Indy Baseball News

(Nippon Professional) The Ham Fighters stroked 11 hits on their way to a 7-2 win over the expansion Eagles at the Tokyo Dome. Itsuki Shoda put Hokkaido on his shoulders with a seven inning outing giving up just a two run homer to Hidemitsu Saito.

(Atlantic League) Silly alliteration aside, Newsday reports on a "mature" John Rocker who's ready to use Long Island as a stepping stone back to the big leagues. Personally, I'm a fan of second chances. Now before you all jump on me, even Uncle Charlie gets a parole hearing every once in a while.

According to Rocker:

To say I'm a lot more mature at 30 than I was at 24 or 25 is an understatement. I'm more grown up. There's not a whole lot I haven't been through...My goal is to pitch as well as I can and get to the big leagues as soon as I can. I've set a timetable of July 1st to be on a big-league roster.

Since Rocker's epic demise several years ago, he has undergone shoulder surgery and pitched very unsuccessfully in Venezuela.

But he has three buisness ventures doing well (including as noted, a computer company financed by a black man). And in the last two and a half months his fastball has come back into the low 90's neighborhood.

With his arm feeling strong, and a 93MPH fastball, the Ducks could be Rocker's first step back to the big leagues. He's ready for a comeback. The question is: Are the fans ready?

(Northern League) Here it is. I'm a total dork for 80's baseball. I miss powder blue road unis, Mike Schmidt, a real pennant chase and even astroturf (but just a little bit).

If you remember baseball from the 80's keep an eye on eBay. The Jackhammers are hosting this year's I-55 Classic, a not-quite-oldtimers' game between the Cubs and the Cardinals.

Rosters will feature players like Bob Dernier, Andre Dawson, Lee Smith, John Tudor, Tito Landrum and - here's where the eBay auction comes in - two fans who have way too much money in their pockets.

The eBay auction will be for, wait for it, a roster spot on either team. Two winners, who are responsible for getting to Joliet, will experience the game and festivities and apparently get some field time.

I might be forced to bid on NOT playing. I mean, can you imagine standing on the mound and looking down at Andre Dawson?

(Nippon Professional) It took consecutive homers from Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Kenji Jojima and Julio Zuleta to push the Softbank Hawks past the Marines 4-3 and regain first place in the Pacific League. Naoyuki Shimizu ate all three homeruns and took the loss for Chiba. Benny Agbayani earned all three Chiba RBI's.

Who is Karim Garcia? He was the man last night, going 3-3 with a solo homer to help his Orix Buffaloes over Seibu 9-4.

Hiroshima's Kenjiro Nomura knocked a grandslam out and starter Yasuhiro Oyamada went full pull as the Carp beat the BayStars 5-3. Oyamada's complete game shutout was broken up with one down in the third when Kevin Witt cracked a three run homer of his own.

(Nippon Professional) Kazuhiro Sasaki recorded his 250th save in Japan, ten shy of the NPB record. Kaz finished off a 3-2 win over the Swallows to cinch a win for Cedric Bowers.

The Giants put their hitting shoes on and hung an 8 spot on Hanshin. Three Giants homered to lead Yomiuri out of the cellar for the first time this season. Koji Uehara took the win pitching seven strong recording seven K's and allowing one earned run. He's 2-0 on the year, despite Yomiuri's tough start.

(Central League) Conroe Texas decided late on Wednesday to end talks with Southern Independent Baseball and has killed the proposed 206-acre development that would include a stadium for a Central League team in the Houston suburbs.

The Sentaors announced the hiring of Reid Vance into their communications department. Reid will be the voice of the Senators as he'll broadcast every game on ESPN 1240 radio.

(Nippon Professional) Lee Seung Yeop's eight inning homerun propelled the Marines over the Buffaloes 4-3. For Chiba it was their sixth straight win pushing them into first place in the Pacific League with an 11-4 record.

Gabe Kapler, member of last year's World Champion Boston RedSox singled in the GWRBI for Yomirui to help the Giants beat the Tigers 4-2.

(Atlantic League) Leo Mazzone's influence will be all over the Atlantic League. Brad Clontz, who has a World Series ring via Atlanta signed today with the Patriots. They also signed infielder Jhonny Perez.

(Northern League) Darwin Soto was suspsended yesterday for seven games for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy. He was suspended by MLB for 15 games while on Seattle's AA roster and was released by the Mariners before the suspension was announced.

(Central League) Two new developments in the Central League involve the Ft. Worth Cats who are proposing a 35-acre development plan that would see townhoses, offices and stores built on Cats Island. The "Island" would be a link to the new Tarrant County College to LaGrave Field.

In Conroe, progress is being made. The City Council is considering a ways to raise the proposed $15million for the ballpark pitched by Southern Independent Baseball, LLC (owners of the Shreveport Sports).

(Frontier League) Lee's Summit is courting the Frontier League. The Kansas City suburb is proposing a stadium as part of an 800,000 square foot center that would also include a hotel, shopping and a convention center. The question is whether Kansas City is big enough for the Royals, the T-Bones and a third team. If I were the Frontier League, I would stay far away from Northern League territory.

Too sick for proper updates.
Check again tomorrow.

(Mobile-Weblog) DoCoMo 3G mobile phones will soon have a new service that will bring Japanese and American games nearly-live to cellphone screens across Japan.

DoCoMo's will relay the play-by-play through an animation engine that will pixelate the game and make it easier to to view on the tiny screen and presumably save bandwidth.

(Northern League)
St. Paul - Resign Justin Hall (All Star 2B), sign David Shepard (Starting Pitcher).

(Can-Am League)
Bangor - Recieves Casey Clary (Pitcher) from Winnipeg (NL) to complete an earlier deal.

(Atlantic League)
Somerset - Resign Jeff Nettles (All Star 3B).

(Frontier League)
Evansville - Trade Grant Williams (P) to Mesa (GL) for Graig Frydendall (P). Recieve Jeff Sues (P) from Chico (GL) to complete ealier trade.

(Central League) Bernie Carbo needs to get hip and hit up eBay.

Instead, fans of the Pensacola Pelicans can place their bid via phone, but only if they know Pensacola's exchange at ??? 934 8444. The 2002 Dodge Stratus, which was given to Carbo by the team has logged 177,000 miles. Apparently there was no room on the team bus and no budget for a dust buster as the car comes complete with infield clay and memory of his sweat. (Pensacola News Journal)

This item not so much for the baseball fan, but for Carbo's one creepy stalker girl who somehow got a hold of a lock of hair from the Pelican's skipper late one night in Shreveport.

Lesson learned. There are always ways around restraining orders.

(Nippon Professional) Nippon Ham has removed starting pitcher Carlos Mirabal from their active roster. Mirabal complained of shoulder pain after Friday's 8-2 loss to Chiba. Fighters' trainer Seiichiro Nakagaki told reporters Mirabal will not pitch until inflamation in his shoulder subsides, which could take up to two weeks.

The Swallows announced the signing of Rick Guttormson to a one year deal. Guttormson was a Seattle farmhand assigned to AAA Tacoma. The deal is worth an initial 30 million yen ($287,000).

(Nippon Professional) Masahiro Yamamoto pitched seven innings of shut-out ball behind an 18-hit break-out day to lead the Dragons to a 10-0 shutout over the struggling Giants. Masahiko Morino capped off a 5 run eigth with a two run homer and 4 Dragons had 3 or more hits on the day (including one time Baltimore Orioles draft pick Alex Ochoa).

Hiroshima jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on Yakult and never looked back. Swallows' starter Katsutoshi Ishido was knocked out after just 1.2 innings of work and Carp starter Kan Otake pitched a two-hitter and struck out eight in seven innings. The Carp won 5-3 to end Yakult's 5 game winning streak.

Atsushi Fujimoto's two run double in the "dream scenario" (bottom 9, two on & two out) helped the Tigers come from behind for an exciting 2-1 win over the BayStars. Jeff Williams' earned the run moments after giving up back to back doubles to break-up the dual shutouts. Kazuhiro Sasaki blew a second save opportunity this season.

Julio Zuleta's three run homer lead the Hawks to a 4-1 win over Seibu. Matching Chiba's 5-1 win over Nippon Ham helped Fukuoka stay one game back in Pacific League play. Hiroyuki Kobayashi struck out eight and pitched perfect through six to earn his second win in three decisions.

Takeshi Hidaka's game winning RBI in the sixth helped Orix send the expansion Eagles to their sixth loss in five games.

(Can-Am League) Pop Quiz. What do you do when you rank 41st out of 44 in independent league average attendance? How do you catch up when you're over 146,000 fans behind your league's attendance leader?

Four words. George "The Animal" Steele.

The New Haven County Cutters of the newly christened Can-Am League were dead last in attendance last year (when the CAL was called the Northeast League). This year the Cutters will possibly set an all time record for number of promotions during the regular season. Right now there are only 9 open dates. So if you have an idea, put it in an envelope and send it Early AM, because the door is closing quickly.

For a list of all Cutters' promotions for the 2005 season, click here.

(Northern League) League Commissioner Mike Stone is in Fort Worth this weekend deciding whether or not the independent Northern League is obligated to honor Minor League Baseball's 15 day suspension imposed against Darwin Soto earlier this week for a positive drug test. Soto was released by the Mariners and signed by Winnipeg before MLB released a list of 38 minor-leaguers who tested positive for banned substances. Soto's name was on the list.

Stone's decision will have long-lasting ramifications in independent baseball. Says Winnipeg GM Andrew Collier:

They're putting a lot of thought into it, because there are a lot of ramifications any way they go. If they impose a suspension, there will be questions. If they don't, there will be questions. They just want to be sure in their mind they're making the right decision.

Pundits are calling for the league to honor the suspension and make a firm statement "No cheaters are welcome in the Northern League." That is a statement that will go a long way with fans who remember Darryl Strawberry and Steve Howe who both attempted career mulligans in the Northern League. It would also be a way for the league to take steroids seriously. More than their optional, team administered drug testing. Especially since no teams are testing.

(Nippon Professional) Hanshin's Tomoaki Kanemoto hit his 300th career homerun yesterday, the 30th in NPB history to do so, as the Tigers beat the BayStars 4-1. The Tigers lead the CL by 1.5 games.

Noriyuki Shiroishi lead the attack for Yakult as the Swallows ate up the Carp 8-2. Shiroishi drove in three on a bases clearing double two outs in the seventh, and finished the day 3 for 5. Yuhei Takai earned the win striking out nine in just six innings of work for Yakult.

Yomiuri seem to be getting their act together, they put together back to back wins for the first time this year. Kazuhiro Kiyohara popped off a three-run homerun and was followed by Tuffy Rhodes hitting a solo shot as the Giants jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Yoshinobu Takahashi added a solo shot in the bottom of the third for the 5-3 win over Chunichi. Daisuke Yamai ate all five earned runs in the loss.

File photo of Kanemoto property of The Japan Times.