 He
didn't win the 1997 Sawamura Award, Japan's top pitching
honor, but Yakult's Kazuhisa Ishii sent batters back to
their dugouts more consistently than any other Japanese
starting pitcher.One
week before his twenty-fourth birthday, the sleepy-eyed
power pitcher made headlines by  no-hitting the Yokohama BayStars on
September 2, 1997. Six weeks later, Ishii faced the Seibu
Lions in Game One of the Japan Series.
Allowing
only three hits and three walks, the Swallows southpaw
earned a complete game shutout victory while tying a
Japan Series record with twelve strikeouts. Ironically,
the Lions pitcher who lost to Ishii, Fumiya Nishiguchi,
two days later won the Sawamura Award.
Despite
earning a 10-4 record, Ishii was ineligible for Japan's
version of the Cy Young award because he only pitched 117
2/3 innings. Recovering from shoulder surgery, the
rehabilitating pitcher missed the first two months of the
season.
Suffering
from arm troubles and complaining about shoulder pain
throughout his first six seasons, Ishii often considered
quitting baseball. The stiffness continued throughout his
breakthrough 1995 season (13-4, 159 strikeouts, 2.76
ERA), but after the shoulder worsened and he posted a
disappointing 1-5 record with a 5.23 ERA in 1996, surgery
seemed like the only answer.
After
the December 1996 operation, the Yakult pitcher faced six
months of agonizing rehabilitation with the Cleveland
Indians, with whom the Swallows have a working
relationship. Though spending Christmas in America with
Yakult closer Tomohito Ito, who also underwent
post-season surgery, and befriending Cleveland all-star
catcher Sandy Alomar, Ishii described the experience as
"lonely and miserable" but it "made me
grow up a little bit."
Worrying
that his young pitcher might not heal fully if rushed
back to the varsity team, Swallows manager Katsuya Nomura
told Ishii, who returned to Japan on May 5, "You can
pitch the last half of the season, so don't hurry."
After
a month on the Yakult farm team, the recuperating pitcher
joined the Japanese show, winning his first start 5-3
against the Yomiuri Giants. While allowing only two hits,
both home runs (out of five he would surrender during the
entire season), and three walks over five innings, the
comeback pitcher struck out five.
In
the post-game hero interview, Ishii talked more about his
rehabilitation in Cleveland, saying, "The toughest
part was I couldn't pitch" while the Swallows were
beginning their season. "Also, I couldn't
communicate so I thought about a lot of things by myself.
I became stronger mentally." Showing his gratitude
to those who helped give him another chance, the comeback
pitcher said, "Today's win is for the people who
took care of me."
In
June and July, Ishii started seven games, earning five
wins and two no-decisions while only losing on June 21,
when he came into the game after Yakult starter Kenjiro
Kawasaki stumbled. Said Ishii: "I want the pitchers
who did well in the first half of the season to rest, so
I want to do well in the last half of the season and the
Japan Series."
His
worst stretch since returning to the varsity team, Ishii
lost three straight games in August while only winning
two. Though the Swallows averaged over four runs a game
during the entire season, Ishii lost the three matches by
scores of 2-1, 3-1 and 4-1. While pitching as if his arm
had a trigger, Yakult's portside cannon suffered from his
teammates' inability to score runs.
Though
Dwayne Hosey waved the team's hottest bat in August,
belting eleven home runs, the Swallows stalled. Starting
pitchers Terry Bross, Futoshi Yamabe, Kenjiro Kawasaki
and Yoichi Okabayashi all suffered through prolonged
periods of ineffectiveness. While successful most of the
season, pitcher Kazuya Tabata caught a strain of measles
that kept him and several other players sidelined through
parts of August. Two of the Swallows best batters,
Tetsuya Iida and Katsuyuki Dobashi missed several games
because of injuries.
Though
the Swallows held a ten game lead on August 1, the
Yokohama BayStars made a run for the pennant, pulling to
within 2.5 games of the front-runners on August 22. In
that stretch, Yakult lost eleven of their nineteen games
(one ended in a tie), while the BayStars won fifteen of
eighteen. During their run, Yokohama's team batting
average rose to .281, the best in the Central League.
By
the time Kazuhisa Ishii took the mound for Yakult on
September 2 at Yokohama Stadium, the league's top spot
was up for grabs.  A lot depended on this two game series, and
the final three-game match-up between the teams two weeks
later.
Considering
their momentum, the team's top batting average, and the
home park advantage, the odds appeared stacked in the
BayStars' favor. Three weeks earlier, Ishii had lost a
game 2-1 at Yokohama against BayStars pitcher Hisashi
Tokano. In the teams' first match-up in September, the
two pitchers would again face each other.
Yet
121 pitches later, Ishii turned the pennant race around,
pitching a no-hitter in a crucial game against the best
hitting team in the top hitters' park. Overwhelming the
opponents with a 150 kph (95 mph) fastball, the Yakult
southpaw allowed four walks while striking out nine and
retiring the last sixteen straight batters. His last
pitch, swung at and missed by Toshio Haru, was clocked at
151 kph. Bobby Rose, Yokohama's all-star second baseman,
remarked that he hadn't seen a southpaw like Ishii since
he saw Randy Johnson pitch.
Oddly,
Ishii didn't want to complete the game, fearing the
success might spoil him. "If I pitch a no-hitter, I
don't know how it will affect me later on," Ishii
told manager Nomura after the eighth inning, "so
please take me out of the game.
"No,"
the Yakult skipper replied, "you don't have a chance
to pitch a no-hitter very often, so just give it a
try."
In
the post-game interview, Ishii remarked that his fastball
was pretty good that night, and by the third inning he
felt he could go for the no-hitter. However, the
often-wild power pitcher modestly added, it would be a
lot more difficult for him to throw a game without a walk
than to pitch a no-hitter.
As
if trying to spook the BayStars in the first match of
their final three-game series later that month, the
Yakult manager started Ishii on September 19. This time,
however, it looked like Yokohama's Tokano might turn the
tables, working a no-hitter into the sixth inning against
the Swallows.
Perhaps
careless, Tokano offered an irresistible pitch to the
opposing pitcher which Ishii lined into the the right
field stands, his second career home run. Sparking a
nine-run hitting spree over the next three innings, the
Yakult southpaw left the game after eight innings,
allowing only two hits, three walks, one deadball (hit
batter) and no runs while striking out six.
The
only smudge on the comeback pitcher's otherwise
extraordinary year came the day before the Swallows
clinched the pennant. Facing the Hanshin Tigers on
September 27 at Jingu Stadium, Ishii pitched one of his
best games until the ninth inning. Allowing only two hits
and no walks through his first eight innings, the ace
lefty lost his control in the ninth, loading the bases on
a walk, a deadball (hit batter) and a single to right
field.
Probably
because top reliever Tomohito Ito blew a save opportunity
a few days earlier in Hiroshima, Yakult manager Nomura
decided to leave Ishii in the game to face right-handed
batter Tsuyoshi Shinjo. Though only only batting .198
against the Swallows, Shinjo lined the first good pitch
over the right-field fence, sending the game into extra
innings. While the Swallows won the game on catcher
Atsuya Furuta's tenth-inning RBI double, reliever Shingo
Takatsu picked up the win and Ishii earned his fourth
no-decision of the season.
Giving
his left-hander a chance to redeem himself, Nomura
started Ishii in the Swallows' final game against against
their cross-town rivals, the Yomiuri Giants. Though
Yakult had already won the CL flag, more was at stake
than just a just a meaningless game. Going into the
match, Dwayne Hosey led Giants center fielder Hideki
Matsui in the league's home run derby, 38 to 37.
The
previous year, the Dragons faced Yomiuri in the last game
of the season. Since Chunichi outfielder Takeshi Yamazaki
held the league lead by one homer, Dragons pitchers
walked second-place Matsui every time he stepped up to
the plate, denying the Yomiuri slugger a chance at the CL
home run crown. A year later, Nomura pledged that his
pitchers wouldn't intentionally walk Matsui. With Ishii
pitching, they didn't have to.
While
Matsui did draw a walk in the first inning, Ishii struck
out the slugger once, and allowed him to ground out
twice. In addition to helping Hosey win the CL home run
crown, Ishii posted his tenth win of the season while
striking out nine and only allowing three hits and one
walk.
Though
he fell two complete games short of qualifying for the
league's pitching crown, Ishii compiled a 1.91 ERA,
better than any pitcher with over 100 innings in either
league. Whiffing 120 batters, only four of the Central
League's twenty pitchers with more innings than Ishii
earned more strikeouts, and only five earned more wins.
A
closer look at the final statistics reveal just how much
the Yakult southpaw dominated his opponents. Among all
pitchers in both leagues with over 100 innings, Ishii had
the highest rate of strikeouts per nine-inning game (9.18
while second place Takeo Kawamura had 8.72) and the
lowest rate of hits (5.58 to Kawamura's 6.71) and home
runs (.382 to Lotte ace Saturo Komiyama's 3.87).
Because
of the power-pitcher's wildness, Ishii surrendered more
walks and deadballs than most of his peers (3.82 and .31
per game). Yet when weighed with the low number of hits
he allowed, opposing batters reached base an average of
only 9.71 times per nine-inning game against Ishii, the
lowest rate in either league. No starting pitcher was
better than Ishii at getting batters out and keeping them
off the bases.
Even
when not recovering from surgery, few pitchers ever do as
well. Nor do many have the ability, confidence and poise
to mow down batters in big games like Kazuhisa Ishii. Not
even Sawamura Award winner Futoshi Nishiguchi.
Prior
to the 1997 Japan Series, in which the Pacific League
Lions were scheduled to face the Swallows, several
commentators weighed the two teams, and decided the Lions
would prevail on the strength of their pitching and base
running. The conclusions were ill-founded at the time,
and ridiculous in retrospect. The Swallows led both
leagues with a 3.26 ERA, and had a much more experienced
pitching staff and deeper bullpen.
As
anticipated, the first game featured a match-up between
the teams' best pitchers: Yakult's Ishii vs. Seibu's
Nishiguchi. Critics, apparently ignorant of both
pitchers, gave Nishiguchi the edge. Despite striking out
more batters than any other hurler in 1997, however,
Nishiguchi averaged 8.32 strikeouts per nine inning game
(compared to Ishii's 9.18), allowed 8.10 hits and 11.25
base runners (versus Ishii's 5.58 and 9.71) and gave up
.867 home runs per game (to .382 surrendered by Yakult's
ace). The ERA said it all: Nishiguchi's 3.12 against
Ishii's 1.91.
Surrendering
only three hits and three walks, the Yakult hurler
out-pitched his opponent, picking up the win while tying
the Japan Series record of twelve strikeouts in a
nine-inning game. Nishiguchi, took the loss after
allowing a solo home run by Yakult first baseman Jim
Tatum, along with seven hits and no walks.
Both
performances were entirely consistent with what the
pitchers had been doing all year. Nishiguchi got a lot of
strikeouts and gave up a fair amount of hits while giving
up no walks. Ishii struck out even more, walked three,
but allowed fewer base runners than his opponent and no
home runs.
Nishiguchi
started the anti-climactic fifth game and took the loss,
surrendering three earned runs on six hits and no walks
in five innings. While the Seibu starter struck out two,
Ishii pitched the sixth and seventh innings, earning the
win while striking out three, walking two, surrendering
one hit and beaning one batter.
In
his wrap-up of the Japan Series, Daily Yomiuri
sportswriter Ken Marantz put Nishiguchi's hallow
performance in context: "Best pitcher in Japan,
regardless of who won the Sawamura Award: Yakult's
Kazuhisa Ishii."
Unless
shoulder problems resurface in 1998, the Swallows
southpaw will have a good chance to earn the honor that
rightfully belongs to Japan's best pitcher.
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