2006 Nippon Series, Game 5: Fighters Nippon Ichi

You can also download the full Pro Yakyu Live! broadcast [50MB MP3] of Game 5, including Hillman-kantoku's interview and the interview with Series MVP Inaba. Enjoy.

Congratulations to the Fighters for their Series victory. I had a feeling that they would have a great chance to win it all after they saw off the Hawks in the previous series, and they delivered. They played great baseball all season (better than I had expected, I must say) and they ended their long run without a title because of that.

Once again, congrats to the Fighters!

Congratulations, Fighters! I'm so happy for them. It's great to see a franchise like that get revived after moving to a new home.

Congratulations to Nippon Ham on winning the Japan Series. As a Dragons fan I can't say I'm happy about the outcome, but the best team won, and the Fighters definitely deserved it.

What happened to Chunichi's bats? They looked inept at best in games where the scores weren't out of reach. They ought to make a run at Ogasawara in the off season. I can't imagine Chunichi giving another two year contract to Woods, even with his stats. Nor can I imagine he'd want a one year contract at his age. Is he Pa-League bound?

Again, no sour grapes, congrats to the Fighters and all the Hokkaido fans.

I'm not looking forward to seeing SHINJO nonstop on the tele for the last two months of 2006.

Agreed. Can't say I'm happy with the outcome either (and I'm beside myself that I'm now officially cheering for Japan's Chicago Cubs ), but the Fighters did exactly what they needed to do to win: shut down the Chunichi lineup. And Hokkaido turned out to be every bit of the home-field advantage I thought it was going to be. The Fighters have a great thing going there; may you guys continue to rule over the PL.

Yes, congratulations to the new Nippon champs. And what about Shinjo in his last ever at-bat - eyes full of tears, going down swinging. Standing ovation from the crowd. Lots of emotion there.

Does anyone have video of his last at bat? I would love to see it. Maybe post it to YouTube?

[Note by moderator: YouTube has cracked down on copyrighted materials, removing thousands of Japanese TV posts in the past week.]

I was really happy at 6:30am, but not so happy at 2:30pm when I got a call from my boss wondering where the hell I was, as I slept through all of the nap alarms I set.

Oh well, at least I can guarantee them that the thing disrupting my sleep schedule won't be doing so anymore. Yay Fighters! Nippon Ichi!

P.S. Westbay, you do a fine job reviewing the games!

[Fixed close italics on Oct 30, 2006 8:29 PM JST]

Congrats HNHF! Hillman and the players did a great job. Inaba was a good choice for MVP and I was glad to see SHINJO was so emotional, like it has meant something to him! Westbay, great job on the broadcasts, the home run calls are the best!

Congratulations to the Fighters! Very professional performance throughout the series, and it was nice that they could clinch it in Sapporo.

As with the Marines 2005, it's again nice to see a long overdue team take the title.

Carp in 2007 then?

Yup, great job Fighters. Given the way the last four games went, I'm not sure how the Drags won the first one! They'll have a lot to talk about in the off-season. Next year!

Congrats to the Fighters for having such a wonderful year!

Fighting from 3rd place in the PL and climbing all the way to overtake Seibu in the final week, and then battling through the playoffs to reach the Nippon Series.

What a year they had. And what a way for Shinjo to go off to retirement. He'd probably be on every show possible for a while now.

Well, you have to hand it to the Hokkaido team for a divinely-inspired year. And I am especially happy for Hillman-kantoku, which will make up for having to see gazillions of Shinjo TV ads in the months and years ahead. Remember, when I picked the Dragons in 6, that sealed Chunichi's fate for good.

So this Torakichi will retire to the cage for the winter, and practice the lyrics to that second verse of "Rokko Oroshi." But wait 'til next year!

A last note: TV Japan broadcast all the NPB Series games with tape delay, for morning showing on the North American west coast and early afternoon in the east. This was not indicated in their monthly program guide, so it was a pleasant surprise. Subscribers may want to keep an eye open for the upcoming NPB-MLB series, in hopes of seeing some games. And also, let's all make our Nichi-Bei viewing desires known to ESPN, as Westbay-san suggests in another topic posting.

I just realized I don't know how to get in touch with Nanbanjin - the one who dared me to write the "double play combo poem" in the chatroom, right? - so here you go, I wrote this instead of a game recap, it's sort of dumb but:

Kaneko to Kensuke to Guts

Twas forty-four years since we'd last won a series
The reason for this had eluded all theories.
This season was different; more focused, intense
We had a great weapon: our infield defense,
Kaneko, Tanaka, and Guts.

More known for his fielding instead of his bat,
Our golden glove shortstop, team leader at that.
He zips through the air like a hachi or tonbo
For turning a grounder or double-play combo
Kaneko to Kensuke to Guts.

"The other Tanaka," as we used to know him,
Can hit 'em, can bunt 'em, can field 'em and throw 'em.
One play's in the outfield away from the bags
Next instant he's back, slapping down pickoff tags
And throwing the baseball to Guts.

Then over at first base (and sometimes at third)
As lithe as a tiger and sharp as a bird,
No liner gets past him, no throw is too high,
As steady as mountains and endless as sky
Our samurai batsman, our Guts.

The squadron of Dragons prepared their attacks
But we quenched all their fires, defending the sacks.
Though base runners happened, no runs would they get;
This talented keystone would end any threat,
Kaneko to Kensuke to Guts.

I was at all 5 games and I thought the Dragons' manager was very disappointing. I thought he showed some of his players up when they didn't perform. He never patted them on the back or encouraged them He was very aloof and showed real poor management skills. Maybe if he got off his rear and encouraged his troops they might of put up a better effort. I thought the Dragons where very flat and never looked threatening, and I blame the manager. The players don't look happy playing for him.

- I was at all 5 games and I thought the Dragons' manager was very disappointing. I thought he showed some of his players up when they didn't perform. He never patted them on the back or encouraged them He was very aloof and showed real poor management skills. [...] and I blame the manager. The players don't look happy playing for him.

It's kind of hard to argue with 2 Nippon Series in 3 years. Plus how are you to say whether or not Ochiai actually encouraged someone or not?

Stop with the lame excuses, Chunichi's hitters just plain out didn't produce in the Series. It wasn't Ochiai's fault the team struggled. They didn't hit when they needed to. Man, they didn't hit at all.

If you watched the game and in the dugout he was throwing his head around and rolling his eyes every time one of his players did something wrong, the worst thing you can do in baseball is show your players up. They know he is doing it. Check the reply of the games. He was stone cold faced when they went to the dugout he didn't encourage anyone. He sat on his rear. I don't think the players like playing for him, they look miserable.

It's still hard to argue with 2 Nippon Series appearances in 3 years, regardless. Plus, I'm not so certain as how you know what is going on in the clubhouse, are you actually sitting in there? Man, we have another player sitting in the dugout.

Petty excuses and the blame game don't explain it. Chunichi plain out didn't produce, didn't hit when it counted, or anything. Yep, it was Ochiai's fault they couldn't do that, he was out there causing them not to hit.

Guest's anonymity erodes his/her credibility.

Guest: "I was at all five games."
Guest attempts to establish credibility.

Guest: "The Dragons manager blahblah, the manager [blah blah]."
Guest doesn't seem to be able to come up with the manager's name = loss of credibility.

Guest: "I was at all five games" plus "in the dugout he was rolling his eyes."
Guest can see that from the stands? Loss of credibility.

Guest's contention - the manager's failure to act like a cheerleader and motivate highly paid professional athletes competing in the greatest event in their sport to do their jobs was the cause of the team's losses = ludicrous = further loss of credibility.

Being at all five games and not knowing who the manager is would suggest Guest has something to do with MLB. Suggesting poor cheer leading resulted in losing suggests Guest doesn't know much about baseball.

Conclusion: Guest is a flame baiter/troll.

OK. Before this continues to escalate out of hand, let me explain something about Ochiai-kantoku and the general perceptions of what a manager should do.

When Ochiai was a player, he was well known to do what he wanted. He felt that he was a professional ball player and knew better than any coaches what he needed to do. "オレ流" ("ore ryu") was his slogan, roughly translated as meaning "my way" or "to my standards." His philosophy was essentially that being expounded by many in the MLB.

When Ochiai too over as the Dragons' manager, he continued with this philosophy. He expects his players to know their duty and execute it. They're professionals and should know what they need to do. This sounds very much like what many North Americans have been complaining that Japan lacks - coaches and managers letting the players be themselves.

No, Ochiai-kantoku doesn't manage the way that most Japanese mangers over-manage. It appears that this Guest thinks that Ochiai-kantoku under-manages. That's a valid opinion. Some players do well in such an environment, others don't. Over the long run, Ochiai-kantoku has shown that his style has worked well. Two Central League Championships and a second place finish over three years is a better record than most managers have been able to do over their first three years as a manager.

Where Ochiai-kantoku looks like he needs to work differently is against the Pacific League. His Dragons have seriously struggled in both Inter-league play and the Nippon Series over the past three years. Why is it that ore ryu doesn't work so well against the Pacific League? Might it be because the players are less sure about what their role is against these foes that they haven't seen so often? Is a pat on the back side what they need to boost their self confidence against these little known foe?

I can see how managing to an extreme, either over-managing or under-managing, can be detrimental. Over the season, Ochiai-kantoku's managing style is winning championships. But the team is clearly in need of more direction against the Pacific League teams.

I hate to say this, but are the Dragons NPB's equivalent of the Boston Red Sox? 50+ years since their last Nippon Series title? Do they have some kind of curse against them?

Well, at least I don't think they have a Bill Buckner on their team.

Beat you to it; they're the Cubs. I mean, look at the team colors (including the red they use on the team flag). And as I said in the "What's the Deal with Hanshin" thread, if they've gone 50+ years without a Nippon Series title, someone had to have fabricated a story as to why. And "Firearm became a fan of the Dragons" doesn't explain the other 51 years.

And yeah, is there a Dragon for Dragons fans to vilify here? Maybe Okamoto for giving up the home run in '04? Yamamoto for being 0-fer in his Series career?

From what I hear, nobody in Japan has the bitterness/negativity that fan bases like the Cubs, Vikings (NFL), and all Philadelphia teams have. But with the Dragons losing their partner in misery this year in the Fighters, that could all change.

Well the Dragons have just renewed Ochiai's contract, so obviously they're reasonably happy with the job he's been doing. [Kyodo article at Japan Ball]

Ochiai-kantoku has been stellar for three years strong. If Chunichi can add an extra arm or bat to their lineup they should be in contention next year as well.

- From what I hear, nobody in Japan has the bitterness/negativity that fan bases like the Cubs, Vikings (NFL), and all Philadelphia teams have. But with the Dragons losing their partner in misery this year in the Fighters, that could all change.

Try being a Phillies/Dragons fan. Ulcers from April to October every year.

Westbay puts out the flames once again. We should start to call you the fireman.

Great win for the Hampsters. Does anyone know what the TV ratings were for the Shinjo Show, I mean the Japan Series? I suspect they were strong, but would like that confirmed.

I remember going to some Hamster games in Tokyo, that was depressing. Now they are selling out with crazy fans and winning it all. Leaving Tokyo was the best move that franchise has ever made.

Read today that Hillman is interviewing for the A's job in Oakland and also is up for the Rangers job. Good that the Bigs recognize that winning the Japan Series is a major accomplishment for a manager.

And last, at the risk of more flames from the normal suspects, who would have guessed that two foreign managers would win the Japan Series to years in a row with teams known only for their futility? And more foreign managers are being hired due to this success I would guess. By my count right now we have four gaijin managers (Orix, Lotte, Hiroshima, and Nippon Ham) out of 12. I would apply myself, but I would defer to Westbay as the next gaijin manager of NPB. He can take over Rakuten (which I know had a gaijin GM briefly).