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09/27/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Uehara Tosses Another CG, Daiei, Seibu Frustrated"
Seibu Dealt Big Extra Inning Setback by Kintetsu 3-2
Even if he walked four and hit a batter Seibu Lions righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka nonetheless was every inch the ace he was supposed to be, as he went nine and limited the Kintetsu Buffaloes to six hits and a run over nine innings, but due to a fine pitching performance from Buffs starter Kevin Beirne, he got a no decision and missed out on obtaining what would would have been a career best 17th victory. Instead, Kintetsu rallied for two runs in the 11th inning Saturday at Seibu Dome to put the Lions in a tenous position in the Pacific League pennant race by a 3-2 score.
Kintetsu drew first blood, as rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to left to kick off the second and shortstop Masahiro Abe walked. Third baseman Osamu Hoshino singled to
center and the bases were loaded. Catcher Tetsuya Matoyama flew out to left and Isobe tagged up and crossed to make it 1-0.
The Buffs then had two men on with one out in the fourth on a single and a hit batter, but Matoyama struckout and centerfielder Naoyuki Omura popped up to short to kill that opportunity.
Neither side could muster any offense again until the Lions came up in the bottom of the ninth to face Hiroshi Takamura. With one out, pinch hitter Taketoshi Goto walked. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to right, bringing up first baseman Alex Cabrera. He was intentionally walked and the bases were loaded. Pinch hitter Keisuke Mizuta then lofted a sac fly for his first pro RBI and a 1-1 tie. Another pinch hitter, Shogo Akada, now had a chance to win it, but he grounded to short and it went into extra innings.
In the 11th, Rhodes doubled off the centerfield wall and, one out later, Isobe singled to left to drive Rhodes in. Abe singled to right. Seibu reliever Shinji Mori then crossed up Hosokawa for a passed ball and the runners moved to second and third respectively. Hoshino tapped one up the first base line and beat it out while Isobe toed the dish for a 4-2 Buffs lead.
The Lions attempted to claw back in the home half, as shortstop Kazuo Matsui walked and, one out later, Wada laced a shot up the leftcenter alley and Matsui sprinted home on the double. Cabrera entered the batter's box and Matoyama signaled for four wide ones, which angered the Venezuelan slugger, who then stepped into the lefthanded batter's box as a protest. Tuffy Rhodes, who is actually good friends with Cabrera, yelled something from his post in left. Following ball four, Cabrera trotted off for first. Mizuta popped out to short and Akada flied out to left and it was "game setto."
Cabrera was still steamed after the game and basically challenged the Buffs' manhood by saying that baseball is a game of head to head competition and that he was, "disappointed and saddened" with their choice of taking the bat out of his hands. He also joked that "I can hit lefthanded." Hisashi Aikyo, who was on the mound when the former Diamondback pulled his stunt, found it to be "insulting and annoying." Lions manager Haruki Ihara, though, said he would have opted to do what Kintetsu skipper Masataka Nashida did in that situation, so he didn't really object to it. Perhaps adding to Cabrera's irritation was a ball hit hit off the roof in the seventh that was caught by Abe for an out. On the night, he was 0-3 with the two walks and is at .329. Third baseman Scott McClain was 0-2 with a walk and is at .232.
Matsuzaka needs seven more strikeouts for a new single season high of 215.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-4 with a walk and three strikeouts and is at .274.
Pitching Lines:
Kintetsu:
Beirne IP 8.0 BF 27 PC 116 H 1 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.49
T. Yoshida IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.45
Takamura IP 0.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.00
H. Koike (W, 1-1) IP 1.2 BF 5 PC 18 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.91
Aikyo (S, 1) IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 29 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.35
Seibu:
Matsuzaka IP 9.0 BF 36 PC 143 H 6 HR 0 K 9 BB 4 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.54
Toyoda IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.11
S. Mori (L, 7-3) IP 1.0 BF 8 PC 30 H 4 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.38
E: O. Hoshino
SB: K. Matsui, Cabrera
2B: Isobe, Rhodes, K. Wada
RBI: K. Wada, K. Mizuta, Isobe, O. Hoshino, Matoyama
SF: Matoyama, K. Mizuta
IBB: Cabrera 2 (Takamura)
HBP: O. Hoshino (Matsuzaka), K. Wada (Beirne)
PB: Hosokawa
GIDP: Matoyama (1-6-3), Kawaguchi (1-6-3)
LOB: Kintetsu 11, Seibu 7
Season Series: Kintetsu 14, Seibu 12
Game Time: 4:22
Attendance: 30,000
Umpires: Yoshikawa (HP), Nakamura (1B), Yanagita (2B), Tachibana (3B)
Two Run Fighters Fifth Keeps Hawks Flying in Place
A pair of runs splattered on the scoreboard by the Nippon Ham Fighters in the fifth inning Saturday at Fukuoka Dome stymied the Daiei Hawks from putting the Seibu Lions pennant hopes on life support, as Nippon Ham then whiteknuckled a 4-3 victory. Daiei catcher Kenji Johjima homered in the fifth inning to become the first .300-30 homers-100 RBI catcher since Nankai hall of famer Katsuya Nomura in 1967 and only the second backstop in all to do that.
Satoru Kanemura started for the winners and cadged his tenth shiroboshi of the campaign with 6.2 innings of three run ball on nine hits top trump Daiei starter Keisaburo Tanoue's two runs on four hits in three innings.
The Fighters hurt Tanoue right away, as centerfielder Tatsuya Ide doubled to leftcenter opening the match and went to third on a groundout. DH Angel Echevarria crushed one well beyond the leftfield wall and it was 2-0.
The Hawks halved that disparity in the second, as Johjima singled to left and went to third on a single to center by leftfielder Pedro Valdes. DH Noriyoshi Omichi flied out to right and Johjima tagged up and hustled in to make it 2-1 Fighters. Centerfielder Kazuyuki Takahashi then blunted any further scoring when he grounded to Kensuke Tanaka. Valdes stopped in the middle of the basepaths so Tanaka couldn't tag him, so Tanaka went to first to get the speedy Takahashi and then first baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto winged it to shortstop Makoto Kaneko for the tag on Valdes at second and a 4-3-6 double play.
In the fifth, Nippon Ham enhanced its advantage when Ide singled to center and rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi walked. One out later, Kazuteru Shimada pinged a shot off the leftfield wall and Ide and Tsuboi scurried in on the two bagger to make it 4-1 Fighters.
But in the sixth, Daiei first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka hammered a long single off the leftfield wall and Johjima inside outed a fastball deep to right, the ball just making it into the first row next to the foul pole above the 18 foot high wall for a two run dinger to tighten it up to 4-3 Fighters. That was only Johjima's second bomb to right of 2003.
Johjima then aimed to catalayze another rally in the eighth, as he singled to right and Valdes singled to center. However, a comebacker to reliever Akio Shimizu and two
harmless fly ball outs dissolved that surge and Yoshinori Tateyama retired the Hawks lineup in order in the ninth to wrap it up.
Daiei is now at .500 in one run games (14-14). Their magic number is seven.
When Nomura had his last .300-30-100 season, he finished with a .305 average, 35 homers and 100 RBIs. Johjima is already going to exceed Nomura's average and RBIs this season, though it's an open question as to whether he will top Nomura's homer figure. Johjima has 11 games to slug six more homers to do that. The finest season Nomura had surpassing all three of those barriers was perhaps in 1965, when he batted .320 with 42 circuit clouts and 110 RBIs. Johjima has eclipsed the RBIs and is likely to do so in the average department. Incidently, the record for RBI's by a catcher in a season is 135 and the most homers by a receiver is 52, each also held by Nomura and both set in 1963.
The Hawks passed the three million attendance mark for the third year in a row.
For Nippon Ham, Echevarria was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .275.
For Daiei, Valdes was 3-4 and is at .320. Julio Zuleta was 0-1 in a pinch hit appearance and is at .263.
Pitching Lines:
Nippon Ham:
Kanemura (W, 10-6) IP 6.2 BF 30 PC 113 H 9 HR 1 K 4 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.09
Tat. Kato IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25
Tateishi IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 2 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.42
A. Shimizu IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 6 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.14
Tateyama (S, 15) IP 1.2 BF 5 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.17
Daiei:
Tanoue (L, 1-1) IP 3.0 BF 14 PC 57 H 4 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 5.63
A. Mizuta IP 3.0 BF 13 PC 44 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.17
M. Sato IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.16
S. Yoshida IP 1.2 BF 5 PC 25 H 0 HR 0 K 4 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
SB: Kaneko
2B: Ide, K. Shimada
HR: Echevarria (31), Johjima (30)
RBI: Echevarria 2, K. Shimada 2, Johjima 2, Omichi
SF: Omichi
WP: A. Mizuta
HBP: S. Takahashi (A. Mizuta)
GIDP: K.Y. Takahashi (4-3-6)
LOB: Nippon Ham 5, Daiei 9
Season Series: Nippon Ham 9, Daieu 14 2 Ties
Game Time: 3:37
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Higashi (HP), Kakigizono (1B), Kodera (2B), Hayashi (3B)
Uehara Complete Again to Sink Hanshin 4-2
Yomiuri Giants ace Koji Uehara was outstading Friday at Tokyo Dome, as, mostly featuring his fastball, he went all the way for his 14th win by keeping the Hanshin Tigers to five hits and two runs. Giants first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara provided a huge insurance tally in the seventh when he connected for his 23rd homer of the season to lend Uehara some support.
Shinji Taninaka started for Hanshin and was his typical self, that is, not much better than for taking up space on the roster, permitting three runs on 11 hits in 3.1 innings to get hung with his third defeat.
Taninaka was saved by the arm of leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto in the first, as centerfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to center and, one out later, rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to left. Following a flyout, Kiyohara smacked a single to left. Shimizu rounded third. Kanemoto got to it and fired a strike to the plate to nail the runner to end the inning.
In the second, the first two Giants hitters reached on a walk and a single, but catcher Yoshinori Murata grounded into a double play and Uehara grounded to second to squelch that chance.
However, Shimizu singled to inaugurate the third and went to second on a sac bunt. Takahashi thumped one off the leftfield wall to plate Shimizu on the standup double. Leftfielder Roberto Petagine walked. One out later, third baseman Takayuki Saito whistled a shot down the rightfield line to usher Takahashi in and make it 2-0 Giants. Second baseman Toshihisa Nishi walked to load the bases. Murata, though, flew to right and so Yomiuri went back in the field with a two run advantage.
Then Taninaka just totally lost it in the fourth. With one away, Shimizu singled to left, shortstop Tomohiro Nioka singled to right and Takahashi singled to center to pack the sacks. Petagine singled to left to hail Shimizu in and knock Taninaka out of the contest. Takehito Kanazawa was summoned from the pen and struckout Kiyohara, Saito grounded one between second baseman Kentaro Sekimoto and the second base bag. Sekimoto made a diving stop and got back up on his knees and flipped to shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto for the force to keep his team still in the ballgame at 3-0 Yomiuri.
Uehara would make his only major mistake in the seventh, when rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama banged one off the centerfield wall for a two out double and third baseman Atsushi Kataoka murdered an 88mph high fastball more than 440 feet into the upper reaches of the rightfield stands to make it 3-2 Giants.
Unfortunately, the Giants edged a little further ahead in the seventh when Kiyohara leaned into a pitch from Hiroshi Ishige and monstered it in the rightcenterfield stands. Hanshin would accumulate just two more hits over the final two innings, Sekimoto flying out a center with a man aboard for the last out in the ninth. Uehara now has 70 lifetime victories in his first five pro seasons, the sixth Giants pitcher in history to accomplish that.He also moved up to second in ERA just behind Kei Igawa.
For Hanshin, first baseman George Arias was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .272.
For Yomiuri, Petagine was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .323.
Hanshin:
Taninaka (L, 3-3) IP 3.1 BF 22 PC 87 H 11 HR 0 K 1 BB 3 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.88
Kanazawa IP 2.2 BF 9 PC 32 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.35
Ishige IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 25 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.63
Ando IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.40
Yomiuri:
Uehara (W, 14-5) IP 9.0 BF 33 PC 136 H 5 HR 1 K 11 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.18
SB: Takayuki Saito
2B: Y. Takahashi, Takayuki Saito, Sekimoto, Hiyama
HR: Kataoka (12), Kiyohara (23)
RBI: Kataoka 2, Y. Takahashi, Petagine, Kiyohara, Takayuki Saito
GIDP: Y. Murata (4-6-3)
LOB: Hanshin 4, Yomiuri 11
Season Series: Hanshin 17, Yomiuri 7 1 Tie
Game Time: 2:58
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: T. Kobayashi (HP), Kasahara (1B), Sasaki (2B), Tomoyose (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri The rumor that manager Tatsunori Hara will get the heave ho took another turn Saturday when former Giants aces Tsuneo Horiuchi and Suguru Egawa were mentioned in the press as possible successors for the former Yomiuri third baseman. The super confident (some would say bigheaded) Horiuchi has head coaching experience with the team when it was run by Shigeo Nagashima. Sports Nippon quotes Yomiuri chairman Ujiya as saying that he wants to see how the team does over its final ten games before making a decision. The bandying about of Egawa's name for the post is amazing when you consider that he has a drug conviction under his belt from when he was arrested in 1993 for posession of speed and LSD. But since then, the fireballer has carved out a positive reputation for his work as a baseball commentator and a series of annual baseball books giving scouting reports on teams and players. For his part, Hara says he won't resign. Hara also took responsibility for the team's ill fortune this season while stating that the players did the best they could.
Yakult Lefthander Shugo Fujii, who had reconstructive elbow surgery this past May, could be back on the hill for the Swallows as early as next April, say team sources. He's begun playing catch and says that his recovery is going smoothly.
Yokohama According to Hochi Sports, the Stars are going after Meiji University righthander Shigeki Ushida, a 6'2" 200 pounder who features a fastball that maxes out at 91mph and a forkball that reportedly drops off the table. He pitched in a Koshien Tournament as a high school senior and has been mostly a reliever in college, going 6-5 in 38 games.
Daiei Kyocera may buy the Daiei Hawks, according to the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun. Officials from both Daiei and Kyocera met Friday for preliminary discussions. Indeed, there are hints of a merger with Daiei rather than a direct takeover of the club. Officially, though, the Hawks front office is still denying any intention to sell the club and Kyocera is naysaying that they will buy it.
Orix The Blue Wave will trade reserve infielder Tatsuya Shindo, who is reportedly going to retire after the end of the schedule, to Yokohama for infielder Hirofumi Ogawa. Each man will be moving back to his old team before a 2000 trade that saw them come to their present clubs....25 year old Yamaha lefthander Tatsuo Kato said that he would be favorably disposed to being drafted by Orix. God only knows that he would have a chance to get into their abysmal rotation rightaway.
Today's Pictures
Kazuhiro Kiyohara Slugs Big Homer
Alex Cabrera Objecting to an Intentional Walk
Replies: 2 comments
Gary: inre your remarks on Egawa and his 1993 drug arrest, I think you might have him mixed up with pitcher Yutaka Enatsu, who went to prison for hard drugs. but then resurrected his career--in the media-- after his release from the joint. Egawa has done a number of questionable things, but this is the first I've heard about a past drug conviction. Are you sure about this? If so, I'd like to hear more details.
Posted by Bob Whiting @ 09/29/2003 02:34 AM EST
When Cabrera was in the lefthanders batters box, Tuffy was screaming at his pitcher "Throw a strike, throw a f#*@#*& strike". This was painfully apparent to lip-readers everywhere.
Posted by Mike Todd @ 09/28/2003 11:54 PM EST
