Kawakami Stays Quiet
Word on the street is that Kenshin Kawakami is nearing a deal with the Braves.  For his part, Kenshin is staying quiet. Nikkan Sports has this comment from the pitcher: “Basically I can’t say anything. In the end it is me that will decide, but I don’t want to disrupt the people who are negotiating.”
While we wait for a resolution, let’s enjoy this footage from Kawakami’s last regular season appearance in 2008, a start in which he held the Yokohama BayStars scoreless over six innings. (English box score courtesty of JapaneseBaseball.com).
To go with that, here’s a highlight reel spanning the course of Kawakami’s career, and the last out of his 2002 no-hitter.
09/01/2009 at 10:43 pm Permalink
Kawakami is a very good pitcher, but beating up on the BayStars is never anything to get too excited about. We’re talking about the Yokohama BayStars here, the Pittsburgh Pirates of NPB.
09/01/2009 at 10:45 pm Permalink
Once Yokohama hits 6th place (most years around May 15th), they hardly even put up an effort for the rest of the season.
10/01/2009 at 6:17 am Permalink
Except against Hanshin down the stretch – helping to dash all of those Tiger hopes.
10/01/2009 at 10:35 am Permalink
They still had the batting champ (Uchikawa) and home run champ (Murata), although the rest of the lineup wasn’t too impressive.
10/01/2009 at 8:39 pm Permalink
“Except against Hanshin down the stretch – helping to dash all of those Tiger hopes.”
Hanshin doesn’t need much help. They normally pack it in around the end of August. After that they go into choke mode.