=== 11:31pm JST

...Sponichi projects Tae-Gyun Kim to bat clean-up on opening day with Takashi Ogino started in center and batting second.

=== 3:26pm JST

...The Chiba Lotte Marines will begin the season with Yoshihisa Naruse, Shunsuke Watanabe, and Yuki Karakawa.  Norifumi Nishimura told reporters that without Hiroyuki Kobayashi in the bullpen, the ideal would be for the three starters to toss complete games.

...The Ohmine brothers played together on the same team for the first time in their lives during an Ikusei League game against the Yomiuri Giants  on Thursday.  Older brother Yuta tossed 4 innings and gave up 11 runs on 9 hits while younger brother Shota started at short and batted ninth and went 0-for-2.

=== 9:19pm JST

...Norifumi Nishimura announced on Thursday that Yoshihisa Naruse will be the opening day starter.  Nishimura apparently informed Naruse directly on 3/9.

=== 2:10pm JST

...Hiroyuki Kobayashi was removed from the Ichi-gun opening day rosters on Wednesday due to tightness in his right elbow.  Seems Kobayashi felt some discomfort in his elbow after pitching on consecutive days (the 10th and 11th).  Kobayashi told reporters that he'd like to make a return to Ichi-gun by the 27th, when the Marines return to Chiba for their home opener against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Until he returns, the Marines will likely turn to Yasuhiko Yabuta to close out games.  If that doesn't work out, then closer by committee.

...If Takashi Ogino makes the opening day roster, he will be the first rookie on Lotte to do so since Makoto Kosaka (now with the Rakuten Eagles) and Masaumi Shimizu (now with the Chunichi Dragons) in 1997.  If it's limited to just outfielders, it will be the first time since Masashi Yokota in 1985.

Ogino played in all 13 exhibition games and finished with 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB, and a .270 batting average.

For those wondering:

Makoto Kosaka's first year

Masaumi Shimizu's first year

Masashi Yokota's first year

=== 11:39pm JST

...Takashi Ogino could end up making the opening day roster after going 3-for-5 (bunt single in the first, triple in the 6th, RBI) on Tuesday against the Hiroshima Carp.

=== 9:32pm JST

...Tuesday's game against the Hiroshima Carp marked the end of exhibition play for the Marines.

...Yuki Karakawa's exhibition game outings:

3/16 vs Hiroshima carp: 5 IP, 23 BF, 92 NP, 2 H, 5 SO, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 2 R, 0 ER

3/10 vs Yakult Swallows: 5 IP, 21 BF, 99 NP, 3 H, 0 SO, 3 BB, 3 R, 0 ER

3/5 vs Yomiuri Giants: 3 IP, 18 BF, 67 NP, 7 H, 4 SO, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 6 R, 6 ER

Karakawa could be on his way to starting the third game of the opening series against the Seibu Lions (3/22).

...Lotteria announced on on Tuesday that their store located Chiba Marine Stadium will begin selling the Kim Chee Tae-Gyun Kim Burger on the 26th (opening day).  The store will be preparing 300-400 burgers each game.  Each burger will cost 400 yen, except when Tae Gyun Kim hits a home run -- the minute he yanks one out, each of the burger will go for 52 yen (!) a pop (his uniform number).

...Shunsuke Watanabe's new pitch, the furyu (風立ボール), is apparently a change / screwball / sinker.  He picked up the pitch while he worked out at Tanegashima in January.  He apparently got the idea to call the pitch furyu after seeing a sign that said all good horses will stand facing into the wind.  The pitch apparently represents his own desire to face adversity straight on and win.  The kanji for furyu uses two characters:  風 means wind and 立 means to stand.  So the word itself quite literally means to stand in the wind.

If you can read Japanese, he has posted an explanation at his official blog.

After his start on Sunday, Watanabe also told reporters that he felt confident about all his pitches.

...Shunsuke Watanabe's exhibition game outings:

3/14 vs Rakuten Eagles: 6 IP, 20 BF, 79 NP, 2 H, 3 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

3/7 vs Hiroshima Carp: 5 IP, 24 BF, 103 NP, 4 H, 1 HR, 4 SO, 4 BB, 3 R, 0 ER

2/28 vs Chunichi Dragons: 5 IP, 18 BF, 73 NP, 2 H, 2 SO, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 ER

...Hiroyuki Kobayashi did not pitch on Sunday due to tightness in his right elbow.  Seems the tightness began back during Spring camp and got worse some time on the 10th or 11th.  Kobayashi is day-to-day.

...Batting coach Eiji Kanamori gave three reasons why Tae-Gyun Kim has been able to hit Japanese pitchers well: he keeps his swing compact; he's balanced; and he's hitting the ball the opposite way.  This would probably apply to any player that's hitting well.

...Norifumi Nishimura told reporters that he has no other choice than to trust in his ace, Yoshihisa Naruse.  He also said that he has no plans of tweaking the rotation at this point, meaning Naruse is most likely to be the opening day starter for the Marines.

...The Marines announced on Sunday that they signed a 1-year sponsorship deal with Nexon.  Nexon's logo will appear on the right chest area of the Marines' uniform beginning the start of the regular season.  You can see what the uniforms look like with the new logo at the official Marines' website.

=== 11:33pm JST

...Yoshihisa Naruse's exhibition game outings:

3/13 vs Nippon Ham Fighters: 6 IP, 32 BF, 132 NP, 12 H, 5 SO, 1 BB, 7 R, 5 ER

3/6 vs Hiroshima Carp: 5 IP, 25 BF, 111 NP, 7 H, 6 SO, 3 BB, 3 R, 3 ER

2/27 vs Chunichi Dragons: 5 IP, 23 BF, 94 NP, 7 H, 4 SO, 2 BB, 5 R, 5 ER

=== 9:18pm JST

...Tae-Gyun Kim hit a home run off Yu Darvish on Saturday and finish 1-for-3 against him.  During the WBC last year, Kim went 1-for-1 with 2 walks off Darvish.

...Yoshihisa Naruse had another rough outing on Saturday, giving up 7 runs (5 earned) on 12 hits, 1 walk, and 5 strike outs over 6 innings of work.  He did also throw 132 pitches.

Norifumi Nishimura told reporters after the game that he probably won't be announcing the opening day starter until the day before.

...Hidetaka Kawagoe pitched 4 scoreless innings on Friday against the Seibu Lions.  After that the game, Norifumi Nishimura named Kawagoe his 6th starter.  He'll likely slide into the bullpen during Inter-league play when Nishimura plans to go with a 5-man rotation.

...Yuta Ohmine's pitches on Thursday against the Softbank Hawks: a fastball that topped out at 144km/h; a change and slider that was in the upper 120km/h range; and a curve in the lower 110km/h range.  He also started 11 of 20 batters off with first pitch balls and used his off-speed pitches to get back out in front.  Over 2 exhibition games, Ohmine has given up just 1 run on 6 hits over 10 innings of work.

...Bryan Corey has been a bit inconsistent.  After giving up 3 runs over an inning of work on 3/1, he followed that up with 2 scoreless innings over 2 games.  On Thursday, he once again gave up 3 runs over an inning of work.

...Kazuya Fukuura is just one home run away from 100 in his career.

...Lotte fans did the Nishimura Dance in left field after the Marines' beat the Swallows at Jingu Stadium on Wednesday.

...Tae-Gyun Kim did not play in Wednesday's game against the Yakult Swallows because of neck pains.  Norifumi Nishimura told reporters that Kim felt stiffness in his neck on Tuesday and that he should be ok to go tomorrow.

...Big day for the rookie Takashi Ogino on Wednesday.  He went 1-for-4 with 4 runs scored and 2 RBI: HBP, ground out to short, 2-run HR, ground out to pitcher, reached on error.  He also stole two bases (once in the first and once in the 6th when he reached first on a fielder's choice).

...It seems the Marines have given up on trying to acquire Eric Stults (Los Angeles Dodgers).  The team was thinking of using Stults as their 6th pitcher in the starting rotation, but price tag (over 100M yen) was simply too high for them.  They also felt that a player within the organization could still fill the 6th spot.  And it seems Hidetaka Kawagoe could be Nishimura's first choice.

...Yoshihiro Ito's wife gave birth to the couple's first child on Wednesday -- a boy weighing 2,750 grams.

...Changes to the pitching schedule due to the rain: Shingo Ono's start has been shifted to the 12th against the Seibu Lions.  The original starter on the 12th, Hidetaka Kawagoe, will be pitching in the same game in relief.

...The Marines announced that Yasuhiko Yabuta registered kanji changed from 藪田 to 薮田.

...Shunichi Nemoto will be appearing in the March 31st issue of the women's fasion mag anan.  The magazine is apparently running a feature on men with a variety of different business backgrounds.  Nemoto is the only baseball player in the feature.

...The fans in right will be doing a little jig, called the Nishimura Dance, after every game the Marines win at home this season.  It's apparently the same exact dance some fans did back when Norifumi Nishimura stood in the batter's box during his heyday.  The video I linked to is apparently from a practice run from 3/3.

...The Marines feel that Yuki Karakawa and Yuta Ohmine hold the key to a successful season.