"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 L.A. 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.
SAN DIEGO – Shohei Ohtani (4-2) leads off the game with a first-pitch longball and closes out his mound outing by inducing a double play as the Los Angeles Dodgers blank the host San Diego Padres 4-0 on Wednesday night. The two-way star walks and scores twice while at the plate, and scatters three hits and a pair of walks, while fanning four, over five innings on the mound to lower his ERA to 0.73.
Q: Shohei, when you look at how you were able to grind through these five innings of work today, how did you find … you felt on the mound, navigating through their lineup?
Ohtani: Today and up to today, over the past week, I didn’t come into the game feeling great – and I was feeling a little uneasy about things, but the result was a victory and that’s a positive. The pitching itself wasn’t all that great, though.
Q: When it comes to that uncertainty, where do you think that came from? Is that something you felt during the bullpen ahead of the game or was that something that you felt just coming into this start in general?
Ohtani: So, I just wasn’t feeling great, and I was just anxious about being able to perform at the high level I expect from myself. That was the No. 1 thing that just wasn’t there for me.
Q: Shohei, we saw a lot of emotion out of you after you got (Fernando) Tatis to ground into that double play in the fifth inning. Where did that all come from, and was that a peek as to how much competitive spirit you have inside of you?
Ohtani: Yeah, well, the result was a double-play, but before that, the walks were the worst thing you can do. Even heading into that inning, I hadn’t put together a game I was happy with, but the result was good. It’s that things leading up to that point hadn’t gone all that well.
Q: Dave (Roberts) has talked about how he … it almost seems like you have different personalities when you hit and when you pitch. Why is it that when you pitch, more emotion can come out in those kinds of spots?
Ohtani: Well, let’s say you hit a home run, you don’t really know if that’s going to contribute to a win as a batter. If you throw six or seven strong innings and put up zeros, you’ve done enough as a starting pitcher to win almost all of those instances, so thinking about the weight of that impact on one game is probably what’s different.
Q: You’re the only pitcher to lead off a game with a home run, and you’ve done it twice. But tonight, how did that change the game, to have a 1-0 lead, going into the bottom of the first inning?
Ohtani: Well, the biggest thing is the first run and not wanting to be the first to give that up. That was my mentality as I came into this game today. So before that, we already had a run, which means it was good work right from the start.
Q: With what you said about how you were feeling physically, the uncertainty, how much did adrenaline from this playoff atmosphere get you through it?
Ohtani: Well, when you’re pitching, there’s always going to be a game like this. It’s going to be a matter of how you perform on the mound when the time comes, and I think that’s more important than having good stuff.
The stadium atmosphere was good – yesterday’s game was the same, it was a well-played game.
Q: You’ve been in and out of the batting lineup when you’ve pitched this year. When you are in there on days when you pitch, is there added significance to you to be able to produce offensively?
Ohtani: I keep those things completely separate. I hit and I pitch – I’m doing them in the same game, but I try not to put them together. So in that sense, I don’t think about it.