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10/12/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Nippon Ham Blows Four Run Lead, but Wins Anyway; Matsui to Make Decision in November"
Narahara RBI Single in 11th Beats Lotte 5-4
The Nippon Ham Fighters went out to a 4-0 lead and then wasted it Saturday against the Chiba Lotte Marines, but ultimately prevailed in 11 innings on an RBI single to center from backup third baseman Hiroshi Narahara to win its last ever game as a Tokyo (or Honshu, for that matter) team 5-4. The defeat also assured that Lotte would finish the schedule under .500 for the eighth straight season. I wonder if Bobby Valentine gets any satisfaction out of that.
Anyway, Ryohei Tanaka started for Lotte and got stung bigtime in the second, as first baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto walked and catcher Shinji Takahashi singled to left. Second baseman Ken Tanaka grounded to his opposite number, Koichi Hori, who booted it to load the bases. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko slipped one into left to plate Kimoto. Centerfielder Tsutomu Ishimoto wacked a shot off of Tanaka and evaded everybody on the carrom to allow two runs to score. One out later, leftfielder Yoshinori Ueda walked to repack the sacks. Third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara flied out to center and Kaneko tagged up and crossed for the slugger's 100th RBI and a 4-0 advantage.
Meanwhile, Fighters starter Satoru Kanemura was sailing along, striking out the side in the third before running into his first jam of the night, when leftfielder Jun Inoue singled to right and first baseman Kazuya Fukuura walked with nobody out. But Kanemura then struckout the side again.
He cruised through the fifth and sixth and then walked Hori to open the seventh, who went to second on a wild pitch. DH Jose Fernandez flew out to deep center and Hori tagged up and made it to third. Tsutomu Iwamoto was summoned from the bullpen due to Kanemura's pitch count reaching 107. Third baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba flied out to center and Hori tagged up and scored to make it 4-1 Fighters.
Unfortunately, what should have been another Kanemura triumph was lost when Fukuura commenced the ninth with a singled to left off of Akio Shimizu. Naoyuki Tateishi was called on from the pen and Hori laced a shot up the rightcenter alley for a double. Fernandez pinged a shot off the rightfield wall for two RBIs. Hatsushiba grounded to short and Fernandez advanced to third. Rightfielder Saburo Omura flied out to right and Fernandez tagged up and hustled across with the tying run and it was 4-4.
Lotte had a chance to win it in the tenth, when Watanabe singled to left and was sacrificed to second. Yukihiko Sato walked and here comes Fukuura. But he flied to center and Hori struckout and that was that.
Nippon Ham, though, did convert their opportunity in the top of the 11th, as Ishimoto singled to center and went to second on a sac bunt. One out later, Narahara smacked a single back through the middle to usher Ishimoto in to put the Fighters up 5-4.
In the home half, Hatsushiba doubled down the leftfield line with one out to put the tying run on. But Omura and catcher Tomoya Satozaki each flied out and that was the
ballgame.
Ogasawara finished with his second ever 100 RBI campaign and first in three years. His .360 batting average is a personal best, as he put the finishing touches on his second consecutive batting championship. This guy is just such a consummate pro.
Lotte finished strong at 21-8-1 since September first. That makes Koji Yamamoto's firing an even bigger joke.
For Lotte, Fernandez was 1-4 with two RBIs and is at .303.
Pitching Lines:
Nippon Ham:
Kanemura IP 6.1 BF 23 PC 107 H 3 HR 0 K 6 BB 3 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.24
Iwamoto IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.41
A. Shimizu IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.83
Tateishi IP 1.1 BF 8 PC 33 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.81
Tat. Kato (W, 2-0)IP 1.2 BF 6 PC 21 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.83
Lotte:
R. Tanaka IP 2.0 BF 14 PC 65 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 4 R 4 ER 2 ERA 8.10
T. Kawai IP 5.0 BF 18 PC 72 H 1 HR 0 K 5 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.42
Sikorsky IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 19 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.16
S. Fujita IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 18 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.34
Tobe (L, 2-1) IP 2.0 BF 9 PC 29 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.37
E: Akune, M. Watanabe
SB: Kimoto
2B: S. Omura, Hori, Fernandez, Hatsushiba
RBI: M. Ogasawara, Narahara, Kaneko, Ishimoto 2, Fernandez 2, Hatsushiba, S. Omura
SF: M. Ogasawara, Hatsushiba, S. Omura
WP: Kanemura
GIDP: Satozaki (1-6-3)
LOB: Nippon Ham 11, Lotte 7
Season Series: Nippon Ham 15, Lotte 13
Game Time: 4:14
Attendance: 23,000
Umpires: Nakamura (HP), Tachibana (1B), Yanagita (2B), Akimura (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri Kamoshida started in an instructional league game and struckout six in six innings of work. He was clocked at around 93mph and really had his forkball working. He was supported by three infield hits and a steal from outfielder Takahiro Suzuki....Manager Tsuneo Horiuchi announced that there will be no curfew on nights before days off. However, there will be nighttime batting practice sessions, so how many players will want to go out afterward is an open question. Horiuchi will also allow mustaches and dyed hair, "as long as it is within the realm of good taste." But on the other hand, the players may no longer play golf on their off days at the team's Miyazaki training camp.
Yakult Lefthander Yuhei Takai will focus on reducing his body fat this offseason. He was at 12% in high school, but that ballooned up to 18% this season. The average for Japanese league pitchers, according to Sankei Sports, is 15%.
Hanshin It's hard to say if this is a harbinger of anything, but Hanshin's Western League affiliate beat Nippon Ham's Eastern League nine to become Japan minor league champions for the second year in a row Saturday by a 3-0 score. Outfielder Kenichiro Hayakawa, who cracked a two run homer on what was supposed to have been a hit and run play in the seventh that broke up a scoreless deadlock, was named MVP. Shinji Taninaka got credit for the victory....Injured outfielder Osamu Hamanaka says that he is feeling well enough to pinch hit or perhaps even DH in the Japan Series. Saturday, he took 71 swings in batting practice, slugging 14 out of the park. He also participated in sliding practice. He, along with Trey Moore, Shinobu Fukuhara, Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi and Hideki Irabu will make tune up instructional league appearances before the start of the fall classic next Saturday....Manager Senichi Hoshino says that he wants centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi to run as much as he wants during the Japan Series to keep the pressure on the Daiei Hawks hurlers. Of course, Hoshino saying that now is also a psyching out tactic, implanting in the minds of the young Hawks staff what they may be in for.
Chunichi Dragons manager Hiromitsu Ochiai says that he doesn't want the team to go spending money on new foreign players or free agents. His thinking is that if he can get 10% more out of the players he has now, the team can compete. In addition, he is looking at acquiring former Yomiuri infielder Masahiro Kawai as injury insurance, though they will take their time to think that one over carefully. They may invite Kawai to the team's fall camp as a tryout....Shortstop Hirokazu Ibata will be worked out at second when the Japanese contingent that will play in an Asian olympic qualifying tournament begins its practices....The Dragons are definitely interested in Japan Life Insurance (Nihon Seimei) righthander Mitsuru Sato, a 6'3" 25 year old whose fastball maxes out at 92mph. Yomiuri is also thought to be interested in him.
Seibu Aiming to avoid the kind of criticism that Kintetsu Buffaloes third baseman Norihiro Nakamura when he seemed to take forever in whether to stay in Japan or go to MLB, shortstop Kazuo Matsui now says that he will make a definite decision on that issue sometime in mid-November, according to Sports Nippon. The current three day, five night trip to New York he is on right now is apparently to help him in choosing.. The Japanese press is receiving this as an indication that the young superstar still intends to go overseas rather than stay with Seibu or move to Yomiuri, though Matsui himself is saying that all options are open. Yankees GM Brian Cashman, when asked about Little Matsui by Chunichi Sports, said that he can't discuss players under contract to other teams, but that when he saw Matsui play as part of a Japanese all star team that faced one from MLB in 2002, he thought he was a "wonderful" player. But he also added, "we've still a got a lot to do before we make any personnel moves for next season. So I can't talk about acquisitions we may make before November." On Japanese baseball in general, Cashman offered, "it's really made a big impact on the world. Generally speaking, we're interested in anywhere we can find players who will make us a stronger team." Chunichi Sports also claims that Baltimore is interested in Matsui. He will retrun to Japan on Monday.
Daiei Rookie righthander Nagisa Arakaki continues to improve and he is likely to be put on the Japan Series roster. However, he probably won't have time to make an instructional league start before the series, so they will just throw him out there if they feel he is usable and hope for the best....Lefthander Toshiya Sugiuchi made an instructional league start and went six innings of one run ball. He also picked a runner off....They also got good news on injured centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu. His fractured shoulder has completely healed and he will be available as a pinch runner. He will see some instructional league action before the Japan Series. Muramatsu was having a career year before breaking his shoulder trying to make a diving catch on August 23rd. He stole 32 bases before going down, allowing Tadahito Iguchi to bypass him for the steals title....Righthander Hayato Terahara had an instructional league start rained out., Instead, he will pitch in a simulated game on Tuesday.
Kintetsu Free agents Naoyuki Omura and Tetsuya Matoyama would prefer to remain with the Buffaloes rather than go elsewhere. However, Omura said that if the money isn't there from Kintetsu, he may leave for richer pastures. He is hoping for a three or four year contract.
Lotte The club is reportedly looking into signing former Orix manager Leon Lee as a batting instructor. The former Dodger is also said to be fielding offers from MLB teams.
Orix The team acquired the contract of Hirofumi Ogawa from Yokohama. Ogawa was traded to Yokohama along with Tatsuya Shindo in 2000. Ogawa is looked at as possible front office material by the Blue Wave management....The front office is also apparently going to move full bore on luring Tsuyoshi Shinjo to Kobe, mainly to strengthen their outfield defense. Again, though, where do they play him? Right? Or would incumbent centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani be willing to move to left?
Miscellaneous Well, here we go again. Reports are still sketchy, but apparenly there are more gambling allegations beginning to surface in regards to the Taiwanese pro league. Let's hope it turns out to be a tempest in a teapot, since if those charges are proved, it will mean the death of pro baseball on that island....Here's a stat for those of you who watched Saturday's Red Sox-Yankees circus: coming into that game, Hideki Matsui had been 0-11 this season against Pedro Martinez. He then yanked a mistake from the Boston ace into the rightfield corner to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. The guys just seems to step it up when it's time to secure a championship and that was another example....MLB and other male pro leagues haven't been able to get it together yet, but there will at least be a women's baseball world cup starting in August, 2005. It will be held at Edmonton, Alberta and teams from Canada, Japan, Cuba, Taiwan, Mexico and Australia will participate....Former Dragons reliever Sun Dong-yeol has been signed by Samsung in the KBO as its pitching coach. He will make about $100,000....The SK Wyverns won their playoff series with the Kita Tigers and advanced to the Korea Series.
In the News
Little Matsui Makes Trip to Yankee Stadium
See story at: Seattle Times Article
Godzilla Savors MLB Playoff Experience
See story at: NY Post Article
Osaka to Add to Bridge to Prevent Injury to Hanshin Fans
See story at: Rocky Mountain News Article
Brother Elephants, Sinon Face Off for Taiwan Supremacy
See story at: Taipei Times Article
The Business of Sport
See story at: International Herald Tribune Article
