Despite loads of positive energy coming from the Windy City due to having two teams in the post season, the Cubs having the best record in the National League, and Obama poised for a landslide victory in next month’s election (if you don’t believe me check out intrade.com), the Chicago teams both struck out in the first round of the playoffs.

I took the above picture at the aforementioned Cubs-Mets game last August at Wrigley Field. I believe Cliff Floyd is striking out. Although it may look like I had a great seat at the game, it was actually quite horrible. I was behind a pillar way down behind the bullpen 30 or so rows back. I just got lucky on this picture as most taken at 12X zoom, without a tripod, while the subject is moving, come out quite blurry.

The 756 in the background on the guy’s t-shirt is in reference to Barry Bonds’ chase of the home run record at the time. He hit #756 later that day. I remember watching it on TV back in my hotel room.

Posted on October 7th, 2008 under Other. Tags: baseball, Chicago. Comments Off on Chicago Strikes Out

In Seibu’s second game last season, pictured above, they lost to the Rakuten Golden Eagles. They ended up losing more than they won in 2007. This year their fortunes took a dramatic turn for the better as they won the Pacific Coast League. Let’s see if the Seibu Lions can go all the way in 2008. All will be decided in a little over two weeks.

Posted on October 6th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: baseball, japan pictures, tokorozawa. Comments: 2

As previously mentioned, I had the chance to catch both the White Sox and the Cubs at home last season while on a business trip to Chicago. Ted Lilly pitched for the Cubs that day and he pitched this season on the day the Cubs clinched their division.

Last night the White Sox won a one game playoff with the Twins 1-0 to make it to the playoffs. And who was pitching? John Danks, the same guy who was pitching on the day when I saw the White Sox play at home last year.

Who hit the game winning home run last night? Jim Thome.

He did the same thing the night I saw them play last year against the Indians, and I happened to be lucky enough to be snapping a picture at the same time.

Will it be an all Chicago World Series? We’ll have to wait and see.

Posted on October 1st, 2008 under Other. Tags: baseball, Chicago, pictures. Comments Off on White Sox make the playoffs

Did you watch yesterday’s game? The above picture almost looks like it came from that game (since Ted Lilly is on the mound as he was yesterday), but a careful look at the background shows Rickey Henderson in a Mets uniform coaching first base. The Cubs clinched their division title yesterday against the Cardinals–not the Mets. I took this picture last summer when I was in Chicago.

The Cubs are looking to win their first World Series in about a hundred years. They’ve completed step one. Now they’ve just got to get past three more teams–easier said than done. But this year seems promising. It has a little extra magic that past Cubs playoff teams didn’t seem to have.

Stay tuned.

Posted on September 21st, 2008 under Other. Tags: baseball, Chicago, pictures. Comments Off on Will this be the year?

Some would say the Japanese National Pastime is Sumo. Others may say it’s Pachinko. But early on a Sunday morning in Kyoto, I didn’t see anyone heading to a Sumo match or Pachinko parlor. I did spot these two heading off to a baseball game though.

Posted on September 20th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: baseball, japan pictures, kyoto, pictures. Comments Off on Japan’s national pastime