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4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito (coming back from right shoulder discomfort) played some outdoor catch at Naruohama today -- he threw thirty baseballs about a max distance of about fifteen meters.

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Akihito Fujii is expected to play in a Kyoiuku League game on March 17.  Depending on how that goes, he could be given the green light to rejoin the Ichi-gun roster and play against the Hiroshima Carp on March 20.

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Hiroyuki Kobayashi was originally scheduled to toss three innings against the Yakult Swallows on Wednesday but instead went just two innings.  He will get to pitch his third inning against the Chiba Lotte Marines (at QVC) on Friday.

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Keiichi Hirano was back in the line-up again on Wednesday after missing two games with right knee pain.

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Of the fifteen pitches Kyuji Fujikawa threw on Wednesday, four were cutters.  He threw the pitch only a handful of times last year.  Fujikawa told reporters he does not plan to throw the cutter during the season.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto started/played left for the first time this year on Wednesday.  He is also slated to play left on the 17th, 21st, 23rd, and 24th.

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The coaches were upset that Craig Brazell did not run more aggressively into second (as in, why he did not slide) in the 2nd inning of Wednesday's game against the Yakult Swallows.  Brazell later explained that his foot got caught.

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Through Wednesday, Kenji Jojima was 9-for-19 with one homer and two RBI over eight exhibition games.

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The front office was informed on Wednesday that season ticket sales so far have come in under initial expectations.  Team owner Shinya Sakai told reporters he felt it might have something to do with the team not making any major moves during the winter, other than hire a new manager, and with the way they have played their exhibition games so far.

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Meiji University beat the Ni-gun Hanshin Tigers, 5-1, on Wednesday.  Shun Ishikawa (Meiji) hit a three-run homer off Robert Zarate in the 7th inning.

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The Tigers have played ten exhibition games and lost three of them by the score of 1-0.

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The Tigers will likely begin to play their veterans more often, beginning with their road trip to the Kanto area on Thursday.  That means younger players will have fewer opportunities to prove they belong on the opening day roster.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto did not play left on Tuesday because of the cold weather but did manage to play some left during today's exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows and committed a fielding error in the third inning.  He also picked up his first exhibition game RBI of the year.

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Yuya Ando's first regular season start could come on either April 1 (vs Yokohama at Kyocera Dome) or during the second series of the season (vs Yakult at Jingu, April 3-5).

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In addition to taking situational batting practice today, Akihito Fujii also got behind the plate and worked on his throws to second base.

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Shinjiro Hiyama worked out in center during fielding practices today.

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With Yuya Ando pitching well, the Tigers are now thinking about moving Hiroyuki Kobayashi back to the bullpen.  Kobayashi pitched against the Yakult Swallows today and gave up a run on one hit over two innings of work.

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The Hanshin Tigers will likely continue to give 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito a few more looks during their four-game Kanto road trip: March 15 vs Yokohama, March 16 vs Lotte, March 17 vs Yakult, and March 18 vs Seibu.

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Hiroki Uemoto was excused from practices today due to a possible injury he suffered during yesterday's exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows: while playing second base in the 6th inning, he collided with a runner trying to steal second and may have injured his left elbow; he was taken out of the game in the 7th.

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The Yakult Swallows stole four bases after the 5th inning of yesterday's exhibition game.  Battery coach Yasuo Yoshida advised Taichi Okazaki (three runners stole bases while he was catcher) to mix in waste pitches and pick-offs to keep the runners honest and to remind pitchers they should keep an eye on the runners on base.

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Kenji Jojima has been used as a pinch-hitter thirty times during his NPB career (6-for-26 with six RBI).

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1st round draft pick Hayato Ito went 0-for-3 with a walk today and is now 2-for-14 in exhibition games.  The Tigers still plan to give him a few more looks.

On Monday, batting coach Atsushi Kataoka spoke to Ito for about ten minutes in the hopes of helping him maintain a positive outlook on things and to give him some space to vent.

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Atsushi Nomi is scheduled to pitch five innings during his next exhibition game start on March 16 (vs Lotte).

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Hiroyuki Kobayashi is expected to start Wednesday's game against the Yakult Swallows.

Kobayashi and Yuya Ando are both competing for spots in the starting rotation.

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Yasutomo Kubo's workouts at Koshien today included playing catch and running.  Kubo pitched in his first game on March 11 against the Yomiuri Giants in relief.  He will likely start the next game he pitches.

His first regular season start could also come against the Yakult Swallows (April 3 - 5 at Jingu).

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Akihito Fujii and Shinjiro Hiyama are still scheduled to take situational batting practice on Wednesday.

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Sanspo notes that Kenji Jojima is at his ideal weight of eighty-seven kilograms.  Jojima lost about ten kilograms before re-gaining five during spring camp to reach his current eighty-seven.

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Koshien Stadium released their new list of player lunch boxes for the 2012 season.

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The Tigers attended a team rally at an Osaka hotel on Monday.  Yutaka Wada made a heated speech and finished by saying that he believed in all his players and that their one goal this season is to win.

Team owner Shinya Sakai and team president Nobuo Minami were apparently impressed/satisfied with Wada's speech.

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One Ni-gun player was diagnosed with the flu (type B) on Sunday.

====== UPDATE 3/14 @ 12:45am

Murton will be using special custom insoles made by Phiten (the same kind Kyuji Fujikawa ordered during spring camp) to help him with his right big toe problem.

FYI: There was some concern it might be gout but it seems that is no longer the case.  The team is still not sure what the problem is/was.

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Team owner Sakai told reporters on Monday that he spoke to Yokohama Bay Stars' owner Makoto Haruta on Thursday (March 8) and offered a kind warning not to take baseball lightly (not that he was).

The Tigers visited Nishinomiya Shrine in Hyogo today and prayed for a successful season.

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Matt Murton missed his second straight game on Sunday because of pain in his right big toe.  He did return to practices today and is expected to return to the line-up for Wednesday's exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows.

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Sunday's Kyoiku League game against Chunichi at Naruohama: Shunsuke started in center and batted first.  He went 2-for-2.  Shunsuke also played in the exhibition game at Ichi-gun. [Sanspo]

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Tomoaki Kanemoto was supposed to play left during Sunday's exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants but did not because of the cool weather.

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Keiichi Hirano did not play in Sunday's exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants because of a contusion he suffered on his right knee while playing defense during Saturday's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Hirano is scheduled to take part in practices today and is expected to play in Tuesday's game (Yakult).

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Shinjiro Hiyama took fielding practice in the outfield at Naruohama today -- he caught twenty balls hit into the air by Ni-gun coach Yutaka Nakamura; he also wore cleats.

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Akihito Fujii did some long distance throwing (max distance of about seventy meters) on Sunday.  He is still scheduled to take situational batting practice on March 14 and 15.  If everything goes well, he could play in his first game on March 17 (Kyoiku League vs Softbank).

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Yamato may be in the lead for the starting CF job: through fifteen games (exhibition, intra-squad, an practice) he is 16-for-41.

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Sanspo seems to think that 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito may have two games (March 13 and 14, both against Yakult at Koshien) to prove he deserves more looks at Ichi-gun.  If not, he could be sent down to Ni-gun.

Ito is 6-for-33 in practice/exhibition games played through today.

If Atsushi Nomi gets the opening day start and wins, he will have picked up victories on opening day two years in a row.  That will make him the fifth player in franchise history (since the start of the two-league format), and first since Yuya Ando (2008-2010), to win consecutive opening day starts.

And only five other left-handed pitchers in franchise history have recorded consecutive opening day starts:

1. Yutaka Enatsu twice: 1969-1971 and 1973-1975
2. Koji Nakada: 1988-1989
3. Toshiro Yufune: 1994-1995
4. Nobuyuki Hoshino: 2000-2001
5. Kei Igawa: 2002-2006

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Shinjiro Hiyama spent about five minutes in the batting cages (pitching machines) on Saturday.

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Akihito Fujii played catch at a distance of about sixty meters during workouts at Naruohama on Saturday.  He also threw the last three baseballs as a catcher would.

Fujii is currently slated to take part in situational batting practice on March 14 and 15.  Assuming no problems, he could play in a Kyoiku League game as early as March 17.

1st round draft pick Hayata Ito went 0-for-4 today in a Kyoiku League game against the Chunichi Dragons.  He was also picked off first in the 1st inning and committed an error in the 1st inning that led to a run.

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Matt Murton did not take part in pre-game practices at Koshien today due to swelling at the base of the big toe on his right foot.  He also did not play in today's exhibition game.  There are currently no plans for him to go to the hospital -- the team will continue to monitor his toe.

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A number of players, including Takashi Toritani and Kentaro Sekimoto, worked on extending their leads off first base, by a half step to a whole step, during practices on Friday.

"I could see the runners well from the third base dugout.  Softbank players had leads that were about a half step further.  And it was not just one player, but three to four of their players were close or over the dirt cut-off.  They set a good example.  I want to make use of anything that might be helpful," said Yutaka Wada.

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Atsushi Nomi could get exhibition game starts on March 16 vs Lotte and March 23 vs Orix.  And assuming Nomi gets the opening day start, he and Minoru Iwata could start games against the Yomiuri Giants during their second starts of the season (April 6 - 8 at Koshien).

Both pitchers, and Jason Standridge, pitched in today's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Part of the reason why all three pitchers threw today were because they did not want to pitch them against the Yomiuri Giants tomorrow.

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Randy Messenger and Yasutomo Kubo could be the second-half of the starting rotation that pitches in the second series of the year (vs Yakult, April 3 - 5).

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Shunsuke wore a catcher's mask while taking batting practice on Friday.  Why?  It was no ordinary session -- he stood over home plate and swung at pitches head on.

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Shinjiro Hiyama could play in his first game as early as March 17: Ni-gun, Kyoiku League, vs Softbank Hawks at Naruohama.

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After swinging at about 100 pitches during soft toss batting practice on Friday, Akihito Fujii spent about seven minutes hitting baseballs thrown to him by Ikusei coach So Tsutsui.

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Kobelco Steelers' (rugby) manager Seiji Hirao visited the team offices in Nishinomiya, Hyogo on Friday.

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Former Hanshin Tiger Randy Bass attended FOODEX Japan 2012 to promote Basu's Triple Crown product line -- eight items, including jam, salsa, and beef jerky.

The Tigers announced today that Ryo Watanabe's wife gave birth to twins on Wednesday.

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Minoru Iwata is slated to start Saturday's exhibition game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Iwata has not pitched in a game since February 23 (intra-squad game, two inning outing).

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Atsushi Nomi's start got rained out today.  How it changes his schedule moving forward is not yet know, but as of Thursday, Sanspo notes that he may be slated to start exhibition games on March 16 (vs Lotte at QVC) and March 23 (vs Orix at Kyocera Dome).

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Takahiro Arai plans to play in Saturday's charity game and could take an early morning Shinkansen back to Kansai on Sunday in order to make the 1pm exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien.

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The Tigers will be giving 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito a "tryout" in center during an exhibition game against the Nippon Ham Fighters at Koshien on Saturday.  Depending on the results of that game, he could end up being dropped to Ni-gun to get more seasoning.

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It appears other players, like Tomoaki Kanemoto (LF), Craig Brazell (LF) and Kenji Jojima (1B) will also be tested at Koshien to see how well they can play the field.

"We have five games at Koshien so we need to make the best of them.  We also have some players that are learning new positions.  We need them to learn more about how Koshien plays.  They might have an idea of how things are, but that feel might be different when they actually take the field.  I want to check on those things and prepare for opening day" said Yutaka Wada.

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The Tigers do not plan on putting Shinjiro Hiyama on the active roster on opening day unless he has had a chance to play in a number of games.  They want to make sure he is 100% when they activate him.

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Akihito Fujii took batting practice at Naruohama today (team staff threw easy pitches).

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Batting stats, through Thursday (includes practice and intra-squad):

• Brazell is 4-for-14 with one homer and four RBI over six games.
• Jojima is 5-for-17 with two homers and five RBI over seven games.
• 1st round draft pick Ito is 6-for-28 with two RBI.

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Depending on how things work out, Kenji Jojima could play some third during the season.  During pre-game fielding practice on Wednesday, Jojima took grounders at third while Takahiro Arai took grounders at first.

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Atsushi Nomi, Minoru Iwata, and Yasutomo Kubo worked out at Koshien today.  The three are expected to pitch during a three game stretch at Koshien Stadium that begins on March 9 -- vs Seibu on March 9, vs Nippon Ham on March 10, vs Yomiuri on March 11.

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Akihito Fujii took around 100 swings during soft-toss batting practice on Wednesday.  He also played some catch and caught some bullpen sessions.

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Kenji Jojima worked out for about two hours at the Softbank Hawks' Saitozaki training facilities today.

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Akihito Fujii played catch at Naruohama today for the first time since he got injured (left oblique strain).  He told reporters that he was still hoping to be ready for opening day and currently had his sights set on returning to the Ichi-gun team in time for their road trip to Kanto that begins on March 15.

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Shinjiro Hiyama has been doing trunk and shoulder strengthening exercises.  He told reporters on Sunday that he was feeling much better and that running was no longer a problem.  The team will continue to monitor Hiyama and if everything looks good, he could be given the green light to do some outdoor exercises, like walking and playing catch.

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Kohei Shibata (left shoulder pain) took some indoor batting practice at Naruohama on Sunday.  Depending on his condition, he could end up traveling with the Ni-gun team during their next road trip.

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More than half of the forty-three pitches (Sanspo counted twenty-two) Kyuji Fujikawa threw during his exhibition game outing on Sunday against the Orix Buffaloes were off-speed pitches.  Fujikawa also made sure to spend some time talking to Taichi Okazaki about pitching (like how to set the fastball up effectively) -- he is trying to help develop some of the younger talent.

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Yasutomo Kubo faced Tomoaki Kanemoto, Takahiro Arai, Jojima, and Craig Brazell during situational batting practice on Sunday.  The four hitters combined for ten plate appearances.

Assuming no problems, Kubo could pitch during a five game stretch at Koshien that begins on March 9.

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Ni-gun Hanshin Tigers vs Osaka Gakuin University on March 4

Tigers 1 - Osaka Gakuin University 0

• Shinta Hifumi hit a "scorching" RBI infield double off the short stop with runners on first and second and one out in the 2nd inning.  He also struck out twice. [Sanspo]
• Masahiro Nakatani started in right and batted first.  He went 3-for-4. [Sanspo]

====== UPDATE 3/6 @ 1:11am

Umeda FM Be Happy! 78.9 will be giving away free Tigers' tickets during 2012 Sa, Atsukunare!! Community FM-wo Kiite Tigers Kaimakusen Ticket-wo Get shio!! Week (between March 12 and March 16

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Shunsuke was removed from today's game against the Orix Buffaloes when he took an HBP off the left side of his helmet during his at bat in the third inning.  It does not appear as though he lost consciousness as he was never taken to the hospital.

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Yasutomo Kubo and Minoru Iwata are scheduled to pitch in situational batting practice today.

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Shinjiro Hiyama wore cleats while taking soft-toss batting practice at Naruohama on Saturday.  It was the first time he wore cleats during batting practice since  he got hurt.  Hiyama is scheduled to take indoor batting practice against a pitching machine today.

Akihito Fujii received treatment for his oblique injury and also spent some time doing other kinds of workouts, like riding the stationary bike.