５日前、韓国との負けられない戦いに敗れた瞬間、イチローが「F○○K」と吼えた。
ウィニングランをする選手たちを見ながら「不愉快ですね」と吐き捨て、「自分の野球人生の中で一番屈辱的な日」とまで言い放った。
その煮えたぎるような思いが、すべてこの一瞬で吹きとんだ。
「世界一、おめでとう！！」
午後６時。
いよいよ決戦のときをむかえ、テレグラフのスポーツバーへ。しかし、スクリーンに映し出されるのはバスケットの試合映像ばかり。キューバ対日本の試合なんて、アメリカにとってはどちらも“敵国”、who cares（かまっちゃいねぇ）だ。
１時間あまりうろうろと“スポーツバー難民”をしたあげく、結局日曜日と同じくShattukのベケッツでやっとスクリーンが野球チャンネルになっているのを発見し落ち着くことにした。
すでに２回キューバの攻撃。スコアは４－１で日本のリード。うう・・・だから初めから見たかったのに。
カウンターに座り、ビールを飲みながら松坂の快投（まさに）に酔う。２回のオリンピックで辛酸をなめつくした彼は、国際舞台でひとまわりもふたまわりも成長していた。アメリカの放送局は、ストライクゾーンを際どく攻める松坂の投球を何度も何度も繰り返し賞賛していた。コレを見ればメジャーがほうっておくわけがないな、きっと。おめでとう、松坂。
５回、日本が追加点でスコアは６－１。このあたりではビールもすでに２杯目を終え、勝利を確信していた。
イチローがスクリーンに大きく映し出されると、なんだか涙が出てきた。
アメリカで孤軍奮闘しながらついにメジャー記録を更新し、それでもなお目に見えない差別と戦わざるをえないイチローの気持ちの奥をいったい誰が知るだろう。
世界の王を世界一とは認めないメジャーの世界。それを知っているイチローだからこそ、王監督を真の“世界一”にすることが彼の夢でありゴールだった。「王さんを男にする」とはそれを意味していたはずだ。
そう考えると、一見過激ともとられがちな彼の発言などごく当たり前のこと。そう、「スポーツはケンカ」なのだ。勝たなければ意味がない。サムライは切られたらそこで死ぬのだ。
「３０年間勝てないと思わせたい」。彼だから言える、ステキなコトバじゃないか。
渡辺、藤田とつなぎ１点差に迫られたところで、バーテンが
「日本を応援してるのかい？日本人？」と聞いてきた。
「うん。でも今ちょっと危ない状況なんだ」
オンナがひとり、ビールを飲みながら何時間もただテレビ画面の野球だけに全神経を集中させているのがよほど奇異に映ったんだろうな。
今日の王さんは動きが早い。すばやく大塚を投入したところでこちらもほっとする。
９回。イチローのヒットと好スライディングで追加の４点をもぎとる。もう決まりだ。
スライディングを決めたイチローはカメラに向かってポーズを決める
大塚が最後のマウンドにあがり、守備に着いたイチローが目頭を押さえている。ぐっと熱いものがこみ上げてくる。最後のバッターを三振に取った瞬間、全身に鳥肌。
アメリカ戦での“世紀の大誤審”、韓国戦でのまさかの敗退（イチローがライトスタンドの韓国人観客にファウルボールキャッチを邪魔されなかったらどうなっていたかわからない）、誰もが終わったと思ったその崖っぷちから這い上がってきたこのチームが今、目の前で初のWBC世界チャンピォンになった。誰からも文句を言わせぬ強さで。
勝利の瞬間！！
熱いものを抑えきれないままに家に帰ると、ちょうどそこにＰちゃんが帰ってきた。
「野球、どうだった？」
「・・・（涙）・・・」
「え？負けたの？」
「・・・勝った（涙）・・」
「うれしくて泣いてんの？（笑）」
「感動した。だってさー、ここ来るまではもうタイヘンだったんだよ。それを話すと３時間くらいかかる」
「とにかくめでたい！おなか空いたでしょ？何か食べに行こう」
かくして近所の中華テイクアウトで晩御飯をゲット、このときすでに酔っ払っていた私は今日のゲームを一方的にまくしたてバタンキュー。
ああ、本当に世界一になったんだ。
感動を本当にありがとう！！久しく興味が離れていた日本のプロ野球にも、これで俄然興味がわいてきた。
Japan's Matsuzaka a deserving MVP
Right-hander tallied a 3-0 record in inaugural Classic
By Jim Street / MLB.com
SAN DIEGO -- The confidence manager Sadaharu Oh showed in right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka paid huge dividends Monday night for everyone connected with Team Japan.
Matsuzaka pitched so well against Cuba in the World Baseball Classic championship game at PETCO Park that he captured the Most Valuable Player award and the accompanying trophy.
No surprise there as Matsuzaka had a 3-0 record and 1.38 ERA during the three-week tournament.
But it came as a little bit of a surprise to the right-hander when he was told two days earlier that he would start the Classic's championship game.
"I knew by rule that [Shunsuke] Watanabe was available, but when [Oh] selected me as the starting pitcher, that really fired me up," he said.
The adrenaline flowed so freely that Matsuzaka threw more heat than even Oh anticipated.
"He was throwing his pitches harder than ever in first four innings," Oh said after the 10-6 victory over Cuba. "That was something I haven't really seen in the past."
The extra effort Matsuzaka put into the game led to an earlier than expected departure. There is a 95-pitch limit in the final round of the tournament, but the starter threw just 62 pitches -- 43 for strikes.
When the bottom of the fifth inning started, Watanabe was on the mound, not Matsuzaka.
"As I saw him at that time, at the pitching change time, I really thought it would be better if I sent another pitcher in," Oh explained. "Of course, he might have pitched a little more, he might have been able to pitch some more, but today that was my decision to take him out at that moment and switch him with the other pitcher."
Japan led, 6-1, at the time and there was some heavy-duty second-guessing when Cuba stormed back and erased all but one run of Japan's seemingly safe lead.
"I never thought about a pitch count or anything," Matsuzaka said, "so from the beginning, I was throwing the hardest pitches possible. This was the first time for me to face the Cuba team since the Athens Olympics (in 2004), but they always have these intimidating hitters."
Matsuzaka said fear of the Cuba lineup never entered his mind and his game plan was to challenge the fastball-hitting team with fastballs.
"I heard they are really good fastball hitters and my good pitch is also a fastball," he said. "So I really wanted to try my fastball against those good hitters and really didn't care about the location. I wanted to overpower the Cuban hitters."
Mission accomplished. He struck out five and didn't walk anyone. The only glitch on his pitching line was a solo home run surrendered to Eduardo Paret leading off the bottom of the first inning.
Matsuzaka got even in the third, striking out the Cuban shortstop.
Cuba manager Higinio Velez put the credit where it belonged.
"All those who are well-acquainted with baseball, and who have followed this closely and know a lot about baseball, know that when you have a good pitcher, a top quality pitcher as you did with Japan, it is very difficult to hit, very difficult to bat," he said.
With the Classic now in the history books, and his uniform on its way to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., Matsuzaka had a chance to reflect on the past month or so.
"To me the Olympic games were the only opportunities to decide the world's No. 1 baseball team in the past, and actually I participated in two Olympics, but both times the team I participated in finished short of earning the gold medal," he said.
"This time I heard about this plan of World Baseball Classic, and I looked at the list of the players, and I thought at that moment I was probably most excited in my career that I might have a chance to play on the best team ever.
"We all aimed at winning the championship here, and in the last game, with the world championship on the line, I was named as a starter of the game, and I'm really proud of the fact that I was able to start and I also did a decent job to contribute to the win. So I'm really satisfied with that."
"At the time of winning the championship, like Ichiro said, this will be the end of this great journey with these great teammates, and I've experienced this sadness in the past with the Olympic teams, but still, I feel really hard that we have to part from each other.
"Throughout this tournament, all the teammates became real good friends and good buddies."
Good friends, good buddies and champions of the World.
P-chan