CubsfansareDRUNK
11-10-2005, 01:08 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2005/columns/story?columnist=klapisch_bob&id=2205331
Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines are now ready to conquer the world, or at least the White Sox. So said the former Mets manager, who's in his second year in Japan and just led his team to a four-game sweep of the Japan Series. No foreigner has ever managed into the final round, and the experience has clearly had an effect on Valentine.
http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/mlb/2005/1027/photo/a_valentine_195.jpg
AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi
In his second year as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, Bobby Valentine led the team to the title in the Japan Series.
Not only is he proposing a true global championship series, he actually thinks the Marines can win. Crazy? It's anyone's guess, but Valentine told the Associated Press that after watching the White Sox and Astros on TV, he's sure his Japanese players would shock their major league counterparts.
"I can tell you the level of play is equal," Valentine said. "[The Marines] are as good as any team I've ever managed. I'd put them up against the winner of the World Series and I know we'd win at least a couple of games."
Valentine had his enemies, plenty of them, and he knows he's tweaking the very people who wish he'd stay in Japan forever, never to be heard from again. But if MLB is looking for more competition, better TV ratings -- and, sure, more money -- they should be listening. Bring Valentine and his tough little team to the U.S., and let him and Ozzie Guillen go at it for a week.
Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines are now ready to conquer the world, or at least the White Sox. So said the former Mets manager, who's in his second year in Japan and just led his team to a four-game sweep of the Japan Series. No foreigner has ever managed into the final round, and the experience has clearly had an effect on Valentine.
http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/mlb/2005/1027/photo/a_valentine_195.jpg
AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi
In his second year as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, Bobby Valentine led the team to the title in the Japan Series.
Not only is he proposing a true global championship series, he actually thinks the Marines can win. Crazy? It's anyone's guess, but Valentine told the Associated Press that after watching the White Sox and Astros on TV, he's sure his Japanese players would shock their major league counterparts.
"I can tell you the level of play is equal," Valentine said. "[The Marines] are as good as any team I've ever managed. I'd put them up against the winner of the World Series and I know we'd win at least a couple of games."
Valentine had his enemies, plenty of them, and he knows he's tweaking the very people who wish he'd stay in Japan forever, never to be heard from again. But if MLB is looking for more competition, better TV ratings -- and, sure, more money -- they should be listening. Bring Valentine and his tough little team to the U.S., and let him and Ozzie Guillen go at it for a week.