Saturday, September 8, 2007

Jeebus Likes J-Pop Idols (Part 1): Def. Diva




(Maki Goto)(Rika Ishikawa)(Natsumi Abe)(Aya Matsuura)

DEF.DIVA is a "special group" formed in 2005 from the Hello! Project idol umbrella and consists of Aya Matsuura, Maki Goto, Natsumi Abe, and Rika Ishikawa. The band's name is an abbreviation of the phrase "Definite Diva".

Three of the members of DEF.DIVA (Goto, Abe, Ishikawa) were previous Morning Musume members, while Matsuura is a soloist. Goto and Abe are now also soloists and Ishikawa leads v-u-den. Goto, Matsuura and Abe also composed a previous three-member special group, Nochiura Natsumi. The four were joined together in September 2005 to form DEF. DIVA.

Currently, the individual members are involved in other projects, with Abe's and Goto's solo careers and Ishikawa's status as leader of v-u-den taking priority over DEF.DIVA. Matsuura, meanwhile, is involved in a new duo, GAM with fellow Gomattou member Miki Fujimoto as well as continuing her own solo career.

Hanshin Tigers Close In On Division Lead!



The Hanshin Tigers were overwhelmed in the longball department Friday in their faceoff with Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome 7-1, three of those by first baseman Seung-yeop Lee, but they got a ninth inning pinch hit leadoff jack from Shinjiro Hiyama to break an 8-8 deadlock and take it 9-8 and advance to within half a game of first. Tigers starter Ryan Vogelsong became the first hurler for that club to be tagged for five bombs since Masaki Fukuya in 1987 and the fifth Hanshin hurler overall in going 5.1 innings of six run, nine hit ball in a no decision.

Tomoyuki Kubota was roughed up for the other two Giants homers, but was still credited with the win, his sixth.

Jeremy Powell started for Yomiuri and went 4.1 innings of five run, six hit ball while also walking four, two of which showed up on the scoreboard, in a no decision. Powell was demoted to the minors after the game and this is probably it for him in Tokyo. Satoshi Fukuda was called up in his place.

The seven dingers is a 2007 best for the Giants and it was the ninth time in team annals that they had done that, the last time being in 2005. The only other time that they had lost while putting on that kind of fireworks display was on August 10th, 2000 against Yokohama. It is the third time that they have collected that many homers in a Tokyo Dome tilt since the park opened.

The most homers any one Yomiuri player has hit against Hanshin was 152, by Sadaharu Oh. Nobody else is even remotely close. Hiroshima, though, has been the team's favorite longball victim, taking Carp moundsmen deep 1662 times.


GANBARE MOUKO!

TomC

In Spite Of Classless Oriole Pitcher, Lester Leads Sox To Win!

(Ellsbury Goes The Extra Mile!)(Pedroia ducks for safety.)(Classless Moron Daniel Cabrera.)(The Red Sox are now 30 Games over .500!)

Jon Lester allowed four hits in seven innings to win his third straight start, and the Red Sox handed Daniel Cabrera his 15th loss of the season, barely avoiding a brawl Friday night in a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Both teams converged around the mound and plate in the fourth inning after Cabrera threw a fastball behind the ear of Dustin Pedroia. The pitch came immediately after a balk produced a run to put the Red Sox up 3-0.

"The ball slipped out of my hand," Cabrera said. (editor's note: Bullshit!)

The Orioles haven't done much winning lately, so much of the post-game comments focused on the fracas.

"I think he {Cabrera} lost his cool," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "I can tell you very honestly it's going to be addressed. I'm just glad Pedroia didn't get hurt. He {Pedroia} didn't do anything."

(another editor's note: It sure says something about the level of stupidity of this pitcher, that his manager wouldn't even play the "oops, the ball slipped" game every skipper does with the press. What a shithead.)

Boston's Mike Lowell said: "Guys throw as hard as he does, you've got to be careful. If he hits (Pedroia) in the head, he could split him in two. It's not our fault he balked the run in."

Cabrera's uncontrolled rage caused tempers to escalate. The Orioles charged from their dugout while relievers from both teams ran in from the bullpen, at least two of them scaling the 7-foot wall. No punches were thrown, however, and Cabrera (9-15) was ejected. Wally Bell, the crew chief, said, "The ejection occurred for what Cabrera did during the incident after the pitch.".

The Sox look to continue their winning ways tomorrow, as they send Daisuke Matsuzaka to oppose Baltimore's Jon Leicester. Hopefully none of the ugliness of tonight will carry over.

GO SOX!

TomC