Sunday, July 15, 2007

By WAYNE GRACZYK

How can one player be the winning and losing pitcher in the same game?

I recall as a youngster (like, about 45 years ago) hearing former New York Yankees famed play-by-play announcer Mel Allen explaining one time during a rain delay how it is possible, but can't quite remember exactly how it can be.

It involves a suspended game and a trade between the two teams whose game was suspended, whereby a pitcher who appeared for one side is transferred to the other team after the date of the suspended game and prior to the date of its resumption.

I can imagine how a guy can be the loser and get a save in the same game, if he leaves on the losing side and gets dealt to the team winning, and he comes in to close out the game in the ninth inning, does the job and is credited with the save.

The best explanation of the winner-loser possibility might be a situation where a starting pitcher goes out of the game on the winning side but did not go at least five innings to qualify for victory.

Then a series of relief pitchers appear in the game, and the official scorer has the option of awarding the V to the hurler he feels is most deserving.

Otherwise, I do not see how a guy can be in the game at its eventual deciding point, pitching for both teams at the same time.

If anyone has a better scenario or can explain exactly how the same man can be the winning and losing pitcher in one game, please let me know.

Unfortunately, Mel Allen is no longer with us.

This subject came up recently when rain forced suspension of the June 28 New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles game.

The Yanks had scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take an 8-6 lead, and play was stopped. It could not be resumed that night and will be picked up at the point of suspension when New York visits the Orioles again July 27.

We'll see if any pitchers or position players get traded in the meantime and wind up appearing in the game for both sides.

Incidentally, that game would not have been suspended if the Yankees had not scored in the top of the eighth. Since it had gone past five innings and the home team Orioles led 6-4 through the seventh, it would have gone down as a victory for Baltimore.

The Seibu Lions recently joined the group of teams to wear throwback or special uniforms this season. The Seibu players put on the blue jerseys and pants which served as the club's visitor suits from the time the team was relocated from Fukuoka to Tokorozawa in 1979, through the glory years of the 1980s and early '90s.

It was during the July 10-12 series against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Goodwill Dome when the Lions turned back the clock, playing in replicas of the uniforms used by powerhouse units that included Kazuhiro Kiyohara, Koji Akiyama, Hiromichi Ishige, Terry Whitfield, Orestes Destrade and the current Seibu manager, Tsutomu Ito.

The team won two and lost one while wearing the nostalgic color, and Lions fans were reminded of those championship teams that played in an undomed Seibu Lions Stadium and racked up 11 Pacific League titles and eight Japan Series crowns between 1982 and 1994.

Two more foreign players have been promoted from their teams' developmental roster and given contracts as regulars. Pitchers Esmailin Caridad of the Hiroshima Carp and Wirfin Obispo of the Yomiuri Giants, both right-handers from the Dominican Republic, are now full-fledged members of their respective clubs.

Caridad has already appeared in Central League action for the Carp, while Obispo was at Tokyo Dome this past week to practice with the Giants varsity and is expected to be registered on the first team very soon.

Caridad wears uniform No. 95 for Hiroshima; Obispo is No. 91 on the Kyojin.

Matt White, lefty pitcher recently signed by the Yokohama BayStars, is the guy who bought 20 hectares of land from his aunt in Massachusetts and planned to build a house on the property. Then he found out the space was covered with mica schist rock, a slate-like stone used for construction on patio decks.

A geologist told White the property, for which he paid $ 50,000, is worth $ 2.4 billion, as there is 24 tons of the substance there, and it sells for $ 100 a ton.

Hmmm, if Matt likes it in Yokohama, maybe he can buy the BayStars, although there is a rule prohibiting foreigners from owning a Japanese pro baseball franchise.

Diamond Dust: Former Hanshin Tigers slugger, two-time Central League Triple Crown winner and 1985 CL MVP Randy Bass will be back in Japan to play in the annual Suntory Malt's old-timers game at Tokyo Dome on Monday, July 23. Bass is now an Oklahoma State Senator.

Finally this week, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles executive and former sports columnist for The Japan Times, Marty Kuehnert, will be appearing in reruns of NHK's popular morning serial drama "Sakura" this coming week. Marty plays the father of Robbie Hoffman (Thane Camus), Sakura's fiance.

Kuehnert will be in five weekday episodes broadcast from July 18 to 24 from 7:45 to 8 a.m. on NHK's BS-11 satellite channel, and the entire week's episodes are repeated on Saturday mornings.

Former sumo star Konishiki and soccer great Rui Ramos also appear. Marty, as fluent in Japanese as a foreigner can get, says, "If you want to laugh at my funny Kansai-ben, be sure to tune in."

Contact Wayne Graczyk at: wayne@JapanBall.com

We welcome your opinions. Click to send a message to the editor.