Try And Match This First Pitch Effort

((HT: MLB.com))

The HQ doesn't think that there will be any first pitch effort that will match Japanese film/martial arts star Rina Takeda's from this past weekend.

Chiba Lotte Marines versus Seibu Lions and all we can say is:

"Well, all right then..."


She can be excused for a bit of a short hop after smashing her forehead

HQ Finds Wily Mo Pena And He Can Still Crush A Baseball

((HT: MLB.com))

He's playing over in Japan with the Orix Buffaloes and did this in their All-Star Game


Hanshin's Shintaro Fujinami got to laugh about that meatball he served...

Let's face it...
That ball was crushed- even if it was dead pull-crushed...

Balentien Hits #56 and #57, Passes Oh For Japanese Record

Well, then...

Maybe the powers in Japanese baseball knew it was an eventuality with so many games remaining...

Here's the record breaking homerun where Wladimir Balentien hit his 56th of the season, passing the legendary Sadaharu Oh, Alex Cabrera and Tuffy Rhodes for most in a season...


Balentien would hit his 57th later in the game...

"I want to thank the fans for all their support," Balentien said after the game. "It was a great feeling. I don't think I will ever feel anything like that again in my life. Oh is the home run king and I have a lot of respect for him. To be able to tie him and then pass him is something very special for me."

There are 17 games left in the Central League season's self-admitted live-ball era, so it will be interesting to see just how many he hits by season's end...

Balentien Hits 55th In Japan

And now the fun starts...

He's surpassed Randy Bass and tied Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera for the gaijin record for homeruns in the Japanese Baseball League...

He's now tied Sadaharu Oh for the single-season record and the questions of strategy will start anew...

Do Japanese pitchers walk Yakult Swallows' Wladimir Balentien for the remainder of the season...??? They did it to Bass over a handful of games so Oh's record would stay that way. But the problem is there aren't six games, Balentien has 22...

And he was out for the first 12 games of the year- and STILL is where he is on the homerun ladder...

Here's 55 and the pitch wasn't even close...


By comparison, here's Tuffy Rhodes' 55th for the Kintetsu Buffaloes...and, yes, the pitcher who gave it up was Daisuke...


The drama and soap plot will be interesting from here... even as the Japanese admit publicly that the ball is juiced...

Movie Promotion For A First Pitch, Not Unheard Of... But This...???

((HT: MaidigiTV))

On August 30 in Japan, the new version of the Sadako (think "The Ring" franchise here in the US), is bring released in Japan...

So, how does the Pee-Ahr company and distributor for the flick promote itself...???

Have its anti-heroine throw out a first pitch...

Okay... sounds good... but, remember, she's supposed to be a bit of a zombie...

Here's the end result...


Pretty good first pitch through all that hair, don't you think...???

Andruw Jones Booked On Assault Charges

((HT: MyFoxAtlanta))

A team in Japan, the Rakuten Eagles of the Pacfic League, just dropped US$3.5-million on the 36-year-old (wink) outfielder after he spent the last two years with the New York Yankees.

So, Jones now will have to answer to assault and battery charges on his wife early this morning off an alleged domestic dispute- according to published reports from various sources. ((His booking photo is on the right, thanks Gwinnett County Police Department/MyFoxAtlanta))

He is out on bond...

Recoirds at the Gwinnett County (GA) Detention Center in Lawrenceville have Jones was booked into the county jail around 3:45AM Tuesday and released on $2,400 bond by 11AM...

What is it that the HQ says about nothing good happening after 1AM...???

Here's what the Japanese League thinks-slash-hopes they're getting...
((HT: MLB/youtube))


Provided the Eagles front office even lets him play after this...
More when we know more...