[Previous entry: "Phillies Journal - 2003"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Japan to Send Dream Team to Athens, But WIll U.S. Qualify?"]
08/09/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Basebal News: Iwamura Makes Wroing Fielder's Choice; Iguchi Being Ignored?"
Giants Blow Five Run Lead, But Iwamura Then Hands Them Win
The Yomiuri Giants shaky bullpen blew a 5-2 lead Friday to deny 19 year old lefty Masanori Hayashi his first pro win, but then normally reliable Yakult third baseman Akinori Iwamura made a bad decision on where to send the ball in the bottom of the eighth that lead to a bases loaded chance for the kyojin, who cashed it in with a Koji Goto sac fly for a 6-5 victory at Tokyo Dome.
Hayashi, whose father was in the stands for this one, had at least one man on in each inning, but he had a good biting forkball and fanned nine Swallows batters while walking none to put himself in a position for the shiroboshi. And if he has any MLB ambitions, he picked a good night to be on the hill, since Atlanta Assistant to the GM Chuck McMichael was taking this in with scout Hiroyuki Ohya by his side.
2002 Rookie of the Year Masanori Ishikawa started for the birds and he didn't have much, as Yomiuri shortstop Tomohiro Nioka did his best Edgar Martinez ace by inside outing a hanging slider on the inner half of the plate on a line into the rightfield seats to open the first for a quick 1-0 Giants advantage.
Yomiuri then opened up on the screwballer in the fourth, as first baseman Akira Etoh drew a walk to commence the frame and Takayuki Shimizu, who is normally stationed in left due to his perceived defensive shortcomings but was penciled in to play centerfield in this affair, legged out a slow roller toward second. Ishikawa picked Etoh, who is likely to be released at season's end, off of second for the first out. That didn't stop the Giants, who got a double off the centerfield fence from second baseman Toshihisa Nishi to put men on second and third. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe, who is flaunting an .883 OPS and a .302 average, banged a single to right to convert the two runners to widen it to 3-0. Hayashi moved Abe up with a sac bunt. With first base open, Nioka was intentionally walked. Veteran third baseman Masahiro Kawai torched a shot up the leftcenter alley and all the way to the wall and Abe and Nioka were both homeward bound to make it 5-0 home team.
Yakult finally got off the floor in the top of the fifth when rightfielder Hirobumi Watarai cranked one into the centerfield seats kicking off the fifth to shorten it to 5-1 Yomiuri. Hayashi got through the sixth fine and was hoping to go all the way when he came on for the seventh, but second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi tattooed a forkball into the leftcenterfield stands to get his side within 5-2 and Giants manager Tatsunori Hara, concerned that Hayashi having his outpitch taken downtown was a sign that the youngster was tiring, dialed local for Yuya Kubo, who induced a groundout. However, pinch hitter Mitsuru Manaka scalded a two bagger to rightcenter and backup catcher Kosei Ono walked. They advanced on a dribbler near the mound by centerfielder Tetsuya Iida that Kubo could only go to first on. Shortstop Shinya Miyamoto walked to pack the sacks. First baseman Todd Betts smacked a single to right to usher Ono and Manaka in and now it was a one run ballgame at 5-4. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez checked in with a chance to tie it up, but he flew out to left for the third out.
Yukinaga Maeda was dispatched to the hill for Yomiuri in the eighth and he didn't get it done, either. With two gone, pinch hitter Ken Suzuki hammered a double into the leftfield corner. He was pinch run for by Hajime Miki. Pinch hitter Shinichi Sato slapped a ball through the middle and Miki blazed around to even it at 5-5.
That would soon change, as in the bottom of the stanza, the Giants got a break and transformed it into a win. With one away, Shimizu spanked a single to right off of reliever Ryota Igarashi. Nishi grounded to Iwamura, who was thinking force at second, but the peg to the bag was late. Abe finagled a free pass to fill the basepaths. Goto, pinch hitting for Maeda, then lofted a fly ball to center and Shimizu tagged up and hustled in to put it at 6-5 Yomiuri.
Righthander Julio Santana, who joined the Giants in mid-June and has gotten hammered for eight earned runs in his 14 innings at the center of a Japanese diamond, including two homers, walked a man with one down in the top of the ninth, but then tempted Betts to ground into a 3-6-1 twin killing and this one was in the books.
Hayashi expressed a little bit of anger to reporters after the game that he wasn't allowed to go all the way. That's kind of a ballsy move for a first year pitcher, though he has struckout 41 in 29.2 innings for the team's beleaguered staff and is sporting a 4-1 K/BB ratio, so they pretty much have to keep him around at this point. On the downside, his ERA is a mediocre 3.94 and he has seen five of his deliveries leave the yard already.
Nioka's game opening blast was his first such leadoff homer since May 1999. "It was a hard pitch to handle, but I pulled my hands inside the ball and got the good part of the bat on it," the 2002 Japan Series MVP commented.
Kawai laid down another sac bunt and needs one more to tie former Philadelphia A's Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins world record of 511.
Furuta left the game before the fifth due to being struck on the ankle with a pitch in the second and suffered a bone bruise. He is day to day.
Ohya told reporters that he and McMichael will be checking out all 12 Japanese pro teams. When asked if this might involve interest in Kazuo Matsui, Ohya was non-commital. It's hard to see where Atlanta could put the Seibu shortstop, unless they want to move Marcus Giles in a deal for more starting pitching or let Vinny Castilla go. Neither is very likely. .
For Yomiuri, leftfielder Roberto Petagine was 0-4 and is at .282. While he only has 19 homers so far, the ex-Phillie has struckout just 44 times while taking 58 walks and has an ungodly .448 OBP alongside his .620 SLG. Part of the disappointing power numbers are due to his being injured this season, as he has been up to the plate a mere 268 times to date, so we might see a big spurt down the stretch.
For Yakult, Betts was 1-5 with two RBIs and three strikeouts and is at .301. Ramirez was 0-4 with two whiffs and is at .336. Ramirez' OPS is .997 at present with 26 homers and a phenomenal 95 RBIs in 95 games.
Pitching Lines:
Yakult:
M. Ishikawa IP 4.0 BF 21 PC 70 H 9 HR 1 K 1 BB 2 R 5 ER 5 ERA 3.99
Yamabe IP 2.0 BF 7 PC 30 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.47
H. Sato IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 8 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
Ryo. Igarashi (L, 2-3) IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.79
Yomiuri:
M. Hayashi IP 6.0 BF 24 PC 91 H 5 HR 2 K 9 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.94
Kubo IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 31 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.94
Y. Maeda (W, 4-2) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 22 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.33
Santana (S, 2) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 18 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.14
SB: S. Sato
2B: Y. Takahashi, T.Y. Shimizu 2, Nishi, M. Kawai, Manaka, K. Suzuki,
HR: Nioka (23), Watarai (1), Dobashi (1)
RBI: Betts 2, Dobashi, Watarai, S. Sato, Nioka, M. Kawai 2, S. Abe 2, K. Goto
SF: K. Goto
IBB: Nioka (M. Ishikawa)
HBP: Furuta (M. Hayashi)
GIDP: Betts (3-6-1)
LOB: Yakult 7, Yomiuri 7
Game Time: 3:38
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Nishimoto (HP), Ino (1B), Tomoyose (2B), Suginaga (3B)
Oshima RBI Knock Wins it in 12 for Lions 4-3
Seibu Lions rightfielder Hiroyuki Oshima lined a single to center with the bases loaded in the top of the 12th inning Friday at Chiba Marine Stadium to down the Chiba Lotte Marines 4-3. Kazuyuki Hoashi snapped up the victory while reliever Takao Inoue
accepted blame for the defeat.
Hiroyuki Kobayashi started for Lotte and got some defensive help in the first, as, with one out and centerfielder Hiroyuki Shibata on second due to a walk and a stolen base, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to center. Centerfielder Toshio Haru got to the ball quickly and fired a strike to the plate in time to nail the runner and keep it scoreless.
Chang Chia-chia started for Seibu and he had a little easier beginning, striking out the side. He ultimately got ano decision.
In the third, rightfielder Kenji Morozumi singled to center with one away. One out later, Chang hung a changeup to third baseman Rick Short, who deposited it in the leftfield bleachers for his first jack since May 26th and a 2-0 Lotte lead.
An inning later, Lotte second baseman Koichi Hori belted a drive to the rightcenterfield wall and motored in on a subsequent knock to right by catcher Tomoya Satozaki and the Lions were under a 3-0 deficit.
The Tokorozawa nine finaly dented Kobayashi in the sixth, as he hung a slider to first baseman Alex Cabrera, who airmailed it into the leftfield seats to narrow it to 3-1 Lotte.
The Lions chipped another run off of that in the seventh when shortstop Kazuo Matsui thumped an offering from reliever Takashi Kawai into the rightfield stands to tighten it up to 3-2 Lotte. Kawai was pulled in favor of Hiroshi Tobe. Backup centerfielderTomoaki Sato beat out a bleeder toward third and went to second when Short threw the ball away. Wada whacked a single to center and Sato set the controls for the heart of home plate to equalize it at 3-3.
Lotte squandered a two on, one out opportunity and a bases loaded two out chance in the 11th against Hoashi, so on came Inoue to face Wada in the 12th and he walked him and Cabrera. DH Taketoshi Goto singled to right to juice the bags. washed up southpaw Takehiro Hashimoto was drafted to face Oshima, who swung at the first pitch he saw and propelled it into center for the RBI, though Cabrera was out at the plate trying to score himself. Nevertheless, the Lions were in front 4-3.
With one out in the bottom of the 12th, shortstop Makoto Kosaka walked. For whatever reason, Lotte skipper Koji Yamamoto chose to give Seibu a free out by sacrificing the runner along. Now the pressure was on DH Jose Fernandez, who has been having a decent, if unspectacular initial season in Japan after ripping it up in the KBO last year. He grounded harmlessly to second and it was see you later.
Kazuo Matsui finished 2-6 on the night to raise his average to .297.
For Lotte, Short was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .278. Fernandez was 0-6 with three strikeouts and is at .267.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 with an RBI and three walks and is at .329. His OPS is 1.158. Third baseman Scott McClain was 0-2 and is at .225.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Chang IP 7.1 BF 29 PC 126 H 7 HR 1 K 8 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.12
S. Mori IP 1.2 BF 6 PC 24 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.31
Toyoda IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.22
Hoashi (W, 4-5) IP 2.0 BF 10 PC 32 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.28
Lotte:
H.Y. Kobayashi IP 6.0 BF 26 PC 117 H 7 HR 1 K 5 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.95
T. Kawai IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 12 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.29
Tobe IP 0.0 BF 3 PC 6 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 0 ERA 3.72
Sikorsky IP 2.2 BF 10 PC 47 H 1 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.46
M.H. Kobayashi IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 22 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.23
T. Inoue (L, 0-1) IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 18 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.40
T.H. Hashimoto IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 1 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.20
Yabuta IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.65
E: Short
SB: K. Matsui, H.Y. Shibata, J. Inoue
2B: T.T. Goto, Hori 2, Kosaka, T. Sato
HR: Short (7), Cabrera (36), K. Matsui (22),
RBI: K. Matsui, K. Wada, Cabrera, H.Y. Oshima, Short 2, Satozaki
IBB: Cabrera (Sikorsky)
LOB: Seibu 13, Lotte 10
Game Time: 5:03
Attendance: 16,000
Umpires: Yamasaki (HP), Maeda (1B), Kakigizono (2B), Tachibana (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri In Thursday's game, lefthander Kimiyasu Kudoh became the first 40 year old Giants pitcher ever to rack up a complete game victory. Moreover, according to Sports Nippon, the last Central League hurler to do that was the great Yutaka Ono of the Hiroshima Carp in 1997.
Yakult Jason Beverlin, who has been a real plus for an injury plagued Swallows rotation this season, is now on the shelf with what is being termed "minor ligament damage" in his elbow. I'm not sure the words "minor" and "ligament damage go together very well. In any event, he will miss the rest of August.
HanshinThe Koshien Summer High School Baseball Tournament is on right now and that means that the Tigers are hitting the road and it has struck back hard, as they have dropped their last two in a row and three out of five and Shinjiro Hiyama has been put on the disabled list after spraining his left oblique muscle while fouling off a pitch Friday. Hiyama had to be removed with the count 1-2 and Yutaka Nakamura was put in his stead. It is thought that he won't be ready to play again until the Japan Series at the earliest. The Tigers are also missing rightfielder Osamu Hamanaka, who is gone for the remainder of the schedule thanks to a shoulder surgery and ancient catcher Akihiro Yano needs some rest right now, as he was given yesterday's tilt off upon complaining of an aching back. It's not like Hiyama has been having a huge year, because he hasn't, hitting .276 with 13 homers and a .799 OPS. Fortunately, even if the Tigers have a bad month, they have a huge lead in the CL pennant race and need only a combination of 29 wins or Yakult losses to clinch it. The so-called "shi no roodo (death march)" has put an end to many Hanshin pennant ambitions in the past, but with all the injuries that Yomiuri has suffered (not to mention their unsightly bullpen), they are done and Yakult is just too inconsistent to make up that kind of yawning gap. In the wake of the injury, manager Senichi Hoshino has revised his lineup, putting centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi in the leadoff spot and dropping Makoto Imaoka into the three hole. The cleanup spot will be on a day by day basis.... Imaoka and southpaw ace Kei Igawa were named Player of the Month and Pitcher or the Month respectively. Imaoka is in the hunt for his first ever batting title.
ChunichiCloser Eddie Gaillard, unhappy at being confined to the minors after being hit hard this season with the Dragons, has been released and subsequently signed a deal with Yokohama. He will join his new club Sunday.
HiroshimaAccording to the Japan Times, when Chris Brock balked twice Tuesday in a game against Chunichi in the sixth inning at Nagoya Dome, it gave him 11 for the season, a new Japanese pro record. Despite the miscues, though, Brock siezed the victory to improve his record to 5-6.
YokohamaThe Bays Stars front office is going to reward its players with bonuses if they beat Hanshin during their upcoming series beginning August, as they will receive one million yen (about $8,000) if they take one game of the series and two million yen if they sweep all three faceoffs. I thought players signed contracts to go all out in every game. If the players need extra incentives to win, you need new players....And in a ridiculous turn of events, the same front office is saying that they may draft only five players or less in November to keep the overhead down. So let's see: You have a crap pen, a third rate starting rotation and your leading slugger is an aging foreigner and you are only going to go after five or fewer newbies? Somebody needs their head examined.
SeibuThe Boston Globe reported that they heard from a scout that Kazuo Matsui's wife, Mio, is taking english lessons in preparation for a move to this side of the Pacific. God only knows where the scout got that info.
DaieiA couple of U.S. media outlets are reporting that the Mets are going to pursue Tadahito Iguchi. If they Mets reel in the Hawks second baseman, they will then have a keystone combination that they can depend on for a few years, which will give that squad more much needed stability, not to mention reliable defense....Rookie fireballer Nagisa Arakaki, who hurt a tendon in his foot a few days ago, had surgery earlier today to fix the problem. He is expected to be back with the birds of prey in mid-September. A better idea might be to shut Arakaki down for the rest of the season given his young age and the fact that he has experienced the usual rookie growing pains, though he only thrown 121 innings. Let the boy heal up and come back really breathing fire next season, Oh-kantoku. For the Japan Series, that would then leave a three man rotation of Kazumi Saito, who is likely to be bestowed with a Sawamura Award, Rookie of the Year candidate Tsuyoshi Wada (11-3, 3.03 3-1 K/BB and a whiff an inning) and the 3.26 ERA of Toshiya Sugiuchi, not too shabby. The downside to that, however, would be that they are all pretty young and none of them have post season experience. On the other hand, almost nobody on Hanshin's entire club has been in a Japan Series, either, and Daiei has been in two such fall classics in the last four years....According to Sports Nippon, sources within the Hawks say that they are likely to ask Julio Zuleta back for next season.
OrixManager Leon Lee said that he won't give up hope that the team can finish at .500 until they lose their 71st game (though, as Sports Nippon points out, the Blue Wave have three ties, so they will turn the corner at 69). Let's hope that the Orix front office doesn't blame the respected Lee for the mediocre cast he was burdened with and keeps him on for at least next season.
MiscellaneousIf anyone is wondering what happened to Brent Brede since he left Japan a few years back, he is now the basketball coach for Wesclin High School in New Jersey, his alma mater....Another former Japan alum, first baseman Andy Abad, just won Batter of the Week honors in the Inetrnational League for Boston's affiliate there.... The Canadian media site, Covers.com, notes that Hideki Matsui leads all rookies in RBIs and has the same number that Derek Jeter accumulated when the shortstop grabbed a Rookie of the Year in 1996.
Koshien TournamentKiryu Number One High School outfielder Tomo Kikuchi was credited with the 1000th homer in Koshien High School Baseball Tournament history Thursday, when he drilled one down the rightfield line with men on first and second in the second inning and then lumbered around the bases after Shinko Gakuen's rightfielder failed to come up with a diving catch for an inside the park three run roundtripper.Kikuike did that despite having slightly below average speed. This was the 2450th game in Koshien annals....Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Dodgers Hope to Bag a Lion
According to Sports Nippon, Dodgers president Bob Graziano as well as VP Tommy Lasorda are in Japan right now "looking to strengthen our ballclub," according to the biggest of the blue bigshots. That would be code for their quest to put a Lion in their tank, specifically a lion named Kazuo Matsui.
Matsui has been hot recently after a long slump that saw his average fall into the low 270's. Moreover, he has already made 13 errors, which isn't terrible, but compared to his previous two campaigns, where he said "oops!" just nine times each for the full season, he has to be disappointed overall. He has 23 homers, so it hasn't affected his power numbers, but on the other hand, he has only eight steals despite the fact that he is faster than Ichiro Suzuki and he already has 85 whiffs in 458 plate appearances, an almost 20% strikeout clip.
Matsui may be trying too hard to put up monster numbers so that he receives even more monstrous money from L.A., Arizona, San Diego or Seattle, but unless he just kills in the final six weeks, that appears to have backfired. In addition, with the Yankees likely to backout after having aquired Aaron Boone, Matsui could be disappointed with the offer sheets he sees. Arizona really can't afford him, Dan Evans is a masterful miser in L.A. and San Diego just has no chance. But then again, if the Sporting News' Ken Rosenthal is right, the Orioles may take a run at Matsui and Peter Angelos has a generous checkbook. Then there is this:
Iguchi Getting Left Out as Attention Focuses on Matsui
One of the reasons the Daiei Hawks are in front in the Pacific League right now despite missing slugging third sacker Hiroki Kokubo is that second baseman Tadahito Iguchi has improved in just about every phase of his offensive game. A classic pull hitter, even with the big 30 homer, 44 steal season he rang up in 2001, he had never hit for a good average, he struckout too much and he was abysmal with runners in scoring position (.246 through 2002).
But what a difference a new year makes: The 5'9" 185 pound Aoyama Gakuin University product has been going with the pitch in 2003 and is now third in the Pacific League in hitting with a .344 mark and boasts a gaudy 1.026 OPS to accompany 19 homers, 71
RBIs and 29 steals through only 96 games. He has also startlingly reduced his strikeouts to 53 in more than 450 plate appearances and has worked 56 walks. Put this together with a slick glove and he may end up being a surprisingly pleasant aquisition for someone this coming offseason when he's posted. Originally, I had him pegged as an infield version of Tsuyoshi Shinjo, but now his MLB future is looking much brighter. If Kazuo Matsui is Japan's Barry Larkin, Iguchi is its Brett Boone right now. The question is, are MLB GM's paying attention? Put him in a Cubs uni, where Bobby Hill has been a disappointment and Mark Grudzielanek is just a spare part, and he may do some damage. Since he will come much cheaper than Matsui, he might also be a good fit for L.A., Boston or San Diego. How about Colorado? Yikes!
Note to Baseball Media: Time to Knock it off, Guys
"If you took an all star team of their best players and put them in one of our major league divisions, they would have a hard time winning half of their games." (Davey Johnson)
It seems more and more writers are grousing about Hideki Matsui and other veteran Japanese players being eligible for Rookie of the Year, with Peter Gammons saying that Kazuhiro Sasaki actually thanked him for being against longtime PL or CL exiles being able to take the trophy home. While I have serious doubts about the veracity of Gammons' statement (two words Peter: Mike Barnicle), those who propound this point of view are guilty of egregious intellectual dishonesty that puts a whole new twist on political correctness and is perhaps a thinly veiled indication that they have it in for the Japanese on some level.
The aforementioned pundits mention the quality of the Japanese leagues and talk about how it dishonors those circuits when their big stars are credited with a rookie accolade. Talk about patronizing and p.c.! While Baseball Guru.com readers are familiar with my views on the issue, they are worth propounding again: The fact is that the Japanese leagues are not anywhere near as good as the American or National Leagues. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays would go over there and win the pennant in a walk. In addition, there is no team in MLB anywhere near as bad as the Orix Blue Wave nor as pitching challenged as the Yokohama Bay Stars, Daisuke Miura notwithstanding. About 70% of the players in Japan don't have an ant's chance in hell of ever donning an MLB uniform.
That may seem harsh, but it is a simple matter of mathematics. The Japanese leagues draw from a population of 130 million, one that is nowhere near as sports crazed as the U.S., by the way, whereas MLB draws players from all over the world. Imagine what
the bigs would be like if you didn't have Dominicans, Japanese, Puerto Ricans and Veneuzuelans, or limited their squads to four non-Americans apiece. It would be a joke compared to the brand of ball we see these days, but due to the U.S. being almost 300 million strong populationwise, it would still be better than Japan's product. Therefore, once a top hitter in Japan got to the third or fourth starter in a Japanese team's rotation or into their bullpen, he might as well be digging in while wearing a bib, since it is now time to dine. That's why Ichiro hasn't hit .380 with Seattle, Hideki Matsui has looked more like the Geico geko than Godzilla with the Yankees and Kazuhisa Ishii and Hideo Nomo are six inning pitchers at best with the Dodgers. It also explains why Shigetoshi Hasegawa, a solid starter while a teammate of Ichiro's in Kobe, gets lit up if he goes more than twice through an MLB lineup (referencing his starts with Anaheim). When Sasaki was with Yokohama, as soon as the bullpen gate opened, the opposition was literally packing their bags. Not true stateside. Billy Wagner he is not, even with the more than honorable numbers he has earned for the M's.
Let's also not forget that when those same writers look at Tuffy Rhodes' and Alex Cabrera's power numbers with Kintetsu and Seibu, the first reaction out of their pens is usually something like, "yeah, but that's in Japan in those small ballparks with inferior competition." They can't have it both ways. What is it boys? If you think the Japanese leagues are indeed on a par with MLB, then you also have to accept Rhodes and Cabrera's feats as legitimate. Are you willing to swallow Roosevelt Brown and Roberto Petagine as genuine .300 hitters? You have to now, don't you? So then please explain to me why So Taguchi, a .277 career hitter in Japan, looks like a Little League refugee here. One well known writer, when I asked him what would happen if Godzilla Matsui, when you combine his MLB and Japan numbers, played in more consecutive games than Cal Ripken, replied, "it would be an interesting curosity," but it would not be a new record. Excuse me?
It is no secret that the U.S. and Japan have been fierce competitors going back to the days of the Meiji Restoration (1868). I think some of this debate over the rookie award is a carry over of resentment toward Japan in general and that their justification is phony. At one time, Japanese-Americans were "aliens ineligible for citizenship." Is this just a new manifestation of that kind of thinking? I'm not sure it's on such a conscious level, but whatever reason the writers who want to deny Japanese the Rookie of the Year crown use, it rings hollow and little bit dark.
Ironically, it is going to be academic anyway. Rocco Baldelli, who is a better all around player than Matsui, deserves the Rookie of the Year title and will likely get it.
Amputation Doesn't Stop Soga at Koshien Tournament
The wildly popular Koshien High School Baseball Tournament gets an enormous amount of media coverage. This time around, reporters are focusing on a human interest angle involving the third baseman of Imabari Nishi High School, Kenta Soga. As a five year old, Soga's left foot was mangled in an accident in his family's tangerine orchard, necessitating the amputation of it just below the ankle. He was outfitted with a plastic artificial limb and it appeared that athletics would be out of the question.
However, in third grade, he started playing "nanshiki (a type of baseball with a softer core than a normal baseball)" baseball and eventually was accepted into the baseball program at Imabari Nishi, which has several pro players among its alumni over the years. He switched to a custom made lightweight carbon model, but when he went through his growth spurt, he had to get new ones twice a year.
Before being converted to third base a year ago, Soga was a pitcher and had one of the artificial limbs break on him during a practice game, causing him to be taken out. He had changes made to the construction of the limb and during the prefectural qualifying tourney, he lit up the opposition to the tune of a .571 average. His first Koshien game wasn't to be so sweet, though.
His first time up against Nichidai Tohoku High School, he drilled a shot between third and short, only to have his opposite number make a spectacular headlong diving catch. He then struckout his next two times up and then sacrificed in his final plate appearance. But at least he will live to play another day, since Imabari Nishi won to move on in the tourney and he did handle both of his defensive chances flawlessly.
Japanese pro scouts were very complimentary about how Soga fared,noting that he throws very accurately. One said that he thinks Soga would make a fine coach someday and Daiei's spy offered that he couldn't tell that Soga was playing with an artificial foot. Soga, however, indicated to friends that he finds all the media attention he is receiving to be disconcerting even if he becomes an inspiration for others with disabilities. It will be interesting to see if the cameras and hubbub affects his performance the rest of the way.
Despite Reyes Being on the Team, Mets Still Want Little Matsui...
They have no chance of signing him, though. See story at: New Jersey Star-Ledger Article
While Yomiuri Fans Move on After Godzilla Goes Broadway
See story at: New Jersey.com Article
Tadano Moves Up and Dominates for Cleveland
See story at: Beacon-Journal Article
To Sell or Not to Sell; That is the Question for Daiei
I'll have more to say about this issue tomorrow. See story at: Bloomberg.com Article
Replies: 1 Comment
- Ironically, it is going to be academic anyway. Rocco Baldelli, who is a better all around player than Matsui, deserves the Rookie of the Year title and will likely get it.
Matsui: .299/.358/.469 - 15 HR - 84 RBI
Baldelli: .298/.329/.441 - 9 HR - 58 RBI
I know you're not a big fan of Hideki, but there is no way Baldelli beats him out for ROY. Even if Matsui weren't playing in the media capitol of North America, he's still having a better year.
Posted by Joe @ 08/12/2003 09:24 PM EST
