Steinbrenner, who gave the Japanese pitcher a $12.8 million contract, said before the game that he had no such concerns.

The lesson is to be very careful with Japanese pitchers.

You'd think they would take care of me before a Japanese pitcher.

Maybe the much-hyped Japanese pitcher should understand that he has not proved to be so special after all.

He was one of most famous Japanese right-handed pitchers.

Japanese pitchers are more likely to avoid challenging a star hitter and to offer him little to swing at.

He became the first Japanese born pitcher to play in the World Series.

And the fans who did not bring cameras were eager for pretty pictures from the Japanese pitcher.

In many ways, this has been the winter of the Japanese pitcher.

In today's game, three Japanese pitchers limited the Americans to six hits while striking out 15.