My first-ever visit to baseball game.

Last week, we happened to obtain tickets of Yomiuri Giants' game in a pennies-from-heaven manner. Yomiuri Giants is a professional baseball team in Tokyo, and many of its former players may be familiar to those watching Major League Baseball. Hideki Matsui (former New York Yankees player) and Koji Uehara (currently playing for Boston Red Sox) would be the best cases; I knew their names even though I do not know about professional baseball in detail.

The end of September is around the time the regular season finishes. It happened that the game we watched was quite an important one in deciding the ranking of both Giants and the visiting team, Yakult Swallows--another team in Tokyo.The Swallows have been in the nearest seat to becoming the Central League's champion. So, if you put it in an NBA way, it was like watching a match between New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets right before the playoffs and the latter is on the verge of becoming an Eastern Conference champion.

We arrived about 2.5 hours before the game...in addition to the timing, it was weekend, so Tokyo Dome was already crowded with visitors. We were planning to grab something at the stands inside the venue, but decided not to, judging from the congestion. Instead we decided to eat outside the Dome.

We went to an Indian Curry Restaurant nearby. Nice, easy-to-eat curries were served.

After we settled in our seats, we watched the opposing team--Yakult Swallows--practice (the first picture). Oh, if any of you have a chance to watch a baseball game, I recommend bringing a comfy cushion. The seats are very stiff and your hips might end up sore.

After the Swallows retreat just about an hour before the game, the Giants come out to practice. This pciture is when they were warming up. It was funny because some players peek and sometimes greet at the fans in the front row. I guess it is part of fan-service.   

Watching lovely mascots is one of my pleasures. While a player gets massaged, Giants mascot Giabbit and his sister march around the field (I'm sorry the pictures are smudgy. I took them with my cell phone. It would have been almost impossible to bring my single lens reflex camera into such a crowded venue).

 Giabbit's sisters with another mascot from Mie prefecture, promoting visit to Ise area where Ise Jingu is located. Ise Jingu has a special meaning in Japanese Shintoism, and is regarded as the boss of the shrines in Japan.

The moment of playball.

Since I wanted to watch the game with concentration, I did not take photos during the game that much.

Another lovely mascot of Sato Pharmaceutical, the girl elephant Sato-chan during the break...

...followed by Giabbit and his family.

Grandpa Giabbit is also present.

This picture is at the beginning of 6th inning. On 5th inning, the Giants managed to outpoint Swallows, which was the decisive blow.

This day, the Giants defeated the Swallows, 4-3. We listened to hero-of-the-game interview. The protagonist was Kazuma Okamoto who tied the game at 4th inning with a timely hit. He is a rookie of 19, fresh from high school. It was his first interview, and everyone cackled when he addressed the audience, "How do you do, everyone? I'm Johnny Depp from Nara Prefecture!"

I was trying to take more pictures (particularly of the mascots...one of Giabbit's sister was hugging Grandpa Giabbit, and it was so adorable) until I heard this low character guy from the back row yelling "What the f*** are you taking? Why don't you f***ing zoom it?". He had been such a vermin, screaming from the beginning of the game and I regarded him as someone whom I shouldn't get involved; so I quietly stashed my cell phone into my tote bag.