Yokohama DeNA BayStars 6 at Yomiuri Giants 3 (Eastern League) - March 18th, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Weekend! Last year at this time, I wrote a piece on the poor media reporting after the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku area. One year later, there has been much progress in the recovery but there is still a long, long way to go. Not that the media will tell you that; there has been very little substantive reporting overseas other than a blip last weekend during the anniversary. Even then, for us in Japan, things are essentially back to normal outside the affected area. I'm not trying to be glib, but the rest of the country has moved on. Unlike last year, baseball is starting on time, and here, the minor leagues begin play a week or two before the big guys get started. It was opening day yesterday but rain postponed the first game until today, when the Yomiuri Giants hosted the renamed Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

Yes, the only ballclub that had forsaken a corporate sponsor was bought last year by DeNA (pronounced D-N-A) who promptly stuck their stupid name in the team's moniker. DeNA are some sort of online service company but I don't care, they are pure evil for doing this.

Anyway, the game started 30 minutes before the other two scheduled matches, so it was officially the first regular season pro game of the year. And as it was being played at my favorite minor league stadium, I had no choice but to go. About 1,100 similarly-minded fans braved a dreary drizzle to open their accounts on the 2012 season. To mark the occasion, there was an opening-day ceremony that featured a taiko drum display in the seating area that was appreciated by players and fans alike. After that, Giants' manager, all-time sacrifice bunt king Masashiro Kawai, then gave a short speech (without a mike) and that was it, the season was underway.

The game started with a bang when Atsushi Kita smashed the first pitch of the year deep over the right field fence (below). It immediately looked like perennial losers Yokohama were going to enjoy the change in their DeNA.

Or would they? The Giants' Daisuke Nakai managed a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first when the ball bounced off the top of the left-field fence. After that, the teams traded zeroes until the Giants used a walk, two wild pitches, and a sacrifice fly to take a 3-1 lead after 6.

That is when the Yomiuri bullpen imploded. In the 7th, Yuki Koyama gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases and Tatsuya Shimozono singled to drive home a couple and tie the game. Things got worse for the home team in the 8th as Norihito Kaneto allowed three runs (two earned) with the big blow a 2-run double from catcher Kenjiro Tsuruoka, who had started the rally in the 7th as a pinch-hitter.

Although the Giants got the tying run to the plate in the 9th, Atori Ota induced Nakai to fly out to deep center to finish the match. Ota, who goes by his first name, recorded the win by pitching three shutout innings in relief.

Both teams finished with 11 hits, but Yokohama bunched theirs together and came away victorious. It was a long game in poor weather, but I was glad to see Yokohama pull one out. Whether the big-league squad will be any good still remains to be seen.

Notes

The BayStars have new uniforms with DeNA on them. I wasn't sitting close enough to get a good picture, but the shot of starter Shugo Fujii gives you an idea.

Oscar Salazar was the only non-Japanese on the field today. Generally there are few foreigners at this level, as most of them are brought over to help the big team win. I am not sure why Salazar is with the BayStars' junior club, but he went 0-5, although he crushed a ball that was caught at the center field wall.

There is a lucky number contest that is played at every game at this stadium. Your ticket has a number on it and after the 5th inning about 20 various prizes are awarded. Today they had a bonus prize where fans holding tickets ending in 1,4,6 or 9 got to go on the field after the game and receive an autograph from one Giants player. That meant about 400 people total and it took them a while to get organized, with a lineup of about 25 fans for each player. A nice touch that I hadn't seen before. In the photo below, you can also see how terrible the field is at this early stage, it appears to be just dead grass.

Next Up

Things are getting busy. I've got a trip to Okinawa from Tuesday that will see me attend a battle of the top two western teams in the bj League, Ryukyu and Osaka. Lynn Washington, Osaka's best player and a 2-time MVP who has been in the league since its inception, was arrested earlier this week and will therefore not be playing. It is perhaps the biggest news to hit the league and certainly not the sort of publicity it was seeking. This is a bit of a disappointment for me as I was hoping to see him in action against some of the Ryukyu stars, but it should still be a good contest.

The week following will see the MLB season-opening game between the Athletics and Mariners as well as the Rugby 7s that weekend. After that I'm off to Hokkaido to see a baseball and soccer game over three days and finally add the Sapporo Dome to my list. Oh yeah, I'm also leaving Japan on May 5th. It will be a hectic time, so check back often to see what's happening.

Best,

Sean

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Nippon Ham Fighters 0 at Yomiuri Giants 4 - March 30 - Eastern League

One of the best things about Japanese baseball is the early season start. The Pacific League got underway on March 20th while the Central League began on the 26th. The Western League began even earlier with a couple of games on Friday the 19th. As for the Eastern League, which has 6 teams in the greater Tokyo area, it also began on the 20th but poor weather has kept me at home for the first week. But today was a relatively balmy 10 degrees so I decided to visit Giants Stadium to get back into baseball.

I was in for a bit of a shock when I arrived. Last season tickets here were only 700 yen but inflation has hit the minor leagues suddenly and this year it's now 1,000 yen to get in. That's a whopping 43% increase! It's still a bargain though, but it means that 3 of the local stadiums charge 1,000 yen (unless they've raised their prices this season) while 3 are still free.

The Game

I got to the park just a few minutes before first pitch and was surprised to see that Kazuhito Tadano was starting for the Fighters. Despite being a highly touted prospect back in 2002, he was blackballed by the NPB after appearing in a gay porn video. Instead he made his way to the majors where he appeared in 15 games for Cleveland in 2004-05. But he couldn't stick in MLB and was finally drafted in Japan in 2007, pitching for Nippon Ham the last two years. I'm not sure why he's in the minors at this time. He was opposed by Satoshi Fukuda, who has pitched in 48 games over 5 seasons with the big team but seems to be a career minor leaguer.

Tadano delivers

Both pitchers were strong over the first four innings but Fukuda was slightly better, yielding just a single and a walk in that time. In the 5th, Giants' rookie catcher Tomoya Ichikawa crushed a double to left to score Takanori Hoshi and give the Giants a 1-0 lead. But Tadano escaped with no further damage and left after 6 innings still trailing by a run.

Daijiro Tanaka grounds out

In the 7th, ex-Fighter Kazunari Sanematsu hit a sharp grounder to third but Takahiro Imanami made a poor throw and Sanematsu was safe. Next up was Daisuke Fujimura who grounded to second. But Kenshi Sugiya lost his grip on the ball throwing to first and suddenly there were runners on first and second with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt, Ryota Wakiya (shown below) singled to score both runners. Wakiya later scored on a Kenji Yano double to make it 4-0. All 3 runs were unearned for Shintaro Ejiri, who has pitched with the big club already this season.

Fukuda was replaced by Takahiko Nomaguchi who pitched the final 3 innings, yielding just two more hits and notching the save as the Giants won 4-0. It wasn't a great game for the Fighters who had 4 hits and 3 errors to snap a 5-game winning streak and drop to 5-3. The Giants moved to 3-1 on the year. Because there are 7 teams in the league, teams have several days off and the Giants have already had 3 off days and two rainouts. As an aside, I really can't understand why they don't just merge the two minor leagues; Japan is not that big and travel costs shouldn't be prohibitive. Doesn't make sense to have players not playing.

Balls and Strikes

One interesting change this year in Japanese baseball is that balls are now counted first. Until now, strikes were always first, so a full count was 2-3. But the powers that be decided to follow the west and modified the rule. I noticed it when the umpire called out "Suree-two" when the count was full. Scoreboards have not been fixed yet as you can see below - strikes are still above balls. I wonder if they will bother...

The Gondola

I had some time after the game so took the gondola ride over Yomiuriland, the amusement park that is next to the stadium. If you are visiting, I highly recommend this ride as you get a great view of the ballpark as you go by. It's only 200 yen and takes about 5 minutes. The pictures below show the steps that you need to take to the stadium, as well as the Giants working out after the game. Yep, in Japan there is always work to be done, even after a win. The players were running sprints as I passed overhead.

Next Up

The big-league Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters have a 2-game set in Tokyo this week. So I'll go to the game tonight with my friend Chris, who has yet to see a baseball game in Japan. Then I'm off to Singapore tomorrow for a couple of days before heading to Malaysia for the Grand Prix this weekend. Not sure how much time I'll have to post, but check back on occasion for updates.

Best,

Sean

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Rakuten Golden Eagles 7 at Yomiuri Giants 12 (Eastern League) - September 22, 2009

The minor league season is drawing to a close here in Japan, and I wanted to visit Giants Stadium one more time as it is the best place to watch a game for me. My friend Hiroshi, a Giants fan who had never seen a minor league game, joined me.

I've described the stadium previously, but there was one small difference today: there was a shuttle bus from the station to the stadium. The bus only runs on weekends and holidays though, but we're in the middle of a 5-day long weekend, so it was available. It runs every 20 minutes from 11:00 to 12:40 for the 1:00 game, and saves you the 10-minute walk up 283 stairs.

The shuttle bus

Due to the holiday I was expecting a large crowd and wasn't disappointed. There were 1,823 people there, compared to an average weekday crowd of around 400. By the time the game started, nearly every seat was taken and the atmosphere was comparable to a minor league game in the States. We were able to get two seats behind the plate, but they were relatively far away as all the front row seats were filled. So there aren't many pics from this game.

The Giants were hosting Rakuten, who I had seen two weeks earlier in Lotte. In that game, they made 4 errors and only had two hits while being shut out. In today's game their offense was hitting on all cylinders as they took a 6-0 lead in the 5th inning. Unfortunately their defense was abysmal yet again: 2 errors in the 5th allowed the Giants to score 5 runs (4 unearned) and 2 more miscues in the 6th led to 2 more runs. Rakuten had managed to score a run in between, so we were tied at 7 after 7 innings.

The Giants then brought in ex-Blue Jay Micheal Nakamura (pictured below) who pitched a perfect 8th inning. In the bottom half, Rakuten veteran pitcher Hiroki Yamamura threw away a sacrifice bunt 9their 5th error!) and Yomiuri capitalized, scoring 5 runs, highlighted by a monster 3-run homer from Seung-Yeop Lee. Nakamura pitched a quick ninth and the Giants had overcome a 6-run defecit to win 12-7.

Another ugly game from Rakuten who knocked out 16 hits but allowed 8 unearned runs. There's a reason they are in last place. The Giants meanwhile took over the lead in the Eastern League, a half-game in front of Lotte and Shonan. The Giants have a home-and-home with the Marines this weekend which should settle the pennant. I'll let you know who wins next week.

Thoughts on the Japanese minors

I was planning to see a Futures game today down in Yokosuka, but I'm not feeling all that well, so I'll skip it. Which means that my minor league schedule is finished for the year. Overall, I really enjoyed going to all these games - high-quality baseball, often for free. Sure, some of the stadiums are terrible, but it beats the big leagues here. I often wonder why the NPB doesn't upgrade their minor-league system as they could easily draw decent crowds with night games in decent stadiums, but I'm not complaining. I feel like I happened upon a secret and I'm happy if it stays that way. Next year I'll either be working or out of Japan and won't make any weekday games, which is rather depressing. But if I'm still here, I do hope to make it down to Kansai for some Western League games - there's still 5 parks I've yet to see. As always, check back here for updates.

Best,

Sean

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