OSAKA -- Yakult pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii, playing in what may be his final season in Japan, completely silenced the big guns of the Buffaloes on Saturday night and Alex Ramirez delivered on offense as the Swallows jumped all over Kintetsu for a 7-0 victory in Game 1 of the Japan Series.

Game 2 goes tonight, also at the Osaka Dome.

Ishii, a 28-year-old veteran who has drawn considerable interest from the major leagues, certainly didn't hurt his chances for overseas employment Saturday. The big left-hander limited Kintetsu's vaunted offense to a single hit through eight innings. In fact, only one Kintetsu runner got as far as second on the evening as Ishii consistently baffled the Buffs, finishing up with a dozen strikeouts while walking five.

"I'm glad I was able to help out and get the win," Ishii said. "I wanted to win this game today more than any other Japan Series game I've pitched in. It's one victory I truly wanted.

"It'll be a tough series. We still have a long way to go but it's nice to get the first win."

Yakult opened the scoring in the top of the second. All-Star catcher Atsuya Furuta led off the inning with a double off the wall in right, making a nice head-first slide into second. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura followed with a line shot to right to plate Furuta, who was hobbled by a late-season knee injury and limped noticeably as he crossed home plate with a brace on his knee.

"Furuta wasn't doing so well around the end of the regular season but tonight he had some clutch hits," said Swallows skipper Tsutomu Wakamatsu. "His batting was big for us."

It could have been worse for the Buffs. After Iwamura had advanced to second on an error and was then sacrificed over to third, Tetsuya Iida hit a grounder up the middle with one out. Second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi came up with the ball cleanly and just barely gunned Iwamura down at home, limiting the damage to a single run.

Not that he needed it on this night, but in the top of the sixth, designated-hitter Ramirez gave Ishii a bit of a cushion when he cranked an offering from Buffaloes starter Jeremy Powell deep into the upper deck in left-center field for a three-run homer that also scored Furuta and Iwamura.

"When we got one run, my heart started thumping, and then after Ramirez's homer, I was really tense and nervous," Wakamatsu said. "When we went ahead by four runs, I thought there's no way we can afford to lose this game." Hirotoshi Kitagawa, whose grand slam "sayonara" home run in the bottom of the ninth last month against Orix clinched the PL flag for Kintetsu, came up with another big hit Saturday when he lashed a single to right in the bottom of the seventh to break up Ishii's bid for a no-hitter.

Furuta connected for a solo home run an inning later to boost the Birds' lead to 5-0.

In the top of the ninth, Swallows sparkplug Mitsuru Manaka doubled in two more runs to complete the rout.

While Ramirez and Iwamura, who was 3-for-4, powered the offense, the night truly belonged to Ishii. He held Kintetsu's feared 3-4 hitters -- Tuffy Rhodes, who tied the Japan single-season record with 55 home runs this year, and Norihiro Nakamura, who clubbed 46 longballs and had 132 RBIs -- to a single walk between them. Rhodes struck out twice while Nakamura went down swinging three times against Ishii.

Yakult's Ryu Kawabata worked a perfect ninth to mop up for Ishii.

Powell, who tossed six innings, took the loss. He allowed seven hits and gave up four runs, striking out five and walking three.

Yakult had 11 hits while Kintetsu managed just one.

The Swallows, who led the Central League in hitting and had the lowest team ERA in all of Japanese baseball this season, are trying to add to the Japan Series crowns they won in 1993, '95 and '97. The Buffaloes are the only team in Japan pro ball to never have won the Japan Series, although they have won the Pacific League title four times.

NOTES:

* In an apparent case of Sean shorns Shawn, Kintetsu infielder Shawn Gilbert had the Buffaloes logo shaved into his head by Buffs pitcher Sean Bergman, who obviously has talents that go beyond the baseball diamond.

Gilbert's new 'do attracted a lot of attention from the large corps of Japanese press photographers prior to the game.

* Former longtime Los Angeles Dodgers manager and current Dodgers senior vice president Tommy Lasorda is in Japan for the series in his capacity as an official adviser for the Buffaloes.

Lasorda, who's been to Japan nine times already this year, says he really enjoys coming over here.

When asked his thoughts on Japanese cuisine, the well-known pasta lover said: "I love sushi, especially raw tuna. I eat so much sushi every time I'm here that whenever I walk by water, I want to jump in. (Bada-bing!) I think I ate a whole school of fish."

* The 74-year-old Lasorda, who managed the U.S. baseball team to a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, also said he wasn't worried about flying in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in America.

"We can't let the terrorists win," Lasorda said. "I was at Ground Zero last week and I couldn't believe the devastation. If someone had been there and said, 'You want to sign up and go after that no-good SOB bin Laden,' I'd have signed up."

* The official announced paid attendance for Game 1 was 32,324 at the 48,000-capacity Osaka Dome, but there were few empty seats visible.

* Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is tonight at the Osaka Dome. The series then shifts to Tokyo's Jingu Stadium for games Tuesday, Wednesday, and, if necessary, Thursday before moving back down to Osaka. All games will be played in the evening.