Gary Garland / the japanese insider

August 1, 2002

Note to Readers

     Sorry I haven't published anything the last several days. I had a pain in the butt computer problem that is now resolved. What I'm going to do is that since I'm so far behind is that I will write up what happened today and then, when I have time, I'll do the articles for what happened during the time I was offline. Those will be in the past articles section. Sorry for the sudden disappearance. It appears that I'm back just in time, though, since....

Kawakami Throws No Hitter Against Giants

     For the first time in more than two years, somebody has twirled a no hitter in Japanese pro ball, as Chunichi Dragons righthander Kenshin Kawakami, a former 1997 number one draft choice and 1998 Rookie of the Year, needed only an economical 102 pitches to send the Yomiuri Giants away without anything falling safely in a 6-0 victory by the Nagoya outfit
at Tokyo Dome Thursday. The Meiji University grad was backed by homers from rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome and second baseman Masahiro Araki as well as a wall rattling catch by centerfielder Koichi Sekikawa to become the 70th hurler in Japanese history to toss at least one no no (there have been 81 such games in pro yakyu annals) during their career and the ninth from the Dragons staff.

     Yusaku Iriki started for Yomiuri and was battered for six runs, all earned, on six hits in six innings while striking out three and walking two and hitting a man.

     While Kawakami was feeking the lefthanders in the Giants lineup a steady diet of cut fastballs, a pitch he added to his arsenal this spring, Fukudome fired the first big offensive salvo of the night when he jacked an Iriki offering over the leftfield fence for his first homer since June 20th, when he went deep against Yakult, and it was 1-0 Dragons.

     The big blow of the contest came in the fifth, when Sekikawa doubled off the centerfield wall and, two outs later, shortstop Hirokazu Ibata walked. Araki, a punch hitter with speed, then stepped up and got all of a hanging changeup and propelled it over the leftfield foul pole to make it 4-0 Dragons. Giants manager Tatsunori Hara came out to argue the call, but it stuck and the home nine were down by a granny.

     Hara left Iriki in and he was spanked again in the sixth. With one out, Iriki nailed third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami. One out later, Sekikawa torched another shot off the centerfield fence and Tatsunami motored in with his team's fifth run. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige, in his 1500th lifetime game, then singled to center and Sekikawa hustled in to put his side in control at 6-0.

     In the eighth and with two gone, Giants second baseman Daisuke Motoki belted a high drive to rightcenter. Sekikawa got on his horse and made a leaping catch as he collided with the fence, knocking the wind out of him. More importantly, however, he held on to the ball and the inning was in the books.

     Kawakami, who had been joking with Ibata since the fourth about throwing a no hitter, induced a groundout to short for the first out of the ninth. He stated after the game that it then hit him that he might actually pull it off and he was literally shaking and he was afflicted with cotton mouth. Pinch hitter Koji Goto grounded out to first for the second out. Now leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu, who has been competing for the batting title most of the year, was up. Kawakami wound and threw a forkball that Shimizu, who was in an 0-18 slump, slapped up toward the middle of the diamond. The quickfooted Ibata cut it off near the bag and threw a strike to first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe and Kawakami was mobbed by his teammates. To go along with the rare feat, the triumph ended a team record tying nine straight losses to the Tokyo contingent.

     Kawakami's former coach at Meiji, Takehiko Beppu, 76, was watching via television and he celebrated privately there. Kawakami's parents, Koichi and Akemi, and his older sister, saw it on the tube from their home. "We'll have to buy presents for the fielders behind him," Akemi offered to reporters. She also hopes that he'll get married soon and present her with a grandchild.

     Ironically, it was Shimizu, who made the final out, who cost Kawakami a perfect game, when he walked to start the
fourth.

     Giants centerfielder Hideki Matsui was jammed to beat the band by Kawakami and whiffed all three times he came up.

     The 27 year old Kawakami had never woven a no hitter at any level, not at Tokushima Commercial High School, not in college, not at anytime. The last time anyone had rung one up was by Narciso Elvira of the Kintetsu Buffaloes on June 20, 2000 against the Seibu Lions. In the Central League, the most recent zero in the hits column was when the Dragons Melvin Bunch victimized the Yokohama Bay Stars on April 7, 2000. Interestingly, Tanishige was a member of the Stars at that time. This was the first no hitter he's ever caught.

     But no hitters don't have a history of derailing a Giants season, if a series of stats run by Sankei Sports (who also provided many of the other stats I cite here) are any indication. The last time they were no hit was in 1986 by another Dragon, Shigeki Noguchi, and they went on a six game winning spree beginning the following day. They are 6-1 in games right after a no hitter and five of those seven previous occasions came in years in which they won the pennant. They were no hit for the initial time in
team history in 1940 by Hachiro Miwa of the Hanshin Tigers, then promptly ripped off 12 straight victories. So those of us who are fans of other teams have no reason to expect a collapse.

     For Yomiuri, first baseman Omar Linares was 0-4 with two strikeouts .167.

Pitching Lines:

Chunichi:

Kawakami (W, 6-3)    IP 9.0 PC 102 H 0 HR 0 K 5 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.52

Yomiuri:

Y. Iriki (L, 4-2)    IP 6.0 PC 27 H 6 HR 2 K 7 BB 3 R 6 ER 6 ERA 3.75
Takeda                IP 3.0 PC 36 H 2 HR 0 K 4 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.10

E: Kawanaka
2B: Sekikawa 2, Ibata
HR: Fukudome (12), Araki (1)
RBI: Araki 3, Fukudome, Sekikawa, Tanishige
HBP: Tatsunami (Y. Iriki)

Season Series: Chunichi 7, Yomiuri 13

Game Time: 2:52
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Kamimoto (HP), Suginaga (1B), K. Kobayashi (2B), Sasaki (3B)

Kawajiri Shuts Out Yokohama on Six Hits 4-0

     Hanshin Tigers sidearmer Tetsuro Kawajiri had his best outing of the year, going eight shutout innings and limiting the Yokohama Bay Stars to six hits and striking out seven while walking just one to keep his team within semi-respectable range of the frontrunning Yomiuri Giants. Rightfielder Osamu Hamanaka homered twice for the first time in his career and drove in a personal single game best of four runs to supply all the offense that the Osaka bunch would require to take it 4-0 at Koshien before one of the smallest crowds of the season (28,000). This was also the fourth shutout a Hanshin moundsman has fashioned against Yokohama.

     Masao Morinaka started for Yokohama and wasn't horrible, but he wasn't that great and absorbed his fourth loss against a single shiroboshi after 5.2 innings of three run, six hit ball.

     With the game scoreless, Hamanaka walked up with one down in the bottom of the second and drilled a 3-0 86mph fastball into the leftfield stands to get the Tigers out to a 1-0 lead. That was his 15th consecutive solo homer. Somebody introduce this guy to Rafael Palmeiro.

     The Stars tried to knot it in the sixth, but were frustrated. Shortstop Takuro Ishii leadoff with a double down the leftfield line. Second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa singled to center. Centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi grabbed the ball and whipped it on the fly to catcher Akihiro Yano, who applied the tag and Hanshin's advantage remained intact.

     In the bottom of the inning, second baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to center and was sacrificed to second. One out later, First baseman Katsumi Hirosawa singled to right. Hamanaka was next. He had put up a lowly .211 average with runners in scoring position to that point. Yokohama manager Masaaki Mori went to the pen for Masahide Yone. Yone ran a slider up there and Hamanaka deposited it in the leftcenterfield seats and it was 4-0 Tigers. The solo dinger streak was thus terminated.

     In the eighth, Hanshin's defense snuffed out another incipient rally. Pinch hitter Kazunori Tanaka walked and went to second on a groundout. Ishii singled to right and defensive replacement Fumikazu Takanami gloved it and made a strong throw to Yano to shoot down Tanaka. That was the final time any Yokohama player reached base.

     For Hanshin, leftfielder Derrick White was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .232.

     For Yokohama, rightfielder Boi Rodrigues was 1-4 and is at .281. Third baseman Mike Gulan was 0-3 and is at .227.

Pitching Lines:

Yokohama:

Morinaka (L, 1-4)  IP 5.2 PC 83 H 6 HR 1 K 6 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.45
Yone                      IP 1.1 PC 25 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 8.10
Hosomi                   IP 1.0 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.58

Hanshin:

Kawajiri (W, 1-2)  IP 8.0 PC 106 H 6 HR 0 K 7 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.96
Kanazawa              IP 1.0 PC   10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.23

E: Ogawa, Hirosawa, Sekimoto
2B: Rodrigues, Hamanaka, T. Ishii
HR: Hamanaka 2 (0
RBI: Hamanaka 4
GIDP: White, Gulan

Season Series: Yokohama 6, Hanshin 14 1 Tie

Game Time: 2:47
Attendance: 26,000
Umpires: Nishimoto (HP), Arisumi (1B), Tomoyori (2B), Kasahara (3B)

Yakult Comes from Five Back to Tie Hiroshima 6-6

     With their recent fortunes sinking like the proverbial stone and behind 5-0 in the sixth during a driving rain, things didn't seem very  ideal for the Yakult Swallows to prevail in this one. And they didn't. But then again, neither did the Hiroshima Carp, as the birds staged a tremendous comeback to knot it at 6-6 before it was called upon the conclusion of the 12th inning.

     Yasushi Tsuruta started for Hiroshima and was cruising along before Carp boss Koji Yamamoto made an ill advised pitching change in the sixth that ignited the Yakult rally that ultimately evened it. His line score was 5.1 innings pitched, one earned run on four hits and walking one while striking out two.

     Rookie screwballer Masanori Ishikawa started for Yakult and he was lit up in the third to begin his downfall. With one down, Hiroshima centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to center. Takuya Kimura legged out a tapper toward third. Second baseman Eddie Diaz singled to left to usher in Ogata. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto then crushed one and left it in the no
deposit, no return section in rightcenter and it was 4-0  Carp.

     In the sixth, Ishikawa saw one of his deliveries piledriven into the leftfield bleachers by third baseman Takahiro Arai and it was 5-0 Hiroshima. That ended a 19 game homer drought by Arai.

     Yakult took their turn and shortstop Shinya Miyamoto leadoff with a single to left. After rightfielder Atsunori Inaba flew out to center, Yamamoto pulled Tsuruta in favor of Kanei Kobayashi. First baseman Roberto Petagine singled to right. Catcher Atsuya Furuta then put good wood on one and hurtled it into the leftfield stands, reducing the deficit to 5-3.

     An inning later, Yakult leveled it when second baseman Chihiro Hamana doubled off the rightfield fence. One out later, centerfielder Mitsuru Manaka singled to center to drive in Hamana and went to second on the throw home. Miyamoto moved Manaka over with a sac bunt. Inaba legged out a bouncer toward third and that made it 5-5.

     Alan Newman came on for the eighth and walked the first man he faced, Kanemoto. Newman then threw wildly to first and Kanemoto went to second and was subsequently moved over to third on a sac bunt. Rightfielder Tomonori Maeda singled to center and Hiroshima was ahead once more at 6-5.

     Yakult third baseman Akinori Iwamura countered with a single to right to commence the bottom half. He somehow managed to get to third (the game log doesn't say how). Leftfielder Alex Ramirez struckout. Yakult manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu then called for the squeeze and backup second baseman Noriyuki Shiroishi did the job to convert Iwamura to make it 6-6.

     Neither team did anything else offensively afterward and it concluded in a 6-6 tie.

     For Hiroshima, Diaz was 2-6 with an RBI and is at .297. First baseman Luis Lopez was 0-3 and is at .240.

     For Yakult, Petagine was 3-4 with two walks and is at .328. Ramirez was 0-5 with three strikeouts and is at .300.

Pitching Lines:

Hiroshima:

Tsuruta               IP 5.1 PC 74 H 4 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.00
K. Kobayashi     IP 0.2 PC 22 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 2.58
Tamaki               IP 2.0 PC 32 H 4 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 2 ER 1 ERA 2.95
Schullstrom         IP 2.0 PC 34 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Hiroike               IP 1.0 PC 28 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.77
Oyamada           IP 1.0 PC   9 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.29

Yakult:

Masanori Ishikawa    IP 6.0 PC 99 H 8 HR 2 K 3 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 3.97
Kawabata                 IP 1.0 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.52
Newman                   IP 0.1 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.17
R. Igarashi                 IP 0.2 PC  2 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.77
H. Ishii                      IP 3.0 PC 26 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.03
Takatsu                     IP 1.0 PC 23 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.21

E: Newman
2B: Hamana
HR: Kanemoto (17), Arai (16), Furuta (4)
RBI: Diaz, Kanemoto 3, T. Maeda, Arai, Manaka, Inaba, Furuta 3,Shiroishi
IBB: Petagine
GIDP: Nishiyama

Season Series: Hiroshima 9, Yakult 7 2 Ties

Game Time: 4:20
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Shikida (HP), Kittaka (1B), Tani (2B), Manabe (2B)

Yoshihiro Itoh, Kazuhiro Sasaki's College Baseball Coach, Dies

     Yoshihiro Itoh, who coached both Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki and Boston Red Sox prospect Ryo Kumagai as well as nearly 30 other eventual pro players at Tohoku Fukushi University, died just after midnight August 1st of respiratory arrest at a Miyagi Prefecture hospital. He was 56.

     An Osaka native, Itoh matriculated at Shibaura Industrial College before returning to his high school alma mater, Sakuramiya High School, to run the baseball team there in 1973. Eleven years later, he moved to Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai and built a dynasty, winning 34 of 35 possible league titles in 17 years plus (there are two seasons in Japanese university ball), winning an All Japan Collegiate Baseball Tournament title in 1991, the school's first. At one point, his teams racked up 118 straight league game victories. For the totality of his career at Tohoku, Itoh went 349-12-3. He also worked as an official of the Japanese olympic baseball squad that played at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

     Itoh beat liver cancer after being diagnosed with it in October, 2000, but since last fall was in and out of the hospital and sat out this year's All Japan University Baseball Tournament, where Tohoku slotted into the final four.

     Since his institution wasn't one of the glamor schools such as the ones in the Tokyo Big Six University League, he developed an eye for raw talent that no other higher prestige schools were interested in. Among those who played under Itoh was Sasaki, who commented, "when I was at unversity, I caused him nothing but grief," said the Daimajin, who experienced back troubles during his freshman year at Tohoku. Itoh was noted for allowing his injured players to fully heal before jumping
back in uniform, a contrast to the more anxious style of other Japanese univiersity coaches. "If it wasn't for coach Itoh, I wouldn't be where I am today."

     Submariner Ryo Kumagai, who was signed by the Boston Red Sox and is in A ball for them now, was a recent grad, as was Yuji Yoshimi of the Yokohama Bay Stars, another hurler, who has a shot at winning the Rookie of the Year.

     Long after they left the college ranks behind, his ex-players still would call Itoh to ask for advice on matters both baseball and personal.

     Itoh is survived by his wife and three sons. The youngest, Takashi, is a tv personality. There is talk among various professional Tohoku alumni of putting together a charity even in the late coach's name.

Today in Japanese Baseball History
 
     This report is for August 1st and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1977, in the wake of the Noriyoshi Sano incident where an outfielder ran into an outfield wall and was knocked out cold with a skull fracture, the umpires were given the ability to call time when a player's well being was threatened.

     Also on that date in 1951, 39 year old Shochiku Robins outfielder Yoshiyuki Iwamoto became the first player ever to homer four times in a game. He had a double to accompany the longball, and the 18 total bases was also a new record. That season, he slammed 31 homers and batted .351. He was a .275 career hitter in ten seasons with 123 lifetime bombs. Interestingly, he didn't play between 1943-1948 after spending three years with Nankai. .

     Also on that date in 1955, the Tombo Unions (later merged with another team) committed 10 errors, a record. The team's pitchers were tattooed for 20 hits and ended up losing 13-0.
  

Kuwata's Seven Shutout Innings Give Giants 4-2 Win Over Hanshin

     Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka homered again and Masumi Kuwata went seven stellar shutout innings on six hits while striking out seven and walking one, as the Yomiuri Giants put the Hanshin Tigers 9.5 games away in the Central League pennant race Tuesday with a 4-2 victory before a 51,000 strong house at Koshien Stadium. Leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu also went deep to hang Tigers starter Kei Igawa with his fifth loss. Kuwata is not 3-0 in 2002 at the Osaka club's homeground.

     The battle began ominously for Igawa in the first, when a miscue by shortstop Kentaro Sekimoto allowed the Giants to score the first run. With one out, Igawa walked Nioka .Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi doubled off the leftfield fence. Centerfielder Hideki Matsui whiffed. First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara rolled an easy grounder to Sekimoto, who kicked it and Nioka trotted in with the unearned tally to make it 1-0 Yomiuri.

     In the third, Takahashi leadoff with a single to center and went to second one out later when Igawa plunked Kiyohara in the right knee. The big slugger eventually was replaced before the start of the fifth as a precautionary measure. After third baseman Akira Etoh grounded to first, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to left to convert Takahashi to make it 2-0 Giants.

     Shimizu checked in with one out in the fifth and selected one from column A and fed it to the folks in the rightfield seats and the Tokyo side was up by three at 3-0.

     The Giants then made some major noise in the fifth, though they were ultimately foiled. Matsui commenced it with a walk. Kiyohara and Etoh both singled to center to load the bases. Nishi was next and he spanked the first offering he saw from Igawa hard back up the middle. Igawa, though, was able to glove it and went to home and then catcher Akihiro Yano winged it on to first for the 1-2-3 double play. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe was intentionally walked to get to Kuwata, who bounced to third for the final out of the frame.

     From the fourth inning until finishing in the seventh, Kuwata didn't allow Hanshin anything. Nioka also lent him  a bigger advantage when he went yard to left in the ninth, his 13th dinger of the year, and it was 4-0 Giants.

     In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Jeon Min-tae walked Hanshin leftfielder Osamu Hamanaka. Sekimoto, a former minor league batting champ, then tore into a Jeon pitch and wailed it over the leftfield wall to halve the deficit to 4-2. Giants manager Tatsunori Hara summoned closer Junichi Kawahara, who retired three of the next four men to save it for Yomiuri.

     Kuwata is 3-0 with an 0.86 ERA at Koshien in 2002 while Igawa has suffered all three of his defeats at the hands of Yomiuri at home. He is 3-3 against the kyojin this season and hasn't won at Koshien since April 26th.

     Nioka's longball was his fifth in five games. If he can stay healthy, he may have his best campaign ever.

     Speedster Norihiro Akahoshi was welcomed back for the first time since breaking his tibia on a ball he fouled off his leg earlier in the year and he went 1-4.

     Yomiuri infielder Daisuke Motoki reached a milestone Tuesday, appearing in his 1000th game.
 
     The Giants have now reached 50 wins in 80 games, the fastest to that many triumphs for any new Giants manager in the club's history. The team has done that 12 times in the past, 11 of them resulting in pennants. The last time they accomplished that feat was in 1989.

     For Hanshin, first baseman George Arias was 0-3 with two strikeouts and a walk and is at .255.

Pitching Lines:

Yomiuri:

Kuwata (W, 5-6)         IP 7.0 PC 106 H 6 HR 0 K 7 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.03
Jeon                             IP 1.0 PC    30 H 2 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.11
J. Kawahara (S, 18)    IP 1.0 PC    14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.74

Hanshin:

Igawa (L,10-5)   IP 7.0 PC 140 H 9 HR 1 K 7 BB 3 R 3 ER 2 ERA 1.75
Toyama              IP 1.0 PC   11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.59
Hesaka               IP 0.0 PC     5 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.93
Yuminaga          IP 1.0 PC   10 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.08

E: Sekimoto
SB: Akahoshi, Kataoka
2B: Y. Takahashi, Kataoka
HR: T. Shimizu (9), Nioka (13), Sekimoto (4)
RBI: Sekimoto 2, T. Shimizu, Nioka, Nishi
IBB: S. Abe
HBP: Kiyohara (Igawa)
GIDP: Nishi

Season Series: Yomiuri 10, Hanshin 6

Game Time: 3:42
Attendance: 51,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Yoshimoto (1B), Tomoyori (2B), Kittaka (3B)

Hodges Gets 12th Victory for Yakult

     After not doing so hot his last time out, Yakult Swallows righthander Kevin Hodges was back on the beam Tuesday at Yokohama Stadium against the Yokohama Bay Stars, tossing seven fine innings of two run ball on three hits to pick up his 12th victory of the season, which leads all of Japanese baseball, in a 7-3 Yakult win. Shane Bowers absorbed the loss for the Stars, his second, in the wake of being touched for ten hits and six runs (five earned) in six innings, most of which was due to a big mental mistake he made in the sixth.

     Yakult pulled in front in the second when third baseman Akinori Iwamura, who is absolutely on fire right now, torched a delivery from Bowers beyond the leftfield fence to make it 1-0 Swallows. In his last four games, Iwamura has gone 11-15, a better than .700 clip. This was also his second homer in as many matches.

     In the third, Swallows shortstop Shinya Miyamoto cracked a two out single to left and stole second. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba then singled to left and Miyamoto crossed to open a 2-0 lead.

     While Hodges was doing  a good job of moving the ball around and jamming the Stars hitters, Bowers was doing pretty nicely himself in the main until a bonehead move in the sixth cost him big. Miyamoto kicked it off by beating out a roller toward third. One out later, first baseman Roberto Petagine singled to right. Catcher Atsuya Furuta hit a comebacker to Bowers, who should have pivoted and started a 1-6-3 inning ending double play. Instead, he went to third to get Miyamoto and got only one out to keep the inning alive. Bowers then threw over to first to hold Furuta (?) and threw it away, and both runners moved up. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez singled to center and Petagine and Furuta wheeled (or since both have bad knees, maybe hobbled is a better word) around to double the Swallows lead to 4-0. Iwamura walked. Second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi singled to right to plate Ramirez and send Iwamura to third. Hodges dribbled one near short and beat it out while Iwamura scored and it was 6-0 Yakult.

     Yakult then beat up on reliever Fukumori for another score in the seventh. Inaba drilled a one out double into the rightfield corner. Petagine grounded to second, but Hitoshi Taneda threw it away and Inaba motored in and Yakult was in the driver's seat at 7-0.

     Yokohama stirred in the bottom half to post their initial tallies for the night. With one gone, leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to center and centerfielder Ernie Young walked. First baseman Takahiro Saeki doubled down the rightfield line to send Suzuki in and third baseman Hirofumi Ogawa grounded to short to cash in Young and it was 7-2 Swallows.

     Ryu Kawabata ascended the hill in the eighth for Yakult and Yokohama obtained their final run. With one away, pinch hitter Hitoshi Tamura walked and went to second on a groundout. Backup second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa singled to center and that is how it ended up, 7-3 Yakult.

     The Stars look poised to get a couple of very promising college players in the November draft. Kazuhito Tadano, a quality righthander out of Rikkyo University, and Shuichi Murata, a compaktly built third baseman with some sock out of Nihon University, have indicated that they are very favorably disposed toward signing with Yokohama. Of course, this club has more holes than that, but that is one heck of a a fine start.

     For Yokohama, Young was 0-2 with a walk and is at .185. Rightfielder Boi Rodrigues was 0-3 and is at .266.

     Petagine was 1-4 with a walk and is at .310. Ramirez was 1-5 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .316. Hodges was 1-3 with an RBI and is at .163.

Pitching Lines:

Yakult:

Hodges (W, 12-3)   IP 7.0 PC 98 H 3 HR 0 K 8 HR 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.77
Kawabata                IP 1.0 PC 18 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.66
H. Ishii                     IP 1.0 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.11

Yokohama:

Bowers (L, 1-2)    IP 6.0 PC 105 H 10 HR 1 K 3 BB 1 R 6 ER 5 ERA 3.98
Fukumori              IP 2.0 PC   22 H   2 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 0 ERA 2.89
R. Kawahara        IP 1.0 PC   25 H   0 HR 0 K 1 BB 3 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.09

E: Taneda, Bowers
SB: S. Miyamoto
2B: Ogawa, Inaba, Saeki
HR: Iwamura (12)
RBI: Inaba, Ramirez 2, Iwamura, Dobashi, Hodges, Uchikawa, Saeki, Ogawa
GIDP: S. Sato

Season Series: Yakult 9, Yokohama 5

Game Time: 2:58
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Ino (HP), Hamano (1B), Kasahara (2B), Arisumi (3B)

Five Seibu Homers Down Nippon Ham 8-2; Oshima to Get the Boot

     Seibu Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui beat the Giants Godzilla Matsui to 20 this season Tuesday, when he put his team up 1-0 with a mammoth 440 foot bazooka blast on a 3-1 count to straightaway centerfield at Tokyo Dome. The Lions then got four other roundtrippers, including a pair from leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada, to back a superior performance from starter Koji Mitsui to body slam the Nippon Ham Fighters 8-2. Mitsui improved to 5-1 after weaving 6.2 innings of two hit shutout ball.

     Southpaw Akio Shimizu made his first start of the season for the Fighters and was taken deep twice in his four inning stint to account for all three runs he was charged with.

     After Matsui put the Lions ahead, first baseman Alex Cabrera then opened the third by legging out a bleeder toward third. Wada then creamed a Shimizu offering and it was 3-0 Seibu.

     Mitsui had a no hitter going until the seventh, when first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara, batting .356 but 0-10 thus far against Mitsui on the season,  lashed his obligatory hit to left to inaugurate the seventh.

     In the eighth, DH Taisei Takagi, finally back from an injury he suffered in spring training, walked to open the inning and was pinch run for by Hiroyuki Shibata. One out later, Wada creamed and pureed one into the rightcenterfield bleachers. Pinch hitter Kazuhiko Miyaji doubled to rightcenter. One out later, catcher Tsutomu Itoh and second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi produced back to back jacks and it was 8-0 Lions. Takagi's homer was his first since June of 1999 and only the fourth of his career.

     Hayato Aoki came on for the Lions in the ninth and Ogasawara put a whipping on one of his pitches for a double into the rightcenter alley. Leftfielder Sherman Obando doubled down the leftfield line to push Ogasawara home and went to third on a ground out. Yukio Tanaka flied out to center and Obando tagged and scored to make it 8-2 Seibu.

     Matsui now has three consecutive seasons of 20 homers. The last switch hitter to do that was Yoshihiko Takahashi of the Hiroshima Carp, also a shortstop, who did it in four successive seasons between 1983-1986. The most homers for a Japanese switch hitter in a season was 26, which was by the great Hankyu third baseman Hiromi Matsunaga in 1985. Matsui should shatter that by the end of August, as he is on pace for 36. You can see a pic of the swing that Matsui put on the ball at:  http://www.nikkansports.com/news/baseball/bb-020724-1.jpg

     Mets scout Isao Ojimi was at the game, which displays that MLB club's continuing interest in the PL Gakuen graduate.

     On the Nippon Ham front, they aren't going to extend the contract of manager Yasunori Oshima, which ends this year, so they will be in the hunt for anew field boss and say that they are considering both domestic and foreign candidate. Could that mean Bobby Valentine is back on his way to Japan?  If the Mets can him when this season is done, as is pretty likely, the Fighters could hire him to bring some marketing pizzazz in preparation for the 2004 move to Sapporo.

     The Japanese name being mentioned the most in the press is former Yokohama Bay Stars boss Akihiko Ohya, though Ohya himself says that he doesn't know anything about it. He was 127-138 with the Stars.

     For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-4 with a walk and three strikeouts and is at .277. Third baseman Tom Evans was 2-3 with a walk and is at .274.

     For Nippon Ham, Obando was 1-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .260. DH D.T. Cromer was 0-2 with two strikeouts and is at .272.

Pitching Lines:

Seibu:

Mitsui (W, 5-1)   IP 6.2 PC 99 H 2 HR 0 K 6 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.58
Mori                     IP 0.1 PC   1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.83
Mizuo                  IP 1.0 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.38
Aoki                     IP 1.0 PC 15 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.48

Nippon Ham:

A. Shimizu (L, 0-1)  IP 4.0 PC 72 H 6 HR 2 K 2 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 10.38
Muto                        IP 2.0 PC 28 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.28
Sasaki                       IP 1.0 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.46
Tateyama                 IP 1.0 PC 30 H 4 HR 3 K 2 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.86
Sakurai                     IP 1.0 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00

SB: Shibata
2B: Ozeki, Evans, Miyaji, M. Ogasawara, Obando
HR: K. Matsui (20), Wada 2 (13), T. Itoh (7), H. Takagi (1)
RBI: K. Matsui, Wada 4, T. Itoh 2, H. Takagi, Obando, Y. Tanaka
SF: Y. Tanaka
HBP: Evans (Muto)
GIDP: T. Itoh

Season Series: Seibu 12, Nippon Ham 6

Game Time: 3:09
Attendance: 13,000
Umpires: Yamamoto (HP), Sakaemura (1B), Nakamura (2B), Yamazaki (3B)

Furukubo Two Run Single the Margin of Victory for Kintetsu

     The Kintetsu Buffaloes got five decent innings out of Hisashi Iwakuma to start the game and then four perfect frames from four relievers while catcher Kenji Furukubo, playing in his first game since June 28th, singled to right in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs for the game winner in a 4-2 victory over the Daiei Hawks Tuesday at Fukuoka Dome. Iwakuma permitted two runs on five hits for his fifth shiroboshi.

     The Hawks drew first blood in the second, as third baseman Hiroki Kokubo doubled to rightcenter and first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka homered to right to make it 2-0 Daiei.

     Kintetsu evened it in the fourth, when shortstop Masahiro Abe singled to left leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes singled to right and third baseman Norihiro Nakamura walked to juice the bags. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to center and both Abe and Rhodes scampered home to level it at 2-2.

     The Hawks blew a prime scoring chance in the fifth, as shortstop Yusuke Torigoe doubled off the centerfield fence and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. However, rightfielder Arihito Muramatsu fanned, as did second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and that was that.

     In the sixth, Kintetsu stampeded for a pair to get ahead and stay there. With one out, Isobe singled to right and first baseman Yuji Yoshioka doubled down the leftfield line. Pinch hitter Kenshi Kawaguchi was intentionally walked to set up a force at every base. Pinch hitter Akihito Igarashi struckout, but then Furukubo, who may retire after the season is over to become a coach with the team, rolled one just by Iguchi through the right side to recall both Isobe and Yoshioka and it was 4-2 Buffs.

     The relief corps then slammed the door the rest of the way and it was soon over.

     For Daiei, leftfielder Pedro Valdez, who has been moved down in the order, was 0-3 with a walk and is at .292.

     For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .255.

Pitching Lines:

Kintetsu:

Iwakuma (W, 5-4)    IP 5.0 PC 81 H 5 HR 1 K 4 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.23
S. Yamamoto            IP 0.2 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.08
Misawa                     IP 1.1 PC 22 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.03
A. Okamoto             IP 1.0 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.70
A.N. Otsuka (S, 5)  IP 1.0 PC  7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25

Daiei:

Sugiuchi                  IP 3.1 PC 65 H 3 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 5.98
J. Hoshino (L, 4-5) IP 2.0 PC 27 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.30
S. Yoshida              IP 1.2 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.21
H.K. Watanabe     IP 2.0 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.26

E: T.T. Maeda
SB: Isobe, Kokubo
2B: Kokubo, N. Omura, Yoshioka
HR: Matsunaka (14)
RBI: Isobe 2, Furukubo 2, Matsunaka 2
IBB: Kawaguchi
GIDP: Johjima

Season Series: Kintetsu 7, Daiei 8

Game Time: 3:34
Attendance: 46,000
Umpires: Maeda (HP), Kodera (1B), Kakigizono (2B), Yoshikawa (3B)

Two Run Fukuura Double Gives Lotte 5-2 Triumph

     After winning the Pacific League batting championship last season, Chiba Lotte Marines first baseman Kazuya Fukuura has been having a disappointing 2002 until about the last week, when he has really steeped up his run production to help Lotte to four consecutive victories. And they extended that to five Tuesday, as he seared a delivery that was up in the strike zone from Orix Blue Wave reliever Masanobu Okubo into the leftfield corner to plate a couple of vital insurance runs to help Lotte take it 5-2.

     Naoyuki Shimizu started for Lotte and went eight superb innings of two run ball on six hits and striking out seven to earn his eighth win. He was clocked at a high of 94mph.

     Lotte got an extra base hits and a couple of well placed outs to seize a second inning lead. Centerfielder Saburo Omura leadoff with a double off the rightfield wall and went to third on a sac bunt. Catcher Takumi Shigi grounded to second and it was 1-0 Lotte.

     Orix got that back, however, in the top of the third when catcher Takeshi Hidaka throttled one into the rightfield seats to make it 1-1.

     Lotte had the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, but rightfielder Takashi Tachikawa fouled out to first and DH Derrick May flied out to center to snuff the threat.

     In the top of the seventh, Orix third baseman Scott Sheldon singled to center and was sacrificed to second. Shortstop Tatsuya Shindo was plunked by Shimizu. Hidaka grounded to second and Sheldon moved over to third as the out was made at first. Rightfielder Ryutaro Tsuji singled to center and it was 2-1 Orix.

     Orix starter Hisashi Ogura kept pace with Shimizu and left after the sixth in favor of Okubo, who promptly surrendered the lead in the home half. With two gone, shortstop Makoto Kosaka singled to center and Fukuura walked. Tachikawa singled to left and Kosaka toed the dish to knot it at two each.

     Lotte then staged the winning rally in the eighth. Second baseman Koichi Hori leadoff with a triple off the centerfield wall and scored when Shindo threw wildly on the relay to make it 3-2 Lotte. Two outs later, leftfielder Kenji Morozumi singled to left and Kosaka singled to right. They then worked the double steal successfully. Fukuura lined a shot into the leftfield corner to make it 5-2 Lotte.

     Masahide Kobayashi then extended his saves streak by inducing a game ending 4-6-3 double play in the ninth.

     For Orix, Sheldon was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .268. Fernando Seguignol struckout in a pinch hit appearance and is at .203.

     For Lotte, May was 0-3 with a walk and is at .238.

Pitching Lines:

Orix:

H. Ogura             IP 6.0 PC 99 H 5 HR 0 K 1 BB 3 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.82
Okubo (L, 1-5)   IP 1.2 PC 55 H 5 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 4 ER 3 ERA 3.95
J. Hagiwara        IP 0.1 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.51

Lotte:

N. Shimizu (W, 8-5)      IP 8.0 PC 106 H 6 HR 1 K 7 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.46
M. Kobayashi (S, 19)  IP 1.0 PC      6 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.17

E: Shindo
SB: Morozumi, Kosaka, S. Omura
2B: S. Omura, Kosaka, Fukuura
3B: Hori
HR: Hidaka (6)
RBI: Hidaka, R. Tsuji, Fukuura 2, Tachikawa, T. Sakai
IBB: Fukuura
HBP: Shindo (N. Shimizu)
GIDP: Hidaka

Season Series: Orix 8, Lotte 8

Game Time: 3:24
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Yamaguchi (HP), Akimura (1B), Yanigida (2B), Tachibana (3B)

Four Run Eighth by Dragons Sinks Hiroshima 5-1

     In his first game at the top club level since coming over from Cuba, Omar Linares was credited with the game winning hit Tuesday at Nagoya Dome, as he bounced a two run single over the head of Hiroshima Carp third baseman Takahiro Arai and a drawn in infield in a four run eighth inning, as to back a nice 7.1 inning by Melvin Bunch and a strong relief stint from Iwase in a 5-1 Dragons victory.

     Hiroki Kuroda started for Hiroshima and was cruising along until the eighth, when he and two relievers were hit around to engender the defeat.

     Hiroshima had a temporary lead in the third, when centerfielder Koichi Ogata clobbered a Bunch offering into the leftcenterfield seats and it was 1-0 Carp.

     Chunichi catcher Motonobu Tanishige deadlocked it when he went yard center backscreen stylee in the fifth and it was 1-1.

     In the critical eighth, rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to right to ignite the scoring splurge. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami doubled down the rightfield line. Kuroda had whiffed Linares twice and got him to groundout in his three previous at bats. Kuroda threw him a 1-0 90mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and bounced it on the artificial turf over Tatsunami's head and both Tatsunami and Fukudome were back in the dugout with a 3-1 lead. Linares was sacrificed to second. Second baseman Masahiro Araki doubled down the rightfield line for an RBI, as did Tanishige and there was 5-1 gap between the Dragons and Carp.

     Linares is staying in $140 a night hotel room in Nagoya and talks nightly with countrymen Orestes Kindelan and Antonio Pacheco, who are with Shidax in the industrial league. Pacheco was quoted as saying that he understands that Linares is at about 70% physically, inferring that it may be a bit before he really hits his stride in Japan. The three outs Linares racked up were all on forkballs.

     For Hiroshima, second baseman Eddie Diaz was 0-2 with two walks and is at .308. First baseman Luis Lopez was 0-4 and is at .244.

     Linares finished 1-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .250.

Pitching Lines:

Hiroshima:

Kuroda (L, 5-5)    IP 7.0 PC 105 H 10 HR 1 K 10 BB 2 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.94
Hiroike                  IP 0.1 PC     1 H   0 HR 0 K   0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.04
Tamaki                  IP 0.0 PC   10 H   2 HR 0 K   0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.09
Schullstrom         IP 0.2 PC    10 H   0 HR 0 K   1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00

Chunichi:

Bunch                    IP 7.1 PC 108 H 7 HR 1 K 6 HR 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.03
Iwase (W, 2-2)      IP 0.2 PC   11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.93

E: Ogata
2B: Fukudome, Tatsunami, Araki, Tanishige
HR: Ogata (13), Tanishige (14)
RBI: Ogata, Linares 2, Araki, Tanishige 2
GIDP: Diaz

Season Series: Hiroshima 9, Chunichi 7

Game Time: 3:09
Attendance: 33,000
Umpires: Suginaga (HP), ? (1B), Kamimoto (2B), T. Kobayashi (3B)

Orix to Offer Schramek Nine Year Deal

     Contrary to an earlier Sports Nippon report that indicated that Orix wasn't going to sign Cincinnati Reds number one draft choice Mike Schramek, a third baseman, team president Okazoe is saying that indeed, they will make him an offer. "We see a lot of underlying potential and we're impressed by his willingness to do this," Okazoe averred to Nikkan Sports. The paper says that the Reds have a $300,000 offer on the table for Schramek (rather low for a first rounder) and that Orix intends to surpass it.

     HOWEVER, there is a big contingency in the Orix offer: they want him to sign a nine year deal so that he doesn't go to MLB in the early going ala Alfonso Soriano. This could prove to be a huge stumbling block since, typically, salaries in Japan are lower than they are in MLB and thus, unless there is a big signing bonus, I don't see how this is attractive for his agent in particular and for Schramek in general. Ultimately, I suspect that this is little more than an attempt to goad the Reds into offering Schramek more money and I think Orix in realizing this is going to put a poison pill in there to see just how sincere the Texas native is.

What Are the Lotte Giants Thinking?

     See Korea Times article at: http://www.hankooki.com/kt_sports/200207/t2002072317145247110.htm

Seung-yeop Lee Slams 250th Career Homer to Help Beat Hyundai

     See Korea Times story at: http://www.hankooki.com/kt_sports/200207/t2002072417091247110.htm

Lee Joins Select Company After Touchstone Blast

     See Korea Times story at: http://www.hankooki.com/kt_sports/200207/t2002072417110947110.htm

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for July 23rd and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1977, the Japanese pro leagues cut an agreement with the industrial leagues that stipulated that high schoolers who went to the industrial leagues aren't eligible for the draft for the pro draft for three years. Moreover, one pro team can draft only one pitcher from a given industrial league team.

     Also on that date in 1957, Takao Kajimoto of the Hankyu Braves struckout nine Nankai Hawks hitters in a row at Nishinomiya Stadium to set a record. The same ballpark was the site of that all star game where Yutaka Enatsu whiffed nine PL batters in an all star game as well. Kajimoto went 24-16 with a career low 1.92 ERA that season. He was 254-255 with a 2.98 ERA for his career for some pretty dire ballclubs.
 

Daiei Picks Up a Game on Seibu by Beating Kintetsu 8-5

     The Daiei Hawks really put it to Sean Bergman Monday at Fukuoka Dome, drilling the former major leaguer for seven runs, three earned, on nine hits in 3.2 innings, as the Daiei Hawks put a rare dent into the Seibu Lions daunting lead in the Pacific League pennant race. Tomohiro Nagai finally picked up his first win of the year after going 7.1 innings and limiting the Buffs to three runs on six hits.

     It was 0-0 until the fourth, when the Hawks first rocked Bergman. Shortstop Mitsuru Honma leadoff with a walk and was walked to second. Centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to left. Rightfielder Arihito Muramatsu flew out to center to recall Honma. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi pancaked one off the leftfield wall for two bases. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo grounded to his opposite number, Norihiro Nakamura, who booted it to allow Shibahara to waltz in. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled to right to plate Iguchi. Leftfielder Pedro Valdez walked to load the bases. DH Kenji Johjima, in his first game back after rehabbing a broken collar bone, singled to center and both Kokubo and Matsunaka were delivered and it was 5-0 Hawks.

     Daiei then disposed of Bergman in the fourth. Catcher Masanori Taguchi leadoff with a single to center. After going to second on a one out groundout, Iguchi singled to left to drive Taguchi in. Kokubo then whizzed a shot down the leftfield line and the fleetfooted Iguchi sprinted all the way around and it was 7-0 Daiei.

     It remained that way until the seventh, when Kokubo singled to left and was catapulted in on a double to leftcenter by Valdez to make it 8-0.

     Kintetsu then got off the shnide in the eighth, when rightfielder Koichi Koichi Isobe doubled to leftcenter and shortstop Masahiro Abe split the outfielders in the same part of the field for an RBI triple. One out later, Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to right and Nagai was history, Hirokazu Watanabe relieving him. Pinch hitter Fumitoshi Takano walked. Leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes then got out an old Petula Clark record and went downtown on another reliever, Kazuhiko Iijima, for a three run homer and it was 8-5 Hawks.

     Rodney Pedraza surfaced in the ninth as he usually does and as he also usually does, he retired the side for the save, his 14th.

     For Daiei, Valdez was 2-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .295.

     For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-3 with a walk and three RBIs and is at .255.

Pitching Lines:

Kintetsu:

Bergman (L, 4-4)    IP 3.2 PC 74 H 9 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 7 ER 3 ERA 4.16
Koike                       IP 1.1 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.70
Y. Takagi                IP 2.2 PC 36 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.35
Misawa                   IP 0.1 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.23

Daiei:

Nagai (W, 1-2)         IP 7.1 PC 101 H 6 HR 0 K 6 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.68
H.K. Watanabe       IP 0.0 PC     8 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.63
Iijima                         IP 0.2 PC   16 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.62
Pedraza (S, 14)         IP 1.0 PC   15 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.57

E: N. Nakamura, A. Fujii
2B: Muramatsu, Iguchi, Kokubo, P. Valdez, Isobe
3B: M. Abe
HR: Rhodes (29)
RBI: N. Omura, Rhodes 3, M. Abe, Muramatsu, Iguchi, Kokubo, Matsunaka, P. Valdez, Johjima 2
GIDP: Johjima, Kawaguchi, Muramatsu

Season Series: Kintetsu 6, Daiei 8

Game Time: 3:21
Attendance: 47,000
Umpires: Sato (HP), Kakigizono (1B), Yoshikawa (2B), Maeda (3B)

Tanaka, Kaneko Lead Nippon Ham Past Seibu 5-2

     Nippon Ham rightfielder Yukio Tanaka and shortstop Makoto Kaneko drove in two runs apiece and starter Satoru Kanemura went eight excellent innings of two run ball on six hits to enable the Fighters to win for just the sixth time in 17 tries against the Seibu Lions Monday at Tokyo Dome. Fumiya Nishiguchi started for the Lions and was tattooed for five runs, four earned, on six hits in five innings for his fifth loss of the year.

     Sherman Obando got Nippon Ham the first lead of the game, when he homered to left to leadoff the second and it was 1-0 Fighters.

     They then put up a four spot in the fourth, when leftfielder D.T. Cromer walked, Obando singled to left and Lions first baseman Alex Cabrera kicked a sac bunt by third baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto to load the bases. Rightfielder Yukio Tanaka laced a double down the leftfield line and it was 3-0 Nippon Ham. One out later,. catcher Toshihiro Noguchi was intentionally walked to set up a double play possiblity. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko singled to center and Tanaka and Kimoto chugged in to make it 5-0 Fighters.

     The Lions got their only runs in the eighth when Cabrera walked with two outs and DH Kazuhiro Wada homered to left to  shrink the deficit to 5-2. But Tomokazu Iba put the Lions away in order in the ninth to put it in the books.

     For Nippon Ham, Cromer was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .274. Obando was 2-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .260.

     For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-3 with a walk and is at .277. Third baseman Tom Evans was 0-2 with two walks and is at .262.

Pitching Lines:

Seibu:

Nishiguchi (L, 9-5)   IP 5.0 PC 91 H 6 HR 1 K 6 BB 3 R 5 ER 4 ERA 3.46
J. Hoshino                 IP 2.0 PC 32 H 0 HR 0 K 3 HR 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Mizuo                        IP 1.0 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 2 HR 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.49

Nippon Ham:

Kanemura (W, 5-2)     IP 8.0 PC 119 H 6 HR 1 K 5 BB 5 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.08
Iba (S, 9)                       IP 1.0 PC    8 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.24

E. Cabrera
2B: Y. Tanaka 2
HR: Obando (19), Wada (11)
RBI: Wada, Kaneko 2, Obando, Y. Taneko 2
IBB: Noguchi

Season Series: Seibu 11, Nippon 6

Game Time: 2:47
Attendance: 14,000
Umpires: Yamazaki (HP), Yamamoto (1B), Tsugawa (2B), Hayashi (3B)

Minchey Superb in 7-2 Lotte Victory Over Orix

     Orix Blue Wave starter Koo Dae-sung saw his ERA go over 2.00 for the first time this season, as he was pummeled for five runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings by the Chiba Lotte Marines Monday at Chiba Marine Stadium. Nathan Minchey twirled seven excellent innings of one run ball on five hits  for his sixth victory of 2002.

     Orix third baseman Scott Sheldon continues to swing a hot bat, uleashing his eighth homer in nine games, a drive to left, to make it 1-0 Blue Wave.

     Lotte had men on second and third with one away in the second, but Koo induced a strikeout and a groundout to snuff that threat.

     Lotte swung for three in the third, when leftfielder Koichi Hori walked and went to second on a sacrifice. First baseman Kazuya Fukuura walked. Rightfielder Takashi Tachikawa singled to left and Hori made it in to deadlock it at 1-1. DH Derrick May doubled down the leftfield line and it was 3-1 Lotte.

     Koo wouldn't make it out of the fifth. Fukuura leadoff with a single to right and May worked a one out walk. One out later, centerfielder Saburo Omura singled to right to plate Fukuura and catcher Takumi Shigi doubled into the rightfield corner and it was 5-1 Lotte and Koo was taking a shower.

     In the sixth, Hori beat out a tapper toward second. Shortstop Makoto Kosaka bounced into a force play. Fukuura walked. Tachikawa grounded to Keiichi Hirano at second, who threw it away attempting to create a double play to make it 6-1 Lotte.

     Lotte got on the board again in the eight when they combined a leadoff double from Kenji Morozumi and a one out single to right by Fukuura to widen their advantage to 7-1.

     Orix was able to turn an error by third baseman Masato Watanabe and a double to left by Tatsuya Shindo into a run, but the revolt stopped pretty much at that point and it ended as a 7-2 win for Lotte.

     For Lotte, May was 2-4 with a walk, two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .241.

     For Orix, Sheldon was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .268. Pinch hitter Fernando Seguignol struckout in a pinch hit appearance and is at .204.

Pitching Lines:

Orix:

Koo (L, 5-5)                IP 4.2 PC 110 H 7 HR 0 K 4 BB 5 R 5 ER 5 ERA 2.03
Hiroshi Kobayashi   IP 0.2 PC    24 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 0 ERA 3.00
Iwashita                     IP 0.1 PC      9 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 8.22
Motoyanagi              IP 2.1 PC    37 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.86

Lotte:

Minchey (W, 6-11)   IP 7.0 PC 111 H 5 HR 1 K 6 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.62
K. Yamasaki               IP  2.0 PC  24 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 0 ERA 3.69

E: Hirano, M. Watanabe
SB: Kosaka, Fukuura, Tachikawa
2B: Tani, May, Shigi, Morozumi, Shindo
HR: Sheldon (16)
RBI: Sheldon, Shindo, Fukuura, Tachikawa 2, May 2, S. Omura, Shigi
GIDP: Hidaka

Season Series: Orix 8, Lotte 7

Game Time: 3:15
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Hirabayashi (HP), Yanagida (1B), Tachibana (2B), Nakamura (3B)

The Death of Japanese Baseball Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

     According to the Jiji News Service, both the Pacific and Central Leagues have experienced a rise in attendance, even the Ichiro-less Orix Blue Wave, who are battling the Chiba Lotte Marines for last place. The Hanshin Tigers had the biggest fan surge at 36%, followed by the Hiroshima Catp at 11.5%, the Yakult Swallows with 8%, and the Yomiuri Giants with 0.1%.

     Among Pacific League outfits, Orix was up 12.8%, Nippon Ham 5%, Daiei 0.2%. No figures were given for Seibu or Yokohama, but the Chiba Lotte Marines were down 16.5%.

     As a whole, the Central League was up 5.6% while the Pacific League was up 1.8%.

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for July 22nd and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1964, the rules committee of the Japanese leagues announced a ban on colored bats. That ban was rescinded this season.

     Also on this date in 1962, Hanshin Tigers great Masaaki Koyama threw his fifth consecutive shutout. He spun 13 shutouts for the campaign, going 27-11 with a 1.66 ERA in 352.2 innings. He had just 59 walks (about 1.6 BB/9).

Saeki Error, Sekimoto Homer Bring Hanshin Back to Tie 3-3

     An error by Yokohama Bay Stars first baseman Takahiro Saeki in the eighth that lead to two unearned runs set the stage for some heroics in the ninth by Hanshin Tigers rookie Kentaro Sekimoto, as down to his last strike in a pinch hit appearance, he hammered a slider on the outer half of the plate into the leftfield seats at Yokohama Stadium to tie it up at 3-3. And he nearly won the game in the 12th, when he pounded a shot off the top of the leftcenterfield wall that went for a double. However, the Tigers couldn't convert and it finished as a 3-3 tie. Even if they didn't lose, Hanshin lost another half game to the Giants as their pennant hopes continue to fade into the sunset.

     Chris Holt started for Yokohama and he should have posted a shiroboshi in this one, as he went 7.1 solid innings and surrendered no earned runs on seven hits, leaving with the score at 3-2.

     Fourth year hurler Fujikawa made his first pro start for Hanshin and did a decent job, keeping the Stars scoreless for three innings until being touched for a pair of tallies in the fourth. Yokohama second baseman Hitoshi Taneda began the rally with a walk. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to right. One out later, Saeki grounded to second, which enabled both runners to advance. Third baseman Hirofumi Ogawa singled to center to cash them in to make it 2-0 Stars.

     Shinji Taninaka came out for the fifth and Stars rightfielder Boi Rodrigues smacked a single to center. He somehow managed to get into scoring position (wild pitch?) and then went homeward on a single to left by catcher Takeshi Nakamura and it was 3-0 Yokohama.

     Hanshin, though, ran into some luck in the eighth. With one out, shortstop Shuta Tanaka singled to center and stole second. Third baseman Atsushi Kataoka then spanked one to Saeki, who misplayed it and the speedy Tanaka blazed all the way around for the first Tigers run. First baseman George Arias then singled to center to deliver Kataoka and it was now 3-2 Stars.

     Yokohama closer Takashi Saito entered in the ninth to try to secure the win. He got two quick outs before Sekimoto, who was told prior to the at bat by hitting coach Koichi Tabuchi "go up there and hit a homer." worked the count full and then went deep to even it at 3-3.

     Neither team went anywhere until the 12th, when Sekimoto nearly ended it with a one out deep drive to center that kicked off the upper part of the fence. Takanami went in to pinch run for Sekimoto. For whatever reason, Takanami got it into his head to try for third. The veteran Nakamura gunned him down and that was effectively the end of the ballgame, since Yokohama did absolutely nada against Mark Valdez in the home half.

     For Hanshin, Arias was 3-5 with an RBI and is at .258.

     For Yokohama, centerfielder Ernie Young was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .189. Rodrigues was 1-3 and is at .279.

Pitching Lines:

Hanshin:

Fujikawa             IP 4.0 PC 66 H 3 HR 0 K 5 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.50
Taninaka            IP 2.0 PC 45 H 4 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.01
Hesaka               IP 1.1 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Toyama             IP 0.2 PC   6 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 8.38
Kanazawa         IP 3.0 PC 56 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.51
M. Valdez         IP 1.0 PC   8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.57

Yokohama:

Holt                        IP 7.1 PC 118 H 7 HR 0 K 8 BB 0 R 2 ER 0 ERA 2.39
Fukumori               IP 0.0 PC     3 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.68
R. Kawahara         IP 0.1 PC     4 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
Azuma                   IP 0.1 PC     2 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.03
T. Saito                  IP 2.0 PC   26 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.41
Takeshita              IP 2.0 PC   28 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.82

E: Saeki, T. Suzuki
2B: Kataoka, Arias, Sekimoto
HR: Sekimoto (3)
SB: Hamanaka, Hirashita, S. Tanaka, Saeki, Rodrigues
RBI: Arias, Sekimoto, Ogawa, T. Nakamura
GIDP: Taneda

Season Series: Hanshin 12, Yokohama 5, 1 Tie

Game Time: 4:16
Attendance: 25,000
Umpires: Mori (HP), Kamimoto (1B), Shikida (2B), Tani (3B)

Solid Sanada Gets First Pro Victory in 6-3 Giants Win

     This time last year, righthander Hiroki Sanada was pitching for Himeji Industrial High School. This year, he picked up his first win as a pro, surviving a couple of shaky innings in the Yomiuri Giants 6-3 victory over the Chunichi Dragons Sunday at Nagoya Dome. He is the first rookie out of high school to win a game for Yomiuri since Masumi Kuwata did it in 1986.

     Kenta Asakura started for the Dragons and was shelled for five earned runs on eight hits in seven innings, saying after the game that he threw too many fastballs in situations where the hitters would be looking for that pitch to fall to 6-7 despite a 2.91 ERA.

     The Giants took a near immediate 1-0 lead in the first, when leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu scorched a double to rightcenter and was sacrificed to third. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to left to plate Shimizu. They then loaded the bases on a couple of walks, but a double play ball off the bat of third baseman Akira Etoh staved off any further possibilities.

     The Dragons, however, overcame that in theit at bats in the inning. With one down, Takayuki Onishi legged out a tapper toward second. After moving up on a groundout, third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami doubled down the rightfield line to push Nishi in. Hiroyuki Watanabe singled to center and Tatsunami reported with the go ahead run and it was 2-1 Chunichi.

     In the third, Dragons shortstop Hirokazu Ibata leadoff with a single to center and went to second on a sac bunt. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to right and Ibata chugged in to make it 3-1 Chunichi.

     An inning later, the Dragons threatened again. Kazuki Inoue began the frame with a walk. Masahiro Araki singled to right. Giants first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara, paid Sanada, who had been what he termed "too careful" to that point, a visit on the mound after he got behind 3-1 to catcher Motonobu Tanishige and told the youngster to show some guts out there. Inspired by that, Sanada threw strike two. Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada flashed the hit and run sign to Tanishige. Inoue took off for third. Sanada went to the plate and it was called strike three on an 87mph fastball and then catcher Shinnosuke Ane threw to third to nail Inoue for a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. Asakura struckout to spell the last of this uprising. Sanada then fashioned two perfect innings to round out his night.

     Asakura had been keeping the Yomiuri lineup down, but then got into hot water in the seventh. With one down, Etoh beat out a bleeder. Nishi used his wheels to outrun another tapper. Abe singled to left to load the bases. Koji Goto did the same to plate Etoh and Nishi and knot it at 3-3. Shimizu grounded to first to move Abe and Goto up. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka singled to left and it was 5-3 Giants.

     Hitoki Iwase was dispatched to the mound in the eighth and with two outs, Tatsunami geeked a grounder from Etoh. Nishi singled to left. Abe walked to pack the sacks. Daisuke Motoki singled to right and it was 6-3 Yomiuri.

     The Dragons didn't muster much and Junichi Kawahara wove a 1-2-3 ninth to turn out the lights and extend the Chunichi losing skein against the Giants to seven.

     No foreign players got into this game.

Pitching Lines:

Yomiuri:

Sanada (W, 1-1)     IP 6.0 PC 93 H 6 HR 0 K 6 BB 1 R 3 ER 2 ERA 3.27
Jeon                         IP 1.0 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.14
Jobe                         IP 0.1 PC   9 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.36
Okajima                    IP 0.2 PC  9 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.75
J. Kawahara (S, 17) IP 1.0 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.80

Chunichi:

Asakura (L, 6-7)    IP 7.0 PC 98 H 8 HR 0 K 5 BB 2 R 5 ER 5 ERA 2.91
Iwase                      IP 1.0 PC 27 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 0 ERA 1.65
T. Ogasawara        IP 1.0 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.32

E: Nishi, Tatsunami
2B: T. Shimizu, Tatsunami,
RBI: Nioka 2, Y. Takahashi, K. Goto 2, Motoki, Fukudome, H.Y. Watanabe, Tatsunami
HBP: H. Matsui (T. Ogasawara)
GIDP: Etoh
 
Season Series: Yomiuri 11, Chunichi 6

Game Time: 3:04
Attendance: 40,500
Umpires: Manabe (HP), Tomoyori (1B), Kittaka (2B), Suginaga (3B)

Ramirez, Iwamura Gang Up on Hiroshima 6-1

     Yakult Swallows number one starter Shugo Fujii has had a few rough outings recently, but Sunday at Sapporo Dome, he looked more like the ace he's supposed to be, as he held the Hiroshima Carp lineup to four hits and no runs over seven innings to seize his sixth win of the season in a 6-1 Swallows win. Fujii is now 2-0-1 in Hokkaido's capital. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez and third baseman Akinori Iwamura each finishd with two RBIs to lend support to Fujii's effort.

     Yakult was able to dent Carp starter Masayuki Hasegawa, who has been a pretty tough customer thus far, for a run in the second to get in front on a leadoff double to rightcenter from first baseman Roberto Petagine, a single by catcher Atsuya Furuta and a groundout from Ramirez to make it 1-0 Swallows.

     When their next turn at bat came, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto cracked a one out single to center, and rightfielder Atsunori Inaba followed suit, Miyamoto digging for third. Petagine flew out to center and Miyamoto tagged up and hustled in. Furuta walked. Ramirez singled to center to drive in Inaba and Iwamura singled to center to provide cover for Furuta hitting home and it was 4-0 Yakult.

     In the fifth, Inaba catalyzed it with a single to center and Petagine singled to right. One out later Ramirez laced an RBI single to right and the birds were looking down at Hiroshima 5-0.

     Iwamura went yard to halfway up the rightfield stands in the eighth for a 6-0 advantage.

     Hiroshima finally broke through in the bottom of the ninth, as second baseman Eddie Diaz doubled off the leftfield wall and went to third on a passed ball. One out later, first baseman Luis Lopez grounded to short and Diaz crossed to make it 6-1. Tomonori Maeda then flew out to end the game. Nevertheless, that broke a 27 inning scoreless streak by the fish.

Pitching Lines:

Hiroshima:

Hasegawa (L, 7-4)    IP 4.0 PC 76 H 7 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.13
Hiroike                       IP 3.0 PC 53 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.09
Kawano                     IP 1.0 PC 23 H 2 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 16.20

Yakult:

S. Fujii (W, 6-4)      IP 7.0 PC 116 H 4 HR 0 K 4 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.69
Kawabata               IP 1.0 PC      9 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
Yamamoto              IP 1.0 PC    19 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 0 ERA 1.35

E: S. Miyamoto
SB: Inaba
2B: Petagine, K. Kimura, Diaz
HR: Iwamura (11)
RBI: Lopez, Ramirez 2, Iwamura 2, Petagine, Furuta
SF: Petagine
PB: Furuta
HBP: S. Miyamoto (Kawano)

Season Series: Hiroshima 8, Yakult 6 1 Tie

Game Time: 3:03
Attendance: 22,000
Umpires: Watada (HP), Kasahara (1B), Arisumi (2B), Ino (3B)

One Step Forward, One Step Backward, as Seibu Beats Kintetsu 3-2

     Seibu Lions starter Chang Chih-chia had another dominant outing, scattering four hits and fanning 13 over seven innings while shortstop Kazuo Matsui creamed a first pitch 90mph fastball to start the game for his 100th career homer as the Tokorozawa outfit fended off the Kintetsu Buffaloes 3-2 Sunday at Osaka Dome. Hiroshi Takamura had a decent outing for Kintetsu, going seven innings and being charged with three runs on six hits, but it wasn't up to the task of competing with Chang. In all, 16 Kintetsu hitters came up empty, one short of a team record for a single game set in 1994 against Orix.

     After Matsui cannonaded that cruise missile of a homer, the ball exiting on a low line like a nine iron, Takamura struckout the side. Chang then did somethinmg similar, striking out the first man he faced in the second before rightfielder Koichi Isobe doubled off the centerfield wall. Shortstop Masahiro Abe struckout and then catcher Tetsuya Matoyama walked. Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura whiffed to terminate the inning.

     In the third, Chang was bullied for a double to leftcenter from second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi and then Chang struckout the following trio of batters. He had it working so good, that leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes just shook his head when asked about the Taiwanese import by reporters and third baseman Norihiro Nakamura, who was rung up thrice like Rhodes, remarked at how Chang expertly mixed up his pitches. Chang himself commented that Buffs hitters were going after pitches out of the strike zone.
 
     Matsui then used his speed to register the second Lions tally. With two outs, he beat out a little groundball. Rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki rifled a shot into the leftfield corner and Matsui, who goes 90 feet in 3.5 seconds, put it in fourth and scored without a play and it was 2-0 Seibu.

     They then received some timely hitting for what would prove to be a vital third run off of Motoyuki Akahori, the former closer (139 lifetime saves) who is just back from a long spell among the ranks of the injured (since June of last season). With one out, DH Kazuhiro Wada singled to right and went to second when third baseman Tom Evans walked with one away.
Catcher Tsutomu Itoh singled to right to send in Wada for a 3-0 lead.

     Shinji Mori was commanded by Lions manager Haruki Ihara to pitch the eighth and experienced the highs and lows of baseball within that one three out period. After striking out both Rhodes and Nakamura, DH Kenshi Kawaguchi beat out an infield hit. First baseman Yuji Yoshioka slammed a shot into the leftcenterfield seats to shrink the Lions lead to 3-2. Isobe went down on strikes to pull the curtain down on the inning.

     Kiyoshi Toyoda needed a mere seven pitches to put it in the win column for Seibu in the ninth to earn his 17th save.

     The leadoff dinger by Matsui was his second first pitch jack starting a game this season. Moreover, by hitting the 100 roundtrips mark as a switch hitter, he became just the fifth "switch batter" to surpass the century mark in Japanese history (that seems hard to believe). The others are former Daiei third baseman Hiromi Matsunaga, ex-Giants centerfielder Isao Shibata, ex-Hiroshima Carp shortstop Yoshihiko Takahashi and ex-Lions DH Orestes Destrade. It's weird to think that Matsui was a pitcher and number eight hitter at PL Gakuen High School. where he weighed 165 pounds. He has since beefed up to 180 and is obviously now one of the biggest offensive weapons in pro ball.

     Chang revealed that he wants to outdo Taigen Kaku, another Taiwan native that carved out quite a career for himself in Japan with Seibu. Chang has four wins to date, Kaku (real name Tai-yuan Kuo) had nine his rookie year.

     For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-4 with three strikeouts and is at .254.

     For Seibu, first baseman Alex Cabrera was 0-2 with three walks (two of them intentional) and two steals and is at .276.Evans was 0-2 with a walk and is at .267.

Pitching Lines:

Seibu:

Chang (W, 4-1)     IP 7.0 PC 131 H 4 HR 0 K 13 BB 4 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.96
Mori                       IP 1.0 PC   24 H 2 HR 1 K  3 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.84
Toyoda (S, 17)     IP 1.0 PC     7 H 0 HR 0 K  0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.15

Kintetsu:

Takamura (L, 5-4)   IP 7.0 PC 109 H 6 HR 1 K 6 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.97
Akahori                   IP 0.2 PC   20 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 13.50
Yamamoto              IP 1.0 PC   27 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.16
A. Okamoto           IP 0.1 PC     5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.75

E: Mizuguchi, Kitagawa
SB: Cabrera, Shibata
2B: Isobe, Mizuguchi, Ozeki
HR: K. Matsui (19), Yoshioka (13)
RBI: Yoshioka 2, K. Matsui, Ozeki, T. Itoh
IBB: Cabrera 2, Kaizuka
GIDP: H. Takagi

Season Series: Seibu 7, Kintetsu 8

Game Time: 2:38
Attendance: 26,000
Umpires: Nagami (HP), Higashi (1B0, Sugimoto (2B), Yamamura (3B)

Sheldon Homer Throws Hawks Down for the Count

     This game is a bit of an interesting story: beginning the contest on the hill for Orix was righthander Takashi Aiki, making his first start as well is his pro debut. Then coming in during the fifth, you had Jun Hagiwara, an infielder who was converted to a pitcher who was clocked at 92mph in this one and notched his first ever victory from the mound. Then they brought in Kazuo Yamaguchi, throwing 96mph bullets to finishi off a 3-2 triumph for the Kobe folks over the Daiei Hawks.

     Aiki, who admitted to being so nervious the first couple of innings that he was literally shaking, locked up in a scoreless duel with Brady Raggio until the fourth, when the Blue Wave produced their initial two runs. DH Yuji Goshima leadoff with a double to rightcenter and, one out later, third baseman Scott Sheldon singled to left to chase him in. leftfielder Kota Soejima walked. After shortstop Tatsuya Shindo flew out to right, catcher Takeshi Hidaka grounded to Tadahito Iguchi, who misplayed it and Sheldon busted for home to make it 2-0.

     Aiki had been going along pretty smoothly, but broke down in the fifth. With one away,  first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka  was cleared for takeoff and landed one in the centerfield seats. Leftfielder Pedro Valdez walked. DH Koji Akiyama singled to left. Shortstop Mitsuru Honma walked to load the bases. Orix manager Hiromichi Ishige went to the pen and selected Hagiwara, who did his job, pinch hitter Bonishi to ground the ball, but it was a bleeder and he beat  it out as Valdez crossed to knot it at 2-2. Hagiwara, though, got the next two men and the inning concluded 2-2.

     In the eighth, Sheldon went midieval on a pitch by Daiei reliever Shuji Yoshida and hacked it into the seats in straightaway center to give Orix a 3-2 lead.

     Yamaguchi came on for the ninth and made things tense before turning out the lights. Iguchi leadoff with a single to right. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo singled to left and the winning run was on. Matsunaka flied out to left. Valdez was intentionally walked. Akiyama struckout for the second out. Honma, though, grounded to second and it was "game setto."

     For Orix, Sheldon was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .269.

     For Daiei, Valdez was 0-2 with two walks and is at .291.

Pitching Lines:

Orix:

Aiki                                IP 4.2 PC 70 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.86
J. Hagiwara (W, 1-0)   IP 3.1 PC 44 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.55
K. Yamaguchi (S, 2)    IP 1.0 PC 23 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.80

Daiei:

Raggio                        IP 6.1 PC 83 H 5 HR 0 K 4 BB 2 R 2 ER 1 ERA 4.58
S. Yoshida (L, 5-2)    IP 1.2 PC 32 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.35
J. Hoshino                 IP 1.0 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.18

E: Iguchi, Bonishi
2B: Goshima 2, Tani
HR: Matsunaka (13), Sheldon (15)
RBI: Sheldon 2, Matsunaka, Bonishi
IBB: P. Valdez

Season Series: Orix 8, Daiei 6

Game Time: 3:15
Attendance: 47,000
Umpires: Kodera (HP), Yoshikawa (1B), Maeda (2B), Sato (3B)

Fukuura, May's Two RBIs Apiece Overcome Cromer Three Run Homer in 4-3 Lotte Victory

     Aside from being taken deep for a three run homer by Nippon Ham Fighters leftfielder D.T. Cromer, Chiba Lotte Marines starter Yasuhiko Yabuta had a real strong outing Sunday at Tokyo Dome, going seven innings and allowing just the three runs on six hits while striking out seven and walking one for his first victory of the year. He was backed by a pair of RBIs from both first baseman Kazuya Fukuura and DH Derrick May so that his team would prevail 4-3.

     Hayato Nakamura was in trouble often in the early going, but Lotte let him off the hook. In the second, May leadoff with a single to right and was sacrificed to second. Koichi Hori walked. Catcher Takumi Shigi singled to center to pack the sacks. But then Tadaharu Sakai grounded into a third to home force play and Kenji Morozumi flew out to left to blow the opportunity.

     Then in the third, shortstop Makoto Kosaka doubled to leftcenter. One out later, Takashi Tachikawa walked. However, May grounded into a 4-6-3 twin killing and that was all she wrote for that chance.

     In the fourth, Cromer put the Fighters in front. Yutaka Nakamura leadoff with a single to center and first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara singled to right. One out later, Yabuta hung a forkball and Cromer murdered it, booming it deep into the rightfield bleachers to make it 3-0 Nippon Ham.

     Lotte finally coalesced in the fifth and made it a one run game. Sakai started it with single to center. Morozumi outran a bleeder. Kosaka moved the runners up with a groundout to the right side. Fukuura singled to center and it was 3-2 Fighters.

     In the seventh, Lotte surged ahead when Morozumi wacked a one out single to left and stole second. One out later, Fukuura was intentionally walked. Tachikawa worked a freebie to jam the basepaths. May singled to right and Morozumi and Fukuura galloped to the plate and it was 4-3 Lotte.

     Nippon Ham couldn't convert on a mild eighth inning opportunity, so on to the ninth and in comes Lotte closer Masahide Kobayashi seeking to set a new Pacific League record with his 13th consecutive save. Eight pitches later, batta bing, batta boom, done. Kobayashi, who has 18 saves on the season, is nine behind Kazuhiro Sasaki's Japan record of 22, who also had
a streak of 16. Hiroshima's Yutaka Ono had a 14 consecutive game skein and then you get to Kobayashi.

     For Nippon Ham, Cromer was 2-4 with three RBIs and a steal and is at .277. DH Sherman Obando was 1-4 and is at .257.

     For Lotte, May was 2-5 with two RBIs and is at .237.

Pitching Lines:

Lotte:

Yabuta (W, 1-1)             IP 7.0 PC 105 H 6 HR 1 K 7 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 7.56
Sikorsky                          IP 0.1 PC    4 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.28
S. Fujita                           IP 0.1 PC    4 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.65
H. Kobayashi                IP 0.1 PC    7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.92
M. Kobayashi (S, 18)   IP 1.0 PC    8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.23

Nippon Ham:

H. Nakamura (L, 5-4)    IP 7.0 PC 114 H 8 HR 0 K 3 BB 4 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.10
Shibakusa                     IP 1.0 PC     8 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.80
T. Kato                          IP 0.2 PC   12 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.32
Iba                                 IP 0.1 PC     5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.43

E: Kimoto
SB: Morozumi, Cromer
2B: Kosaka, Kaneko
HR: Cromer (14)
RBI: Cromer 3, May 2, Fukuura 2
IBB: Fukuura
HBP: Fukuura (H. Nakamura), Tachikawa (Iba)
GIDP: May, T. Sakai, Fukuura

Season Series: Lotte 10, Nippon Ham 4

Game Time: 3:16
Attendance: 19,000
Umpires: Akimura (HP), Tachibana (1B), Sakaemura (2B), Kawaguchi (3B)

Takai Uses Arm and Bat to Advance in Prefectural Tournament

     Southpaw high schooler Yuhei Takai, who is likely to be chosen as one of the top high school picks in this November's draft, helped Tohoku High School to the final of the Miyagi Prefecture Tournament that determines who will represent that state in the Koshien Summer High School Baseball Tournament, as he wacked a second inning 425 foot grand slam to rightcenter off of a 2-0 high fastball and drove in a total of six runs to down the baseball power Sendai Ikuei High School. He also had a first inning two run double off the leftcenterfield wall while throwing six innings and striking out nine and scattering five hits. The game was called after six with Tohoku up 10-0.

     Ikuei High had stood between Tohoku High and Koshien the last two years. In fact, last year, Takai went all the way in a 1-0 11 inning loss to their crosstown rivals. Takai was throwing 92mph from the outset and stepped it up to a high of 94mph in the sixth.

     Some pro scouts like Takai so much as a hitter that they believe he could hit in the pros as a position player. For his career at Tohoku, the Kawasaki native is 104-257, a .405 clip,. with 37 homers and 93 RBIs.

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for July 21st and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1968, during a game between the Tokyo Orions and the Kintetsu Buffaloes at Tokyo Stadium, Kintetsu infielder Toshinori Yasui laid down a bunt and lit out for first. As he went by the bag, he brushed Orions all star first baseman Kihachi Enomoto and the two ended up getting into a verbal confrontation that eventually morphed into a punch up. Both benches emptied and they had a donnybrook on their hands. Shunzo Arakawa, a 20 year old second year reserve infielder out of Hyogo High School, came out with a bat in his hands and clobbered Enomoto over the head, knocking him cold and necessitating that he be sent to the hospital.

         On August 9th, police referred the case to the Tokyo District Prosecutor's office. While that agency was going through its investigative process, Kintetsu and the Orions reached some kind of agreement and asked to have the case dropped, which it was. Arakawa played one more year, appearing in 26 games, but that was his last season in pro ball and at 21 he was finished.

     His lifetime numbers: three seasons, G 51 AB 5 H 0 SB 1 AVG .000 E 1.
 

Hanshin Season is Over in Farcical 9-6 Loss to Yokohama

     Dearly beloved, I have not come today to bury the Hanshin Tigers; the rest of the Central League is about to do that for me. If you want to mark down the day the Tigers dream of resurrecting itself from four years of last place misery finally ended, you can just get out the Snap-On Tools calendar and the big red marker and circle July 20, 2002. Yes folks, the Hanshin Tigers, pro yakyu's microwaveable baseball team, who finish in four months what takes most clubs five to six, are done. The only question that remains is what side do you insert the fork? Oh, and how big are the personnel changes going to be this offseason when manager Senichi Hoshino begins unloading deadweight? I think you'll see him reaching for the chainsaw rather than the pruning shears---unless he commits a homicide in the wake of this fiasco. He's already started abusing the media, throwing a cup of water at a press photographer in the tunnel leading to the locker room.

     In any event, the Tigers blew a four run lead to the lowly Yokohama Bay Stars Saturday at Yokohama Stadium, as the Stars rallied for six runs in the sixth and then tacked on one more in the eighth to carry the day, 9-6. Buddy Carlyle started for Hanshin and had a bad outing, permitting four runs, all earned, on eight hits, before the bullpen came in and committed arson to fumble away what should have been a victory by the Osaka nine.

     Carlyle got behind early, as Yokohama leftfielder Takanori Suzuki ripped a two out first inning double to leftcenter, centerfielder Ernie Young walked and first baseman Takahiro Saeki cashed Suzuki in with a single to center to make it 1-0. Third baseman Hirofumi Ogawa walked to fill the bases, but rightfielder Boi Rodrigues grounded out to limit the damage.

     Yokohama catcher Takeshi Nakamura then kicked off the second with a screamer down the leftfield line for a double and was sacrificed to third by starter Yu Sugimoto. One out later, second baseman Hitoshi Taneda walked and Suzuki singled to center to plate Nakamura to make it 2-0 Stars.

     Hanshin surmounted that lead, however, in the top of the third, when catcher Akihiro Yano legged out a roller toward second and Carlyle sacrificed him along. second baseman Makoto Imaoka banged a single to left to recall Yano and shortstop Shuta Tanaka singled to center. Third baseman Atsushi K