Japanese Baseball: Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters @ Saitama Seibu Lions 5/4/13

I mentioned last week that I visited Japan for about 2 weeks in late April/Early May.  While I was there I saw many, many cool things including temples, shrines, landmarks, and castles.  Overall it was a very satisfying trip in that I think I got to see how a completely different culture lives.  There are similarities and one of them is baseball!  My cousin lives a little north of Tokyo in a town called Urawa.  My wife and I stayed with her for most of our tripUrawa is located in the Saitama prefecture which is where the Seibu Lions play.  Being a huge baseball fan I really wanted to see any baseball game I could while I was there just to take in the experience.  I choose a Seibu Lions game for a reason which I will explain just a little bit later in this post.

We boarded a train from my cousin's condo around noon to head out to the ballpark and after changing a few trains, we arrived at Seibu Dome.  There were several merchandise stands outside of the stadium as well as food vendors and other team related things going on.  I bought a Lions hat as well as picked up a few pocket schedules to give to some of my friends.  Here is the view of the outside of Seibu Dome:

I guess you could say that it's an open air dome some it does have a roof but as you can see from the picture below, you can see there is a gap between the bottom of the dome and the top of the seats.  The stadium itself is kinda carved out of a hill and if you look over the railing out behind the homeplate area, there's a golf course!  Here's the view from our seats:

I said above that I picked the Seibu Lions for a reason.  There was an off chance that I would be able to see former Oriole Dennis Sarfate pitch.  Other than that reason, I really had no rooting preference to which team won the game.  I guess by a stroke of dumb luck, Dennis got in the game!  Here's a shot of him warming up in the top of the 8th inning after being called in from the bullpen!

Amazingly enough when he came in he gave up the tying run to the Fighters but limited the damage and finished the inning without giving up any more.  Luckily for him, he was only tagged with a Blown Save but he also picked up the win because the Lions offense scored in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead for good!  How cool is that!  I got to see a former Oriole pick up a win in a foreign country!

After the game, I was able to find Sarfate's banner on one of the lightposts outside of the stadium:

It was a long game ringing in at 4 and a half hours.  It was only a 9 inning game too!  I can't remember any 3-up 3-down innings either.  There were errors, there were, hit batters, there were pitching changes, there were bases loaded jams, there were home runs, there were bunts.  Pretty much anything that could happen on a baseball field happened that day!  Even I, the big baseball fan that I am was getting a little anxious for the game go be over!

All in all it was a good experience and I'm glad I was able to share it with my wife, and my cousin who got went to great lengths to make our entire trip to Japan very enjoyable.

8-20-12: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

Since the Baysox were in town playing the Flying Squirrels on Monday night, I decided to head over to The Diamond and see the game.  Oh yeah, and Dylan Bundy was also making his second AA start.  If you haven't heard, he's kind of a big deal in baseball news right now since he's one year removed from getting his high school diploma and having the success he has had this year in the minors.

So I loaded up my autograph with Orioles prospects and headed out.  When I first arrived, I got my ticket and went thru the gate.  As you can see from the scan of the ticket above, the Squirrels were giving away Nutzy and Zinger Salt and Pepper shakers.  Nutzy is the Squirrel Mascot and Zinger is the Acorn sidekick.  Here's a pic of the set:

They are fairly well done in ceramic.  I thought they were going to be some cheap plastic crap from China.  But since the Squirrels have been in town for the last 3 years, they have really paid a lot of attention to the fan experience which I like.  The Richmond Braves didn't seem to go too far out of the way to please the fans when they were here.

So onto the autographs:

Mike Belifiore was one of the first signers.  The Orioles got him for Josh Bell earlier this year.  I used the fine tipped (wrong) Staedler pen instead of the medium tipped (correct)  version.  GRRR....

Aaron Baker is on the DL right now and not expected to play for the rest of the season.  You can see I used the correct pen this time.

I got Jonathan Schoop to sign multiples. (with the wrong pen again, dammit!)

Ronnie Welty signed and was very pleasant.  He even remarked at how nice of a night it was for a ball game even though he was on the bench.

Here's the customs that I got signed.  From the upper left going clockwise: Andy Loomis, Mike Wright, Jacob Pettit, Ty Kelly, and Antoan Richardson.  Loomis, Wright and Pettit haver really nice signatures.  Ty Kelly needs some penmanship work.  Antoan Richardson is kind of a dick saying that he wouldn't sign in the white spot because he doesn't want it counterfeited or something. Dude, you're 28 and in double-A, get a clue, you're not a top prospect!  

Robbie Widlansky was a hero for the Baysox this night.  Lets set the scenario.  Dylan Bundy and Clay Schrader had held the Flyin Squirrels to only 2 runs on the night while Bowie was flailing away and hitting tons of at'em balls scoring none.  In the top of the 8th inning the skies opened up and caused an hour and 15 minute rain delay (yes I stayed cuz I'm hardcore like that, and I'm glad I did for 2 different reasons.)  Reason #1 is Robbie jacked a 3 run bomb in the top of th 9th inning letting Bundy off the hook for the loss and the possibility of going another game up on the Richmond for the wild card spot.  It wasn't meant to be because Kyler Newby (Bowie's closer) ruined that and Richmond scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

So after sticking around for about 4 hours, I decided to try and get what I came for.  Yeah, I came to watch Dylan Bundy pitch and Bowie play but I also had other motives for the trip.  I was unsuccessful before the game in getting Dylan's autograph so I decided to stalk stake out the players entrance and see if he would sign while leaving.  I wasn't the only one there.  I had the company of about 12-15 other autograph seekers looking to get some late night 'graphing action.  We all patiently waited for about 20 to 30 minutes letting the other players walk by (who I'd already gotten earlier in the evening).  Most of the other seekers didn't even know who they were other than me because I have a photographic memory.

Then he comes out, talking in the phone.  This is usually when most guys "big league" you and walk right on by without even acknowledging you have a pulse.  He circled around inside the little fenced in area for a few minutes and then walked over to us while still chatting on the phone.  I was the 3rd person in line and here it is:

SAWEET!  His signature looks great on the new Bowman Platinum!  I was really thrilled to meet him but I really wish I could have chatted with him for a few minutes but he was on the phone and I didn't want to be rude.  I did say thanks, though!  He seemed like a good kid.  ( I can call him kid because he's almost 10 years younger than me).
I think he pitched pretty well during the game and he even hit 96 mph on the stadium gun IN THE 6TH INNING which I think is about 1 or 2mph slower that what it actually is.  While I think that he is better than some of the pitchers currently on the Orioles 25 man roster, I don't think he should be called up for the stretch run.  I think a month or 2 in Triple-A next spring will do him good and then he can be promoted.  A lot of people are calling for him to be activated now but I don't think that he's quite ready.  I say just let him go home rest, and then start working out, and gettting ready for next season while letting the experiences of the 2012 season sink in a little bit.  But that's just me, the guy who has to pay to get into the ballpark.

So it was a great night (other than the rain delay) and I plan on going to one more Squirrels game this year next Tuesday.

8-17-11: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

I usually try to make it down to the Diamond whenever the Bowie Baysox are in town playing the hometown Flying Squirrels.  It was Irish Heritage night so the Squirrels were wearing green uniforms and there was a lot of Irish music being played.  There was even a group of Irish Dancers.  my fiancee was working last Wednesday, I decided to fly solo and see if I could catch some good autographs before the game by arriving early.  I got nearly everybody I wanted! Here's the one I wanted most:

LJ could be the heir apparent to Brian Roberts in Baltimore in a year or two.  I also got his 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks card signed!

Joe Mahoney was responsible for most of the Baysox offense this night. He had a 3 run triple in the first inning.  His signature looks so much better on this card than the one I got back from spring training this year.

I was also able to get the Baysox starter Bobby Bundy to sign my custom.  He hasn't fared as well in Double-A as he did in Frederick.

If the game had ended after the first five batters of the game, Bowie would have won 4 to 0.  There isn't that much to say about the game after that because Bobby Bundy had a tough night.  I was excited to see him pitch and he did show some bright spots but it just wasn't enough.  He was staked to a 4-0 lead and the Flying Skunks knocked the ball around the yard on him.  The final score ended up 8-5 with Richmond prevailing.  An interesting moment during the game was when Bowie's hitting coach Denny Hocking blew a gasket over a controversial home run and was subsequently ejected.  I'd never seen him so angry but I never saw him play much with the Twins either!

Overall it was a great night to catch a ballgame even though Bowie didn't win.  They are in the playoff hunt so if they make it in, I might try to make it to Bowie to catch a game if my schedule permits.

7-3-11: Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves

Sunday July 3rd was the final day of the Braves series and the final day of my roadtrip down Interstate 85 to Hotlanta. I woke up around 7:30 and got all my stuff packed up and ready to go. My Friend and I went down for breakfast early and soon found ourselves at our respective players entrances.

I was determined not to miss Baseball Jesus (Matt Wieters) today. He was the first to show up that day as his wife dropped him off. He was dressed to the nines and was in a good mood. (Maybe he knew that he was going to be named an All-Star later in the day!) He signed my 8x10! I wish I would have gone with a medium tip pen but the autograph still looks great!
Matt would turn out to be the only autograph I got all day but it didn't matter because I was still on cloud nine. I had a couple of opportunities to get more 'graphs but since I had gotten most of them in the last 2 days I didn't want to be a pain and seem greedy. One player I didn't have and wanted was Derrek Lee. He was very "elusive" to say the least. It didn't seem like he really wanted to sign the autographs that he did give. He did one on Saturday and 2 on Sunday morning. I was not lucky enough to get one. Oh well, maybe TTM will lead to better results. I also was unable to get JJ Hardy who was a target of mine going into the weekend. He didn't sign either day but at least he was nice about it, politely declining.

I was excited to see Zach Britton get the start for the Orioles this day and he cruised through the Braves order for the first couple of innings. He even hit a homerun to help himself out but it would not hold up. He ran into some trouble in the 5th or 6th inning and in came the bullpen. Being down by one run Mark Reynolds stepped up to the plate with a man on and hit a bomb deep into the seats in left field. It was his 3rd in 2 days! The bullpen came in and shut the door on the Braves and the Orioles salvaged one game of the 3 game set.

I would say my time in Atlanta was a positive experience. There wasn't a single negative thing to put a negative spin on the weekend other than having to leave to come home.

7-2-11: Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves

Saturday was a long day that had me and my friend about 12 hours at and around the ballpark. We got ready and went over to Turner Field for the tour. It was relatively educational and getting to see all the different areas of the ballpark was pretty nice. I even got picked on by the tour guide because I was more or less dressed from head to toe in Orioles gear. After the tour was over we looked around the Braves Hall of Fame and then walked across the street to a Restaurant call "The Bullpen". The food was good and it had air conditioning. It was stifling in Atlanta all weekend.

Luckily for me, the Orioles player's entrance was basically right across the street from The Bullpen. When I showed up, I was informed that I missed Matt Wieters. Dang it! I had an 8x10 that I really wanted signed. Next up Chris Jakubauskas and Blake Davis arrived via cab. Chris told us it was our lucky day and he was feeling "saucy"... whatever that means.. I used a Blank from 09 OPC on Chris and a blank 10 Upper Deck shot of Camden Yards on these guys. I was the only one that had anything for Davis to sign. He seemed shocked that nobody else wanted his signature.

Next to show up at the park was the Orioles starter for that day, Jake Arrieta. He seemed to be in a good mood and signed for everybody that wanted one. I got his rookie card from 2010 Topps Chrome signed. Its my favorite CARD I got signed all weekend. The blue ink just pops right off the card and his name is fairly legible. See for yourself:

While I was 'graphing all 3 days I met a nice lady who had season tickets for the Braves. Mike Gonzalez is her favorite player I learned after inadvertently bashing him when striking up a conversation. Mike has pitched much better lately and I hope he keeps it up. I think a switch back to his old mechanics has something to do with it. Anyways, he showed up at the players entrance after the team bus and couldn't have been nicer. He took pictures and willingly signed for everybody. Here's mine:

Around this time, about 4:30, we decided to head inside the park. I really like that the Braves allow fans into the stadium 2 and a half hours before first pitch. It seems like a good business model because hot and hungry fans standing are liable to buy concessions and souvenirs when they don't have much to be interested in.

I wasn't interested in eating or buying any souvenirs. I was interested in batting practice and autograph opportunities. We found our seats in right field RIGHT NEXT to the Braves bullpen and watched the Braves take batting practice until we couldn't stand the little ankle biters yelling "HEY""HEY" at the players on the field for a ball. I politely told them to call the players by their names and you might have better luck. They didn't listen, so, annoyed I headed for the Orioles dugout.

Luckily, Mark Reynolds came out and took some ground balls and before heading to take some hacks came over and signed some autographs. Blue ink on the Gypsy Queen cards looks awesome. Check it out:

No other players signed while I was standing there until minutes BEFORE first pitch. Adam Jones signed only minutes AFTER I had left the O's dugout. I happened to glance back and much to my chagrin he was signing away for some of the kids gathered where I was standing.

Fast Forward to the top of the 4th inning. Mark Reynolds at the plate, he crushes a long fly ball to center that clears the fence for his 16th homer of the season.

Here's a link to the video: http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16518661

Now, this may not seem that significant to you but to me it is. Yeah it gave the O's the early lead (which Luke Scott helped relinquish), but is was more significant. I have that very ball. Yes THE homerun ball. I am not in the video but watch where it lands. I'll wait....

The security guard from the Braves bullpen walked all the way over to centerfield and picked up the ball. Apparently, security is not allowed to toss baseballs into the stands because he had it in his hand until he got back into the dugout and tossed it to the bullpen catcher, Eddie Perez. He looks at it and sees 2 scars from hitting the railing and looks around. He sees me, the only Orioles fan in the area, dressed head to toe in my O's garb and tosses it to ME! I couldn't beleive it! I've gotten balls at AA and AAA games but never at a major league game. Not to mention a homerun ball!

So the Orioles ended up losing the game so I decided to stake out the players entrance again. Upon reaching the gate, I told a few people about my good fortune and showed them the ball. About this time, Robert Andino comes out of the door. One of the ladies who I showed the ball to calls out his name. (I find out later that she got to know him really well at Spring Training). He smiles and motions for her to come over. He gets her in the gate and direct access to the players as they board the team bus. It's nice to have connections like that! About 10 minutes later, I hear "Hey Oriole Guy, come over here!" from the lady behind the gate. I hurry over and she asks me for the ball and my ticket and tells me he (Mark Reynolds) is going to sign both of them for me! BADASS! He signs it and hands it back to her and she brings it to me. Check it out:

I'm sorry for the blurry picture, but my camera is old and I don't have any good batteries for it at the moment. You can make out the scars from where it hit the railing or whatever in center field on the right and top of the ball. The signature looks great and Mark even took the time to put the date on it. So I have Mark Reynolds' 136th career home run ball, Autographed. A True 1/1 collectible!

Overall it was a great day! I got plenty of autographs including 3 from Mark Reynolds! Anything that happened on Sunday was just gravy!

7-1-11: Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves

A good friend and co worker of mine have been planning a trip down to Atlanta since the Braves played in Baltimore 2 years ago. He's a big Braves guy mostly because of his grandfather, and the triple-A Braves playing in Richmond.

From an Orioles fan's standpoint, it was a terrible game as Adam Jones produced the only O's hit. Jair Jurrjens held the Orioles offense in check for the entire game. We had great seats as we were sitting in the seats right beside the ball boy on the right field line. That lucky kid got to warm up Jason Heyward every inning! As luck would have it though, he didn't get one single foul ball the entire night!

So the game ended and I was going to try my luck at getting some autographs at the players entrance. This was the first time I had ever staked out the players entrance so I wasn't really sure what was going to happen.

I was able to get the tough-luck Orioles starter from that night Jeremy Guthrie on this 2009 Upper Deck card.

I also got Craig Tatum as he exited the stadium as well as Robert Andino and Jason Berken. Berken has been in the majors for 3 years and Topps hasn't produced a card other that this When They Were Young card. They could have taken one of Buster Posey's 3 regular Topps cards (ROY, Rookie Cup, or regular card) out of the set and given Jason a proper rookie card. That is why we need Topps Total!

I was also able to get Buck Showalter as he drove out in his rented Chevy SUV. He was nice and didn't seem to mind signing for an Orioles fan.

After the team bus left, I decided to head back to the hotel to get some sleep and get ready for day 2. Upon meeting up back at the hotel my friend actually got some Braves Autographs on some cards that I gave him. The most notable card he got that night was Jair Jurrjens on his 2008 Topps card. He was stoked!

Saturday was a big day so I can't wait to write about it... Stay Tuned!

5-19-11: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

I'm finally getting around to writing about this game nearly a week after the game has been over! This was one of the most interesting games I've been to in person and absolutely the best pitcher's duel hands down. This game started at 7:05pm and ended at 11:50 pm. Nearly 5 hours and I barely missed a pitch except for the home half of the 3rd when I left my seat to grab a bite to eat. Let's back up a bit to the pregame though.

I arrived at The Diamond at about 5:30 in hopes of collecting some 'graphs of the Orioles farmhands. I'd say it was a successful outing in that regard. I ended up with 6 of my "Top Prospect" cards, and 5 regular cards signed. Among the regular cards I got signed was this card of Dan Klein. I asked him if he had ever seen one and he said it was the second. He really studied the card hard and pointed out to me that they (Topps) must have airbrushed the Orioles onto his jersey because he only used an Easton Glove in college. I told him Topps is famous for airbrushing cards.

Nick Bierbrodt was a spring training invite pick up for the Orioles this year. I remember him when he pitched with the Diamondbacks a while back among other teams. He asked me if he really wanted me to sign this card because "I think I'm past the Top Prospect part of my career". I insisted and he signed it anyway! He would go onto play a large role much later in the game. His veteran arm pitched 4 scoreless extra innings in relief and showed the youngins how it was done! Hats off to you, sir!
So the game started and with Richmond scoring in the first inning and Bowie fighting back for 1 run in the third. The score remained tied until the 10th inning when Bowie Outfielder Xavier Avery got a BROKEN BAT single deep into the 5-6 hole and later came around to score. All Bowie needed was to get 3 outs and the game was over.... Not this night!

After some shoddy defense, Richmond scored a single run in the bottom of the inning and the marathon game was on.

Now I capitalized the BROKEN BAT for a reason. I seemingly was the only Orioles fan in the stands near the Baysox dugout and pitcher Eddie Gamboa gave me a nod and thumbs up pointing to my hat. So after Avery broke the bat, Gamboa was playing around with it in the dugout and talking with his teammates. In the bottom of the 15th he looks at me (the only person within 30 feet of me) and gives me a look like "You're still here? You must really be a fan!" I put my hands together like I was holding the bat and he motions for me to come and get it!!! BADASS! Here's the Picture of it:

Though it's cracked on the handle and isn't good for anything but kindling. BUT I HAVE A GAME-USED BAT!!!

Anyways, back to the game, the Baysox were able to push across one run on a walk, sac bunt, and a double by Ronnie Welty (his only hit of the game). Richmond went quietly in the bottom of the 16th.

The Fireworks after the game was almost postponed because of a city ordinance that wouldn't allow them after 12 midnight. Luckily for the few hundred fans that stayed, the fireworks were really nice. It kinda got me in the summer mood. Then I realized that I needed to be on my way to work in 5 hours!

It was a long night considering the night before I had watched the Orioles on TV go 14 innings and end just after midnight. In two days I had watched 30 innings of ball but it was all worth it!

So I'll leave you with a question, What was the longest game you have been involved in or watched in person?