With Malice…

Last night I took my mother to the baseball. In Japan. Let me explain a lil’… my mother arrived here (in Japan, where I reside) to meet our 3 month old son for the first time. Interested in showing mother dear around (this is her fourth trip to Japan), I took her to see the local baseball team, the Chunichi Dragons play the Yakult Swallows from Tokyo.

I bought some pretty good seats, behind the first baseline - and we had a great view of the game (at least we did when the drunk salaryman in front of us wasn’t waving his thundersticks around). And all the action unfolded right before us. It was a pretty good game, if you were a Dragons fan… I am, and as the game went by, my mother became increasingly so. It started quickly, with Chunichi opening their tally in the first inning, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. That was followed by a few goose eggs, then in the top of the 4th, the Swallows rallied, and contrived a run, leveling the ledger.

Dragons first baseman, American Tyrone Woods, unleashed on a pitch from compatriot Seth Greisinger in the fourth, and then again in the sixth innings, the second a towering line-drive, that nearly made the upper deck - it was still going up when it caromed off the base of the decking. His second shot put the Dragons up 4-2, and they never looked back from there. At this point in time, my mother was well & truly hooked (“If I could come here on a regular basis, I sure would”). The 8th innings for the Dragons brought in 3 more runs, and it could’ve been more except for a few errant swings. The end result was 8-2, the hometown Dragons slaying the Swallows.

It was truly a double victory, as a loss to the hated rival, Tokyo Yomiuri Giants (beaten by the Hanshin Tigers) put the Dragons in sole possession of the Central League lead.

All-in-all, a good evening. The baseball was good, we saw home-runs (always good stuff for a first-time attendee such as my mother!) & the beer was cold (even if it’s in a paper cup). The only down-points in the evening were Mr Drunken Salaryman in front of us, a guy in his late fifties who was pretty obnoxious after a few innings/beers… and during the 6th inning an attractive young lady took a foul ball in the head. A scorcher of a hit too, only just clearing the safety netting, and smacking her in the forehead. She was walking down the stairs, sight focused on anywhere but where it should be at a baseball game - the batter. She dropped like a felled tree. Quite a bit of blood - I hope she’s ok… she certainly was cute.

I highly recommend going to the baseball if you’re ever in Japan - it’s relatively cheap, accessible by public transport (door-of-my-apartment to seat took maybe 35 minutes!), it’s a very sociable experience (how often do you get cheerleaders in traditional Japanese gear?) and I really should go more often…

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