Yakult Swallows Home Plate
Japanese Baseball News
Archives: August 1998

August 11, 1998:

Thank you for coming back!

Because of computer problems last week, I was unable to update this page or any other part of this web site. Please let me apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, my PC contracted a computer virus and the only way to fix the problem was to erase the hard drive and reinstall all the software. It's a learning experience I hope none of you have to go through. I will resume updating the following pages on the dates listed below:
August 11: Japanese Baseball News
August 12: Trivia Quiz
August 16: Scoreboard, Pitching, Batting, and Foreign Player Stats.

Giants pitcher Galvez suspended

One day after Yomiuri Giants pitcher Balvino Galvez threw a baseball at Central League umpire Atsushi Kittaka, the Dominican hurler received a suspension for the remainder of the 1998 baseball season.

"His reckless behavior and complete lack of sportsmanship has offended us all," said Central League President Sumiko Takahara in a prepared statement. "From today, Balvino Galvez will be suspended until the end of the season."

"Our intention is not to destroy his career," said Takahara. "We want him to reflect on his behavior and from next season we want him to display good sportsmanship."

The incident: Galvez, who had disagreed with several earlier calls by home plate umpire Kittaka, was ejected in the sixth inning of Friday's game against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium. Before giving up a solo home run to rookie Hanshin outfielder Tomochika Tsuboi, Galvez shook his head in dismay at a low inside fastball that was called as ball, but which he believed should have been a third strike.

Giants catcher Shinichi Murata, quoted in the Nikkan Sports, claimed that Kittaka made the correct call: "It was a ball."

Tsuboi hit the next pitch into the right field bleachers.

It was the sixth run that the Tigers had scored that game. Yomiuri shortstop Masahiro Kawai attempted to calm the struggling right-handed hurler with a pat on the back.

Angered at what he considered the latest in a string of bad calls, Galvez began to argue with Kittaka, who had gone out to the mound to give the pitcher a new ball. Several of his teammates, including fellow-Dominican Mariano Duncan, attempted to restrain the irate pitcher before Yomiuri manager Shigeo Nagashima led Galvez, who appeared to be cooperating, back to the dugout. Most of the other Giants players had begun to resume to their fielding positions.

Approaching the dugout steps with Duncan, Galvez casually turned around and threw the baseball he had been holding toward the mound where the umpires had gathered. The ball, apparently thrown at full velocity, missed Kittaka by roughly five feet and crashed into the chain link fence which separates spectators from the left field foul line.

Kittaka immediately ran toward the Yomiuri dugout and ejected the pitcher. Galvez, in reply, attempted to protest the decision in a manner without need of translation. With fists. Virtually the entire team took to the field in an attempt to hold Galvez back. In the scuffle, the flailing pitcher accidentally elbowed Yomiuri reserve catcher Kosuke Yoshihara in the face, leaving his fallen teammate bleeding from the nose and mouth.

No Tigers players participated in the incident.

After order was restored and Galvez banished from the field, Hanshin went on to defeat the Giants 6-1.

Verdict and reaction: After meeting the embattled Giants pitcher the following day, Yomiuri team representative Hiroyuki Yamamura announced that the team had decided to suspend Galvez indefinitely and request that he leave Japan. "First, he has to apologize to the fans," Yamamura stated. "In the interest of Japanese pro baseball, we chose this penalty."

Later on Saturday, CL president Takahara formally announced the league's decision to suspend Galvez for the remainder of the season. Japanese Pro Baseball Commissioner Hiromori Kawashima quickly lent his support.

The punishment given to Galvez is in stark contrast to the verbal warning given to Chunichi Dragons first baseman Yasuaki Taiho and manager Senichi Hoshino after assaulting American umpire Mike DiMuro last year. Both leagues have since demonstrated a growing intolerance toward attacks on umpires.

"It is an appropriate decision, " Kawashima said. "What Galvez did in front of the fans is shameful."

Giants players were also quick to comment on the ordeal. Said Kawai, "As a player, I am very sorry about what he did."

"The penalty is too strict," claimed Yomiuri catcher Murata, "it's the same as being fired from a company."

However, manager Nagashima agreed with the suspension despite its impact on the team: "We [the Giants] are going to have a problem with lack of pitchers. But what he did hurt the fans so we have to obey the penalty."

Galvez, who until Friday was the Giants' top active pitcher, has tallied a 9-7 record while compiling a 3.21 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 137 innings his year. Korean ace Sung Min Cho, the best starting pitcher in Japan before the All-Star break, is currently on the disabled list. Believing both Galvez and Cho would provide all the imported help the team would need, Yomiuri released injury-plagued lefty Eric Hillman earlier this season.

Friday's incident was not the Dominican's first brush with controversy this season.

After leading the Giants to a complete game victory over the BayStars at Yokohama Stadium on May 12, Galvez refused to participate in the post-game hero interview because he claimed the umpires had been making poor calls throughout the evening.

On April 16, Galvez nearly started a brawl when he beaned Chunichi shortstop Jeong Bum Lee in the head. According the Central League rules, which state that when a batter is hit in the head, the pitcher must leave the game, Galvez was ejected. A week later, he participated in a bench-clearing fight at Hiroshima Stadium after hitting a Carp batter.

Galvez currently leads both Japanese leagues with nine "deadballs" (hit batters).

The fallout: The Galvez incident invites easy comparison to last year's assault by Chunichi Dragons Yasuaki Taiho and manager Senichi Hoshino on American umpire Mike DiMuro. In addition to Mainichi Daily News columnist Dave Wiggins, several others have noted the vastly different punishments meted out to the offenders. While Galvez received a half-season suspension (and was later fined roughly 40 million yen -- about $300,000 US -- by the Giants), Hoshino and Taiho were given verbal warnings.

Why the discrepancy?

According to some, it's simply because of a double-standard in the way that foreign and Japanese players are treated. And there may be some merit to that argument.

But more likely, it's because the DiMuro incident finally prompted the baseball powers to take a firmer stance against umpire abuse. Their failure to back up DiMuro caused enough bad press and international condemnation, that it finally became a legitimate idea to protect umpires.

After DiMuro's departure last year, several managers were fined for arguing with umps, among them Seibu's Osamu Higashio, Kintetsu's Kyosuke Sasaki, and Hiroshima's Toshiyuki Mimura. In terms of what has happened since DiMuro left, Galvez's punishment is hardly out of line, particularly considering the offense.

August 2, 1998: Two days after Galvez blew up, the Tigers and Giants got into a minor brawl in which several players and coaches were involved. CL President Takahara, flexing her new-found muscles, promptly suspended and fined Giants batting coach Shiro Takegami and Tigers outfield coach Tadayoshi Okuma. Both coaches were given three-game suspensions and 300,000 yen fines.

August 11, 1998: The Daily Yomiuri reports that Giants general Manager Hiroyuki Yamamuro submitted a letter of Central League officials complaining that home plate umpire Atsushi Kittaka "had provoked the hurler in the July 31 game which led to Galvez throwing the ball at the umpire after being pulled from the game."

Was Galvez provoked? Did he do the wrong thing for the right reasons? Was his punishment too harsh or too lenient? If he were Japanese, would he have received the same suspension and fine? Will this change the way Japanese umpires are treated in the future? Will the Giants retain him for next year?

A look around the leagues:
Central League:

BayStars: Living up to their name, the BayStars are on top of the world. Winners of six of their last seven games, Yokohama has compiled a 18-6 win-loss record since the beginning of July. Their most recent win, on August 9, was a surprising obliteration of the Hiroshima Carp at Fukuyama Stadium. Tied 6-6 in the fifteenth inning, the BayStars pounded out eight runs to win the game 14-6. With better pitching than they've had in years, the BayStars have overwhelmed their opponents with a "machine gun" offense -- they don't hit a lot of home runs and they have little speed on the base paths, but Yokohama now holds the best team batting average (.286) in Japanese pro baseball. A big part of that has been Toshio Haru who earned July MVP honors by batting .416 with 15 RBIs last month. On August 5, closer Kazuhiro Sasaki posted his record-breaking 194th career save.

Dragons: Keeping pace behind the BayStars, Chunichi has won five of their last eight games. Despite a league best 3.28 ERA, the Dragons appear poised to fade. Their offense has been very weak all year and their starting pitching has shown some cracks. After dominating fellow rookie Yoshinobu Takahashi of the Giants all year, Kenshin Kawakami took the loss on August 9 as the Yomiuri favorite son finally took Kawakami deep. Despite the absence of Dong Yol Sun, who has been resting for most of the past three weeks, the Chunichi bullpen has held up very well. But that may not last for long as the Dragons recently called up Samson Lee, who compiled a 10.80 ERA in six relief appearances earlier this season.

Giants: The Giants have gotten plenty of headlines the past two weeks, but none of them good. With the loss of Balvino Galvez for the rest of the season (see top of page), the Giants currently have no foreign pitchers "bad news since the Japanese starters Masumi Kuwata and Masaki Saito have been erratic all year. Mariano Duncan received a verbal warning (some papers reported that he had also been fined) for accusing the Giants management of playing "Stupid baseball." Duncan, according to the Nikkan Sports and Tochu Sports Shimbun, also smashed a mirror in the Yomiuri locker room during his tirade. Meanwhile, the Giants now have a 47-46 win-loss record, ten and a half games behind Yokohama.

Swallows: Although the Swallows got off to a terrible start this season, they're heading for a respectable finish. Since June 1, Yakult has won 26 games while losing 19, and they are now just two games behind the sinking Giants. As their team ERA has fallen to 3.78, third best in Japan, much of their recent success has been due to their starting pitching. Both Tomohito Ito and Kenjiro Kawasaki have sub-3.00 ERAs. Import Mark Acre (0-1) has now compiled a 1.60 ERA in seven games but is suffering from lack of run support. Though not know for his clutch-hitting, reserve outfielder Mitsuru Manaka has helped the Swallows win several recent games and is now leading the Central League with six triples. Dwayne Hosey (.255, seven home runs) is slowly being phased out of the Swallows line-up while on Sunday newcomer Eric Anthony (.059) finally collected his first hit in seven games.

Carp: The Carp are sinking fast and while a lot of their bad luck has to do with pitching (a CL bottom-rung 4.11 ERA), their offense has had a lot of trouble too. After going more than a month without a roundtripper, clean-up hitter Akira Eto belted his eighteenth home run on August 7. Outfielder Koichi Ogata, normally the league-leader in stolen bases, has been playing below expectations since returning from the disabled list. Now fifteen games out of first place, the Carp are beginning to experiment with alternate players, particularly their Dominicans. While speedy outfielder Timoniel Perez (.278, four home runs) has been a semi-regular player all season, this past week Carp Manager Toshiyuki Mimura moved him into the lead-off spot. Outfielder Alejandro Quezada, who last month was named MVP for the minor league All-Star game, has gotten more playing time while pitcher Felix Perdomo recently made his first appearance of the season for the top team.

Tigers: On August 11, the Daily Yomiuri reported that the Tigers have taken Alonzo Powell off their varsity roster. This could mean several things: 1) the Tigers (who now have a 33-57 record, 23 games out of first place) have finally realized they have no chance of winning the CL flag and are therefore going to try out some of their younger players; 2) Desi Wilson, who has been on the Hanshin minor league team since the beginning of the season and who has been tearing up the farm recently, may finally get a shot with the top team; 3) the Tigers are considering whether or how to release Powell or buy out his contract -- currently he and Hanshin officials are meeting to decide his fate. Meanwhile, Dave Hansen has been on a hot streak recently, clubbing four home runs in the last two weeks.

Pacific League:

Fighters: Their recent road trip has taken a toll on the Fighters as they've dropped six of their last nine games. The Fighters still have the best pitching and hitting in the league and once they get back to Tokyo Dome this week, things should start looking up. Currently, Nippon Ham has a 32-12 record at home, but only a 24-24 win-loss record on the road. On August 6, Nigel Wilson hit three home runs, one completely out of Kita-Kyushu Stadium, against the Hawks. The Fighters are currently the only team in the league which has scored more runs (510) than they have allowed (394).

Buffaloes: The hottest team in the Pacific League at the moment, the Buffaloes have been gaining ground for the last two weeks. While designated hitter Phil Clark (.330 average, 20 home runs) has gone on a hitting spree, Tuffy Rhodes (.257, 14) has fallen into his worst slump in three years. Oddly, while the Buffaloes have been surging in the standings, most of their team stats are less impressive: 4.11 ERA (fourth in the league) and .266 batting average (tied for fourth). Moreover, opponents have outscored Kintetsu by a 408-394 margin.

Lions: Predicted earlier this season to go all the way, the Lions are now stalled in third place with little sign that they intend to move up. Though the team doesn't have much power -- especially since Domingo Martinez has fallen into a slump recently -- they've got plenty of speed 101 steals, a good .272 batting average and a strong 3.85 ERA (second best in the PL). The Lions may have a lot going for them, but they've been unable to translate their talent into runs. Reliever Denney Tomori earned the league's July pitching MVP after compiling one win and four saves in eight games while allowing no earned runs.

Hawks: Winning just three of their last nine games, the future doesn't look too promising for Daiei. Their team pitching is the second worst in the league (4.14 ERA), and their offense has been sputtering for the past few weeks. While Luis Lopez had recently raised his batting average to .300, he appears to be the only foreign player who has a future with the team. Brian Wilson remains stuck on the farm while both Ryan Thompson and Ryan Hancock have returned to the United States to undergo medical examinations. It's not known when they will return.

BlueWave: Having long since dropped out of the hunt for the PL flag, the only thing for Orix fans to get excited about is outfielder Ichiro Suzuki who is currently batting .393 and earned his record-breaking seventh monthly MVP award in June. Of slightly lesser interest is Troy Neel who clubbed two home runs on Sunday, bringing his season total up to 18 -- one roundtripper behind teammate Yasuo Fujii. Last week, the BlueWave demoted Willie Fraser and filled his spot on the top team with Mark Mimbs, who the team brought to Japan last month. In his first appearance Mimbs earned a win despite giving up five runs.

Marines: The Marines are a really strange team this year. They have the third-best team ERA (3.87), and are second in batting (.273). They've hit 76 home runs (fourth) and, over the course of the season, they have only been outscored by a four run margin (392-388). Virtually all of their pitching and batting stats are better than second-place Kintetsu, yet the Marines still sit in the cellar with a 37-52 win-loss record, 17.5 games behind Nippon Ham. Much of the problem has to do with a bullpen that has been highly erratic. The addition of reliever Brian Warren (0.00 ERA in nine relief appearances) has helped somewhat. Julio Franco has pulled himself out of a slump and is now batting .302 while injured outfielder Mark Carreon has returned to America. It's not known when or if Carreon will return to the Marines.

August 18, 1998

Seeing more than just a game in Hiroshima

Just three hours after finishing last week's news page for this web site, my wife and I departed on a four-day trip through Western Japan. Along the way, we saw and experienced a few things which might be of interest to the readers of this page.

We left from Yokohama Station shortly after midnight on August 11. Since one of our goals was to travel as cheaply as possible, we had gotten some special tickets from Japan Railways which would allow us to travel as far as we wanted on local trains within a 24-hour period for 2,500 yen (about $15). It's quite a bargain, but to reach our destination, Hiroshima, it meant traveling for sixteen straight hours. And that gave us a lot of time to read, play cards, sleep and (since we're married) argue.

Since Yuka (the wife mentioned above) decided to sleep most of the way, that ruled out most of our options, so I spent most of the trip reading. Arriving at a small station just outside Nagoya at 7:30 AM, I picked up all the local English language newspapers and also a copy of the Japanese-language Nikkan Sports.

In the Daily Yomiuri that morning, there was a story that Kip Gross had begun throwing again for the Fighters, but that Nippon Ham skipper Toshiharu Ueda did not expect Gross to return to the team's active roster until "the fall." In addition to speculating about Alonzo Powell being taken off Hanshin's active roster, the Japan Times printed an article about the questionable conduct of Atsushi Kittaka, the Central League umpire who, according to the Yomiuri Giants, provoked Balvino Galvez into throwing a ball at him.

After a brief lunch stop in Kobe, we arrived in Hiroshima around 4:30 PM. Since we had about ninety minutes until the game started, we decided to forgo the streetcars and take the twenty-fine minute walk to Hiroshima Stadium -- which was really easy to do since all we had to do was follow the trolley tracks.

Unlike Tokyo and Yokohama, Hiroshima is not a wealthy town. The Mitsubishi and Mazda factories form the bedrock of the city's industrial economy. In port towns like Yokohama and Kobe, you can feel the international atmosphere -- English signs, an abundance of foreign-language newspapers, the presence of McDonalds on the main drags, streets cleaned as if to make a good impression on visitors from abroad. Those features are somewhat less evident as you walk along Hiroshima's main street, Jonan Dori. Also, in the faces of the people you pass on the street, there's less awe that a foreigner is sharing their sidewalk. In two days, not one person tried to practice their English on me. If the atmosphere is somewhat more insular than Japan's larger cities, the people are also less pretentious, more straightforward. It was refreshing.

Before arriving at the ballpark, we stopped by a Lawson convenience store and filled our backpacks with beer and sandwiches, a good thing considering the lack of palatable food inside the stadium. Fortunately, that was about the only shortcoming of the park we could find.

Built in 1957, Hiroshima Civic Stadium is the third oldest ballpark still in regular use. Shortly after the Carp began winning pennants in the mid-1970s an upper deck was added which increased the park seating capacity to 32,000. Around the stadium is a great view of the mountains which ring Hiroshima and the buildings that surround the park. Beyond the outfield scoreboard, we saw the black spherical roof of the Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium and behind the right-field deck fans can see the metal framework of the A-bomb Dome.

Featuring an all-dirt infield and natural grass outfield, the park reflects its age. The only concession to modernity is a full-color scoreboard.

Our seats for that night's game were in the upper deck, directly behind home plate. Since it was a little crowded in that area, we decided to move about thirty feet down the right field foul line. The view was excellent and since my wife brought a borrowed video camera, we got some nice pictures.

The game turned out to be a tight pitchers' duel between Yakult right-hander Mark Acre and Carp relief ace-turned-starter Shinji Sasaoka. The Swallows drew first blood with a run in the fourth inning, and until he was pulled out of the game in the top of the sixth inning for a pinch-hitter, it looked like Acre (1.39 ERA in eight games) was finally going to earn his first win. But that hope disappeared when Hiroshima left-fielder Tomoaki Kanemoto drilled a solo home run over the center field fence in the eighth inning to tie the game. But when Swallows first-baseman Eric Anthony answered back with solo home run in the top of the ninth, the Swallows jumped ahead for good. As one of the approximately 25 people happy at the outcome of the game -- few fans of other teams make the journey to Hiroshima -- I decided to quickly exit the park. Yuka offered no objection.

Since we hadn't made any hotel reservations, we decided to look for a "love" hotel. Perhaps a little explanation is in order.

In Japan, land is scarce and living quarters are small. Often parents and children sleep on the same futon while grandparents occupy an adjacent room separated by a thin paper wall. With virtually no privacy at home, it's no wonder that hotels catering to couples looking for privacy sprang up in every city. To be sure, not all the patrons are married. Not many Japanese teenagers have cars with back seats and the hotels offer a discreet place for adults to carry on extramarital affairs. But for couples who are traveling, love hotels have several benefits -- they're much cheaper than business hotels, they're clean, and they're fun. Soundproof walls are the norm, and most rooms come with television, VCR, karaoke machine and video games. Some of the more expensive places also feature hot tubs, swimming pools and Greco-Roman motifs.

After wandering around Hiroshima for about fifteen minutes, we spotted the unmistakable sign of love hotels in the vicinity: neon. The first one we stopped by (Hotel Passion) had a reasonably-priced room, and since we were tired of walking around, we took it. Except for the sex toy vending machine next to the TV, it was pretty much your standard hotel room. After watching TV for a while we turned off he lights and went to sleep. Eventually.

Check out time was 10:00 AM, which gave us eight hours before game time. After a light breakfast at Mr. Donut, we headed for Peace Park. We hadn't really discussed it, but I knew Yuka wanted to see the A-bomb memorial. Her father had been a teenager working in a factory in Nagasaki when the that city received a nuclear delivery. Yuka was born twenty-five years later, and as a child, her mother brought her to Hiroshima to show her what her father had gone through since he never really talked about the experience. But now, as an adult, she wanted to see it again.

For myself, I had a grandfather who spent nearly two years in a German POW camp while the other fought in Guadacanal. Naturally, I was brought up in a family that had a different outlook on Hiroshima. Had the war not ended quickly, my one grandfather might have died invading Japan. My mother wouldn't have been born nor would I. Terrible, yes, but if the bomb ended the war quickly, it was the right thing to do. After touring the memorial neither Yuka nor I had much to say. Instead we talked about the gray sky and the drops of rain that had begun to fall.

After lunch, the rain continued and after walking the three blocks to Hiroshima Stadium, we waited until 3:00 PM when the game was officially canceled. Our train wasn't due to leave until midnight so we spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around Hondori, a covered mall with scores of shops in the downtown area. After meeting up with a friend who had returned to Hiroshima to visit his family during the summer holidays, we went to Yakyudori, a local yakitori (Japanese shish kebab) shop with a baseball theme.

A three-story restaurant plastered with autographs and pictures of Carp players, Yakyudori offers more than forty varieties of yakitori. If you have a chance to stop by, make sure to order the "Kanemoto" -- sliced green peppers stuffed with grilled chicken. You can find Yakyudori one block south-west of the Fukuya Department store in central Hiroshima.

A look around the leagues:
Central League:

BayStars: With the best batting and pitching in the Central League, the BayStars are beginning to look inevitable. But currently, they hold an unspectacular 5-8 win-loss record against second-place Chunichi. With more than a dozen games between the two teams left this season, and the Dragons trailing by just four games, a lot can happen.

Dragons: Though their offense still looks anemic, the Dragons got a big boost to their pitching staff with the promotion of Samson Lee last week. Though he was bombed out of several games in May, Lee pitched six nearly perfect innings on August 13 to earn his first win of the season. Speculation has begun that injured shortstop Jeong Bum Lee (no relation to Samson) will return to the Chunichi line-up in September. Meanwhile, Leo Gomez (.273, 19 home runs) has been on a hot streak after struggling through the opening months of the season. Virtually the team's entire offense, Gomez has his almost one-third of the team's home runs.

Giants: Owner Tsuneo Watanabe has already announced that the Giants have no chance of winning the CL flag, so the only remaining question is if a second straight losing record will prompt manager Shigeo Nagashima's dismissal. Writing in the Asahi Evening News, Koichi Nakagawa recently laid out the case for dumping Nagashima. According to Nakagawa, Giants reliever Takahito Nomura is an excellent reliever who usually gives up a few walks as soon as he enters a game but manages to get three outs before anyone scores. But Nagashima, who evidently hasn't done his homework, has been pulling Nomura before he gets anyone out. Despite all the evidence of managerial malpractice, the Giants will likely pin the blame on imports Balvino Galvez (who finally left Japan last Friday two weeks after being suspended for the remainder of the season) and Mariano Duncan. Last Thursday, Duncan reportedly fell in his bathtub and was subsequently taken off Yomiuri's active roster.

Swallows: After getting clobbered all year by the BayStars, the Swallows finally struck back, winning two of three against Yokohama at Jingu stadium last weekend. Though their offense is still stuck in neutral the team has gotten great pitching from Tomohito Ito, Mark Acre (1.39 ERA), Kazuhisa Ishii (averaging 11.11 strikeouts per nine inning game) and Kenjiro Kawasaki (leading the league in wins).

Carp: Hiroshima announced on August 12 they would not renew the contract of manager Toshiyuki Mimura. Apparently, they also plan to shuffle a lot of the coaches around. There's also a rumor that the team may retire aging lefty Yutaka Ono (who won the league ERA title last year) and make him a pitching coach. Although Mimura is currently one of the better managers in Japan, Hiroshima's current fifth-place standing has much to do with the decision.

Tigers: Hanshin has lost twelve games in a row as they continue their annual "death march" road trip (every August the Tigers play two to three weeks on the road while their home park is used for the annual summer high school baseball tournament). Now that the realization that they aren't going to win a pennant has set in, the team recently released Alonzo Powell on waivers in order to give minor league outfielder Desi Wilson a chance to play on the team's varsity squad. On August 12, Desi Wilson made his debut with the Hanshin varsity team and he's now batting .285 with two RBIs (in four games, seven at bats).

Pacific League:

Fighters: The Fighters announced last week that import Kip Gross, who left the team in March to have arm surgery, is now throwing again, but probably won't be ready to pitch until this fall. Meanwhile the team has gone on a five game losing streak and hold a dwindling 5.5 game lead over the Buffaloes. Designated hitter Nigel Wilson is currently leading the Pacific league in home runs and RBIs.

Buffaloes: Phil Clark and Tuffy Rhodes continue moving in opposite directions. While Rhodes has seen his batting average slide to .254, Clark is now hitting .326 while leading the PL with 35 doubles and 227 total bases. Knuckleballer Rob Mattson came through with another strong performance on August 15. But despite pitching a complete game while only allowing two runs, Mattson took the loss.

Lions: Stalled in third place, seven games behind Nippon Ham, the Lions have shown little fight since the all-star break. The Lions recently announced that their plans to play two pre-season games against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays next season have been canceled due to scheduling conflicts.

Hawks: In a week that saw both Kenji Jojima and Luis Lopez receive one-game suspensions for charging opposing pitchers, the only bright spot for the Hawks occurred on August 16 when recently promoted pitcher Brian Williams struck out eleven Nippon Ham batters while leading Daiei to a 2-0 victory. The Hawks now have a 49-49 record, due largely to an erratic pitching staff and the absence of power-hitter Hiroki Kokubo.

BlueWave: With no hopes left of capturing a PL flag, all Orix eyes have turned to Ichiro. Though flirting with the .400 barrier last week, Ichiro pulled his average as high as .395 before falling to .388. Ichiro now has 150 hits and is on pace to hit 215 -- five more than the single-season record he set four years ago.

Marines: Mark Warren recently gave up a run which ended his scoreless streak at ten games. Lotte Shortstop Makoto Kosaka (30 steals) is two stolen bases away from taking over the league lead from Seibu's Kazuo Matsui. To date, the Marines have scored 422 runs and allowed 422 yet have a dismal 41-54 win-loss record.

August 25, 1998

Giants catcher Murata's un-heroic remarks

The Daily Yomiuri reported last week that Giants catcher Shinichi Murata's nationally televised post-game comments on August 16 drew over 300 angry phone calls to the team's parent company.

Selected as the game MVP for hitting a three-run home run and driving in a total of five runs, Murata said during the subsequent "hero interview": "I would have been called 'baka' and 'chon' [by the other players], if I and only grounded out."

While "baka" generally means stupid, "chon" is a derogatory name for Koreans residing in Japan, noted the Kyodo News wire service. Reportedly, Murata used the epithets twice his his comments.

Unmentioned in the Daily Yomiuri was whether Murata's comments were accurate, in terms of whether Giants players do routinely exchange ethnic slurs on the bench. Yomiuri ace pitcher Sung Min Cho, currently on the disabled list, was born in Korea.

The remarks and the swift negative reaction reflects the historical antagonism between Korea and Japan.

Although the Giants, according to team general manager Hiroyuki Yamamuro, "severely reprimanded" Murata for his comments and apologized to television viewers, the incident is yet another publicity disaster for Japan's most popular team. Earlier this year, Yomiuri pitcher Balvino Galvez received a half-season suspension for throwing a ball at Central League umpire Atsushi Kittaka.

Hall of Fame pitcher Murayama dies

August 23 -- After a three-year battle with colon cancer, former Hanshin Tigers pitcher Minoru Murayama died at a Kobe hospital on Sunday morning. He was 61.

A three-time winner of Japan's top pitching honor, Murayama earned his first Sawamura Award in 1959 while compiling a league-leading 1.19 ERA with 294 strikeouts in 292 innings. He also took the prize in 1965 and 1966 when in both years he led the Central League in wins and strikeouts.

Playing his entire fourteen-season career with the Tigers (1959-72), Murayama compiled a lifetime 222-147 win-loss record with 2271 strikeouts and a 2.09 ERA. In 1970, the right-hander compiled a record 0.98 ERA, the lowest mark since Japan's two-league system was founded two decades earlier.

Also managing the Tigers the last three years of his pitching career, Murayama led Hanshin to second-place finishes in 1970 and '72. Including a second stint managing the team from 1988 to '89, Murayama compiled a 310-321 win-loss record at the helm.

Told a year ago that he had cancer, Murayama has been hospitalized since May. Keeping his father's condition secret, 36-year-old Shinji Murayama told reporters, "My father was very optimistic and he always said, 'I'm going to get better, so don't tell anyone I'm in the hospital.'"

"My father was usually able to come home on weekends," said the younger Murayama, "but this week he got worse."

Elected to Japan's Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993, Murayama will most likely be remembered for giving up a game-winning "sayonara" home run to Giants third baseman Shigeo Nagashima in 1959. It was the first game ever attended by Japan's imperial family.

Yokohama High School pitcher leads
teams to Koshien championship

August 23 -- Pitching only the twenty-second no-hitter in the eighty year old National High School Summer Baseball Championship, Yokohama right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka led his team to 3-0 victory over Kyoto Seisho at Koshien Stadium on Saturday.

Seventeen-year-old Matsuzaka, now highly coveted by professional baseball scouts, endured an extraordinary workload, throwing over 500 pitches in three complete games and one relief appearance in the final four days of the tournament.

A look around the leagues
Central League:

BayStars: After riding a three-to-four game lead over the Chunichi Dragons for most of the past week, the BayStars played an important two-game series against their closest rivals last weekend, and when the dust settled, Yokohama's lead had fallen to two games. The BayStars have lost seven of their last ten games. Yokohama's trump card, however, is that they have 39 games left in the season while the Dragons have just 33, which gives the BayStars a little more breathing room. On the other hand, Chunichi has won ten of sixteen games against Yokohama, and the two teams will meet on eleven more occasion. If recent history is any guide, that gives the Dragons a slight edge. Even if the BayStars fail in their quest for the CL flag, several of their players are poised to take individual honors. Kazuhiro Sasaki has earned virtually every relief record in the books and he'll surely finish the season with the most saves and save points. Pitchers Takeo Kawamura, Daisuke Miura and Hiroki Nomura are all potential Sawamura Award candidates -- the award usually goes to the top pitcher who has logged over 200 hundred innings and collected fifteen wins, a .750 winning percentage. No BayStars batters have a realistic chance of winning the home run crown, but Takanori Suzuki (.338), Takuro Ishii (315) and Bobby Rose (.312) are among the top four hitters in the league and all have a decent chance of seizing the league's batting title.

Dragons: Winning two-thirds of a three-game series last weekend, the Dragons have just pulled two games behind front-running Yokohama and are putting the heat on the stalled BayStars. Part of the reasons has been that the Dragons imports have recently been playing in overdrive. On Sunday, Leo Gomez (.276, 21 home runs) collected two walks and scored one run. In each of the team's previous ten games, the Puerto Rican third baseman has driven in at least one run for the Dragons. Revitalized after some time off, reliever Dong Yol Sun (0.98 ERA, 24 save points) has been bearing down on his opponents. Last week, the Korean ace earned a win and two saves while striking out nine of the eighteen batters he faced. While Samson Lee, who left Korea to join the Chunichi this year, has yet to erase his awful start in May, his last two performances have been quite credible. Several of the team's Japanese players are also having career-years, including starter Shigeki Noguchi (2.03 ERA, 12-5) who is the most likely candidate to win this year's Sawamura Award.

Giants: Aside from the "drama" of whether Yomiuri will fire manager Shigeo Nagashima after leading the team to two-straight disappointing seasons, the Giants haven't much to look forward to this year. Two of the team's top starting pitchers are out of action, and the Giants have been straddling the .500 mark for the last few weeks. Now 8.5 games out of first and with only 30 games left -- and with a mangled starting rotation and no bullpen -- the Giants can kiss this year's pennant chances goodbye. In the meantime, fans can rally around slugger Hideki Matsui as he seeks to win his first home run crown -- he now has 28. Unless Chunichi's Kenshin Kawakami pitches a no-hitter in the next few weeks, Yoshinobu Takahashi appears destined to win the CL Rookie of the Year award.

Swallows: Though pulling within one game of .500 last week, the Swallows just haven't been able to recover from their rough start in April. Holding a 47-51 record, twelve games behind Yokohama, Yakult's best hope is to finish the season with a winning record. Although rumors have been swirling for months, this may be the year manager Katsuya Nomura and the Swallows part company (look for Nomura to turn up with Lotte in two years). While Mark Acre (2.08 ERA in 56 1/3 innings) may survive the inevitable purge, Dwayne Hosey and Eric Anthony are goners. Also at question is whether first-time free agent Tetsuya Iida will decide to test the waters or re-sign with Yakult -- the team may decide to jettison the popular gold-glove center fielder in order to make room for Mitsuru Manaka (now leading the league with six triples), Atsunori Inaba, Kota Soejima and whatever foreign outfielder the Swallows sign for next year. Individual prizes will be scarce for the Swallows this year, but "King of K" Kazuhisa Ishii will lead the CL in strikeouts (he now has 182, an average of 11.09 per nine-innings), Kenjiro Kawasaki may finish with the most wins, and Tomohito Ito has a shot at the ERA crown.

Carp: With manager Toshiyuki Mimura on his way out, Hiroshima probably won't improve much on it's current 47-56 win-loss record. Now 14.5 games out of the hunt, the Carp are already thinking about next year. Since Hiroshima seldom selects managers from outside the organization, look for one of the team's coaches to take over the helm next year. Currently leading the CL with 147 hits, 31 doubles, 241 total bases and a .339 average, Tomonori Maeda is looking to earn his first CL batting crown this year. But that's Hiroshima's last hurrah.

Tigers: After ending their twelve game losing streak last Tuesday, the Tigers took won five of their next six games. Too little, too late. At 38-64, Hanshin is already 23 games out and are virtually assured of a last-place finish this year. Although the team had previously pledged to stand by manager Yoshio Yoshida, one has to wonder. No Tigers players are in position to threaten any of the league's crowns. Therefore, Yoshida has been shifting his line-up around on a daily basis. After releasing Alonzo Powell to make room for hot minor leaguer Desi Wilson on the top team's roster, Yoshida let the AAA gold-glove outfielder play six games (mostly pinch-hitting) before benching him. Yoshida is a great guy, and certainly one of the most likable managers in Japan, but he's in over his head.

Pacific League:

Fighters: Knee-deep in a ten ten-game win-less streak -- including a tie game on August 11 against the BlueWave -- the Fighters have lost their ten-game lead, and now sit on top of the Pacific League by a mere half-game above the Buffaloes. Although the team's mound staff has, since the streak began, given up an average of 4.5 runs per game, the bigger problem is offense. The team has only clubbed five home runs in their last ten games -- two courtesy of Nigel Wilson, one Jerry Brooks and the other Yukio Tanaka -- well below the team's pre-skid pace, when they averaged more than one roundtripper a game. Batting averages are down across the board as well. The Fightless Ham have managed to compile a mere 51 hits since August 9 -- an average of 4.5 hits per game -- which translates to a team .131 batting average during the streak.

Buffaloes: Meeting the Fighters while traveling in opposite directions, the Buffaloes have won seven games in a row and need just one more victory -- and a Nippon Ham loss -- to take over the PL's top spot. The Buffaloes have gotten a recent power surge, including fifteen home runs in the last two weeks, six of them from first baseman Phil Clark's bat. Should the Buffs go all the way, Clark seems a likely choice for MVP. The imported first baseman is now leading the league in doubles (38), total bases (247), and slugging percentage (.622) while also batting .327 (second in the PL) with 25 homers (second) and 89 RBIs (second). The team has also gotten some outstanding help from 26-year-old sophomore reliever Akinori Otsuka, who has compiled a 1.94 ERA in 41 appearances while leading the Pacific league with 31 saves and 34 save points. Despite their remarkable climb, Kintetsu's pennant hopes couldn't be more fragile. In 103 games, they have only scored two more runs than they have allowed and the team's 4.12 ERA is nearly the worst in the league. The Buffaloes luck may soon run out.

Lions: Five games out of first place, Seibu is nearly everyone's pick for the team most likely to upset the Fighters. Their pitching (3.77 ERA) is the best in the PL, they've got the most steals (107) and are tied with the Marines for highest batting average (.273). Yet for some reason (too few home runs? the lack of a consistent closer?), the team has scored seven fewer runs than they have allowed. In theory, they have everything they need to surge to the top, but the Lions have been in a funk all year. At the onset of the season, their pitching seemed dreadful, with 1997 Sawamura Award-winner Fumiya Nishiguchi throwing very erratically. Nishiguchi now has a sterling 2.89 ERA in 140 innings, but a mere 9-10 win-loss record. Lately designated hitter Domingo Martinez has been in a slump but his lack of offense does not explain all of the Lions' woes. All-Star shortstop Kazuo Matsui's batting average (.337) is way up from last year, but his 33 stolen bases are behind last year's pace. No one thing seems to be holding the lions back, just a conspiracy of details.

Hawks: Last week, the Hawks surprisingly announced that they will retain manager Sadaharu Oh for next season. In his three previous seasons at Daiei's helm, Oh had not led the Hawks to a single winning season and the announcement was made while the Hawks were still under playing under .500. As of Monday, however, Daiei has improved to 53-51 and the team has a slim chance of climbing their way to the top. Their biggest obstacle is probably that they only have 30 games left in the season while Seibu, which is usually strongest down the stretch, has 39 games to go. Pitcher Tatsuji Nishimura (9-6, 2.81 ERA) has an outside chance of winning the Sawamura Award, but his relatively low number of innings pitched (118 1/3) and strikeouts (51 or 3.88 per nine-inning game) will probably drop him from consideration. Otherwise, Daiei players appear to have little chance of winning any pitching or batting honors this year.

BlueWave: Twelve games out of first, the BlueWave have virtually no chance of winning a pennant this year. The media focus on Ichiro Suzuki's batting average as waned since the answer to the question, "Can Ichiro hit .400?" appears to have been answered in the negative. In one week, Ichiro's average has fallen from .395 to .377. Unless there's a sudden kryptonite shower at Green Stadium, the Orix superstar will earn an unprecedented fifth-straight batting title. With 23 home runs, Yasuo Fujii has a chance of swiping the home run crown from defending-winner Nigel Wilson of the Fighters, who now has 26.

Marines: After surging to fifth-place for two days last week, Lotte has probably had their last hurrah. Because of his losing 8-9 win-loss record, right-handed ace Satoru Komiyama has virtually no chance of winning the Sawamura Award. Unless shortstop Makoto Kosaka can swipe the stolen base title from Seibu's Kazuo Matsui, who's currently leading the Lotte infielder 33 to 32, the Marines will likely finish the year in the cellar, without any pitching or batting crowns.

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