2002 Nippon Series Game 1

After the sacrifice [by Tatsuya Ozeki] failed to move Matsui to second (fielder's choice) Katsuhiko Miyaji struck out swining to bring up Alex Cabrera.

After Uehara went no strikes, three balls to Cabrera, Alex was swinging on the fourth pitch, but fouled it back. The next pitched, and the big slugger trotted down to first. So many said that Uehara would run away from Cabu-san....

Kazuhiro Wada followed with a grounder up the middle, but it was snagged and thrown to first for the final out.

Daisuke Matsuzaka took a few pitches to get a strike against lea off batter Takayuki Shimizu, then got him to ground out to Cabrera at first for the first out.

Tomohiro Nioka grounded out to Hirouki Takagi at second, running toward left field, for the second out.

Yoshinobu Takahashi followed with a slow grounder to Takagi to retire the side.

After one full inning, the game is scoreless.

[Edited by: admin on Oct 27, 2002 4:58 PM JST]

Hiroshi Hirao gave Uehara's firt offering in the second a ride to left-center. The ball was played off the wall, and the Lions have their leadoff runner on second.

Pitcher, and big high school slugger, Matsuzaka, batting in the #7 slot, was swinging away from the start, and lifted Uehara's first pitch to right. It didn't get too far before Yoshinobu pulled it in for the first out.

Tsutomu Itoh, who is the only player to face all six teams in the opposing league in the Nippon Series, worked the count full before grounding out to second. Hirao moved to third on the force play.

H. Takagi, after just missing a base hit by centemeters up the left field line, pulled the ball to Takahashi in right for the final out. The Lions got a runner to third, but stranded him there.

Matsuzaka threw his special slider to welcome Big Matsui to the plate, and Godzilla swung on through it. I thought his 4th pitch (fork or sinker?) should have been called strike three, but the umpire obliged with the following change up. Big out number one.

Kazuhiro Kiyohara grounded to Matsui at short who threw high to first. Cabrera came down and touched the slow Kiyohara out, but the umpire called him safe! It's ruled an E-7.

Matsuzaka then hit Shinnosuke Abe in the foot, and the Giants suddenly have runners at first and second with one out.

Akira Etoh lifted the ball high to left where Wada camped under it and pulled the ball in for out number two.

Toshihisa Nishi struck out swinging at a pitch so far high and inside it almost hit his face. But that ends the inning, and the game remains scoreless.

[Edited by: Admin on Oct 27, 2002 5:19 PM, JST]

THANK YOU Michael!!!!

I'm up early and following in NYC.

Rob Fitts

My pleasure. I'm glad to hear that someone is "tuning in" live.

But since you can read Japanese, I'd recommend Yahoo's Live Report which updates more frequently.

Back to the top of the order for Seibu to start the third inning. And this time Uehara got the better of the batter, striking him out swinging for the first out.

Uehara continued by striking out Ozeki looking for the second out.

He does it again! Uehara gets Miyaji looking to strike out the side.

And Uehara comes up to the plate to face Matuzaka. It didn't look like he was up there to swing, but he fouled a ball off the right side, then hit a grounder through the left side for the Giants' first hit of the night. (It didn't look like he meant to hit that.)

Shimizu then ripped a line drive into the right field stands to start the scoring. Two run home run!

Matsuzaka, not looking phased by home run, gives up another base hit to the left side, this one to Nioka, for the Giants' third hit in a row.

With Takahashi taking strike two, Nioka broke for second. The ball was there in time, but the umpire called him safe! What? From the center field camera he looked out. Did he slide around the tag? Nonetheless, Takahashi took ball four the next pitch to put runners at first and second with nobody out.

... And Godzilla coming up to the plate. After a 147 kph pitch high and tight knocked Matsui down, Matusi fouled a pitch off before whiffing at a low-outside pitch for strike three. And Nioka was on the move with the full count, and was cut down without a doubt at third. Strike out get two. Shimizu went to second on the play.

With a bit of pressure off of him, Matsuzaka delivers a pitch to Kiyohara that gets hit so hard that Matsuzaka doesn't even bother to turn around. There's no doubt about tht one, it's gone! What's more it hits one of the big boards on the left field wall! Wow! That was hit hard. After all of the hype of Matsui vs. Cabrera, it's Shimizu and Kiyohara who go deep first.

Abe followed by grounding out. But the Giants stuck first with two two run home runs to take a 0-4 lead.

> With a bit of pressure off of him, Matsuzaka delivers
> a pitch to Kiyohara that gets hit so hard that
> Matsuzaka doesn't even bother to turn around.
> There's no doubt about tht one, it's gone! What's
> more it hits one of the big boards on the left field
> wall! Wow! That was hit hard. After all of the
> hype of Matsui vs. Cabrera, it's Shimizu and
> Kiyohara who go deep first.

- Yee-ha! (Sorry about that -- I'm a Yomiuri Giants fan, everyone... as well as a New York Yankees fan, and so I kinda can't help but cheer. )

Kiyohara's an oldie, but a goodie. I really think he's underrated these days; he has had quite a nice career.

> Abe followed by grounding out. But the Giants struck
> first with two two run home runs to take a 0-4 lead.

- All right... I'm waiting with bated breath for the next installment of this game log.

- Simon

Uehara continues his strike out streak, getting Cabrera watching for the first out of the fourth.

Wada broke that by lining out to Etoh at third for the second out.

Hirao then worked the count full before drawing a walk for the first Seibu runner since the second inning.

Now Matsuzaka is coming out for pinch hitter Masahide Kaizuka. And Kizuka slapped the ball to left, just over the jumping Nioka. Hirao, running on the pitch, went all the way around too third.

Itoh ripped the ball up the left field line, but Etoh had him played perfectly and took the ball in for the final out.

Seibu started a rally, but didn't come through.

In to pitch for the Lions is Kohji Mitsui. And his first pitch to Etoh is called strike one. After Etoh battled with a 2-2 count, Mitsui finally got him fishing at an outside pitch for the first out.

Nishi popped his first offering up to Matsui at short who hardly suffled a step to his right to take the ball in for out number two.

Uehara, who started off the rally last inning, managed to miss the ball this time and strike out.

At the end of four complete, the score remains Lions 0 - 4 Giants.

[Edited by: Admin on Oct 27, 2002 5:39 PM JST]

H. Takagi grounds out to short to lead off the fifth.

Back up to the top of the order, and Kazuo looked a bit fooled on that second pitch, just to swing and miss the next high delivery to K on three pitches. Uehara has definately settled in.

Ozeki then becomes Uehara's 7th strike out victim, swinging all the way around to retire the side in order.

Leading off the fifth for the Giants is Shimizu, who's home run in the third started the Series' scoring. But he doesn't get wood on the bat this time and watches strike three go by.

Nioka rips Mitsui's second pitch to him into right-center for a stand up double.

Takahashi took Mitsui to the warning track in left, but no farther. Wada took the ball in for out number two.

Mitsui worked around the Central League home run and RBI king Matsui, walking him on five pitches. That puts runners at first and second with Kiyohara coming to the plate. (And an earthquake off of Fukushima - according to the notice at the top of the TV screen.)

But this time Kiyo doesn't go deep. He fails to hold up on a 2-2 pitch to strike out.

At the end of five complete, the Lions still trail 0-4.

Miyaji lined the ball toward right, but it was speared by Kiyohara for the first out.

Cabrera is seriously swinging for the fenses this at bat. And he goes down swinging at a ball way down low. A fork ball.

Wada followed swinging and missing a pitch high and outside to retire the side in order yet again. Uehara is getting harder to hit as we go along.

Mistutaka Gotoh is on the mound this inning for the Lions.

The first batter he faces is Abe, who flies out to straight away center for the first out.

Etoh pushed the ball toward right-center, but well within Miyaji's [correction: Susumu Ohtomo's - came in defensively in the pitcher's spot] range for out number two.

Nishi went long, but not long enough. Wada was right there on the warning track to take the ball in.

Hey, that was a quick inning.

[Correction by: Admin on Oct 27, 2002 10:19 PM JST]

Hirao leads off the seventh with a base hit to right-center.

That'll bring up Ohtomo [to pinch hit] who came in defensively for the pitcher. And he lines the ball right into Kiyohara's glove at first. Kiyo turns and touches first with his glove, and Hirao is called out! Double play. The NTV announcers commented that the Series was made for Kiyohara.

Ken Suzuki comes in to pinch hit for Itoh and becomes Uehara's 10th strike out victim of the night. I think the announcers mentioned that 12 is the record for the Nippon Series. I'll confirm it when Uehara gets there.

Uehara was quite a bit late getting out of the dugout to lead off the inning. He appeared to have been having some sort of trouble with his right leg there at the end as he was stretching it a lot between pitches.

Satoshi Nakajima is in to catch for Seibu this inning.

Now that he's finished getting taped up, Uehara grounds the ball to short and is thrown out. He actually looked like he was trying to hit the ball this time.

Hmm. With Shimizu at the plate I notice that Gotoh is still on the mound. That means there was a double switch back there that I had missed. [Corrected above.] Sorry about that.

And on an inside pitch, Shimizu appeals that the ball hit him on the arm and takes first base. That puts a runner at first with one out.

Nioka gets his third hit of the night as he rips the ball through the right side of the infield, moving Shimizu to second.

Takahashi hits a high one bounder that Matusi has to wait for to come down behind the pitcher's mound. He gets the ball, and his only play is to first where he just gets Takahashi-kun.

With first base open, Nakajima stands up and the Lions intentionally pass on Matsui. That'll load the bases for Kiyohara.

And the stragegy works! Kiyohara went after a high and tight fast ball, getting nothing but air. The side is retired. The Giants strand three, but continue to lead 0-4.

[Corrected by: Admin on Oct 27, 2002 10:40 PM JSP]

H. Takagi, with Takahashi and Kiyohara converging on the same point in right, managed to get his pop up just in between the two fielders for a base hit.

Matsui lifts a pitch high to the right side of the infield, and becomes out number one.

Ozeki became strike out victim number 11 as the third base umpire rung him out for not checking his swing. The announcers are now saying that Uehara needs two more to tie the record, so it's 13, not 12, that is the Nippon Series single game strike out record.

[McClain] Evens comes in to pinch hit, and goes down swinging to become strike out number 12. The Lions are down to one more try.

Yoshiriro Doi climbs the moun to face the bottom half of the Giants' order. And he gets Abe to line to left on his first pitch.

Etoh follows by striking out.

Nishi then hit a weak grouner to second, and despite great hustle on his part, was thrown out to retire the side.

No big threats this time, but the Giants take a 0-4 lead into the ninth.

[Corrected by: Admin on Oct 27, 2002 10:59 PM JST]

Cabrera lifts Uehara's second pitch to him, not quite as high as the first, into the left field stands! And NTV's microphones malfunction! The ball just barely made the first row, but it's a home run nonetheless. The Lions are on the board.

Wada followed with a line drive to right, but Takahashi dashed in to got it for the first out of the 9th.

The next batter grounds out to short for the second out of the inning. It also pretty much dashes Uehara's chance of setting a new strike out record.

Ohtomo then grounds a 1-1 pitch to third [where Masahiro Kawai is in defensively], and the throw to first is in time. The ball game is over. The Giants have taken Game One.

[Addition by: Admin on Oct 27, 2002 11:12 PM JST]

> Cabrera lifts Uehara's second pitch to him, not quite
> as high as the first, into the left field stands!
> And NTV's microphones malfunction! The ball just
> barely made the first row, but it's a home run
> nonetheless. The Lions are on the board.

- Oy. So much for the shutout. Well, Koji, I guess, was getting tired. What a remarkable performance for him. Dominating.

> Ohtomo then grounds a 1-1 pitch to third, and the
> throw to first is in time. The ball game is over.
> The Giants have taken Game One.

- Michael, do you know who's starting for Game Two? Rather disappointing pitching display by the oft-heralded Matsunaka. Interesting that Seibu has taken to walking "Big" Matsui in Game One -- not that such a practice is any different from how other teams pitch to him in the regular season, but that it's reminiscent of how another mind-boggling slugger, Barry Bonds, is pitched to generally.

- Simon

Today's Nikkan Sports is reporting Takashi Ishii for the Lions vs. Masumi Kuwata for the Giants.