Woods leads Dragons to CLCS 2nd stage
Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Woods leads Dragons to CLCS 2nd stage
The Yomiuri Shimbun
(Oct. 21, 2008)
In a duel to the death, the Chunichi Dragons came to life at the end.
Tyrone Woods’ two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning broke a scoreless tie and lifted the Dragons past the Hanshin Tigers 2-0 for a dramatic finish to the first stage of the Central League Climax Series.
Woods took Hanshin closer Kyuji Fujikawa out to left-center field on a 3-2 pitch to win Game 3 and shock most of the 33,201 at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
“I feel good that we won the game and advanced to the next round,” Woods said calmly in the on-field postgame interview.
“I was just waiting for the fastball. I know Fujikawa–he’s a great pitcher–and his best pitch is the fastball. So I just wanted to make contact and hit the ball hard and not strike out,” said Woods, who paused at the plate for a moment to admire the shot.
“If felt good right off the bat. Once I made contact, I knew the ball was going out of the park.”
The blast came after a pitching duel between Chunichi starter Kazuki Yoshimi, a native of Kyoto, and Hanshin lefty Minoru Iwata. Neither allowed a run over their eight innings.
Yoshimi got the win, handcuffing the Tigers on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
Hitoki Iwase worked a perfect ninth to save it as last year’s Japan Series champions advanced to the second stage of the CLCS.
“I just went all out and focused on my pitching. I don’t remember much about what happened in the game,” Yoshimi said.
It turned out to be the final game for Hanshin skipper Akinobu Okada, who had decided to step down after his team blew a 13-game lead and the CL title to Yomiuri in the regular season.
Okada, who managed the Tigers for five years, was constructive in a postgame press conference.
“We let the [CL] championship get away, but we’ve become a team that can compete for the title,” Okada said. “I’m hanging up my uniform now, but with a little something extra, this can be a much better team.”
The Dragons will take on the Giants in a rematch of last year’s second stage of the CLCS. The best-of-seven series starts on Wednesday at Tokyo Dome with the Giants holding a one-game advantage.
“We are the challengers in this thing, so we’ll evaluate the team tomorrow and head for Tokyo,” said Chunichi skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai.
