Yakult Swallows walk-off victory
中村 悠平 with the hit
山田 哲人 scores the game winner

I must admit to having become totally uninterested in the 2013 MLB post season. Once my A’s lost there hasn’t been another team that has compelled me to watch a game. I don’t even know who is winning between the Tigers and Red Sox or Dodgers and Cardinals. Four top-ten payrolls battling it out for bragging rights means nothing to me. Too bad the A’s didn’t get past the Tigers. If the Pirates or Rays had made it another round I could have still cared.

Today’s photo is from a sayonara RBI in the bottom of the 9th inning by the Swallows‘ Nakamura back in August. Yamada scored the game winner. What a fun game it was.

Posted on October 17th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: baseball, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, sports photography, Tokyo, yakult swallows. Comments Off on Walk off hit (サヨナラ打)

Yasuhiro Ogawa
Yakult Swallows

The Yakult Swallows had the worst record of any team in Japanese Professional Baseball this year despite amazing seasons from two players. Yasuhiro Ogawa (小川 泰弘), pictured above, went 16-4 with a 2.93 ERA for a team that went 57-83 overall. On the offensive side, Wladimir Balentien batted .330, with 60 home runs (a new record for NPB), and had a ridiculous 1.278 OPS. By comparison, the best OPS in MLB this year was Miguel Cabrera at 1.078. I really don’t understand how the Swallows lost 83 games with performances like that from Ogawa and Balentien.

Posted on October 10th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: baseball, Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED Telephoto Lens, Nikon D600, sports photography. Comments Off on 2013 NPB Season is over

Kim Jae-Hyun (김재현) steals second

As I mentioned elsewhere, I went to Busan, in part, to check out Sajik Baseball Stadium (사직야구장). I saw the SK Wyverns take on the Lotte Giants. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit disappointed.

Wiki calls Sajik Baseball Stadium the “mecca for Korean baseball”, but I find the games in Gwanju at Mudeung Baseball Stadium (RIP in 2013) to be much more fun. Everyone is closer to the field. The seats are closer together. The people are friendlier, and even though there aren’t nearly as many fans in attendance, they somehow sound louder. New ballparks with all of their frills just can’t capture that old ballpark feel.

The KIA Tigers fans are all anxiously awaiting the opening of their new stadium for next season, but they may be losing something, something magical, in the move from their old digs.

Posted on August 5th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: baseball, busan, Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED Telephoto Lens, Nikon D600, sajik baseball stadium, sports photography. Comments Off on Called safe

Crazy Kia Tigers fans

I have spent the past couple nights enjoying Korean Professional Baseball in Gwangju. The KIA Tigers are sort of the Oakland A’s of Korean baseball. They are a small market team, in an old stadium, who find ways to win. In fact, they have won more championships than any other Korean baseball team (ten). The fans are absolutely nuts. Literally, some of them are not quite right in the head. Not being able to speak Korean, I purchased a random ticket which happened to be right in the middle of the craziest of the bunch. Perhaps the ticket lady thought she was punishing me for not speaking or understanding Korean, but I had a blast (even if I did suffer some permanent hearing loss). The guy who sat behind me majored in English so he gave me a good history lesson on the Tigers and also on each of the lunatics before they came up to try to talk to me.

The KIA Tigers get a new stadium next year. You can see it being built behind left field in today’s photo.

Posted on June 27th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: baseball, gwangju, kia tigers, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, sports photography. Comments Off on Gwangju Mudeung Baseball Stadium

Not by Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves @ Yankee Stadium last year…

… but by the fan in the first row. Check out the kid next to him who has his glove up but isn’t even looking for the ball.

This home run by Alex Rodriguez was one of many on the day as the Yankees and Braves tied a Yankee Stadium record for most home runs.

Posted on June 15th, 2013 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, new york, nikon d7000, Nikon TC-17E II 1.7x Teleconverter, sports photography. Comments Off on Nice catch!