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02/09/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Japanese Press Stoops to Another Low"
Sports Nippon's Matsui Obsession Gets Ugly
In Sports Nippon today, there is an article headlined: Matsui: the Fear of Terror. As you can expect, it talks about the recent ramping up of the inane terrorist warning system by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and how a terrorist action could present a threat to the well being of Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui. One wonders how the other ten million or so people who live and work in NYC feel about the paper taking that angle so that they would have an excuse to write something on the popular former Yomiuri centerfielder. The hell with them, right? Just don't hurt Matsui. I mean, so what if doctors, teachers, police, or children are killed, but a guy who used to bat cleanup for the Yomiuri Giants? IKENAI (that just can't happen)!
Matsui said he was worried about the heightened threat warning, but otherwise was non-commital about it. He claimed he doesn't really go out at night.
In any event, the Japanese press has stepped in its own poop again and one wonders when they will finally stop making idiots of themselves.
Cox Return to be Sooner Than First Thought
Yokohama first baseman Steve Cox should be able to open the regular season in the starting lineup, according to Bay Stars team doctor Katsuhisa Yamada. "The symptoms aren't as serious as I first thought," Yamada averred. Moreover, there has been no swelling around Cox' injured knee and he may be able to forego more invasive surgery in favor of an arthroscopic procedure. He will have had the surgery by the time you read this at a Yokohama area hospital. If everything goes well, he should be able to see some exhibition action in mid-March.
Hot Shots....
Kazuhiro Sasaki worked out again at the Mariners training facility in Peoria, Arizona and threw 38 pitches in the bullpen, including the cut fastball he's attempting to add to his arsenal....Reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa has also arrived in Peoria....Ichiro Suzuki worked out at a facility next to the Orix dormitory in Kobe and took 129 cuts in batting practice, lining balls all over the lot off of fastballs thrown by a Shimpei Yamada, the eldest son of Chunichi manager Hisashi Yamada.. "I've done everything I can here. I felt really good," the 2001 AL MVP stated. With a new skipper in Seattle, he offered "finding out what he's looking for is important. It will be like being in my first year all over again." Suzuki will leave for the states Sunday and then report to Peoria on the 17th....Is Yomiuri manager Tatsunori Hara really going to arrange his defense to attempt to cover for Roberto Petagine's deficiencies in the outfield by shifting second baseman Toshihisa Nishi and centerfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi from where they would normally play? Won't that mean more openings for the opposition? They're also saying that this strategy will enable Roberto to concentrate on his offense. And it may help the Giants adversaries do the same thing. In other news, Petagine's body fat is reportedly 22%. That's rather on the high side....Hara also said that he has set goals for the team's baserunners of 100 total steals and a 75% steals success rate. Last year, the Giants made it safely in 63.9% of their theft attempts. Raising that figure, though, will be pretty rough going with the presence of Atsuya Furuta in the league, who threw out over 55% of Yomiuri's base thieves in 2002. Akihiro Yano gunned down 61.1% of Giants runners. Surprisingly, they ran crazy on Motonobu Tanishige, who was otherwise nailing just about everyone. Yomiuri was successful around 80% of the time against Hiroshima and Yokohama....First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara didn't take batting practice today due to his bad leg....Righthander Masumi Kuwata took the day off, too and coached his son, who is about to enter the fifth grade. After that little family baseball clinic was over, Kuwata treated his son to udon (a type of noodle soup) and strawberry parfait. Hanshin team officials are saying that if Tsuyoshi Shinjo attempts to come back to the Japan leagues next season, they aren't interested.... Yokohama closer Takashi Saito has been brought up from the minor league camp to the big club. Today, he threw 70 pitches in the bullpen...Yakult Third baseman Akinori Iwamura is using a 45 ounce bat in workouts and today and plans to use it in upcoming intrasquad games. He cleared the fences just once in 32 swings. Iwamura has put on 11 pounds of muscle through a weight training program and is hoping to attain the so-called "triple three," .300, 30 homers and 30 steals and is endeavoring to build strength and bat speed with the heavier implement. A Yomiuri official was at the workout and assessed that Iwamura "has quite a body now. He is scary to look at. He is growing evey year like our talented [Yoshinobu] Takahashi." Iwamura turns 24 on Sunday....Rookie Yuhei Takai complained again of discomfort in his quadracep and skipped a defensive drill....Yakult infidielder Todd Betts doesn't smoke nor does he drink much, instead preferring to spend his off hours, if a Hochi Sports report is correct, playing video games. Therefore, Swallows coaches think Betts is "too serious" as a result. Man, when a Japanese coach accuses you of being that, maybe you do need to loosen up....Verstaile Nippon Ham infielder Yukio Tanaka has been going without lunch recently and he has dropped 15 pounds to 187 because of it. Tanaka began the spring over in the minor league camp, which is where manager Trey Hillman was today. Hillman threw batting practice and Tanaka responded by hitting him hard. The 35 year old needs 165 hits to reach 2000 lifetime and another 96 games to reach the same number in that category. If he can appear in every game this season, he will tie Hankyu Braves Hall of Fame inductee Yutaka Fukumoto's PL record of eight campaigns where he did that....Hillman then watched reliever Hiroshi Shibakusa throw 20 pitches in the bullpen. The veteran hurler has made some changes to his delivery. At the end of the practice, Hillman told the players that if anything is bothering them or they just want to talk that his door is always open....Catcher Kazunari Sanematsu has commenced throwing again after fracturing his palm earlier in January....Daiei rookie lefty Tsuyoshi Wada's leg problem has healed and he was back in the pen today with Kenji Johjima catching for 141 pitches. Wada's mother and father, Teruko and Masayuki, were there to take the workout in....Pitcher Tomohiro Nagai has an elbow inflammation and won't be able to throw for a week....Rookie righthander Nagisa Arakaki tossed batting practice today and was ordered to stop throwing his curve ball by pitching coach Takao Obana because Arakaki has a tendency to change his delivery when he throws it and is thus tipping it off. Obana is now working with him on rectifying the problem and he has been told to add a splitter to his repetoire....Lotte manager Koji Yamamoto talked to his southpaw pitchers about developing off speed pitches, mentioning the screwball by name. The only problem with that, of course, is that a screwball puts tremendous strain on a pitcher's elbow. In any event, what he was concerned with was having them acquire pitches that would alos get righties out so that Yamamoto can reduce the number of pitching changes he has to make and therefore give more hurlers more frequent rest.... Closer Masahide Kobayashi delivered 50 pitches in the bullpen today, as he continues to throw everyday.... Kintetsu Buffaloes leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes has landed in Japan....Chunichi Dragons righthander Kenshin Kawakami threw 56 pitches in batting practice today, all fastballs, while number one starter Shigeki Noguchi threw 51....Headman Yamada revealed that the first three hitters in his lineup this season will be, in order, shortstop Hirokazu Ibata, second baseman Masahiro Araki and rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Now Yamada is looking for a nickname for the trio and has solicited fans for one. Considering the bad taste left in one's mouth by the way in which Fukudome won the batting title last year, how about, "two speedsters and a chickensh*t"?....Yamada is contemplating moving Ivan Cruz to left now that he apparently isn't going to get Kevin Millar. While Cruz has played out there, Chunichi Sports says that the former Cardinal's ball judgement isn't too good. If Cruz doesn't workout at that position, Mitsunobu Takahashi may be given the job instead.... Orix shot caller Hiromichi Ishige indicated that he was favorably disposed toward signing pitcher Shigeki Sano, who has been invited to spring training with the team....The Seibu Lions are reportedly in a quandry as to how much they should play 40 year old veteran catcher Tsutomu Itoh when they need to get some playing time for their young receivers. Itoh, who was referred to as the team's "control tower" by a Sankei Sports scribe, is considered one of the best handlers of pitchers in the game, but his arm has grown weak. He had a decent year offensively last season. A Kintetsu player personnnel official paid tribute to Itoh, saying that he hates seeing him in the game since that usually means a bad time for the Buffs offense....Righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka was back in the bullpen for another 100 pitch session, as once again he had his catcher move several feet back from the plate during his time on the mound....Kintetsu manager Masataka Nashida, a former catcher, was busy today giving 18 year old rookie backstop Yujiro Kakei some personal instruction. While Kakei will spend his rookie season in the minors, the Buffs like his bat, with one coach comparing his swing to Tsutomu Wakamatsu. The Okinawa Police Agency is going to send 40 of their officers to bolster security at a free admission practice game between the Hanshin Tigers and Hiroshima Carp Tuesday at Okinawa Municipal Stadium....Hanshin helmsman Senichi Hoshino is saying that after this coming season ends, the club could see another personnel bloodletting. Hoshino is looking for the players to make a statement this year. "Last season, it was my first season, so the fans gave me a pass," going on to say that they are expecting the Tigers to contend or the criticism from the outspoken Osaka fans and press will be furious....Yankees Japanese scout John Cox was at the Yomiuri camp in Miyazaki today to examine Japanese practice routines ....Yokohama will be using the Mizuno rabbit balls this season during their home games, which should help inflate the Central League's power numbers. Yokohama Stadium is already a small ballpark (though marginally bigger than Meiji Jingu Stadium. The Mizuno ball is also used by the Chunichi Dragons and the Yomiuri Giants. According to Sankei Sports, when the Dragons adopted the Mizuno sphere last season, the homer output at Nagoya Dome jumped from 54 to 105, with each of the opposing teams except Yomiuri registering quantum jumps in power production there. Chunichi itself went from 31 dingers at home in 2001 to 48 in 2002....Former Nippon Ham great Junichi Kashiwabara, who is now a commentator for Sankei Sports, liked Orix infielder Jose Ortiz' hitting style and defense a lot. He went on to credit batting instructor Leon Lee with persuading both Ortiz and outfielder Roosevelt Brown to think back up the middle, which Kashiwabara believes is essential for success in the Japanese leagues. Kashiwabara ended his piece by saying that he is expecting a lot from the former Cub and the ex-Rockie this season. But manager Ishige wants his results right now, as he has threatened to release the pair if they don't do much during the exhibition season....
Today's Pictures
Did You Bring Some for Everybody Roberto?
Tsuyoshi Wada About to Deliver
Yujiro Kakei: the Next Great Hitting Catcher?
Kosuke Fukudome at Batting Practice
Replies: 1 Comment
Attention Steve Cox: I know it is probably too late, but get your surgery in the States where the smart Japanese players get it done. If you get it done in Japan, of course, you will be back sooner to the field, and you won't have any pain ever..... or at least that is what they want you to believe. Don't try to come back too fast either, it's just not worth it. Japanese saying: Pray today, rimp tomorrow.
Posted by Hammer @ 02/09/2003 09:46 AM EST
