Hiroki Kuroda makes the necessary adjustments

Having come from that strange, distant land -- Los Angeles -- Hiroki Kuroda continues to hear questions about how he will fit in as a Yankee. He had four good seasons with the Dodgers, but there remains this angst over how a National League immigrant will adjust to the foreign world of the American League, where pitchers don't bat but designated hitters do.

So first of all, about no longer being required to make plate appearances, Kuroda assured, "I don't miss it a bit."

Kuroda, of course, is Japanese, and speaks through his personal interpreter, Kenji Nimura. But baseball is baseball, so the focus is on whether he will be handicapped by the fact that baseball is slightly different in the Other League.

He delivered a most impressive konnichiwa ("Good afternoon") in his Yankee Stadium debut Friday, throwing eight scoreless innings against the Angels and so far as been the most efficient Yankees starter (1-1, 2.63 ERA). But as he prepared to take the mound again Wednesday night against the Minnesota Twins, he dismissed the idea that "one game could get rid of that image of it being a hitter-friendly stadium.

"It's only one game. A win's a win, and I'd rather win than lose. What happened, happened, but I have to turn the page."

Manager Joe Girardi cited the usual league-change issues, how scouting reports aren't enough to familiarize Kuroda with previously unseen hitters, because "a pitcher's going to make a mental note of how he gets someone out. He's going to make a mental note if the guy hits the ball hard, where the ball was. When you don't have those mental notes, it can be a little bit more difficult."

Plus, of course, there is the DH, which means that "any inning," Kuroda said, "is a chance for a big inning. So you try to minimize the damage as much as possible."

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In the settling-in process, any familiar face is welcome, and Kuroda spent two years as a Dodgers teammate of Yankees catcher Russell Martin. "Not only does he know me, what kind of pitcher I am, what kind of pitches I have, and what kind of pitches I have that day," Kuroda said, "but he studies a lot of the opposing hitters. So his presence has really been a help for me."

Girardi -- "I don't speak a lot of Japanese in my spare time, no," he admitted -- said communication with Kuroda is not difficult, since Nimura speaks Japanese, English and Spanish fluently, "important for the baseball part of it, and the bonding part, as well."

That, and Kuroda's expansive menu of fastballs, curveballs, cutters, sliders and changeups.