"Straight Talk" is a regular feature in which The Sporting Tribune's John E. Gibson offers a full translation of media availability with Dodgers Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. He will also help translate when Lakers star Rui Hachimura and LA Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida are asked questions in Japanese.
The job of interpreters in the heat of the moment is difficult without the ability to write down questions and answers and re-hear responses for proper context. That's where John comes in to help.
John currently works as a Japanese-English interpreter and covered pro baseball in Japan for about 20 years. His experience as a sports reporter includes stints at The Orange County Register, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Redlands Daily Facts, The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English newspaper in Tokyo and The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani (2-0) sets down the bat for a night, focusing on the mound, and sees his scoreless innings streak of earned runs allowed snapped at 32.2 innings. But he picks up the win, surrendering just one run on two hits and a walk over six innings, while fanning 10 to lower his ERA to 0.50 in an 8-2 victory over the visiting New York Mets on Wednesday.
Q: What was your reaction when Dave Roberts said that he wanted you to only pitch today?
Ohtani: I was a little surprised. But for the team, I think it was probably the best approach. He said he wanted me to concentrate on pitching after being hit by a pitch, so I just put my focus on that.
Q: How different is it physically, going through a game just as a pitcher instead of as a two-way player, specifically pitching without hitting?
Ohtani: The time between innings feels longer and it was kind of weird for me. But it was also good because I was able to focus well.
Q: What did you do with that time to stay loose? Did you have to do more?
Ohtani: I had more time than I usually do to think about going up against batters, so it gave me some valuable time.
Q: Your fastball seemed to have a lot of life today, are you happy with it?
Ohtani: Well, after I gave up that run, I put a little more effort into things, but overall, I was able to relax and just throw so it was progress from my last outing.
Q: Your four fastest fastballs came right after they scored that run. Are you usually cognizant, going into these starts, about maybe saving a little something extra for when you get into trouble?
Ohtani: Well, you can’t pitch over the course of a season and throw 100 pitches at max effort, so you look at the scoreboard, to some degree. In that situation, it was runners on second and third and one hit could’ve put them in the lead, so I needed to go all out to hold them down in that instance.
Q: Shohei, you said in your last start that you felt some fatigue. Do you feel the way the Dodgers are using you, your schedule, is allowing you to fix that?
Ohtani: Well, yes. Like today, just focusing on pitching and (Dalton) Rushing getting in there – it’s before a four-game series against Colorado (the Rockies) and that’s part of the plan to avoid fatigue, and that’s important for team. So understanding that and just focusing on that, I think we can all be healthy throughout the year and do our best.
Q: I know you said it made sense today, but if Doc said this is something he wants to incorporate, would you be OK with that? How would you feel about that?
Ohtani: Well, everyone saw it, we have another great DH here, so I’ll leave things in his hands.