There's a good chance the commuter trains were a little less crowded in Tokyo today. It was morning rush hour (8:11 a.m.) in the Japanese capital when Ichiro stepped to the plate to face Daisuke Matsuzaka at 7:11 p.m. at Fenway Park last night.
This was Japanese baseball's version of Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain, and the ancient Boston ballyard was awash in camera flashes when the Seattle outfielder looked at strike one from the $103 million Red Sox rookie sensation.
It was the magic matchup: the face that launched a thousand Nikons vs. the guy so good he only needs one name. It was one small step for the Red Sox and Mariners -- one giant leap for Japanese baseball.
Things didn't exactly work out as planned, of course. By the time folks put away their cameras, Dice-K was in the shower after seven innings and we were wondering if his ballyhooed Fenway debut might become famous because of a no-hitter pitched by the other guy.
That's right, boys and girls. The inconvenient truth of the matter is that Dice-K was outpitched by Seattle's 21-year-old Felix Hernandez on this historic night. Matsuzaka surrendered eight hard hits and three earned runs in his seven frames and lost, 3-0. Hernandez's no-hit bid was broken up by J.D. Drew's clean single to center leading off the bottom of the eighth. It turned out to be Boston's only hit.
"After the game, the players, manager, and coaches came up to me and told me I did a good job," Matsuzaka said through translator Masa Hoshino. " . . . I felt I had to hold them to as few runs as possible and I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't able to do that today."
"He's going to give up runs," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "These guys are humans and they make mistakes. I think he's going to be OK."
This must have been the most-covered April weeknight non-opening game in baseball history. The Red Sox issued 350 press credentials, including 160 to members of the Japanese media. It was, in the words of one reporter, the million cameramen march.
Dice-K drove himself to the ballpark and arrived in a brown Mercedes sedan at 2:21 p.m. A chef was dispatched to prepare his pregame meal of udon noodles and rice balls. He read a magazine in front of his locker as players dressed for the pregame workout. Countryman/teammate Hideki Okajima stopped by and spoke with him briefly, but most of the Sox left him alone.
Just after 4 p.m., Francona said he didn't know if his pitcher had yet arrived for work. No worries, however.
"Hey, I've had Pedro [the notoriously late Pedro Martínez]," Francona said. "As long as he [Matsuzaka] is here for the first pitch."
Asked about communicating with his new ace, Francona said, 'I learned to say 'eeyo'. I think it means 'good job.' "
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