From what I read, they had a similar celebration there in San Francisco, with Bonds up on the dug out, diving into the crowd. I'd say that the real race now is for second place. Orix are playing .500 ball right now, as are the Lions. If there is any change in this in the next couple weeks, it'll be Kintetsu overtaking the Blue Wave. It's hard to say just when the Pacific League pennant will be clinched.
C ontinuing from last week, the race for the cellar continues to be heated.
Lotte has continued their strong hold on the bottom spot in the Pacific League, while Daiei has dropped below the resurging Ham. The Giants are trying for a strong finish are are distancing themselves a bit from their B-Class rivals. Well, that's just 5 games for Big Matsui to catch up with Hosey. But he's a marked man right now. Chunichi wouldn't pitch anything near the strike zone to him for the first two games of their weekend series.