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08/16/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hayashi Gets First Pro Win on Latham Longball; Cromer to be Released"
Hayashi and Santana Combine to Deal Defeat to Dragons 2-1
19 year old Masanori Hayashi became the eighth teenager to win a game for the Yomiuri Giants his rookie year, as he went eight strong innings plus of one run, ten strikeout ball by prominently featuring his slider before needing to be bailed out by Julio Santana in the ninth to preserve the 2-1 victory over the Chunichi Dragons Thursday at Nagoya Dome. Shigeki Noguchi started for Chunichi and went eight strong innings himself, being charged with both runs on seven hits and striking out 11 in a futile effort.
Yomiuri seized the upper hand in the first inning, as third baseman Masahiro Kawai laced a one out triple to rightcenter and, one out later, cruised home on a single to right by leftfielder Roberto Petagine, who was then pegged out by Fukudome trying to stretch it into a double, to make it 1-0.
Hayashi got into trouble in the bottom of the inning when shortstop Hirokazu Ibata walked with one away and rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to right. But the youngster sucked it up and struckout the next two men to escape any damage.
Hayashi also had two on with one out in the second, but wriggled out of that, too when he blew Noguchi away and induced a flyout to right from leftfielder Takayuki Onishi.
From there, it was just pure domination by Hayashi trhough eight. Meanwhile, rightfielder Chris Latham, making his first start as a Giant, belted a shot beyond the centerfield wall opening the sixth and it was 2-0 Yomiuri.
But in the ninth, Hayashi was tiring and the Dragons were in a rally frame of mind. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami leadoff with a single to center. Hiroyuki Watanabe, pinch hitting for Omar Linares, walked. Centerfielder Alex Ochoa banged a forkball to left for a single and Tatsunami motored home to tighten it up to 2-1. Giants boss Tatsunori Hara went to the bullpen for Santana. Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada had catcher Yuichi Yanagisawa sacrifice to put both runners in scoring position. With the infield up, Pinch hitter Masahiko Morino grounded to second, the runners holding, and it was two outs. That left it up to Koichi Sekikawa, pinch hitting for reliever Yuichi Hisamoto, who likewise rolled out to second and Hayashi and the kyojin were winners.
Incidently, that run was the first Chunichi has been able to dent Hayashi for in 16 total innings against him.
Hayashi told reporters after it was over that hoping Santana could snuff the Dragons opportunity "was the scariest time I've ever had watching baseball." He also got some good news from press reports that team owner Tsuneo Watanabe has been impressed enough by him to the point were he will increase his pay packet tenfold for next season. To his credit, though, he didn't let that go to his head, noting that every year, new players come along and he has to think about competing first.
If Hayashi had a wekaness in this one it was his hitting, as he carted home a golden sombrero (four times up, four whiffs).
His mother Noriko watched the game back in Funabashi, Chiba. Hayashi's family lives and runs a driving school there.
For Chunichi, first baseman Omar Linares was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .252. Ochoa was 2-4 with an RBI and is at .278.
For Yomiuri, Latham was 2-4 with an RBI and is at .231. Petagine was 2-3 with an RBI and a walk and is at .294. This was the former Phillie's fifth stright multihit game.
Pitching Lines:
Yomiuri:
M. Hayashi (W, 1-1) IP 8.0 BF 33 PC 134 H 5 HR 0 K 10 BB 4 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.35
Santana (S, 3) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 8 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.57
Chunichi:
S. Noguchi (L, 8-7) IP 8.0 BF 32 PC 137 H 7 HR 1 K 11 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.82
Hisamoto IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.37
SB: Nishi
3B: M. Kawai
HR: Latham (4)
RBI: Latham, Petagine, Ochoa
GIDP: S. Abe (4-6-3)
LOB: Yomiuri 7, Chunichi 8
Season Series: Yomiuri 11, Chunichi 12
Game Time: 3:19
Attendance: 40,500
Umpires: Uemoto (HP), Tani (1B), Nako (2B), Honda (3B)
Team Reports
Yakult Todd Betts may get the axe if he doesn't slam 20 homers this season, according to Sankei Sports. Betts, who is hitting .298 with 14 homers and 50 RBIs is admittedly no Roberto Petagine with the stick, but then again, .300 hitters don't grow on trees. They will be looking for somebody with more pop than Betts if he doesn't reach the magic number.....Also on the chopping block could be Jason Beverlin andKevin
Hodges, if a Hochi Sports report is correct. Hodges was one of the best pitchers in the CL last season, but things have gone badly for him this time and he was even sent down to the minors for a while. Beverlin, who has won eight, is on the shelf with an elbow injury and won't be back until mid-September. So how they do the rest of the schedule will determine their future in Japan.
Hanshin 41 year old Kazumi Hirosawa was just brought up from the minors even though he only saw action in about ten games there after being demoted in April. The reason? They think his gregarious personality will have a positive effect on the team. Oh, and he can occasionally pinch hit. In fact, Sports Nippon referred to the former Yakult first baseman as an "oendancho (head cheerleader)." Why don't they just make him a coach rather than taking up roster space with a guy who is going to be put out to pasture soon? Wacky....George Arias is in the midst of a 1-23 slump, but he is looking forward to facing the Giants at Tokyo Dome starting Friday. The former Angel and Padre is batting .343 (12-35) with six homers and 14 RBIs there this season. "Because it's a small ballpark, you don't have to hit it very hard to drive it out. About 80% of my normal strength can get something done," he said to a Sankei Sports reporter. His six jacks there are the most by any player opposing either Yomiuri or Nippon Ham. The most any visiting player has jerked over the fences there in a campaign is by Roberto Petagine with eight, set in 2001....Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto will tie Hideki Matsui for third on the all time list for consecutive games playing every inning with 574 Friday. The streak began on July 21, 1997 when Kanemoto was with Hiroshima in a game against Hanshin, ironically enough. The record is 700, held by Hidefumi Miyake. Kanemoto has hit .377 with five homers and 22 RBIs against Yomiuri this season so far.
Chunichi Alex Ochoa told Hochi Sports that he likes living in Japan and that he wants to be back for 2004. What is ironic is that he has one less homer and his average is lower than Todd Betts, yet Yakult wants to unload Betts. I guess that's baseball.
Yokohama The team's front office is mulling moving their fall training site to Yokosuka, which is just down the road and is the home of their minor league club, rather than practice in Ginowan, Okinawa as usual. "Okinawa is too hot," said new team president Susumu Minekishi. In addition, this would save the club money. Others in the front office were said to be perplexed at Minekishi's statement.
Daiei Manager Sadaharu Oh says that he doesn't want to hear any talk about magic numbers. He just wants his ballclub to play everyday to the best of its ability and not be focused on the standings....Oh participated in the throwing of the first pitch ceremony at a Japan-Korea friendship game in Yamaguchi Prefecture, standing in the batter's box using his famous flamingo batting style. Oh told the youngsters that baseball is a great sport for them and that he wants them to continue playing it.
Kintetsu Slugger Norihiro Nakamura's knee is still quite sore and he may not be able to start when his side faces Daiei in a big series.
Nippon Ham The team's front office has decided to release outfielder D.T. Cromer, who is batting .195 this season, and righthander Chris Seelbach when the schedule ends. Both are currently in the minors and Cromer was reprimanded by the Eastern league office after being thrown out of the game by an umpire when he objected to a ball-strike call. It is also expected that Carlos Mirabal and Angel Echevarria will be retained thanks to his power even if his average is below .250. The Fighters are already in the early stages of looking at new foreign players.
Orix Team owner Yoshihiko Miyauchi says that he hasn't made up his mind about whether manager Leon Lee will be back next season. He wants to see how the team performs the rest of the way. But according to Sankei Sports, they are 8-14-1 over their last 23 games with a team ERA round 8.50. Yomiuri owner Tsuneo Watanabe accused the Kobe squad of "playing sandlot ball." Miyauchi refused to comment on Watanabe's remark. Orix may be the worst team playing organized ball not named the Lotte Giants going in either MLB, the KBO or NPB. If Lee isn't brought back for 2004, I'm sure he will quickly find a job running somebody's scouting department.
Koshien Tournament All of Thursday's games were rained out and will be played Friday.
In the News
Cowlishaw: Matsui Should be Out of Rookie Loop
The Dallas Morning News writer takes a spin on the Leonard Tose offramp at: Taipei Times Article
Abusive Baseball Coach Draws Ire of Parents in Taiwan
But you will note that the local constabulary is turning a blind eye. China Post Article
