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What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  I couldn’t have been more pleased to hear that yesterday’s  Nandemoya game was a late one.   My job doesn’t let go of me until 12:30PM on Saturdays, so I invariably miss all of the 9AM starts.  A 2PM start gave me just enough time to get home, dressed, organized and there.

My start was in right field and batting 9th, a perfect match with the way the Red Sox intermittently  played me.  Though this time it was simply because I was new to the team and had to prove myself.  The teams attitude alone made me infinitely more comfortable.

We were relaxed, and it showed by the type of baseball we played.  I was tested in the first inning, and I really made it look more of a spectacle than it needed.  I took a big step back when I saw the fly ball come off his bat, the dive at the end was just to make up for the error on the first step.  Nevertheless, I held on, and it seemed to give us a lift.  After that, my teammates made all of the other outs and it was a good show.  It’s quite special when an amateur team makes zero errors in a game.

My line at the plate:  1 for 1 (1B), 1RBI, 2 BB, and a run scored

It is difficult to say what I enjoyed most, the baseball or the constant ‘man Japanese’ being thrown around the diamond.  English speaking players have a distinct catalog of cheers and such, the Japanese most certainly do as well.  I don’t know the Japanese set of phrases yet, but I could pick out a few general encouragements based on my formal and polite Japanese.  I’m sure that Spanish speaking culture has the same thing, though I bet there are many subdivisions of baseball jargon in Spanish, based on the non-homogeneous nature of Spanish speaking players.  Conversely, it was evident how culturally similar the Japanese guys were in their reactions to events during the game.  For example, the entire bench exclaimed “Oshii!” (Japanese for ‘close call’) when a dribbler hugged the line and went foul.  They all said the exact same word.

I had to smile.  I can only hope to play more Yakyu.