Balentien Hits #56 and #57, Passes Oh For Japanese Record

Well, then...

Maybe the powers in Japanese baseball knew it was an eventuality with so many games remaining...

Here's the record breaking homerun where Wladimir Balentien hit his 56th of the season, passing the legendary Sadaharu Oh, Alex Cabrera and Tuffy Rhodes for most in a season...


Balentien would hit his 57th later in the game...

"I want to thank the fans for all their support," Balentien said after the game. "It was a great feeling. I don't think I will ever feel anything like that again in my life. Oh is the home run king and I have a lot of respect for him. To be able to tie him and then pass him is something very special for me."

There are 17 games left in the Central League season's self-admitted live-ball era, so it will be interesting to see just how many he hits by season's end...

Balentien Hits 55th In Japan

And now the fun starts...

He's surpassed Randy Bass and tied Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera for the gaijin record for homeruns in the Japanese Baseball League...

He's now tied Sadaharu Oh for the single-season record and the questions of strategy will start anew...

Do Japanese pitchers walk Yakult Swallows' Wladimir Balentien for the remainder of the season...??? They did it to Bass over a handful of games so Oh's record would stay that way. But the problem is there aren't six games, Balentien has 22...

And he was out for the first 12 games of the year- and STILL is where he is on the homerun ladder...

Here's 55 and the pitch wasn't even close...


By comparison, here's Tuffy Rhodes' 55th for the Kintetsu Buffaloes...and, yes, the pitcher who gave it up was Daisuke...


The drama and soap plot will be interesting from here... even as the Japanese admit publicly that the ball is juiced...