MLB Allstar Game: Now I know why it's called the "Midsummer Classic"

Well, you have to give credit to the Americans for at least one thing: they know how to put up a great show and celebrate things. Although for European ears the ever present glorification of their home country might sound a little odd, but nonetheless they know how to great an atmosphere where everybody who is watching the event feels at least a little touched.
So I tuned in for the annual MLB Allstar Game last night which was scheduled to start at 2 am MET in the morning. Little did I know they were honouring quite a few people before the first pitch. There is no equivalent in football/soccer to the Hall Of Fame system they have in professional sports over there, so it's hard to describe it to people not familiar with the matter and it's even hard to understand for me who is just learning about baseball and its history. Anyway, there were a lot of people on the field, they were annoucing each starting position seperately and at the position's place on the field quite a few Hall of Famers were greeting the Allstar players.
The biggest fuzz though wasn't about the players, it was about the stadium. Yankee stadium is in its final year and will be torn down after the season. So some of the Yankee greats of former times like Yogi Berra threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Yankee players and managers involved in the Allstar game. Everything accompanied by very dramatic music and a commentary sounding like the spectators were witnessing the coronation of a king or some other event of global importance. That's what I meant with creating atmosphere. Baseball is a sport which might be starting to spread around the world but in the end it's an American thing. Sure, they play ball in other countries as well and it might be big in Asia and the Caribbean, but for the rest of the world it's this strange sport from the States. But when you watched the broadcast it felt like the whole world was watching.
The game itself was very interesting. Scoreless through four the National League struck first with a solo homerun by Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday off L.A. Angels pitcher Ervin Santana. The first two pitchers for both teams (Cliff Lee/Indians and Roy "Doc" Halladay/Blue Jays for the AL, Ben Sheets/Brewers and Carlos Zambrano/Cubs for the NL) had dominated the first innings. The NL doubled their lead one inning later when Lance Berkam (Astros) scored teammate Miguel Tejada on a sacrifice fly. Still one inning later the game was tied at two. To the delight of every scriptwriter a Red Sox player hit a 2 run homerun in the 7th to tie the game at Yankee stadium. The Red Sox players were booed when they were introduced to the crowd before the game and this shot by outfielder J.D. Drew might have been the only time a Red Sox representative was cheered briefly by a New York audience. Both teams scored in the 8th inning and the game was going to extras. The last innings of the AL team were pitched by both Jonathan Paplebon of the Red Sox (8th) and Mariano Rivera (9th) of the Yankees. The audience let Paplebon know what they thought of him, booing him, chanting Riveras name and "Overrated".
So after the 9th inning I just had to go to bed because I just wasn't able to stay awake. The game itself dragged on into the 15th inning when Justin Morneau (Twins) scored on a sacrifce fly by Michael Young (Rangers).

This was an exciting experience although I didn't manage to stick with it until the end. It's a shame there's nothing like this in European football but then again there is nothing like the Euro championships or the World Cup in baseball, although they are trying to establish something like it with the World Baseball Classics.

Euro 2008 Day 13 (Quarterfinal 1): 2006 all over again. Schweinsteiger remains Portugal's nemesis

Yet another piece about all the flags on cars, balconies and especially on people. Today I was going home at around 4pm but had to leave the house once more to pick up the birthday present for my mother. My walk to me around the campus of the University of Cologne and I was rather surprised to see so many people walking around in Germany jerseys there. When I got home and entered the lift four people jumped in, dressed in Germany jerseys, wearing black-red-gold scalfs and face paint, you name it. This thing seems really to be getting out of hand. Or is it just getting normal? I have to be honest, it's not just a German thing, it's all over Europe. people are going crazy when their team plays, they come out in masses to support them and wear their national colours. So is Germany becoming what some people here would consider to be a normal country? Well, I still don't like the fact the half of the population (according to a recent survey) would love to see flags being raised for the whole year. This is way too much for me. Still it's just half of the population, I would have figured it's way more.
On the positive side I like it when people sport more than one flag. There is a lot of cars driving around the city with a German and another European flag. Turkey has the most, mainly because there's a lot of people with Turkish origin live here. In second place would be Italy, I think. Still there are some weird combinations. I saw a car with a Turkish and a Greek flag which, when you consider the history between the two countries, is quite remarkable. And, oh my, The Netherlands and Germany? You gotta be kidding me?! That car still has all four tires? Lucky guy. I reckon quite a few people would go bezerk when they see a car dressed up like that.
So, to end this let me just say that I find it very remarkable that the immigrant communites have a German flag waving on their car, something a few years ago would be considered to be highly unusual. Maybe that's the thing when people talk about Germany is becoming more of a normal country. The immigrant communites seem to slowly accept Germany as their - at least second - home and maybe the Germans start to acknowledge the immigrant communites a little bit more.

Meanwhile I'm enjoying a nice game of baseball with the Yankees playing the Padres on Interleague play. It's another outing for pitching wonderboy Joba Chamberlain and right now the commentators a going crazy over a play he made while covering home plate. Did I meantion the Hanshin Tigers are still winning and remain at the op of the Central League? And the Red Sox just won't give in even though they seem to lose one starting pitcher after another. Somehow it#s nice to watch a slow sport like baseball as a contrast to all the football madness going on at the moment.

Germany vs Portugal 3-2 (Quarterfinal 1)
Huge upgrade from the last game's performance by the German team. This looked much more like the football invented by Klinsmann and Löw again. And finally a great outing by Bastian Schweinsteiger, a player I usually love to hate for his sometimes egoistic style of play. Portugal somehow didn't look convincing at all, a huge setback from what they had shown in their group matches. Cristiano Ronaldo never looked like he was in the game and their short pass play ended at the German penalty box almost every time. The changes the German coaching made compared to the game against Austria looked good, this time this was almost a 4-3-3, although some would see it as a 4-2-3-1. Still I can't understand why they set up Miro Klose to play the lone striker up front. That's the perfect role for Kevin Kuranyi who brilliantly shades the ball from the defenders and is a workhorse as a one-man attack. The defending midfielders positions were played really well by Thomas Hitzlsperger and Simon Rolfes and although they didn't do much offensively their defending was good, to say the least. A great team effort by Germany and this fuels the hope for a cup final berth because with a performance like tonight's they should not fear neither Croatia nor Turkey.
One has to mention though that there was a foul play by Michael Ballack before the 3-1 and Portugal's coach Luis Felipe Scolari was right to complain about it. I wonder what German newspapers would have written had a Portugese player scored the winning goal that way. It would have been conspiracy theories all over again.

Euro 2008 Day 8: Defending champions out, Spain advances

After all the football craze it was nice to get a small break this morning while watching some NPB action. The Nippon Ham Fighters from Sapporo played the Yakult Swallows at home and it turned out to be a fascinating pitcher's duel. Sweeney (Fighters) was throwing a no-hitter until the 6th while Kawashima (Swallows) carried a perfect game into the 5th inning. This was an interleague match up just as the MLB resumed its interleague play yesterday. I was watching a little bit of Red Sox vs Reds and Yankees vs Astros as well. Red Sox starting rookie pitcher Justin Masterson was very sharp again, but his opponent was just a little better. Those series will continue tonight so if it turns out that some of the Euro games are boring I have the chance to change the channel.
Getting back to what happened last night The Netherlands are now clear front runners for taking home the cup after the final. Their performance was outstanding and was praised almost everywhere. Meanwhile in their quest for answers for the loss against Croatia German tabloid "Bild" dug up a potential transfer of striker Mario Gomez which they think is disrupting team harmony. The interesting thing is that this transfer is only reported by "Bild" and its affiliates. I never found anything about this anywhere else. Which might mean that this is a fluke. Still this might point to a very important matter: the role "Bild" is playing all around the national team. Before the 2006 World Cup reporters of said newspaper were banned from the team hotel, but this seems to have changed now. There have been countless stories about players and "Bild" journalists trying to benefit from one another. The player gives out some information, the journalist writes in favour of the player. Dirty business. I do hope this is not the case this time. Cologne based tabloid "Express" meanwhile senses tension between the coach and the captain. This doesn't look too promising.

Sweden vs Spain 1-2 (Group D)
Spain winning ugly is an unusual sight but with this win they are through to the next round which should give this young side some confidence for the things ahead. Fernando Torres scored early, but Sweden equalized after some poor Spanish defending with a goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Spain should have been rewarded a penalty shortly before the break, but the referee had a different opinion. When everything seemed to settle for a draw David Villa struck again. He is now on top of the goal scorers list with 4.
I wonder what impact the loss of Carlos Puyol will have on the defense which didn't look very stable in the first two games. Seems he had some problems with his footing.
Sweden was a big disappointment to me as they didn't really have an answer when Ibrahimovic was substituted after the break. They still have a big chance to go to the next round but this would put them most likely in a tie with The Netherlands and I am sure they won't survive this clash.
This was one of the more mediocre games, but it was still far better the then some of the group matches we've seen during the World Cup 2006.

Greece vs Russia 0-1 (Group D)
I presonally find it always very disappointing when two teams who have or are supposed to have a huge technical skill deliver such a horrible performance. This was average at best. Both Russia and Greece weren't very convincing. For Russia it was a step back from their match against Spain although this time they came through for the win. Greece meanwhile looked better than their stone age play with a three man defence against Sweden, but they just didn't create any chances. There was an article in German left wing newspaper "taz" today remarking that you need the right mixture of young and old players to win such a tournament and that the Greek team just failed to make a clear cut after their sensational victory in 2004. What made them strong back then today was their biggest weakness. The defense is just not there anymore. Players like Traianos Dellas and Georgios Nikopolidis overperformed at the last Euro and today they are just normal players. So the defending champions are out of the competition and this means we won't have a repeat again. No team was able to defend their title.

So after the second day of matchplay I have to say that the overall performance of the teams in the matches looks a lot better than what we have seen in the 2006 World Cup. It is not as static and boring but instead most of the teams were looking for a goal right from the start. Although the defense looked strong in most matches, there were plenty of offensive highlights. At this moment The Netherlands look like the hot ticket to win it all, but don't count out teams like Germany, Portugal or Spain. Even Italy and France still have a chance to come though to the next round. Huge disappointment for teams like Switzerland who invested a lot of years in this tournament and now have to leave empty handed.
I really hope I won't have to listen to this "Cordoba" stuff tomorrow that much. It's been everywhere, on the radio, on TV, in the newspapers. I'm sick of it.

Fan friendly sports action

In a time when football players in Germany get booked for climbing on fences to celebrate a goal with their fans (which is one the most ridiculous rules in the whole of football) it is always nice to see that some sports still take pride in close contact to their supporters in the bleachers. Here's the footage of a nice play by Manny Ramirez against the Orioles. Ramirez was chasing a long ball, caught it, climbed the wall to high five a fan, spin around to get the ball to 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia and they get the double play at first. This was fun to watch. The game was eventually won by the Orioles who came back from a 3-0 deficit to turn the game around with a grand slam home run for the final score of 6-3. Anyway, here's the clip:

Red Sox and Hanshin Tigers get a good start into the new season

And once again here's proof that a baseball game should be watched until the final out. I tuned into the coverage of Red Sox vs Rangers from Fenway yesterday and although the match itself was pretty close and interesting I somewhat lost interest and started doing other things while listening to the commentary and occasionally looking at the screen. Rangers went ahead 2-0 early and even extended that lead to a 5-0 advantage later in the game. The Red Sox left a lot of baserunners stranded over the first 6 innings and they weren't looking they they would be able to make a comeback this time. Now in football when a team is 0-5 down the final minutes of a match can become really boring because both sides know that nothing will change until the final whistle. When first watched the Japanese drama series "H2" which is about high school baseball in Japan the main character says one sentence while playing the first game for his new team. They are a few runs behind and the opposing pitcher is trash talking to him pointing out that restistance is futile, he's already lost the game. "Let me show you the benefits of a game with no time limit". There certainly are some. What happened in Boston was that the Sox scored two in the 7th and then rallied to score 4 more in the 8th, the final one being a bases-loaded walk. I guess that's something I really like about the sport. That you have to be aware until the very last out of the game. There's always the possibility that something happens which turns around the game in favour of the other team.

Meanwhile in Japan the Hanshin Tigers are on a run. They lead the Central League 15-4-0 while their fiercest rivals, the Yomiuri Giants are second to last with a 7-12-1 record. Seems like we are in for some surprises this year although it's still very early in the season. There is a great blog which keeps track of the Tigers games regularly.

Curses and buried shirts: Baseball lore revisited

There seems to be a strong belief in baseball that curses really exist and work, although some of them seem to have been overcame over the past years. The best known one must have been the "Curse of the Bambino", but is there any clue as to what made the curse go away? One that apparently is still active is the "Curse of the Billy Goat" which prevents the Chicago Cubs from winning a championship in the past 100 years. In Japan the Hanshin Tigers are still waiting to win the Japan Series for a 2nd time and there a fastfood mascot is taking all the blame. The "Curse of the Colonel" is thought to prevent the team from winning since 1985 now when excited fans dropped a statue of KFC mascot Colonel Sanders into a river.
This kind of sports lore is something which makes baseball interesting to me. Legends, curses, witchcraft, that's something which adds to the fun. Fans and supporters always turn to higher powers when they are trying to explain the inexplicable. Why has my team not won a championship in a long time? Well, maybe it's not bad management or even worse players. No, it must have been a curse. There we go...
Now, it seems some people even try to force their "luck" a little bit and with the New York Yankees building a new stadium what better way to put a little flaw in the construction. A worker buried a Red Sox jersey under the visitor's dugout, told the New York Post and then the Yankees resurfaced the jersey with lots of media attention. At least this kind of child's play is one where no one gets hurt, unlike the stuff football supporters to over here.

A week in baseball

So here we go, the baseball season is in full swing after a week of play. And it seems that a few teams try to ridicule some of the experts who were labelling some clubs as losers before opening day. I found it quite surprising to see that the Orioles, the Royals, the A's or the Rangers (incidentally all AL teams) who were all considered to be cannon fodder for the big teams before the season suddenly turned out to be good ball clubs. Now I know that there will change a lot over the course of a 162 game season, but I found it quite astonishing that there wasn't a single team who was predicted to lose really did so. Everyone was talking about the great offense of the Detroit Tigers (0-7 after last night's loss to the Red Sox), the great Angels (5-4) and so on. In football the three teams who get promoted usually are considered to the the first three candidates for immediated relegation. Normally there's one stand out surprise (this year that would be Karlsruhe), but usually they go down the drain as the season continues. But that doesn't seem to be the case in baseball. What I like about that is the balance of the league. It's not like that every team has a chance to win the World Series, but it's close. Closer than in European football competitions.
And, oh boy, you got to give credit to the Americans for celebrating their championship teams. I was watching the ceremony for the Red Sox yesterday and that was brilliant. Although I don't really like F-16 flyovers, but bringing out legendary players from different sports teams (Bruins, Celtics, Patriots), honouring a former player who gave the club one of it's worst memories (Bill Buckner in 1986) by letting him throw the opening pitch, that's something you won't get in German stadiums. I like the way they honour their tradition.

In Japan meanwhile the spring Koshien ended with a win for a school from Okinawa. I guess that the population of those islands down south is rather small so that must have been a highlight for the region.
So this means the Hanshin Tigers finally get to take their home field again after having a great start on the road. They are now 8-2-0 and lead the Central League. I still wasn't able to watch a game because of the different time zones (Japanese baseball games will air at 11 am over here), but I really hope to catch one on some weekend in the future.

MLB: Opening Day holds its promise

I was really anxious for the new baseball season to start, something I didn't even think of at the same time last year. This is kind of strange for me to get sucked up into a sport which I didn't find very interesting some time ago. But somehow the excitement of grown up man clubbing small balls with way too thin sticks out of parks got me hooked and that is why I was watching a few games yesterday.
I started with Royals at Tigers, a highly anticipated game because of the tuned up offense of Detroit. They went ahead early but then Kansas City came back to tie the game and it all went into extra innings (Final: KC 5 DET 4).
There were quite a few rain delays and the final opening game for the old Yankee stadium was postponed to today. Impressing how the Cubs audience at Wrigley Field was cheering on every pitch Carlos Zambrano threw in the first inning. That was more like a rowdy crowd at a European football stadium than people hanging out at a baseball game. Well, they have been waiting for 100 years now. Oh, by the way, this seems to be the year for anniversaries of championship droughts. In German football two teams will have to celebrate as well. Schalke 04 is 50 years without a championship, 1.FC Cologne is waiting for 30 years now. In the end the Cubs also went to extra innings after their newly acquired Japanese outfielder Fukudome Kousuke entered the MLB stage in style by tying the game with a 3-run homer. Still they lost to the Brewers 3-4.
I also took a glance at the Dodgers who were facing the Giants at home, the only game I watched where there was nice weather, by the way. That wasn't as close as the other matches with L.A. getting in front early. (Final SF 0 LAD 5).

Meanwhile across the Pacific the Japanese season got started as well and the Hanshin Tigers are leading the pack in the Central League after sweeping the Yokohama BayStars. What makes this even sweeter is that the Giants lost their series to the Yakult Swallows.

Finally something to do in the evenings on boring days.

Spring is coming and so is the sound of cracking bats

I have to admit that I have been very anxious for the baseball season to start again and spring training games haven't had a great placebo effect on me. So I gladly accepted the opportunity to watch the season opening game from Tokyo between the Athletics and the Red Sox at a decent time. It was 11 AM in Germany so I was able to watch a few innings before I had to leave for work. I twas nice to watch, some nice defensive plays and hits, some shaky pitching by homecoming Matsuzaka Daisuke at the beginning, and a nice outcome for the Red Sox with a 6-5 win in extra innings.
I wasn't able to watch the exhibition games the days before though. I would have loved to see the Hanshin Tigers play against the American teams and they seemed to have done well against the defending World Champions from Boston. But those Tigers games were broadcasted too early for me unfortunately. And they were at Tokyo Dome and not at Koshien stadium which currently is hosting the invitational Spring Tournament.
Which leads me to the website for that tournament. The great thing is that you can watch every game there as a replay once it is finished. Just click on one of the numbers 1-13 which represent the game days. Complete game coverage with no commercial breaks. And the commentary is just hilarious. I watched a little bit of a surprising match in which Yokohama crashed out of the competition. Yokohama of course being the former school of Matsuzaka.
And finally in Japan the new season kicked off as well. Until now it is only the Pacific League, but the Central League will join the action this weekend, if I read the NPB website correctly. There is a nice blog about the Hanshin Tigers on a website which deals with almost everything about baseball in Japan which I really recommend.

Aah, I am really looking forward to another season...

MLB: Prime time TV drama on drugs

This is simply hilarious. A few minutes ago, the hearing of Roger Clemens on the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs before a committee of the House Of Representatives in Washington (reports on New York Times, Boston Globe) finished and I am still amazed about how this whole thing went on.
Let's get this straight, baseball seems to have a drug problem, at least if you believe in what's written in the so called Mitchell Report. For some years a lot of players seemed to have used performance-enhancing drugs and the organization of MLB looked away. In the past few years they seem to have put some serious thought into doping and drug abuse and introduced tests (which seem to be pretty limited though) and seem to go against drug abuse with a little bit more strength.
Okay, here's how things work in Europe. People are very concious about what's happening in sports and although the attendence for the Tour de France is still very large the general interest seems very much impressed with the drug abuse in cycling. When a lot of German cyclists admitted they used doping in their career there was a huge outburst of anger. They weren't expecting any punishment since most of the cases were out of date by then, but they admitted it. In the end they admitted it.
What we have here in the USA is prime time television drama at its best. Those lunatics sit down ina congressional hearing and talk about some soap opera influenced crap instead of what doping does to sports. It's cheating, damnit. Yeah, sure, you hurt your own body with it, but those are growm up men. But they cheat. Results become void because one side had an illegal advantage over their opponents. Whole seasons might be invalid because some athletes decided to inject themselves with drugs. Still that issue is not addressed anywhere.
Now I don't have any proof but there must be drug abuse in football as well. Although some people dismiss the sport as not suited for the abuse of performance-enhacing drugs (now Greece national team coach Otto Rehagel once said that someone who doesn't have any talent won't be a better football player by abusing drugs) I have the suspicion that especially in rehabilitation certain things will be used. And if this bomb blows up one day there will be a lot of trouble for the players involved. And if it does blow up there will be no parliamental hearings but the sports federations and associations will deal with that. That's the way it should be.
Still this story is always good for a laugh... worthwhile to pass the time until the season starts again.

Premier League goes abroad

It is common practice for the North American professional sports leagues to hold exhibition matches and even league games in foreign countires to promote their business overseas. The NFL played their opening match in London, the MLB will play two matches in Tokyo and the NHL is considering to send some teams to Europe for promotional purposes. So it comes as no surprise when the English Premier League announced that they are thinking about having regular season matches played in foreign countries to expand their fanbase. What will be pleasant news to the millions in foreign countries seems to be a rather bad idea since it has to be kept in mind that long travels are not very good for the form and fitness of a team. One can always hear the Champions League winner complaining about their late autumn trip to Asia to represent Europe in the FIFA World Club competition. So personally I don't think that the game will actually benefit from matches played abroad. In Baseball the officials went so far as to set the date of the season opener between World Series winners Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics so early that both teams will go back to the states to continue their spring training and allow the to acustom themselves to home soil once again.
Sure, the promotional value will be immense and once the League is able to reap the benefits of such trips other European leagues will follow that example and will try to set up their own overseas matches. But the fans back home won't be as pleased as the ones in Asia, I think. You want to support your team and season ticket holders pay a lot of money to be able to watch their club play. Are those people supposed to follow the team wherever the league sends them? And what about local derbies? A match like Schalke vs Dortmund, Milan vs Inter or Arsenal vs Tottenham makes no sense if it is played thousands of miles across the globe.

MLB: The Mitchell Report

I took a little time to read a few pages of the report about drug abuse in baseball which was conducted by Senator Mitchell and which was released last week. It is very pleasant to have the opportunity to actually read the stuff everybody is talking about in the media, something that rarely happens over here in Germany. When there is a report, it is handed out to the journalists and they interpret it for the readers and viewers in their respective magazines and shows.
So, getting back to the topic I found it very interesting that none of the players cooperated with Senator Mitchell. This very much reminds me of what is happening in cycling over the past few years. There is a wall of silence and the guys who actually speak about what they did are sports counterparts to mafia traitors who broke the rule of the "omertá". So, well, yeah, no one said anything, everything is based on federal investigations and two or three whistleblowers.
Speaking of whistleblowers, it seems that the biggest surprise was the inclusion of Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens in the report. Now I believe I don't have the slightest clue about how big a star he is in the USA, but again comparing it to cycling noone is safe from being accused of abusing drugs. In cycling a lot of the big stars of the past admitted that they used performance enhancing drungs like EPO and I think that those guys who strongly deny that they ever had anything to do with that stuff will at some point have to admit that they did it as well (think Lance Armstrong here).

The interesting thing is how the public will react to this and all the commentators I've heard said that nothing will come out of this. There will be no spectacular consequences. And this, I believe, will affect how baseball is seen abroad in countries that don't have a huge baseball following. People there will say that that's the sport with those big guys completely blown out of proportion because they all use drugs to enhance their play. I won't go so far to point the finger only at baseball (Rugby might have a huge problem as well, considering what players looked like a few years ago and what they look today), but I think it's sad that MLB won't use this report to clean up the sport. Cycluing has shown that you need drastic actions to start things.

MLB: Boston wins it - NPB: Series tied

Congratulations to the city of Boston. The Red Sox swept the Rockies and won the World Series 2007. Jon Lester was the winning pitcher in Game 4 and because the Americans love those heartfelt stories about people who have to suffer some sickness or injury and then come back to win it all, Mr. Lester was at the center of attention. To me it's something I never really had in my fan life with football teams over here. The teams I root for are usually losers who don't win anything at all. Which is why I really like the red Sox. Their history, with all the failures, mistakes and terrible things that happend on their quest to end the 86 year old drought, is something I instantly fell in love with. And now that team wins their 2nd World Series title in 3 years. Amazing.
Although one has to admit that the Rockies were hard to beat in the playoffs one also had to say that they never really stood a chance against the Red Sox. Whatever the Rox were doing, the Sox immediatly found an answer. Yesterday Boston was cruising on a 4-1 lead in the 8th inning when Colorado finally made a comeback. Or did they? The only caught up to 4-3 and then Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon closed the door for them.
Well, it has been an interesting first full season of baseball for me and I think I'm hooked now. Hopefully some time in the future I might get to visit some friends in the States or Canada and then go to a game. I'm really looking forward to that.

Or I might go to Japan to watch a game there. The Nippon Series is tied now at 1-1 after the Dragons won the second game against the Fighters on Sunday. It seems there is a little more suspense in Japan. the Fighters won the first one after a tough battle 3-1 and now Chunichi thrashed them 8-1. Hopefully this series will go over the whole distance. Cause then there will be a rematch between Darvish and Kawakami from Game 1.
If I ever make it to Japan to watch a game I think I might try to get into Koushien to watch a Tigers game. It's funny cause I always thought of baseball supporters to be rather quiet and calm when their team plays. But after seeing pictures from the Boston fans celebrating in the streets and videos of Tigers fans making a huge noise at the stadium, I'd really like to check that out myself.

MLB & NPB: One more for Boston, Darvish with a complete game

Boston's Matsuzaka Daisuke was the main main in yesterday's Game 3 at Coors Field in Denver when the Red Sox took another win against the Rockies. He pitched really well and he even got 2 RBI in a 6-run third inning for Boston. The other shining players for the Red Sox were Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. The media is going crazy about so much rookie power. Colorado tried to get back into the game and did so with a 3-run homerun by Matt Holliday in the 7th, but that wasn't enough. Boston is now one game away from winning their second World Series in just three years. While this is happening one could really see how the media are clinging to at least some stories that might add to some suspense while there really is nothing special to report about. It just seems that Boston is way too good for a young Rockies team. Because Games 3-5 are played in a National League city Boston manager Terry Francona has to sit one of his key players because he is not allowed to nominated a designated hitter. So before Game 3 there was a huge fuss about whether he will sit DH David Ortiz, 1B Kevin Youkilis or 3B Mike Lowell. I just don't see the point. They are all great offensive players, one of them (Ortiz) doesn't field that much, but hey, he did it last night. That's the game.
Tonight the Red Sox will try to complete the sweep with Jon Lester on the mound.

On the other side of the ocean the Nippon Series kicked off with Game 1 in Sapporo. Fighters starter Yu Darvish pitched a complete game with 13 strikouts, which ties the record for a Nippon Series game. The losing pitcher was Chunichi ace Kawakami Kenshin who also threw a great game with only two hits over 8 innings, but he gave up two walks in the first and then came Fighters clean up hitter Fernando Seguignol and that was it. Kawakami retired the next 21 batters, but his offense wasn't able to come back, scoring just one run in the 6th.
Game 2 will take place tonight at Sapporo again, but there is no chance for people outside of Japan to follow the match. I think I read somewhere that there used to be a stream on the internet that accessable for fans living outside of Japan but that one was closed down at the start of this year's season. Which is a pity, I think. It's very interesting to watch a Japanese yakyu game and compare it to what is played in the USA.

MLB World Series: Tough luck for working Europeans

So the series is going to Denver this weekend where the Rockies will try to get back on track after losing the first two games at Fenway. I guess the first two really show what Boston is about this season. They completely crushed the Rockies in Game 1, when Josh Beckett held them to just one run while the offense exploded for 13 runs, three of those coming in the first inning and another 7 in the 5th. Game 2 was the complete opposite. This time it was the Boston pitching staff winning the match with reliever Okajima Hideki getting most of the attention as the first pitcher to come onto the field in an American World Series Game. In this game Curt Shilling held Colorado to just one run and Okajima and Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon finished things off for a 2-0 lead for Boston.
Now the most frustrating for someone living in Europe is that all games of the World Series start in the middle of the night. First pitch times are always 8 pm Eastern which translates into 2 am CET. But the first actual pitch isn't thrown until 2.40 am which is kind of annoying. There's loads of advertisment and commercials all the time, but the game starts almost 40 minutes later than expected. This makes it hard to stay awake. I was able to at least catch the first inning of Game 1 and I hope to be able to watch a little more of tonights Game 3. Maybe it's adifferent story for next week since the Americans are trailing Europe when it cames to setting back the clock for winter time. Which gives Europeans one more hour back and games will start at 1 am next week.

MLB: A win, that might raise questions for the future?

So the Red Sox have beaten the Indians last night 11-2 and will now play against the Colorado Rockies in the World Series starting on Wednesday. Boston won the remaining games in their series against Cleveland outscoring them 30-5. And in Game 7 even shaky Japanese starting pitcher Matsuzaka Daisuke was throwing his stuff well. So everything fell into place and the Sox have their chance for a shot at the World Championship again after winning in 2004.

Which brings up an interesting argument raised by a writer of the New York Times who asks if the Red Sox are becoming the New York Yankees of the new millenium. It's always strange to see what happens to teams in sports when they win a championship after a long time. Or, let's pit it this way, when a team has a very long championship drought it will do almost anything to get another chance. And almost every time the people in charge lose sight of what is most important to them and the club: the fans. This happened at Borussia Dortmund in the late 1990s after they won back to back championships in Germany (1995, 1996), the Champions League (1997) and the World Cup for club teams (1997). After that success they spent an enormous amount of money on new players, but they only managed to grab one more title (German championship 2002). After that the club was on the edge of bancruptcy.
So are Red Sox fans prepared to watch their beloved club transform into something which is more similar to what the Yankees used to represent? This is my first season of baseball which I was able to follow completely and I have to admit that the Boston team is interesting to me because of its history of failures. It has always been easier for me to cheer for a team that was not perfect and was not winning a lot of championships. It'll be interesting to see what will happen with the Red Sox and their fanbase.

MLB & NPB playoffs: Sox tie it, Fighters are through to Japan Series

The Boston Red Sox came back after being down 1-3 beating Cleveland in the last two matches and therefore getting a final and decisive Game 7 at Fenway Park. Beckett and Shilling were the winning pitchers in Game 5 and 6 and J.D. Drew, the man some labeled as the biggest disappointment for the Red Sox this season turned up the offense with a grand slam homerun in the first inning of last night game. The 12-2 win was never in danger as the Indians pitching staff was not the best with starter Fausto Carmona lasting only 2 innings. It seemed like the Boston team was really determined in last night's game. Everybody looked really well and there were some fine defensive plays as well.
Game 5 set the tone for what was to come with another brilliant performance by Josh Beckett. He dominated Cleveland once again and even had time to quarrel with Indians outfielder Kenny Lofton.

Meanwhile across the Pacific the contenders for the Japan Series have been determined. Last year's champions Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters won a five game series against the Chiba Lotte Marines 3-2 with Yu Darvish winning the final game. They will now face a familiar opponent because the Chunichi Dragons, last year's runner-up in the Japan Series, won their Climax Series in the Central League by sweeping the Yomiuri Giants 3-0. So now it's the question whether history will repeat itself or will the Dragons have their say against the Fighters this time.

MLB & NPB: The playoffs continue

Colorado extended their streak to 21 out of 20 by beating the Diamondbacks yesterday 4-1, so they are now just one win away from entering the World Series. And to be honest, although I haven't seen any game of the NLCS so far I think their are a force to be reckoned with. Winning 20 out of 21 is a very impressive number and Boston or Cleveland will have problems when they face the Rockies. Meanwhile in the ALCS the Red Sox and the Indians will continue their series which is tied at 1-1 at Cleveland. Matsuzakla Daisuke will be the starter for Boston and it will be interesting to see how he will do in this situation. From what I've read about his acreer in Japan he was considered to be a "big game pitcher". The higher the pressure, the better the perfomance of Dice-K. He did well against the Indians the last time he played at Jacobs Field, a game in which he pitched a 7 inning shut out, if I remember that right.

On the other side of the Pacific, the playoffs are also in full effect. The Pacific League is entering the 2nd stage of theri Climax Series with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters going up against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Japanese wonderboy Yu darvish started the first game for the fighters and was struggling at first but then stelled in securing the 5-2 win for his team. I have no idea how many ganmes are played in this series, maybe they have one game more than the first stage which was a best of three series.
In the Central League for the first time in their history they are having palyoffs as well. The first Climax Series their is played between the Chunichi Dragons and the Hanshin Tigers. Hanshin completely blew the game losing 7-0. The winner of thios series will face regular season champions Yomiuri Giants, a team considered to be the equivalent of the NEw York Yankees in Japan.
It seems they introduced those playoffs to rise interest in the leagues. Before the playoffs the winners of the Central and the Pacific League played the Japan Series against each other. Now they have playoffs, the Central League introducing them just this year. It's a pity there's no way to watch anything of those matches over here so I have to rely on what's written in some English newspapers from Japan. The Japan Times Online is a good one. And also there's Japan Baseball Daily with all the scores and lots of news.

MLB: NLCS and ALCS on their way

I watched the first game of the ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians yesterday. It was marked the ultimate pitcher's duel with Cy Young candidates Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia taking the mound. Beckett was phenomenal against the Angels in the first game of the ALDS when he pitched a shut out complete game, giving up only 4 hits. Sabathia was struggling a little more against the Yankees in Cleveland's game one but also held his opponents in check. Last night was different for him though. He walked way too many batters and he never got control over Boston's dangerous one-two punch in the No. 3 and 4 slots of the batting order. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were all over Cleveland scoring tons of runs. Beckett gave up one run in the first, but the Red Sox counter attack scored 4 in the bottom of the first giving Beckett a comfortable lead. So today Curt Shilling and Fausto Carmona will be in the spotlight for game two.

In the NLCS the Colorado Rockies extended their streak to 19 wins in 20 games when they took a win in both games at the Arozona Diamondbacks. The Rockies are now in complete control with the series moving to Denver for the next game. Still it seems that all eyes are focused on the AL with the big names playing against each other there. I guess that people would have liked to see the Cubs and the Phillies play the Championship Series, but they both went down 0-3 in the NLDS. Colorado meanwhile look very convincing and I wouldn't be too surprised if they go through to reach the World Series. They look pretty compact and consistent and they will pose a threat to any team that has to face them. It's hard to name one key player since it's all a team effort, but their ace Jeff Francis and players like Kazuo Matsui, Troy Tulowitzki or Matt Holliday seem to be the names that come up. Matsui came up really strong over the past few games, his biggest hit being a grand slam hoemrun against Philadelphia in Game 2 of that series.

MLB moves on to the next stage, NPB looking for opponent for pennant winner

The divisional series ended in the MLB and the Championship Series are set to start. It will be Arizona vs Colorado in the NL and Boston vs Cleveland in the AL. With all the fuzz about curses that seems to be going on in the States it's no wonder that someone found something that fit to Cleveland, a team that won its last World Series in 1948. I can't really say who will make it in the NL since I haven't seen that many games of the Diamondbacks and the Rockies. Colorado looked pretty strong against Boston during Interleague play and one always has to keep in mind that the won 17 of their last 18 matches.
Boston meanwhile will be glad that they don't have to face the Yankees, but it remains to be seen if the Indians are the better choice. especially their top starters C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona looked very sharp in their appearances against New York. The Red Sox dropped Matsuzaka Daisuke to Game 3, since he didn't look that good against the Angels in Game 2. We'll see how that works out. He said of starting at Cleveland that he liked the mound there a lot when he played there during the regular season. I'd really like him to do well this time again.

In Japan the regular season is finished now and I somehow managed to find my way through postseason procedures. It looks like the number two and number three teams of each divison will play against each other in a so called three game "Climax Series". The winner will then face the divisional champions to play for a place in the Japan Series. This means that the Central League Climax Series will be played by Hansin Tigers (3rd) vs Chunichi Dragons (2nd) and the winner will play against the Yomiuri Giants. I'd really like to see Hanshin advance, not only because they play at Koushien, but also because they are great rivals with the Giants. It's always nice to have a little extra in a series. But that's not very likely taking into account that Hanshin was struggling heavily to the end of the regular season and they are playing against last year's Japan Series runner-up, the Dragons. It seems that the CL Climax Series hasn't started yet.
The Pacific League Climax Series was on it's way, it's already finished. Chiba Lotte Marines (2nd) were playing against Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The Marines won the series 2-1 and will now face the Nippon Ham Fighters in Sapporo. The Fighters are last years Japan Series Champions and with pitcher Yu Darvish they have one of the top players of Japanese baseball in their line up. He said that he would like to play in the USA rather sooner than later so perhaps this might be a good chance for American scouts to take a close look at him.