Don't smack around OTM

And to be fair, it's pretty clear that not all O's fans are morons. There was at least one over there who wasn't.

Now with that out of the way, you guys got beat.  This media invention from the Land of the Rising Sun got his ass handed to him and it only took two minor leaguers to do the job.  We know you guys spent a lot of money on this yet to be tried out commodity, and that the wide and rabid fanbase of the BoSox compels the sports press in this country to closely follow your team's moves.  But the fact is that Orioles fans, and everyone else except you, are already sick of hearing about Captain Gyro AND we are all happy that he fell on his face in a Preseason Game.  Thems the breaks.  

Now if, as your "translator" contends, Matsuzaka needs a Spring Training game to learn that you do not leave pitches up in the strike zone then you guys might be in worse shape than simply going a game back in the Ol' Grapefruit League.  
 

This is reTAHHHHHHded.  Sucks that I am stuck in Boston for now.

Go Orioles.  World Series in 2007 and the next twenty years!!

A few points that I thought I should address:

1. From what I have seen, the O's comments are unfairly directed at Sox fans as a group.  Please direct the attacks to ME and not to Boston Fans in General.  That's why I don't use a pseudonym.  The truth is, I'm originally a MARINER'S FAN (the team sadly labeled "Baltimore West" by some in the media)!!!!  Therefore, don't say "all sox fans are the same."  I'm from Seattle for crying out loud, and I just happen to like the 'Sox  (more than the M's lately, in fact).  However, I've followed Matsuzaka for 3 years, and saw him pitch live in Japan twice.  Sure he doesn't throw a gyroball, but he's an incredibly methodical and intelligent pitcher.  When he says BEFORE A GAME, that he plans to experiment a bit, in the way he DID in the game, I tend to believe him.  Don't slander Boston Fans when the comment came from somebody on the opposite side of the country, from a different fan base.  That is unfair and disingenuous.  An apology is owed to Boston Fans in general.
2. The Japanese language "can" be vague at time, but that doesn't mean all Japanese people discuss matters in ambiguous terms.  This is a horrible stereotype that is often prevalent among people who have not studied the Japanese language extensively.  As a native Japanese speaker, I would be more than happy to demonstrate this to anyone who would like to talk with me directly.  I'll be more than happy to curse someone in no-uncertain-terms, that will leave NOTHING to the imagination or ambiguity.

3) There are now articles in English which touch on similar points.  
Granted this is an MLB.com's article, but I thought I should bring it up.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070311&content_id=1837653&vkey=spt2007ne ws&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

"This being a team in our same division that we're going to face many, many times, I thought I'd take the opportunity to experiment a little bit and see where they're going to hit the ball, see where they wouldn't hit the ball and that kind of thing," said Matsuzaka. "So the third and fourth [innings], I was definitely experimenting a little bit more."

I find it interesting that Matsuzaka gave up runs and "lost control" during the same innings he decided to experiment.  When CAN a pitcher afford to experiment?  One would think that Spring Training would be the ideal time...  hmm....  

4. Do I think the O's are a weak, pathetic team?  No, that was not the message of my post, nor is it something I believe.  I'm a big fan of Mazzone and am eager to see what he can do with the the O's talented rotation.  Tejada is an elite SS who I always hoped would end up with the M's after he left the A's.  I was truly depressed when the M's were outbid.  The O's have some good players, and very passionate fans, and I was sad that some members of their fanbase would be so hypersensitve that they would think discussion of a different team's OWN pitcher as an assault on their own team.
5. I certainly did not intend to slander DirtDogs.  It's a great webpage, absolutely.  End of story.

I'm very disappointed that some people would take my post as slander against their team, which it was not meant to be.  My bigger concern is people who do not dig deeper for the truth.

Cheers,
Jeff

"My own personal knowledge of Japanese consists of only being able to read a fair number of Kanji.  I study Chinese and as you know the hanzi/kanji are essentially the same.  As far as translations are concerned I work in a corporate setting where a large number of Japanese translations take place for business matters.  Often times 2 and 3 translators are employed at once to interpret what one man is saying.  The reason, as this has been explained to me by countless interpreters, both Native Japanese and American, is that the Japanese language can be so elusive that more than one mind is often needed to grasp the context of what a particular phrase might mean.  This is not to discount the capability of directness within the language or the culture as the whole, merely a reflection of what I have been taught by some of the top language professionals in this country and Japan."

I've actually translated both technical manuals (for convection ovens and industrial welding gear) and scholastic articles (the nature of Japanese economics in the 17-19th c.) before.  I also read literary Chinese if that helps.  Direct source, instead of secondary here.  The vagueness which supposedly appears is not something that is innate to the language.  It's very easy to communicate concepts in Japanese.  

The problem is instead that some Japanese (especially those in the academic community), for the purpose of being polite, decide not to directly state their argument--it's a stylistic issue instead of a grammatic issue.  This is not a problem inherent in the language but instead a cultural goal of avoiding conflict.  For example, in the works by the scholars I translate, instead of arguing: "The Japanese Bubble Economy burst in 1989" as we would in English, they'll say, "Evidence shows that that it was likely the bubble Economy began to collapse in 1989".  There is a great deal of use of the "passive" voice, which makes things more difficult to follow, and can be perceived as ambiguous.  Can this make things vague and difficult for translators?  Absolutely.  But does this mean the language itself is ambiguous.  Not necessarily.  

Matsuzaka's interview was not of this sort however.  His comments left nothing to the imagination, as I posted in my original translation the DAY BEFORE he pitched.  It was unfair to stereotype all comments by Japanese baseball pitchers as vague.  It was also disingenous when throwing doubt on the goals of a pitcher.  This happens far too often in Seattle media sources, with Ichiro's comments for example.  Just because he doesn't give the usual sound-bytes, he is essentially mocked by local reporters as some sort of "zen guru".  

These acusations frustrate me as they lean dangerously close to a return to "Orientalism" (for more info. see E. Said's Orientalism) instead of just simple trashtalking.  Even if that is not the hopes of the initial author, they strengthen negative stereotypes of other peoples.  I'd hoped we'd moved away from that after the 1980's and early 1990's...  That's what bothered me in the posts above, not the "trashtalking."  Boston has always been accused of being a racist town.  Barry Bonds was just one of the latest in a string who voiced this concern (granted, Bonds is a crazy individual, but in this case, he may have mirrored popular opinion).  Seeing the recent interest in Matsuzaka and Japanese culture has given me hope that instead, Boston will now permanently shed this label--which I feel now is currently undeserved.  In an era when racial tensions are so high thanks to the current war in the Mid East, it's refreshing to see people interested in learning about a new country instead.  Some of the comments above, made me fear for that dream however.

Anyway, I think this will be my last post on this subject.  For me, while trashtalking can be a fun aspect of the sport, it too often degenerates into personal attacks or stereotypes against other groups, which I had had enough of when I left Wall Street.  I come here in my free time to share my love of the sport with others, so that we can all use Baseball as something fun to forget about our own worries in the real world for a little while.  I don't think personal attacks are fun for anyone.  Instead, I'll keep translating periodically in the hopes that we can all enjoy different media viewpoints on the players who we enjoy watching.  Baseball can be a unique vehicle for cultural exchange.  I think we'll see that this year, through Matsuzaka.  I'd rather people think about baseball when they think about Japan, instead of, say Pearl Harbor and world war two (I saw enough of this as a kid growing up).  It's how cultural wounds are finally healed.  

Cheers,
Jeff