A-Rod praises Igawa; Japan takes notice
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 24, 2007 
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Kei Igawa threw his second BP session today and looked pretty good. He faced Alex Rodriguez and the Japanese reporters wanted to hear what A-Rod thought.
I listened in.
“Very impressive,” Rodriguez said. “He has it in him to win 15 games or more. Kei is the kind pitcher who will do well in our league.”
According to Rodriguez, Igawa throws harder than most lefties and has the kind of stuff that will work well at Yankee Stadium.
The Japanese reporters practically ran to their laptops. This will be big news back home.
Peter –
What kind of stuff is Rodriguez talking about that Igawa has, and why would it work well in the Stadium?
that’s high praise indeed.
Joe… I hear throughout the season that Yankee Stadium is a good park for lefties. Maybe because of its homerun fence dimensions? I wonder if they told Igawa to pitch Rodriguez a fastball in, for practice, and how well he did.
Russell…
399 to LCF is why it’s a good park for lefty pitchers.
Contrast that with the 364 at Camden Yards or 362 at Minute Maid Park.
You may also contrast that to the 457 that it was in the OLD Yankee Stadium.
[...] Also, Pete Abraham has A-Rod’s complimentary comments of Kei Igawa on his blog. [...]
Hey Pete.
Matsuzaka is front and center in the news again. Igawa is always there, but he plays second fiddle. Even this story isn’t all that important to anyone. I checked the tabloids and internet news services, and no one has it featured in any qualitative way. Here a link to one story that talks about Igawa. It’s in Japanese, but essentially it says that Igawa threw a strong bullpen session against prime Major Leaguers in his second outing, after a lukewarm performance his first time out against Miguel Cairo and Nieves.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/base.....25/12.html
If Kei starts off good and pitches well he will become huge news back in Japan. Basically its up to him and how he performs. I dont blame the Japanese media for going all Dice K right now because he is an icon there.
Peter, how is Igawa’s full name pronounced please? Speak slowly, I have some hearing loss
BillyJoBob,
Phonetically:
KAY’-ee ee-GAH’-wah
I live in Japan and check out the tabloid headlines now and then on the way to work. It’s funny how the coverage is not always about what the guys did, but what the American media coverage of them is. So a headline the other day about the American media being in a tizzy about the gyroball. So while it would be nice to think that the Matsuzaka/Matsui showdowns will lead to a deeper appreciation of the great Yanks/Red Sox rivalry, it’ll be more about what the individual Japanese players did, and to what degree Americans were excited by it. There are great rivalries here as well, and that’s what Japanese fans will still be into.
I’d been anticipating with dread the first Red Sox cap on the streets, and saw it the other day, but it was a blue on blue hip hop version!