FILLING IN THE GAPS ... Yoshinobu Yamamoto 4/20 …

There is an obvious gap in the comments from our former NPB stars and the English-speaking media. I will attempt to fill the cracks in those verbal exchanges, as time in my schedule allows.

4/20
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Four runs [three earned] allowed on seven hits, including a homer, with a walk and nine Ks over six innings in a 9-4 loss on April 20 [Japan time] at home to the New York Mets.
The communication gaps were massive in the postgame presser after Yamamoto’s start today.
The Samurai Japan ace was hot and cold in his effectiveness, and the opening question in his postgame presser was seeking his assessment of the outing, especially the up-and-down results when the hurler at least two strikes in the count.
However, the question became how about he attacked batters after getting the second strike, and his answer was understandably off-kilter.
“We met and talked about how we wanted to attack the batters. Today, I ended up throwing a lot of splitters,” is how Yamamoto responded, but the interpretation was shortened.
The next question addressed New York’s success against Yamamoto’s heater, but the interpreter’s trouble picking up the question saw it warp into something about the pitcher’s fastball being good today, and why it was effective.
Yamamoto, though, seemed to understand the reporter’s intent and deftly addressed it.
“Yeah, my fastball got hit at times early on in the game — I had some good ones in there as well as some bad ones,” Yamamoto said.
When asked how he might improve now that he has five MLB under his belt, said Yamamoto: “There are areas that are gradually starting to feel good for me, and there are things that are also starting to improve. Things are slowly coming together, so I’ll just try to focus on my pitching one game at a time.”
Yamamoto was asked about positives and negatives from his performance.
“Well, we lost the game, so of course I have some things to work on and there were no doubt some negatives. But there were some good things that are starting to come together,” he said. “Still, I want to go out and pitch to get us wins.”


JOHN E. GIBSON is a fluent Japanese speaker who has been covering Nippon Professional Baseball for more than 20 years. .
yakyujohn@gmail.com