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10/21/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Blessed Rain for Hanshin? Matsui Bat Goes to Hall"
Rainout May Benefit Hanshin
Down in the Japan Series 2-0, game three of the Japanese fall classic that was supposed to be staged at Koshien Stadium was rained out for the first time in five years. By effectively gaining an extra day of rest for its rotation, Tigers skipper Senichi Hoshino is now looking at going with an all lefty rotation the rest of the way, allowing them to bypass righthander Hideki Irabu, who got his head handed to him by the Hawks order in game two.
Southpaw Trey Moore will still start the third game, but now ace Kei Igawa can be inserted into game four and Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi into game five. Then there's another day off and Moore can go in game six at Fukuoka Dome. Igawa would then pitch game seven, if needed.
By the way, three times in history has a team that was behind in the series come back following the rainout to win it all, 1955, 1958 and 1964.
Team Reports
Yomiuri New team head coach Sudo said that he will be like Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer in standing up for his players in a brawl. But let's hope that he doesn't end up doing a header into the turf as the out of shape former Dodgers infielder did in one of the most pathetic confrontations I've seen in my life since Dave Stewart decked Pat Corrales, who was supposedly a black belt in karate, with one punch....Slugging first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara wants to train with Barry Bonds this offseason to learn the Giants superstar's workout secrets. Bonds denies that he has a designer steroid on his breakfast table called THG. It has also been whispered for some time that Kiyohara was also juicing, but no substantiation of that has ever emerged. Anyway, a representaive from the Bonds camp will be in Japan during the next few days and plans will be made or dropped. Kiyohara would like to visit Bonds in December....Pitcher Matt Randell will be part of the Yomiuri roster next season, according Hochi Sports. He will used either in a long relief or setup role. His 2003 campaign was sidetracked by an elbow problem. In his most recent instructional league outing, he was clocked at 87mph.
Hanshn Manager Senichi Hoshino will be given an award by his hometown of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture for his contributions to the locality and for raising the city's profile....Former Tigers manager Yoshio Yoshida will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before game three of the Japan Series....With the aid of pain killers, centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi is able to take batting practice again after hurt his left hand while attempting to make a diving stab of Julio Zuleta's game one winning knock.
Seibu Infielder Taketoshi Goto had a bone fragment removed from his lefthand in a surgical procedure at a Yokohama area hospital Tuesday. He should be ready for spring training.
Daiei Hanshin had the dirt on the basepaths hardened to give centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi a fast track to run on in order to pile up stolen bases. However, Hawks coaches says that this also works to their advantage. Daiei lead the Pacific League in baggage theft with 147 and Tadahito Iguchi was the circuit steals king. In addition, both Munenori Kawasaki and Arihito Muramatsu had more than 30 steals as well....Team players association rep Nobuhiko Matsunaka has issued an order to the rest of the squad to keep their mouths shut about the opposition. There is an old Japanese saying that a "hawk hides his talons," but this is more like not wanting to provide inspirational bulletin board material to the Tigers....Stat of the day: superstar catcher Kenji Johjima has ripped Hanshin's Shimoyanagi to the tune of a .545 average when that hurler was still in the PL....And a negative stat for Daiei, according to Sankei Sports: game three starter Tsuyoshi Wada had two starts rained out this past season and when he pitched the day after, he got hammered on each occasion. Furthermore, Hanshin was 5-0 the day after rainouts at Koshien this season....Brandon Knight expressed frustration that his game four start has now been delayed a day. Let's see if he ends up not being sharp now as a result.
Kintetsu Infielder Takeshi Muto and reliever Tomokazu Teramura were both released. Muto will retire, but Teramura is looking for a job with another team.
Orix Kazuhiko Shiotani, who saw the bulk of his action this past season at first and in right, will be converted into a third baseman. Manager Haruki Ihara sees Koichi Oshima as being a bit injury prone, thus the move for Shiotani.
Miscellaneous As had been rumored, Yomiuri shortstop Tomohiro Nioka will likely start at third while Yakult shortstop Shinya Miyamoto will be the starter at second for the Japanese squad that will play other Asian nations in an olympic qualifying tournament. With Michihiro Ogasawara at first and Kazuo Matsui at short, you have Gold Glove winners at all four infield positions. By the way, Matsui is now using maple bats ala Barry Bonds....Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi will be suing a bat made of compressed white ash. Sadaharu Oh made compressed wood bats famous, though they are outlawed by MLB as well as in NPB (since 1982), but is apparently legal for this tournament. The Chinese-made ball that will be used for the tournament is said to not carry very well due to the rough surface on them....Since there will only be three coaches accompanying the team, reserve players will man the first base coaching box....To avoid any potential doping problems, players will be confined to their Sapporo area hotel during the tournament. Their meals will also be overseen by team staff....Sankei Sports projected the team's batting order. It runs, from one to nine, Matsui, Miyamoto, Takahashi, Kenji Johjima, Ogasawara, Nioka, Kosuke Fukudome, Yoshitomo Tani at DH and Norihiro Akahoshi. That's not bad, but I would switch Ogasawara and Takahashi since the Nippon Ham batting champ batted well over .400 with runners in scoring position....Thanks to a two run single in the top of the tenth inning by Fumiaki Takahashi, Japan was able to squeak by Mexico in the baseball world cup Tuesday. They play Korea tomorrow. In other action, France was creamed 19-2 by Brazil while, in a shocking upset, Russia bested Taiwan 4-1. Korea defeated Italy 4-2 while Cuba cakewalked by Nicaragua 7-1....Hideki Matsui's bat as well as the ball he hit for the first homer by a Japanese player in the World Series will be sent to the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, according to Hochi Sports.
Godzilla Matsui in Comfort Zone
See story at: MLB.com Article
