uehara recovered and allowed only two more hits in the next five innings. The next game is scheduled for Thursday.
The Giants again took the lead, scoring three runs in the second, highlighted by a two-run homerun by Yoshinobu Takahashi. In the home second, the Hawks tied the score when Kenji Jojima hit his third homerun of the series and Hiroshi Shibahara added a two-run double. The Giants re-took the lead, scoring four runs. In the inning, Tomohiro Nioka hit a two-run double and, on a new pitcher, Shinichi Murata hit a two-run single to power the Giants to a 7-3 leqad. In the seventh inning, Kazuhiro Kiyohara hit a lead-off single and then Hideki Matsui hit his second homerun of the series to make it 9-3.
(October 23)
Line Score
Standings
Scores

Hawks also take Game Two
TOKYO (Japan) - The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks also won Game Two of the Nihon Series, beating the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome, 8-3. Again, the Hawks came from behind as Kenji Jojima got four RBI's.
This time, the Giants scored twice in the second on a bases-loaded double play-grounder and a single by Shinichi Murata. In the third, the Giants added a run on back-to-back doubles by Hideki Matsui and Kazuhiro Kiyohara. In the fifth, the Hawks rallied for six runs on seven hits to take a 6-3 lead, when Giants-starter Darrell May ran into problems. The inning, in which the Giants used four pitchers, was highlighted by a two-run double by Kenji Jojima, who also hit a two-run homerun in the seventh, giving the catcher four RBI's in the game.
(October 22)
Line Score
Standings
Scores

Hawks win Series-opener
TOKYO (Japan) - Defending champion Fukuoka Daiei Hawks came from behind to win the opening game of the best-of-seven Nihon Series, 5-3 vs. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants.
The Giants took an early 3-1 lead, but in the seventh Nobuhiko Matsunaka hit a two-run homerun to tie the score. After Toshihisa Nihsi doubled, Hideki Matsui hit a two-out, two-run homerun in the first to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. In the Hawks-second, Kenji Jojima homered, but in the home second, Toshihisa Nishi had an RBI-double, improving the Giants' lead again to two runs, 3-1. After four scoreless innings, Noriyoshi Omichi singled and Nobuhiko Matsunaka followed with an one-out, two-run homerun to tie the score. In the ninth, Melvin Nieves hit a pinch-hit homerun, giving the Hawks a 4-3 lead, before a fifth run was added on an RBI-single by Koji Akiyama.
(October 21)
Line Score
Standings
Scores

JAPAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2000

Scores Nihon Series

Sunday, October 22
Tokyo Yomiuri Giants vs. Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, 3-8 (game two)

Monday, October 23
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks vs. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, 3-9 (game three)

Thursday, October 26
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks vs. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, 1-2 (game four)

Friday, October 27
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks vs. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, 0-6 (game five)

Saturday, October 28
Tokyo Yomiuri Giants vs. Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, 9-3 (game six)

Schedule Nihon Series

Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl