Hungry Lion: Nakamura back in pennant hunt

John E. Gibson / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama--The man known as "Mr. Second Helping Okawari-kun" has had a lot on his plate this season.

Saitama Seibu Lions third baseman Takeya Nakamura had to step away from the team in June to undergo surgery on his throwing elbow. That came after Seibu's cleanup hitter was forced to the sidelines in the preseason because he did the near-impossible: he fouled a ball off his cheek, breaking a bone.

Seven spirited Lions took his place in the field, sharing time at third base--and first, where Nakamura occasionally plays--and did an admirable job to help keep the club in the Pacific League's top three.

Nakamura said he didn't have spare moments to focus energy on who was filling in for him. He was hungry to recover and get back in the hunt.

"That's really not something I had time to think about," Nakamura said about his replacements before the front-running Lions took on the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at Seibu Dome on Wednesday.

"The manager and coaches are more concerned with that. I just wanted to do all I could to get back on the field as quickly as possible."

The slugger was hitting .224 with 14 homers when he was deactivated June 10 to undergo surgery. In addition to having trouble throwing from third base, the pain hampered him at the plate.

"I wasn't hitting well in the first half of the season [before the surgery] so it really didn't make much difference that I wasn't there."

He has been used exclusively as a DH since rejoining the first team on Aug. 25, but didn't really have his timing out of the gate. He fanned 15 times in his first 26 at-bats before starting to return to his old form last week.

"When I came back up, I didn't do very well. But as of late, things have really improved for me," said the Osaka native, whose ninth-inning solo homer on Sunday was the difference in a 6-5 win at Sendai against the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles.

It was his third longball since rejoining the team and his third hit of the day.

"I'm sure there will be more situations like that from here on out, and if I can get a home run or a hit--whatever I can do--I want to produce.

"They brought me up because of my bat. We have a lot of important games coming out and I want to hit well down the stretch."

It isn't a stretch to imagining the Lions holding off the pitching-strong Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks or the hard-hitting Chiba Lotte Marines for the PL title and the top spot in the playoffs. But Nakamura said the Lions can't be worried about anything but the final outcome each day.

"The desire to win is important and we have to have that every day."

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Takahashi to call it quits

Hiroshima Carp hurler Ken Takahashi said Wednesday he plans to retire after this season.

The 41-year-old southpaw, who only reached double-digits in wins once in 15 seasons with the Carp, was sent to the farm on June 21 and hasn't been able to work his way back to the first team.

Takahashi, who signed a minor league contract as a free agent after the 2008 season with the Toronto Blue Jays organization before moving to the New York Mets, was a career 70-92 with five saves and a 4.34 ERA in Japan.

Takahashi, who returned to Hiroshima in the offseason, appeared in 25 games this year--mostly as a middle reliever--and was 4-5 with a 9.40 ERA.

He was 0-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 28 games with the Mets.