Hideki Irabu Found Dead In LA

Hideki Irabu and Rudolph Guiliani in happier times.

Former New York Yankees and Japanese League pitcher Hideki Irabu has been found dead in his home in Los Angeles, CA. Kyodo News reported that police are investigating a possible suicide. Another source said that Irabu had hung himself, but that has not been confirmed.

Irabu was a solid, but unspectacular pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese Pacific League before signing with the Yankees during the 1997 season. (After acquiring his rights from San Diego). At the time, his four year, $12.8MM was the highest for a Major League rookie. But Irabu's performance never matched the hype nor did his fastball,which was supposed to be in the upper 90's.

In two-plus seasons in New York, Irabu was 29-20, 4.80 before he was dealt to the Montreal Expos with Jake Westbrook for Ted Lilly and Christian Parker. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner infamously referred to Irabu as a "fat pussy toad".

Irabu pitched in just 14 big league games for the Expos (2-6, 6.69) and was released in early September. He played on more season in the US for the Texas Rangers in 2002 and recorded 16 saves as a reliever. He returned to Japan after the season and pitched for two years with the Hanshin Tigers.

He came out of retirement in 2009 and attempted a comeback with the Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League, but retired in August. Last year he was arrested on a DUI charge in California.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.

Milestone Monday

Nick Swisher pitching for the Yankees was just one of the memorable things that took place yesterday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Swisher became only the third non-pitcher since divisional play began in 1969 to both pitch and hit a home run in the same game. The Pirates Keith Osik (May 20, 2000) and the Rangers Jeff Kunkel (May 20, 1989) are the other two. Apparently Swidher is the first player not to do it on May 20.

Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko became the first teammates to reach a "double zero" milestone in career home runs in the same game. Not only did Dye and Konerko both hit their 300th home runs in Monday's game, but they also hit them back to back.

Orlando Hudson became the first Dodger since Wes Parker in 1970 to hit for the cycle. Hudson's Dodgers beat Randy Johnson's Giants. It marked first time the Big Unit has ever lost a game in eight decisions at Dodgers Stadium.

Jody Gerut led off the Padres-Mets game with a solo home run off of Mike Pelfrey. It marked the first time that a lead off man christened a brand new ball park (Citi Field) with a home run in the first at-bat.

Finally, Koji Uehara was awful for the Orioles yesterday, but still improved to 2-0 in the Orioles 10-9 win over the Rangers. He joined Kaz Ishii and Hideki Irabu as the only two Japanese imports to win their first two decisions. Hopefully for his sake he has a better career than either one of them.