On Wednesday, April 11, the Boston Red Sox will take the field against the Seattle Mariners in the second of a three game home-opening series at Fenway Park. If you look more closely at this game however, it has a lot more meaning than just being the middle game of an early-season series. This game really is not about The Red Sox vs. the Mariners; it?s really about Dasiuke Matsuzaka vs. Ichiro Suzuki. Let?s face it. There really haven?t been a lot of solid Asian baseball players to make the transition from playing overseas to coming to the Major Leagues. Hideo Nomo had a strong rookie year in Los Angeles, and had a few shining moments in his major league career (The no-hitters against the Rockies and the Orioles), and Hideki Matsui has enjoyed success with the Yankees. However, overall Ichiro has been the most successful in his transition. During his nine-year professional career in Japan, Ichiro recorded 1,278 hits, a batting average of .353, won three consecutive MVPs and seven consecutive Gold Glove awards. In this major league career thus far the 2001 American League MVP and rookie of the year has recorded a .331 batting average, an on-base percentage of .376, has won six gold gloves, and recorded a record 262 hits in 2004. With his success on both offense and defense, and his tremendous batting statistics, don?t be surprised if after his career is over people are saying that he was our generation?s Joe DiMaggio. Now we don?t have a whole lot to base our thoughts on regarding Dasiuke Matsuzaka, except for his performance in the World Baseball Classic, where he pitched his way to the MVP, and then one of the, if not the, best debut performances in the Major Leagues in about 30 years. In seven innings last Friday Matsuzaka recorded 10 strikeouts, using a wide array of pitches to claim his victims in his first win in the majors. In his seven year career with the Seibu Lions in Japan, Matsuzaka had a record of 108-60, a 3.01 ERA, and 1,355 strikeouts. No wonder the Boston Globe gave him the nickname Dice-K. In three games during the World Baseball Classic, Dasiuke went a perfect 3-0, with 10 strikeouts, and a 1.38 ERA. The match-up on April 11th will significantly help strengthen the credibility of Japanese baseball players. When Ichiro steps to the plate it will be as one of the greatest hitters in the history of Japan, against the most hyped pitcher to come out of the same country. During his debut in Kansas City, where they hadn?t seen that much media attention since the Royals went to the World Series in 1985, the crowd was abuzz. The national and international media attention will be represented tremendously at Fenway when the two meet on Wednesday. Recently, NESN was rated the highest-viewed regional network for baseball games, imagine what that number will be when this game is broadcast all over Japan. On May 16, 1999, Dasiuke Matsuzaka and Ichiro Suzuki faced off for the first time in Japan, with Matsuzaka getting the better of the match-up, striking out Ichiro three times in three at bats and walking him once. The nation and the world will see what happens this time when the two face off for the first time as Major Leagues.