Gary Garland / the japanese insider

June 15, 2002

Yomiuri Wins a Wild One Against Hanshin 11-8

     The Yomiuri Giants hammered three Hanshin Tigers relievers for six eighth inning runs to give themselves what they must have thought was a comfortable 11-3 edge at the time, but Hanshin then got two late homers that eliminated most of the gap before Giants closer Junichi Kawahara finally sealed an 11-8 victory before a capacity crowd at Koshien Stadium Saturday.

     The contest went well over four hours thanks to 20 Giants baserunners, 12 by the Tigers and a total of more than 340 pitches and ten pitching changes. For the folks in the seats, the energy sapping summer heat and humidity in Osaka right now coupled with the game just seeming to go on and on must have made for a pretty trying experience. Too bad their club dropped this one then,. and in so doing, permitted their Tokyo rivals to tie them in the Central League pennant race.

     Masumi Kuwata started for Yomiuri and was just good enough, surrendering three runs, two earned, on five hits in five innings to earn his third win of the year. Jeon Min-tae followed and tossed two perfect innings, but then Hideki Okajima, who has been pretty shaky over the last month or so, managed just one out before four runs had crossed the dish and made this a ballgame.

     Hanshin's pitching just flat out failed to do anything right. Hisanori Yokota was demoted back to the minors in the aftermath of being bombed for five runs, four earned, in less than four innings, and the unpredictable relief staff was sliced and diced as if it was ambushed by an Iron Chef.

     Yomiuri pulled ahead in the first, as leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to left to leadoff the game and third baseman Koji Goto did the same and Shimizu sprinted around to third. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi grounded to second and Shimizu trotted in and it was 1-0.

     Hanshin parried that in their ups when second baseman Makoto Imaoka kicked things off by pancaking the ball off the leftfield wall for a double and was moved along on a sac bunt. Third baseman Atsushi Kataoka  walked. First baseman
George Arias flied out to deep left and Imaoka tagged and scored to make it 1-1.

     The Giants, though, were not impressed. In the second, shortstop Daisuke Motoki leadoff with a single to right. One out later, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi launched a Yokoto offering into the leftfield seats and it was 3-1 Yomiuri.

     Hanshin mounted a comeback in the third. Wtih one away, shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto tapped one to first baseman Takayuki Saito, who booted it. Kuwata then threw Kataoka a fastball on the outer half of the plate that wasn't a particularly good hitter's pitch, but Kataoka got it all and deposited it into the centerfield seats to make it 3-3.

     Yokota would only get one out in the fourth, as the Giants used the longball again. With one out, catcher Shinnosuke Abe jackhammered a Yokota delivery and turned it into a souvenir for a 4-3 Yomiuri lead. Nishi singled to left. Kuwata then helped his own cause by spanking a double into the leftcenter alley and the speedy Nishi motored all the way in to widen it to 5-3 Giants and depose Yokota.

     Kuwata and Jeon both did a good job from then on out of inducing ground balls and Hanshin was in full hibernation mode. Atsunori Itoh and Yuya Ando had quieted the Giants down for two innings, but Ando and the rest of the Tigers relief corps fell apart in the eighth.With one out, backup shortstop Mototsugu Kawanaka tripled into the leftcenter gap. Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino went to the pen for lefty specialist Takehiro Hashimoto and Giants manager Tatsunori Hara countered with pinch hitter Kazuhiro Kiyohara, who walked. Takahiro Suzuki pinch ran for Kiyohara. Takehito Kanazawa strode in to face Goto. Once more, Hara sent up a pinch hitter, Kenji Fukui, who fouled off a squeeze bunt attempt and then clocked a double down the leftfield line for two RBIs. Takahashi legged out a bleeder toward short. Centerfielder Hideki Matsui singled in Fukui and Akira Etoh doubled against the leftfield wall to convert Takahashi. Abe singled to right and both Matsui and Etoh wheeled around for an 11-3 Giants advantage. Kanazawa retired the nezt two men, but he had been fleeced bigtime.

     Hanshin didn't quit. Imaoka doubled into the leftfield corner to lead it off. Centerfielder Taichiro Kamisaka singled to center to plate Imaoka. One out later, Arias singled to left. Hiyama swung through an Okajima offering and buried it in the rightfield seats to shrink the deficit to 11-7. Okajima was spelled by Tsuyoshi Jobe, who obtained the final pair of outs.

     In the bottom of the ninth, substitute shortstop Kentaro Sekimoto lofted a long two one fly ball off of Kawahara that he didn't think was going to get out,  but it did and now it was 11-8. One out later, Kamisaka singled to center and Arias came out to the on deck circle as Kataoka dug in. Unfortunately for the Tigers faithful, Kataoka grounded out and the hated Giants were now co-owners of the territory at the summit of the circuit.

     Hanshin has shown signs of swooning, so far being 3-6 for June and its pitching staff having been tattooed for 50 runs during that time frame. Since three teams are within 1.5 games of the top spot, it's probably going to be a while before anyone will have a truly significant advantage, but the recent lackadaisical Tigers performances have to be giving their acolytes a sinking
feeling.

     For Yomiuri, Felipe Crespo was 0-1 in a pinch hitting role and is at .114.

     For Hanshin, Arias was 2-3 with an RBI and is at .276. Leftfielder Derrick White was 0-3 and is at .257.

Pitching Lines:

Yomiuri:

Kuwata (W, 3-4)     IP 5.0 PC 81 H 5 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 3 ER 2 ERA 2.20
Jeon                         IP 2.0 PC 21 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.84
Okajima                   IP 0.1 PC 16 H 4 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.13
Jobe                         IP 0.2 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.77
J. Kawahara             IP 1.0 PC 12 H 2 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.86

Hanshin:

Yokota (L, 1-1)         IP 3.1 PC 64 H 7 HR 2 K 3 BB 1 R 5 ER 4 ERA 6.00
Toyama                      IP 0.2 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 9.45
A. Itoh                       IP 1.0 PC 19 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.43
Ando                         IP 2.1 PC 44 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.50
T. Hashimoto             IP 0.0 PC   6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 81.00
Kanazawa                 IP 2.0 PC 27 H 5 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.99
Fukuhara                   IP 1.0 PC   8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.12

E: Takayuki Saito, Nishi 2, Fujimoto
2B: Kuwata, Fukui, Etoh, Imaoka 3
3B: Kawanaka
HR: Nishi (3), S. Abe (7), Kataoka (5), Hiyama (9), Sekimoto (2)
RBI: Fukui 2, H. Matsui, Etoh, Motoki 2, S. Abe, Nishi 2, Kuwata, Kamisaka, Kataoka 2, Arias, Hiyama 3, Sekimoto
SF: Arias
WP: Kanazawa
GIDP: Yano 2, Hiyama
LOB: Yomiuri 9, Hanshin 4

Season Series: Yomiuri 6, Hanshin 5

Game Time: 4:18
Attendance: 53,000
Umpires: Watamari (HP), K. Kobayashi (1B), Tomoyori (2B), Manabe (3B)

Tuffy! Tuffy! Tuffy! Rhodes Three Homers and Seven RBIs Extends Kintetsu Streak

     Most people remember Tuffy Rhodes as the guy who homered three times on opening day while he was with the Chicago Cubs before he went to Japan and only then got any notice in the U.S. in his sixth Japanese campaign due to his challenging Sadaharu Oh's homer record. Saturday at Osaka Dome, Rhodes pulled a trey for the first time in his Japanese career for seven RBIs to spur the Kintetsu Buffaloes on to a 9-7 triumph over the Daiei Hawks. Jeremy Powell twirled six innings of three run ball on nine hits to get credit for his seventh win, tying him for tops in the Pacific League. The Buffs winning streak is now at ten.
 
     Daiei took a bite out of Powell in the first, as second baseman Tadahito Iguchi creamed one over the leftcenterfield fence to make it 1-0 Hawks.

     In the Buffs portion, centerfielder Naoyuki Omura leadoff with a dinger into the rightfield stands for an instant 1-1 tie. Second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi legged out a little roller and Rhodes got a high fastball from Hawks starter Junji Hoshino and, despite hitting it toward the end of the bat, lost it in the rightcenterfield seats and Kintetsu was in front 3-1.

     The second would be Hoshino's final inning, as Kintetsu put it too him again. Catcher Kenji Furukubo leadoff with a shot against the centerfield wall for two bases. One out later, Hoshino plunked Mizuguchi. Rhodes then got a slider on the inner half of the plate and made contact more toward the middle of the bat and the ball landed in the rightfield stands for a three run homer and a 6-1 Buffs advantage.

     Daiei put themselves at least within grand slam range in the fourth, as first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked with one down, DH Noriyoshi Omichi singled to right and, one out later, catcher Koji Bonishi singled to center to plate Matsunaka and it was 6-2 Kintetsu.

     Rhodes wasn't through, though. With one out, Mizuguchi singled to right. Hawks reliever Shinji Kurano attempted to spot a fastball on the outer half of the plate and the "naniwa americajin" Rhodes spotted it on the sweet part of the stick, going upper tank to centerfield more than 490 feet away, and Kintetsu was comfortably ahead 8-2 and it shutup the loud Daiei oendan that was in the rightfield bleachers. You can see pics of Rhodes swing at:
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/06/16/20020616012625.jpg  and
http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/top/bt200206/image/061610rhodesOS110615_b.jpg

     Daiei picked Powell's pocket for another tally in the sixth. Omichi singled to right with one out and backup catcher Shunsuke Sugiyama legged out a dribbler. Kawasaki singled to left to welcome in Omichi, reducing the gap with Kintetsu to 8-3.

     Rookie Shinsuke Ogura was ordered to take the hill and he showed that he was wet behind the ears. Omura cracked a one out single to center. Mizuguchi walked. Rhodes struckout, but Ogura hung a forkball to third baseman Nirohiro Nakamura, who came to the ballpark with what he called a "soft Mohican" hairdo, and Nakamura laced off the base of the righfield wall favor an RBI and a 9-3 lead.

     New aquisition Mike Johnson made his Japan debut in the seventh, retiring three of the four batters he faced. Rookie Katsunari Yoshikawa succeeded him in the ninth and he let it get closer than he should have. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki leadoff with a triple all the way to the leftcenterfield wall. Centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to center to drive him in. Muramatsu beat out a roller toward third. Akinori Otsuka was waved in by Kintetsu manager Masataka Nishida and he was shaken down for a double to rightcenter from Iguchi to make it 9-5. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo singled to left to recall both
substitute leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu and Iguchi and the tying run came to the plate. But Matsunaka grounded out and Omichi and rightfielder  Motoi Okoshi each whiffed to stanch the bleeding at 9-7. The Hawks are now eight games behind
Seibu and 4.5 behind the Buffs.

     For Kintetsu, Rhodes was three for five with seven RBIs and is at .286. In June of 2001, he had a career high 14 homers. This June, where the schedule has been altered due to the World Cup, he is 14-28 with five dingers and 15 RBIs in seven games. He also loves what the Hawks pitching staff has been cooking, going yard nine times in 11 battles against them this season.

     For Daiei, leftfielder Pedro Valdez was was 1-4 and is at .270.

Pitching Lines:

Daiei:

J. Hoshino (L, 4-3)    IP 1.1 PC 42 H 7 HR 3 K 1 BB 0 R 6 ER 6 ERA 4.16
Kurano                      IP 2.2 PC 47 H 3 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.71
Ogura                        IP 3.0 PC 57 H 4 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.00
Iijima                         IP 1.0 PC 25 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.79

Kintetsu:

Powell (W, 7-3)        IP 6.0 PC 103 H 9 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.20
Misawa                     IP 1.0 PC   13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.95
Johnson                     IP 1.0 PC   11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
K. Yoshikawa           IP 0.0 PC   11 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA infinity
A. Otsuka                 IP 0.1 PC     5 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.75
A. Okamoto              IP 0.2 PC    9 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.37

2B: P. Valdez, Iguchi, Furukubo, M. Abe, N. Nakamura
3B: Kawasaki
HR: Rhodes 3 (25), Iguchi (7), N. Omura (8)
RBI: Rhodes 7, Shibahara, Iguchi 2, Kokubo 2, Bonishi, N. Omura, N. Nakamura
WP: Otaru
HBP: Mizuguchi (J. Hoshino)
LOB: Daiei 9, Kintetsu 10

Holt Outstanding in First Japan Start, But Loses on Iwamura Homer

     In his third appearance, but his first start, in Japan since coming over from the Colorado Rockies organization, Yokohama Bay Stars hurler Chris Holt made just one mistake, a hanging changeup in the second inning that Yakult Swallows third baseman Akinori Iwamura poleaxed into the rightcenterfield seats Saturday at Yamagata Prefecture Stadium (dimensions: 298 down the lines and 393 to center; you can see a pic of the ballpark at: http://www2.csc.ne.jp/~fudoki/yamagata.htm) and that proved very costly, as the Swallows took a 2-1 victory behind a brilliant six inning effort from the little screwballer Masanori Ishikawa.

     Holt went all the way and limited the Swallows to four hits, striking out five and walking two for is first loss. He better get used to hat, since Yokohama hasn't been scoring many runs this season. He did collect his first Japanese hit, a single to left in the fifth. After he surrendered the longball, Yakult didn't even get a whiff of a scoring chance the remainder of the game and
one of the other two safeties they had was an infield hit.

     Ishikawa picked up his first win in a month before 30 friends and relatives who caravaned in from his home town of Akita
to watch him.

     Yokohama got its only run in the top of the sixth, as second baseman Hitoshi Taneda doubled down the rightfield line to lead it off and then came around on a single to center from leftfielder Takanori Suzuki to make it 2-1. Ishikawa did away with the next three batters no problem and handed the ball to Alan Newman, who struckout two in a perfect inning, as did Hirotoshii Ishii and then Shingo Takatsu mosied in for a 1-2-3 ninth for his 209th lifetime save, 20 away from tying Kazuhiro Sasaki's Japan record in that category.

     For Yokohama, centerfielder Ernie Young was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .160. Rightfielder Boi Rodrigues was 0-3 with a walk and is at .252.

     For Yakult, first baseman Roberto Petagine was 0-3 and is at .297. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez was 0-3 and is at .333.

Pitching Lines:

Yokohama:

Holt (L, 1-1)        IP 8.0 PC 101 H 4 HR 1 K 4 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.61

Yakult:

Masanori Ishikawa (W, 4-4)  IP 6.0 PC 102 H 4 HR 0 K 5 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.68
Newman                                IP 1.0 PC   11 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.76
H. Ishii                                   IP 1.0 PC   12 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.41
Takatsu (S, 15)                      IP 1.0 PC   13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.32

2B: Taneda
HR: Iwamura (6)
RBI: Iwamura 2, T. Suzuki
LOB: Yokohama 5, Yakult 1

Season Series: Yokohama 4, Yakult 7

Game Time: 2:18
Attendance: 20,000
Umpires: Ino (HP), Nishimoto (1B), Kittaka (2B), ? (3B)

Evans Slam, Two Matsui Jacks Back Dominant Chang Outing in 11-1 Seibu Victory

     Chang Chiah-chia was phenomenal for seven innings, scattering four hits across seven shutout innings and third baseman Tom Evans slugged a grand slam while shortstop Kazuo Matsui went yard in consecutive at bats in an 11-1 annihilation of the Chiba Lotte Marines Saturday by the Seibu Lions at Akita Municipal Yabase Stadium.. You can see a pic of the ballpark at:
http://homepage1.nifty.com/tadaf/akita.htm  Chang is now 2-0 and making it look easy with his 1.06 ERA.

     Naoyuki Shimizu started for Lotte and he was not sharp, being taken for seven hits and walking three in just two innings in a "one of those days" kind of outing that saw him give up five runs and inflate his ERA to a still more than respectable 3.13.

     Seibu went ahead in the first inning and had Lotte in their rearview mirror all day long. Matsui walked to leadoff the game. Centerfielder Kazuhiko Miyaji sacrificed him to second. Rightfielder Hiroyuki Oshima beat out an infield roller. First baseman Alex Cabrera then brought  the hammer with him and drilled a Shimizu pitch into the leftcenter gap to bring both speedsters in with a 2-0 lead. DH Ken Suzuki walked. One out later, leftfielder Susumu Otomo used his good wheels to leg out a tapper. Catcher Tsutomu Itoh singled to left and Cabrera was delivered to make it 3-0 Lions.

     Chang had his only difficulty of the match in the bottom of the inning, as rightfielder Kenji Morozumi leadoff with a single to center and  second baseman Koichi Hori steamed one up the leftcenter alley. But centerfielder Saburo Omura whiffed, first baseman Kazuya Fukuura flew out to shallow left and leftfielder Derrick May also flew out harmelssly and Chang cruised from there on in, working from the stretch position exclusively beginning in the third to even out his rhythm, something he had never done before, even in Taiwan.

     Shimizu was slapped around again in the second. With two away, Miyaji singled to center. Oshima doubled off the leftfield wall. Cabrera walked to juice the bags. Suzuki singled to center and Miyaji and Oshima chugged in for a 5-0 Lions advantage.

     It would be Evans turn in the fourth to join in the offensive fireworks for Seibu. Miyaji beat out an infield hit with one down. One out later. pinch hitter Toshiaki Inubushi and Suzuki walked to load the bases. Rookie Takashi Tanaka was replaced by Ken Yamasaki . Evans then got a good pitch to hit from Takahashi and he crushed it into the leftfield bleachers for a grand slam and it was 9-0 Seibu. Yuu can see a pic of Evans watching his ball leave the field at:
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/06/16/20020616012424.jpg

     In the fifth, Matsui dug in with one out and homered to right to put the Seibu advantage in double digits at 10-0.

     Matsui would then do that again against Yamasaki in the seventh for an 11-0 lead.

     The shoutout was averted only by Lotte third baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba's solo jack to left off of Koji Mitsui and that's where it ended, 11-1 Lions.

     Evans has been unbelievable for the Lions since the trade with Hanshin. He is 15-33 with four homers and 12 RBIs and this is depsite the fact that he is hitting BEHIND Cabrera in the Lions order. In this game, he finished 2-5 with four RBIs and is at .455.

     Cabrera was 1-1 with a walk and two RBIs before hurting his back and leaving the game in favor of Inubushi. Cabrera will sit out Sunday's contests to rest his back. He is at .274.

     For Lotte, May was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .228.

Pitching Lines:

Seibu:

Chang (W, 2-0)   IP 7.0 PC 100 H 4 HR 0 K 9 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.06
Mitsui                  IP 2.0 PC  33 H 4 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.50

Lotte:

N. Shimizu (L, 4-3)  IP 2.0 PC 68 H 7 HR 0 K 1 BB 3 R 5 ER 5 ERA 3.13
T. Tanaka                IP 1.2 PC 35 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.15
K.  Yamasaki           IP 3.1 PC 63 H 5 HR 3 K 4 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.03
K. Kato                   IP 2.0 PC 29 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 7.01

2B: Cabrera, H. Oshima, Evans, Hori 2
HR: Evans (4), K. Matsui 2 (13), Hatsushiba (7)
RBI: K. Matsui 2, Cabrera 2, K. Suzuki 2, Evans 4, T. Itoh, Hatsushiba
Balk: T. Tanaka
GIDP: Kosaka
LOB: Seibu 7, Lotte 8

Season Series: Seibu 8, Lotte 2

Game Time: 3:18
Attendance: 11,000
Umpires: Akimura (HP), Kawaguchi (1B), Yamamoto (2B), Nakamura (3B)

Koo Lowers ERA to 1.59 in 1-0 Orix Triumph

     Koo Dae-sung hampered the Nippon Ham Fighters to four hits, only one of them being for extra bases, over seven great innings Saturday to get a no decision, but he maintained his hold on the PL ERA crown with a tiny 1.57 mark and gave his team a chance to eventually put up the winning tally in the top of the ninth to skive off with the 1-0 victory.

     Satoru Kanemura started for Nippon Ham and you couldn't ask for more from him. as he wove eight scoreless frames on three this and struckout eight and walked three to also get a no decision. Instead, his teammate, reliever Naoyuki Tateishi, walked Tatsuya Shindo to start the ninth and was sacrificed to second. Hiroyuki Sekine was called in from the pen and after inducing a lazy fly ball from Yuji Goshima, walked third baseman Scott Sheldon. Catcher Takeshi Hidaka singled to right to load the bases. Kazuhiko Shiotani walked to force in Shindo and that was basically the ballgame, as Orix closer Masanobu Okubo retired three out of four men for his ninth save.

     Orix had been 0-6 this season at Tokyo Dome, so the triumph ends that streak.

     Kanemura has pitched with no run support lately, as the Fighters offense has scored just one run in his last two times out.

     For Nippon Ham, DH Sherman Obando was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .249. Leftfielder D.T. Cromer was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .265.

     For Orix, Sheldon was 0-3 with a walk and is at .225.

Pitching Lines:

Orix:

Koo                          IP 7.0 PC 112 H 4 HR 0 K 8 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.59
Yamaguchi (W, 2-2) IP 1.0 PC    14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.95
Okubo (S, 9)            IP 1.0 PC    19 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.20

Nippon Ham:

Kanemura           IP 8.0 PC 120 H 3 HR 0 K 8 BB 3 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.38
Tateishi (L, 0-2)  IP 0.0 PC     5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.60
Kato                   IP 0.1 PC     1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.24
Sekine                IP 0.2 PC   19 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.53

SB: Tsuji
2B: Shimada
RBI: Shiotani
HBP: Ide (Koo)
LOB: Orix 9, Nippon Ham 8

Season Series: Orix 3, Nippon Ham 9

Game Time: 3:02
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Yanagida (HP), Hirabayashi (1B), Nagami (2B), Sakaemura (3B)

Tenth Inning Tatsunami RBI Double Beats Hiroshima 3-2

     Chunichi Dragons third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami doubled with two in the top of the tenth to drive in centerfielder Kosuke Fukudome with what proved to be the winning run in a 3-2 victory by the Nagoya faction over the Hiroshima Carp Saturday at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. Eddie Gaillard earned his 15th save with a perfect bottom of the tenth and extend the Carp losing streak to four games, the latter's second such string of defeats this season. The fans also got to see two critical outstanding defensive plays.

     Kenta Asakura started for the Dragons and was solid, permitting two runs on eight hits and striking out six while walking two, though the decision ultiumately went to reliever Eiji Ochiai, who tossed a scoreless ninth.

     Masayuki Hasegawa was throwing too many strikes in this game, being toucned for ten hits, including a bomb to centerfield from Dragons shortstop Hirokazu Ibata in the fifth, who had been 0-14 before that at bat. He had at least one man on in every inning accept the seventh. Despite the barrage of knocks against him, though, he confined the Dragons to two runs. The Carp offense, however, has scored just seven runs during the losing skein and Hasegawa had nothing to show for his doggedness. You can see a pic of Ibata's homer swing at: http://tochu.tokyo-np.co.jp/00/baseball/20020616/ibata.jpg

     Hiroshima got on the board first in the third, when third baseman Takahiro Arai took Asakura on an involuntary tour of the leftfield bleachers and it was 1-0 home team.

     The Dragons came back in the fifth to overtake Hiroshima with Ibata's roundtipper and a single to right from leftfielder Scott Bullet, a ping off the leftfield fence from first baseman Leo Gomez and an RBI groundout to second from Tatsunami to make it 2-1 visitors.

     The Carp saddled up and attempted to dent Asakura again in the home half, but blew it. Catcher Kazuyoshi Kimura leadoff with a single to right and was sacrificed to second. Shortstop Kenjiro Nomura ripped one to right and Kimura held at third. Second baseman Takuya Kimura hit an Asakura pitch real hard, but right at his opposite number, Masahiko Morino, for the second out. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata whiffed and that was that.

     In the eighth, though, Ogata dialed long distance on Asakura to left and it was a tie game at 2-2. One out later, first baseman Luis Lopez singled to left and was pinch run for by Kazuki Fukuchi. Fukuchi then tried to steal second, but was gunned down by catcher Motonobu Tanishige, who has nailed the last nine men who had tried running on him. This guy is having an epic year defensively even if he's hitting just .211.

     The Dragons almost won it in the ninth when Ibata walked with two gone and substitute leftfielder Takayuki Onishi doubled off the leftfield wall, but Kanemoto did a great job getting to the ball quickly and uncorking a strong relay. Ibata rounded third and the relay beat him to the plate to end the inning.

     Fukudome then showed what he can do defensively in the Hiroshima half. Arai walked to lead it off and was sacrificed to second. One out later, Nomura cracked a hit to right, Fukudome charged, gloved it, and hit Tanishige on the fly with an arrow of a throw and Arai was deader than Jimmy Hoffa at home.

     The efforts by Fukudome and Tanishige were rewarded in the top of the tenth with a game winning rally. Fukudome leadoff with a single to left. Gomez singled to center. Kanei Kobayashi hung a forkball in the middle of the plate and Tatsunami put a whippin' on it, searing it down the rightfield line to drive in Gomez and make it 3-2 Dragons.

     Gaillard then induced two popups and a little fly ball and it was "game setto."

     For Hiroshima, Lopez was 1-4 and is at .287.

     For Chunichi, Bullet was 2-4 and is at .232. Gomez was 3-5 and is at .270.

Pitching Lines:

Chunichi:

Asakura                  IP 8.0 PC 113 H 8 HR 2 K 6 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.71
Ochiai (W, 1-1)      IP 1.0 PC   20 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.79
Gaillard (S, 15)       IP 1.0 PC   11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.80

Hiroshima:

Hasegawa                  IP 7.0 PC 104 H 10 HR 1 K 3 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.31
Hiroike                      IP 0.2 PC    14 H  0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.53
Tamaki                      IP 1.1 PC    20 H  1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.15
Kobayashi (L, 2-2)    IP 1.0 PC    20 H  3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.66

E: Asakura
2B: Bullet, Morino, Onishi, Tatsunami, K. Kimura
HR: Ibata (3), Arai (13), Ogata (7)
RBI: Ibata, Tatsunami 2, Ogata, Arai
PB: Tanishige
GIDP: Gomez, T. Kimura
LOB: Chunichi 11, Hiroshima 8

Season Series: Chunichi 5, Hiroshima 6

Game Time: 3:24
Attendance: 14,000
Umpires: Kasahara (HP), T. Kobayashi (1B), Watada (2B), Shikida (3B)

Tokai University Righty Kubo Getting Attention of Giants and Yokohama

     Last season, he pitched his team to the championship of Japanese college baseball and was awarded with an MVP of the tournament. This season, Tokai University righthander Yuya Kubo is being looked at by the Yomiuri Giants and the Yokohama Bay Stars as potential draft material. The Tokyo native, 22, has a fastball in the low 90's and a plus slider, according to scouts quoted in Nikkan Sports. They also think he's quite sound from a mechanical standpoint.

     At Tokai this season, he is 6-0 with three shutouts and a 0.83 ERA.The Giants are the hottest on Waseda University lefty Tsuyoshi Wada as well as slugging infielder Shuichi Murata of Nihon University right now, but Kubo is also receiving strong consideration. He has also played on Japan's World Cup baseball squad as well as in a tournament against U.S. university teams and took home an MVP from that series of games, too.

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for June 15th, and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1969, former Japanese olympic sprinter Hideo Iijima, who was brought on board by the Lotte Orions as a pinch running specialist, come on in the bottom of the ninth in that role against the Kintetsu Buffaloes. He stole second and third and then scored on a sayonara hit.

     Iijima, who had his legs insured for 50,000,000 yen, was signed after being drafted on the ninth round by Lotte during the winter of 1968 and saw his first action in an exhibition faceoff with the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium on March 15, 1969, who then had a rookie catcher named Koichi Tabuchi, now the Tigers batting coach. Anyway, Iijima was sent in the seventh inning and when he took off, Tabuchi nailed him at second.

     He made his regular season debut that year on March 13th at Tokyo Stadium against the Nankai Hawks, who boasted Katsuya Nomura as their backstop. In the bottom of the ninth and the score 3-2, rightfielder Art Lopez (116 lifetime homers in Japan) went deep to tie up the ballgame. Second baseman Hiroyuki Yamazaki cracked a baseknock and was replaced at first by Iijima, who then made for second. Nomura tried to get the ball off quickly and it sailed into centerfield, allowing Iijima to get to third. Pinch hitter Reiji Iishi smacked a basehit and Iijima trotted in with the winning run.

     However, as Herb Washington found out five years later, trying to be a sprinter among players who grew up playing the game all their lives is a hard slog and he was gone after two more seasons after appearing in 117 games and swiping 23 bags and being thrown out 17 times for a less than sterling success rate of just under 58%. 17 of those thefts were of second base, four were of third and two of home.

     One wonders if this is where Charlie Finely got the idea when he added Washington to the roster, though the ex-track great had somewhat similar results to Iijima. Washington stole 31 bases in 105 games in 1974-75 and was pegged out on 17 occasions for a success rate of just a tad under 65%.

     In 1983, Iijima was involved in a traffic accident in which a girl was killed and he was arrested. I haven't been able to run across any info indicating what he's doing these days.

Source (with the Washington material added by me): http://www2.plala.or.jp/ippeifuji/p-k3-9.htm
 
 

     No games scheduled.

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for June 14th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1941, due to worsening relations with the USA, four Japanese-Americans (all Nisei and U.S. citizens) playing in Japan were ordered to go home by the American government. They were Black Eagles submariner  Tadashi Kameda (65-78 2.41 lifetime in four seasons) and fellow moundsman Shigekazu Hasegawa (couldn't find a record for him), and Hanshin's Fumihito Horio, an outfielder who was reportedly the only man to hit the ball out to centerfield in Korakuen Stadium before the war,  (.236 with 22 homers in six seasons) and Toshio Kameda, a
pitcher (2-1 1.44 in 24 innings in three seasons).

     Also on that date in 1967, Toei Flyers second baseman Shuzo Aono had a 3-2 count on him in the top of the fifth during a game against the Tokyo Orions at Tokyo Stadium and then took the following pitch for ball four. However, he didn't notice and remained in the batter's box. On the next pitch, he swung and missed, striking out. Now how did that happen you ask, since the umpire should have informed Aono, a damned solid player in his day, by the way, of the walk? Well, umpire Fumitoshi Saita (and I hope that I'm transliterating that name correctly. If not, please let me know) had lost track of the count and asked the official scorer what it was. The scorer informed Saita that it was 3-2, but Saita misunderstood the scorer and thought it was 2-2. Thus the rare instance of someone whiffing on a 4-2 count. The scorer tried to correct Saita before the pitcher made his next delivery, but Saita didn't get the message. A tip of the hat to the following site (in Japanese) for explaining what happened: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~KP7S-OOTK/BALLPARK/TOKYOSTD/TOKYOSTD_2.html

     Also on that date in 1977, Morimichi Takagi, an infielder with the Chunichi Dragons, then in his 18th season as an active player, homered in his first two at bats in a game against the Taiyo Whales at Nagoya Stadium, giving him four homers in four at bats over a three game span,. the first man to do that. He went on to drill 20 out of the park that year while batting .291. He amassed 2274 hits during his career and won three steals crowns (369 thefts lifetime). He had looked like he was going to be a real superstar until the Yomiuri Giants Tsuneo Horiuchi struck him in the face with a pitch in 1968 and he wasn't quite the star afterward that he had been, but he still made a nice career for himself. At the time he was just the fourth man in history to homer in his first pro at bat in Japan, doing that in 1960 and he was the tenth to reach 2000 hits.

Source for all these historical tidbits, as always: http://www2.plala.or.jp/ippeifuji/w06.htm

More Info on Cubans Playing in Japan

     Please see Baseball America article at: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/cubans061102.html

Japanese Baseball Faces New Threat

     See article by the Yomiuri Shimbun's Jim Allen at: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020613wo51.htm

Players Approve of New Field Turf in Tokyo Dome

     See Asahi Shimbun story at: http://www.asahi.com/english/sports/K2002061300782.html

Kintetsu Trying to Aquire Yanagisawa

     The Kintetsu Buffales are said to be talking to the Chunichi Dragons, trying to work out a cash deal that would being Dragons backup catcher Yuichi Yanagisawa to Osaka in hopes of improving their defense at that position. Yanagisawa was a number two draft choice in 1993 by Yomiuri and played with Orix and then on to Nagoya. He has hit .209 in 101 career games.

Dragons Trying to Aquire Vargas

     The Chunichi Dragons are said to be interested in the aquisition of Cleveland Indians righthander Martin Vargas, a Dominican Republic native who is currently with the Indians AAA affiliate in Buffalo.He is 6' 160 pounds. If they can't buy Vargas, the Dragons are saying that they are looking at a couple of other unnamed foreign players.

Wada Rakes 12 More Strikeouts in Complete Game Tournament Win

     Well, Japan's equivalent of the College World Series is underway and Waseda University's "Dr. K" southpaw Tsuyoshi Wada, rang up another 12 strikeouts in a complete game victory over East Asia University at Meiji Jingu Stadium earlier today. He allowed two hits, though despite the good numbers says his performance sucked. "We have no chance to win it all if I continue to throw those kinds of pitches," Wada remarked to the press after the game. Wada will probably go top five in this year's Novemnber draft and has drawn interest from Seattle and the Dodgers.

KBO Standings and Leaders

Team                                   Record                   GB

Kia Tigers                          34-19-3                    ---
Samsung Lions                 36-21-0                    ---
Doosan Bears                   30-25-1                   5.0
Hyundai Unicorns           26-26-4                   7.5
LG Twins                           26-27-3                   8.0
SK Wyverns                     23-29-2                 10.5
Hanhwa Eagles                 23-30-2                 11.0
Lotte Giants                       17-38-1                 18.0

Batting:                                             AVG.

Lee Yeong-wu (Hanhwa)               .368
Lee Ho-joon (SK)                            .349
Kim Dong-joo (Doosan)                .343
Lee Seung-yop (Samsung)            .339
Chang Seong-ho (Kia)                   .329
Kim Jae-hyeon (LG)                       .327
Park Jae-hong (Hyundai)              .322
Chae Jong-beom (SK)                   .320
Shim Jae-hak (Doosan)                  .319
Ma Hae-yeong (Samsung)            .319

Homers                                               HR

Ma Hae-yeong (Samsung)               24
Song Ji-man (Hanhwa)                      22
Lee Seung-yeop (Samsung)             20
Shim Jeong-soo (Hyundai)               17
Kim Dong-joo (Doosan)                   14

Runs Batted In                                  RBI

Lee Seung-yeop (Samsung)             61
Ma Hae-yeong (Samsung)               60
Song Ji-man (Hanhwa)                     50
Chang Seong-ho (Kia)                      47
Jin Gap-yong (Samsung)                  41
 

Arias Double in Tenth Wins it for Hanshin 1-0

     After getting his butt well and thoroughly kicked in his last outing, Hanshin Tigers lefthander Trey Moore rebounded with a superb eight inning four hit shutout effort, striking out seven and walking two. Unfortunately, he didn't get a decision in this one since Melvin Bunch also threw blanks for eighth innings and it ended up in extra innings, with George Arias doubling with one out to bring in shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto from first base to give Hanshin a 1-0 triumph and interrupt a four game losing streak. You can see the winning swing here:  http://www.sponichi.com/base/200206/14/images/base01.jpg

     While Moore was dominating the Dragons order, one had to wonder if Hanshin was nevertheless destined to tack on another defeat since they literally frittered away three prime scoring opportunities, including a one out, bases loaded situation in the fifth, where the inning ended on a 6-4-3 double play ball off the bat of third baseman Atsushi Kataoka. Man, if there's a pill to help you hit with RISP, Hanshin will take a warehouse full.

     So on to the tenth it went, Fujimoto leadoff with a single to center off of Eiji Shotsu, who was then relieved by Masahiro Yamamoto, who struckout Kataoka. Arias checked  in and Yamamoto threw the ex-Padre a slider on the inner half of the plate and Arias really cranked on it, rifling a screamer that hit the ground just in front of the leftfield wall near the line as Fujimoto put it into overdrive and scored without a throw to make it 1-0 Tigers.

     Mark Valdez was then handed the ball and he permitted a leadoff single to left from Masahiro Araki, but then induced a foul out to the catcher, a comebacker, and a strikeout to register his 13th save.
 
     There was apparently some concern by the Dragons management that Moore was stealing signs and this almost lead to a brawl. A couple of Chunichi coaches warned Moore about it while he was throwing on the side, eliciting a "what the hell are they talking about?" response from Moore. Then in the fifth, Bunch plunked second baseman Makoto Imaoka on the elbow, though Imaoka was fine and lped off to first. Two innings later, Bunch whizzed one by Moore's head, drawing angry words and a fierce stare from Moore as the two began to approach each other. Both benches emptied and there was a lot of pushing and milling around (in other words, typical baseball fighth) before the game continued. You can see a rather amusing photo of Moore trying to avoid the Bunch chin music here: http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/06/14/20020614020757.jpg

     Bunch probably should have been tossed for making a dangerous pitch, as is specified in CL rules, but he wasn't. In 13 games between the two clubs, there have been 15 hit batsmen and this trend is likely to continue.

     Is Greg Hansell's Japanese baseball career over? He went back to the U.S. to have back surgery and it is appearing unlikely that he will be back. He is still only 31, so he might be able to get a job somewhere, but then again, Jason Jacome couldn't get arrested after returning from Japan, so we'll see.

     For Hanshin, Arias was 2-5 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .271. Leftfielder Derrick White was 0-4 with three strikeouts and is at .262. Moore was 1-2 and is at .300.

     For Chunichi, leftfielder Scott Bullet was 1-4 and si at .215. First baseman Leo Gomez was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .261.

Pitching Lines:

Hanshin:

Moore                         IP 8.0 PC 117 H 4 HR 0 K 7 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.67
T. Hashimoto             IP 0.0 PC     5 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 54.00
Kanazawa (W, 4-0)    IP 1.0 PC   13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.83
M. Valdez (S, 13)       IP 1.0 PC   14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.46

Chunichi:

Bunch                      IP 8.0 PC 139 H 8 HR 0 K 9 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.25
Shotsu (L, 0-2)       IP 1.0 PC    11 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.98
M. Yamamoto        IP 0.2 PC    16 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.56
Kito                         IP 0.1 PC      1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.79

E: Tatsunami
2B: Arias, Bullet, Tanishige, Araki
RBI: Arias
IBB: Tanishige
WP: Moore
HBP: Imaoka (Bunch)
GIDP: Hiyama, Kataoka, Bullet
LOB: Hanshin 11, Chunichi 6

Season Series: Hanshin 5, Chunichi 7

Game Time: 3:38
Attendance: 36,000
Umpires: Suginada (HP), Watada (1B), Shikida (2B), ? (3B)

Takatsu, Ishii Creamed by Yomiuri Homer Barrage in 8-5 Loss

     An incredible five homer barrage over the last four innings by the Yomiuri Giants off of Yakult Swallows starter Yataro Sakamoto, closer Shingo Takatsu and reliever Hirotoshi Ishii literally brought them back from the precipice of being victims of a perfect game to an extra inning victory 8-5, with utility man Kenji Fukui deciding it with a three run sayonara clout in the bottom of the 11th. The defeat kept the Swallows out of second place.

     Yusaku Iriki started for Yomiuri and wasn't very good, being mugged for nine hits and four earned runs over six innings, though it could have been worse than that. In the second, first baseman Roberto Petagine legged out a leadoff slow roller and catcher Atsuya Furuta doubled down the leftfield line. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez popped out to the catcher, but third baseman Akinori Iwamura walked to pack the sacks. However, second baseman Hajime Miki and Sakamoto both came up empty and that opportunity went by the boards.

     So it was locked up 0-0 until the sixth, when Petagine beat out another tapper (just the thing those bad knees need).Furuta doubled down the leftfield line. While y'all are quoting Yogi Berra, you should know that Ramirez then put one on the sweet spot and launched an artillery shot into the righcenterfield bleacher for a 3-0 lead. Shortstop Shinya Miyamoto beat out a grounder toward second and Miki zipped one down the leftfield line, Miyamoto made the turn at third and headed home safely to go up 4-0.

     Petagine atomized a pitch in the seventh from Tsuyoshi Jobe, carroming it off a light standard at the rear of the rightfield stands 490 feet away for his 12th longball of the season and with Sakamoto putting the Giants away, it seemed as if this one was already pretty much over. Oops!

     In the home half, Yoshinobu Takahashi walked to end the bid for the perfecto, but the no hitter was still in effect after seven complete.. Sakamoto then got the first man in the eighth and turned his attention to Daisuke Motoki, who came up sitting on a fastball. He got an 85mph heater and he broke up both the no no and the shutout with one swing of the bat, the ball carrying into the leftfield bleachers. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe followed and as sometimes happens, a disappointed Sakamoto laid a fat one into Abe and he destroyed it, depositing it in the rightfield stands and now it was 5-2 Swallows. Ryota Igarashi was summoned from the pen and he got the last two outs of the inning.

     Shingo Takatsu was waved in by Swallows manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu and leftfielder Takayuki Shimiku connected for a homer to right. Third baseman Koji Goto flied out, but Takahashi singled to right. Hideki Matsui grounded into a force play at second and Giants manager Tatsunori Hara sent up Kazuhiro Kiyohara to pinch hit for first baseman Takayuki Saito. The count went to 3-2 and then Takatsu threw a sinker down and on the inner half of the plate. Kiyohara put one of his trademark compact, though brutal, strokes on it and there was no doubt about it, the ball landing in the upper part of the leftcenterfield bleachers to deadlock it at 5-5 as Giants fans and players went nuts.

     In the wake of the fever over the dramatic homer, things stagnated until the bottom of the 11th. Shimizu managed an infield hit off of Ishii and was sacrificed to second. Takahashi flied out to shallow left for the second out. Centerfielder Hideki Matsui was intentionally walked. Kenji Fukui, who had replaced Goto at third, was next and made contact. He didn't know if it was going to go, so he really started busting out of the batter's box and then slowed down as he saw it disappear amid the fans in the leftfield seats for his first ever sayonara homer and the 8-5 victory.

     The Kiyohara pinch hit blast was the third homer in that role of his career, the last one being in July of 2000 against the Chunichi Dragons. This was also the first time the Giants had tied a game with two out in the ninth on a pinch hit dinger since 1996 against Hanshin. Moreover, Takatsu had surrendered a game tying shot to Abe on April 23rd of this season, so he relived that nightmare again, except with a different hitter. Thanks to Nikkan Sports for another great stats job.

     For Yakult, Petagine was 3-5 with an RBI and is at .302. He thinks the homer Thursday was the longest one he has ever hit in Japan. Ranirez was 1-4 with three RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .338.

Pitching Lines:

Yakult:

Sakamoto             IP 7.1 PC 93 H 2 HR 2 K 4 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.57
R. Igarashi           IP 0.2 PC   8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25
Takatsu                IP 1.0 PC 24 H 3 HR 2 K 0 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.50
H. Ishii (L, 3-1)    IP 1.2 PC 34 H 2 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 2.48

Yomiuri:

Y. Iriki                          IP 6.0 PC 83 H 9 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 2.70
Jobe                             IP 1.0 PC 12 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.83
Kawamoto                  IP 1.0 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.45
Okajima                       IP 2.0 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.89
Y. Maeda (W, 2-1)     IP 1.0 PC 25 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.33

2B: Furuta 2, Miki
HR: Ramirez (12), Petagine (13), Motoki (3), S. Abe (6), Fukui (3), T. Shimizu (5), Kiyohara (6)
RBI: Petagine, Ramirez 3, Miki, Fukui 3, Kiyohara 2, T. Shimizu, Motoki, S. Abe
IBB: H. Matsui
GIDP: Miki
LOB: Yakult 7, Yomiuri 1

Season Series: Yakult 7, Yomiuri 7

Game Time: 3:54
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Kittaka (1B), Manabe (2B), Sasaki (3B)

Yokohama Wins Fourth in a Row on Rodrigues Roundtripper 4-3

     A two run homer to rightcenter in the eighth inning by Yokohama Bay Stars rightfielder Boi Rodrigues broke up a 2-2 tie with the Hiroshima Carp at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium Thursday, as the Stars then held on to eek out a 4-3 victory. Chris Holt was credited with his first Japanese win in relief and closer Takashi Saito earned his ninth save by doing away with the last five hitters of the game.

     Yokohama went out to a short lived 1-0 lead in the first, as shortstop Takuro Ishii leadoff the game with a single to right, stole second, and was sacrificed to third. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki walked. Centerfielder Ernie Young grounded to short and Ishii came across to make it 1-0 Stars.

     Yoshimi, though, coughed that one up like a bad hairball, as shortstop Kenjiro Nomura leadoff the Hiroshima ups with a tour of the diamond as the ball was bandied about by the fans in the centerfield bleachers and it was 1-1.

     The Carp then took their turn at the head of the line in the sixth. Nomura walked to commence things and was sacrificed to second. After going to third on a groundout, leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto walked. First baseman Luis Lopez wacked a single to left and Nomura toed the dish unimpeded to put the Carp up 2-1.

     A half inning later, Yokohama leveled it when first baseman Takahiro Saeki beat out an infield hit and was sacrificed to second. Saeki then went to third on a groundout and scored on an infield hit by Ishii and it was 2-2.

     In the eighth, Yokohama ended the stalemate and got what they needed to prevail against Ken Takahashi. With one out, Young singled to right. Rodrigues then hammered a Takahashi pitch over the rightcenterfield wall and now the Stars had a 4-2 lead.

     Holt had worked a perfect seventh and was back in the center of the diamond for the bottom of the eighth and misfired. Nomura leadoff with a single to left. Second baseman Takuya Kimura struckout. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata walked and Yokohama manager Masaaki Mori went to the bullpen for Ryuichi Kawahara, who walked Kanemoto to juice the bags. Mori then went to Saito, who gave up an RBI single to center from Lopez to make it 4-3. Pinch hitter Itsuki Asai hit the ball right on the screws, but right at somebody (who isn't specified) and two were out. Third baseman Takahiro Arai struckout and that was the last taste Hiroshima had, since Saito fashioned a 1-2-3 ninth to end it.

     For Yokohama, Young was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .190. Rodrigues was 1-4 with two RBIs and is at .256.

     For Yokohama, Lopez was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .288.

Pitching Lines:

Yokohama:

Yoshimi                IP 6.0 PC 93 H 3 HR 1 K 4 BB 4 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.03
Holt (W, 1-0)        IP 1.1 PC 21 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.86
R. Kawahara         IP 0.0 PC   5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.93
T. Saito (S, 9)        IP 1.2 PC 28 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.14

Hiroshima:

K. Takahashi (L, 5-5) IP 7.1 PC 115 H 10 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 4 ER 3 ERA 3.28
Tamaki                         IP 1.2 PC   17 H   1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38

E: K. Takahashi
SB: T. Ishii
2B: Ryoji Aikawa
HR: Rodrigues (11), K. Nomura (2)
RBI: Rodrigues 2, K. Nomura, T. Ishii, Young, Lopez 2
GIDP: K. Takahashi
LOB: Yokohama 7, Hiroshima 7

Season Series: Yokohama 6, Hiroshima 4

Game Time: 3:00
Attendance: 11,000
Umpires: Mori (HP), Tomoyori (1B), Kamimoto (2B),Yoshimoto (3B)

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for June 13th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1958, Masaichi Kaneda of the Kokutetsu Swallows won his 20th game of the season only two months into the schedule to become the fastest to that mark in history. He finished 31-14 with a 1.30 ERA, including 11 shutouts, in 332.1 innings. One reason he was successful during that campaign was a 5-1 K/BB ratio.

     Also on that date in 1977, in a game between the Yomiuri Giants and Taiyo Whales at Kawasaki Stadium, Giants rookie outfielder Tadashi Matsumoto entered as a pinch runner. Yomiuri batted around in that inning and Matsumoto got a chance to hit, hammering a grand slam homer. He was the first man ever to enter as a pinch runner and then homer in the same inning. What makes that even more interesting and unlikely was that Matsumoto hit just 28 more homers during his 10 season career.

     And on the same day as the above, Yakult Swallows outfielder Tsutomu Wakamatsu ended a game with a pinch hit sayonara homer, as he had done the previous night as well. That made him at that time only the second man in history to collect pinch hit walkoff homers in consecutive games.  

Hodges Racks Up League Best Eighth Win for Yakult

     Just as Pedro owns the Seattle Mariners, former M's righthander Kevin Hodges can't seem to put a foot wrong against the Yomiuri Giants, winning for the fourth time in four starts against them thus far with seven shutout innings of three hit ball, striking out five and walking four. Hodges ERA this season against Japan's most popular team is now a remarkbale 0.69 in 26 total innings of work and he has allowed a measly 12 hits in that span, all to lefthanded hitters. The victory also moves him into a tie with Hanshin southpaw ace Kei Igawa in triumphs with eight. For Kevin's fans and family, you can see a Nikkan Sports photo of him at: http://www.nikkansports.com/news/baseball/bb-020613-3.jpg

     Hodges could shatter the Yakult record for victories by a foreigner against Yomiuri in pretty short order, since that mark is held by Terry Bross with five in 1995.

     According to Nikkan Sports, Hodges has a 23 year old brother named Tory who has rung up nine wins and two losses for Richmond in the Atlanta organization. He hopes that he can get back to the big leagues and one day faceoff against his younger sibling.

     So on to the game. Hisanori Takahashi started for Yomiuri and while he wasn't as good as he has been lately, he was responsible for four earned runs, but only two earned, on ten hits to be blamed for the defeat. Jeon Min-tae then came in and was abused for two earned runs on three hits in 1.2 innings to put this one out of reach.

     Yakult was ahead from the third inning on. In that frame and with two away, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto singled to center and Shinichi Sato doubled over the head of rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi to plate Miyamoto and make it 1-0.

     In the fourth, the Swallows doubled that advantage when leftfielder Alex Ramirez cracked a one out single to left, third baseman Akinori Iwamura singled to right and second baseman Hajime Miki doubled down the leftfield line for an RBI and it was 2-0 Swallows.

     Giants third baseman Akira Etoh booted a one out groundball from Ramirez in the sixth. Iwamura singled to right and Ramirez made a beeline for third. Miki laid down a squeeze bunt out in front of the mound and Takahashi fielded it and threw wildly to first. The bunt was ruled a basehit, but Takahashi was still hung with the error for allowing Iwamura to go to third on the bad peg. Jeon replaced Takahashi and Miki then faked as if he was thinking of taking off and Jeon bit on it, getting Miki in a rundown by throwing over to first, where Takayuki Saito then tossed it to shortstop Mototsugu Kawanaka at second. While this was happening, Iwamura lit out for home and made it safely without a throw for a 4-0 lead.

     The Swallows expanded on that in the seventh, as shortstop Shinya Miyamoto beat out a tapper near short to lead it off. Sato scorched one into the leftcenter alley and Miyamoto sprinted for home to make it 5-0. Two outs later, Ramirez singled in Sato and it was 6-0 Yakult.

     In the bottom of the eighth, Yoshinobu Takahashi homered to right for the lone Giants run off of Hirotoshii Ishii, but then the Yomiuri order couldn't get out of the infield in the ninth against Ryota Igarashi and it was "game setto."

     For Yakult, Ramirez was 3-4 with an RBI and is now at .340. First baseman Roberto Petagine was 1-5 with two strikeouts and is at .293.

Pitching Lines:

Yakult:

Hodges (W, 8-2)     IP 7.0 PC 104 H 3 HR 0 K 5 BB 4 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.40
H. Ishii                      IP 1.0 PC   15 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.74
R. Igarashi                IP 1.0 PC   13 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.30

Yomiuri:

H. Takahashi (L, 5-1) IP 5.1 PC 88 H 10 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 4 ER 2 ERA 3.34
Jeon                              IP 1.2 PC 25 H   3 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.15
Almonte                       IP 1.0 PC 16 H   0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.69
Y. Maeda                     IP 1.0 PC 17 H   1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.45

E: Etoh 2, H. Takahashi
SB: Iwamura, Miki
2B: S. Sato 2, Ramirez, Miki
HR: Y. Takahashi (9)
RBI: Y. Takahashi, S, Sato, Ramirez, Miki 2
PB: S. Abe
GIDP: Y. Takahashi
LOB: Yakult 8, Yomiuri 6

Season Series: Yakult 7, Yomiuri 6

Game Time: 2:58
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Nishimoto (HP), Manabe (1B), Sasaki (2B), Tani (3B)

Young Homer Backs Miura Shutout Over Hiroshima

     Yokohama Bay Stars centerfielder Ernie Young belted a seventh inning two run homer while ace Daisuke Miura three hit the Hiroshima Carp in an 8-0 victory by the last place Stars to get his third win of the season and first in almost two months against nine often mostly frustrating and undeserved losses. An error by shortstop Kenjiro Nomura helped set up a three run first inning for Yokohama and Miura and company cruised from there for the squad's third consecutive triumph.

     Shinji Sasaoka began the game on the hill for Hiroshima and would have still lost, but due to the Nomura error, only two of the five runs he gave up were earned. Yokohama then added a deuce off of Hiroike and a run off of Rigo Beltran to put it in the refrigerator.

     In that initial inning, Sasaoka had two outs when he was done up for a double down the leftfield line by leftfielder Takanori Suzuki. Young rolled one to Nomura, who kicked it. Rightfielder Boi Rodriges walked to load the bases. Third baseman Hirofumi Ogawa then cleared the decks with a liner into the rightcenterfield gap and it was 3-0 Yokohama.

     Miura struckout the side in the bottom half of the inning and the first man he saw in the second for four consecutive Ks on the way to six hitless frames.

     Sasaoka fanned the first two men he saw in the fifth, but then he had control problems, walking the next two and Young smacked a single to center to drive in second baseman Hitoshi Taneda for a 4-0 Yokohama edge.

     Ogawa leadoff the sixth with a rocket into the rightcenterfield bleachers and it was 5-0 Stars.

     In the seventh, Taneda walked again and Young went downtown through the rightcenterfield exit and now it was a laugher at 7-0.

     The Carp got two one out singles in the home half for their first safeties and one more in the ninth and that was it. Meanwhile, in the Yokohama portion of the ninth, shortstop Takuro Ishii was nailed by Rigo Beltran to start it and Taneda finagled yet another free pass. Suzuki bounced into a 4-6-3 double play, but backup rightfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to center and Ishii trotted in and that capped the night's scoring at 8-0.

     For Hiroshima, first baseman Luis Lopez was 0-4 and is at .281.

     For Yokohama, Young was 2-4 with three RBIs and is at .176. Rodrigues was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .257.

Pitching Lines:

Yokohama:

Miura (W, 3-9)    IP 9.0 PC 139 H 3 HR 0 K 7 BB 3 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.02

Hiroshima:

Sasaoka (L, 2-4)  IP 6.0 PC 99 H 6 HR 1 K 7 BB 3 R 5 ER 2 ERA 3.50
Hiroike                 IP 1.0 PC 24 H 1 HR 1 K 3 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.70
Tomabechi          IP 1.0 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.38
Beltran                 IP 1.0 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 7.27

E: Tamura, K.Nomura
SB: Taneda
2B: T. Suzuki, Ogawa
HR: Ogawa (2), Young (2)
RBI: Ogawa 4, Young 3
WP: Beltran
HBP: T. Ishii (Beltran)
GIDP: Young, T. Suzuki, Arai
LOB: Yokohama 6, Hiroshima 6

Season Series: Yokohama 5, Hiroshima 4

Game Time: 2:42
Attendance: 11,000
Umpires: K. Kobayashi (HP), Kamimoto (1B), Yoshimoto (2B), Mori (3B)

Hanshin's Troubles Against Dragons Continue in 3-2 Loss

     One reason that the Hanshin Tigers can't seem to pull away from the pack is that they have a hard time beating the Chunichi Dragons, and the erratic Osaka nine took it on the chin from their Aichi Prefecture counterparts again 3-2 Wednesday at Nagoya Dome on back to back sixth inning solo jacks by first baseman Leo Gomez and third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami for their fourth loss in a row. Kenshin Kawakami went seven solid innings to outduel Kei Igawa for his fifth victory and Eddie Gaillard pocketed save number 14. It is now a four team race in the Central League, with just two games separating the 1-4 slots.

     It was a scoreless deadlock until the bottom of the fifth, when Dragons catcher Motonobu Tanishige leadoff with a walk, Masahiko Morino doubled down the leftfield line and, with the infield up, Kawakami hit a little looper that barely got over the outstretched arms of the infielders for a 1-0 lead.

     Hanshin surmounted that conundrum by scratching for a temporary advantage in the top of the sixth. Second baseman Makoto Imaoka leadoff with single to left and went to second on a sac bunt. One out later, first baseman George Arias spanked a single to center and Imaoka was in with the 1-1 tie. Rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama cannonaded a double to rightcenter to welcome Arias in and make it 2-1 Tigers.

     In the home segment and with one down, Gomez turned on a pitch and unloaded a high fly ball that landed just to the right of the leftfield foul pole deep into the leftfield seats to knot it at two apiece and give him 150 lifetime Japanese homers. Tatsunami then took the second delivery he saw and hit a towering drive that he wasn't sure would reach the seats, but it barely did and the Dragons were back in front 3-2. Igawa has now seen ten of his offerings not come back, which is the most gopher balls of any CL hurler.

     The Tigers couldn't convert on a one out, men on  first and second opportunity in the seventh and that was all she wrote, as relievers Eiji Ochiai and Eddie Gaillard put the final six Hanshin batters away to secure the W.

     Gomez is only the second Dragons foreigner to have accumulated 150 or more roundtrippers, the other one being Gene Martin, who had 4 30 homer seasons for Chunichi before finishing up with one year at Taiyo in the mid and late 70's. Altogether, Martin went yard 184 times in his six Japanese campaigns with a .272 average and an OPS of .871. Reaching the 150 mark "is really hard for a foreigner in Japan," said Gomez. I would like to thank God for making it possible for me to do it." Overall, the former Cub is the 120th player to attain that milestone.

     For Hanshin, Arias was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .268. Leftfielder Derrick White was 0-2 and is at .269.

     For Chunichi, Gomez was 2-4 with an RBI and is at .267.

Pitching Lines:

Hanshin:

Igawa (L, 8-3)    IP 7.0 PC 123 H 8 HR 2 K 8 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 1.86
Kanazawa          IP 1.0 PC  14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.93

Chunichi:

Kawakami (W, 5-0) IP 7.0 PC 102 H 6 HR 0 K 8 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.56
Ochiai                       IP 1.0 PC   13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.12
Gaillard (S, 14)         IP 1.0 PC     7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.89

2B: Hiyama, Morino
HR: Tatsunami (7), Gomez (13)
RBI:  Arias, Hiyama, Gomez, Tatsunami, Kawakami
HBP: Yano (Kawakami)
GIDP: Fujitate, Araki
LOB: Hanshin 6, Chunichi 4

Season Series: Hanshin 4, Chunichi 7

Game Time: 2:48
Attendance: 37,000
Umpires: T. Kobayashi (HP), Shikida (1B), ? (2B), Suginaga (3B)

Matsui Homer Gives Seibu 6-3 Victory

     A two run homer in the top of the seventh at Kobe Green Stadium by Seibu Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui provided the Tokorozawa titans with a 5-1 lead and enough to hold off a ninth inning two run homer from Orix Blue Wave pinch hitter Takeshi Hidaka in an eventual 6-3 victory Wednsesday. Fumiya Nishiguchi picked up his seventh win while Blue Wave starter Ed Yarnell is now 4-6.

     Alex Cabrera literally fired the opening salvo in this one, as he thundered a Yarnell delivery more than 490 feet over the leftfield stands and on to a walkway in the second to make it 1-0 Lions. Third baseman Tom Evans singled to center and was sacrificed to second. Leftfielder Tetsuya Kakiuchi singled to left and catcher Tsutomu Itoh flied out to center to recall Evans and it was 2-0 Seibu.

     In the bottom of the third, Orix catcher Takeshi Miwa leadoff by putting a dent in a chair in the leftfield bleachers to cut it to 2-1 Lions.

     Evans kicked off another small rally for Seibu in the fourth when he singled to left with one away and was sacrificed to second. Kakiuchi doubled down the leftfield line and it was 3-1 Lions.

     In the seventh, second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi beat out a tapper and Matsui served it into the rightfield bleachers to open a 5-1 advantage. One out later, 20 year old pinch hitter Hiroyuki Oshima dialed Ibaraki 6-5000 on a 1-1 fastball for his first pro homer and it was 6-1 Lions.

     Orix countered briefly when first baseman Yuji Goshima leadoff with an infield hit against reliever Hayato Aoki and Hidaka then exited stage right to make it 6-3. Aoki kept everything in the infield from there on in and that was as close as Orix got.

     For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-5 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .270. Evans was 3-4 and is at .464.

     For Orix, third baseman Scott Sheldon was 1-5 and is at .229.

Pitching Lines:

Seibu:

Nishiguchi (W, 7-3)    IP 6.0 PC 103 H 7 HR 1 K 4 BB 3 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.75
Doi                                 IP 1.0 PC  23 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.88
Mizuo                            IP 1.0 PC    7 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.12
Aoki                               IP 1.0 PC  17 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.78

Orix:

Yarnell (4-6)            IP 5.2 PC 97 H 7 HR 1 K 3 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.53
Ogura                       IP 1.1 PC 29 H 3 HR 2 K 1 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 7.36
Tokumoto                IP 2.0 PC 40 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.14

2B: Kakiuchi, K. Oshima, Tani
HR: Cabrera (18), K. Matsui (11), H. Oshima (1), Miwa (2), Hidaka (4)
RBI: Cabrera, K. Matsui 2, H. Oshima, Miwa, Hidaka 2, Kakiuchi, T. Itoh
IBB: Kakiuchi
SF: T. Itoh
HBP: Takamizawa (Nishiguchi)
GIDP: Goshima, Tani
LOB: Seibu 7, Orix 10

Season Series: Seibu 10, Orix 2

Game Time: 3:11
Attendance: 11,000
Umpires: Kodera (HP), Iizuka (1B), Hayashi (2B), Higashi (3B)

Today in Japanese Baseball History

     This report is for June 12th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1954, Takahashi Unions (later dissolved) pitcher Mitsuru Tamura walked seven men in one inning in a game against the Nishitetsu Lions at Kawasaki Stadium to set a record.

Screws Tighten on Hanshin in 8-1 Loss to Dragons

     Again, the Hanshin Tigers are having a hard time separating themselves from the .500 mark since that seven game winning streak they had to start the season, as they dropped their third in a row to the Chunichi Dragons Tuesday 8-1. Shinji Taninaka struggled for the Osaka favorite sons, being blasted for six runs on seven hits in five innings to absorb the loss. His defense actually saved the damage from being much worse, he was that bad. Hanshin has had three losing skeins of three or more games so far.

     Takashi Ogasawara started for the party from Nagoya and didn't see out the fourth for whatever reason (since the sports press in Japan seems to have glossed over this), but permitted only one run on seven hits, striking out three and walking one on 80 pitches. If he wasn't pulled due to injury (and that doesn't seems to be the case), Dragons manager Hisashi Yamada was apparently not very impressed by what he was seeing and decided to pursue other options before Ogasawara may have blown up. Consequently, reliever Masataka Endo ended up with the victory, his second, after 1.1 shutout innings of hitless two strikeout ball.

     Chunichi shortstop Hirokazu Ibata scorched a double down the leftfield line to leadoff the bottom of the first. Leftfielder Scott Bullet attemtpted to sacrifice and  hit it right back at Taninaka, who went to third to get the sliding Ibata. Bullet then tried to steal second and was gunned down by catcher Akihiro Yano. Centerfielder Kosuke Fukudome doubled into the rightcenter alley. Taninaka nailed first baseman Leo Gomez. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to center and Fukudome crossed to make it 1-0 Dragons. Rightfielder Jun Inoue walked to load the bases. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled up through the middle and Tatsunami and Gomez reported for a 3-0 Chunichi advantage.

     Being Hanshin, i.e., no hitting with RISP, the team had men in ready to come home in each of the first three innings, but ended up with goose eggs. The finally managed to do something in the fourth, though. With two gone, Yano walked. Taninaka singled to center. Second baseman Makoto Imaoka ripped a double into the leftfield corner to drive in Yano and send Ogasawara to the locker room and it was 3-1 Dragons.

     For all practical purposes, the Dragons then put the game away in the sixth. With one down, Taninaka walked Ibata and then picked him off for the second out. Bullet jerked one off the centerfield wall for two bases. Fukudome was intentionally walked. Gomez pinged a shot off the leftfield fence to convert both runners and Tatsunami singled to left to cash Gomez in for a yawning 6-1 gap between the two clubs in Chunichi's favor.

     In the sixth, Tanishige took Masashi Date over the leftfield wall for his ninth homer and a 7-1 Dragons lead. Tanishige then oloaded one into the same spot in the seats to go up 8-1.

     The Tigers got two one out singles in the top of the ninth, but that was shortcircuited by a 4-6-3 double play and Imaoka grounded to short to end it.

     Atsushi Kataoka is back off theinjured list and had a 2-4 night to raise his average to .243.

     For Chunichi, Bullet was 1-4 and is at .213. Gomez was 1-3 with two RBIs and an HBP and is at .262.

     For Hanshin, first baseman George Arias was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .268. Leftfielder Derrick White was 0-3 and is at .272.

Pitching Lines:

Hanshin:

Taninaka (L, 4-3)    IP 5.0 PC 96 H 7 HR 0 K 4 BB 3 R 6 ER 6 ERA 3.49
Date                         IP 1.0 PC 14 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.32
Toyama                   IP 1.1 PC   9 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 10.50
A. Itoh                     IP 0.2 PC   9 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.64

Chunichi:

T. Ogasawara         IP 3.2 PC 80 H 7 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.68
Endo (W, 2-0)         IP 1.1 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.03
Shotsu                    IP 2.0 PC 30 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.42
Yamai                      IP 2.0 PC 21 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.38

2B: Arias, Sekimoto, Imaoka 2, Bullet, Gomez, Ibata, Fukudome
HR: Tanishige 2 (10)
RBI: Imaoka, Gomez 2, Tanishigie 4, Tatsunami 2
IBB: Fukudome
HBP: Gomez (Taninaka)
GIDP: Hirashita
LOB: Hanshin 9, Chunichi 3

Season Series: Hanshin 4, Chunichi 6

Game Time: 3:02
Attendance: 37,000
Umpires: Watada (HP), ? (1B), Suginaga (2B), T. Kobayashi (3B)

Kintetsu Wins Ninth in a Row 5-3

     For the first time in eight years, the Kintetsu Buffaloes have won nine in a row, as Sean Bergman went seven solid innings off three run ball on six hits to earn his third victory while the opposition still hasn't learned that you only piss off Norihiro Nakamura when you walk Tuffy Rhodes in front of him and that almost always leads to disaster.
 

     With the score 2-2 and runners on first and a runner on third in the seventh, the Chiba Lotte Marines decided to issue an intentinal walk to Rhodes, which the stocky Nakamura always percieves as an insult. Lotte starter Nathan Minchey threw a 3-1 fastball inside to the righthanded third baseman and Nakamura fought it off by looping it over third for an RBI basehit and a 3-2 lead. DH Kenshi Kawaguchi then seared a double down the rightfield line to recall both Nakamura and Rhodes and a 5-2 advantage.

     The Buffaloes had gotten an instant lead in the first, when second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to right with one out and Rhodes, with his seven year old son Karl Jr. in the stands, put good wood on a first pitch Minchey heater and howitzered it into the leftcenterfield bleachers and it was 2-0 Kintetsu.

     Lotte  deadlocked it a step at a time, though. In the second, Bergman hit leftfielder Derrick May with a pitch. One out later he was forced out on a grounder from third baseman Koichi Hori. Catcher Masaumi Shimizu doubled off the leftfield wall to turn Hori in and make it 2-1.

     An inning later, Lotte centerfielder Saburo Omura went center backscreen for the gyakuten solo and it was even at 2-2.

     After Kintetsu went ahead in the seventh, Lotte made it closer in the home portion. Second baseman Ryosuke Sawai leadoff with a bloop double to left and went to third on a sacrifice. Shimizu flied out to center and Sawai tagged up and hustled in to tighten it to 5-3.

     In the ninth, Lotte started a two out rally that fizzled. Kintetsu closer Akira Okamoto induced a pop out from pinch hitter Tasuku Hashimoto and a flyout to center from Shimizu. Rightfielder Kenji Morozumi singled to right and Omura singled to left. But shortstop Makoto Kosaka grounded to second and Kintetsu's streak of triumphs was sustained.

     When the opposition has walked Rhodes this season, Nakamura is 11-23 with five homers, a .478 mark. Over the last six years, when they have intentionally walked Rhodes to get to Nakamura, he is 3-5 with a walk and two homers, and both times this season have resulted in a long homer and the RBI single. So that tactic doesn't work. All it does is make Nakamura concentrate better. Thanks again to Nikkan Sports for more terrific stats work.

     For Lotte, May was 1-3 with a walk and is at .233.

     For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 2-3 with two RBIs and two walks and is at .279.

Pitching Lines:

Kintetsu:

Bergman (W, 3-1)    IP 7.0 PC 97 H 6 HR 1 K 3 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.32
Yamamoto                IP 0.2 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.19
Otsuka                      IP 0.1 PC   1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
A. Okamoto (S, 12) IP 1.0 PC 16 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.40

Lotte:

Minchey (L, 3-9)    IP 7.0 PC 134 H 8 HR 1 K 4 BB 4 R 5 ER 4 ERA 4.16
Yoshida                   IP 1.1 PC   20 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.00
Fujita                        IP 0.1 PC     5 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.70
K. Yamasaki            IP 0.1 PC     5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.32

E: Yoshioka, Morozumi
SB: Otsuka
2B: Isobe, Kawaguchi, M. Shimizu 2, Sawai
HR: Rhodes (22), S. Omura (2)
RBI: Rhodes 2, N. Nakamura, Kawaguchi, M. Shimizu 2, S. Omura
SF: M. Shimizu
IBB: Rhodes
WP: Minchey
HBP: N. Nakamura (Minchey), May (Bergman)
LOB: Kintetsu 8, Lotte 8

Season Series: Kintetsu 9, Lotte 3

Game Time: 3:08
Attendance: 8,000
Umpires: Kawaguchi (HP), Yamamoto (1B), Akimura (2B), Hirabayashi (3B)

Shibahara Sayonara Single Disappoints Nippon Ham 2-1

     Nippon Ham starter Itsuki Shoda took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth at Fukuoka Dome Tuesday looking for his first pro shutout, but a two out bases loaded single to right from centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara off of reliever Hiroshi Shibakusa scored two for a 2-1 Daiei Hawks sayonara victory. Shuji Yoshida, who has  done yeoman's work in the bullpen this season, was credited with this third win against no losses.

     Shoda had pitched eight shutout innings on six hits, all singles, and had been cruising since giving up a pair of one out knocks in the fifth to outpitch Daiei starter Akichika Yamada, who had his best outing since early April. Yamada was in on short notice since scheduled starter Hayato Terahara came up with a pulled hamstring suffered i