Don't look now, but foreign players could possibly sweep the six offensive titles in Japanese baseball this season. Through games of Aug. 10, non-Japanese names were on top of four of the categories and right behind in the other two.
Rick Short of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles was leading the Pacific League in batting with a .338 average, and Tuffy Rhodes, who turns 39 next week, was on top of the home runs and runs batted in leader lists. The Orix Buffaloes slugger was leading both leagues with 82 RBIs and pulled ahead of Takeshi Yamasaki of the Eagles in the home run derby, 37 to 36.
If Rhodes keeps up his current pace, he would end the season with 52 homers and 116 RBIs, and he's fourth in the PL batting race with a .317 average.