The 2009 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks season featured the Hawks quest to win their first Pacific League title since 2003. For the first time since 1994, the Hawks had a new manager in Koji Akiyama , who replaced the legendary Sadaharu Oh .
SoftBank absorbed more injuries from Opening Day starter Tsuyoshi Wada , but saw the continued dominance of Toshiya Sugiuchi , and the emergence of foreign pitchers D.J. Houlton and Justin Germano , who stabilized the starting rotation. More foreign help came in the person of 201 cm-tall reliever Brian Falkenborg . Together with Rookie of the Year Tadashi Settsu and closer Takahiro Mahara , the Hawks had one of the most reliable bullpens in the league.
The Hawks had one of the older offenses in the league, still anchored by Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Hiroki Kokubo . Yuya Hasegawa had a breakout season (.312, 7HR, 44RBI) after suffering injuries in the previous two seasons. Hitoshi Tamura came back in mid-May and hit .283 with 17 home runs, which helped to make up for a disappointing season from Munenori Kawasaki , who batted a career-low .259 despite career highs in games played (143) and stolen bases (44).
For the second year in a row, the Hawks won the Interleague tournament. However, the team could not sustain their success as they stumbled in September, finishing 3rd and exiting in the first round of the playoffs, at the hands of the rival Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles .
Regular season [ edit ] Standings [ edit ]
Game log [ edit ] 2009 Game Log # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 1 April 3 Buffaloes 8 - 0 Wada (1-0) Komatsu (0-1) 30,106 1-0-0 2 April 4 Buffaloes 2 - 5 Kondo (1-0) Oba (0-1) Kato (1) 28,827 1-1-0 3 April 5 Buffaloes 2 - 1 (10) Kamiuchi (1-0) Kawagoe (0-1) 29,576 2-1-0 4 April 7 @Eagles 6 - 0 Tanaka (1-0) Loe (0-1) 17,281 2-2-0 5 April 8 @Eagles 0 - 7 Houlton (1-0) Asai (0-1) 13,373 3-2-0 6 April 9 @Eagles 2 - 1 Nagai (1-0) Otonari (0-1) Koyama (1) 12,418 3-3-0 7 April 10 Fighters 1 - 9 Darvish (1-1) Wada (1-1) 26,940 3-4-0 8 April 11 Fighters 0 - 9 Fujii (1-1) Takahashi (0-1) 28,306 3-5-0 9 April 12 Fighters 5 - 4 Sugiuchi (1-0) Sweeney (0-1) Mahara (1) 28,296 4-5-0 10 April 14 Lions 3 - 5 Kishi (2-0) Loe (0-2) Graman (3) 14,451 4-6-0 11 April 15 Lions 2 - 2 (12) Game tied after 12 innings 26,498 4-6-1 12 April 16 Lions 5 - 12 Nishiguchi (2-0) Otonari (0-2) Hirano (1) 25,538 4-7-1 13 April 17 @Marines 2 - 1 (11) Ogino (1-0) Settsu (0-1) 10,367 4-8-1 14 April 18 @Marines 4 - 7 Kume (1-0) Ito (0-1) Mahara (2) 23,225 5-8-1 15 April 19 @Marines 5 - 12 Sugiuchi (2-0) Kobayashi (0-2) 25,537 6-8-1 16 April 21 @Fighters 5 - 10 Kamiuchi (2-0) Tadano (1-2) 17,486 7-8-1 17 April 22 @Fighters 2 - 3 Houlton (2-0) Tateyama (1-1) Mahara (3) 19,138 8-8-1 18 April 23 @Fighters 7 - 6 Miyanishi (2-0) Settsu (0-2) 18,364 8-9-1 19 April 24 Eagles 2 - 3 Nagai (2-0) Wada (1-2) Gwyn (1) 27,568 8-10-1 20 April 25 Eagles 5 - 4 (11) Mahara (1-0) Asai (0-3) 31,021 9-10-1 21 April 26 Eagles 0 - 4 Rasner (2-1) Sugiuchi (2-1) Koyama (2) 31,787 9-11-1 22 April 28 @Lions 5 - 4 Kishi (4-0) Loe (0-3) Onodera (1) 16,151 9-12-1 23 April 29 @Lions 7 - 2 Ishii (1-2) Houlton (2-1) 28,855 9-13-1 24 April 30 @Lions 5 - 8 Mizuta (1-0) Doi (1-1) Mahara (4) 15,720 10-13-1
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 25 May 1 Marines 6 - 2 Wada (2-2) Ono (1-2) 26,830 11-13-1 26 May 2 Marines 4 - 9 Karakawa (2-2) Arakaki (0-1) 30,239 11-14-1 27 May 3 Marines 7 - 2 Sugiuchi (3-1) Naruse (1-1) 34,040 12-14-1 28 May 4 @Buffaloes 8 - 5 Kondo (3-1) Loe (0-4) Kato (6) 30,252 12-15-1 29 May 5 @Buffaloes 2 - 1 Kaneko (3-2) Houlton (2-2) 31,639 12-16-1 30 May 6 @Buffaloes 1 - 5 Otonari (1-2) Yamamoto (2-1) 30,960 13-16-1 31 May 8 Lions 4 - 3 Settsu (1-2) Graman (0-2) 29,611 14-16-1 32 May 9 Lions 1 - 9 Hoashi (1-2) Arakaki (0-2) 30,863 14-17-1 33 May 10 Lions 8 - 1 Sugiuchi (4-1) Nogami (0-2) 30,337 15-17-1 34 May 12 Marines 1 - 2 Naruse (2-1) Houlton (2-3) Ogino (4) 25,231 15-18-1 35 May 13 Marines 0 - 7 Omine (2-1) Otonari (1-3) 16,242 15-19-1 36 May 14 Marines 5 - 4 Falkenborg (1-0) Ogino (1-1) 29,671 16-19-1 37 May 15 @Eagles 2 - 4 Falkenborg (2-0) Koyama (1-2) Mahara (5) 11,338 17-19-1 38 May 16 @Eagles 1 - 2 Iwakuma (5-1) Kamiuchi (2-1) 17,768 17-20-1 — May 17 @Eagles Postponed (rained out) 39 May 19 Tigers 1 - 1 (12) Game tied after 12 innings 33,182 17-20-2 40 May 20 Tigers 3 - 2 (10) Settsu (2-2) Egusa (2-3) 29,258 18-20-2 41 May 22 Carp 6 - 3 Wada (3-2) Lewis (2-2) Mahara (6) 29,327 19-20-2 42 May 23 Carp 5 - 4 Mizuta (2-0) Saito (2-3) Mahara (7) 32,221 20-20-2 43 May 24 @Swallows 5 - 8 Otonari (2-3) Kawashima (3-3) 16,518 21-20-2 44 May 25 @Swallows 2 - 3 Sugiuchi (5-1) Ishikawa (6-2) Mahara (8) 15,555 22-20-2 45 May 27 @Giants 3 - 5 Houlton (3-3) Greisinger (5-4) Mahara (9) 43,050 23-20-2 46 May 28 @Giants 8 - 2 Gonzalez (5-0) Wada (3-3) 42,218 23-21-2 47 May 30 Dragons 9 - 5 Satō (1-0) Nagamine (1-1) 30,387 24-21-2 48 May 31 Dragons 5 - 4 Falkenborg (3-0) Takahashi (1-2) 33,231 25-21-2
Player stats [ edit ] Batting [ edit ] Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
Pitching [ edit ] Player G GS IP W L SV ERA SO
References [ edit ]
Central League Pacific League