Seibu Lions star Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Iriki brothers earned their places in the upcoming All-Star series Wednesday as the managers' picks rounded out the 32-man rosters for the Central and Pacific Leagues.

PL manager Sadaharu Oh of the Daiei Hawks assured Matsuzaka his third straight All-Star appearance since his rookie season in 1999, after the right-hander finished second behind Tomohiro Kuroki of the Lotte Marines in fan balloting for this year's three-game series.

Yusaku and Satoshi Iriki, who play for the Yomiuri Giants and the Yakult Swallows, respectively, became the fourth pair of brothers selected in the same year and the first since Seibu pitchers Hirohisa and Masayuki Matsunuma made the PL roster for the 1983 All-Star games.

Oh and CL manager Shigeo Nagashima will steer the teams, featuring a combined total of 17 first-timers, including 36-year-old Seibu pitcher Takehiro Hashimoto, second-year Yakult southpaw Shugo Fujii and South Korean closer Koo Dae Sung of the Orix BlueWave.

Veteran Orix starter Shinichi Kato returns to the midsummer series after a 13-year absence to match former Taiyo Whales pitcher Shigeyuki Takahashi for the longest interval between appearances.

League pennant holders Yomiuri and Daiei send eight players each to the series, which will get under way on July 21 at the Fukuoka Dome before moving to Yokohama Stadium on July 22 and then concluding at the newly built Sapporo Dome on July 24.

Yakult follows with seven players, while only two players were selected from the CL cellar-dwelling Hanshin Tigers.

Matsui most popular

Yomiuri Giants outfielder Hideki Matsui will make his eighth appearance in Japanese baseball's All-Star series after topping both leagues with 750,476 votes, the Nippon Professional Baseball office announced Tuesday.

Yomiuri fans kept faith in their favorite slugger, with their votes enabling Matsui to make it directly to the CL All-Star roster for the seventh time and sixth straight season. He will be joined by six other Yomiuri teammates, including first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara, who will be playing in his 16th All-Star series after missing last year's games because of injury.