...After going 4-for-5 in Saturday's game against the Softbank Hawks, Soichiro Amaya is now 15-for-30 during exhibition play.

...Kenjiro Nomura spent about 40 minutes working with Justin Huber on his hitting on Thursday.  Through 7 exhibition games, Huber is 3-for-20 with 10 strike outs.

...Tomonori Maeda hit a home run during Friday's exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers.  It was his first home run since he hit one in May of 2008.

...Go Kida was surprised to see the infield shift used against him in the 9th inning in Wednesday's game against the Rakuten Eagles.

...Ken Takahashi told reporters after pitching against the Rakuten Eagles on Wednesday that he'd like to pitch 4-5 innings during his next outing.

=== 3/11/2010 1:35am JST

...Kan Ohtake continues to feel tightness in his right shoulder (a dead shoulder perhaps from throwing 270 pitches in a bullpen session Spring camp?).  There are currently no plans to send him to San-gun to do rehab-training, so it seems the team is still hopeful that he'll be ready for the start of the season.  That said, there are currently no set plans on when he'll be throwing a bullpen session.

=== 3/10/2010 10:54pm JST

...Ken Takahashi pitched in Wednesday's game against the Rakuten Eagles.  It was his first game in Japan since 10/4/2008.  It tossed a scoreless inning in relief: 16 pitches, 2 hits, 5 batters.  Takahashi did have runners on second and third with 1 out at one point, but managed to settle down and get through the inning on two fly balls.  Takahashi later told reporters after the game that he was pretty nervous on the mound.

...Kenta Maeda is apparently the leading candidate for the opening day start.  Kan Ohtake, the other candidate, is currently working his way back from a dead right shoulder and hasn't pitched in a game since 2/23 (an intra-squad practice game).

...Yuki Saito's start on Tuesday was washed out by the rain.  He will now start an Ikusei League game on 10th against the Hanshin Tigers.

...Takeru Imamura tossed indoor BP on Tuesday and faced Tetsuya Kokubo and Tsubasa Aizawa.  He threw at about 70-80% capacity.

...Keisuke Imai threw 38 pitches to a squatting catcher on Tuesday.  It was his bullpen session with a squatting catcher after feeling discomfort in his right elbow and being sent down to San-gun for rehab-training.  Imai's immediate goal is to pitch in at least one Ni-gun game before the start of the regular season.

...The Ichi-gun and Ni-gun team had the day off on Monday.  That didn't keep Kenta Kurihara from spending about an hour and a half in the training room.  Kurihara is currently 1-for-22 through 6 exhibition games.

...Kenta Maeda told reporters on Monday that he had three goals for the 2010 season: to become the opening day pitcher, throw 200 innings, and record double-digit wins.

...Masato Akamatsu suffered a hamstring tear on 2/8 during Spring camp.  He's managed to work his way back to the point where he can take BP and run the bases at full speed.

...Thirteen Hiroshima players, including Maeda, Saito, Takeru Imamura, Takeshi Komatsu, Junpei Shinoda, and Taketo Kawaguchi,  attended a cultural exchange with elementary and junior high school students on Monday.

...62 members of the Carp attended a pep rally in Hiroshima on Monday.  A total 167 people, including prefectural governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, attended the event.

...The Carp introduced their 2010 stadium food menu on Monday.  There are now a total 100 items on the menu (up from 80 last season), including a number that were "produced" by players: Nomura-style Chicken Rice Bowl and Ken's NY Chili Burger.

...Jeff Fiorentino changed his player registry name to Fio (フィオ).  He also went 1-for-2 with a walk and hit a 2-run homer (off Shunsuke Watanabe) in the bottom of the third against the Chiba Lotte Marines on Sunday.

...Kenta Maeda needed 85 pitches to get through 4 innings on Sunday.  He faced a total 19 batters, gave up 5 hits (including a solo homer to Kazuya Fukuura and a 2-run shot to Tadahito Iguchi), 3 walks, struck out 3, and allowed 5 runs (all earned).

...Giancarlo Alvarado needed a total 18 pitches to get through the second and third inning (9 for each inning) on Saturday against the Chiba Lotte Marines.

...Kenta Kurihara picked up his first hit in his 14th exhibition game at bat on Saturday (his first at bat of the game).  He also happened to get the hit using a Tomoaki Kanemoto model bat he picked up when he dropped by SSK in December 2009 -- a bat that's heavier (by 15 grams) and longer (by 5 mm) than the one he usually uses.  Unfortunately, he also broke the bat and had to go back to using his old bat -- he finished the game with three consecutive strike outs.  On Sunday he went 0-for-5.

=== 9:23pm JST

...After going 2-for-3 on Saturday against the Chiba Lotte Marines, Soichiro Amaya is now 6-for-12 over 4 exhibition games.

=== 3/6/2010 2:15pm JST

...Notes from Friday's game against an industrial league team full of players from Hiroshima:

Yuki Saito tossed three shutout innings while giving up 2 hits.

Yoshihiro Maru hurt his right thumb while trying to steal second base in the 6th inning  He went to a hospital in Hiroshima after the game and required seven stitches.  The stitches won't come out for about a week.  Maru will begin rehab-training on the 6th at San-gun.

Hayato Shoji made his debut.  He entered the game in the 7th as a defensive replacement.  In the 8th, with runners on first and second and no out, he collected his first "pro" hit and RBI.

Takaaki Matsumoto started at second and picked up two hits and a stolen base.

Hiroshima beat the industrial league team, 9-0.

...Head coach Yutaka Ohno told reporters that Takeshi Komatsu, Takahiro Aoki, and Takayuki Ohshima could be in the mix for the final spot in the starting rotation.  For now, it appears the first five will be: Kan Ohtake, Kenta Maeda, Yuki Saito, Jumpei Shinoda, and Giancarlo Alvarado.

...That said, Ohtake isn't a sure bet to be ready for the start of the regular season. After throwing 270 pitches in the bullpen on 2/15, he apparently hasn't been the same.  He's now working under a separate training menu.

...Tomonori Maeda worked out with the Ichi-gun and Ni-gun rosters on Wednesday at Mazda Stadium -- he's working his way back from chronic lower body problems.  He went 0-for-1 on Thursday as a pinch hitter against the Seibu Lions.

...Hiroshima announced on Wednesday that they will be updating the scoreboard to display the balls and strikes in the new balls to strikes order.  The changes should be ready by May.  Until then, balls and strikes will be displayed in the current manner, strikes to balls.

...Takeshi Komatsu is scheduled to start Thursday's game against the Seibu Lions (exhibition game).

...The Carp won their "first game" under Kenjiro Nomura when they beat the Chunichi Dragons on Tuesday.  It was their 5th non-intra-squad game.