NEWSWORTHY
Giants experience downside of NPB free agency as Tetsuya Utsumi departs
The images late last week of lefty pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi posing for photos wearing a white Seibu Lions uniform over his dress shirt — he wore a blue tie for effect — might've been a bit jarring for Yomiuri Giants fans. Other fanbases, like those ...
Pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi to join Lions as compensation for Giants' signing of Ginjiro Sumitani
The Yomiuri Giants announced Thursday they will send veteran left-hander Tetsuya Utsumi to the Seibu Lions in compensation for their recent acquisition of free agent catcher Ginjiro Sumitani. The 36-year-old Utsumi joined the Giants from the Tokyo Gas corporate league team in 2004 and was ...
Steady starter Kris Johnson improves to 10-2 as Carp pound Giants
Hiroshima Carp pitcher Kris Johnson gave himself a passing grade, just barely, for his performance against the Yomiuri Giants on Tuesday night. As for his teammates, well, they all passed with flying colors. Johnson allowed one run over seven innings, the Carp hitters put on a ...
Veterans Shinnosuke Abe, Tetsuya Utsumi guide Giants past Tigers
Baseball might be a young man's game, but it was old-timer's night at Tokyo Dome on Thursday. Yomiuri Giants veteran Shinnosuke Abe hit a three-run home run in the third inning that held up and helped make a winner out of veteran pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi ...
Yomiuri Giants lefty Tetsuya Utsumi had surgery to remove a mediastinal tumor between his lungs, the Central League team said Monday. The tumor was discovered during a routine postseason physical. Utsumi, 34, is expected to be discharged from hospital within the year and could begin ...
Giants' Cruz makes instant impact in return from ankle injury
It didn't take Luis Cruz very long to show Yomiuri Giants fans what they'd been missing for the past two months. Cruz, returning from an ankle injury, sparked a big inning with a two-run home run in his first at-bat and it was smooth sailing ...
Veteran mainstays guide Giants past Swallows
For one night, it almost felt like old times for the Yomiuri Giants. Shinnosuke Abe and Hayato Sakamoto were hitting home runs and Tetsuya Utsumi was making sure the other team didn't. Abe connected on a two-run shot, Sakamoto hit a solo blast and Utsumi ...
Stars step up to steer Giants past archrival Tigers
A red-hot Randy Messenger was dealing, and it didn't look as if the Yomiuri Giants were going to have many chances to cool him off. When an opportunity finally did present itself, the Giants didn't let it go to waste. Hayato Sakamoto drove in the first ...
Giants southpaw Utsumi records first victory of season
Tetsuya Utsumi threw his hands in the air as soon as the ball cleared the wall in left-center. Then he started clapping, and then he started grinning, and he capped his celebration by giving teammate Frederich Cepeda a high-five and a big slap on ...
Tetsuya Utsumi pitched his first complete game of the season, Hayato Sakamoto went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and the Yomiuri Giants walloped the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 11-3 in the two teams' last interleague game on Sunday afternoon. Utsumi (5-3) yielded three runs, two of them ...
Utsumi raring to go as World Baseball Classic approaches
Tetsuya Utsumi is making an appearance at his second World Baseball Classic, but his role will be a lot more important this time. Although he was on the hill for just three innings, the Yomiuri Giants lefty put up a superb outing on Tuesday night, ...
Yomiuri Giants ace Tetsuya Utsumi and his teammates started spring training on Feb. 1 in the pursuit of a second straight Japan Series championship. But for Utsumi, his role in the regular season is on the backburner as the lefty gears up for March's World ...
