Kusano blasts grand slam to power Eagles past Hawks

FUKUOKA — Tohoku Rakuten's Daisuke Kusano belted a seventh-inning grand slam, and right-hander Brandon Duckworth (1-1) worked 7 2/3 innings to earn his first victory in Japan, leading the Golden Eagles to a 6-2 win over the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks on Thursday.The 36-year-old Duckworth, who has 23 major league wins under his belt, kept the Hawks off balance through good movement and change of pace, allowing four hits, while striking out eight and walking none at Yahoo Dome.Lions 8, Buffaloes 1

Key moment: The Golden Eagles' Daisuke Kusano his a seventh-inning grand slam against the Hawks on Thursday at Yahoo Dome. Tohoku Rakuen beat Fukuoka Softbank 6-2. KYODO

At Seibu Dome, Hideto Asamura's three-run double highlighted a seven-run sixth inning as Seibu came from behind to beat Orix.

Shogo Akiyama led off the inning with a single, scored the tying run on Esteban German's bases-loaded walk and capped the rally with an RBI single.

Kazuhisa Makita (11-7) allowed a run on four hits. The submarine right-hander struck out four without issuing a walk.

Fighters 6, Marines 6 (9)

At Chiba's QVC Marine Field, Lotte's Josh Whitesell drove in three runs as the Marines overcame a four-run deficit in a tie against Nippon Ham. The hosts loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Nippon Ham closer Hisashi Takeda, but the right-hander struck out Tomoya Satozaki to end it after 3 hours, 56 minutes.

Micah Hoffpauir homered twice and drove in three runs for the Fighters, tying the game 6-6 in the eighth with his 13th homer of the season. Hoffapauir was walked intentionally with the go-ahead runner on second base in the top of the ninth, and the Marines retired pinch-hitter Tomohiro Nioka to get out of the jam.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Giants 4, Carp 1

At Tokyo Dome, Yomiuri lefty Tetsuya Utsumi (13-6) held Hiroshima to a run in seven innings as the Giants beat the Carp and lowered their magic number to clinch the Central League pennant to eight.

Utsumi allowed five hits and two walks, while hitting a batter and striking out five as he moved into a tie for the league lead in wins with Kazuki Yoshimi of the Dragons and Kenta Maeda of the Carp.

Utsumi reached on a one-out infield single in the third and scored the game's first run on Hayato Sakamoto's single off Hiroshima starter Keisuke Imai (2-7).

Giants catcher Shinnosuke Abe gave his pitcher some breathing room in the fifth, when he plated Sakamoto with a two-run homer. Back-to-back doubles by Shuichi Murata and pinch hitter Yoshinobu Takahashi in the eighth completed the scoring.

"As for my form, it wasn't very good tonight, but Abe pulled me along," Utsumi said. "We've been getting one good game after another from the team's young pitchers. I didn't want to be the weak link."

The Carp's run came in the sixth on Brad Eldred's seventh homer of the season.

Tigers 4, Swallows 1

At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin's Jason Standridge (7-11) scattered nine hits and a walk over seven innings.

The Tigers turned three double plays and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, when Tokyo Yakult second baseman Hiroyasu Tanaka fumbled a chance to get an inning-ending double play, allowing a run to score from third.

Hanshin completed the scoring in the eighth on straight hits, Tomoaki Kanemoto's pinch-hit, bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly. Kyuji Fujimoto worked the ninth for his 23rd save.

Dragons 6, BayStars 6 (10)

At Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama's Sho Aranami tied the game at 6-6 as the BayStars overcame a five-run deficit, and Chunichi blew a chance to break the tie in the seventh as the clubs played to a tie.

Right-handed reliever Kazumasa Kikuchi allowed three runs in the seventh, but Masahiro Araki was caught stealing, and Masahiko Morino made the third out with Chunichi runners on the corners.

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Former Penguins Jagr, Talbot power Flyers to win

PITTSBURGH — Jaromir Jagr spent the days leading up to his return to Pittsburgh insisting it wasn't personal. He stressed that he didn't mean to cause hard feelings when he signed with the hated Philadelphia Flyers over the summer instead of with the Penguins, with whom he became a star two decades ago.

Seeming to revel in the chance to play the villain, Jagr punctuated his homecoming with his 12th goal of the season in a 4-2 Flyers victory on Thursday night.

"I felt pretty good but I had so many chances that if I would have scored five goals, nobody would be surprised," Jagr said.

Jagr missed an open net in the first period, then atoned late in the second. He took a pass from Claude Giroux in the high left slot, fended off Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik while skating through the zone, and flipped a backhander past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Flyers a lead they didn't relinquish.

The second-leading scorer in Penguins history briefly raised his arms in triumph, then skated along the boards, offering a stone-faced salute as the Consol Energy Center crowd booed lustily.

"I think it was important for not just him but the whole team to get that goal because he got it pretty tough from the fans," Giroux said. "But I think he kind of liked it a little bit."

Jagr wasn't the only former Penguins player to return in triumph. Max Talbot, who helped Pittsburgh to the 2009 Stanley Cup title, added an empty-net goal in the final seconds as the Flyers remained perfect in Pittsburgh's new building since it opened a year ago.

Islanders 3, Flames 1

In Uniondale, New York, John Tavares scored a goal and added an assist, and Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves to lead the Islanders over Calgary.

Hurricanes 4, Leafs 3 (OT)

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Eric Staal scored a power-play goal 3:09 into overtime to lift the Hurricanes to a comeback win.

Lightning, 4 Canadiens 3

In Tampa, Vincent Lecavalier scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the third period.

Wild 4, Oilers 3

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Dany Heatley scored his third goal in four games to help the Wild snap an eight-game losing streak.

Blue Jackets 4, Stars 1

In Dallas, Rick Nash scored twice, Steve Mason made 36 saves, and Columbus earned its first regulation road win of the season.

Jets 1, Kings 0 (OT)

In Winnipeg, Evander Kane scored the only goal of the game 69 seconds into overtime, and Chris Mason made 31 saves.

Avalanche 3, Coyotes 2

In Denver, Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves and Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist.

Canucks 5, Ducks 2

In Anaheim, Daniel Sedin scored twice and twin brother Henrik had a goal and two assists.

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Marlins revel in new spending power

DALLAS — Jeffrey Loria quickly marched down the hallway with his team president, trailed by their top aides, and hustled into a meeting room with a labor lawyer from Major League Baseball.

Big fish: Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria (left) and team president David Samson walk through the lobby of a hotel hosting Major League Baseball's winter meetings in Dallas on Tuesday. AP

Having already made the biggest splash at the winter meetings, the Miami Marlins owner was trying to reel in Albert Pujols and perhaps other big-name free agents with the newfound riches from their new ballpark.

"He's not the only guy," Loria said about 20 minutes later before heading back upstairs on an elevator with his delegation.

Baseball's new Big Fish were the talk of the winter meetings Tuesday, with teams wondering how close the Marlins were to an agreement with Pujols on a deal that could be worth $200 million or more over 10 years for the three-time NL MVP.

St. Louis said it submitted a new offer Tuesday to keep Pujols with the Cardinals, a team he's already led to two World Series titles in the last six seasons.

Traditional big spenders such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox were reduced to spectators.

"They have a new stadium. They're excited about it, and it's good for baseball," former Marlins and current Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "They had hoped that they'd get the new stadium and they would be able to do those types of things. Our roster is pretty set. We have a lot of guys that are on long-term deals. That's why maybe there's not a lot happening for us."

Having already reached deals with All-Star closer Heath Bell ($27 million for three years) and All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes ($106 million for six), the Marlins' interest in Pujols is real. What's unclear is whether the first baseman is prepared to go to Miami or whether his talks with the Marlins are an attempt to push the Cardinals higher.

"I know the ownership group is putting their best foot forward and trying to do everything that they can to make this possible," new Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, "but I also know it's a complicated decision on both sides. There's a lot going on, a lot that I'm not even involved in, but I think it's clear to say that St. Louis Cardinals would love to have Albert, and we'll see how it all plays out."

Prince Fielder was still in play in the hitters' market, and C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle were among the available starting pitchers on the second day of the four-day swap session, which has been relatively slow.

The Chicago White Sox traded closer Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitching prospect Nestor Molina, and the Minnesota Twins dealt right-hander Kevin Slowey to the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named.

When the meetings reach their last full day Wednesday, roughly two dozen free agents must decide by midnight EST on salary arbitration offers from their former clubs. David Ortiz, who has said he wants to stay with the Boston Red Sox, appeared likely to accept.

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James, Wade power Heat past Mavericks

Heating up: Heat forward LeBron James goes up for a dunk against the Mavericks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday in Miami. The Heat won 92-84 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. AP

MIAMI — Dwyane Wade's night began with a hug for his mom. It ended with an embrace from LeBron James.

And the Miami Heat have struck first in the NBA Finals.

James scored 24 points for his first win in five Finals game appearances, Wade added 22 points and 10 rebounds and the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks 92-84 in Game 1 of the title series on Tuesday night.

Chris Bosh scored 19 points and Mario Chalmers added 12 for Miami, which hosts Game 2 on Thursday night.

"I just was aggressive," Wade said. "We understand that this is the kind of game we wanted to play. We had them where we wanted them in the sense of points. You know they (weren't) scoring a lot on us and offensively we just executed and guys made plays."

The Heat trailed by eight points early in the third quarter before pulling away, remaining unbeaten at home in these playoffs and snapping Dallas' five-game road winning streak.

Wade's 3-pointer with 3:06 left put the Heat up 82-73, then the largest lead of the game for either team.

The Mavs shaved two points off it on the next possession when Dirk Nowitzki hit two free throws, but James gave the Heat their first double-digit lead of the night a few seconds later.

He dribbled upcourt against Shawn Marion, crossed his dribble over and got clear for a dunk while being fouled. The free throw made it 85-75, and most in the sellout, white-clad crowd began standing in anticipation.

Even then, it wasn't over.

Nowitzki made two more free throws — he was 12-for-12 from the line in the game — with 1:36 left, cutting the Miami lead to six.

A momentary blip.

Wade grabbed a key defensive rebound, dribbled away from three Dallas pursuers and found Bosh for a dunk with 1:08 left that restored the 10-point lead. Another dunk by James came with 38.6 seconds left, sealing the outcome.

"By and large, we've got to play better, just overall," said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, especially noting Miami's 16-6 edge in offensive rebounds.

Nowitzki scored 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Dallas, which got 16 points and 10 rebounds from Marion and 12 from Jason Terry — most of those coming in an early flurry. It was Dallas' fifth straight loss to Miami in Finals games, dating to the Heat rally for the 2006 crown.

"We aren't going to win too many games getting 67 shots. . . . That's not us," Marion said.

Dallas had 51 points after 26 minutes. The Mavericks scored 18 points in the next 18 minutes, 33 over the remainder of the game, as Miami's defense found another gear.

"That's kind of the way we've been winning games, of late," Wade said. "You've got to stay with it. You can't get frustrated because the ball's not going in. There's other ways you can dominate the game and we (were) able to do that tonight.

"I thought we did a great job in the second half of rebounding the ball, limiting them to one shot as much as possible."

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Lotte's Kim suffering from power outage

The curious case of Kim Tae Kyun's power outage began on Sept. 18, 2010. That night in Sendai, the Chiba Lotte Marines slugger homered off Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles ace Hisashi Iwakuma in the sixth inning of a 4-3 Lotte loss.

That was his 21st home run of season. The thing is, he has yet to hit another one. Stranger still is that there doesn't really seem to be a good reason either.

Of Kim's 21 homers last year, his first season in Japan, 18 came prior to July 1, and it's been nearly a year since he's produced any consistent power numbers.

Which is troubling because the Marines are having problems scoring runs and could use a power bat in their lineup.

Kim's last big month came in June, when he hit six homers, four doubles and ended the month with a .591 slugging percentage.

In 396 at-bats from July 1, including the postseason, Kim has just three home runs, 15 doubles and a slugging percentage of .316 to go with a .265 batting average.

His isolated power (ISO) value, which removes singles to get a more accurate gauge of power, is a minuscule .051 over that span. To give that a bit more perspective, the PL average last season was .133 according to data compiled by the website SMR-Baseball Lab.

Normally, you'd pinpoint pitching as the reason for Kim's troubles, figuring it just took half a season for Japanese hurlers to get a handle on the Korean import.

That's not such a clear cut explanation since he's still getting on base at a fairly normal pace. In 22 games this year, before being removed from the roster with an injury, he was hitting .282 with a .364 on-base percentage.

It's not a case of venues either, as the slugger hit eight homers at home and 13 on the road last season. Kim has homered in every Pacific League park except Sapporo Dome (45 career at-bats) and Seibu Dome (46 at-bats) during his time in Japan.

What can be noted is that he just isn't getting the ball into the air as often, which to an extent can be traced to how he's being pitched.

Through nine seasons in Korea, Kim had a fly-ball percentage of 38.4 percent (taking into account both fly outs and home runs), in the neighborhood of what you would expect from a power hitter.

Just for comparison's sake, Orix Buffaloes star Lee Seung Yeop is in his eighth year in NPB. Once a prolific home run hitter, he has a 41.1 fly-ball percentage in Japan, including lean years from 2009-10 and a slow start this season.

Kim's fly-ball percentage last year was 37.1. So far this season, he's clocking in at 25.9, while most of the NPB's big hitters are at 30 percent and above.

Among regular cleanup hitters, Kim is the only one without a home run this season.

He matches up favorably with the rest in few areas, though his numbers do outpace Fukuoka Softbank Hawks slugger Alex Cabrera's in batting average, slugging and on base percentage.

Cabrera, however, does have four homers this season.

With few dramatic changes in his swing, and no real health issues until recently, it seems Kim has just lost his mojo.

Yes, pitchers have figured out how to attack him in order to maximize ground balls, but the book is out on a number of players who are still knocking in runs with regularity.

The Lotte slugger just isn't getting the job done.

Which can't sit well with the Lotte brass, who aren't getting a lot of value from their second-highest paid player.

Kim's ?15 million salary is a hefty price tag for a player who isn't hitting for power or driving in a lot of runs and isn't particulary fast or a real threat on the basepaths.

Granted, Kim's power drain hasn't seemed to hold the Marines back too much seeing as how the team did just win the Japan Series.

Still, run production is becoming a major issue for Lotte. So getting Kim back on track would be a major boost for the team's currently underwhelming attack at the plate.

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Balentien's power surge propels Swallows

Safe at home: The Dragons' Masahiko Morino scores a run in the fourth inning as Tigers catcher Kenji Johjima waits for the ball during Friday's game at Koshien Stadium. Chunichi defeated Hanshin 4-2. KYODO PHOTO

YOKOHAMA — Wladimir Balentien homered three times and drove in five runs, leading the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to a 6-4 win over the Yokohama BayStars on Friday.

The former Cincinnati Reds outfielder increased his Japanese baseball-leading home run total to 12 and finished the night 3-for-4 at Yokohama Stadium.

Balentien hit a solo shot in the second inning and two-run drives in the third and eighth innings.

Yoshinori Sato (4-1) held the BayStars to three runs over seven innings. Lim Chang Yong pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save.

Yokohama rookie Kota Suda (0-2) gave up four runs in 6? innings.

Giants 3, Carp 0

At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Alex Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Ken Kato added a solo shot in the seventh, leading Yomiuri over Hiroshima.

Giants starter Tetsuya Utsumi (4-1) went 6? innings and combined with three relievers on a six-hit shutout. Bryan Bullington (4-1) took his first loss in five starts.

Dragons 4, Tigers 2

At Koshien Stadium, Maximo Nelson (2-1) pitched seven innings of one-run ball and Motonobu Tanishige hit a two-run home run in the seventh as Chunichi downed Hanshin.

Atsushi Nomi (2-2) took the loss. The Tigers pulled within 4-2 in the eighth on an RBI single by Matt Murton but blew a bases-loaded opportunity later in the inning.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Hawks 7, Lions 3

At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Sho Iwasaki (1-1) picked up his first career win after allowing two runs in six innings as PL leader Softbank ended Seibu's winning streak at four.

The Hawks scored six runs in the sixth.

Eagles 2, Marines 2 (12)

At QVC Marine Field, Takeshi Yamasaki hit a game-tying solo homer with one out in the top of the ninth inning off Yoshihisa Naruse as Tohoku Rakuten played out a tie with Chiba Lotte.

Naruse and Masahiro Tanaka were locked in a pitching duel, going nine and 10 innings, respectively, with 11 strikeouts each.

Santo Domingo — One of the doctors who assisted in a procedure last year on Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon that is being scrutinized by Major League Baseball denied that the treatment involved the use of banned substances.

Dr. Leonel Liriano said in a phone interview on Thursday that his medical team consulted with Colon's agent and lawyers in New York before beginning the treatment in Colon's native Dominican Republic.

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