Motonobu Tanishige became the 8th player in NPB history to play in 2,500 games last night.  That's also good for 2nd amongst all catcher's in NPB history (behind Katsuya Nomura's 3,017) and best amongst all active players (the second closest is Takuro Ishii with 2,287).

Tanishige was also hit by a pitch twice last night.  That gives him 100 in his career (good for 15th on the All-time list).

Four players from Fiji currently are currently visiting in Japan.  On Wednesday, they spent some time observing the Chunichi Dragons during pre-game practice.

The four players from Fiji apparently belong to the Fiji National Baseball Team and are between the ages of 18 and 27.  According to media reports, they are at about the same level as Japanese Junior High School baseball players.

Kazuhiro Wada and Takuya Asao (along with other players like Kenta Maeda of Hiroshima) have worked to help promote baseball in Fiji by donating baseball equipment.

So it seems Hirokazu Ibata's legs have been acting up.  At least that appears to be the case based on the latest report by Sanspo.  And it seems Ibata could be out for an extending period of time.

The Dragons will likely start Wei-Ying Chen, Daisuke Yamai, and Kenichi Nakata during a 3-game series against the Yomiuri Giants that begins tomorrow.

Both Yamai and Nakata spent time doing things like playing catch and running sprints during practice at Nagoya Dome.

In other team news, Hiromitsu Ochiai met with team owner Bungo Shirai today in order to give him his full report on the first half of the season.

Masahiro Yamamoto pitched in an intra-squad game on Sunday and gave up a run on one hit (a lead-off homer to Atsushi Fujii in the first inning) over 2 innings of work.  The team also decided to give Yamamoto another Ni-gun start on the 27th (vs Hanshin).  That also means Yamamoto won't be rejoining the Ichi-gun roster until later than originally expected.

Hirokazu Ibata was taken off the active roster yesterday with problems in his right eye, not his legs as was previously guessed.  Ibata had problems with his right eye in February 2009 and was out for about month.  According to someone connected to the team, there is no time line on how long it'll take Ibata to recover and that at worst, Ibata could be out for an extended period of time.

Hirokazu Ibata was taken off the active roster again today.  The media's guess is that he's having problems with his legs again based on how things have worked out up until today -- he wasn't available to play on the 20th and worked out under a different training menu during pre-game practice on the 21st.  Ibata did appear as a pinch-runner in the first game of the All-Star series, but did not make any further appearances after that.

...Masahiro Yamamoto's first Ichi-gun start of the season could come on 8/1 (vs Hanshin at Koshien Stadium).  But the team will first see how he does during a Ni-gun intra-squad game on the 25th.  If all goes well, his next start will be with the Ichi-gun roster.

...The Dragons' scoreless innings streak came to an end at 50 last night.  Brett Harper was the man responsible for stopping the streak with a 2-run homer off Kazuki Yoshimi in the fourth inning.  The 50 innings tied a Central League record set by Yomiuri in June 1966, but came 2 innings short of tying the NPB record of 52 innings set by Hanshin in 1942.

...Ryoji Nakata had another chance to pick-up his first pro hit last night during a pinch-hit at bat and cashed in with a single to center off Yataro Sakamoto in the 6th inning with 1 out.  Nakata grounded out to second during a pinch-hit at bat on Tuesday (his first official pro at bat).

On a side note: according to Sponichi, Nakata dropped some weight, going from 118kg to 105kg.

...The Dragons set a new club record of 47 consecutive scoreless innings and are just 5 innings away from tying the NPB record of 52 innings set by Hanshin in September 1942 (during the one league years).  The Giants hold the Central League record of 50 innings set in 1966.  They Dragons also set a new NPB record of 5 consecutive shutout victories.

...The Dragons recorded their 8th walk-off win of the season last night.

...Ryoji Nakata was added to the active roster yesterday.  His Ni-gun numbers so far this season: