Saturday's game between Lotte and Yokohama.

Alex Ramirez leads off the bottom of the 2nd for Yokohama.

Yoshihisa Naruse on the mound for Lotte.

3-1 slider...

The shot was called foul.  The umps were asked to review the footage.  About seven minutes later, the umps decided to stick with the original call.

The Bay Stars felt the ball was fair and plan to file a report, along with footage of the home run, with the NPB some time next week.

"We have video that clearly [shows the ball went fair].  We will include the video [with our report]," said Bay Stars' GM Shigeru Takada.  "The call will not be changed, but we want them to work harder to improve the technique."

The field umpire in charge of the call, Masato Tomoyose, was quoted as saying, "It was my decision.  We could not make an absolute confirmation [with the footage] so we went with the original ruling."

The monitor used to review the footage was a sixteen-inch TV connected to a consumer model VCR.

And Ramirez's take on the call: "It took the umps about ten minutes, but may be the four umps just grabbed some coffee and relaxed.  If the players can be fined, the same should go for the umps."

Matt Murton (HAN) participated in evening workouts at Jingu Stadium on Monday and will likely be back in the starting line-up tonight against the Yakult Swallows in right batting sixth.

Said Murton, "I was able to return today because all the trainers worked hard in taking care of me each day.  I am really grateful to them.  As a baseball player, it is difficult to be at 100% for every game, but I think I am good enough to play."

Incidentally, Murton has done extremely well against the Yakult Swallows:

2011: 34-for-85, 16 R, 3 HR, 11 RBI, .400/.433/.541

2010: 49-for-106, 26 R, 4 HR, 25 RBI, .462/.491/.651

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Alex Ramirez (YOK) is apparently good enough to return to the starting line-up tonight.  Daily Sports and Nikkan Sports mention he could start in left and bat clean-up.  Kiyoshi Nakahata also said to reporters yesterday that he still was not sure which players, other than Ramirez, to start in the outfield.

"This is a tough choice," said Nakahata.  "The three outfielders have all done a good job.  Rock, scissor, paper?  That would not be very nice for the players, but that is about how difficult this decision is."

Hichori Morimoto (LF): 7-for-11, 2 R, 3 RBI, .636/.667/1.000

Sho Aranami (CF): 5-for-19, 1 R, 0 RBI, .500/.500/.500

Tatsuhiko Kinjo (RF): 2-for-12, 2 R, 1 RBI, .167/.231/.417

Alex Ramirez (PH up to now): 2-for-3, 0 R, 2 RBI, .667/.667/.667

The Nikkan Sports report closes with the following (paraphrased): with a left-handed starter on the mound for Chunichi, do you start the right-handed hitting Morimoto and the switch-hitting Kinjo, or do you go with speed and use Aranami and Morimoto?

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo worked out at Yokohama Stadium today.  Tsutsugo still can not run at full speed, but has already played in a couple of Ni-gun games.

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The JR Kannai Station has been spruced up with a Yokohama Bay Stars theme.

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Alex Ramirez is expected to make his way into the starting line-up, beginning on Tuesday.

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With his victory on Sunday, Daisuke Miura is now 44-20 against the Hanshin Tigers (good for second among active pitchers).  Masaichi Kaneda holds the record for most victories against Hanshin with seventy-four.  Masahiro Yamamoto leads all active pitchers with forty-five victories.

Miura also extended the team's five or more innings by a starting pitcher streak to three games: Kentaro Takasaki (6 IP), Brandon Mann (5.1 IP), and Miura (7.0 IP).  The last time the Bay Stars' began the season with three starters that threw give or more innings was 2004: Miura (7 IP), Pete Walker (6 IP), and Takashi Saito (6 IP).

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Kiyoshi Nakahata told reporters he started to tear up in the 9th inning, before the end of the game.

"I started the feel something like tears.  I let some loose, even got a watery nose.  I felt like saying 'Stop it!' [to myself] because the game was not even over yet and I was acting as if we had already won.  That kind of break is not very good," said Nakahata.

And via Sanspo: "I am an emotional guy.  Watching players develop, seeing the fans support our team, thinking about how my family and siblings support me, and all the hardworking folks in Fukushima...  When I think about those things [I start to well up].  I was like, how can I do that during the middle of the game, but the tears from my eyes were true tears of gratitude."

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The winning ball from the team's first victory of the season (and under DeNA management) will be put on display at Yokohama Stadium.  There are also plans to sell replicas of the baseball.

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Daisuke Miura will likely pitch once every ten days to keep him fresh for when the team really needs him.  His first start of the regular season could come against the Hanshin Tigers on April 1 at Kyocera Dome.

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The Bay Stars will decide on Thursday whether or not Alex Ramirez is healthy enough to make the opening day starting line-up.

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Hiroyuki Fukuyama was sent down to Ni-gun on Tuesday.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata apparently is not entirely satisfied with the new mascot.  When asked his opinion during a fan club event at Yokohama Stadium on Tuesday, he said, "We are a team trying to emphasize mobility but with short legs like that, how can he run?"

About sixty people from the organization (players and staff) visited Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and prayed for a successful season.  An estimated 1,500 fans also showed up.

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Team workouts at Yokohama Stadium began at 5pm today and lasted about three hours.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata told reporters on Monday that he does not plan on penciling Alex Ramirez into the starting line-up until he can run at full speed.

"If he can not score from second on a hit, then other hard-working players will have a hard time understanding the decision [to play him]. ... It will also be a waste of a player to immediately send in a pinch-runner after a double.  He might have special permission to do things like leave practices early, but he will not be given preferential treatment," said Nakahata.

The earliest Ramirez might be able to make it back to the starting line-up: three games series against Chunichi at Yokohama.

Nakahata also added that his clean-up hitters right now were Ramirez and Norihiro Nakamura -- if both go down, the team will need to work on finding/growing a new clean-up hitter.

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Nakahata on using baseball data to help him manage the team: "Data?  This was a last place team so the numbers are obviously bad.  Lookin at them would do nothing.  There is nothing to think about.  Everything up to now, no problem.  It is nothing. ... Data can just be [for the coaches] to remember. ... If you read too much into the data, you start playing against the data.  You need to play against reality.  It is like a feeling, it is being able to react to things as they happen that day."

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Masaaki Koike batted clean-up today because Norihiro Nakamura felt discomfort in his left knee.  Nakamura is expected to play on Sunday.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata told reporters today that Yuki Kuniyoshi will start the home opener on April 3 (vs Chunichi).

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Alex Ramirez did some jogging, played some catch, and took some batting practice on Friday.  And while he did not warm-up or taking fielding practice with the Ichi-gun team today, he did participate in pre-game batting practice.

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Yuki Kuniyoshi has not allowed a run over eighteen consecutive exhibition game innings (span of four games).

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Takayuki Kajitani has ten stolen bases in eleven attempts through sixteen exhibition games.

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The Bay Stars announced today that they will pray for a successful season at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu on March 27.  Fans will be welcome to join them between 10:30am and 11:00am.

Kentaro Takasaki is scheduled to start Saturday's game.  Yuki Kuniyoshi will relieve Takasaki on Saturday since his start today was rained out.

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There is a chance Alex Ramirez might be available as a pinch-hitter on opening day.  Ramirez is currently at around forty percent without pain.

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Taketoshi Goto visited a hospital in Yokohama today for an MRI and was diagnosed with some inflammation in his right biceps femoris muscle.  Goto will remain with the Ichi-gun team as he makes his recovery.

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The Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars 2012 Official Year Magazine goes on sales March 26 for 1,200 yen.

Giancarlo Alvarado did not allow a run over 5.2 innings of work against the Orix Buffaloes today.  He is scheduled to leave Japan tomorrow for his brother's wedding in Puerto Rico and will return on the 26th.

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Alex Ramirez did some walking on Tuesday and some light running in the outfield at Yokohama Stadium today. He also played a light round of catch.  Team conditioning coach told reporters that if Ramirez continues to make similar strides in his rehab, he might have a chance at making it back by opening day.

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Tatsuya Shimozono had some problems with his left elbow during the off-season and started things off at Ni-gun spring camp.  He made it back to Ichi-gun on Tuesday and went 0-for-1 against the Rakuten Eagles.

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Yuki Kuniyoshi will likely start the home opener on April 3.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata attended a pep rally held at the Yokohama City Offices today.

Kiyoshi Nakahata told reporters after today's exhibition game against the Rakuten Eagles that Kentaro Takasaki will be his opening day starter.

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The Bay Stars want to go with a five-man rotation, but there is some concern about whether or not Daisuke Miura will be able to handle pitching on five days of rest.

"Pitching on five days of rest might be difficult [for Miura]," said pitching coach Yui Tomori.  "But he has a mental presence and he is experienced. We need him to be healthy for the whole season.  We will use him carefully."

Miura responded, "I should be able to pitch on five days of rest because I worked out with that in mind.  I want to maintain a spot in the starting rotation."

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It appears Norihiro Nakamura will, for the time being, take over as the new clean-up hitter while Alex Ramirez (strain in his left rectus femoris) is out.  With regards to other aspects of the line-up, the Bay Stars will use their remaining exhibition games to figure out what to do -- they were initially planning on getting rid of the DH rule today and have their pitchers get used to hitting, but they will now continue to make use of the DH rule while they test out a number of different players.

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Head coach Yutaka Takagi told reporters that he did not mind if Ramirez missed the first ten games of the season if he can return at 100% for the remaining 134 games.

Ramirez started his rehab at Yokohama Stadium today.

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Nikkan Sports is guessing the following...

• The first four hitters in the starting line-up will likely be: Takayuki Kajitani, Hichori Morimoto, Takehiro Ishikawa (ideally would have been Yoshitomo Tsutsugo), and Nakamura (ideally would have been Ramirez).
• Keijiro Matsumoto will most likely slide into left (taking defense over offense).

Alex Ramirez had his left leg examined at a Yokohama hospital today and was diagnosed with a strain in his left rectus femoris that will require about three for a full recovery.

Ramirez suffered the injury while running out a double during Sunday's game against the Softbank Hawks.