Manager (Team) No.
Tatsunori Hara (YG) 83
Pitcher (Team) No. Throws/Bats
Koji Uehara* (YG) 19 R/R
Kei Igawa* (HT) 29 L/L
Ryota Igarashi (YS) 53 R/R
Hirotoshi Ishii (YS) 61 L/L
Hisashi Iwakuma$B!!(B(OKB) 48 R/R
Yasuhiro Oyamada (HC) 39 R/R
Kenshin Kawakami (CD) 11 R/R
Masahide Kobayashi (CLM) 30 R/R
Chih-Chia Chang (SL) 99 R/R
Kiyoshi Toyoda (SL) 20 R/R
Shugo Fujii (YS)$B!!(B18 L/L
Shinji Mori (SL) 19 R/L
Catcher (Team) No. Throws/Bats
Shinnosuke Abe* (YG) 10 R/L
Masaumi Shimizu (CLM) 8 R/R
Motonobu Tanishige (CD) 7 R/R
Infielder (Team) No. Throws/Bats
Norihiro Nakamura* (OKB) 5 R/R
Kazuo Matsui* (SL) 7 R/S
Makoto Imaoka* (HT) 7 R/R
Alex Cabrera* (SL) 42 R/R
Takuro Ishii (YBS) 5 R/L
Akinori Iwamura (YS) 1 R/L
Michihiro Ogasawara (NHF) 2 R/L
Hiroki Kokubo (FDH) 9 R/R
Outfielder (Team) No. Throws/Bats
Hideki Matsui* (YG) 55 R/L
Kosuke Fukudome* (CD) 1 R/L
Takayuki Shimizu* (YG) 9 R/L
Yoshitomo Tani (OBW) 10 R/R
Kazuhiro Wada (SL) 5 R/R
* marks voted into lineup.
Firstly, there are many positions on the field which the bunch of candidates can't play, meaning that Rhodes (or any of the others in question) has to be the best of a much smaller group of players than 25.
Secondly, for better or for worse, the No. 4 position in the batting order is sacrosanct in Japan. To be designated as the yoban batter is a huge honour. Godzilla Matsui is often referred to (deservedly) as Nippon-no Yoban, so there's a slim chance at best that anyone else will take that slot. That leaves both Cabrera and Nakamura out of their regular slots.
Let us imagine that Nakamura is persuaded to take the number 3 spot, and Cabrera 5. What, then, becomes of Kiyohara? No. 6? Okay, let's further assume that he does take that spot. Where are these guys going to field?
Kiyo is famous (even among we Hanshin fans) for being useless at 3rd, and Cabrera's at 1st, so OK, let's say Kiyo's the DH, and we manage to fit all those big hitters in. Don't things seem to be getting a little crowded with sluggers? Who are they going to have to get on base so they have someone to hit home (this is, after all, a game and not a homerun derby).
Little Matsui is a given, but then who? Imaoka? But his position might be taken by one of those sluggers. Top base-stealer Akahoshi? Sorry, Godzilla's already in that part of the field.
The debate, of course, could go on forever, but the obvious point is the number of guys on the field is limited to 9, and the powers-that-be have to leave out guys who might otherwise deserve to be included. Also, given the factor described next, it appears that they've made the right decision.
Thirdly, as this is not a regular season game, but a series of games played purely for the entertainment of baseball fans, teams have to be made up of players who the fans want to see, as well as those who are their on merit.
Regardless of what some of us may think, the majority of Japanese baseball fans are more likely to want to see Godzilla, Cabrera, Kiyohara, Nakamura, and maybe even Wada (who did hit 30 HRs at over .300, it must be said) over Petagine and possibly Rhodes (although after a zillion years in Japan now, Rhodes is certainly a sentimental favorite).
This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
Thanks,
John G.