Nichi-Bei Yakyu 2002

Is there a possibility or any mention that one of the American newtorks may broadcast all/few of the Nichi-Bei November series in the United States? ESPN 2 perhaps.

I would like to watch THOSE "interleague" games, he he. If only to see Hideki Matsui & the Tokyo Giants or the Japanese All-stars play.

> Is there a possibility or any mention that one of the
> American newtorks may broadcast all/few of the
> Nichi-Bei November series in the United States? ESPN
> 2 perhaps.

I just submitted the following question to ESPN:

The seven game Nichi-Bei (NPB vs. MLB) series will be played this November between 11/10 and 11/17. With the increasing influx of Japanese players to the Majors, will ESPN or ESPN2 broadcast any of the games? I'd like to see as many of them as possible (hopefully all of them, including the MLB All Stars' game against the Yomiuri Giants on 11/9) and suspect that many baseball fans would agree. Hey, at the very least, it beats World's Strongest Man reruns at 3 in the morning.

Thanks for your time.

I encourage everyone that wants to see the games broadcast in North America to submit a similar question. ESPN can be contacted using this form or via email at askespntv@espn.com.

Ichiro Suzuki, Barry Bonds and Torii Hunter, all All-Star outfielders this season, will lead a team of Major League Baseball stars on an eight-game barnstorming trip of Japan this coming November.

Story at MLB.com

I remember seeing one of these games 2 years ago....hopefully they will air those this year. Even though we already know the results.

Thought you guys might like to know (if you don't already) who will be representing NPB in the Nichibei series...

The following players were selected via fan ballot...

Koji Uehara, RHP, Giants
Kei Igawa, LHP, Tigers
Shinnosuke Abe, C, Giants
Norihiro Nakamura, INF, Buffaloes
Kazuo Matsui, INF, Lions
Makoto Imaoka, INF, Tigers
Alex Cabrera, OF, Lions
Hideki Matsui, OF, Giants
Kosuke Fukudome, OF, Dragons
Takayuki Shimizu, OF, Giants

The remainder of the roster consists of players selected by NPB manager Tatsunori Hara (Giants):

Pitchers: Hirotoshi Ishii (Swallows), Hisashi Iwakuma (Buffaloes), Yasuhiro Oyamada (Carp), Kenshin Kawakami (Dragons), Masahide Kobayashi (Marines), Takashi Saito (BayStars), Chang Chih Chia (Lions), Kiyoshi Toyoda (Lions), Shugo Fujii (Swallows), Shinji Mori (Lions)

Infielders: Takuro Ishii (BayStars), Akinori Iwamura (Swallows), Michihiro Ogasawara (Fighters), Hiroki Kokubo (Hawks)

Outfielders: Yoshitomo Tani (BlueWave), Kazuhiro Wada (Lions)

**Also, I obviously couldn't do this for TOO many people, but since I live in Japan and will get the games on the tube I would not be adverse to sending the games on tape to a couple of people... of course it's not the same when you already know the outcome...

Alex Cabrera and Chang Chi-Chia?
Is this the first time foreign players are selected to play in this series? I seem to recall this series being a Japanese only thing. There are quite a few foreign players who also deserve to play though.

**Also, I obviously couldn't do this for TOO many people, but since I live in Japan and will get the games on the tube I would not be adverse to sending the games on tape to a couple of people... of course it's not the same when you already know the outcome...

I would love to be one of those people, Mike.

Hey Jeff, what's the haps?

OK, you're No. 2. I got a mail from someone peeping the site from Hawaii and he's gonna send me some Kona coffee (from you I ask nothing in return 'cause I'm already indebted to you for the nice mail to my editor)...

Is the Carp free agent Kanemoto thinking about playing MLB?

I was looking at his stats and notice he had a Shinjo like performance in the last MLB/NPB All-Star Series.

He has better career numbers than Tsuyoshi Shinjo, and is having a solid year (although according to another poster he's not playing in the All-Star series).

BTW, how would you real people scouts describe his game up close in personal. And if there are any Big League scouts peeping at this site...chime in!!!

Kanemoto as far as I can tell would not be a defensive liability, and here when healthy he can be a 30/30/.300 guy IMO (I don't have his career numbers in front of me). The factor working against him would be his age, I think. If I remember right he's 33 or 34. How many MLB teams would be interested in an outfielder that age? He's not going to get any better... I dunno, you might hear differently from other posters but I don't think he's worth the time.

has produced some really impressive numbers. He's batted .288/.394/.524 across his career, and .307/.421/.542 over the past three years with an average of 30 HR, 92 RBI and 20 SB per season.

That said, I'd be surprised if he ends up in the Majors, too. I agree with Mike that age is a concern at 34. Also, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium is the smallest ballpark in Japan, so his stats are probably a bit inflated.

Just watched the Angels come back from 5 runs down to beat the Yankees in game 3. Life is good.

Excellent. I was so anxious to get ahold of those tapes that I sent an email to your work address right after I replied here this morning. Please reply to that message and we'll work out the details.

The Yanks lost? There IS a God.

Yeah, I'll reply to that mail on Monday.

How about Kuwata picking up his 12th win AND being in position to win the ERA title... he's been great to watch this year. The guy can field his position, he can hit, bunt, do whatever he has to do. He's a player.

Kanemoto was scouted by the Phillies recently, but I haven't heard of any other teams being interested. He has gotten off to such a slow start the last two seasons that it has to be a big red flag to any MLB team. If he goes anywhere other than Hiroshima (and if he's smart, he stays put), he will probably end up with Hanshin. But if that happens, I can hardly wait to hear Hoshino griping on Kanemoto when he gets off
to another slow start.

The remainder of the roster consists of players selected by NPB manager Tatsunori Hara (Giants):

Does anybody know why Kenji wasn't selected? Is he hurt? He hasn't been in the Hawks line-up lately. I'm disappointed; I was looking forward to seeing him hit against MLB pitching.

I couldn't find out whether Jojima is hurt or not... and what the heck prompted Hara to pick Shimizu from Lotte for the team? 1 HR, 20 RBIs and he's hitting at a staggering .230 clip. Hell, even ol' man Ito of Seibu would've been a better choice...