OFF THE WALL

We just couldn’t let this stuff go …

Nootbaar grinding the pepper a big hit with Japan

Lars Nootbaar’s peppergrinder gesture is catching on all across Japan, not just at the Tokyo Dome.

You see people doing it on the trains, across the counter ordering a coffee and of course among the 40,000 fans who have packed the Tokyo Dome to watch Japan play in the World Baseball Classic.

“The fans have leaned it to that. It’s been pretty cool,” Nootbaar said Thursday. “I heard the pepper grinders around the country, their sales have gone up quite a bit this past week.”

Nootbaar should ask for a commission, or an endorsement. Behind Shohei Ohtani (above, far right) he’s become Japan’s No. 2 attraction.

“It’s been great,” said the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, who grew up in El Segundo and played at USC. “The fans have embraced me. The team has embraced me, which has been so great for me to be able to be myself and just go about my day normally with these guys. They’ve been fantastic. I didn’t really expect it to turn out this way.”

Nootbaar (above, left) said he’s ready to come back and play again, whenever the next World Baseball Classic is played.

“I’m hopeful that some time I can come back and play in front of these fans, hopefully in three years or whatever it is,” Nootbar said. “It’s been a great experience.”

Trivia question

On this date in 1995, Michael Jordan returned to the Chicago

Bulls after nearly two years of retirement. How many points did he score?

That’s a first

Brown freshman Olivia Pichardo became the first woman to appear in a Division I baseball game when she pinch hit in a 10-1 loss to Bryant on Friday.

The left-handed batting utility player from Queens, N.Y., went to plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and grounded out to first on the first pitch.

Pichardo was an outfielder and pitcher on the USA Baseball Women’s National Team that won three of five against Team Canada in its only games last summer.

She walked on at Brown in the fall, and coach Grant Achilles told her she earned a roster spot in November.

Pichardo played club ball in the New York area and last year completed an internship in the New York Mets’ amateur scouting department. She played basketball and volleyball at the Garden School before attending Brown. About a half-dozen women are known to have played baseball at junior colleges or lowerdivision four-year schools.

She said it

From Janice Hough, of Leftcoastsportsbabe.com: Apparently the Jimmy Garoppolo introductory press conference for the Raiders was delayed a day “because of some last-minute contract ‘language.’ At least Scott Boras was not involved.”

Trivia answer

Jordan had 19 points in a 103-96 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Scottie Pippen scored 31 to lead the Bulls. Reggie Miller led the Pacers with 28. Chicago lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to Orlando 4-2. Chicago went on to win three straight titles after that, their second three-peat. The first came 199093.