Last week we took a look at the six Central League teams and where they stand at this point in the season as compared to what had been expected at the beginning of the year. Now let's check the status of the Pacific League clubs and see who is up and who is down.

HOKKAIDO NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS — Except for the flu, Trey Hillman may be wishing he were still managing the Fighters who have six .300 hitters: outfielders Yoshio Itoi (hitting .336 through Thursday) and Atsunori Inaba (.317), first baseman Shinji Takahashi (.324), second baseman Kensuke Tanaka (.303), shortstop Makoto Kaneko (.311) and third sacker Eiichi Koyano (.305).

The most outstanding player in Sapporo is, of course, ace hurler Yu Darvish with a record of 14-5 and a stunning 1.70 ERA (through Friday).