2009 Chunichi Dragons season

The 2009 Chunichi Dragons season features the Dragons quest to win their first Central League baseball title since 2006. The season did not start off well as the team was absorbing the loss of longtime staff ace Kenshin Kawakami, who departed via free agency. As the season progressed, the Dragons' pitching came into their own, led by Taiwanese ace Chen Wei-Yin, Kazuki Yoshimi, Kenta Asakura, and young lefty Yudai Kawai, who won eleven starts (eight in a row) before taking his first loss of the season on August 6. Chen had the lowest ERA of any pitcher in the last 40 years in Japan (1.54) despite having an unspectacular 8-4 record. However, he lost out in the Sawamura Award voting to Saitama Seibu Lions ace Hideaki Wakui.

Offensively, the Dragons had only two batters hit over .300 for the season (minimum 500 plate appearances), but the real surprise was Dominican slugger Tony Blanco. Despite striking out far and away the most times of anybody on the team (157 K), he crushed 39 home runs and knocked in 110 runs while batting .275. He had some help from domestic sluggers Masahiko Morino and Kazuhiro Wada, who added 23 and 29 home runs, respectively.

Chunichi finished second to the eventual Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants in the regular season with an 82-61-1 record. In the first round of the playoffs, they were almost eliminated by the upstart Yakult Swallows, but came back to win the next two games and advance to the 2nd Stage against the Giants, where they were eliminated.

Roster

Chunichi Dragons roster
First squad				Second squad
Pitchers 11 Shinnosuke Ogasawara 12 Shinji Tajima 13 Hitoki Iwase 14 Yuu Satoh 16 Katsuki Matayoshi 21 Toshiya Okada 22 Yudai Ono 24 Koji Fukutani 29 Daisuke Yamai 32 Kentaro Nishikawa 34 Hiroto Fuku 41 Takuya Asao 43 Tatsuro Hamada 50 Takeshi Kaneko 52 Drew Naylor 57 Ryuya Ogawa 59 Shota Oba 61 Shunta Wakamatsu 99 Jordan Norberto Catchers 35 Takuya Kinoshita 38 Masato Matsui 39 Takuma Kato 40 Iori Katsura		Infielders 00 Anderson Hernández 3 Shuhei Takahashi 7 Masahiko Morino 23 Issei Endō 53 Kyohei Kamezawa 55 Nobumasa Fukuda 63 Naomichi Donoue Outfielders  4 Atsushi Fujii  6 Ryosuke Hirata  8 Yohei Oshima 26 Masataka Iryo 46 Takeru Furumoto 60 Ricardo Nanita 66 Dayán Viciedo Manager 27 Motonobu Tanishige		Pitchers 17 Yudai Kawai 18 Shota Suzuki 19 Kazuki Yoshimi 20 Ryosuke Nomura 25 Yuta Muto 28 Shinji Iwata 30 Takuma Achira 33 Daisuke Sobue 42 Juan Jaime 44 Raúl Valdés 47 Tomohiro Hamada 51 Masashi Yamamoto 58 Tomoya Yagi 64 Ryosuke Oguma 65 Junki Ito Catchers 45 Shota Sugiyama 52 Shingo Takeyama 68 Ryuichiro Akada		Infielders  2 Masahiro Araki  5 Toshiki Abe  9 Shun Ishikawa 37 Taiki Mitsumata 48 Hayato Mizowaki 70 Tetsuya Tani Outfielders  1 Shota Tomonaga 31 Kei Nomoto 56 Yusuke Matsui 62 Takahito Kudo 69 Kazuyuki Akasaka Manager 82 Michihiro Ogasawara Development Players 201 Takahiro Kawasaki (P) 202 Junki Kishimoto (P) 203 Seiya Nakagawa (P) 205 Shu Yoshida (P) 206 Takuya Mitsuma (P) 207 Masaru Fujiyoshi (C) 208 Mikihiro Nishihama (P) 210 Kaito Goya (P) 211 Kodai Ishigaki (P) 212 Masaru Watanabe (OF) 213 Hiroki Kondoh (OF) 215 Hitoshi Tamura (OF) Updated 2016-02-24 → All NPB rosters

Regular season

Standings

Central League	G	W	L	T	Win%	GB
Yomiuri Giants	144	89	46	9	.659	—
Chunichi Dragons	144	81	62	1	.566	12
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	144	71	72	1	.497	22
Hanshin Tigers	144	67	73	4	.479	24½
Hiroshima Carp	144	65	75	4	.464	26½
Yokohama BayStars	144	51	93	0	.354	42½

Game log

2009 Game Log
April # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 1 April 3 BayStars 4 - 1 Asao (1-0) Miura (0-1) Iwase (1) 37,678 1-0-0 2 April 4 BayStars 6 - 0 Yoshimi (1-0) Glynn (0-1) 36,528 2-0-0 3 April 5 BayStars 6 - 0 Chen (1-0) Kobayashi (0-1) 33,496 3-0-0 4 April 7 @Swallows 3 - 4 Takahashi (1-0) Oshimoto (0-1) Iwase (2) 17,538 4-0-0 5 April 8 @Swallows 8 - 4 Kida (1-0) Nakata (0-1) 15,089 4-1-0 6 April 9 @Swallows 10 - 7 Ishikawa (1-1) Asao (1-1) Lim (2) 14,526 4-2-0 7 April 10 @Carp 3 - 11 Yoshimi (2-0) Lewis (1-1) Nelson (1) 30,618 5-2-0 8 April 11 @Carp 2 - 0 Maeda (2-0) Shimizu (0-1) 30,268 5-3-0 9 April 12 @Carp 10 - 0 Shinoda (1-0) Yamamoto (0-1) 30,139 5-4-0 — April 14 @Tigers Postponed (rained out) 10 April 15 @Tigers 2 - 9 Asakura (1-0) Shimoyanagi (1-1) 40,476 6-4-0 11 April 16 @Tigers 4 - 3 Atchison (1-0) Asao (1-2) Fujikawa (2) 40,195 6-5-0 12 April 17 Giants 3 - 5 Tono (2-0) Yoshimi (2-1) Kroon (3) 35,669 6-6-0 13 April 18 Giants 2 - 3 Yamaguchi (1-0) Chen (1-1) Kroon (4) 37,883 6-7-0 14 April 19 Giants 5 - 6 Nishimura (1-0) Nelson (0-1) Kroon (5) 37,815 6-8-0 15 April 21 Tigers 2 - 1 Asakura (2-0) Shimoyanagi (1-2) Iwase (3) 30,434 7-8-0 16 April 22 Tigers 6 - 2 Asao (2-2) Kubota (0-1) Iwase (4) 31,650 8-8-0 17 April 23 Tigers 1 - 4 (12) Fujikawa (1-0) Nelson (0-2) 30,850 8-9-0 18 April 24 @Giants 2 - 3 (10) Kobayashi (1-0) Ochi (2-1) Iwase (5) 42,262 9-9-0 19 April 25 @Giants 5 - 4 Toyoda (1-0) Iwase (0-1) 43,707 9-10-0 20 April 26 @Giants 0 - 8 Kawai (1-0) Greisinger (3-2) 43,020 10-10-0 21 April 28 Swallows 2 - 4 Kida (2-2) Asakura (2-1) Lim (5) 12,115 10-11-0 22 April 29 Swallows 1 - 7 Tateyama (2-0) Asao (2-3) 33,318 10-12-0 23 April 30 Swallows 0 - 3 Ishikawa (3-1) Yoshimi (2-2) Lim (6) 29,184 10-13-0
May # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 24 May 2 @BayStars 6 - 1 Miura (3-2) Yamai (0-1) 21,080 10-14-0 25 May 3 @BayStars 0 - 2 Chen (2-1) Glynn (1-4) 23,920 11-14-0 26 May 4 @BayStars 2 - 4 Saito (1-0) Ishii (0-3) Hirai (1) 22,529 12-14-0 27 May 5 Carp 0 - 2 Otake (2-1) Asakura (2-2) Nagakawa (9) 37,494 12-15-0 28 May 6 Carp 4 - 2 Asao (3-3) Saito (2-2) Iwase (6) 36,159 13-15-0 29 May 7 Carp 4 - 3 Saito (2-0) Umetsu (2-1) 26,978 14-15-0 30 May 8 @Giants 10 - 4 Greisinger (4-2) Yamai (0-2) 42,927 14-16-0 31 May 9 @Giants 3 - 1 Gonzalez (2-0) Chen (2-2) Ochi (3) 42,047 14-17-0 32 May 10 @Giants 8 - 7 Nakamura (1-1) Saito (2-1) Ochi (4) 43,185 14-18-0 33 May 12 Swallows 6 - 3 Asakura (3-2) Ichiba (1-3) Iwase (7) 9,059 15-18-0 34 May 13 Swallows 1 - 7 Ishikawa (5-1) Asao (3-4) 26,258 15-19-0 35 May 14 Swallows 5 - 8 Matsuoka (1-0) Ogasawara (0-1) Lim (11) 25,010 15-20-0 36 May 15 BayStars 1 - 0 (10) Yoshimi (3-2) Ishii (0-4) 27,711 16-20-0 37 May 16 BayStars 2 - 1 (10) Iwase (1-1) Yamaguchi (3-2) 32,869 17-20-0 38 May 17 BayStars 4 - 1 Kawai (2-0) Kobayashi (1-3) Iwase (8) 33,935 18-20-0 39 May 19 @Lions 5 - 7 Asakura (4-2) Onuma (1-3) Iwase (9) 18,110 19-20-0 40 May 20 @Lions 2 - 1 (10) Nogami (1-2) Asao (3-5) 19,203 19-21-0 41 May 22 @Marines 1 - 4 Yoshimi (4-2) Omine (2-2) Iwase (10) 14,660 20-21-0 42 May 23 @Marines 2 - 1 Sikorski (3-2) Hirai (0-1) 28,117 20-22-0 43 May 24 Fighters 1 - 0 Kawai (3-0) Takeda (2-3) Iwase (11) 31,711 21-22-0 44 May 25 Fighters 10 - 4 Asakura (5-2) Itokazu (0-1) 29,051 22-22-0 45 May 27 Eagles 2 - 3 Tanaka (7-0) Takahashi (1-1) Aoyama (2) 32,208 22-23-0 46 May 28 Eagles 2 - 1 (10) Nagamine (1-0) Aoyama (0-2) 28,262 23-23-0 47 May 30 @Hawks 9 - 5 Satō (1-0) Nagamine (1-1) 30,387 23-24-0 48 May 31 @Hawks 5 - 4 Falkenborg (3-0) Takahashi (1-2) 33,231 23-25-0
June # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 49 June 2 @Buffaloes 50 June 3 @Buffaloes 51 June 5 Marines 52 June 6 Marines 53 June 7 Lions 54 June 8 Lions 55 June 10 @Eagles 56 June 11 @Eagles 57 June 13 @Fighters 58 June 14 @Fighters 59 June 16 Hawks 60 June 17 Hawks 61 June 20 Buffaloes 62 June 21 Buffaloes 63 June 26 @Carp 64 June 27 @Carp 65 June 28 @Carp 66 June 30 Tigers
July # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 67 July 1 Tigers 68 July 2 Tigers 69 July 3 Giants 70 July 4 Giants 71 July 5 Giants 72 July 7 @Swallows 73 July 8 @Swallows 74 July 9 @Swallows 75 July 10 Carp 76 July 11 Carp 77 July 12 Carp 78 July 14 @Tigers 79 July 15 @Tigers 80 July 16 @Tigers 81 July 17 @BayStars 82 July 18 @BayStars 83 July 19 @BayStars 84 July 20 Carp 85 July 21 Carp 86 July 22 Carp 87 July 28 @Giants 88 July 29 @Giants 89 July 30 @Giants 90 July 31 @Swallows
August # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 91 August 1 @Swallows 92 August 2 @Swallows 93 August 4 Tigers 94 August 5 Tigers 95 August 6 Tigers 96 August 7 @BayStars 97 August 8 @BayStars 98 August 9 @BayStars 99 August 11 @Tigers 100 August 12 @Tigers 101 August 13 @Tigers 102 August 14 Swallows 103 August 15 Swallows 104 August 16 Swallows 105 August 18 @Carp 106 August 19 @Carp 107 August 20 @Carp 108 August 21 BayStars 109 August 22 BayStars 110 August 23 BayStars 111 August 25 Giants 112 August 26 Giants 113 August 27 Giants 114 August 28 @Swallows 115 August 29 @Swallows 116 August 30 @Swallows
September # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 117 September 1 Carp 118 September 2 Carp 119 September 3 Carp 120 September 5 @BayStars 121 September 6 @BayStars 122 September 8 @Tigers 123 September 9 @Tigers 124 September 10 @Tigers 125 September 11 Swallows 126 September 12 Swallows 127 September 13 Swallows 128 September 15 @Carp 129 September 16 @Carp 130 September 17 @Carp 131 September 18 BayStars 132 September 19 BayStars 133 September 20 BayStars 134 September 21 @Giants 135 September 22 @Giants 136 September 23 @Giants 137 September 25 Tigers 138 September 26 Tigers 139 September 27 Tigers 140 September 28 Giants 141 September 29 Giants 142 September 30 Giants

Player stats

Batting

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB

Pitching

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

References