baseball I've seen

I made it to 2 world cup baseball games over the weekend at the new intercontinental stadium off Cheng De Rd. The stadium appears to be fully operational, complete with merchandise vendors, corn dogs and Taiwan Beer for sale. There's even what seems to be a makeshift McD's on the outside ground floor just before the ticket booths. It also has a fine ramp for strollers or wheelchairs. No problem taking in your own beverages either, of course. Lots of parking so long as Taiwan's not playing. All around a fine ball park. I'm ruined for the old one on Shuang Shr. Which, I heard, was built by the Japanese during the occupation. Possibly the 20s or 30s. Anyone know to confirm this?Anyway, I love that this ballpark is in Taichung.

Saturday: Japan vs. US. Met up with old Chang Hua friends Tom, Paul and Johnson who I found outside sitting and giggling around a pile of empty Heinekens. Light crowd. We sat on the US side. US scored 3 in the first. Japan got one back in the 5th(?). The US tacked on 2 more in the last of the eighth to seal it, 5-1. Japan actually loaded the bases in the ninth sending the potential tying run to the plate before he was retired. Both teams hit the ball well, good defense and pitching on both sides.
Fun, light hearted crowd. There was a young American girl who waved a full size starless US flag with a peace symbol on the blue every time the US recorded even an out. If you saw her on TV, I was the guy a couple rows back and off to the left wearing the Expos tricolor. Tom said he found the peace symbol offensive and when I suggested that a tank would be a more appropriate, Tom just started giggling again and said "Fuckin' right." I eventually went to the men's room and ran into Les Arthur and John Kuhel. John plays weekly in Tainan in a league and was actually wearing his Factory Cats uniform, hoping to track down US hitting coach Reggie Smith after the game to get a few pointers.

I had been in touch with Dean-o prior to the game and found him sitting with that crew completely absorbed by the game, beer in one hand and what looked like a potato wrapped in tin foil in the other. He was on the aisle so I sat down on the step next to him and said, "Hey Dean! How you doing?"
He looked over at me with a big grin and with his opposite hand just kinda pawed my shoulder a few times and said, "Ryan! I found you!" It was around this time that we heard that the beer vendors had sold out. I thought of my last two Kirins under my seat and decided to head back before the wolves sniffed them out. Dean-o insisted I take a sandwich back with me. He handed me the potato shaped thing he had been holding and said, "Take it!" When I got back to my seat Tom asked what it was and when I told him it was a potato, did he want it, he snatched it out of my hand and tore it open informing me that it was not potato, but a sandwich! He asked where I got it so I recounted my story and told him about Dean. Did he know Dean? No, Tom doesn't know Dean. Just then, Tom gestured two sections down to a guy wearing a blue hat approaching the US dugout from the stands, hands cupped over his mouth and shouting something onto the field. Tom says, "Hey, that guy's really into it." I looked around and exclaimed, "That's Dean! That's the guy! You're eating Dean's sandwich!" Tom just leaned back, chewing, and said, "Good sandwich. What's he yelling about? This is fun!"

Dean was probably yelling "The legs feed the wolf!" repeatedly. Though I could be wrong.

We hit Joe's Bar after the game and didn't stay too late. Paul and Tom had to drag Johnson out of there, he was having a blast. Joe's is a lot like his Chang Hua bar, wooden interior, drinking games, TV on Cinemax and bar snacks. No rock n roll though, Joe seems to be liking the House music.

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I'll write about Sunday's game tomorrow. It was a family affair.

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John, did you hit COSTCO on opening day? Get your eggs? I saw some madness on the news Friday night with reaching, pushing, grabbing for these eggs. They must be good freakin' eggs! Looked like a refugee camp save for all the people looked pretty well fed.

Tom said he drove in from Changhua, drove around the block, and drove straight home.