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09/04/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Gianst Bid Etoh Sayonara; Nippon Ham Tryout Info"
Wada, Matsui Combine to Edge Kintetsu in 10 6-5
After the Seibu Lions got a pinch hit three run homer in the eighth inning by rookie Taketoshi Goto to take a 5-3 lead, relievers Shinji Mori and Kiyoshi Toyoda coughed it up. However, in the tenth, Lions leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada tripled shortstop Kazuo Matsui home and Kazuyuki Hoashi rang up his first career save in an eventual 6-5 victory over the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
Kevin Beirne started for Kintetsu and performed well, as he went seven innings of two run, six hit ball, only to see his bullpen blow it.
Chang chia-chiah started for Seibu and left behind after surrendering three runs on five hits over seven innings, and then saw a possible win go down the drain.
Beirne opened the contest by striking out the side while also giving up a single. Chang had to pitch out of a man on third, one out jam in the same frame, which he did. In the second, though, the Buffs asserted themselves when first baseman Yuji Yoshioka singled to left and DH Kenshi Kawaguchi doubled off the rightfield fence. Shortstop Masahiro Abe flied out to center and Yoshioka tagged up and crossed for a 1-0 lead. One out later, centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to right to cash Kawaguchi in and make it 2-0.
Lions catcher Toru Hosokawa halved that deficit by parking a Beirne delivery into the leftfield bleachers leading off the third. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi outran a ground ball near second. Matsui singled to right. Centerfielder Tatsuya Ozeki grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Wada spanked a single to right to redeem Takagi and even it at 2-2.
Both hurlers settled down and not much happened until the sixth, when Kawaguchi drilled a shot into the rightcenterfield seats and it was 3-2 Kintetsu.
Kintetsu reliever Akira Okamoto has been hit around some lately and with two outs in the eighth, Wada singled to right and first baseman Alex Cabrera singled to center. Goto was dispatched to pinch hit for third baseman Scott McClain and he crushed one into the leftfield stands to put the Lions ahead 5-3.
Mori ascended the hill to begin the eighth and was immediately taken downtown to straightaway center by third baseman Norihiro Nakamura to make it 5-4. One out later, Yoshioka reached on an infield hit. Kawaguchi walked and the tying run was in scoring position. Abe singled to right to load the bases. Toyoda was summoned from the bullpen and he fanned pinch hitter Osamu Hoshino and induced a grounder to third from Omura to maintain the one run lead.
But in the top of the ninth and with one out, leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes socked a Toyoda delivery into the rightcenterfield bleachers to deadlock it at five all.
Toyohiko Yoshida came on to pitch the tenth for Kintetsu and was greeted by Matsui's single to center. One out later, Wada torched one up the rightcenter gap and Matsui turned on the after burners for the plate on the triple and the Lions were in front again at 6-5.
Hoashi got two quick outs, but then Abe beat out a bleeder. Catcher Tetsuya Matoyama grounded a ball to the right of Matsui, who backhanded it and threw across his body to Takagi and Abe was out in a bang bang play. Abe as well as manager Masataka Nashida , who vociferously objected to the umpire's call, but, as usual, to no avail and that was that.
Goto is the first Lions rookie to hit double figures in homers since Kazuhiro Kiyohara in 1986. He is the first rookie to slug four pinch hit homers since Shinji Nishida of Hiroshima in 1983. As a side note, those were Nishida's only bombs of the season.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 with two walks and is at .329. McClain was 0-3 and is at .233.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-3 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .272.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Chang IP 7.0 BF 30 PC 123 H 5 HR 1 K 6 BB 4 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.65
S. Mori IP 0.1 BF 5 PC 23 H 3 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.21
Toyoda (W,1-2)IP 1.2 BF 6 PC 19 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.08
Hoashi (S, 1) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.33
Kintetsu:
Beirne IP 7.0 BF 27 PC 103 H 6 HR 1 K 4 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.85
H. Koike IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 4 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.77
A. Okamoto IP 0.2 BF 5 PC 14 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.76
Aikyo IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.37
T. Yoshida (l, 3-2) IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 27 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.02
E: K. Matsui
SB: Ozeki, Isobe
2B: N. Omura, K. Kawaguchi
3B: K. Wada
HR: Hosokawa (4), K. Kawaguchi (9), T.T. Goto (10), N. Nakamura (22), Rhodes
(44)
RBI: K. Wada, T.T. Goto 3, Hosokawa, N. Omura, Rhodes, N. Nakamura, K.
Kawaguchi, M. Abe
SF: M. Abe
HBP: Mizuguchi (Chang)
GIDP: Hosokawa (6-4-3), Ozeki (6-4-3)
LOB: Seibu 7, Kintetsu 10
Season Series:
Game Time: 4:12
Attendance: 17,000
Umpires: Sato (HP), Hayashi (1B), Nagami (2B), Kodera (3B)
Orix a Lose Lose and Lose Some More Proposition 5-4
Chiba Lotte Marines starter Yasuhiko Yabuta now has four wins this season, three of them against the Orix Blue Wave, as he went six innings of three run ball on five hits in Lotte's 5-4 victory Monday at Kobe Green Stadium. Koo Dae-sung also went seven innings, but was buffeted for four runs on seven hits for his eighth defeat.
The lineup jumped all over Koo like a bear on a picnic in the forest in the first, as shortstop Makoto Kosaka leadoff with a single to center and went to second on a sac bunt. One out later, DH Koichi Hori walked. Third baseman Jose Fernandez doubled to rightcenter to score two and leftfielder Rick Short doubled to leftcenter for another for a 3-0 lead.
Lotte tacked on a fourth tally in the second when Kosaka and centerfelder Jun Inoue both singled to left with two outs and first baseman Kazuya Fukuura singled to left to slingshot Kosaka in to make it 4-0.
Yabuta was utterly dominating the Orix order until he fell apart in the eighth, when he nearly gave it all away. Third baseman Koichi Oshima singled to right and centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani doubled off the rightfield wall. Leftfielder Roosevelt Brown doubled to left and it was 4-2. Second baseman Jose Ortiz singled to right to drive Brown in and it was 4-3 Lotte. Yabuta was also out of the game.
Hori homered to center in the eighth for a little more of cushion to 5-3. They then allowed a man on third, one out chance in the top of the ninth to fizzle. This became important because in the bottom of the stanza, Brown leadoff against closer Masahide Kobayashi with a single to center and, one out later, made lie a bat out of hell for home on DH Takeshi Yamasaki's double up the leftcenter alley to tighten it up to 5-4. Toshiya Tsuji flied out to right. Catcher Takeshi Hidaka lined a shot to right, but at Fukuura, who snagged it to turn out the lights.
For Orix, Brown was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .311. Ortiz was 1-3 with a walk and is at .249.
For Lotte, Fernandez was 1-3 with a walk and two RBIs and is at .275. Short was 2-4 with an RBI and is .287.
Pitching Lines:
Lotte:
Yabuta (W, 4-4) IP 6.0 BF 23 PC 84 H 5 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.88
Tobe IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.59
T. Kawai IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.88
Sikorsky IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.36
M.H. Kobayashi (S, 25)IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.41
Orix:
Koo (L, 6-8) IP 7.0 BF 28 PC 108 H 7 HR 0 K 7 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.99
Motoyanagi IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 39 H 2 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.69
2B: Fernandez, Short 2, Tani, Brown, T. Yamasaki
HR: Hori (17)
RBI: Fukuura, Hori, Fernandez 2, Short, Brown, 2 T. Yamasaki 2
GIDP: Tani (4-6-3)
LOB: Lotte 4, Orix 4
Season Series: Lotte 16, Orix 4 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:05
Attendance: 13,000
Umpires: Kakigizono (HP), Maeda (1B), Tamba (2B), Yamamura (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri As was rumored, slugger Akira Etoh's days with the Giants are numbered, according to Sports Nippon. Team officials, who think that Etoh is losing batspeed and that his overall skills are receding due to age, haven't definitely decided on how they will dispose of the former two time homer king, but it appears they would like to move him in a trade for some pitching or a righthanded bat. However, if they can't unload him in a transaction, preferably with a Pacific League nine, they may just outright release him rather than pony up another $2 million or so to keep him on the roster. Takayuki Saito will be penciled in for now as the 2004 third sacker and they are as we speak working outfielder Takayuki Shimizu out there as well. Also, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi, who would like to take a shot at MLB, reliever Hideki Okajima and infielder Kawamoto are being tendered as trade bait....Team owner Tsuneo Watanabe apologized to Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino over remarks he made about perhaps moving Takashi Toritani to the New York Yankees last week. Watanabe still claims that his thinking is that the posting system isn't any good and that he would like to conclude a deal with MLB that would allow trades between NPB clubs and MLB organizations....Giants tv ratings plummeted to a season low 6.3% for an August 31st game between the kyojin and Hiroshima.
Yokohama He was already defensively suspect even before the season began, but third baseman Katsuaki Furuki is leading all CL third basemen in errors with 18, so they are going to try him in left while regular leftfielder Takanori Suzuki will be nudged over to first base. However, since the club is intent on keeping Steve Cox, what are they going to do next season?...21 year old reliever Kazumasa Azuma had surgery to remove a bundle of fat accumulating around some nerves in his back.
Nippon Ham The Fighters will hold a tryout on October 5th at Kamagaya Stadium for players between 17-23 years of age who stand 5'9" or more. Those interested in auditioning should send an "ofuku" postcard with their name, date of birth, home phone number, last high school or college attended, height, weight, position, and what hand with with which you bat and throw and send it to: Shinjin Test-Kakari, Nippon Ham Fighters, Roppongi 6-1-20 Minato-ku, Tokyo-to, 106-0032. Entries must arrive before September 21st. If you have any questions (though you may need Japanese ability for this), you can phone (if dialing from the states) 011-81-103-3403-9131.
Replies: 1 Comment
hi I like poo
Posted by johnPeter Frank Smith @ 09/04/2003 09:18 PM EST
