And that 2:05 included a delay of about one minute at 6:24 pm when a 7.0 earthquake (preliminary reading) rocked Northern Japan and made the stadium in Chiba, about 300 miles south of the epicenter, roll for about a minute or two. After a quizzical look by the players on the field, the umpires looked up, saw that the stadium was in one piece and continued the game.

 

Minchey, in his sixth year of playing in Japan, retired 19 of the last 20 Orix batters, including the last 15 in a row. He allowed only a broken bat single in the first inning, a walk in the third, and a solid single by Jose Ortiz in the third.

 

Rick Short, a newcomer to Japan for the Marines, talked to me before the game and said that Minchey was a positive influence for newcomers like him. "He even owns a car and knows how to drive around here, " Short said. If you have ever visited Japan, you would know that trying to drive in this country is an experience that that can take about 20 years off of your life either through fright or from sitting in traffic.

 

Short was apparently cheered up by talking to me before the game as he hit one of the three solo home runs that accounted for all of the scoring. Short told me that Chiba Marine Stadium is a difficult place to hit as the wind tends to blow in at a healthy speed. (The scoreboard has a wind gauge in it.) And he says that on most days, fly balls are a Candlestick Park-like adventure. But Monday night was calm, except for the ground.

 

Chiba Marine Stadium is about a 30 minute train ride east of Tokyo. Unless you are using Frommer's guidebook for Japan for 2002. That book tells you to go see the Marines play at Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki. That stadium no longer exists and it is not unlike telling someone who wants to go see the Dodgers play to go to Ebbets Field. Take my advice, take the Keiyo Line from Tokyo Station, get off at Kaihin Makuhari and then follow the signs for about 10-15 minutes and Chiba Marine Stadium will most definitely be there.

 

The Marines have been one of the nicest teams I've encountered. It's unfortunate that the Marines are not more successful. They have the longest drought without a pennant of any team in Japan, last winning the Pacific League back in 1974. This year is unlikely to see a change as the Marines have a lock on fifth place. Minchey's shutout tonight was welcome relief from the nightmare that the Marines went through at the Tokyo Dome this weekend, where they were swept in a 3-game series by the Fighters and gave up 42 runs.