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The coaches decided to send Ikki and and Atsushi Kita down to Ni-gun today.  The two left Ginowan camp today and returned to Yokohama.  They will join the Ni-gun team on Thursday.

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Daisuke Miura apparently reached the 2,000th pitch milestone today (Nikkan Sports mentions 2,085).  He is the first Bay Star to reach the milestone during spring camp so far.

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According to Nikkan Sports, possible candidates for the starting rotation include: Giancarlo Alvarado, Brandon Mann, Kentaro Takasaki, Miura, and Yuki Kuniyoshi lead the pack, followed by Hiroshi Kobayashi, Futoshi Kobayashi, and Shugo Fujii.

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GM Shigeru Takada spoke to reporters on Tuesday and echoed Kiyoshi Nakahata's words about wanting Hideki Matsui to join the Bay Stars.

====== UPDATE 2/23 @ 1:28am

Alex Ramirez is scheduled to get a couple of at bats during Thursday's practice game against the KIA Tigers.  He is also expected to be the starting DH and bat fourth against the Yomiuri Giants of February 25.

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Kuniyoshi's next could come during an exhibition game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on February 26.

The Hawks had the day off today.

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The Hawks announced today that they will open the roof at Yahoo Dome for their game against the Seibu Lions on April 26.  This will be a first since 9/10/2008.

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Kenji Akashi spent about two hours working on his swing during his day off today.

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Batting coaches Yoshiie Tachibana and and Yasuo Fujii worked with Ayatsugu Yamashita on his hitting today.

"1000 swings.  My batting gloves got ripped partway through so I was bare-handed by the end," said Yamashita.

Yamashita was sent down to Ni-gun training camp on Monday after he reported to practice late (could not wake up).

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1st round draft pick Shota Takeda and 2nd round draft pick Shoji Yoshimoto had a chance to observe Ichi-gun bullpen sessions on Tuesday.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima caught four bullpen sessions on Tuesday (a total 194 pitches), including Yuki Saito (sixty-four pitches) and Masaru Takeda.

The home plate ump standing behind Oshima during parts of the bullpen sessions asked the twenty-two year old to get down lower because he was having a hard time seeing home plate.

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Two catchers caught Yuki Saito's bullpen session on Tuesday: 7th round draft pick Oshima and Shota Ono.

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5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi will likely pitch an inning in relief in a practice game against the Yakult Swallows on Thursday.

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Atsuya Furuta visited Nago camp today.

The Lions closed out their spring camp in Nango, Miyazaki today.  Hisanobu Watanabe told reporters he wanted to give everyone an MVP for their hard work during Miyazaki camp.

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Today's practice game against Hiroshima was canceled due to rain.  The two teams are scheduled to meet again on Thursday.

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1st round draft pick Ken Togame was supposed to start today's game.  He will get a chance to pitch on Thursday.  Togame did not pitch in the bullpen today and instead did some long throwing at a about thirty meters.

The Ni-gun Buffaloes had the day off today.  The Ichi-gun Buffaloes traveled to Kochi today.

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Dae-Ho Lee does not want to waste his energy hitting home runs during practice/exhibition games and told reporters on Tuesday not to expect any until the season begins.

Through Tuesday, Lee was 4-for-6 with three walks and no strikeouts over four games.

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Talento Becky will be holding a concert after a game against the Seibu Lions at Kyocera Dome on April 28.

====== UPDATE 2/23 @ 1:29am

Lee is at about 60-70%.

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Darrell Rasner is working his way back from a right adductor muscle strain. He tossed a bullpen session at Kin Stadium today.

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Senichi Hoshino played some catch (about twenty throws) with head coach Koichi Tabuchi during morning practice today.  Hoshino also spent some time throwing into a new.

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Yoshihiro Ito tossed a bullpen session today for the first time in about two weeks (right shoulder discomfort).

[Post will be updated as needed - LAST UPDATE 2/23 @ 1:26am]

Hanshin Tigers vs Rakuten Eagles (@ Ginoza)

Eagles 2 - Tigers 1

• Keiji Uezono started the game for the Eagles and tossed three shutout innings while allowing three hits. [Daily Sports]
• Koji Aoyama entered the game in the 8th inning and tossed two shutout innings while allowing one hit. [Daily Sports]
• Hiroyuki Kobayashi started the game for the Tigers and allowed two runs on four hits over three innings of work. Kobayashi ran into problems right away, giving up consecutive hits to Ryo Hijirisawa and Teppei.  A walk and a wild pitch later, the Tigers were down 1-0.  He settled down after that and avoided allowing any additional runs from scoring in the 1st. [Daily Sports, Sanspo]
• Yuya Ando relieved Kobayashi and tossed two shutout innings while allowing one hit. [Daily Sports]
• Teppei (RAK) started in left and batted second.  He went 2-for-3: single to center in the 1st inning and a single to right in the 5th inning. [Sports Hochi]
• With the Eagles up by one and a runner on third and one out in the 2nd inning, Kensuke Uchimura (RAK) hit an RBI single to right off Hiroyuki Kobayashi. [Daily Sports]
• 4th round draft pick Takero Okajima (RAK) entered the game as a catcher in the 6th inning. [Sanspo]
• Akihisa Makida (RAK) batted clean-up and struck out swinging with the bases loaded and no out in the 1st inning. [Nikkan Sports]
• Matt Murton (HAN) as the starting DH and batted third.  He went hitless in two trips to the plate. [Sanspo]
• Taichi Okazaki (HAN) was responsible for the Tigers lone run: with runners on first and second and two out in the fourth inning, he hit an RBI single to left. [Daily Sports]
• The Tigers had a chance to win the game in the 9th when they loaded the bases with one out.  But neither Hiroki Uemoto (foul out to third) nor 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito (ground out to second) could get the job done. [Sanspo]

Nippon Ham Fighters vs SK Wyverns (@ Nago)

Wyverns 2 - Fighters 1

Fighters official coverage

• Tomoya Yagi entered the game in the 6th inning tossed three shutout innings while allowing one hit. [Sanspo]
• Sho Nakata showed off a strong arm in the 1st inning when he bare-handed a ball that carried over his head and bounced back to him and fired it back to second to get the batter-runner out.  One out later, with a runner on first, Yohio Itoi fielded a single to right and threw the runner that was at first, out at third. [Sanspo]
• Nakata collected two hits to center. [Nikkan Sports]
• 7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Terrmel Sledge in the 6th inning and went 0-for-2: ground out to third, strikeout looking. [Nikkan Sports]

Yomiuri Giants vs LG Twins (@ Okinawa Cellular)

Giants 6 - Twins 4

• Tetsuya Utsumi started the game and allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits over three innings of work.  He also struck out three, walked one, and faced the minimum over the first two innings (six batters) before giving up all three runs in 3rd inning (two of which came on two-run homer).  Ikusei pitcher Kyohei Odachi entered the game in the 7th and did not allow a run or a hit over two innings of work.  He also struck out four. [Daily Sports, Daily Sports, Sanspo, Sanspo, Nikkan Sports, Sponichi, Sponichi]
• With the Giants down 3-2 in the 5th inning with a runner on second and two out, John Bowker entered the game as a pinch-hitter and hit an RBI single to right. [Sanspo]

Yakult Swallows vs Hanwha Eagles (@ Urasoe)

Swallows 11 - Eagles 1

Swallows official coverage

• The Swallows offense scored eleven runs on fourteen hits.
• Ryo Hidaka started the game and gave up a run on one hit and a walk over four innings.  He also struck out two.
• Tony Barnette tossed a shutout inning in relief -- he retired the side in order and struck out two.
• Yasushi Iihara went 3-for-4 with two RBI.  Yuhei went 2-for-3 with a homer an two RBI. Tsuyoshi Ueda went 2-for-3 with an RBI.  Keisuke Mizuta went 2-for-2 with two RBI.  Tetsuto Yamada went 2-for-4.

Chunichi Dragons vs KIA Tigers (@ Chatan)

Dragons 3 - Tigers 2

Dragons official coverage

• The Dragons scored three runs on nine hits. [Sanspo]

======

Chiba Lotte Marines Intra-squad Game

• Seth Greisinger was one of the starters and tossed two shutout innings while allowing two hits. [Sanspo]
• Carlos Rosa entered the game in the 7th for the Reds and topped out at 153km/h. [Nikkan Sports]
• Yoshifumi Okada made a nice diving catch on a fly ball/liner to shallow left-center in he 2nd inning with one out and a runner on first. [Sanspo]
• Takeshi Kanazawa collected four hits.  Masahiko Tanaka hit a homer to left off Hayden Penn. [Sanspo]
• With one on and two out in the 2nd inning, Masato Watanabe hit a homer to left off Yoshihisa Naruse. [Nikkan Sports]

The Ehime Marndarin Pirates announced today that they agreed to terms with former Chunichi Dragon Junichi Kawahara (39).

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Career Stats

The Nippon Ham Fighters announced today that Micah Hoffpauir had his left knee cleaned at a hospital in Arizona.  He is expected to return to Japan in mid-March.