The Rakuten Eagles announced on Wednesday that they took Juan Morillo off the active roster after he was diagnosed with inflammation in his right elbow (medial collateral ligament).

Morillo apparently felt something was wrong with his elbow during an outing on the 27th against the Softbank Hawks -- Morillo was taken out of the game after throwing one pitch to the third batter he faced.

The NPB Commissioner's office fined Takeshi Yamasaki 50,000 yen and also gave him a stern warning for his ejection last night.

Takeshi Yamasaki was tossed from last night's game for insulting an umpire (or directing violent / foul / abusive language towards an umpire) in the 5th inning Tuesday night's game against the Softbank Hawks.

To provide a little more to the story...

Dennis Houlton tossed a 1-1 slider down and away.  The pitch could have been out of the zone (hard to say since it was a fairly close pitch), but it was called a strike by the home plate ump.  Yamasaki was surprised at the call and turned to confront the home plate ump.  The Eagles bench also came running out to try and calm Yamasaki to keep him from getting tossed.

With the count 1-2, Yamasaki stepped back into the batter's box and Houlton tossed a fastball that looked like it could have been a bit inside.  But once again, the pitch was called a strike.  Yamasaki started heading back towards the dugout, but turned his head to say something and was suddenly back in front of the ump arguing the call.  Why no one jumped in before Yamasaki took his first step towards the home plate ump, I'm not really sure.  Regardless, before cooler heads could prevail, the home plate ump flicked his wrist, turned his back, and walked toward the mic behind home plate to announce his decision: Yamasaki was being tossed for using abusive language.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Yamasaki said that he was so sure the last pitch was a ball that he'd volunteer himself to Ni-gun if he was wrong.

And two videos from YouTube:

I also thought I'd point out something a little ironic here.

Marty Brown told the press that the NPB should set up an automatic ejection rule for anyone that argues balls and strikes because it would only help protect the power umps have.

I guess Brown has already forgotten about the time he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes for his pitcher, Tomohiro Umetsu, back on 4/10/2007.

I'm also a little confused as to why he would bring up auto-ejections when one of his own players was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.  Seems he could have said something a little more neutral.

In any case, this was Yamasaki's 6th ejection.  That's tops for Japanese players in the NPB.

Hisashi Iwakuma is three victories away from winning 100 games at Kleenex Stadium.

In other team news:

Marty Brown told reporters that he's counting on Takeshi Yamasaki, Teppei, and Randy Ruiz to hold down the middle of the batting order.  On Monday, Brown spent some time tossing extra BP to Ruiz after general practice -- he trying to get Ruiz to take a simpler approach to hitting.

The Giants and Eagles announced that they agreed on a trade that will send 25-year-old pitcher Masafumi Togano to Rakuten in exchange for 26-year-old pitcher Hideki Asai.

Asai's new number with the Giants will be 68.  Togano has yet to be assigned a new number.

Masafumi Tagano

Hideki Asai

Masahiro Tanaka held a bullpen session yesterday at Kleenex Stadium.  It was his first bullpen since he was taken off the active roster on the 4th.

Tanaka threw a total 45 pitches to a squatting catcher and managed to mix-in his off-speed pitches.  Tanaka later told reporters that he threw at full capacity and that he was happy with the bullpen session.  But that doesn't mean he's ready for the active roster yet -- he still needs to test his legs by running at full speed and also needs to go through a few fielding drills on the mound.  Tanaka is also scheduled for a hospital visit today to see how how is right hamstring is doing.

There were some rumors that Masahiro Tanaka (right hamstring) might be able to return to the active roster in time for a start on 7/30 (vs Orix at Kleenex Stadium), but Tanaka put those rumors to rest yesterday when he told reporters that while he has been making good progress in his rehab training, he didn't think it would be possible for him to make an Ichi-gun start on the 30th.

Tanaka will likely begin throwing in the bullpen again some time over the next couple of days.  After that, he'll add infield drills off the mound to his workouts.  All that could put Tanaka's next Ichi-gun start on or after 8/3 (the start of a 3-game series against Orix at Kleenex Stadium).

The Eagles are thinking of swapping Ichi-gun assistant batting coach Osamu Abe with Ni-gun Ikusei batting coach Koichi Isobe.  Seems the team is looking for something to spark the offense and feel that the change might help make something happen.  This would mark the second time this season that the Eagles looked to a coaching shuffle to help improve the team.

The club is expected to make an official announcement sometime soon, perhaps as early as today.

...Teppei managed to celebrate his mother's birthday with a round-tripper in the 5th inning last night.  He later told reporters that he was thinking home run all the way.

7:01pm JST

...Toru Nimura will be returning to his position as Ni-gun manager on the 30th after taking some time away due to health problem -- seems he had surgery for a chronic subdural hematoma on the 13th.

3:33pm JST

...The Eagles apparently had a reason (I'm guessing it was a matter of everyone else needing the night off) for leaving Tsuyoshi Kawagishi in the game for three innings last night (his longest outing of the season).