横浜Ｘ広島とmiscellaneous bric-a-brac

25 村田　修一鍛えたそのパワー　かっとばせ　勝利をさぁ目指せ　ホームラン (Courtesy of http://www.seiha-net.com/)

Last night I managed to stay up until 11:30 or so watching Family Guy before passing out (I cant wait for season six to come out on DVD), and I was pretty tired all day since I had stayed up late last night and woke up early on Saturday as well so waking up at 5:34 or so this morning did not help at all.  I have no clue as to why I woke up so early either.  It was a Sunday morning, I had no real reason to wake up so early and normally, I wake up at 8 or 9 am.  I had toyed with the idea of waking up early to go swimming, but I know that my laziness on the weekends always overcomes any ideas of heading back to base to go swim or lift; that and my dislike of going on base, its not as if its a disgusting base, I just prefer to stay away from anything that reminds me of work. 

Unless my mind subconsciously knew that the NFL draft was unfolding in New York City this morning in Japan and I am instinctively programmed to sit around and watch the NFL draft on NFL draft weekend; one of the major holidays of American football.  The NBA draft is not as exciting or interesting and no one knows when the NHL or MLB draft occurs at all, its as if those two professional drafts are at best a rumor that appears on the back of a Topps baseball card.  I missed the first few picks, but I was watch on NFL.com the draft coverage by the NFL network, which was awesome, so people who are NFL fans can watch outside of the United States; I don't know why more games etc are available online, I'm sure they are worried that people are going to simply watch everything online, but I dont know any true fans who spend money on a huge TV that would prefer the not as good quality picture that you get from a webcast of a game.  The NBA charges nearly $100 USD to see NBA games, but I don't think it is worth it; at least the MLB webcasts have a cheaper option of around $25 USD to watch games.  I don't know, but it is something that the NCAA football types should look into next bowl season as CBS had March Madness on demand for free online and I was able to watch a lot of games which was awesome.  And yes, the NBA game is superior to the college game and for that matter, all I could think of when watching Michael Beasley vanish in the second half against Wisconsin; as much as I love my Badgers, they are not exactly an NBA level team, all I could think of...how can any team think about investing millions on this guy who should be killing the Badgers on the inside right now since I know the Badger front court players cant even match this guy at all.  I really did see all of those Derrick Coleman comparisons there.  On the other hand Derrick Rose was ridiculously good as was Chris Douglas-Roberts in the tournament.

Bottom line, the NFL draft is the best non-sporting sporting event on television.  Its the one moment of hope for a team to be either sustained by a draft that is perceived as a strong or a crushing recurring nightmare of a team that cannot do anything correctly on or off the field.  That was the Chicago Bears from 1996 to...well, on and off presently.  By the way, this is all I have to say about Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher.  Two words to be exact.  Fuck and You.  Lance Briggs replaced Roosevelt Colvin who I thought was a huge loss in 2002, but Briggs filled in his spot and actually played better, but how much money can you make?  I didnt see him make any spectacular plays in the Super Bowl...actually, I think I saw him get punked down by a blocker in the game or was that Addai or Rhodes running his ass over towards a Super Bowl title.  I know that they are limited by the schemes that are set up, but I still cant get over the fact that Urlacher wants to be percieved as a big time MLB in Chicago, but when he cannot take on a blocker and still make the play; this reminds me of watching a day game of Urlacher getting punked by a OG and then by a fullback and then on the primetime game, I saw Ray Lewis fight off the blocker and then hit the back and forced a turnover. 

Now Urlacher is complaining about a long term deal that pays him millions, not to mention the millions he makes in endorsements and royalties from name.  I can see some parallels between Urlacher and the end of Butkis's career, except Butkis played with no cartilage in his knees for two seasons and was a victim of a butcher of a surgeon.  Briggs?  I dont know, but I would have traded him after that Lamborghini incident.  Gone.  Maybe package him and Cedric Benson as well.  I always find it stupid when people say, hey look that guy who got cut from X team in X city after playing so many years is now having a career year in Y city; all I can think is: "so why couldn't that putz have the same fire and desire to play when he was in Chicago?"  Case in point, Frank Thomas.  After the 1994 strike, he could not hit a ball. He was a .330 or so hitter, but from 1995-1997 he could not hit a basketball if it was thrown over the plate, and yet, Chicago kept him around and all Sox fans hoped that he could find his groove again and become the Frank Thomas that earned the nickname, "The Big Hurt."  Things came around for him and just in time for a new contract where he demanded all sorts of money and all I could think of was...uh, so with the exception of this past season, you have not done a thing, and now you want all of this as if you were an All Star for the past few years?  His sulking was pathetic.  In a way, it was good for the Sox that he went down in 2005, and become a new example for Bill Simmons's "Ewing Theory."  The Sox let him go, after he sulked about not getting a big contract from the Chicago front office and then had a big season with the Oakland A's, which he parlayed into a big contract with the Toronto Bluejays, but I wondered why he didn't produce like that in Chicago when we needed him to when he was the cornerstone of the franchise.  It all has come full circle as the Jays cut him when he couldn't get anything going early in the season. 

I still wonder what would have happened if the 1994 strike never happened...

And speaking of baseball, today I went to the Yokohama Baystars X Hiroshima Toyo Carp game in Yokohama for my second game of the season.  Previously, the Baystars lost a heartbreaker to the Chunichi Dragons who look pretty good to defend their Japan Series championship.  The Baystars, who I thought had a good chance to at least finish in the same spot and maybe even challenge for that last Climax Series berth for the Central League have stumbled to a 4-17-1 start, and although it is a long season, its never good to start off 11 games out of first place.  The pitching is not bad, Daisuke Mirua looked good in the one outing I've seen, Kudoh will come on later in the year, Terahara is a pretty good pitcher and after today, it looks like they have a few good young pitchers on the team. What is killing them is the complete lack of offense (main culprits are Nishi, Saeki, whichever left fielder they have out there (Bigbie was doing alright, but he got injured yesterday) and Yoshimura's early struggles this season.), bad defense and questionable managing.

The best example was last week against the Giants where Terahara was pitching a gem against the Giants, who have a line up that's liable to explode for a bunch of runs at once, but Terahara was doing a good job of keeping the ball on the ground for easy outs or for fly outs during the game.  It was a pretty good pitching duel between him and the Giants pitcher, but the Baystars drew blood first, getting 2 runs, but as the 7th inning came up, Terahara was having issues getting his pitches where he wanted to; his pitches to the outside were way, way outside and his pitches to the inside beaned Gonzales...his control was shaky and it looked like he was getting tired.  At this point he already had nearly 90 pitches and with the lead, Ohya should have gone to his bullpen to get through the 7th and 8th and then close it out in the 9th.

Oh no, instead he leaves Terahara when he is visibly exhausted, you could see it in his eyes that he was realizing that he couldn't get good movement on the ball at all, and he ended up giving up a big single that ended up putting the tying run on base.  Then Ohya finally pulls into his bullpen...to bring out Kizuka.  I dont know why he is still with this franchise; he has this habit of giving up the big hit or home run when you need him to hold down the fort. He comes out and bam, just like clockwork, he gives up a big single that ties the game.  Then with his sidearm delivery, his pitch floats right into the center of the strike zone and Sakamoto hits the ball...right into the same gap between 2nd and 3rd base the prior big single shot through earlier.  Finally Ohya realizes that Kizuka is not going to get those outs.  He reaches in and pulls out Matt White, another guy who only warms up after giving up a big hit to the other team during inopportune moments of the game.  Which he does, as Takahashi takes his pitch deep, deeper than Kinjoh anticipated as he sprinted back and almost made the grab, almost, as in short by four inches as he tried to reach across his body and out for the ball.  Not quite.  Matt White gets the last out, but the damage is done, the Baystars are down 5-2 and the game is over.  They couldn't get a hit earlier and really needed to capitalize on what little offense they were able to produce in the 6th inning.  And Marc Kroon shut the door on them again.  Mother fuckers.

Today, the rookie Kobayashi was pitching pretty well, working the inside and outside, getting his feel for the game and would have made it through the first inning without giving up a run it it was not for Uchikawa's inability to field; he lost a game for the Baystars last season against the Swallows trying to make a circus catch that was pointless instead of just working to make a simple play, and right in front of the right gaiya, this time, he lost a fly ball for us that he should not have tried to make a play on as Yoshimura had a better angle on the ball than he did.  Yeah, it dropped fair and the Carp scored.  After that though, Kobayashi pitched a good game and the Baystars played great defense.  Nishi snared a sure single and made the throw to first that had me getting on my feet.  Later in the game, Murata made a diving catch for the out that got everyone excited.  Sadly, the Baystars could not help out Kobayashi by scoring any runs in the game until the sixth inning.

At the bottom frame of the sixth, the Baystars managed to get a guy on base, but nothing else.  Kinjoh got a nice single into center field in the gap.  Great hit.  Up comes Murata and I instinctively reach down to put my bay on my seat to avoid and beer pouring down the stands from the huge hit that I knew was coming.  On the first pitch, Murata actually swung, when he normally is looking at the first pitch, which is normally a strike.  Strange.  Takes a ball, and then the next pitch, he connects, and I watch the ball up and I know its gone (I lost it in the clouds since it was an overcast day) and the guys and I go for the railing to watch it go into the left gaiya (bleachers) as we go nuts.  There was so much energy in the crowd waiting to be released and that huge hit did it; I don't know if it is a turning point in the season for the Baystars as they finally capitalized (well, that I've seen) on a great pitching and defensive effort.  2-1 Yokohama. 

The Baystars add an insurance run in the 8th courtesy of a big Uchikawa double bringing in Takuro for a 3-1 lead.  There was one more surprise from the Baystars as they trotted out Terahara out in the 9th to close out the game.  I dont know if it was to help build up his confidence after the disaster in the Tokyo Dome last week, but he takes down the first two, gives up a single, causing Ohya to send his bench coach out there, why, I dont know.  Just let the guy pitch.  He takes down the last guy and the Baystars win. 

Is this a turning point for their season?  This is the first series they have won all season (2-1 in the weekend set against the Carp) and while it can be dismissed as a pillow fight between two of the worst teams in baseball, the Baystars have the pitching staff and the lineup when finally on track that can cause some damage this season.  They need to keep up the defensive effort since that is always their undoing in games, giving up base hits that should be outs and forcing the pitchers to increase thier pitch count, bringing on fatigue earlier; and its a big factor here since they pitch nearly 100 pitches before games here...more of a big deal here than in the US.  They need to make sure that they don't shatter their young pitcher's confidence either.  Terahara is doing really well, and he makes a good rotation with Miura and Kudoh (as long as Kudoh gets good run support at times since he can give up a big hit at times).

We'll see.  They travel down to Nagoya for three against the Dragons and then down to Hiroshima for three against the Carp.  they need to at least come out .500 on this short roadie, and better if they come out 4-2.  The Giants are heating up and the Dragons are maintaining, but can the Tigers maintain their pace (even after raping the Carp of young talented players)?  Can the Baystars even play .500 ball right now?  Dunno.

But that Murata home run was sweet. 

修一鍛えたそのパワー　かっとばせ　勝利をさぁ目指せ　ホームラン!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!