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 Jason Coskrey

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Jason Coskrey
Jason Coskrey is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His primary focus is Japanese baseball, but he has also covered soccer, American football, boxing and basketball. He previously worked for the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Ga. A native of Detroit, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 14, 2015
Carp pitcher Johnson putting it all together in Japan
Good luck trying to describe Hiroshima Carp pitcher Kris Johnson's first few weeks in Japanese baseball.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 14, 2015
Messenger, agent disappointed with how Hanshin handled demotion
Matt Sosnick, the agent for Hanshin Tigers ace Randy Messenger, says both he and his client are very disappointed in the way the Tigers handled the right-hander's demotion to ni-gun earlier this week.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 12, 2015
Triumphant Giants stage seventh-inning comeback against Carp
The Yomiuri Giants beat Kenta Maeda in a close game again, and this time he helped them do it.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 12, 2015
Chiba Lotte's Cruz finding NPB easier to adjust to second time around
Luis Alfonso Cruz Sr. has been around the block. He was a heck of a ballplayer in his day, putting together a solid 16-year career in the Mexican League — and there were chances to play in the U.S., but he stayed close to home for his family. These days, he's a hitting coach for Tomateros de Culiacan...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
May 11, 2015
Lions cub Mori beginning to show tremendous potential
In his last nine games, Tomoya Mori, the Seibu Lions' 19-year old sensation, has 14 hits (and at least one in nine straight contests), four home runs and has driven in seven runs. For the young season, he's hitting .325 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs.
MORE SPORTS
May 10, 2015
Fujimitsu outsprints field for 200-meter triumph
One week after helping the Japan men's 4x100 meter relay team punch its ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics with a third-place finish in Nassau May 3, sprinter Kenji Fujimitsu shouldered the load all by himself and raced to a little more success on Sunday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 8, 2015
Lions rout Marines, stretch winning streak to seven games
The Seibu Lions and Chiba Lotte Marines traded errors and three-run half innings in the opening frame of their matchup on Friday night.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 5, 2015
Hawks closer Sarfate savors 100th save in Japan
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks closer Dennis Sarfate joined an impressive club with a strikeout of Ikuhiro Kiyota on Monday night.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
May 4, 2015
Giants still looking for more power from cleanup hitters
Hall of Famer Shigeo Nagashima was the 25th player in the history of the Yomiuri Giants to hit fourth in the Kyojin's starting lineup, according to the team's records. Sadaharu Oh was the 28th, and Hideki Matsui the 62nd. Taishi Ota, in the cleanup role for the past four games, is the 81st.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 2, 2015
Nippon Ham's Yoshikawa off to resurgent start
When Yu Darvish left for the major leagues after the 2011 season, the prevailing thought was the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' pitching staff would be a rudderless ship.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 30, 2015
Murata stays hot at plate as Giants defeat Dragons
The Yomiuri Giants may have a new power-hitting third baseman on the way, but Shuichi Murata wants to show everyone the old model is still working just fine.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 24, 2015
Swallows' Balentien makes season debut, leaves with possible injury after fifth inning
Wladimir Balentien scored from second on a single in the second inning, motoring around third past the waving arm of base coach Kazuki Fukuchi, who urged him forward, to cross home plate for the first time this season.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 21, 2015
Lions' Togame records first home victory since July 2013
Ken Togame waited a long time for another win at home. Actually, it'd been a while since he'd won anywhere else either.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Apr 20, 2015
Saito stumbles again in quest to find success as pro
Yuki Saito has spent most of the past two seasons off the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' ichi-gun roster and with the farm team. His poor showing so far this year makes one wonder just how many days he'll spend with the top team going forward.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Apr 13, 2015
Swallows pitchers off to hot start on mound this year
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows' pitchers were unlikely candidates to flirt with history, the good kind at least, when the season began March 27. Not when they were coming off a 2014 in which they posted the worst ERA in Japan among starters, relievers, and, unsurprisingly, overall as a team.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 11, 2015
Taguchi passes debut test with flying colors as Giants down Swallows
If the pressure of making his NPB debut at Tokyo Dome in front of 42,870 fans got to Yomiuri Giants left-hander Kazuto Taguchi, the 19-year-old didn't let it show — on the mound or at the plate.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 10, 2015
Hatakeyama's 11th-inning homer carries Swallows past Giants
There were funky uniforms on both sides, and a slew of great plays in the outfield. In the end, it was Kazuhiro Hatakeyama and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows who put their stamp on the first round of a colorful battle for Tokyo supremacy.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 7, 2015
Mendoza tames Lions as Fighters stretch winning streak to six
Luis Mendoza had a hard time against the Seibu Lions in 2014. In their first meeting this year, it was Mendoza, who got a helping hand from Sho Nakata and Kensuke Tanaka, and left standing as the king of the Tokyo Jungle.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Apr 6, 2015
Abe serves as security blanket after Giants' slow start
It seemed, on the surface at least, to be with a palpable sense of early-season panic that Shinnosuke Abe was back behind the plate for the Yomiuri Giants during their series against the Hanshin Tigers over the weekend.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 5, 2015
Tigers' Gomez out for encore after good opening act
When Mauro Gomez was done hitting in the cage during batting practice on both Friday and Saturday at Tokyo Dome, where the Hanshin Tigers were taking on the rival Yomiuri Giants in a weekend series, instead of heading back to the clubhouse, he went behind the cage for a little more soft toss.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.