Shuuto Showdown

Tonight, the Friars will face the Dodgers in Hiroki Kuroda's Major League debut. Kuroda, from Japan's Kansai penensula, is known for his "shuuto" - a pitch that was heavily featured in the film Mr. Baseball, starring Tom Selleck. The pitch is most commonly translated as a running two seamer or a cut fastball. The transplant of Kuroda to MLB baseball is a big enough deal that it is being telecast live on NHK - the primary Japanese television station (think of it as Japan's CBS without ABC or NBC as competition). A massive number of Japanese reporters will likely be in attendance to find out if the Friars and Justin Germano can tame the shuuto. FF's take? Hai!