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08/13/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Braves' Bigwig McMichael Now a Matsuzaka Fan on a "Slammin'" Monday"
Takagi Slam Backs Matsuzaka's 13th Victory
Seibu ace Daisuke Matsuzaka wasn't sharp by his standards in the this game against Kintetsu, but thanks to a grand slam in the second inning by second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi he was able to cart off his 13th victory of the season 7-5 over the Kintetsu Buffaloes Monday at Seibu Dome. When he found out Atlanta Braves Assistant to the GM Chuck McMichael was at the game and compared him to Tim Hudson, the young righty expressed more irritation than anything else since he just was not happy with his showing. However, he was still clocked at a high of 96mph and struckout seven while walking only one.
Hisashi Iwakuma, who, like Matsuzaka, is also competing for the ERA crown, got drilled in this one for a pair of homers and all seven home team tallies to absorb his seventh defeat.
The Buffs drew first blood in the second, as third baseman Norihiro Nakamura singled to center, but was doubled off when DH Hirotoshi Kitagawa scorched a liner right at first baseman Taisei Takagi, who stepped on the bag to clear the basepaths. Kintetsu first baseman Yuji Yoshioka then clubbed one off the leftfield wall for a double and rightfielder Koichi Isobe brought him home with a single to center to make it 1-0 visitors.
Iwakuma, though, didn't get much time to enjoy the lead, as the Lions mauled him in the bottom portion. First baseman Alex Cabrera went to the opposite field and pinged it into the rightfield corner for a double. Isobe probably should have caught it, but he seemed to lose it in the lights. One out later, rightfielder Hiroyuki Oshima singled to center for a game tying knock. Third baseman Scott McClain singled to left. Catcher Tsutomu Itoh grounded to shortstop Masahiro Abe, who made an unspecified fielder's choice that was tardy to load the bases. That brought up Takagi, who mashed it into a the rightfield bleachers to put the Lions ahead 5-1. That was also his career baest third homer and his first lifetime granny.
Both starters calmed things down for the next two innings, but then Kintetsu dented Matsuzaka again in the fifth when Abe singled to center, catcher Akihito Fujii singled to right. Second baseman Osamu Hoshino banged a single to right and Hiroyuki Oshima winged the ball to the plate in an attempt to cut Abe down, but the throw was wide of the mark and Fujii was able to motor around on the error to shrink the Seibu advantage to 5-3.
In the sixth, Yoshioka belted a one out Matsuzaka delivery into the rightfield seats and it was a one run ballgame at 5-4.
But Seibu grabbed that back in their segment of that frame, as Taisei Takagi doubled down the leftfield line and, following an intentional walk to Oshima, McClain redeemed Takagi with an RBI single to left to make it 6-4 Lions.
An inning later, Matsui's likely successor at shortstop, Hiroyuki Nakajima, sent up to pinch hit for centerfielder Tomoaki Sato, crushed an Iwakuma pitch beyond the centerfield wall to put a three run gap between the two teams at 7-4.
Kiyoshi Toyoda, who came into the game with an unbelievable 0.22 ERA and not having been scored on since April, to close it out for the Tokorozawa contingent, was taken over the rightcenterfield wall by pinch hitter Daisuke Masuda. He then fanned the final two batters to strikeout the side and earn his 28th save. Toyoda, whose outpitch is a nasty forkball, hadn't been victimized by the longball since July of 2002, when Nakamura tagged him.
Seibu now has six grand slams this season as a team, second to Kintetsu, who leads all of Japanese baseball with seven.
Hiroyuki Oshima has owned Iwakuma in his last few encounters with him, cracking eight straight hits off of him and is 8-11 overall, a .727 clip, against the skinny Buffs hurler.
Because of the comparison of Hudson with Matsuzaka, Sankei Sports did a little writeup on the Oakland moundsman.
For Kintetsu, leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes was 0-4 and is at .273.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-4 and is at .327. McClain was 2-3 with an RBI and is at .232. Matsui was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .296.
Pitching Lines:
Kintetsu:
Iwakuma (L, 12-7) IP 6.1 BF 29 PC 103 H 8 HR 2 K 6 BB 1 R 7 ER 7 ERA 2.97
A. Okamoto IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.97
H. Koike IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.19
Aikyo IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.12
Seibu:
Matsuzaka (W, 13-4) IP 7.0 BF 29 PC 99 H 8 HR 1 K 7 BB 1 R 4 ER 3 ERA 2.15
S. Mori IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.26
Toyoda (S, 28) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 23 H 1 HR 1 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.43
E. H.Y. Oshima
2B: Yoshioka, Cabrera, T. Takagi,
HR: H. Takagi (3), Yoshioka (11), H.Y. Nakajima (2), Masuda (6)
RBI: Hoshino, Yoshioka, Isobe, Masuda, H.Y Nakajima, H.Y. Oshima, McClain,
Takagi 4
IBB: H.Y. Oshima (Iwakuma)
LOB: Kintetsu 5, Seibu 4
Season Series: Kintetsu 11, Seibu 10
Game Time: 3:08
Attendance: 35,000
Umpires: Kakigizono (HP), Nakamura (1B), Sakaemura (2B), Tachibana (3B)
Shimada Eighth Inning Slam Helps Nippon Ham Pull Away 8-2
Monday was a theme night, apparently, as a late grand slam by Nippon Ham DH Kazuteru Shimada off of Masato Yoshii at Tokyo Dome put the Orix Blue Wave away 8-2. Fighters starter Satoru Kanemura cadged his fourth shiroboshi in a row and fifth in six decisions after having to make changes to his mechanics after hurting his elbow earlier in the season. He was clocked at 89mph.
Neither side had a hit for the initial three innings, but Orix finally broke the stalemate in the fourth when first baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani singled to center, went to second on a sacrifice and put it in gear for home when centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani singled to left to make it 1-0.
Nippon Ham countered in the bottom of the same stanza when rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi walked, went to second on a groundout and scampered around on an Angel Echevarria double into the leftcenter alley to level it at 1-1.
However, Orix went right back on top 2-1 when DH Takeshi Yamasaki bashed a Kanemura pitch into the leftfield bleachers leading off the fifth.
The Fighters compensated for that in the sixth, as second baseman Hiroshi Narahara doubled down the leftfield line and Tsuboi doubled into the rightfield corner. Third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara walked. Echevarria singled to left to pakc the sacks. First baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto grounded out to first to drive Narahara in. Shimada flew out to center and Tsuboi tagged up and scored to up the Nippon Ham hegemony to 4-2.
Both sides kept the other at bay until the eighth, when Tsuboi walked and went to third on Ogasawara's screaming double down the rightfield line. One out later, Kimoto was intentionally walked to set up a force at every base. Shimada then got good wood on a forkball and buried it in the centerfield seats and this one was effectively over at 8-2. Yoshinori Tateyama retired all three Blue Wave hitters in the ninth to turn out the lights.
For Orix, leftfielder Roosevelt Brown was 0-3 with a walk and is at .329. Second baseman Jose Ortiz was 0-4 and is at .235.
For Nippon Ham, Echevarria was 2-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .246.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Makino (L, 2-1) IP 5.1 BF 23 PC 82 H 5 HR 0 K 4 BB 2 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.95
J. Hagiwara IP 1.2 BF 7 PC 25 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.68
Yoshii IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 19 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.51
Nippon Ham:
Kanemura (W, 7-5) IP 8.0 BF 29 PC 116 H 5 HR 1 K 6 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.62
Tateyama IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.57
SB: Ishimoto
2B: Echevarria, Tsuboi, Narahara, M. Ogasawara
HR: T. Yamasaki (12), K. Shimada (8)
RBI: Y. Tani, T. Yamasaki, Tsuboi, Echevarria, Kimoto, Shimada 5
SF: K. Shimada
IBB: Kimoto (Yoshii)
LOB: Orix 3, Nippon Ham 3
Season Series: Orix 8, Nippon Ham 10 1 Tie
Game Time: 2:39
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Maeda (HP), Tsugawa (1B), Akimura (2B), Yamamoto (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri According to Chunichi Sports, the Giants are taking a serious look at drafting Kenta Soga of Imabari Nishi Hgh School. Soga plays on a prosthetic foot after having a farm accident at age five that resulted in his foot being amputated below the ankle. One can't feel that this is more for publoic relations than for Soga's actual ability. He runs the 50 meters in 6.7 seconds, which would make him one of the slowest players in Japanese pro ball and he doesn't really have the size to compensate for it with some sock. So we'll see how this plays out.
YakultThe front office is reportedly considering attempting to lure Tsuyoshi Shinjo back to Japan. I hope they come to their senses....Pitcher Nobuyuki Ebisu has a bum knee that will require season ending surgery. He will undergo the procedure on the
14th.
ChunichiTeam management is toying with the idea of having righthander Kenjiro Kawasaki make his first ever start for the Dragons on the 22nd against Hiroshima. However, that will depend on how he fares in his next minor league appearance on the 16th....Number one draft choice Ryosuke Morioka may be moved from shortstop to second base due to problems with the accuracy of his throws. In addition, the team has called up rookie outfielder Yoshimi Sakurai, its number two choice.
SeibuAccording to the Hartford Courant, the Anaheim Angels may make a bid for Kazuo Matsui, and surprisingly incumbent shortstop David Eckstein endorses the move. The question is, though, how much is the team's new ownership willing to pay?
LotteOutfielder Saburo Omura will finally rejoin the team after sitting out three months due to a knee injury. He should be on the bench Tuesday.
Koshien TournamentJoso Gakuin head baseball coach Yukio Kiuchi is going to hang it up at age 72 after this season, but he is now in the top five all time in tournament wins with 35, as his charges beat Yanagaura High School 2-1 Monday. Pitcher Yoshiteru Isobe had a no hitter going until two outs in the seventh before it was broken up by a clean single from outfielder Yuta Tanaka. He gave up a couple more knocks in that inning to tighten it up at 2-1. Yanagaura threatened again in the eighth, but Joso leftfielder Tadahito Izumita threw a runner out at the plate to kill that rally off....Japanese high school baseball superpower Heian High School, which has sent plenty of players to the pros in its history, hammered Nichidaisan High School Monday 8-1....Lanky Tohoku High School ace Yu Darvish left his game against Chikuyo Gakuen High School after the second inning due to pain in his left arm or his back, depending on which media account you want to believe. Darvish, a righthander who is half Iranian and half Japanese and has been receiving a lot of attention from pro scouts even though he is just a junior, was clocked at 91mph while striking out four in his short stint. Sankei Sports says an Associated press report indicated that Darvish may choose to sign with an MLB team rather than with a Japanese club during next year's November draft. Tohoku advanced in the tourney bu downing Chikuyo 11-6....Omi High School was outhit by Ujiyamada Shogyo High School 14-13, but walked off with the victory anyway 9-5 thanks at least partially to an eighth inning three run homer to left by centerfielder Teruya Onishi that enabled Omi to stave off a late charge by the opposition.
In the News
Hoshino: Hero or Embarrassment?
Marty Kuehnert puts the lie to those who would glorify the Tigers manager. See story at: Japan Times Article
Slate Takes on Matsui Rookie Issue
See story at: Slate Article
Posnanski Takes on the Rookie of the Year Issue
See story at: Kansas City Star Article
Today's Pictures
Eddie Gaillard Goes to the Plate While His Former Dragons Teammates Look On
