Tokyo, Jan 22: Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees returns to Japan to promote the season opener in Tokyo next March.
New York Yankees star Hideki Matsui, in Tokyo to promote Major League Baseball, held a news conference on Tuesday (January 20) saying he was excited about opening the season next March in Japan. "I find it almost unbelievable and a great honour to be able to open the season with the Yankees in Tokyo. It's been more than one year since I've played in Japan, so I'm looking forward to it," said the Japanese outfielder who finished the regular season with a batting average of .287 and 16 home runs, and who led his team with 106 runs batted in. The Yankees are due to play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tokyo on March 30 and 31, in season opening games.
These games will be preceded by several against Japanese baseball teams, the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers.


Aubrey Huff, Devil Rays infielder, his team showed much promise for the coming year due to the addition of new players.


"We're a very young team, we're exciting, we're fast, that is probably one of our biggest things. We're a fast team. With Rocco (Baldelli) and Carl Crawford on base in addition to Tino Martinez this year and Jose Carl Jr, we should be drive a lot more runs than last year, we've added a lot of depth to our bull pen this year as well, so I think we are very competitive this year, and I think the aggressiveness of the youth that we have is the strength of our team," he said.


This will be the second time the MLP Opening Series is held in Japan. The first time as in 2000 when the Mets played the Chicago Cubs.


Bureau Report