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10/08/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Matsui Disappointed in Final Japan Game; Name New Fighters Mascot"
Matsui Takes the Collar in His Final Japanese Game
In what is likely a somehwat bittersweet experience for Seibu Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui, he went went 0-5 with a strikeout Sunday against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium in his final game in a Japanese pro uniform in a 4-3 sayonara loss. Indeed, the speculation over where the switch hitting superstar while go next season dwarfed this game as well as the heroics of Lotte first baseman Kazuya Fukuura, who drove in the winning run on his 50th double, and, really, seemed little more than an afterthought.
Anyway, Koji Onuma started for the Lions and went eight solid innings of three run ball on seven hits, though he needed an astronomical 158 pitches to do it.
Yasuhiko Yabuta started for Lotte and had similar stats, going eight innings and permitting three runs on six hits. The shiroboshi, though, would go to reliever Brian Sikorsky, who may be finishing up his Japan career.
After Onuma escaped a two on, two out predicament in the first, Seibu leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada cranked his 30th homer of the season into the rightfield stands leading off the second to make it 1-0.
But Lotte would surge ahead in the third, as leftfielder Jun Inoue opened the frame with an infield single and sped home on a double into the rightcenter gap by second baseman Harai. One out later, DH Koichi Hori walked. Somehow, Kazuya Harai got to third (the game log is vague on this) and crossed on an infield hit by third baseman Jose Fernandez to make it 2-1.
However, the Lions would then turn the tables in the fourth, as Wada walked with one out and rightfielder Hiroyuki Oshima ripped a double to rightcenter that allowed Wada to flash arond the bases to knot it at 2-2. Third baseman Hiroyuki Nakajima, Matsui's likely replacement at short next season, singled to center to convert Oshima for a 3-2 Seibu advantage.
Unfortunately, Fukuura socked an Onuma delivery into the rightfield seats commencing the fifth to level it at 3-3.
The pitching then sealed off each team's offenses until the top of the ninth, when Seibu had a chance to break it open. Alex Cabrera was sent up to pinch hit for Oshima, but flew out to right. Nakajima singled to right. DH Hiroshi Hirao beat out an infield roller. Catcher Toru Hosokawa also outran a tapper down the third base line and the bags were juiced. With the infield up, pinch hitter Kazuhiko Miyaji grounded to Harai, who quickly went to the plate for the force on Nakajima. Matsui stepped in, but swung and missed for strike three to end the inning.
Yoshihiro Doi was brought in from the bullpen and, with one down, Inoue singled to left and went to second on a sacrifice. Fukuura then torched one into the rightfield corner and Inoue galloped in for the 4-3 Lotte triumph.
With Wada's jack, the Lions became just the second team in history to have the same three men have back to back 30 homer seasons. The first was also another edition of Seibu, when Kazuhiro Kiyohara, Koji Akiyama and Orestes Destrade did it in 1988-1989.
Matsui became the first man in Pacific League annals to play eight consecutive seasons, besting the old mark of seven by Tokuji Iiida. He also tied former Hankyu Braves hall of famer Yutaka Fukumoto for most full seasons played in the circuit for a career.
For Lotte, Fernandez was 1-3 with a walk, an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .307.
For Seibu, first baseman Scott McClain was 0-4 and is at .225. Cabrera was 0-1 and is at .324.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Onuma IP 8.0 BF 35 PC 158 H 7 HR 1 K 8 BB 4 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.28
Y. Doi (L, 1-2) IP 0.2 BF 4 PC 13 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.19
Lotte:
Yabuta IP 8.0 BF 31 PC 119 H 6 HR 1 K 3 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.90
T. Kawai IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 2 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.73
Sikorsky (W, 4-6) IP 0.2 BF 5 PC 13 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.25
E: J. Inoue
2B: Harai, H.Y. Oshima, Fukuura
HR: K. Wada (30), Fukuura (19)
RBI: Harai, Fukuura 2, Fernandez, K. Wada, H.Y. Oshima, H.Y. Nakajima
GIDP: Iyoda, McClain
Season Series: Seibu 17, Lotte 10 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:08
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Akimura (HP), Sakaemura (1B), Yanagita (2B), Nakamura (3B)
Four Carp Errors Hand Igawa 19th Victory 5-1
Hiroshima Carp starter Masayuki Hasegawa pitched pretty well Sunday at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, but a Keystone Kops defense that committed four errors effectively said, "here, have a victory" to Hanshin ace Kei Igawa and the Ibaraki Prefecture native gladly accepted for a 5-1 Tigers win. It was Igawa's 19th triumph.
Igawa went eight outstanding innings in a bandbox ballpark, giving up just one run on six hits while striking out four and walking none.
Hasegawa just about matched that, except the miscues behind him lead to three unearned tallies and that was that.
Hanshin pulled in front in their intial ups in the contest, as centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to center with one out, stole second and motored home when catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara threw the ball into centerfield to make it 1-0 Tigers.
In the second, third baseman Atsushi Kataoka singled to center and went to second on a groundout. Catcher Akihiro Yano singled to right to plate his teammate and it was 2-0 Hanshin.
Hiroshima halved that lead in the fourth, punishing a fastball down in the zone into the rightfield stands to make it 2-1 Tigers.
That's where it stayed until the eighth, when Akahoshi walked. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto singled to left. Rightfielder SHinjiro Hiyama grounded to Takuya Kimura, who booted it to load the bases. First baseman Katsumi Hirosawa grounded to third and Akahoshi blazed across the plate. Koji Hirashita singled to right to slingshot two more home and it was 5-1 Tigers. The Carp only produced a hit and a walk over the course of the final two innings and that was your ballgame. It was also the first time since 1966 that the Osaka favorite sons had beaten Hiroshima on 18 occasions in a season.
For Hanshin, first baseman George Arias was 0-5 and is at .268.
For Hiroshima, shortstop Andy Sheets was 2-4 and is at .315.
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Igawa (W, 19-5) IP 8.0 BF 28 PC 105 H 6 HR 1 K 4 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.79
Riggan IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 21 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.60
Hiroshima:
Hasegawa (L, 2-10) IP 7.0 BF 29 PC 117 H 7 HR 0 K 2 BB 4 R 3 ER 1 ERA 5.40
Kikuchihara IP 0.0 BF 2 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 0 ERA 3.07
Sawazaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.59
Masaki Hayashi IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
E: T. Kimura, T. Arai, Ishihara 2
SB: Akahoshi
HR: T. Maeda (21)
RBI: T. Maeda, Hirashita 2, A. Yano
GIDP: Hiyama, T. Arai
Season Series: Hanshin 18, Hiroshima 9
Game Time: 2:53
Attendance: 13,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Watamari (1B), Shimada (2B), Kittaka (3B)
Woods Homers Twice to Secure Homer Title in Loss to Dragons
Yokohama Bay Stars first baseman Tyronw Woods gave his team something to cheer about Sunday at Yokohama Stadium, as, in a season from hell, the big slugger toasted two over the wall to most likely secure the homer title for himself in a 9-6 defeat at the hands of the Chunichi Dragons. Dragons rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome also bigtimed a pair and established a new team runs scored standard.
Makoto Kito started for Chunichi and was gone after just two innings and four runs on four hits, three of them disappearing into the great wide open.
Yuji Yoshimi had an okay outing for him, as he tossed six innings of three run ball on eight hits, but his bullpen would get lit up like an old Mariners relief staff for five runs in the top of the ninth and he didn't figure in the decision.
Yokohama brutalized their way to an early advantage, as second baseman Hitoshi Taneda reached on a one out infield hit and centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura boomed one into the leftcenterfield stands. Woods then powered a slider down in the zone deep into the leftfield seats and it was 3-0.
In the second, rightfielder Katsuaki Furuki clubbed a shot into the rightfield bleachers to begin the inning to stretch the Stars lead to 4-0.
Fukudome, though, guided Yoshimi on a tour of the rightfield seats in the top of the third to cut it to 4-1 Yokohama.
But the Stars returned fire in the home portion, as Tamura singled to left and Woods tomahawked a ball up in his eyes into the leftfield stands to make it 6-1 Yokohama.
Fukudome went yard to rightcenter in the sixth for his 106th run scored in the sixth, breaking a 53 year old club record. One out later, centerfielder Alex Ochoa mauled a Yoshimi delivery and thundered it into the leftfield bleachers to shrink the disparity to 6-3 Yokohama.
The Dragons then scratched for a run in the seventh, as pinch hitter Tadaatsu Nakazawa beat out a dribbler. He was somehow able to to go to second and, two groundouts to second later, the Yokohama lead was reduced to two at 6-4.
In the ninth, though, Takeharu Kato apparently had nothing on the ball and the Dragons stomped him., leftfielder Takayuki Onishi singled to center and second baseman Masahiro Araki singled to right. Fukudome hit one right on the screws, but at Taneda for the first out. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to right to drive Onishi in. Ochoa walked to load the bases. First baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe grounded out to second and Araki crossed to knot it at six all. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to left and two more scampered in. Shortstop Kazuhito Yoshimura doubled off the rightfield wall and Tanishige rumbled to the plate to make it 9-6 Dragons.
Akinori Otsuka came on and struckout two (his K/BB ratio is now 11.2-1) and induced a game ending groundout for his 16th save.
Before the game, Woods put on an afro wig he received at a friend's wedding reception
and practiced in it. He also said that since he hit two homers after using it, he will wear it during the next practice session.
This was Fukudome's third multi-homer game of the year. He was 1-15 in his last four games before his Sunday heroics.
For Yokohama, Woods was 2-4 with three RBIs and is at .268.
For Chunichi, Ochoa was 1-4 with a walk and is at .288.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
M. Kito IP 2.0 BF 10 PC 29 H 4 HR 3 K 1 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.91
Endo IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 30 H 3 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.85
Miyakoshi IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 19 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Hisamoto IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 21 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.32
Koyama (W, 1-0) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 9.92
A.N. Otsuka (S, 16)IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.16
Yokohama:
Yoshimi IP 6.0 BF 26 PC 107 H 8 HR 3 K 6 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 8.38
Fukumori IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 5 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.58
Tomioka IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.38
Kizuka IP 0.2 BF 4 PC 18 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.05
Tazaki IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.05
T.H. Kato (L, 4-2) IP 1.0 BF 9 PC 30 H 5 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 5 ER 4 ERA 3.07
E: K.A. Furuki
2B: Fukudome, Tatsunami, Tanishige, K. Yoshimura
HR: Tamura (18), Woods 2 (40), K.A. Furuki (21), Fukudome 2 (34), Ochoa (20)
RBI: M. Araki, Fukudome 2, Tatsunami, Ochoa, H.Y. Watanabe, Tanishige 2, K. Yoshimura, Tamura 2, Woods 3, K.A. Furuki
HBP: Tamura (Koyama)
Season Series: Chunichi 16, Yokohama 9 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:18
Attendance: 14,000
Umpires: Kiuchi (HP), Mori (1B), Fukatani (2B), Ino (3B)
Orix Edges Nippon Ham 5-4
There is no game log for this one, therefore there will be no report. Sorry. However, as a side note, Orix centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani tied Daiei catcher Kenji Johjima for the PL lead in hits with his 182nd in this tussle.
Team Reports
Yomiuri Righthander Masumi Kuwata left for the U.S. to have his elbow checked at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California. He will return to Japan on the ninth....Gary Rath, who will be released, will return to the U.S. on Wednesday....The Giants released infielder Masahiro Kawai.
Chunichi Former Dragons superstar Hiromitsu Ochiai has been named the club's new shot caller, according to Hochi Sports. Right now, the two sides are working out contract details. If they are looking to do things real different from the past, Ochiai, one of Japan's greatest ever hitters but who has been a black sheep as far back as his high school days, is an intriguing place to start. Here's to hoping that he injects a breath of fresh air into the staid Japanese baseball establishment. See story Here.
Hiroshima Rookie closer Katsuhiro Nagakawa was taken off the roster due to a persistent back problem, one that doctors attribute to fatigue. That may cost him the Rookie of the Year Award, since he was neck and neck with Yomiuri's Hiroshi Kisanuki....In a stunning surprise, the Carp released 25 year old Masato Kawano. Also feeling the axe were pitchers Yuki Tanaka, 28, and Masaya Tsutsui, 27, and infielder Shuji Hyodo. In addition, catcher Terunobu Seto will become the team's minor league catching instructor while continuing his playing career.
Yokohama Outfielder Hitoshi Nakane will retire at the end of the schedule. He was drafted on the second round in 1989 by Kintetsu and moved to Yokohama in 1998. He will become a scout for the club.
Seibu Shortstop Kazuo Matsui bit down on the press Sunday, as he said rather angrily that he is still talking with several different agents and that everything having to do with where he will ply his trade next season is still up in the air. That would mean that he doesn't want to confirm or deny a Japanese report that he has decided on having prominent agent Arn Tellem represent him. But one concern he does have is whether it will be safe for him and his family to be in the U.S....Former Sawamura Award winner Takehiro Ishii will be appointed as a roving pitching instructor under new skipper Tsutomu Itoh. Ishii was the pitching coach of the Lotte Giants in the KBO this past season. He has also played and coached in Taiwan....According to Sankei Sports, third baseman Scott McClain will be back with the Lions in 2004. The team had made noises about unloading him due to his low batting average, but apparently the power he provides is too much to give up. With them also intending to bring Alex Cabrera, Hsu Ming-chieh, and Chang Chia-chiah back, the Chris Singleton rumor appears to be null and void now....Speaking of Chang, he will get married this coming December to his high school sweetheart....Infielder Taisei Takagi will have elbow surgery to relieve a pinched nerve....The Lions are looking for two stadium announcers. Applicants should be knowledgeable about baseball, able to keep score and be available all season. To inquire about the positions, phone: 042-922-1390
Daiei Stat of the day: Kenji Johjima has torn up righthanders at a .357 clip this season with 34 homers, but against southpaws, he is at .222 with zero dingers. That's amazing for a righthanded hitter....Fireballing rookie righthander Nagisa Arakaki may not make it to the Japan Series after all, as his rehab from ankle surgery is proceeding slower than expected. While Arakaki can run in a straight line and throw, he can't move horizontally very well yet....Noriyoshi Omichi says that Tsuyoshi Shimoyamagi doesn't look any different to him than in years past. Omichi, when Shimoyanagi was still with Nippon Ham, batted .382 (13-34) with two homers against the lefthander. Daiei also scored more than five runs a game off of him.
Kintetsu The Buffaloes held a tryout Sunday for seven players at Fujiidera Stadium. Tsuyoshi Ono, who played for San Marino in the Italian League this year upon being released by Yomiuri after last season. He has resoreted to a sidearm delivery and tops out at 88mph.
Nippon Ham The Fighters are taking votes on a name for its new mascot. The deadline to submit the moniker is November 14th. You can submit yours at the club's website, Here. The site is in Japanese.
