Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Game Report: Baystars vs. Giants at Tokyo Dome - Wood gets Burned

This is going to be another Shortest Game Report Ever kind of post, about the Giants-Baystars game on Sunday, July 13. Basically, I showed up at the Tokyo Dome around 1pm for a 1:30pm start, and by the time I got inside, got food, got into my seat, etc, it was about 10 minutes before game time, at which point I discovered that I only had one pen with me and it didn't work, which meant I wasn't even going to keep score for the game. Alas.

I thought that would be okay, because I was sitting in the middle of the Baystars outfield cheering section, and in a good game we should have been standing up for at least 50% of it and yelling, which always distracts me from keeping score anyway.

But this time, no... we got up and did a typical game starting set (though they apparently start with the "Katsuzo! Yokohama! Taose! Yomiuri!!" chance music at the Tokyo Dome?), and then watched the first three Baystars hitters quickly all ground out to short or second.

The Giants starting pitcher was Adrian Burnside, and the Baystars starter, YET AGAIN, was Mike Wood. I have nothing against Wood, but it seems like I always see either him or Nasuno starting. At least the Wood post titles are easy to make up.

Three batters and one out into the Giants lineup, they were already up 2-0 after Yoshinobu Takahashi doubled and Michihiro Ogasawara's clean-shaven doppleganger hit a home run into the right-field stands. And as you can see if you look at the box score, it really WAS a pretty boring, anticlimactic game, with the Giants adding another run in the 6th inning and just winning 3-0 overall. The Baystars fans booed mightily when Marc Kroon took the mound, but there wasn't much else to say about it, and the game even ended by 4:30pm.

Ohya had tried something clever in starting Hiroki Sanada at shortstop for the Baystars -- Sanada is a pitcher, and a former Giant at that, and then he would substitute an appropriate shortstop based on the Giants starter. I suppose if it was a righty starter it'd have been either Takuro Ishii or Takehiro Ishikawa, and if it was a lefty starter it'd be JJ Furmaniak or Shingo Nonaka. He put in JJ, and aside from that I'm not sure he was awake for the game, because there were many times that called for a lefty pinch-hitter, and he simply didn't bother. I guess when you're about to be swept by the Giants in their house, you simply accept it. Maybe.

As for Hara, he played some pitcher shuffling games to get around Shuuichi Murata, who was held hitless for the day.

And that's all I really have to say.

I offer for your cheering amusement, a short video I took of JJ Furmaniak's cheer song, since I didn't know it before. I really ought to do a Baystars ouenka post one of these days, since I think I'm up to speed on all of the regulars now.



われらの星ジェイジェイ ビッグなジェイジェイ
大きな期待に応えて 一発ホームラン
warera no hoshi JJ big na JJ
ookina kitai ni kotaete ippatsu homerun

By the way, I know that I was saying that I had an undefeated streak of cheering for the Baystars, and you could theoretically say it was broken by this game, but I maintain that it wasn't, because as usual I showed up in an Ishii jersey, brought my Ishii towel to wave, wanted to cheer for him, and TAKURO ISHII DIDN'T PLAY. So therefore, my magic didn't work. Yeah. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

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