NAGOYA — Chen Wei-yin was nervous. A day earlier, he watched the upstart Chiba Lotte Marines pick apart teammate Kazuki Yoshimi and now it was his turn to toe the rubber in what many deemed as a must-win game for the Chunichi Dragons.

In the end, the Dragons swept away the Marines with a hurricane of offense in Game 2 of the Japan Series. Lost in that game was a good performance out of Chen on the mound, which later in the series may prove to have been the most important thing to come out of a 12-1 victory.

"It was different," Chen said of his debut in the Japanese Fall Classic. "Standing on the mound, I really didn't know how much strength I should use. So I felt a little more tired than usual."