Red Sox beat Cardinals 6-1 to win World Series

Congrats to Uehara-san and Boston Red Sox on a fantastic World Series!! Champions!

Congratulations, Red Sox!

Let's get this out of the way now: Yes, Uehara pitched very well, and deserves his share of the glory. No, Japanese media, he is not the hero of the World Series, nor was he one of the top storylines. Yet you will insist on plastering his picture on the front page of everything, ignoring the actual story of the event, because that's what you always do.

Let's get this out of the way now: Yes, Uehara pitched very well, and deserves his share of the glory. No, Japanese . media, he is not the hero of the World Series, nor was he one of the top storylines. Yet you will insist on plastering >his picture on the front page of everything, ignoring the actual story of the event, because that's what you always do.

If it were a Puerto Rican pitcher the Puerto Rican media would be doing the same, if it were an XYZ pitcher the XYZ media would be doing the same. Every country does it. Heck I can argue is this really the WORLD series, team USA didnt even win the real World Baseball Classic.

Congrats to the Sox! Tough luck for the Cardinals, but better luck next time.

@Original Wing To be fair, the live playoffs coverage is also giving Tazawa and other Red Sox a lot of attention, having So Taguchi interview Tazawa after WS games about equally to Uehara. They also interviewed non-Japanese like David Ortiz, who gave props to "my people in Japan", promised to bring his magic stick, and ended with "see you later, alligator...arigato"! In comparison, the Japanese players probably give a more satisfying interview for Japanese viewers, not just cutesy free association.

ALCS MVP winner Uehara is newsworthy because, as a 38 year old veteran who who used to star for NPB's most powerful team (Yomiuri), he joined the Red Sox as a fifth closer. In other words, he was hardly expected to turn into their top reliever. Think of how strange it would be if NY media didn't cover R.A. Dickey as a 37 year old Cy Young winner!

Tazawa was an unknown quantity in Japan, playing for a corporate team with no media exposure, and threatened the establishment in NPB by avoiding the draft and going straight to MLB. His back story is problematic for fans of NPB, which could be the reason Uehara may be getting more coverage in the sports papers as you noted.

"World" Series Champions ! GO BO SOX ! ! ! Contrary to what many haters say, Uehara-san did have a hand in the series win. Tazawa-san even played a part. I just kind of wonder how Bobby Valentine feels about now. Anyway, the Red Sox are the 2013 Champs ! ! ! Thank you Bo Sox ! ! ! BOSTON STRONG ! ! !

This really pains the bleep out of me! The Sox had it won as soon as Leyland pulled Sanchez and the reliever gave up that grand slam. Worst move he has ever made. I was screaming at the TV. In the early innings of game two of the ALCS, you could hear a pin drop in Fenway as Boston looked dead and the Tigers looked unbeatable. The tide urned quickly, St. Louis had the best regular season RISP average EVER but was anemic in the Series. Terrible year seeing the Heat and Sox win. Have to give it up to Uehara, as he was lights-out and Tazawa was pretty effective. The Yankees will come back strong next year. Grudgingly, I say congrats.

Kurobune: Contrary to what many haters say, Uehara-san did have a hand in the series win.

Who said he didn't?

Badge213: If it were a Puerto Rican pitcher the Puerto Rican media would be doing the same, if it were an XYZ pitcher the XYZ media would be doing the same. Every country does it.

Untrue. Countries rightly follow their local players who've gone abroad, and they are deserving of being at the center of attention. However, the Japanese media often does it at the expense of covering the actual event, or mentioning the actual important points. Being more nation-centric than journalism-centric is a much more common issue in Japan than many other countries.

Yet you will insist on plastering his picture on the front page of everything

Uh, he WAS on the mound when his team won. It'll be difficult to find pictures in ANY newspaper that doesn't have Uehara on it.

Original Wing, if you want "journalism-centric" coverage of major news, then follow post election analysis, the Fukushima daiichi crisis, or coverage of behind the scenes maneuvering to get the 2020 Olympics.

This is just a series of baseball games, shown in their entirety every morning on NHK's satellite channel, with Japanese announcers talking about every single player who batted, pitched, and played the field. What more do you really want?

Stating that Uehara was not one of the top storylines of this WS, despite being involved in bizarre game ending plays in two consecutive games, is off the mark. Being the teams most consistent reliever--having a Mariano Rivera like season despite spending most of his career as a starting pitcher--must be overrated in your book. Bitter Yankees fan perhaps?

As a fan of the Sox, I am really happy for them and Uehara. The Red Sox got good because Uehara solidified the bull pen. If it wasn't for him, I don't think we could of made the playoffs. The Sox owe a lot of the season success to him.

kickboard: Uh, he WAS on the mound when his team won. It'll be difficult to find pictures in ANY newspaper that doesn't have Uehara on it

Really? Every newspaper only shows the exact final moment of the game on the front page? Not the best play? Not the team celebrating at the end? Not the series MVP? Just the last play? Somehow I think that if the Japanese contributor to this game were a second baseman who hit an RBI double in the 3rd inning, that's the image we'd see here in Japan.

TorafusuTorasan: having a Mariano Rivera like season

Really??? Geez, I'm as big of a Yankee-hater as you're ever going to find, but your statement is so far from accurate that you're actually going to make me defend the man. Uehara had 21 saves this year. Removing seasons shortened by strike or injury, here's Rivera's save totals since 1997(!): 43, 36, 45, 36, 50, 28, 40, 53, 43, 34, 30, 39, 44, 33, 44, 44. Explain to me how putting up 21 saves - good for only 27th in the MLB - is a "Rivera-like season," please. Uehara was good, maybe even very good. Not legendary.

Sorry everyone - I'm not going to engage in this discussion any further. I made my point very specifically, and suddenly I'm being accused of being a "hater," of being a "bitter Yankees fan" - if you can't respond to the comment that I made, then I don't want to participate in this conversation anymore. Interestingly enough, it's proving the very point I was making. "Japanese players = THE BEST. Say something other than "Japanese players = THE BEST"? He must be a bitter Yankees fan! He's a hater!" Quit waving your flags and patting yourselves on the back, people. Uehara was a good player. Let's leave it at that.

@The Original Wing

When the earthquake struck Japan in 2011, CNN spent quite a bit of air time covering the one American teaching English in Japan who died. What about the rest of 20,000 people ?

Wake up dude, everyone in every country cares more about news related to their country or their people. Japan is no exception.

Uehara had one of the most dominating seasons for a closer, ever. I'm from the Boston area and everyone here loves him, and he has been a major story for a long time now. So I wouldn't say its the "Japanese media" making a bigger deal out of him than he deserves. He deserves all the attention he's been getting, he has been phenomenal this year.

I don;t know other areas in USA but sport news time in all channels in Las Vegas area showed final moments of Uehara won. I'd bet media showed the picture because last winning pitching, not because he is not American. Too many foreign MLB players and so-called black players that media tend to use top moments, like it showed over and over like that obstruction that made Sox lose. I think media restrain from saying nationality of player is because they don;t want to say error. Japanese, they can guess. Not easy to find Chinese or Korean by name, Ditto with Spanish last names. Uehara, media mentioned Japanese.

Wow ! He took his ball and bat and went home !

I'd bet USA Medisa'd regulsr snchor people loved to report WS even they are not familiar with teams or players. They have to talk about Govt shutdown, Meddle east, now spying EU to have guests talk about these USA problems beside gun shooting local events. Even they can't pronounce Tazawa or Uehara, they looked happy to talk there are 2 Japanese players in Red Sox. Sport anchors reported as is. .

@ The Original Wing

Give Uehara where credit is due. In 2013 season, he appeared in 73 games and had 1.09 ERA. That ERA for the 2013 season was better than any season that Rivera had. However, Rivera is a firs ballot Hall of Fame and a nice guy. Besides Uehara should be given a full credit for helping the Red Sox win the World Series after finishing in last place last year.

UEHARA! UEHARA! UEHARA! I do not care for any East Coast teams, but hey I have to give credit to the Boston Red Sox, too bad for them NY Yankees! (Only Bostonians and New Yorkers will understand this) anywa, sourpusses like this so called Original Wing have no idea how the world works! Uehara is JAPANESE and all of Japan is proud of him and of course all of BOSTON and even though I prefer California teams I am happy for the Boston Red Sox!! We should not attention to jaded sourpusses and not worth mentioning them here anymore. So Uehara san OMEDETOUGOZAIMASU!! Boston Red Sox BANZAI!!!

Originalwing, why did Koji only have 21 saves this year? Because he was the 4th or 5th option as a closer when the season started. When his teammates got injured or just sucked, that's when he became the closer, in the middle of the season. If you look at his WHIP, it's 0.565, which is actually the best in the MLB. Ever. Post all-star he was perfect in save opportunities with 0.28 ERA, an almost comical 0.31 WHIP, batters hitting .087 off of him, with a strikeout to walk ratio of 41.0 which is unheard of. He's a "good" player? Yeah, I'll say so.

I hate the endless shots of the Japanese players, even when they aren't in the game. That said, Uehara deserves all the accolades he receives. The man was "money" when it counted and he seemed to genuinely try to fit in and enjoy the experience. He has played for two teams I seriously despise, the Kyojin and the Red Sox, but I am truly happy for him.

mrkobayashi: Originalwing, why did Koji only have 21 saves this year? Because he was the 4th or 5th option as a closer when the season started.

That's right. And IF he were able to keep that up over the course of a full season, then sure, I'd be glad to call it a Rivera-like season. But that's a big "if" - numbers like that are hard enough to put up over a portion of the season, much less keep it up over a full season.

sfjp330: @ The Original Wing Give Uehara where credit is due.

I did. Please read my previous posts. I gave him plenty of credit for an excellent season. However, he did not single-handedly win the World Series (which is how the Japanese media is portraying it), so I will not give him credit for that. Which is - and was - and always has been my point. I never said a single bad thing about Uehara. I like Uehara. My point has been that he doesn't deserve the god-like status that Japan wants to give him, and suddenly everyone is offended and acting like I said he was worthless.

Elbuda Mexicano: UEHARA! UEHARA! UEHARA! I do not care for any East Coast teams, but hey I have to give credit to the Boston Red Sox, too bad for them NY Yankees! (Only Bostonians and New Yorkers will understand this) anywa, sourpusses like this so called Original Wing have no idea how the world works! Uehara is JAPANESE and all of Japan is proud of him and of course all of BOSTON and even though I prefer California teams I am happy for the Boston Red Sox!! We should not attention to jaded sourpusses and not worth mentioning them here anymore. So Uehara san OMEDETOUGOZAIMASU!! Boston Red Sox BANZAI!!!

Yess!!! Hooray!! Anyone who doesn't talk about how great Japan is obviously doesn't know how the world works!!!!!

Wha, . wha, . wha . . . ,

And IF he were able to keep that up over the course of a full season, then sure, I'd be glad to call it a Rivera-like season

He did. He pitched 73 games. The most games pitched by anyone this year was 80. If you look at the top 20 relievers in terms of games played, Koji ranks 5th in innings pitched. He had great numbers all year. His numbers just got better when he became a closer. By the way, Koji's WAR is 3.6 compared to Rivera's 2.4. His ERA + is a ridiculous 376

Great WS!! I like the sox, but mostly wanted to watch 6 or 7 game series, drama, excitement, etc... Now the loooong autumn/winter break until training camp... And the last 1 or 2 games of NS, of course!

mrkobayashi, with all due respect, Mariano Rivera is widely considered to be the greatest closer of all time. You can compare this season from Uehara to Mo's season but show me a closer who has done it for 17 years. GOAT!

Mariano Rivera is widely considered to be the greatest closer of all time.

No kidding. I think Mr Kobs was trying to say that Uehara did in fact have a Rivera-like season.