4/5/2004
4/5/2004
| Chang Back on Form in 3-1 Lions Victory Over Orix | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture This
game is a story of two pitchers reverting to form. For Orix Blue Wave starter
Trey Moore, he went 5.2 innings and showed his trademark grittiness after
getting lit up all spring. He wasn't happy with his performance due to
all the walks he issued, but if he is about to hit his stride, there will
be a lot of batting averages taking a digger in the Pacific League. For Lions starter Chang Chia-chiah, who was once projected by MLB scouts as a dead cert rotation mainstay for somebody by now had he not signed to play in Japan, went out there relaxed after inadvertantly meeting Daiei manager Sadaharu Oh in a ramen shop and having a conversation that reportedly relaxed him. Consequently, his changeup was the best it's been in sometime and it made Orix hitters miserable, as the Taiwanese righty limited them to five hits while striking out ten and walking none in a 3-1 victory. Chang began the game striking out the side in the first and basically buzzsawed his way through the Kobe crew's lineup for the first three innings before surrendering an insignificant single to second baseman Koichi Oshima in the fourth. By that time, Chang had been staked to a 1-0 lead on a homer to left by third baseman Hiroshi Hirao, who took Moore into the leftfield bleachers. Moore was basically in control, too, but faltered in
the sixth. Tomoaki Sato walked. One out later, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada
singled to center. Hirao walked to pack the sacks. Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima
lifted a fly ball to right and Sato tagged up and scored. D.H. Takahiro
Sato singled to center to redeem Wada and it was 3-0 Lions.
It was Chang's first win since August second, 2003. With Daisuke Matsuzaka being the lone semi-reliable starter as things stand now, a Chang revival would be huge. But he has to overcome some maturity issues in order to make it happen.
SB: K. Oshima, H.Y. Shibata
Season Series: Orix 0, Seibu 1 Game Time: 3:03
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| Zuleta Three Run Homer Powers Daiei Over Kintetsu 6-4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Osaka After flailing away futilely
in Makuhari over the weekend, the Daiei Hawks returned to the win column
Monday thanks to a five run first inning uprising that resulted in a 6-4
victory over the Kintetsu Buffaloes at Osaka Dome. But it wasn't all sweetness
and light. Hawks starter Toshiya Sugiuchi hurt his back pitching to
first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa in the third and had to leave the game. It is suspected that it won't prove to be serious, but nobody will know for sure until the lefty is examined by a doctor. Jeremy Powell started for Kintetsu and, after being
tattooed in the early going, settled in and stifled the Hawks attack for
a bullpen saving complete game. The Buffaloes, given their pitching situation,
are dependent on that pen, so with the damage already done anyway, Powell's
keeping things manageable showed some major konjo
The first hitter of the match, Daiei centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara, got a fastball up and on the inner half of the plate and got real good wood, propelling it into the rightcenterfield bleachers for an instant 1-0 lead. Munenori Kawasaki walked. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi doubled to rightcenter. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked to load the bases. Catcher Kenji Johjima singled to right to plate two. One out later, DH Julio Zuleta jackhammered a cutter 455 feet into the fifth level in right, a big three run homer in all senses of the word, to make it 5-0. With Powell finding a groove, they had to play small ball for their sixth run in the third. Iguchi used his feet to outrun a ground ball. Matsunaka walked. Powell plunked Johjima. Leftfielder Pedro Valdez grounded to second to bring Iguchi in to expand the disparity to 6-0. Kintetsu then buffeted Sugiuchi a little in the home
segment, as centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to right and
The Buffs posted another run in the fourth when shortstop Masahiro Abe doubled to rightcenter and catcher Tetsuya Matoyama doubled down the leftfield line to make it 6-3 Daiei. In the seventh, Kintetsu DH Fumitoshi Takano singled to center with one out and, one out later, first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa walked. Oh went to the bullpen again, this time for the rookie Mise, who was mugged for a double down the rigtfield line that plated Takano. Oh then brought in Akio Mizuta, who retired seven of the last eight men to turn out the lights. Shibahara's circuit clout was the seventh he launched lifetime at the beginning of the first inning and the second one this season. In the one hole in 2004, he is 4-9, a .444 clip.
SB: M. Abe
Season Series: Daiei 1, Kintetsu 0 Game Time: 3:24
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| Lotte Now Two Games Up on 4-1 Kobayashi Gem | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sapporo Life
must be good for Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine right now.
After getting canned from a New York Mets team that didn't seem to have
any direction whatsoever and spending a year doing commentary, he has become
the black ship that fans in Makuhari and environs have been praying would
return.
Right now, he is solidly docked in first place and the Marines faithful, small in number but rabid in character, are going out of their collective tree at the way he has already turned this drab outfit into a contender. Monday, Hiroyuki Kobayashi wove a six hit, one run tapestry to down the Nippon Ham Fighters 4-1 at Sapporo Dome. Tsutomu Iwamoto accepted responsibility for the adverse outcome for the Fighters, though it actually reduced his ERA to 9.72. Lotte got almost all of their runs at once, as DH Kazuya Fukuura walked in the fourth and first baseman Seung-yeop Lee clocked a fastball up and in for a single to right. Leftfielder Benny Agbayani rifled a shot into the alley in leftcenter to push the runners in on the double. Centerfielder Jun Inoue tripled to rightcenter and Agbayani cakewalked in with a 3-0 lead. Lee then got a 2-2 curve ball that was left right out over the plate in the sixth and he blistered it into the rightcenterfield stands to make it 4-0. Nippon Ham catcher Shinji Takahashi homered to left to open the eighth, but they required a lot more than the one hit they generated from that point on and it turned out as a 4-1 final. Lee had his second three hit
game of the year Monday and even Valentine remarked at how much more relaxed
A reporter asked Valentine what he thought of Tsuyoshi Shinjo. "Well, that uniform looks good on him," he replied, cracking the assembled scribes up. Lotte has now won four straight while Nippon Ham has been behind the eight ball the last three. Can Lotte keep this up? Stay tuned!
2B: Agbayani, Echevarria, Lee
Season Series: Nippon Ham 0, Lotte 1 Game Time: 2:41
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Team Reports
| Daiei | |
| Lefthander Tsuyoshi Wada will indeed start against Nippon Ham on the ninth. He worked out Monday by doing some running and said | that he is ready to go.
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