| March 30th
After an Opening Day loss the Hawks have been playing well. Our starting pitchers have turned in some really good outings. The flip side, however, is that there haven't been too many innings available to the relievers. I have been anxious to get back on the mound after my first game when I only faced one hitter. My opportunity came last night.
We opened up a nice lead versus the Rakuten Eagles but they made their way back into the game and tied it at 7. I came into the game to face a lefty in the seventh with a man on second. They pinched hit with a righty and I got him to ground out to second.
I selfishly was hoping we would score a run in the bottom of the inning to give me a chance to steal a win. But it didn't happen. I went back out for the eighth and the first hitter I faced hit a missile off the right field wall. I got lucky. It would have been a home run in any other stadium in Japan but we have a high outfield wall, about 20 feet. It turned out to be the longest and hardest single I have ever allowed.
You have heard me talk about trusting my catcher and letting him call the game. I wasn't thrilled with our pitch selection in that at-bat and it almost cost us the game. I like to throw inside but not all the time. The 2-and-2 pitch that he hit off the wall was a fastball in, the fourth I threw in that at-bat. The location wasn't perfect, but it was not awful either. You just can't throw the same pitch to a good hitter over and over again.
I took more control of the pitch selection, striking out the next two hitters after shaking off signs the catcher gave. I pitched around the next hitter after a stolen base because the guy on deck was a much weaker hitter. I thought they were going to leave me in the game but they took me out and our setup man came in and got the final out.
I was happy with my outing, despite the long single off the right field wall. It was one of those times that a mistake was made that didn't hurt the team. You always learn from those. That was nice for me because if that had been a home run I would have lost a lot of sleep. I know better than to pound right handed hitters inside with fastballs. I have been burnt on that before, especially with power hitters.
We won the game in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off home run, extending our winning streak to four ever since our opening-day loss.
One of the cool things they do here in Japan that would probably never work in the States is award players what is called "fight money" after each win. The team puts up about $5,000 for each win and it is distributed to players who contributed to the win. Mr. Oh leads this meeting that takes place the day after the game.
For my role in the victory, I was surprised to receive ¥20,000, which is about $170. Starting pitchers have the best opportunity to rack up some cash. One of our starting pitchers turned in a shutout the night before and he took in ¥250,000 ($2,100).
It is a neat system, but, like I said, I don't think it would work at home. I could totally see guys complaining about what they got or didn't get and also focusing too much on the fight money instead of the game. I look at it as fun money I can hide from my wife.
I am learning more and more about the Japanese way. I told you I took over the game with my catcher and once I did I had better results. It's not that he was calling a bad game, he wasn't; I'm just more of a feel pitcher who prefers to throw what feels right at that moment rather than going exactly by what the scouting report tells us. There is a delicate balance there. You should absolutely know the hitter's weakness, but that doesn't mean you abandon your strengths or what you feel confident is going best at that time.
During our pitchers' meeting my pitch selection came up. The meeting obviously is in Japanese, but one of the translators is there with me at all times. I know when I am about to be told something when I hear my name sandwiched in between a bunch of Japanese. It sounds something like this to you: "Yada, yada, yada, CJ (or Nicorski), yada, yada, yada."
The translator tells me Sugimoto San said he would like to me to trust the catcher more. This is why I tell you I'm learning the Japanese way more each time out. My first reaction was to challenge that statement, vehemently. The times I threw what the catcher asked we almost lost the game. But when I took over, I recorded consecutive strikeouts. I am not perfect, by any means, but in this particular game I made the right choices and that went completely unnoticed.
One of the translators is a former pitcher who played for the Tokyo Giants for a few years, which is fortunate for me. He explained to me where they are coming from and why they say things like that. His advice to me was to just keep pitching the way I know how, get guys out, and don't worry about reacting to unwarranted criticisms or comments that don't seem to make any sense. He didn't use the phrase "unwarranted criticisms" - he's not that smart - but I knew exactly what he was getting at.
So I am learning to bite my tongue. I love to talk pitching and even to debate, but I'm not sure a healthy debate is in the vernacular here. It might make me appear disrespectful toward my coaches, and I don't want that. I let it go and we moved on.
We are now playing the Chiba Lotte Marines, which is Bobby Valentine's team. It's our first road trip of the year. The travel day was a little rough. We took at 10 a.m. flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo then rode a bus for about an hour and 15 minutes to the stadium.
The one thing that I am told will never happen this season is getting a day off from batting practice and infield practice. Back in the States tough travel days or a day game following a night almost always resulted in no batting practice, but not here.
I was really dragging and I could tell Buck was, too. I was hoping I wouldn't have to pitch and I didn't. I got an awful cramp in my neck from sleeping in an awkward position on the bus and airplane. I was really missing Mountain Dew tonight. It's hard to find here and I don't drink coffee. I had to go with Dr. Pepper, which is not quite the same.
TOP
March 31st
A good night's sleep and I am completely refreshed from yesterday's travel. It wasn't a full night of sleep because we have a day game, but it was just enough to get me the energy that I need.
I felt much better today than yesterday and apparently so did Buck. He hit a grand slam in his first at-bat, his first home run of the year. We jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. Later on he asked me if I thought he was only going to see offspeed pitches (curveballs, sliders, etc.) the rest of the day. I told him you already have your home run and four RBIs, so why not just try and hit a single to right field and get a couple of hits on the day? Here's what he had to say in response to that: "I never try to hit singles to rightfield."
It's a good thing I am not a hitting coach. In his next at bat Buck hit another home run, this time a two-run shot to leftfield. The pitch? A slider. It was the fourth inning and he already had two home runs and six RBIs. I told him I would laugh if we blew the lead because then he wouldn't get any fight money for his huge day. Of course I wouldn't really laugh. Well, maybe a little. Fortunately, we won the game. I threw a 1-2-3 inning and did some shaking off. I wonder if that will come up in the meeting tomorrow? I highly doubt it.
One of my favorite guys on the team was activated today. Masahiko Morifuku, or "Morifu" as he is called, was with the big-league team for the first time today. He started the season in the minor leagues after being in major league camp, but he has now joined us because one of our pitchers is going to miss some time with a blister problem.
Morifu is quite the character. He is a reliever who has been dubbed "Little Unit" by Buck. He is lefthanded just like Randy Johnson, but that is where the comparisons end.
Morifu is 5-6 and weighs 140 pounds. He is 20 years old and this is his first year in the NPB. The Hawks drafted him out of the Industrial League this past offseason. (I'll talk more about the Industrial League another time.)
By the way he pitches you would never guess he was a little guy. He throws in the low to mid 80’s but as far as he is concerned it is 90+. For lack of a better term Morifu has big gonads. He is fearless on the mound.
The guys here openly call him “saru” Japanese for monkey. He does have a wild haircut and with a quick glance could pass for a primate. But what makes this guy so fun is his personality. A total goofball, Morifu is always joking around. We have developed a nice relationship regardless of the irregular age gap.
We were watching ladies golf in between innings in the bullpen today and there was a rather large heavy set golfer on the screen. I asked the guys who would win in a fight, her or Morifu? He took the joke well, although all joking aside I’d put my money or her. She had him by at least 40 pounds.
Morifu made his major league debut today. He recorded three strikeouts finishing off the 9th inning of our 8-2 victory. Little Unit made a Big Unit impression in his first outing.
TOP
April 2nd
We wrapped up our three-game series against the Marines with a win. The team is off to a nice start at 6-2. After the game we traveled to Tachikawa to play the Seibu Lions. The bus ride from Chiba took about two hours.
The quality of visiting clubhouses in Japan is very different than those in the States. In MLB visiting clubhouses are almost as good as your home clubhouse. The amenities are nice and the players take full advantage. After a road game everyone showers and eats dinner in the clubhouse and the bus usually leaves 45-to-60 minutes after the game ends.
In Japan we usually leave within 10 minutes after the game and everyone showers and eats when we get back to the hotel, or in the next city if we are going by bus. Everyone boarded the bus immediately following our game and for 2-plus hours we remained in uniform. I was really looking forward to getting to Tachikawa and taking a shower.
The nice part of this trip was that our game in Chiba started at 1 p.m. (or 13:00, as they say here). So by arriving in Tachikawa at a decent hour, around 6:30 p.m., and with an off-day on Monday, it was a good night to go out and grab dinner and maybe a drink.
I have been spending just about all of my time away from the ballpark with the other Americans and our translators. I have always been a guy who likes to get to know all of my teammates, but that hasn't been happening much here in Japan. Buck and I thought Sunday would be a good night for darts, so we invited Hitoshi "Tamu" Tamura, our leftfielder, who we heard liked to play darts. I also invited Morifuku, just because I wanted to see what he was like away from the park. If this guy was half as entertaining out of uniform as he was in uniform, I knew it was going to be a fun night.
After the game Tamu wasn't feeling well, so he backed out of dinner and darts. But Morifuku was still in. We started with dinner at a local yakiniku restaurant, a real mom-and-pop kind of place. The food was great: tongue, roast and even some pig leg. I stayed away from the pig leg, but Morifuku attacked the pig leg like a hungry dog on a T-bone steak. And it was all his, because the rest of us wanted nothing to do with it.
There were some other guys at the restaurant and for the latter part of our dinner our starting shortstop, Munenori Kawasaki, hung out with us. We had a great conversation and some great laughs. Kawasaki has great energy and at only 25 years old he is a very popular player in Japan, especially among the ladies. He talked a lot about his time in Southern California during the World Baseball Classic last March and how he turned himself into a left handed hitter after seeing Ichiro, his hero, on television.
After dinner we headed to a billiards and dart place. We started off with a few games of cricket, and one game Buck actually came in last place behind Morifuku. It was a shameful feat he will never live down. I told him he would have to go home and tell his wife he lost in darts in a guy wearing a pink horizontally striped shirt.
One of catchers, Katsuki Yamazaki, joined up with us later. He brought along one of SoftBank's scouts. So the match was on. Japanese vs. Americans, and losers clean the others' shoes during the series against Seibu. Here in Japan players clean their own shoes; back in the states that job belongs to the clubhouse attendants.
We lost the first game. My back was killing me from carrying my team. Buck, one of our dart All-Stars, played sub-par darts. We needed a chance to get back in it, so we offered a second game in which if the Americans lost we cleaned shoes and carried bags (players carry their own bags, too). Thankfully, we won.
We played two more games and by the end of the night we went from cleaning shoes to having our shoes cleaned. I am not really a betting man. I don't mind playing for a small amount of cash but never for anything significant. For me I'd rather play for something humiliating. Handing over a few bucks after a loss is easy. Cleaning a guy's shoes or carrying his bags in front of all of his teammates is much tougher.
The night flew by and ended with a McDonald's run. I was discouraged to get the news that the McFlurry machine was down for the night, so I went with a cheeseburger and an apple pie. I was proud of myself for showing some restraint. It very easily could have been an order of two quarter-pounders with fries and a coke. All in all, we had a good time and I was glad to get some social time in with my Japanese teammates.
Plus, I got to sleep in the morning.
After back-to-back day games, it felt good to roll over and see it was nearly 10 a.m.
Today was Opening Night in the States. The Mets were playing Cardinals and lucky for me the game was on television here. I watched it until the end and then went shopping.
I significantly under-packed coming to Japan. My wife, ever the clothes-conscience woman, warned me I wasn't brining enough clothes with me. I ignored her, probably because I wanted to prove that she didn't need the nine suitcases she and the kids were bringing (along with the boxes of shoes and who knows what else that she mailed here).
I was wrong. To make matters worse, it is difficult to find sizes that fit me here. I was determined today to buy clothes. However, I was quickly reminded how much I hate shopping. My wife does all my shopping for me, which I am very appreciative of.
Buck, Monna and I hit the streets of Tachikawa to shop. We first made our way through some of the designer bag places. Buck thought he might get something for his wife. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier and all the big boys had a presence in Tachikawa.
There is nothing that would make my wife happier than to hear that I bought something for myself from Louis Vuitton. Then she could justify all of those credit card statements that put me in a state of shock every few years. I just don't get into that stuff. I'd estimate that 75-percent of the players on this team have a Louis Vuitton carry-on bag. There are lots of pretty boys on this team. I thought about getting the golf bag so I could be the envy of all the pretty boys on the course, but then I saw it cost about $10,000.
We wandered into another store that from the outside seemed pretty nice. But it didn't take me too long once inside to realize that this women's clothing store would be a great place for a pimp to get his employees their required uniforms. I felt as if I should have been tipping the people who worked there; they were that underdressed. I knew I needed to get out of there, so after browsing for about an hour we headed back to the streets.
Now hungry and in search of a snack, we stopped at food stand that served octopus balls. Wait! Let me clarify. These were fried snacks shaped as a ball and had octopus in the middle. They made them right in front of you, which was impressive. Eight of them cost $4. They're street food, like a hot dog or pretzel. I ate them as we walked some more.
The off day was good but it’s not over. I’m just taking it easy back in my room; we’re getting together for dinner again later.
TOP
April 4th
I wonder if there ever will be a time this season where I completely understand how things work here. I've been here for more than two months now, with potentially seven more to go. Based on what I know, and don't know, I'm thinking probably not.
I pitched the other day against Seibu. I entered trailing 3-2 with a man on first late in the game. In Japan the pitching coach always comes to the mound during a pitching change, talks to you and watches you warm up. It's a little unusual, but no big deal.
I talked to the catcher and pitching coach about how we wanted to pitch the upcoming left handed hitter, Jeff Liefer. Everyone agreed we'd start him with a curveball. I threw the curve down, but I left it over the plate and Liefer hit it well in the rightfield gap for a double. The runner on first advanced to third and I was out of the game.
One of our setup men, Yanase, came in behind me and retired the next two hitters without allowing the runners to score. He did a real nice job.
You can imagine my frustration coming out of the game. Throwing only one pitch stinks, and allowing a lefty to make solid contact always makes my blood boil. Combine those two things with the fact that I did not record an out and you can see why I was a little cranky. Not even 30 seconds had passed by from the time I entered the dugout when one of our coaches (not the manager or the pitching coach) says to me, "You can use your cutter there." I appreciate any constructive criticism coaches want to offer me, but not in the first minute after I failed at my job. I quickly shot back, "Not on the first pitch!"
The thing about baseball is, when a ball is hit well, nine times out of 10 it's because the pitcher missed his location. Next time you are watching a highlight show on television, look for the catcher's glove. Almost always he is moving it away from where he wanted the pitch. That is exactly what happened here. It wasn't an awful pitch, but I missed my location and the hitter was ready for it. It happens ... a lot.
Like I said earlier, the reliever who came behind me picked me up, and there was no damage done (except for that of my stress level). But we still lost the game, 3-2.
That at-bat was a topic the next day at our pitchers' meeting. Now remember, I am getting all of the information through a translator, so I often don't get a chance to respond because the coaches have already moved on. This is tough for me because I love to have a good debate. So far at these pitchers meetings I have been told, 'Please listen to the catcher,' and, 'Please get ahead in the count.' So I figured when I accomplished both the other day I wouldn't be reprimanded again in this meeting. Oh, how foolish of me.
Did I mention the runners never scored and we still lost 3-2? When we got to the stadium I had a private meeting with my pitching coach to talk some more about what I am now dubbing The Pitch. It was fun for me to listen about the mistake over and over this day.
Later in the day I had another meeting with our bullpen coach, who I think is outstanding and is someone I have a lot of respect for. He offered simple words of advice, which I appreciated. But one thing he said to me at the end of our private conversation caught me a little off-guard: "If we lose confidence in you we can't use you in close games."
I was a little surprised to hear that after what turned out to be one non-essential pitch. I had a pretty solid spring. When you combine that with what I've done this season, I've thrown 11 innings with 6 hits, 10Ks and 2 BB. I feel as if I have shown a lot to this point. I find it hard to believe one pitch could do me in. But I'm starting to feel that way.
Of course Buck and Rick are getting a great laugh out of this. They have picked up on my inability to let things go, which I have to conquer if I want to remain sane here. I asked one of the veteran Japanese pitchers on the team about how much the coaching staff talks about your mistakes here and how does he handle it. He gave me the international sign for "in one ear and out the other." I'll get it down soon enough. It's just going to require some minor personality adjustments on my end. I understand that ultimately the coaches have good intentions. I am just not used to their messages being delivered this way.
Two days after that dreaded game, I was sure The Pitch had been forgotten. We almost made it through our pitchers' meeting without it being mentioned. Notice I said "almost." Then came another one of those Japanese pitchers' meeting moments for me. I have no idea what was being said and then I suddenly hear my name, followed by a look of disappointment. Of course now I realize we are talking about The Pitch again. I was out of time to respond because my translator is scared and I just have to 'wear it' as we say.
I was in a minor state of shock. Rick loved it and when I told Buck he didn't believe me at first. I now realize I'm going to hear about this until I pitched again -- and pitched well.
These are all learning experiences I have to take in stride. I hold no ill will toward any of the parties involved, and I like this coaching staff. As I long as I pitch well and take that veteran Japanese pitcher's advice, things will be just fine. Basically, I just need to treat the coaches as if they are my wife. When they talk to me, I'll nod my head in approval.
And then I'll retain none of what was actually said.
TOP
|