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02/02/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hurst Blast a Thing of Beauty"
New Addition Shows Real Meaning of "Going Downtown"
Hiroshima Carp outfielder Jimmy Hurst put the good wood on a batting practice pitch today and rocketed it completely out of the park to left and through a window on the fly of a nearby beauty parlor called Deco more than 490 feet away from home plate. Police were called to the business, which was open at the time. A construction crew was working nearby and barely avoided being hit by the shards of glass.
The manager of the business, Ayako Wataguchi, said it was the first time anyone had done that. Fortunately, none of the three customers in the salon was struck by the clout. A Carp executive hurried over to make his apologies after the police came and promised to have the damage repaired at team expense. Hurst said that he felt bad about shattering the window.
This was hardly a new experience for the brawny Hurst, as he revealed that he had often hit cars traveling on a highway behind a ballpark when he was with the Newark Bears in an independent league. The folks on the street beyond the fences of the bandbox Hiroshima Municipal Stadium may want to stay alert.
Swallows Hope Takai Flies High
The Yakult Swallows pitching staff is already feeling it has improved. After watching number one choice Yuhei Takai throw bullets in the pen today, veteran Shugo Fujii and second year moundsman Yataro Sakamoto were falling all over themselves describing the impression the 18 year old left. "He throws real hard and his ball is heavy," said Fujii. "He was throwing some outstanding pitches. Since I hate the comparison between us, I stopped throwing," he continued.
Sakamoto was intimidated by the competition, too. "With him next to me, I tensed up," he remarked. Pitching coach Akimitsu Itoh made a comparison with Kazuhisa Ishii, though positing that Takai is better than the now Dodgers southpaw was at that age. Bullpen catcher Abe commented, "he has the kind of heavy fastball that I've never seen before. He was scary." Takai, though, saw some problems. "Too many hangers and my mechanics were messed up."
Hot Shots....
So Comiskey Park is going to sell its naming rights to a cellular phone company. Well, so much for treasuring baseball tradition. Mind you, I don't have any particular love for Charlie Comiskey, but this well and truly sucks....By the way, now that Darren Dreifort has been cleared to workout with the other pitchers in the Dodgers spring camp, anyone want to offer a guess as to when he will blow his arm out again? I say about September 1st....According to Sports Nippon, the Yankees are considering having Reggie Jackson coach Hideki Matsui. The former A's, Yankees and Angels slugger is a special consultant to the Yanks and may now see his responsibilites expanded to aiding the ex-Yomiuri centerfielder in adjusting to the big leagues. Godzilla spent his last day in Japan before heading to Tampa working out for two and a half hours, including taking 65 swings against a pitching machine. He then signed autographs for about 50 fans who waited outside the Giants workout facility. However, he hasn't even begun packing and is reportedly a little puzzled as to what he should bring with him.... Roberto Petagine, effectively the replacement for Matsui, had his first workout for the club in a 99 swing batting practice session. The slugger says that he's only at about 50% of mid-season sharpness. He did please Yomiuri coaches, though, by reporting in excellent shape. Manager Tatsunori Hara also didn't like Petagine's nickname, so he's given him a new one, "Gini," which rhymes with "meany"...Giants pitching coaches Yoshitaka Katori and Masaaki Saito worked with number one draft choice Hiroshi Kisanuki on making slight changes to his motion in order to ease the strain on his elbow. Meanwhile, Kimiyasu Kudoh was doing some throwing, but complained that the brightness of the lights in the workout facility was playing havoc with his release point....Nippon Ham manager Trey Hillman got his first look at outfielder Angel Echevarria in batting practice today and also had the pleasure of watching Michihiro Ogasawara do his thing in the cage as well. The reporter for Sports Nippon was quite taken with the energy level Hillman displayed during today's workout. Hillman stated that he felt the club had a good practice even though catcher Katsuhiko Yamada suffered a partial tear of a rotator muscle in his right thigh doing windsprints and will be out at least six weeks. Hillman was undaunted, though, since opening day is almost two months off....Fighters hillsman Itsuki Shoda is a little behind in his training and may be sent down to the minor league camp.Over at the Daiei camp, shot caller Sadaharu Oh was gratified at the intensity of his pitching staff's bullpen sessions, though he smiled they might have been getting a little carried away. Both Nagisa Arakaki and Tsuyoshi Wada threw today, Arakaki impressing with his combination of velocity and control....Hawks backstop Kenji Johjima said that he feels like a million bucks, but after the long layoff, he found himself being handcuffed by the movement of Matt Skrmetta's pitches in the bullpen at times....Also well chuffed was Lotte boss Koji Yamamoto, operating on four hours sleep in the wake of tossing and turning last night, saw some life out on the field during his aggregation's exercises, especially the way Bobby Rose was spanking liners all over the lot. But then first baseman Kaszuya Fukuura came down with a minor ankle sprain and ace Tomohiro Kuroki said that he is still experiencing pain in his throwing arm to darken things just a bit...Orix skipper Hiromichi Ishige is definitely seeking more agressiveness out of his charges in 2003 and liked the brisk pace with which his players went through their paces.... Hideki Irabu had his first spring training bullpen session and after the 55 pitch effort, was given some pointers on making better use of his legs by special pitching instructor Shigeru Sugishita. Irabu didn't take too kindly to this and barked at the press that he wasn't going to answer any questions as he stalked off. Some things never change. 7,000 fans turned out just to observe the Tigers workout and they saw first baseman George Arias hit the showers early due to pain in his left leg. While playing with his son back home, Arias hit the limb on a table, which lead to some swelling. That swelling resurfaced at the workout, though hard driving skipper Senichi Hoshino muttered, "sheesh, it's not like it's broken." And it's not like you're a doctor, Hoshino-kantoku. Anyway, even with Arias' problem, Hoshino pronounced himself satisfied with today's workouts, things going so well that he kept his distance and let things fall into place. One of those was when rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama was asked to play first base, which he did flawlessly. Hiyama had resisted the idea, but seems to have reconciled himself to occasional duty there ...Makoto Suzuki did his first toiling in a Japanese pro spring bullpen today when he went plateward on 50 occasions. Furthermore, he revealed that he eats five small meals a day to stay trim rather than the usual three big oines most people do. Many nutritionists and doctors actually recommend that....Returnee Masato Yoshii was also airing it out today in a leisurely 30 pitch session....At Ginowan, Okinawa, Yokohama main man Daisuke Yamashita urged his players to sign as many autographs as possible to help the team's fan base. "If fans don't come out to the park, you don't get a paycheck," the new field general reminded. To Yamashita's way of thinking, a nice fan turnout also has positive effects on the level of play. "The more fans that show up, the more you get out of players," he asserted....Yamashita also ordered his players to stop using bats lighter than 32 ounces, figuring that the heavier whooping sticks will make the players stronger....At the Stars minor league camp, ace Daisuke Miura continued his rehab by throwing a little over 60 feet 30 times. He is exhibiting no discomfort, but his pace will be "gradual"....Yakult manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu disclosed that his team, in order to compensate for the loss of Roberto Petagine, is going to be on the move on the basepaths, saying that they will be working alot on base stealing and hit and run plays to fulfill that strategy ....The Yakult players were given flu shots.... Old school proponent Koji Yamamoto at Hiroshima's camp was focusing on his defense, which wasn't just the worst in all of pro ball last season, but has been at the bottom of the CL for four years running. So he was delighted with Andy Sheets' cooking on the infield. "In a word, great," said the normally sparing with praise former slugger about the ex-Devil Ray. "We'll definitely be cutting down on our errors"....Norihiro Nakamura plodded into the Kintetsu Buffaloes camp and did some windsprints and played catch before setting up the batting tee for a 100 swing opus. Following that, he moved it on over to the weight room. Thanks to the stress of his free agent ordeal, Nakamura, who is normally overweight at this point in the spring, is seven pounds under his normal playing weight of 205. His quest once they start counting? "To leave numbers that people will be remember for a long time and to win the Japan Series".... Buffs pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, who was absolutely punished during the NPB-MLB all star series, elicited words of encouragement from manager Masataka Nashida, a former catcher. "He was throwing some excellent stuff. He really showed me something." Iwakuma said that the issue for him is balance....Seibu pitching coach Hirohisa Matsunuma was not happy with the shape righthander Chang Chiah-chia is in. After bringing up the rear in a 12 minute run, Chang made the excuse that the air in Japan is thinner and dryer than in Taiwan. Matsunuma understandably didn't buy it. Chang then admitted that he didn't workout at all back home and then offered, "if we try short distance, nobody will beat me." Matsunuma was more generous to rookie Shuichiro Osada, whose slider he likened to Fumiya Nishiguchi's....Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui informed the press that he won't talk about his upcoming free agent status so that he can concentrate on helping the club win.....Seibu's front office demanded that players, if they have any criticism of a coach or manager Haruki Ihara, to take it up individually with the target of their ire and not do it in front of the press or other players....Chunichi Dragons rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome, the 2002 CL batting champ, got in a 3000 swing batting practice session after hearing the sad news of his grandmother Yae's death at age 78 Saturday morning. He will go to Kagoshima Sunday for the funeral....Dragons number one starter Shigeki Noguchi tossed 50 pitches in the pen today and said the session went smoothly.
Today's Photos
Petagine Says it's Time for This Ball to Leave
Petagine Does it One More Time With Extreme Prejudice
Hillman Throws Batting Practice
Bobby Rose in the Batting Cage
Rose Shows He Can Hammer the High Heater
A Determined Ishii at Dodger Stadium
MLB to Millar: Sayonara
See story at: Boston Globe Article
Ishii Ready for Second MLB Season
Sports Nippon is saying that Sandy Koufax may tutor the former Yakult ace. Pitching coach Jim Colborn is also helping Ishii develop a changeup, which he hopes to uuse mainly against righthanded hitters. And he shows some good humor about getting clocked on the noggin by Brian Hunter at: L.A. Times Article
Yomiuri Camp Off to Wet Start
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Lions Parent Firm in Financial Trouble
See story at: Asahi Shimbun Article
Bosox Deeble, Braves Dale Check Out Talent Down Under
And those players are being scrutinized by two of the best. See story at: Sunday Telegraph Article
12th Grade Pitcher Needs Help to Make Australia Baseball Trip
The London, Ontario Free Press has put out the following announcement: Jason Shaw, 17, a right-handed third baseman/pitcher from Chatham, has been selected to a U.S. all-star team that will play a series of games in Australia this summer. A Grade 12 student at Chatham-Kent high school, Shaw, who learned his baseball in Chatham's fine minor system, played last season for the Detroit Longhorns, a developmental team of 17- and 18-year-olds. Shaw was among 15 players selected for the Aussie tour out of the 2,000 who tried out across the U.S. While it sounds like the trip of a lifetime, there's a $4,000 US price tag attached. If you'd like to help the Shaws pay the freight, please call Jason's mom Sandra at (519) 352-3720.
NBC Bails Out of Major Sports
See story at: Sports Business Article
