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10/01/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Twin Matsunaka Blasts Cuts Magic Number to Two; Padres Looking at Takatsu"
Matsunaka's Two Homers Relaxes Wada in 5-1 Hawks Victory
Daiei Hawks first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka blasted a pair of homers and drove in three runs as a refreshed Tsuyoshi Wada, benefiting from some r&r time he was given recently, tossed an eight inning six hit, one run gem, striking out 11 and walking none, in a 5-1 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters Thursday at Tokyo Dome. The triumph reduced the Fukuoka nine's magic number of clinching the Pacific League title to two.
Satoru Kanemura started for Nippon Ham and was charged with all five runs on ten hits in 6.2 innings for his seventh loss.
Daiei went out in front immediately and never looked back, as third baseman Munenori Kawasaki singled with one out in the first and, one out later, Matsunaka, normally not known as a long distance hitter, absolutely massacred a first pitch 86mph fastball and launched it into the upper deck in right more than 455 feet away to seize a 2-0 lead.
Nippon Ham put two men on with a pair of two out singles in the bottom of the first, but couldn't turn them into anything and Wada would not allow a baserunner for the following five innings.
In the fifth, Daiei shortstop Yusuke Torigoe got aboard on an infield hit and rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara monstered a fastball on the inner half into the rightfield bleachers to double the Hawks advantage to 4-0.
When the Hawks took their next turn at bat, which was in the sixth, Matsunaka opened the stanza by crushing a shuuto into the leftcenterfield stands to widen it to 5-0 Daiei.
Nippon Ham averted the shutout in the seventh when leftfielder Kazuteru Shimada singled to left and went to second on a wild pitch. Two outs later, first baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto singled to right to plate Shimada to make it 5-1.
Wada came out for the ninth and third baseman Hiroshi Narahara legged out a bleeder on the infield and Shimada singled to center. Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh dialed local and out of the bullpen jogged Takayuki Shinohara, who induced a flyout from DH Yukio Tanaka and a game ending 6-4-3 twin killing from rightfielder Katsuhiro Nishiura to turn out the lights.
It was Wada's first win since August 10. He had been throwing his changeup too hard. recently and was being lit up because of it. This time out, it was slower and thus more effective. His fastball was clocked in the high 80's. Last time a Daiei rookie had 13 wins was in 1970 by Michio Sato (18-6), when they were still owned by Nankai.
This was Wada's sixth double figure strikeout performance of the season. The last time a Daiei first year man had six 10 K outings was Nagisa Arakaki this season and then way back in 1940, when Hideo Shimizu did it (10 times) accomplished that. Nippon Ham manager Trey Hillman remarked that Wada was getting his fastball under the hitters' hands and working ther corners well. His squad has dropped their last five against the rookie lefthander.
For Daiei, leftfielder Pedro Valdes was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .316. Julio Zuleta struckout in a pinch hit appearance and is at .257.
Pitching Lines:
Daiei:
T. Wada (W, 13-5) IP 8.0 BF 30 PC 138 H 6 HR 0 K 11 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.51
Shinohara (S, 10) IP 1.0 BF 2 PC 3 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.59
Nippon Ham:
Kanemura (L, 10-7) IP 6.2 BF 30 PC 122 H 10 HR 3 K 5 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 4.22
A. Shimizu IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 21 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.76
Y. Sakurai IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.07
SB: Torigoe, M. Kawasaki
2B: Johjima
HR:Matsunaka 2 (26), Shibahara (4)
RBI: Matsunaka 3, Shibahara 2
WP: T. Wada
GIDP: Torigoe (6-4-3), Nishiura (6-4-3)
LOB: Daiei 5, Nippon Ham 4
Season Series: Daiei 16, Nippon Ham 10 2 Ties
Game Time: 2:59
Attendance: 30,000
Umpires: Nakamura (HP), Tsugawa (1B), Yanagita (2B), Akimura (3B)
Woods' Two RBIs Help Yokohama Beat Hiroshima 4-1
Yokohama Bay Stars first baseman Tyrone Woods pushed two runners home in the tenth inning to aid his side in besting the Hiroshima Carp Thursday at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium 4-1. Takeo Kawamura started for the winners and had an excellent outing, going six innings of one run ball on seven hits while walking none, though he wasn't around to get the shiroboshi when the decisive runs were scored.
Hiroki Kuroda started for Hiroshima and was rock solid, going seven innings of one unearned run ball on seven hits to ultimately get a no decision as well.
Yokohama drew first blood in this faceoff, as leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to center with one out and third baseman Shuichi Murata singled to left. One out later, with Suzuki now at third, catcher Ryoji Aikawa grounded to Andy Sheets, who booted it and Suzuki crossed with the 1-0 lead.
Kawamura made that standup until the sixth, when Hiroshima was able to finally get somebody across against him. With one out, Sheets and leftfielder Tomonori Maeda singled to left, Sheets motoring to third. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata flied out to left and Sheets tagged up and hustled in with the equalizer to make it 1-1.
Each side squandered a minor scoring opportunity before it went into the tenth, when Yokohama centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo swung and missed at a Katsuhiro Nagakawa pitch, which went to the backstop, and Kinjo sped off for first and was subsequently sacrificed to second. Pinch hitter Kazunori Tanaka walked. Woods pinged a shot off the centerfield wall and the two speedsters mae like bats out of hell for home on the double. Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara replaced Nagakawa. Suzuki singled to left and Woods, too, completed the circuit to expand the Stars advantage to 4-1. Takeharu Kato spun a perfect bottom segment and that was your ballgame.
For Hiroshima, Sheets was 2-4 and is at .314.
For Yokohama, Woods was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .263.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Kawamura IP 6.0 BF 25 PC 91 H 7 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.05
Tomori IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.35
Gaillard IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.08
T.H. Kato (W, 4-1) IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.52
Hiroshima:
Kuroda IP 7.0 BF 28 PC 103 H 7 HR 0 K 4 BB 2 R 1 ER 0 ERA 3.24
Sasaoka IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 30 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.94
Nagakawa (L, 3-3) IP 0.1 BF 4 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.89
Kikuchihara IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 2 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25
Sawazaki IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.63
E: Sheets, K. Nomura
2B: T. Kimura, Ryoji Aikawa, Sheets, Woods
RBI: Woods 2, S. Murata, Ogata
SF: Ogata
WP: Nagakawa
HBP: Tamura (Kuroda)
GIDP: Tamura (4-6-3), Woods (6-4-3)
LOB: Yokohama 10, Hiroshima 7
Season Series: Yokohama 9,Hiroshima 17
Game Time: 3:24
Attendance: 7,000
Umpires: Honda (HP), Mori (1B), Watamari (2B), Tomoyose (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri Well, it happened. Manager Tatsunori Hara's resentment over the interference by owner Tsuneo Watanabe in the composition of his coaching staff boiled over and he decided to resign, effective at the end of the season. Tsuneo Horiuchi will be the new skipper, according to Sports Nippon. Let this be a lesson: Hara was a loyal company man as a player and as a coach and then a manager. Then they screwed him at their convenience. Sounds kinda like real life in corporate (pick a country).
Yakult The San Diego Padres are said to be interested in closer Shingo Takatsu, the sidearming righthanded sinkerballer who is Japan's all time saves leader. Hochi Sports says that "several other teams" are also looking at the 35 year old who has fought off chronic elbow pain to emerge at the top of the heap among stoppers. His contract is up this year and he and the Swallows have yet to sit down and talk about his future with the club. Takatsu himself said that he "can really think about that" right now, but he has also made noises about getting the best contract possible, something that Japanese beat writers are taking as his desire to remain in Tokyo with the birds.
Hanshin Relievers Jerrod Riggan and Jeff Williams will be asked back for next season, joining Trey Moore and George Arias as the Tigers allotted four foreign players. Riggan has been outstanding in middle relief, so manager Senichi Hoshino decided to go with the hot hand that is right in front of him.
Chunichi The ballclub will announce who its new manager will be on October 10th, according to Chunichi Sports. Who they are considering, though, is being held close to the vest. Hochi Sports, though, says that Hiromitsu Ochiai and Kazuhiko Ushijima are on the short list of candidates....Closer Akinori Otsuka says that while he won't make any decision on asking to be posted for a while yet, like reliever Eiji Ochiai, who the next skipper will be will play a role in his decision.
Seibu Former Buffaloes and Lions great Masahiro Doi will be the club's batting instructor next season while, as expected, former Yakult moundsman Daisuke Araki was named pitching coach. Doi was instrumental in converting Kazuo Matsui from a pitcher into the Japanese game's hardest hitting shortstop....Closer Kiyoshi Toyoda will not be able to join a Japanese team that will play in an olympic regional qualifying tournament due to the injury he suffered from punching a cooler Wednesday. However, ace Daisuke Matsuzaka and Matsui probably will be part of that club.
Orix The team is still comtemplating bringing in Bobby Valentine, but as a Hochi Sports story indicated Wednesday, former Lions manager Haruki Ihara still apparently has the inside track. Orix' front office values Ihara for being able to teach the fine points of the game and to discern the opposition's tendencies. Former Hankyu Braves centerfielder and hall of famer Yutaka Fukumoto has also been considered, but Ihara is thought to be the most likely successor to Leon Lee....Contrary to earlier reports that they would be back for 2004, Makoto Suzuki and Masato Yoshii will apparently be released. And, surprisingly, so will leftfielder Roosevelt Brown and second baseman Jose Ortiz despite that fact that Brown is having an excellent year after a slow start while Ortiz' bat has also seemed to have adapted to Japan. But both men have had their problems defensively, with Ortiz leading all second baseman in errors at 23 and Brown having committed 11 miscues. Team officials really want to strengthen the club's defense and so Brown and Ortiz were deemed expendable. The primary problem, though, for the club is its awful Japanese baseball worst pitching. Taking 50 odd homers and a .300 hitter out of your lineup isn't going to do you much good if you have a bunch of arms that can't get people out. Then you also have the conundrum as to just who you are going to get to replace that production. Look for Brown to quickly find another job.
Miscellaneous Samsung Lions slugger Lee Seung-yeop tied the Asian homer record Thursday with his 55th in the sixth inning of a game against the Kia Tigers. It breaks his old Korean record of 54, set in 1999. This year will also mark his fifth homer title.
In the News
Ken Rosenthal on Kazuo Matsui
See story at: MSNBC Article
Ichiro Will Not Stand for Arbitration
See story at: CNN/SI Article
See related story at: Associated Press Article
U.S. to Send Indie Leaguers to World Cup
See story at: Japan Today Article
Hanshin Tigers Not Like American Namesakes
See story at: North Jersey.com Article
Osakans Disown Bridge Jumping Hanshin Fans
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Japanese Amateur Organizations Discriminate Against Foreigners
Actually, Dave doesn't quite have it right. While it is true that non-Japanese are excluded from the Kokutai all star baseball game (Sadaharu Oh was one so affected), foreigners do play in amateur baseball leagues in Japan, both in high school (where there are Iranian-Japanese, Vietnamese and Braziliam-Japanese players) and in the industrial leagues (where several members of the Cuban National Team play). But his point is overall well taken. See story at: Japan Times Article
See related story at: Japan Times Article
KBO Fans Hopes Lee 56th Homer Ball Nets Big Payday
See story at: Joong Ang Ilbo Article
Ancient Cub Fans Reminisce
See story at: Rockford Register-Star Article
Millar Exults After Betraying Dragons
See story at: MLB.com Article
Today's Pictures
Nobuhiko Matsunaka Goes Yard in the Sixth
Tsuyoshi Wada Throwing to the Plate
Replies: 1 Comment
Roosevelt Brown could be the answer to the Giants' leftfield problem.
Posted by Mike Todd @ 10/01/2003 11:54 PM EST
