Pinstripes in Tokyo

I must now add A-Rod to the list of Yankee hitters that Torre can choose from. I wonder who will be the most popular Yankee in Japan after Matsui.

A few years ago there was the "Subway Series" in the U.S. Would this year be the year of the "Pinstripes Series" here in Japan?

Hanshin Tigers vs. New York Yankees.

Today's (2/25) Nikkan Sports had a short article with a photo of the Tiger and Yankee pinstripe uniforms side by side. Apparently, both teams will be wearing their home pinstripe uniforms when they face each other next month. Should make for some interesting plays on the field. Hate to see someone throw the ball to a member of the wrong team based on the uniform.

Will the games vs. the Tigers and Giants be live in the U.S.?

The games against the Tigers and Giants are being telecast live on the YES Network. They have the game listed as split squad, so most of the players will only play in one of the games. I am sure Matsui will appear in both games even if he has to pinch hit.

Both Yankee games will be televised on the YES network.

Now that Sheffield has decided to play on despite the partially torn ligament, the Yankee line up should be as follows for the Tokyo games:
Lofton, Jeter, Rodriguez, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui, Posada, Lee, and Wilson.

The pitchers are Mussina and Brown.

Travis Lee is now unlikely to play in the opener, if he doesn't play, Sierra will start.

The Yankees and Devil Rays arrived early Saturday morning in Japan.

Yes, it will be live on YES Network. It will be on 3/28 5:00 AM (Yankees vs Yomiuri).

By the way, my wife, Masayo Kawaguchi, who is a freelance reporter for Japanese TV and Radio, will report by phone live from New York on Nippon Housou Baseball Broadcast of Yankees vs Devil Rays on the 30th and 31st.

I will be watching the Yankee vs. Hanshin game on YES. Ricoh must have paid a lot of money to have their name on the Yankee uniform and helmet.

Who will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers? Actually, I wonder who will pitch for the Yankees. DePaula?

Matsui was inserted in the cleanup slot against the Giants, as he also hit a home run against his former team.

I just read that it will be Donovan Osborne vs. Maekawa for the Tigers. Is Maekawa a good pitcher? Osborne has not been in MLB for a few years.

Yankees lost 11-7 to the Hanshin Tigers, as former Padre George Arias went 3-4 with a HR and 5 RBIs.

Some thoughts about the Ricoh Series, as two JAL 747s filled with snoring jetlag victims descend into Tampa. It was dismaying to see the overwhelmingly pro-Yankee sentiments of the Japanese audience, given that Tokyo was to be a neutral site for Opening Day. With Tropicana Field sacrificing two home games, why were the Yankees in home pinstripes and using the home dugout?

The Tampa Bay press corps consisted of wide-eyed innocents abroad. One of them wondered why businessmen in blue suits would be downtown late in the evening on a work night. The same character was mystified by the sight of people in surgical masks. Both newspapers here willingly accepted the usual synthetic 55,000 attendance figure supplied by officials at Big Egg. With sushi bars seemingly on every street corner in Central Florida, none of the reporters liked anything they ate.

Hanshin showed the best this week, drawing with one MLB squad and walloping the other. The Giants' weaknesses were exposed to a wider audience. For New York and the Devil Rays, only time will tell if the dislocations caused by 14,000 miles of travel have an impact on their MLB efforts.

Why were they rooting for the Yankees? Since Matsui plays for them, who do you expect the Japanese people to root for?

Scoring 7 runs on 10 hits against Donovan Osborne is not that much of a feat. He will probably be off the team as soon as Lieber is healthy.

In NY sports forum there is a discussion in regards to which Yankees were popular in Japan besides Matsui. Many think it was Mariano Rivera more than Jeter.