Discovering Japan

For those interested, the US has edged Japan in the all-important All-Star Series 2002. The Americans have not lost in this series since 1990, the only Japanese series victory:

	Year	Won	Lost	Tied	MVP
	1986	6	1	0	Tony Pena
	1988	3	2	2	Barry Larkin
	1990	3	4	1	Ken Griffey Jr.
	1992	6	1	1	Mark Grace
	1996	4	2	2	Steve Finley
	1998	6	2	0	Sammy Sosa
	2000	5	2	1	Barry Bonds
	2002	4	3	0	Torii Hunter
	Tot	37	17	7

The American hitters looked pretty impressive batting .307 as a team with an .853 OPS. Ten of the 16 MLB position players batted over .300. However, the pitchers only managed a 4.69 ERA, allowed 82 hits in 71 innings, and gave up 31 walks to go with their 46 strikeouts. All in all, they scored nearly 11 runs a game (the average score was 6-5 MLB).

For a nice overview of the history of Japanese baseball (including Ty Cobb in a Tokyo Giants uniform), go here.