When Mario Balotelli headed Italy into a second-half lead over England at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Italians around the globe rejoiced. That included Alessandro ¡°Alex¡± Maestri, an Italian relief pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes who was watching in Osaka and had a game to suit up for later in the day.
Italy-England began at 7 a.m. Sunday morning in Japan, and Maestri was due at Kyocera Dome a few hours before the scheduled 2 p.m. start of Orix¡¯s game against the Chunichi Dragons. That gave him just enough time to watch the Azzurri¡¯s 2-1 win with two Italian friends that morning, then head to the ballpark and throw a scoreless ninth inning against Chunichi that afternoon.
¡°Woke up at six that day,¡± Maestri said Tuesday at Tokyo Dome. ¡°I went to bed early because I knew the game was early. We (Orix) had a day game, so I was going to wake up early anyway. Just a little earlier.¡±
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