Re: Johjima

According to Nikkan Sports, Johjima will start working out with the 2-gun squad today (July 18). He had a check-up done at the hospital yesterday and has been given the OK to throw some light "catch ball."

No date was given for when he'll be ready to rejoin the top squad. But this shows that his rehabilitation is progressing along well.

On a related note, Seibu's Matsuzaka is now thowing without any pain and is expected to report to practice with 1-gun tomorrow (July 19). While the newspaper states that he's to report to the bullpen tomorrow, I'm not exactly sure if that mean's he'll be on the starting roster at game time or not.

Two other interesting things on the injury front, however: one, Lotte's Tomohiro Kuroki is probably out for the season with a shoulder injury. Yet, there is no talk of him having surgery. It seems as if he is going to try to throw past whatever's wrong with him. Either that, or Lotte is too cheap to let him have the arm operated on. I thought the throw past your injury thing went out with Pink Lady records.

Then there is the Dragons Shigeki Noguchi. First, they hoped he would be back by the all star break. Then they said that doesn't look good. Now nothing. Again, I just wonder if he needs surgery but the Dragons don't want to pay for it? In both Noguchi's and Kuroki's cases, it isn't tendonitis that would just require rest. The same goes for Kawasaki. He is still experiencing pain in that shoulder and now more than a year on he still hasn't had surgery and there is no solid timetable for his return. What is going in in Nagoya?

As for Matsuzaka, the last I read was that he probably isn't going to be back until mid-August at the earliest. I'm thinking that he might actually end up sitting out the rest of the season, since he reportedly hasn't gotten that far in his workouts and he is still feeling instability in his elbow.

No date was given for when he'll be ready to rejoin the top squad. But this shows that his rehabilitation is progressing along well.

Glad to hear it, and even gladder to hear that Kenji was back in the Hawks' lineup on July 22.

Thanks for reminding me about this thread. I read in this morning's (July 23rd) Nikkan Sports that Johjima has returned to the starting lineup in the DH spot. He went 1 for 4, driving in 2 runs in Daiei's 5-run 3rd. Kintetsu tried to catch up with 5 of their own in the 8th, capped off by Rhodes' 29th home run of the season, a 3-run shot. But Daiei already had a commanding 8-0 lead going into that inning.

This was Johjima's first appearance since June 10th, bringing this month and a half absence to a close. Oh-kantoku had talked with Johjima on the 20th and said, "If you're returning to a lineup, then getting in at 1-gun is no different than 2-gun." Johjima said that he can only bat at this point, and Oh found him a spot.

Still no word about when he'll be behind the plate, but you can bet that he'll be getting his at bats. Daiei is still 8.5 games out and hasn't given up, yet.