Inside Team USA
Jul 30, 2002 | Baseball
July 8, 2002
This summer season is best explained if you break it down into four segments. The first segment, or season, is the 31st annual meeting between Team USA and Japan National teams. During this first season there was a lot of weight on the backs of our players to bring home the series victory. If we didn't win the series, it would mark the first time Team USA has not won the annual series when hosted in the United States. It was time to take stage and earn the international respect we deserve. But it was no easy road to haul. The series was tied up 2-2 with Game 5 in the hands of fate. From executive directors, to coaches, trainers, and even players, the pressure was on.
The series was tied up much to the likes of the Japanese pitching. For Japan's first victory a little left-handed pitcher tossed 181 pitches in an eleven inning complete game win. It took too long for our hitters to adjust to his style of pitching and before you knew it the game was over. It's not always easy adapting to international ball especially when they (Japanese) play the game a little bit different than what we are used to. Many of the Japanese national players slap the ball coming out of the box and they get down the line close to 4 seconds every time, but they contradict themselves in batting practice because they hit homeruns like it's their job. Whatever the circumstance, our defense has to remain on its toes the entire game because you never know what to expect. As for their pitchers, every one of them have a pause in the windup at the top of their balance point. For a hitter, having good timing is key for success and this little pause the Japanese use is just an attempt to throw off your timing. Strategy was no longer an element as we headed into Game 5 which took place on the appropriate July 4, Independence day in Trenton, N.J. We had Brad Sullivan lighting the fireworks on the mound for us that day as he chunked a one hit complete game 2-1 victory.
Season number one is complete and the series victory goes to the good guys.Because we played the Japanese five games over a period of nine days we had a little down time to get out and see the world around us. On one of our off days, we loaded up and went down to New York City to see people scrambling around block after block all hours of the day. We met up for a luncheon on top of the Manhattan Chase Bank which was remarkable. Luckily, the bank is one of our leading sponsors, and any time we can pay respects to those that make this trip happen we do the best we can to honor and thank them. After the lunch, the 22 guys were let loose on the town. The most thought-provoking sight of the day had to come from ground zero. I had the opportunity to see what hurt our country so deeply this past September 11. This team sends out their deepest sympathy to all victims and families affected by the tragic endeavor to harm our American citizens. It was a long and grueling day in the City considering the temperature 96 degrees and the humidity was much like that of New Orleans. But all in all we saw enough from ground zero to help us realize that no matter how bad it (life) ever gets , anything for that matter, it's really not that bad. That should be enough to go out and represent our country the only way we know how, play baseball and do it with some patriotic pride.
Now starts season two of the grind. Rumor has it that we will travel to nine cities over a period of ten days. Wow, not much time off to relax. In fact, the only relaxing will be on a chartered bus during the day while we sprint from town to town. But its nice playing at all these different towns. Many of the people say USA Baseball is the biggest thing to hit their town in years, as well as the New England Collegiate Baseball League. That's the league which we now have a 3-0 record against. Our confidence is growing now that we've had a few games to swing the wood. Now we're gonna start having some fun. I'll catch up to you later, but I got to get some rest on this bus. I'm the only one awake.
Thanks for checking in and Roll Wave.
