Dead Ball (JPN Baseball Thread)

[Mike Oxlong]

You may as well teach the boy how to dress himself GB, and take his woman in trade!

[cstaylor]

So it's natural for him to respect an athlete for not virtual fist-pumping a sub-par performance.

Tipping the cap to your supporters is a courtesy, not a fist-pump. Speaking of poor manners, anyone catch Tiger's latest tirades on the course?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

This photo is remarkable...I think it's the first time I've ever seen Ichiro smile...

[IparryU]

[Mike Oxlong]

Mariners Pile Up 21 Runs On Rangers

Holland, who was 6-1 in seven career starts against Seattle, including 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA since the start of last season, threw 41 pitches in the second inning before being relieved by Yoshinori Tateyama.

Tateyama got the final out of the second, but recorded only one out in the third, giving up seven hits and six earned runs.

"It's really upsetting to have something like that happen to you when you've been working so hard," said Holland, who threw 41 pitches in the second inning after a breezing through the first in 10.

"I did not give my team a chance to win," he said. "It's a big letdown on my part."

Iwakuma got the save for Seattle.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Mariners Pile Up 21 Runs On Rangers

Pardon my ignorance, but why can Iwakuma gave a save when there's a 13-run difference in scores? What was there to save? Even Mac Suzuki couldn't have given up a lead like that...
Have the rules changed recently? (Not that I, as a non-baseball native, really knew them in the first place, but...)

[Captain Japan]

Pardon my ignorance, but why can Iwakuma gave a save when there's a 13-run difference in scores? What was there to save? Even Mac Suzuki couldn't have given up a lead like that...
Have the rules changed recently? (Not that I, as a non-baseball native, really knew them in the first place, but...)

Pitching the final 3 innings "effectively" also qualifies as a save.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Thanks!

[Bucky]

Mariners Pile Up 21 Runs On Rangers

On Seattle sports talk radio much has been made of the fact that the Mariners beat the Rangers so badly and Ichiro did not even play in the game.

[canman]

Well, I can't say that I am sad that Japan lost to Puerto Rico today at the WBC. Another 3 or 4 years of claiming to be the best in the world gets tiring. Unfortunately, until the US takes this seriously and either allows or forces its best players to join, it will not be a true World Championship!

[dimwit]

What exactly happened in the 8th inning anyways? It looked like Japan was trying to pull off a double steal but the lead runner missed the sign or was caught in the headlights or something.

[canman]

Not sure, but he really ran them out of the inning, that is for sure!

[matsuki]

Another 3 or 4 years of claiming to be the best in the world gets tiring.

You have no idea....

[Mike Oxlong]

Ichiro Suzuki reaches 4K-hit plateau

For once, a record without a steroids asterisk. Ichiro Suzuki got his 4,000th professional hit last night off R.A. Dickey at Yankee Stadium. But an asterisk, or some sort of further explanation, is in order. Ichiro's accomplishment is not to be ignored—only two other players have ever connected for 4,000 hits: Ty Cobb and Pete Rose—but it must be noted that his hit parade includes his prior career in Japan. Before joining the Seattle Mariners in 2001, Ichiro had 1,278 hits in the Japanese Pacific League. Now, with last night’s performance, he has 2,722 in Major League Baseball, bringing the combined total to 4,000...

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_ ... sional-hit

[matsuki]

"He's still 600 hits away from catching [teammate] Derek Jeter,'' Rose told USA TODAY Sports, "so how can he catch me?''

Rose's methodology: Jeter has 3,308 major league hits, Suzuki 2,722. Yes, Rose discounts the 1,278 hits Suzuki amassed while playing in Japan's top league - at least as they relate to being considered the Hit King.

Therefore, if Suzuki has 4,000 career hits, Rose says, then he has 4,673 hits.

"Hey, if we're counting professional hits,'' says Rose, the major-league hit leader at 4,256, "then add on my 427 career hits in the minors. I was a professional then, too.

"If you look at the records, Henry Aaron has 4,000 professional hits. So did Stan Musial.''

Rose may be 72 years old, and produced his last hit in 1986, but the man knows his baseball stats.

Aaron indeed had 4,095 professional hits - 3,771 in the major leagues and 371 in the minors. Musial had 4,001 professional hits - 3,630 hits in the majors and 371 in the minors.

"I don't want to take anything away from (Suzuki),'' Rose says, "but does anybody remember making a big deal when Henry Aaron had 755 homers and [Japanese slugger] Sadaharu Oh passed him?

"Are we now supposed to count Warren Moon's passing yards in the Canadian Football League to his NFL career stats?

"When you compare yourself to me, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie, we all did it in the states.''

Don't misinterpret Rose's opinion of Suzuki. Rose believes he is one of the greatest hitters of his era. Rose may never get into the Hall of Fame after receiving a lifetime ban for gambling, but he says that Suzuki richly deserves the honor.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ml ... n/2686497/

[Taro Toporific]

Balentien moves closer to Japanese home run record
2013aug-27 | TOKYO (AP)Wladimir Balentien of the Yakult Swallows hit his 49th and 50th home runs Tuesday to move within five of tying Japanese baseball's single-season record...
...Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh holds the record of 55 set in 1964 and matched by former major leaguers Tuffy Rhodes in 2001 and Alex Cabrera in 2002.
Balentien, a native if Curacao, played for the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds before signing with the Swallows in 2011. He hit 31 homers in each of his first two seasons in Japan.
More...

260px-20120503_Wladimir_Balentien,_outfielder_of_the_Tokyo_Yakult_Swallows,_at_Yokohama_Stadium.JPG

Wikipedia.org/wiki/Wladimir_Balentien--Wladimir Ramon Balentien (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈvladimir balənˈtin]; born July 2, 1984 in Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles)[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wladimir_Balentien]...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Balentien moves closer to Japanese home run record
2013aug-27 | TOKYO (AP)

Wladimir Balentien aiming to become Japan’s home run king
tokyoreporter.com | 2013/08/30
... With 31 games left on the schedule, the native of Curaçao knows that getting to 55 could become challenging as Nippon Professional Baseball is not known for playing fair when foreigners approach the record considered to be unrivaled.
“As (the record) nears, pitchers will be reluctant to throw strikes,” said Balentien in a statement issued on the Swallows’ Web site after the game, an 11-7 loss to the Chunichi Dragons. “I sense that, but I’m concentrating on hitting strikes.”
Oh, the former first baseman and manager who is one of the most highly regarded sports figures in Japan, set the record in 1964 when he was with the Yomiuri Giants. Since then there has been a blatant effort on a number of occasions -- notably in games involving Oh himself -- to ensure that it remains intact.
More...

[Taro Toporific]

Balentien moves closer to Japanese home run record
2013aug-27 | TOKYO (AP)

Deference to a Revered Record in Japan Is Going, Going ...
New York Times | September 5, 2013 by Hiroko Tabuchi and Joshua Hunt
TOKYO --For decades, the Japanese have called Sadaharu Oh the world’s true home run king. With 868 career home runs and many other hitting records to his name, Oh, now 73, is worshiped here as much as Babe Ruth is in America.
Wladimir Balentien has 52 home runs in Japan’s top league this season, three away from the mark first set by Sadaharu Oh.
A few foreign players in Japan’s top league have threatened to surpass Oh’s hallowed mark of home runs in a single season, 55. And each time, opposing pitchers refused to throw pitches anywhere near the strike zone in a blatant effort to protect Oh’s record.
But the culture of deference to Oh has seemingly ended. In a development that would have once seemed unthinkable, many Japanese fans are now rooting for Oh’s record to fall, signaling the arrival of a generation that is more comfortable than ever with the notion of knocking off national heroes.
And who is the slugger who might soon usurp Oh? Wladimir Balentien, from a tiny island in the Caribbean.
“I’m going for the top,” Balentien, a native of Curaçao, in the Netherlands Antilles, told reporters after hitting his 52nd home run of the season last week for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. “I always want to be No. 1.”
More...

out-of-the-park.jpg

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I get the feeling this story is too early...what's the bet he barely sees a ball over the plate after his 54th home run?

[Taro Toporific]

Balentien ties single-season home run record
Japan Times | Sep 11, 2013
Balentien hit an opposite-field solo home run in the sixth inning of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ game against the Hiroshima Carp to tie the NPB single-season record with his 55th homer of the year on Wednesday night at Jingu Stadium.
After grounding out in his first two at-bats, Balentien took a ball and strike from Carp starter Kan Otake before latching onto a 147-kph fastball that he sent over the wall in right field.
Balentien moved into rarefied air, joining Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh (1964), Tuffy Rhodes (2001) and Alex Cabrera (2002) as the only players to hit 55 home runs in a single season.
More...


BUT....

Baseball-update.png

They lobbed a dead ball at his head and then they walked him! Boo. Balentein robbed of his chance to break the HR record. Hiss.
--- Jake Adelstein (@jakeadelstein) September 11, 2013

Baseball-is-very-very-good-to-me.jpg

[matsuki]

They lobbed a dead ball at his head and then they walked him! Boo. Balentein robbed of his chance to break the HR record. Hiss.
--- Jake Adelstein (@jakeadelstein) September 11, 2013

Was this the next game or???

Boss (who's son is in the majors as well) said something to the tune of "he didn't really tie Oh because the seasons were shorter back when Oh was playing!" I pissed him off pretty bad when I pointed out Balentein missed the first 12 games of this season and it's far from over yet. What was that Inose was saying about gaijin and hard data?

[wagyl]

New York Times | September 5, 2013 by Hiroko Tabuchi and Joshua Hunt
TOKYO -- Balentien, a native of Curaçao, in the Netherlands Antilles,
More...

Would it be churlish to point out that the Netherlands Antilles have been dissolved, and Curaçao is now a constituent country of Kingdom of the Netherlands?

I hope that this does not become more fodder for Tabuchi bashing, after all she has such a high status and fame among the expat community.

[matsuki]

So uh....for my next controversial subject. WTF is up with the Japanese idea of a draft?!!

It's one step away from jankenpoing for each player.

Weak teams stay weak, I'd even suggest there is cheating as some teams regularly seem to get fucked.

[J.A.F.O]

I dunno, my kid beats me every freaking time we play scissors paper rock... Some people just suck a roshambo and take in the nuts.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Great to see that Rakuten are world champions at baseball.

[Yokohammer]

Great to see that Rakuten are world champions at baseball.

Er ... Japan champions.

It was a great series though. Watched every game start to finish, and I'm no even a baseball fan. Enjoyed the heck out of this one though. Great confidence boost to the Tohoku region, and the economic effect will be nice too.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Great to see that Rakuten are world champions at baseball.

Er ... Japan champions

In baseball aren't you world champions even if they only play in one cuntry?

[matsuki]

Great to see that Rakuten are world champions at baseball.

Er ... Japan champions

In baseball aren't you world champions even if they only play in one cuntry?

Not to defend MLB but at least it covers more than one cuntry and there aren't limits on foreign players. (So they are likely the best players from around the world) On the other hand, Japanese baseball teams are "pure" and can only play 3 FG at each game.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Great to see that Rakuten are world champions at baseball.

Er ... Japan champions

In baseball aren't you world champions even if they only play in one cuntry?

Not to defend MLB but at least it covers more than one cuntry and there aren't limits on foreign players. (So they are likely the best players from around the world) On the other hand, Japanese baseball teams are "pure" and can only play 3 FG at each game.

I'm only teasing you....

By the way, you do know baseball is really rounders don't you?

[matsuki]

Great to see that Rakuten are world champions at baseball.

Er ... Japan champions

In baseball aren't you world champions even if they only play in one cuntry?

Not to defend MLB but at least it covers more than one cuntry and there aren't limits on foreign players. (So they are likely the best players from around the world) On the other hand, Japanese baseball teams are "pure" and can only play 3 FG at each game.

I'm only teasing you....

By the way, you do know baseball is really rounders don't you?

I know I know....

I thought it was the ancient traditional sport of Japan? 野球