Archived Weblog Entry - 04/10/2003: "Japanese Baseball News: Matsui Slams Way into Yankee Annals; Dragons Win See Saw Battle With Hanshin"

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04/10/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Matsui Slams Way into Yankee Annals; Dragons Win See Saw Battle With Hanshin"

Dragons Score Two in 11th to Beat Hanshin 6-4

Hanshin Tigers rightfielder Osamu Hamanaka tied the game with a three run dinger in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday at Koshien Stadium, but the Chunichi Dragons got a deuce in the top of the 11th and ultimately prevailed 6-4. Marc Valdes started for Chunichi and was able to keep his pitches down this time around to allow a run on two hits, but when Eddie Gaillard couldn't hold it, he ended up with a no decision. Instead, Masataka Endo was credited with the win after a scoreless inning of relief.

Keiichi Yabu started for the Tigers and was piling up groundouts until the seventh, when he was cuffed around for four runs to put his side in a disadvantageous posture.

Neither starter was in any serious trouble until the fourth, when centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi walked and stole second. One out later, Hamanaka singled to right and Akahoshi crossed for a 1-0 lead.

But in that seventh inning, Dragons shortstop Hirokazu Ibata walked and, one out later, centerfielder Alex Ochoa singled to center. First baseman Ivan Cruz got a 1-2 cutter that was up and on the inner half of the plate and slugged it into the rightfield stands to make it 3-1. One out later, leftfielder Koichi Sekikawa legged out a dribbler toward second and second baseman Masahiro Araki ripped a shot into the leftcenter gap and all the way to the wall for an RBI triple and Chunichi had the upper hand at 4-1.

Then in the ninth, Gaillard came on seeking save number 101 and was greeted by Akahoshi carroming one of his pitches off the leftfield wall for a double. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto singled to right. Gaillard ran the count with Hamanaka to 1-2, mainly with fastballs, and decided to throw him a changeup on the seventh pitch. Hamanaka was partially fooled, but managed to get the fat part of the bat on it and lofted a high drive to deep leftfield. It kept carrying and landed just inside the foul pole to level it at 4-4. Gaillard retired the next three men on a groundout and two strikeouts to send it into bonus time.

Each side went down in order in the tenth, but in the 11th, Hanshin reliever Lou Pote took a walk on the wild side and was mugged. Ibata legged out an infield hit and was sacrificed to second. Ochoa, a former teammate of Pote's in Anaheim, was intentionally walked. Pote then nailed pinch hitter Takayuki Onishi with a delivery to juice the bags. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige got a 2-2 pitch up in the zone and wacked it safely to left to recall Ibata and Ochoa and make it 6-4 Dragons.

Akinori Otsuka was assigned the closer's role in this one and put the Tigers away while being clocked at 93mph to seal the triumph.

Hamanaka has gone 6-12 with ten RBIs in his last three games and has 15 RBIs on the season already.

82 year old Hanshin owner Shunjiro Kuman was at the game, the first one he's seen in the flesh since having lung cancer surgery. He left at the end of the sixth.

Before the contest got under way, popular enka singer Aki Yashiro sang the Japanese national anthem.

Tigers boss Senichi Hoshino grumbled after it was over that Yabu was going into too many deep counts with hitters after getting two strikes on them, wishing that he would put them away rather than allowing them to stick around and maybe see a mistake. As to what happened to Pote, Hanshin coaches posited that Pote was just too pumped up and thus overthrew.

Ibata now has six consecutive multi-hit games. Valdes was clocked at 91mph.

For Hanshin, third baseman George Arias was 0-3 with an HBP and is at .250.

For Chunichi, Cruz was 2-4 with three RBIs and is at .275. Ochoa was 1-4 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .368. He has a .449 OBP.

Pitching Lines:

Chunichi:

M. Valdes IP 6.0 BF 22 PC 99 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.73
Yamakita IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.18
Ochiai IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
Iwase IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.50
Gaillard IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 33 H 3 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 3 ER 2 ERA 11.25
Endo (W, 1-0) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
A.N. Otsuka (S, 1) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00

Hanshin:

Yabu IP 7.0 BF 27 PC 116 H 7 HR 1 K 6 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.86
Taninaka IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 8.10
Fujikawa IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Pote (L, 0-1) IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 25 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.60

SB: Sekikawa, Akahoshi
2B: A. Yano, Akahoshi
3B: M. Araki
HR: Cruz (2), Hamanaka (4)
RBI: Cruz 3, Tanishige, Sekikawa, M. Araki, Hamanaka 4
IBB: Ochoa
PB: A. Yano
HBP: Arias (M. Valdes), Onishi (Pote)
GIDP: Tanishige, Hamanaka
LOB: Chunichi 5, Hanshin 3

Season Series: Chunichi 1, Hanshin 0

Game Time: 3:59
Attendance: 40,000
Umpires: Tomoyose (HP), K. Kobayashi (1B), Kittaka (2B), T. Kobayashi (3B)

Hirao Drives in Four Runs to Pelt Arakaki in 6-4 Lions Victory

Hiroshi Hirao was called back up from the minors due to starting second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi's aching hamstring and he really made his presence felt, cracking a three run fourth inning homer on the way to a four RBI night against Daiei Hawks starter Nagisa Arakaki in a 6-4 Seibu Lions victory. Arakaki, who dominated during spring training, was beset by one bad inning again and he was hung with this second loss in a complete game outing.

Koji Mitsui started for the Lions and permitted four runs, two earned, in 5.2 innings for his second shiroboshi.

Daiei staked Arakaki to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu lifted a fly ball to Kazuhiro Wada in left, but he geeked it. Muramatsu was sacrificed along and went home on a single to right by second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

They tacked on another in the third, as third baseman Mitsuru Honma singled to right and went to second on a sac bunt that was misplayed into an error. Honma went to third on a groundout and then tagged and busted for home on a sac fly to left by Iguchi to make it 2-0.

Seibu got off the mat in the bottom of the inning, as shortstop Kazuo Matsui singled to center and rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki beat out a grounder toward short. Centerfielder Kazuhiko Miyaji singled to right and Matsui strolled in to make it 1-1.

As he did in his regular season pro debut, Arakaki's defensive miscue helped the opposition grab a bunch of runs. Wada singled to center. DH Hiroyuki Shibata laid down a sac bunt, but the ball rolled under Arakaki's glove and everybody was safe. One out later, catcher Toru Hosokawa pinged a 91mph fastball off of the leftfield wall for a long RBI single. Hirao got a 91mph fastball, too, and he went to the opposite field with it, landing it in the rightfield bleachers to pull the Lions in front 5-2.

Daiei frittered away a chance to get back in it in the fifth when Takeshi Tsuji singled to left and was sacrificed to second. Muramatsu singled to right and stole second to put men on second and third with one out. Mitsui hit shortstop Munenori Kawasaki with an offering to fill the bases and now Iguchi was up with a shot at flipping this thing on its head with one pass of the bat. However, he rolled into a 6-4-3 double play and a golden opportunity went asunder.

Next time up, though, the Hawks did take a bite out of Matsui when DH Noriyoshi Omichi singled to left with two outs and leftfielder Pedro Valdez, who Mitsui knocked down with some chin music in the previous at bat, decided it was hammertime and rocketed one into the leftfield seats to make it 5-4 Lions.

Arakaki helped the Lions to another run in the ninth, as first baseman Taketoshi Goto singled to right and Shogo Akada came in to pinch run for him. Akada stole second. Arakaki wild pitched the runner to third. Hirao then hit a fly ball down the left field line that Honma was able to drift back on and snag. Akada tagged up and went home, but yet Hirao wasn't credited with a sacrifice fly though he was given an RBI. Huh? So I might not have this inning quite right.

There was also an item in one of the Japanese papers that Hosokawa had gotten a fastball in the head from Arakaki, resulting in Hosokawa being hurt enough to be loaded into an ambulance.However, he ultimately stayed in the game and Arakaki, who was clocked as high as 95mph, wasn't ejected even though he should have been in such a case. I think the writer might have miswrote this or I just totally screwed up the translation.

For Daiei, Valdez was 1-4 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .205.

For Seibu, McClain was 0-4 with two strikeouts and an error and is at .276.

Pitching Lines:

Seibu:

Mitsui (W, 2-0) IP 5.2 BF 26 PC 92 H 8 HR 1 K 4 BB 0 R 4 ER 2 ERA 2.63
T. Shiozaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 9 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Y. Doi IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 3 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.20
S. Mori IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.15
Toyoda (S, 3) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00

Daiei:

Arakaki (L, 0-2) IP 9.0 BF 37 PC 139 H 8 HR 1 K 11 BB 0 R 6 ER 5 ERA 5.52

E: K. Matsui, McClain, K. Wada, Arakaki, T. Shiozaki
SB: Akada, Muramatsu
HR: Hirao (1), P. Valdez (2)
RBI: Miyaji, Hosokawa, Hirao 4, Iguchi 2, P. Valdez 2
SF: Iguchi
WP: Arakaki
HBP: M. Kawasaki (Mitsui), Hosokawa (Arakaki)
GIDP: Johjima
LOB: Seibu 4, Daiei 6

Season Series: Seibu 1, Daiei 0

Game Time: 2:59
Attendance: 24,000
Umpires: Higashi (HP), Kakigizono (1B), Iizuka (2B), Sato (3B)

Tani Ninth Inning Sac Fly Gets Orix 4-4 Tie With Nippon Ham

The Nippon Ham Fighters were up 4-1 after six complete, but the Orix Blue Wave surged back with two in the seventh and another in the ninth to equalize it at 4-4. Nobody could put anything across through 12 and it was declared a tie. Masaru Yoshizaki, who was actually called "the new Fernando Valenzuela" by one of the Japanese sports press outlets for his habit of looking away before delivering home, started for Nippon Ham and pitched pretty well, going 5.2 innings of five hit, one run ball. Why he wasn't allowed to finish the inning, though, is a mystery unless he hurt himself.

Satoshi Tokumoto started for Orix and was taken out with two outs in the fifth after starting to get hit up. He ultimately surrendered two runs on seven hits during his stint.

Nippon Ham broke out on top in the third, as rightfielder Yoshinori Ueda doubled to leftcenter and was sacrificed to third. Tokumoto nailed second baseman Kokichi Akune with a pitch. Manager Trey Hillman called for the squeeze and centerfielder Hichori Morimoto got it down to score the run and it was 1-0.

In the fifth, the Fighters expanded on that when Akune outran a ground ball for an infield hit and Morimoto singled to center. Akune moved up on a groundout and third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara banged a singled to center to recall him to make it 2-0 Nippon Ham.

Orix pared that deficit in half in the sixth when shortstop Makoto Shiozaki singled tocenter and went to third on a single to right one out later by DH Scott Sheldon. Rightfielder Ikuro Katsuragi flied out to center and Shiozaki tagged up and hustled in and it was 2-1 Fighters.

Nippon Ham then struck for a pair in the home half when DH Tomochika Tsuboi got on thanks to an infield hit with one out. With two outs, catcher Shinji Takahashi powdered a fastball into the rightfield bleachers for his first pro homer in his seven years in the Fighters organization and the Fighters looked strong at 4-1.

Yukihiro Sakurai has gotten knocked around so far in the young season and this time was no different, as he entered in the seventh and, with two outs, Orix catcher Takeshi Hidaka and centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani singled to right, Ueda misplaying the ball so that the runners could each take an extra base. Takeshi Yamasaki went up to pinch hit for Shiozaki. He doubled to leftcenter for two RBIs to make it 4-3 Fighters.

Masashi Date took the mound in the ninth to try to save it. With one away, he walked third baseman Jose Ortiz, who went to third on a single to right by Hidaka. That brought up Tani, who flied out to right deep enough for Ortiz to tag up and put it in gear for the plate for the 4-4 tie.

The Fighters got a man to third in the bottom of the frame on a hit batter, a wild pitch and a sac bunt, but Jun Hagiwara struckout Morimoto and shortstop Makoto Kaneko and it went into extra innings.

Orix then had men on first and third in the tenth, but blew that when Katsuragi grounded to Date, who held the runner and then whipped it over to Kaneko, who gunned it to D.T. Cromer for the double play. Date then blew the next man away to quell the disturbance.

In the bottom of the 12th, Morimoto used his wheels for an infield hit and, one out later, Ogasawara walked. With Cromer at the plate and the count 3-2, Hillman flashed the hit and run sign. The runners took off. Cromer swung and missed and Morimoto was meat at third for the strike 'em out, thrown 'em out double play and the tie ballgame.

Orix rookie reliever Daisuke Kato was clocked at 93mph. He also throws what the Japanese press termed a "knuckler," but more likely it's a knuckle curve.

For Nippon Ham, Cromer was 1-5 with three strikeouts and is at .107. Leftfielder Angel Echevarria was 1-5 and is at .257.

For Orix, leftfielder Roosevelt Brown was 2-5 with a walk and is at .273. Sheldon was 2-6 and is at .243. Ortiz ended an 0-23 drought with a 1-4 , one walk night and is at .121.

Pitching Lines:

Orix:

Tokumoto IP 4.2 BF 20 PC 73 H 7 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.84
T. Yamamoto IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 6 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
D. Kato IP 3.0 BF 12 PC 59 H 4 HR 1 K 5 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.00
J. Hagiwara IP 2.0 BF 7 PC 30 H 0 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Makino IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 34 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.45

Nippon Ham:

Yoshizaki IP 5.2 BF 23 PC 86 H 5 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 0.75
Y.H. Sakurai IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 17 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.71
N. Takahashi IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 19 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Date IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 33 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.26
Shibakusa IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 31 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.06

E: Ueda, Tokumoto
SB: Morimoto
2B: Cromer, Ueda, Ortiz, T. Yamasaki, Brown 2
HR: S. Takahashi (1)
RBI: Tani, T. Yamasaki 2, Katsuragi, Morimoto, M. Ogasawara, S. Takahashi 2
SF: Katsuragi, Tani
IBB: Tani, Katsuragi
WP: J. Hagiwara
HBP: Akune (Tokumoto), S. Takahashi (J. Hagiwara)
GIDP: Hirai, Katsuragi, Goshima
LOB: Orix 11, Nippon Ham 9

Season Series: Orix 0, Nippon Ham 0, 1 Tie

Game Time: 4:19
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Nakamura (HP), Yanagita (1B), Tsugawa (2B), Akimura (3B)

Team Reports

Yomiuri Team coaches say that they intend to use the running game to get into Hideki Irabu's head when the Giants meet Hanshin in an upcoming series. They believe that if they can irritate him, it will make him lose focus and he will leave more hittable pitches in the strike zone, especially since he no longer throws nearly as hard as he used to....Masumi Kuwata was supposed to start Tuesday against Yakult, but when the game was rained out, he worked out indoors instead and threw 30 pitches. He is expected to start Wednesday....Also, during that same practice session, shortstop Tomohiro Nioka was struck on the angle when a ball managed to get through the netting of the batting cage. Fortunately, the injury was nothing to be concerned about and he will also play Wednesday.

Yakult Yataro Sakamoto may be used in relief during the upcoming two games with Yomiuri. He was supposed to start the first game of the series before it was rained out. Kevin Hodges will made the start Wednesday. It is also possible Jason Beverlin may get in a relief appearance as well....Manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu said that the rainout may have been a blessing due to all the injuries his club is suffering from. Outfielder Tetsuya Iida has an oblique muscle strain and Atsunori Inaba is experiencing some back pain.

Yokohama Shuichi Murata will be the emergency catcher should Takeshi Nakamura and Satoshi Nakajima go down with injuries. Murata played the position in high school ....Slumping Tyrone Woods may be sent down to the minors when Steve Cox is ready, according to Hochi Sports. He will be dropped in the batting order and manager Daisuke Yamashita hopes that will take some of the pressure off of him. Woods had a bad first half with Doosan last year, but rebounded with a strong second half to end up with a decent campaign. It is hoped that Cox will be ready bvy the 15th, though that is still up in the air.

Seibu Daisuke Matsuzaka played catch with Takashi Ishii Tuesday and says that he will be able to start against Daiei on the 14th after skipping what should have been his next start on the ninth.

Kintetsu Tomokazu Teramura was demoted to the minors while Yamashita was promoted....Second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi is experiencing discomfort in a quadracep muscle.

Lotte Ace Tomohiro Kuroki threw 100 pitches in a workout Tuesday, but there is still no firm timetable as to when he will be back in action.

Orix Makoto Suzuki made a minor league start Tuesday and permitted four runs on five hits in 6.1 innings. He left the game after taking a line drive off of a bicep. Nevertheless, he continues to be a dissapointment.

Hideki Matsui Just as addenda to the story below about Matsui's first game at Yankee Stadium, he got a 3-2 sixth pitch hanging changeup from Joe Mays in his 34th at bat this season and absolutely killed it. The intentional walk to Bernie Williams was only the second time in Matsui's pro career that the man in front of him had been willfully free passed. The one time it happened to him in Japan, it was in a game against Hanshin several years ago, with Shoji Toyama doing the honors. He walked and grounded out twice in the other three trips to the plate in Tuesday's game to raise his average to .290. It is the first time a Yankee has ever made his first homer with the team at Yankee Stadium a granny, though he is the sixth Yankee to make his first dinger with the team a bases loaded blast. His junior high school baseball coach, Takahiro Takakuwa, said that "I knew it was gone as soon as he made contact. He also said that he hopes Matsui will hit .300 with 30 homers this season. His high school coach at Seiryo High, Tomoshige Yamashita, said that he was happy Matsui was able to hit it with his parents in the stands. Ichiro, when he got word of Matsui's accomplishment, blurted, "you're kidding! That's amazing!" Tsuyoshi Shinjo said that it was likely to be give Matsui a big shot of confidence.

Miscellaneous This item from the China Post: "Taiwan's education system has not had a strong sports tradition. Yet that has changed recently, as more and more youths are drawn to Taiwan's major league baseball and the now wildly popular high school basketball league"....Ichiro Suzuki went 0-3 with an HBP in a victory over the Angels at (insurance company) Field Tuesday....Tsuyoshi Shinjo went 3-3 with an RBI Tuesday against Florida, that ribbie coming on a sac fly. All three knocks were singles.... Kazuhisa Ishii started for the Dodgers against Arizona at Dodgers Stadium and got taken downtown twice in a six inning stint that saw him give up three runs. Daryle Ward made a great diving catch behind him to save him some more grief as well....So Taguchi doubled in four at bats Tuesday for Memphis against Richmond.

Today's Pictures

Hideki Matsui on His Grand Salami

Akinori Otsuka Tuesday

Marc Valdes From the Batter's Perspective

Matsui Eager for Yankee Stadium Debut

See story at: NY Post Article

See related story at: Newark Star-Ledger Article

See another related story at: Hartford Courant Article

And one more related story at: Newsday Article

Gotham Godzilla Enthralls Local Japanese

See story at: NY Journal News Article

Matsui Has Grand Time in Yankee Stadium Debut