2003 Nippon Series Game 3

As the weather man was fearful of last night, rain in the Kansai area has cancelled Game 3 on Tuesday evening. So the chat room has been closed for the night.

I'll open up again tomorrow (Wednesday) evening (JST), but I can't guarantee a time. All I can say for sure is that it'll be after the game has started. Some things can't be helped.

When I know when and where the game will be rescheduled, I'll pass that information on.

Yeah, chuushi. That is the 2 kanji 8 stroke combination that every sports fan dreads. It's will be interesting to see if this works in Hanshin's favour.

At my local grocer today I got harassed a little by a Hanshin fan, who took exception to my FDH hat. Even a continent away Hanshin fans still have faith.

Aaaa. I did bad. I failed to save the transcript before shutting down the chat sesson. So, no full transcript for this evening's game. But I will recap the highlights.

After I explain how the Series is to be rescheduled.

With the rain out on Tuesday, Game 3 was pushed back to this evening, Wednesday. Game 4 will be on Thursday, and Game 5 will be on Friday. If necessary, the return to Fukuoka will not be on Saturday as previously scheduled, Game 6 will be on Sunday. Game 7, if necessary, will be on Monday. So, everything is shifted, travel day included.

Interestingly, the tickets for the games don't have a date on them. They're labeled "Game 1," Game 2," etc. So those with tickets for Game 4 could not attend this evening's game. Apparently, they did this on purpose to prevent any confusion about what game a ticket is for. It kind of does make it hard for people to schedule a trip with time off of work, though.

Now, to the game.

Trey Moore started the game throwing the ball over (at?) Shibahara's head and to the backstop. He did recover after that and struck him out.

However, the next three Hawks, Kawasaki, Iguchi, and Matsunaka, plated a run with three consecutive hits. Daiei got off to a quick 1-0 lead in the first.

Wada started for Daiei and threw perfect through the first eight Tiger batters. It was #9 batting Moore who got Hanshin's first hit of the night. There was concern that the may have pulled a leg muscle again as he dashed to second on Imaoka's ground out, but he stayed in the game and continued pitching effectively.

In the bottom of the fourth, with one out, Kanemoto his a solo home run just right of straight away center to tie the game.

Daiei put together a couple of threats, but didn't produce any more runs. Hanshin didn't get their third hit of the game until the 8th, but failed to produce a run then.

Then, in the bottom of the 10th, with bases loaded and one out, Fujimoto hit a fly ball to center deep enough to score Arias from third, and Hanshin has a geki-tekina sayonara finish!

Hanshin wins Game 3.

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 1 - 2 Hanshin Tigers
10 Innings

Apologies for not preserving the play-by-play. Or is this kind of summary better?

Michael - I personally like the play by play myself, since I can not find the audio feed on the Internet. I hope to join you live before the Series ends. But getting up to listen at 2 AM (I live in Southern California) is hard when you have to work in the morning. I would have joined you last weekend, but I just found out about your service of providing the play by play on Monday.

Thanks for your excellent coverage and your great website.

Allen Bacon
Fullerton, CA, USA

Hi,

I too appreciate your efforts! I like the full transcripts, but will take any information.

Regards,
Scott

I'd like to see a little more detail in the highlights, but not necessarily a play-by-play of the entire games.

So, did Tigers fans try to steal another Colonel Sanders statue after they captured the CL pennant? :-P

Go Cubs go! ... I mean Go Tigers go!

Westbay-san,

I have enjoyed your banter on the full chat transcripts so keep it up! I'm sure there are some who are only interested in the major game events, but it is easy to figure out when those moments occurred by scanning the transcipt.

Keep up the good work! Gambare Tigers!

Ron Webster
Portland, OR
formerly from Kobe

Westbaystars-san:

We are very, very grateful for whatever details you can provide in which ever format is most convenient for you. The full transcripts are just fantastic! Wonderful to read and, to be honest, I like them more than the highlight recap. But it must be so much work to do. Anyway, continued thanks.

Tonight is a crucial game for us torakichi-tachi. Minna no Taigasu ganbatte kudasai!