=== 3/26/2010 1:27am JST

...The Dragons held a 2-hour practice at Nagoya Dome on Thursday.  Hiromitsu Ochiai told reporters that only the players that deserved to be on the opening day roster made it and that while he would ideally love to win every game in the season, he'd settle for his players doing their best.

...Still no official word on who the Dragons' opening day start will be.  It's appears to be a toss-up between Wei-Ying Chen and Kazuki Yoshimi.  And the gap between the two pitchers is so small that Ochiai suggested having the two play a game of rock-scissor-paper.

...The Dragons and Edion East signed a 3-year partnership agreement on Thursday.  Under the provisions of the agreement, the Dragons will place Edion East's logo on their helmet and the authority for either side to call each other "official partners."

=== 3:06pm JST

...The Dragons have three rookies on the opening day roster: Masato Matsui, Yohei Oshima, and Yusuke Matsui.  The last time the team carried 3 or more rookies on the opening day roster was back in 2005: Kenichi Nakata, Yoshihiro Suzuki, and Michihisa Sawai.

It seems there's also a pretty good chance that Oshima is in the starting line-up on opening day as well.

...Tyrone Woods dropped by Nagoya Dome unannounced on Wednesday.  He apparently spent some time giving the slumping Tony Blanco some advice on hitting (Woods has been following the team and Blanco from the US).

Woods parted ways with the Chunichi Dragons after the 2008 season and has been working in the real estate industry in Florida.  He's currently in Japan to record a segment for a TV program.

...Masahiko Morino vowed to do better against the Yomiuri Giants this year.  Last season he went 22-for-92 (.239) with 5 home runs and 15 RBI against the Giants.

...Chunichi Shimbun feels Dionys Cesar and Hirokazu Ibata hold the key to the Dragons' success this year.

...Team owner Bungo Shirai apparently told Hiromitsu Ochiai on Tuesday that he fully expects his team to go 16-8 against the Yomiuri Giants this season (the reverse of their fortunes from last season).

Ochiai hit some grounders, for the first time in about month, during fielding practice for pitchers on Tuesday.

Ochiai also told reporters that he will not be making any comments about winning the Central League this year.

...For the first time since 1999, Masahiro Araki is not on the opening day rosters.  Araki is expected to return some time in early April.

...During outfield practice on Tuesday, Dionys Cesar, Yohei Oshima, and Yusuke Matsui worked out in center while Atsushi Fujii, Kei Nomoto, and Masaaki Koike worked out in right.  Of course, left field is Kazuhiro Wada's.

...Super Diamond Owners will be allowed to take a walk on the field after the Dragons play the Hanshin Tigers on 4/4.

...Masahiro Yamamoto is currently working his way back from a left shoulder injury.  He is hoping to starting throwing a bullpen session this month and get back to pitching in real games some time in mid-April.  After a light round of practice on Monday, he told reporters that he's at about 70-80%.

...According to Ni-gun officials, Kenta Asakura could be ready to start throwing BP sometime this week.  After that, he could pitch an inning or two in one of the three Ni-gun games against the Hanshin Tigers that begins on the 30th.  His first "real" start could come in a Ni-gun game around the 10th.

Asakura initially hurt his right shoulder during the second round of the Climax Series last year and started the year at Ni-gun Spring camp.  To make matters worse, he started experiencing lower back pains during camp, forcing a delay in his return.

He started throwing bullpen again on the 5th and has thrown about 600 pitches since then.  Asakura is also tweaking his delivery so that he using his lower body more.

If everything goes smoothly, he might be ready to rejoin the Ichi-gun roster some time in April.

...Kenichi Nakata (right arm) has started throwing again at Ni-gun and is currently at about 70-80%.

Daisuke Yamai (back) should begin throwing again sometime later this month.

...Hirokazu Ibata will be aiming hit at least .330 and collect at least 90 RBI from the 6 spot in the lineup.

Ibata also started using a new bat partway through exhibition play with a slightly thinner grip (thicker than his bat last season, but thinner than the new bat he originally started with this year).

...Fans that attend opening day on 3/26 will be given cheer flags.

...The Dragons have a team day off on Monday.  Hiromitsu Ochiai told reporters after their game against the Yakult Swallows on Sunday that he would take that day off to think about his opening day roster.

Ochiai also wondered why some people make such a big deal out of opening day rosters since players can always be demoted immediately after the first game.

...The Dragons will likely start the regular season with 13 pitchers.

=== 3/22/2010 12:07am JST

...It seems Junki Ito, Daisuke Yamai, and Edward Valdez all may end up making the starting rotation due to the slow starts by Kenta Asakura and Kenichi Nakata.

Rookies Yohei Oshima, Yusuke Matsui, and Masato Matsui may be on the opening day rosters.

=== 8:46pm JST

...Masahiro Araki was not in the line-up again on Sunday.  But that may ultimately open up the door to Yohei Oshima being in the opening day line-up as a lead-off hitter.

...Takashi Ogasawara will likely have a spot in the starting rotation.

...Hitoki Iwase had a chance to pitch on back-to-back days: one shutout inning on Saturday and a third of an inning on Sunday.

...Masahiro Araki was held out of the lineup in the game against the Yakult Swallows on Friday.  Seems like he did hurt his foot / leg a little while running the bases on Thursday.  General coach Hatsuhiko Tsuji told the reporters that the injury wasn't major and that the club didn't want to take any chances with exacerbating it and gave him the day off.

Hirokazu Ibata had a slightly different take, saying that Araki could only play short if he was fully healthy and he might not be able to go through with the conversion from the start of the season.

Araki was not in the starting line-up on Saturday either.

...Wei-Ying Chen apparently focused on throwing the ball downward during his start on Friday after a coach told him he was throwing from the side a little during his start against the Seibu Lions on the 13th.  Nikkan Sports has a little more: head coach Shigekazu Mori advised Chen to put more weight into his back foot in order to build up more energy before pushing off; pitching coach Shinichi Kondo told Chen that his arm angle seemed lower than usual.  Chen topped out at 148km/h during the game.

Chen also told reporters that he was still at about 60-70% and was working on making sure he was at 100% by opening day.

...Tony Blanco hit a home run off Masanori Ishikawa (Yakult Swallows) on Friday.  It was his first home run since 4/3 and only his second during exhibition play.

=== 3/19/2010 12:59am JST

...Junki Ito's exhibition game outings:

3/18 vs Yomiuri Giants - 5 IP, 18 BF, 67 NP, 1 H, 5 SO, 2 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

3/16 vs Nippon Ham Fighters - 1 IP, 6 BF, 21 NP, 2 H, 0 SO, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 ER

3/3 vs Yomiuri Giants - 6 IP, 21 BF, 79 NP, 2 H, 5 SO, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

=== 10:03pm JST

...Daisuke Yamai could end up becoming the number four pitcher in the starting rotation, behind Kazuki Yoshimi, Wei-Ying Chen, and Takashi Ogasawara.  If Yamai makes the opening day starting rotation, it would be the first time since 2005.

...Masahiro Araki stumbled while running the bases in the third inning of a game against the Yomiuri Giants on Thursday.  Not wanting to take any changes, the Dragons pulled him for a pinch-runner.  Araki told reporters that he was feeling fine and that the substitution wasn't his call.

...Masahiko Morino laid down a bunt in the first inning against the Yokohama Bay Stars on Wednesday.  There was a runner on first with one out at the time.  Morino apparently wanted a chance at practicing a bunt in a game situation in case there's a situation where he needs to lay one down during the season.  Morino had 1 sac hit all last season.

...Daisuke Yamai's exhibition game outings:

3/17 vs Yokohama Bay Stars: 6 IP, 26 BF, 87 NP, 5 H, 1 HR, 5 SO, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 2 R, 2 ER

3/10 vs Seibu Lions: 3 IP, 17 BF, 70 NP, 6 H, 1 HR, 2 SO, 3 BB, 5 R, 5 ER

3/4 vs Yomiuri Giants: 6 IP, 20 BF, 82 NP, 2 H, 6 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

2/27 vs Chiba Lotte Marines: 1.1 IP, 8 BF, 36 NP, 3 H, 2 SO, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 1 R, 1 ER

...Takuya Asao gave up a run during his 1 inning of work on Tuesday against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  He has now given up runs in each of his four appearances: 4 G, 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R.

...The Dragons were not happy with Junk Ito's outing on Tuesday (especially the lead-off walk he allowed).  After yanking him from the game after one inning of work, Ito spent about 40 minutes throwing in the bullpen (around 100 pitches).

...Atsushi Fujii's 1-out single to left in the top of the 8th of Tuesday's game against the Nippon Ham Fighterst broke-up a no hitter.

...Dionys Cesar hasn't been hitting well.  After going 0-for-4 (ground out to first, strike out, ground out to first, ground out to second) on Tuesday against the Nippon Ham Fighters, he went 1-for-4 (line out to short, single to center, strike out, strike out) against the Yokohama Bay Stars on Wednesday.

Going back a little further:

3/14 vs Seibu Lions: 1-for-4 (strike out, strike out, sac fly to right, strike out, single to center)

3/13 vs Seibu Lions: 0-for-4 (strike out, fly out to center, ground out to short, GIDP)

3/11 vs Rakuten Eagles: 0-for-4 (ground out to second, ground out to first, fly out to center, strike out)

3/10 vs Seibu Lions: 0-for-2 (walk, strike out, walk, ground out to second)

Despite the slump, the Dragons appear to be willing to give Cesar time to adjust.

...Junki Ito did nothing to help assuage any fears the coaches might have regarding his ability to start.  His pitching line from Tuesday's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters:1 IP, 6 BF, 21 NP, 2 H, 0 SO, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 ER.

His pitching line from his first start during exhibition play against the Yomiuri Giants on 3/16: 6 IP, 21 BF, 79 NP, 2 H, 5 SO, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER.

...Prior to Tuesday's game, Tony Blanco was 4-for-30 with 15 strike outs (!) -- one of his low games was on the 14th against the Seibu Lions when he went 0-for-5 with 4 SO.  To that end, Blanco spent about an hour and a half working on his swing on Monday -- two BP sessions of 30 minutes and 1 hour.

On Tuesday, Blanco went 0-for-1 with 2 walks.

...Ryoji Nakata officially graduated from Asia University on Monday.

...The Dragons announced on Monday that figure skater Kanako Murakami will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to their opening day game against the Hiroshima Carp.  Murakami won the ladies world junior championship on Saturday.

...Wei-Ying Chen gave up 8 runs over 5.1 innings of work on Saturday.  Kazuki Yoshimi gave up 2 over 5.1 innings of work.  Both are possible candidates for the opening day start and will likely have one more start to show that they deserve the job.

...The Dragons had gone 25 consecutive innings without scoring prior to Atsushi Fujii driving in a run in the bottom of the third during Sunday's game against the Seibu Lions.