Mr. swept. Tatsuo Komatsu the title in 1985 “I was in the zone”
Most wins, best ERA, most strikeouts, Sawamura Award. In 1985 Chunichi pitcher Tatsuo Komatsu swept the Central League pitching title. What was evident was the mass production of white stars in the final stage. From the Giants game (Nagoya Stadium) on August 27, he showed an unbeaten 8 wins and 1 save and an invincible pitch. Was there a reason? Mr. Komatsu, now a baseball critic and owner of Yakidokoro Umaimono Kaisenyama (Nishiki 3-chome, Naka-ku, Nagoya), revealed the “secret” at the time.
In 1985, he served as the starting pitcher and notched a victory. “I’ve played the opening pitcher five times, but I’ve only won this one game,” he said, but that doesn’t mean he was good from the first half. 7 wins and 6 losses, win and lose until before the ball feast. “I never thought of a title,” he said. That changed in the second half. Especially in September and October, it was a raging trigger. “During that time, I think I only scored about 2 points. That’s why my ERA has improved.”
A strange thing happened. “I got into the zone, and I felt like if I threw a straight ball, I wouldn’t be able to hit it. If you throw a straight ball, your opponent will be like that.” He still doesn’t know what happened.
“The following year (1986), when I started for the first time (April 8, Battle of Taiyo, Nagoya Stadium), it continued, but when I was hit by Yutaka Takagi’s pitcher’s liner, for some reason, until then. that, I couldn’t remember anything like, uh, uh, it wasn’t like this.
