The team had the day off today.

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The ten members of the 2011 draft class relaxed at the Shigira hot springs in Miyakojima today.

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A number of players, like Shunta, Taiki Mitsumata, Masato Fukae, and Yusuke Kajimoto, worked out at the indoor training facilities at Miyakojima Stadium today.  Shunta spent about an hour in the cages.

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Dae-Ho Lee told reporters on Friday that no one will probably get to see him swing the bat at 100% during spring camp.

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Today was the end of the first block of spring camp for the Buffaloes.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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Ming-Chieh Hsu cut his practices short today after he started feeling tightness in his lower back.  Koji Yamasaki also left practices early after he hurt his back during fielding practice.

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Dae-Ho Lee took 58 swings with a one-kilogram training bat during indoor BP on Thursday.  His regular bat will be slightly lighter than the one he used last year, from 930-940 grams to 920-930 grams.

Lee told reporters on Thursday that he was at 40-50%.

Dae-Ho Lee weighed in at 130kg during morning weigh-ins on Wednesday.

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Akinobu Okada told reporters on Wednesday that Lee currently had the lead over Takahiro Okada for the clean-up spot in the line-up.

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There was a drop in media from Korea.  Last year thirteen members of the media from six different companies covered the first day of spring camp in Miyakojima.  This year, there were only eight from four companies.

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Additional Updates (2/3 @ 1:01am)

The Buffaloes modified their practice schedule on Thursday because of the rain.

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."

A welcoming ceremony, hosted by the Miyakojima Orix Camp Support Group, was held before the start of practices this morning.

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Dae-Ho Lee weighed in at over 140kg this winter but managed to lose 15kg.  He currently weighs 127kg, which is close to his ideal weight of 130kg.

Lee did not have any difficulties at first during situational fielding practice.

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Not really directly team related but...  Miyakojima Mamoru-kun's sister, Miykojima Maruko, made her debut in August 2011.

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Batting practice:

Wednesday

Lee took seventy-two swings and hit three over the fence.  He also hit forty-five could-be hits.

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Takahiro Okada took fifty-nine swings and hit nine over the fence.

===== 3/3 @ 8:50pm

Chan Ho Park is scheduled to pitch in an exhibition game on the 5th (vs Chunichi).  During practice today, he tossed a bullpen session and worked on pitching out of the set position (he has been called for balks a couple of times and is working on making the necessary adjustments).

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The Buffaloes announced today that Sawai Pharmaceuticals will be a sponsoring Let's make Osaka healthy! Saiwa Pharmaceuticals Day (大阪をもっと元気に！　沢井製薬デー) on 4/2 (vs Rakuten at Kyocera Dome).  They will also be giving away 30 pairs of tickets (a child and a parent / guardian) as part of a Buffaloes' Practice and Baseball Game Tour giveaway.  And one random child from the 30 will be selected to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

===== 3/3 @ 2:58pm

The Buffaloes closed out their spring camp in Kochi today.  The team will travel back to Osaka by plane later today.

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Akinobu Okada named Keiji Obiki and Yuki Nishi as MVPs of spring camp.  Okada is counting on both players to step up this season -- Obiki at short and Nishi as a member of a pitching staff that will be sans Chihiro Kaneko and Kazuki Kondo for the start of the regular season.

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Keisuke Kaneko was able to get through parts of the practice schedule today.

Said Kaneko, "I'm ok.  I was able to do a little running and I was able to play some catch."

Kaneko will be with the team when they play two games against the Chunichi Dragons at Nagoya Dome on 3/5 and 3/6.

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Hiroshi Kisanuki plans on continuing to be aggressive inside to batters.  He hit 13 batters last year, tops in the PL.

Hanshin Tigers

Kenji Jojima took 51 swings during his first round of  outdoor BP today.

Chiba Lotte Marines

The could hold a press conference for Takuya Takahama as early as on the 4th in Hiroshima.  He'll probably join the Ichi-gun roster from there and might even play in his first exhibition game with the team on the 5th (vs Hiroshima at Mazda Stadium).

Orix Buffaloes

Yoshihisa Hirano threw 42 pitches to Mitsutaka Goto, Takahiro Okada, and Seung-Yeop Lee during BP today and gave up 6 could-be hits.

According to Sanspo, Keisuke Kaneko is only suspected of having gout.  In either case, he's taking medication and the team will wait to see how things turn out.  If his condition doesn't improve (he's have a hard time walking due to pain in his right big toe), he'll make another visit to the hospital.

Keisuke Kaneko was diagnosed with gout after he started complaining of pain at the base of his right big toe today.

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Akinobu Okada told reporters he's thinking about having the rehab group working out at Ni-gun (which includes players like Alfredo Figaro and Hirotoshi Kitagawa) join the Ichi-gun roster during a stretch of 6 home games that begins on 3/8 so that he can finalize his decisions on which players will be making the active roster.

The Orix Buffaloes and Chiba Lotte Marines played a practice game on Tuesday (3/1) in Kochi.  The game lasted 8 innings and the Marines beat the Buffaloes, 3-2.

Yuta Omine (LOT) started the game for Lotte and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits over 3 innings of work.

The game started 30 minutes late due to the weather and about 800 fans were in attendance.

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In other Lotte news:

Chiba Marine Stadium officially became QVC Marine Field on Tuesday (3/1).  QVC Marine Field underwent a number of renovations during the off-season, including the installation of new turf, a fresh coat of paint on the seats, and the changeover of the ball/strike count on the scoreboard from strikes-balls-outs to balls-strikes-outs.

Takahiro Okada spent his day off working with batting coach Kozo Shoda.  Over a period of about an hour, Okada swung the bat about 400 times.  Okada is currently 7-for-33 with 1 RBI and no homers over 10 spring games so far.

Amongst the other players that also spent their day off practicing: Tomotaka Sakaguchi, Masayuki Hasegawa, and Masaki Ihara.  Hasegawa and Ihara are both scheduled to pitch during an exhibition game against the Chiba Lotte Marines tomorrow, and spent parts of their day playing catch and running.