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11/14/2002 Archived Entry: "NPB Takes Third in a Row in Exciting Game That Nobody Got to See"
Japanese All Stars Spank MLB Again 8-6
Tomo Ohka of the Montreal Expos started this game Tuesday at Osaka Dome in a sort of homecoming for him after a solid MLB campaign in which he won 13 games. Since being let go by the Yokohama Bay Stars a few years back, On the other side was one of the finest young lefthanders in Japan right now in the Hanshin Tigers Kei Igawa, the Central League strikeout king. So this was going to be a pitching duel, right? Uh, no. Between them, the two sides banged out 31 hits and there were eight walks in what was an exciting contest highlighted by an unbelievable play by Torii Hunter and three monster bombs from Hunter, Barry Bonds and Norihiro Nakamura. When the dust settled, the Japanese all stars had grabbed their third consecutive triumph against the stateside nine by an 8-6 score. Despite being hammered for six runs, all earned, on 12 hits in five innings, Igawa was credited with the victory.
The fans had barely settled into their seats when the Japanese contingent went on the warpath. Shortstop Kazuo Matsui leadoff with a single to center and then he took off on the first pitch to leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani, beating catcher Paul LoDuca's peg to second. Ohka walked Tani. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura sliced an diced a first pitch 88mph fastball from Ohka and unleashed a bazooka shot into the second deck in left for an instant 3-0 NPB lead. After centerfielder Hideki Matsui struckout looking, first baseman Alex Cabrera continued his domination of MLB pitching with a single to center. DH Akinori Iwamura grounded into a 6-4 force. But second baseman Makoto Imaoka seared a shot into the rightcenter alley and all the way to the wall, giving Iwamura enough time to motor to the plate on a standup double. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome lined a ball over the head of shortstop Jimmy Rollins, Imaoka holding at third not wanting to challenge Bonds. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige walked to load the bases. Little Matsui then welcomed two men home when he pulled an Ohka offeirng down the rightfield line for a two bagger and it was 6-0 NPB. Tani grounded out on a comebacker to Ohka, but the damage had really been done and MLB had a big hill to climb to get themselves back in it.
Igawa got through the first with an infield hit by Bonds, but he was then served notice in the second that MLB wasn't going to take this lying down. Hunter commenced the frame with a single to center. With first baseman Derrick Lee up at the dish, Hunter got a good jump and headed for second, sliding in safely with a steal. The count went full to Lee, who then guided an Igawa delivery into the rightcenter gap for an RBI double. LoDuca looped a single to center, Lee playing it conservatively and waiting for it to drop before advancing to third. Third baseman Eric Hinske sent one through the rightside and into right to redeem Lee. With Rollins at the plate, Tanishige let a pitch get away from him and LoDuca ran to third while Hinske moved to second. Rollins lofted a fly ball to Tani, who gunned it to the plate, but not before LoDuca had tagged and crossed the plate. Rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki, hitless in his first 11 trips in this series and 0-10 overall, sizzled a double on a fastball up and in down the rightfield line to drive in Hinske and it was 6-4 NPB. Second baseman Roberto Alomar walked on four straight pitches to put the tying run on and now Bonds was up. Barry killed it, but right at Cabrera, who stepped on the bag for the out on Alomar, for a double play that likely saved Igawa's bacon.
NPB, though, wasn't intimidated by the show of resistance from the foreigners and tried to mount another rally in the top of the third. With two gone, Fukudome outran a tapper toward short. Tanishige rapped a single to center. MLB boss Art Howe replaced Ohka with Bartolo Colon, who walked Kazuo Matsui to juice the bags with Mr. Double, Yoshitomo Tani, sidling up to the plate. But Tani couldn't do anything with the big Montreal righty and grounded out to first to extinguish the threat.
But MLB kept on coming and only a tremendous play by Tani in the bottom of the third kept it from being closer on the scoreboard. With one out, Hunter singled to right. Lee put good wood on an Igawa pitch, but lasered it right to Kazuo Matsui at short for the second out. LoDuca singled to right. Hinske then spanked a single to left, where it was gathered in by Tani, who whipped it to the plate. Tanishige had the "no trespassing" sign up and put the tag on Hunter with a great plate block on a bang bang play for the final out of the stanza. Torii, though, would get his revenge later on.
Cabrera doubled down the rightfield line with two away in the fourth and Iwamura walked to put Colon in a jam. But again, the Expos fireballer escaped when he bamboozled Imaoka into taking strike three.
Igawa wove a perfect bottom of the fourth and then his mates finally put it to Colon in the top of the fifth. Fukudome catalyzed it by snaking a single between first and second. Tanishige followed with another seeing eye knock to the same part of the field. Kazuo Matsui then laced a 95mph fastball to the rightfield wall for an RBI double. Tani slapped a single to center and while Tanishige jogged in, Matsui put on the afterburners and turned for home. Hunter charged the ball, got it in a little bit of an awkward position and threw it to the plate off his back foot. It was a one hop beauty, though, and Matsui was out with some room to spare to keep it at 8-4. A strikeout and a groundout later, Colon was back in the dugout and now his team brought the lumber, and how!
Bonds was the first hitter of the bottom of the inning and he righteously beat on a first pitch fastball that was down and in, powdering it well up into the centerfield stands. One out later, Hunter one upped Bonds with a moon shot into the fifth level in left, a drive that was estimated at 470 feet, to shrink the deficit to 8-6. Boy, the fans were getting a little of everything in this one,weren't they? Thanks again to ESPN and Fox so that we would be assured of not having our sleep disturbed by an exciting baseball game.
Kintetsu Buffaloes starter Hisashi Iwakuma spelled Igawa starting in the sixth and was touched for a hit by Alomar for a two out hit before he went 3-0 to Bonds and then popped him up on a 3-2 pitch.
The Lions' Koji Mitsui nearly gave it away in the seventh, as he walked Lee with two gone and LoDuca singled to left. Mitsui then plunked pinch hitter Bernie Williams to pack the sacks. But Rollins flew to left and that was that.
Bonds and Giambi would each get a chance to tie this thing in the eighth against another Lions hurler, Shinji Mori. Mori blew away Jacque Jones, but backup second baseman Junior Spivey lined a shot to leftcenter that Hideki Matsui misplayed into a triple. Amazingly, manager Tatsunori Hara chose to pitch to Bonds, who Mori setup with his heater and then lured him into coming up empty on a forkball for the second out. Giambi ended his at bat in like futility and now it would be turned over to Yasuhiro Oyamada (yikes!), who walked Hunter to leadoff the inning. With Lee at the plate, Hunter went for second even though he was behind by two in the ninth and his run meant nothing, but Tanishige fired a bullet to second and the Minnesota all star was told by the MLB umpire to have a seat on the bench. Two grounders later, NPB was celebrating its third straight shiroboshi over the big leaguers 8-6.
Godzilla Matsui is now 3-17 in this series and his stock is falling even as Little Matsui's and Nakamura's is rising. Kazuo Matsui, who says that if he is back with Seibu next season he will sign just a one year pact, was named MVP of the game while Hunter was given the Fighting Spirit prize. With his mediagenic looks and genial manner, Hunter's agent needs to try to do something with marketing his client in Japan, since he has made quite an impression so far in this series.
Mets Japanese scout Isao Ojimi told reporters that he would strongly recommend that his employer sign Nakamura.
As for why the MLB pitching has been so abysmal this time around, LoDuca offered that it was because too many pitches were being left up in the zone.
Make no mistake about it, the MLB players are angry that they haven't looked too good in this series. Some in the media are joking that Howe may be fired before he even gets a chance to be in the Mets dugout.
See related story at: Japan Times Article
See another related story at: Associated Press Article
Yet another related story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Pictures:
Ichiro Makes Contact on His Double
Pitching Lines:
NPB:
Igawa (W, 1-0) IP 5.0 PC 91 H 12 HR 2 K 2 BB 1 R 6 ER 6 ERA 10.80
Iwakuma IP 1.0 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Mitsui IP 1.0 PC 23 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
S. Mori IP 1.0 PC 17 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Oyamada (S, 1) IP 1.0 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 9.00
MLB:
Ohka (L, 0-1) IP 2.2 PC 70 H 8 HR 1 K 2 BB 2 R 6 ER 6 ERA 20.25
Colon IP 3.1 PC 73 H 6 HR 0 K 4 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 5.40
Romero IP 1.1 PC 21 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Fetters IP 1.2 PC 25 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
SB: K. Matsui, Hunter, Tani, Imaoka, Tanishige
2B: Imaoka, K. Matsui 2, D. Lee, I. Suzuki, Cabrera
3B: Spivey
HR: N. Nakamura (1), Bonds (2), Hunter (2)
RBI: N. Nakamura 3, Tani, Imaoka, K. Matsui 3, D. Lee, Hinske, Rollins, I. Suzuki,
Bonds, Hunter
SF: Rollins
WP: Igawa
HBP: B. Williams (Mitsui)
LOB: NPB 11, MLB 10
Series Status: NPB 3, MLB 0
Game Time: 3:31
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Sederstrom (HP), Sato (1B), Young (2B), Tani (3B)
Lineups:
NPB:
SS K. Matsui (4-5, R, SF, 3 RBI, SB, BB .600)
LF Tani (1-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, SB .428)
3B N. Nakamura (1-5, R, 4 RBI, K .363)
CF H. Matsui (0-5, K .153)
1B Cabrera (2-5, 3 K .538)
DH Iwamura (0-3, R, BB .166)
(PH) M. Ogasawara (0-1 .375)
2B Imaoka (2-5, R, SF, RBI, K .375)
RF Fukudome (3-5, 2R, 2 K .466)
C Tanishige (3-4, R, BB, SB .428)
MLB:
RF: I. Suzuki (1-4, RBI .076)
(RF) J. Jones (0-1, K, .000)
2B Alomar (1-3, BB .166)
(PR, 2B) Spivey (1-1, .166)
LF Bonds (2-5, R, RBI, K .250)
DH Giambi (0-5, 3 K .100)
CF Hunter (3-4, 2 R, RBI, SB, BB .625)
1B D. Lee (1-4, R, RBI, BB .333)
C LoDuca (4-5, R .750)
3B Hinske (2-3, R, RBI, K .571)
(PH) B. Williams (HBP .125)
(3B) Chaves (0-0 .500)
SS Rollins (0-3, SF, RBI, K .166)
Hot Shots....
According to the Minneapolis-Star Tribune, new Twins signee Hiroyuki Iida will start his stateside career in class A ball with Quad Cities next spring....Japan beat Venezuela 13-3 in the Intercontinental Cup to advance to the next round. Katsuaki Furuki homered for the third game in a row.Yesterday, he had two homers against China in a 6-0 triumph, each 425 feet or more...Godzilla Matsui has sent letters to all 30 MLB teams making them aware of his availability....Tomoaki Kanemoto will wear number six with Hanshin....Nippon Ham manager Trey Hillman, a former shortstop, took infield practice with his players at the club's fall camp today.... Diamondbacks farmhand James Mouton is trying out for Lotte and didn't do too well today trying to play second base, as he couldn't find the first baseman's mit to save his life. So he will now work in the outfield ...Ken Suzuki will receive about $450,000 next season from Yakult, his new team....Yokohama Bay Stars free agent closer Takashi Saito will meet with the Atlanta Braves on the 16th for negotiations on a possible contract....It looks like next season is going to be Alex Cabrera's last in Japan, as he wants to head to MLB. "If I can get into the right environment, I feel I can hit 40 homers," said the slugger....To absolutely nobody's surprise, Hanshin will use Roberto Petagine solely at first. I have a question though: how come nobody's done an article on what last season's Tigers first sacker, George Arias, thinks of all this....Also no surprise is Yomiuri laying off reliever Hector Almonte, whose bad attitude during pre-Japan Series workouts garnered him a lot of exasperated looks from teammates and Giants officials. Almonte did a good job this season for an otherwise mediocre middle relief corps, but he basically whined himself out of a job....Sporting News is saying that the SF Giants are not going after Hideki Matsui.
Bonds Enjoying Last Japan Tour and Attempting to Lure Matsui to SF
See story at: Sacramento Bee Article
Also, see Jim Caple story at:ESPN Article
Matsui Trying to Play MLB Teams Off Against Each Other
See story at: NY Daily News Article
Mariners Licking Their Chops Over Contreras
See story at: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Article
Yankees Officials Arriving in Japan Thursday
See story at: Sporting News Article
