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The Fighters announced today that Atsushi Ugumori was diagnosed with influenza B today.

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The Fighters held a fan gathering in Nago, Okinawa after practices today (7pm).  All Ichi-gun players were present.  1,000 fans attended the event.

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There is still a chance Hirotoshi Masui becomes a starter this year, but for the time being he will likely be used out of the bullpen.

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Kenshi Sugiya turned twenty-one today.

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Yuki Saito played catch with pitching coach Masato Ishii in the bullpen.  Ishii stood out in front of home plate and Saito threw the ball twenty-four times.  Saito is scheduled to toss a bullpen session tomorrow.

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Eiichi Koyano started working out indoors today after being sidelined with the flu.  His workouts included running and soft-toss BP.  Koyano is expected to rejoin the rest of the players for practices on Sunday.

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Sho Nakata shaved his hair down using his own clippers on Thursday night.

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Takuya Nakashima participated in early morning fielding practice today.  Nakashima has now attended all three early morning fielding sessions since the first day of spring camp.  He also stayed back for extra workouts after general practices on the first two days of spring camp.

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Player/coach Satoshi Nakajima worked with 7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima on his catching skills today.

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There was a chance Hirotoshi Masui was going to break the starting rotation this year, but he was informed by Hideki Kuriyama today that he will be pitching out of the bullpen.

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For the second straight day, Hideki Kuriyama met with fans after practices and answered five of their questions.

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Yuki Saito is currently scheduled to start a practice game against Hiroshima on February 11 and a practice game against Yokohama on February 16.

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Eiichi Koyano's fever has gone down.  That means he might be able to return to practices as early as February 5.

=== UPDATE 2/4 @ 1:34am

Yuki Saito will likely toss two innings during his practice game start against Hiroshima on February 11.

Hideki Kuriyama was presented with a number of local products today, like Agu pork, Orion beer, sanpin tea.

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Yuji Iiyama, Makoto Kaneko, and Takuya Nakashima took extra fielding practice (about an hour) after general practices today.

Afterward, Iiyama spent some time taking soft toss BP.

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Kuriyama's comments on Yuki Saito from Wednesday: "I want to know how many pitches pitchers can throw during regulation games.  Please ask pitching coach [Masato] Yoshii for comments [on Saito's bullpen session today].  I do not really feel like praising him."

When reporters followed up and asked what he thought about Saito tossing a session on the first day of camp, he replied, "That is a no brainer.  There are expectations and he needs to do what he can to live up to them.  I expect a lot from him.  If he did not [toss a session today] I would have thought, goodbye."

FWIW: Saito has apparently made some changes to his mechanics, one of which is where he places his glove hand while throwing the ball.  Seems he was able to command the ball better when he raised the hand up further up near his chest/neck than near his belly button.

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Beginning at 8:50am this morning, Sho Nakata took about an hour of extra fielding practice at first base.  INF coach Hajime Miki worked with Nakata.

Nakata also started using purple-colored equipment (training bat, batting gloves, sweat band, and training shoes) this spring and told reporters on Wednesday he decided to take on the color from Ryuichi Watanabe (senryokugai after last season).

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima will have a chance to play in an intra-squad game on either February 7 or 9.

Oshima caught Ken Miyamoto's bullpen session on Wednesday.  Of the 62 pitches Miyamoto threw, Oshima had trouble catching five.  He also had a chance to work on calling pitching and was told that it was difficult seeing his fingers.

Oshima ran into some difficulties executing plays as a catcher during infield drills today.

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Additional Updates (2/3 @ 1:02am)

Pitching coach Masato Yoshii told reporters on Wednesday that starters should be able to start at least twenty-five games and go at least seven innings a start.

Softbank Hawks

Koji Akiyama does not want to go near the bullpen early on during spring camp because he does not want pitchers to push themselves too hard by trying to impress him.

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Special hitting instructor Futoshi Nakanishi was hired to help Ni-gun players but Ni-gun manager Kazuo Ogawa told reporters on Tuesday that he could also end up working with Wily Mo Pena.

Nippon Ham Fighters

Sho Nakata does not plan on taking any breaks during spring camp, even on days when the team has the day off.

"I plan to do a little work even on my days off.  When no one else is practicing, that is when I can begin closing the gap," said Nakata.

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The Fighters had an influenza "mini outbreak" back in 2009.  Shota Ono was diagnosed with it on 8/16.  Two days later, Naoki Miyanishi, Terrmel Sledge, and coach Junichi Fukura also had the flu.  On the following day, Tomoya Yagi, Kazumasa Kikuchi, Shinya Tsuruoka, Tomohiro Nioka, Eiichi Koyano, and Yoshio Itoi all showed symptoms.  Against the Rakuten Eagles on 8/20, the Fighters played with just nineteen players (seven pitchers, twelve position players).  Players slowly started coming back after that, but the Fighters lost six in a row between 8/18 and 8/25.

Seibu Lions

The Lions attended a tuna cutting performance on Tuesday at their team hotel -- a 50kg yellowfin tuna was cut and cleaned in front of the team and handed out to the players.

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Enrique Gonzalez wants a shot at starting.

Orix Buffaloes

Akinobu Okada thought Dae-Ho Lee lost 15kg from 130kg when it was actually from 142kg.  That was why he was concerned about Lee losing too much weight.

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Washlets were installed in the bathrooms at Miyakojima Stadium, but there were no electrical outlets in the individual stalls to power them.  Outlets were added in time for the start of spring camp.

Rakuten Eagles

There are about 25 volunteers assisting the Eagles at Kumejima.  Because of early morning practices and some players missing their breakfast meals, a handful have been assigned to deliver meals from the player hotel to the stadium.

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Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi (trying out for team) threw about 40 pitches (standing catcher) under the watchful eye of Senichi Hoshino.  Hoshino later said to reporters, "He looked good out there.  But one day is not enough."

About 200 fans (down from 1,100 last year) greeted the players that arrived at Naha Airport on Tuesday.

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Hideki Kuriyama emerged from the team hotel at around 8:40am and walked to the stadium.

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Kuriyama will respect past performances but plans to throw away any preconceived notions when determining which players win starting jobs.

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Kuriyama had an 800 gram bag of salt and sprinkled about half of it around the various training locations on Tuesday (ward off evil spirits).

"Doing something like may not do anything but I just want to make sure the Gods know.  I do not mind getting hurt, so long as the players do not.  That is what I asked for," said Kuriyama.

Kuriyama also prepared close to 300 doage (tossing someone up into the air during victory celebrations) silhouette t-shirts for the players, coaches, and team personnel.

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Sho Nakata hit the gym after Tuesday's general team meeting and spent about 40 minutes working out.

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Batting practice:

Wednesday

7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima took 71 swings and hit one over the fence.

Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Yuki Saito threw 31 pitches (fastballs) to a squatting catcher.  Kuriyama and team owner Hiroji Okoso observed the session.

This post will be updated with information as it becomes available so keep checking back if you have any interest in Yuki Saito, Tatsuya Oishi, and / or Hirokazu Sawamura.

===== 3/3 @ 8:40pm

Saito exchanged greetings with Yakult Swallows' pitching coach Daisuke Araki after pre-game practice today.  Like Saito, Araki is also a graduate of Waseda University.

===== 3/3 @ 1:59pm

Saito was originally scheduled to enter the game in the 6th last night, but ended up getting into the game in the 5th because Masao Kida had a problem with a fingernail (thumb).  And of the 24 pitches he threw, 7 were sliders.

Yoshio Itoi also made a nice leaping grab on a ball that was hit by the first batter Saito faced (Kazuhiro Hatakeyama).

Yesterday morning, Saito selected his intro song: Yuki 100% (勇気１００％, or Courage 100%).

Saito's next appearance will be in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants on the 6th.

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11 of the 27 pitches Oishi threw last night were off-speed pitches.  He told reporters after the game that he couldn't get into a good groove (seems he's been having a little trouble with his delivery lately) and that his pitches didn't have quite as much life on them.

Oishi's next outing will probably be in an Ikusei League game on the 8th against the Rakuten Eagles.  The Lions will also try to stretch him out a little longer than 2 innings.

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Of the 54 pitches Sawamura threw last night, he only missed the catcher's mark by a wide margin on 10 of them.  He threw nothing but fastballs during Hiroyuki Nakajima's first at bat (6 pitches, strikeout looking) in the first and didn't allow anyone to reach base (11 straight outs) until Nakajima hit a single off him during his second at bat in the 4th.

Sawamura will likely pitch again on the 8th against the Softbank Hawks.

This post will be updated with information as it becomes available so keep checking back if you have any interest in Yuki Saito.

===== 3/2 @ 11:54pm

The Yokohama Bay Stars are already thinking ahead to their exhibition game against the Fighters on the 13th.  Since there's a good chance Saito could end up pitching on that day, the Bay Stars are already thinking about beefing up stadium security.

===== 3/2 @ 11:10pm

Saito topped out at 144km/h.  Both his parents were also at the game.  Saito's next outing will be in an exhibition game against they Yomiuri Giants on 3/6.

===== 3/2 @ 10:29pm

Saito was called for his first balk in the 6th inning with Aoki up to bat and Kawashima on first.

===== 3/2 @ 9:17pm

Saito's outing against the Yakult Swallows today:

5th inning - Kazuhiro Hatakeyama: fly out to center, Ryoji Aikawa: fly out to right, Yasushi Iihara: ground out to the pitcher.

6th inning - Keizo Kawashima: single to right, Aaron Guiel: fly out to left, Norichika Aoki: ground out to short, Hiroyasu Tanaka: ground out to second.

Saito - "It was my first time on the Sapporo Dome mound, but I was able to keep my composure and I felt great pitching.  I also had a much better handle of my fastball than back when I was in Okinawa.  I think I did alright."

===== 3/2 @ 8:52am

Saito will be allowed to throw all his pitches (fastball, two-seamer, slider, cutter, fork, curve, change)  during his 2-inning outing in relief today.

And it seems tickets for Field Seats on the first and third base side and Family Seats are already sold out.

Incidentally, Norichika Aoki will be in the line-up today -- he was hit by a pitch on the right shoulder during an exhibition game on 2/26 but is ok to play.  Saito was supposed to pitch against the Yakult Swallows during a practice game in Nago, Okinawa on 2/20 but couldn't due to stomach problems.  In the end, it didn't really matter since the game ended up getting rained out.

This post will be updated with information as it becomes available so keep checking back if you have any interest in Yuki Saito.

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Saito worked out at Sapporo Dome today for the first time since joining the team (including running, playing catch, infield drills, and fielding practice).  He also threw about 50 pitches in the bullpen.

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About 100 people gathered at New Chitose Airport last night (after 9pm) in order to greet Saito.

Nikkan Sports reports that Masataka Nashida is leaning towards starting his pitchers on 6 days of rest again this year, instead of 5 days, as a means to keep all his starters fresh.

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Yu Darvish is scheduled to pitch again on 3/3 (vs Yakult at Sapporo Dome).

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The Fighters announced yesterday that renovations to the player locker rooms at Sapporo Dome were complete.  You can view some the changes over at the official Nippon Ham Fighters website.

The Nippon Ham Fighters arrived at New Chitose Airport in Sapporo today.  About 200 fans greeted the team at the airport.  The Fighters are scheduled to play their next 4 exhibition games at Sapporo Dome (3/2 and 3/3 vs Yakult; 3/5 and 3/6 vs Yomiuri).

FYI: the rookies were scheduled to arrive on a later flight since they were attending the 2011 Rookie Seminar.