Warren Found Innocent

Warren, Lotte's ace closer, shut down the Lions 3 up 3 down last night (6/29) for his 12th save. Two nights earlier (6/27), Lions' Higashio-kantoku made a fuss about scuff marks on the ball, claiming that Warren was underhandedly getting his guys out.

What followed was a protest to the Pacific League Chairman, complete with balls confiscated from the game. One of the balls apparently had a scuff mark about the size of a 500 yen coin. Higashio-kantoku also had a talk with Yamamoto-kantoku about the possibility of searching Warren during the game if he thought there was foul play. Warren,
with a big grin on his face, said that it was fine with him, while Yamamoto was concerned that it might interfere with Warren's concentration. But it was agreed that an umpire could check Warren for foreign objects if he thought that it was necessary.


Well, before last night's game, Warren was seen with, among other things, scissors and tweezers hanging from various parts of his glove. A joke, of course, but Yamamoto-kantoku didn't seem to find it very humorous.

Then, in the top of the 9th, Warren came on to pitch. With 2 strikes and no balls on lead off batter Ohtomo, Warren threw a pitch with an unusual amount of movement. Plate umpire Yamamoto took the ball and checked it - finding nothing unusual. Higashio-kantoku could do nothing but watch his Lions go down in order, two striking out.

Warren commented that he threw harder than usual that night because of all of the fuss. "I love this kind of pressure" (translation of translation). It was especially rewarding to throw the unchecked winning ball into the stands full of "Warren" chanting fans.

[update layout format on Feb 14, 2005 9:09 PM JST]