There's one good thing about Kazuhisa Ishii not playing in the Japan-MLB All-Star Tour.

Los Angeles Dodgers relief ace Eric Gagne may finally get to keep a few souvenirs -- something that seldom happened during the regular season when Ishii was pitching.

"Kazu would ask me for the ball every time he got a win," Gagne said after Friday's practice at the Tokyo Dome. "I always try to keep it, but he asks for every single ball every time I pitch."

Ishii managed to collect 14 of those souvenirs this year, his rookie season in the major leagues. Fortunately, Gagne doesn't hold a grudge, particularly since Ishii earned his trophies.

"Playing with Hideo (Nomo) and Kazu has been unbelievable, they've been great teammates, they're very, team-oriented," Gagne said. "That's what I like about them, they're warriors."

Gagne knows something about what it takes to be a warrior. In 77 games this past season, the Montreal native recorded 52 saves with 114 strikeouts in 82 1/3 innings with a 1.97 ERA.

Ishii's warrior pedigree was on display all last season until Sept. 8, when he was struck in the forehead by a line-drive that ended his season.

"It was a really unfortunate situation," said Paul Lo Duca, another Dodger who is in Tokyo to take part in the series.

"There were a lot of shadows on the field that day and it was very difficult to see. I remember Kazu telling me afterwards that he never saw the ball. It really hurt us to lose him because we were in the pennant race at that time."

The Dodgers finished the season with a respectable 92-70 record but missed out on a chance at the playoffs because they finished 3 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League wildcard race.

Gagne and Lo Duca may have missed out on a playoff berth, but their postseason now includes a week in Japan, and they're looking forward to some good competition.

"I've seen Nomo, Ishii and Ichiro and they're great baseball players, but I've never really experienced Japanese baseball," Gagne said. "So I'm really looking forward to facing the rest of them and see what they're all about."

NOTES: Although Oakland A's infielder Eric Chavez is excited about finally getting a chance to see "Godzilla" when Yomiuri Giants outfielder Hideki Matsui takes the field, there's one thing he's less enthusiastic about -- New York Mets manager Art Howe's uniform.

Asked what he thought of the MLB skipper's black road uniform, Chavez responded: "Uh . . . ugly."