Kenji Otonari
, nicknamed "Tonarin", is a former Japanese baseball pitcher. Professional career Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Otonari was drafted in 2007 and made his first starts late in the year as the Hawks prepared for the playoffs. His first start was an Interleague start against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and he went seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out four. He would be credited with the win, but could not duplicate his success as he gave up 3 runs or more in 5 of his next 7 starts. In his first full season in 2008, the young lefty had a successful season. The first two starts he made, Ōtonari notched complete game victories, also only giving up one run in 18 innings while recording 18 strikeouts. Despite losing the next two starts, Ōtonari still threw 8 innings in each start. The rest of the season was a roller-coaster ride, as his success seemed to hinge on how many batters he struck out. Late in the season, he suffered an elbow injury that pr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer. Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League(and later the National League) and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The Japanese Central Le ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Japan National Baseball Team
The is the national team representing Japan in international baseball competitions. It won the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009, as well as WBSC Premier12 in 2019. The team is currently ranked 1st in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The team has participated in every Summer Olympic Games since the first demonstration tournament in 1984, through when baseball was discontinued following the 2008 Beijing Games. Until 2000, the team was made up exclusively of amateur players. Since the 2000 Summer Olympics, the team has been composed of players from Nippon Professional Baseball. The team that played in the 2006 World Baseball Classic included Japanese players from Major League Baseball as well. The team won the 2006 Classic. It played at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, as it had qualified through the Asian Baseball Championship in 2007. Unlike the WBC roster, the Olympic team was composed exclusively of NPB players (though it included one amateur pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thrown fastballs at speeds of (officially) and up to (unofficially). Pitchers who throw more slowly can put movement on the ball, or throw it on the outside of home plate where batters can't easily reach it. Fastballs are usually thrown with backspin, so that the Magnus effect creates an upward force on the ball. This causes it to fall less rapidly than expected, and sometimes causes an optical illusion often called a rising fastball. Although it is impossible for a human to throw a baseball fast enough and with enough backspin for the ball to actually rise, to the batter the pitch seems to rise due to the unexpected lack of natural drop on the pitch. A straight pitch is achieved by gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Glossary Of Baseball (J)
J J-run :The run the pitcher takes from the mound to first base in order to cover for the first baseman who has just fielded the ball. jack :A Glossary of baseball (H)#home run, home run or to hit a home run. "Hitting a jack" or "Jacking one out of here". jake :Half-hearted or lazy effort by a player, i.e. "He jaked that play." jam :*To Glossary of baseball (P)#pitch, pitch far enough inside that the Glossary of baseball (B)#batter, batter is unable to extend while swinging. "The pitcher jammed the batter." The batter was "handcuffed" or "shackled" by the pitch. :*When Glossary of baseball (B)#baserunner, runners are in Glossary of baseball (S)#scoring position, scoring position with less than two Out (baseball), outs and good hitters coming Glossary of baseball (U)#up, up. "The pitcher is in a jam." :*The "bases are jammed" (or loaded or full) when there are runners on all three. janitor throw :When an outfielder, trying to throw hard, spins or falls down. jelly legs :A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hanshin Tigers
The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc. The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961. History The Hanshin Tigers, second of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935, with the team being formed in 1936. The team was first called "the Ōsaka Tigers". In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment, the Tigers changed the name to "Hanshin" and in 1947 changed the name back to "Ōsaka Tigers". The current team name was assumed in 1961. The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two league system in 1950. Since the league was split into the Central League and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orix Buffaloes
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The team plays in the Pacific League and is under ownership by Orix, a leading diversified financial services company founded in Osaka. The combined team began play in 2005. The Buffaloes split home games between Kyocera Dome Osaka, which was the home of the original Buffaloes franchise, and Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium, the former home of the BlueWave, when the Hanshin Tigers take over Kyocera Dome for when they are kicked out of Hanshin Koshien Stadium during the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in the month of August. Franchise history Hankyu/Orix (1936–2004) Hankyu Braves The franchise that eventually became the Orix Buffaloes was founded in 1936 under the ownership of a Japanese railway company , as . Lat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Starting Pitcher
In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the game, although their ability to do this depends on many factors, including effectiveness, stamina, health, and strategy. A starting pitcher in professional baseball usually rests three, four, or five days after pitching a game before pitching in another. Therefore, most professional baseball teams have four, five or six starting pitchers on their rosters. These pitchers, and the sequence in which they pitch, is known as the ''rotation''. A team's best starter is known as the ace, and is almost always the first man to pitch in the rotation. In modern baseball, a five-man rotation is most common. In contrast, a pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō, including Hakodate, Asahikawa, Kushiro, and Obihiro. The team's name comes from its parent organization, Nippon Ham, a major Japanese food-processing company. Founded in 1946, the Fighters called Tokyo home for 58 years, as co-tenants of the Tokyo Dome & Korakuen Stadium with the Central League's Yomiuri Giants near the end of their tenure in the capital city. The franchise has won three Japan Series titles, in 1962, 2006, and, most recently, 2016. Team history Senators and Tokyo eras In 1946, Saburo Yokozawa, manager of the Tokyo Senators in 1936–1937 (and later a prominent umpire), looked to revive the franchise and soon founded the new Senators. He assembled a team of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Relief Pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather delays or pinch hitter substitutions. Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles, such as Closer (baseball), closers, setup men, middle relief pitchers, left-handed specialist, left/right-handed specialists, and long relievers. Whereas starting pitchers usually pitch count, throw so many pitches in a single game that they must rest several days before pitching in another, relief pitchers are expected to be more flexible and typically pitch in more games with a shorter time period between pitching appearances but with fewer innings pitched per appearance. A team's staff of relievers is normally referred to Metonymy, metonymically as a team's bullpen, which refers to the area where th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nikkan Sports
is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1946. It has a circulation of 1,661,000, and is an affiliate newspaper of the ''Asahi Shimbun''. Companies and regions ;Nikkan Sports News (Tokyo) :Tokyo HQ: 5-10, Tsukiji Sanchome, Chuo, Tokyo, Japan ;Hokkaido Nikkan Sports News (Hokkaido) :Hokkaido HQ: KN Building, 1-30, Kita-Sanjo-Higashi Sanchome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan ;Nikkan Sports News West Japan (Osaka, Nagoya, Kyushu) :Osaka HQ: Hanshin Diamond Building, 14-24, Fukushima Sanchome, Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Japan :Nagoya HQ: Asahi Kaikan, 3-3, Sakae Itchome, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Japan :Seibu HQ: Fukuoka Asahi Building, 1-1, Hakata Ekimae Nichome, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan See also * Nikkan Sports Film Award * Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix The Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix is an award given by the Nikkan Sports newspaper to Japanese television dramas. The 14th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix was canceled due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Netherlands National Baseball Team
The Netherlands national baseball team is the national baseball team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, representing the country in international men's baseball. They are currently ranked as the best team in the WBSC Europe, and the team is also ranked ninth in the WBSC World Rankings. The Netherlands participated in the Summer Olympic Games in Baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics, 1996, Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000, Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004, and Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008. The team has also participated in both of the other major international baseball tournaments recognised by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF): the World Baseball Classic (WBC) and the Baseball World Cup. In 2011 Baseball World Cup, 2011, the team won the World Cup after beating 25-time champion Cuba national baseball team, Cuba in the finals. The team is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation, which is represented in the WB ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2013 World Baseball Classic – Pool 1
Pool 1 of the Second Round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic was held at Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan from March 8 to 12, 2013. Pool 1 was a modified double-elimination tournament. The winners for the first games matched up in the second game, while the losers faced each other in an elimination game. The winners of the elimination game then played the losers of the non-elimination game in another elimination game. The remaining two teams then played each other to determine seeding for the semifinals. Bracket Pool 1 MVP: Hirokazu Ibata Results *All times are Japan Standard Time ( UTC+09:00). Netherlands 6, Cuba 2 Japan 4, Chinese Taipei 3 Cuba 14, Chinese Taipei 0 Japan 16, Netherlands 4 Netherlands 7, Cuba 6 Japan 10, Netherlands 6 References External linksOfficial website {{2013 World Baseball Classic Pool 1 Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |