=== 11:23pm JST

...So Taguchi is looking forward to playing in his first opening day game in Japan since 2001.

...Chihiro Kaneko kept his workouts light on Friday.

=== 3:42pm JST

...Looks like the Buffaloes are getting a lot of calls to their support lines after the media picked up on the story about them thinking about a name change.  At this point, they are neither denying or admitting the rumor, simply saying that this isn't the right time to talk about a name change.

Hirotoshi Kitagawa offered his opinion and said that if a name change is indeed in the works, the team should speak to its players and fans before making any decisions.

...Akinobu Okada was scratching his head at the Eagles' decision to carry only eight pitchers (three starters), even asking reporters what they planned to do if something happened to Hisashi Iwakuma, either right before the game, or right after the game starts.

...The Buffaloes have four starters on the roster: Chihiro Kaneko, Hiroshi Kisanuki, Shogo Yamamoto, and Mamoru Kishida.

=== 11:57pm JST

...The Buffaloes announced on Thursday that actress Yumi Sugimoto will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day.  As mentioned before, this ties in nicely with their sponsorship deal with Avance Law Offices.

=== 3:09pm JST

...The Orix Buffaloes visited Sumiyoshitaisha on Thursday to pray for a successful season.  Club officials, the manager, staff / personnel, and the players attended.

...It seems the Buffaloes are thinking about a name change for next season.  And up until 2008, they actually had two homes: Kobe and Osaka (remnants from the Orix Blue Waves and Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes merger).  It seems next season, they'll want to start placing more emphasis on the fact that they're a team from Osaka.

Possible names apparently include: Osaka B's and Osaka Orix.

=== 9:44pm JST

...The Buffaloes announced on Wednesday that they signed Olympic softball player Emi Inui to be a part of their baseball academy coaching staff.

=== 4:08pm JST

...Chihiro Kaneko, Hiroshi Kisanuki, and Kazuki Kondo all worked out for about an hour and a half (running, playing catch) at Skymark Stadium on Wednesday.

...The Buffaloes announced on Wednesday that Monex purchased ad space located to the left of the scoreboard out in center (9.6 meters high and 4.7 meters wide).  Monex is also offering a 1M yen reward to any batter that manages to hit the ad.  But at over 160m from home plate, that might be a fairly difficult task.  The contract is a one year deal and will run from opening day (3/20) until the end of February 2011.

...Mamoru Kishida threw two new change-ups (different speeds) he's been working on during his outing on Tuesday.  Seems he threw three of them and only one went for a strike.

...Freddie Bynum started at short and batted lead-off during Tuesday's Ikusei League game against Hanshin.  He went 2-for-2 in the game.

...Hirotoshi Kitagawa hit a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam against the Orix Blue Wave back on September 26th, 2001.  It was only the second pinch-hit walk-off slam that helped a team win a game from 3 runs down and it was the first slam that helped a team win a league pennant.  Kitagawa, of course, hit a grand slam during Tuesday's game against the Yakult Swallows down 2-1 in the top of 9th.

...Freddie Bynum made his debut during an Ikusei League game against the Hanshin Tigers on Tuesday.

...Hirotoshi Kitagawa played in 9 exhibition games but only started in one.  On Tuesday, Kitagawa came through for the Buffaloes when he hit a grand slam, with the team trailing 2-1, in the bottom of the 9th.

Kitagawa ultimately ended exhibition play 5-for-14.

...If you include Monday's practice game against the Seibu Lions, Satoshi Komatsu managed to pitch on two consecutive days.  I'm not really sure how he did on Monday, but on Tuesday against the Yakult Swallows, he struck out the side in his one inning of work in relief.

...Notes from Monday's practice game against the Seibu Lions:

Shogo Yamamoto started and went 6 innings while giving up 2 runs on 10 hits (including a solo homer to Dee Brown).  He threw a total 112 pitches.

Takahiro Okada had an RBI double in the 7th and a double in the 9th.

The Lions beat the Buffaloes, 7-2.

...Takahiro Okada hit a home run with an estimated travel distance of at least 150km against the Yokohama Bay Stars on Sunday.  It was also his first home during exhibition play (35th at bat).  His final line: 2-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI.

...Chihiro Kaneko's 17 strike outs in 15 innings of work is second only to Softbank Hawk Toshiya Sugiuchi's 21 in 14.1 innings.

=== 11:41pm JST

...Chihiro Kaneko's exhibition game outings:

3/13 vs Yomiuri Giants: 7 IP, 28 BF, 124 NP, 7 H, 10 SO, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 ER

3/7 vs Chunichi Dragons: 5 IP, 17 BF, 75 NP, 3 H, 4 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

2/28 vs Hanshin Tigers: 3 IP, 10 BF, 36 NP, 0 H, 3 SO, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

=== 7:21pm JST

...The Ichi-gun roster is taking shape.  On the Friday, Osamu Hamanaka, Ikki Shimamura, and Masato Nishikawa were demoted.  That leaves 30 players on the Ichi-gun roster.  Take away Mamoru Kishida and Kazuki Konda, neither of which are scheduled to pitch during the season opening series, and the team is down to the needed 28 players.

...When the Buffaloes played the Yomiuri Giants on Friday, it marked the first time Akinobu Okada managed a game against them since 10/8/2008.

...The Buffaloes announced on Friday that Ikusei battery coach Shusaku Beppu was re-assigned to Ichi-gun bulllpen coach.

...Akinobu Okada told reporters after Thursday's game that he plans on leaving Alex Cabrera in the clean-up spot.

...When the reporters push Okada to offer his opinion on the Hanshin Tigers after Thursday's game, he danced around the issue and said, "They're in a different league so I don't have to have an opinion about them.  I'll think about it when we face them during Inter-league play.  But now, we've got Pacific League games to worry about."

...It might be NHK(K): Daisuke Nobue, Yoshihisa Hirano, Satoshi Komatsu, and Daisuke Kato.  Okada used all four in Thursday's game against the Hanshin Tigers, in that order.  The four combined to go 4 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits, 5 SO, and 3 walks.

=== 3/12/2010 1:10am JST

...The Buffaloes attended a pep rally on Thursday at an area hotel in Osaka.  At the event, Akinobu Okada told guests that Chihiro Kaneko was going to be the opening day starter.

=== 4:20pm JST

...All Japanese position players stayed back after Wednesday's game to take about 90 minutes of extra batting practice after the team was shutout, 6-0, despite racking up 10 hits.

...Akinobu Okada revealed to reporters on Wednesday that he told his players during Spring camp that he only wanted Alex Cabrera swinging for the fences.  So while the team did not score any runs on 10 hits, he felt they were moving in the right direction.

Batting coach Kozo Shoda added that they may hold extra BP session after day games during the season if they felt it might help.

=== 3/11/2010 1:05am JST

...Shogo Yamamoto will likely get to pitch in one more exhibition game before the start of the regular season.  On Wednesday, he started a game against the Nippon Ham Fighters and gave up 5 runs (all earned) on 7 hits and a walk over 4 innings.  He threw a total 93 pitches, faced 20 batters, and also struck out three.  Of the 7 hits he gave up, 6 were with 2 strikes.

...Akinobu Okada wants Takahiro Okada to be more patient at the plate, especially when he's out in front in the count.  On Wednesday, during his final at bat, he had the count at 3-1 and ended up striking out because he chased a few pitches up high.  He ended up going 2-for-4 in the game.

=== 3/10/2010 8:38pm JST

...Orix announced on Tuesday that they will be wearing uniforms they used between 1991 and 2000 (as the Blue Waves) during Inter-league play this year.

...The Buffaloes apparently plan on holding (or have already held) evening practice after their game against the Nippon Ham on Wednesday.  And it seems their starting rosters will start taking shape after Thursday's game.

...While Arizona is a possible location for their Spring camp next season, Hawaii's Maui appears to be their first pick.