Bobby’s Last Post October 29, 2009

Ottawa – Oh dear. I just finished re-reading Bobby Valentine’s last blog post on “Bobby’s Way.” It was written on July 26th (http://www.bobbysway.jp/), marking his announcement to leave the Chiba Lotte Marines after the 2009 season. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see him with the team one last time when I visited the stadium in early September. The one game I managed to catch was just so good, baseball was fun again!

It was one of the best games I saw the Marines play to date. When I got to the stadium, I could hardly believe my eyes. The roster was stellar. So many of my favourite players (i.e. Imae, Fukuura, Saburo, Satozai, Tsuryoshi etc.) were on the roster and to top it off, Tsuyoshi, Iguchi, Saburo, and Satozaki all hit home runs! We even beat the Fighters 9-2 that night. Sometimes the Fighters seem unstoppable but not that night.

Looking back, the 2009 season was a challenging seasons for both the fans and the management. I could feel the tension when I visited the field the next day. I truly, truly hope that 2010 brings a new chapter to the team and I look forward to catching more of Bobby’s great work on this side of the ocean.

You can catch Bobby on ESPN as an analyst on “Baseball Tonight” and on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York. 2010 here we come!

Kazuya Fukuura (no.9) X 1500 games! August 20, 2009

CHIBA CITY- Kazuya Fukuura played in his 1500th pro-baseball game on August 19th against the Orix Buffaloes. Congratulations! It seems fitting since Fukuura’s Pacific League debut took place against the Buffaloes on July 5, 1997. He is the 166th person to have played in 1500 games. Wow. That’s a lot of games.

 

(Just looked through my photos from last year. Don’t have a good one of Fukuura – it’s probably because I end up cheering and singing along to his song when he is up to bat. He has such a good song too. Gotta go to a game soon!)

Japan Times story on Trey Hillman May 31, 2009

OTTAWA – Success! We came out of our first softball game with a 17-6 (?) win. That was fun. I managed to get in three runs and even hit a double. Not too shabby for a first game. Unfortunately, our last game was canceled due to bad weather. It’s bloody cold here this week. I think it was 8 degrees C this morning. Not what I would expect on the last day of May. I’m putting together a presentation for the new JETs leaving Ottawa this summer on the Japanese workplace environment. Thought that the Japan Times would have some interesting articles to rummage through. I didn’t have to go very far before coming across an article on Trey Hillman, former manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters. You can see the classic Japanese workplace values come through in the story. i.e. patience, relationships, saving face, following form etc.
It’s worth a quick read: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sb20090531j2.html

Softball May 20, 2009

OTTAWA – The Marines are on a roll! They have won two out of three games during their match-ups with the Golden Eagles, Softbank Hawks, and Seibu Lions. Now they are up to third place. The Fighters are doing really well too. They are three wins ahead of the Eagles, securing first place.

I’m seriously considering flying out to Japan at the end of the summer just to catch up on some Pacific league baseball. I’m not sure if I could live with myself knowing that I missed a season that could possibly be Bobby’s last. It makes me so sad to think that Chiba could lose Bobby… So, to make up for the big gaping hole in my life AKA lack of live Japanese baseball, I have joined a recreational softball team. Can’t pitch to save my life but am sure that I will come out of this with a bigger appreciation for baseball.

p.s. I’m loving the picture of Imae and Karakawa on the Marines website from Tuesday’s Baystar win.

Yu Darvish & WBC Bowman Baseball Cards March 26, 2009

OTTAWA – Tried tracking down a place that sells baseball cards in downtown Ottawa yesterday. No luck. Wanted to find a place that would be getting in a box of the much-anticipated 2009 Bowman Baseball cards in May. The box features 20 Exclusive World Baseball Classic Rising Stars including Yu Darvish. Go Darvish! I figured since I can’t find Japanese baseball cards here, I might as well try to get North American ones. Turns out that no such place exists in downtown Ottawa. Please let me know if you know a place that sells baseball cards. Thanks!

Pitcher Yu Darvish's first North American card

Seibu goes on to Nippon Series October 22, 2008

SAITAMA – What a great year for the Lions! Holy. They finished 5th last season and they have gone on to  beat the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Climax Series to head to the Nippon Series. I’ve been following some of the games in digest form for free through the Japan iTunes site. They Lions stepped up their game and have been giving out game digests in the format of podcasts: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=292622794

In conclusion:  Hideaki Wakui > Ryan Glynn

Internets September 16, 2008

OTTAWA – Am back in action. Just had my internet set up in my new place. Will be posting stories/thoughts/pictures soon.

Beijing ’08 – Women’s Triathlon August 18, 2008

 

BEIJING- Congratulations to all of the women who competed in the women’s triathlon. I am so so so very proud of the Canadian team and the Japanese team. Kathy Tremblay of Montreal came out of the water with an excellent swim and Edmonton’s Carolyn Murray was the top Canadian and finished 29th. Unfortunately, Vancouver’s Laruen Groves failed to finish after crashing in the cycling stage and was driven to the hospital as her mother watched. I hope that she will recover well and soon without complications – the CBC reported that she may have broken her arm.

 

 

Go Team Japan! They placed so well. I am so happy for Juri Ide, Ai Ueda, and Kiyomi Niwata. I had a chance to hang out with all of them earlier this year at the Ishigaki Triathlon. They are all fantastic athletes and wonderful people. I still can’t get over how cute Ai chan is and how well spoken Niwata san is. 

 

Kiyomi Niwata competing in Ishigaki

 

 

 

Triathlete Kiyomi Niwata and interpreters at Ishigaki

 

 

Juri Ide coming out of the water

 

Juri chan finished 5th!!!! 5th!!! That’s so fantastic! She is such a fierce athlete. She was so close to having a podium finish at the Ishigaki Triathlon and she almost had a podium finish at Beijing. 5th in the world is something to be very proud of and Niwata san had a great race too and finished 9th. I am so happy for Niwata san who is the veteran of the team since she has had a tough couple of seasons. Tiny Ai chan finished 17th. All of the Japanese women finished in the top 20. Congratulations to them.

 

Josy, Ai chan and I

The men’s triathlon is at 7PM tonight Pacific Standard Time. You can be assured that I will be glued to the TV tonight! Good luck Simon, Colin, and Paul

Gotta wish Jarrod Shoemaker good luck too (but he’s on Team USA so I think I’m allowed to cheer on for my home team)

Hirokatsu Tayama, Juri Ide (5th), Nicola Spirig (6th), Simon Whitfield

And finally, a huge round of applause goes to powerhouse Emma Snowsill. She captured Australia’s first Olympic gold medal in triathlon. In addition to being the three-time world champion, she can now add Olympic gold medalist to her resume. Emma has outstanding performances each time she races and is so strong is all three parts of the competition. Congratulations to her and her team. 

 

Emma and I after her interview for Tarzan magazine

 

 

All Star Game – Yokohama August 13, 2008

YOHOHAMA – Mazda All Star Game 2008! This was my first time heading out to the stadium in Yokohama. The trek wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be from Chiba but once the train started getting closer to Yokohama, people clad in yukatas and jinbes started to crowd the train. For some reason the Yokohama fireworks were scheduled at the same time as the All Star Game. It was a strange mix of people wearing gear from the 12 baseball teams and people dolled up for the fireworks at Sakuragicho station.

I went inside just as the “Homerun King” face off was about to begin. Since my seat was out in the bleachers a lot of the balls that were hit into the stands came flying by. It was really fun to see Alex Ramirez ‘s (Yomiuri Giants) homeruns zoom by. Unfortunately G.G. Sato (Seibu Lions) really wasn’t hitting that well and his time out to bat was pretty short. All of the balls that didn’t make it over the fence were left for school boys in uniforms to catch out on the field. Some of the boys had bulging pockets with a ball in each pocket while others were frantically running to catch their own prize.

 

The stands before the game

 

As the clock ticked closer to 18:00, more and more people poured into the stands. I was so excited to cheer on all of my favorite Pacific League teams at the same time! It turned out that the person sitting next to me was wearing a Tsuyoshi Nishioka (Chiba Lotte Marines) and his friend next to him was wearing a Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten Eagles) uniform so I knew I was in good company. My whole row was jumping up and down when the Pacific Leaguers were up to bat just like at Marine Stadium. Some guy who sat two rows behind me knew every single song for each player so he was leading the chants in our section.

 

Pacific League cheering squad

 

The starting lineup for the Pacific League was Tsuyoshi and Ohmatsu from the Marines, Yamasaki and Rick from the Eagles, Inaba from the Nippon Ham Fighters, Kataoka and Nakajima from the Lions, and Matsunaka from the Softbank Hawks. Then the remaining Pacific League All Stars were called out one by one. Everyone came out in a “normal” way but of course Hichori (Morimoto form the Fighters) had to do something different. When he first came out the announcers were confused and announced that Hichori came out doing a handstand but once our eyes adjusted you could see that he had put his pants on his head and his shirt on his legs and attached a head to his crotch… I have no idea where his inspirations come from but it was pretty funny to watch him during the singing of the national anthem by Kumi Koda.

 

 

Kumi Koda singing the national anthem

 

Hichori Morimoto pulls a stunt

 

 

 

The Central League All Stars were slightly blinding in their all-white uniforms and was more difficult to tell them apart. However, I did manage to catch Alex Ramirez (or “Rami chan”)  come out from the dugout but was soon distracted by Hichori again and went back to watching him interact with his team. It was great to have a chance to see the Central Leaguers since I usually only watch Pacific League games. For example, I know that Kenshin Kawakami of the Chunichi Dragons (last year’s champs) has a huge following so it was a treat to see him pitch. 

 

Ramirez - aka the evening's home run king

 

The Central League All Stars

 

Hisashi Iwakuma, the Eagle’s ace pitcher, had a couple of good innings and everything was going well until Yoshihisa Naruse of the Marines took the mound. It was seriously the most painful pitching I have ever seen. I might not remember this correctly but he gave up something like 11 hits and 8 runs in a couple of innings!! This was totally unexpected, especially coming from the man who gave up fewer runs than Yu Darvish in the 2007 season. What happened Naruse?? In an interview after the game, he didn’t even know what happened「自分でも分からない」were his words after the game. Seriously painful pitching. As for something good, Ohmatsu was on a roll and hit two homers. July was a fantastic month for Ohmatsu and I believe that he was given MVP status for July.I am not sure why he does this but every second time I went to take I picture of him he had his hand in his left pocket. So here he is in his favorite position.

 

Ohmatsu of the Marines likes his pocket

 

 

One of my favorite moments of the evening was when the mascots of every team came out to roll a gigantic baseball from one end of the field to the other. The Central League mascots and the Pacific League mascots were out to get each other and kept derailing the ball rolling process. It was really fun to watch and people near first base even got to participate. I know that I am biased but Mar-kun is the cutest mascot! I’ll have to find a new home for my Mar-kun mascot when I get a new phone in Canada.

 

Mascots please the crowds

 

Mar-kun is the cutest

 

 

For the last few innings, I had a friend sneak me around to different seats behind the Japanese journalists covering the event. (I noticed that a lot of them had red-penned Naruse’s 6-run inning as they were taking notes). For some reason beyond anything I can comprehend, there was a musical interlude by Yuko Ogura (an idol) and her non-musically gifted friends. I feel like the baseball was enough entertainment as well as the Yokohama fireworks in the background but the organizers threw in some idols to spice some things up.

 

The game from a new vantage point

 

Ahh and yes, I got to see Ma-kun pitch! Yay!! He only pitched for one inning. If you recall Ma-kun was pulled form the team roster because of a rumoured right-shoulder injury. There was talk that he would miss the All Star game as well as the Olympics but he worked on his arm and gave it some rest. I hope that he isn’t pushing himself too hard and that he has actually recovered from the injury. The Eagles don’t need another Iwakuma… especially since the team rakes in huge merchandise profits due to Ma-kun’s popularity.  When I got home and watched the highlights, there was so little focus on who hit what when but a lot of attention was paid to Ma-kun’s one inning. Go figure. 

 

Ma-kun showing Japan he is ready to pitch

 

 

Last Lotte Game (;_;) & last game before the All Stars July 29, 2008

CHIBA – I just got back from my last Chiba Lotte Marines gam (8-2 Marines!!)

 Am soooooooooooo sad. I have been having so much fun cheering on the home team this season. I know for sure that this is one thing that I will really miss about living in Chiba. For the past week, I have been trying to cut down my belongings and make everything fit in to two suitcases and three boxes. Needless to say that this has been quite the struggle. 

Ah… back to baseball: I was hoping to see one full game out in the bleachers as my last hurrah but it turned out that I had to interpret for guests from our sister city, North Vancouver, until after 7:30 tonight. I made it just in time for the top of the 6th but missed the fireworks and the crazy 6 runs in the bottom of the 4th. Um and yes, I was crazy enough to go see the game by myself tonight. I actually had many offers to go with people but since I had no idea what time I would make it, I figured that I would just go alone. It turned out to be a good call since the women that I sat next to were really a lot of fun. We cheered for the home team during the 7th and 8th innings together. As luck would have it, I discovered that I was only sitting a few rows away from the children and wives of coaches. They were also a delight to chat to. 

Though I am heartbroken that I won’t be able to catch another game until who-knows-when, I know that I can always count on the Marines website for information on the team.

I am really, truly, grateful for the opportunities that I have been given by the staff of the Chiba Lotte Marines. There is no way that I would have been given these types of opportunities back home. It’s been quite the ride.

A huuuuge thank you to Frank, Larry, Paul, and most of all, the big man himself, Mr. Bobby Valentine.