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08/19/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Kinjo Sets New CL Record; Matsui and Company Bulldoze Orix"
Seibu's 3M Company Routs Orix 17-4
Daiuske Matsuzaka had a shaky outing Saturday at Kobe Green Stadium for the Seibu Lions, as he surrendered four runs in six innings, including back to back jacks, but thanks to four RBIs by third baseman Scott McClain and a homer and three RBIs by shortstop Kazuo Matsui, Matsuzaka was bailed out of being tagged with a loss in what became a 17-4 kicking of the Orix Blue Wave. Philips started for Orix and was roundly lambasted, permitting eight runs, six earned, in 4.1 innings to accept blame for the defeat.
Makoto Suzuki will likely be a one season phenomenon in Kobe, as he helped hitters fatten up their averages by giving up six runs, five earned, on eight hits in 2.1 innings and now has a real ugly ERA of 7.71.
Orix went out to a first inning lead when Matsuzaka walked centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani with two away and leftfielder Roosevelt Brown and second baseman Jose Ortiz each singled to right to make it 1-0.
But that went by the wayside in the third, when Matsui blasted a Jason Phillips offering into the rightfield seats to even it at 1-1. Matsuzaka then squirmed out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the bottom of the inning by striking out the next two men, but then got hit up a bit in the fourth. With one out, catcher Takeshi Hidaka homered to left. Shortstop Mitsutaka Goto cranked a shot into the rightcenterfield bleachers and it was 3-1 Orix. A single and a Matsui error kept the inning going for the home team, but Matsuzaka then settled down to induce a groundout to short and a fly to right to close out the frame.
The Lions offense then turned the firehose on Phillips in the fifth. McClain and catcher Tsutomu Itoh both whistled doubles down the leftfield line to shrink the deficit to 3-2. Itoh went to third on a groundout and jogged in on an error by Goto on a grounder by Matsui, to knot it at 3-3. Rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki beat out a ground ball toward third. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to right to bring in the lead run. First baseman Alex Cabrera pounded one off the leftfield wall to recall Ozeki. DH Hiroyuki Oshima singled to left to redeem Wada and knock Phillips out of the game, Suzuki spelling him on the mound. Centerfielder Tomoaki Sato singled to right to chase Cabrera in. Suzuki threw a wild pitch and the runners moved up. McClain singled to left to drive in Oshima. The ball got by Brown and McClain was able to motor all the way around to third while Sato crossed on the two base error. He then toed the dish when Suzuki unleashed another wild pitch to make it 10-3. Itoh doubled into the leftfield corner and scored on a subsequent sac fly from second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi and the Lions were firmly in control at 11-3.
Orix got another roundtripper in the fifth, as rightfielder Ryutaro Tsuji hammered one into the rightfield stands to make it 11-4 Lions.
Seibu rested in the sixth and then went back on the warpath in the seventh against Suzuki. Oshima leadoff with a single to center. Sato singled to left. McClain singled Oshima in with a knock up through the middle. A couple of groundouts later, Matsui singled to center to plate two runs and expand its huge advantage to 14-4.
Satoshi Tokumoto, after getting the final out int he seventh, came on for the eighth and also suffered the wrath of the Lions order. Backup first baseman Taisei Takagi mortared a shot into the rightfield seats. Reserve DH Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to left. Sato singled to right. The runners advanced on a passed ball by catcher Daisuke Maeda. McClain singled to center to privde the final margin of victory, 17-4. Seibu is a season high 13 games over .500.
Orix manager Leon Lee, normally a pretty even tempered guy who likes to focus on the positive side of things, has finaly had enough and was seen kicking a chair after the game. He also commented that his pitchers need to show more mental toughness out there.
The fifth inning uprising was the third time that Orix had given up ten runs or more in an inning. they have now been mugged for five runs or more in a record 14 straight games, breaking the previous high of 13 by Daiei in 1989. Now you can understand why Orix is 30 games under .500. And as dismal as that figure is, they are 21 games ahead of last year's pace of defeats. Yikes! Keep in mind, though, that Orix isn't the Detroit Tigers at the plate. Their team batting average is a healthy .273, but when your pitching is giving up six runs a game, more than.1.3 runs per nine worse than the next closest staff, you're not going to win many ballgames.
It's been three years since Matsuzaka was touched for consecutive jacks. And it's been two years since he had three pitches leave the yard in a single contest.
Despite the fact that Matsuzaka was disgusted by his performance, Yankees scout John Cox had some complimenatry things to say about him, including that he had the right "instincts for playing baseball. He got hit today, but he knows how to pitch."
Itoh's two doubles in an inning is a new Pacific League record.
For Orix, Brown was 1-2 with two walks and is at .326. Ortiz was 2-4 with an RBI and is at .245.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .325. McClain was 4-5 with four RBIs and is at .242.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Matsuzaka (W, 14-4) IP 6.0 BF 29 PC 121 H 8 HR 3 K 6 BB 2 R 4 ER 4 ERA 2.31
Mitsui IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 35 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.84
Onuma IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.42
Orix:
Phillips (L, 2-2) IP 4.1 BF 23 PC 90 H 8 HR 1 K 3 BB 2 R 8 ER 6 ERA 6.29
M. Suzuki IP 2.1 BF 15 PC 67 H 8 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 6 ER 5 ERA 7.71
Tokumoto IP 2.1 BF 12 PC 49 H 4 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 3 ER 2 ERA 6.40
E: K. Matsui, Cabrera, Brown, M.T. Goto
SB: T. Sato, M. Shiozaki
2B: McClain, T. Itoh 2, Cabrera, Katsuragi
HR: K. Matsui (24), Hidaka (7), M.T. Goto (5), R. Tsuji (7), T. Takagi (6)
RBI: K. Matsui 3, K. Wada, Cabrera, T. Takagi, H.Y. Oshima, T. Sato, McClain 4, T.
Itoh, H. Takagi, Ortiz, R. Tsuji, Hidaka, M.T. Goto
SF: H. Takagi
WP: M. Suzuki 2
HBP: Brown (Mitsui)
PB: D. Maeda
LOB: Seribu 6. Orix 11
Season Series: Seibu 13, Orix 5 1 Tie
Game Time: 4:02
Attendance: 35,000
Umpires: Sato (HP(, Kodera (1B), Yoshikawa (2B), Maeda (3B)
Knight Puts Kintetsu 7.5 Games Back 7-3
Brandon Knight fought himself in this one, as he needed 119 pitches to get through five innings in which he had at least one man on per frame, but he held the Kintetsu Buffaloes to one run on six hits during that stint to pave the way for a 7-3 Daiei Hawks victory Saturday in front of another monster crowd of 46,000. The win put the Buffs 7.5 back in the PL pennant race as they have yet to make a real concerted run at the birds of prey as we lean into the stretch drive. Knight was clocked at a high of 94mph.
Kintetsu sweated Knight in the first, as centerfielder Naoyuki Omura walked and second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to left. But leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, Omura moving to third. DH Hirotoshi Kitagawa walked. However, first baseman Yuji Yoshioka grounded to short to end a 30 pitch inning.
Kintetsu starter Kato also had a man on in each of the first two innings, but got through them unscathed until the third, when Daiei pulled ahead. With one away, shortstop Yusuke Torigoe singled to right and went to second on a groundout. Third baseman Munenori Kawasaki singled between short andthird and into left to slingshot Torigoe in for a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth, Daiei built on their advantage when first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka outran a groundball toward second. Catcher Kenji Johjima singled to center. Leftfielder Pedro Valdes singled to right and Matsunaka was able to turn and burn for home, Johjima busting for third. One out later, rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara flied out to right and Johjima tagged up and scored to make it 3-0 Hawks.
The Hawks bared their talons again in the fifth, as Kawasaki singled to left with one out and stole second. One out later, Buffs starter Kato plunked Matsunaka. Johjima singled to left to exploit Kawasaki and it was 4-0 Daiei.
Kintetsu finally did something with a tiring Knight in the fifth when catcher Akihito Fujii singled to center and, one out later, Mizuguchi and Rhodes both walked to juice the bags. Kitagawa singled to center and Fujii strode across, but Mizuguchi was thrown out at the plate by centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu. Yoshioka grounded out and what could have been a big inning only produced one run to put the score at 4-1.
Daiei flocked back in the top of the sixth, as Julio Zuleta singled to left off of reliever Hisashi Aikyo and Shibahara ripped a screamer up the rightcenter gap. Zuleta made a left to go home. The ball and Zuleta arrived at nearly the same time and Zuleta absolutely devastated Fujii, knocking him back on his head, necessitating him being replaced by Tetsuya Matoyama. X Rays taken at a local hospital were negative. Nobody argued that what Zuleta did was anything other than just good, hard baseball. And he was safe. One out later, Katsuhiko Maekawa was brought in from the bullpen and he nailed Muramatsu with a pitch. Kawasaki struckout for the second out, but second baseman Tadahito Iguchi singled to right to go up 6-1.
Kintetsu would prove persistant, though they fell short at the end of the day. In the seventh, with Shuji Yoshida relieving for Daiei, Omura walked with one out and went to third on a single to right by Mizuguchi. Rhodes lifted a fly ball to center and Omura tagged up and ran in to make it 6-2 Hawks.
Daiei then eeked out another run in the eighth when Shibahara singled to center and went to second on a groundout. Muramatsu beat out a slow ground ball toward short, Shibahara advancing to third. Pinch hitter Noriyoshi Omichi grounded out to second for the RBI to go back up by five at 7-2.
Kintetsu offered its final bit of resistance in the bottom of the frame, as Hawks reliever Shintaro Yoshitake hit shortstop Masahiro Abe, who rode third baseman Osamu Hoshino's triple off the rightfield fence home. But Hoshino would be stranded, as Matoyama popped out to second and Omura grounded out to second. Kintetsu went down in order in the ninth before Takayuki Shinohara and the Osaka side now has a little bigger hill to climb in the PL pennant race.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 0-3 with an RBI and a walk and is at .269.
For Daiei, Valdes was 1-5 with an RBI and is at .302. Zuleta was 1-5 with two strikeouts and is at .290.
Pitching Lines:
Daiei:
Knight (W, 4-3) IP 5.0 BF 23 PC 119 H 6 HR 0 K 5 BB 4 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.17
S. Yoshida IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 40 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.10
Yoshitake IP 0.2 BF 4 PC 22 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.52
Shinohara IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.62
Kintetsu:
Kato (L, 6-5) IP 4.2 BF 21 PC 73 H 8 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.10
Arime IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 18 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 8.64
Aikyo IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 12 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.95
Maekawa IP 2.2 BF 13 PC 53 H 3 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 9.98
A. Okamoto IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 17 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.55
SB: Johjima, M. Kawasaki
2B: Mizuguchi, Shibahara
3B: O. Hoshino
RBI: M. Kawasaki, Omichi, Iguchi, Johjima, P. Valdes, Shibahara 2, Rhodes, Kitagawa,
O. Hoshino
IBB: Iguchi (Maekawa), Shibahara (A. Okamoto)
SF: Shibahara, Rhodes
HBP: Matsunaka (Arime), Muramatsu (Maekawa), M. Abe (Yoshitake)
GIDP: Rhodes (4-6-3), P. Valdes (4-6-3)
LOB: Daiei 11, Kintetsu 10
Season Series: Daiei 11, Kintetsu 9
Game Time: 4:26
Attendance: 46,000
Umpires: Yamamura (HP), Akimura (1B), Tamba (2B), Kakigizono (3B)
Igawa, Kanemoto Lock Up Season Series for Hanshin Over Yomiuri
For the first time in 18 years, the Hanshin Tigers will win their season series with the hated rival Yomiuri Giants, as Kei Igawa went all the way Saturday at Tokyo Dome for his 15th victory, a new personal high and tops in the Central League, 5-1. Leftfielder Roberto Petagine supplied the lone Giants tally with his 20th homer in the seventh. Igawa also becomes the first 15 game man for the Tigers since Matt Keough in 1989 and this effort vaulted him into the front of the ERA race.
Rookie phenom Hiroshi Kisanuki started for Yomiuri and he felt his command wasn't very good when he was throwing in the bullpen. He was right. In the first inning, Hanshin centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to center and stole second. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto rammed a forkball back up the middle to get the speedster Akahoshi in and make it 1-0.
In the third, Hanshin gave Igawa more of a cushion to work with, as Akahoshi was struck by a pitch and Kanemoto singled to right. Both runners then took off on a double steal and were successful. Kisanuki, while in the midst of striking out first baseman Katsumi Hirosawa, threw a wild pitch and Akahoshi sprinted in. Third baseman George Arias walked. Catcher Toshihiro Noguchi singled to center to recall Kanemoto. Rightfielder Yutaka Nakamura spanked a single to center and Arias set the controls for the heart of home plate to enlarge the Tigers advantage to 4-0.
While Igawa continued his no hit bid, his teammates punted another one up on the big board in the fifth, as Kanemoto and Hirosawa singled to center and Arias endeavored to leave, but pinged it off the leftfield wall instead and Kanemoto was plated to make it 5-0 Tigers.
Toshihisa Nishi, pinch hitting for second baseman Masahiro Kawai, singled to left with two outs in the sixth to wipeout Igawa's no hit ambitions, but the Giants would collect only two more hits, Petagine's shot into the leftfield bleachers with two gone in the seventh and shortstop Tomohiro Nioka's singled to center with one away in the ninth before the Ibaraki native struckout pinch hitter Yoshinobu Takahashi and tempted third baseman Akira Etoh into popping to third to turn out the lights. This is the first time Hanshin has won 70 since 1992. And it is only the seventh time since 1950 that Yomiuri hasn't taken its season series with its Osaka opposition.
One reason that Hanshin has been so good against Yomiuri in 2003 is that they are batting .313 against them.
Kanemoto is now all alone in third place all time in playing every inning of every game with his 575th.
For Yomiuri, Petagine was 1-3 with an RBI and is at .295. Rightfielder Chris Latham was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .207.
For Hanshin, Arias was 1-3 with an RBI, two walks and two strikeouts and is at .252.
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Igawa (W, 15-4) IP 9.0 BF 30 PC 135 H 3 HR 1 K 7 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.73
Yomiuri:
Kisanuki (L, 8-4) IP 6.0 BF 31 PC 116 H 10 HR 0 K 8 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 2.98
Bailey IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 24 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.50
Kawamoto IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.27
Kamoshida IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 10.24
E: Y. Murata
SB: Akahoshi 3, Kanemoto 2
2B: Arias
HR: Petagine (20)
RBI: Petagine, Kanemoto, Arias, T. Noguchi, Y. Nakamura
WP: Kisanuki
HBP: Akahoshi (Kisanuki), Kanemoto (Kisanuki)
PB: Y. Murata
GIDP: T. Noguchi (4-6-3)
LOB: Hanshin 9, Yomiuri 2
Season Series: Hanshin 14, Yomiuri 5 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:03
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Watada (HP), T. Kobayashi (1B), Shikita (2B), Kasahara (3B)
Two Run Sato Double in Ninth Gives Swallows 3-2 Victory
Shinichi Sato has been hotter than an afternoon in Death Valley lately in pinch hitting duty and he did it again Saturday at Nagoya Dome, as he cracked a double to rightcenter off of reliever Akinori Otsuka with two outs in the ninth inning and two on to drive both men in and win it for the Yakult Swallows 3-2. The heroics enabled lefthander Hirotoshi Ishii to scoop up his fourth victory.
Shinya Okamoto started for the Dragons and did a nice job, going 6.1 innings of five hit, one run ball while striking out five and walking one, all numbers that manager Hisashi Yamada, an outstanding submariner during Hankyu's golden era, would love. Unfortunately, rookie Shohei Tachiyama would do very credibly, too, going five innings of two run, four hit hurling to keep it close and neither ultimately were involved in the decision.
The offenses came out like lambs in this one, as there was little action for the intial three and a half innings. But leftfielder Koichi Sekikawa singled to left with one out and rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome kaboomed one into the centerfield seats for a 2-0 Dragons lead.
Again, the two batting orders would be somnambulant, until the seventh, when the Dragons put two men on to open the inning and then froze them there. Then catcher Atsuya Furuta provided the Swallows oendan with something to truly cheer about when be bigtimed an Okamoto delivery into the centerfield bleachers to make it 2-1 Chunichi.
In the eighth, Chunichi shortstop Hirokazu Ibata leadoff with a double down the rightfield line and went to third on a sac bunt. But Fukudome popped out to first and third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami flew to center to waste that opportunity.
Otsuka entered for Chunichi and struckout both Atsunori Inaba and leftfielder Alex Ramirez. But Furuta, in a season that should get him a chapter in any new edition of Profiles in Courage, singled to right on an 0-2 count. Hajime Miki jogged out to pinch run for him. First baseman Ken Suzuki singled to center and Hirobumi Watarai pinch ran for him. Sato was then assigned as rightfielder Mitsuru Manaka's stand in and whipped a scorcher into the rightcenter gap, Miki scoring easily and Watarai beating the relay to the plate for a 3-2 Yakult advantage.
Closer Shingo Takatsu mosied in from the bullpen and stuck almost exclusively with this mid-80's fastball, throwing only two sinkers, getting the Dragons hitters to cough up a groundout, a strikeout and a humback liner to his left that he gloved easily to conclude a comeback triumph and earn the veteran his 250th lifetime save.
For Chunichi, centerfielder Alex Ochoa was 1-4 and is at .283.
For Yakult, Ramirez was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .333.
Pitching Lines:
Yakult:
Tachiyama IP 5.0 BF 19 PC 67 H 4 HR 1 K 5 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.97
Yamabe IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.21
H. Sato IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.10
H. Ishii (W, 4-1) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.66
Takatsu (S, 24) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.03
Chunichi:
S. Okamoto IP 6.1 BF 24 PC 90 H 5 HR 1 K 5 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.11
Yamakita IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.33
Iwase IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.18
A.N. Otsuka (L, 1-2)IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 19 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.84
2B: Ibata, S. Sato
HR: Fukudome (19), Furuta (18)
RBI: Fukudome 2, Furuta, Sato 2
WP: Yamabe
GIDP: Inaba (4-6-3)
LOB: Yakult 5, Chunichi 5
Season Series: Yakult 8, Chunichi 11
Game Time: 3:08
Attendance: 38,000
Umpires: Nako (HP), Uemoto (1B), Sasaki (2B), Tani (3B)
Kinjo Homers Twice Again to Down Hiroshima 8-3
Yokohama Bay Stars centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo made some history Saturday at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, homering from both sides of the plate the second time this season to set a Central League record in an 8-3 Stars win over the Hiroshima Carp. Ninth round rookie Takeshi Tsutsumiuchi picked up his first pro win after surrendering three hits and a run over five innings while veteran Shinji Sasaoka, who said he didn't have a thing out there, regressed to 6-7.
The Stars hedged to a second inning lead when third baseman Katsuaki Furuki reached on an infield hit and was out on a subsequent force play on a ground ball from second baseman Hitoshi Taneda. Catcher Takeshi Nakamura singled to right. Rightfielder Kazunori Tanaka singled to center and Taneda crossed to make it 1-0.
In the third, Kinjo, hitting from the lefthand side, powered a Sasaoka pitch into the rightfield seats to double the Yokohama advantage to 2-0.Shortstop Takuro Ishii tripled into the rightcenter gap. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki walked. First baseman Takahiro Saeki singled to right and Ishii eased on in. One out later, Sasaoka hit Taneda to load the bases. Nakamura singled to left and Suzuki crossed and it was 4-0 Stars.
Hiroshima rallied momentarily in the home portion when pinch hitter Akihiro Higashide walked and rightfielder Shigeru Morikasa doubled down the rightfield line. Second baseman Takuya Kimura flew out to right and Higashide tagged up and scored to make it 4-1 Yokohama. Lefty Shinichi Nishikawa was inserted at the start of the fourth for Hiroshima and Kinjo greeted him with a bomb over the centerfield fence for a 5-1 Yokohama advantage and the league record.
Masayuki Hasegawa tried his luck and he walked Pinch hitter Hitoshi Nakane to kick things off. One out later, Ishii singled to right, Nakane making it to third. Ishii stole second. One out later, Saeki singled to center and Yokohama was looking comfortable at 7-1.
Hiroshima chipped one off that in their time up when catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara doubled down the leftfield line and went to third on a groundout. Yokohama reliever Takeharu Kato plunked Morikasa. Kimura grounded out to second to bring Ishihara in, the inning ending with the scoreboard showing 7-2 Yokohama.
And Yokohama promptly scored again in the ninth when Suzuki doubled to leftcenter and Saeki singled to center. Furuki singled to right for an 8-2 advantage.
Hiroshima managed a run in the bottom of the ninth on a one out single to right by Kimura and a single to left from centerfielder Koichi Ogata plus a two out RBI double by leftfielder Tomonori Maeda, but Kazuyoshi Kimura flew out to right to bring the curtain down on the contest.
For Hiroshima, shortstop Andy Sheets was 0-5 with two strikeouts and is at .322.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Tsutsumiuchi (W, 1-0) IP 5.0 BF 21 PC 81 H 3 HR 0 K 3 BB 3 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.00
T.H. Kato IP 2.0 BF 10 PC 43 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.97
Takeshita IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 19 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.53
Fukumori IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 20 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.28
Hiroshima:
Sasaoka (L, 6-7) IP 3.0 BF 18 PC 72 H 7 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.89
Nishikawa IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 19 H 2 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.10
S. Tamaki IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.20
Hasegawa IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 33 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.65
Tsuruta IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.81
Sawazaki IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 20 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.39
SB: T. Ishii
2B: T. Maeda 2, Morikasa, Ishihara, T.N. Suzuki
3B: T. Ishii
HR: Kinjo 2 (13)
RBI: Kinjo 2, Saeki 3, K.A. Furuki, T. Nakamura, K.N. Tanaka, T. Kimura 2, T. Maeda
SF: T. Kimura
WP: Takeshita
HBP: Taneda (Sasaoka), Ogata (Kato)
GIDP: T. Nakamura (4-6-3)
LOB: Yokohama 8, Hiroshima 12
Season Series: Yokohama 7, Hiroshima 10
Game Time: 3:24
Attendance: 12,000
Umpires: Suginaga (HP), Watamari (1B), Ino (2B), Tomoyose (3B)
Chunichi Righthander Kenjiro Kawasaki threw in another minor league game Saturday and didn't look good, giving up three runs on eight hits while only touching 87mph once. As a result, the team is going to put off bringing him up. Kawasaki said that if he was pitching at the top level it might elevate his game up, too, but Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada was having none of that.
Nippon HamCall him rain man. Submarining righthander Shunsuke Watanabe has had two recent scheduled starts rained out. He is scheduled to start Sunday.
Koshien TournamentIn a shocking upset, Iwakuni High School beat Japanese high school baseball superpower Koryo High 12-7 Saturday. "If they're yokozuna, we're [the much lower ranked] seventh dan maegashira," said Iwakuni head coach Kawaguchi. This is like the Yankees being beaten by a Northern League club, such is the perceived disparity between the two. And they did it by bombing Koryo starter Kenta Nishimura, a possible top pro draft pick, first for a bases clearing triple by catcher Atsushi Tsuyama and then batted around in the seventh inning thanks to a conscious decision to lay off anything in and look away. Making it even more difficult for Iwakuni was that their ace pitcher split a nail in the fourth and had to have it glued back together, going on to finish it in a 162 pitch effort. The two schools met in a Chugoku region tournament earlier in the year and Koryo blasted Iwakuni 10-1. So the Iwakuni players were admittedly shocked that they had pulled off this upset. Nishimura ultimately was charged with ten runs on 12 hits in taking the defeat....Kenta Soga of Imabari Nishi High School, who has garnered attention due to playing on an artificial foot, cracked his first Koshien Tournament hit in the second inning, drove in a run with a groundout to short in the sixth and was beaned in the eighth against Kurashiki Kogyo High School, but it was for nought, as Kurashiki squeezed by Imabari 4-3. He also handled two chances flawlessly at third. He said that he felt no pain at all from being struck in the head with a pitch. Kurashiki starter Daisuke Suyama hit three batters while giving up seven hits and all three runs in a complete game effort....And in another upset, though rather milder than the one involving Koryo, Fukui Shogyo High School slipped by mighty PL Gakuen 4-2 when pinch hitter MasafumiYamada spanked the first pitch he saw back up the middle in the top of the ninth to dissolve a 2-2 tie. Fukui's ace then surmounted a jam in the bottom portion by striking out the final man to seal the victory....Kosei Gakuin beat Karatsu Sogo 3-1 thanks to a two run single by Takahiko Tanaka in the third inning. Karatsu helped dig its own grave by grounding into three double plays and failing to execute a sacrifice bunt. "We should have lost that game and we did, " said Karatsu head coach Goshima. In another far too common case of school coaches abusing their players, Karatsu righthanded ace Yuji Koizumi has been feeling elbow pain since a recent prefectural tournament, but continued to pitch anyway. Koizumi had surgery to remove loose cartilege in the elbow in ninth grade while he was a catcher and was turned into an outfielder then an infielder in high school before taking the mound last fall. The 5'9" 158 pounder has slugged 38 homers at Karatsu and wants to go to college as a position player. And hopefully an MRI is in his future soon, too.
In the News
Klapisch: Matsui SHouldn't be Penalized for His Age
See story at: North Jersey.com Article
Orioles Increasingly Looking Overseas for Talent
See story at: Baltimore Sun Article
Ichiro Better Thrower Than Furillo?
You'll need to scroll down for the relevant bit, which is under the subhead, "Rifle Brigade." Strange, thought, that Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline, Vlad Guerrero and Bo Jackson's names didn't show up. See story at:
Boston Globe Article
U.S. Beats Taiwan in World Youth Championships
See story at: San Francisco Chronicle Article
Little Leaguers Losing Innocence Under Media Glare
See story at: New York Times Article
NCAA Finds Few Schools Making Money on Sports
I've been saying this for a couple of decades, but the fact of the matter is that colleges have become de facto minor leagues for the pros while costing taxpayers and non-jock students way too much money to finance their teams. Consequently, college sports should be eliminated since they are a financial drag on the institutions for which they play. We can then allow the universities focus solely on what they were originally built to do: educate the leaders, innovators and teachers of tomorrow. If the pros want another layer of minor leagues, let them pay for them themselves rather than getting what is, in reality, a taxpayer subsidy. See story at: Seattle Times Article
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