Bored with pitchers' duels? Enjoy watching a lot of action and home runs? If so, the Hiroshima Carp are your team.

Inviting immediate comparison to the Cincinnati Reds, the Carp wear crimson and white jerseys and share an identical cap with Marge Schott's team. But the uniform is where the similarity ends. On the field, Hiroshima more closely resembles the Seattle Mariners or Colorado Rockies. With a line-up packed with speedy, high-average power hitters, the Carp rely on an explosive offense to compensate for lack of pitching.

Though Hiroshima's sluggers take advantage of their home ballpark's shallow outfield walls, the Carp are no one-dimensional team. Comprising the best all-around outfield in Japan, Tomoaki Kanemoto clubbed 33 home runs in 1997, Tomohiro Maeda batted .304 and Koichi Ogata stole 49 bases.

Though first baseman Luis Lopez has departed, all-star third baseman Akira Eto and shortstop Kenjiro Nomura remain, providing solid defense and a wide range of hits. Led by soft-spoken manager Toshiyuki Mimura, the Carp have the speed, hitting and defense to win in any ballpark, big or small.

The Carp are today a reliable pennant contender, but it wasn't always so. In their first 25 seasons, the team never placed above third, compiling only four winning records. But in 1975, Hiroshima turned things around. With Koji Yamamoto (536 career home runs) and Sachio Kinugasa (2215 consecutive games) leading the team's offense, the Carp surged to first place, capturing their first Central League flag. Though they lost their first Japan Series, Hiroshima has won a total of six pennants since 1975 while only posting three losing seasons.

Partly owned by the City of Hiroshima and the Toyo car manufacturing company, the Carp are one of the poorest ball clubs in Japan. Because the team reportedly refuses to pay any player more than 200 million yen (roughly $2 million U.S.), players like Luis Lopez who demand more are sent packing.

Unable to purchase any high-profile free agents, the Carp have invested their meager funds in developing younger players and in setting up a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic. Not surprisingly, many of the team's foreign players come from Latin America.

Located across the street from the infamous A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium (capacity 32,000) offers seats that are close to the action, a natural grass outfield, bullpens down the foul lines and a new high-tech scoreboard. The shallow outfield fences make this the best ballpark for fans seeking to catch a home run ball. If you like cozy old-fashioned ballparks, you won't find anything better in Japan.

Why the team picked a Philadelphia Phanatic-clone instead of a red and white carp for a mascot remains a mystery. But fans don't seem to care. Filling Hiroshima Stadium, Carp fans come in one flavor: rabid. The most energetic in Japan, Hiroshima's cheering section repeats one hypnotic cheer for all their players. It's fun to watch and even more fun to join.

Even if you can't see a Carp game in Hiroshima, their fans almost always fill the left-field bleachers at all the Tokyo and Osaka Central League ballparks. Forget the overblown Giants and Tigers. If you can only see one game in Japan, make it a Carp game.