Game 1

Game 1 of the series featured a pitching match-up of two strong aces. Seibu's Fumiya Nishiguchi

Fumiya Nishiguchi

, born September 26, 1972 in Wakayama, Japan) is a Japanese baseball player. He is a right-handed pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball for the Seibu Lions.-External links:...

 had a career year in 1997 (only his second full season), finishing first in the Pacific League in wins, strikeouts and winning percentage. His sparkling season earned him the Best Nine Award

Best Nine Award

The Best Nine Award is awarded annually to the best player at each position in both the Central League and Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball as determined by a pool of journalists.-History:...

, the Golden Glove

Mitsui Golden Glove Award

The Mitsui Golden Glove Award, sponsored by Japan's Mitsui Group, is annually awarded to nine fielders in Japan's professional baseball leagues by the Nippon Professional Baseball Association. The players are selected based on votes by TV, radio, and newspaper journalists with over 5 years...

, the Sawamura Award

Sawamura Award

The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year.The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawamura, a power pitcher who enjoyed an illustrious career...

 and league MVP. Facing him in Game 1 from the visitor's side was Kazuhisa Ishii

Kazuhisa Ishii

Kazuhisa Ishii is a Japanese former Major League Baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Saitama Seibu Lions....

, a former number-one draft pick and established southpaw who had pitched a no-hitter

No-hitter

A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...

 earlier in the season. The game lived up to its billing as a pitcher's duel, with each starter not allowing any runs after seven innings. However, Yakult finally managed to get to Nishiguchi when journeyman Jim Tatum deposited a slider into the right-center field seats. Ishii protected this lead, and finished the game with no runs allowed and 12 strikeouts.

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

External links

• Nippon Professional Baseball--Official website (in English)