2003 NPB All-Star Game

The 2003 NPB All-Star Games were held on July 15 and July 16, 2003. The Central League won once while the other was a tie. Due to injury, Kenjiro Kawasaki didn't pitch any games after he signed a 4-year, 800-million yen contract with the Chunichi Dragons; angry fans decided to satirize him by voting him as the All-Star starter. They were successful, but Kawasaki rejected playing.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 15 at the Osaka Dome with an attendance of 29,797. George Arias's solo homer in the 2nd inning was the first run of this game, and Yoshitomo Tani answered back with a solo homer in the next inning for the PL. The PL then added another three runs by long balls - a solo shot from Kazuo Matsui in the 5th inning and a 2-run homer by Alex Cabrera in the 6th inning. The CL's Shinnosuke Abe then hit a double in the 7th inning, and Yoshinobu Takahashi decreased the PL's lead to one run with a homer. In the 9th inning, Toyohiko Yoshida was on the mound to close the game for the PL. He retired Atsuya Furuta, but Takahashi blasted his 2nd homer of this game to tie it, and he won the MVP. All 8 runs for both sides were scored by homers.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	1	0	1	2	0	0	1	4	9	0
Central	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	4	11	0

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuo Matsui, SS (Seibu Lions)
2. Michihiro Ogasawara, 3B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
3. Tuffy Rhodes, LF (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
4. Alex Cabrera, 1B (Seibu)
5. Kenji Johjima, C (Daiei Hawks)
6. Kazuhiro Wada, DH (Seibu)
7. Tadahito Iguchi, 2B (Daiei)
8. Tomochika Tsuboi, RF (Nippon Ham)
9. Yoshitomo Tani, CF (Orix BlueWave)

• Hisashi Iwakuma, P (Kintetsu)

Backups Used

• Nobuhiko Matsunaka, PH (Daiei)
• Masahiro Abe, 3B (Kintetsu)
• Makoto Kosaka, SS (Chiba Lotte Marines)
• Arihito Muramatsu, LF (Daiei)
• Noriyoshi Omichi, DH (Daiei)
• Takashi Miwa, C (Orix)
• Kazuhiko Shiotani, RF (Orix)
• Hiroyuki Takagi, 2B (Seibu)
• Tsuyoshi Wada, P (Daiei)
• Masaru Yoshizaki, P (Nippon Ham)
• Kazumi Saito, P (Daiei)
• Toyohiko Yoshida, P (Kintetsu)

Manager

• Haruki Ihara

Coaches

• Masataka Nashida
• Sadaharu Oh

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Makoto Imaoka, 2B (Hanshin Tigers)
2. Tomohiro Nioka, SS (Yomiuri Giants)
3. Tomoaki Kanemoto, LF (Hanshin)
4. Alex Ramirez, DH (Yakult Swallows)
5. George Arias, 3B (Hanshin)
6. Kosuke Fukudome, RF (Chunichi Dragons)
7. Shinjiro Hiyama, 1B (Hanshin)
8. Akihiro Yano, C (Hanshin)
9. Norihiro Akahoshi, CF (Hanshin)

• Kei Igawa P (Hanshin)

Backups Used

• Yoshinobu Takahashi, CF (Yomiuri)
• Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, DH (Chunichi)
• Shinnosuke Abe, C (Yomiuri)
• Tyrone Woods, 1B (Yokohama BayStars)
• Shinya Miyamoto, SS (Yakult)
• Atsuya Furuta, PH (Yakult)
• Tatsuhiko Kinjo, LF (Yokohama)
• Atsushi Fujimoto, 2B (Hanshin)
• Ken Suzuki, PH (Yakult)
• Koji Uehara, P (Yomiuri)
• Ken Takahashi, P (Hiroshima Carp)
• Hitoki Iwase P (Chunichi)
• Katsuhiro Nagakawa P (Hiroshima)

Manager

• Tatsunori Hara

Coaches

• Tsutomu Wakamatsu
• Hisashi Yamada

Umpires

• Norihiro Akimura (Home), Kinji Nishimoto (1B), Masaharu Kodera (2B), Hitoshi Watarida (3B), Minoru Nakamura (LF), Masanobu Sasaki (RF)

Game 2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Central	1	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	5	10	1
Pacific	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	3	8	0

The second game was held on July 16 at Zozo Marine Stadium with an attendance of 25,108. Tomoaki Kanemoto opened the game with a solo shot in the first inning, and he added another in the 3rd inning to win the MVP. The PL's Cabrera roared back with a solo homer in the 4th inning, but Kanemoto soon drove in the 3rd run for the CL with a sacrifice fly in the 5th inning. The home run contest continued as Arias crushed a solo shot in the 6th inning, then Ogasawara and Cabrera both homered in the 6th inning to decrease the CL's lead to 2 runs. However, they couldn't score after this inning, and the CL took the series.

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Imaoka, 2B
2. Tatsunami, 3B
3. Kanemoto, LF
4. Ramirez, DH
5. Takahashi, RF
6. Arias, 1B
7. Hiyama, CF
8. Furuta, C
9. Fujimoto, SS

• Hideki Irabu, P (Hanshin)

Backups Used

• Miyamoto, SS
• Yano, C
• Nioka, SS
• Fukudome, RF
• Suzuki, 3B
• Kinjo, LF
• Abe, C
• Woods, PH
• Akahoshi, CF
• Hiroshi Kisanuki P (Yomiuri)
• Eiji Ochiai P (Chunichi)
• Ryota Igarashi, P (Yakult)
• Shingo Takatsu, P (Yakult)

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Muramatsu, CF
2. Ogasawara, 3B
3. Rhodes, DH
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Johjima, C
6. Wada, LF
7. Tsuboi, RF
8. Iguchi, 2B
9. Kosaka, SS

• Naoyuki Shimizu, P (Chiba Lotte)

Backups Used

• Matsunaka, PH
• Shiotani, RF
• Omichi, PH
• Abe, 3B
• Tani, CF
• Miwa, C
• Matsui, SS
• Takagi, 2B
• Nathan Minchey, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Takayuki Shinohara, P (Daiei)
• Shinji Mori, P (Seibu)
• Kiyoshi Toyoda, P (Seibu)
• Masahide Kobayashi, P (Chiba Lotte)

Umpires

• Sasaki (Home), Nakamura (1B), Nishimoto (2B), Kodera (3B), Watarida (LF), Akimura (RF)

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia