Who’s on 1st : Arai, Kurihara share Golden Glove
Written by Writer on Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Who’s on 1st: Arai, Kurihara share Golden Glove
John E. Gibson Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter
Both Takahiro Arai and Kenta Kurihara at one time had their feet on the first base bag while teammates with the Hiroshima Carp. Now they both have their hands on the Mitsui Golden Glove Award.
Arai, a free agent who bolted from the Carp to the Hanshin Tigers in the offseason, and Kurihara tied in voting for first base in the Central League, Nippon Professional Baseball announced Wednesday.
It was the first Golden Glove Award for both players, who garnered 50 votes each from 177 media members in the third tie and first in 15 years–in the 37-year history of balloting.
Arai, who helped carry Hanshin to a 13-game lead over the Yomiuri Giants before the club slipped into second place during the CL title chase, moved back to first base with the Tigers after having to make room for Kurihara in Hiroshima by shifting to third. The 31-year-old had just one error and posted a .999 fielding percentage.
The 26-year-old Kurihara committed seven errors and had a fielding percentage of .995.
The Yomiuri Giants’ Michihiro Ogasawara–who played 41 games at third base but had 100 at first–received 45 votes to finish a close third in the voting.
The Chunichi Dragons, who finished third in the standings, had a league-high three selections.
Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura, a free agent pickup in 2007 from the Pacific League’s Orix Buffaloes, won his seventh overall Golden Glove and second straight in the CL to become the all-time leader at the position.
Tigers great Masayuki Kakefu won six and the Tampa Bay Rays’ Akinori Iwamura matched that number at third with the Yakult Swallows.
“It was one of my goals to get this award,” Nakamura said.
Nakamura received 99 votes, more than three times the number for second-place finisher Kentaro Sekimoto.
Meanwhile, the double-play combination of shortstop Hirokazu Ibata and Masahiro Araki showed why the Dragons were a tough opponent, each picking up the award for the fifth straight year.
Araki beat out Hiroshima’s Akihiro Higashide 108-26, while Ibata earned 110 votes to finish way ahead of Hanshin’s Takashi Toritani, who earned 33.
“I’m happy to have won it again, but this year I had a lot of injuries and missed a lot of games, so next year I’ll work hard to get my body ready,” Ibata said.
The Giants had two selections: catcher Shinnosuke Abe picked up his second Golden Glove Award, while Takahiro Suzuki was the third outfielder chosen.
It was the first selection in 12 years for Suzuki, who made one error in 105 games. Suzuki was a fill-in after a number of Giants outfielders were injured.
Other outfielders included the Swallows’ Norichika Aoki, who won for the third consecutive year, and Hanshin’s Norihiro Akahoshi, who won his sixth overall.
Masanori Ishikawa became the first Swallows pitcher to win the award, picking up 55 votes to beat Yomiuri’s Seth Greisiinger by 27.
In the PL, the biggest surprise was 36-year-old Alex Cabrera, who picked up his first Golden Glove Award after eight seasons in Japan.
Cabrera, who spent seven seasons with the Seibu Lions before the Orix Buffaloes signed him, won despite a .993 fielding percentage with nine errors.
In becoming the oldest first baseman to win the award, Cabrera collected 40 of the 143 votes to finish just two ahead of Kazuya Fukuura of the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Worth noting is that 53 voters left their ballots blank at the position.
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters ace Yu Darvish received his second straight Golden Glove Award, doubling the number of votes for Tohoku Rakuten Eagles right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma as Nippon Ham had a Japan-high four selections.
Kensuke Tanaka won at second base for the third consecutive year.
Fighters outfielders Atsunori Inaba and Hichori Morimoto each won their third consecutive awards, while Orix’s Tomotaka Sakaguchi earned his first.
Toru Hosokawa was the hands down winner at catcher, raking in 114 votes–second-place Takeshi Hidaka had just eight–to become the second Seibu player to win at that position.
Hiroyuki Nakajima won at shortstop, five votes better than Lotte’s Tsuyoshi Nishioka, for his first Golden Glove Award.
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Tazawa set on The Show
Corporate league right-hander Junichi Tazawa reiterated his desire to play in the major leagues ahead of today’s Japanese baseball draft.
“Nothing has changed,” the 22-year-old Eneos pitcher said Wednesday. “Even if I get drafted, I’ll just wait it out.”
If Tazawa does get picked, a team has until the end of January to negotiate a contract.
Tazawa intends to turn down all offers with the hopes of signing a deal with a major league team. The Atlanta Braves and the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies are reportedly interested.
(Oct. 30, 2008)
