Jeremy Powell took the mound Saturday for the Pacific Leaguers in the second installment of the 2002 All-Star Series, it marked the first time in 41 years that a foreign pitcher from the Kintetsu Buffaloes had taken part in Japan's annual midsummer classic.

"I did not know that," Powell said Friday afternoon, doing his best impression of former TV talk show host Johnny Carson.

"It just makes the honor that much better for me, it really does," added Powell when told he'd be the first foreign Kintestu hurler in a Japanese baseball All-Star Game since Glenn Mickens appeared in the 1960 and '61 editions.