One-Seam fastball (Twitter updates round-up for August 1)

[Note: For my baseball related thoughts, see blog.japaneseballplayers.com. This article is also on there. Thank you, Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker for linking to this post!]

Boy, those West-coast late night games are tough. Especially the Red Sox are notorious for long games (as Bill Simmons of ESPN points out, in first 101 games of 2010 Red Sox had only one game that took less than 2 hours and 30 min., 41 games between 2:31-3:00, and rest of 59 games took longer than 3 hours. 6 of those were longer than 4 hours (4 extra). So the games started at 10:10 PM EST in California/Seattle didn’t end till after 1 AM…

One of more interesting story that I read this week is that Daisuke Matsuzaka is throwing "one-seam" fastball this year. I have never heard of one-seam. This according to Japanese article by SportsNavi's Carlos Yamazaki. Yamazaki actually reside in Boston and I know him personally, and he says (in the article) Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz all throw "One-Seam." Beckett is quoted in saying “Our team have a lot of guys who throw one-seam. Including Lester, Buccholz, and Daisuke. (Note: this is his Japanese translation translated back to English so it is not the exact quote)” He says Tim Hudson is the most known successful pitcher that throw that pitch, and has talked to him about it. Hudson learned it from his teammate Omar Olivares in 2001 (on my tweet, I said “Oliver Perez”, but apparently, it was either my mistake or SportsNavi edited after my tweet… I believe it was latter, but none the less.)

I also tweeted this same item in Japanese, to which I got replies like “That’s the pitch Yu Darvish throws, it’s famous.” Japanese Wikipedia entry has two links: Nikkan sports story on March 20th, saying Darvish will be unveiling new pitch on the opening day, and Darvish’s official blog titled “My New Pitch.” Nikkan story points out that Buddy Carlyle, who is Darvish’s teammate this year at Fighters, was the one who showed Darvish the grip of the ball. Carlyle played with Hudson with the Braves. His blog entry says it is as fast as his fast ball except it will move like sinker (so from righty-righty match up. it goes in on the hitter; moves away from the left-handed hitter) – he called it hard sinker.

I guess TV Asahi ran a spot right before the Opening Day about it (Houdou Station 2010/03/19), interviewing Darvish. It looks like YouTube had a link but has been removed. (Try this:
tudou.com/programs/view/6NuQ0PKEPgY/ )

Here is Yu Darvish striking out 10 in the 2007 Japan Series against Chunichi Dragons, my hometown team.

• 2010 #RedSox had only 1 game in 4 mo. that took less than 150 min, @sportsguy33 points out. Also, so true about J.D. http://es.pn/8YOsN1 #
• Great story on Hideki Okajima by @GordonEdes Lonely, misses Japanese. 5.81ERA is 3d-worst AL lefty RP w/20+INN #RedSox http://es.pn/d4ZnpJ #
• Nice! #RedSox wins two in a row. John Lackey beats his former team. Thank God there is no late game tomorrow. Can't take those late nights! #
• @TheMightyQuinn Thank you John! Much appreciate it! in reply to TheMightyQuinn #
• Breaking down the first 100 game of the season: 2010 Interactive #RedSox Schedule, my latest project at Boston.com http://bit.ly/bIZa6M #
• Thank you #RedSox Now I can go to bed at 1:35 a.m. Final score 6-3. Buccholz gets 11th win. Ortiz hits 2 HRs. #
• I do know that. He needs to prove he can play outfield everyday first though. RT @npbtracker: Matsui wants to play for you guys, you know. #
• Thank you J.D. Drew. Can I go to bed now? I should probably stay up… 6-3 top 9 #RedSox #
• Hideki Matsui's HR – 20 v TB, 18 v TOR, 16 v BAL and 12 v #RedSox But still. http://bit.ly/a8KkmG cc @IanMBrowne via @richardcmcguire #
• Hideki Matsui! Why does he hit so well against the #RedSox 2-run homer and lead is now cut to 4-3. I was falling asleep… C'mon Atchison! #
• Home run derby was a great batting practice for Papi at Angel stadium? David Ortiz blasts two homeruns and Sox are up 4-1 in the 8th #RedSox #
• He says Beckett, Lester, Buchholz all throw "One-Seam" but Tim Hudson and Oliver Perez mastered it. Moves away from LHB by RHP, like shuuto. #
• Just read an interesting Japanese article by SportsNavi's Carlos Yamazaki that Daisuke Matsuzaka is throwing "one-seam" fastball this year #
• Welcome back Victor! RT @PeteAbe: First RBI for a #RedSox catcher sine 6/29 as V. Martinez singles after Beltre triples. #
• Darn you internet! I have to be productive while my son in is the camp! instead I'm facebooking this and youtubing that (& twittering this) #
• IMHO Bobby Valentine'd be great as a #Cubs manager for '11. Love his upbeat/positive attitude. His experience in Japan: http://bit.ly/9ttop7 #
• My wife's friend is moving to upstate NY and I asked, "How far is Cooperstown, how about Toronto?" My wife rolls her eyes. #onetrackmind #

Related posts:

1. Twitter updates for May 2nd, 2010
2. Twitter updates for May 16, 2010: Mostly baseball
3. Twitter updates for May 9, 2010
4. Twitter updates for June 6, 2010
5. 13-year-old girl dominating her little league in Florida (Twitter updates for July 25)