Dodger Game

Last Saturday (May 22), I went to the Los Angeles Dodgers-Detroit Tigers game at Dodger Stadium. It was a special day for the Dodgers as they devoted the day to Taiwan. Saturday was “Taiwan Day” at Dodger Stadium. With the Taiwan Day festivities, the Dodgers had two Dodgertown Taiwan sections in the upper deck. Sitting in those two sections were a lot of jubilant and excited Taiwanese fans who received free T-shirts, thundersticks, Taiwanese food, and most importantly a lot of nationalism pride.

My family made the decision on Friday night to go to the 4 PM nationally televised game. We bought left field pavilion row C aisle seats tickets on stubhub. On the way to Dodger Stadium, we were stuck in the L.A. traffic and therefore arrived late as the bottom half of the 1st inning was about to begin. When we got in, the fun had just started. It turned out to be the most special and unique baseball game I have ever attended.

We got to see Dodgers pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo and Detroit Tigers pitcher Fu-Te Ni pitch. Ni pitched 1 1/3 inning and Kuo pitched 1 solid 7th inning. That was really special, two Taiwanese pitcher pitching on Taiwan Day. When Kuo came out to pitch, the Dodgertown Taiwan sections were rumbling and rocking. All the Taiwanese fans seated up there were all excited. Next, during the 7th inning stretch, Lin Yu Chun sang “God Bless America”. Lin Yu Chun gained fame back in April as he sang a wonderful rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” on a Taiwanese reality talent show. He appeared on many talk shows in the U.S. Besides singing God Bless America, Chun sang “Taiwan Touch Your Heart” and the U.S. national anthem before the game. Unfortunately, I missed the first two songs. Lastly, we got ourselves on national TV. In the 5th inning, Matt Kemp hit a home run that landed two seats and two rows back from my seat. I saw the baseball come at me and I knew it was going to be near my seat. This old guy caught the ball and it really changed the feeling of the game. When I got home, I searched online for the FOX broadcast and the highlights and I saw myself on TV. The FOX camera caught me turned towards the guy that caught it. In fact, my whole family was on TV. In addition, I saw myself on the jumbotron on that home run replay. I could never imagine myself on TV, especially this being on national TV, broadcasted to the whole nation. 

For the game, Dodgers won 6-4. Casey Blake hit a home run, Matt Kemp hit a home run, Blake DeWitt had a triple that scored two runs, and that was pretty much  the game. Got to see Jonathan Broxton pitch the final inning to earn his 10th save of the season. But this game meant a lot to me. As a Taiwanese, it was great seeing Dodgers celebrating and marketing Taiwan. Seeing Ni and Kuo pitch was awesome. Hearing Lin Yu Chun’s beautiful voice made it even better. Taiwan was represented well on Saturday. In fact, the FOX broadcast team even made mention of Taiwan Day. It’s really touching to see Taiwan getting recognition. 

This baseball game was fun. Sitting in left field, I really understood why baseball is so fun of a game. 

Go Dodgers and Taiwan!!!