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10/19/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Zuleta Drives 455 in Hawks Undressing of Hanshin"
Zuleta, Valdes Three Run Homers Highlight 13-0 Rout of Hanshin by Daiei
The Daiei Hawks set a slew of offensive records this past season, so they must have figured they would set a couple more, as they stomped the Hanshin Tigers Sunday at Fukuoka Dome 13-0. Toshiya Sugiuchi started for the winners and consistently kept his fastball, which was clocked at a high of 90mph, up and in on the hitters and then finished them off with his excellent changeup and curve ball down and away to earn credit for his first ever series shiroboshi.
Hideki Irabu started for Hanshin and was just plain awful, as just about everything he threw was hit hard somewhere during his three inning, five run on nine hits performance, if you can call it that. Reporters, referring to scouting reports on the portly righthander, hinted that Irabu may be tipping his pitches again and his velocity was, as it has been the last month or so, way off.
Hanshin second baseman Makoto Imaoka leadoff the game with a single to right. Centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi, who has a bad lefthand from his attempt to catch Julio Zuleta's sayaonara single Saturday ninght, laid down a sac bunt to move Imaoka to second. Sugiuchi, who said he was tense at the beginning, then fanned leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto and rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama flew out to right to end the inning.
In the home segment, Kawasaki singled to center with one out and then stole second on the slow to the plate Irabu. However, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi would would be the only starter not to crack at least one hit in this one, popped out to second and first baseman Nobuhiko Matausnaka grounded to George Arias at first and it remained scoreless.
Sugiuchi fashioned a perfect second and then had a seat as his teammates put on a hitting clinic in the bottom of the frame. With one down, leftfielder Pedro Valdes singled to right and DH Zuleta singled to left. Centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu pounded a pitch high off the dirt around home plate and the fleet footed 30 year old beat it out to load the bases. The Tigers outfield was brought in a bit to try to make a play at the plate on any fly ball. Shortstop Yusuke Torigoe, usually the weakest link the potent Hawks order, then drilled the bejesus out of an 88mph fastball and lined it through the rightcenter alley to clear up the traffic jam on the basepaths and make it 3-0 on the double, though Torigoe was out endeavoring to sneak into third. Rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara ripped a single to left. Kawasaki whistled one up the leftcenter gap and while Shibahara set the controls for the heart of the plate, Kawasaki motored around to third for the sixth consecutive hit in the inning, a new Japan Series record, and a 4-0 Daiei advantage.
In the third, Irabu tried to spot an 88mph fastball on the outside corner, but left it over the middle of the dish. Daiei catcher Kenji Johjima was looking for a heater and turned and burned on it, cannonading it into the leftcenterfield bleachers to improve his side's lead to 5-0.
Daiei had men on second and third with one out in the fourth against Irabu, who was replaced by Makoto Yoshino, and then the bases loaded with two outs, but couldn't convert. They also blew a two on, one out opportunity in the sixth.
Meanwhile, Hanshin was getting a whole of nothing off of Sugiuchi, who put away 15 of the 18 hitters he saw between the second and seventh, inducing two double play balls in a couple of instances to keep things quiet.
In the eighth, the Hawks applied the killing blows, as Matsunaka singled to center and, one out later, Valdes singled to center. Zuleta then mortared a Takehito Kanazawa delivery into the upper deck in left more than 450 feet away and it was 8-0. One out later, Torigoe walked. Shibahara steamed a shot into the rightcenter alley for a double. Kawasaki mashed a shot off the rightfield wall and when he was done running around, he was at third and it was 10-0 Hawks. The two triples in one series game was also another new record. Ah, to be 22 and in the record book.
Osamu Hamanaka managed a broken bat single to left off of Sugiuchi in the eighth, but nobody else did and it was now time for Daiei to take another turn. Kanazawa, apparently being asked to just take one for the team. was sent to the hill once more and was greeted by a scorcher to the rightcenterfield wall by Matsunaka, who cruised into second. Johjima reached on an error by Kanazawa. Valdes then celebrated the Latin explosion with Zuleta by burying a pitch in the leftcenterfield stands to up the birds of prey's hegemony to 13-0.
Nagisa Arakaki, in his first appearance in over two months after ankle surgery, was dispatched to the center of the diamond by skipper Sadaharu Oh for the top of the ninth and Imaoka beat out a bleeder toward third. Akahoshi laid down a beauty of a bunt, but third baseman Munenori Kawasaki made a sensational grab and throw to just barely nip the speedster at first. Akahoshi was credited with a sacrifice even though he was aiming for a basehit. Kanemoto flew out to center and Hiyama flew out to right and Daiei had the biggest ever margin in series annals in a shutout and were in front in the series 2-0.
Johjima has seven homers in 13 career series games, tying him with Hiroshima great Koji Yamamoto for ninth on the all time list. Oh is number one with 29. It was also the 50th homer by a Hawks player in series history dating back to 1950. In addition, he already has two more series dingers than hall of famer and former Hawk Katsuya Nomura.
The last time there were six hits in consecutive official at bats was in 1978 by the Hankyu Braves (now Orix) against Yakult in game three of a 12-3 victory at Nishinomiya Stadium. However, there was a sac bunt in there, So Daiei is the only team with six hits in six plate appearances.
Tigers shot caller Senichi Hoshino had won his past two Japan Series game twos, but lost this one. He has lost his last five series games as a manager. The record is ten, by Shigeru Mizuhara. Hoshino is now 2-10 in series confrontations.
Hansin chief batting instructor Koichi Tabuchi commented that Tigers hitters weren't aggressive enough at the plate.
For Daiei, Valdes was 3-4 with three RBIs and is at .625. Zuleta was 2-3 with three RBIs and is at .571.
For Hanshin, Arias was 1-3 and is at .333.
See Jim Allen's account of the game at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Irabu (L, 0-1) IP 3.0 BF 18 PC 49 H 9 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 15.00
Yoshino IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Ishige IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 34 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Kanazawa IP 2.0 BF 15 PC 67 H 7 HR 2 K 1 BB 1 R 8 ER 7 ERA 31.50
Daiei:
Sugiuchi (W, 1-0) IP 8.0 BF 27 PC 106 H 5 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Arakaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: Kanazawa
SB: M. Kawasaki
2B: Torigoe, Shibahara, Matsunaka
3B: M. Kawasaki 2
HR: Johjima (2), Zuleta (1), P. Valdes (1)
RBI: Muramatsu, M. Kawasaki 2, Johjima, P. Valdes 3, Zuleta 3, Torigoe 3
GIDP: Hiyama (3-6), Hamanaka (5-4-3)
LOB: Hanshin 4, Daiei 8
Series Status: Hanshin 0, Daiei 2
Game Time: 3:00
Attendance: 36,794
Umpires: Watada (HP), Higashi (1B), Kasahara (2B), Yamamoto (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri Promising rookie infielder Masahiro Nagata yanked a slider into the rightfield seats Sunday in a practice game against Sumitomo Metals' industrial league squad. Giants coaches would like to see Nagata, who already has very good natural power, bulk up a little to enhance that part of his game.
Chunichi Masafumi Hirai, whose career had been stifled by elbow problems before he came to the Dragons and won 12 games, was besieged by telephone calls from well wishers upon it being announced he was a co-recipeint for Comeback Player of the Year. However, Hirai was cautious about all this, telling Chunichi Sports that after what he's been through over the last few years, he can't say that he is indeed all the way back....Rookie outfielder Yoshimi Sakurai hammered an eighth pitch 3-2 slider from Kan Otake in an instructional league game Sunday into the leftfield seats. He is 7-20 (.350) in league action so far. Sakurai is looked at as a future cleanup hitter for the big club....Kenshin Kawakami threw 55 pitches in the bullpen and coaches were encouraged by what they saw.
Seibu The Lions scouting staff has reportedly locked up Meiji University righthander Atsushi Okamoto, who has been clocked at 92mph and is said to have outstanding pitching instincts. He will be made their number three choice in the November draft.
Orix Leon Lee has decided to stay on in Kobe as one of the club's batting instructors.
Miscellaneous Hochi Sports had an interesting stat: Hideki Matsui collected three knocks Saturday night in his first ever World Series game. Joe Dimaggio, Lou Gehrig and Bernie Williams each had one in their inital series outings while Babe Ruth (while with Boston), Derek Jeter and Mickey Mantle all came up empty. Nice piece of work by the Hochi reporters. However, the bit about Matsui getting a haircut was unnecessarily trivial....Meiji University starter Yasuhiro Ichiba was clocked at around 95-96mph Sunday at Meiji Jingu Stadium in a Tokyo Big Six University League tussle with Waseda University, but lead by shortstop Takashi Toritani, who had two hits, including an RBI single, and made a pair of sparkling defensive plays, Waseda rocked Ichiba for a 10-1 triumph for and their eight straight victory in fall schedule action.
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Today's Pictures
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