Yokohama The tabloids are linking model Asami  Kumakiri  with pitchert Takumi Nasuno. Kumakiri, who is currently starring in a Coca Cola spot on Japanese tv, admitted to the relationship but wouldn't go into any details about it. 

Miscellaneous Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi homered to left in the tenth inning Sunday for the deciding blow in an 8-6 victory over Houston. It was his only at bat after coming on as a late inning defensive replacement. 

Just a day after snagging his first MLB win, Boston reliever Hideki Okajima entered Sunday's battle with the Yankees with two gone in the seventh and men on first and retired catcher Jorge Posada, but was then tagged for an RBI triple in the eighth by Robinson Cano that tied it up up. Alex Rodriguez  homered to right off of Jon Papelbon in the top of the ninth to win it 6-5. 

Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui was 2-4. 

Kei Igawa made a start down in AAA Sunday and went seven innings of three run, six hit ball and struckout nine while walking two against Rochester. He will also make his next start in the minors. 

Boston righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 84 pitches in the bullpen Saturday and then packed up and flew to Oakland for a scheduled start on Tuesday. 

Rockies second baseman Kazuo Matsui smacked a bases clearing triple Sunday against Cincinnati that tied it up 8-8 in a 10-9 victory. Matsui finsihed the day 3-6 to raise his average to .325. 

Mariners centerfielder Ichiro Suzuki was 0-3 with two walks, one of which forced a run in, during am 11-6 triumph over Texas. 

Dodgers closer Takashi Saito appears as if he will be out a while after he strained a hamstring during Sunday's affair with Pittsburgh in a 5-4 L.A. win. 

Toronto righthander Tomokazu Ohka will start on the sixth against Tampa Bay in his first such assignment since May 26th. 

The Jays beat the Chicago White Sox Sunday 4-3. Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 1-4. 

Waseda University tucked away its 39th Tokyo Big Six University League flag (there are two seasons in Japanese college ball) by whipping Keio University 9-5 at Meiji Jingu Stadium Sunday before a packed house of 36,000. Hironobu Hara creamed a hanging slider for a three run homer to left in the third that lent Waseda a 6-0 advantage and, effectively, the ballgame. 

But it was Waseda starter Yuki   Saito who everybody focused on and he did pretty well until the sixth in ulitmately going six innings of four run, four hit ball while walking five and striking out eight for his fourth win this spring. But he nevertheless became the the first freshman to win his first four appearances all in spring starts in 80 years in that circuit's history and the first to have pitched his high school team to a Koshien title and then be the winning pitcher in the Tokyo Big Six title clinching game as a newly minted freshman the very next year. 

Saito allowed a pair of RBI knocks in the sixth and he then beaned another man with runners on first and third to load the bases. He also plunked the next men to force a run in before eliciting a strikeout to shut the rally down. 

The Saito phenomenon lead to mind blowing tv ratings for the normally sparsely watched NHK educational channel, drawing a 9.9 share in the Kanto (Tokyo-Yokohama-Chiba) region with a temporary high of 15.6 while there was a lot less interest in the Kansai (Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe) area, which saw only 3.7% of the audience tuning in. It easily won its time slot, which is unheard of for university baseball in recent times. 

Osaka Toin slugger Sho Nakata blasted three homers Sunday against Tamashima Shogyo High in a 15-4 and 26-0 practice game doubleheader obliteration. That gives him 83 for his schoolboy career, tying him on the all time list on that level with Ken Suzuki (Seibu, Yakult) and Takeya Nakamura (Seibu). Two of the bombs were to leftcenter and the other to rightcenter and were all over 400 feet, the biggest said to have been estimated at over 420.