Archived Weblog Entry - 02/12/2003: "Japanese Baseball News: Three Hanshin Homers in Sixth Sinks Carp"

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02/12/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Three Hanshin Homers in Sixth Sinks Carp"

Hanshin Whips Carp 6-2 in Practice Game

The Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Carp faced off today in a game at Okinawa Municipal Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 15,000, with the Tigers prevailing 6-2. The victory by the Osaka side was highlighted by a seventh inning nine pitch 1-2-3 inning from number four draft choice Yasuhiro Nakamura, a 24 year old southpaw out of IBM's Yaesu branch in the Japanese industrial leagues, who displayed a sharp slider. A leadoff solo jack in the sixth by centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi and a two run blast in the same inning by shortstop Kentaro Sekimoto off of a fastball that was up and on the inner part of the zone got things rolling and then outfielder Yutaka Nakamura went yard on a hanging curve ball to left with a pair on to finish the job. Rightfielder Toyo Asayama drilled a roundtripper to dead center off of Kyuji Fujikawa in the fifth while his replacement, Masafumi Suenaga, cleaned and jerked one into the rightfield bleachers in the eighth for the Red Hell.

Hanshin went without both leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto, who hurt his right calf yesterday, and second baseman Makoto Imaoka, who experienced pain in a quadracep muscle.

Taiyo Fujita started for Hanshin and gave up one hit over three innings, the one safety being a triple that outfielder Osamu Hamanaka misjudged. Fujita could be a real comer this year after a disastrous rookie campaign and then showing considerable
improvement last season.

Tetsuto Tomabechi fashioned three shutout innings on one hit for the losers.

Hot Shots....

Congratulations to Japanese-speaking Yankees Assistant General Manager Jean Afterman, who was made a vice president of the team today....Hanshin righthander Hideki Irabu came down with a throat infection a couple of days ago, but was well enough today to play some catch and do some running. He will throw in the bullpen tomorrow....Yakult number one draft choice Yuhei Takai threw 106 pitches in the pen today and then took part in defensive drills....The little lefthander Masanori Ishikawa is working on a shuuto (a running fastball) and was getting it in the hitters' kitchen in batting practice. He will start in an exhibition game against the SK Wyverns on the 15th.... Shugo Fujii threw 58 pitches in batting practice and will appear in an intrasquad game on the 20th.... Sidearming rookie righthander Takeharu Kato was impressive in the Yokohama camp today when he threw batting practice. First baseman Tyrone Woods noted, "his pitches have some explosiveness to them. He's a good pitcher. He could do a good job for us." If baseball doesn't work out for him, Kato has something to fall back on, a license to teach junior high P.E.....Lefthander Yuji Yoshimi also threw some bp, mixing in his new forkball among the 56 pitches he delivered. Afterward, Yoshimi said he still has some work to do mechanically....Hideki Matsui took his first swings in spring training as a New York Yankee today with GM Brain Cashman looking on. Godzilla was in the same group as Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano and Jorge Posada. When Matsui cranked a shot into the rightfield seats, Jeter exulted, "haitta! Ichi-go! (it's gone! That's number one!)," phrases that were taught to him by former Hiroshima infielder Alfonso Soriano. Hopefully, Matsui will be hearing homer calls a lot this season. He hit six balls out in 66 cuts and disclosed to reporters that he would like to exceed Mickey Mantle's famous blast of 565 feet, though "it may be impossible" Matsui's biggest shot was a 525 footer into the fifth level of Nagoya Dome during game one of the 1998 all star series ....Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shigetoshi Hasegawa have reported to spring training along with all the other Mariners pitchers and catchers. Daimajin threw 20 pitches in the bullpen, all fastballs, and did some long tossing in the outfield. Former Orix righty Hasegawa threw 50 pitches, all fastballs, including some two seamers. The ebullient Hasegawa said that he is ready to get into a game right now. By the way, anyone ever wonder if Hasegawa has any ambitions of managing in the major leagues? Interesting thought to ponder....Kazuhisa Ishii reported to the Dodgers camp in Vero Beach....Masao Kida, who recently signed a minor league deal with L.A., went back to Japan to have his back examined and will report to Vero Beach on the 14th....Tomokazu Ohka left for the U.S. today and will report to the Expos camp on the 13th....Yomiuri first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara had his injured hamstring looked at by a doctor today, who said it was healing okay, but that Kiyohara's rehab is perhaps being hindered by fears of injuring it again. Kiyohara had already taken batting practice, ramming eight completely out of the park and 18 homers in all. The burly slugger indicated that he still intends to take things slowly....Rightfielder Roberto Petagine homered seven times in 43 swings in his batting practice session....Centerfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi, who will hit cleanup in intrasquad games that start this weekend, collected nine bombs in 145 swings while using both a leg kick and a conventional stride in the box....Southpaw Hisanori Takahashi sawed utilityman Daisuke Motoki off three times during batting practice, though he got taken deep the same number of times by second baseman Toshihisa Nishi. Takahashi did a lot of weight training in the offseason and has added seven more pounds of muscle in hopes that it will lend his heater some extra zip. He is now at 180 pounds. He will start an intrasquad game on the 18th ....Ace Koji Uehara will open on the mound for an intrasquad game on the 16th and in preparation for that threw 44 pitches in the bullpen today, focusing on keeping the ball down and away....Yusaku Iriki will start an exhibition game against Kintetsu on the 23rd at Sun Marine Stadium. Iriki tossed 68 pitches in batting practice today. He, along with rookies Yuya Kubo and Hiroshi Kisanuki will also see action during that intrasquad tilt on the 16th....Nippon Ham backup catcher Shinji Takahashi made the most of his appearance in an intrasquad game today, as he shredded a pitch 420 feet to left for a homer as part of a 2-3 afternoon at Nago Stadium. Manager Trey Hillman was impressed by Takahashi's approach with two strikes. Takahashi says that he isn't trying to overthink things out there, but just do what he is supposed to. Hillman is also contemplating turning reliever Tomokazu Iba, who was the closer for a while least season, into a starter...Hayato Nakamura is working on a changeup....Pitcher Satoru Kanemura threw in the bullpen for the first time since coming down with a cold, running 70 pitches up to the plate, including a two seam fastball he's working on .He is also concentrating on making hitters get themselves out early in the count to minimize his pitch counts, something that Hillman impressed upon him....Lotte ace Tomohiro Kuroki threw 84 pitches in the bullpen today, though only three of those were offspeed or breaking pitches. While Kuroki doubts that he will be able to start in an exhibition game on the 23rd, he might opt to do so in an instructional league faceoff on March 6th....Infielder Koichi Hori came down with a sore elbow in workouts today and was taken for X rays, where doctors found what they think may be bone chips. He then went back and lifted weights for a while and he is day to day right now....Naoyuki Shimizu threw 208 pitches in his bullpen session and is working on a splitter....Shingo Ono threw batting practice today for 67 pitches and may see his first regular season assignment on March 30th, a Sunday. Three years ago, Ono won 13 games, nine of those on Sundays, earning him the nickname of "Sunday Shingo." He says both his elbow and shoulder are fine and manager Koji Yamamoto is hoping that Ono can be as productive in 2003 as he was in 2000....At Seibu's camp, Hsu Ming-chieh threw 65 pitches in batting practice and was working on the movement of his pivot foot to help his control. He will start in an exhibition game against Hanshin on the 23rd. In the morning hours before the workout, Hsu got together with countryman Chen Wen-pin of the Daiei Hawks and the two went for a walk....Daisuke Matsuzaka was back in the bullpen again and threw 67 pitches. He was not scheduled to do that today, but he did it anyway. He will start on the 19th in an intrasquad game, Shigeo Nagshima will be there to watch....Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi's wrist is still bothering him and he isn't able to take batting practice....Kazuo Matsui has himself a new custom game glove. Inscribed on it are the words in english, "always inspired by Mio Haruna." The latter two names are his wife and daughter respectively. Today, he took 25 swings from each side of the plate and was inside outing the ball....Second year catcher Toru Hosokawa pulled a hamstring Monday....Also on Monday, rookie Shuichiro Osada threw all of his pitches in a 98 delivery bullpen session with catcher Tsutomu Itoh liking what the 22 year old was serving up....Daiei rookie Nagisa Arakaki and catcher Kenji Johjima hooked up for a bullpen session, with Arakaki throwing 125 pitches as manager Sadaharu Oh stood in the batter's box to get a close look. "I was able to get in a good rhythm," Arakaki told reporters. Johjima said that what could make it difficult for opposing hitters is that Arakaki hides the ball well and then unleashes his mid-90's fastball with a three quarter delivery....Kazumi Saito, who hurt his shin on the 6th, has now been okayed to start throwing again....Kintetsu eighth rounder Shinji Shimoyama, 27, torqued a high fastball from Hisashi Aikyo in a simulated game and deposited it into the forest behind the ballpark today. He may end up as a pinch hitter for the club if he carries on like that, according to manager Masataka Nashida ....Orix centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani took batting practice today and creamed eight beyond the fences in 48 swings. "I'm going into the season with the mindset that if my numbers fall, it will embarrass my girlfriend," the all star revealed. He is engaged to Sydney Olympics judo champ Ryoko "Yawara" Tamura....Cuban infielder Omar Linares arrived in Okinawa to rejoin the Chunichi Dragons. His first Japanese campaign was cut short due to a bad knee.... Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome was kept awake all night Sunday by the pain from a filling that came out of one of his back teeth and rushed off to a dentist Monday....Closer Eddie Gaillard delighted manager Hisashi Yamada with his 34 pitch bullpen performance today, all from the set position. Gaillard also said that he wanted to hear himself what Kevin Millar had to say about the controversy swirling around him, so he placed a call to the former Marlin. Unfortunately, Millar was out. He left his number, but Millar, so far, hasn't called back....Number one draft choice Ryosuke Morioka was impressive today in a simulated game. His first time up, with his dad watching from the stands, he thwacked a pitch that was up and on the outer part of the strike zone into the leftfield seats. In his second at bat, he doubled to rightcenter and then followed that with a single to right....Brazilian outfielder Yoshimi Sakurai went 1-3, a single....In the minor league camp, first baseman Norberto Semanaka scorched a double off the centerfield wall in three at bats in a simulated game....Kintetsu third baseman Norihiro Nakamura took 200 swings off of a pitching machine today and then after taking part in defensive drills, faced live pitching and plastered ten homers in 49 swings ....Yakult centerfielder Mitsuru Manaka hurt his oblique muscle today in defensive drills and was given a lighter regimen afterward. Tomorrow is an off day, so they hope that Manaka will be recovered in time to come back Thursday....Swallows manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu said today that he may resort more to Hirotoshi Ishii to close games against Yomiuri since they use a lot of lefthanded hitters rather than righthanded sidearming closer Shingo Takatsu.... Chunichi first baseman Ivan Cruz launched a homer during a simulated game today, a 455 footer, as part of a 3-3 effort. Even with that, though, a Yomiuri scout said that he didn't think that Cruz was any different than when he was with Hanshin....Orix manager Hiromichi Ishige talked to Nagashima today about putting Makoto Suzuki on the Japanese olympic team. It also appears that Suzuki is the leading candidate to pitch opening day....Outfielder Kazuhiko Shiotani was also given some individual hitting guidance by Nagashima for 30 minutes. Monday, Nagashima tutored Hiroshima infielder Kenta Kurihara on using his back leg when he hits...Former Lotte Orions and Chunichi Dragons great Hiromitsu Ochiai, a three time Triple Crown winner, has a son, Fukushi, who is entering high school at Kokushikan High in Tama, Tokyo and he will be patrolling the infield for them. The young Ochiai is 5'11" and 215 pounds, though that is down from the 242 pounds he was at last year. His new coach , Masahiro Nagata (not to be confusued with the Yomiuri infielder of the same name, though different kanji characters), wants him to be at 198 pounds by April, when Japanese schools start their year. Fukushi has been shedding the weight thanks to a strenous boxing regimen and the whole family has gone on a diet as well. He is likely to be given the third base job. However, it should be noted that two high profile sons of Japanese greats were complete failures on the diamond. Kazushige Nagashima, son of Shigeo Nagshima, struggled to stay off the bench and is now making his living as an actor and tv personality while Dan Nomura, son of Katsuya Nomura, following a less than memorable stint in the minros with Yakult, is now a player agent.

Today's Pictures

Hanshin's Yasuhiro Nakamura Propels the Pelota Plateward

Hideki Matsui During Batting Practice Today in Tampa

Masumi Kuwata Shows off High Leg Quick

Kazuhiro Kiyohara Gets Some Lift

Masanori Ishikawa on the Mound

Eddie Gaillard Airing it Out

Yoshitomo Tani Goes the Opposite Way

Matsui Signs With Upper Deck

See article at: Beckett Article

Matsui Reports to Spring Training

See story at: NY Times Article