It's Torre's birthday today, and Torii's as well. That joke doesn't work nearly as well in text as it does out loud.
I suck at reading medical Japanese, and the articles on Japanball indicate that Sadaharu Oh had his stomach removed as part of treatment for cancer. The discussions have been a little confusing.
Eric Byrnes played a new Home Run variation of beer pong yesterday.
Nick Swisher takes the high road, so to speak. I have to admit, though, if he's serious in that he didn't charge the mound because he was thinking of his teammates and the DL situation, that's as good as a Lackey tackle.
Almost every Salt Lake Bees player I saw in April has come up to the majors this year, the latest being Dustin Moseley, who made his major league debut last night in place of Jered Weaver, and was immediately optioned back down afterwards.
Nate Robertson, quietly one of my favorite lefties in baseball this year, started a blog, "Gum Time", a few weeks ago. I thought it was the high socks powering Detroit, but apparently it's actually their gum. I sent in a joking remark that the Tigers should get Shin-Soo Choo so they can have a Big League Choo to go with their Big League Chew.
Jim Caple has some heartwarming stories of life around the minor leagues.
John Brazer tells some amusing Phillies clubhouse stories. David Bell is good friends with Eddie Vedder?
You should all go read Fantasyland. Two and a half weeks left until book club! Trust me, you'll love it.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Craaaaazy Yankees
I managed to catch bits and pieces of today's Mariners game in various forms, culminating in watching the last few innings on TV. It ended just in time for me to see part of the Braves-Cardinals blowout, which was pretty wacky -- not only did cutie Brian McCann get his first career grand slam off the ever-squishy Jeff Weaver, and did I get to see Jason Marquis, Pinch-Hitting Wonder Pitcher, but Chipper Jones was the real story of the game. He'd had a 14-game streak of getting extra-base hits, tying a 79-year-old record set by Paul "Big Poison" Waner, and he only managed to hit singles today. You know that when a guy goes 3-for-5 with a walk and they call it a BAD day, he's got something special going. Heck, one could diss Chipper Jones for being the only Brave to get on base and NOT score a run today. What a slacker!
Oh, right, the Mariners.
You know, my housemate bought a Gamecube a few weeks ago so he could play Eternal Darkness (which, of course, is because of his eternal dorkness), and along with it he got a few other cheap games, including Crazy Taxi, which I used to play a ton of back when I first got my Sega Dreamcast a billion years ago. For whatever reason, the last few weeks have involved several hours of a bunch of us sitting around the TV, one person playing Crazy Taxi, the rest singing along to Offspring music and yelling things like "NO! DRIVE THROUGH THAT BUILDING!" or whatever.
While watching today's Mariners game, I realized that honestly, there are a ton of parallels between Crazy Taxi and Mariners baseball.
I mean, in Crazy Taxi, the bottom line is really how much money you get. You have a set amount of time to get as much money as you can, which is your score at the end. In order to get money, you pick up passengers and drive them to set locations in the game city; you have a certain amount of time per task, and if you beat that time by a lot, you get extra money; if you just make it, you get the normal fare, and if you run out of time, the passenger swears at you and runs off without paying. It doesn't matter if you follow traffic laws or if you damage your car or even if you run over OTHER passengers and people on the street; while you only get bonus points for almost but not quite running into other cars ("nice dodge!"), you'll probably get to your destinations a lot quicker if you learn where the shortcuts are, such as launching off the second story of a parking garage, or driving through the food court of a mall.
In baseball, at the end of the game, you win if you have more points than the other team. In order to get points, you hit the ball in such a way that the other team's fielders can't get you out before you get to the bases, and ideally, many of you do this in a row so you can all run around four bases, which gets you points. It doesn't really matter if you have a sweet swing or if you drive the ball hard, if it flies into the outfielder's mitt, or goes straight to the pitcher, or ends up fouled into the stands.
And if you get one guy on base, but he doesn't come around to score, then it's basically the same as picking up a passenger but not taking them to their destination.
Okay, maybe the metaphor doesn't entirely work. But see, in Crazy Taxi, even if you don't necessarily know where the Heliport, or the Tower Records, or anything else is, there's always this big helpful green arrow up at the top of the screen pointing you in the right direction. If you start heading in the wrong direction or spin out, the green arrow points backwards, and the passenger will start complaining that you're going the wrong way.
During tonight's game, I felt like even if there was a big green arrow up at the top of the TV screen pointing the team in the right direction, they'd be ignoring it and just driving wherever the hell they feel like. You know, like when they should be cruising up Jose Lopez Blvd, but instead take a detour to the Willie Bloomquist Parkway. Or when there's a big green "lefty" arrow and they neglect to turn on the Eduardo Perez signal. Today, they started down the right road at the beginning of the game, but by the end of the second inning it was like the green arrow was already telling them to turn around, as Cairo is way the hell off the map. When Giambi hit that home run, the passengers were already swearing at Washburn for being such a lousy taxi driver. The only real saving grace was when Mark Lowe took over the driver's seat and ran over some park benches and a hotrod. We picked up a few passengers in the Mariano Trench, but rather than taking them to somewhere on land, we just let them drown.
I think I give them a Class D License.
Oh, right, the Mariners.
You know, my housemate bought a Gamecube a few weeks ago so he could play Eternal Darkness (which, of course, is because of his eternal dorkness), and along with it he got a few other cheap games, including Crazy Taxi, which I used to play a ton of back when I first got my Sega Dreamcast a billion years ago. For whatever reason, the last few weeks have involved several hours of a bunch of us sitting around the TV, one person playing Crazy Taxi, the rest singing along to Offspring music and yelling things like "NO! DRIVE THROUGH THAT BUILDING!" or whatever.
While watching today's Mariners game, I realized that honestly, there are a ton of parallels between Crazy Taxi and Mariners baseball.
I mean, in Crazy Taxi, the bottom line is really how much money you get. You have a set amount of time to get as much money as you can, which is your score at the end. In order to get money, you pick up passengers and drive them to set locations in the game city; you have a certain amount of time per task, and if you beat that time by a lot, you get extra money; if you just make it, you get the normal fare, and if you run out of time, the passenger swears at you and runs off without paying. It doesn't matter if you follow traffic laws or if you damage your car or even if you run over OTHER passengers and people on the street; while you only get bonus points for almost but not quite running into other cars ("nice dodge!"), you'll probably get to your destinations a lot quicker if you learn where the shortcuts are, such as launching off the second story of a parking garage, or driving through the food court of a mall.
In baseball, at the end of the game, you win if you have more points than the other team. In order to get points, you hit the ball in such a way that the other team's fielders can't get you out before you get to the bases, and ideally, many of you do this in a row so you can all run around four bases, which gets you points. It doesn't really matter if you have a sweet swing or if you drive the ball hard, if it flies into the outfielder's mitt, or goes straight to the pitcher, or ends up fouled into the stands.
And if you get one guy on base, but he doesn't come around to score, then it's basically the same as picking up a passenger but not taking them to their destination.
Okay, maybe the metaphor doesn't entirely work. But see, in Crazy Taxi, even if you don't necessarily know where the Heliport, or the Tower Records, or anything else is, there's always this big helpful green arrow up at the top of the screen pointing you in the right direction. If you start heading in the wrong direction or spin out, the green arrow points backwards, and the passenger will start complaining that you're going the wrong way.
During tonight's game, I felt like even if there was a big green arrow up at the top of the TV screen pointing the team in the right direction, they'd be ignoring it and just driving wherever the hell they feel like. You know, like when they should be cruising up Jose Lopez Blvd, but instead take a detour to the Willie Bloomquist Parkway. Or when there's a big green "lefty" arrow and they neglect to turn on the Eduardo Perez signal. Today, they started down the right road at the beginning of the game, but by the end of the second inning it was like the green arrow was already telling them to turn around, as Cairo is way the hell off the map. When Giambi hit that home run, the passengers were already swearing at Washburn for being such a lousy taxi driver. The only real saving grace was when Mark Lowe took over the driver's seat and ran over some park benches and a hotrod. We picked up a few passengers in the Mariano Trench, but rather than taking them to somewhere on land, we just let them drown.
I think I give them a Class D License.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Good Reasons To Ignore Baseball
Or at least, one pretty good reason.
Yes, that's me. Yes, that was this afternoon instead of experiencing yet another gut-wrenching eleven innings of Mariners baseball. Yes, I was wearing a Tacoma Rainiers t-shirt while hiking at Mount Rainier. Yes, people thought that was pretty funny.
No, I really didn't watch any of the Mariners games this weekend, and reading various game recaps, it sounds like it was a good decision on my part.
Yes, that's me. Yes, that was this afternoon instead of experiencing yet another gut-wrenching eleven innings of Mariners baseball. Yes, I was wearing a Tacoma Rainiers t-shirt while hiking at Mount Rainier. Yes, people thought that was pretty funny.
No, I really didn't watch any of the Mariners games this weekend, and reading various game recaps, it sounds like it was a good decision on my part.
Japan Stadiums - Fun With Google Maps
This is mostly for my own benefit, but I figured some people might be interested in seeing these too, especially since the satellite images are sort of neat:
Osaka Dome (Orix Buffaloes)
Koshien Stadium (Hanshin Tigers)
Hiroshima Stadium (Hiroshima Carp)
Nagoya Dome (Chunichi Dragons)
Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants)
Meiji Jingu Stadium (Yakult Swallows)
Invoice Seibu Dome (Seibu Lions)
Chiba Marine Stadium (Chiba Lotte Marines)
Yokohama Stadium (Yokohama Bay Stars)
Yahoo! Dome (Fukuoka Softbank Hawks)
Sapporo Dome (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters)
Fullcast Miyagi Stadium (Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles)
And for added fun to the entry, Bobby Valentine visited Sadaharu Oh in the hospital last week... and ran into none other than our very own Mariners catcher, Kenji Johjima, who was spending the All-Star break in Japan. Picture here.
Osaka Dome (Orix Buffaloes)
Koshien Stadium (Hanshin Tigers)
Hiroshima Stadium (Hiroshima Carp)
Nagoya Dome (Chunichi Dragons)
Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants)
Meiji Jingu Stadium (Yakult Swallows)
Invoice Seibu Dome (Seibu Lions)
Chiba Marine Stadium (Chiba Lotte Marines)
Yokohama Stadium (Yokohama Bay Stars)
Yahoo! Dome (Fukuoka Softbank Hawks)
Sapporo Dome (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters)
Fullcast Miyagi Stadium (Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles)
And for added fun to the entry, Bobby Valentine visited Sadaharu Oh in the hospital last week... and ran into none other than our very own Mariners catcher, Kenji Johjima, who was spending the All-Star break in Japan. Picture here.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Kokoyakyu / 高校野球
Okay, I caught the airing of Kokoyakyu ("High School Baseball") tonight. KCTS says it's airing again in Seattle on July 17th at 10pm as well, and that's probably the last one.
Good things: This isn't really like a "documentary" like you normally see on TV. There's no dumb English voiceovers, no kitchy announcers. It's just the players and coaches and oendan and managers and all, footage of games and practices and various interviews and such. All of it's subtitled in English, so it has more of a feel of watching a foreign film than anything.
Bad things: It doesn't actually cover the Koshien tournament. I'm not sure why I got the impression that it did.
What it actually does is follow the progression of two high schools through the preliminary games; Chiben Gakuen, a private high school in Wakayama which often goes to and/or wins Koshien, and Tennoji, a public high school in Osaka, which doesn't. It shows you what a typical day is like in the life of a baseball-playing student in high school -- between the commute to school, the time spent in classes, the 7-8 hours a day practicing after school, etc -- how they will put almost all of their time into becoming better baseball players. Regardless of which sort of school they attend, the team still puts in the same sort of effort.
In addition, there's a bit of focus on the entourage surrounding a high school baseball team -- the marching band, the female cheerleaders, and the oendan (the male cheerleaders). While the female cheerleaders are indistinguishable from ours, male cheerleading in Japan is pretty neat -- it's a group of guys who basically practice shouting and waving in unison. Mostly shouting. There's also the set of girls who are "managers" for the team -- keeping the equipment, bringing tea for the players during practice, doing other administrative work on the team, helping out at practices, etc.
What it doesn't show is the downside of some of these hard-working baseball teams. It doesn't show the guys pitching with bleeding hands, or puking in the field from overwork, or playing through injuries for fear they won't get on the team. It doesn't really show the hazing that underclassmen go through in being forced to carry all the equipment and "serve" their upperclassmen just with the hope of making it on the team. In other words, I think it's painted an accurate, but idealized picture of high school baseball in Japan.
Last year TBS Japan did a live-action adaptation of Adachi Mitsuru's H2～君といた日々, which was AWESOME. It's basically the story of a high school which goes from not even having an official baseball team when the two main male characters are freshmen, to winning the Koshien tournament as seniors. And honestly, you get the same perspective on how hard they all work, how seriously they take baseball, how important it is to them -- but in H2, since it's a series and requires a plot, they also have things like the star pitcher dating the manager girl, who the shortstop is also in love with, of course, not to mention that the star pitcher is also in love with the girlfriend of their rival high school's team captain, among other plot devices to make it more than just "a show about high school baseball". Yet, I loved that show, probably more than just about any Japanese TV show I've ever watched.
The thing is, I'm not sure whether I got any more or less out of Kokoyakyu than I did out of H2. The only real difference was, Kokoyakyu was only one hour as opposed to eleven episodes, and this one showed real footage from real games, and real high school teams and entourages and players, rather than actors in a TV show. I guess either way, they still had surprise endings!
I'd like to see an actual English-audience-accessible show that's about the actual Koshien tournament itself, though -- the history, the traditions, the past stars, the amazing achievements, and maybe even the scandals. Because I do think it's one of the neatest things about Japanese baseball, and part of the core of the whole "fighting spirit".
Anyway, if you haven't seen Kokoyakyu yet, and you're interested in seeing what high school players go through in Japan, I highly suggest checking it out. It should be airing again in Seattle on KCTS on Monday July 17, or in other cities you can check for local listings.
Good things: This isn't really like a "documentary" like you normally see on TV. There's no dumb English voiceovers, no kitchy announcers. It's just the players and coaches and oendan and managers and all, footage of games and practices and various interviews and such. All of it's subtitled in English, so it has more of a feel of watching a foreign film than anything.
Bad things: It doesn't actually cover the Koshien tournament. I'm not sure why I got the impression that it did.
What it actually does is follow the progression of two high schools through the preliminary games; Chiben Gakuen, a private high school in Wakayama which often goes to and/or wins Koshien, and Tennoji, a public high school in Osaka, which doesn't. It shows you what a typical day is like in the life of a baseball-playing student in high school -- between the commute to school, the time spent in classes, the 7-8 hours a day practicing after school, etc -- how they will put almost all of their time into becoming better baseball players. Regardless of which sort of school they attend, the team still puts in the same sort of effort.
In addition, there's a bit of focus on the entourage surrounding a high school baseball team -- the marching band, the female cheerleaders, and the oendan (the male cheerleaders). While the female cheerleaders are indistinguishable from ours, male cheerleading in Japan is pretty neat -- it's a group of guys who basically practice shouting and waving in unison. Mostly shouting. There's also the set of girls who are "managers" for the team -- keeping the equipment, bringing tea for the players during practice, doing other administrative work on the team, helping out at practices, etc.
What it doesn't show is the downside of some of these hard-working baseball teams. It doesn't show the guys pitching with bleeding hands, or puking in the field from overwork, or playing through injuries for fear they won't get on the team. It doesn't really show the hazing that underclassmen go through in being forced to carry all the equipment and "serve" their upperclassmen just with the hope of making it on the team. In other words, I think it's painted an accurate, but idealized picture of high school baseball in Japan.
Last year TBS Japan did a live-action adaptation of Adachi Mitsuru's H2～君といた日々, which was AWESOME. It's basically the story of a high school which goes from not even having an official baseball team when the two main male characters are freshmen, to winning the Koshien tournament as seniors. And honestly, you get the same perspective on how hard they all work, how seriously they take baseball, how important it is to them -- but in H2, since it's a series and requires a plot, they also have things like the star pitcher dating the manager girl, who the shortstop is also in love with, of course, not to mention that the star pitcher is also in love with the girlfriend of their rival high school's team captain, among other plot devices to make it more than just "a show about high school baseball". Yet, I loved that show, probably more than just about any Japanese TV show I've ever watched.
The thing is, I'm not sure whether I got any more or less out of Kokoyakyu than I did out of H2. The only real difference was, Kokoyakyu was only one hour as opposed to eleven episodes, and this one showed real footage from real games, and real high school teams and entourages and players, rather than actors in a TV show. I guess either way, they still had surprise endings!
I'd like to see an actual English-audience-accessible show that's about the actual Koshien tournament itself, though -- the history, the traditions, the past stars, the amazing achievements, and maybe even the scandals. Because I do think it's one of the neatest things about Japanese baseball, and part of the core of the whole "fighting spirit".
Anyway, if you haven't seen Kokoyakyu yet, and you're interested in seeing what high school players go through in Japan, I highly suggest checking it out. It should be airing again in Seattle on KCTS on Monday July 17, or in other cities you can check for local listings.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Happy Birthday, Shin-soo Choo!
You're being sent back to Tacoma! What a great present for your 24th birthday!
Poor guy.
People have been rumoring that Adam Jones was going to be called up this week, but until I saw the press release linked above, I didn't want to say anything about it. Of course, the question most people may be wondering is: Dobby the Bench Elf? I guess it makes sense with Petagine gone, to have another lefty bench bat.
While we're at it, there've been two reasonably high-profile trades in the last two days -- today, the Nats traded Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Daryl Thompson, Brendan Harris, and Royce Clayton for Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner. No, really. This is a huge trade, and it makes me wonder what the heck is wrong with the Reds front office -- this just shortly after trading us Perez for Teddy Beardado?
Yesterday, the Devil Rays traded Aubrey Huff to the Astros for two minor league prospects, and the Astros optioned down Jason Lane. Wow. It's weird, because Huff was off to a super-slow start and injured and all, but he's been really hot lately. Maybe this is all so that the Devil Rays don't need to worry about the possible embarrassment of having Scott Kazmir get 50% of their wins.
Aubrey Huff, however, is happy to go "home" to Texas, and even knew it was coming. "They usually have a bobblehead day for me or a poster, and that was kind of a hint," Huff said of the Devil Rays.
In other news, the Yomiuri Giants just got swept by Chunichi, Hiroshima, and Yokohama in succession, furthering their skid in the Central League, where they're now in 5th place and threatening to drop below Yokohama for the cellar. After vaulting off to an amazing 23-10-1 start through May 11th, the team has gone 13-37-1 since then, due to injuries and other fun. Ouch. You know that when a team has to give significant -- which is to say, any -- playing time to guys like Kazunari Sanematsu, or signs guys like George Arias, they've got major problems. However, the hapless Hiroshima Carp have played .500 ball since the Marty Brown Throws Bases incident, and have crept up into 4th place above the Giants. In a CL predictions thread, I was one of only two people who said Hiroshima wouldn't be in the dead cellar, and also said that the Giants would place 5th. It'd be hilarious if things actually worked out that way.
So, the thing I didn't want to mention in words was that the Fighters had racked up an 11-game winning streak, which tied the club record set in 1961, when they were still the Toei Flyers. Darvish Yu actually got the 11th win while wearing a jersey borrowed from Tomoya Yagi. So, go figure, the next day, with the club record on the line, Yagi pitched against Matsuzaka and lost. Well, no, not really, Micheal Nakamura got the loss, but still.
Being a Nippon Ham Fighters fan these days is a lot like being a Phillies fan. You know they'll break your heart, but you follow them anyway, never knowing when they're going to go on a winning tear or a losing tear... and knowing that it's possible they'll lose a big part of their core after the year ends, so if not now, when? Still, I have to admit that waking up yesterday and watching the Pacific League review (which are being posted to YouTube daily by terioh), and seeing Ogasawara hit those two home runs -- putting him into third place in the PL home run race -- that was pretty damn cool.
Sadaharu Oh is in the hospital undergoing treatments for a stomach tumor. Much as I'm an anti-Hawks fan, I wish him health and all. He's been watching Hawks games on TV from the hospital, and some articles even say he's hoping to be back as soon as August 8th, though they know that's an extremely optimistic outlook on "one month recovery".
As usual, no NPB entry of mine is complete without mentioning Bobby Valentine, so I figured I should mention that he's doing a series of posts on his blog about the differences between NPB and MLB -- part 1, part 2.
In his second entry he also mentions Kokoyakyu, a documentary about Koshien, the high school baseball tournament in Japan. It originally aired on July 4th, and if you're in Seattle, it's going to re-air TONIGHT at 10pm on KCTS. I haven't seen it yet since I was out of town over the 4th, so I'll be watching it tonight. Koshien's a fascinating thing -- every high school baseball player in Japan wants to win that tournament. It gets more media coverage than the pro leagues do. This'll be one of the first times it gets significant air time in English, so I'm really looking forward to watching!
Also, I'll be in Japan (staying in Osaka for some time and Tokyo for some time) from Sep 1st - 18th, so if anyone's reading this who's out there wants to get together for a baseball game, let me know. Except for Fukuoka or Sapporo, there's a reasonable chance I'll end up at a home game in pretty much every other stadium, though I'm probably skipping the Tokyo Dome because I've been there so many times, and Miyagi Fullcast because I don't want to trek up to Sendai and not be able to get a ticket.
Poor guy.
People have been rumoring that Adam Jones was going to be called up this week, but until I saw the press release linked above, I didn't want to say anything about it. Of course, the question most people may be wondering is: Dobby the Bench Elf? I guess it makes sense with Petagine gone, to have another lefty bench bat.
While we're at it, there've been two reasonably high-profile trades in the last two days -- today, the Nats traded Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Daryl Thompson, Brendan Harris, and Royce Clayton for Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner. No, really. This is a huge trade, and it makes me wonder what the heck is wrong with the Reds front office -- this just shortly after trading us Perez for Teddy Beardado?
Yesterday, the Devil Rays traded Aubrey Huff to the Astros for two minor league prospects, and the Astros optioned down Jason Lane. Wow. It's weird, because Huff was off to a super-slow start and injured and all, but he's been really hot lately. Maybe this is all so that the Devil Rays don't need to worry about the possible embarrassment of having Scott Kazmir get 50% of their wins.
Aubrey Huff, however, is happy to go "home" to Texas, and even knew it was coming. "They usually have a bobblehead day for me or a poster, and that was kind of a hint," Huff said of the Devil Rays.
In other news, the Yomiuri Giants just got swept by Chunichi, Hiroshima, and Yokohama in succession, furthering their skid in the Central League, where they're now in 5th place and threatening to drop below Yokohama for the cellar. After vaulting off to an amazing 23-10-1 start through May 11th, the team has gone 13-37-1 since then, due to injuries and other fun. Ouch. You know that when a team has to give significant -- which is to say, any -- playing time to guys like Kazunari Sanematsu, or signs guys like George Arias, they've got major problems. However, the hapless Hiroshima Carp have played .500 ball since the Marty Brown Throws Bases incident, and have crept up into 4th place above the Giants. In a CL predictions thread, I was one of only two people who said Hiroshima wouldn't be in the dead cellar, and also said that the Giants would place 5th. It'd be hilarious if things actually worked out that way.
So, the thing I didn't want to mention in words was that the Fighters had racked up an 11-game winning streak, which tied the club record set in 1961, when they were still the Toei Flyers. Darvish Yu actually got the 11th win while wearing a jersey borrowed from Tomoya Yagi. So, go figure, the next day, with the club record on the line, Yagi pitched against Matsuzaka and lost. Well, no, not really, Micheal Nakamura got the loss, but still.
Being a Nippon Ham Fighters fan these days is a lot like being a Phillies fan. You know they'll break your heart, but you follow them anyway, never knowing when they're going to go on a winning tear or a losing tear... and knowing that it's possible they'll lose a big part of their core after the year ends, so if not now, when? Still, I have to admit that waking up yesterday and watching the Pacific League review (which are being posted to YouTube daily by terioh), and seeing Ogasawara hit those two home runs -- putting him into third place in the PL home run race -- that was pretty damn cool.
Sadaharu Oh is in the hospital undergoing treatments for a stomach tumor. Much as I'm an anti-Hawks fan, I wish him health and all. He's been watching Hawks games on TV from the hospital, and some articles even say he's hoping to be back as soon as August 8th, though they know that's an extremely optimistic outlook on "one month recovery".
As usual, no NPB entry of mine is complete without mentioning Bobby Valentine, so I figured I should mention that he's doing a series of posts on his blog about the differences between NPB and MLB -- part 1, part 2.
In his second entry he also mentions Kokoyakyu, a documentary about Koshien, the high school baseball tournament in Japan. It originally aired on July 4th, and if you're in Seattle, it's going to re-air TONIGHT at 10pm on KCTS. I haven't seen it yet since I was out of town over the 4th, so I'll be watching it tonight. Koshien's a fascinating thing -- every high school baseball player in Japan wants to win that tournament. It gets more media coverage than the pro leagues do. This'll be one of the first times it gets significant air time in English, so I'm really looking forward to watching!
Also, I'll be in Japan (staying in Osaka for some time and Tokyo for some time) from Sep 1st - 18th, so if anyone's reading this who's out there wants to get together for a baseball game, let me know. Except for Fukuoka or Sapporo, there's a reasonable chance I'll end up at a home game in pretty much every other stadium, though I'm probably skipping the Tokyo Dome because I've been there so many times, and Miyagi Fullcast because I don't want to trek up to Sendai and not be able to get a ticket.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Top Ten Things Deanna Was Thinking During The All-Star Game
10. "Jason Bay is so much cooler than Eddie Vedder."
9. "David Wright is such a dork, even if he's a cute dork."
8. "Oo, how often do you get to see Halladay pitch to Holliday?"
7. "Brad Penny is pretty good, but the truth is, he's powered by high socks."
6. "Holy crap, the NL might actually win this time?"
5. "Scott Kazmir really looks like he's about twelve years old."
4. "Hmm, I can't decide which is funnier, Bronson Arroyo's kickline or that they're playing his music video into the commercial break."
3. "Do not meddle in the affairs of catchers, for you are crunchy and taste good with tagouts."
2. "Jose Lopez playing 3rd base? Whoa."
1. "I realize there's a history of second basemen in Pittsburgh snatching victory out of the claws of defeat in the ninth inning, but this is ridiculous."
#9 was due to two things:
1) They showed a "Getting to know David Wright" clip which went something like this: "Hi, I'm David Wright, the third baseman from the New York Mets. I come from Norfolk, Virginia, and as you know -- Virginia IS for lovers. I may be wearing number #5... but my favorite show is 24. [Holds up a DVD case.] You never know what Jack Bauer is going to do next, and you never know what I'm going to do next either. For some reason I love to rock the pastel shirts. [They show him wearing several various ugly shirts.] Wait a minute! This isn't pastel!"
2) Later in the game, they went into the stands to interview David Wright's dad, and the reporter's like, "So, we're here to get the dirt on your son," and his dad's just like "Uhhh... David's such a great kid, a perfect son, he always got along with us and his brothers, I'm not sure there IS any dirt on him that I can give you. Let's see... He got in a food fight in high school once? I think he got a one-day suspension..."
Anyway, David Wright got his blog entry about the game up before I got mine up, so I feel sort of dumb. He'll be on Late Night with David Letterman tonight, if you have a chance to watch.
9. "David Wright is such a dork, even if he's a cute dork."
8. "Oo, how often do you get to see Halladay pitch to Holliday?"
7. "Brad Penny is pretty good, but the truth is, he's powered by high socks."
6. "Holy crap, the NL might actually win this time?"
5. "Scott Kazmir really looks like he's about twelve years old."
4. "Hmm, I can't decide which is funnier, Bronson Arroyo's kickline or that they're playing his music video into the commercial break."
3. "Do not meddle in the affairs of catchers, for you are crunchy and taste good with tagouts."
2. "Jose Lopez playing 3rd base? Whoa."
1. "I realize there's a history of second basemen in Pittsburgh snatching victory out of the claws of defeat in the ninth inning, but this is ridiculous."
#9 was due to two things:
1) They showed a "Getting to know David Wright" clip which went something like this: "Hi, I'm David Wright, the third baseman from the New York Mets. I come from Norfolk, Virginia, and as you know -- Virginia IS for lovers. I may be wearing number #5... but my favorite show is 24. [Holds up a DVD case.] You never know what Jack Bauer is going to do next, and you never know what I'm going to do next either. For some reason I love to rock the pastel shirts. [They show him wearing several various ugly shirts.] Wait a minute! This isn't pastel!"
2) Later in the game, they went into the stands to interview David Wright's dad, and the reporter's like, "So, we're here to get the dirt on your son," and his dad's just like "Uhhh... David's such a great kid, a perfect son, he always got along with us and his brothers, I'm not sure there IS any dirt on him that I can give you. Let's see... He got in a food fight in high school once? I think he got a one-day suspension..."
Anyway, David Wright got his blog entry about the game up before I got mine up, so I feel sort of dumb. He'll be on Late Night with David Letterman tonight, if you have a chance to watch.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Let Derby Light
Well, that was fun. I watched the Home Run Derby while moving more boxes of junk around our living room. I told my housemates I was rooting for David Wright and Ryan Howard (as stated in my last post), and sure enough, those two made it to the finals, and Ryan Howard won! It was really fun to watch, and I liked that all of the players seemed to be having a blast, no pun intended. Wright would sometimes be like "Ack!" after making a bad swing, but he'd have a huge grin on his face while saying it. And at one point David Ortiz, having been eliminated, came out and towelled off David Wright's head and offered him some Gatorade. Howard and Wright were both really laid-back about it all, both saying stuff like "Hey, we came up through the minors together pretty much, I'd be just as happy if he won it as if I did. NATIONAL LEAGUE REPRESENT, YO!"
I'm not sure what possessed me, but after watching guys swing for the fences for an hour or two, I decided I wanted to go to the batting cages, so I called up a friend, and off we went. I was trying to hit the ball hard, but wasn't really succeeding; I'd drive a few back to the poles or the netting, but not many.
So my friend watches me ground the ball back to the pitching machine again, and he yells, "LIFT YOUR BACK ELBOW UP!"
I'm like, "What?"
"Your swing. You're dropping your elbow. Lift your elbow up and support your arm."
Immediately, I started pounding the ball deep on pretty much every pitch. It was awesome. Who knew? Of course, now my left arm is killing me; I may have been overextending it -- but still, that was pretty cool. It's amazing what a little leverage will do for you; and now I suddenly understand what people meant when they said players might change their swings too much for something like the Home Run Derby.
I'm not sure what possessed me, but after watching guys swing for the fences for an hour or two, I decided I wanted to go to the batting cages, so I called up a friend, and off we went. I was trying to hit the ball hard, but wasn't really succeeding; I'd drive a few back to the poles or the netting, but not many.
So my friend watches me ground the ball back to the pitching machine again, and he yells, "LIFT YOUR BACK ELBOW UP!"
I'm like, "What?"
"Your swing. You're dropping your elbow. Lift your elbow up and support your arm."
Immediately, I started pounding the ball deep on pretty much every pitch. It was awesome. Who knew? Of course, now my left arm is killing me; I may have been overextending it -- but still, that was pretty cool. It's amazing what a little leverage will do for you; and now I suddenly understand what people meant when they said players might change their swings too much for something like the Home Run Derby.
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