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04/02/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Wada Gets the Trifecta; Lots of Fireworks at Tokyo Dome"
Dragons Outslug Giants 10-9
Yomiuri number one draft choice Hiroshi Kisanuki got his head handed to him in his regular season pro debut Sunday at Tokyo Dome, as the Giants were down 8-1 at one point and then 10-4. They kept chipping away, though, and when shortstop Tomohiro Nioka homered off of closer Eddie Gaillard to open the ninth to make it 10-9, it appeared that a thriling comeback was in the cards. However, Gaillard then put the boot in and retired the next three men that stepped in against him for the victory.
Kisanuki told reporters after the game that he thought the movement and location of his pitches were okay, but from the outset, the Dragons hit everything he ran up to the plate. With one out in the first, shortstop Hirokazu Ibata singled to center. Following another out, centerfielder Alex Ochoa singled to center. First baseman Ivan Cruz dug in and punished a first pitch 89mph fastball that Kisanuki was attempting to spot on the outside corner but ended up in the former Cardinal's wheelhouse instead to straightaway center and into the bleachers for a 3-0 lead. Chunichi then loaded the bases on a pair of singles to right and a walk, but that brought up pitcher Shigeki Noguchi, who whiffed. Kisanuki struckout the side in the inning, but he got hurt while doing so.
Yomiuri reacted with a lone tally in the home portion, as leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to right, Nioka singled to left and first baseman Akira Eto grounded to third, enabling Shimizu to sneak into third. Centerfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi tapped a slow ground ball toward second that he beat out to cut the deficit to 3-1 Dragons.
Chunichi jumped on Kisanuki again in the second when rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome hammered a shot off the centerfield wall that went for a triple. Ibata also endeavored to get real gone, but had to settle for a wall rattling double to center and an RBI. Ibata moved to third on a groundout and trotted home on a knock to center by Ochoa to expand the Dragons' advantage to 5-1 and knock Kisanuki out of the game.
They tacked on three more in the third against reliever Ryuji Kimura when leftfielder Kazuki Inoue singled to center and went to second on a sac bunt. Noguchi outran a dribbler by the mound for an infield hit. Fukudome walked to pack the sacks and Ibata then did likewise to force Inoue across. Kimura plunked third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami to force in Noguchi. Ochoa flew out to center and Fukudome tagged up and hustled in and Chunichi no doubt thought it had this one already in pocket at 8-1.
Not so fast. Nioka beat out a bunt to commence the bottom of the third and moved to second when Takahashi worked a one out walk. The runners moved up on a groundout and third baseman Daisuke Motoki banged a single to center to recall Nioka to make it 8-2 Chunichi.
Then in the fourth, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to center and rookie Shunsuke Hara, pinch hitting for Kimura, launched a slider to deep leftfield. Inoue went back and to the wall, looked up, and bid it adieu, reducing the Chunichi hegemony to 8-4. That was Hara's first pro dinger.
Both sides took the fifth inning off and then the Dragons reopened for business in the sixth against Yukinaga Maeda. Ochoa laced a double to leftcenter and went to third on a groundout. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige walked. Takayuki Onishi belted one off the centerfield fence to score Ochoa on the double. Second baseman Masahiro Araki flied out to center, Tanishige tagging up and busting for home for a six run disparity at 10-4.
Yomiuri didn't take that lying down and catcher Shinnosuke Abe clobbered one over the rightcenterfield wall to make it 10-5 in home segment.
Shigetoshi Yamakita came on for Chunichi in the sixth to get the last out of that frame, was in the middle of the diamond again in the seventh and after inducing a flyout and a strikeout in the seventh, walked Takahashi. Petagine then conducted a rendition of "Long Stick Goes Boom" for the folks in the rightcenterfield seats to draw his side within 10-7.
An inning later, Nishi crushed a one out pitch to the opposite field and into the rightfield stands and now Chunichi were very much in danger of blowing this game at 10-8.
However, the epic comeback was not to be, as Nioka made it a one run ballgame in the ninth when he thunked it off the leftfield foul pole and then watched as Takayuki Saito strikeout, Takahashi flyout to center and Petagine flyout to right to put it in the refrigerator for the Dragons.
Ochoa continues to get attention for his abilities in the field. Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada said that the former Angel could make money just with his defense alone. Sports Nippon showered him with ecstatic praise for his throwing arm.
Hirai was bestowed with the shiroboshi in this one, the first one he has notched since 1998. He has been slowed down by arm surgery both velocity and careerwise. Coincidentally, it was also his now two year old daughter's birthday.
Kisanuki was only the tenth giants rookie to make his first appearance a start. Of the 46 pitches he made, 30 were fastballs. He said that after what happened to him Sunday, he needs a little finer control. Hopefully, though, he won't begin nibbling, which kills most pitchers.
The Giants went yard eight times for the three game series, the most for any season opening series in their history. The previous high was six, which they accomplished four times.
And to amp up the excitement, the game was almost marred by a brawl when Kimura nailed Tanishige in the chest with a pitch. Tanishige yelled something out to the mound and Kimura reportedly replied that he didn't think that the veteran backstop did enough to avoid the delivery. Tanishige made as if he was going to charge the mound, clearing both benches. In the end, nothing happened.
For Chunichi, Ochoa was 3-4 with two RBIs and is at .308. Cruz was 2-5 with three RBIs and is at .308.
For Yomiuri, Petagine was 1-5 with two RBIs and is at .167.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
S. Noguchi IP 3.1 BF 19 PC 77 H 8 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 10.80
M. Hirai (W, 1-0) IP 2.1 BF 8 PC 27 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.70
Yamakita IP 1.1 BF 6 PC 22 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.71
Iwase IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 2 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.50
Gaillard (S, 1) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 14 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 9.00
Yomiuri:
Kisanuki (L, 0-1) IP 1.1 BF 13 PC 46 H 8 HR 1 K 3 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 33.75
Kashiwada IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
R. Kimura IP 2.0 BF 12 PC 41 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 13.50
Y. Maeda IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 33 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.75
Kubo IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 29 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Okajima IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
2B: Ibata, Ochoa, Onishi
3B: Fukudome
HR: Cruz (1), Hara (1), S. Abe (2), Petagine (2), Nishi (1), Nioka (1)
RBI: Ibata 2, Tatsunami, Ochoa 2, Cruz 3, Onishi, M. Araki, Nioka, Y. Takahashi,
Petagine 2, Motoki, S. Abe, Nishi, Hara 2
SF: Ochoa, M. Araki
WP: Kubo
HBP: Tatsunami (R. Kimura), Tanishige (R. Kimura)
Balk: Iwase
LOB: Chunichi 11, Yomiuri 5
Season Series: Chunichi 2, Yomiuri 1
Game Time: 3:57
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Watada (1B), Sasaki (2B), Manabe (3B)
Sugiuchi Tosses Four Hit Shutout in 3-0 Hawks Victory
This was a simple game to encapsulate, as second year hurler Toshiya Sugiuchi fashioned a masterful four hit, nine strikeout shutout and first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka went downtown with two on in the first in a 3-0 Daiei Hawks victory Sunday over the Chiba Lotte Marines at Fukuoka Dome. Takagi started for Lotte and didn't pitch that badly during his five inning stint, but the blow by Matsunaka proved fatal.
In that first inning, Takagi had trouble finding the plate. With one down, shortstop Munenori Kawasaki walked, as did leftfielder Pedro Valdez. Matsunaka then got a first pitch hanging curve ball and "I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it," the ball disappearing deep into the rightcenterfield bleachers for a 3-0 lead.
Sugiuchi was getting his curve ball up early on, so he went to his cutter, which proved to be very effective.
The only Lotte significant threat was in the eighth, when catcher Masaumi Shimizu lashed a double to leftcenter with one out. But pinch hitter Yukihiko Sato bounced out to Sugiuchi and rightfielder Saburo Omura popped out in foul ground to first to snuff that opportunity. Sugiuchi then worked a perfect ninth, taking a toss from Matsunaka at the first base bag on DH Derrick May's grounder to turn out the lights.
The last time a Daiei lefty had thrown a complete game shutout was in July of 2000. In addition, Lotte has lost the last five games sugiuchi has started against them.
Kazuya Fukuura, who started very slowly last season but rallied during the second half to finish at .300, is 0-12 so far.
For Daiei, Valdez was 0-3 with a walk and is at .364. Third baseman Bryant Nelson was 1-3 and is at .300.
For Lotte, May was 2-4 and is at .167. Third baseman Rick Short was 0-3 and is at
.091.
Pitching Lines:
Lotte:
Takagi (L, 0-1) IP 5.0 BF 22 PC 79 H 5 HR 1 K 3 BB 3 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.40
H.Y. Kobayashi IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 32 H 3 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Funaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 20 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Daiei:
Sugiuchi (W, 1-0) IP 9.0 BF 31 PC 127 H 4 HR 0 K 9 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
SB: M. Kawasaki, Muramatsu
2B: M. Shimizu
HR: Matsunaka (1)
RBI: Matsunaka 3
HBP: Torigoe (Takagi)
GIDP: Omichi 2, Iguchi, Short
LOB: Lotte 4, Daiei 7
Season Series: Lotte 1, Daiei 2
Game Time: 2:51
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Kodera (HP), Yoshikawa (1B), Yamamura (2B), Hayashi (3B)
Moore Wins First in 5-3 Hanshin Victory
Hanshin Tigers lefthander Trey Moore tossed six strong innings of six hit, seven strikeout baseball Sunday at Yokohama Stadium against the Yokohama Bay Stars while fellow southpaw Jeff Williams bookended the game with 2.1 innings of perfect four strikeout relief in a 5-3 victory. Stars third baseman Katsuaki Furuki's defensive shortcomings were in evidence once more and helped the home squad go down to defeat.
Kenichi Wakatabe started for Yokohama and was victimized by bad luck more than anything else during his seven innings to lose it, as he surrendered four runs, only two earned, on nine hits, the Furuki miscue looming large in his misfortune.
Yokohama pulled out to an early lead, as shortstop Takuro Ishii got aboard on an error by first baseman Shinjiro Hiyama in the first and went to second on a groundout. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to center to redeem Ishii and make it 1-0.
Hanshin returned serve in the second when Hiyama doubled off the rightfield wall and third baseman George Arias whistled a shot down the leftfield line to even it at one all.
And so it stayed until the fourth, when Hanshin catcher Akihiro Yano singled to center and shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to left. Moore, a good hitting pitcher, then spanked a single to left to load the bases. One out later, Yano somehow scored, but the game record doesn't say how. There's no passed ball or wild pitch, no error or stolen base that is credited that would allow Yano to get home. Go figure. In any event, it was 2-1 Hanshin.
Yokohama surged back in the fifth to surmount that difficulty when centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo doubled down the leftfield line and catcher Satoshi Nakajima lined one into the leftcenter alley for an RBI double. Nakajima was advanced on a sac bunt and Ishii saw him in on a single to center to lend the Stars a 3-2 lead.
But George Arias ignited a revolt in the sixth when Arias doubled into the leftfield corner. Yano endeavored to sacrifice him along, but Wakatabe fumbled it and everybody was safe. Shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to right to drive Arias in while Yano cutout for third. With Moore at the plate, Fujimoto took off for second. Nakajima gunned it to second. Fujimoto stopped well short of the second base bag and got into a rundown. Furuki then somehow got involved in all this and allowed a throw to get by him, permitting Yano to score and put Hanshin on top 4-3.
In the ninth, centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi manufactured a run by leading the inning off with a bunt single and stealing second and then going to third on a groundout. Rightfielder Osamu Hamanaka slapped a 90mph fastball to Ishii, who went to the plate. The peg beat Akahoshi, but he slid by the tag for an essential insurance run and it was 5-3 Tigers.
Williams tempted the Stars into a strikeout and a pair of groundouts to secure the triumph in Yokohama's last at bat.
Just to make things more nightmarish for Furuki, he struckout three times, all on sliders from either Moore or Williams. He is 0-12 with eight strikeouts thus far.
One of Hanshin's batting instructors, wada, has an interesting superstition. He won't eat squid ("tako" in Japanese) since that word is also used in "santako," "yontako," etc, meaning "0-3" or "0-4."
For Yokohama, first baseman Tyrone Woods was 0-4 with four strikeouts and is at .273.
For Hanshin, Arias was 2-4 with a walk and an RBI and is at .364.
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Moore (W, 1-0) IP 6.0 BF 24 PC 87 H 6 HR 0 K 7 BB 0 R 3 ER 2 ERA 3.00
Taninaka IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Williams (S, 1) IP 2.1 BF 7 PC 37 H 0 HR 0 K 4 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Yokohama:
Wakatabe (L, 0-1) IP 7.0 BF 34 PC 114 H 9 HR 0 K 3 BB 3 R 4 ER 3 ERA 2.57
Kizuka IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
R. Kawahara IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 13.50
Tomori IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: Hiyama, Furuki, Wakatabe
SB: Akahoshi, Kinjo
2B: Hiyama, Arias 2, Kinjo 2, Imaoka, S. Nakajima,
RBI: Hamanaka, Arias, Fujimoto, S. Nakajima, T. Suzuki, T. Ishii
HBP: Arias (Wakatabe)
GIDP: Ogawa
LOB: Hanshin 10, Yokohama 4
Season Series: Hanshin 2, Yokohama 1
Game Time: 3:10
Attendance: 28,000
Umpires: Nishimoto (HP), Mori (1B), Suginaga (2B), Ino (3B)
Yakult's New Suzuki Gives Them an 8-3 Lift
Ken Suzuki came over to the Yakult Swallows during the offseason after being let go by the Seibu Lions and he made his presence felt when he started in place of the injured Akinori Iwamura, as he mashed a solo homer as part of a 3-4, three RBI day to back Nobuyuki Ebisu's finest outing in a donkey's years in an 8-3 win over the Hiroshima Carp at Meiji Jingu Stadium Sunday.
Ebisu went six excellent innings of three hit ball, getting 14 ground ball outs in a shutout performance while striking out two and walking none.
Chris Brock started for Hiroshima, though that wasn't the original plan. Masayuki Hasegawa was supposed to be on the hill, but he came down with a fever and Brock was pressed into service, going five innings of three run ball on five hits, walking two and striking out two to accept the defeat.
Dave Lundquist then ascended the mound and faced six hitters, five of them reaching, ultimately being charged for four runs, two of them earned.
Suzuki walked up to the plate in the second and engaged in an epic battle with Brock, working the count to 3-2 before fouling off four more pitches. On the 11th delivery, Suzuki got an 88mph fastball that was up in the zone and he put a whippin' on it, hurtling it into the leftcenterfield bleachers to make it 1-0 Swallows.
In the fourth, Yakult leftfielder Alex Ramirez zapped one down the leftfield line for a double and Suzuki then tried to leave again, thundering it off the base of the leftfield wall for an RBI two bagger and it was 2-0 Swallows.
The succeeding inning, Yakult rightfielder Shinichi Sato leadoff with a single to center and, one out later, went to second on a balk and then over to third on a groundout. Centerfielder Atsunori Inaba singled toward the line in right to chase Sato in for a 3-0 advantage.
Lundquist was inserted to open the sixth and Swallows first baseman Todd Betts singled to left, as did Ramirez. Suzuki singled to center and Betts paraded across the plate. Catcher Atsuya Furuta beat out a grounder near short to jam the basepaths. Sato singled to right for the RBI and was pinch run for by Tetsuya Iida. Second baseman Noriyuki Shiroishi hit a little ground ball to third, the only play being to first and Suzuki reported. Nishikawa replaced Lundquist. Chihiro Hamana pinch hit for Ebisu and tapped a ground ball that he was able to outrun and Furuta was homeward bound. Nishikawa threw a wild pitch and Iida rushed in while Hamana went to second. Inaba walked. Shortstop Shinya Miyamoto doubled down the leftfield line and Hamana sprinted to the promised land and it was now 8-0 Swallows.
Ryota Igarashi spelled Ebisu in the seventh and got himself into a tight spot when Takahiro Arai dribbled an infield hit and leftfielder Tomonori Maeda singled to left. Rightfielder Jimmy Hurst walked to pack the sacks. But third baseman Takuya Kimura grounded into a 1-2-3 double play and pinch hitter Kazuyoshi Kimura struckout to put the kabosh on that noise.
However, in the eighth, Kojiro Machida was dispatched by field boss Koji Yamamoto to pinch hit against Hirotsugu Maeda and leaned into a slider for a homer to left, his 19th career pinch bomb, third all time, and the Carp were on the board at 8-1.
Swallows shotcaller Tsutomu Wakamatsu had Ryu Kawabata put in for the ninth and he gave up a one out infield hit to Tomonori Maeda and walked Hurst. Takuya Kimura singled to right to juice the bags and Kazuyoshi Kimura singled to right to recall a pair and it was 8-3. Kawabata settled down and struckout centerfielder Toyo Asayama and fooled second baseman Fukuchi into grounding to second and it was "game setto."
For Yakult, Betts was 1-4 and is at .333. Ramirez was 2-4 with an error and is at .167.
For Hiroshima, shortstop Andy Sheets was 0-4 and is at .000. Hurst was 1-2 with two walks and is at .222.
Pitching Lines:
Hiroshima:
Brock (L, 0-1) IP 5.0 BF 20 PC 86 H 5 HR 1 K 2 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.40
Lundquist IP 0.1 BF 6 PC 18 H 5 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 4 ER 2 ERA 54.00
Nishikawa IP 0.2 BF 4 PC 13 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 13.50
Sawazaki IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
M. Hayashi IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Yakult:
Ebisu (W, 1-0) IP 6.0 BF 21 PC 63 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
R. Igarashi IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 22 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
H. Maeda IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 9.00
Kawabata IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 29 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 9.00
E: Brock, Ishihara, Ramirez
2B: Ramirez, K. Suzuki, S. Miyamoto
HR: K. Suzuki (1), Machida (1)
RBI: K. Kimura 2, Machida, Inaba, S. Miyamoto, K. Suzuki 3, S. Sato, Hamana
WP: Nishikawa
HBP: Hamana (Hayashi)
GIDP: T. Kimura, Inaba
LOB: Hiroshima 7, Yakult 5
Season Series: Hiroshima 2, Yakult 1
Game Time: 2:42
Attendance: 22,000
Umpires: Uemoto (HP), Kittaka (1B), Kiuchi (2B), Tomoyose (3B)
Nippon Ham Drops Second in a Row to Seibu 4-1
The Seibu Lions have a fair amount of team speed and they employed it to a fare thee well against the Nippon Ham Fighters Sunday at Seibu Dome, as they thieved four bags, including Kazuo Matsui's steal of home, to support a nice showing by Mitsutaka Goto, who went six innings of one run ball on six hits while striking out eight to snake a 4-1 victory.
Chris Seelbach started for the Fighters and fought himself all night, needing 119 pitches to toss 5.2 innings, where he was shaken down for four runs (three earned) on seven hits and was put on the hook for the defeat.
Matsui leadoff the bottom of the first by singling to right, but he was out attempting to steal second. Rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki grounded to Michihiro Ogasawara at third, who threw it away for an error. Manager Haruki Ihara flashed the hit and run sign and centerfielder Kazuhiko Miyaji tattooed one into the leftcenterfield alley, Ozeki setting the controls for the heart of home plate for a 1-0 lead.
Nippon Ham, though, tied it up when rightfielder Yoshinori Ueda homered to left to kick off the second and it was 1-1.
In the third, everybody got a real bad scare when Fighters first baseman D.T. Cromer drilled a deep fly ball to left. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada, in what appeared to be an unfortunate replay of a game against Daiei at Kita-Kyushu Stadium when he wrecked his kneecap running into the wall catching a fly ball, this time gathered the ball in and went splat right against the fence, severely hitting his shoulder against the edifice. He collapsed to the ground and lay there for a couple of minutes while he was surrounded by teammates, coaches and trainers. Happily, he eventually got up and stayed in the game.
Wada then came up for his second at bat in the fourth and went midieval on the first pitch he saw from Seelbach, piling it into the leftfield stands to make it 2-1 Lions.
Nippon Ham aimed to level it again in the top of the fifth when second baseman Kokichi Akune doubled to leftcenter, centerfielder Hichori Morimoto walked and the two were moved up 90 feet on a sacrifice. But Ogasawara struckout and Cromer fouled out to first and that opportunity was passed by.
The Lions then used their wheels to turn two infield hits into a run during their at bat. With one away, Matsui beat out a grounder toward second and went to second on a groundout. Miyaji also legged out a slow roller toward second and Matsui loped to third. Miyaji then took off and Fighters catcher Shinji Takahashi slung it to second. As soon as Takahashi released the ball, Matsui burned for the plate. Miyaji was safe. Akune fired a strike to the plate that beat Matsui. However, Matsui managed to evade enough of the tag to be judged safe. Nippon Ham manager Trey Hillman ran out to protest the call and argued for with the umpire for two minutes before returning to the dugout with the score now 3-1 Lions.
The ensuing stanza, the Fighters had DH Angel Echevarria single to left to open things and, one out later, Ueda doubled down the rightfield line to put men on second and third with one out. Unfortunately, Takahashi came up empty and Akune grounded to short to quash another chance.
Seibu adorned the scoreboard with another "1" in the bottom of the sixth when DH Hiroyuki Shibata singled to center with one out and stole second. He was wild pitched to third by Seelbach. Pinch hitter Hiroyuki Nakajima hit a comebacker to Seelbach, who held the runner and then went to first for the out. Catcher Tsutomu Itoh walked. Ihara ordered up the safety squeeze, if you can call it that considering that there were two outs, with second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi at the dish and the count 1-1. Ogasawara was playing back and had no chance to get Takagi and Shibata crossed to make it 4-1.
Nine of the last ten Fighters batters went down before some nifty work by three Lions relievers and it was over.
Wada's homers in three conseuctive games to start the season is the first time in ten years it's been done in the Pacific League, the last such streak being by Koji Akiyama of Daiei. In the CL, it was pulled off by Kazuhiro Kiyohara last season and Wada is the fifth player all time to do it. The record for most consecutive games out of the shoot with a homer is five, by Boomer Wells of the Orix Blue Wave.
For Nippon Ham, Cromer was 0-3 with a walk and is at .000. Echevarria was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .091.
For Seibu, first baseman Scott McClain was 0-1 and is ta .000. With his 2-3 day, Matsui is hitting .455.
Pitching Lines:
Nippon Ham:
Seelbach (L, 0-1) IP 5.2 BF 26 PC 119 H 7 HR 1 K 4 BB 2 R 4 ER 3 ERA 4.76
N. Takahashi IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Shibakusa IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Seibu:
M. Goto (W, 1-0) IP 6.0 BF 27 PC 114 H 6 HR 1 K 8 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.50
Y. Doi IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
S. Mori IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 18 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Toyoda (S, 2) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: M. Ogasawara 2, K. Matsui
SB: K. Matsui, Miyaji, H. Shibata 2
2B: Miyaji, Akune, Y. Ueda, K. Wada
HR: Y. Ueda (1), K. Wada (3)
RBI: Y. Ueda, Miyaji, K. Wada, H. Takagi
IBB: K. Matsui (N. Takahashi)
WP: Seelbach
HBP: Echevarria (M. Goto)
GIDP: Kaneko
LOB: Nippon Ham 9, Seibu 8
Season Series: Nippon Ham 1, Seibu 2
Game Time: 3:00
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Sakaemura (HP), Akimura (1B), Yamamoto (2B), Kawaguchi (3B)
Replies: 5 comments
I am trying to follow osaka buffaloes and i was wondering if a site is avail. in english or which japan news paper is the best?
Posted by blake @ 04/04/2003 08:57 PM EST
Konnicchiwa,
will someone please help me find an english text web page that gives all team standings.i'm trying to follow the Osaka Hanshin Tigers.
Arigato,
Keith
Posted by Keith @ 04/03/2003 01:01 PM EST
The comma between context and if is unnecessary. Please use proper punctuation if you're going to nitpick. Then again, why don't you just not nitpick at all?
Posted by Jeff @ 04/02/2003 10:53 PM EST
also "tako" is octopus in japanese, while we're nitpicking here.
Posted by twist @ 04/02/2003 08:43 PM EST
please spell medieval correctly. it loses its panache when used in the PulpFiction context, if you spell it wrong.
Posted by roy @ 04/02/2003 08:14 PM EST
