The atmosphere was very strange at Tokyo Dome last Wednesday, Oct. 5, as the Yomiuri Giants closed out a dismal 2005 season and two years of something between mediocrity and futility under the leadership of manager Tsuneo Horiuchi.
Consistent with most of the Giants' game results this year, Yomiuri lost, 4-1 to the Hiroshima Carp, on an evening filled with nostalgia, emotion, tears and sadness, and almost enough flowers to fill a funeral hall.
The night game began at 6 p.m., but the drama started four hours earlier when Horiuchi spoke to the press at Big Egg, confirming it would be his final day as the Kyojin skipper and accepting responsibility for the club's fifth-place finish in the Central League after posting its worst record in team history.