Discounts for tickets to Yomiuri Giants home games?

Who would have thought this 10 years ago?

But, in an apparent attempt to boost attendance, the Giants have introduced "Heat-Up" tickets available for night games at Tokyo Dome, for fans who enter the Big Egg after 7:30 p.m.

Reserved seat B tickets will be reduced in price from 3,700 yen to 2,000 yen, and C seats, usually costing 2,300 yen, will sell for 1,300 yen. The tickets will be sold between 7:20 and 8:20 p.m. and may be purchased at the box office in front of Gate 22.

The games start at 6 p.m.

So, if you're working late in Tokyo and turn on the TV to find it's a slow game where they're only in about the second or third inning at 7 p.m., it might be a good chance to see some Giants baseball at a bargain price.

The "Heat-Up" campaign began after the team itself cooled off.

Remember how hot the Kyojin were from Opening Day through Golden Week?

The Giants had a four-game lead in the Central League standings and were in first place when the interleague "season" began May 9, then disaster struck.

A series of injuries to key players has taken its toll, and Yomiuri ended the interleague interlude with a 13-23 record in 11th place, ahead of only the Orix Buffaloes.

In the Central League, manager Tatsunori Hara's club found itself in third place, 4 1/2 games behind the pace-setting Chunichi Dragons.

Outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi sat out most of the interleague campaign with a shoulder injury, and slugging third baseman Hiroki Kokubo is on the disabled list with a broken finger.

Kenji Yano, an up-and-coming star, has a fractured toe.

American utility man Joe Dillon has been nursing back trouble since spring training but returned to the lineup June 18.

Lefty pitcher Hisanori Takahashi missed a few weeks after he was hit by a line drive while sitting on the bench during a game, and ace right-hander Koji Uehara skipped about three starts while recovering from a pulled hamstring suffered while running the bases.

The spate of accidents and injuries caused Hara to call up reserves from the team's Eastern League farm team. At one point, the Yomiuri minor league club had only two outfielders available, so infielders had to play unfamiliar positions.

Korean first baseman Lee Seung Yeop (with a league-leading 23 home runs, 51 RBIs and a .333 average) and shortstop Tomohiro Nioka (13, 38, .332) have been carrying the brunt of the team's offense and, hopefully for the Giants and their fans, the sick and injured will return for a strong second half.

Recall when the capacity of Tokyo Dome was listed as 56,000 after the stadium opened in 1988?

The attendance for all Giants home games was announced at that figure through 1994. But, from 1995, the capacity of the T.D. was dropped to 55,000, and that was the number of spectators "officially" reported for each Yomiuri contest.

Author Robert Whiting has always contended the number of seats in the Big Egg is about 10,000 fewer, and I thought you might be interested to know how many fans make up a sellout these days, now that the people are actually counted since the rounding off of attendance figures ended in 2005.

For the record, it was announced all tickets were sold for Giants games against the Chiba Lotte Marines on May 27 and 28 and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on June 17. Respective attendances for those dates were 45,981, 45,620 and 44,647.

Reader Ken Smith asked in an e-mail: What is the roster limit for Japanese pro baseball teams?

The answer is that each team may register 28 players at a time on its "ichi-gun" or "major league" list. However, only 25 are eligible to be on the bench and available each day or night.

Prior to every game, the managers submit, along with their starting lineups, the names of the 28 guys currently registered with the league office, and an "X" is placed next to the names of the three men designated to go home after pre-game practice each day.

These are usually a trio of starting the pitchers; those who pitched the previous two games and the one who will throw on the following day. Foreign players refer to this as "Big 3."

So, if you see a pitcher leaving the ballpark at 5:30 p.m. or so before a night game, it's likely he's headed home for dinner with the family and will watch his team play on TV that evening.

Finally this week, Jose Fernandez is enjoying a great year with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, posting offensive statistics to include a .323 batting average, 18 home runs and 50 RBIs through games of June 22.

Having worked a season (2003) with the Chiba Lotte Marines and two (2004-05) with the Seibu Lions, Fernandez has now played for half the franchises in the Pacific League and is the first foreigner to play for three Japanese teams since Leon Lee.

Leon was a first baseman with the old Lotte Orions from 1978-82, played with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales 1983-85 and the Yakult Swallows 1986-87.

He also managed the Orix BlueWave in 2003.

Asked how he likes playing in relatively rural Sendai after three years in the Kanto area, Fernandez, remembered for wearing a hood and bundling up to guard against the chilly March temperatures in Tohoku early in the season, said he loves the city, despite the cool weather.

"It's cold," said Jose. "But the fans and the citizens of Sendai are warm-hearted and really support our team."

That's nice, and their cheering is paying off. The Eagles had the best record (11-7) of any Pacific League team between June 1 and 20.

Contact Wayne Graczyk at: [email protected]