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03/25/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Big Cabrera Bomb Doesn't Get it Done; Arakawa Lies to Hype Himself?"
Who Woulda Thunk it: Igawa Outpitched by Buffs 4-0
Five Kintetsu Buffaloes pitchers combined Saturday ro shutout Kei Igawa and the Hanshin Tigers 4-0 at Osaka Dome. The Buffs got a bad scare when starter Jeremy Powell hit his shoulder and head on the artificial surface while making a diving catch of a little infield popup in the third, but he suffered just a bruise and is expected to be able to make his opening day assignment.
Igawa fared quite well for the most part, giving up two runs on three hits in six innings, but it was enough to hang him with the defeat when his mates in the batting order could push any runs across.
It was scoreless until the bottom of the second, when Kintetsu third baseman Norihiro Nakamura stepped up to the plate and flattened an 88mph 0-2 fastball that was down and on the inner half of the plate, propelling it into the upper deck in left an estimated 455 feet away for a 1-0 lead.
Hanshin had its first scoring opportunity of the day in the top of the third, as third baseman George Arias singled to left and catcher Toshihiro Noguchi singled to center. Arias then tested the alertness of the Powell-Tetsuya Matoyama battery by taking off for third, but Matoyama whipped it over there in plenty of time for the out. Igawa was ordered to sacrifice, but popped it up and Powell made the rolling snag and was replaced by Tomokazu Teramura, who struckout centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi for the third out.
In the home half, Matoyama leadoff with a single to left and was sacrificed to second. Shortstop Yusuke Takasu ripped one up the rightcenter alley and all the way to the wall for an RBI triple to make it 2-0 Buffs. Igawa managed to strand Takasu by inducing a shallow flyout to center form second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi and, after walking leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes, a groundout to short by Nakamura.
The Tigers could have evened it had they converted a chance in the seventh against Naoya Shimada. With two gone, Noguchi doubled to leftcenter. Pinch hitter Akihiro Yano walked. Shimada nailed Akahoshi with a delivery to load the bases. Pinch hitter Taichiro Kamisaka, though, flew out to right and that was that.
Kintetsu then showed Hanshin how it's done in the bottom segment. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe leadoff with a single to right and was moved to second on a sac bunt. Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to right and Isobe held at third. Omura stole second. With the infield drawn in, Osamu Hoshino was sent up to pinch hit and he grounded to Kamisaka at second, but Kamisaka couldn't get the ball out of his glove to fire it home, so he had to settle for the out at first, Omura advancing to third on the play Kenshi Kawaguchi was sent up to pinch hit and Tigers skipper Senichi Hoshino summoned lefthander Yasuhiro Nakamura was summoned from the pen for Hanshin. He unloaded a wild pitch and Omura hustled across for a 4-0 Buffs edge. Takuya Matsumoto and Akira Okamoto suppressed the Tigers lineup during the last two innings and that was your ballgame.
Igawa was clocked at a high of 91mph.
For Hanshin, Arias was 1-3 and is at .250.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 0-2 with two walks and is at .286.
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Igawa (L, 2-1) IP 6.0 BF 24 PC 94 H 3 HR 1 K 6 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.40
Yoshino IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 17 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.86
Taninaka IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.75
Y.H. Nakamura IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 3 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.70
Pote IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Kintetsu:
Powell (W, 2-0) IP 2.1 BF 9 PC 32 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.74
Teramura IP 2.2 BF 9 PC 32 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.66
H. Koike IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 20 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.00
N. Shimada IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 25 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
T. Matsumoto IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.79
E: H. Saito
SB: N. Omura. Masuda
2B: T. Noguchi
3B: Takasu
HR: N. Nakamura (5)
RBI: N. Nakamura, O. Hoshino, Takasu
WP: Y.H. Nakamura
HBP: Akahoshi (Shimada)
GIDP: Hamanaka,
LOB: Hanshin 9, Kintetsu 5
Season Series: Hanshin 1, Kintetsu 1
Game Time: 2:52
Attendance: 30,000
Umpires: Iizuka (HP), Shimada (1B), Kodera (2B), Tani (3B)
Asakura Loses Control and Ballgame 4-2 to Yokohama
Chunichi Dragons starter Kenta Asakura was all over the place Saturday at Yokohama Stadium against the Yokohama Bay Stars, surrendering six hits and walking five and hitting a batter, two of those freebies figuring prominently in a rally that put the Stars on top to stay in the fifth in their 4-2 victory over the Nagoya bunch at Yokohama Stadium.
Domingo Guzman started for Yokohama and struggled a bit, as he gave up six hits and two unearned runs in his four innings and therefore didn't get a decision. Instead, Hisaki Tomioka was bestowed with the shiroboshi after tossing two shutout innings of one hit ball.
After both sides got a couple of men on early and couldn't push them across. Yokohama third baseman Katsuaki Furuki got a first pitch 88mph fastball that was up in the zone and right down the heart of the plate in the second and steamed it over the leftcenterfield wall for a 1-0 Stars lead. Second baseman Hirofumi Ogawa singled to center. Catcher Satoshi Nakajima walked. Both runners moved up on a grounder to first. Now with the infield up, shortstop Takuro Ishii grounded sharply to first baseman Mitsunobu Takahashi, who held the runners and then stepped on the bag for the second out. Centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo grounded to second and it stayed at 1-0.
The Dragons charged back to surmount Stars hegemony in the third. Second baseman Masahiro Araki grounded to Furuki, who fumbled it to allow Araki to reach. Rightfielder Koichi Sekikawa doubled down the leftfield line. One out later, third baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe grouned to third, but the only play was to first and Araki crossed to deadlock it at 1-1. Shortstop Masahiko Morino drilled a shot up the leftcenter alley to bring Sekikawa in and make it 2-1 Chunichi.
But Asakura's spotty commmand set the Stars up for a comeback. With two away, rightfielder Tyrone Woods singled to left and Furuki walked. Ogawa zapped one back up through the middle and into centerfield to drive in Woods and it was even at 2-2.
In the fifth, Yokohama took advantage again, as first baseman Shuichi Murata beat out a ground ball toward second and was erased on a 4-6 force play from backup rightfielder Masaaki Koike. Furuki walked. Asakura plunked second baseman Makoto Fukumoto to load the bases. Nakajima flew out to right and Koike tagged up and scampered to the plate to go up 3-2.
The respective offenses were quiet until the bottom of the eighth, when Fukumoto got a hold of an Eiji Ochiai delivery and powered it into the leftfield bleachers for a big insurance run to make it 4-2 Yokohama.
Matt Whiteside came on and lured leftfielder Takayuki Onishi into fouling out to Nakajima and then blew away the next two men with 92mph heat to go back to the hotel with the W in pocket.
As a side note, four of Furuki's nine homers last season were against the Dragons.
For Yokohama, Woods was 0-2 and is at .264.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
Asakura (L, 2-1) IP 4.2 BF 26 PC 95 H 6 HR 1 K 2 BB 6 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.40
Hisamoto IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.19
T. Ogasawara IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.45
Ochiai IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 2 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.35
Yokohama:
Guzman IP 4.0 BF 19 PC 62 H 6 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 2 ER 0 ERA 1.60
Tomioka (W, 1-1) IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 23 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.00
Nakanowatari IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.00
Tomori IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Whiteside (S, 2) IP 1.0 BR 3 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.13
E: Furuki
SB: Kinjo, Ogawa
2B: Sekikawa, Morino
HR: K. Furuki (6), Fukumoto (1)
RBI: H.Y. Watanabe, Morino, K. Furuki, Ogawa, Fukumoto, S. Nakajima
SF: S. Nakajima
WP: Asakura
HBP: Fukumoto (Asakura)
GIDP: M. Takahashi
LOB: Chunichi 7, Yokohama 9
Season Series: Chunichi 0, Yokohama 2
Game Time: 2:51
Attendance: 17,000
Umpires: Nishimoto (HP), Honda (1B), Kiuchi (2B), Watada (3B)
Arakaki Roasts Swallows With Heat 2-0
Rookie Nagisa Arakaki rebounded from a disaster of an outing against Hiroshima to dominate once again Saturday against Yakult, as he shutout the birds on six hits and fanned seven in six innings in a 2-0 Daiei Hawks triumph over the Swallows. However, it was Shuji Yoshida who got the victory due to Daiei not being able to dent Kevin Hodges, who tossed four innings of three hit scoreless ball before handing it off to the little lefty Masanori Ishikawa, who also threw well, but was hung with the kuroboshi when the Hawks did him up for an eighth inning run.
Arakaki's most serious predicament, if you can call it that, was in the first, when shortstop Shinya Miyamoto beat out a tapper toward second and first baseman Todd Betts singled to right. But Arakaki then struckout leftfielder Alex Ramirez and third baseman Ken Suzuki popped out to short to kill the rally.
In the second, rightfielder Atsunori Inaba leadoff with a single to left, only to watch Arakaki strikeout the side. He then whiffed two more in a perfect third and wove a perfect fourth. Yakult were able to collect a pair of hits in the sixth, one the infield variety, but Inaba flew out to right to cap off Arakaki's day.
Daiei finally broke through with some perfectly played small ball in the eighth. First baseman Ryo Yoshimoto doubled down the rightfield line and went to third on a sac bunt. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki grounded to first and Yoshimoto, running on contact, was in while the out was recorded at first to make it 1-0 Hawks.
Manabu Hiramoto, who has been superb this spring and has thus won himself a spot in the bullpen, was taken on a tour of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo via the rightfield exit by third baseman Bryant Nelson in the ninth for the final margin of victory.
Matt Skrmetta went one inning of relief, but his velocity was off after he was consistenly hitting 94-95mph earlier. Obviously, the low to mid-40's weather is making it tough to get loose.
Hodges has been an absolute horse, surrendering just one run in 19 spring innings.
For Yakult, Betts was 2-3 and is at .365. Ramirez was 0-3 and is at .237.
For Daiei, leftfielder Pedro Valdez was 0-4 and is at .205. Nelson was 1-4 with an RBI
and is at .235.
Pitching Lines:
Daiei:
Arakaki IP 6.0 BF 24 PC 90 H 6 HR 0 K 7 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.14
S. Yoshida (W, 1-0) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 26 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Skrmetta IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
A. Matsumoto (S, 1) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Yakult:
Hodges IP 4.0 BF 15 PC 51 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.47
Masanori Ishikawa (L, 0-3) IP 4.0 BF 15 PC 56 H 3 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.68
Hiramoto IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 9 H 2 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.69
SB: M. Kawasaki, Yoshimoto, Inaba
2B: M. Honma, Yoshimoto
HR: Nelson (2)
RBI: M. Kawasaki, Nelson
LOB: Daiei 6, Yakult 10
Season Series: Daiei 2, Yakult 1
Game Time: 2:45
Attendance: 12,000
Umpires: K. Kobayashi (HP), Yamagida (1B), Uemoto (2B), Tachibana (3B)
Cabrera Homer Not Enough in Yomiuri Win Over Seibu
The fans who journeyed to Tokyo Dome Saturday got what they were hoping to see, titanic homers by dueling Venezuelans Alex Cabrera and Roberto Petagine, and a 5-1 Yomiuri victory. Daisuke Matsuzaka started for Seibu and had a strong outing, going five innings of one run ball on three hits, striking out three, walking one and hitting a batter to reduce his spring ERA to 0.64.
After his last poor showing, Yomiuri starter Koji Uehara got called into manager Tatsunori Hara's office and got a through chewing out. Uehara apparently responded, as he used a combination of forkballs and fastballs 95% of the time to contain the Lions to one run on one hit in three innings as he looks toward his opening day assignment.
DH Cabrera lent his side an early 1-0 lead when he went gorilla on a first pitch 87mph fastball and special delivered it 455 feet away into the leftcenterfield seats in the second.
Things must have been pretty boring for the fans since Uehara and Matsuzaka were piling up out after out, until the fifth, when the Giants order stirred. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe beat one into the artificial turf and beat it out and was forced at second on a grounder to short off the bat of second baseman Toshihisa Nishi. Nishi stole second. DH Koji Goto struckout. Leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu, though, torqued one into the leftcenter alley to plate the speedy Nishi and it was 1-1.
Naoki Uchizono ascended the hill for the sixth and it was he who would be blamed for the Lions defeat. First baseman Takayuki Saito leadoff with a double to leftcenter and centerfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to left. Rightfielder Petagine grounded to Kazuo Matsui at short, but Matsui geeked it and Saito scored with the lead run. Both runners were advanced on a sac bunt. Abe flew out to left and Takahashi tagged up and crossed to open a 3-1 Giants advantage.
Nishi catalyzed another uprsing in the seventh with a single to left. Pinch hitter Shinsuke Yamada was hit by a pitch from Tomoki Hoshino. Shimizu moved them up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt. Backup first baseman Akira Etoh grounded to second, but Hiroyuki Takagi opted to try to get Nishi at home, which proved futile, and it was 4-1 Giants.
In the eighth, Petagine went upper deck to right on a forkball from Kiyoshi Toyoda, that blast also estimated in excess of 450 feet, to make it 5-1.
The game ended on an odd note when, with two outs, closer Junichi Kawahara plunked pinch hitter Hiroyuki Oshima. Pinch hitter Masahide Kaizuka rolled one toward second, but it struck Oshima for the final out.
Matsuzaka, who was clocked at 92mph, went to the bullpen upon leaving the game and threw 80 more pitches looking to build his stamina and go all the way opening day. Coming in, the righthander was1-5 with a 6.82 ERA against the Giants, so this was an encouraging change for him.
Yomiuri shortstop Tomohiro Nioka was hit on a bicep by Matsuzaka and was taken out as a precaution. He isn't expected to miss any action.
Etoh, who continues to slump with a .192 average, took special hitting practice after the game. If he doesn't have a better year than he did in 2002, look for him to be released and his starting spot given to the younger and much faster and defensively accomplished Masahiro Nagata.
The low attendance for this game was due to the fact that the Mariners and A's were supposed to be playing. This game was hastily scheduled and obviously not everyone got the word.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 with an RBI and is at .385.
For Yomiuri, Petagine was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .227.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Matsuzaka IP 5.0 BF 20 PC 70 H 3 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 0.64
Uchizono (L, 0-1) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 19 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 1 ERA 1.50
T. Hoshino IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.00
Toyoda IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 2 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.50
Yomiuri:
Uehara IP 3.0 BF 10 PC 50 H 1 HR 1 K 4 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.75
Y. Maeda IP 2.0 BF 7 PC 25 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.80
Pedraza (W, 1-0) IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Kashiwada IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.35
J. Kawahara IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: K. Matsui
SB: Nishi
2B: T. Shimizu 2, K. Matsui, Takayuki Saito
HR: Cabrera (2), Petagine (2)
RBI: Cabrera, T. Shimizu, Etoh, Petagine 2, S. Abe
SF: S. Abe
HBP: Nioka (Matsuzaka), Yamada (Hoshino), H. Oshima (J. Kawahara)
GIDP: Cabrera, M. Kawai
LOB: Seibu 4, Yomiuri 6
Season Series: Seibu 0, Yomiuri 2
Game Time: 2:42
Attendance: 20,000
Umpires: Kasahara (HP), Akimura (1B), T. Kobayashi (2B), Nakamura (3B)
Mirabal Smothers Lotte 4-1
Carlos Mirabal was dominant Saturday against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium, as the Nippon Ham Fighters cruised to a 4-1 victory. Lotte's lack of offense wasted a solid effort from Naoyuki Shimizu, who went six innings of two run (one earned) ball on five hits, striking out four.
The Fighters attained their initial tally in the second, as DH D.T. Cromer singled to center and went to second on a passed ball. One out later, rightfielder Yoshinori Ueda singled to center to plate Cromer for a 1-0 lead.
They added to that in the fifth when catcher Shinji Takahashi slammed a fastball into the centerfield seats to make it 2-0 Fighters.
Lotte halved that disparity in the home half when DH Derrick May doubled off the centerfield wall for his team's first hit. Two outs later, first baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba singled to right to show May the way home and it was 2-1 Nippon Ham.
Mirabal, who was boring his fastball under the hands of the Lotte hitters all day, got the first two men in the eighth and then walked rightfielder Takashi Tachikawa. Manager Trey Hillman decided that his ace had had enough and went to the pen for Tsutomu Iwamoto, a move that nearly backfired when he walked the first two men he encountered. Takenori Daita, though, flew out to center to escape.
Nippon Ham then got some separation in the ninth, as third baseman Ken Tanaka singled to center and was sacrificed to second. One out later, Ueda walked. Reserve catcher Kazunari Sanematsu saw a fastball right down Broadway and mashed it off the leftfield wall and both runners burned for home to widen it to 4-1.
Iwamoto was sent out for the ninth and got into hot water again, as, with two outs, he walked Hatsushiba and was touched for a single to center by Shimizu. Little shortstop Makoto Kosaka now represented the tying run, but he flew out to center and it was "game setto."
For Nippon Ham, leftfielder Angel Echevarria was 0-3 and is at .186. Cromer was 2-3 and is at .422.
For Lotte, May was 2-3 and is at .316. Third baseman Rick Short was 0-3 and is at .179.
Pitching Lines:
Nippon Ham:
Mirabal (W, 3-0) IP 7.2 BF 28 PC 98 H 3 HR 0 K 6 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.20
Iwamoto (S, 1) IP 1.1 BF 8 PC 33 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 3 R 0 ER 0 ERA 9.72
Lotte:
N. Shimizu (L, 1-1) IP 6.0 BF 23 PC 94 H 5 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 2 ER 1 ERA 1.93
T. Inoue IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
T. Kawai IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.50
M. Kobayashi IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 21 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.00
E: Ken Tanaka, Hori
2B: May, Sanematsu
HR: S. Takahashi (4)
RBI: S.Takahashi, Sanematsu 2, Short
PB: M. Shimizu
LOB: Nippon Ham 5, Lotte 8
Season Series: Nippon Ham 1, Lotte 0
Game Time: 2:31
Attendance: 4000
Umpires: Kawaguchi (HP), Yamazaki (1B), Shinya (2B), T. Yamamoto (3B)
Eighth Inning Machida Homer Decides it for Hiroshima 4-3
DH Kojiro Machida jacked one into the leftfield seats Saturday off of Rui Makino at Kobe Green Stadium against the Orix Blue Wave to liquidate a 3-3 tie and win it for the Hiroshima Carp 4-3. Shinji Sasaoka picked up his second win of the sping with four outstanding innings of shutout baseball on one hit.
The Carp got in front in the first, as shortstop Andy Sheets singled to center, centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to left and, one out later, leftfielder Tomonori Maeda singled to left to plate Sheets for a 1-0 lead.
Orix then knotted it against Carp starter Hiroki Kuroda in the second when, with two away, rightfielder Ikuro Katsuragi and leftfielder Kazuhiko Shiotani each singled to right. Shortstop Tatsuya Shindo singled to center and Katsuragi strode him to make it 1-1.
Orix then took a 2-1 advantage when first baseman Scott Sheldon lost one in the leftcenterfield bleachers in the fourth. Third baseman Jose Ortiz walked and was forced out at second on a grounder to second from Katsuragi. Shiotani singled to right and Katsuragi wheeled in to third. Shindo flew out to right and Katsuragi tagged up and ran in to expand their lead to 3-1.
Hisashi Tokano was inserted into the game in the seventh for Orix and he couldn't preserve his team's edge. With two outs, second baseman Kazuki Fukuchi singled to left and reserve shortstop Takuya Kimura got a fat one and bonked it into the rightcenterfield bleachers to bring the Carp alongside the Blue Wave at 3-3. They then made a bid to blow it open, as backup centerfielder Shigeru Morikasa singled to right and both first baseman Takahiro Arai and pinch hitter Kazuyoshi Kimura walked to juice the bags. Substitute third baseman Kenta Kurihara, however, flew out to right and the numerical gridlock was an ongoing proposition.
Sasaoka permitted his only hit in the eighth, but it was a double off the centerfield fence from centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani, his first knock in 20 spring at bats, on the heels of a two out walk to catcher Takeshi Hidaka to put the winning runs in scoring position before he worked out of it by inducing a grounder from Orix second baseman Keiichi Hirano to , Arai, who went to the plate to nail Hidaka and then to second to get Hirano attempting to sneak into second.
Machida connected with two outs in the eighth and Sasaoka put Orix away on a groundout and two strikeouts in a perfect ninth to clinch the victory.
For Orix, Sheldon was 1-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .200. Ortiz was 0-3 with a walk and is at .050.
For Hiroshima. Sheets was 1-3 and is at .333. Rightfielder Jimmy Hurst was 1-3 and is at .233.
Pitching Lines:
Hiroshima:
Kuroda IP 5.0 BF 22 PC 71 H 6 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.38
Sasaoka (W, 2-0) IP 4.0 BF 13 PC 58 H 1 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Orix:
Kaneda IP 6.0 BF 25 PC 91 H 8 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.00
Tokano IP 6.0 BF 6 PC 20 H 3 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.12
T. Yamamoto IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 15.00
Makino (L, 0-1) IP 1.1 BF 6 PC 36 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.23
J. Hagiawara IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.50
SB: Fukuchi, Morikasa
2B: Fukuchi, Tani
HR: Sheldon (1), T. Kimura (1), Machida (1)
RBI: T. Kimura 2, T. Maeda, Machida, Sheldon, Shindo 2
SF: Shindo
WP: Kuroda, Makino
GIDP: Sheets
LOB: Hiroshima 10, Orix 5
Season Series: Hiroshima 3, Orix 0
Game Time: 2:43
Attendance: 7000
Umpires: Shirai (HP), Tsuchiyama (1B), Kakigizono (2B), Watamari (3B)
Team Reports
Yakult Atsuya Furuta was diagnosed with a hairline fracture of his ring finger on his throwing hand and it will require three weeks to heal. However, Furuta says he wants to be on the bench opening day rather than on the injured list.
Koshien Tournament Righthander Takashi Hirano had a good sharp slider working to accompany his 90mph fastball, as he struckout 11 and allowed two hits and two runs to help Toin Gakuen High School best Fukui High School Saturday. Toin, a Japanese baseball power, now moves on to the next round.
Hideki Matsui Matsui played centerfield for the first time for the Yankees Saturday and went 1-4 against the Twins, the one hit a single to center. He took called strike three, grounded to first and flew to left in his three other at bats....According to Sankei Sports, Matsui is having his interpreter give him english lessons. He is also said to have brought his junior high school english textbooks with him to the U.S.
Miscellaneous The Devil Rays are going to suck it up and just eat Greg Vaughan's $9.25 million contract, releasing him Saturday. Wow!....Speaking of the Rays, I see that they are lobbying to open the season in Japan next year. I don't know, though, if the Western League (one of Japan's two minor leagues) will alter their schedule to have someone play them, though....Kazuhiro Sasaki threw in the bullpen Saturday and reported no pain according to Seattle area media....So Taguchi started in center for the Cardinals Saturday and went 1-4....Ichiro Suzuki had the day off....Tsuyoshi Shinjo started in right for the Mets Saturday and went 1-3 and threw a man out who was trying to go from first to third on a single....Ed Yarnall was sent down to the minors Sunday by Oakland.
Is Arakawa Full of It?
There's something wrong with the story that recent Rockies signing Yusuke Arakawa has conveyed to the U.S. baseball press. In claiming that Toyota Motors, for whom he played in the industrial leagues, obstructed the Chunichi Dragons or any other Japanese team from drafting him, I think that the 24 year old's agent is feeding reporters a bit of b.s. to hype his client.
The thing that is out of place here is that industrial league clubs don't really do that. If Toyota was so insistent on not letting its pitchers get away, it would have attempted to prevent Yuya Ando, who was drafted number one by Hanshin (as if it could do that legally) in 2001 from going since Ando was their number one starter. In addition, Atsuya Furuta was a Toyota almnus many years ago (and continues to drive only Toyota out of loyalty to his old company) and is now a future baseball hall of famer with Yakult. Yet, Toyota willingly coughed Furuta up since there was nothing they could do to hold on to him.
Furthermore, industrial league teams (called "shakaijin kyuudan") have been going under one after the other due to corporate cost cutting. Lawson's, the major convenience store chain, deep sixed their club at the end of last season and so did IBM's Yaesu branch. In fact, there were once over 200 shakaijin clubs in Japan at one time and now there are only 80-something. Consequently, it would seem that under the current economic environment, they would love employees to "risutora (layoff)" themselves by going elsewhere before they begin accumulating seniority in the company ranks and thus bigger paychecks.
There was also no mention of Arakawa in the Japanese press all last year being courted by Japanese clubs under their peculiar system. The Chunichi Dragons, who the Ringolsby article mentioned as pursuing Arakawa, got the top two players they had been pursuing, Ryosuke Morioka and Yoshimi Sakurai, each very athletic and legitimate high round guys who I expect to be productive for them for years to come after a little seasoning (they are both high schoolers). The Dragons also drafted a big Brazilian-Japanese kid named Norberto Semanaka who has awesome power (he slugged a 430 foot homer in a high school game last season).
Consequently, here is what I suspect REALLY happened, though I have two scenarios that are possible:
The first one would be a familiar scenario to ballclubs here in the states: if you don't draft me on a high round and give me high round money, I'm going elsewhere. None of the clubs, even ones who needed pitching (Kintetsu, whose draft was largely a waste of time, comes to mind; ditto Nippon Ham) thought he was worth a high rounder. In Japan, generally, after the first three or four rounds, the money starts to fall off pretty precipitously. Thus, Arakawa already had a job with lifetime security at an "ichiryuu (first tier)" corporation and there was no reason for him to leave it to make similar money in the minors where he might be let go after two or three unproductive seasons.
The other scenario is a little more innocent: the guy always had dreams of playing in MLB. Hideo Nomo took the industrial league route to Kintetsu and then MLB, for example. Arakawa waited until he physically matured a bit (I came across one listing for him three years ago that had him at 5'9" and 160 pounds) and began to get feelers from Japanese teams. That told him he might be ready. So now it was time to plan the jump to MLB. He told the Japanese clubs he wasn't going to sign with them so don't bother wasting the draft choice. In January, he went to the states, tried out for Elmira, was offered a deal with them. Hey, if Hideo Nomo gives you the thumbs up to join his ballteam, why not try out for MLB teams, right? And he was successful looking at the next step.
Look at it this way: the Hiroshima Carp drafted three convenience store clerks in low rounds who were on Lawson's shakaijin team. They each had one decent tool (mainly trememdous speed), but they are all long term projects who won't see first team action for at least 3-4 years AT BEST. Now what would have prevented them from saying, "okay, let's draft this guy and see what we can do"? The Carp bullpen is a mess. They drafted their number one guy, Katsuhiro Nakagawa, for that reason. He has a devastating forkball and a 91mph fastball. Now if Arakawa were that good, why wouldn't they have drafted him second or even fourth? Toyota can't stop Hiroshima from obtaining him. Japanese employees aren't permanently beholden to the whims of their employers like Russian serfs under the czars. Thus, I think my second scenario is the most likely. And Arakawa's agent is taking advantage of the fact that MLB beat writers and team officials are still pretty naive about Japanese baseball.
