The 2009 Chunichi Dragons season resulted in an 81-62-1 record and qualification for the 2009 Central League Climax Series . The team was eliminated in the 2nd stage of the playoffs by the Yomiuri Giants . The season started poorly due to the departure of longtime star pitcher Kenshin Kawakami ; as the season progressed, the Dragons' pitching improved, led by Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-Yin , Kazuki Yoshimi , Kenta Asakura , and left-handed Yudai Kawai , who won eleven games as starting pitcher, including a streak of eight games in a row, before taking his first loss of the season on August 6. Chen had the lowest Earned Run Average of any pitcher in four decades in Japan (1.54) despite having a relatively poor 8-4 starting record.
Offensively, the Dragons had only two batters with over 500 plate appearances hit over .300 for the season, but Dominican slugger Tony Blanco was a surprising success. Despite striking out far and away the most times of anybody on the team (157 K), he hit 39 home runs and made 110 runs while batting .275. Batters Masahiko Morino and Kazuhiro Wada , hit respectively 23 and 29 home runs.
Chunichi finished second in the Central League in the regular season with an 82-61-1 record, and qualified for the 2009 Central League Climax Series . In the first round of the playoffs, they closely defeated the Yakult Swallows 2-1, but were eliminated in the second stage by eventual 2009 Japan Series champions the Yomiuri Giants .
Regular season [ ]
Standings [ ]
Game log [ ]
2009 Game Log
#
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)
(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)
(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
#
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
(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
(2-0)
(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)
(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)
(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)
(1-0)
Aoyama (0-2)
28,262
23-23-0
47
May 30
@Hawks
9 - 5
(1-0)
(1-1)
30,387
23-24-0
48
May 31
@Hawks
5 - 4
Falkenborg (3-0)
Takahashi (1-2)
33,231
23-25-0
#
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 [ ]
Central League Pacific League
The Franchise Ballparks Culture Retired numbers Key personnel Japan Series championships (2)Central League championships (9)Climax Series berths (6)
Seasons (85)
1930s
1930 · 1931 · 1932 · 1933 · 1934 · 1935 ·
1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2010s