5/6/2004
5/6/2004
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Team Reports
| Daiei | |
| With the Hawks sporting a 5.33 ERA from the sixth inning on this
season in their losses, team management is reportedly looking at using
lefthander Tsuyoshi Wada as a closer, at least for a little while. Are
they insane? On the other hand, their pen is obviously second rate. Wada,
though, as fine a pitcher as he is, is more suited to starting. If anything,
they should maybe contemplate moving Takahiro Mahara to the pen, as they
had originally planned before spring training began. He has more giddyup
on his fastball than Wada and has both the physical attributes and mental
makeup well suited for that role even though he is only a rookie.
Wada is recovering from a stomach virus. When he was apprised of this, he said that he didn't think he was cut out for it, but he would try to make the best of it. Akio Miztua and Kazuhiro Takeoka may be |
given starts to supplant Wada in the rotation.
Hector Mercado, who the Hawks had hoped would occupy that closer's spot, apparently still isn't ready for prime time and is stuck in the minors. However, with both Toshiya Sugiuchi and Kazumi Saito, who is about to be brought back up, have been awful so far and taking Wada out of the starting staff is a big gamble as a result unless the other two men right themselves. The Hawks sponsor, MC Corporation, will make a donation to Kyushu
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| Seibu | |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka is going to throw an extra day between starts in an attempt to solidfy his mechanics. He has been hammered for 19 runs in his last two times to the mound and hopes this will help him gain some consistency with his release point. He normally has one bullpen session before his next assignment. He is also thought to be considering using his forkball, a pitch he has pretty much abandoned | this season.
The Lions have promoted rookie Satoshi Yamazaki to the big club and
will have him make a relief appearance or two before making a start in
an upcoming game with Daiei.
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| Kintetsu | |
| Reliever Hisashi Aikyo has been sent down and Akira Okamoto has been brought back up after being relegated to the minors due to a bad | spring. He will be used in a setup role.
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| Nippon Ham | |
| Angel Echevarria, after being ejected the other night for arguing a strike three call, was given a reprimand and fined 100,000 yen (about | $950) by the league office Thursday.
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| Orix | |
| Lefthander Trey Moore, who has a terrible ERA but is nonetheless one of the league leaders in wins, reportedly has developed a knuckle ball and may use it in his upcoming start against Daiei. Middle aged MLB fans may remember that Don Sutton messed around with that pitch toward the end ofhis tenure with L.A. and didn't do too well with it. Moreover, it has different mechanical demands than the normal pitching repetoire. He could throw it hard and use it as a changeup if he can get it to move. So we'll see how he does with it. The Japanese | press could also be confusing the term with a knuckle curve ball,
a pitch made famous by Burt Hooton and Mike Mussina.
Makoto Suzuki has been sent down after being hammered regularity.
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