2009 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks season

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 play offs, at the hands of the rival Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Regular season

Standings

Pacific League	G	W	L	T	Win%	GB
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	144	82	60	2	.577	—
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	77	66	1	.538	5½
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	144	74	65	5	.532	6½
Saitama Seibu Lions	144	70	70	4	.500	11
Chiba Lotte Marines	144	62	77	5	.446	18½
Orix Buffaloes	144	56	86	2	.394	26

Game log

2009 Game Log
April # 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
May # 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
June # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 49 June 2 BayStars 7-3 Houlton (4-3) Mastny (0-2) 26-21-2 50 June 3 BayStars 3-0 Fujioka (1-0) Walrond (3-4) Mahara (10) 27-21-2 51 June 5 @Carp 4-1 Mori (1-0) Ohba (0-2) Schultz (1) 27-22-2 52 June 6 @Carp 1-11 (6) Germano (1-0) Ohtake (5-2) 28-22-2 53 June 7 @Tigers 4-3 Williams (1-0) Mahara (1-1) 28-23-2 54 June 8 @Tigers 1-8 Houlton (5-3) Kubo (1-4) 29-23-2 55 June 10 Swallows 4-2 Fujioka Yoshinori (2-4) Mahara (11) 30-23-2 56 June 11 Swallows 3-6 Tateyama Satō Lim 30-24-2 57 June 13 Giants 3-1 Germano Utsumi Mahara (12) 31-24-2 58 June 14 Giants 5-1 Sugiuchi Tohno 32-24-2 59 June 16 @Dragons 3-4 (10) Mahara Iwase Falkenborg 33-24-2 60 June 17 @Dragons 3-1 Ogasawara Fujioka Iwase 33-25-2 61 June 20 @BayStars 7-11 Germano Glynn 36-25-2 62 June 21 @BayStars 5-0 Sugiuchi Miura 37-25-2 63 June 26 @Lions 10-4 Wakui Fujioka 37-26-2 64 June 27 @Lions 3-10 Sugiuchi Ishii 38-26-2 65 June 28 @Lions 5-7 Falkenborg Mitsui Mahara 39-26-2 66 June 30 Buffaloes 13-2 Ohtonari Kondoh 40-26-2
July # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record — July 1 Buffaloes Postponed (rained out) 67 July 2 Buffaloes 68 July 4 @Fighters 69 July 5 @Fighters 70 July 7 @Buffaloes 71 July 8 @Buffaloes 72 July 9 @Buffaloes 73 July 10 Eagles 74 July 11 Eagles 75 July 12 Eagles 76 July 14 Fighters 77 July 15 Fighters 78 July 16 Fighters 79 July 17 @Marines 80 July 18 @Marines 81 July 19 @Marines 82 July 20 Eagles 83 July 21 Eagles 84 July 22 Eagles 85 July 28 Buffaloes 86 July 29 Buffaloes 87 July 30 Buffaloes 88 July 31 @Fighters
August # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 89 August 1 @Fighters 90 August 2 @Fighters 91 August 4 Marines 92 August 5 Marines 93 August 6 Marines 94 August 7 @Lions 95 August 8 @Lions 96 August 9 @Lions 97 August 11 @Eagles 98 August 12 @Eagles 99 August 13 @Eagles 100 August 14 @Buffaloes 101 August 15 @Buffaloes 102 August 16 @Buffaloes 103 August 18 Lions 104 August 19 Lions 105 August 20 Lions 106 August 21 Fighters 107 August 22 Fighters 108 August 23 Fighters 109 August 25 @Marines 110 August 26 @Marines 111 August 27 @Marines 112 August 28 @Fighters 113 August 29 @Fighters 114 August 30 @Fighters
September # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 115 September 1 Buffaloes 116 September 2 Buffaloes 117 September 3 Buffaloes 118 September 4 Lions 119 September 5 Lions 120 September 6 Lions 121 September 8 @Marines 122 September 9 @Marines 123 September 10 @Marines 124 September 11 Eagles 125 September 12 Eagles 126 September 13 Eagles 127 September 15 @Buffaloes 128 September 16 @Buffaloes 129 September 17 @Buffaloes 130 September 18 @Lions 131 September 19 @Lions 132 September 20 @Lions 133 September 21 Marines 134 September 22 Marines 135 September 23 Marines 136 September 25 Fighters 137 September 26 Fighters 138 September 27 Fighters 139 September 29 @Eagles 140 September 30 @Eagles
October # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record 141 October 1 @Eagles — October 2 @Eagles Postponed (rained out) 142 October 4 @Fighters 143 October 6 Buffaloes 144 October 11 @Eagles PLCS Game 1 October 16 @Eagles PLCS Game 2 October 17 @Eagles

Player stats

Batting

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB

Pitching

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

References