...Marty Brown is currently thinking of using Darrell Rasner somewhere between the 4-6 spots in the starting rotation.

...The Eagles hope Wataru Karashima ends up becoming a starter for them somewhere down the road.  For now, he may be pitching his way onto the opening day staff as a left-handed option out of the pen.

...Prior to Friday's game against the Yakult Swallows, Hitoshi Tamura was 11-for-25 with an extra base hit in each of his last 5 games.

...Toshiya Sugiuchi's next start will be against the Hiroshima Carp on Saturday.  On Thursday, he threw about 40 pitches in the bullpen.

...Tsuyoshi Wada got the start against the Swallows on Friday at Jingu Stadium.  The last time (and only time since turning pro) he pitched at Jingu Stadium (May 2005) he tossed a complete game victory and recorded his first hit, his first run, and his first sac hit.  On Friday he gave up 2 runs (all earned) on 4 hits while striking out 3.  He faced a total 20 batters and tossed 6 innings.

...The Hawks will apparently be carrying three left-handed relievers during the season.  Yasushi Kamiuchi and Masahiko Morifuku will likely be two of them.  Shinsuke Ogura, Hiroki Yamada, and Reo Chikada are all candidates for the third spot.  Yao-Hsun Yang is currently with the Ichi-gun roster but likely won't be on the opening day roster because he requires a foreign player slot.

...Tetsuya Matsumoto struggles against left-handed pitching.  In exhibition games this year, he is batting 4-for-14 against right-handed pitchers and 0-for-5 against left-handed pitchers.  It was the same deal last season when he finished with a .299 batting average against right-handed pitchers and a .277 batting average against left-handed pitchers.

The one exhibition game Matsumoto missed this year was against the Softbank Hawks with Toshiya Sugiuchi on the mound.  It was the same game that Tatsunori Hara test Hisayoshi Chono in the number 2 hole in the line-up.

On Thursday, Matsumoto went 0-for-3 in a simulated game.

...Beginning on the 16th, when the Giants' current road trip end, catchers and pitchers will hold meetings on a daily basis to go over strategies on how to pitch against other Central League teams (one team per day).  Their advanced scouts will also be at the meetings, providing information they have managed to gather over the last few weeks.

...The Giants are testing a new batting practice machine that "floats" a ball in the strike zone (tee-batting without the tee) at the Kawasaki indoor training facilities on Thursday.

...The two opening day starter hopefuls will be pitching during the weekend: Dicky Gonzalez on the 13th against the Orix Buffaloes and Tetsuya Utsumi against the Hanshin Tigers on the 14th.  On Thursday, Utsumi tossed 54 pitches in the bullpen in preparation for his start on Sunday.  These two starts will likely go a long way towards determining who will be the 2010 opening day starter.

...Marc Kroon will likely pitch in his first simulated game on Friday.  Kroon originally told reporters after his BP session on Wednesday that he wasn't sure if he'd be able to pitch in a simulated game until he found out how his elbow felt on Thursday.  With no reported problems, it appears he got the green light.  Kroon is expected to throw about 30-40 pitches.  If he's feeling fine after the outing, he'll likely rejoin the Ichi-gun team on the 16th.

...The Giants made some history when they borrowed the Naruohama training facilities on Thursday.  It had been the first time the club had ever worked out at Naruohama since the facilities opened in 1994.  The stadium where the Giants worked out for about 3 hours (they held a simulated game) was shut off from the public.

I'm guessing die-hard Tigers' fans weren't exactly pleased.

...The Giants announced that Seth Greisinger had his elbow cleaned out at a hospital in Los Angeles on the 11th (US time 10th).  Greisinger will require about three weeks of rest before he can start playing catch.  His current ETA places his return sometime in or after May.

...When Kyuji Fujikawa followed Tomoyuki Kubota out of the pen on Thursday, it marked the first time they followed each other in relief since July 13, 2008 (a period of 606 days).

...Akinobu Mayumi told reporters he'd like to have 1-2 pitchers he can turn to before getting to K. Fujikawa.  Mayumi currently likes what he sees in Kubota.

...Kenji Johjima caught K. Fujikawa for the first time during exhibition play on Thursday.

...Casey Fossum told reporters after dismal his start on Thursday against the Orix Buffaloes (5 IP, 25 BF, 80 NP, 11 H including a home run, 0 SO, 1 BB, 6 R, 6 ER) that he wanted another chance to prove his worth.

...It appears K. Fujikawa's next appearance might be for 2 innings in an Ikusei League game on the 14th (vs Chunichi).

...Matt Murton picked up his first hit in his 13th trip to the plate against Orix Buffaloes on Thursday.  It was during his second at bat in the third inning with a runner on second and 2 out.

...Craig Brazell also broke a bit of a slump, picking up his first hit in his 12th plate apppearance during Thursday's game against the Orix Buffaloes.

...Over 6 exhibition games, Ikuro Katsuragi is 7-for-9, which also includes the home run from his game on Thursday against the Buffaloes.

...Club president Nobuo Minami told reporters that it was still too early to start looking into new / aditional foreign help.

Softbank Hawks vs Yakult Swallows @ Jingu Stadium - 13:00

===

Seibu Lions vs Chiba Lotte Marine @ Chiba Marine Stadium - 13:00

===

Orix Buffaloes vs Yomiuri Giants @ Kyocera Dome Osaka - 18:00

===

Hiroshima Carp vs Hanshin Tigers @ Skymark Stadium - 13:00

...Go Kida was surprised to see the infield shift used against him in the 9th inning in Wednesday's game against the Rakuten Eagles.

...Ken Takahashi told reporters after pitching against the Rakuten Eagles on Wednesday that he'd like to pitch 4-5 innings during his next outing.

=== 3/12/2010 1:10am JST

...The Buffaloes attended a pep rally on Thursday at an area hotel in Osaka.  At the event, Akinobu Okada told guests that Chihiro Kaneko was going to be the opening day starter.

=== 4:20pm JST

...All Japanese position players stayed back after Wednesday's game to take about 90 minutes of extra batting practice after the team was shutout, 6-0, despite racking up 10 hits.

...Akinobu Okada revealed to reporters on Wednesday that he told his players during Spring camp that he only wanted Alex Cabrera swinging for the fences.  So while the team did not score any runs on 10 hits, he felt they were moving in the right direction.

Batting coach Kozo Shoda added that they may hold extra BP session after day games during the season if they felt it might help.

=== 10:26pm JST

...Darrell Rasner may have given himself a boost after tossing 4 shutout innings against the Chunichi Dragons on Thursday.  While Rasner did walk two batters, he did not give up any hits.

=== 4:09pm JST

...Takeshi Yamasaki will be appearing in one of those BOSS Rainbow Mountain Blend commercials with Tommy Lee Jones (is there anything he can't do?).  If you have never seen them, I think you can see the latest commercial at the official Rainbow Mountain Blend website.

The new commercial is set to begin running nationwide on 3/17.

...The infield shift Marty Brown used against the Hiroshima Carp on Wednesday: he replaced left fielder Akihisa Makida with Tatsuya Shiokawa and positioned him in between the second baseman and shortstop.  He pulled center fielder Ryo Hijirisawa over to left and right fielder Teppei in center.  All this for lefty-hitting Go Kida, a batter Brown thought wouldn't be able to pull Juan Morillo's fastball.  Especially if he spotted them on the outside corners.

The plan ended up backfiring as Morillo threw a fastball insde that Kida was able to pull into right.  With no one there, the ball rolled all the way to the wall and cleared the bases for a triple.

While that was bad, the Eagles were actually making something of a comeback in the bottom of the 9th (they had scored two runs and still had the bases loaded with only one out) when the game was called due to rain and completely wiped out the 9th inning.

For those wondering why the 9th inning was thrown out...  According to rule 4.11d, subsection 2, if a visiting team grabs the lead in the top of the inning and the game is called while the home team is still batting and has not had the opportunity to either tie the game or re-take the lead, the innings is thrown out.  The last full inning is where the game officially ends.

Kind of a weird rule.

=== 3/12/2010 1:12am JST

...Takao Obana is apparently contemplating whether he should demote Yoshitomo Tsutsugo or not.  Demoting him would give him more at bats than he could get while at Ichi-gun.

=== 3:44pm JST

...The Bay Stars introduced their special limited edition uniforms on Thursday.  The uniforms have stars on both sleeves, are 15% lighter than regular uniforms, and will be worn during the first game of each multi-game series at home.  Interested fans can get more information about how to purchase the limited edition uniforms, as well as see a sample of the new design, at the Bay Stars' official website.

...The Yokohama Bay Stars are the only team that has not won an exhibition game yet (0-5-1).  The team finished with a 6-9-4 record last year.

...Club president Takao Kaji walked around in the right field stands on Wednesday in order to meet and greet the fans.

=== 3/12/2010 1:15am JST

...Nobuhiko Matsunaka played out a full game on Thursday and went 0-for-4.  After the game, he told reporters that he felt no pain.  He still has not had a chance to test his legs on the base paths.

...The Hawks announced on Thursday that they will send a total 20,000 employees to two games against the Nippon Ham Fighters at Tokyo Dome on 7/6 and 7/7.  That's 10,000 employees per game.

The Hawks also held a pep rally on Thursday at the company headquarters in Tokyo.

=== 3:24pm JST

...Kazumi Saito visited Chiba Marine Stadium on Thursday to provide the Hawks with an update on his progress.  Saito had surgery on his right shoulder in February and is still in the middle of rehab.  He told reporters that he's getting better and that he'll continue with his rehab in Chiba for just a bit longer.

...Koji Mise is currently working out at Ni-gun and threw about 80 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday, the first time since being demoted.  He pitched in five exhibition games but struggled to keep his pitches down and was hit pretty hard (10.80 ERA).

...Nobuhiko Matsunaka had two at bats in one game for the first time this year on Wednesday.  After the game, he told reporters that he was feeling fine and wanted to try three or four at bats during his next outing.  Matsunaka is 0-for-3 against the Chiba Lotte Marines (still in progress as of this writing).

...The cost of admission to the Sadaharu Oh Museum will be 1,200 yen for adults and 600 yen for elementary school children and younger.