2009 World Series MVP
It’s only the third inning of Game 6, but can there be any question as to who will win the MVP award? I don’t think so…
Hideki Matsui (aka, 松井 秀喜 or Godzilla) is going to make Japan very happy in a few minutes here.
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Posts tagged baseball
Yakult Swallows – Part 2
Although I’m still a Seibu Lions fan, I almost instantly became a fan of the Yakult Swallows as well. Luckily the Swallows, in the Central League, are in a different league than the Lions (who are in the Pacific League) so cheering for both teams should not be a problem most of the time.
One reason I became a fan is their nearby location. Another is their edgy attitude, demonstrated by the player’s faces on the screen when announced.
There are many other reasons, but the overall one is they remind me of my favorite team in the US, the Oakland A’s. Both teams don’t spend on high-priced free agents. Both have a nearby team known as the Giants (I hate both). I’ll save some of my other reasons for later when I have pictures to better explain them.
A 9th inning, 3-run home run by the Hiroshima Carp caused the Swallows to lose on this evening, but my daughter and I had a great time anyway. The Swallows made the Climax Series playoffs this year.
The half-empty stadium on a weeknight also reminded me of the good old days at the Oakland Coliseum in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Yakult Swallows – Part 1
My second Japanese baseball game of the 2009 season was my first in central Tokyo. The place was Meiji Jingu Stadium (明治神宮野球場) which is almost walking distance from my apartment. My daughter and I took the train instead of making the 40 minute or so walk.
The sunset was beautiful, even with countless beer girls jumping in front of the camera. The number of beer girls at Jingu was staggering. I have been to many, many baseball games in more than a dozen parks in three countries and have never seen anything like it. The ratio of fans to beer vendors was probably about 10:1.
Like our experience in Chiba, we were on the big screen within minutes of our arrival. Unlike the games I’ve been to in Tokorozawa and Chiba, there were lots of foreigners at the Swallows’ game. At those other games it seemed we were the only foreigners among tens of thousands of Japanese. At the Swallows’ game, perhaps as much as 1% of the crowd was not Japanese.
Bobby Valentine
The Chiba Lotte Marines‘ fans love Bobby Valentine. If you look at the Marines’ record with Valentine at the helm it isn’t very impressive. This year they finished out of playoff contention with a record of just 62 wins and 77 losses. They have won their league (of six teams) just once in Valentine’s six years.
Valentine is done with managing the Marines despite the fans efforts (including signing petitions) to keep him around. Look for Bobby to be in front of a camera next year or maybe managing in the Majors. If the Marines improve next year (and it seems like they have nowhere to go but up) the fans will likely forget him soon.
But he is getting a nice send off, despite his mediocrity.
Beer girls – Part 1
As promised, today I have some photos of beer girls for you. These girls trot around the stadium with a smile on their face and a keg of beer on their back.
I have been to three different stadiums now and the beer girl situation is very different at each. At the Lions’ games there are almost as many selling whiskey as selling beer. Whiskey was not available from the mobile vendors at the Marines’ or Swallows’ games.
Chiba Lotte Marines
Our first excursion to a Japanese baseball game this season took us to Chiba, home of Bobby Valentine and the last place Marines. Even with it being a Saturday, I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to get a seat given the opponent (Rakuten Eagles from Sendai) and with the Marines being out of the race. Not so.
We barely got tickets to this game that sold out soon after we arrived more than an hour early. As we walked into the stadium of 30,000 people (about 29,000 already in their seats even though the game wouldn’t begin for almost an hour) our foreign faces were on the giant video scoreboard in center field for all to see. Did someone notify the camera man that some strange looking people were about to enter? I don’t know, but it was funny. I’ve been to hundreds of games in my life and that was my first time, that I remember, being up on the big screen. My daughter turned red immediately upon seeing her face up there.
Finding a seat was no easy task. We ended up with about the worst seats in the place and were lucky to have found those. We couldn’t see the big screen or left field from where we sat.
The Japanese national anthem, “Kimi ga yo,” was sung by someone flanked by the Marines many mascots.
What would you like to eat? There are no hot dogs or nachos on the menu here. But you can have some Tempura, Curry Rice, or Tanuki Udon.
More pictures of the crazy fans and the beer girls in a later entry…