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10/17/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hoshino to Resign!; Ramirez Gets Share of Homer Crown in Season's Final Game"
Hoshino to Quit After Japan Series for Health Reasons
According to Sports Nippon, Hanshin Tigers skipper Senichi Hoshino, who has just been named Manager of the Year, will resign after the Japan Series due to an inability to control his blood pressure. He is also said to have diabetes and an ulcer, the health problems perhaps inevitable due to how high strung he is. His family doctor reportedly told Hoshino that while he would like to see him continue as his friend, as his caregiver, he wanted him to hang it up. The fiery field boss then informed owner Shunjiro Kuman, who has health problems of his own, on October 2nd that he would call it quits. The Osaka edition of Sports Nippon claims that Hoshino had decided as far back as July, following a bad episode, that he would call it a day.
Hoshino's blood pressure has at times exceeded 200, which is high enough to cause people to pass out. He has lalso been afflicted with occasional dizzy spells.
Defense and baserunning coach Akinobu Okada, over whose non-use then manager Don Blasingame lost his job two decades ago and who has helmed the team's minor league club, will reportedly succeed Hoshino. He is the sixth field boss to either resign or be fired this season.
While Hoshino may remain with the Tigers in an advisory role, head coach Ikuo Shimano and batting instructor Koichi Tabuchi will lose their jobs. Shimano has had circulatory problems himself and will go into hospital for tests after the Japan Series. Tabuchi will return to being a baseball commentator.
Okada was floored at this turn of events and will finally get the position he thought he should have had when Katsuya Nomura was canned. There will be considerable pressure on his debut campaign, as expectations in the wake of this year's pennant will be high. Indeed, Nomura, who is a frank individual but nowhere near the dictator that Hoshino is, remarked that he felt betrayed by the Hanshin players since he treated them like adults and failed (in fact, his tenure there was a fiasco) while Hoshino handled them as if they were a bunch of four year olds and ended up getting results. So the question is, can Okada keep his charges in line and guide them on a successful path? As the seventh new skipper next season, we'll see.
Yakult Ties for Third with 9-1 Clocking of Hiroshima to End Season
The final game of the 2003 regular season was played Thursday at Meiji Jingu Stadium, as Yakult Swallows leftfielder Alex Ramirez crushed his 40th roundtripper to tie for the homer title and help his team draw even for third with Yomiuri in a 9-1 victory over the Hiroshima Carp. Little screwballer Masanori Ishikawa started for the winners and notched his 12th victory while Hiroshima moundsman Takaya Kawauchi was rocked for eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits in just four innings to absorb the defeat.
Both pitchers escaped minor scrapes in the first and Kawauchi survived a bases loaded, nobody out situation in the second when second baseman Noriyuki Shiroishi lined out to third and Ishikawa and centerfielder Tetsuya Iida each flied out.
But in the third, Yakult shortstop Shinya Miyamoto wacked a double to rightcenter and galloped home on a two bagger into leftcenter by third baseman Akinori Iwamura. One out later, first baseman Ken Suzuki singled to center to plate Iwamura and it was 2-0 Swallows. Following another out, rightfielder Ryuji Miyade grounded to third baseman Kenta Kurihara, who threw the ball by first baseman Takahiro Arai and Suzuki motored around to score to make that 3-0.
Then in the fourth, Miyamoto walked with two outs and Iwamura looped a double to center, Miyamoto sprinting all the way in from first. Ramirez then beat the daylights out of a Kawauchi delivery and buried it deep into the leftfield bleachers. Suzuki pinged a shot off the centerfield wall for a double. Catcher Atsuya Furuta, ending one of his guttiest seasons ever with a bang, then went opposite field and deposited one into the umbrella oendan to widen the Yakult advantage to 8-0.
That allowed Ishikawa just to focus on throwing strikes and he basically cruised until the eighth, when Kazuyoshi Kimura, pinch hitting for reliever Masaki Hayashi, singled to center with one out and, one out later, centerfielder Koichi Ogata crashed a shot off the leftfield wall for a long single. Leftfielder Kazuki Fukuchi singled to center to convert Kimura and it was 8-1 Swallows.
Yakult scratched out another tally in the home portion, as pinch hitter Shinichi Sato, possibly kissing the ballclub goodbye, walked and was pinch run for by Yoshiyuki Noguchi, who, incredibly, stole second even with the huge lead. Iida walked. Miyamoto grounded out to advance Noguchi to third and Iwamura picked him up with a groundout to the right side and that was how it ended, a 9-1 Swallows laugher.
Ramirez was 2-4 with a walk and two RBIs and is at .333. He was tops in the Central League in RBIs with 124 and in hits with 189 to accompany the homer crown. His OPS was .989 and he also scored 105 runs.
Pitching Lines:
Hiroshima:
Kawauchi (L, 2-2) IP 4.0 BF 25 PC 93 H 8 K 1 BB 3 R 8 ER 7 ERA 5.40
Masaki Hayashi IP 3.0 BF 10 PC 40 H 1 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.81
Kikuchihara IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 23 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ERA 3.44
Yakult:
Masanori Ishikawa (W, 12-11) IP 8.0 BF 30 PC 97 H 6 K 4 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.79
H. Ishii IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.99
E: Kurihara 2
SB: Y. Noguchi , K. Suzuki
2B: Fukuchi, S. Miyamoto, Iwamura 2, K. Suzuki, Ramirez
HR: Ramirez (40), Furuta (23)
RBI: Fukuchi, Iwamura 3, Ramirez 2, K. Suzuki, Furuta 2
HBP: Kura (Masanori Ishikawa)
GIDP: Shiroishi (4-3-6), Fukuchi (4-6-3)
LOB: Hiroshima 5, Yakult 8
Season Series: Hiroshima 12, Yakult 15 1 Tie
Game Tme: 2:40
Attendance: 20,000
Umpires: K. Kobayashi (HP), Sasaki (1B), Nishimoto (2B), Ino (3B)
Team Reports
Yomiuri The New York Post is reporting that Giants ace Koji Uehara claims he has a verbal commitment from the ballclub to go to MLB after five years. The Yankees are said to be "keeping an eye" on this. Of course, how such a non-written agreement holds up legally in Japan is hard to say. I would bet that owner Tsuneo Watanabe would just laugh it off....Pitcher Matt Randell threw well in an instructional league game and perhpas won't be released after all. Hisanori Takahashi started in that same contest and went four hitless innings, striking out five....A Yomiuri spokesman indicated that they expect Kazuo Matsui to go to MLB and therefore they aren't going to bother to try to acquire him....First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara had knee surgery. He will be able to start jogging again in about a month.
Hanshin Well, here's some bulletin board material for Daiei, courtesy of centerfielder and CL steals champion Norihiro Akahoshi: "as total packages, [Chunichi catcher Motonobu] Tanishige and Furuta are better [than Kenji Johjima]." Akahoshi had an 86% success rate in his circuit....Tabuchi commented that he doesn't think much of the Daiei rotation's ability to hold men on. "Even I wouldn't want to be the catcher when he gets on base," the former all star backstop enthused about Akahoshi. But he ignores the fact that Johjima lead both leagues, including both Tanishige and Furuta, in caught stealing percentage with a 42.2% mark....A bunch of Sankei Sports baseball commentators gave their Japan Series predictions and they are bad news for Daiei, as all predicted a Tigers championship. A reporter for the same paper pointed out that Hanshin's winning percentage in one run ballgames was .750 while the Hawks struggled to reach .500. In addition, the Tigers defense was tops in all of Japanese baseball, though Daiei committed just eigh more miscues than the Osaka side....All the Central League clubs experienced attendance declines, but with the Tigers packing in fans like sardines this season, the overall figures amounted to a slight increase over last year for the CL, which saw a total of 13,520,000 fans step through the turnstyles in 2003.
Chunichi Pitcher Masafumi Hirai, who came out of nowhere to lead the team in wins with 12, and Yakult first baseman Ken Suzuki, who seemed to be nearing retirement before his career was rejuvenated by moving over from Seibu, have been named the Central League's Comeback Players of the Year.
Hiroshima Righthander Tetsuto Tomabechi had thumb surgery Wednesday. I'm not up on the kind of medical terminology they're using, but I would bet it involves bone spurs.
Yokohama Manager Daisuke Yamashita will experiment with putting Katsuaki Furuki in left and regular leftfielder Takanori Suzuki at first during their fall camp. Suzuki has declined defensively over the last couple of years and Furuki lead all third baseman in errors this season. One other thing that they might want to work on is making more contact, as the Milwaukee Brewers of a couple of seasons ago have nothing on Tyrone Woods, Furuki and Shuichi Murata. Murata struckout an incredible third of the time and was sent down to the minors in mid-season due to that.
Seibu Shortstop Kazuo Matsui revealed to the Lions that he will leave them to pursue a major league job. An earlier report from a couple of the Japanese sports dailies indicated that he is deciding between the Yankees and Dodgers, with the L.A. team believed to have the advantage. The PL Gakuen High product stated that he is 27 and this is the best time for him to take a shot at the big leagues. He is in final negotiations with agent Arn Tellem to hire him. Sankei Sports asserts that the Mariners have been late getting off the ground in displaying interest in Matsui due to monetary concerns, putting the Seattle club behind the eight ball.
Daiei Manager Sadaharu Oh had to be rolling his eyes Thursday, as his first string lineup couldn't do anything against three of the club's young lefthanders (and we aren't talking Tsuyoshi Wada and Toshiya Sugiuchi, either). They cracked a total of six hits in 26 at bats, hardly enough to win a game. Good luck against Kei Igawa, guys. You're going to need it....Nagisa Arakaki faced five second and third string hitters in a simulated game and put all of them away on 18 pitches. He is now likely to be in the bullpen Saturday for the beginning of the Japan Series....Ace Kazumi Saito threw 39 pitches in the bullpen....Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo's knee just won't be recovered enough in time for the Japan Series and he has been left off the roster.
Kintetsu Hochi Sports says that Tuffy Rhodes is looking for $5 million a year for two seasons (that includes incentives). The Buffs, though, only want to give him a one year pact.
Orix Former manager Leon Lee still hasn't answered team officials wish to have him stay on as a batting instructor. Lee has said that at least three MLB teams are also interested in him.
In the News
Japan's Fields of Dreams a Financial Nightmare
See story at: Asahi Shimbun Article
Japan Awesome Esperience for Gulan, But....
See story at: Kent State Official Athletic News
For Manzanar Internees, it Was Baseball or Boredom
See story at: Centre Daily Article
Skate Writer Tries and Fails to Get a Handle on Japanese Baseball
See story at: Slate Article
Hawks Parent Firm's Sales Down
See story at: Forbes Article
