I guess I have let it be known that I have been following the Yokohama Bay Stars this year. We could make an argument or many arguments about why I am doing this. Probably the most of which is why I seem to have abandoned the San Francisco Giants or even MLB in general. I could just say that I rather enjoy watching Japanese baseball. In fact, I think I enjoy watching Japanese baseball as much as I have come to hate watching MLB. I could also be practical and say that the game times are incredibly convenient for me whereas the American game only shows up at miserable hours. But then it’s more than that. I cannot stand American announcers. I cannot stand American advertisements. I just can’t stand it anymore. It’s just a style of excess and ego and nonsense and it’s just not worth it to me. Japanese baseball is different. Maybe it’s the difficulty in understanding every word of the announcers. I can follow the game in Japanese because I’ve picked up enough and quite a few of the words are English tags. I don’t know. I just like it better.
But following the Bay Stars has not been an easy task. There is no such thing as a perfect baseball team and nobody wins every game. Lately, they have had a lot of problems scoring runs. And the manager, Daisuke Miura, has been driving me crazy. He handles his pitching with a tight fist and mostly I can’t argue with his choices but he plays small ball without regard to the odds. He likes to bunt and play for one run with non-pitchers even though this is a terrible strategy. You should never give away outs. Also the hitters never seem to be able to make contact when needed. They simply can’t hit and run and you can’t pay them to get a sacrifice fly when needed. Yokohama stadium is a mausoleum with high walls and too much foul territory. It is a pitching paradise perhaps but still, taking the bat out of people’s hands too often hardly ever leads to results. Even though the starting pitching seems to give you gem after gem, the better teams like the Giants and the Tigers just run all over them.
Then there was the slide where they lost six or seven games in a row. They were as bad as they were good at the very beginning. But then, a few days ago, they started turning it around. They started to win. They scored 12 runs in one inning! Shugo Maki, the unbelievably talented second baseman, started to hit. Toshiro Miyazaki, the legend at third base, also, contributed timely hits. They started winning.
But today was magic. Today was something that you only dream about.
Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh returned. Yoshi Tsutsugoh is a Bay Stars legend. After coming up as an 18-year-old, Tsutsugoh found his way into the starting lineup in 2014 and immediately started hitting with authority. He’s a 300 hitter who also has great power. He won the HR and the RBI title in 2016 slamming 44 home runs. He was the youngest Yokohama player ever to reach 200 home runs.
In 2020, his stardom was enough that he was called to play for MLB. Injuries and inconsistent performance never allowed him to be the star that he was in Japan. After playing for four or five teams and bouncing around in the minors, he finally called it quits and took an offer to come back to Japan. Today was his first day back.
There was an awesome video about him that I caught on YouTube waiting for the game.
You could tell this game was going to be different. They finally changed the starting lineup. They had been running the same starting eight every day with the center of the lineup being written in stone. But today they shook things up.
Andre Jackson got the ball for the start. Jackson is a Dodger cast off. He’s got great hair and a fastball but he has no ability to control the strike zone. He gets the yips and walks too many people. His current ERA of six has everything to do with not being able to finish innings. It was getting to be a problem. Today started the same way. Walks and more walks. Jackson walked four men in the second inning even walking in yet another run with the bases loaded, something he’s done four or even five times already in his six starts. But today he got one back. Today he got the big strikeout. Two actually. After walking the bases loaded in the second, he got two big strikeouts to close the door. His elation was noticeable.
Today was different. Today in the dugout, everyone was talking to him. He was smiling and laughing. Everyone was keeping him loose and no one was letting him get lost in his head.
Yokohama got two back in the bottom of the second. Maki popped out but Miyazaki doubled off the wall in left center. Tsutsugoh, who wears number 25, carries a black bat with a white handle and has a very short vicious stroke just like Barry Bonds, drew a walk in his first appearance. Hikari Ito, Jackson’s designated catcher, drove a single to left to bring in a run and then Yota Kyota, the number two shortstop came up with a sac fly bringing in Tsutsugoh with the go-ahead run. Jackson struck out to end the inning.
Jackson ran into another problem in the second. Two Gaijins got to him. Big first baseman Jose Osuna got walked and then Domingo Santana took him over the centerfield fence and Tokyo Yakult was back in front three to two.
Jackson held his ground in the third, 4th and 5th, only allowing one more walk. In the 6th with one out, he gave up the ball to Soma Takuyama who got through the sixth but after giving up a walk, he gave the ball to Tatsuya Ishikawa who allowed in a run and then Kazuki Mishima gave up another in the 8th. The score was 5 to 1 with only six outs remaining.
But today was a day for heroes. Today was a day that perhaps only happens once a year or even once every 10 years or perhaps even once in a lifetime. Today was about Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh’s return.
Tsutsugoh is a pro. You can see the miles on his face but he plays the game to win. He runs the bases with seriousness and every pitch of every at-bat is patience and perfection. His game in the field was flawless. He handled chances in left without problem. He moved Miyazaki from second to third with a long sacrifice fly to to center in the fourth. In the 7th, he barely missed a home run to right center off the very top of the wall that ended up for a double. And then, well, what happened in the 8th inning will be a part of Yokohama legend forever and ever.
Jose Espada had the ball in the 8th for Yakult Tokio. Masasashi Kuwahara, today’s center fielder, flew out to right but Tatsuo Ebina, the right fielder, doubled to left. Keita Sano, who appears to have taken over first base, singled to right, driving in Ebina and closed the score to 5-3.
Espada bore down and struck out Maki for the second out. But Espada suffers from the same problem as Andre Jackson and walked Miyazaki to put runners on first and second with two outs. Ryutaku Shibata was sent in to run for Miyazaki at first and this brought Yoshi Tsutsugoh to the plate. The entire stadium came to its feet.
Tsutsugoh dug into the upper inside corner of the batter’s box. The Yokohama fans were chanting Tsutsugo, Tsutsugo. He touched his cap a few times, got set for the pitch and then drilled the first pitch fastball over the left field fence for the go-ahead home run. Pandemonium. He held up a number one sign as he came around first. The roar of the crowd was deafening. The players on the bench were jumping up and down. The announcers were hysterical. Yokahama came unglued.
Here is a video of the 8th thinning starting with the double.
Kohei Morihara gave up a hit but got through the 9th and it was fireworks time.
There were tears. People were crying. There was more emotion in Yokohama stadium then you will ever see anywhere. Storybook? Legend! In the post game on field interviews, you could see that Tsutsugoh had all of his American affectations in place. He was stoic and emotionless and saying words that he needed to say. But in the stands and amongst the other players, there were tears. Everyone was crying. I was crying. The announcers were crying. The girls were crying. Everyone was crying. It was the most magical moment possible. There may never be another one like this. It might be impossible ever to replicate this. Everyone was crying.
So I think the story is that Yokohama finally has a lineup with some pop in it. That they can pitch goes without saying. Perhaps a little bit less strategy when the boys are hitting and we might actually have that championship team after all.
Today is a day off and then there is one more with Tokyo. And then this weekend we have the Tigers who are the juggernaut of the league. There’s a long way to go before October. But today, to be a Bay Stars fan is glorious.
