Yesterday Aaron noted that former Mariner and current Yakult Swallow Wladimir Balentien was threatening the NPB single season home run record. As an update, know that he has hit a solo home run today/tonight and now has 51, putting him four short of the record 55, held by Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera.
My question — and anyone with good knowledge of the NPB should chime in — is whether or not he’ll get anything to hit once he gets to 55. A decade ago when Rhodes threatened the record it was widely assumed — and there much evidence showing — that he was stuck on 55 when opponents refused to give him anything to hit, lest a non-Japanese player break the immortal Oh’s record. I’m not sure if Cabrera got that treatment too. Or if, in reality, it was really a major factor in Rhodes not breaking Oh’s record.
I assume that a decade in which several Japanese players have dominated in the United States — and in which people are just generally cool about such things — will mean that Balentien will get pitches down the stretch. And I assume with 32 games left and only four homers to go, he’ll break that record.
