Sunday, November 09, 2008

Year of the Lion


(image from Yahoo)


Seibu went through their entire pitching staff after a rough start by Fumiya Nishiguchi, and the game was at 2-1 with the Giants leading for a long time. Teenage Wonderboy Hayato Sakamoto hit a home run early on, and then later Hiram Bocachica hit one to give the Lions their first run.

I watched this game on TV with a friend and we actually spent the first two thirds of it in a "dammit, the Giants are going to win, aren't they" sort of mode, and then Kataoka got on base in the 8th inning, stole second (setting a Japan Series record at 5-for-5?), moved to third, and... came home on a groundout, tying the game. They intentionally walked Okawari-kun, which is understandable, but then unintentionally walked third-string catcher Noda, so when Hirao singled and Okawari-kun lumbered home and scored to make it 3-2, suddenly EVERYTHING changed.

We were glued to the TV from that moment until Ramirez grounded out to short to end the game, pretty much.

And I was really happy to see that Kishi was the Series MVP. That was really well-deserved -- there's no way they would have made it without him.

So, yeah! Lions vs Lions vs Lions vs... Wyverns... in the Asia Series. It's okay. PACIFIC LEAGUE PRIDE!

Also, this morning I went to the Wally Yonamine book event -- but I think I might actually post more about that in a few days when I actually read the book, since I've only got limited internet time right now.

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