SB Nation User Blog: dragonsfanatic

Dome's diary - Oct. 8th, on the end of 2009 season

dragonsfanatic — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:38:41 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on Oct. 8th, a note on the end of 2009 season.

-----------------------------

- Hello, our season is just over. We couldn't make the playoff. I feel so frustrating, so miserable. I know we had a lot of chance to make it, so it's even more frustrating. I remember I wrote the same thing last year. I also know we got into a self-destruction pattern, as we had too many injured players.

- Personally, my numbers looks like almost same with last year's, but I felt much better this year. I could perform my best swing even when I got out in so many at bat, that makes big difference. The good thing was I could do what I tried to do at plate. The bad thing was I could not make quick adjustment when I went into slumps.

- I would give myself "?" if I try to do self-evaluation for this year. Well, it might not be worth to evaluate in anyway.

- For now, I would stay with my family and relax a little bit, and refresh myself. Not decided when I will come home in Japan in this off-season yet.

- Thank you all so much for your support this year. I will train hard in Japan in this winter again and do my best next year.

-----------------------------

I guess he will use Dragons training facility in Nagoya again while they are visiting Chatan, Okinawa for annual spring training. I hope I would see Cubs in better shape, ready to win next April.

Fukudome homer signboard - says "Kokoni Ippatsu Homeran! Fukudome" means "Hit a homerun here now...

dragonsfanatic — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:12:35 -0000

Fukudome homer signboard - says "Kokoni Ippatsu Homeran! Fukudome" means "Hit a homerun here now Dome!" plus target.

Click here to go to flickr page and click ALL SIZES to download original size file to print out.
You can get more signboard for Dome and Cubs here.

Dome's diary - Aug. 25th

dragonsfanatic — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:49:56 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on August 25th.

-----------------------------

- Hello, and sorry about updating this diary so late.

- August. Hmm, I should say we could not keep our momentum of July into this month so far. I thought we have to be patient in this tough situation, but now is the time the word "patient" doesn't fit at all anymore.

- I feel we made the situation worse as we've been giving up some needless runs. There are about 40 games to go, and we will definitely do our best. Well, that's all we have to do.

- Personally, my conditions are not bad. I am a starter in the game in one day, or not in next day, or coming in mid inning... I have to get used to the situation, and I will just do what I can do at all given chances. Well, this is not very easy (laugh)

- OBP? I don't care about those numbers so I am not sure, but I feel this is one of my strength to get on base in any kind of way since I am in Japan.

- Good eyes? Well, again I am not sure but I am confident about my eyes... not just eyes, of course (laugh)

- Double digits homers for 11 consecutive years. I have no obsession with homer, but it was good in anyway, because I don't like to see something consecutive for long years is snapped.

- BTW, Yamasaki-san (Takeshi Yamasaki of Rakuten Eagles, Dome's former teammate at Dragons) looks great this season again at that age (40, soon to be 41). I called him when he made 350 homers and 1000 RBIs to celebrate. He was happy, and he said he is completely focusing on making play-off this year. Finally he encouraged me, the other way around, and I replied "Definitely". Oh yes. Congrats Yamasaki-san, for 1500 basehits, 1000 RBIs and 350 homers.

- Anyway, I will try to do my best to the end of this season, remembering aggressive effort of Yamasaki-san and Rakuten Eagles. I need your support.

(see photos on this diary for Dome and his personal coach Kyosuke Sasaki and colleagues)

-----------------------------

These days I have almost no chance to watch Cubs game live on my satellite channels (NHK and J-Sports ), as they are mostly showing AL games and very few NL games. AL has more Japanese players like Ichiro, Hideki Matsui and Matsuzaka, and they don't change matches to show even those superstars are on DL or day-to-day. Currently almost all Japanese eyes are on Ichiro, who is 16 basehits to go for new MLB record, 200+ basehits for 9 seasons in a row and 11 to go for 2000 career basehits in MLB, but missing these 3 games with sore left calf. I can watch Dome's AB in news program like NHK's MLB highlight, but anyhow, I am not sure I can watch Dome and Cubs live even they will be playing showdown later next month for playoff berth...

Dome's diary - July 31st

dragonsfanatic — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:12:39 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on July 31st right after he's got 3 basehits, 4 RBI day against Houston.

-----------------------------

- Hello, we are in pretty good shape, both the team and myself after ASG. My hitting streak was just over, but I feel pretty good about my condition since before ASG and it just continues.

- 10-game hitting streak is too good to me :-), as I sometime got no chance one day, and too many basehits one day like today. Today? It's a bit too good, indeed :-)

- Personally, I think the reason why is I got very good refreshing days during the AS break, had a good, relaxed time with my family. I also had fun playing golf with Sasaki-san. My score? Don't ask me about it, I forgot :-).

- Another reason is clearly Sasaki-san, he helped me a lot as part-time hitting coach. I really appreciate him and the team for their great support. Sasaki-san was in Cubs uniform and he looked great and proud, but I felt somewhat odd about it ;-)

- We have some injured players so we are not 100%, but each player is getting better, and this is working. We are now some games above .500 and want to continue this effort. It's a bit early to talk about standings and I don't care about it right now.

- I have no injury part as of now this year, all in good shape. I will make my best effort to contribute my team as much as I can. I need your support.

- Now, I have to pack up and go on the road...

-----------------------------

There is interesting story between Dome and Kyosuke Sasaki. Sasaki was manager of late Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes (this team no longer exist) and he picked up Dome at PL Gakuen HS in 1995 draft in 1st round, out of 7 competing ballclubs and Sasaki won the lottery (we didn't have waiver system in NPB draft at that time - we still don't have it for 1st and 2nd round). Sasaki showed his emotion and shouted as "Yossha!!!" when he drew winning lottery, just like Aki Ohtsuka of Texas Rangers, former Buffalo and Dragon, and "Yossha!" became his nickname.

But Dome didn't want to join Buffaloes, as he was always saying he want to join either Chunichi Dragons or Yomiuri Giants, then he went to non-Pro Nissei baseball club. Dome joined Dragons in 1999 and Sasaki was hired as hitting coach in 2002, so he finally have Dome in his team and that was what he wanted the most. Dome was converted to outfield before 2002 season with some advise of Sasaki and this move helped his hitting a lot. Dome became longer ball hitter with high average, batting champion in 2002, first 30+ homers in 2003.

Sasaki left Dragons after being interim manager for 20 games right after manager Hisashi Yamada (Japan's WBC 2009 pitching coach) was fired in awful 2003 season.

I think these 2 years (2002-2003) for Dome with help by Sasaki were critical and they build up good foundation for his success as a Dragon and a Cub, so this is why he still want Sasaki to check his hitting mechanism, I believe.

Dome's diary - July 17th

dragonsfanatic — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:21:05 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on July 17th.

-----------------------------

- The 2nd half is already started and we made a good start so far. Me? Well, I will try my best in upcoming games...

- I was so relaxed during the All Star Game break. I went to Disney World in Florida with my wife and little son. I have to have such a fun time with my family sometime in regular season, but it was too hot out there...

- Cubs could be better in the 1st half, so we need to gain momentum in this 2nd half. Win one game at a time, and no losing streak!

- Personally I have to make great attention to avoid injury, then result will follow. Now I've never hang back at bat, thanks to last year's experience, and feel way better. Numbers? Well... I will just try my best.

- The 2nd meeting against Kenshin-san at Wrigley... My homer was kinda his mistake - easy 4-seam fastball. We went to dinner together at Chicago Kalbi, but that was day before the meeting, so we've never talk about it. He is definitely one of great pitchers so I feel so good about the homer, but there is no special emotion... it's just another one. But guys around us were so noisy about it! :-)

- There are no more meeting with him in this regular season, then I definitely want to face him again in playoff. We both have to make it!

- Anyhow we will just work harder in the 2nd half. Enjoy watching Cubs game.

-----------------------------

On dragonsfanatic side, we had 91% solar eclipse today here in Okinawa. I went to Chatan Ballpark nearby to watch both junior-high baseball game and the great eclipse, expecting the darkness may suspend the game maybe 20 minutes or so...

Anyway the sunlight was enough to play baseball even under 91% eclipse, then pitcher threw the bases-loaded walk-off wild-pitch in the bottom of 10th inning under near-maximum eclipse!

We also had halo and eclipse all together, so it was sort of mysterious day....

Dome's diary - July 6th

dragonsfanatic — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:05:10 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on July 6th.

-----------------------------

- The weather in Chicago is pretty cool. Is it really July? It should be very hot and humid back in Nagoya in the middle of rainy season.

- We won the 4-game series agains 1st place Milwaukee, and came back to .500. It's pretty hard to go high above .500 as of now but we definitely want to ride on upward wave in this 10-game home games at Wrigley.

- The homer was my first one in a while - I thought I never be able to hit another one :-) It's been too long and I almost forget my feelings when I hit homer. It jammed a little bit but went yard well.

- My average goes down a bit recently and I don't mind it yet... well, I'd be lying if I said so, but it is actually too early to mind. There is much more outs than last year that satisfied myself as I felt I did pretty good hitting, so I don't mind.

- After All Star Game, Sasaki-san (Dome's hitting coach Kyosuke Sasaki) will come to Chicago again and check my hitting, so I will be having some refreshing time with my family during ASG break.

- So overall in 1st half of this season, I feel way better than last year so I hope my numbers go up again and resulted well. The team was likely to get off the track a little bit until now, but we definitely want to create margin above .500 as many as we can before ASG. I owe you fans' support a lot and you should be careful for suffering summer heat.

- BTW, Tora (nickname of his best friend Masahiro Araki, Dragons' 2nd baseman) recently made his 250th career stolen base. This should be just another pass point for him, but congrats anyway!

Dome's diary - Jun. 19th

dragonsfanatic — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:25:56 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on June 19th.

-----------------------------

- Recently I can hardly collect basehits. It should be time to remain in patience both for the team and myself. We are sort of in on-again-off-again situation, hard to fly high above .500. We are struggling. I feel there were too many little mistakes we made in those games and that suffered.

- Just one month to halfway, and want to win as many as we can until then. I'm very healthy, no injury... well, need to be very patient these days.

- Facing Kenshin-san was absolutely fun, and absolutely unnatural. I'd been watching his back from outfield in Dragon-Blue jersey for many years, and then I finally watched his face from the plate in Atlanta in different jerseys. Something wrong. We had to bite inside of our cheeks hard in the first at-bat when we saw each other.

- I knew he is great pitcher since I joined Dragons with precise location control. He pitched mostly down low and corners to me, almost no mistakes, couldn't find easy one.

- I slightly remember there was only one time we faced up in the game before - it was a practice game in Dragons spring camp (2007 in Chatan, Okinawa), and I got struck out swinging (IMG_0257 to IMG_0272).

- After the game, Kenshin-san brought me dine out (note - looks like they ate sushi or sashimi). Off course he picked up the bill :-). We talked a lot, mainly about daily life in US, as I have one year advantage of MLB experience.

- I am looking for our second meetings in Chicago next month, and we will definitely dine out again. Well, I would pick up the bill next time, expectedly...

- I hope I will have more basehits anytime soon, and I know you fans are being patient these days. I will make my best effort to regain my performance.

-----------------------------

Right after he wrote this diary, he collected four hits against Indians, and was hitless but had a couple of nice defensive plays to help Cubs to sweep them. On the other hand, local high school baseball tournament began here in Okinawa ("March Madness" equivalent to us here in Japan, especially in Okinawa) and I don't afford to have much time to watch Cubs game live (not even Dragons), but the next chance is your Wednesday game against Tigers (my Thursday morning). Hope I can join live thread a little bit then.

Kenshin and Dome (Kenshin Kawakami and Kosuke Fukudome - we Dragons fan call them as such for long...

dragonsfanatic — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:33:19 -0000

Kenshin and Dome (Kenshin Kawakami and Kosuke Fukudome - we Dragons fan call them as such for long time) finally face off in different uniform first time in regular season. Dome wrote about it in his recent diary how he feels to hit against his long time friend.

So fun to watch!

Dome's diary - Jun. 1st

dragonsfanatic — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:19:58 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on June 1st.

-----------------------------

- 8-game losing streak was too long. I thought we never win to the end of this season... All of us tried to wear cap inside out - it was not just as a lucky charm but we just wanted to do all the thing we can do for a win. Locker room was not in good mood, indeed, and sometimes too much excited, but it was good we could go out of the jam in anyway.

- My homer? Well, it was good one for the team so far, as well as for me. I wanted to play throughout to 9th inning, because I was on starting lineup, but it was a sort of blessed rain as we snapped losing streak.

- Kyosuke Sasaki (Former Dragons hitting coach when Dome joined Dragons, and still active as his personal coach) came into the town the other day. He checked my hitting form, stance and everything generally (see some photos on his diary). My current numbers through May don't make much difference with last year, but I definitely feel much better this year. I asked him to come again in July... if he come early, you can imagine I got some problems ;-). Anyway I would express my appreciation for him.

- I found my name in the recent round of fan voting for All Star Game. This is fantastic and I gained more confident. Thank you so much for all the fans voted for me.

- We are finally going to visit Atlanta, and I am going to face up to my long time teammate Kenshin Kawakami in game 1. This is thrilling! We also have to pay attention to hide our grins when we see each other from plate and mound :-) I don't know when yet but I definitely want him to buy me a dinner sometime there. You know, Kenshin :-)

- Many of Japanese players are struggling with injury this year. I have to take good care to myself.

- It's getting warmer here in Chicago, and I would try harder, upbeat with the temperature.

-----------------------------

Kenshin and Dome had been Dragons teammates for 9 years, and they were true leaders of the team and good friends. Sometime they faced off in spring training in my neighborhood, Chatan Okinawa, but this would be very first time in the regular season. This is fun to watch as a Dragons fan, they continue to wear number #1 and #11, and the game will be televised live on my satellite channel.

Dome's diary - on his birthday, Apr. 27th

dragonsfanatic — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:36:31 -0000

Dome keeps his diary posted on his website once or twice a month, and here's quick summery of what he wrote on Apr. 27th - on his 32nd birthday and right after he bashed 3 hits, 5 RBIs including a 3-run homer.

-----------------------------

- The birthday homer? Sort of accidental (laugh), but it's better than nothing...

- Birthday is something special for me, but it should be thanksgiving day for my parents. Anyway, 32 years old might be part of middle age, isn't it? Time flies so quick, and I hope this year will be good one.

- 2 weeks after the opening day - not tired at all, as I am still young... at least young at heart.

- The opening game was on road, but I could get into the game very smoothly. When I look back last year (on the opening game at Wrigley), I might be somewhat nervous I guess.

- This year's first game at Wrigley was delayed by rain and cold, so I felt it was a bit quiet day... but it is definitely special day and I made a fresh determination, felt very at home after hearing Cubs fan's rooting.

- I feel it's warmer in Chicago than last year, maybe I'm get used to live here, but the temperature still swings a bit widely.

- I feel better with my condition and numbers as of now. I can hit first good pitch proactively, and get walks sometime - that's good sign. Reasons? Sometimes I can ask coaches to do practices that I feel I need to do, and I can plan my (pre-game practice) menu easier as I feel comfortable with timetables with experience from last year... those might work well.

- Batting order? I don't have any strong impression that "2nd-hitter" has to be, so I don't care if I bat 2nd or anywhere... I just try to get on base every time for upcoming hitters.

(dragonsfanatic note - In Japanese baseball, "2nd-hitter", who bats 2nd, is considered as small and quick technicians)

- For fans - everything's healthy as of now, so I'll try hard to continue this to the end of this season. I'll do my best and I need your support.