Yakult The Swallows downed the Samsung Lions again Friday, this time by a 4-1 score. Rookie Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi came on in relief and dominated with two hitless innings. He was clocked at 90mph. 

Kazuhisa Ishii started and went three innings of one unearned run ball on two hits and hit 89mph on the radar gun. 

Yokohama Just to get some work in, closer Mark Kroon hooked up with the Bay Stars minor league club for a practice game against Sumitomo Kashima and was clocked at 96mph in a start that saw him go two scoreless innings and walk three. 

Yomiuri Did team owner Takuo Takihana reveal that the Giants are thinking about building or moving into another ballpark? On a visit to Hiroshima wearing his newspaperman hat, Takihana paid a social call to Carp owner Gen Matsuda and they got on the subject of the new stadium that will begin construction after the end of the season and that the fish will move into in 2009. A reporter asked Takihana about Tokyo Dome, which has been the object of some criticism recently for being a faceless indoor dome with an artifickal surface that is being blamed for creating injuries. "It's been 20 years already since it opened and so it is an old ballpark. That has also been a problem for the players," he replied. In fact so bad that the club has often had its pitchers workout in an park near the dome. This will bear watching. 

Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi will start at DH Saturday against Softbank after battling a leg injury this spring. Seung-yeop Lee will bat cleanup and be at first base. Reliever Shintaro Yoshitake, who came over from the Hawks as a compensation pick for Hiroki Kokubo, will see some mound time Saturday and Sunday. 

Chiang Chien-ming, who was a pleasant suprise at the end of last season, has struggled somewhat thus far, giving up five runs in nine intrasquad and practice game innings, so he obviously hopes to right that Saturday during his scheduled appearance. He threw 53 pitches Friday in the bullpen as a tuneup. 

Rookie Norihito Kaneto is scheduled to appear in Sunday's contest while reliever Yuya Kubo is also scheduled to take the hill. 

Pitching coach Takao Obana told Hochi Sports Friday that if Kiyoshi Toyoda falters, Yushi Aida could get a shot at the closer's job, using as an example Shingo Takatsu, who doesn't throw hard, either, but who relies on a sinker to get hitters out as Aida does. Takatsu, though, can at least hit 85mph on the gun when he wants to. In his last outing, Aida was clocked at a high of 80mph. 

After throwing the last couple of days, Koji Uehara stayed out of the bullpen Friday.

Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka will rejoin the top team around the 15th. He is nursing a left hanstring injury.

Miscellaneous Daisuke Matsuzaka started a game against Boston College Friday before an overflow crowd of 8,000 fans and live tv audiences in Japan and Boston and gave up a leadoff opposite field double to left by Joe Ayres, who hadn't had any two baggers in his college career. But the former Lions ace then elicited a dribbler that moved Ayres over to third, where he became a spectator due to Matsuzaka fanning the next two men. Matsuzaka followed that with a perfect second for a 25 pitch (19 strikes) outing that saw him strike out three. However, two of those whiffs were on belt high fastballs on the outside corner, so he has to do a better job getting the ball down. Bosox broadcaster Jerry Remy called Matsuzaka's performance a typical first spring training stint and remarked that he was better during the WBC. But Matsuzaka used all of his pitches and showed good command of them. 

Matsuzaka seemed to see little worth in facing collegiate competition if you read his statement about that subject to the Japanese press. BC is 0-3 so far this season, so he may have a point. He was mainly trying to feel out the stateside strike zone and seeing just where his conditioning was, so he paid little heed to the tendencies of the hitters he took on. He was clocked at 92mph. 

ESPN commentator Peter Gammons believes that Matsuzaka will win 17-18 games this season while former Phillie John Kruk countered that Matsuzaka would garner less than 16 but would get into double figures in that category. 

As if the whole Matsuzaka circus isn't grandiose enough, Sports Nippon is reporting that conductor Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony will perform the American and Japanese national anthems (which causes me to wonder what the other foreign players on the Bosox will think, but I digress) on April 11th, when Matsuzaka makes his regular season MLB home  debut against Seattle at Fenway Park. Ozawa himself goes to Red Sox games when he has time. 

Hideki Okajima appeared in another game, this one against Toronto, and spun a perfect frame. 

The Yankees and Tampa Bay faced off Friday and both Hideki Matsui and Akinori Iwamura went 0-2. They each grounded out and flew to center. 

Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was also zip for two during his team's match with San Diego. Kenji Johjima did not play. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was 1-5 Friday against the New York Mets. 

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 1-3 against Arizona Friday and also robbed the opposition of two hits with sterling defensive plays. 

Pittsburgh righthander Masumi  Kuwata will make his debut Sunday against Cincinnati.

Did anyone see the rocket that Ryan Howard unloaded Friday? It was at least 470 and completely left the yard beyond the single level bleachers in rightcenter. Boy, is he a blast to watch (except when he plays my Dodgers). Howard also signed a new contract for the bargain sum of $900,000. It seems to me it would have behooved the Phils to make Ryan a little happier than that. 

Speaking of my beloved Blue Crew, pitching great Clem Labine died Friday at age 80 of pneumonia. My condolences to his family. 

In a non-baseball subject but one some of you might find enjoyable, there is a new Japanese equivalent to You Tube here .

I also felt compelled to pass this along, too: Toilet paper manufacturer Hayashi Seishi  is marketing a line of its product that will contain four panel comic strips drawn by well known cartoon artist Mitsuru Yaku. "Read it and wipe," Yaku told reporters. Yaku is reportedly a collector of wacky manifestations of tp himself, so this alliance was a natural.