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09/04/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Seibu Creeps Within Five Games; Matsui Too Japanese?"
Dual Kobayashis Outduel Wada to Down Hawks 3-2
Hiroyuki Kobayashi and closer Masahide Kobayashi combined Sunday to limit the might Daiei Hawks attack on two runs and four hits, as the Chiba Lotte Marines edged the birds of prey 4-2 at Chiba Marine Stadium. Tsuyoshi Wada, bidding for his 13th win, tossed eight strong innings of three run ball in defeat. Hiroyuki Kobayashi has now won four in a row at home.
Daiei had a shortlived initial lead, as leftfielder Pedro Valdes hammered a shot into the rightfield stands to make it 1-0.
But in the second, Lotte used a bit of deception to knot it when DH Koichi Hori walked and third baseman Jose Fernandez singled to center, Hori motoring to third. Fernandez then allowed himself to get picked off of first and, in the ensuing rundown, Hori hustled across the plate to make it 1-1.
Kobayashi would be victimized by a big jack to rightcenter by third baseman Munenori Kawasaki with two outs in the third to put the Hawks back in front 2-1.
In the fourth, though, Lotte first baseman Kazuya Fukuura doubled to leftcenter and Hori xeroxed that to even it at 2-2. Fernandez doubled to rightcenter to usher Hori in and Lotte had its first lead at 3-2.
With the exception of a minor scoring opportunity for Lotte in the sixth, the bats were rendered silent on both sides. Daiei had the tying and winning runs on with one out in the ninth due to consecutive walks issued by Masahide Kobayashi, but two groundouts later, this one was over.
For Lotte, Fernandez was 3-4 with an RBI and is at .274. Leftfielder Rick Short were 0-3 and is at .285.
For Daiei, Valdes was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .309. First baseman Julio Zuleta was 0-3 and is at.273.
Pitching Lines:
Daiei:
T. Wada (L, 12-5) IP 8.0 BF 32 PC 124 H 7 HR 0 K 6 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.33
Lotte:
H.Y. Kobayashi (W, 6-10) IP 8.0 BF 28 PC 99 H 4 HR 2 K 5 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.47
M.H. Kobayashi (S, 24) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.23
E: K.Y. Takahashi
SB: Iguchi
2B: Iguchi, Fukuura, Hori, Fernandez
HR: P. Valdes (19), M. Kawasaki (2)
RBI: P. Valdes, M. Kawasaki, Hori, Fernandez
GIDP: P. Valdes (4-6-3), Johjima (5-4-3)
LOB: Daiei 4, Lotte 5
Season Series: Daiei 17, Lotte 8
Game Time: 2:39
Attendance: 30,000
Umpires: Nakamura (HP), Yamamoto (1B), Kodera (2B), Akimura (3B)
Fukuhara Dazzles in First 2003 Start for Hanshin 4-0
Shinobu Fukuhara, whose season was ended last year due to shoulder surgery made his first start of this campaign a real beauty, as he scattered four hits over six shutout innings while striking out eight and walking none in a 4-0 Hanshin Tigers victory over the Yakult Swallows Sunday at Koshien Stadium.
Yuya Kamada started for Yakult and was phenomenal for the first four innings, during which he allowed just one hit. until he just completely lost it in the fifth. With two outs, Fukuhara and second baseman Makoto Imaoka each singled to left and centerfielder
Norihiro Akahoshi tattooed an 86mph fastball down the rightfield line to plate Fukuhara. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto walked to load the bases. Third baseman Atsushi Kataoka wacked a first pitch 85mph fastball between first and second and all the way to the wall, all three runners touring the bases to make it 4-0 Tigers.
Fukuhara was clocked at 92mph and kept his breaking and offspeed pitches down before handing the four run advantage off to Makoto Yoshino, Yuya Ando and Jeff Williams, who all worked perfect innings to put it in the books in short order for Fukuhara's 26th lifetime shiroboshi.
For Yakult, leftfielder Ramirez was 0-4 and is at .323. First baseman Todd Betts was 1-3 with two strikeouts and is at .287.
For Hanshin, Arias was 0-3 with a walk and is at .263.
Pitching Lines:
Yakult:
Kamada (L, 4-7) IP 5.0 BF 23 PC 98 H 7 HR 0 K 8 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.41
Ryo. Igarashi IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 30 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.34
H. Ishii IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.70
Hanshin:
Fukuhara (W, 1-0) IP 6.0 BF 22 PC 86 H 4 HR 0 K 8 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Yoshino IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.32
Ando IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.47
Williams IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.40
2B: Betts, Akahoshi, Kataoka
RBI: Akahoshi, Katoka 3
LOB: Yakult 4, Hanshin 8
Season Series: Yakult 9, Hanshin 15
Game Time: 2:55
Attendance: 50,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Uemoto (1B), Kasahara (2B), Tomoyose (3B)
Lions Get Back Within Five Games of Daiei 4-0
Fumiya Nishiguchi was originally slated to start this game against the Orix Blue Wave Sunday at Seibu Dome, but a blister precluded that and Mitsutaka Goto was inserted into the frey at the last minute and produced a complete game gem of a five hit shutout to improve his record to 8-7 and put the Lions within five games of the frontrunning Daiei Hawks.
The game didn't begin too well for Goto, as first baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani doubled into the rightfield corner to open things, but Shiotani was left glued to the bag when Goto induced a a couple of flyouts and a lineout.
In the bottom of the stanza, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada sliced and diced a pitch from Orix starter Hiroshi Kobayashi into the centerfield seats to make it 1-0 Lions.
Goto didn't permit more than one hit in any inning, but he could use some more room for error and Kazuo Matsui gave it to him. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi singled to right to leadoff the seventh. Seibu skipper Haruki Ihara ordered up a hit and run and Takagi took off. Matsui smacked a curve ball onthe outer half of the plate down the leftfeld line and Takagi was able to gallop to the plate on the double for a 2-0 Lions advantage. Centerfielder Tatsuya Ozeki sacrificed Matsui to third and Wada showed the way home on a single to left to make that 3-0.
In the eighth, doubles to left by rightfielder Hiroyuki Oshima and catcher Toru Hosokawa resulted in the club's fourth tally. Goto retired two of the three men he saw, one of them on a 6-4-3 twin killing, in the ninth and this one was a memory.
For Orix, leftfielder Roosevelt Brown was 0-4 and is at .310. Second baseman Jose Ortiz was 0-3 and is at .249.
For Seibu, first baseman Alex Cabrera was 1-4 and is at .329. Third baseman Scott McClain was 0-3 with a walk and is at .235.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
H. Kobayashi (L, 3-7) IP 6.0 BF 28 PC 108 H 9 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.29
D. Kato IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 37 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.83
Seibu:
M. Goto (W, 8-7) IP 9.0 BF 31 PC 121 H 5 HR 0 K 5 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.66
SB: Ozeki 2, K. Wada, H.Y. Oshima
2B: Shiotani, H.Y. Oshima 2, Katsuragi, K. Matsui, Hosokawa
HR: K. Wada (27)
RBI: K. Matsui, K. Wada 2, Hosokawa
WP: H. Kobayashi
GIDP: Tani (6-4-3)
LOB: Orix 4, Seibu 9
Season Series: Orix 5, Seibu 17 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:07
Attendance: 21,000
Umpires: Yanagita (HP), Tachibana (1B), Kawaguchi (2B), Higashi (3B)
Rookie Abe Comes Up Huge for Kintetsu 3-1
Kenta Abe became the first rookie fresh out of high school to win his first start since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 1999, as he went 6.2 strong innings of one run, four hit ball to stick it to Nippon Ham 3-1. Atsuzawa made his first start of the season for the Fighters and went four innings of two run, four hit ball for the kuroboshi.
Kintetsu took the upper hand in the third, as catcher Tetsuya Matoyama doubled into the rightfield corner and centerfielder Shinji Shimoyama seared one up the leftcenter alley to drive Matoyama in for the 1-0 lead.
They built on that in the fourth when third baseman Yuji Yoshioka singled to left with two outs, first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa walked and rightfielder Koichi Isobe doubled to leftcenter to plate Yoshioka and make it 2-0 Kintetsu.
Nippon Ham made their presence known in the fifth, as first baseman Yukio Tanaka backlegged a first pitch curve ball into the leftcenterfield seats to get within 2-1 Buffs.
In the sixth, Kintetsu leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes neutralized the Tanaka circuit clout by socking a hanging slider into the rightfield bleachers and it was 3-1.
Abe was a bit shaky in the seventh and had to be bailed out, as leftfielder Angel Echevarria leadoff with a single to right and, one out later, Tanaka walked. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko flew out to left. Hideo Koike was waved in by manager Masataka Nashida to face pinch hitter Tatsuya Ide, who grounded out for the third out.
Nippon Ham had a hit in each of the last two innings, but didn't do anything with them, Toyohiko Yoshida pulling the curtain down.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .273.
For Nippon Ham, Echevarria was 1-4 and is at .268.
Pitching Lines:
Nippon Ham:
Atsuzawa (L, 0-1) IP 4.0 BF 16 PC 65 H 4 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.71
Y. Sakurai IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.75
T. Nomura IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 5 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 7.36
Tateishi IP 1.1 BF 6 PC 16 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.69
A. Shimizu IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.48
Shibakusa IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.09
Kintetsu:
K. Abe (W, 1-0) IP 6.2 BF 25 PC 94 H 4 HR 1 K 6 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.35
H. Koike IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 8 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.80
Misawa IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.44
T. Yoshida (S, 6) IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.88
2B: Matoyama, Shimoyama, Isobe, N. Nakamura
HR: Y. Tanaka (9), Rhodes (43)
RBI: Y. Tanaka, Shimoyama, Rhodes, Isobe
LOB: Nippon Ham 6, Kintetsu 5
Season Series: Nippon Ham 10, Kintetsu 17
Game Time: 3:03
Attendance: 28,000
Umpires: Yoshikawa (HP), Yamamura (1B), Hayashi (2B), Sato (3B)
Arai Two Run Jack, Ishihihara Slam Outdo Four Giants Homers 10-4
The Yomiuri Giants flexed quite a bit of muscle at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium Sunday, blasting a quartet of dingers. However, they were all with nobody on and were consequently outranked by the two run bomb from Carp first baseman Takahiro Arai and, especially, the grand slam by catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara off of Giants starter Yuya Kubo to trounce the kyojin 10-4. Takaya Kawauchi, who was just brought back up from the farm, was the victim on all four jacks by the Tokyo squad, but nevertheless stuck around for seven innings to attain his first victory of the year.
Kubo, coming off of two splendid recent outings, was mugged for eight of the Carp runs, only two of which were earned thanks to a bad glove day by third baseman Akira Etoh, in three innings for his fifth loss.
After each side squandered minor scoring opportunities in the first 1.5 innings, Hiroshima asserted themselves in the bottom of the second, as leftfielder Tomonori Maeda walked and Arai launched a long fly ball to leftcenter, the ball just barely making it into the seats to make it 2-0 Carp. Kubo then struckout the side.
In the third, Shigeru Morikasa propelled a deep drive to leftcenter. Leftfielder Roberto Petagine couldn't quite cut it off and it went by him to the wall for a triple. With second baseman Takuya Kimura up at the plate, Giants catcher Yoshinori Murata winged a pickoff throw to third hoping to catch Morikasa sleeping. Instead, it was Etoh who had the focus problem and the ball tipped off his glove and rolled away as Morikasa loped home. Kimura singled to center. He took off for second with centerfielder Koichi Ogata up. Murata, in attempting to hurry a throw, failed to flag the pitch down and it went off of his glove for a passed ball. Ogata singled to score Kimura. One out later, Maeda singled to right. Following another out, Kenjiro Nomura walked to juice the bags. Ishihara connected, mashing it into the leftfield stands to double the Hiroshima lead to 8-0.
Kazuhiro Kiyohara made the state of affairs slightly less humilaiting by going yard to center, his 20th homer, making this his 15th campaign with at least that many, third on the all time list behind Sadaharu Oh (19) and Katsuya Nomura (18) and the score 8-1.
Yomiuri reliever Tsuyoshi Jobe did a nice job during his stint, striking out the side in the fifth.
In the seventh, Masahiro Kawai singled to left for the Giants, only to be doubled off when Shunsuke Hara lined out to first. That was big because shortstop Tomohiro Nioka unleashed a big fly to leftcenter to make it 8-2.
Takashi Kashiwada replaced Jobe beginning the bottom of the seventh and he walked Kimura and Ogata with one out. Shortstop Andy Sheets, who is becoming Hiroshima's answer to Bobby Rose, singled to center for the RBI while Ogata busted for third. Maeda flew out to right and Ogata tagged up and crossed and it was 10-2 Carp.
But Yomiuri would light up Kawauchi in the top of the eighth when rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi lofted a long fly ball to left and barely got it over the fence for his 23rd tater. Petagine then lost one with a little more authority deep into the leftfield stands to make it 10-4. Toshikazu Sawazaki was given the ball and he struckout the side.
Yomiuri had a couple on against Koichi Amano in the ninth with one away, but a pair of groundouts spoiled that revolt and ended the ballgame.
Kiyohara is now tied for ninth on the all time homer list with Koichi Tabuchi with 474. It perhaps bears noting that he needed 353 more games to do it than Tabuchi, especially since Tabuchi played in a bigger home ballpark than Kiyohara did at either Seibu or with Yomiuri.
Kiyohara also recently recieved a new glove from Mizuno craftsman Nobuoshi Tsubota.
For Hiroshima, Sheets was 1-4 with one RBI and is at .323.
For Yomiuri, Latham was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .261. Petagine was 1-4 with a walk and an RBI and is at .308.
Pitching Lines:
Yomiuri:
Kubo (L, 6-5) IP 3.0 BF 18 PC 77 H 7 HR 2 K 3 BB 2 R 8 ER 2 ERA 3.80
Jobe IP 3.0 BF 9 PC 40 H 0 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 9.00
Kashiwada IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.02
Santana IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.22
Hiroshima:
Kawauchi (W, 1-0) IP 7.0 BF 31 PC 107 H 8 HR 4 K 6 BB 3 R 4 ER 4 ERA 5.14
Sawazaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.89
Amano IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 20 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.30
E: Etoh
SB: T. Kimura
3B: Morikasa
HR: T. Arai (11), Ishihara (4), Kiyohara (20), Nioka (26), Y. Takahashi (23), Petagine
(26)
RBI: Kiyohara, Nioka, Y. Takahashi, Petagine, Ogata, Sheets, T. Maeda, T. Arai,
Ishihara 4
SF: T. Maeda
PB: Y. Murata
LOB: Yomiuri 9, Hiroshima 2
Season Series: Yomiuri 13, Hiroshima 9
Game Time: 3:03
Attendance: 16,000
Umpires: Sasaki (HP), Ino (1B), Suginaga (2B), Nako (3B)
Yokohama Shutout on Five Hits 3-0
The Chunichi Dragons got a sterling six shutout innings from Kazuhiro Hiramatsu Sunday at Nagoya Dome, as they shot the Yokohama Bay Stars down 3-0. Stars starter Takashi Saito performed decently, three runs in six innings on six hits, but it just wasn't good enough and his record was leveled to 6-6.
The Dragons obtained the only runs they would need in this one in the second inning, as first baseman Masahiko Morino singled to center and went to second on a groundout. Second baseman Masahiro Araki singled to center. Manager Hisashi Yamada called for a squeeze and Hiramatsu aided his own cause by getting it down and it was 1-0. In addition, the Stars tried to get the runner at the plate and everybody was safe. Saito nailed centerfielder Takayuki Onishi with a pitch to load the bases. Shortstop Hirokazu Ibata grounded to third and Araki crossed to improve the Dragons advantage to 2-0.
In the fourth, Yokohama centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo doubled off the centerfield wall and Seiichi Uchikawa walked to get things bubbling. However, third baseman Katsuaki Furuki ripped a liner to Araki, who doubled Uchikawa off. First baseman Tyrone Woods singled to left, Kinjo holding at third. Second baseman Hitoshi Taneda spanked a comebacker right to Hiramatsu, who threw to first for the final out and that rally went by the wayside.
Yokohama had a man on second with one out in the sixth and left him there. In the bottom portion, Chunichi used a singled to center by Morino and leftfielder Kazuki Inoue's triple to the wall in center to make it 3-0 Dragons.
Yokohama had one more shot, that being in the eighth against Hitoki Iwase, when pinch hitter Hitoshi Tamura singled to center with two outs and Kinjo doubled down the leftfield line. But Uchikawa popped out to short and Akinori Otsuka fashioned a perfect ninth to put it away.
For Yokohama, Woods was 1-4 and is at .256.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Takashi Saito (L, 6-6) IP 6.0 BF 27 PC 124 H 6 HR 0 K 7 BB 3 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.66
Tazaki IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.47
Fukumori IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.08
Chunichi:
Hiramatsu (W, 4-2) IP 6.0 BF 21 PC 97 H 3 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.35
Ochiai IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.97
Iwase IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 23 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.06
A.N. Otsuka (S, 11) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.67
SB: M. Araki
2B: Kinjo 2
3B: K. Inoue
RBI: Ibata, Inoue, Hiramatsu
HBP: Onishi (Takashi Saito)
LOB: Yokohama 5, Chunichi 6
Season Series: Yokohama 8, Chunichi 14
Game Time: 3:01
Attendance: 30,000
Umpires: T. Kobayashi (HP), Watada (1B), Nishimoto (2B), Tsuchiyama (3B)
Team Reports
Seibu Lions officials paid a visit to Waseda University shortstop Takashi Toritani Sunday. They are in a stronger bargaining position than some of the other teams due to the presence of Hiroyuki Nakajima, who can play either short or third, and Gold Glove second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi, so one has to believe that the Lions chances of getting him are slim. One has to believe that he will likely end up with Hanshin given that Atsushi Fujimoto's mental mistakes and his less than .200 average with runners in scoring position make him ripe to get the boot.
In the News
Does Matsui Need to Lose Some of His Japanese-ness?
See story at: National Post Article
Jim Allen Back on the Hot Corner Talking Lessons for Nomura
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
See a related story at: Yomiiur Shimbun Article
10,000 Shops Want to Get in on Hanshin Tigers Celebration
See story at: Mainichi Shimbun Article
Hanshin Tigers Stamps to Go on Sale
See story at: Japan Today Article
Questec's Future Looking Dicey
See story at: Newsday Article
Today's Pictures
Shinobu Fukuhara Turns and Delivers
