Deeble's Diary: Friday 22 February - Training Day, Osaka Dome
Great training today at the Osaka Dome, the guys really got to work. We had a long toss program infield outfield cut offs and relays, we then went into bunt defences, 1st and 3rds and finished with PFPs for the pitchers including some pick off work.
We ended up with our regular rounds of BP which included some situational hitting, then had extra BP which most guys took, where two guys went up into the 3rd deck; Ryan Battaglia and Luke Hughes.
Training was attended by an amazing amount of media, many interviews and photos, our guys are a hit over here.
We had an impressive BP and everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's game against Japan. Japan have their best pitcher starting in Tanaka, he is 91-96 with a good slider and split. Oxspring will start for us followed by Ruzic and five guys will throw one inning; we are really keen to win and get the respect our team deserves.
We had a post-training press conference in which I stuffed up; I thought the interpreter asked me about the German team and I went into a five minute spiel only to find out he was asking me about the Japanese team. The whole place broke up with laughter.
Dinner tonight was outstanding, lots of food including lobster, sushi, chicken, beef, all top notch stuff; the cold rock ice cream was a hit also.
Good early night tonight, a bus to the Mizuno store in the morning, lunch and a 3.30pm bus for a 6.30pm game, which is sold out.
Deebs
