Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima did lunch on Wednesday with about 10 members of the Boston media as a way to get to meet the main beat members. Here are some excerpts from the article.

Sox publicist John Blake arranged a luncheon with Matsuzaka and Okajima, the Far East’s answer to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Blake sat in on the session, as did translators Hoshino and Sachiyo Sekiguchi.

So how many games does the Dice Man expect to win?

“I think the fans certainly have great expectations for me, and I’d like to respond to those expectations in kind,” Matsuzaka said through interpreter Masa Hoshino. “If (the fans) have a number, I don’t know what it is.”

The rest of the lunch? Matsuzaka told us that his favorite American sex symbol is Angelina Jolie (nice choice) because, in part, she has “a strength and poise that I find attractive.” (Right. Like it has nothing to do with those lips.) He would most like to have a beer with Cy Young or Nolan Ryan. He likes Jackie Chan movies and has seen, among other American films, “Lethal Weapon,” “Cliffhanger” and “When Harry Met Sally.” (As for Sundance, he countered with “Ghost,” “Pretty Woman” and “Autumn in New York.”)

Unsurprisingly, both pitchers indicated that watching American films and television has helped with their English. Earlier this spring, one member of the Japanese media revealed that he learned many idiomatic expressions in English by watching “Seinfeld.”

After all, if Matsuzaka and Okajima start watching “The Sopranos,” the umpires are going to toss them like garden salads.

I wonder what ‘fuhgeddaboudit’ sounds like in Japanese. And I really hope Tony Massarotti didn’t mean this when he says “the umpires are going to toss them like garden salads.” I know if you clicked on the link and read it, you’re saying Ian, that’s just plain wrong. Well I am sorry but that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read that sentence.

Overall, a great idea by the Red Sox. It was a good way for the media to learn about the other sides of these two and not just about their baseball lifes.