Sunday, March 28, 2004

Yanks in Tokyo: Godzilla Homers in Homecoming

It was an awesome game. The NY Yankees vs. the Yomuri Giants. Live... Tokyo, Japan... and the crowd was chanting "Homerun Matsui!" for their hometown hero, Hideki Matsui, now clad in Yankee pinstripes. In his first at bat he didn't disappoint his adoring fans when he hit a huge homerun. The Yankees won 6-2 while Derek Jeter and Jorge Psoada both homered. Here's a bit:
With Matsui back in the ballpark where he became Japan's biggest baseball star, Yankees manager Joe Torre moved him into the traditional Japanese spots of honor -- cleanup in the batting order and center field.

"We allow someone to be bigger than the team today, which isn't our nature," Torre said.

With flashbulbs popping and small orange flags with his number "55" waving, Matsui stepped into the batter's box leading off the second to cheers of "Go Matsui!" Then, just after he fouled off a 2-2 pitch, the chant changed to, "Home run, home run, Matsui."

And on the very next pitch, he complied. He took a 63 mph hanging changeup from Hisanori Takahashi, leaned into it and sent it about three-quarters of the way up the bleachers in right-center field. Fans jumped and cheered. A woman in front of the press box bowed to him.


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