NPB Daily Results & Standings (Week of May 11, 2003)

Things are bad for the Giants now, with so many position players hurt. Despite being firmly anti-Kyojin, I do feel bad for the players. However, more worrisome is their horrible bullpen and the effect this is having on their starting pitchers.

Last night, Uehara threw 130 pitches before they finally had to pull him. It was obvious that Hara was afraid to pull the ace given the state of his pen, and the loss reflects that his concerns are valid.

However, letting Uehara, who has a history of injuries, throw so many pitches is extremely short-sighted. I guess Hara can only hope that newcomers Rath and Randel can get going, and Kawahara/Pedraza/Okajima et. al. get better soon.

What's always puzzled me, though, is the Giants invest so heavily in the off season on offensive players (Kiyohara, Eto, Dingo Martinez a few years back, Peta this pass off season), but acquire marginal at best pitchers (all of their foreign pitchers, Maeda), and also overwork their rookies (Sanada and Johbe last year), Kubo, Kisanuki. Given Kuwata, Kudoh, and Iriki have a lot of mileage on their arms, I have to question the teams' philosophy toward their pitchers.

Uehara is heading down Kuwata lane, with more injuries to come if he keeps this up.

Nippon Professional Baseball Standings

May 13, 2003

Central League
                   W  L T  Pct  GB
Hanshin Tigers    24 13 1 .649
Chunichi Dragons  20 18 0 .526  4.5
Hiroshima Carp    17 16 1 .515  5.0
Yomiuri Giants    17 16 0 .515  5.0
Yakult Swallows   18 18 0 .500  5.5
Yokohama BayStars 10 25 0 .286 13.0

Pacific League
                           W  L T  Pct  GB
Osaka Kintetesu Buffaloes 21 14 0 .600
Seibu Lions               21 15 1 .583 0.5 
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks       20 15 1 .571 1.0
Chiba Lotte Marines       15 19 0 .441 5.5 
Nippom Ham Fighters       14 19 2 .424 6.0 
Orix BlueWave             11 20 2 .355 8.0

[CL standings corrected by: Admin on May 13, 2003 9:43 AM JST]

The May 14, 2003 Japan Times [Link] highlights Tuesday's NPB action and standings.

Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes 3 - Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 0:
Jeremy Powell (4-4) pitched a nine-strikeout, complete game shutout while giving up six hits, two walks, and hitting three batters. Norihiro Nakamura blasted his ninth home run of 2003 and went 2-for-3 at Fukuoka Dome in the Buffaloes' sixth straight victory. Tsuyoshi Wada (4-2) took the loss throwing a 148 pitch complete game.

Seibu Lions 6 - Orix BlueWave 4:
Kazuo Matsui and Kazuhiro Wada each had home runs to beat the BlueWave at Kobe's Yahoo BB Stadium. Scott McClain singled in the go ahead run in the eighth inning. Shuichiro Osada (2-1) won the game with 1-1/3 relief innings. Kiyoshi Toyoda notched his eighth save.

Chiba Lotte Marines 3 - Nippon Ham Fighters 2:
An eighth inning wild pitch by Norihiro Takahashi (1-2) gave the victory to Lotte at Chiba Marine Stadium. Michihiro Ogasawara hit a two-run home run in the first inning for the Fighters' only two runs. Hiroyuki Kobayashi (2-2) was the wining pitcher and Masahide Kobayashi earned the save. The Fighters were unable to score in three bases-loaded opportunities, twice with nobody out.

Hanshin Tigers 12 - Hiroshima Carp 2:
Osamu Hamanaka hit 4-for-5 including, a two-run double, and George Arias singled in the go-ahead run to help trounce the Carp in Yonago Municipal Stadium, Tottori Prefecture. Arias also had a two run double as the Tigers drove in six runs in the sixth inning.

Yakult Swallows 9 - Chunichi Dragons 7:
Alex Ramirez launched a grand slam home run to lead the Swallows past the Dragons at Toyama's Alpen Stadium. Ramirez leads the CL with 13 home runs. Masanori Ishikawa (2-3) pitched 6-1/3 innings and gave four runs for the win. Kenshin Kawakami (4-3) gave up six runs for the loss.

Yomiuri Giants 7 - BayStars 2:
Hiroki Sanada (1-3) struck out seven batters while yielding only one run, three hits, and three walks to earn a complete game victory over the BayStars. Tomohiro Nioka drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning at Tokyo Dome. Shinnosuke Abe hit a seventh inning home run. [westbaystars: And Domingo's world record of striking out 18 consecutive times came to an end when he fouled out up the first base line in the 5th inning.]

Central League
           W  L T  Pct   GB 
Tigers    25 13 1 .658 
Giants    18 16 1 .529  5.0 
Swallows  19 18 0 .514  5.5 
Dragons   20 19 0 .513  5.5 
Carp      17 17 0 .500  6.0 
BayStars  10 26 0 .278 14.0 

Pacific League 
           W  L T  Pct   GB 
Buffaloes 22 14 0 .611   
Lions     22 15 1 .595  0.5 
Hawks     20 16 1 .556  2.0 
Marines   16 19 0 .457  5.5 
Fighters  14 20 2 .412  7.0 
BlueWave  11 21 2 .344  9.0

The May 15, 2003 Japan Times [Link] highlights Wednesday's NPB games and standings.

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 9 - Osaka Kintetesu Buffaloes 8:
Bryant Nelson went 2-for-3 including a game winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Buffaloes at Fukuoka Dome. Kintetsu was ahead 8-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning (8-0 after five innings) when Kenji Jojima brought the Hawks witin one run with a bases loaded double. Noriyoshi Omichi then doubled in Jojima to make it 8-8.

Nippon Ham Fighters 9 - Chiba Lotte Marines 6:
Angel Echevarria blasted home runs in consecutive at bats to help the Fighters get past the Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium.

Seibu Lions - Orix BlueWave: postponed due to rain.

Yokohama BayStars 3 - Yomiuri Giants 2:
Takeo Kawamura (2-0) struck out seven batters and walked one in eight innings to calim the victory for the BayStars, Kawamura's first win since September 15, 2000. [westbaystars: Kawamura has been pitching well all year, but always just a run shy of victory.] Denny Tomori got the save at Tokyo Dome. Katsuaki Furuki hit a game winning pinch hit home run in the top of the ninth inning with two down to give Rodney Pedraza (1-1) the loss.

Chunichi Dragons 6 - Yakult Swallows 3:
Shigeki Noguchi gave up three runs in 6-2/3 innings, but the Dragons still beat the Swallows. Kosuke Fukudome went 3-for-3 including a three run homer at Kanazawa's Ishikawa Prefectural Stadium.

Hiroshima Carp - Hanshin Tigers: postponed due to rain.

Central League
 	   W  L	T  Pct	 GB
Tigers 	  25 13	1 .658	
Dragons   21 19	0 .525	5.0
Giants 	  18 17	1 .514	5.5
Carp 	  17 17	0 .500	6.0
Swallows  19 19	0 .500	6.0
BayStars  11 26	0 .297 13.5

Pacific League
 	   W  L	T  Pct.	 GB
Buffaloes 22 15	0 .595
Lions 	  22 15	1 .595	
Hawks 	  21 16	1 .568  1.0
Marines   16 20	0 .444  5.5
Fighters  15 20	2 .429	6.0
BlueWave  11 21	2 .344	8.5

Ichiro Suzuki hit 4-for-5 Tuesday night to bring his average up to .299 - Gambatte !!!

Nippon Professional Baseball May 18, 2003

Central League          
 W     L   T    Pct      GB
26    14   1   .650         Hanshin Tigers
20    18   1   .526   5.0   Yomiuri Giants
22    20   0   .524   5.0   Chunichi Dragons
18    17   0   .514   5.5   Hiroshima Carp
21    20   0   .512   5.5   Yakult Swallows
11    29   0   .275  15.0   Yokohama BayStars

Pacific League          
 W     L   T    Pct    GB 
23    16   1   .590         Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
22    17   0   .564   1.0   Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
22    17   1   .564   1.0   Seibu Lions
18    20   0   .474   4.5   Chiba Lotte Marines
15    21   2   .41    6.5   Nippon Ham Fighters
12    21   2   .36    8.0   Orix BlueWave

Has Chris Latham Joined the Giants, and is he now in the lineup? How's he doing?

Yes he has. And he pinch hit and stayed in the game a couple of days ago against Yokohama. All I remember was that he struck out his first at bat.

On a similar note, Yokohama's Steve Cox came up played against the Giants last night (May 14). He didn't fair very well at the plate, either. But he did impress me with a great effort at first, almost sliding into the Giants' dugout to get a foul ball.

- Has Chris Latham Joined the Giants, and is he now in the lineup? How's he doing?

I was at Koshien last night for the third game of a three-game Hanshin-Kyojin card. On the Hanshin side of the ground, Latham is viewed as an easy out. Hanshin were trailing for most of the game, probably because Shimoyanagi was the starting pitcher (but that's another thread), and we were on edge when ever the Giants were batting. But when ever Latham stepped to the plate, there was a palpable relief among Hanshin fans.

Digression: Last night was the first time I've ever seen a baseball game interrupted by FIRE! Yes, you read right: fire. Things started to get a bit smoky in the 5th inning, and there were lots of comments about what a roaring trade the yakitori vendors must be doing under the stands. But the smoke just kept getting thicker and thicker, and suddenly the teams left the field. There was an announcement that the game had been temporarily stopped because of "a fire," but they wouldn't say where or what was burning. Anyway, the game resumed after about 10 minutes, and life went on as normal. Would have looked strange in the scorebook, though: "game called due to fire."