Baseball

Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui have been the greatest Japanese baseball players of their generation, excelling in the American major leagues just as they did at home. One is a ferociously disciplined singles and doubles hitter, treating at-bats almost like a martial art, acquiring an image as an aloof, machine-like athlete as he chased hitting records on both sides of the Pacific.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte and their former strength coach Brian McNamee were asked Friday to testify Jan. 16 before a congressional committee exploring performance-enhancing drug use in baseball. Former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, whose allegations were a central part of last month's report by former Sen. George Mitchell on doping in baseball, also was invited to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep.

The baseball ground rules are different in Cambodia. A ball hit off the water buffaloes grazing in the outfield is in play, but a ball lost in the adjoining rice paddy is not. And timeout must be called whenever a motorcycle approaches on the dirt road that cuts through the outfield. "You can't put it in perspective with words," said Jim Small, managing director for Major League Baseball's operations in Asia. "You just need to see it." But even then you can't always believe what you're seeing.

The college baseball season gets underway today, and UCLA begins it as a marked team. Or, maybe not. It depends on whom you ask. The Bruins are ranked as high as No. 1 and as low as No. 19 in the major national preseason polls, leaving observers wondering which to believe. "Preseason rankings are pretty tough," third baseman Jermaine Curtis said. "They're just going off projections. At the end of the year we'll know and everyone will know where we're at."

Roger Clemens' lawyer was told a photograph exists that shows the pitcher at a party hosted by Jose Canseco, an issue that was disputed in Congress this month. A June 1998 party at Canseco's house in Florida was one of several topics discussed during Clemens' testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Feb. 13. Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, said the seven-time Cy Young Award winner was at the party.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency would consider running a drug testing program in which first offenders were not suspended for two years, its chief executive said Tuesday, raising the stakes as Commissioner Bud Selig returns to Congress today to testify about baseball's drug policy. Selig has rebuffed calls to outsource drug testing to a third party and has rejected the World Anti-Doping Agency standard of a two-year ban for a first positive test.

On a damp evening in September at Denver's Coors Field, Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's career home run leader, hit No. 762 into the seats in left-center field. If he never hits another, that ball could be worth $1 million, according to memorabilia experts. Once it turns up. No one has seen the historic ball since the unidentified fan who got it disappeared into the night.

Right-hander Josh Beckett will stay behind when the Boston Red Sox fly to Tokyo on Wednesday, even though he threw a ball 75 feet without back pain on Sunday. Boston Manager Terry Francona made official what had been obvious for several days: his ace won't travel to Japan, where he probably would have started the Red Sox regular- season opener against the Oakland Athletics. Baseball's winningest pitcher last season threw Sunday for the first time in eight days since hurting his back.

Times staff writer Steve Springer participated in a conference call Monday with 11 former Dodgers who played in the Coliseum. Their reflections: Every Dodger who played in the Coliseum can picture a special moment there. Half a century later, right-hander Carl Erskine still pictures a moment that didn't happen. The year was 1958.

The partisan drama surrounding Roger Clemens erupted again Tuesday, when the Republican representative that signed the letter referring the baseball pitcher for a perjury investigation condemned Democrats for an accompanying summary that "reads like an advocate's brief or prosecutorial indictment of Roger Clemens." Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.