Bush League in Japan?

quote:

The hapless hurler had already sent down over 250 pitches, allowing 26 runs in the first inning and 40 in the second before Kawamoto asked for mercy.

“At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings,” Kawamoto’s coach was quoted as saying. “There was a danger he could get injured.”

Couldn't 250 pitches in one game put the pitcher in danger of injury?

Did he ever consider changing pitchers?

I think the players on the winning team should be tested for MSG...a known score enhancer!

quote:

Originally posted by cheapseats:

quote:

The hapless hurler had already sent down over 250 pitches, allowing 26 runs in the first inning and 40 in the second before Kawamoto asked for mercy.

“At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings,” Kawamoto’s coach was quoted as saying. “There was a danger he could get injured.”

Couldn't 250 pitches in one game put the pitcher in danger of injury?

Did he ever consider changing pitchers?

Japanese pitchers are trained to throw a lot. DiceK has thrown 250 pitches in high school extra inning games. However at some point in this situation the coach should have had an idea his pitcher didn't have his stuff. Talk about an inflated ERA!

You sure this was a baseball game?

Cheapseats:

What news release did you notice this article.

Since 1983, Goodwill Series has been involved with the Japan National HS Baseball Federation
[4,570 high schools. 49 prefectures] and annual attendance at the Summer Tournament is 55,000 each game and 40 million viewers on TV.

The Asahi Newspaper Company has 7 million daily readers and they sponsor high school baseball.

What I am asking is the age of the players on the team and what was the baseball used? The k-ball is rubber cover and it is used the 15 and under leagues and the adult leagues.

The Japan HS Coach are all trained in the Physical Education College. Each Japanese HS pitcher before and after they play in the Koshien tournament has an X-Ray of his shoulder. This is placed in a computer for research.

The pitching mound in Japan is very low and this reduces the "tear down" of the arm. All Japan Senior High Schools carry 6 pitchers on their team. Send me the web for the news release and I will check further.

Bob

Bob:

I heard about it in the office in Tokyo and then found it on Yahoo. I posted the Yahoo (actually Reuters) story here:

http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6616002781/...721091182#3721091182

It was a high school baseball game according to the office gossip...

08

I copied it from the yahoo news headlines.

I did a search and found the article on Thursday, April 17th. The news service was Tokyo (Reuters).

With an entirely different outcome, Sadahara Oh pitched four complete games over four consecutive days (with infected, bleeding blisters on his pitching hand) to win Japan's national high school championship in the 1950's.

Legend has it that his father traveled all night to deliver some ancient herbal remedy to treat his swollen hand, allowing Oh to make the 4th start.

One thing is certain, that national tournament is Japan's most popular sporting event. (And I'd wager there is a very high traffic hsbaseballweb.jp.)