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The Ichi-gun Giants had the day off today.

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John Bowker and Scott Mathieson visited an eel restaurant on their day off today and ate eel for lunch.  They also had a chance to grab eels with their bare hands.

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Yuya Kubo will focus on his workouts/rehab and remain at Ni-gun spring camp for the rest of this month.

Kubo plans to toss one or two more bullpens during the current block, which ends on February 15.

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Tetsuya Utsumi wanted to throw 200 pitches during his bullpen session on Thursday but instead stopped at 161 pitches because he was feeling tired.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni is scheduled to pitch two innings during an intra-squad game on February 12.  He may also pitch an inning during an exhibition game against Hanshin on February 19.

Hirokazu Sawamura is scheduled to pitch in an intrad-squad game on February 14 and start an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers on February 19.

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Nikkan Sports figures the first four spots in the starting rotation will go to, in no particular order, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Utsumi, Sawamura, and D.J. Houlton.  The remaining two spots could go to Shun Tono, Dicky Gonzalez, or Miyaguni.

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The Yomiuri Giants announced today that they raised 8,947,208 yen through the online charity auction they held between December 11 and January 17.  The entire amount will be donated to relief efforts in northern Japan.

Top three uniforms:

• Autographed Tatsunori Hara uniform - 675,000 yen
• Autographed Yoshinobu Takahashi uniform - 648,000 yen
• Autographed Michihiro Ogasawara uniform - 543,000 yen

====== UPDATE 2/11 @ 2:07am

If Miyaguni does not pitch on February 12, he could pitch two innings during an intra-squad game on February 14.