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Champagne performance as Japanese baseball pros arrive in party mood
SYDNEY, Sept 15 (AFP) - Japan's baseball pros arrived in Sydney Friday in an upbeat mood after an in-flight champagne-charged birthday party for baby-faced ace Daisuke Matsuzaka. But the odds are against them partying again with a third Olympic medal when baseball closes on September 27. "Of course, we will go for the gold with all of us joining forces," said Seibu Lions pitcher Matsuzaka, who turned 20 on Wednesday. Osaka Kintetsu infielder and slugger Norihiro Nakamura pointed to his usual gold-dyed hair, saying, "I feel like this." But the absence of Yakult Swallow superstar catcher Atsuya Furuta is likely to hurt Japan's hopes of winning a medal to add to the silver from the 1996 Atlanta Games and the bronze in Barcelona in 1992. Although pros are allowed to play in the Olympics for the first time at these Games, the professional Japanese Central League division declined to release top stars, including Furuta. There are just eight pros in Japan's 24-strong squad, while the United States field a team of "Triple-A" minor leaguers, many with major-league experience, and South Korea shut down its professional league to send a team of all stars to stop Cuba's three straight Olympic titles. Japan open their account against the United States on Sunday in a match manager Kozo Otagaki sees as a battle of "great pitchers" which will be decided by three-four runs batted in. Matsuzaka, the 1999 Rookie of the Year in the Pacific League, Japan's other professional division, is expected to start in the match. The most successful pitcher in the league in his rookie year with 16 victories, said he had been correcting "little glitches" in his action since the start of this season. "I've been fine-tuning my pitches little by little in recent matches," Matsuzaka said after a light workout at the Olympic Baseball Stadium a few hours after they arrived in Sydney. During the Asian qualifying round in Seoul last year, Matsuzaka combined with Furuta, now 35, to help Japan win one of the two Olympic berths for the region. He struck out 13 batters during a 2-1 win over Taiwan in the final-league match. Japan were beaten 5-3 in the final by South Korea's major-league all stars with Matsuzaka sitting in the bench. On an overnight Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo, the other Japanese pros threw a birthday party for Matsuzaka with glasses of champagne and a cake, and the cabin crew gifted him a koala doll, said national team spokesman Kazuo Hasegawa. "We put only two candles on the cake in view of safety on board," he said.
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