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Chinese Taipei vs. Japan [November 8] Games Begin

12/13/2013TopTeam

Chinese Taipei vs. Japan [November 8] Games Begin

BASEBALL CHALLENGE 2013 - Review of the November 8 to 10 series from the day the teams arrived to the day it finished.

Chinese Taipei vs. Japan Starts!

"It's humid, isn't it?"

I arrived at the Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium past 3:00 PM on the day of the 1st game against Chinese Taipei and heard people talking about the hot weather. It was a fine day. The wind was strong, but very warm. Even in the evening, the temperature did not seem to drop much. It was 26 degrees an hour before the game started. It was unusually hot for November, and many players were wearing short-sleeve undershirts.

"That's a strong wind," said Arihito Muramatsu, the Outfield Defense and Running Coach.

After Samurai Japan's fielding practice finished, he came back to the bench smiling.

"The grass looks rough, and the balls are bouncing irregularly. The outfielders need to pay attention to it for defense. At first I thought the lights here looked a little darker than we have in Japan; but when I actually hit, it's not a problem at all."

In international games, most of the pitchers are new for the batters. Does it affect their hitting? Is it different from the way they hit in domestic games? Hideto Asamura (Saitama Seibu) said, "I have little experience in international games, so I'm not sure..."

He added, "I always get stats for all of the pitchers, but I don't trust everything I see completely because I've never played against them. I swing aggressively at easy balls until I get behind in the count. This is no different from what I do in Japan. I believe this is a basic concept for batters. The important thing is to know what kind of pitches the pitcher is throwing at your first at-bat."

A Nice Game for Excited and Relieved Players

The first practice game was exciting. It started at 7:37 PM, and ran for three hours and 39 minutes. It was a dramatic come-from-behind win for the new Samurai Japan team with a score of 4 to 2. Samurai Japan played a memorable first game against Chinese Taipei.

After the game, Samurai team members high-fived one another in front of their bench. Everyone was saying "Nice Game!" to each other to celebrate the victory. They also gave high five's to the Head Coach, other coaches, bench members and staff waiting on the bench. The bench was filled with the continuous sound of high-fiving. Asamura was first up in the fifth inning. The team was down by one, and Asamura hit a double to turn the game around. The bench went wild.

All of the players looked genuinely happy and relieved with the victory. It is as if they won during the Japan Series. "These are not friendly games. They are practice games, and we came to Taiwan to win all three." This was abundantly clear in the faces of the players.

When I took a look inside the locker room after the game, I found Samurai Captain Motohiro Shima (Tohoku Rakuten) sitting alone. When he noticed me standing there, he said with a look of relief,

"I'm glad we won the game. It was great that we could come from behind like that. I'm really relieved."

There are two more games to win, and they want to win them both.

チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月5日】新生侍ジャパンのはじまり
チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月6日】ついに全世代がひとつになる
チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月7日】試合前日、いざ台北へ
チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月8日】強化試合がついに開幕
チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月9日】逆転勝利で2連勝
チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月10日】チームはひとつに!強化試合3連勝
チャイニーズ・タイペイ戦 ドキュメント 【11月11日】戦いを終えた侍ジャパン

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