Fighters-Buffaloes, 9 September

The game reports I send are excerpted from e-mails to the family back in the US, so apologies for when it shows.

This game was so sparsely attended that there may have been more people over at the Baseball Cafe than in the Dome.

If anyone knows of ways to keep up with Japanese baseball once I return to the LA area, it would be appreciated. Maybe the Japanese equivalent of British pubs which show English football?

The starting pitcher for the Fighters was 25-year-old right-hander Satoro Kanemura (8-3, 3.02), and he looked very shaky from the outset. Based on the way hitters were teeing off on him, it looked like it might be a short night for him.

1st inning-
Buffaloes leadoff batter Daisuke Masuda (0, .222) ripped a shot toward the gap in right-center, which RF Katsuhiro Nishiura caught on the warning track at a full run. The next Buffaloes hitter, Yosuke Takasu rocketed the ball off the leftfield wall. It was hit so hard and played so well by LF D.T. Cromer that Takasu was held to a single. Next up was Tuffy Rhodes (41, 103,.266 this year, after going 55, 131, .327 last season). He's a powerfully built left-handed hitter, who stands up straight in the batter's box and rocks the bat as he awaits the pitch. Then he draws the bat back, coils his body, and uses his legs and hips to bring his upper body strength into full play, with an upper-cut swing. He popped up to short in this at-bat. The clean-up hitter, another All-Star slugger, was Norihiro Nakamura (32, 85,.283). He stands with the bat at his face level, then draws back on his left foot as he pulls the bat into the trigger position, raising his leading foot in the old foot-in-a-bucket method. Kanemura went to a full count with him, watching a couple of hard hit foul balls before inducing an inning ending ground ball to SS Kensuke Tanaka.

The starter for the Buffaloes was 20-year-old Daisuke Miyamoto (1-1, 4.33),also a right-hander. K. Tanaka (0, .264) flew out to left on the first pitch, then Hiroshi Narahara (1, .218) lined to right two pitches later. Next up was the PL's batting leader. Michihiro Ogasawara (27, 69, .337) was walked on four pitches- it looked like Miyamoto wanted no part of him. I've described Ogasawara's hitting approach in an earlier letter, but when he had a chance to swing the bat later in the game he didn't seem to be swinging wildly for the fences as seemed to be the case the last time I saw him, looking much more like a batting leader. Sherman Obando ((24, 65, .270) struck out swinging on a 2-2 count.

2nd inning-
Kanemura had an easy time of it, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts.

Miyamoto was greeted with D.T. Cromer's (19, .260) double to right. He then walked Yukio Tanaka (13, .258). Nishiura (1, .273) sacrificed the runners up one base. Toshihiro Noguchi (4, .234) and Yutaka Nakamura (0, .190) became the 3rd and 4th walks of the young game given up by Miyamoto, with Cromer coming home for the first run. K. Tanaka popped to the catcher in foul territory. Narahara tapped a soft liner toward first, on which 1B Yuji Yoshioka made a nice running catch.

Fighters 1, Buffaloes 0.

3rd inning-
After Tadatoki Maeda (0, .150) singled to right, advanced to second on a sacrifice by Tetsuya Matoyama (3, .212), and to third on a grounder to first by Masuda, Takasu grounded to short to end the inning, with Maeda stranded on third.

Ogasawara led off for the Fighters, and sent a 1-0 pitch on a line just over the right-field wall, for his 28th home run of the year. Obando and Cromer were quick outs, then Y. Tanaka drew the 5th walk issued by Miyamoto. Nishiura hit a grounder through the infield into left, with Tanaka advancing to second. Noguchi popped up into shallow left, where SS Maeda made the play.

Fighters 2, Buffaloes 0.

4th inning-
Rhodes struck out swinging on a 1-2 pitch, Nakamura was walked, and Koichi Isobe (3, .263) drilled a hot grounder to the mound. Kanemura made an outstanding stop, and started the double play that ended the inning.

The Fighters lofted three routine fly balls.

5th inning-
Yoshioka (21, .272) and Naoyuki Omura (11, .279) were disposed of with 4 pitches, then Maeda knocked his second single into right. Matoyama lined sharply to center.

Ogasawara was walk #6 for Miyamoto, but was erased on a double-play ball hit by Obando, and Cromer struck out.

6th inning-
Three balls to the outfield, three outs. Takasu's was just short of the warning track.

Y. Tanaka started the Fighters' half of the inning with a smash off the right field wall for a double. Nishiura struck out. Noguchi was the recipient of Miyamoto's 7th charitable act of the game. Nakamura hit a sinking liner into left, which Rhodes ran in to catch. The ball hit Rhodes' glove, bounced off, and rolled slowly behind him, as he turned and gave chase. Y. Tanaka went to third on the error, and Noguchi to second. Bases loaded for K. Tanaka. Miyamoto issued his second RBI walk of the game. With the bases still loaded, Narahara lined a hit to left, scoring Noguchi. Ogasawara was next up, and the Buffaloes chose to bring in a left-handed reliever to face him, Syogo Yamamoto (3-1, 3.97). That strategy had worked perfectly on two occasions when used by the Marines in the last Fighters' game I saw, and it worked again. Ogasawara hit the ball hard into the ground just beyond the plate, so 2B Takasu was able to field it like a soft liner, turning a double play.

Fighters 4, Buffaloes 0.

7th inning-
Kanemura was breezing, setting down the side in order with a meek grounder and two strikeouts.

Yamamoto also had a relatively easy time of it, surrendering a two-out single to Y. Tanaka (with Shigeyuki Furuki entering as a pinch hitter), but nothing more.

8th inning-
Another easy inning for Kanemura, with a two-out single by pinch-hitter Akihito Moritani (0, .222) causing no damage.

Right-hander Katsunari Yoshikawa (no record) was brought in. He set the Fighters down 1-2-3, making a nice stop of a grounder to end the inning.

9th inning-
Last chance this night for the Osaka team, and they had the heart of the line-up coming to the plate. Takasu shot a grounder up the middle and into center for a leadoff single. Rhodes took his powerful cut and sent a ball soaring into left, but the Fighters' Nakamura (who had moved from CF to LF in the 8th) made the catch on the track. The Buffaloes' Nakamura then drilled a ball toward the hole, where 3B Furuki made a diving stop and threw him out. Isobe became Kanemura's 7th strikeout victim to end the game, a complete game and shut out.

Final: Fighters 4, Buffaloes 0.

[Minor format editing by: admin on Sep 13, 2002 9:10 AM JST]