=== 10:29pm JST

...Yu Darvish's exhibition game outings:

3/13 vs Chiba Lotte Marines: 7 IP, 24 BF, 103 NP, 4 H, 1 HR, 4 SO, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 ER

3/6 vs Yakult Swallows: 6 IP, 19 BF, 78 NP, 1 H, 7 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

2/27 vs Rakuten Eagles: 5 IP, 19 BF, 68 NP, 4 H, 3 SO, 0 BB, 1 HBP,2 R, 2 ER

...Sho Nakata started in left and batted 7th.  He was the only starter in the line-up without a hit, going 0-for-3 with an RBI.  Masataka Nashida told reporters that he needs to learn how to handle fastballs better.

=== 3:40pm JST

...Mari Yaguchi threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Saturday's game against the Chiba Lotte Marines; Gekidan Hitori was the catcher.  It was part of a segement for their show, How to Monkey Baby! (How toモンキーベイビー！).

...Yu Darvish worked out for about an hour at Kamagaya on his day off on Friday (played some catch, ran some sprints) in preparation for his start on Saturday against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Tokyo Dome.

...Sho Nakata spent about 40 minutes working on his hitting at Kamagaya on his day off on Friday (according to Sponichi he hit 200 baseballs).  Including the game on Saturday, he only has three more games to prove that he belongs at Ichi-gun.  After his Ikusei League game on Thursday, Nakata sat down to watch footage from the game and from his games at Ichi-gun to see what he was doing differently.  Nakata told reporters that he looked more relaxed in his at bats on Thursday and that he was probably pressing himself too much during his Ichi-gun at bats.

...Hirotoshi Masui tossed 39 pitches in the bullpen on Thursday in preparation for his start against the Yomiuri Giants in an Ikusei League game start on Saturday.

=== 11:12pm JST

...The Fighters announced on Friday that speed skater Miho Takagi will be taking part in an event called Half-time Pitch during a game against the Softbank Hawks on 4/22.  Fighters' mascot B.B will be the catcher.

Half-time Pitch will take place after the 5th inning.

=== 8:34pm JST

...Masataka Nashida told reporters that he doesn't feel the need to set assign specific jobs to relievers in the bullpen, other than the closer.  Seems he'd just like to pick his battles and go with the hottest hand.

...Yu Darvish rejoined the team on the 11th.  Prior to the team's exhibition game against the Bay Stars that day, Darvish also had a chance to meet former teammate, Terrmel Sledge.

...Sho Nakata showed up to Thursday's Ikusei League game against the Chiba Lotte Marines with his head shaved.  For the game, Nakata picked up 2 hits, a home run, and 3 RBI.  Nasahida told reporters that it all worked out according to plan (a change of scenery to help get him going again).  Nakata is scheduled to rejoin the Ichi-gun roster on Saturday.

Nakata was also seen using his "old" batting stance from last season during the game.

=== 10:13pm JST

...Sho Nakata started in left and batted third during Thursday's Ikusei League game against the Chiba Lotte Marines.  Nakata went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI (including a double and a 2-run homer).

...The first four spots in the starting rotation could go Yu Darvish, Masaru Takeda, Bob Keppel, and Tomoya Yagi.

...Shota Ohno had a solid game on Wednesday against the Orix Buffaloes. With the bat he went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.  Behind the plate he threw out Tomotaka Sakaguchi twice: once in the first and once in the third.

=== 12:25pm JST

...Yu Darvish threw 64 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday in preparation for his start against the Chiba Lotte Marines on Saturday.  He is set to rejoin the Ichi-gun team on Thursday.

...Seems all isn't quite lost for Sho Nakata yet.  The Fighters are planning to have Nakata play in an Ikusei League game against the Chiba Lotte Marine on the Thursday.  If he does well, he could be brought back up to Ichi-gun in time for the Chiba Lotte Marines game on Saturday.  If not, he may end up starting the 2010 season at Ni-gun again.

After Thursday's Ichi-gun game against the Yokohama Bay Stars, the Fighters will have only three more games: 3/13 vs Chiba; 3/14 vs Yakult; and 3/16 vs Chunichi.  The Ikusei League Fighter games are also limited.  After Thursday: 3/13 vs Yomiuri; 3/14 vs Yakult; and 3/17 vs Yomiuri.

FYI on his 0-for-3, 3 SO on Wednesday: Nakata struck out swinging on a change on the outside corner in his first at bat; he struck out swinging on a fastball on the inside corner in his second at bat; and struck out on a fork in his third at bat.  Nakata is hitless in his last 8 trips to the plate.

...Going into Tuesday's game against the Hanshin Tigers, Shinji Takahashi did not have a hit in his last 11 plate appearances.  Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi changed all of that for Takahashi as he hit a home run in his first at bat and a double in his second at bat.  He ultimately ended the game 3-for-5 with a double, home run, 2 run scored, and an RBI.

He kept up the hitting on Wednesday as well, going 2-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI.

...Bob Keppel's last exhibition game outing will likely be against the Chunichi Dragons on the 16th.

...Sho Nakata doesn't like domed stadiums.   Here's some evidence (albeit a very small sample size):

March 3: 0-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and 2 SO at Sapporo Dome (rest of line-up: 8-for-30)

March 4: 1-for-3 at Sapporo Dome (rest of line: 3-for-26)

March 6: 1-for-4 with a run scored and 1 SO at Sapporo Dome (rest of line-up 13-for-31)

March 7: 1-for-4 with a double and 2 SO at Sapporo Dome (rest of line-up: 3-for-26)

March 9: 0-for-4 at Kyocera Dome Osaka (rest of line-up: 12-for-33)

March 10: 0-for-3 with 3 SO at Kyocera Dome Osaka (rest of line-up: 12-for-35)

Total: 3-for-21, 1 BB, 1 2B, 2 R, 8 SO

Ok, so maybe it's just a coincidence.  But it's always a lot more fun overstating a possibility.  In any case, it seems Nakata is Ni-gun bound after going 0-for-3 on the 10th.

=== 11:49pm JST

...Masataka Nashida has apparently earmarked Bob Keppel as a starter.  He told reporters that he might even be making a start during the opening 3-game home series against the Softbank Hawks (likely the third game on 3/22).

Keppel told reporters after his start, "Even though opposition had a solid line-up, I was able to pitch 7 innings with the help of some good defense.  And there are no problems with my stamina."

=== 3/9/2010 4:32pm JST

...Masanori Hayashi has been working his way back from left elbow pain at Ni-gun.  On Monday, he threw 40 pitches in a bullpen session.

...Toshimasa Konta was called up to Ichi-gun on Tuesday.  With Hichori Morimoto injured, there's an opening for a batter to hit out of the 2 hole.  Konta is hoping to win that spot.

...Sho Nakata hasn't been able to flex his muscles at Ichi-gun so far.  Head coach Junichi Fukura told reporters that it isn't home runs, but rather doing things to keep the inning going that will keep Nakata at Ichi-gun.  Nakata said that he found it scary how different Ichi-gun and Ni-gun were and that while he does want to hit home runs, he isn't the type of player that shoot for home runs.

Nakata also apparently lost about 13kg since 2008 (from 100kg down to about 87kg).

...Including his practice game appearances during Spring camp, Takahiro Matsuka has now gone four consecutive outings without giving up a run.

...Sponichi carried a mini-primer on Yu Darvish's pitches:

Fastball - tops out at 154km/h.  Hit 100mph (161km/h) during the WBC last season.

Slider - two types: vertical and horizontal.  Also has a slider that tops out at 130km/h.  Perhaps his best "out" pitch.

Curve - around 100km/h.  He can also throw it at about 120km/h for a swinging strike.

Cutter - 140+km/h.  Comes down and in on left-handed batters.

Fork - 140+km/h.  He also has a splitter.

Change - uses all five fingers and throws it in the 130km/h range.

Two-seamer - in the 140km/h range.   Cuts in on right-handed batters.  He can also throw a sinker and shuto that look similar.

=== 3/7/2010 1:52am JST

...Yu Darvish told reporters after his first exhibition start this year with Shota Ohno behind the plate that he couldn't get on the same page.  On Saturday, he had something different to say.  Said Darvish, "I relied on him to call the shots most of the time.  I was able to trust his judgment and found it easy to pitch [to him]."

Of his start in general, Darvish told reporters that he had a hard time getting the timing down for his fastball.  His other pitches, on the other hand, were working well for him, especially his two-seam fastball.

=== 3/6/2010 3:47pm JST

...There was a "pep rally" for the Fighters on Friday.  About 700 people from various businesses attended the event.

...Yu Darvish thoughts on how to help Sho Nakata with his hitting:

He's trying to make good contact with every pitch he sees.  Instead of doing that, he should focus on making sure he can make solid contact on fastballs.  It doesn't matter if he strikes out a lot like Seibu Lion Takeya Nakamura, he just needs to swing with some more authority.  ...  He ultimately needs to work on hitting fastballs up and in.  If he can hit that, pitchers won't have a place to target any more.

...Masayoshi Kato told reporters that he wants to become a hitter that can hit liners in the gaps for double and triples.

...Darvish will not be with the team when they begin a road drip through Kansai on the 9th.  He will instead workout at Kamagaya.  Darvish will then rejoin the team on the 11th when they start playing games in the Kanto region.  While most of the players are expected to travel with the team on road games, the Fighters are making Darvish the exception: they don't want to put him under any additional strain.

...More bad news for Kazumasa Kikuchi: after fracturing right ring finger during Spring camp, Kikuchi is now apparently suffering from a strained back.  He started feeling discomfort in his back during practice on the 4th.  Ken Miyamoto is also suffering from the same condition.  Neither player attended the pep rally on the 5th.

...The Nippon Ham Fighters held a press conference prior to their exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows on Saturday to announced that they will continue to help support the Red Feather Community Chest Movement (赤い羽根共同募金).  Masataka Nashida will donate 1,000 yen for every game the team wins; Atsunori Inaba, Kensuke Tanaka, and Yoshio Itoi will each donate 1,000 yen for each hit they record in 2010.

=== 3/6/2010 12:57am JST

...The Fighters held a seminar on drug use and doping for their players, coaches, managers, and other staff members on Friday.

=== 3/5/2010 3:09pm JST

...Kenji Tsuchiya will likely be starting Sunday's exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows.  This will be his first shot at starting a game at Ichi-gun.

The Fighters are still looking for a pitcher for the final spot in the rotation, likely behind Yu Darvish, Masaru Takeda, Tomoya Yagi, Buddy Carlyle, and Bobby Keppel.  Tsuchiya does have some competition though: Kazuhito Tadano, Keisuke Itokazu, and Mitsuo Yoshikawa.

...Darvish's next start will come on the 6th against the Yakult Swallows.  As such, he held a bullpen session on Thursday.  According to pitching coach Takeshi Shimazaki, he'll go about 6 innings and throw 70-80 pitches.  While the Fighters would like to stretch Darvish out to about 90 pitches, they also have to give their relievers a chance to show what they've got.

...Brian Wolfe topped out at 150km/h on Thursday.  Masataka Nashida graded his outing at 100%.

...While Nashida may have been happy with Wolfe's outing, he wasn't entirely happy with the team's defense.  In the fourth, Eiichi Koyano and Yoshio Itoi both made errors that led to 2 unearned runs.  There were two solid plays in the 7th (a diving catch by Atsunori Inaba) and the 9th (Itoi threw out a runner home) though.

...Sho Nakata (starting DH batting 6th) picked up his first hit in 6 plate appearances on Thursday.

=== 3/5/2010 12:38am JST

...Atsunori Inaba donated a set of running batons to an elementary school in Sapporo on Thursday as part of Ai Project.  Inaba's goal is to donate running batons to every elementary school in Hokkaido.

=== 3/4/2010 4:43pm JST

...Bob Keppel could follow Yu Dravish and Masaru Takeda in the starting rotation.  Nikkan Sports mentions both Keppel and Buddy Carlyle as back of the rotation pitchers (5 and 6 slots).

Seems the Fighters were also informed by the umps that Carlyle was making a move during the set position that could have been called a balk 2 or 3 times.

...Sho Nakata finished Wednesday, 0-for-3 with 2 strike outs.  He spent time after the game checking on video footage of his at bats.  Nakata told reporters that he wasn't keeping the barrel of the bat level.

=== 3/4/2010 12:05am JST

...Shota Yamamoto was the youngster that threw out the first pitch.  Shigeru Kobayashi's wife was also presented with messages from the fans.  An exhibit of pictures from his career was also on display at Sapporo Dome.

...Bullpen catcher Yoshiki Ohtsuka was hit in the flank by a ball off Sho Nakata's bat during BP on Wednesday.  Ohtsuka was pitching to Nakata at the time.  The article doesn't mention anything further so I'm assuming Ohtsuka was ok.

=== 3/3/2010 12:15pm JST

...Wednesday's game will be in honor of Shigeru Kobayshi.  Both Masataka Nashida and Akinobu Mayumi will take part in the ceremonial first pitch -- Nashida will catch, Mayumi will stand in the batter's box.  A young pitcher under the tutelage of Kobayashi at All-Star Fukui will be throwing out the pitch.

A video montage featuring Kobayshi will also be shown prior to the game.

...Sho Nakata is hoping for a chance to play in Wednesday's game.

...Yu Darvish's has the opening day start on 3/20 against the Softbank Hawks.  Nashida told reporters that Darvish's next start will likely be the following Saturday.  That would be the 27th against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium.  It would seem that Nashida won't be pushing  Darvish to start with less than 6 days of rest (there appears to be some concern about wearing him down).

...Tomochika Tsuboi's wife gave birth to the couple's second child on Tuesday (3/2): a girl weighing in at 3,610 grams.  The 2nd also marked the first day of full squad workouts at Sapporo Dome.  Tsuboi told reporters that the mother and child were doing well and that he couldn't wait to see them both.