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Jacoby Ellsbury looked as if he worth every penny of his $153,000,000 contract last night. The center fielder went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in. He also robbed Grady Sizemore of an extra base hit in for the first out of the game. In his first at bat he got a mixed reception, but after a video tribute there were mostly cheers and Ellsbury tipped his cap. Some fans haven’t forgiven Ellsbury, however, and expressed their displeasure with signs. Jon Lester had his worst outing of the season so far: 4⅔ innings, 8 runs (only 3 earned, so there’s that), 4 walks, and 7 strikeouts. That’s a lot of strikeouts for that number of innings, but the 11 hits allowed showed that he was around the plate too much. He seemed to be squeezed by Quinn Wolcott’s strike zone. Although David Ortiz and Mike Napoli clouted back-to-back home runs in the fourth the lineup just didn’t string together hits. Fortunately this cold streak isn’t contagious to a fellow Boston team that has commenced a playoff run. The Bruins defeated the Red Wings 3-0 and took a 2-1 lead in the series. This Bruins fan was trying to snatch a souvenir...
Koji Uehara’s family name means above the plain; 上 is “above” and 原 is plain, field, or prarie. Kōji (it’s a long “o” sound) is broken down as 浩, meaning broadminded, magnanimous, great, and prosperous and 治 seems to mean treatment. It should mean “effusive dugout presence” because this guy doesn’t hold back when he celebrates a successful outing with his teammates. His exuberance contrasts with the low-key demeanor of fellow countryman Hideki Okajima or even US-born relievers. Maybe he's the relief pitcher version of Dustin Pedroia. John Farrell was booed at every opportunity. At one point he had something thrown at him, a surprising incident in ever-polite Canada. And who knew Geddy Lee could throw so far? Farrell needed a pair of these, and so does everyone who wants to stop hearing about Bobby Valentine, who just won’t stop talking about the raw deal he thought he got in Boston. These kids below aren’t illustrating the actual size of Valentine’s ego. As far as Red Sox promotions go, the shirt on the kid on the left says it all. It definitely wasn’t a Bonifiasco. Game 4: April 5, 2013 Boston Red Sox3-1 6 H: Koji Uehara (2), Andrew Bailey...
Daisuke Matsuzaka had four sanshabontai, Japanese for 1-2-3 inning. The first two ideograms represents the concept of three people and the final two mean a baseball out. Oakland isn’t an offensive powerhouse by any means; the team is seventh in the American League in team batting average (.262), tenth in on-base percentage (.324), and twelfth in slugging percentage (.384). Still, it was heartening to see Matsuzaka have a completely clean first inning, permit only four baserunners (two hits and two walks), allow only a single run, and strike out six over 6⅔ innings. Boston’s pitching had to be on point as the lineup mustered a mere two runs against an extremely lucky Ben Sheets. In the fourth David Ortiz arced a sacrifice fly to center to plate Eric Patterson, who led off the frame with a triple against his former club. To avoid running on his still-gimpy leg, Adrian Beltre homered into the left field bleacher seats for the lead. There could have been more runs by the visitors if Kevin Youkilis didn’t violate a fundamental rule of baseball in the sixth. He worked the walk with two outs but then tried to reach third on Beltre’s single to right....
Game 160: October 2, 2009 Indians2L: Carlos Carrasco (0-4)65-95, 3 game losing streak Red Sox6W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-6)H: Billy Wagner (6)H: Ramon Ramirez (12)93-67, 2 game winning streak Highlights: The Japanese borrowed the English term “general manager” and use it to describe their Theo Epsteins and Dave Dombrowskis. Usually they abbreviate it as “GM,” using the Roman majuscules as we do. Two MLB general managers were recently fired: Kevin Towers (formerly of the Padres) and J.P. Ricciardi (Toronto as of late). If Rogers Communications, the corporation that owns the Blue Jays, have smart leadership they would hire Kevin Towers. Similarly, if the Padres wanted to reinvigorate their franchise they would nab Kim Ng. The San Diego club was dumb enough to axe one of the most talented baseball executives in the majors in Towers even though he followed former owner John Moores’s directives to slash payroll because of his rancorous divorce. Moores had to sell his stake in the team to Jeff Moorad because of the marital split. It seems unlikely that the Moorad Group would risk further controversy by hiring the first female general manager in history. Theo Epstein’s hiring was somewhat controversial because he was the youngest person...
Game 154: September 26, 2009 Red Sox0L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-6)91-63, 2 game losing streak Yankees3W: C.C. Sabathia (19-7)H: Phil Hughes (18)S: Mariano Rivera (43)99-56, 4 game winning streak Highlights: Ainote is a virtuoso musical interlude in kabuki dramas played on the shamisen. While this music is worthy of the audience’s attention, it is there as an embellishment and accompaniment to the actors’ movements. Although Matsuzaka held the Yankees to one run over seven innings, he was overshadowed by Sabathia’s consummate performance: 7 innings, 1 hit, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. How the Yankees Ruined My Vacation, Part Two: I did it again. Despite another flawless day in Laughlin I sequestered myself in my room to watch the middle game of the series. C.C. Sabathia held the Red Sox hitless until the fifth inning. To lead off Mike Lowell grounded a single to center but was stranded at second base after he stole it (Jose Molina was doing his best Jason Varitek impersonation). For the second game in a row Derek Jeter was cut off by diving plays by Boston infielders. In the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded and none out Alex Rodriguez clipped the ball and it...
Game 149: September 21, 2009 Red Sox9BS, L: Daniel Bard (3, 2-2)89-60, 1 game losing streak Royals12W: Yasuhiko Yabuta (2-1)H: Jamey Wright (12)S: Joakim Soria (27)62-88, 2 game winning streak Highlights: I’m on vacation in Nevada and the Red Sox relievers decided to take leave of their duties as well. From the Royals’ bullpen only Yasuhiko Yabuta allowed the Red Sox to score, and it was because of a wild pitch, not a hit. Yabuta’s family name is made up of two characters: 薮田. The first means thicket, brush, underbush, or grove and the second is the ubiquitous rice paddy ideogram. Yasuhiko [安彦] means peaceful boy or lad. Yasui, the adjective from which Yabuta’s given name is derived, is a difficult word for English speakers to learn because it has three different meanings depending on symbol and context: cheap, peaceful, or easy. Tim Wakefield must shoulder his share of the blame for this loss as well. With a 8-2 lead the knuckleballer let the Royals back into the game with a three-run homer authored by Mike Jacobs. Although the Royals have a similar win-loss record to the Orioles, the former played with ardor while the latter with apathy. Undaunted by...
Game 148: September 20, 2009 Red Sox9W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-5)89-59, 3 game winning streak Orioles3L: Jason Berken (5-12)60-89, 4 game losing streak Highlights: The Japanese word for earned run average, bōgyoritsu [防御率], much better defines what this metric measures than its English equivalent. The first character means to defend, protect, or resist; the second symbolizes manipulate or govern, and the final glyph stands for ratio. Much like in America this statistic is posted when summarizing a pitcher’s effectiveness, but I can’t help but think that the group-oriented Japanese realize that ERA also recognize the contribution of defense to so-called pitching staff. Thanks to his 5⅓ inning outing with three earned runs Daisuke Matsuzaka’s ERA decreased from 7.02 to 6.80. To highlight the defensive contribution to the starter’s improvement, five of Matsuzaka’s outs were fielded by Alex Gonzalez, including a third-inning double play that erased the Orioles infield duo of Cesar Izturis and Brian Roberts. Matsuzaka tallied his second quality start in as many games as he had started since his return. The burning question of whether or not Matsuzaka can regain his former success seems to be answered, yet new concerns arise in its place. How remarkable has Victor Martinez...
Game 143: September 15, 2009 Angels1L: John Lackey (10-8)86-58, 2 game losing streak Red Sox4W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-5)H: Ramon Ramirez (11)H: Billy Wagner (3)H: Daniel Bard (11)85-58, 6 game winning streak Highlights: The Japanese word for designated hitter [指名打者] is simple enough: the first two characters are pronounced shimei and mean designated and the last two symbols are dasha and stand for batter. David Ortiz demolished Jose Arredondo’s eight inning offering, sending it over the center field wall and into the clutches of a lucky fan in the bleachers. The monumental shot was his 270th home run as a designated hitter, surpassing Frank Thomas as the all-time home run leader for DHs. It was a tempestuous season for Ortiz with his first-half stagnation and the leak of his name as a player on the 2003 survey test. This achievement is dubious in the eyes of some, but to me it is still an exceptional accomplishment. Who could have predicted that Daisuke Matsuzaka would return with a quality start: 6 innings pitched, 3 hits, no runs, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. The SoSH game thread didn’t. I prepared myself for a game similar to Paul Byrd’s start against the White Sox...
Game 108: August 7, 2009 ∙ 15 innings Red Sox0L: Junichi Tazawa (0-1)62-46, 4 game losing streak Yankees2W: Phil Coke (3-3)67-42, 5 game winning streak Highlights: The first character of the name Junichi [純一] means pure, innocent, and simple and the second symbolizes one. His family name is Tazawa [田澤], the first kanji means rice paddy and the second ideogram denotes swamp, which demonstrates that the grain is central to Japanese cuisine and culture and that rice needs swampy conditions to grow. Tazawa made his major league debut on Friday night after having made the jump from Portland to Pawtucket at the end of July. He was going to pitch at Saturday’s Futures at Fenway doubleheader, but the major league club was in dire circumstances with the trade of Justin Masterson. Four words, four hits.That’s all I wanted to write about this game, but as Josh Beckett deserved more (any) offensive run support, this game merits better treatment.A pure baseball fan would marvel at this 15-inning classic.A.J. Burnett rebounded from his Chicago shellacking with 7⅔ innings of shutout ball. The Yankees hurler walked six batters, struck out six (although Jacoby Ellsbury reached on catcher’s interference), and allowed one hit. Josh...
Game 67: June 19, 2009 Braves8W: Kenshin Kawakami (4-6)32-34, 1 game winning streak Red Sox2L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-5)40-27, 1 game losing streak Highlights: It was Bermuda Night at Fenway and in honor of the event Red Sox fans lost their affection for Matsuzaka in the Bermuda Triangle. My friends were at the game and told me that some unacceptable terms were hurled in the Red Sox starter’s direction. I liked to think that Boston fans might accept whole-heartedly accept an Asian player but this is almost Byung-Hyun Kim redux. Jon Lester has had starts this season as bad as Daisuke Matsuzaka’s last night but wasn’t booed. Perhaps Matsuzaka have to be a cancer survivor to earn the fans’ undying love, but I think it’s something more vile underlying the Fenway crowd’s jeers. Yaji [野次] is the Japanese word for heckle, boo, and jeer. The two characters in Kenshin Kawakami’s family name [川上] mean “stream” and “upper,” respectively, so his family lived upstream at some point. The two kanji in his given name [憲伸] symbolize “rule” or “constitution” and “develop” or “progress,” but instead of being a lawyer Kawakami became a professional baseball player. Kawakami played 11 years for the Chunichi...
Game 62: June 13, 2009 Red Sox11W: Hideki Okajima (3-0)38-24, 5 game winning streak Phillies6L: Antonio Bastardo (2-1)35-25, 2 game losing streak Highlights: I’m going to give Daisuke Matsuzaka a mulligan for his performance last night. He was dealing in the first inning but his momentum was stalled by a 1:35 rain delay. Ame, the Japanese word for rain, is pronounced ah-may, like the first two syllables of the word “amazing.” David Ortiz had the day off and sat in the dugout with his umbrella [amagasa, 雨傘]. The Red Sox jumped to a five-run lead in the first inning. Three errors by the Phillies extended the inning. Carlos Ruiz started the circus when he airmailed his throw into center when trying to catch Jacoby Ellsbury, allowing Boston’s center fielder to not only steal second but advance to third. In the second ring of the circus we have Antonio Bastardo’s pickoff toss to Ryan Howard, who not only missed the catch but tarried long enough for Ellsbury to score and Kevin Youkilis to take third.After Jason Bay launched a homer (his 17th of the season), Mike Lowell doubled and Rocco Baldelli walked. Shane Victorino uncharacteristically missed a line drive; the bounding...
Game 57: June 7, 2009 Rangers6W: Vicente Padilla (4-3)H: Darren O’Day (5)S: C.J. Wilson (5)33-23, 1 game winning streak Red Sox3L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-4)33-24, 1 game losing streak Highlights: After Jacoby Ellsbury left the game in the sixth inning, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay played rock-paper-scissors (RPS) to decide who would play where in the outfield (but Brad Mills had the final say). The words one chants or the symbols used in this hand game provide a lesson cultural anthropology. Janken is the Japanese word for RPS. Japanese plantation workers brought their name for the game with them to Hawai‘i, generations of kids before me added to the chant, and these words were passed on to us. “Junken a munken a saka saka po!” we would begin. If we tied, we would continue, “Wailuku, Wailuku, big fat toe!” Growing up on the East Coast, the Red Sox Scholars have their own words for RPS, probably something like, “One, two, three, shoot!” I still am surprised by the brevity of ritual in places outside of Maui. My cousins who grew up on O‘ahu started with “jan ken po” and then “I canna show” in case of a tie. Maybe the bigger...
Game 52: June 2, 2009 Red Sox5W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-3)30-22, 2 game winning streak Tigers1L: Rick Porcello (6-4)28-22, 1 game losing streak Highlights: Terry Francona tallied his 500th win as a Red Sox manager, joining Hall of Famer Joe Cronin and Mike “Pinky” Higgins. Aside from this accomplishment, I’d rather not associate Francona with these men as his predecessors were key in keeping the Red Sox segregated. In the wake of initiating a new generation to futile, furious devotion to the Boston club with the 2003 ALCS debacle, the owners and Theo Epstein rid themselves of Grady Little and hired Francona. That the spectacled skipper would helm not one but two World Championship teams is the hushed prayers and half-remembered fever dreams. And yet it happened. Congratulations, Tito. Risu [栗鼠] means “squirrel” in Japanese. All right, everyone got their chuckles at my expense last night. “Look at that fat squirrel get run ragged by the grounds crew,” everyone said. Video of me made theh highlight reels on “MLB Tonight” and “SportsCenter.” Well, what tens of thousands of fans mocking me and the television audience didn’t know is that you can thank me for Justin Verlander’s renaissance. That’s right. You think...
Game 47: May 27, 2009 Red Sox2L: Daiske Matsuzaka (0-3)27-20, 2 game losing streak Twins4W: Kevin Slowey (7-1)H: Jose Mijares (5)H: Matt Guerrier (7)S: Joe Nathan (8)23-24, 2 game winning streak Highlights: Hits and wild pitches are like bananas: they come in bunches. Matsuzaka uncorked four errant missiles over the course of his five innings of work. Manny Delcarmen and Justin Masterson both had wild pitches of their own. George Kottaras should have just used a first baseman’s mitt like he does when catching Tim Wakefield. Bōtō means “wild pitch” in Japanese. The first character has the following meanings depending on context: outburst, rave, fret, force, violence, cruelty. (Sounds like Carlos Zambrano to me.) The second symbol: throw, discard, abandon, launch into, hurl. (Zambrano again!) One hundred-two pitches over five innings isn’t going to cut it for a starting pitcher making $8M this season and who was thought to have at least number two slot stuff. He didn’t have a horrible outing last night: 9 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts. With a touch more run support we would be talking about Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first step to recovering his former success.The only Red Sox runs came in...
Game 42: May 22, 2009 Mets5W: Johan Santana (6-2)H: Bobby Parnell (8)S: Francisco Rodriguez (12)22-19, 1 game winning streak Red Sox3L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2)25-17, 1 game losing streak Highlights: “Modori” means return in Japanese. Like Matsuzaka I returned to Fenway last night; I was there to help kick off the series sweep against the Blue Jays and hoped to do the same for the opening of interleague play. Johan Santana had other ideas. Santana is one of those lefties that doesn’t rely on craft rather than stuff. His nasty repertoire had all the Red Sox hitters befuddled. Kevin Youkilis, who rarely get punched out, struck out swinging thrice, as did David Ortiz. Since his time off, Ortiz has had to face off against three southpaw starters, and one of them could legitimately be titled the best pitcher in baseball. Santana may have gone to the weaker senior circuit, but his pitching translates to any league.My voice is hoarse from trying to out-yell Mets fans. They were in full throat and it being May they weren’t choking. Come this September these Mets fans will have abandoned their garishly garbed team in favor of the Giants or Jets (whichever team is doing...
Game 8: April 14, 2009 ∙ 12 innings Red Sox5L: Javier Lopez (0-1)2-6, 3 game losing streak Athletics6W: Sean Gallagher (1-0)4-4, 2 game winning streak Highlights: Ishiki no nagare means “stream of consciousness” in Japanese. For most of this game I tried to remain conscious. Top first: Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby are versions of each other. I always forget which is which. Dustin Pedroia skips one past the third baseman. It’s windy in Oakland. I don’t know if Papi’s spit will make it to his gloves because of the gusts.What if Eveland were a tourist attraction? There would be stand after stand of apple sellers (but some would hock pomegranates, figs, or grapes). Instead of Zoltan telling you a fortune you would put quarters into a glass case featuring a mechanized hissing snake.With the shift on, no one was covering second on Papi’s ground out and Pedroia advanced to the vacant sack. Kevin Youkilis singled up the middle to plate Pedroia and the visitors have the lead. J.D. Drew doubles in Youkilis with a fly ball over Matt Holliday’s head for another run. One would think a Colorado outfielder would take better routes.This is the team we were expecting.Jason...
Game 3: April 9, 2009 Rays 4 W: Matt Garza (1-0)H: Brian Shoush (1)H: Joe Nelson (1)S: Troy Percival (1) 2-1, 2 game winning streak Red Sox 3 L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1) 1-2, 2 game losing streak Highlights: It’s just a game. I’m talking about this particular game in the context of the series, of the season, but also about the sport itself. It’s just a game. Shi o itamu means “mourn someone’s death” in Japanese. For the past three years I have been in an intense fantasy baseball league. In it we track players from when they are drafted until they (hopefully) make the majors. Since Nick Adenhart was a high profile prospect, he had been part of our consciousness long before his gutty performance last night. He was like a distant cousin to whom you were related to but didn’t talk to every day. He was part of the extended family and following his emerging talent from afar helped us to remember what it was like to have childhood dreams. Except he had the talent and the will to make those dreams reality, battling through injury and Tommy John surgery to take his place on a major...
ALCS Game 5: October 16, 2008 Rays 7 BS: Dan Wheeler (2)L: J.P. Howell (0-1) 3-2 Red Sox 8 W: Justin Masterson (1-0) 2-3 Highlights: Not only does Japanese have a term for “come-from-behind victory” (逆転勝ち, gyakutengachi) but also one for “come-from-behind loss:” gyakutenmake. In fact, if you search the kanji for the latter term (逆転負け) in Google, the first result is an article about the Red Sox team’s stunning victory on Thursday night. *Pinches self for the thousandth time.* That really wasn’t a dream, then. I woke up Friday morning expecting it to be a delirious hallucination. Saturday morning I double-checked just to be sure: Craig Sager had clothed himself in earth tones rather his preferred palette of audacious shades of cochineal, chartreuse, or cobalt. He did have sequins on his orange and brown tie, but other than that he was garbed in a rather sedate beige jacket gridded with brown lines.That was just as if not more shocking than the home team overcoming a huge deficit with a mere nine outs remaining.Terry Francona still thought his team had a shot. He quickly yanked Manny Delcarmen from the mound in the top of the seventh after he walked...
ALCS Game 1: October 10, 2008 Red Sox 2 W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0)H: Hideki Okajima (1)H: Justin Masterson (1)S: Jonathan Papelbon (1) 1-0 Rays 0 L: James Shields (0-1) 0-1 Highlights: Could the glory of the game of baseball overcome the shoddy surroundings of Tropicana Field? Indeed it could, particularly with a performance like the one Matsuzaka had. After a rough first inning in which he walked the bases loaded, the visiting starter roared back to hold the Rays hitless for 18 outs. Matsuzaka struck out nine and walked four, and for once I was thankful that a national broadcast team covered the contest rather than sit through Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy’s griping about their least favorite hurler. Dustin Pedroia saved the no-hit bid in the sixth with a play on Carlos Peña’s sharp grounder into the shift. The infielder slid on the jinkōshiba (artificial turf) and pivoted to first to notch the second out of the inning. The Tampa Bay organization did their best with the opening game of the second playoff series in their young existence. They remembered to change the “D” to “C” in the ALCS logo on the field. The bunting looked a bit...
ALDS Game 2: October 3, 2008 Red Sox 7 H: Hideki Okajima (1)H: Justin Masterson (2)BS, W: Jonathan Papelbon (1, 1-0) 2-0 Angels 5 L: Francisco Rodriguez (0-1) 0-2 Highlights: Jason Bay rhymes with kattobase (pronounced ka to BAH say), which means belt out, crush, or kill a pitch for a home run. Japanese fans will yell this when exhorting their hitters. Despite the preponderance of Thunderstix®, cheers for the visitors could be heard. In the first inning Bay smashed a 2-2 slider to the boulders left of the batter’s eye with two men on and two out. How refreshingly enjoyable it was to watch a start by Daisuke Matsuzaka without the roiling undercurrent of contempt that Jerry Remy brings. It may not be pretty, but most fans have long accepted that the pitcher will not efficiently work through the lineup, but he will more likely than not leave the mound with his team ahead. Even with the early lead Matsuzaka nibbled at his plate like Keira Knightley at supper (her only meal). The three runs the Angels scored over Matsuzaka’s five innings were the result of singles and bases on balls. In the seventh Justin Masterson inherited two...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.