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10/25/2002 Archived Entry: "YES to Broadcast Yomiuri Giants Game Saturday Morning"
YES to Broadcast Yomiuri Game Saturday
According to Sports Nippon, the Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network will air footage from a Yomiuri Giants game on October 26th at 8 a.m. However, it won't be a Japan Series faceoff, but rather will be a tilt between Japan's most popular club and the Yokohama Bay Stars that occurred on April 27th, when Hideki Matsui cracked his fifth and sixth homers of the season.
Moreover, this will be the first of ten Giants games that will reportedly be shown in the NYC market by YES. However, a Yomiuri official insists that this had nothing to do with the ongoing negotiations between the Yankees and the kyojin over a working agreement.
Matsuzaka to Bat Seventh?
Seibu Lions manager Haruki Ihara said that pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka may bat seventh when the Japan Series opens at Tokyo Dome Saturday. The young hurler was slotted into a DH role in an instructional league game Friday and struckout and grounded out in two at bats. This is insane, especially since second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi, who hit .374 with runners in scoring position, will be batting behind Matsuzaka instead of in front of him.
This will be the first time in 35 years, since the fourth game of the 1967 Japan Series between the Yomiuri Giants and the Hankyu Braves when Giants starter Masaichi Kaneda did it, since a pitcher has batted other than ninth in a lineup in a series contest.
Japan Series Facts and Figures
According to Nikkan Sports, this will be the first time in 16 years that rookie managers faced each other in the same Japan Series and only the second time in Japanese baseball history that has happened. The first such happening was in 1986, when then new Hiroshima boss Junro Anan matched wits with neophyte Seibu manager Masaaki Mori. There was a tie in the first game and then Hiroshima ripped off three victories in a row. However, the Lions charged back by taking the next four for the title.
No Japan Series has gone to seven games since 1994.
Nikkan Sports also analayzed how Yomiuri shot caller Tatsunori Hara and Lions helmsman Haruki Ihara handled their pitching staffs. The Giants had 15 complete games to Seibu's 14. However, the sports dilay points out that Yomiuri used two pitchers in 37 games while the Tokorozawa nine got by with a duo in just 21. Yomiuri called on three hurlers on 27 occasions while Seibu did so in 33. The Giants went to four in 27 and the Lions in 39. Five moundsman were exploited in a game 25 times by the Tokyo side while Seibu made 23 calls to the pen for a fifth man. Six men made appearances in a single match seven times for the Giants and nine for the Lions. Seven saw action twice for Yomiuri and once for Seibu. So overall, Hara used 459 arms while Ihara tapped 487.
Furthermore, Giants pitchers tended to go further into their assignments, as they went five innings or more 131 times while Seibu's did that 113. However, Yomiuri had a substantial advantage in hurlers who went seven or better, 84-55.
All of the Lions starters are righthanders while the Giants have a good sized southpaw contingent. Looking at the respective benches, versatile kyojin Takayuki Saito beat up righties at a .320 pace while Toshiaki Inubushi, who was slotted in at DH to face lefthanders all season, hit .325. It is unlikely, though, that you will see Saito in against lefties (.176) or Inubushi against righthanders (.143). In what situations these men are put in will bear watching.
Hot Shots....
The Hanshin Tigers have offered free agaent rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama a three year deal worth a total base of just under $4 million. He made just over $600,000 this past season....Meanwhile, Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino is in California right now looking at potential foreign candidates for a spot on Hanshin's roster in case they don't get Roberto Petagine....With the bad Japanese economy resulting in many Japanese corporations disbanding their industrial league teams, the Chunichi Dragons front office thinks that will enable it to aquire usable talent without having to pay signing bonuses....Daiei Hawks superstar catcher Kenji Johjima will have shoulder surgery Saturday to remove a bolt put in there earlier this season when he was injured....Orix fireballer Kazuo Yamaguchi will indeed be out, as expected, at least seven months after having shoulder surgery earlier this week.
No Rally Monkeys at This Series
See Associated Press article at: http://canada.com/sports/story.html?id=%7BEEAAB63C-6E5F-4B55-89C5-96E9675D3CDC%7D
Lions Have Edge in the Pen
A detailed analysis of how the Yomiuri Giants and Seibu Lions pens stack up at:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021025wo52.htm
Giants, Lions Managers Have Scores to Settle With Each Other
See Asahi Shimbun article at: http://www.asahi.com/english/sports/K2002102500259.html
Oakland, Seattle May Open Season in Japan
See Alameda Times-Star article at: http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125%257E11080%257E948606,00.html
Oahu Babe Ruth Leaguers to Play in Japan
See Honolulu Advertiser article at: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Oct/25/ln/ln26a.html
LG Twins, Kia Tigers to Tangle for Korea Series Berth
See Korea Times story at: http://www.hankooki.com/kt_sports/200210/t2002102518301247110.htm
Wrangling Continues Over Proposed Merger of Taiwan Leagues
See Taipei Times story at: http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/10/25/story/0000177109
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for October 24th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1995, 43 players appeared in game three of that season's Japan Series between the Yakult Swallows and the Orix Blue Wave, including 13 pitchers, to set a series record. Yakult won by a 7-4 score when Takahiro Ikeyama clubbed a sayonara three run homer into the leftfield seats in the tenth. Ikeyama's blast was the 11th walkoff homer in series annals and enabled the Swallows to go up three games to none.
