April 7th, 2009 - Gwuangju, South Korea

I took 10 days off from updating the website while my family was visiting me in Incheon. It was great having them here. The only bad part was that they had to leave. I am a family man first and always will be. It is a difficult decision to play in Asia because there is no avoiding time apart from the family when you agree to sign here. Living in Japan and now South Korea has been a great experience for them but it comes with sacrificing time away from each other.

Quite honestly when I brought them to the airport yesterday I was thinking how nice it would be to get on the plane with them and go home for a little while. I’ve been in Asia since late January and now 18 of the past 26 months.

Opening Day

I got to experience another unique Opening Day in my career. The SK Opening Day was pretty interesting. The fans packed Munhak Stadium. There were cannons, a band and a lot of noise. When the team was announced each player brought out a large sign which eventually spelled out “Fan First Happy Baseball ‘09” and I was told on the other side of the cards something about winning a third consecutive title this season in Korean. I love that phrase, Happy Baseball, it’s one of those things that sounds a funny to English speakers.

We lost the game on a couple of homeruns but came back and won the next day putting us at 1-1. My first start comes Wednesday at Kia against the Tigers.


source:cjbaseball.com
credits: aeinsshi