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11/12/2002 Archived Entry: "Uehara Sticks a Fork Into MLB All Stars"
Bonds Fans Three Times and Giambi Twice in 8-4 Trouncing by Japan All Stars
The only thing disappointing for Yomiuri Giants righthander Sunday at Tokyo Dome was that NPB all star manager Tatsunori Hara didn't allow him to finish the game, as he mowed down a formidable major league contingent over the course of six innings, allowing only a run on five hits to claim his first ever nichibei (Japan-U.S.) victory by an 8-4 margin. Former Diamondback Alex Cabrera made his point about being unfairly neglected by the snakes, as he homered and drove in three runs to pace the Japanese attack.
Brad Penny started for the big leaguers and was doing nicely for two innings, having no hit the Japanese side while striking out four. But then the Japanese outfit brought out the big guns and cleaned Penny's clock as well as that of his successor, Randy Wolf. Hanshin second baseman Makoto Imaoka leadoff the third by launching second pitch 88mph fastball he saw that was up and on the inner half of the plate just beyond the leftfield wall for a 1-0 lead. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe and leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu each singled to center. Shortstop Takuro Ishii laid down a bunt between the mound and the plate and used his good wheels to beat it out and load the bases. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome recalled Abe by getting jammed on a 91mph fastball and fisting it to left for a single. Centerfielder Godzilla Matsui torqued a first pitch curve ball that Penny left out in the middle of the plate down the first base line and past Jason Giambi for a two run double. Cabrera lofted a medium deep fly ball to Torii Hunter in center and Fukudome tagged up and sped home to make it 5-0.
The marquee matchup here was the winner of Japan's equivalent of the Cy Young against MLB's premier batsman in Barry Bonds and it wasn't even a contest, as Uehara was able to bury his fastball on the SF Giants's hands and then finish him off with his forkball. Result: Bonds three times up, three times going back to the dugout after failing to make contact against Uehara. Indeed, Giambi noted that Uehara's forkball was hard to lay off of. So as Uehara was blunting the MLB boys on one hit through four, the Japanese came back up in the fourth to add another tally against Randy Wolf. Shimizu commenced it with a walk and then went to second when Wolf threw away a pick off attempt. Ishii rolled one toward third. For whatever reason, Shimizu thought he could make it to that base, but Eric Hinske got there to make the tag. Wolf wild pitched Ishii over to second. Fukudome struckout, but Hideki Matsui walked. Cabrera flipped one over second and beyond the outstretched glove of Roberto Alomar and Ishii motored on home to widen his aggregation's advantage to 6-0.
In the fifth, though, Uehara finally cracked, as he hung a one out first pitch slider in the lower part of the strike zone to Hunter, who crushed it deep into the leftcenterfield stands to make it 6-1. Hinske bled one toward short and outran it for an infield hit. Catcher Paul Loduca humpbacked one into left for a single and Uehara was now dealing with his first jam of the evening. However, Shortstop Jimmy Rollins grounded to third and Ichiro hit a lazy fly ball to left to let Uehara off the hook.
The MLB all stars got a one out double from Alomar with one out in the sixth, but then Uehara put the hammer down and struckout both Bonds and Giambi to cap off what must for him have been a thrilling night. He vows to go all the way in his next start against the stateside crew.
In the seventh, Cabrera dug in and beat the daylights out of a third pitch screwball that was down and away, the ball rocketing 416 feet into the leftfield bleachers, and it was 7-1 NPB. Pacific League batting champ Michihiro Ogasawara was sent up to pinch hit and bounced a chopper between first and second and by the time the throw was made, one of Japan's best baserunners had an infield hit. Kazuhiro Wada went in to pinch run for Ogasawara. Norihiro Nakamura was then dispatched to pinch hit and drilled a safety to center. Mike Fetters was summoned from the bullpen and blew away Imaoka. Abe grounded into a 4-6 force play that moved Wada to third.Yoshitomo Tani was assigned a pinch hit chance and he converted, running one back up through the middle to expand the NPB hegemony to 8-1. Backup shortstop Kazuo Matsui beat out a bleeder toward short. But that was all for the Japanese, as Fukudome grounded to short to squelch any further scoring.
Yakult Swallows lefty Shugo Fujii ascended the hill for the seventh and got the first two men to flyout. LoDuca singled to left. Rollins the scorched a shot off the rightcenterfield fence and Lo Duca set the controls for home. Fukudome gunned it to the cutoff man, Kazuo Matsui, who unleased an absolute pea to the plate to Abe, who waited for LoDuca and slapped the tag on him to kill the threat.
Ryota Igarashi got through the eighth by inducing two fly balls and a strikeout from Pat Burrell and Hiroshima closer Yasuhiro Oyamada jogged in to close it out in the ninth and nearly gave everyone a heart attack. Substitute first baseman Derrick Lee looped one into right. Hunter rattled the fences with a shot up the rightcenter gap to put men on second and third with nobody out. Backup third baseman Eric Chavez hit a slow roller toward Cabrera, who took it in and turned to relay it to first, but Oyamada had neglected to cover and Lee crossed and everybody was safe. Catcher A.J. Pierczynski groundout to short to score Hunter. Substitute shortstop David Eckstein walked. Oyamada, though, then buckled down and tempted backup rightfielder Jacque Jones into grounding out to first, Chavez toeing the dish, and Junior Spivey flied out to right and it was "game setto."
That same day, Cabrera had slugged two into the seats at a PL all star game in Shizuoka before hotfooting it for the train station to get to Tokyo Dome. The stocky Venezuelan said, "It was a long day. I am so tired." The previous night, he went to dinner with Nakamura and Tuffy Rhodes and gave the free agent Nakamura some advice as to how baseball is a business and he needs to do what will benefit him.
Bonds was fed up with having racked up his first three strikeout game since he did it against the Reds in August of 2001 and against one pitcher since Javier Vasquez of the Expos in May of that same season, and so when asked about what he thought of Uehara's performance, Bonds said "good" and then stalked off away from reporters. Of the 18 pitches Bonds saw from Uehara, 10 were forkballs. Seven of his eight strikeouts came on that pitch. "The only mistake I made was on that slider to Hunter," Uehara averred. Giambi's isngle was also off of a slide piece. As to perhaps him going to the majors himself, Uehara said that he wanted to get some more experience under his belt. He also probably realizes that it is unlikely that Yomiuri owner Tsuneo Watanabe will allow him to be posted, so Uehara will have to another 5-6 years before he can cross the ocean, though he will be in his mid-30's by then.
Imaoka's jack was the first in an NPB-MLB faceoff since Akinobu Mayumi did it in 1988.
Kazuo Matsui continues to wear out MLB pitching, as he had hits form each side of the plate this time around.
With an MLB umpire calling balls and strikes, Godzilla Matsui remarked that the big league zone was wider than the one called by Japanese arbiters. Of the Yomiuri supertar, MLB manager Art Howe predicted, "while it won't be easy, he could hit .300 with 30 homers. I look forward to seeing him [in MLB]."
Japan's Mr. Baseball, former Yomiuri third baseman and Hall of Fame inductee Shigeo Nagashima, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Pictures:
Uehara striking out Bonds in the second
Another view of this strikeout
Hideki Matsui meets Ichiro
Finishi on Cabrera's homer swing
Imaoka starts his homer trot
See related story at: Associated Press Story
See related story (with a couple of factual boo boos)at: Malaysian Star Article
Pitching Lines:
NPB:
Uehara (W, 1-0) IP 6.0 PC 83 H 5 HR 1 K 8 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.50
S. Fujii IP 1.0 PC 16 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
R. Igarashi IP 1.0 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Oyamada IP 1.0 PC 25 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 3 ER 2 ERA 18.00
MLB:
Penny (L, 0-1) IP 2.2 PC 61 H 8 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 16.88
Wolf IP 3.1 PC 68 H 5 HR 1 K 2 BB 3 R 3 ER 3 ERA 8.10
Fetters IP 2.0 PC 41 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Schoenweiss IP 1.0 PC 18 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: Wolf
SB: T. Shimizu, Iwamura
2B: H. Matsui, Hunter, B. Williams, Rollins
HR: Imaoka (1), Hunter (1), Cabrera (1)
RBI: Imaoka, Fukudome, H. Matsui 2, Cabrera 3, Tani, Hunter, Chavez, Pierczynski, J. Jones
SF: Cabrera
WP: Wolf
PB: Abe
GIDP: Fukudome
LOB: NPB 14, MLB 7
Series Status: NPB 1, MLB 0
Game Time: 3:21
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Young (HP), Watada (1B), Sederstrom (2B), Akimura (3B)
Lineups:
NPB:
LF T. Shimizu (2-2, R, SB, BB 1.000)
(LF) Tani (2-3, RBI, K .667)
SS T. Ishii ( 1-3, 2R, K .333)
(SS) K. Matsui (2-3 .667)
RF Fukudome (2-6, R, RBI, 2 K .333)
CF H. Matsui (1-4, 2 RBI, 2 BB)
1B: Cabrera (2-4, R, 3 RBI, K .500)
(1B) Kokubo (0-0 .000)
DH M. Ogasawara (1-3, K, BB .333)
(PR, DH) K. Wada (0-1, .000_
3B Iwamura (1-3, K, SB .333)
(PH, 3B) N. Nakamura (2-2 1.000)
2B Imaoka (1-3, R, RBI, K, 2 BB .333)
C S. Abe (1-5, R .200)
MLB:
RF: I. Suzuki (0-4 .000)
(RF) J. Jones (0-1, RBI .000)
2B: R. Alomar (0-3, K .000)
(2B) Spivey (0-1, BB .000)
DH B. Williams (1-4 .250)
LF Bonds (0-3, 3 K .000)
(LF) Burrell (0-1, K .000)
1B Ja. Giambi (1-3, 2 K .333)
(1B) D. Lee (1-1, R 1.000)
CF Hunter (2-4, 2R, RBI, K .500)
3B Hinske (1-3, K .333)
(3B) Chavez (1-1, RBI 1.000)
C LoDuca ( 2-3, .667)
(C) Pierczynski (0-1, R, RBI .000)
SS Rollins (1-3 .333)
(SS) Eckstein (0-0, BB .000)
Cabrera, Kokubo Homer Twice in PL East-West All Star Game
Hiroki Kokubo pounded a pair of homers and rapped another two RBI knocks Sunday at Kusanagi Stadium in Shizuoka Prefecture to win the MVP of the Pacific League East-West game in a 6-6 tie.
Alex Cabrera put in an MVP bid with two circuit clouts of his own before getting on the Shinkansen to start at first base in Tokyo Dome for the Nippon Professional Baseball all stars. Unfortunately, that was about all th einformation the Japanese media gave about this contest. You can see a pic of the ballpark, which measures 298 down the lines and 377 to straightaway center, at: Kusanagi Stadium
Furuki Redeems Himself in Japan's Intercontinental Cup Victory
Yokohama Bay Stars third baseman Katsuaki Furuki had a nightmare of a game against the Dominican Republic Saturday for the first eighth innings, committing two errors on a dubious playing surface that each resulted in opposition runs and hitting into a double play with the bases loaded to snuff a potential rally in Japan's first game of this year's Intercontinental Cup tournament in Havana. However, he redeemed himself in the ninth when he lined a triple over the Dominican rightfielder's head with nobody out and a man on first to tie the match and then hustled in when the relay to third was wild for a come from behind victory.
Japan made eight errors to almost do themselves in.
Hanshin Tigers outfielder Osamu Hamanaka was the hitting star in this one for Japan, as he cracked a bases packed RBI single in the third and then lashed an RBI double down the leftfield line later on. He then catalyzed the winning Japanese uprising when he walked to lead off the ninth and sprinted home on the Furuki missile to the rightfield fence.
Hanshin Trades Tsuboi, Date to Nippon Ham
The Hanshin Tigers and the Nippon Ham Fighters got busy on the trade front Sunday, as the Osaka favorite sons sent reliever Masashi Date, 27, outfielder Tomochika Tsuoboi, 28, and catcher Katsuhiko Yamada, 33, to Tokyo in exchange for catcher/rightfielder Toshihiro Noguchi, 31, outfielder Yutaka Nakamura, 29, and southpaw Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi, 34. Hanshin wanted to bolster the defensive quality of its catching in asking for Noguchi, who has actually spent most of this season playing rightfield, as well as its late inning outfield defense with the speedy Nakamura, who also has a strong arm.
In Tsouboi, a number four draft choice out of Toshiba in the industrial leagues, if he can stay healthy, the Fighters get a much needed lefthanded bat who can hit number one or two. There had been a proposed deal with Seibu to move him over to Tokorozawa for outfielder Tetsuya Kakiuchi, but the Lions wisely chose to hold on to their veteran.
Date hasn't been that much good for Hanshin since being drafted number two out of Prince Hotels in 2000, while the 5'8" 175 pound Nakamura, an ex-number one selection out of Meiji University in 1995, has been a disappointment for Nippon Ham. Noguchi, who was signed as a non draftee out of Narashino High School in 1989, spent eight years with Yakult before sliding over to the Fighters in 1998.
Shimoyanagi's only "charm point," as the Japanese are fond of saying," is that he is lefthanded. His last three seasons have seen his ERA at 4.50 or above and his career ERA coming into 2002 had been 4.06. However, Yamada, while said to be a good handler of pitchers, is an awkaward defensive player and often drove manager Senichi Hoshino to distraction with his inadequate glove work behind the plate. At best, Shimoyanagi, who was drafted out of the Kimitsu branch of Shin-Nittetsu by Daiei in 1990 before he went to Nippon Ham in 1996, is a reclamation project while Yamada's career is almost at an end.
Consequently, since Tsuboi is somebody who is actually a viable everyday player if he can stay off the injured list, Nippon Ham got the best of the deal, though it's hardly a steal unless Tsuboi suddenly just starts to play out of his mind.
Lotte May Aquire Doosan's Tyrone Woods
Doosan Bears 33 year old first baseman Tyrone Woods, a former member of the Boston Red Sox organization, is going to be allowed to workout in the Chiba Lotte Marines fall training camp and if Lotte likes him, he will be picked up.
Woods, six feet and 200 pounds, has never spent any time at the major league level, but has flourished in Korea, where he set a new league homer mark with 42 in his first season there in 1998. In 2001, he won the RBI crown and was named Korea Series MVP. This year, he batted .256 with 25 homers and 82 RBIs. Lifetime in the Land of the Morning Calm, he has propelled 174 homers and collected 511 RBIs. The Chunichi Dragons displayed some interest in him last season, but nothing came of that.
Hot Shots....
Omar Linares will be back with Chunichi next season....Nippon Ham manager Trey Hillman intends to have his new club play many more intrasquad games during spring training than they did in 2002, possibly as many as ten, to help him more thoroughly evaluate his players.. complimented Hichori Morimoto on his tenacity at the plate and his ability to draw walks....I hope I'm reading this right, but according to Sankei Sports, Roberto Petagine is demanding that any team that wants to sign him has to also tryout an unnamed other player from Venezuela. Hanshin seems amenable to that. Yokohama, Chunichi, and Yomiuri have yet to respond....Free agent rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama and Hanshin are about $500,000 apart. Moreover, Hiyama is apparently upset by the fact that while him and Tsuyoshi Shinjo had comparable stats (mediocre at that) after their tenth year in the Japanese leagues, the Tigers are offering him much less than they proposed to the "Young Prince, who turned down a five year pact for $2 million a season to sign with the Mets....
Bonds Having Fun in Japan
See story at: Newsday Article
Emotional Salute to Matsui
See somewhat sloppily reported story at: Newsday Article
Japanese Star Matsui Wants to Prove Self to MLB
Man, can somebody give this guy a clue? See piece of crap at: Newsday Article
LoDuca Gets Royal Treatment in Japan
See story at: Associated Press Article
LG Holds Off Charging Samsung to Force a Game Six in Korea Series
See story at: Korea Times Article
Seung-yeop Lee Belts Dramatic Three Run Ninth Inning Homer and Samsung are Champions
See story at: Korea Times Article
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for November 10th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1962, the Kokutetsu Swallows and Toei Flyers travelled to Korea to play the first ever Japanese pro game in that country. There was no Korean pro league until 20 years later.
