NPB Bullet Points: The Season Thus Far
News and notes on the season so far
…In Japanese:
- Juan Morillo has been demoted to ni-gun. Unfortunately, his lack of command has translated to NPB. His velocity has been as advertised though.
- On the flipside, Matt Murton is off to a hot start in Japan, having reached base safely in all 13 games so far this season. His slash line is a robust .407/.484/.556.
- Takayuki Kishi took a no-hitter into the 7th against Orix on the 6th, and finished with a one-hit shutout. Bonus points to those of you who can recall Japan’s last no-hitter.
- Tsuyoshi Wada set a new career best with 15 strikeouts against Lotte on April 8.
- The Hanshin Tigers picked up lefty Yusuke Kawasaki for cash from the Chiba Lotte Marines. The last trade that Hanshin made with Lotte worked out pretty well for the Tigers, netting them Yasuyuki Kubo.
- The Japanese baseball media has an uncanny ability find and point out obscure streaks. Examples? Last week, Nippon Ham’s Kensuke Tanaka’s streak at-bats without hitting into a double play ended at 862. On the 11th, Hiroshima’s Tomonori Maeda went yard for the first time in 686 days.
- In a rather forward-thinking move, Nippon Ham is limiting Yu Darvish’s pitch counts to 120 per start. Darvish surpassed 140 pitches in two of his first three starts, and Ham is concerned about keeping him healthy for the whole season.
- Belated congratulations to Shingo Takatsu, who has now saved games in Japan, the US, Korea and Taiwan. I hope he plays Winter League ball somewhere this year.
…and in English:
- Congratulations to Colby Lewis on winning his first start in his return engagment in Texas.
- Baseball Happenings conducted an interview with Tuffy Rhodes, who reflected on his career in Japan. Is he an NPB Hall of Famer? For me he is.
11/04/2010 at 6:16 pm Permalink
Japan’s last no-no pitcher was older than Randy Johnson was at the time of their respective record, making him the oldest lefty to do it in the world (unless you discover some obscure Negro League record).
11/04/2010 at 6:29 pm Permalink
I was wondering what happened to Morrillo. Hadn’t seen him in the four or five games I’ve been able to catch so far. The Eagles seem to have chosen two fairly useless foreign pitchers for themselves. Andy Phillips has looked awful. Linden crushed a homer yesterday, but I believe he is also hovering around .200. Who the heck are they using as a scout in America?
11/04/2010 at 6:37 pm Permalink
Morillo’s link has two https.
11/04/2010 at 6:40 pm Permalink
passerby — that was the last regular season no hitter, but I was thinking of a more recent one.
Kyle — I don’t think anything happened to Morillo. The book on him was always good velocity, no command. Greg Hansell used to scout for Rakuten, not sure who they have no.
11/04/2010 at 8:49 pm Permalink
link fixed. Thanks for spotting that.
11/04/2010 at 10:16 pm Permalink
Yamai & Iwase vs. Ham?
11/04/2010 at 11:09 pm Permalink
That’s the one I was thinking of. I will award the bonus points to both you and passerby.
11/04/2010 at 11:31 pm Permalink
Wow! Bonus points! Thanks.
13/04/2010 at 2:47 pm Permalink
I got that baby on tape, what a game!
Too bad Yamai has been so bad since then
14/04/2010 at 2:11 pm Permalink
Starting to freak a bit about the Eagles! Maybe its time to give Tuffy a call!