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More catching up
Sunday, I went to Edogawa Stadium to watch Teikyo HS play against Nichidai Sakuragaoka. I violated one of my principal rules of watching baseball in Japan, which is "Always get there early if you do not have reserved seating". As a result, I ended up standing for the entire game at the top of the grandstand. This sounds bad, except that 1) it was 35 degrees out, but WINDY AND COOL at the top of the grandstand -- aside from a few duststorms blowing dirt up from the infield, it was really rather comfortable up there temperature-wise, and 2) halfway through the game an old dude left so I got to lean on a railing. And the grandstand area I was in was covered. So I could see people sitting in lower sunny areas looking really hot and sweaty, but I was perfectly comfortable standing.
Also, 3) the game was called halfway through the bottom of the 8th inning. I don't understand the exact mercy rules they're using in this tournament but basically Teikyo was up 5-0 for most of the game, then in the bottom of the 8th Kubota-kun hit a homerun, then two guys singled and another guy was hit by a pitch. The bases were loaded, Okabe singled to right, Takuro Itoh scored from third and despite that Matsumoto also could have easily scored from second on the play, the minute Itoh crossed the plate, the game was over and called at 7-0. Kind of strange. It was about 2 hours long exactly.
Itoh played left field for the entire game and didn't pitch. Okabe pitched 3 innings and Hagiya -- a super-huge 6'3" high school senior -- pitched the rest. I'm aiming to try to go to Teikyo's next two games on the 23rd and 25th to see Itoh pitch again, it should be at more camera-friendly places. He's the real deal, if he makes it through HS uninjured, there's no way he doesn't get drafted, I think.
I went to the Tokyo Dome after the game to see if there were any Yakult cheering section tickets left for this week's games. There were, but only for Tuesday night, so I bought one. Hope I don't have to stay until 5pm at school, though I don't have anything to DO for the last day once the ceremony ends and I talk to a few people...
Also, got dinner at the Baseball Cafe. They are always a little bad with service, despite that they have so many waitstaff. I have no clue how it happens, my guess is that they want to simulate the true American dining experience. Anyway, this time they were really beyond awful -- I had to literally yell to flag down someone to take my order, and then it took them so long to bring a refill for my cola that I had already finished my meal and was getting ready to leave. I had a bacon cheeseburger though, and I knew I like their burgers and fries there if nothing else.
So then I did something stupid in that I stopped in the arcade. Played a game of Pop'n, which isn't the stupid part, but then played a game of DDR 4th Mix Plus since they have the solo machine there. It was fun -- did two Korean songs for oldtimes sake and then Wonderland SSR, which I can still do perfectly fine, but... maybe not the best thing to do right after eating a burger. Whoops.
I took the subway back, rode my bike home, and started having a stomachache around when I was going to sleep, after watching some baseball on TV and whatnot. Took a stomach pill, went to sleep, woke up at 5am still feeling crappy, took another, went back to sleep... yeah. Not my finest moment. My stomach still feels a little weird even now.
So today I didn't go anywhere, not really, not yet. I planned to go to Kamagaya but it just wasn't happening with the stomach. I did ride my bike to get a bento for lunch, which my stomach seems to have handled okay. I also got some of the new SMAP sports drink, but haven't tried it yet. Then I talked to Mike on Skype for a few hours. Hard to believe that in just a week I'll be getting on a plane back to Seattle...
Thinking of going to see a movie tonight but haven't decided for sure. Thinking of either that new Miyazaki one, or maybe Surely Someday... or maybe the new Odoru Daisousassen, though it's been so long I've forgotten most of what the originals were about anyway. We'll see if I can get my butt out of the house or not, I guess.
Also, 3) the game was called halfway through the bottom of the 8th inning. I don't understand the exact mercy rules they're using in this tournament but basically Teikyo was up 5-0 for most of the game, then in the bottom of the 8th Kubota-kun hit a homerun, then two guys singled and another guy was hit by a pitch. The bases were loaded, Okabe singled to right, Takuro Itoh scored from third and despite that Matsumoto also could have easily scored from second on the play, the minute Itoh crossed the plate, the game was over and called at 7-0. Kind of strange. It was about 2 hours long exactly.
Itoh played left field for the entire game and didn't pitch. Okabe pitched 3 innings and Hagiya -- a super-huge 6'3" high school senior -- pitched the rest. I'm aiming to try to go to Teikyo's next two games on the 23rd and 25th to see Itoh pitch again, it should be at more camera-friendly places. He's the real deal, if he makes it through HS uninjured, there's no way he doesn't get drafted, I think.
I went to the Tokyo Dome after the game to see if there were any Yakult cheering section tickets left for this week's games. There were, but only for Tuesday night, so I bought one. Hope I don't have to stay until 5pm at school, though I don't have anything to DO for the last day once the ceremony ends and I talk to a few people...
Also, got dinner at the Baseball Cafe. They are always a little bad with service, despite that they have so many waitstaff. I have no clue how it happens, my guess is that they want to simulate the true American dining experience. Anyway, this time they were really beyond awful -- I had to literally yell to flag down someone to take my order, and then it took them so long to bring a refill for my cola that I had already finished my meal and was getting ready to leave. I had a bacon cheeseburger though, and I knew I like their burgers and fries there if nothing else.
So then I did something stupid in that I stopped in the arcade. Played a game of Pop'n, which isn't the stupid part, but then played a game of DDR 4th Mix Plus since they have the solo machine there. It was fun -- did two Korean songs for oldtimes sake and then Wonderland SSR, which I can still do perfectly fine, but... maybe not the best thing to do right after eating a burger. Whoops.
I took the subway back, rode my bike home, and started having a stomachache around when I was going to sleep, after watching some baseball on TV and whatnot. Took a stomach pill, went to sleep, woke up at 5am still feeling crappy, took another, went back to sleep... yeah. Not my finest moment. My stomach still feels a little weird even now.
So today I didn't go anywhere, not really, not yet. I planned to go to Kamagaya but it just wasn't happening with the stomach. I did ride my bike to get a bento for lunch, which my stomach seems to have handled okay. I also got some of the new SMAP sports drink, but haven't tried it yet. Then I talked to Mike on Skype for a few hours. Hard to believe that in just a week I'll be getting on a plane back to Seattle...
Thinking of going to see a movie tonight but haven't decided for sure. Thinking of either that new Miyazaki one, or maybe Surely Someday... or maybe the new Odoru Daisousassen, though it's been so long I've forgotten most of what the originals were about anyway. We'll see if I can get my butt out of the house or not, I guess.