The Tigers have the day off on Friday.

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Kohei Shibata spent about fifteen minutes taking batting practice against pitching machines at Ni-gun camp today.  Shibata has been rehabbing at Kochi camp because of inflammation in his left acromioclavicular joint (shoulder).

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Craig Brazell worked out in left during pre-game fielding practice on Wednesday.  Brazell was seen making strong throws to second, third, and home.

"I played some right and left four or five years ago, so this is not new to me," said Brazell.  "I checked on a few things while remembering what I did.  If I am going to do this, I do not just want to stand around, I want to do it right.  I think I did ok throwing the ball today.  I threw them a little high.  Still need more work with my feet.  I will it will get better if I do some throwing for a week or two."

He then added, "I will be catcher during tomorrow's game.  Just kidding.  I will probably play left."

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Yuya Ando has dropped his arm angle a little (three-quarters).  On his outing on Wednesday: "I was able to throw good pitches down low in the zone.  Today was about throwing, not so much at an angle, but from an arm slot I felt comfortable with.  I think I can throw better when I am throwing at around three-quarters instead of over the top."

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Issei Morita spent about an hour taking fielding practice at Ginoza Dome after Wednesday's game -- he committed a fielding error in the game.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto did not play in Wednesday's practice game due to poor field conditions (it rained the night before).

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Yasutomo Kubo continued to focus on training exercises due to tightness in his right shoulder.  Regarding when he might start throwing again, Kubo replied, "I will begin throwing when I feel I can.  I will not force it."

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The rehab group, which includes Shinjiro Hiyama and Shibata, will be returning to Naruohama after practices today.

4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito will also be heading to Naruohama after being diagnosed with periarthritis in his right shoulder.  Ito started feeling discomfort in his shoulder while throwing the ball on Wednesday.

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Some hitting results, through Wednesday:

• Morita is 6-for-17 over five games.
• Yamato is 9-for-19 with six RBI over five games.  He also has one double, one triple, and one home run.

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Yasutomo Kubo did not do anything throwing today because he felt some tightness in his right shoulder.  He instead focused on things like running and strengthening exercises.

Pitching coach Takashi Yamaguchi told reporters he was not sure when Kubo would be able to throw again.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito took ten practice swings in front of batting coach Atsushi Kataoka before practices today and was cleared to begin taking batting practice again.  During soft-toss BP, Ito used a bat Yoshinobu Takahashi (YOM) gave him on Sunday.  He also took regular batting practice.  Assuming no problems, he will most likely play in Wednesday's practice game against the Rakuten Eagles.

Incidentally, Yutaka Wada told reporters on Monday that even if Ito is not capable of playing in any games because of his right wrist, he still plans to have him attend games because there are plenty of things he can learn just by being in the dugout.

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Kenji Jojima told Norihiro Akahoshi that his right elbow is a ticking time bomb -- his career would effectively be over if he ruptures the remaining tendons in his right elbow.

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Atsushi Nomi is scheduled to start an intra-squad game on February 23.

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Some of the players that worked out on the team's day off on Monday:

• Masahiro Nakatani took 133 swings against a pitching machine.
• Issei Morita took eighty-eight swings against a pitching machine that throws curves.
• Kenichi Tagami spent about fifty minutes taking batting practice against a pitching machine.
• Haruki Kurose took some batting practice against a pitching machine.  He also spent some time swinging the bat in front of a mirror.
• Shinji Komiyama spent about fifty minutes taking batting practice against a pitching machine.

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Matt Murton, Randy Messenger, and Jason Standridge unwinded on Monday by playing some ping-pong.

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Wada appeared on ABC's Cast on Monday and said:

• ...he is planning to play as many different players as possible during an intra-squad game on February 23.
• ...that while Takahiro Arai is more or less the clean-up hitter at this point, Tomoaki Kanemoto may also need to be considered since he is swinging the bat well.
• ...both Murton and Craig Brazell are also expected to play on February 23.
• ...that Yamato will likely join 1st round draft pick Ito, Shunsuke, Ryo Asai, and Tagami as candidates to play center.
• ...that Takashi Toritani, Hiroki Uemoto, Yamato, and Keiichi Hirano will be considered for the top two spots in the batting order.  He also said that he was thinking Murton and Toritani could bat one or three in the line-up (inter-changeable; he likes Murton's speed and Tortani's ability to get on  base).

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Takahiro Arai's Sanspo Tigers' Promise: win another batting title and become the first Tiger since Randy Bass (1985-1986) to win batting titles in consecutive seasons.  If he succeeds he will be presented with 50,000 yen in clothing for his children.  If he fails he will give a Sanspo reader an autographed game-used bat and glove.

Arai is scheduled to play in the intra-squad game on February 23.

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Team president Nobuo Minami is not against announcing starting pitchers, but does not want to make changes to the rule just to be like the Pacific League.  He also does not think the rule should apply to Climax Series and Nippon Series games.

Rakuten Eagles

Kazuo Matsui became the 109th player in NPB history to reach 1,500 hits tonight.

With 1 out in the top of the 6th and D.J. Houlton (Softbank Hawks) on the mound, Matsui hit a 1-0 fastball into center for his 1,500th career hit.  The hit came in Matsui's 1,233rd career NPB game, which surpasses Alex Ramirez's (Yomiuri Giants) NPB record of 1,236 games.

Matsui's first career hit came on 4/9/1995 against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Hanshin Tigers

Issei Morita became the first player in franchise history to hit a homer in his first career Ichi-gun at bat.

Morita entered the game in the bottom of the 5th as a pinch-hitter for Atsushi Nomi and deposited an 0-1 Maximo Nelson fastball over the left field wall for the a 2-run homer.

Morita is the 26th player in the CL (51st overall) to hit a homer in his first at bat.  He's also the 13th player to do it as a pinch-hitter.

Minoru Iwata's solid performance (5 IP, 59 NP, 19 BF, 4 H, 2 SO, 0 R) during his second simulated game on Sunday apparently has the Tigers a bit relieved and hopeful that he'll be fully ready to compete for a spot in the 2011 starting rotation.

Said Iwata regarding his outing, "Compared to my first [simulated game], I felt much better.  I'm making good progress.  I'm not 100% back, but there's no doubt that I'm getting closer."

Incidentally, after throwing 59 pitches during the simulated game, Iwata held a bullpen session to push his pitch count over 100 for the day.

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During Sunday's simulated game, Issei Morita went 3-for-6 with 2 RBI, including two doubles, one off Iwata and another off Daiki Kiyohara.  The Tigers have been pushing Morita to concentrate on using his lower body more when swinging the bat during fall camp.

Masashi Nohara picked up 4 hits.

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If Kosuke Kato makes the team, the Tigers might end up using him as a lefty specialist out of the pen.

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The Tigers apparently decided to extend their practice sessions at the Naruohama training grounds until 11/30.  Said Ni-gun manager Haruki Yoshitake, "The players on the farm need to catch up with the Ichi-gun players so this is an obvious decision.  Hitting, fielding, I'd like the players to use this time to figure out how they want to move forward."