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10/26/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hiyama Two Run Single and Williams Relief Puts Hanshin on Edge of Title"
Shimoyanagi Bests Saito and Kanemoto Heads Toward MVP In Hanshin Victory
Hanshin leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto's record tying fourth homer of the Japan Series in the first Friday at Koshien Stadium and a two run single by rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama in the sixth proved to be enough to topple Daiei Hawks ace Kazumi Saito, as Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi, who was once with Daiei, went six solid innings and Jeff Williams topped it off with 1.1 innings of perfect relief to put the Tigers within one game of celebrating their first championship since 1985 3-2.
Saito was merely okay in this one, as he tossed six innings of three run ball on six hits to get hung with his first ever series defeat.
Hanshin went out in front in the bottom of the first, as Kanemoto crushed a 1-1 88mph fastball that was up in the zone more than 400 feet into the rightcenterfield bleachers, tying Randy Bass, Nishitetsu Lions hall of famer Futoshi Nakanishi and Hawks backstop Kenji Johjima as the only men in series annals to homer in three straight games to make it 1-0.
However, Daiei surmounted that in the second, as Johjima singled to right and leftfielder Pedro Valdes went the opposite way and pinged one off the short porch leftfield foul pole to put the Hawks ahead 2-1.
In the bottom of the frame, first baseman George Arias singled to left and then took off for second with two strikes on third baseman Atsushi Kataoka on a hit and run play. Kataoka whiffed and Johjima nailed Arias at second for a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play.
In the fifth, Arias slapped a ball into center and decided to try to stretch that into a double. But Yudai Deguchi, starting in place of injured regular Arihito Muramatsu and who has a slightly above average arm, gunned it to shortstop Yusuke Torigoe at the bag and the former Angel was meat.
Hanshin would finally get something going again in the sixth, as second baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to center on an 0-2 delivery with two outs and centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi outran a grounder toward third. Saito, pitching carefully to Kanemoto, threw him four straight balls off the outer half of the dish and the former Carp took his base to load 'em up. Saito ran a couple of fastballs up to Hiyama and then tried to do so again. That proved unwise, as Hiyama wacked a 91mph fastball on the inner half of the plate into left in front of Valdes and while Imaoak loped in, Akahoshi opened his engines full throttle and sprinted to the promised land with the lead run and a 3-2 Tigers advantage.
Daiei was then hindered by the injury bug in the eighth, when Deguchi fouled a ball off of his knee and was sat down after being caught looking at strike three from reliever Yuya Ando. And starting third baseman Munenori Kawasaki, who was now at short, got an accidental knee to the left side of the head from pinch runner Shuta Tanaka and was taken off on a stretcher. He was ultimately diagnosed with a concussion.
Williams had come on in the top of the eighth to strikeout first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka for the last out of the stanza and then blew down another pair among the three men he saw in the ninth to put the Tigers in what has been historically a lethal advantage.
A team has gone from two down to win the next three straight three previous times (a fourth if you count the Toei Flyers, who tied game three and then won the next three). All won the Japan series. The previous six teams to win games three, four and five at home all went on to take the series as well. In only three of 15 cases has a team returning to its homeground down in the series 3-2 won it all. Seibu was the last one, in 1991. Not fun news if you are a Fukuoka native.
Eight other players had four single series homers (its been done nine times). The last one to do it was Johjima in 2000. The only one to do it twice was Shigeo Nagashima (1969-1970).
For Hanshin, Arias was 2-3 with a walk and is at .333.
For Daiei, Valdes was 2-4 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .400. Julio Zuleta was 0-1 in a pinch hit appearance and is at .444.
See related story at: Japan Times Article
Pitching Lines:
Daiei:
K. Saito (L, 0-1) IP 6.0 BF 23 PC 87 H 6 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.26
Shinohara IP 1.2 BF 8 PC 19 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.70
K. Okamoto IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Hanshin:
Shimoyanagi (W, 1-0) IP 6.0 BF 23 PC 95 H 4 HR 1 K 2 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.00
Yoshino IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 6 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Riggan IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
Ando IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.15
Williams (S, 1) IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: Shinohara
SB: Iguchi
HR: Kanemoto (4), P. Valdes (2)
RBI: P. Valdes 2, Kanemoto, Hiyama 2
IBB: Arias (K. Okamoto)
GIDP: K. Saito (6-4-3)
LOB: Daiei 5, Hanshin 6
Series Status: Daiei 2, Hanshin 3
Game Time: 3:21
Attendance: 47,775
Umpires: Yamamoto (HP), Watada (1B), Nakamura (2B), Tani (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri The Giants signed Tokyo Gas southpaw Tetsuya Utsumi, who will end up as their number one draft choice this November. His late grandfather, Iso Utsumi, also played for the club (1938-1939 as a first baseman) and Tetsuya will wear grandpa's old number, 26. Utsumi was drafted on the first round by Orix in 2000, but turned that ballclub down and opted to play in the industrial leagues....Koji Uehara is the likely starter against Korea in the upcoming olympic qualifying tournament. He threw 60 pitches in the bullpen today....A division of Yomiuri, Nippon Television, was forced to apologize when one of its producers was caught rigging tv ratings by bribing homeowners who were being sampled by Japan's answer to the Neilson Ratings, Video Research. One tv critic called it a "self destructive act that hurts the entire tv industry, which is now in danger of losing the trust of both viewers and advertisers." That anyone watches television in Japan is a miracle, since it flat out sucks, making the nonsense broadcast here in the states look like perpetual genius by comparison. So they're lucky anybody looks at that crap. You can read more about the incident Here.
Hanshin Ratings for game four of the Japan Series are huge, drawing 37.4% in the Kansai region (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe, etc), reacing a momentary peak of 54.7%. In Northern Kyushu, the tv broadcast registered a 30.7% mark.
Chunichi Masafumi Hirai is attempting to add a shuuto to his arsenal in order to give hitters a little different look from what they saw this past year. However, Hirai has had elbow surgery in his past and the pitch puts a lot of strain on that part of his arm. So we'll have to see both how much he uses it and how it affects health....Hitoki Iwase threw 50 pitches in the bullpen as part of the Japanese olympic qualifying team. The seams of the ball that will be used during that tourney are a little higher than what Japanese teams use during the season, so Iwase is having trouble getting a handle on the bigger break he is seeing on his outpitch, the slider.
Hiroshima Relievers Alan Newman and David Lundquist as well as outfielder Jimmy Hurst have all been released....The Carp have formally concluded a "friendship agreement" with the Canton Leopards of the Chinese pro league. It reportedly includes a provision whereby Hiroshima can send players from their Dominican Academy to Canton. The Leopards manager and team officials will also be invited to the Carp's spring camp.
Yokohama According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Stars are "putting off" any possible acquisition of outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo, instead hoping to use that money to shore up their pitching. Yokohama will lose more than a million dollars this season, a rare occurrence for them, and economies are being made.
Kintetsu Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura was released from the hospital Friday after having right knee surgery last week.
Lotte According to Sankei Sports, Bobby Valentine's salary with Lotte (and I assume this includes incentives) is in the neighborhood of $3.2 million a year, a good $1 million more per than had been earlier quoted in the Japanese press.
In the News
Hawks Behind, but Not Down
Going to the Ballpark to Watch TV
See story at: Japan Times Article
This Series of Southpaws and Sayonaras
See story at: Japan Times Article
Godzilla Even More Monstrous in Japan Thanks to World Series
See stories at: Newark Star-Ledger Article
Matsui Not Just Good, But Also Lucky
See story at: Japan Times Article
Valentine Heading Back to Japan---AP
See story at: Associated Press Article
Just as an addenda, on ESPN's Baseball Tonight Thursday, Valentine only said that he would wait until the end of the season and then take a look at his situation.
Japan Loses to Panama in Baseball World Cup
See story at: Japan Today
Taiwan Edges U.S. to Advance to Semifinals
See story at: China Post Article
CPBL All Stars to Play Taiwan National Team
See story at: Taipei Times Article
