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Long Beach Armada Opens at Home with Jose Lima and Hideki Irabu on the Mound This Weekend

June 11, 2009 - Golden Baseball League (GBL) News Release


Long Beach Armada Opens at Home with Jose Lima & Hideki Irabu This Weekend Lima Time at opener on Friday night followed by Irabumania on Saturday in Long Beach

Long Beach, Calif. (June 10, 2009) -- After starting the season with two weeks on the road, the Long Beach Armada is finally back at Blair Field for its home opener this weekend. Fans and media will see two of the biggest names in independent professional baseball take the mound for the Fleet. First up on Friday night is former major league all-star pitcher Jose Lima who has shown sparkling form in his first three starts on the road including a complete game shutout in his last appearance in Yuma last week. Saturday night will be the return of Hideki Irabu, one of Japan's most revered pitchers, who will be following up on his five inning win in his first start in 4 years as he defeated the Yuma Scorpions last week in Arizona.

This will be Lima's fourth start of the season, and he may not be around much longer as he excelled in his first three outings against some of the best GBL teams. In those three games, facing AAA and a number of major league experienced hitters he went 8 innings or more in each game as he pitched 25 total innings, struck out 12 and walked only 2 with an ERA of 1.44. In addition he entertained the crowds as he led the packed stadiums in singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

For Irabu, Saturday night will be his second start in his comeback from knee surgery. The 40-year old is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all-time in Japan and was part of two New York Yankee World Series champion teams in the late 1990s. He displayed in his first start last week the he is now fully re-habbed as his fastball was clocked consistently at 92 mph as he went five strong innings to pick up the win. A horde of Japanese media attended with over 20 media credentials supplied to the camera crews and press that chronicled his comeback start.

"Lima has been incredible and could help most major league teams right now," said Long Beach Armada Manager Garry Templeton. "Irabu was a big surprise in his first start as his velocity and control were amazing, I can't wait to see him on the mound at home in front of a large home crowd that should have lots of the local Japanese residents rooting him on."



Golden Baseball League Stories from June 11, 2009


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