Will Ford ever return to his form of 2004 where he hit .299 with 15 homers, 72 RBI and 20 steals? Who’s to say? But while it is true that he has lost a little something at the plate – some call it confidence — but playing every day may be just the remedy Ford needs to relocate that which has ailed him.

There is no getting around the fact that Ford has batted just .250 with 14 homers, 85 RBI and 25 steals combined in the three seasons since his career year. That said, we’re not allowed to forget that Lew had some injuries, and that his at-bats decreased each campaign along the way.

But here’s the kicker boys and girls – you don’t get your name chanted at the park just because it sounds cool – you have to endear yourself to the fans first. You have to earn that. Twins fans love Lew Ford because of the way he plays the game on the field: with hustle, with aggressive base running, with a smile on his face but above all else – Lew Ford would run through a brick wall to win a ballgame. That is why we chanted his name.

So for all the haters out there that think Ford can’t play and won’t do much in Japan I say this – toss the scouting reports and statistics out the door because I would take nine Lew Ford’s in a heartbeat.

Hanshin club president Nobuo Minami said, “He’s got some power, so we’re expecting him to hit 20 or more home runs.” Despite his diminished numbers the past few years I always felt comfortable with Ford at the plate in big situations. Soon Hanshin and Mr. Minami will be able to relate, and feel an undeniable urge to shout – Lewwwwww.

Landon Evanson covers the Minnesota Twins for Bugs and Cranks.

I will never forget where I was for his MLB debut. I wrote my professor an email letting her know I was going to skip class to see Dice-K pitch because it was a piece of history for his country and our Nation.

Now, it is a new year, a new season, and a new opportunity for Daisuke Matsuzaka. This may sound odd, but Matsuzaka has to prove himself to Red Sox Nation again. He now has his feet wet in Major League Baseball, so the question is: can he improve on last year?

For me, Dice-K’s highest point of the last season was the last game I attended at Fenway — the A.L. East clinching title game. There was pressure in the air, but a calm pressure. It would turn out to be the biggest game for Dice-K up to that point in the season. He had been struggling but eventually would go on to win his second game since early August. Dice-K pitched well, allowing two runs, but it was not the box score that intrigued me. It was the confidence he appeared to have. There was a swagger to his walk and pitching. It seemed in my eyes at least Matsuzaka finally felt comfortable in his Red Sox uniform and the performance showed — only allowing two runs over 8 innings of work, including 8 strikeouts.

Dice-K had his ups in the season and certainly had his lows in the 07 campaign. I will not highlight a particular moment of a Matsuzaka low point, but here’s my biggest gripe.

Big Innings

If Matsuzaka has a better season this year it will depend on how well he manages the big innings. So often, Dice-K would be masterful through 4 or 5 innings then get obliterated in one inning, giving up a big chunk of runs while taking himself out of the game — both in the box score and mentally. The key for Matsuzaka’s success this season is to limit those big innings. Slow down and take a breath and turn out a double-play ball or a big strikeout. He had too many big innings for my liking, and he put himself out of games and out of a chance for a win. He now knows the league better and I think this aspect of his game will improve.

Moving Forward

Going back to my point made earlier about Dice-K proving himself again to Red Sox Nation its really this simple. Matsuzaka has been in the league for a year there is no excuse as to say he does not know the league, so this is where he has to prove himself again. His numbers have to improve against the American League and I think they will.

2007 season: 15-12/ERA 4.40

2008 season (my projection): 15-9/ 3.80 ERA

I feel that since he knows the league and has another year to work with Jason Varitek that his ERA will improve and he will not lose as many games. Tito will know when to give him the hook and Dice-K will give up fewer big innings as he did last year.

I expect a good season from Dice-K but I have always been an optimistic Red Sox fan.

That said, Josh Beckett is still the ace on this staff.

Shawn Medeiros writes for MVN’s Firebrand of the American League

It took exactly 11 games to remember why Ichiro is so special.

He didn’t get off to the best start. His batting average through the first seven games of the season stood at a paltry .192. Over a particular three-game span in Boston and Texas, Ichiro went hitless in twelve at bats with a completely uncharacteristic seven strikeouts, throwing in an embarrassing performance against Daisuke Matsuzaka in the middle for good measure. The questions were flying. What was wrong with Ichiro? Was he starting to get old? Was he getting sick of playing in Seattle? Had Major League baseball finally found a hole in his swing?

Four days later, Ichiro was batting .318.

One needs only to consider these first 11 games of the season to really understand what Ichiro is all about, and what makes him such a superstar. There are few other players in the league for whom the bar of expectations is set so consistently high, and for whom undershooting that bar becomes worthy of the headlines. Manny Ramirez hit .202 for the entire month of April and in Boston they called it “just another typical slow start.” For Ichiro, though, every rough patch he hits feels like it means something. People don’t expect Ichiro to slump. They expect him to go 2-4 or 3-5 every night, and it’s a disappointment if doesn’t. Think about that for a second.

People see Ichiro as a machine. Nevermind his unwavering concentration, lack of outward emotion, or weirdass interviews; the way he just hits and hits and hits simply doesn’t feel human. What reason do we have to believe that Ichiro bleeds red blood like the rest of us? His performance since coming over from Japan seems to suggest otherwise. Seven straight seasons of 200+ hits. A career .333 batting average. Not a single stint on the DL. In Seattle he’s revered as some kind of higher form of life, and this is why it’s always such a total shock when he strings a few bad games together.

Sure enough, just as he always has, Ichiro bounced back from his early struggles and proceeded to put on a clinic. For the next two months he hit an otherworldly .384, and as if that weren’t already enough to placate the masses, the All Star Break brought news that Ichiro and the Mariners had agreed on an extension that would keep the free-agent-to-be star center fielder in Seattle through 2012. Concerns that Ichiro didn’t get along very well with manager Mike Hargrove went out the window when Hargrove up and left the team, and replacing him with John McLaren – a favorite of Ichiro’s since his early days with the M’s – all but ensured that he wasn’t going to go anywhere. A new manager, an Ichiro extension, and a competitive team? Being a Mariner fan hadn’t felt this good in years.

The season, of course, wound up taking a nasty and unprecedented turn for the worse come late August, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at Ichiro. Following the break his average never dipped below .343, and he was one of the only players on the team who kept producing through the godawful 1-13 skid that knocked the M’s out of contention. Even when it seemed like the psychological blow of the slump might finally be enough to interrupt Ichiro’s inhuman momentum, he just kept on going, and didn’t stop until the end of the year. He hit in the big games. He hit in the meaningless games. He hit in every game in between. All Ichiro does is hit. You wonder where he finds the time to also be a good glove in center field and an outstanding baserunner.

It’s absolutely incredible how much (seemingly effortless) work Ichiro has put in to remain the same baseball player for the last seven years. Pitchers have changed their approaches, defenses have changed their alignments, and managers have changed their plans of attack, but even if they manage to get a leg up for a little while, it’s always Ichiro who gets the last laugh. Always.

Some players go hitless for days in a row and it’s not a big deal. Some players swing and miss at least once every other time they come to the plate, and no one bats an eye. But Ichiro is a different story, and for good reason – these are things that, as far as Ichiro’s concerned, are unacceptable. And these are things that pitchers and opposing teams must celebrate as victories, because in the fight against Ichiro, all you can win are the occasional small battles in an unwinnable war.

Jeff’s Lookout Landing  is one of the best team blogs around. He also  recently won an   award  for the “Blog Most Likely to Attract Beautiful Women” at  the inaugural Bloggers…Choosing the Choice Cuts Awards. Yes ladies, he’s available.

The Seattle Mariners signed Japanese catcher Kenji Johjima prior to the 2006 season for one reason: stability.

The 2005 Mariners catching carousel featured seven different backstops, and the results were appalling. Along with stability, Johjima ended up bringing above average offense and defense, and was the second most durable catcher in the league. Kenji’s solid debut had him tops among position players in the Rookie of the Year voting, and nowadays his name is always mentioned as a top five catcher in the major leagues.

2007 rolled around and catcher was no longer a position of concern for Seattle. This time we all knew what we could expect from Joh: line drives all over the field, great power against righthanders and solid defense. The only speculation concerning Kenji was how much he could improve upon his rookie campaign. Johjima showed he was capable of hitting 30+ homers and 100+ RBIs in Japan, and Mariner fans were wondering if he could close the gap a little. Going into 2007 it didn’t seem unreasonable for him to knock 20-25 out, driving in 80-90.

Kenji started hot, hitting .316 through the first two months of the season. Batting mostly from the 7-hole, Joh was able to help drive in the big boys to the tune of 19 RBIs during the month of May. Unfortunately he couldn’t keep the pace, and his three solid months (April, May, August: .336 10 HR 38 RBI in 240 AB) were brought down by three bad ones (June, July, September: .239 4 HR 23 RBI in 243 AB). Johjima’s final line ended up being a touch lower than his 2006 debut, but the Mariners will take it.

Maybe he lacked a little on the offensive side, but he made up for it on defense. Joh has always been a plus defender, winning seven gold gloves in Japan, but there was concern surrounding his ability to catch basestealers. He only managed to throwout 34% in 2006. During the spring there was a lot of talk that the coaching staff was working hard to improve his technique. Improved footwork and a quicker release certainly helped, as Johjima ended gunning down a whopping 46%, which led the league. Several experts felt Johjima was snubbed during the recent handing out of 2007 gold gloves.

The black mark on Joh’s 2007 season has nothing to do with any of his own numbers. The Seattle Mariners employed one of the worst starting pitching staffs in baseball, sporting a 5.16 ERA. You can’t always blame the catcher, especially when the staff includes the linkes of Horacio Ramirez and Jeff Weaver. But it does bring up a communication issue. Kenji took extensive English and Spanish lessons to prepare for the job, but anyone who has even dabbled in a second language knows it can be difficult to get a point across. Baseball people tend to downplay the significance of the language barrier, saying that the game is universal. In watching Seattle play, however, it seemed that pitchers had trouble bouncing back after giving up walks, homeruns, or consecutive hits. You can only say “keep the ball down” so many times, and I am concerned that Johjima is having trouble calming his pitchers down.

Going into 2008 I would expect another solid season from Kenji Johjima, both offensively and defensively. Perhaps this is the year he can crack the 20 home run mark. Joh is entering a contract year, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he ups his level of play. Either way, you can at least expect him to flirt with .300, hit 15+ homers and put the ball in play. Look for the coaching staff to try and get him to work the count more, as his number one weakness continues to be his lack of walks.

Another intriguing issue going into 2008 is the prospect of having Hiroki Kuroda pitching to Johjima. Kuroda is a free agent as of now, but the Mariners are said to be the clear-cut favorite. There has never been a Japanese pitcher/catcher tandem in the MLB, and it would be interesting to watch that unfold. There has been a lot of speculation that a Japanese arm  might pitch closer to his NPB numbers with the help of a Japanese catcher with MLB experience. The hope would be  that Johjima  could help Kuroda actually earn the millions of dollars the Mariners would have to overspend on him.

Jon Shields writes the blog Bleeding Blue and Teal. He lives outside Seattle and can be contacted at bleedingblueandteal@gmail.com.

Without anything further we introduce David Chalk. David covers the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays for Bugs and Cranks. He lives in Tampa, likes pie, and is an erstwhile supporter of Elijah Dukes.

As a huge Devil Rays fan I was on the Akinori Iwamura  bandwagon from the beginning. Okay, so I did have a smidgen of doubt at first because I couldn’t think of another Asian infielder besides Kaz Matsui. But throughout spring training I never saw him without is flashy sunglasses, and I had a feeling he was for real, that he was ready to take over the position that had been held by greats like Aubrey Huff, Vinny Castilla, and Wade Boggs.

He got his first hit Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and got off to a blazing hot start, hitting safely in his first nine. It seemed like every come-from-behind win the featured Aki finding a way to get on base and then coming home to score the winning run. Like he did in the home opener against the B-Jays.

Throughout April, the D-Rays press notes were continually showing how well his start compared to the big names from Japan-Hideki Matsui and Ichiro. Unfortunately, Iwamura was injured in late April after helping the Devil Rays beat the Yankees for the second straight time. He was out for almost all of May. Then, shortly after he returned to the field, a foul ball took a freakish hop and caught him in the eye socket, causing him to miss another week.

Other than those two injuries, Iwamura was an every-day fixture at third base, and was practically a nightly feature on Baseball Tonight’s Web Gems.

Our Devil Rays had the lowest payroll in all of baseball–lower than what A-Rod alone got from the Yankees. Shelling out $7.7 million over three years plus the $4.5 posting fee was by far the biggest investment the team made last off-season.

Overall, they have to be pretty satisfied. He showed a good glove at third and batted .285 and scored 82 runs. Where they’re disappointed is the power numbers. Dude was averaging 35 home runs the last three seasons in Japan–he hit just seven?in 123 games in the Majors, good for just 34 RBI.

Perhaps, though, that’s more an indication of the role he was put into by “Coach Joe” Maddon–Iwamura was the D-Rays leadoff hitter in 100 of his 123 games. People were surprised how much his swing looked like Ichiro’s.

Shula’s American Steakhouse  High Point: April. I think it was huge that he immediately dispelled any doubts and showed he belonged right away.

Thee Doll House Lounge Low Point: I’m tempted to say he came off as judgemental of teammate Elijah Dukes in a July interview  with the St. Petersburg Times, but I guess the low point?ought to?be the low HR and RBI totals. The .184 RISP (16-for-87)?wasn’t great either.?

Prognosis 2008:The plan appears to be moving Aki to second base, primarily to make room for 2008 Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria (insert Desperate Housewives/Tony Parker joke here). Iwamura only played one game at second in 2007, but as good as he was in the field, he should be able to adjust. With a another of seeing AL pitchers, and with the addition of another big bat in an already potent lineup, his offensive numbers should improve as well. With a little luck, he’ll be running wild in the playoffs like Kaz Matsui did this year.

As was mentioned before David Chalk writes about?the Rays for Bugs and Cranks. He also writes about culture and international affairs for ABCD Films and TurkishHour.com.