January 7, 200521 yr Japanball.com has info on all of Japans baseball teams and some have been compared to American teams. I've found the team that resembles us nicely, minus the cross-town rivalry, the Chunichi Dragons. The description: While the old Dragons usually won games because their hitters had just enough power to clear the short outdoor Nagoya Stadium fences, that strategy didn't work indoors because the Nagoya Dome's outfield dimensions matches those of any major league park. So Chunichi traded away their sluggers and concentrated on building a team that had solid pitching, good base-running and a line-up filled with contact hitters. The Dragons score just enough runs to keep their starting pitchers in the game. Hot-headed manager Senichi Hoshino, who helped create an ugly international incident by shoving first baseman Yasuaki Taiho into American umpire Mike DiMuro, who had been invited to umpire in Japan by the Central League . Hoshino also forbade his pitchers to apologetically tip their hats after drilling a batter. The trade of the sluggers and the reputation of being a thug team is what makes me see them as the White Sox of Japan.
January 8, 200521 yr I just hope we don't finish our season the way the Dragons did. I guess making the series would mean we probably won a home playoff game or two though.
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