Your English’s Getting Very Good: Munenori Kawasaki and His English

A few years ago, I heard that Munenori Kawasaki, who was a member of the Japanese national baseball team in 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics, would try out for MLB.

Honestly, I thought that it would be really hard for him to become successful. Although there are many Japanese pitchers showed good performances in MLB, most Japanese infielders failed because of lack of power. Kawasaki, as a shortstop player, is agile enough, but it was obvious that he didn’t have enough power to be in the starting lineup in MLB.

Since I hadn’t heard anything about him for a while, I'd almost forgotten about him.

I'd heard that he'd become popular on the Internet, and so I watched a video about him on YouTube.



In a post game interview, his teammate, Mark DeRosa, called him over, and he just shouted, "Thank you very much. My name is Kawasaki. I'm from Japan. I'm Japanese!"

He was pretty funny. When I saw it the first time, I laughed out loud.

The following video is an interview with him from a program on the MLB network.



In this one, both Kawasaki and DeRosa reappear. Kawasaki read out some phrases from his small notebook.

I laughed out loud again, but at the same time I was really impressed that he had really made an effort to survive in MLB.

English may not be great, but his character shines through. I can’t help loving him.

Recently, I've heard that his English has gotten much better.



The interviewer said, "Your English's getting very good." I agree with him. He has made great progress. What he was talking about might not have been all that important, but he was able to have a conversation with the interviewer, whereas in the earlier videos it was like he was just making pronouncements.

It’s wonderful that he doesn't seem to be the least bit timid or shy.

In the interview he said, "I have teacher. Everyday talking."  I guess that he talks a lot with his teammates. That might be quite important for his MLB life.

I was wrong.

He has an enough ability to play in MLB.

The End of the Good Old New York Yankees: An Impression of Derek Jeter’s Announcement of His Retirement at the End of This Season

Early this morning, I found Derek Jeter’s announcement of his retirement at the end of this season on his Facebook page. I knew that this day would come soon, but it is completely different between what I expected to be and what it actually comes to be.

I wrote about my love for the New York Yankees in the 1990’s in the entry “Goodbye My Good Old Yankees.”

The Yankees in the 1990’s was the most brilliant team that I have ever seen, so I was really happy to watch their games. Now I can clearly remember how Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter played in the Yankees Stadium at that time.

Of course, Captain Jeter is great, but young Jeter was more impressive for me.

In the twenty-first century, it was a bit sour to be a Yankees fan, because I had to watch the old good Yankees collapsing. Paul, Bernie, Andy and Jorge retired one by one. Although the Yankees bought expensive players instead of them, they were not the old good Yankees at all.

In the last season, Mariano was gone from the field, and in this season, Derek, the last old good Yankee, finally will step out. At the end of this season, I will also stop being a Yankees fan.

A farewell to Captain and the old good Yankees.

PS

Masahiro Tanaka MUST take Captain to the world series!

“Boss, I Did My Best and My Best Wasn’t Enough Today”

In a previous entry “Goodbye My Good Old Yankees,” I wrote about my love for the Yankees in 1990s.

Now, the Yankees are not what they were in 1990s at all, but we can still see Derek, Andy, and Mo, who have survived from back then to now, and are still playing on the field. However, Mo will retire at the end of this season.

I read an interview of Mo, which was about his faith. It was really interesting and impressive to me. I’d like to quote a passage which interested me most.

I ask Rivera how it felt to lose the 2001 series, and he answers that God was in charge that day as he is on all others. “I did my best. I did everything within my power. I did everything within my power to win that game for us. Guess what? Didn’t happen. And you think I’m going to start like a child, Oh oh oh, I be crying? No, I did my best. My best wasn’t enough that day. I looked my boss into his eyes, and I said, ‘Boss, I did my best and my best wasn’t enough today.’ I can sleep comfortable and move forward.”

He thinks that his talent isn’t his own property but a gift from the God. He just does his best and he doesn’t care about the consequences, because only God can decide them. He looks down at himself from the God’s view, and he has been performing at his full potential.

I am not a Christian, so I don’t believe that my talent is a gift from God, but it might be very important to think that my talent isn’t inherent.

I can manage somebody else, because I see their ability in an objective way. Likewise, it is really difficult for me to manage myself, because I can’t objectively judge my own ability.

The desire to possess leads a wrong decision. I am trying to throw away my desire and just do what I can.

Hideki Matsui Is the Yankee

The Japanese government decided to give Hideki Matsui the National Honorary Award. Now he has been to Tokyo to attend the ceremony of this award. Yesterday I watched the TV program about his achievement in MLB.

As I wrote in the entry “Goodbye My Good Old Yankees,” I really love the Yankees in the 1990s. They were the best baseball team that I ever have seen.

All members of the team were tough physically and mentally and devoted to the win of the team. They knew and really did what each of them should do. Shortly, they were just professional. At that time, Paul O’Neill was the symbol of the Yankees. He couldn’t hit thirty home runs in a year, but he was a real clutch hitter.

In the 2000s, the Yankees had changed. In 2001, Paul O’Neill was retired, and after then the Yankees hadn’t won the world champion. In 2004, A Rod was traded to the Yankees, and he hit over fifty home runs in 2007, but the Yankees even didn’t win the divisional title.

Matsui joined the Yankees in 2003. The fans of the Yankees supported him, because he played like Paul O’Neill. He was tough physically and mentally and devoted to the win of the team, too. He also was a real clutch hitter.

In 2009, the Yankees won the world champion, and Matsui got MVP of the World Series. Although he did a great job in the World Series, he was traded to Angels after the season.

I was really impressed that all of audience and the Yankees welcomed him at Angels’ first game in the Yankee stadium in the next season. I remember that Tino Martinez also welcomed in the Yankee stadium after he was traded to Cardinals in 2002. Fans loved Matsui and Martinez from the heart. On the contrary A Rod was always booed in the franchises where he used to belong to.

In the TV program about Matsui, Joe Torre said, “He is trustworthy,” and Derek Jeter said, “He is the Yankee.”

Misfortunes Never Come Singly: The Worst Season Opener of the New York Yankees in These Twenty Years

In this off-season, the Yankees didn’t actively acquire new players, because the owner of the Yankees, Hal Steinbrenner, decided to avoid pay luxury tax.

In MLB, teams whose amount of salary of their players exceeds a limit should pay luxury tax.  If a team wants to avoid luxury tax, it shall reduce the amount of salary.

Consequently, the member of the Yankees in this season was much worse than the previous season.

Furthermore, leading players got injured continuously. Now, there is no Jeter, Teixeira,  Granderson, or A-Rod in the Yankee’s bench.

At the opening game in this season, Sabathia, who is the ace pitcher of the Yankees, was in bad shape. In addition, Kuroda, who is the most reliable rotation pitcher, was hit at his right hand by a line drive at the next game.

Misfortunes never come singly. This is the worst season opener of the New York Yankees in these twenty years.

In other words, it is worst now. I hope that it will not be worse than now.

The Anthem of Tokyo:“Gathering Winds” by Happy End

Before an MLB game, the national anthem is performed. After a game at Yankee Stadium, Frank Sinatra’s song “New York, New York” was played. 

When I went to Yankee Stadium to see a Yankee’s game, I was heard “New York, New York” while leaving the stadium. For Yankee’s fans, “New York, New York” is the anthem of New York.



But “New York, New York” seemed to be out of date. I heard Spike Lee say that “Empire State of Mind” was the anthem of New York, and I realized that this song was the anthem of New York after September 11.




I’m wondering if we have the anthem of Tokyo.

Although I don’t know if people living in Tokyo would agree with me, for me, Happy End’s“Gathering Winds” (「風をあつめて」はっぴいえんど) is the anthem of Tokyo.

I translated the lyrics of “Gathering Winds” into English in this entry.

The Yankees in This Season ISN'T the Yankees at All

The Yankees was swept by the Tigers in the American league championship series and this season ended for me as a Yankees fan.

As I wrote the entry "Goodbye My Good Old Yankees", I loved the Yankees in the 1990s, including Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Petite.

They were really tough stuff. Paul O'Neil had never got any batting title, but he really was a clutch hitter. He was the symbol of the golden age of Yankees in the 1990s.

This season I expected that the Yankees would get the world champion. I was anxious about their starters, but I was satisfied with their lineup. And I thought that they were really in good shape at the end of this season, so they would do best in the post season games.

But they disappointed me deeply in the American league championship series.

Starters were far better than thought. They did really good job.

I wasn't disappointed with Alex Rodriguez, because I've already known that he couldn't hit at the tough situation, but why couldn't Robinson Cano hit at　all? Only Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez, who were the former Mariners, could hit.

In the top of the twelfth in the first game Jeter's ankle was broken, and the series substantially ended. And then the Yankees did NOTHING.

In the third game, Raul Ibanez, who caused miracles in this post season games, became the last batter. In the fourth game, C. C. Sabathia, who was an ace pitcher of the Yankees, got hammered.

The Tigers was a good team, but there was no tough player in the Yankees. What will the Yankees without Derek and Mariano be?

Arsenal Aren't What They Used to Be

In this month Barça came to Japan and completely beat Santos in the Club World Cup. I watched Cesc work for Messi and Iniesta. I remembered that he played (not worked) free football as the captain of Arsenal. But it's his position now.

A few days ago I watched Nasri and Clichy wearing not red but a blue uniform on TV. Manchester City got many star players and they are contending the top of the Premier League against Manchester United in this season.

I love Arsenal. In a more precise sense, I love what they used to be. Arsenal lost Cesc, Nasri and Clichy and they depend on van Persie's ability to score goals in this season. I think that it's not the style of Arsenal.

Their style was so beautiful and fragile. When they win, they pass a ball each other and get goals gracefully. But I've watched Chelsea crashed Arsenal by their physical power at the end of season. I knew that it was hard for them to win Europe Champion keeping their style, but I supported them eagerly.

Every team has its own time. I love the New York Yankees of the 90's. (see "Goodbye My Good Old Yankees") I couldn't watch such a team forever. My "Arsenal" has gone and exists just in my memory.

How to Manage a Baseball Team in the Big League: My Impression of the Movie "Moneyball"

I watched the movie "Moneyball" last weekend. I enjoyed this movie, mainly because I've devoted myself to Major League Baseball. (Of course I've read the original book "Moneyball" and I wrote a journal about it.) 　



In addition, I could really understand what Belly Beane, who was a leading character of this movie, wanted to do.

I became one of the managers of my company this August. The main role of managers is maximizing the performance of the team under many restrictions.

Belly Beane is a general manager of Oakland Athletics, which is much poorer than big teams, such as New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. These teams buy star players of Athletics, but Belly Beane can't stop them. The restriction that he faces is money.

I have many restrictions to manage my team. I have no right to select the members of my team. I have to manage given members. It's the biggest restriction.

Belly Beane thought that Athletics couldn't beat Yankees, even if a poor team kept doing the same thing as a rich team. So he changed his approach and began to use findings of sabermetrics (statistical analysis about baseball). Many his staffs resisted his change, but he stuck to his belief.

I'm trying to change my predecessor's approaches, and sometimes I come across resistance. But if I wanted to make my team more efficient, I should break it down.

In this movie Belly Beane always talked straight about what he thought of. I also want to and try to talk straight. But all of my colleagues don't talk straight and sometimes we can't discuss enough. I wonder if the person, Belly Beane, talk straight or business people in the U.S. talk straight.

The "Theory" of Relievers

Today's topic is about baseball.

I plan to go to watch the film "Moneyball" this weekend. I enjoyed reading the original book "Moneyball", which was a non-fiction about Billy Beane, the general manager of Oakland Athletics.

Oakland Athletics aren't a rich team like New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, so they can't get well-paid super stars. Billy Beane made his team competitive without enough money using findings of sabermetrics (statistical analysis about baseball).

In the baseball world there were many unscientific "theories", which hadn't been proved by any objective evidences. For example the ability of batters is usually evaluated by AVG (batting average), HR (home runs), and RBI (run batted in) and you will find these data on sports pages of newspapers. But sabermetrics found that OBP (on base percentage), SLG (slugging percentage), and OPS (on base plus slugging) are more adequate indicators.

Billy Beane selects cheap players based on sabermetrics data. He doesn't like hit and run and bunt, because sabermetrics found these tactics weren't effective.

I have a question about a "theory" of relievers. The best reliever in a team usually is assigned a closer, who pitches the end of winning games. The second best reliever is assigned a set upper, who pitches before the closer. But I think that the critical points of games aren't often the end of games. The best reliever should pitch at the critical point of games, should he?

Now the Nippon series is being held, which are the playoffs of Japanese professional baseball. In the second game of the Nippon series Nagoya Dragons scored a run at 1-0 in the top of the seventh inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning Fukuoka Hawks got runners on second and third bases with one out. Dragons' manager Hiromitsu Ochiai changed the pitcher into the set upper, Takuya Asao.

I thought that this was the critical point of this game and that Dragons should send the best reliever. I'd like to know which pitcher should send at that time sabermetrics point out.

Interestingly, Dragons' set upper, Asao, is the best reliever in his team. Dragons' closer, Hitoki Iwase, is an old hand. He has a lot of experience, but already peaked out. Similarly, Hawks' closer Takahiro Mahara is also an old hand and their set upper Brian Falkenborg is in better shape than Mahara.

I don't know if Dragons' manager Ochiai intentionally used the best reliever Asao at the critical point in that game.

Goodbye My Good Old Yankees

I'm planning a trip this summer vacation with my wife. Traveling is fun, and planning a trip is also fun.

We'll visit New York to see Ground Zero and a New York Yankees game. I've not been to New York since the summer of 1998, before 9/11. I remembered that I looked up at the World Trade Center at that time. I think that I should see Ground Zero after the death of Osama bin Laden.

I loved New York Yankees in the 1990s. They play really smart and cool baseball. They didn't have any macho power hitter, but all of them were devoted to the win of the team. Nobody played selfishly.

They rarely won by a big lead, but they often came behind late in a game and won by a narrow lead. Their games were full of tension and really fun.

On a sunny day I was sitting on seats in the Yankee Stadium. At that game Andy Petite was a starter. At first Royals had the lead on Yankees, but Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams beat Royal's pitchers and turned the game. Finally Mariano Rivera closed it. It's a really perfect game for Yankees' funs.

Andy, Derek and Mariano were so young and bright. Bernie was in his golden age.

But now Andy and Bernie have retired, and Derek and Mariano are in their last years. The special air, which Yankees in 1990s had, is gone now. Alex Rodriguez is a good athlete, but he isn't suitable for Yankees. He doesn't look like he is playing for the team no does he look smart.

I barely find the smells of Yankees in 1990s only from Derek, Mariano and Jorge. They will retire in a few years. And then my good old Yankees will be gone completely.