Nomo-Hasegawa Duel Wasn’t in (Lineup) Cards

Terry Collins had a cute idea for the Angel-Dodger mini-series, Part II. The manager of the Angels gave serious thought to using Shigetoshi Hasegawa as his starting pitcher, on the very night that the Dodgers would be sending Hideo Nomo to the mound.

It was a real inspiration, having two Japanese pitchers oppose each other here for the first time. Imagine such a thing happening at Dodger Stadium, 50 years after Jackie Robinson broke new ground in another ethnically significant area. History could have been made again, quicker than you can say Shigetoshi Hasegawa.

Alas, the visiting Angels pitched someone else, preventing June 18, 1997 from becoming a date that would live in fame. In the sixth inning, however, Hasegawa did enter the game, with Nomo still in there. Ah, baseball, the international pastime.

Beyond this, the second installment of Angels vs. Dodgers did not turn out to be of any particular sociological interest. Nor did it match the excitement of Game 1, although Todd Zeile’s sudden surge of power must make the Dodger third baseman wish the Angels would drop by a lot more often.

Wednesday night’s contest was won by the Dodgers, 7-5, before a crowd of 45,953.

If Collins had let Hasegawa start, the crowd might have been even larger. And furthermore, if Collins had left Hasegawa in the game, rather than removing him, Dodger pinch-hitter Billy Ashley might not have walloped a home run 425 feet, to the general vicinity of the Chavez Ravine palm trees.

Hasegawa began warming up in the top of the sixth inning. He is a slightly built, soft-throwing, 28-year-old right-hander who is in his first year of American baseball, after six seasons with the Orix Blue Wave club in Japan. Collins has not given him a start since mid-May, so there hasn’t been any outbreak of Hasegawa-mania.

He and Nomo opposed each other four times in Japan, as starting pitchers. The first time was May 22, 1991, in a game that was dominated by Nomo with a four-hit shutout. They dueled again July 29 of that year, when each worked a complete game, but this time Hasegawa was the winner, scattering seven hits.

On a third occasion that season, Nomo and Hasegawa were pitted against each other . . . and neither lasted beyond the fourth inning.

In spring training, Hasegawa was asked, “Do you know Nomo?”

“Yes,” he replied, “but we’re in a different league now.”

Nevertheless, wherever you are, in Chavez Ravine or in Osaka, some nights you have it, some nights you don’t.

This one wasn’t Nomo’s night. At almost the exact moment Hasegawa was told to get loose in the Angel bullpen in the sixth, Nomo found himself struggling pitch by pitch to stay in the game.

Having trailed from the get-go, Nomo eventually was staked to a 4-3 lead on a homer by Zeile, who apparently has concluded that batting against American League pitching is not altogether different than batting in one of those cages where you sink quarters into a machine.

Nomo lost this lead in the sixth, however. He had excellent stuff, as usual, striking out 11, but control abandoned him again, causing him to walk six. And when Nomo served up a gopher ball to Tim Salmon in the seventh inning, Dodger Manager Bill Russell had to give him the hook.

That was too bad, because in the bottom of the sixth, Hasegawa came in to pitch for the Angels. He and his Dodger counterpart did cross paths, at least, like two Far East ships in the middle of the night.

Hasegawa pitched hitless ball, but left the game in the seventh, same as Nomo did. Had they both remained in the game a bit longer, perhaps one could have pitched to the other.

Perhaps also, one of these days, the Dodgers and Angels will be able to pitch Nomo and Hasegawa against each other, and publicize it well in advance. Or better yet, the New York Yankees will be in town, and bring along their new pitcher, Hideki Irabu.

I predict a crowd of, oh, 70,000, including standing room.