What He Used to Be

Fumiya Nishiguchi warming up in the pen
Fumiya Nishiguchi's six scoreless innings and Hisashi Takayama's two home runs gave Lions a win against Buffaloes 6 - 1 last night.

The first start since July 1st, Nishiguchi (2-2) gave up just three base runners. His slider was so sharp that he fanned seven. In the second inning he struck out three Buffaloes he faced. The best thing about him last night was that his rythm. His tempo was really fast that the speed of the game was comfortable for everyone. It looked like his ace type form was returned to him.

Before the game, I didn't expect much from him. I liked his career. I wished he would pitch a good game; but, I just thought it wouldn't happen. He was the ace of the Lions from the mid 90's to mid 2000's; however, his struggles for last few years made funs and the organization to lose confidence in him. He is 37 years old now. I hoped I was wrong; yet, it seemd like he would be near to the end of his brilliant career. But the last night, he pitched like what he used to be. That's great feeling.

WOW!! Did You See That!?

Hula & Kazuyuki Hoashi (the pitcher in the bullpen)
I've never seen such a big foul ball, which was hit by Buffaloes' Alex Cabrera off Kazuyuki Hoashi in the 2nd inning. When he hit one, entire ballpark became silent. He hit it out of the Seibu Dome. Because it went to so far away and so hi, many people don't realize what was going on. Cabrera believed it was homerun, Lions players thought it was foul ball. The funny thing was the umps weren't sure what it was. After they watched the video, they decided that it was foul ball. To decide whether homerun or not, they took almost 10 minutes (at least that's what I felt).

This delay cost Hoashi's rythm of the pitching. Even though he gave up only 2 runs(one earned) and fanned six, he threw 115 pitches and lasted only for 6 innings.

As always, fans in the dome went to crasy when Kimiyasu Kudoh went to the pitching mound from the bullpen. Even though he gave up two base runners, he finished the night with the three strike outs. By the way the Lions defeated the Buffaloes 8 -3.

Tomotaka Sakaguchi, Buffaloes' center fielder, is worth to watch. His hitting, running, and defense are just amazing (I'm not sure about his throwing arm 'cause I've never had a chance to see it). Especially his speed for baserunning and defense is the first class. I could see that last night. His hustle, I mean his mental side of the game is as great as his physical ability.

Fumiya Nishiguchi will start for Saitama tonight agianst Buffaloes' Shogo Yamamoto.

Swallows 1-0 BayStars

At the Jingu Stadium with the little attendance of 8,982, tonight's pitching match up between Tony Barnette of the Swallows and Hayato Terahara of the BayStars was really great. Alaska born Barnette got his first win in Japan with 7 shutout innings. He fanned 11 while giving up 3 hits and walking 3. In the 7th inning, he struck out two hitters in a row when one out and the bases a loaded situation. His running was also impressive, when he hit the routine ground ball to second. Terahara gave up just 1 run in 6 strong innings; but, he got the loss. Ryouji Aikawa's RBI double in the 3rd inning was the only run of the game. Tonight's outfielders of the BayStars was not that good defensively. That run could have been avoided. The drama of the 9th inning, what I meant by is the throwing error by Aikawa, made this game more exciting. This game was just 2 hours 38 minutes.

今夜のたった８，９８２人しか入らなかった神宮球場におけるスワローズ対横浜の試合は見応えのある投手戦になりました。スワローズの先発はアラスカ生まれのバーネット。横浜は寺原でした。バーネットは７回を投げ３被安打、３四球、１１奪三振で無失点の力投で来日初勝利。７回表の１死満塁からの２者連続三振は圧巻でした。また、２回裏の打席では平凡なセカンドゴロを打つと一塁まで全力疾走。一方の寺原も６回１失点と好投したものの、味方が零封されたので１－０で負け投手になりました。３回に飛び出した相川の２塁打で１点を取り勝ったものの、横浜の外野の守備がもう少し良ければ一塁ランナーが本塁に帰ってくる事はなかったですね。９回の相川の送球エラーはこの試合の最大の見せ場の一つでした。この試合は色々なドラマがあったもののわずか２時間３８分で終わりました。

Hanshin Tigers Lost the Game against Swallows, Again

At Jingu Stadium, Shohei Tateyama gave up four hits in eight innings and marked his winning streak at 10 since last August. When Swallows' Chang Yong Lim closed the game for his 13th save of the season, the score was Swallows 4 and Tigers 1. Tateyama(4-0) struck out just five Tigers that night, few numbers per game for him; but, he allowed just one run over those innings to get a win. He was not good at his control, surrendered four walks; however, Tigers' horrible offense could not give enough support for their starter Shinobu Fukuhara. Fukuhara(2-3) pitched five and plus strong innings, but he gave up two homeruns and got a loss.

Stadium Food:

Tako Kara(Fried Octopus)

Soki-Don(Okinawa Style Pork over Rice)

館山は制球に苦しみ、むしろ福原の方が良いくらいでした。しかし、阪神のまずい攻めが多々ありスワローズが勝ちました。スワローズの林は完璧な抑えで１３セーブ目。

Lions against WBC JAPAN

John Wasdin of Saitama Seibu pitched three scoreless strong innings, and the hot hitting Lions defeated the Japan 7-2 at Tokyo Dome last night.
Ichiro Suzuki against John Wasdin in his second at bat.
ライオンズが日本代表を７対２で倒しました。試合内容はライオンズの方が遥かに上でしたが、日本代表も心配する必要もない程度です。ただ、バファローズの小松などは投球回数があまりにも少ないので、４月からの公式戦に入るまでに彼にとって順調な調整になるのかどうかが見ていて気掛かりです。

Swallows vs Carp

Ken Takahashi couldn't hold three runs lead, and the Carp lost the fifth straight games on Sunday. On the other hand, Swallows won the forth straight games. It was Yukata( Japanese traditional summer cloth) Night and the Fire Works Night at the Jingu stadium. There were a lot of people out there. It was cool to ware Yukata on hot summer night. It was really fun to watch Hanabi.

Fire Works(Hanabi)

Yakisoba(Fried Noodles) & Tokyo Raamen(Tokyo Style Raamen Noodle)

French Fries & Miyazaki Ji-Dori (Grilled Miyazaki Chiken)

昨日は浴衣DAYと花火ナイターって事で神宮球場に行ってきました。浴衣を着るのは幼稚園以来でしたがいいっすねぇ。日本の夏でした。いつもの通り、食べ物もたくさん満喫しました。

Kenta Matsuzaka or Hisashi Takayama?

I have read Jim Allen's Hot Corner, one of my favorite columns, today. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/sports/20080327TDY20301.htm
The one thing I like about his column is he writes what people should know about Japanese Pro Baseball. I mean he writes about a lot of Pacific League as well as Central League. Many Japanese media writes aobut CL more than PL; but, he covers both leagues fairly.

Anyhow, he writes about Seibu Lions this week. Lions have used Kenta Matsuzaka as their starting Left Fielder instead of Hisashi Takayama. He writes about why Lions choose Matsuzaka over Takayama. He tries to figure out how Lions' coaches see both outfielders.

As of now, I prefer Takayama over Matsuzaka. The only reason I prefer Takayama because I've seen his good play many times before. I only saw Matsuzaka 3 times. I didn't even know his name until this year because he had not been given play time much. So, I cannot have fair evaluation on him. I am not fair to him.

Although he hasn't hit any, Matsuzaka should be used as a starting left filder for a while. Even though Lions' coaches saw something in him to be a star outfielder, it may take a lot of time to prove that. I believe Takayama has proved himself as a good out fielder. It's fun to watch how he will take the starting job from Matsuzaka, although it's really tough work for him now. Takayama must work really hard in the Eastern League for next few weeks, or even a month.

DAILY　YOMIURIのジム・アレンのコラムで、埼玉西武の松坂健太と高山久のレギュラー争いについての記事を読みました。現在の段階では、松坂にレギュラーが与えられていますが、ライオンズは他にも良い外野手が多いので、レギュラー争いは熾烈ですね。アレンのコラムは、日本語の媒体では読めない秀逸な記事が多いのが特徴です。許可がもらえれば、今度日本語に翻訳してみたいですね。

Now Darvish!!?

Yu Darvish at Jingu Stadium on March 12, 2008

When I was trying to find an article about Joe Nathan's new contract with Minnesota Twins on Yahoo! sports, I found a scary article for me. Jeff Passan, who covers MLB for Yahoo!, writes about Yu Darvish http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArVxNAnDFnqHveOZcylzg5kRvLYF?slug=jp-japandarvish032308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns. Daisuke Matsuzaka left Saitama for MLB last year. Now what? MLB wants Darvish too?? Of course, they do.

I really hate to see great Japanese ballplayers leave NPB for MLB. Since Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui left NPB for MLB, Japanese pro baseball went to South. I mean NPB has become like AAA for MLB. We should blame Japanese teams, its fans, or poor facilities in Japan, not MLB, for this miserable situation in Japanese pro baseball. Most of Ballparks in Japan have been terrible for both players and fans. NPB teams have(had) disrespected its players and fans for so many years. Japanese ballparks have had horrible Astro Turf on the ground for years. Japanese ballparks have(had) had awful facilities for fans; such as, bathrooms are (were) too dirty(old). Japanese teams even give away too many free tickets to its fans; so, it seems fans do not want to pay for the game. It seems Japanese fans do not want to support NPB temas with their wallet. In 2007, Tokyo Yakult Swallows gave away 20,000 free general admission tickets to people for a Sunday game against Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Jingu Stadium. Can you guess how many people showed up for that game? About 20,000 fans. I was there. I paid 1,000yen ($10) for that game. About 1/3 of fans in that game were in reserved seats. So, many people did not even use those free tickets.

Thngs have been changed these days. NPB teams try to make fans to pay for the game. Even though it has been small step; but, NPB teams are making progress for the fans and its players. For example, Seibu Dome put new turf on the ground and new clean bathrooms this year. They are not enough yet; but, it's better than nothing.

I hate those scouts, who work for MLB, come to ballparks in Japan and try to evaluate Japanese players with their stopwatch. I really hate to see them. They're annoying. They shouldn't belong here. I hope they will not come over here unless they just enjoy Japanese baseball as fans.

Some comments Passan makes in his column really annoys me little; but, I don't wanna discuss it here now. I hope Darvish will pitch in the NPB for all of his baseball career; however, I understand NPB needs to be more attractive than MLB to acheive that goal. NPB needs to be way more attractive to its players and fans ever before. I believe money is the key issue here. NPB teams also need to respect its players and fans like MLB teams do.

In today's game between Hawks and Marines at Fukuoka, Naoyuki Shimizu will be the starting pitcher for the Marines. His wife died two months ago. I don't know what to say for what he has been through something like this; but, I hope he will win today.

ついに、MLBがダルビッシュに目をつけたようです。アメリカのYahoo!にダルの特集記事が出てました。ダルもいなくなったら、日本の野球のレベルはますます下がってしまいます。アメリカのAAA以下になるかも・・・。
今日、マリーンズの清水がホークス戦に先発します。悲しみを乗り越えて、がんばって欲しいです。

Let's Go to Pre-Season Baseball Games in Japan

Hello.
Thanks for reading my blog. This blog is mainly about Japanese baseball.
2008 season will start soon！ There are pre-season games going on around Japan now. In Jingu Stadium, there will be a game between Swallows and Lions at the Meiji Jingu Stadium on Sunday, March 9th(13:00). Former Dodger, Kaz Ishii will pitch at Jingu for the first time since he left the Tokyo Yakult for Saitama. Rookie phenom, Mikinori Katoh will pitch for the Swallows. This is going to be a fun game for both Swallows and Lions funs!! I am not sure that those great concession stands will be opened that day. Most of concessions were closed during most of pre-season games at Jingu in 2007, although they sold beer. If you are Swallows fun-club member, you can see this game for free!!!
Jingu Stadium at Shinjuku Ward in Tokyo (This picture's taken on 03/09/2008)
2008年のプロ野球もやっと開幕です！今度の日曜日１３：００に神宮で行われるスワローズ対ライオンズ戦では、加藤と石井一久の先発が予想されています。今から楽しみです！！けど、売店がやってないかもしれないと思うと、ちょっと悲しいです。去年の神宮でのほとんどのオープン戦では、大半の売店が営業してなかった記憶があります。ウィンナーが食べたいなー。