Japanese baseball is getting ready to roll into Interleague play. The novel concept has done a lot for scheduling in Nippon Professional Baseball, as six-team leagues can get pretty tired of each other after a couple months of the usual slate of opponents.

The E-List has compiled a list of things to look for as Interleague season opens.

1. Maybe it does mean something -- Bobby Valentine and the Chiba Lotte Marines won the Interleague Championship last season, the first of four titles the glory-starved franchise nabbed. Too bad Bobby V.'s boys didn't get to face Joe Crede and the Chicago White Sox, but the red tape in front of that one is still a bit too thick.

2. Speaking of Lotte -- The Hanshin Tigers get a chance to recover from that butt-kicking last season that journalists called the Japan Series.

Sure, Game 4 was close, but the teams were not on the same level. Hanshin has a chance to show an ever-improving Marines team something that resembles respectability.

3. How many dead trees? -- Without a doubt, the most likely to be ignored series beginning Tuesday is the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles-Yokohama BayStars series. Would TBS even broadcast these games?

Meanwhile, who is going to buy tickets? Did they waste the paper? I guess Guido Buchwald may have some extra time these days, but pretzels and a cup of Kirin are a more likely diversion for the Urawa Reds coach.

If Yokohama Stadium is half full, there will be 15,000 fans. Another 2,000 fans, and the teams will have drawn a grand for each of their combined 17 wins. Stop the world and let the E-List off at Kannai Station.

4. Hate to be the Buffs -- Orix has the always fun task of playing the Yomiuri Giants. With Jeremy Powell set to be in the saddle for the series opener, Orix's half-game hold on fourth place in the Pacific League could be in danger.

LIKE ANY GOOD MANAGER, Hiroshima Carp skipper Marty Brown knows sometimes things have to be done to fire up his players.

Brown became the first NPB manager to be ejected this season after throwing first base in the Carp's 5-3 win over the Chunichi Dragons.

Brown took a page from one of the best managerial fireballs, former Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds (and future New York Yankees?) manager Lou Piniella, who has made tirades into an art.

Piniella has thrown first base into right field with more than one team, and he has thrown enough hats to start a Foot Locker in Shibuya.

The usually mild-mannered Brown was protesting a controversial call at first place, which went against the Red Attack at Hiroshima Stadium. Given the dimensions of that shoebox, Brown may have been able to wing the bag all the way to the cheering section in the outfield. The List's money is on Brown in that one.

THE LIST'S MEMORY banks were jolted last week as word circulated that new Orix acquisition Wes Obermueller was going to make his debut against Lotte at Chiba Marine Stadium.

Back when the List was still a glimmer in the eyes of some longhaired scribe in the Land of the Buckeyes (and Bobcats), Obermueller was a Milwaukee Brewer, about to make a start in Washington, D.C., at RFK Stadium.

The Brewers' rotation was a bit tapped because Ben Sheets was injured, and Iowan Obermueller came to fill a spot.

As future Moldova resident Chris McKelvey looked on, Obermueller took a perfect game into the seventh inning, pitching eight shutout innings as the Brewers downed the Nationals 8-2. Obermueller's career record to that point had been 8-15, and he had a 5.64 ERA. Retiring 19 straight batters to open the game was not exactly what the crowd expected to see that night.

An All-State catcher in high school, Obermueller now finds himself in Japan hoping to reset the course of his career with a stint in Japan.

Obermueller got off to a great start Sunday, striking out six in five innings to set the tone in the Buffaloes' shutout of Chiba Lotte.

AN EARLY WISH: Could Santa Claus or someone make sure Kazuhiro Kiyohara is ready to go this week against the Giants?

MEANWHILE IN EGYPT, Satoru Kanemura made his return to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, winning his first game back in the rotation against -- Gasp! -- Rakuten.

After beaning Julio Zuleta, Kanemura wound up with a bruised back after the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks slugger stormed the mound.

Anyway, all that foolishness is over, and both Zuleta and Kanemura are far away from seeing each other on the diamond again for a little while.

SPECIAL APOLOGY TO Takashi Saito, who received the E-List kiss of death last week (non-fulsome praise), which motivated him to go out and earn his first loss, surrendering the go-ahead run against the surging Arizona Diamondbacks. Saito gave up two runs, which turned a tie game into a 9-7 advantage for the Diamondbacks.

GUESS HOW MANY FINGERS the List is holding up. Wait, do Lists have fingers? E-mail [email protected] with any relevant feelings.