Koji Uehara may not be the answer to Orioles fans’ prayers, but he’s certainly a start. Though it is hard to judge stats from Japanese baseball (because of the perceived lower level of competition and other factors), Uehara holds a 112-62 record with a 3.01 E.R.A. in his 10-year career in Japan. In 1998, he won 15 consecutive starts and 20 overall on his way to being named Rookie of the Year.
Before Uehara’s signing, Jeremy Guthrie was the only sure thing in the Baltimore rotation. I’m not about to declare the Orioles the front-runners in the A.L. East, but hopefully this signing will help them get out of the cellar – though that will still be a challenge.
It is curious that Uehara is the first Japanese player the team has ever had on its roster. One might have thought that after Ichiro Suzuki became an instant star with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, teams that had ample room for improvement would follows suit by tapping into the Japanese market. But since Ichiro, only a handful of Japanese players (Hideki Matsui, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, and Kenji Johjima come to mind) have come to this part of the world to play ball. Why is it that more of the best Japanese players are not in the major leagues?
A sad day for loyal Braves fans
The longest-tenured member (by far) of the Atlanta Braves has left for greener pastures. Smoltz finishes his Braves career with 210 wins, 154 saves, 53 complete games, 16 shutouts, 3011 strikeouts and a 3.26 E.R.A. in 708 games. He made eight All-Star teams and came in the top 10 in Cy Young voting five times, winning the award in 1996 – the year he won 24 games and, incidentally, the only time he reached 20 victories.
After two decades with the same team, John Smoltz is now a member of the Boston Red Sox. What a shame.
1st anniversary of my blog
Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of my very first blog post. Here’s to not going into a sophomore slump.
Keywords: anniversary, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Ichiro, Japan, John Smoltz, Koji Uehara
