Hirokazu Sawamura struck out four batters in the 5th inning and became the fourteenth pitcher in NPB history (seventh in the Central League) to accomplish the feat.

Strikeout victims: Takehiro Ishikawa (strikeout swinging), Toshiki Kurobane (strikeout swinging), Futoshi Kobayashi (strikeout, wild pitch), and Tatsuhiko Kinjo (strikeout swinging).

Sawamura also went on to strikeout the first two batters he faced in the 6th inning: Noriharu Yamazaki (strikeout looking) and Hichori Morimoto (strikeout looking).

The Giants held a pep rally at a hotel in Tokyo on Thursday.  About two hundred people attended.  And Tatsunori Hara announced that Tetsuya Utsumi will be the opening day starter.

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Hirokazu Sawamura's workouts at Giants Stadium on Thursday included running and long distance throwing (about 100 meters).

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Ryosuke Miyaguni worked out at Giants Stadium on Thursday.  He will likely pitch against the Oakland A's on March 25.

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Shuichi Murata and Shinnosuke Abe are still competing for the clean-up spot in the line-up.

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Shun Tono has not allowed a run in any of the four exhibition games he has pitched in (12 IP, 7 H, 5 BB, 10 SO).

Through Monday, Ikusei pitcher Kyohei Odachi has struck out seven of the twelve batters he has faced over 3.2 innings of work (three games).

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Head coach Kaoru Okazaki told reporters on Sunday that they will probably tinker with the line-up when they return to Tokyo.  One possibility: Hisayoshi Chono batting lead-off and John Bowker batting third.

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Hirokazu Sawamura wants to throw his fastball, on average, at 150km/h.

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Sponichi mentions that Ryosuke Miyaguni, Kentaro Nishimura, and Dicky Gonzalez are competing for the sixth spot in the starting rotation.  Miyaguni could get two more starts: March 4 vs Seibu and March 11 vs Hanshin.

The first five spots will likely go to Tetsuya Utsumi, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Hirokazu Sawamura, D.J. Houlton, and Shun Tono.

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General pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi figures starters will begin throwing 100 pitches during their exhibition game starts beginning with one of their games at Kyocera Dome, which means sometime around March 13.

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Tatsunori Hara spent about an hour working with Taishi Ota on his hitting today.  He also personally threw him ninety-three pitches.

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With the exhibition game against the Chiba Lotte Marines canceled due to the rain, Takayuki Takaguchi ran onto the field, introduced himself as a player that arrived from the Chiba Lotte Marines, and proceeded to run and slide across the tarp on the field.  Kenji Yano and Chiba Lotte Marine Shota Ishimine also joined in.

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Hirokazu Sawamura was scheduled to start Sunday's exhibition game against the Chiba Lotte Marines but the rain out pushed his outing to Monday (practice game vs SK Wyverns).

Ryosuke Miyaguni is also scheduled to pitch on Monday.

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General pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi told reporters on Saturday that at this point, Shun Tono will likely make the starting rotation.

The practice game against the Yakult Swallows was canceled today because of the rain.

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Pro wrestler Tiger Mask visited Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha today and met with Tatsunori Hara.

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Tetsuya Utsumi could start Thursday's game against the LG Twins.

Hirokazu Sawamura could start an exhibition game against Lotte on February 26.

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John Bowker is trying to improve his English by watching NHK News in Japanese.

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Through Tuesday, Shuichi Murata was 5-for-10 with one homer and five RBI over three games.

====== UPDATE 2/23 @ 1:27am

Hara, GM Atsushi Harasawa, and players visited Okinogu Shrine in Ono Yama Koen before Tuesday's practice game.  The team was originally planning to visit the shrine on Monday but their plans were derailed when they experienced delays with their flight.

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The Giants drew 25,500 fans on Saturday.  They drew about 34,000 fans today.

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Sponichi points out that Takahiro Suzuki likes his slides into second base when he is fairly close to the bag (about one meter).  Most players usually begin their slides when they are further away from the bag (about two meters).  Suzuki told reporters that he imagines sliding into a base located just beyond second base.

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Tsuneo Horiuchi observed Miyazaki camp on Saturday.

====== UPDATE 2/13 @ 1:41am

Hirokazu Sawamura and Ryosuke Miyaguni are the scheduled starters for Monday's intra-squad game.

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The Ichi-gun Giants had the day off today.

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John Bowker and Scott Mathieson visited an eel restaurant on their day off today and ate eel for lunch.  They also had a chance to grab eels with their bare hands.

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Yuya Kubo will focus on his workouts/rehab and remain at Ni-gun spring camp for the rest of this month.

Kubo plans to toss one or two more bullpens during the current block, which ends on February 15.

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Tetsuya Utsumi wanted to throw 200 pitches during his bullpen session on Thursday but instead stopped at 161 pitches because he was feeling tired.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni is scheduled to pitch two innings during an intra-squad game on February 12.  He may also pitch an inning during an exhibition game against Hanshin on February 19.

Hirokazu Sawamura is scheduled to pitch in an intrad-squad game on February 14 and start an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers on February 19.

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Nikkan Sports figures the first four spots in the starting rotation will go to, in no particular order, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Utsumi, Sawamura, and D.J. Houlton.  The remaining two spots could go to Shun Tono, Dicky Gonzalez, or Miyaguni.

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The Yomiuri Giants announced today that they raised 8,947,208 yen through the online charity auction they held between December 11 and January 17.  The entire amount will be donated to relief efforts in northern Japan.

Top three uniforms:

• Autographed Tatsunori Hara uniform - 675,000 yen
• Autographed Yoshinobu Takahashi uniform - 648,000 yen
• Autographed Michihiro Ogasawara uniform - 543,000 yen

====== UPDATE 2/11 @ 2:07am

If Miyaguni does not pitch on February 12, he could pitch two innings during an intra-squad game on February 14.

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The Ichi-gun players had the day off on Monday.

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John Bowker and Scott Mathieson played some catch (about fifteen minutes) in the grassy area near the team hotel on their day off on Monday.

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According to Sponichi, Bowker uses bats that weigh between 880-890 grams (lighter for more swing speed) and measure 33.5 inches long (shorter for better bat control).

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Yuya Kubo played catch at a distance of about fifty meters on Monday.  He also stepped into the bullpen with his cleats and did some shadow pitching.

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Hirokazu Sawamura faced Daisuke Fujimura and Bowker during batting practice on Sunday and threw fifty-two pitches.  Sawamura threw twenty-seven pitches to Fujimura and allowed two-could be hits.

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Tatsunori Hara tried playing Hisayoshi Chono in right, Taishi Ota in center, and Bowker in left during situational fielding practice on Friday.  At this point, Chono is the only player with a guaranteed job in the outfield.

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Five former Yomiuri Giant players held training sessions at Giants Stadium for fifty-eight university players on Monday.  Four of the five coaches: Tsuneo Horiuchi and Yoshitaka Katori worked with the pitchers; Kazunori Shinozuka was in charge of hitting; and Shuji Nishiyama worked catchers.  The training session will also be held on Tuesday.

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Today was the end of the first block of spring camp for the Ichi-gun Giants.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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The Giants attracted 18,000 fans on Saturday.

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Hirokazu Sawamura tossed batting practice today (only fastballs) and said his goal for the session was to throw at 50-60%.

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Shuichi Murata stayed back after general practices today and spent fifty minutes taking about 500 swings against a pitching machine.

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Yi-Hao Lin faced Yoshiyuki Kamei and Tetsuya Matsumoto during batting practice on Saturday and threw fifty-one pitches (all fastballs).  Kamei and Matsumoto combined to make solid contact just four times.

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Scott Mathieson is scheduled to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 16.

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The Giants started practice indoors today for the second time in as many days.  While the wind died down a bit since yesterday, the weather was still cold.

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Miyazaki Prefectural Governor Shunji Kono and Miyazaki mayor Tadashi Tojiki visited spring camp today and presented the team with Miyazaki beef, Miyazaki chicken, Miyazaki Hamayu pork, hyuganatsus (citrus fruit), kumquats, and strawberries.  Tatsunori Hara in turn gave the governor and mayor autographed uniforms.

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Hara told reporters today that he planned to select his opening day starter sometime in March.  He also said that there would probably be three candidates.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni left practices early today because he was not feeling well.  He was examined at a hospital and tests for the influenza virus came back negative.  His status for tomorrow's practices are currently up in the air.

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Daisuke Fujimura stayed back after general workouts today for extra fielding practice.

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Max winds in Miyazaki on Thursday reached 19.6m/s at around 10am.  All workouts, other than fielding practices, took place indoors.

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Pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi spoke to Scott Mathieson about possible balk problems when he pitched out of the stretch during his bullpen session on Thursday.

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Shuichi Murata will attempt to be more selective at the plate after his old college manager, Hiroshi Suzuki, suggested that if he walked more, he could bat .300 and hit 30 homers.

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Evening swing practices began on Thursday.  There were plans to hold the session outdoors but the bad weather moved things indoors.

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Adidas adipure training shoes will be making an appearance at Giants' spring camp.

=== UPDATE 2/4 @ 1:36am

The Giants invited the Miyazaki Police Department's Organized Crime Division to provide Ichi-gun players and coaches with a lecture on organized crimes today.