It was new vs. old, then vs. now, one of MLB's finest Japanese imports against the MLB's hot new star from Japan. Yet for Kenta Maeda, the Los Angeles Dodgers' rookie pitcher, facing Ichiro was something more. It was going up against his childhood idol, against a man who is legit baseball royalty in their homeland. And in the end, their first meeting couldn't have gone much better for Maeda. [ From Jeff Passan: Miami's Dee Gordon suspended 80 games for PEDs ] It happened in the second inning of Thursday night's Dodgers-Marlins game . Ichiro fouled off Maeda's first offering, a four-seamer at 90 mph. Then Maeda painted the outside corner with two sliders, the first a called strike and the second a called strike that sent Ichiro back to the dugout.