This might not seem like a big deal to you, but given that the last time Todai actually won 2 games in a season was 5 years ago... yeah. Todai is known for its difficult entrance exams and geeky students, and for producing the country's future leaders, not for putting out high-quality sports teams. They have been the doormat of the Tokyo Big 6 league pretty much since its inception, with a stellar record of 241-1430-52. Hosei leads the league with 42 championships, Waseda follows with 40, Meiji 32, Keio 31, Rikkio 12, and Tokyo... well... let's just say their best season ever was when they were in FOURTH place in 1946.
If there's a Japanese equivalent of the nerd cheer "That's all right, that's okay, THEY'RE gonna work for US someday" that my college marching band used to yell, I'm sure Todai yells it.
Anyway, I actually went to this game to watch Tokyo win, which might seem like an odd thing given what I've just explained, but what I didn't mention is that this year they actually have a pitcher who doesn't totally completely suck. His name is Yuuichi Suzuki, he's a tall left-handed kid from Aichi prefecture, and somehow he's been putting up ERAs around 5, which is damn good for Todai (last year's ace, Takuya Shigenobu, generally posted ERAs in the 8's). This year it's even lower -- he has two wins and a tie, although he's also been throwing about 180 pitches per game. (You want unreal? Look at pitcher stats for the league; Suzuki's at the bottom with his 3.78 ERA. But that's not the big deal -- look at the IP, batters faced, etc! Geez -- every other team has other pitchers except Todai.)
Of course, like the idiot I am, I accidentally ended up sitting on the Hosei side. I arrived early, towards the end of the Meiji-Rikkio game -- got to see Yusuke Nomura pitch an inning, apparently he's set some kind of record by pitching 34 innings with no earned runs or something. You might remember Nomura from the Koshien 2007 finals -- he pitched Koryo all the way there until his arm gave out with two innings left and he gave up that fateful grand slam to Soejima of the Saga Kita Miracle Squad.
I realized two things as the games changed:
1) I was on the Hosei side
2) I was on the third base side, which usually makes for less exciting photography. Oops.
But since I managed to get a seat in the VERY FRONT ROW, right next to the camera well, with nothing but a fence between me and the field, I figured I wasn't about to move. Plus Hosei pitcher Kazuhito Futagami started warming up and it was much more interesting to take photos of him than to think about my seating location.
Being as I'm writing most of this post offline, I'm going to just throw pictures at the end of it. First, here's my scorecard:
Hosei Univ 5 - 4 Tokyo Univ
Monday, October 27, 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Hosei 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 4 9 0
Tokyo 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 1X 5 10 1
Attendance: 1500
Hosei AB R H RB K BB SH SB E 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Kamegai, rf 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 S7 .. F7 BB .. E4 .. BB ..
Itoh, 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 b1 .. G4 F8 .. F9 .. S9 ..
Kajiya, lf 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 BB .. F9 .. KS .. F8 .. ..
Kita, cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Ohyagi, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. F7 ..
Komatsu, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Sasaki, 1b 5 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 S7 .. .. S7 G5 .. D7 .. F9
Matsumoto, cf-lf-cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 KS .. .. b1 F4 .. BB .. G5
Ishikawa, c 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 F9 .. .. F8 .. H7 G6 .. L1
Waizumi, 3b 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .. G2 .. S8 .. F7 .. HP ..
Nanba, ss 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .. G3 .. T8 .. G4 .. b1 ..
Futagami, p 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 .. G6 .. BB .. S8 .. .. ..
Kagami, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Tateishi, ph 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. KS ..
Iwashima, lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Tokyo AB R H RB K BB SH SB E 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Furugaki, cf 4 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 KS .. .. S9 G1 .. KS .. ..
Horiguchi, cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Iwasaki, 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 G6 .. .. b1 .. G3 .. KS ..
Takahashi, 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 KS .. .. F9 .. F9 .. KS ..
Utsumi, rf 3 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 .. KS .. S9 .. KS .. .. ..
Kihara, rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. F8 ..
Maeshiro, lf 4 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 .. KS .. D7 .. .. D8 .. S7
Suzuki, p 4 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .. KS .. G3 .. .. S1 .. G4
Kasai, 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. G3 .. F4 .. S9 .. ..
Nishiyama, pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Ijiri, 1b 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. IW
Ohtsubo, c 4 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .. .. KS .. S9 .. G6 .. S7
Hamada, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. KS .. KB .. G5 .. ..
Ageba, ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I4
Hosei IP BF NP H HR K BBH RA ER
Futagami 6 25 92 7 0 9 0 4 4
Kagami 1 3 14 0 0 1 0 0 0
Komatsu (loss) 1.1 8 35 3 0 2 1 1 1
Tokyo IP BF NP H HR K BBH RA ER
Suzuki (win) 9 42 167 9 1 3 6 4 4
This game started exactly how you would expect any game against Todai to start -- the other team immediately managed to load the bases in the first inning, though somehow Suzuki-kun got out of the jam (despite throwing a pickoff throw to second at one point and having the second baseman totally not notice and the ball went into centerfield). And of course the Todai batters spent the first three innings pretty much striking out. (Come on, 7 strikeouts in the first 9 batters? Sheesh! You ever wonder where guys like Yuki Saito get their college strikeout records from? Meet Todai.) The only interesting thing to happen in the first 3 innings was actually when 1B Kasai grounded out to first, but his bat went flying over the dugout and nearly splintered a cameraman.
Things picked up in the fourth inning. A lady a few seats down from me was yelling all of the players' names and yelling "NICE!!! NICE!!!" after pretty much everything, starting in that inning. Hosei's firstbaseman Sasaki led off with a single and moved to second on a bunt, and tagged up to move to third on catcher Ishikawa's pop fly to center. (I suppose they weren't expecting a particularly strong throw in.) Chatterbox thirdbaseman Shota Waizumi singled to center after that, scoring Sasaki. 1-0. Waizumi stole second during shortstop Nanba's at-bat, but it was irrelevant as Nanba hit a monster fly ball out to center, and Furugaki stumbled around trying to get it and the play was a stand-up triple by the time the dust settled, Waizumi easily scoring. 2-0. Suzuki-kun walked the next two batters, pitcher Futagami and centerfielder Kamegai, but then got an easy popout from secondbaseman Itoh to end the inning. Whew. It was one batter short of a rally.
I guess maybe Futagami let up on the Todai batters a bit at that point because Furugaki immediately made up for his outfield slowness by hitting a single through the Hosei second baseman. Freshman thirdbaseman Shuhei Iwasaki, who turned 19 on Tuesday, bunted Furugaki up to second, and then secondbaseman Takahashi hit a big pop fly out. But cleanup batter Shota Utsumi, all 5'10" and 150 pounds of him, hit a blooper to right field that actually fell for a single. Furugaki had advanced on a wild pitch, so he scored on the single! 2-1. During Takeru Maeshiro's at-bat, Utsumi stole second, and I really have no clue how it was successful given that it was the worst jump and slowest running I've ever seen, but whatever. Maeshiro, who would eventually be 3-for-4 on the day, doubled to left, scoring Utsumi, and Todai had TIED THE GAME! 2-2. Suzuki grounded out to end the inning and get his butt back on the mound.
This amazing state of Todai not losing lasted for all of 2 innings before Hosei catcher Shuhei Ishikawa got a good pitch and launched it over the left-field wall for a solo home run. 3-2.
Around 4pm, which was about the bottom of the 6th inning, it started to get dark outside, but they didn't actally turn the lights on until around 4:30pm, halfway through the bottom of the 7th. I wonder if that was responsible for Todai actually starting to pick up, or not... Maeshiro led off the bottom of the 7th with a double to the centerfield wall, and then Suzuki-kun meant to bunt him up but actually was safe on a bad throw to first. Kasai singled to right, scoring Maeshiro (3-3!) and moving Suzuki to third, and the Hosei manager took Futagami out of the game, replacing him with sophomore Kisho Kagami. Kagami got Ohtsubo to ground to short, with a pinch-running Nishiyama out at second on the play, but Suzuki scored. 4-3 and Tokyo actually had the lead again. Whoa.
Oh yeah, Suzuki managed to pick runner Sasaki off second in the top of the 7th. That was pretty funny, though I vaguely ascribe it to the dark lights plus Todai's second baseman not napping for once.
Anyway, before I make him sound superhuman again, he started off the top of the 8th by plunking chatterbox Shota Waizumi in the arm. Waizumi had spent the entire pitching change in the bottom of the 7th talking to Suzuki and coach Kuroiwa, but I have no idea if he said anything that would inspire being hit, it looked like an accident. Nanba bunted Waizumi up to second, and eventually he scored on a two-out single to right by secondbaseman Nobuhiro Itoh. It was actually a fairly good throw in, but I think the Todai catcher was afraid of the runner. No, just kidding, it was a close play at the plate, but Hosei tied the game, 4-4.
Hosei ace pitcher Takeshi Komatsu came in to pitch the 8th and 9th. The 8th he did very quickly and effectively -- two strikeouts and a pop out before anyone had even noticed the inning starting. But the 9th... that was another story.
Suzuki-kun was somehow STILL OUT THERE PITCHING and had managed to get through Hosei quickly in the top of the 9th as well, so the bottom of the 9th started with Maeshiro at the plate and Suzuki in the on-deck circle. Maeshiro got yet another hit, singling to left, to start the fun. Suzuki came up bunting but went down grounding out to second -- it was still effective and moved Maeshiro to second. After that, first baseman Tetsuya Ijiri came up, and... and I'm not sure why, but they intentionally walked him. (I can't honestly imagine any reason to walk any Todai batter, but that's just me. You know their best batters are usually batting around .200 or so. Iwasaki is batting .220 this year, amazingly.) Catcher Ohtsubo came up after that, with runners at first and second, and he hit a big blooper to left field, and Hosei left fielder Iwashima chased it down, ran, ran, dived.. and it FELL! I guess the Todai runners weren't ready for that, which is why they stopped at third.
Ryo Ageha, who batted under .100 last season, pinch-hit for Hamada after that. And Ageha stayed there and... and fouled off the ball. A LOT. Eventually he finally didn't foul off a ball, he hit a weak grounder, and (I think) the secondbaseman ran in, got the ball, and threw it home, but Maeshiro managed to slide in safe before the throw got there and OH MY GOD TODAI ACTUALLY WON THE GAME! 5-4.
Man, what a surprise.
Suzuki, Maeshiro, and Ageha were the game heroes.
What was really funny is, as the Todai players were jumping up and down hugging each other and going nuts on the field, I saw a flash of light, and I'm like "Is that lightning? Hmm..." I left after a little while, and not 5 minutes later, the skies opened up. And I'm not just talking a little bit of rain, I'm talking HAIL, RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTNING, ETC. It's as if some major balance in the universe had just been thrown out of whack and the weather had to make up for it.
Anyway, here are some photos from the day:
Meiji pitcher Yusuke Nomura, formerly of Koryo HS. Won the league ERA title this year with a humongous 0.00 ERA.
After losing the game, the Rikkio captain addresses the fans and apologizes. This was their last game of the year.
Kazuhito Futagami, the Hosei starting pitcher, warming up.
Futagami on the mound.
Yuuichi Suzuki, Todai ace, pitching.
Suzuki-kun at bat.
Todai mound conference. I kind of imagine it being like "So uh... Suzuki-kun... you know... we've got a lot of brains on this team but not many arms... just yours... so please use them... brains too, okay?"
Suzuki sliding into third base in the 7th inning.
Chatterbox Waizumi talking to Suzuki at 3rd base.
Skinniest cleanup batter ever, Shota Utsumi. Batted in the first Todai run.
Super-young third baseman Iwasaki tries to bunt and mostly succeeds.
This was such a funny picture of centerfielder Furugaki running that I just had to post it. This was off that wild pitch in the 4th inning.
Surprisingly, this is the only picture I took of Maeshiro all day. Weird.
The infamous Todai marching band. They don't do a field show, but instead they get up and run across the (tons of) empty seats in the stands as part of their performance. It's kind of like marching but a lot cooler in some ways.
Hosei outfielder Iwashima.
Hosei's Takeshi Komatsu.
Komatsu again.
OH MY GOD TODAI WINS!!!!
Final scoreboard.
By the way, if you actually read all of this and are wondering, the reason why I wrote up this game and uploaded it with higher priority than the Dragons and Fighters playoff games I attended... well, between being busy moving and doing paperwork and preparing to go back to the US, plus not having internet at home, my priorities have gotten out of whack. And I have pictures of Todai, but not so much with the others. Plus, there are already articles about those games in English, but I have this vague feeling very few native English speakers go cheer for Todai's baseball team, let alone blog about it :)
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