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Aki's Game Never Lost In Translation

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - This is for Little Big Man.

Across the Pacific, in Uwajima, Ehime prefecture, on the Japanese island of Shikoku, where Akinori Iwamura was born 29 years ago, they would have partied until dawn after his big Friday night if it wasn't already 9 in the morning Saturday. Japan is 13 hours ahead of Tropicana Field. The Rays are two games ahead of the White Sox in the AL Division Series.

And it was the Rays' 5-foot-9 second baseman, as much as anyone, who turned it around, hitting an opposite-field two-run homer in the fifth inning to put the Rays ahead to stay in a 6-2 victory.

There was a postgame rush for the Japanese media at Tropicana Field. The man we call Aki is one of the biggest baseball names in Japan, though not as big as Ichiro or Daisuke Matsuzaka, who threw for Boston late Friday. Aki beat Dice-K to the highlights, then hit the interview room with his interpreter, Tateki Uchibori. First, Iwamura was asked to put his homer it into words - you know, our words.

He smiled.

"Very excited."

He Has Meant Too Much

This one is for the smallest guy on the Rays, the man who mans second base with an alligator-skin glove, who gave up his spot at third base in the name of Evan Longoria.

Give it up for Aki.

He's hitting .375 in this series. He belted a run-scoring triple in Game 1 and has been flawless at second, including that rock-solid turn at second for a big Rays double play in the ninth Friday.

We knew next to nothing about this man when he arrived before last season, other than he was getting paid a lot of money to cross the pond and he was a regular homer-hitting machine for the Yakult Swallows. He has hit but 13 in two seasons in Tampa Bay - 14 if you count Friday. Um, we count Friday.

Most of the time, many of us walk past Aki's locker in the Rays clubhouse without asking a question.

There's the language barrier, of course.

But here's a guy who can't get lost in translation.

He has meant too much.

He doesn't get the publicity around here like the rest of the Rays infield, the big boppers and gloves on the corner, Longoria and Carlos Pena, or Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett, the man who Aki has teamed with on countless synchronized and at times mesmerizing double plays.

But Aki has always been there.

Heck, he had a modified Mohawk as early as last season, before it became the rage.

"He was way ahead," Longoria said with a smile.

"Aki is a great player," Pena said. "I tell him as many times as I possibly can. He laughs all the time."

Let us tell you what laughing Aki did this season.

He changed positions, no small thing. With Longoria looming, Rays manager Joe Maddon had some advice for Aki last offseason.

"I asked him to find the Bill Mazeroski of Japan to tutor him during the wintertime, and obviously he did," Maddon said.

The Bill Mazeroski of Japan is Yutaka Ohashi, a seven-time Gold Glover at shortstop over there and Aki's infield coach for a season. Give that man a playoff share.

"The transition I made from third to second I really thought was decent," Aki said through his interpreter.

Decent?

Iwamura began the year with a 74-game errorless streak. He didn't make his first boo-boo until late June. But it was much more than that. He and Bartlett formed a seamless keystone - reading each other's minds and movements, always there for each other, Aki stood in there against ridge-browed brutes like Shelley Duncan and cheap-shot base runners like Coco Crisp.

Then he'd pick up a bat.

Every Homer Was Huge

He hit just .210 in April. It made us wonder if he really was a good choice for leadoff hitter. Iwamura proceeded to lead the league with 41 hits in May. He finished the season at .274. He was the toughest man to double up in the majors and when he crossed the plate it always seemed to matter. The Rays were 56-17 when Aki scored a run, 14-0 when he scored two runs or more.

And the home runs deceived. Aki hit only six during the season, but each one was huge. Four of them came against the Red Sox. In late April, in that first Rays sweep of the Sox at the Trop, Iwamura spoiled Clay Buchholz's shutout bid and won it with a two-run homer in the eighth.

"Aki's big ones mattered," Longoria said.

Then came Friday.

Take it away, Aki!

"I was fortunate to hit the ball hard, and it went away," he said by way of translation.

The Trop needed none when it went away.

Very excited.

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