4/04/2004
4/04/2004
| Tigers Sweep Giants in Yomiuri's House 8-5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tokyo The Hanshin Tigers made
some team history Sunday, as they completed a sweep of the Yomiuri Giants
at
Tokyo Dome with an 8-5 victory. It was the first time ever that the Osaka nine had taken its first three tilts of the regular schedule against Japan's most storied organization and it was only the second time in Giants annals that they had gone 0-3 against the same team to kick off a campaign, the only other such occasion being in 1958, when the Kokutetsu Swallows pulled it off. Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi started for Hanshin and was okay,
going six innings of three run ball on five hits, striking
Hiroshi Kisanuki started for Yomiuri and had major
command problems, unable to throw his fastball consistently
Kisanuki walked Tigers centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi
with one out in the first and plunked third baseman Mike
Giants second baseman Toshihisa Nishi pummeled a slider
into the leftfield bleachers to commence the home
In the meantime, Hanshin created a men on first and
second, one out threat in the third, but didn't turn it into
And so it remained until the fifth, when Nishi singled
to left and leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu creamed a slider into
In the eighth, Yomiuri rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi
clotheslined a hanging curve from Makoto Yoshino into
The Giants tacked on one more in the ninth on pinch
hitter Koji Goito's singled to left, a pair of groundouts that
Yomiuri has lost its first three games of the season
six times in its history. The other two times that occurred under
Kiyohara struckout three times in this one to take
over the all time lead in that department with 1713. He also had a
The ill fortune thus far hasn't injured Yomiru's tv
ratings at all. In fact, they are up a tiny fraction over last year's
Kanemoto's other steal was also a swipe of third, that one coming in the third.
E: Kokubo
Season Series : Hanshin 3, Yomiuri 0 Game Time: 3:07
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| Yakult Rookie Kawasahima Roasted by Yokohama 8-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tokyo Backed
by a tape measure three run shot from third baseman Shuichi Murata that
was last tracked by
Russian radar over the Sea of Ohkotsk, Yokohama Bay Stars starter Takashi Saito tossed a beaut of a three hitter over six innings in an 8-1 rout of the Yakult Swallows Sunday at Meiji Jingu Stadium. Swallows rookie Ryo Kawashima made his first pro start and was righteously rocked for five runs in three innings to absorb the loss. The Stars acquired everything
they needed in the first, as shortstop Takuro Ishii dropped one into right
for a single
Yakult scored their only run
of the contest in the bottom half when Saito nailed centerfielder Atsunori
Inaba with a
But Yokohama would increase the
gap between the two sides in the second, as leftfielder Takanori Suzuki
walked
Hirotsugu Maeda was dispatched
to the center of the diamond by Yakult manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu in the
From that point on, the Swallows
never accumulated more than one hit in any inning and bounced into two
double
Murata told reporters after the
game that the homer was the farthest he's ever hit one in his life. He
also indicated
SB: T.N. Suzuki
Season Series: Yokohama 1, Yakult 2 Game Time: 2:50
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| Kawakami Goes All the Way in 11 Inning 3-2 Chunichi Sayonara Squeaker Over Hiroshima | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chunichi skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai offered to take
starter Kenshin Kawakami out of the game at least twice, but
the righthander was using his pitches decently efficiently and he rebuffed Ochiai's proffer to total up a personal high of 157 pitches over 11 innings to notch a 3-2 sayonara victory over the Hiroshima Carp Sunday at Nagoya Dome. It was also the first time he had pitched into extra innings. In addition, it locked up a sweep of the fish, who now join Yomiuri in the Central League cellar. John Bale started for Hiroshima and had his best outing
of his incipient Japanese career, going five innings of two
Bale found himself back on his heels in the first,
as second baseman Masahiro Araki singled to left and stole
But that was halved in the second when Hiroshima rightfielder
Shigenobu Shima connected for his first homer, on a
They then equalized things in the third on a two out
single to center by second baseman Akihiro Higashide, who
The Carp created a nice change in the fourth, as leftfielder
Tomonori Maeda doubled off the centerfield wall and
The Dragons experienced a similar failure in the home
version, as Watanabe walked and Kazuki Inoue singled to
Chunichi had two on with one down in the seventh as
well and saw that opening shut on strikeouts. They would also
So on to the 11th, and catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled
to center and was sacrifired to second. Shortstop
E: T. Maeda, Sheets
Season Series: Hiroshima 0, Chunichi 3 Game Time:
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Team Reports
| Chunichi | |
| 2002 draftee Norberto Semanaka, a rangy hard swinging Brazilan-Japanese
first baseman who is currently toiling in the minors, is working on using
a Sadaharu Oh-style leg kick at the plate. Semanaka's natural style is
rather handsy, which is a good thing, but one can only presume that coaches
have asked him to
make the change to help his timing. At just this side of 20, it will probably still be another couple
of years
|
eye on since first base is unsettled for the Dragons.
And in the complete waste of column inches department, a writer for
Chunichi Sports did a blurb on pitcher Martin Vargas' new cornrows.
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| Yomiuri | |
| Former Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima is bring given drugs to help regulate his heartbeat, according to Sankei Sports. His rehabilitation is getting better and hr is exhibiting greater strength | on his right side, where he still has some residual paralysis. He
is eating regular food. However, he reportedly has problems following
rapid talking. |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Well it wasn't to be for the alma mater of Seattle outfielder Ichiro
Suzuki, as Aikodai Meiden High School lost in the Koshien High School Baseball
Tournament Sunday to Saibi High School by a 6-5 margin. Nevertheless, it
was the best showing ever by the school,
which also produced Yomiuri great Kimiyasu Kudoh. For Saibi, |
which has been in existence for only three years, it is the
fastest in history to seizing a Koshien title after it's opening. They
are also only the second school to win it all their first time advancing
to the tournament.
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