Were you surprised to see eight members of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles elected to the 2007 Pacific League All-Star team by fan balloting?

That many TRGE players were voted tops among the 12 positions and categories, including starting and middle relief pitchers, closers and designated hitter.

Riding the coattails — er, jersey sleeves — of slugger Takeshi Yamasaki who won at DH, were rookie starting hurler Masahiro Tanaka, set-up man Akira Matsumoto, stopper Kazuo Fukumori and freshman catcher Motohiro Shima.