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08/24/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hanshin Loses Fourth in a Row; No Japan Series for Fuji TV"
Kito Hands Hanshin Fourth Consecutive Loss
Hanshin starter Hideki Irabu felt that he was getting squeezed by the home plate umpire and was being driven to distraction by the Chunichi Dragons running game, as he got clocked for five runs on five hits in five innings in a 7-3 Dragons victory Wednesday at Osaka Dome. And the game wasn't even that close. The Tigers have now dropped four in a row for the second time during this road trip.
In a bit of gamesmanship, Makoto Kito wasn't announced as the starting pitcher until shortly before the game started, with Kito thinking that a joke was being played on him before team management convinced him they were serious.
Chunichi emerged on top with two gone in the first, when rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome mashed a 1-0 fastball into the rightfield bleachers for a 1-0 lead.
Hanshin restored equilibrium in the bottom of the inning when leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto belted a Kito offering into the leftfield seats and it was 1-1.
But in the second, the Dragons began getting on Irabu's nerves. With one out, centerfielder Alex Ochoa walked and stole second. One out later, second baseman Masahiro Araki banged a single to center to usher Ochoa in and pull ahead 2-1.
Then in the third, Irabu plunked leftfielder Takayuki Onishi with one away and he stole second. Fukudome and third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami walked to load the bases. First baseman Omar Linares singled to left for a pair of RBIs to make it 4-1 Chunichi.
Irabu went up to the plate in the bottom of the inning and said something to the plate umpire about his strike zone and a staring contest ensued. Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino leapt out of the dugout and scurried to the plate and, grabbing the umpire by the arm while pushing Irabu away, told the arbiter to do a better job calling balls and strikes. Why the two of them weren't tossed is beyond me, though it's perhaps a reflection of the disrespect that umpires have to endure in Japan. Irabu whiffed in what became a 1-2-3 stanza for Kito.
Kanemoto went yard again in the fourth, this time to right to cut it to 4-2.
However, the Nagoya crew went back up by three when Onishi beat out a roller toward first and went to second on a groundout. Tatsunami walked. One out later, Ochoa singled Onishi in, Tatsunami motoring to third, and it was 5-2 Dragons. Ochoa stole second. Tanishige struckout, though, to keep the score there for the moment.
Hanshin drew closer in the seventh when third baseman George Arias singled to center off of Shigetoshi Yamakita with one down. Eiji Ochiai was summoned from the bullpen and pinch hitter Yoshinori Okihara walked. Shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to right to send Arias in to make it 5-3 Dragons. One out later and now with Marc Valdes on the mound, secomd baseman Makoto Imaoka walked to load the bases. Hitoki Iwase jogged in from the bullpen and pinch hitter Hiroshi Yagi grounded to third to preserve the Chunichi lead.
The Dragons loaded the bases in the eighth but couldn't convert. But they would make some noise in the ninth. Hidenori Kuramoto walked. Ochoa legged out an infield hit. Tanishige grounded into a 5-4 force. Araki laid down a sac bunt. Reliever Hiroshi Ishige got to it and made a hasty throw for an error while Kuramoto crossed. Backup first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe walked. Ibata flew out to left and Tanishige tagged up and toed the dish and the Dragons were breathing fire at 7-3.
Masataka Endo retired three of the four men he saw in the bottom of the ninth and the Osaka faithful.went home disappointed and the Tigers were swept in a series for the first time this season.
There was a heartstopping moment in the eighth for Hanshin, which has been beset by the injury bug, when Watanabe lifted a foul ball a few feet to the left of home plate. Arias came running over to help out and he collided with catcher Akihiro Yano as Yano gloved the ball and the two ended up in a heap on the ground. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and Yano held on for the out. Considering that Yano took a few games off to rest an ailing back, that had to be scary for all concerned.
Fukudome has a 12 game hitting streak and is batting .346 over his last 13 games with four homers.
For Chunichi, Linares was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .256. Ochoa was 3-4 with an RBI and two steals and is at .282.
For Hanshin, Arias was 1-3 with a walk and is at .246.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
M. Kito (W, 7-6) IP 5.1 BF 20 PC 80 H 2 HR 2 K 4 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.30
Yamakita IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 21 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.44
Ochiai IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.11
M. Valdes IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.26
Iwase IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.12
Endo IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.22
Hanshin:
Irabu (L, 11-6) IP 5.0 BF 25 PC 106 H 5 HR 1 K 6 BB 6 R 5 ER 5 ERA 3.21
Kanazawa IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 31 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.67
Riggan IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 25 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.08
Ishige IP 0.2 BF 7 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 3 R 2 ER 1 ERA 1.13
Yoshino IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.73
E: Hirosawa
SB: Onishi, Ochoa 2
HR: Fukudome (22), Kanemoto 2 (15)
RBI: Ibata, Fukudome, Linares 2, Ochoa, M. Araki 2, Kanemoto 2, Fujimoto
SF: Ibata
HBP: Onishi (Irabu), Fukudome (Riggan)
GIDP: Ochoa (4-6-3)
LOB: Chunichi 14, Hanshin 6
Season Series: Chunichi 11, Hanshin 13
Game Time: 3:36
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Manabe (HP), Ino (1B), Arisumi (2B), Suginaga (3B)
Yakult Shuts Out Hiroshima 4-0
Yuya Kamada and five relievers combined to shutout the Hiroshima Carp Thursday at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium on ten hits in a 4-0 victory, but the Carp did themselves in with some bad baserunning that choked off a promising rallies.
Masayuki Hasegawa started for Hiroshima and spun a solid seven innings of three run ball on six hits, but he is nonetheless still seeking his second win after absorbing his seventh defeat.
In the first inning, Yakult third baseman Akinori Iwamura slammed an 88mph fastball into the centerfield seats to make it 1-0.
The home side, though, would look like the Keystone Cops in the first. Rightfielder Shigeru Morikasa singled to left. Manager Koji Yamamoto called for the hit and run and Morikasa dutifully took off from first. Second baseman Takuya Kimura swung and missed and Morikasa was meat at second. Kimura then singled to center. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to right and Kimura made a wide turn at second and then suddenly put on the brakes and went back to second. Unfortunately, Ogata thought that Kimura had decided to try for third and so he decided to try to stretch it into a double. Oops! Only one man to a base, guys and there were now two out. Shortstop Andy Sheets grounded out to second to bring the curtain down on that little nightmare.
Yakult blew a big opportunity in the second, as first baseman Ken Suzuki singled to center and catcher Atsuya Furuta and centerfielder Atsunori Inaba walked to jam the basepaths. But second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi grounded into a 1-2-3 double play and Kamada came up empty to fumble it.
Kamada had a couple more rocky innings, especially the fifth, when a pair of one out singles and a two out walk loaded the bases for Hiroshima. Sheets fanned and Hiroshima's offense would go nowhere the remainder of the match.
In the sixth, Swallows leftfielder Alex Ramirez mortared an 88mph fastball on the inner half into the leftcenterfield stands. Suzuki was next and thundered one beyond the centerfield fence to make it 3-0.
Three innings later, Inaba walked and went to second on a sac bunt. Reliever Yasushi Tsuruta plunked pinch hitter Shinichi Sato. Reserve centerfielder Tetsuya Iida walked and the bags were filled. Shortstop Shinya Miyamoto flied out to right and Inaba tagged up and hustled in for a 4-0 Swallows advantage/
Hirotoshi Ishii mowed the Carp down on two groundouts and a strikeout and it was "game setto."
Ramirez, who finished 1-4 with an RBI, is now tied for the league lead in homers with 28 and boasts an average of .330. He had a recent 14 game homerless drought due to dropping his shoulder when he swung. He corrected that and got positive results in this game.
For Hiroshima, Sheets was 0-3 with a walk and is at .317.
Pitching Lines:
Yakult:
Kamada (W, 3-6) IP 5.0 BF 22 PC 69 H 9 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.55
Tatsuki Yamamoto IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 28 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.62
H. Sato IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 9 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.98
Yamabe IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 4 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.17
Ryo. Igarashi IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.57
H. Ishii IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.18
Hiroshima:
Hasegawa (L, 1-7) IP 7.0 BF 29 PC 108 H 6 HR 3 K 5 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 6.29
Nishikawa IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 18 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.65
Tsuruta IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 18 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.70
E: K. Nomura
2B: T. Arai
HR: Iwamura (5), Ramirez (28), K. Suzuki (15)
RBI: S. Miyamoto, Iwamura, Ramirez, K. Suzuki
SF: S. Miyamoto
WP: Hasegawa
HBP: S. Sato (Tsuruta)
GIDP: Dobashi (1-2-3)
LOB: Yakult 8, Hiroshima 9
Season Series: Yakult 12, Hiroshima 8 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:23
Attendance: 12,000
Umpires: Shimada (HP), Mori (1B), Nishimoto (2B), Watada (3B)
Three Giants Homers Means Another Win for Hayashi 7-4
Rookie lefthander Masanori Hayashi had his forkball working again and he survived a rough first inning to strikeout 11 in eight innings in a 7-4 Yomiuri Giants victory Thursday at Tokyo Dome against the Yokohama Bay Stars. Seven of those K's were on splitters. Three Yomiuri hitters homered to provide all seven runs and enable Hayashi to pocket his second W.
Yokohama centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo leadoff the game with a single to left and stole second. Rightfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to center for a lightning 1-0 advantage. First baseman Tyrone Woods blitzed one into the rightfield seats and it was 3-0 Stars.
Yomiuri rejoindered in the bottom of the inning when Yokohama starter Yuji Hata hit Takahashi with two outs and leftfielder Roberto Petagine cannonaded a Hata offering into the leftcenterfield stands to make it 3-2 Stars.
The Giants would then change the flow of the game for good in the second, as third baseman Koji Goto was struck by a pitch and centerfielder Chris Latham walked. Both men moved up on a groundout. One out later, shortstop Tomohiro Nioka got a slider down and in and tattooed it on a line into the leftfield bleachers to put Yomiuri in the lead 5-3.
Hayashi had two outs in the third when Tamura and Woods singled to left. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki was up next, a two time batting champ. But he whiffed and Yokohama would go on vacation until the ninth.
In the sixth, Petagine walked against Hisataka Tomioka and first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara went to the opposite field and crashed it in the rightfield seats to make it 7-3 Yomiuri.
Julio Santana has been strong for the Giants recently, but he would have some trouble in the ninth. Second baseman Hitoshi Taneda singled to center and, one out later, pinch hitter Takahiro Saeki singled to right. Pinch hitter Takuro Ishii walked to pack the sacks. Kinjo grounded out to second and Taneda crossed Shortstop Seiichi Uchikawa, who has pretty good pop, could have tied the game up, but he grounded out and it ended as a 7-4 Yomiuri victory.
The three Yomiuri homers gives them 52 against Yokohama this season, tying a Japan record for most dingers against one team. 11 of those have been by Petagine while seven each have come off the bats of Nioka and Takahashi.
Hayashi is striking out hitters eight to the bar, as he has a smoking K/9 ratio of 12.2.
For Yomiuri, Petagine, who has homered in three straight games, was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .305. Latham was 1-2 with a walk and is at .229.
For Yokohama, Woods was 2-3 with a walk and two RBIs and is at .250.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Y. Hata (L, 0-3) IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 31 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 3 R 4 ER 4 ERA 7.02
H. Yamada IP 2.0 BF 7 PC 21 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.25
Tomioka IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 36 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.39
Fukumori IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 14 H 2 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.36
Tazaki IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 28 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.45
Yomiuri:
M. Hayashi (W, 2-1) IP 8.0 BF 32 PC 127 H 8 HR 1 K 11 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.35
Santana IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 18 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.66
E: Uchikawa, H. Yamada
SB: Kinjo, Latham
2B: T. Nakamura
HR: Woods (28), Petagine (24), Nioka (25), Kiyohara (17)
RBI: Petagine 2, Nioka 3, Kiyohara 2, Woods 2, Kinjo, Tamura
WP: Tomioka
HBP: Y. Takahashi (Y. Hata), K. Goto (Y. Hata)
GIDP: Tamura (6-4-3)
LOB: Yokohama 7, Yomiuri 2
Season Series: Yokohama 8, Yomiuri 18
Game Time: 2:56
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Kittaka (HP), Sasaki (1B), Tani (2B), Kiuchi (3B)
Team Reports
Daiei The Hawks have accepted Fuji TV's apology about the way they used a likeness of manager Sadaharu Oh in a sketch during a comedy program, but a team official also indicated that Fuji will not be permitted to cover their pennant winning celebration because the controversy has been a distraction while they club is attempting to lock up the league title. In addition, Fuji will not be allowed to bid for rights to broadcast the Japan Series this year. On the other hand, the official suggested that they will relax their previous stance of having nothing to do with Fuji TV news and sports reporters in the wake of the incident. Furthermore, the televised apology generated more than 1400 angry calls to the network, most of them saying that the apology was too short and/or inadequate. Thenotoriety resulted in the program's ratings rising by 1.7 points over the week when the sketch was first broadcast. Even so, the loss of the Japan Series rights is expected to cost Fuji millions in advertising revenue.
Kintetsu Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura will have enough service time to qualify for free agency after the 22nd. As to whether he will actually leave Osaka to go elsewhere he won't say until the season is over.
MiscellaneousAccording to the Newark Star-Ledger, MLB is going to forbid its players from participating in olympic qualifying tournaments, possibly putting MLB on a collision course with countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, where nationalism runs high indeed, who want to use MLB players from those countries on their teams. MLB's position is understandable since players need that time to let their bodies heal up from the pounding they take udring the long season, but by the same token, the policy has the potential of engendering a lot of resentment in markets were MLB is attempting to market its product. Bud Selig and his henchman have shown a marked talent for exacerbating conflicts and if they do so in regard to this issue, well, let's say that soccer will gain even more favorability.
Koshien TournamentBig righthander Yu Darvish came on with the score tied 1-1 and two outs in the sixth inning and stuffed Kosei Gakuin High School's offense on one hit the final 3.1 innings as Tohoku High moved into the semi-finals for the first time in 44 years with a 2-1 victory. Darvish was helped out by a spectacular diving stop by second baseman Tetsuya Furukawa on a shot up the middle with two on that prevented a run from crossing the plate. Tohoku put together the winning run in the eighth on a single to center and a steal base by shortstop Yasunami Miyata, a sac bunt and a sac fly to center from first baseman Yokota. Darvish's pitches didn't have their customary life and that may have been due to an inflammation around the bone of one of his shins that is attributed to fatigue. He was clocked at 89mph....Joso Gakuin moved into the semis for the first time in their history partially thanks to executing a pair of squeeze bunts to top Tosu High School 5-1. Tosu went up 1-0 in the third on an RBI triple to right by Shinya Araki, but Joso responded with a two out two run triple to the centerfield wall by Tadahito Izumita to go in front and then played small ball to widen that lead. Yoshiteru Isobe went six innings to earn credit for the win after surrendering four hits and striking out one and walking one....Iwakuni High School's Cinderella story is over, as they were edged out by Kiryu Number One High School 5-4 in a rain interrutped contest. Kiryu went up 5-1 through six, only to see Iwakuni come surging back thanks to some wildness on the part of ace Tsuyoshi Itoh. Then the rain came, which turned out to be a blessing for Itoh, who made a slight mechanical change to his delivery during the interval and righted himself to cap off the triumph. Kiryu now advances to the semi-finals for the first time in four years....Ace Masaru Kinoshita went all the way and drove in the winning run with a sayonara single to center on a fastball on the outer half of the plate, as Gonokawa will go to the group of four for the first time in 80 years with a 2-1 victory over Seibo Gakuen High. Seibo starter Yuji Matsumura said that he didn't have any regrets about the result since he did his best, though he said that while choking back tears.
In the News
Koshien Tournament an Exhibition of Fighting Spirit
See story at: New York Times Article
Small World, Big Dreams
See story at: Tacoma News Tribune Article
Hanshin Beating the Curse of the Colonel
See story at: Mainichi Shimbun Article
Matsui Gets an A
See story at:: ABS-CBN Phillipines Article
On Second Thought, Matsui Should be Eligible for RoY
His argument may strike some as familiar to BaseballGuru.com readers. See story at: Rocky Mountain News Article
Matsui Finds Niche in New York
See story at: New York Post Article
Former Orix Hurler Pulido Back With Twins
See story at: Grand Forks Herald Article
See related story at: MLB.com Article
Seo Gaining More Confidence in MLB
See story at: MLB.com Article
Tsao Q&A
See story at: MLB.com Article
Off Topic: Tennessee Sorry to See Japanese School Go
See story at: Guardian Article
Today's Pictures
Roberto Petagine Playing a Little Hammertime
