"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.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Shohei Ohtani kicks off five-RBI night with ground-rule triple off the netting in the right-field corner, a play on which he scores because of a throwing error, as the Dodgers clinch Freeway Series with a 15-2 beatdown of host the Angels on Saturday. Ohtani goes 2-for-4 – his other hit was a bases-clearing double in the ninth to cap the scoring – and added two walks against his first big league team.
Q: Shohei, what a night for you, what a night for the team – a four-game winning streak now that started on the night when you pitched seven scoreless innings?
Ohtani: Well, yes, we’re on a roll right now. But tomorrow is an early game, and I just want to reset so we can go for five straight.
Q: You played here a lot of years, this was the first season they put the netting all the way down to the foul pole. Did you realize that, when you hit it down there, that it was going off the netting?
Ohtani: No, I didn’t know. It wasn’t there when I was here, and I had no idea it hit the netting, so I just ran as hard as I could. But I was glad about the result.
Q: How much fun was it tonight, to run the bases the way you did – not only on the triple, the double? How much fun did you have again tonight?
Ohtani: Well, it’s a special thing for me to play in front of the fans of the two teams I have belonged to, certainly for the Angels fans as well as the Dodgers fans. So to have a good performance is great.
Q: Posture feeling good again?
Ohtani: It’s getting better, so I want to do my best to keep it going.