The Pacific League has been raging on for nearly a month, but in the magical world of Major League Baseball, Japan's top-shelf exports are flying on Uncle Bud's calendar, and it must feel like Groundhog Day for some of the Hinomaru Heroes -- same old story day-in, day-out.

And that's not always a good thing, as the List's Bill Murray-loving cyberspace contingency can testify.

The trail leads right to Kaz Matsui, affectionately known as "Little Matsui," referred to in the List's company as "The Anchor," as in, the anchor weighing down the surging New York Mets with his $8.058 million salary.

Now on the disabled list (not to be confused with another List) with a strained medical collateral ligament, Matsui is being about as productive as he ever has been, which is to say he would be more fairly compensated on a pay scale akin to that of Ray the Hot Dog Guy.

Matsui rolled into Shea Stadium with high expectations, and between injuries and less-than-stellar numbers, he has failed to meet them.

General manager Omar Minaya has made over the Mets (Wayne Graczyk's favorite, for those keeping score), and with the National League East leaders off to a 10-2 start, Matsui's salary is over the top.

Eight million bucks? What is the Florida Marlins' entire payroll, $14 million? That's almost an entire clubhouse of Fish for less than two times the price of one albatross.

He is a .265 hitter in two seasons with the Mets, and he has 140 strikeouts in 727 at-bats. His 33 errors in 184 games, well, are also quite hideous.

So when Matsui starts feeling better, it may be best to just dig up a clipboard for him to hold. I'm sure Chad Pennington has got to be stocking up this offseason.

FOXSports.com writer Ken Rosenthal listed Matsui among the biggest rip-offs in baseball. For the price of one Kaz Matsui, you could have world-class closer Trevor Hoffman, emerging superstar shortstop Michael Young and enough change left over to buy a brand new Bentley.

Simple math, to say the least.

ANOTHER ON THE OVERPAID list was San Diego Padres pitcher Park Chan Ho, whose five-year, $65 million deal with the Texas Rangers was such a disaster, it essentially made sure team owner Tom Hicks would never trust a pitcher enough to sign an unconditional five-year deal ever again.

Park pitched like the $15 million man he is in the World Baseball Classic, where he was just plain nasty, but back at Petco Park (no relation) with his Team Korea jersey at home in the closet, Park -- a very nice man, to his credit -- has returned to his old ways, putting up numbers that make no one other than the team's front office sick. Park has 26 wins in 78 starts since signing the mammoth deal back in 2001, and this season, he had made just one start and has a 5.59 ERA.

THREE CHEERS FOR Kenji Johjima (with an "H" now; thanks for your letters), who has taken a personality Tuffy Rhodes and more than a few others felt was as warm as Hokkaido in the heart of ski season and as easy going as Ichiro Suzuki when someone calls him Hideki, and has become somewhat a media darling in his new digs with the Seattle Mariners. More importantly, he is playing dynamite baseball, batting .364 with 10 RBIs and currently tallying a seven-game hitting streak.

Still, I would pay good money to hear the mound chats when he goes out to see Venezuelan phenom Felix Hernandez.

Ichiro told a room full of reporters, "Spanish poquito" [Spanglish for "I speak a little Spanish"] during the WBC. It could be a useful skill to pass onto his Japanese teammate, but for now, Johjima-san is speaking the language of baseball just fine.

JAPAN TIMES SPORTS EDITOR Jack Gallagher said it best about Julio Zuleta charging Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher Satoru Kanemura on Sunday when he laid down this poignant bit of sooth.

Sure it was bad, but imagine how much worse it would have been for pitcher who plunked Fernando Seguignol, thankfully one of Kanemura's teammates.

He is listed on the roster as 194 cm and 95 kg, and if that is accurate, the List is the Easter Bunny. In nearly seven months of functioning in Japan, Seguignol tops the list of people the List would not want to tick off.

Big, strong and capable of bending steel bars is Seguignol. Zuleta's no slouch, but it could get much worse.

JUST IN TIME, the Chiba Lotte Marines are coming to life, riding a two-game winning streak after closing their weekend series with Pa League-leading Seibu in just the right way.

Seems maybe it is tough to get your team jelling in time for Opening Day when nine players run off to play in the WBC. Although Val Pascucci made a quick return after Italy was eliminated in pool play, the eight Japanese players were gone until a few days before the season started.

With some of the rust knocked off, it appears Lotte's Opening Day was Saturday.

STOLEN FROM THE DESK of Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura: a Post-It, reading "Note to self: clone Yasuhiro Ichiba."

Ichiba, a second-year pro, is 3-1 with a 2.17 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched, which is great for a team that finished last week 5-12.

If he's not careful, Hisashi Iwakuma will become an afterthought when people discuss who is the ace of the PL's basement dweller.

ANOTHER WEEK OF LIST goodness in the books. Direct correspondence to [email protected]