[外電] The Universal Language (中)
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/columns/story?id=4983116
Friday morning and afternoon, Taipei
Every once in a while on a trip like this things just work out perfectly.
Ninety percent of the time you spend running around, asking directions and
generally spinning your wheels as only a stupid foreigner can, but every once
in a while dumb luck strikes and things just line up perfectly.
Today was originally supposed to be a sightseeing and recovery day, but when
the first two games sold out quickly, Bros Sports, the marketing firm
organizing this event, decided to schedule another game for Friday night.
That meant whatever sightseeing anyone wanted to do pretty much had to be
packed into Friday morning, which wasn't as hard as you'd expect, considering
just about everyone woke up between 4 and 6 a.m. whether they liked it or not.
Around 11 a.m. a group of us went with James Loney and minor leaguers
Prentice Redman and Kenley Jansen to visit what used to be the tallest
building in the world, the 1,670-foot-tall Taipei 101.
After 25 minutes or so admiring the views of downtown Taipei, Dodgers public
relations guru Josh Rawitch gets an e-mail.
"Manny wants to say hello,'' Rawitch says. "He's apparently having lunch on
the 85th floor and he wants us to come say 'Hello.' ''
Yes, that Manny.
Same guy who has been in a bit of a cocoon as far as the media is concerned
since arriving to spring training two weeks ago. He'd been friendly to me on
the plane ride over, but this was still a bit of a shock.
As quiet as he'd been all spring, I figured I'd be lucky if he said three
words to us on this trip.
Of all the skyscrapers in all the world, he had to walk into ... ours!
After we figured out how to get from the 89th floor to the 85th floor --
which sounds easy but actually involved going to four different sets of
elevators -- we found Manny finishing up the last of his shark fin soup and
noodles.
"It was good, it was free,'' he said, laughing.
He offered some to Loney and the other players, who politely declined,
chatted for a couple of minutes, then jetted off down the elevator to his
next public appearance at the Taiwan International Flora exhibit.
While Manny made his way across town in a tricked-out white Hummer, us media
types followed in a yellow cab. Somehow we beat him to the exhibit, which
gave us time to again experience some of the amusing differences between
media here in Asia and back in the States.
First, I was asked to sign a sheet with my name and affiliation, whereupon
I'd be entered into a drawing for an autographed Ramirez baseball. Then, just
like at last night's welcome press conference, the music started playing.
This time they were bumpin' Lady Gaga, which made me laugh out loud and lose
my poker face.
As the crowd stirred, the emcee announced, "Manny will be here in a few
minutes, but I don't know what's going to happen. He makes more money than
all of us in this room together.''
Some things never change.
But, sure enough, Manny showed up a couple of minutes later to raucous
applause.
The agenda at this event was to introduce Ramirez, have him exchange gifts
with local dignitaries, then plant a tree.
"I thank you guys for letting the Dominican players come here to play the
game I love,'' Manny said. "It's a great experience to be here in Taiwan,
that's why I came here. I like to travel and see the world. I like your
culture here. You treat everybody with respect, and I'm just happy to be
here."
The local media loved it.
So, apparently, did Manny, who snapped photos of the crowd on a digital
camera he'd bought earlier in the day at the mall.
I caught up to him as he exited the stage from the Flora event.
"Hey Ramona,'' he said. "How do you like this? I'm a paparazzi now.''
He was going to say something else, but then the crowd came rushing after
him, almost carrying him to the white Hummer waiting outside to take him back
to the team hotel.
Saturday morning, Taipei
Apparently I'm late. I thought I was 10 minutes early for the 8:15 a.m. bus
to the stadium, but when I make it downstairs around 8:05 everyone is already
on the bus waiting for me.
The seat right in front of Joe Torre is the only one open and for some reason
I feel like I'm going to get fined.
Torre's cool though so I play it that way too.
"Good morning," he says, while chomping down on a cigar he never actually
smokes.
"You get your workout in this morning?" I ask, knowing how disciplined he has
been about getting 30-40 minutes of cardio work on the bike every morning
during spring training.
Friday at the ballpark, while all of us were dealing with some rugged jetlag
after the 15-hour flight and a morning of running-all-over-town sightseeing,
the 69-year old Torre showed up looking refreshed and energized.
"I'd be a pain in the butt if I didn't get my workout in this morning," he
says.
Still, saying you're going to get in a workout on a trip like this and
actually doing it are two different things. I've been saying I'm going to get
a workout in the last week and a half here and in Arizona but, um, let's just
say I'm saving my energy for my job.
On this morning, Torre has too.
"No, I didn't even try and make it in," he says. "I had breakfast instead.
Needed to get some fuel in me. Don't think I've had an actual meal since we
got on the plane."
When we get to the ballpark, it's clear why Torre needs it. It's going to be
a long day ahead. First an hour-long forum with local baseball coaches and
business leaders in which Torre patiently answers questions about everything
from Alex Rodriguez to Manny Ramirez, George Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter.
Every word of it is compelling and yet Torre is just talking off the cuff.
Twelve years filling up the notebooks and tape recorders of the media horde
in New York tends to hone that skill. But it's Torre's ability to always hit
the right note, even in culturally sensitive issues like questions about
shortstop Chin-lung Hu's lack of offensive prowess that makes Torre so good.
"His defensive ability is no question at a major league level," Torre says,
making sure to praise Hu first. "What's most important for Hu is to find one
hitting technique that will work for him and stick with it. He's
experimenting with a few things ... but I like what he's doing right as far
as not always trying to pull the ball."
After an hour or so of questions the moderator, a local TV star named Dean
Yuan thanks Torre for participating and apologizes for taking so much of his
time.
"That's OK," Torre says. "As long as I can have a water near me so I can keep
lubricating. I've enjoyed this. You ask good questions."
Saturday afternoon, Taipei
We knew it was going to be a long day right from the start when Joe Torre
took a phone call from Joseph Reaves, the Dodgers' director of international
operations, confirming what we all suspected.
"They're going to do everything they can to get this game in,'' Torre says.
A light rain had been falling most of the morning. Definitely playable
weather, but the forecast for the afternoon sounded gloomy and unpredictable.
Game time was set for 2:30 p.m., and the stadium operations folks had decided
to keep the tarp on as long as possible.
Unfortunately, the fans who started arriving about 12:30 p.m. hoping to catch
some batting practice saw nothing but a bunch of guys on the grounds crew
taking sandbags on and off the tarp.
Every time I looked up in the stands, the fans were waiting patiently,
covered in rain slickers and huddled under umbrellas. I couldn't believe how
patient and passionate they were. You could tell how excited they were for
the game just walking around Tien Mou Stadium.
I happened to be wearing my credential as I went to a local food court to
grab some lunch. About 12 people stopped me on the street to say how much
they liked baseball and the Dodgers. The restaurant I ended up going to even
wanted to give me 10 percent off because I was here for the baseball games.
The Dodgers players spent most of the day in the clubhouse or the indoor
batting cages.
Days like these make you glad guys like John Lindsey and Xavier Paul are on
the trip.
Lindsey is one of the good guys you find around baseball. A career minor
leaguer with a million stories to tell.
He's 33 and never played a day in the majors, but somehow has managed to get
on this trip and the Dodgers' trip to China in 2008.
A few years ago he retired, only to be talked out of it by Dodgers minor
league coach Lorenzo Bundy.
"I want to keep playing as long as I can,'' Lindsey says. ``Hopefully I'll
make it up to L.A. this year. But if not, I'll keep playing. I love the game,
you know. And I make more playing than I could doing anything back home.''
Lindsey is kind of like the older brother for a lot of the younger guys on
this trip. He and Paul have an instant rapport because they grew up about an
hour and a half away from each other. Lindsey in Hattiesburg, Miss., and Paul
in Slidell, La.
During the rain delay Paul, Lindsey, Bundy and I sat around in the dugout
killing time, talking about whatever and trying to estimate how many fans fit
in this stadium.
"I'd say it's between 5,500-7,500,'' Lindsey says. I've been in a lot of
these small ballparks in the minor leagues, I can tell things like that.''
He's also been in a lot of rainouts.
"How long do we hang out during a rain delay? Depends on the day of the
week,'' he says. "If it's a Monday, probably only about 30 minutes. If it's a
Friday through Sunday, we'll be there all night, pack your lunch.
"If it's fireworks night and they've got to sell tickets, they're going to
keep the stands full as long as they can.''
Paul's only 25, but he's got a few stories to tell, too. That and a quick wit.
"I've been in games in the minor leagues where we've sat out there two days
just waiting to get an inning in,'' he says. "Today we'll be here for a while
because of the fans.''
Normally big leaguers leave the ballpark as soon as they can. It's not that
they don't care, it's the 162-game grind. You have to trim as much time off
your day as you can over the course of a season, just to get through it.
It wasn't like that here in Taiwan though.
The guys who made this trip wanted to come and were excited about it.
After a few hours, it became clear the rain was getting worse, not better. So
both teams ran out onto the field in the pouring rain and threw souvenirs to
the crowd.
"These people love their baseball out here,'' Paul says. "We wanted to give
them a show.''
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