Yankees' Game 6 World Series Victory Omen for Yomiuri Giants

Tetsuya Utsumi knew it was an omen heralded by the angels of yakyu, who the men and women of Japan refer the Great American Pastime as. The New York Yankees had just defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series 7-3 at Yankee Stadium.

It was a signal from the baseball forces that be: the Yomiuri Giants, long-regarded as the "New York Yankees of Japan," would win the 2009 Japan Series.

Sparks filled his eyes as he said to the scrutinizing local press before Game 6 against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, "One word I will say and no more: CHANCE. All right, one sentence more: we will win this series . And Hokkaido must give up for all they are worth, these unbelievers will not stop us."

It was chance worth taking in Sapporo, as the flagship club of the Central League shut out the Pacific League champions 2-0 to clinch the 21st national championship for Tatsunori Hara's ball club.

The victory was sweet redemption for Utsumi, who was ineffective in Game 2 of the best-of-seven. "That was my best performance of the year," Utsumi said on his performance. "I had a disappointing outing in the second game, so I was looking for payback. 

"I was prepared to go at any time."

Indeed he was. But Yomiuri, who coincidentally had the best regular season record in Nippon Professional Baseball like the Yankees did in the majors this year, was also buoyed by a strong pitching staff in Kiyoshi Toyoda, Tetsuya Yamaguchi, Daisuke Ochi, and closer Marc Kroon, who earned the save.

Kroon was solid in the last two innings, striking out the Fighters' Tomochika Tsuboi in the eighth and Atsunori Inaba and Shinji Takahashi in the ninth with a runner on third.

"That was stress," Kroon said. "But Ochi's been pitching great this year. So I felt a lot of confidence that I would be able to come in and help him out in that situation."

"We were able to execute our 'winning pattern' today with Kroon closing for us," Hara said after the game. "In the end we are No. 1, and it felt great to be tossed in the air during the doage . "

In Japan, the doage is where the manager/coach is thrown in the air after the team wins a victory of significant magnitude. It is similar to being chaired off the field in the States.

Offensively, the Giants were led by their ace. Captain Shinnosuke Abe got the Giants on the board with an RBI single to deep center in the second and an crucial error by Inaba led to another Yomiuri run in the sixth. Abe was named the Japan Series MVP after the game.

"My timing was a little off, but I was still able to make contact with the barrel of the bat," Abe said. "We wanted to score first by any means today.

"It was a tough series. But what I will remember most is the sayonara home run (in Game 5), and the support of the Giants fans. I want to thank them for cheering for us throughout the series. They were a big reason we could come out with the victory."

The series win was Yomiuri's first since 2002, healing a seven-year itch that would make Marilyn Monroe proud if she were to see it.

In Korea, fans of Gwangju's Kia Tigers were nervous. 23-year old Kim Eu-Jung, a fan of the Korea Baseball Organization champions since 1991 a citizen of Gwangju's Buk District, said, "We are screwed. If our team is somehow able to beat this behemoth of a team, I am preaching to the choir at my local Unification Church that the world has ended.

Another fan, 32-year old Lee Hwang-Jeop of Gwangsan District in Gwangju said, "Our team will give it all we got, but I do not think we will have enough in the tank to stop this team. The Evil Empire has risen."

Lee also saw the writing on the wall after the Yankees won Game 6. "As soon as [Yankees closer Mariano] Rivera got that final out and the players did that dogpile, I turned off the television, punched a hole in my bedroom and cursed into the night.

"I knew that Yomiuri was going to win the Japan Series, in spite of the Fighters' losing efforts."

"Oh Kami-sama, bless this day!" said Yomiuri mascot Giabbit at the victory rally outside the Tokyo Dome. "It was a tough climb that nearly went into the next decade, but we are on top of Mount Fuji once more! 

"Let the church bells ring and the salarymen sing; the Yomiuri Giants are once again kings! Everything is fine in 2009. Recession? What recession? It's Giants Time!

"Kyojin Banzai! Kyojin Banzai! Kyojin Banzai! (Hail Giants! Hail Giants! Hail Giants!)" roared the fans.

"I have no idea what's going on," said Robert Rodgers, a 56-year old tourist from Auckland who saw the rally from afar. "Did San Francisco win the championship?" When informed that it was not San Francisco that won but Yomiuri, he declined to comment further. It was later discovered he was a fan of the Yakult Swallows.

The Giants will have one more game to play: the 2009 Asia Series game with the Kia Tigers at the Nagasaki Baseball Stadium.

First pitch at the Big N is scheduled for Saturday, November 14 at 1:00 PM JST (Friday, November 13 at 11:00 PM EST).