5/17/2004
5/17/2004
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Team Reports
| Hanshin | |
| Manager Akinobu Okada had a talk with leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto about being more aggressive when he was ahead in the count. Kanemoto, who is only hitting .225 with runners in scoring position, needs to quite being so conscious of getting on and continuing rallies and more willing to strike the big blow. | Kanemoto was also fifth on the list of highest taxpaying Japanese
athletes and attributed it to an added signing bonus last season. "Now
fans have even more material to heckle me about," he joked.
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| Chunichi | |
| Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami is enjoying his May, batting .429. He says that his back "has mostly healed" as the Dragons go to Hiroshima for a series against the Carp and hope to climb their way back toward the top spot. Tatsunami was 2-11 in against Hiroshima the last time he played at the Carp homeground, which was a month a | ago. Domingo Guzman will start int he series against the Carp and
when asked what the key is to winning it replied, "I would like to do away
with the fourth inning." Three times this season, Guzman has gotten tattooed
in that frame.
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| Yomiuri | |
| Outfielder Tuffy Rhodes was dinged Monday in Tokyo for a parking
infraction and was discovered to be carrying an expired international driver's
license. So he was also cited for driving without a license. The international
license reportedly lapsed last year.
As is usual custom in Japan, the ticketed party's employer was contacted about the matter and Rhodes was verbally reprimanded by a Giants official. Note that this is all pro forma and due diligence. The Yomiuri ballclub is not actually upset with the former Cub, putting down the incident to Rhodes not knowing the ins and outs of Japanese law. Rhodes himself apologized for the trouble. The Giants will help their outfielder with the procedures necessary for him to soon be mobile again. Former Giants infielder Kazushige Nagashima will take part
in the olympic torch relay, according to Sports Nippon. Nagashima, son
of hall of fame third baseman Shigeo Nagashima, will be the first man to
carry the torch through part of Tokyo on June 6th. A total of 136 runners
will tote it through the Japanese capitol. Nagashima will then coer the
Athens games as a sportscaster. He also took part in
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First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara was the biggest taxpayer among all
of Japan's sports stars in 2003, according to the Japan Revenue Agency,
beating out Norihiro Nakamura and Kazuo Matsui, among others. He shelled
out more than $1.6 million to the national treasury.
"I hope they use it for the good of the country," said the burly slugger. Kiyohara has been the second biggest cash cow for tax authorities among the athletic classes three times previously, two of those times being eclipsed by Ichiro Suzuki. He finished third for the 2002 fiscal year, when Hideki Matsui wrote the biggest check to satisfy his obligations. By the way, because he now spends most of the year living in the U.S., Godzilla Matsui was far down on the list (95th). However, he has been paying into the U.S. coffers bigtime: "I've paid a lot," said the Yankees outfielder. U.S. witholding taxes are much higher in the U.S. than in Japan, which also has lower sales taxes. Number one draft choice Tetsuya Utsumi will start against Yokohama
on the 19th in his regular season pro debut.
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| Yakult | |
| Lefthander Masanori Ishikawa has lost seven straight against Hanshin
with an ERA near 6.00.
Another southpaw, Shugo Fujii, will start a minor league game |
Tuesday as he rehabs his elbow after surgery last year. Team officials
seem to be leaning toward bringing him back up sooner rtahewr than later
if he does well in that outing.
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| Hiroshima | |
| Outfielder Shigenobu Sima is beginning to look like this season's
flash in the pan. He is hitless in his last 14 plate appearances and has
largely stalled overall with the stick in May, the effect of being pounded
relentlessly inside.
Hiroshima coaches are having onetime closer Katsuhiro Nagakawa |
doing a lot of work to strengthen his legs. He will make some appearances
in some upcoming minor league games, but it appears that he won't be back
with the big club for another ten days or so at the earliest.
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| Miscellaneous | |
| Former Kintetsu pitcher Akinori Otsuka, now with San Diego, was
called by Sankei Sports to inform him of the passing of ex-teammate Takahisa
Suzuki (see obituary section). "Really? He did a lot for me," he reacted.
Former Kintetsu and Orix skipper Akira Ogi, who sent So Taguchi, Hideo
Nomo, Masato Yoshii and Ichiro Suzuki to MLB, offered that he will never
forget that big hit Suzuki came up with in 1988 that almost enabled the
Buffs to grab a pennant on the last day of the season. I played against
him quite a bit and he was a fearless player. It's really too bad."
The Yomiuri Giants are the top salaried ballclub for the tenth year running. Their players average about $1.2 million apiece, though that might be misleading since foreign superstarts Roberto Petagine and Tuffy Rhodes make $15.5 million just between the two of them. |
Their overall payroll is reportedly in the $40 million range. Yokohama
is second with an average of around $900,000. Hanshin is third with an
average of around $850,000 per player. The average for all 12 Japanese
pro teams is in the neighborhood of $675,000 each.
Hiroshima's total payroll was the lowest of any team in either league,
Meiji University pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba passed that university's alumnus Senichi Hoshino on the all time team wins list Monday when he tossed a complete game for his 24th victory in Tokyo Big Six University League action. It also clinched the league title for Meiji, its first in 12 seasons (they use a two season per year formula in Japanese college ball) and 31st overall. |