Upon arriving in Tokyo, Ryan Howard picked up exactly where he left off in Philadelphia.Howard crushed a home run to right-center field in the sixth inning to help bring the MLB All-Stars back from a four-run deficit in a 7-7 tie in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants. The MLB All-Stars open a five-game series against a team of Japanese All-Stars on Friday at 4 a.m. Eastern Time.
David Wright of the New York Mets belted a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning to account for the stalemate before an announced crowd of 31,329. But it was Howard who impressed the hosts.
"Amazing power he's got," Yomiuri catcher Shinnosuke Abe told MLB.com. "No wonder he hit 58 homers."
Interestingly, neither right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka nor third baseman Akinori Iwamura will be playing for the Japanese All-Stars. Both are going to be sought-after free agents by MLB teams this winter. According to the web site JapanBall.com, Matsuzaka went 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA in 25 starts for the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League, while Iwamura batted .311 with 32 home runs, 77 RBIs and a .389 on-base percentage for Yakult of the Central League.
Mark your calendar
Howard and Albert Pujols are the frontrunners for the NL MVP award, which will be announced Nov. 20.
2 comments:
Hey Scott, what's the deal with Iwamura? The Daily News says that the Phillies are really interested in him and then Randy Miller says that the Phillies have no interest. Do you have any info on this? If not Iwamura, then how about Wes Helms or Mark Derosa to platoon with Nunez?
Hi, Ed:
Thanks for the note.
From everything I've been told, the Phillies are interested in Iwamura. They scouted him in Japan, and he's on their short list of potential 3B candidates. Also, keep this in mind: Pat Gillick has a history of signing Japanese players. As GM of the Mariners, he brought over Kaz Sasaki in 2000 and Ichiro in 2001.
Helms played primarily 1B (88 of 113 games) last season for the Marlins, and usually started only against left-handed pitchers. DeRosa plays all over the place but did his best work in the OF for the Rangers last season. And throughout his career, he hasn't been a particularly good defensive 3B (.947 career fielding pct.). I don't think the Phillies look at either Helms or DeRosa as a solid solution, even in a platoon with Nunez. They're merely low-cost options in case Aramis Ramirez or Iwamura are unattainable.
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