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01/17/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Igarashi Throws Himself a Cutter"
Igarashi Barely Misses Cutting His Season Short
Swallows reliever Ryota Igarashi got a bit of a scare yesterday when he cut the middle finger of his throwing hand between the first and second joints washing a carving knife while cleaning up after dinner. As he pressed on the injured digit with his lefthand to suppress the bleeding, he was rushed to a nearby hospital and had the deep cut, which went 2/3 of the way through a tendon, sewn up. He is expected to be able to open the season on the roster, but he won't be able to even play catch until February 15th.
Manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu hit the roof when he got the news, assailing Igarashi for "doing something so stupid." Igarashi himself said that his wound was due to inattention and that he would work hard to be ready by opening day. Doctors expect the fireballer to make a full recovery.
Imaoka Seeks to Fill Hanshin's Sock Drawer
Hanshin second baseman Makoto Imaoka said at a workout in Wakayama Prefecture today that he would like to slam 30 homers this season. "I'm only going to think of hitting this year," the all star infielder offered. Imaoka only had his first .300 campaign last year with a lifetime high 15 dingers.
When apprised of this by Sankei Sports, former Hanshin great Akinobu Mayumi, now a team coach, thinks Imaoka can do it, but wants him to keep his batting average up or the power increase will be "meaningless" Mayumi was the last Tigers leadoff hitter to register 30 jacks in a season (1985) and held the Japan record for going downtown by a top of the lineup catalyst with 34 until that was eclipsed by Kazuo Matsui last season.
Hot Shots....
Bill Ballew over at Baseball America had this to say about Trey Hodges, younger brother of Yakult's Kevin Hodges: "Trey is in the lower reaches of the top 30. He appeared to be in line for a shot as the fifth starter, but unless injuries appear, he could be a reliever in Atlanta, a starter in Richmond or tradebait in March." Or maybe joining Kevin in the Swallows rotation in April? Please God! By the way, you can see the entire excellent chat with Ballew about the Atlanta side Here....I'm all for the Yankees opening the season in Japan (here's to hoping it will be in either Osaka or Fukuoka), but the sudden proposal by Selig so relatively late in the offseason demonstrates the MLB Commissioner's shortsightedness since there are a lot of logistical preparations that have to be made to go 5000 miles across the Pacific. Moreover, what has been lost in this is what the Toronto Blue Jays, who will be the Yanks' opponents, think of all this. Things would have gone smoother had they decided to do this to kickoff 2004, when they can schedule the Yankees to face Seattle with likely new addition Kazuo Matsui in a Mariners uniform....Mariners Far East scouting head Ted Heid told Nikkan Sports that "there are a lot of diamonds in the rough" among baseball players in China and that "in the next few years we will see the first Chinese major leaguer." The Yomiuri Giants, who, as part of their agreement with the Yankees, will be providing scouting info to the Bronx Bombers on Asian players, have invited players from China to participate in their spring camp at Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture. The Chinese pro league is also whispered to be receiving funds from the KBO to help prop it up financially and therefore China is also very receptive to Japanese support as well, should it be provided....Umpires and Japanese league officials met again today to discuss how the strike zone is called. Yesterday, the concern was over differences in how the leagues judged balls and strikes, but today's parley was concerned with ensuring the minimization of disparities over how individual arbiters called them. There was some concern expressed by Yomiuri righthander Masumi Kuwata that the umpires would stop calling pitches that he backs up over the outside part of the strike zone (think Greg Maddux) strikes, but Central League umpiring bigwig Kobayashi firmly stated that wouldn't be the case....Yokohama skipper Daisuke Yamashita will appear on a program called "Hanamaru Market" on the 20th in the hope of drawing housewives to Bay Stars games....The Stars will also stage an "omatsuri (festival) at Yokohama Park on opening day to get fans into the mood for the regular baseball season....Yomiuri manager Tatsunori Hara sent a shot across the bows of third baseman Akira Etoh and second baseman Toshihisa Nishi today when he told Hochi Sports that he wants bench players Takayuki Saito and Takahiro Suzuki to try to take Etoh's and Nishi's jobs away from them. While implicitly emphasizing to his two frontliners that they are tentatively still looked at as starters, if they don't measure up this spring changes could be made. Both men slumped in 2002, especially Etoh, who never seemed to get untracked.....Yomiuri is also concerned that with Hideki Matsui going to MLB fewer fans will turn out to watch the club's pre-season faceoffs, so to ameliorate that, they will be running shuttle buses from a park to Sun Marine Stadium and hope to ultimately draw 200,000 supporters during spring play. Last year at that time, the kyojin saw 246,000 file in....Hanshin reliever Shinobu Fukuhara absorbed a $45,000 pay dip and signed for a little over $300,000....Former Chunichi Dragons closer and KBO public relations department official Son Dong-yeol, one of the greatest hurlers in Korea's history, will be accompanying the Dragons during spring training picking up coaching tips at his own expense. Son is reportedly under consideration as managerial material by several KBO teams....Hideki Irabu did something today he has hardly had to to in his entire career, standup at the plate. When he was with Lotte, the Pacific League had the DH rule, as did the American League, where he spent the lion's share of his MLB days. Consequently, Hanshin coaches treated him as if he had never even held a bat before. The big jellyfish says he first wants to master sacrifice bunting, but nonetheless enjoyed his hitting session....Congratulations to Hiroshima outfielder Jun Hirose, who got married to his lovely wife Momoko Aotani last November but only revealed it today. Aotani is a graduate of Waseda University's Education Department and an actress who has appeared in the popular drama, "Mirai Nikki (Future Diary)." The pair had been going out for more than two years before tying the knot. She has reportedly forbidden him to snack between meals and Hirose has dropped about nine pounds as a result to 189. His body fat has also declined from 15% to 11%....Hirose's teammate, pitcher Masayuki Hasegawa, apologized to his ballclub for missing a workout Wednesday....Daiei Hawks top draftee Tsuyoshi Wada had a throwing session in the bullpen at a team workout facility in Fukuoka today, showing good movement on the 40 deliveries he made in the session....Hall of Fame catcher Katsuya Nomura cut a promo spot for a video game called "Let's Make a Baseball Team 2" today. The game is made by Sega....Hanshin catcher Toshihiro Noguchi, who came over from Nippon Ham this offseason, is working with coaches on how to verbally distract hitters. Noguchi, who can also play the outfield, will likely be the number two backstop behind Akihito Yano.
Quotes of the Day
Today's first neat bit of wisdom comes from Robert DeAngelo over at the Cecil Whig, who said of Bud Selig's luxury tax scheme today, "it's a socialistic experiment as doomed as the French economy."
Then SF Chronicle reader Gary Tinkelenberg wrote into that paper to make the following observation: "I'm all for the team whose league won the All-Star Game getting home field advantage in the World Series, but what if something unthinkable happens--like a tie?"
Ichiro Looking Forward to Opening Day in Japan
See story at: CNN/SI Article
See related story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
See another related story at: Japan Times Article
Matsui Back in Japan
See story at: Japan Today Article
KBO-Style Playoff System to Come to Pacific League
God, I hate mickey mouse nonsense such as these types of playoffs. See story at: Japan Today Article
As an addendum, Kintetsu manager Masataka Nashida has proposed that there be a handicap imposed on the lower ranking team when they meet the top club for the league title so as to give winning the pennant more value, a value that the playoff format endangers. No matter what they do with the format, though, I hate the idea.
Kia Tigers Get Fiercer After Pair of Trades
See story at: Korea Times Article
Korea's Shin Il High School Beats Saipan All Stars
See story at: Saipan Tribune Article
Replies: 1 Comment
http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/28577.htm
Pertaining to the comment about the yankees starting the season in Japan, i think they are talking about 2004, not 2003.
Posted by Ryota @ 01/17/2003 01:50 AM EST
