Koshien (Late May 2009)
Koshien
After the home stand, we traveled to Osaka to play the Hanshin Tigers. They play their home games in the most famous stadium in all of Japan. (Koshien Stadium) It is 100 years old, holds 50,000 fans and had tons of tradition, history, and character. They are also known for having the wildest, most devoted fans. They are sold out nearly every game. The fans dress up like tigers, and scream there heads off the entire game. I wasn’t starting, but was havin fun just takin in the atmosphere. The first game ended up getting rained out after 4 innings, which means we had to start the game over the next day. After the game was called, our good friend Hank Sogabe (friend of a friend who we met thru Sara’s coworker at Tiffany. He lives in the Osaka area) invited us to his house for dinner. Me and Sara were really excited to see what a traditional Japanese home was like, not to mention eat a home-cooked meal. His house was super cool. Not too big, not too small, with tons of sports memories from when he and his family lived in the United States. His wife went ALL OUT. They filled an entire table with tons of amazing food. It was a mix of American, Italian and Japanese food. Eggplant Parmesan, Sushi rolls, Salmon Salad, Chicken Wings, Roast Beef, Yakiniku, the works! All accompanied with cold beer, delicious red wine, and champagne (which Sara enjoyed to the fullest). Hank also invited his good friend from the US (A woman of Japanese decent) who married a Japanese man and now lives in Japan. She grew up in Virginia and they have three adorable little kids aging 4, 3, and 2 months. Sara was in heaven. I drew pictures for the little boy, while Sara put lip-gloss on the little girl. It was so much fun to relax and not think about baseball for a couple hours. When it was time to leave, they had to rip the newborn from Sara’s grasps. It was an amazing night with wonderful people.
The next day we replayed the rained out game. I came into the game in the 6th on a double switch when Bobby pulled our starting pitcher. Bobby asked “Are you loose?“ “Umm….yeah!“, (I think 50,000 people screaming would make George Burns loose) I went into left and was batting second in the top of the 7th. We were down 4 to 2 when I came up. One of there American relievers, Scott Atchison, was pitching. He got behind 3 and 1. I looked for a fastball out over the plate and got it! I smashed a line shot to center that carried all the way over the fence!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-e0ClMAE-8) Nothin like shutting up 50,000 people in a couple seconds. I barely remember jogging around the bases. I point to Sara as I’m headin for the dugout. I’m so glad we decided to have her come on this trip. I come to plate again in the 9th down 4 to 3, and facing the WBC closer, Fujikawa. He is one of the hardest throwers in the league with a nasty split finger. The stadium was literally bouncing! I get THREE fastball out over the plate and fouled each one of them straight back to the backstop. ARGHHH! (I hate missing fastballs, I don’t care how hard they are.) I work the count to full, and the SOB throws a perfect split finger down and away that I swing thru for strike three. Dangit! We get a couple runners on, but our rally fizzles as Iguchi popped out to end the game. Bummer.
The next day, Sara and I decide to go check out the “Tram Ride” right next to the hotel that takes you to the top of the mountain overlooking the city of Kobe. What an adventure! The tram in itself is worth the price of admission (which was only 6 bucks). The entire city of Kobe and its coastline is visible from the tram, all while floating over waterfalls, ravines, gorges, lakes, temples, and the plushest green mountain sides you have ever seen. Once you get to the top, there is an herb garden that cost 2 bucks to walk thru. Beautifully landscaped garden perched on the side of a mountain with every herb, rose, berry, and cherry you can think off. We were eatin strawberries right off the vine! We take the tram back down and notice little trails and walkways along side the streams and waterfalls leading all the way back down to the Hotel. Chase “I wanna do that!” Since we were running low on time, we decided to do that adventure the next day.
After breakfast the next day, we take the tram up again and get off to walk down the mountain. There are trails goin all thru the mountain side, but we decide to stay on the main trail. The walk was AMAZING. It was the perfect little trail, not too touristy, crowded, or over traveled. We felt like we were the only people on the mountain. Picturesque lakes, streams, and waterfalls. We stop and take pics in front of the waterfalls and cool bridges crisscrossing back and forth over the ravine. Every couple hundred yards there were these little shrines, with little Buda statues, burning incense, and nick knacks surrounding the statue. Kinda creepy. We have no clue who or what they were for. Anyway, as we are walkin, I see a cool little trail headin off the beatin path that I couldn’t resist. I tell Sara to stay there as I take off jogging down the trail. I get about 50 yards away from Sara and hear her scream bloody murder! “Oh Shit!“ I race back down the trail to see what the problem was. Sara had tried to follow me and came across a snake!! I must have ran right by it. I assure her she is alright and spend the next 30 minutes trying to calm her down. Just what we needed, a Japanese Jungle snake to get the blood flowin. Sara eventually calms down and we continue our walk down to the bottom of the mountain where the trail spit us out right at the front door of our hotel.
We play that night and I strikeout pinch hitting in the eighth. We leave the following day for Hiroshima, as Sara heads back to Chiba. What a great trip! To be continued…
See ya on down the road,
Chase
After the home stand, we traveled to Osaka to play the Hanshin Tigers. They play their home games in the most famous stadium in all of Japan. (Koshien Stadium) It is 100 years old, holds 50,000 fans and had tons of tradition, history, and character. They are also known for having the wildest, most devoted fans. They are sold out nearly every game. The fans dress up like tigers, and scream there heads off the entire game. I wasn’t starting, but was havin fun just takin in the atmosphere. The first game ended up getting rained out after 4 innings, which means we had to start the game over the next day. After the game was called, our good friend Hank Sogabe (friend of a friend who we met thru Sara’s coworker at Tiffany. He lives in the Osaka area) invited us to his house for dinner. Me and Sara were really excited to see what a traditional Japanese home was like, not to mention eat a home-cooked meal. His house was super cool. Not too big, not too small, with tons of sports memories from when he and his family lived in the United States. His wife went ALL OUT. They filled an entire table with tons of amazing food. It was a mix of American, Italian and Japanese food. Eggplant Parmesan, Sushi rolls, Salmon Salad, Chicken Wings, Roast Beef, Yakiniku, the works! All accompanied with cold beer, delicious red wine, and champagne (which Sara enjoyed to the fullest). Hank also invited his good friend from the US (A woman of Japanese decent) who married a Japanese man and now lives in Japan. She grew up in Virginia and they have three adorable little kids aging 4, 3, and 2 months. Sara was in heaven. I drew pictures for the little boy, while Sara put lip-gloss on the little girl. It was so much fun to relax and not think about baseball for a couple hours. When it was time to leave, they had to rip the newborn from Sara’s grasps. It was an amazing night with wonderful people.
The next day we replayed the rained out game. I came into the game in the 6th on a double switch when Bobby pulled our starting pitcher. Bobby asked “Are you loose?“ “Umm….yeah!“, (I think 50,000 people screaming would make George Burns loose) I went into left and was batting second in the top of the 7th. We were down 4 to 2 when I came up. One of there American relievers, Scott Atchison, was pitching. He got behind 3 and 1. I looked for a fastball out over the plate and got it! I smashed a line shot to center that carried all the way over the fence!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-e0ClMAE-8) Nothin like shutting up 50,000 people in a couple seconds. I barely remember jogging around the bases. I point to Sara as I’m headin for the dugout. I’m so glad we decided to have her come on this trip. I come to plate again in the 9th down 4 to 3, and facing the WBC closer, Fujikawa. He is one of the hardest throwers in the league with a nasty split finger. The stadium was literally bouncing! I get THREE fastball out over the plate and fouled each one of them straight back to the backstop. ARGHHH! (I hate missing fastballs, I don’t care how hard they are.) I work the count to full, and the SOB throws a perfect split finger down and away that I swing thru for strike three. Dangit! We get a couple runners on, but our rally fizzles as Iguchi popped out to end the game. Bummer.
The next day, Sara and I decide to go check out the “Tram Ride” right next to the hotel that takes you to the top of the mountain overlooking the city of Kobe. What an adventure! The tram in itself is worth the price of admission (which was only 6 bucks). The entire city of Kobe and its coastline is visible from the tram, all while floating over waterfalls, ravines, gorges, lakes, temples, and the plushest green mountain sides you have ever seen. Once you get to the top, there is an herb garden that cost 2 bucks to walk thru. Beautifully landscaped garden perched on the side of a mountain with every herb, rose, berry, and cherry you can think off. We were eatin strawberries right off the vine! We take the tram back down and notice little trails and walkways along side the streams and waterfalls leading all the way back down to the Hotel. Chase “I wanna do that!” Since we were running low on time, we decided to do that adventure the next day.
After breakfast the next day, we take the tram up again and get off to walk down the mountain. There are trails goin all thru the mountain side, but we decide to stay on the main trail. The walk was AMAZING. It was the perfect little trail, not too touristy, crowded, or over traveled. We felt like we were the only people on the mountain. Picturesque lakes, streams, and waterfalls. We stop and take pics in front of the waterfalls and cool bridges crisscrossing back and forth over the ravine. Every couple hundred yards there were these little shrines, with little Buda statues, burning incense, and nick knacks surrounding the statue. Kinda creepy. We have no clue who or what they were for. Anyway, as we are walkin, I see a cool little trail headin off the beatin path that I couldn’t resist. I tell Sara to stay there as I take off jogging down the trail. I get about 50 yards away from Sara and hear her scream bloody murder! “Oh Shit!“ I race back down the trail to see what the problem was. Sara had tried to follow me and came across a snake!! I must have ran right by it. I assure her she is alright and spend the next 30 minutes trying to calm her down. Just what we needed, a Japanese Jungle snake to get the blood flowin. Sara eventually calms down and we continue our walk down to the bottom of the mountain where the trail spit us out right at the front door of our hotel.
We play that night and I strikeout pinch hitting in the eighth. We leave the following day for Hiroshima, as Sara heads back to Chiba. What a great trip! To be continued…
See ya on down the road,
Chase
posted by CHASE at
2:09 PM
1 Comments:
Chase, we all went rather crazy in the outfield when you hit that shot in Koshien. I was hugging all the other fans, beer flying - there was a mosh pit as the fans all crashed into each other. Awesome memories, too bad the team couldn't pull out the victory.
Steve
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