Trip to see Shohei

Angel two-way star Shohei Ohtani's home run

swing against the Mariners June 9. It came

in the third inning, scored two runs, and knotted

the score before the Angels won, 5-4,

on Mickey Moniak's homer in the sixth.

Ohtani had three hits on the night.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

I came, I saw, I conquered. (Julius Caesar)

We (my brother and I) saw Shohei Ohtani at the Big A June 9, and we got to see the Japanese two-way star blast a home run for the Angels--he has been on a tear ever since--but struggle on the mound, as he walked five and hit a batter (young Seattle star Julio Rodriguez) in a five-inning no-decision against the Mariners.

In comments to the press after the game, Ohtani, who has won a Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Cy Young already as a 28-year-old, said he wasn't feeling good on the mound. I think it's possible his discomfort or restlessness has to do with pitching many more innings than he has ever thrown to this point in the season.

As a preventative measure, the Angels gave Shohei an extra day of rest prior to his start against Seattle, which kind of fouled up our schedule as I mapped out his start two prior starts before, then counted six days, then counted more days. That landed on Thursday, June 8, against the Cubs at home.

The only problem was that I couldn't count on that date as actually being a start for the 6'5" righthander, what with my brother and I only wanting to drive the 100 miles or so from San Diego to see the Angels if Shohei was starting--sorry, Mike Trout isn't enough to get us to a game at Angel Stadium.

By the way, many other fans were drawn to the game by the two-way star--including many Japanese, who had signs in Japanese, towels with his image, outfits from the culture--the whole shebang.

The homer June 9 was Ohtani's 17th of the young season. Ten days later, he has 24 homers, leading the American League, projecting to 50 or more home runs for the season. He had 34 last year.