2004 NPB All-Star Game

The 2004 NPB All-Star Games were held on July 10 and July 11, 2004. The Pacific League swept the Central League.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 10 at Nagoya Dome with an attendance of 34,971. The CL scored first with Kazuyoshi Tatsunami and Kosuke Fukudome's doubles, and the PL tied it soon in the 2nd inning with Nobuhiko Matsunaka's solo shot. Kenji Johjima took the lead for the PL in the 4th inning with a homer, and Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out 4 in his 2 shutout innings; he would got the MVP and the win.

The PL started the 7th inning with a solo homer by Julio Zuleta, then Tadahito Iguchi drew a walk. Hiroyuki Nakajima doubled, and Arihito Muramatsu's clutch single extended their lead to 4 runs. The CL didn't give up; in the bottom of the inning, Yoshinobu Takahashi and George Arias's back-to-back doubles drove in a run, and Makoto Imaoka's sacrifice fly decreased the PL's lead to two runs. However, they couldn't tie it, and Norihiro Nakamura added an insurance run with a homer in the 9th inning to help the PL take the game.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Tsuyoshi Shinjo, CF (Nippon Ham Fighters)
2. Michihiro Ogasawara, 3B (Nippon Ham)
3. Kazuhiro Wada, LF (Seibu Lions)
4. Nobuhiko Matsunaka, 1B (Daiei Hawks)
5. Kenji Johjima, C (Daiei)
6. Julio Zuleta, DH (Daiei)
7. Tadahito Iguchi, 2B (Daiei)
8. Hiroyuki Nakajima, SS (Seibu)
9. Yoshitomo Tani, RF (Orix BlueWave)

• Hisashi Iwakuma, P (Kintetsu Buffaloes)

Backups Used

• Makoto Kaneko, 2B (Nippon Ham)
• Kazuya Fukuura, LF (Chiba Lotte Marines)
• Koichi Isobe, RF (Kintetsu)
• Arihito Muramatsu, LF (Orix)
• Norihiro Nakamura, 3B (Kintetsu)
• Munenori Kawasaki, DH (Daiei)
• Jose Ortiz, DH (Orix)
• Daisuke Matsuzaka, P (Seibu)
• Shunsuke Watanabe, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Satoru Kanemura, P (Nippon Ham)
• Koji Mise, P (Daiei)
• Shinji Mori, P (Seibu)

Manager

• Sadaharu Oh

Coaches

• Masataka Nashida
• Tsutomu Ito

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Makoto Imaoka, 2B (Hanshin Tigers)
2. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, 3B (Chunichi Dragons)
3. Tuffy Rhodes, CF (Yomiuri Giants)
4. Kosuke Fukudome, RF (Chunichi)
5. Tomoaki Kanemoto, LF (Hanshin)
6. Yoshinobu Takahashi, DH (Yomiuri)
7. George Arias, 1B (Hanshin)
8. Akihiro Yano, C (Hanshin)
9. Tomohiro Nioka, SS (Yomiuri)

• Masahiro Yamamoto P (Chunichi)

Backups Used

• Hiroki Kokubo, PH (Yomiuri)
• Greg LaRocca, PH (Hiroshima Carp)
• Shinnosuke Abe, C (Yomiuri)
• Akinori Iwamura, 3B (Yakult Swallows)
• Hitoshi Taneda, SS (Yokohama BayStars)
• Atsuya Furuta, C (Yakult)
• Shigenobu Shima, LF (Hiroshima)
• Daisuke Miura, P (Yokohama)
• Kenshin Kawakami P (Chunichi)
• Koji Uehara, P (Yomiuri)
• Takaya Kawauchi P (Hiroshima)
• Shinya Okamoto P (Chunichi)

Manager

• Akinobu Okada

Coaches

• Tsuneo Horiuchi
• Hiromitsu Ochiai

Umpires

• Masaharu Kasahara (Home), Tadayoshi Hayashi (1B), Kenjiro Mori (2B), Kota Kawaguchi (3B), Atsushi Kittaka (LF), Koichi Tanba (RF)

Game 2

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

The second game was held on July 11 at Nagano Olympic Stadium with an attendance of 26,963. Tsuyoshi Shinjo made history when he doubled in the 3rd inning then advanced to third with Arihito Muramatsu's grounder. When Akihiro Yano threw back to Shinobu Fukuhara, Shinjo completed the first straight steal of home and scored the game-winning run, and he won the MVP (the first steal of home in All-Star history was a double steal in 1978). The PL added an insurance run in the 5th inning when Shinjo doubled again and Tani sent him home with a single.

On the other hand, the CL was shut out in the first five innings. Only Julio Zuleta collected a single, and they never reached second. Veteran pinch-hitter Yoshinobu Takahashi finally broke through the PL with a solo shot in the 6th inning, but that was the only extra base hit for the CL in this game. George Arias had a single in the 9th inning, and the PL completed the sweep as their closer Yukiya Yokoyama struck out Shinnosuke Abe and Fukudome to save it.

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Imaoka, 2B
2. Taneda, LF
3. LaRocca, DH
4. Kokubo, 3B
5. Rhodes, CF
6. Arias, 1B
7. Fukudome, RF
8. Yano, C
9. Nioka, SS

• Shinobu Fukuhara, P (Hanshin)

Backups Used

• Iwamura, 3B
• Furuta, C
• Kanemoto, DH
• Takahashi, CF
• Toshihisa Nishi, 2B (Yomiuri)
• Shima, 1B
• Abe, C
• Kawauchi, PR
• Kimiyasu Kudo P (Yomiuri)
• Jason Beverlin P (Yakult)
• Ryota Igarashi, P (Yakult)
• Kazuhiro Sasaki, P (Yokohama)

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Shinjo, CF
2. Muramatsu, LF
3. Fukuura, 1B
4. Ogasawara, DH
5. Ortiz, 3B
6. Isobe, RF
7. Nakajima, SS
8. Shinji Takahashi, C (Nippon Ham)
9. Kaneko, 2B

• Tsuyoshi Wada, P (Daiei)

Backups Used

• Matsunaka, 1B
• Kawasaki, SS
• Johjima, 1B
• Wada, LF
• Tani, RF
• Zuleta, DH
• Nakamura, 3B
• Iguchi, 2B
• Chih-Chia Chang, P (Seibu)
• Hiroyuki Kobayashi, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Nagisa Arakaki, P (Daiei)
• Yukiya Yokoyama, P (Nippon Ham)

Umpires

• Tanba (Home), Kittaka (1B), Kawaguchi (2B), Mori (3B), Hayashi (LF), Kasahara (RF)

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia