Central opening...

Seems like old times...

Catcher Kenji Jojima was all smiles after his first Japan pro baseball game in five years, the Giants won a ho-hummer and the Orix Buffaloes threw their weight around on Friday.
Jojima -- yes without the “H” he used while in the states -- made a triumphant return here with the Hanshin Tigers, going 3-for-3 with four RBIs in a 7-3 comeback victory over the Yokohama BayStars at Kyocera Dome Osaka in their Central League opener.
Jojima, who played with Fukuoka for 11 seasons before going to the Seattle Mariners in 2006, had a pair of two-run doubles that pinned Yokohama rookie skipper Takao Obana with a loss in his first game on the bench.
“I’m a player who came here from another team, but to hear this kind of cheering -- I feel like I’m a Tiger now,” said Jojima.
It seemed he felt like punching something early on. Jojima was visibly frustrated behind the plate with the three early runs the BayStars put up, especially Shuichi Murata’s solo blast in the second inning.

GIANTS 4, SWALLOWS 1
The Giants had a pedestrian victory over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at Tokyo Dome.
One-time ace Tetsuya Utsumi got the nod, with Seth Greisinger sidelined, and made the most of it by hurling eight strong innings. He allowed an unearned run, holding Yakult to four hits and two walks, while punching out 10 in his first Opening Day start in three years.
Yoshinobu Takahashi, at one time in his career a fantasy leaguers dream, made his debut at first and evened the score in the fourth with an RBI single. Whatever the 13-year veteran has lost in speed, the crowd helped him make up for with deafening cheers.

CARP 3, DRAGONS 1
The Chunichi Dragons lost their opener for the first time in four years, falling to another rookie skipper, Kenjiro Nomura, and the Hiroshima Carp at Nagoya Dome.
Chunichi starter Kazuki Yoshimi, who tied for the CL lead in wins last year, was rocky early and Hiroshima’s Kenta Maeda tossed eight sharp innings to earn the win.
“I thought the players would be tight because it the opener, but they were tighter than I imagined they would be,” said Chunichi skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai.

PACFIC LEAGUE
BUFFALOES 16, HAWKS 1
Talk about old times, it has been 21 years since the Buffaloes started out a season with at least four straight victories.
They turned a game that looked to be headed toward a simple five-run victory into a beatdown, adding two in the eighth and 10 in the ninth for a laugher at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Alex Cabrera has responded after his Opening Day benching, homering for the third straight game and went 3-for-3 with two walks.

MARINES 9, FIGHTERS 1
Chiba Lotte gave its first-year manager Norifumi Nishimura his third straight win as rookie Takashi Ogino cracked his first pro homer.
The outfielder went deep in his first at-bat in the opening inning as is batting .400 through Lotte’s first four games.