June 8, 2009
Yokohama
Today was another special day. Bobby, Paul, I and our team manager Sano-san (responsible for team travel etc.) caught a taxi at 8 am for Yokosuka, the nearby US naval base.
We are fortunate to have a friend, Ray Denny, originally from NJ, who served in the navy for 22 years and is now in charge of supplying all the ships in this area with food and supplies. Bobby met him back in 1986 while Bobby was in Japan doing the World Baseball Clinic.
Ray invited us to the base for a tour of the USS George Washington, the largest Air Craft Carrier in the world. What a great experience! You just can believe the enormity of this ship. It’s like a neighborhood within itself.
We took a full tour of the ship and met many of our great troops which was a thrill for me. I loved hearing all the proud servicemen talking about our great country with such pride and respect. Everyone, as usual, was very excited to see and meet Bobby V. It’s incredible how many lives Bobby touches throughout his travels. He is so much bigger and much greater than so many people realize!!!!!!
We were also honored to meet the CO, Cpt. David A. Lausman, who told us that when he spent time at Sikorski Airport in CT test flying helicopters, he frequented Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Café in Milford. Small world huh?
We also met a few Marines, US Marines not Chiba Lotte Marines, so we took some photo’s with them to send back to our good Stamford buddy and ex US Marine, John O’Kane.
Some interesting facts about the USS George Washington:
One of the 3 nuclear powered air craft carriers in the world
Can travel 3 million miles before refueling which is estimated to be 28 years at sea.
24 stories tall
7 billion dollars to build
Capable of carrying 70 fighter aircrafts and capable of launching all 70 in only 14 minutes. Totally amazing!!!!!
1038 ft. long
6000 members on board
18,000 meals served everyday. Just a few more than Bobby and I served at Bobby V’s over the years.
For more info, click here.
That night we played the Baystars and lost another tough one. We had a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the 5th when things got a little shaky for our young right hander, Ohmine. A leadoff bunt hit, a base hit to right, a hit batsman followed by a grand slam, the first home run of the Baystars Kitagawa’s career and the 2000 grand slam in Japanese baseball history, put the Baystars ahead 4-3 and we never scored again. After the game it was back home to Chiba for a 4 game home stand.
Tuesday was an off day with nothing too exciting to report.
Wednesday we played the Carp, managed by American, Marty Brown. Marty has an American coach with him, Jeff Livesey. Jeff’s dad, Bill, has been a long time employee of the Yankees and coached St. Leo’s college when I was playing for the University of Tampa. Again, small world. It’s always good to play the Carp so we get to see Marty and Jeff.
It was a very windy night at Marines Stadium, which is pretty common as the stadium is built on the coast of the Tokyo Bay. Similar winds to that of the old Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
The Carp scored 2 in the first and that was it. We couldn’t take advantage of some scoring opportunities and it ended 2-0.
Thursday was a completely different story. After going down 2-0 in the second, we scored 2 in the bottom half of the inning then 5 in the third highlighted by our third baseman, Imae’s, Grand Slam, the first of his career. Believe it or not that was just the beginning. In the bottom of the sixth we set 2 NPB records : 15 runs and 15 RBIs in an inning. The previous records are 13 for both categories.
We also made a new record of 14 consecutive runs scored and tied the NPB with 10 consecutive hits. Getting 12 hits in an inning ties the 2nd most in the history. We sent 20 hitters to the plate.
After all the close games of late, this sure was fun for all of us. Hopefully this is what we need to get on a roll and get ourselves into contention.
After another off day the bats were still alive as the Tigers came to town. (If you are wondering about all the off days, during the Interleague portion of the schedule, off days are scheduled in as rain dates in case of bad weather. There can be no un played games at the end of interleague play so that a champion can be crowned.)
The Tigers draw more fans than any other team in Japan and today was no exception. On a beautiful afternoon the stands were full to capacity with as many Tigers fans as Marines fans in our own stadium, and they were loud. But our bats were louder as we continued our hitting. We had 13 hits, scored 9 runs and got another fine pitching performance out of Shingo Ono, who gave up only 1 run on a solo homer to Craig Brazell, a former Met prospect when Bobby was manager.
That night we had a great dinner at a new restaurant, right on the water in nearby Chiba Minato, called Ocean Table. Great spot which is very westernized, great ambiance with beautiful views. They have Italian cuisine on the first and second floor, Shabu-Shabu (as mentioned in our fist blog) on the third floor and a private room with a pool for private parties on the on the fourth floor. In November of last year Bobby had a team party/birthday party for me on the fourth floor which was great.
The weather was perfect so we had dinner out on the veranda. Bobby, myself, Lyle Yates, who was an assistant pitching coach and conditioning coach with our minor league team in 2006, 2007 and 2008, John Cox, currently the International Scouting director for the San Francisco Giants. John’s boss, Brian Sabean, senior VP and GM of the Giants, ironically was my assistant coach at the University of Tampa. Also at dinner were Larry Rocca and his lovely mom, Tini. Much more to come about Larry in future blogs, stay tuned.
Off the field and not a dinner, another big event occurred on Saturday. The leader of the “Group to bring back Bobby” presented a petition with 112,493 signatures to the owner of the Marines.
Think that will help? They love him and want him back in a BIG WAY! And why wouldn’t they.
Sunday, in front of another packed stadium, we beat the Tigers again. Trailing 1-0, on another solo homer by Brazell in the 4th, our catcher, Satozaki went deep to the opposite field to tie it at 1. Then, with the score still tied in the 8, Bobby made some perfect moves to lead us to victory. The Tigers brought in their star left handed reliever, Jeff Williams (from Australia) as we had 2 lefties coming to bat to start the 8. Bobby sent a right handed utility player, Masa Tanaka, up to pinch hit who drew a walk after a great battle. After an out and a walk, we had another lefty scheduled to hit so Bobby sent up our top right handed pinch hitter, Takehara, who delivered a clutch, 2 strike triple to the right center field gap scoring 2. With our catcher, Satozaki up now, not known for his bunting ability, Bobby called for the squeeze which “Sato” got down perfectly on a tough pitch to give us a 4-1 lead which is how it ended after Brian Sikorski, from Detroit, (no relation to the airport) shut down the Tigers in the 9.
Of course Bobby downplayed the moves he made but they were great moves, perfectly executed that kept us on a 3 game winning streak and continued to build our momentum.
Next stop, Jungu Stadium, Tokyo for 2 games against the Swallows.
