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April 17, 2007
Canada doesn't seem to be caught up in the same Daisuke Matsuzaka Mania that has swept the Red Sox' world in the United States.
Dice-K, who will be opposing Toronto's Gustavo Chacin tonight at the Rogers Centre in his third start of the season, has not been a focal point in the local and national media here that he was in his first two outings, in Kansas City and Boston.
The right-hander's name wasn't even mentioned on the sports pages in some of the Toronto newspapers.
That isn't to say that there isn't interest in Matsuzaka's performance from the Japanese media. In the main press box, the accredited Japanese media has been given 31 seats. There are only seven writers from New England papers covering the game.
The football press box has been opened for tonight's game to handle the rest of the Japanese media on hand for the game. The last time the Jays had to do that was in 2003, when Hideki Matsui and the Yankees visited Toronto.
It's not likely the football press box will be utilized tomorrow night, even though another Japanese pitcher will be starting. Tomo Ohka, who authored a perfect game for the Pawtucket Red Sox and pitched for Boston, will start for the Blue Jays against Tim Wakefield.
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 4:38 PM | Permalink
