Ghosts’ Hopes Ride on Deadline Deal Starter
By Midorikawa Michiyo, Niihama-shi Chronicle

October 27, 2011: Niihama, Japan – He had stopped looking at the standings.

It was mid-August, and Yasuhiro Noda had stopped studying the Shining Star Group standings weeks earlier.  Toiling in the starting rotation for Hyakujuu Shinkansen, Noda found it too painful to see his team slipping further out of contention, further from any hope of a postseason appearance.  So he simply stopped looking.

Then the phone rang.  He had been traded – just minutes before the deadline – to the Niihama-shi Ghosts.  “Suddenly,” he laughs, “the standings mattered.  Mattered very much.”

Now, more than two months later, Noda suddenly finds himself not just with the opportunity for a postseason appearance, but being handed the ball to start the game; the decisive seventh playoff contest between the Ghosts and the Shin Seiki Evas. 

This will quite simply be the biggest start of the 29-year-old’s career.  Noda refuses to let the enormity of the moment affect him.  “I’m not going to do anything different.  My routine will be precisely the same.  I will wake early and meditate, then stretch for an hour.”  Then he’ll head to the stadium before 9:00 AM to warm up for the evening game.

The Evas are expected to start their ace, Tsumemasa “Muscles” Abe.  The winning squad will advance to the championship round to take on the Edo Battousai, who bested the Kuwana Steel Dragons in just four games.

Tomomi “Tommy-boy” Tomonaga, the clubhouse attendant who was revealed earlier this month to actually be running the Ghosts, is credited with engineering the trade for Noda.  The Shinkansen received two prospects and a draft pick.  “I liked a lot about Noda when he pitched against the Ghosts.  He had really good stuff – really good.  And poise under pressure.  I liked that.”

That perception is shared by Shinkansen pitching coach Shotaro Ishikawa, who was the one who called Noda to break the news of the trade.  “I am very happy for him now,” says Ishikawa.  “Yasuhiro has been a good student; he worked very hard and listened.  That is rare.  I am proud.  He deserves this moment.”

Since arriving in Niihama-shi, Noda has exceeded expectations, posting an 8-2 record in 10 starts, along with a 3.09 ERA.

And for this crucial Game Seven, the team apparently never considered skipping over Noda in favor of veteran Yoshino Kojima.  “We have every bit of confidence in Yasuhiro,” said Tomonaga.

Noda is simply trying to keep things in perspective.  “This game – this is why I became a ballplayer.  It is not to be nervous about.  It is a game to cherish.  I will savor every pitch.”

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