I know this is off the point, but.... The source is the Japan Times, from their baseball roundup. Can you ever imagine an American manager saying something like this?

Rhodes' chances to break the record may have been hurt as his team, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes clinched the Pacific League championship last night with a "sayanora" grand slam in the bottom of the ninth (aka walkoff).

The Buffaloes have done a Braves-Twins "worst to first" turnaround and are in first despite having the worst ERA of any of the 12 teams in Japan. The Buffaloes play in the one DH league.

So, the Buffaloes' last few games aren't important and he might well be pitched around. The Buffaloes do face the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks over the weekend, a team managed by Oh.

Just a few weeks ago - in this very forum - all of the experts in here on Japanese baseball said that a "gaijan" would never be allowed to break that record. Experts?!

Tuffy Rhodes's accomplishment makes me wonder how many home runs Barry Bonds or a healthy Mark McGwire or even Alex Rodriguez would hit over a full season in Japan? 90?

There is no way to tell...

They might draw 200 walks though.

A top American player at his peak would demolish Japanese pitching. Probably so much that he would never see a good pitch. There aren't a lot of hard-throwing Japanese pitchers. Once you got used to the offspeed stuff, it would be BP for Bonds or A-Rod.

Big Mac would never make the trip and he would whine about the food.

The parks in Japan aren't that small anymore. The only real bandbox is in Hiroshima and that's in the other league from Rhodes. The Osaka Dome used to be a horrible place to hit. Poor lighting, high fences, and dimensions that are pretty close to a park you would see here in North America. Perhaps they've fixed up the lighting there. More likely the pitchers stink, although Rhodes plays for the team with the worst ERA, so he doesn't get to face those guys.

When Oh played the parks were much smaller than MLB parks. Many of the parks had sub-300' lines.

And I should add that in Oh's day most of the center field fences were well short of 400 feet.

The Osaka Dome is 328 down the lines, 384 in the alleys, and 400 feet to center. It has fences that are 16 feet high. This info was from prior to the 2000 season, so I don't know if the dimensions had been changed.

The last bandbox is Hiroshima Municipal Stadium which goes 300/360/380. And you can walk across the street from it to see where the A-bomb was dropped. It's a bit eerie.

From what I read in Japan, the Japanese aren't as uptight over keeping their records "Japanese". However, Rhodes will be facing the Fukuoka Hawks in his last games and they are managed by Oh. I think the exodus of stars in recent years have made the Japanese a bit less nationalistic regarding baseball. The Mariners could be more popular in Japan the Yomiuri Giants.

BTW, the Japan Series should match up the Buffaloes, who have never won a Japan Series championship, against the Yakult Swallows (magic number 4 as of 9/27). But the Series won't start until Oct. 20.

The Buffaloes are an all-offense team. The most wins by any pitcher is 12 and that guy has an ERA of 5.93. But in addition to Rhodes' 55 homers, the guy who bats behind him Norihiro Nakamura has clubbed 45.

If it's Buffs versus Swallows, that'd be a gaijin matchup of Rhodes vs. stathead darling Roberto Petagine! Could both of them earn a 2nd look at the American major leagues sometime soon? I don't know their contract status....

Fifty-five and holding. Final game of the season is Friday. The news reports say he's been walking a fair number of times.

There has been quite a bit of fallout from the way that Oh's Hawks pitched to Rhodes. The consensus in Japan seems to be that it is cowardly to pitch around Rhodes when there is no reason to do so.

It's different from the Bonds situation. The Astros this week HAVE to win and they know that Bonds is the most likely person on the Giants to provide the winning blow.

And by any comparison, Bonds is far more dangerous. Against some of the best pitchers in the world, Bonds is slugging over 800, while Rhodes is at a "paltry" 670.

Tuffy has to settle for a tie for the record. They pretty much pitched around him down the stretch.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2001/1005/1259789.html