April 16, 2002

TOKYO–Alex Cabrera is at it again. The Seibu Lions first baseman slammed three home runs in the team’s third game of the season to take his place among the Pacific League leaders in the early going.

The Venezuelan slugger belted a three-run, two-run and solo shot, as Seibu defeated the Kintetsu Buffaloes 10-1. All three blasts came off pitches in Japan’s new (higher) strike zone.

Cabrera is off to a hot start for the second straight year. Last spring he had 19 homers by mid-May, and at that time was on a pace to hit 78 for the season. He cooled off after the all-star break and finished with 49.

After considering using Cabrera as a DH, new Lions manager Haruki Ihara has kept him in the defensive lineup.

Japanese media continue to wonder how the Arizona Diamondbacks let Cabrera go after 2000, when his combined major and minor league stats added up to .335-44-108. Diamondbacks director of Pacific Rim operations Jim Marshall, a former major league player and manager and Japanese player and coach, had a ready answer.

"We have a first baseman by the name of Mark Grace, and we knew Cabrera would be a great hitter in Japan," Marshall said. "Alex is our gift to Japanese baseball."

–Wayne Graczyk

The revamped Hanshin Tigers, Central League basement-dwellers for the past four seasons, began this year as Japan’s hottest club. After going 15-3 in exhibition games, Hanshin won its first five regular games, knocking off the Yomiuri Giants twice and sweeping three games from the Yokohama BayStars, all on the road.

Making significant contributions were foreign players George Arias, whose two-run homer won the opener; starting pitcher Trey Moore, who won the second game; closer Marc Valdes, who saved Moore’s victory and the finale at Yokohama; and slugger Derrick White, who hit two home runs in the Yokohama series.

The five wins marked the best start for the franchise since the two-league system was established in 1950. The Tigers played their first eight games on the road because their home, Koshien Stadium near Osaka, was being used for a high school tournament.

–Wayne Graczyk

One year after fielding the first Japanese player in Italy’s Serie A/1, Bologna has become the first Italian club to sign an alumnus of Japan’s major leagues.

Pitcher Ayahito Shinada had several stints with the Kintetsu Buffaloes between 1992 and 1999. The 28-year-old righthander went 10-7, 3.29 with Elmira of the independent Northern League last year. Shinada replaces countryman Yoshimune Wakita, the ace of Bologna’s staff in 2001.

Bologna made two other high-profile signings during the offseason, landing first baseman Claudio Liverziani and third baseman David Sheldon from Rimini.

Liverziani, 27, won the Serie A/1 batting title in 2000 and played in the Mariners farm system for two years. "We’re friends and I originally signed Claudio for the Mariners after the Atlanta Olympics," said Bologna manager and Seattle scout Mauro Mazzotti. "Our sponsor gave him a job and Claudio made the decision to start a new life."

Sheldon, 38, is a naturalized Italian with a career .335 batting average and 102 home runs since 1987. A California native, Sheldon played for Italy at the 2000 Olympics.

Bologna also signed ex-minor leaguers David Dalton and Scott Seal.

–Harvey Sahker

• Despite a poor start, the Mexico Tigers have drawn much better in their new home in Puebla than they did in their final season in Mexico City. Through their first seven home games the Tigers were averaging about 3,000 fans, more than triple last year’s average. Puebla’s incumbent team, the Parrots, also was averaging about 3,000. For their home openers, the Tigers drew 9,500 and the Parrots 11,500. The Tigers, the two-time defending Mexican League champion, lost their first six games. Puebla also opened the season slowly at 3-7. The two teams remain in different divisions and played each other for just one three-game series, April 13-15.

• The Yomiuri Giants signed utilityman Felipe Crespo, formerly of the San Francisco Giants. Crespo, due to arrive in mid-April, becomes Yomiuri’s only foreign position player.

• Seibu owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi expressed opposition to the proposed 2004 move by the Nippon Ham Fighters from Tokyo to Sapporo. The Lions have planned to play 20 of their 70 home games in Sapporo from 2003 onward, and their owner insists Sapporo’s lucrative fan base and 42,000-seat, state-of-the-art dome should remain available for all 12 teams.

• Caserta dropped out of Serie A/1 less than a month before the start of the season. Its place will be taken by Modena, which was relegated to Serie A/2 after last season.

• The first Mexican League managerial change came three days before the season opened. Francisco Chavez went from Union Laguna to Campeche to replace Eddie Diaz, who resigned to remain an agent. Francisco Rodriguez, brother of the late major league third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez, took over at Union Laguna.

• Reynosa’s (Mexico) George Preston, a reliever last year in the independent Texas-Louisiana League, struck out 16 in eight innings to beat Puebla 2-1. Preston gave up three hits.