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HANSHIN TIGERS IN FIRST PLACE BY 11 GAMES; LOOKS GOOD FOR DOTOMBORI RIVER

My favorite Japanese baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers of Osaka, for whom I have rooted in vain lo, these many years, and who always lost handily whenever I went to one of their games (but who were always great to watch), pretty much had a lock on the lease to the league basement until this year, when all at once they have become the supermen I always suspected was hidden somewhere inside those striped uniforms. Last year they started out really well and then in keeping with tradition dropped like the stone of yore, so I expected much the same this year, but they never turned back; they're taking three games at a time from the fearsome Tokyo Giants, their old rivals. As of now they are 11 games in first place, and look set to win the pennant [current standings]. They look so good, in fact, that the Governor of Osaka is already toying with the radical idea of cleaning the Dotombori River. Whatever it takes.