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10/02/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hara Firing Creates Firestorm; Tani Bogs Hawks Down"
Hara Firing Lambasted by Press, Players, Other Managers
A press conference was held Friday to formally announce the resignation of manager Tatsunori Hara and the naming of Tsuneo Horiuchi to the position. A tearful Hara took responsibility for the Giants current fourth place showing even after the team had added Roberto Petagine and revealed that he had decided to hang it up when the club had lost its ninth straight during a recent skid. Shigeo Nagashima said that the Giants may leave open the possibility of Hara coming back at some future point just as they did him.
But that didn't stop Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino from slamming how the Giants front office handled the whole situation. "What the hell was [Horiuchi] doing next to him at that press conference, anyway?]" he fumed. He also emphasized that pro yakyu needed younger blood and that he didn't understand Hara's firing in lieu of that, either. Moreover, "the suits need to do their homework" in how to analyze the effectiveness of managers.
In a bit of a surprise, Giants honchos were given a tongue lashing from Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japan's "God of Hitting" and the man who lead the club to nine straight pennants and Japan Series crowns. "Is that the best they can do," he grumbled. "This really irritiates me." He then talked about original Giants owner Shotaro Shoriki and the trust they had between each other, implying that the folks running the show these days were of far less upstanding character.
Yomiuri righthanded ace Koji Uehara was annoyed by the whole thing, calling it "cruel" and "unbelievable." He went on, "not winning the pennant isn't the manager's fault. As a player, I'm really sorry."
Some of those same sentiments were echoed by the Giants players union rep, Yoshinobu Takahashi, who also said that it was the players who actually played in the games and that he was sorry that Hara was given the boot.
Uehara, Kawakami and Hoshino weren't the only ones giving this a thumbs down. A writer for Sports Nippon called the handling of Hara's future "confusion" and "a ridiculous incident." A scribe for Sankei Sports characterized it as "a theater of chaos." An angry fan even phoned owner Tsuneo Watanabe's house with a bomb threat. Thankfully, no weapon was found by Shinjuku, Tokyo police. In any event, Watanabe then went on to once again excoriate the press as if it were their fault that Hara felt insulted by Yomiuri executives interfering in his decisions over who should coach under him. And let's not forget that Watanabe set off the speculation over Hara's future himself when he said that Hara's job would be in jeopardy if the Giants got swept by Hanshin in a recent series.
Sankei Sports also quotes an anonymous source int he front office as insisting that "pushing all the blame on Hara is just plain weird. This all seems to have come about since the hiring of [new team liason] Miyama."
So what will the ascendence of Horiuchi portend? He will reportedly emphasize pitching and defense, especially looking for more complete game performances out of his starters.
Tani Homer in 12th Slows Hawks
A 12th inning solo homer to center by Orix Blue Wave centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani in the bottom of the 12th off of Takayuki Shinohara retarded the Daiei Hawks march to the Pacific League title Friday at Kobe Green Stadium in a 4-3 victory by the Kobe contingent Friday at Kobe Green Stadium.
The Hawks had oodles of chances to really hurt Orix starter Rui Makino and three relievers, but ended up leaving 16 men on to accept the defeat and ruin a tenacious outing by starter Brandon Knight, who, though walking seven, limited the opposition to three runs, two earned, on five hits in seven innings to keep his side in it.
Makino, had a rare good outing, going eight innings of three run (two earned) ball on seven hits to reduce his ERA to 5.00.
After each starter survived minor scrapes in the first, Daiei seized the first lead of the night in the second when catcher Kenji Johjima crashed a double off the leftfield wall and leftfielder Pedro Valdez reached on an error by Orix shortstop Mitsutaka Goto. Two outs later, shortstop Yusuke Torigoe whistled a shot down the leftfield line to redeem Johjima and make it 1-0.
Torigoe, though, returned the favor in the fourth, as he booted a ground ball off the bat of first baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani, who then rode third baseman Koichi Oshima's double into the rightfield corner home to knot it at 1-1.
Orix put two men on with one out in the bottom of the inning, but Knight got catcher Daisuke Maeda to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to kill the rally.
The Hawks then went back on the attack, as Torigoe leadoff the fifth with a single to right and rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara doubled down the leftfield line. One out later, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi singled to center to usher Torigoe in. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled to right and Shibahara arrived at the dish safely for a 3-1 Daiei advantage. However, Johjima struckout and Valdes flied out to halt the uprising in its tracks.
Orix mirrored that in the home segment, as Goto doubled to rightcenter and Shiotani singled to left to hail Goto in. Shiotani was sacrificed along. Tani walked. Leftfielder Roosevelt Brown singled to right to load the bases. Knight walked second baseman Jose Ortiz to force in Shiotani and it was level again at 3-3. DH Takeshi Yamasaki then shortcircuited the bonanza by grounding into a double play.
In the eighth, with reliever Makoto Sato on the hill for Daiei and one down, Yamasaki singled to left and Ryutaro Tsuji was nailed by a pitch. Hirokazu Watanabe was summoned from the bullpen and intentionally walked pinch hitter Ryoji Aikawa to load the bases. Watanabe then wriggled out of the predicament, striking out Takashi Miwa, pinch hitting for Goto, to quell the noise.
It would be Daiei's turn to let a nice opportunity slip through their fingers in the tenth, as Matsunaka singled to right with one away. Motoi Okoshi was dispatched to pinch run for him and he went to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Valdes was intentionally walked. DH Noriyoshi Omichi legged out a dribbler and the sacks were packed. But Mitsuru Honma, pinch hitting for Matsuda, flew out to center and it was still 3-3.
Daiei had two on with one out in the 11th, only to see Iguchi and Okoshi strikeout. In the 12th, they had the bases juiced with one out, but Kazuyuki Takahashi, pinch hitting for Torigoe, whiffed and Shibahara grounded out and that chance went by the wayside.
Tani commenced the bottom of the 12th by torquing a fastball beyond the centerfield wall and that was the ballgame. It was Daiei's fourth sayonara loss and their second to Orix, who they have lit up to the tune of a .350 batting average.
Lefty Hawks reliever Shuji Yoshida has now worked six straight 50 appearance seasons.
For Orix, Brown went 1-5 and is at .308. Ortiz was 0-3 with two walks and an RBI and is at .252.
Pitching Lines:
Daiei:
Knight IP 6.1 BF 30 PC 124 H 5 HR 0 K 6 BB 7 R 3 ER 2 ERA 4.86
S. Yoshida IP 0.2 BF 1 PC 1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.04
M. Sato IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
H.K. Watanabe IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.95
A. Mizuta IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 25 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.81
Shinohara (L, 1-4) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.77
Orix:
Makino IP 8.0 BF 34 PC 113 H 7 HR 0 K 6 BB 1 R 3 ER 2 ERA 5.00
H. Ogura IP 2.0 BF 10 PC 45 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.67
J. Hagiwara IP 1.2 BF 10 PC 41 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 3 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.04
Iwashita (W, 2-0) IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
E: Torigoe, K. Oshima, D. Maeda 2, M.T. Goto
SB: Iguchi 3
2B: Johjima, Torigoe, K. Oshima, Shibahara, M.T. Goto
HR: Tani (17)
RBI: Iguchi, Matsunaka, Torigoe, Shiotani, Tani 2, Ortiz
IBB: Ryota Aikawa (H.K. Watanabe), P. Valdes (H. Ogura)
WP: H. Ogura
HBP: Iguchi (Makino), R. Tsuji (M. Sato)
GIDP: D. Maeda (5-4-3), Brown (6-4-3), T. Yamasaki (6-4-3)
LOB: Daiei 16, Orix 11
Season Series: Daiei 16, Orix 10
Game Time: 4:48
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Higashi (HP), Hayashi (1B), Sato (2B), Yamamura (3B)
Three Homers Add Up to 9-3 Rout of Carp by Yokohama
Hiroshima Carp pitchers walked four and hit a batter in this game and two of them scored, as the Yokohama Bay Stars used three dingers to drive in all nine runs in a 9-3 victory Friday at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. Yuji Yoshimi, who has been even more disappointing for the Stars than Makoto Suzuki was for Orix this year, finally scooped up his third win against ten losses thanks to a seven inning stint in which he permitted three runs on nine hits while striking out nine and walking one.
Otake started for Hiroshima in his pro debut and was hit hard for five runs in an inning before being directed to the showers by Carp boss Koji Yamamoto. While Otake was in there, he wa sclocked at 90mph.
In that first, leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to left and first baseman Tyrone Woods walked. Third baseman Shuichi Murata torched a slider deep into the leftcenterfield seats to set a new Japan rookie record for homers by a rookie in a month with his tenth and to make it 3-0. Centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo singled to right. Rightfielder Katsuaki Furuki belted one into the rightfield bleachers to stretch that to 5-0. Catcher Ryoji Aikawa socked one off the leftfield wall for a double. But Otake got a break since it was now Yoshimi's turn in the order and he struckout.
Hiroshima got one of those back in their half, as rightfielder Kojiro Machida walked and, when second baseman Takuya Kimura flew to deep right, he tagged up and beat Furuki's throw to second. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to right and Machida scampered in to put it at 5-1 Yokohama.
In the second, Hiroshima first baseman Takahiro Arai got real cruel with a Yoshimi delivery and buried it in the leftfield stands and it was 5-2 Stars. Third baseman Kenjiro Nomura beat out a ground ball toward third. The nest two men struckout, but Machida and Kimura each singled to left to load the bases. Ogata, though, flew out to right and Yoshimi survived.
Yokohama loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth, but a strikeout and a double play ball kept it reasonably close for Hiroshima and it was even tighter after Machida conked one into the leftfield seats in the seventh to make it 5-3 Stars.
However, in the eighth, Suzuki beat one out and Woods singled to center against reliever Kanei Kobyashi. The runners were advanced on a sac bunt. Kinjo walked to jam the basepaths. Backup catcher Takeshi Nakamura applied maximum force to a delivery and
deposited it in the leftfield bleachers for a grand slam and this one was effectively over at 9-3 Yokohama. Hiroshima would collect only one hit over the final two innings and this one was a memory.
For Hiroshima, Sheets was 2-4 with two strikeouts and is at .315.
For Yokohama, Woods was 1-3 with two walks and is at .263.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Yoshimi (W, 3-10) IP 7.0 BF 29 PC 98 H 9 HR 2 K 9 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 8.68
Kizuka IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 23 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.33
Hiroshima:
Otake (L, 0-1) IP 1.0 BF 9 PC 32 H 5 HR 2 K 1 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 45.00
Yokoyama IP 4.0 BF 15 PC 61 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.02
Kikuchihara IP 2.0 BF 5 PC 23 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.93
K. Kobayashi IP 2.0 BF 11 PC 35 H 4 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 6.00
E: Furuki
2B: Ryoji Aikawa, Saeki
HR: S. Murata (25), Furuki (20), T. Nakamura (11) T. Arai (13), Machida (4)
RBI: S. Murata 3, K.A. Furuki 2, T. Nakamura 4, Machida, T. Arai
HBP: S. Murata (Yokoyama)
GIDP: Kinjo (4-6-3), Yokoyama (1-6-4), T. Kimura (6-4-3), Tamura (6-4-3), T.
Maeda (4-6-3)
LOB: Yokohama 4, Hiroshima 5
Season Series: Yokohama 10, Hiroshima 17
Game Time: 2:51
Attendance: 6,000
Umpires: Tomoyose (HP), K. Kobayashi (1B), Mori (2B), Watamari (3B).
Team Reports
Yakult The Swallows personnel folks are very interested in Chukyo High School third baseman Hiroki Nakagawa, who they say has tremendous all around batting and defensive skills. He can also apparently really run. With Akinori Iwamura at third for at least the next two years, Nakagawa will likely be assigned to second base and could go as high as the second round. He slugged 28 homers while at Chukyo, which has also helped garner attention from Chunichi.
