Time for a little scrutiny.
Following his spring debut, Yu Darvish made the following comment about the double he surrendered to Padres outfielder Will Venable:
－－二回に大きな当たりを打たれた。
「乾燥も風もある。普通より伸びているが、そんなに捉えられたという感じはしなかった」
Note that that comment is in Japanese.
The hit in question was a long double, which Venable hit off the center field batter's background at the Padres facility in Peoria. I didn't see the game, but have been to that stadium and that would have been a well-hit ball. Here's the official translation.
"The air is dry in Arizona and the wind was blowing out, so no, I don't think he hit it squarely."
This raised an eyebrow or two, including Venable's.
It's easy for me to say how I would have translated that, because I'm sitting here in front of a laptop thinking about it. I'm not sure if I would have come up with the right thing to say on the spot, in front of 150 reporters. Actually it's totally reasonable to assume I would have made numerous mistakes in that situation.
Nonetheless, I'll provide my translation later on when I have a little more time. But for the Nihongo-inclined out there, how would you have translated Darvish's statement?
Edit: My translation would be...
"The air is dry and there's the wind. The ball flies farther than normal, but it didn't feel like he got me that badly."
I don't envy the job of Darvish's translator.
