One good thing about being a North American in East Asia is that even if you don't understand the language and customs of Japan, South Korea or Taiwan, there's always baseball. You don't need a guidebook or a dictionary to follow the action, and the game is one of the few means that allows you to make an emotional connection to something comfortably familiar from back home. As part of the 37th Baseball World Cup taking place in T'aipei (Taibei) 台北 and T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中, Amber, Pamela and I went to see the United States play Japan this evening at the new Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium 臺中市洲際棒球場. It was a good game, especially for an American, as the U.S. beat Japan 5-1, led by Delwyn Young's (Los Angeles Dodgers) three-run home run in the bottom of the first. Japan loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, but closer Chris Booker (Washington Nationals) was able to snuff out the threat for the save (the winning pitcher was Brian Duensing of the Minnesota Twins). The stadium was far from crowded, but the level of support for both teams was high. I was impressed with the ballpark itself, which is a great improvement over the old Taichung Baseball Field in downtown Taichung. The Sinon Bulls 興農ブルズ(興農牛) of the local Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) 中華職業棒球聯盟 are scheduled to move in starting next season, and if I'm still around, it might be worthwhile to check out a few games. Below are a few photos from tonight's game.
We sat on the third-base side, behind the U.S.A. dugout:
The player introductions and the starting lineups:
Colby Rasmus (St. Louis Cardinals) wisely lets a low pitch go by:
During the top of the 8th inning I walked over to the first-base side of the stadium:
The final result captured on the scoreboard in left-field:
Amber had no trouble making friends all throughout the evening:
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