Archived Weblog Entry - 10/17/2003: "Japanese Baseball News: MLB Charged with Anti-Asian Bias; Ochiai Gets Delusional"

The Baseball Guru Archives

[Previous entry: "Taiwan Baseball News: Bulls Force Game 6 in a Dramatic Comeback Victory"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Zuleta Makes Panama Proud in Hawks Japan Series Victory"]

10/17/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: MLB Charged with Anti-Asian Bias; Ochiai Gets Delusional"

Team Reports

Yomiuri Reliever Yuya Kubo sprained an ankle during a workout, causing manager Tsuneo Horiuchi to ball him out for not paying attention. Sheesh....Outfielder Chris Latham will be back next season, with Sports Nippon speculating that it was due to the Giants interest in acquiring Roger Clemens, an ex-teammate of Latham's. Latham says he hopes to hit about .280 with 20-25 homers next season, provided he is a regular....Reliever Junichi Kawahara tossed two scoreless innings in an instructional league game Friday, striking out three. That was a great contrast with his previous performance, where he was hammered....Hochi Sports says that Julio Santana may now be held over and could be inserted into a setup role in 2004. Santana himself is still waiting for Yomiuri to talk to him about next season.

Yakult The Swallows are working on closer Shingo Takatsu to stay with them. Takatsu reportedly wants a two year deal while the ballclub is offering one.

Hanshin Players have been instructed not to talk about manager Senichi Hoshino's upcoming resignation....Hoshino may insert third baseman Atsushi Kataoka into the nine hole during the games at Fukuoka Dome, where the DH will be in effect, in order to create what is being termed a "double cleanup." Kataoka hasn't hit ninth since 1994, when he was with Nippon Ham. Rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama has been penciled into the cleanup (number four) slot for game one....Outfielder Osamu Hamanaka went 1-3 with two RBIs Friday in an instructional league game. In three contests, Hamanaka is 4-11 with a homer and six RBIs.

Chunichi Manager Hiromitsu Ochiai says that the team won't be making any trades or taking on any free agents. When quizzed about the Dragons rumored interest in Tuffy Rhodes, Ochiai said that the team already has Koichi Sekikawa, Takayuki Onishi and Kazuki Inoue to fill that role. He was joking, right? If not, somebody should give him a urine test....Ochiai did say, though, that he is going to work his carges real hard, believing that injuries the club suffered this past season were due to them not working out enough. "I'm going to make them cry," the former slugger told Chunichi Sports....Promising rookie Yoshimi Sakurai has hit in four straight instructional league matches and is 6-14 overall.

Seibu Dodgers lefthander Kazuhisa Ishii says that he hopes that Kazuo Matsui will come to the Dodgers and help build a winner. He also said he wants whatever is best for Yakult closer and former teammate Shingo Takatsu, advising the sidearmer that he needs to think over family and monetary issues before deciding to make the jump. For his part, Matsui said he had no comment about Ishii's statements.

Kintetsu Talks between Tuffy Rhodes agent, Chris Arnold, and the team's front office have broken off. It now seems certain that the former Cub will now ply his trade in some other venue next season.

Lotte The team's front office said it will negotiate with player agents.

Does MLB Have an Anti-Asian Bias?

See story at: Associated Press Article

Matsui a Mystery to Future of M's

See story at: Seattle Times Article

Hawks Counting on Johjima in Japan Series

See story at: Japan Times Article

Hawks Look to Overpower Tigers

See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article

Dan Latham has a position by position breakdown of the two sides at: Japan Times Article

See another related story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article

Hoshino Hopes to Go Out on Top