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A 56-year-old woman suffered a fracture in her lumbar vertebrae when Masahiro Tanaka crashed his car into her, she was riding a bicycle, on December 14, 2011.  The incident took place at an intersection that had no traffic light and poor visibility.  Tanaka was on his way to Kleenex Stadium at the time.

Earlier today, Sendai Higashi Police filed charges against Tanaka on suspicion of accidental infliction of injury while driving.

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Early morning practice took place indoors today because of the rain.

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Ikusei pitcher Takahiro Kato told reporters today he could probably throw 2,500 pitches during spring camp.  So far, he has thrown 818 pitches and is not feeling any pain, though he is feeling some stiffness.  Kato did not toss a bullpen session today.

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INF/base-running coach Yasutomo Suzuki hit baseballs to Akinori Iwamura and Kazuo Matsui during extra fielding practice after general workouts on Monday.

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Kelvin Jimenez is apparently Senichi Hoshino's current number three starter.

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1st round draft pick Yoshitaka Muto is scheduled to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 12.

Tanaka is scheduled to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 13.

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Hoshino wants to see the three kids that helped him when he got lost while trying to walk back to the team hotel during spring camp last year.  The team managed to track them down and the three were given a chance to observe players work out at Ichi-gun spring camp today.

Hoshino also told reporters on Monday that he wanted his closer to have starting experience, which could point to Darrell Rasner being the closer this year.  Daisuke Kato and Koji Aoyama are two other possible candidates.

====== UPDATE 2/8 @ 2:28am

Akinori Iwamura has been using a 960 gram Nike-made training bat for all his batting practice sessions during spring camp.

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Team chairman Hiroshi Mikitani told reporters on Sunday that he would love to have Hideki Matsui on the team and understands that most likely will not happen because he wants to continue playing in the MLB.

Akinori Iwamura worked out at Kleenex Stadium On Wednesday for the first time this year.  Workouts included playing catch, fielding practice, and BP.

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The Eagles announced on Wednesday that Rakuten Eagles Softball School will open in April.

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Masahiro Tanaka worked out with Yu Darvish in Miyazaki for about a week (January 6 - January 12).  He then moved on to working out with some teammates in Chiba (January 13) before returning to Sendai on Monday (January 23).

Tanaka also gained 6kg before dropping 3kg and is now at 97kg.

Tanaka's workouts with Darvish:

9am until noon - running, trunk strengthening exercises
noon until 12:30pm - playing catch
12:30pm until after 2:00pm - after lunch, weight training (flip-flopping between upper and lower body)

protein drinks five times a day.

Akinori Iwamura was examined at a hospital in Sendai on Tuesday and diagnosed with an incomplete fracture in his 5th rib on the left side.  As of now, Iwamura will probably need about 3 weeks before he's ready to start swinging the bat again.

The Eagles announced today that both Akinori Iwamura and Darrell Rasner returned to Miyagi in order to get checked out at hospitals in Sendai -- Rasner felt tightness in his right hamstring during practice on the 16th and will be examined today; Iwamura needs additional tests on his left flank region (his test last night revealed no damage to the bones) and will be examined on the 19th (another report mentions the 20th).

While Iwamura was taken off the active roster today, the Eagles will wait to decide on Rasner until they find out more about what's wrong with him.

Akinori Iwamura earned his domestic FA option today with 8 years of service time on the active roster.  He's currently in the first year of a 2-year deal.

Said Iwamura of earning the option, "I'm not in a place where I can think about that kind of stuff right now.  I want to put up numbers that are worthy of questions about free agency."

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/8 @ 11:11pm

Shiomi threw 77 pitches during his bullpen session today.

Said Hoshino, "He throws a lot of pitches and has very good balance."

===== 2/8 @ 7:02pm

Manabu Mima (2nd round) faced Daisuke Kusano and Fuminori Yokogawa during BP today and threw 18 pitches while giving up 1 could-be hit.  For Mima, it was his first outing against pro yakyu hitters.

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Kazuo Matsui took extra BP after practice yesterday (about 45 minutes).  He took a total 164 swings of the bat (from the left side using a training bat) and hit 6 over the fence (against both a live arm and a machine).  Over half were line drives that were hit in fair territory.

Matsui also has three things in mind this year: hitting (consciously pulling inside pitches and going to the opposite field with outside pitches during BP); running the bases (he was timed at 7.19 seconds going from first to third and 7.20 seconds going from second to home); and fielding (Matsui averages about 0.44 seconds from gloving the ball to throwing).

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Senichi Hoshino was not only upset at the slight pause Motohiro Shima made during a 4-inning, 4 out bunting drill yesterday that allowed a runner to get into third safely, but was also upset when Yusuke Kusuki failed to execute a squeeze play.

Today, Hoshino checked out Ni-gun spring camp today for the first time this spring.  After spending the morning watching Ichi-gun pitchers in the bullpen, he hopped on a car and went to the Ni-gun facilities (about a 15 minute ride).  While there, Hoshino also had a chance to watch Takahiro Shiomi (1st round) toss a bullpen session.

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Akinori Iwamura spent about an hour fielding 218 grounders at third base during extra fielding practice yesterday.

Iwamura will also be celebrating his 32nd birthday tomorrow.  Before practice today, about 30 kindergartners wished Iwamura an early happy birthday with a song and a chocolate cake.

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Masahiro Tanaka threw 77 pitches in the bullpen yesterday.  For Tanaka, it was his third session in as many days.  His parents were also visiting.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/8 12:50am

Akinori Iwamura stayed back for extra fielding practice today and took over 200 grounders at third.  The session lasted about an hour.

Iwamura is also tweaking his batting stance in the hopes of generating more power, based on the three main concepts for hitting home runs -- increase bat speed; hit the ball at an angle; and reverse the spin on the ball.  As such, Iwamura is now standing with his hands a little higher than before (about 20 cm higher).

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The situational bunting exercise was a mock 4-inning game.  At one point, during a squeeze play, Motohiro Shima took a brief pause before making a throw to third and just missed the runner.  Hoshino was quick to shout out to Shima that he needed to trust his gut more and react quicker.

===== 2/7 @ 11:04pm

Yamasaki took 97 swings of the bat during BP today and hit 7 over the fence.  Yamasaki had been using a training bat up during BP, but decided to switch over to his regular game bat today.

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The Eagles announced today that Byung-Hyun Kim's registered name will be キム (Kim).

===== 2/7 @ 4:29pm

Senichi Hoshino gathered the Ichi-gun and Ni-gun players (excluding foreign players) together today for some situational bunting exercises.  Hoshino yelled at any players that made mistakes.

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Takeshi Yamasaki took 93 swings of the bat during BP yesterday and hit 9 over the fence (2 of which went over the netting in the outfield).

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Hisashi Iwakuma threw 60 pitches in the bullpen yesterday -- 40 to a standing catcher and 20 to a squatting catcher.  It was Iwakuma's 4th bullpen session during spring camp.

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Masahiro Tanaka also threw 60 pitches in the bullpen yesterday (squatting catcher) and mixed in some off-speed pitches (slider, curve, change, cutter, split) for the first time.  And it was also Tanaka's 4th bullpen session during spring camp.

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Satoshi Nagai also tossed a bullpen session yesterday.  No reports on how many pitches he threw.

Hisashi Iwakuma started throwing the ball from behind the mound (rubber?) on Wednesday.  He threw the ball about 30 times in all (using the new NPB regulation ball).  He told reporters he was only throwing at about 10% and admitted that he might have started his throwing program a little earlier than usual.

As for why he was throwing from behind the rubber, Iwakuma said that it help him put all his weight on his front leg.

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While some Eagles' players opted to live out of hotels (like Takeshi Yamasaki and former Eagles Norihiro Nakamura and Ryuji Miyade), Akinori Iwamura plans on moving his family up to Sendai.  Seems he's tired of living away from his family.

Iwamura's first day of training in Okinawa included playing catch, taking fielding practice in the outfield, and BP (all in a light rain).

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In an attempt to get to know his manager better, Motohiro Shima will make sure he's sitting next to him in the dugout as often as possible.

Shima and Shinichiro Koyama have also put together a tough training menu this winter that includes morning runs, weight training, and uphill dashes (5 * 100 meters, 5 * 50 meters, and 5 * 30 meters for a total 900 meters).  Both Tetsuro Nishida and Shintaro Masuda are working out with Shima and Koyama.

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Teppei worked out at Kitsuki, Oita today (taking grounders, BP, weight training), along with players like Yosuke Hiraishi, Suguru Ino, and Naoto Watanabe (YOK).

Senichi Hoshino returned to Japan on Tuesday.  He told reporters that he wasn't able to do much while he was in Australia due to the rain (a kids' baseball clinic he was supposed to attend was canceled and he couldn't play any golf) and that he made it a point to stay abreast of the news in Japan (he used an iPad he purchased last year).

Hoshino also added that he thought Kazuo Matsui was physically capable of playing until he was 40 and that he should be preparing to play short this season.

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Kazuo Matsui has added about 2kg to his frame (he now weighs 85kg) in order to increase his muscle mass.  He also told reporters that he was aiming to do a lot of running on the base paths this season and that he wanted to be in the starting line-up everyday.

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Shinichiro Koyama is apparently using an MLB baseball in his training after he found out that Hisashi Iwakuma did the same last year and found it to be helpful.  He's also hoping it'll help him get used to pitching with the new NPB regulation baseball as well.

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Akinori Iwamura, on the other hand, is working on losing some weight.  He also had some problems getting on the plane to Okinawa yesterday because his luggage first came up as being over the weight limit, even though it wasn't.  And while he was trying to get that settled, his flight took off.  Iwamura was initially hoping to start his training in Okinawa on 1/11 at 1:11pm, but gave up and decided to start things today (when all was said in done, Iwamura ended up arriving in Okinawa at 4:30pm).

The other three players in Iwamura's group, Yusuke Kajimoto (ORI), Wataru Nishimura (RAK), and Naoya Washiya (BC League), started their workouts at Kochinda Stadium without Iwamura on the 11th.

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Hisashi Kitani tossed about 30 pitches (while mixing in off-speed pitches) in the bullpen on Tuesday.  Kitani started his training up on the 3rd at his old high school (Omi High School in Shiga).

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Horipro announced that they signed Masahiro Tanaka to a management contract today.  Horipro will be handling all of Tanaka's non-baseball related events, like his off-season TV appearance schedule.  Horipro also recently signed a similar contract with Yusei Kikuchi.

Akinori Iwamura started his workouts for 2011 earlier today at Maruyama Stadium in Uwajima, Ehime.  Masafumi Hirai (CHU), Tasuku Hashimoto (YOK), Ryuji Miyade (YAK), and Hiromitsu Takagi were also part of the practice session that lasted about 2 hours and included fielding and batting practice.  This marks the first time all 5 players have worked out together.

UPDATE 1/4 6:01pm JST - Iwamura knocked out 9 balls over the fence (33 swings) during BP on Monday.  Iwamura's kanji character for the year is 絆 (kizuna - connections, the ties that bind).