The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw is back in form and shuts out the Brewers, 2-0.

Hideki Matsui to sign one-day contract and retire as a Yankee

Hideki Matsui is one of the most beloved New York Yankees stars of the past decade, and the team has chosen to honor him with a one-day contract so he can retire in pinstripes, reports George King of the New York Post.

Even though Matsui officially announced the end of his career in December, he still plans on retiring as a Yankee later this summer. King continues on to say that the Yankees have a Bobblehead Day planned for Matsui on July 28 at Yankee Stadium, a likely time for his retirement to occur.

Matsui was one of the classiest players in baseball during his 10-year major league career. He epitomized sportsmanship and what it meant to play hard on a daily basis, making it obvious as to why the Yankees would choose to have a day set aside this summer just for him.

In seven seasons with the Yankees, "Godzilla" crushed 140 home runs, drove in 597 runs and hit .292/.370/.482 with an OPS of .852. He was an All-Star in 2003 and 2004—his rookie and sophomore seasons—and finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.

He finished 14th in the 2005 AL MVP voting, putting together arguably his strongest season performance. He hit .305/.367/.496 with 23 home runs, 116 RBI and a career-high 192 hits.

From 2006 on, though, Matsui experienced problems with his knees, missing over 100 games in 2006 and over 60 games in 2008. He was primarily a designated hitter during his last season with the Yankees in 2009, and further established himself as a Yankee great during the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the series, he hit .615 (8-13) with three home runs and eight RBI en route to the World Series MVP award—the first by a Japanese-born player.

The Yankees chose to let him walk after the World Series. Matsui could not have finished his pinstriped-career on a better note.

He continued to play for three more seasons, spending a season each with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays.

^ Congrats to Matsui... Maybe they'll put up a plaque of him with all of the other Yankee greats.

Dodgers get pummeled by the Rockies, 12-2.

Dodgers get swept by the Giants.

Dodgers lose to the D-backs and hit rock bottom in the NL West.

7 in a row for the Dodgers. At what point do Dodgers' fans start referring to the McCourt era as "the good old days"?

Seems that the Dodgers and Angels are battling for the "Worst Team in SoCal" record.

Nice story on former Dodger Takashi Saito:

Saito comes full circle in Sendai

CHIBA, Japan, May 10 (18:37) Kyodo


Right-hander Takashi Saito's pro baseball journey has been something of a magical mystery tour and the latest stage of the Sendai native's travels is no exception.

Saito, who left Japan at the age of 36 hoping to pitch at least once in a major league game and turned that dream into a seven-season, big-league odyssey, is at the age of 43 back where he started in his hometown.

"I imagined doing this as a child, but then we didn't even have a team," the Rakuten Eagles reliever told Kyodo News before Friday's Pacific League game against the Lotte Marines.

"Pitching in the majors was a dream. Pitching in Sendai is another dream."

Both seemed highly improbable in 2005. The first-round draft pick of the Yokohama-based Taiyo Whales in 1991, Saito had success as both a starter and a reliever for the club that changed its name to the Yokohama BayStars in 1993. But after three straight mediocre seasons in the starting rotation, the club let Saito go after the
2005 season so he could give the majors his last, best shot.

"When I left, I sold my family on the idea that even if I only pitched in the minors, I wanted to go. It turned out to be an amazing career," he said. "It was a great time."

Saito attended spring training in 2006 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but started the season in the minors. It was a brief stay.
In April, Dodgers closer Eric Gagne went down with injury and Saito took his place on the big league club.

"It didn't bother me, getting sent to the minors, because I had signed a minor league deal," he said. "But it didn't last long. I never really experienced what that life is like."

"I thought, I'm going to work hard down here and see what happens. I never expected for the call to come so quickly."

Saito saved 24 games for the Dodgers as a 36-year-old, when he fanned 107 batters in 78-1/3 innings in 2006. The next season, he saved 39 games and made the National League roster for the All-Star Game. After three seasons with the Dodgers he found work for one season apiece with the Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and finally the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"It turned into something I never imagined possible," he said.

After an injury-marred 2012 season in which he managed to pitch in just 16 games for Arizona, Saito was once more at a crossroads.

"It was a hard decision, basically whether or not to return to Japan, whether or not to continue playing baseball," he said. "I asked myself whether it might not be better if I just retire."

But the Rakuten club, which only came into existence in 2005, asked him if he was interested. That proved to be the decisive offer for Saito, who not only grew up in Sendai but played his college ball there at Tohoku Fukushi University.

On Monday, Saito made his belated season debut. He took the mound in the eighth inning of a tie game at Sendai's Kleenex Stadium against the Orix Buffaloes and earned his first win in Japan in eight seasons.

"Manager (Senichi) Hoshino was generous enough to send me out there," Saito said. "The feeling was simply incredible."

"The mood on this team is good, there is a real belief that we can win a pennant. I want to do my best to make it a reality and not just an empty dream."

gaijinmark wrote:

7 in a row for the Dodgers.

Eight in row now.

Dodgers finally win a game, beating the Marlins, 7-1.

Goodness!

Dodgers win two in row, beating the Marlins, 5-3.

Kuroda won again last night as the Yankees beat the Royals 4-2.

Could we have THREE Japanese starting pitchers make it to the All-Star game this year??

Kuroda: 5-2 2.31 ERA

Iwakuma: 4-1 1.74 ERA

Darvish: 6-1 2.73 ERA (leads the league in K's with 80 in just 52 2/3 innings)

Dodgers lose to the Braves, 8-5.

KID (Kuroda, Iwakuma, Darvish) update:

Kuroda pitched 8 innings of shutout ball, gave up just 2 hits as the Yankees beat Toronto 5-0 last night.

Kuroda 6-2 1.99 ERA

Iwakuma 5-1 1.84 ERA

Darvish 7-1 2.97 ERA and 86 strikeouts.

Mind blowing stat of the week: Usually a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2-to-1 is considered good (i.e. 30 Ks 15 BBs). Iwakuma has 55 strikeouts and 8 walks!! That almost a 7-to-1 ratio!!

Dodger bullpen snatches defeat from the jaws of victory once again: they lose to the Braves, 3-1.

Pathetic.

Dodger bullpen melts down for the third straight game.

Result: They lose again, 5-2, to the Braves.

Kershaw pitches a three-hit complete game gem and the Dodgers beat the Brewers, 3-1.

This is how the Dodgers can win games: keep the bullpen out of the game.

Dodgers beat the Brewers, 9-2.

Angels beat KC 7-0 to win their 7th in a row. To give you an idea how awful their season has been, even with the win the Halos are still 5 games under .500. For awhile there I really thought Scioscia would be out of a job by Memorial Day. Looks like he's safe for the time being.