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Day at Jingu. No Tanaka-captain signature for me :(
Sat on the Keio-Rikkio side, in the end. Turns out Ogura is in Hokkaido anyway, so it'd just be me and Kobayashi on the other side anyway. First game was Keio vs. Meiji, and an acquaintance of mine from cheering for Keio showed up and sat behind me and I feel terrible I can't remember her name since she was all like "Deanna-san! Hisashiburi!" So we talked on and off during the game. And sadly Meiji won, Yusuke Nomura has been UNTOUCHABLE since losing to Waseda a month ago. On the other hand, before the game, I said a "ganbare" at Daisuke Takeuchi while he was doing pregame throws, and he looked at me, did this half-grin of his, and kept throwing. And when Nagasaki-kun came out to the bullpen before the game, he was actually LOOKING for his fan club in the front row, so when he saw me he waved hi and I waved back and said ganbare to him too. Awww :)
Between games, I had a goal of trying to get Keio captain Tatsushi Yumoto to sign a photo I have of him... I had like 8 Keio players printed out in photos and he's the only one that's significant and remaining. (Hakumura's a freshman and off the roster but I hope to get him at the Rookie tournament.) But, there was only 30 mins between games, and the place was getting PACKED for the Waseda-Rikkio game since it'd be Yuki Saitoh's last game as an amateur (well, he could play again Monday but this was the last definite game). Still, I went outside and waited by the area the Keio players should have been exiting... after about 10 minutes, Ren Yamasaki came out, and a bit after him, Hayata Itoh. And then a guy came out and I wasn't sure who it was, I thought it MIGHT be Yumoto but... then after watching a bunch of people with scorecards and notebooks ask him questions, I realized it HAD to be him, so I went up like (in Japanese) "umm... you're captain Yumoto, right?" and he was like "yeah," and I said "Can I please get you to sign something?" and he said sure and signed the photo I had, and then I rambled a little of "today's game was too bad but I hope you win tomorrow, good luck and do your best!" and he kind of half-smiled and said thanks and ran off.
Now the stupid part is -- during all that, the Meiji guys were congregating by their bus, I totally could have tried to get Yusuke or Araki or Nishijima to sign something -- but I was worried I'd miss Yumoto in that case. And Keio doesn't play next week, but Meiji does, so I will have another chance at those guys. (Next time Keio plays is Soukeisen and that will probably be a MOB SCENE. I'm sure I can still say hi to my favorite Keio players after the Sunday game but still don't want to count on it...) Though if it rains next week I'll be screwed and that would suck.
But, whatever. I heard the marching bands firing up and realized I had approximately 5 minutes, if that, to get back into the stadium, stop by the bathroom and buy a new Coke for the second game, and get into my seat by first pitch. So I ran and did that and actually did make it back in time to see the first batter's result, at least.
Also, it turned out that Asai-san (a hyper bespectacled lady who I met in Ehime who cheers for Keio) had come down to the front row between games too and was sitting two seats over from me. Weird coincidence. I like her but I often can't understand a damn thing she's saying, I think she just speaks weird Japanese because even Ogura sometimes goes off on her like "Speak clearly, woman!"
The highlight of the second game was probably when Soichiro Tanaka ran home from 3rd base on a wild pitch. That took GUTS. If only he and Okazaki weren't caught stealing in the 5th it would have been a much better game. I had the distinct feeling that Soh-chan was trying to show off for scouts though, as he was making some pretty daring baserunning decisions and also had some fantastic web-gem-like plays in the outfield. He just declared for the draft, which is part of why I want his autograph now. I don't think he'll get picked, but you never know.
Unfortunately, though, Waseda won the second game. Hayato Saitoh the pitcher was the losing pitcher for Rikkio, and worse, Hayato Saitoh the outfielder was the losing fielder for Rikkio, by which I mean, he and Tanaka ended up colliding in the outfield and they had to carry Saitoh off the field because he couldn't walk. After the game I saw him hobbling on crutches outside the Rikkio bus :(
Speaking of the bus, I told Asai that I had this goal of getting Tanaka's autograph and she said "Oh, well, they have a bus but you can usually ask them politely BEFORE they get on the bus... except... OH CRAP TODAY IS WASEDA THERE'S NO WAY YOU ARE GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT BUS."
And she was right.
Fucking Waseda.
There was this huge barricade set up so that all the Yuki Saitoh fans can't get anywhere near the Waseda bus, and naturally the Rikkio bus was parked inside that barricade area too. Basically 2 or 3 players stopped briefly in the crowd to basically get something from people they knew, there was absolutely no chance to get near them or ask them to sign anything at all, and it was just a mob scene. FUCK.
On the other hand... I was able to actually pick out several Rikkio players by face who were sitting on the bus as the bus left, so that's at least promising for approaching them next week, I suppose. My biggest problem is opportunities going by because I don't actually recognize the guys by face.
I went home by walking to Shibuya and eating dinner at Kua'Aina on the way, getting their newfangled bbq bacon burger combo, which turns out to be a "ladies' size combo" dinner, meaning it isn't quite as big as their other burgers, but that was probably a good thing.
Now, trying to decide what to do tomorrow. I'm supposed to go ride trains with Shin, but I have half a mind to go to Jingu and see Waseda clinch tomorrow, and then stalk Meiji players after the 2nd game. Alternately I suppose it might be better to ride trains and avoid Waseda completely. I'm just worried about my ability to stalk BOTH the Meiji and Rikkio players next weekend :( I feel like I wasted the entire semester not stalking other universities. I suck.
Between games, I had a goal of trying to get Keio captain Tatsushi Yumoto to sign a photo I have of him... I had like 8 Keio players printed out in photos and he's the only one that's significant and remaining. (Hakumura's a freshman and off the roster but I hope to get him at the Rookie tournament.) But, there was only 30 mins between games, and the place was getting PACKED for the Waseda-Rikkio game since it'd be Yuki Saitoh's last game as an amateur (well, he could play again Monday but this was the last definite game). Still, I went outside and waited by the area the Keio players should have been exiting... after about 10 minutes, Ren Yamasaki came out, and a bit after him, Hayata Itoh. And then a guy came out and I wasn't sure who it was, I thought it MIGHT be Yumoto but... then after watching a bunch of people with scorecards and notebooks ask him questions, I realized it HAD to be him, so I went up like (in Japanese) "umm... you're captain Yumoto, right?" and he was like "yeah," and I said "Can I please get you to sign something?" and he said sure and signed the photo I had, and then I rambled a little of "today's game was too bad but I hope you win tomorrow, good luck and do your best!" and he kind of half-smiled and said thanks and ran off.
Now the stupid part is -- during all that, the Meiji guys were congregating by their bus, I totally could have tried to get Yusuke or Araki or Nishijima to sign something -- but I was worried I'd miss Yumoto in that case. And Keio doesn't play next week, but Meiji does, so I will have another chance at those guys. (Next time Keio plays is Soukeisen and that will probably be a MOB SCENE. I'm sure I can still say hi to my favorite Keio players after the Sunday game but still don't want to count on it...) Though if it rains next week I'll be screwed and that would suck.
But, whatever. I heard the marching bands firing up and realized I had approximately 5 minutes, if that, to get back into the stadium, stop by the bathroom and buy a new Coke for the second game, and get into my seat by first pitch. So I ran and did that and actually did make it back in time to see the first batter's result, at least.
Also, it turned out that Asai-san (a hyper bespectacled lady who I met in Ehime who cheers for Keio) had come down to the front row between games too and was sitting two seats over from me. Weird coincidence. I like her but I often can't understand a damn thing she's saying, I think she just speaks weird Japanese because even Ogura sometimes goes off on her like "Speak clearly, woman!"
The highlight of the second game was probably when Soichiro Tanaka ran home from 3rd base on a wild pitch. That took GUTS. If only he and Okazaki weren't caught stealing in the 5th it would have been a much better game. I had the distinct feeling that Soh-chan was trying to show off for scouts though, as he was making some pretty daring baserunning decisions and also had some fantastic web-gem-like plays in the outfield. He just declared for the draft, which is part of why I want his autograph now. I don't think he'll get picked, but you never know.
Unfortunately, though, Waseda won the second game. Hayato Saitoh the pitcher was the losing pitcher for Rikkio, and worse, Hayato Saitoh the outfielder was the losing fielder for Rikkio, by which I mean, he and Tanaka ended up colliding in the outfield and they had to carry Saitoh off the field because he couldn't walk. After the game I saw him hobbling on crutches outside the Rikkio bus :(
Speaking of the bus, I told Asai that I had this goal of getting Tanaka's autograph and she said "Oh, well, they have a bus but you can usually ask them politely BEFORE they get on the bus... except... OH CRAP TODAY IS WASEDA THERE'S NO WAY YOU ARE GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT BUS."
And she was right.
Fucking Waseda.
There was this huge barricade set up so that all the Yuki Saitoh fans can't get anywhere near the Waseda bus, and naturally the Rikkio bus was parked inside that barricade area too. Basically 2 or 3 players stopped briefly in the crowd to basically get something from people they knew, there was absolutely no chance to get near them or ask them to sign anything at all, and it was just a mob scene. FUCK.
On the other hand... I was able to actually pick out several Rikkio players by face who were sitting on the bus as the bus left, so that's at least promising for approaching them next week, I suppose. My biggest problem is opportunities going by because I don't actually recognize the guys by face.
I went home by walking to Shibuya and eating dinner at Kua'Aina on the way, getting their newfangled bbq bacon burger combo, which turns out to be a "ladies' size combo" dinner, meaning it isn't quite as big as their other burgers, but that was probably a good thing.
Now, trying to decide what to do tomorrow. I'm supposed to go ride trains with Shin, but I have half a mind to go to Jingu and see Waseda clinch tomorrow, and then stalk Meiji players after the 2nd game. Alternately I suppose it might be better to ride trains and avoid Waseda completely. I'm just worried about my ability to stalk BOTH the Meiji and Rikkio players next weekend :( I feel like I wasted the entire semester not stalking other universities. I suck.