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10/28/2002 Archived Entry: "Japan Series Game 1"
Shimizu, Kiyohara Two Run Homers Down Seibu 4-1
Deuces were wild Saturday at Tokyo Dome, as two fastballs on 2-1 counts from Seibu Lions starter Daiuke Matsuzaka were parlayed into a pair of two run homers by the Yomiuri Giants in the latter's 4-1 victory in the first game of the Japan Series. Giants starter Koji Uehara threw 70 pitches over the initial four innings, but then got into a groove and went all the way, striking out 12 to get the win.
As was predicted earlier, Matsuzaka was rusty from his long layoff and displayed both diminished velocity and movement, especially when he had to throw from the stretch, and absorbed the loss in his first ever series assignment.
After former Sumo yokozuna Kita no Mizuumi threw out the ceremonial first pitch, Uehara got into some trouble in the first, but was bailed out on two fine fielding plays. Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui leadoff by banging a first pitch fastball into centerfield for a single. The very next delivery, rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki laid down what was supposed to have been a sac bunt. But Yomiuri backstop Shinnosuke Abe was on it like ants on a picnic and winged the ball to second for a force on the speedy Matsui. Centerfielder Kazuhiko Miyaji battled Uehara for six pitches before fanning on the seventh. Cabrera, operating on a mere three hours of sleep after talking to his son, Ramon, on the phone the previous night, walked on five offerings. Three pitches later, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada squirted a shot right back up the middle for what should have been an RBI single. However, in a display of tremendous anticipation, Giants second sacker Toshihisa Nishi, who made one of the greatest plays in any championship series on either side of the ocean in the 2000 series to turn around his team's fortunes against Daiei, had been cheating toward the bag and managed to get to it and then throw Wada out at first for the third out.
In the second, Lions third baseman Hiroshi Hirao lashed the second pitch he saw off of the leftcenterfield wall and Seibu was threatening again. Matsuzaka, hitting seventh, popped to shallow left on a first pitch. Catcher Tsutomu Itoh grounded out to second on the sixth pitch, Hirao going to third. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi battled for eight pitches before sending a humpback liner to right that rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi was able to run down for the final out.
Matsuzaka had managed to induce a passel of ground balls in his first two innings, but then in the third, after Uehara had struckout the side on 15 pitches, all hell broke loose. Uehara leadoff by grounding Matsuzaka's fourth pitch between third and short and into left for his club's first hit. Leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu was next and he hammered a 2-1 90mph fastball on the inner half of the plate on a line well into the rightcenterfield seats for a 2-0 Giants lead. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka singled to left and then stole second five pitches later. Takahashi walked on the following delivery. Centerfielder Hideki Matsui worked the count full. Nioka took off for third on the next pitch. Matsui swung through it for strike three and Itoh nailed Nioka at third for a double play. Matsuzaka then attempted to jam first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara with a 2-1 fastball, but he left it right down broadway and the thickly muscled PL Gakuen product obliterated it, pounding it off the top of a Hoya billboard above the leftfield seats for a better than 490 foot two run homer, one of the longest shots in series history, for a 4-0 Yomiuri advantage. It was also the ex-Lion's 14th lifetime series bomb.
Uehara needed to go to the plate 20 times to survive a two out walk to Hirao and a looping single over short by pinch hitter Masahide Kaizuka before luring Itoh into popping out to third. From that point through the eighth, utilizing mainly fastballs and forkballs, he was masterful, striking out two each in the fifth, the sixth and the eighth. He was also aided by more fine leatherwork in the seventh. Hirao leadoff with a single to center. Backup centerfielder Susumu Otomo then drilled a shot down the first base line. Kiyohara snared it and dove toward the bag and tagged it with his glove before Hirao could slide back in for a double play.
Keep in mind that the Giants had won just one of their last ten Japan Series openers and that no Yomiuri starter had been credited with a triumph in a first game of the classic since Tsuneo Horiuchi in 1972. So out Uehara came for the ninth, having experienced some discomfort in his calf at the end of the sixth and had it taped up. With a four run lead, he decided to challenge the leadoff hitter, Cabrera, who was looking for the old number one, with a second pitch belt high 87mph fastball on the inner half of the dish. Cabrera got it toward the middle of the bat, but still launched a towering fly ball that eeked into the first row of the leftfield bleachers to ruin the shutout and make it 4-1, a testament to the Venezuelan's brute strength. That was it for the Seibu offense, though, as nine pitches later, Otomo grounded to third for the final out.
As a side note, the team that took the first game of a Japan Series has gone on to win seven of the last ten championships.
Seibu reliever Koji Mitsui succeeded Matsuzaka with two stellar innings of one hit, four strikeout relief. Mitsutaka Goto managed to pitch out of a huge jam in the seventh by intentionally walking Godzilla Matsui to load the bases and face Kiyohara, who struckout on four pitches to snuff the fire.
You want stats, we got stats department: the folks at Sankei Sports came up with a bushel basket of trivia revolving around this game. This was Kiyohara's tenth series and his 57th series contest overall. The roundtripper was his first in the post season since he took now teammate Masumi Kuwata deep twice in 1994. The 14 series circuit clouts are fourth all time, one behind third place Koji Akiyama, who accumulated 15. Sadaharu Oh has the all time standard with 29. Kiyohara is the seventh man to have homered in Japan Series for two different teams and the fifth since the inception of the two league system in 1950. Incidently, there was no prize for thumping the sign, since that offer is only good during the regular season. The Giants had lost their last five Japan Series openers and are only 13-16 in inital series battles overall, but did prevail in ten of those 13. Little Matsui's hit to leadoff a game was the first by anyone since ex-Seibu second baseman Hatsuhiko Tsuji did it in 1992 and eighth overall. However, he was only the second in history to do it on a first pitch, the first time being by Hanshin's Akinobu Okada in 1985.
The total of 21 strikeouts rung up between the two sides tied a record for a nine inning series match. It had been done twice before, 2000 (Daiei-Yomiuri) and 2001 (Yakult-Kintetsu). The overall record of 22 was set in an extra inning series game in 1975 between the Hankyu Braves and the Hiroshima Carp. Uehara was the 12th man to reach double figures in Ks in a series tilt. Amazingly, it's only been done 13 times overall. The single game mark is 13 whiffs. He was also the first Giants hurler to crack a series hit since Masaaki Saito in 1996 against Orix.
Cabrera had some nice words for Angels reliever Francisco Rodriguez, a fellow countryman whom he played against in the Venezuelan Winter League this past offseason. Cabrera homered to left off of the 20 year old in the one at bat he had against him, but "I knew he would make it to the major leagues. Hopefully him and I can give Venezuela something to be excited about."
Before the series began, the sports media in Japan had been hyping the confrontation between Godzilla and Matsuzaka. The Giants cleanup man struckout on a cutter in the first and then after Matsuzaka got away with a fastball that was up and over the heart of the plate when Matsui fouled it straight back, fanned again on a 91mph heater.
Hall of Fame catcher Katsuya Nomura was at the game as a commentator and remarked that Abe had become quite good at analyzing hitter's tendencies and helped keep the Lions lineup off balance.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .333 for the series. Tom Evans struckout in a pinch hit appearance and is at .000.
Pitch counts by inning:
Matsuzaka 11 (1), 18 (2), 27 (3)
Mitsui 12 (4), 22 (5)
Goto 8 (6), 20 (7)
Doi 14 (8).
Uehara 17 (1), 18 (2), 15 (3), 20 (4), 13 (5), 12 (6), 12 (7), 17 (8), 11 (9)
Note: Pitch counts are form Sankei Sports, though they are just a hair off the other totals quoted below.
Pictures:
Kiyohara homer: http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/nihon/2002/20021026.html
Kiyohara going for the bag: http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/top/bt200210/image/02102701kiyoharaNK200A26.jpg
Cabrera homer: http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/top/bt200210/image/02102707cabreraOS159A26.jpg
Cabrera homer, another view: http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/10/27/20021027010757.jpg
Cabrera homer, one more time: http://www.nikkansports.com/news/baseball/bb-021027-8.jpg
Shimizu homer: http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/10/27/20021027010520.jpg
Some of this report is taken from Michael Westbay's blow by blow depiction at Japanese Baseball.com. The URL is: http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.jsp?forum=1&thread=1526
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Matsuzaka (L, 0-1) IP 3.0 PC 57 H 4 HR 2 K 3 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 12.00
Mitsui IP 2.0 PC 34 H 1 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
M. Goto IP 2.0 PC 28 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Doi IP 1.0 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Yomiuri:
Uehara (W, 1-0) IP 9.0 PC 134 H 6 HR 1 K 12 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.00
E: K. Matsui
SB: Nioka
2B: Hirao, Nioka
HR: T. Shimizu (1), Kiyohara (1), Cabrera (1)
RBI: T. Shimizu 2, Kiyohara 2, Cabrera 1
IBB: H. Matsui
HBP: S. Abe (Matsuzaka), T. Shimizu (M. Goto)
LOB: Seibu 6, Yomiuri 7
Series Status: Seibu 0, Yomiuri 1
Game Time: 2:55
Attendance: 45,107
Umpires: Tomoyori (HP), Yamamoto (1B), Manabe (2B), Yamamura (3B), Mori (OF),
Higashi (OF)
Note to the Baseball Media
I don't know how the U.S. baseball media got it into its collective head that former Texas Rangers farm director Trey Hillman will be the second American to manage a Japanese ballclub. The fact is that he is the sixth after Yoshio "Kaiser" Tanaka (Hanshin), Wally Yonamine (Chunichi), Joe Lutz (Hiroshima), Don Blasingame (Nankai and Hanshin) and Bobby Valentine (Lotte). Moreover, I had sent out corrections to certain media outlets and they ignored them. C'mon guys, let's get with the program!
Btw, I had originally thought it was four, but an article by Dan Latham in the Japan Times a couple of weeks back reminded the readers about Tanaka and Yonamine, both of whom were natives of Hawaii.
Arakaki Heads Off for Daiei After 16 Inning 22 Strikeout Tour de Force
Well, what can you say about Kyushu Community College fireballing righthander Nagisa Arakaki after he went 16 innings of a six hour 23 frame extra inning game against Nihon Bunri University Saturday at Fukuoka Dome and fanned 22 while allowing only one earned run? How about "sugoi!" (amazing)?
The 23 inning contest is the longest in Japanese collegiate history, eclipsing the old mark of 20, which was set in 1970 in a tilt between Hosei University and Kansai University at Meiji Jingu Stadium. Despite Arakaki's 222 pitch effort, though, Kyushu CC fell to their opponent on an RBI single in the bottom of the 23rd stanza and their season is over while Nihon Bunri moves on in a bid to eventually go to the All Japan University tournament.
Arakaki was drafted out of high school four years ago by the Orix Blue Wave, but he tunred them down and will now meet with Daiei officials Monday to begin negotiations about his contract. Arakaki has also been scouted by MLB clubs, but he will choose to remain in Japan.
Nomo, Irabu to Hold Tryout for His Minor League Team
According to Nikkan Sports, Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who are part owners of an independent minor league club based in Elmira, New York, will be holding tryouts at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo on November 30th. The hopefuls must be finished with their scholastic obligations (which under Japanese law is the ninth grade, though more than 90% of Japanese actually graduate high school) and be no older than 24 years old.
It appears that there is a limit of 50 people who will be allowed to audition and they must pay a fee of just under $40 apiece.
Get Out the Earplugs, it's Japan Series Time
See Jim Allen's analysis of the history between the Lions and Giants as well as a look at the two squads knocking heads starting today at: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021026wo51.htm
What Lions, Giants Need to Do to Win Series
See Yomiuri Shimbun stories at:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021026wo52.htm
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021026wo53.htm
Shinjo's Bat Goes to Cooperstown
See Reuters article at: http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=sportnews&StoryID=1636213
Uehara: From Nowhere to the Japan Series
See Yomiuri Shimbun article at: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021026wo55.htm
Cabrera Expecting No Slugfest With Matsui
See Japan Today story at: http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=6&id=236019
Shimizu Hopes to Lead Giants to Title
See Japan Times story at: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getsp.pl5?sb20021026a1.htm
Lopez Eased into Japan Tour
See Baltimore Sun story at:
http://www.sunspot.net/sports/baseball/bal-sp.osnotes26oct26,0,3605888.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball
Korea: Win a Medal, Avoid the Army
See Joong Ang Ilbo story in english at: http://english.joins.com/Article.asp?aid=20021026012617&sid=600
Sung Chao-chee Wins Taiwan League MVP
See Taipei Times story at: http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/10/26/story/0000177219
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for October 26th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1992, the Yakult Swallows and the Seibu Lions played game seven of that year's Japan Series and the Lions won it in the top of the tenth inning on a sacrifice fly by Koji Akiyama to claim supremacy for that season. Yakult blew a couple of late bases loaded opportunities in regulation and it went to bonus time. Both starters, Yoichi Okabayashi (155 pitches) for the Swallows and Takehiro Ishii (160 deliveries) of the Lions, went all the way.
However, this affair was knocked off the front pages of even the sports papers by the announced engagement of actress Rie Miyazawa (Japan's answer to Brooke Shields) and sumo great Takanohana. They then broke up shortly thereafter, resulting in a scandal that almost ended Miyazawa's career.
Ishii was named Pacific League MVP after going 15-3 with a 1.94 ERA, numbers he would never even come close to matching ever again, winning in double figures just three times in his 11 season career.
Okabayashi, a 1990 numbre one draft choice out of Senshu University, was 15-10 with a 2.97 ERA in 1992 after winning 12 and saving an equal number as a rookie the previous season in 45 games (he didn't get the Rookie of the Year, incidentally; that went to Chunichi's Koichi Morita, who had ten victories and 17 saves as well as an ERA of 3.03. 0.94 better than Okabayashi). The ten inning performance was his third complete game of the 1992 series.
Unfortunately, Okabayashi began to suffer injuries and they robbed him of his velocity, which was 89mph at his peak. So he eventually called it a day after eight seasons, finishing with a 52-39 record with 12 saves and a 3.50 ERA.
Morita? He would last just four seasons and compile an 18-13 mark with 24 saves and a 3.87 ERA in 117 games.
