Japan Times: A Tale of Two Cities

The perfect pour? After helping his team defeat the Las Vegas in Week 2, a performance which earned him EHCC Player of the Week honors, Tokyo left-hander C.C. Sabathia helped upset Doggs fans quench their thirsts. The Omyoujis victory broke two league-wide streaks, as well as the spirits of the defending champions.



By Athrun Zala, Japan Times


"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."

Coming into week two of the EHCC season the teams with the two longest streaks in EHCC history met in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Doggs entered the week hoping to break their tie with the Quebec City Piglets for the longest winning streak in EHCC history. The Tokyo Omyoujis came into the week attempting to win a series, something they haven't done in the regular season since 2005. With some EHCC pundits calling the game "a lock" for the Doggs the Omyoujis had all the amunition they needed to play the "no respect" card.

"We get no respect," said captain Dontrelle Willis. "Just because teams walked all over us for the past two years doesn't mean it will stay that way forever. General Manager Ishtar picked up some great talent in the offseason that should help us compete with teams in 2007."

So the Omyoujis entered the week with no respect and exited the week with a big 7-3 series win over the Doggs. How did this happen? A big week from the new additions to the Omyoujis and a choke job of epic proportions from Doggs' star closer Mariano Rivera. Rivera's uncommon line of 0 saves and 10.13 ERA lead to the direct loss of two categories for the Doggs in the final days of the series. Asked about his performance in the series Rivera responded "I'm so sick of these ****ing Reese's Pieces, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar." Four of the Omyoujis offseason additions figured prominently in the win over the Doggs this week. Alexis Rios and Michael Cuddyer put in excellent performances to drive the Omyoujis' offense while
C.C. Sabathia and Joe Borowski (2 wins, 20K's, 4 saves combined) powered the pitching staff.

Asked about his return to Las Vegas, offseason acquisition Alexis Rios said "It's nice to be back in Las Vegas, I thought I had finally found a home last season. That Las Vegas team looks like it's getting complacent after winning the championship for the second time in three years." Rios continued, "I'm glad to be back with the Omyoujis now, I can see that this team has a fire to win that the Doggs look like they've lost."

C.C. Sabathia, no stranger to losing for the past two years as a member of the Bizton Markies, sees great success in the Omyoujis' future. "I've yet to be on a playoff team in the EHCC but winning this last game against the Doggs felt good and puts us right back in the playoff picture. If we can continue this winning streak I might actually stop eatting so much and put off my career as a sumo wrestler a few more years."

After this week's games the Omyoujis now sit in 4th place in the Western division and 7th place overall, the highest place they have been at any time since entering the league. Las Vegas sits 4th in the Eastern division and 8th overall, a particularly low place for a defending champion. Does this early season series symbolize the start of a "season of Light" for the Omyoujis and a "season of Darkness" for the Doggs or was it just a bump in the road to another Doggs championship? Only time will tell.

Week three sees the Las Vegas Doggs visiting the 1st place Green Monsters while the Tokyo Omyoujis visit the 11th place Hispanics.