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05/20/2003 Archived Entry: "Japan Baseball News: Tigers 6.5 Game Lead; Kyojin 5th Place; Rhodes 16th & 17th HR"
Japan Baseball News: Tigers 6.5 Game Lead; Giants 5th Place; Rhodes 16th & 17th HR
by Robert Kiyoshi Shadlow
Sources: Japan Times (May 21, 2003); Mainichi Daily News (May 21, 2003)
Hanshin Tigers 4 - Hiroshima Carp 3:
Kei Igawa (6-3) pitched seven innings yielding only two earned runs and six hits to beat the Carp at Koshien Stadium. Jeff Williams notched his 12th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
Norihiro Akahoshi hit a game-tying triple and Shinjiro Hiyama hit the go-ahead single in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Jimmy Hurst had hit a two run double in the top of the sixth for Hiroshima.
Yakult Swallows 4 - Yomiuri Giants 1:
Masanori Ishikawa (3-3) threw a 114 pitch complete game allowing only one run and four hits while striking out eight batters to beat the Giants at Fukuoka Dome.
Noriyuki Shiroishi doubled in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning.
Hiroki Sanada (1-4) gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings to take the loss.
Chunichi Dragons - BayStars postponed due to rain:
The game was called after 1-1/2 scoreless innings at Yokohama Stadium.
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 12 - Nippon Ham Fighters 4:
The Hawks had a 10 hit and nine run thrid inning including Pedro Valdes' two run homer to crush the Fighters at Tokyo Dome.
Tsuyoshi Wada (5-2) struck out seven batters giving up four runs and eight hits in 7-2/3 innings to pick up his fifth save.
Kintetsu Buffaloes 14 - Seibu Lions 3:
Tuffy Rhodes' two three-run homers (16th & 17th HRs of 2003) were part of the Buffaloes 16-hit trouncing of the Lions at Osaka Dome.
Osamu Hoshino hit 3-for-3 including a solo home run.
Shinichi Kato (3-0) gave up only one run and four hits in six innings to pick up the win.
Losing pitcher Fumiya Nishiguchi (3-3) yielded 10 runs and 10 hits 3-1/3 innings.
Chiba Lotte Marines 6 - Orix BlueWave 2:
Jose Fernandez, Takashi Tachikawa, and Koichi Hori each hit solo home runs to lift the Marines past the BlueWave.
Nathan Minchey (4-3) allowed two runs in 6-1/3 innings to notch the victory at Yahoo BB Stadium.
NPB Salaries
The May 20, 2003 Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getsp.pl5?sb20030520a3.htm
reports the JPBPA 2003 average NPB salaries list.
The average salary for all 12 teams is 60.6 million yen. The Yomiuri Giants had the top average salary at 104 million yen and the Orix BlueWave bottomed out at 44.8 million yen per player.
The Giants have a combine team salary of 3.73 billion yen and the BlueWave Orix have a combined 1.67 billion yen per player., the survey showed.
62 players in NPB earn more than 100 million yen per year.
Nippon Professional Baseball
May 21, 2003
Central League
W L T Pct GB
28 14 1 .667 Hanshin Tigers
19 18 0 .513 6.5 Hiroshima Carp
22 21 0 .512 6.5 Chunichi Dragons
22 21 0 .512 6.5 Yakult Swallows
20 20 1 .500 7.0 Yomiuri Giants
12 29 0 .293 15.5 Yokohama BayStars
Pacific League
W L T Pct GB
26 16 1 .619 Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
24 18 0 .571 2.0 Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
23 19 1 .548 3.0 Seibu Lions
19 22 0 .463 6.5 Chiba Lotte Marines
16 23 2 .410 8.5 Nippon Ham Fighters
13 23 2 .361 10.0 Orix BlueWave
Current NPB All-Star Voting Site can be found at:
http://allstar.sanyo.co.jp/result/index_e.html
Here is the site to vote for the Japanese All-Star Team:
http://allstar.sanyo.co.jp/vote/index_e.html
