SAPPORO, Japan | Well, I’m a few thousand miles away, but from what I can tell in my jet-lagged state, the World Series back home looks like a real stink bomb.
The Boston Red Sox are already up two games to none, the Colorado Rockies look as if they lost all their pixie dust during their long layoff, and unless something changes, that series mercifully will be over by the end of the weekend.
So, come join me here in Sapporo (home of the world’s largest ice statue festival), where the Japan Series is about to begin. This promises to be one wild ride.
On one side, you have the Nippon Ham Fighters, a team named after a meat-packing company, carried by an Iranian-Japanese pitcher with the spectacular name Yu Darvish, and managed by newly hired Royals manager Trey Hillman. You may know that Hillman, born and raised in Texas, is trying to become the first non-Japanese manager to win consecutive Japan Series titles.
“I want people to learn to say ‘Yee-haw,’ ” he told everyone on a television morning show a couple of weeks ago. “That’s a Texas word. It means ‘spectacular joy.’ ”
Yee-haw. Spectacular joy. President Bush would be proud of that Texas export.
On the other side, you have the Chunichi Dragons, a team that has not won a Japanese Series in 54 years — they are sort of the Cleveland Indians of Japan. The Dragons are managed by Hiromitsu Ochiai, maybe the greatest player in the history of the country.
Most people in America know about Sadaharu Oh (who holds the Japan and professional record with 868 home runs), and of course everyone knows about more recent great players like Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Who is Hiromitsu Ochiai?
Well, Ochiai was so good in the 1980s, he won three Japan Triple Crowns (highest average, most home runs and most RBIs in his league). More to the point, he predicted he would do it twice. One year, though, he predicted a Triple Crown and fell just short. He felt so ashamed that he asked for a 30-percent pay cut.
In other words, Hillman is facing off against the Willie Mays of Japan. He also is attempting to win the Japan Series again with a team that lost three of its biggest stars from a year ago (including reliever Hideki Okajima, who now pitches for the Red Sox) and finished dead last in every major offensive category, with the exception of stolen bases.
The success of the Fighters has so baffled the country that during a Friday news conference, with about 200 reporters crowded into a cramped and hot room, Hillman on three occasions was asked a variation of the same question: “What the heck are you guys doing here?”
Hillman did not look insulted. He knows that his team is overachieving.
“Hey,” he says, “I hope we can bring some of this team’s spirit to Kansas City.”
The Japan Series begins today, and one thing I can promise is that you will be getting exclusive coverage right here in The Kansas City Star. I know it will be exclusive because from what I can tell, only seven other people in Japan actually speak English. This would not include my cab driver, unless you consider the phrase of “That will be 13,283 yen” to be English.
A few pointers as we get ready to begin the Japan Series:
•You probably already know that there’s a significant time difference here — I’m so far ahead right now that I already know who wins next year’s Super Bowl (get ready for a real Priest Holmes surprise, people). The time difference is actually 14 hours — I’m 14 hours ahead — which means no matter what time it is there, I am trying unsuccessfully to get some sleep here.
