MLB coming to Japan

[Captain Japan]

Bochy leading MLB All-Stars

LOS ANGELES -- It's a team that he'd like to take with him for Spring Training, but an eight-game tour of Japan will have to suffice.

Bruce Bochy will manage the Major League Baseball team in the biennial Japan All-Star Series that opens at the Tokyo Dome on Friday. The nine-year veteran skipper of the San Diego Padres has been able to pencil in the likes of Tony Gwynn, Steve Finley and Kevin Brown onto a lineup card, but in Japan he'll have the services of Manny Ramirez, Moises Alou and Roger Clemens, and that's just for starters.

Here's the schedule:

Date/Time (ET)
Stadium

11/05, 5:00 a.m.
Tokyo Dome

11/06, 4:30 a.m.
Tokyo Dome

11/07, 4:30 a.m.
Tokyo Dome

11/09, 4:30 a.m.
Fukuoka Dome

11/10, 4:30 a.m.
Osaka Dome

11/11, 4:30 a.m.
Sapporo Dome

11/12, 5:00 a.m.
Nagoya Dome

11/13, 10:00 p.m.
Tokyo Dome

[Captain Japan]

MLB tour of Japan set for November
MLB.com

PHOENIX -- Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball are joining forces again this fall to stage the bi-annual Major League All-Star tour of Japan from Nov. 2-8.

The tour, which usually traverses the country, has been shortened this year to six games and two stops -- four games will be played in Tokyo Dome and two in Osaka Dome. It is to be sponsored by Yomiuri, owner of the Tokyo-based Giants and one of the largest media companies in the world. The MLB team could again include Giants slugger Barry Bonds, who hasn't played on the tour since 2002, and is highly popular in Japan.

As has been custom when Yomiuri hosts the event, the initial game will be an exhibition between the Giants and the MLB All-Stars in Tokyo Dome. This year, that game will be followed by a five-game series pitting the MLB Stars against an All-Star team from the Japan leagues....more...

[Taro Toporific]

MLB tour of Japan set for November
MLB.com

OK! Now where's are free-tickets-because-we-are-f*ed-gaijin tickets?
Has anybody seen the free ticket offer that they run every year in the English edition of the Yomiuri or Japan Times yet?

[Captain Japan]

Come on, Taro. Start working your network!
Jojima, Iguchi among major stars to face Japan
Daily Yomiuri

The major leaguers are returning to Japan, and this time they have a point to prove.

A team of Major League Baseball all-stars will play a five-game series against a team of Nippon Professional Baseball stars beginning on Nov. 3 at Tokyo Dome. Seattle Mariners catcher Kenji Jojima and Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi were among the first eight major leaguers to be confirmed for the tour on Tuesday by MLB Japan managing director Jim Small, who will be seeing his sixth series here.

"This will be the best team we have brought to Japan in my time here, and perhaps the best ever," Small said at a press conference announcing the tour which will be sponsored by The Yomiuri Shimbun.

After a disapointing 2004 tour, some have questioned whether the series was worth continuing, but organizers believe it is more relevant than ever following Japan's World Baseball Classic championship.

"These guys [the major leaguers] did not like the fact that Japan won the first WBC," Small said. "We intend to show that major league baseball is still the best baseball in the world."...more...

Looks like R. Howard, J. Santana, C. Utley, and A. Jones will be here in addition to Reyes and Wright.

[Captain Japan]

Beltran, Dye added to Japan tour
MLB

The Major League All-Star team that will travel to Japan in November added a couple of big bats on Monday, with the announcement that Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran and White Sox right fielder Jermaine Dye -- both of whom are Most Valuable Player Award candidates in their respective leagues -- have joined the roster.

Beltran, whose Mets are in the midst of the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals, will have plenty of familiar company in Japan. Mets shortstop Jose Reyes and third baseman David Wright were named to the team last week.

With 26 of the 27 roster spots now filled, the final slot will be announced in the near future.

Beltran had a career year, belting 41 homers and driving in 116 runs. Ditto for Dye, who smashed 44 homers and had 120 RBIs....more...

The end of the article has the latest roster for the MLB team. One interesting item is that the MLB manager, Ken Macha, was canned by the A's today. I wonder what uniform he'll wear during the tour.

A's dismiss Macha after ALCS defeat
MLB

OAKLAND -- After the 2005 season, A's manager Ken Macha and general manager Billy Beane parted briefly because they couldn't agree on a contract. Macha ended up returning about a week later.

Macha is again out of a job, and this time A's fans shouldn't expect any type of déjà vu.

On Monday, two days after the A's were bounced from the playoffs in four games by the Tigers, Beane announced at a press conference that Macha has been dismissed as the A's skipper.

Beane referred to the chances of Macha returning as "highly unlikely" and said that there was a miscommunication between the A's and Macha.

"I felt there was a disconnect at a lot of levels [that] I felt like we could improve upon," Beane said. "Not to point the finger at Ken or anything like that. We just felt like the disconnect was there, and [it] was something that needed to be addressed as soon as possible. We felt that both parties would be better served going in a different direction."...more...