=== 10:16pm JST

...Hisashi Iwakuma did some running and played some long distance catch (80 meters) on Friday.  He told reporters the minute you take the Buffaloes lightly is the minute they become a tougher team.

=== 3:11pm JST

...In addition to a massive jumbotron, the Eagles have also added an addition 1,000 seats to their stadium (capacity is now 23,026).  They've also added two more stores.

...Hisashi Iwakuma did some running and played some catch on Thursday.  He'll likely throw a bullpen on Friday in preparation for his start on Saturday.

...Takeshi Yamasaki told reporters that he'd like to hit at least one home run during the opening series against the Orix Buffaloes.  Looks like he also has his eyes on that Monex ad.

...Juan Morillo showed up to practice on Thursday with his hair shaved down.  He told reporters he shaved his head not because it was the start of the season, but because he needed a serious cut.

...Katsuya Nomura predicts the Eagles to finish in 5th this year.  His full prediction: Lions, Fighters, Hawks, Buffaloes, Eagles, and Marines.

...Kahoku Online Network predicts the opening day line-up:

Ryo Hijirisawa, CF
Naoto Watanabe, SS
Teppei, RF
Takeshi Yamasaki, DH
Andy Phillips, 1B
Todd Linden, LF
Norihiro Nakamura, 3B
Daisuke Kusano, 2B
Akihito Fujii, C
Hisahi Iwakuma, P

=== 3/19/2010 12:43am JST

...The Eagles are planning on holding a public viewing of the opening three game series against the Orix Buffaloes (3/20-22) in celebration of their new jumbotron.  Admission will be free.

=== 3:02pm JST

...As has been mentioned before, the Eagles will be relying on the trio of Hisashi Iwakuma, Masahiro Tanaka, and Satoshi Nagai for the first two series of the season (Orix: 20-22 and Seibu: 27-28).  And it seems they're so confident in the three that they'll be carrying fewer pitchers during the two series and filling those spots with position players.  Or at least that's what pitching coach Yoshinori Sato is saying.

The Eagles will likely go with 8 pitches and 17 position player for their opening day roster.  So the 8 pitchers basically means they'll have 5 relievers in the pen.  Hope there aren't any blowouts.

...Construction for installing the biggest jumbotron in Japan (measuring 20.64 meters wide and 16.32 meters high) at Kleenex Stadium was recently completed.  The team got a chance to check out the new screen during practice on Wednesday.

...Teppei stayed back for over an hour after general practice on Wednesday to work on his hitting.  He finished exhibition play 7-for-31.

...Naoto Watanabe will likely start at short and bat second, behind center fielder Ryo Hijirsawa.

...After practice at Kleenex Stadium on Thursday morning, the team will head towards Osaka in the afternoon.  Marty Brown did not attend practice on Wednesday and will not be attending practice on Thursday due to a conflict in his schedule.

=== 9:11pm JST

...It appears as though the Eagles might go with Kazuo Fukumori as their closer, at least to start the regular season.  Juan Morillo was originally brought in as a candidate to close, but his inconsistency seems to have the Eagles worried.

=== 4:28pm JST

...Takeshi Yamasaki hit 2 home runs and collected 5 RBIs over 5 exhibition games.

...Ryo Hijirisawa ended exhibition play 10-for-22.  Marty Brown told reporters there's a good chance he could be batting lead-off on opening day.

...Wataru Karashima appeared in 4 of the teams 9 exhibition games and gave up 2 runs in 5 innings of work.

...Marty Brown on Katsuya Nomura becoming an honorary manager:

It will be great to have a chance to work with him while on the same team.  I wanted to meet him during Spring camp, but he never came so I figured he was just writing another book.

=== 11:16pm JST

...Satoshi Nagai's exhibition game outings:

3/16 vs Yokhama Bay Stars: 6 IP, 28 BF, 90 NP, 7 H, 4 SO, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 R, 4 ER

3/10 vs Hiroshima Carp: 5 IP, 24 BF, 90 NP, 6 H, 5 SO, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 ER

3/4 vs Softbank Hawks: 4 IP, 16 BF, 52 NP, 4 H, 3 SO, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 ER

...Marty Brown told reporters after Tuesday's game against the Yokohama Bay Stars that he was thinking about using Ryo Hijirisawa as a lead-off hitter.  Hijirisawa went 2-for-5 with 2 triples, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs on Tuesday.

Hijirisawa graded his Spring camp at 100% and his performance during exhibition play at 120%.

...Brown also called Takeshi Yamasaki the "center" of the team.  He added that he Yamasaki isn't just a leader in name, but that he also hustles to first on grounders, provides advice to anyone asking for it, and isn't afraid of approaching players about potential problems areas.

=== 3:19pm JST

...The Eagles officially announced on Tuesday that they signed Katsuya Nomura to a 3-year contract to be an honorary manager.  It's likely just a position in name, but the Eagles are claiming they'll turn to Nomura for suggestions and advice on player development over the next three years.

The Eagles have also invited Nomura to their home opener on the 27th against the Seibu Lions.  It seems there are still about 2,000 tickets available for opening day.

...Masahiro Tanaka worked on pitching without his fork during Sunday's game against the Chiba Lotte Marines.  The reason: learning how to get by when the fork isn't biting.  So for the entire game, Tanaka stuck to throwing fastballs and two-seamers, sprinkled in with his slider and change.  He also threw 7 curveballs.

Tanaka has also been working on using his energy more economically this year.  And it seems yesterday, he got too caught up in worrying about how he was using his upper body that he threw his upper and lower body out of sync.

...Masahiro Tanaka's exhibition game outings:

3/14 vs Chiba Lotte Marines: 7 IP, 29 BF, 104 NP, 6 H, 3 SO, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 1 R, 1 ER

3/7 vs Yokohama Bay Stars: 5 IP, 20 BF, 78 NP, 7 H, 2 SO, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 ER

Tanaka didn't have his best stuff on Sunday, allowing at least one base-runner through the first four innings of his start -- 5 hits (including three doubles), 2 walks, and an HBP.

...Marty Brown on Kohei Hasebe's outing on Saturday:

He could end up being an important piece.  He can eat innings and he can be effective in lefty match-ups.

Hasebe's final line from Saturday: 2 IP, 6 BF, 15 NP, 1 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

...Juan Morillo managed to hit 158km/h during his outing on Saturday -- he hit the mark on his third pitch to Yakult Swallow Yuichi.  It was a ball.

=== 10:40pm JST

...Hisashi Iwakuma's exhibition game outings:

3/13 vs Yakult Swallows: 5 IP, 21 BF, 78 NP, 6 H, 1 HR, 2 SO, 0 BB, 4 R, 4 ER

3/6 vs Yokohama Bay Stars: 5 IP, 19 BF, 80 NP, 3 H, 3 SO, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

2/27 vs Nippon Ham Fighters: 3 IP, 11 BF, 34 NP, 2 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

All four of the runs Iwakuma gave up on Saturday against the Swallows came in the first inning (including a 2-run homer to Norichika Aoki and a 2-run double to Atsushi Fujimoto).  After that he gave up just 1 hit over 4 innings of work.

...Marty Brown let most of the starters play out a full game on Saturday against the Yakult Swallows.  With two more exhibition games left on the schedule, one of the things he still has left to do is test Ryo Hijirisawa -- Brown likes his speed and the fact that he can hit lead-off and bat 9th for the team.

=== 4:24pm JST

...The Eagles reminded players of their ban on facial hair, hair dyed brown, long hair, and earrings for their players on Friday.  Marty Brown didn't really care what his players did while he managed the Hiroshima Carp, but decided to go along with the Eagles' tradition.

...Motohiro Shima is 5-for-9 over four exhibition games.  The Eagles are currently carrying two other catches on the Ichi-gun roster besides Shima: Akihito Fujii and Jin Nakatani.

...Hisashi Iwakuma kept his workouts light (running, fielding practice) on Friday in preparation for his start against the Yakult Swallows on Saturday.

...Andy Phillips forgot his home uniform at the hotel on Friday and was seen taking fielding practice in Darrell Rasner's uniform.

=== 10:29pm JST

...The Eagles held full-squad workouts at Shizuoka Kusanagi Baseball Stadium on Friday in preparation for their game against the Yakult Swallows on Saturday.  Practice last about four hours.  Marty Brown acted as BP pitcher for players that stay back for extra hitting.  He also told reporters that he wished he could keep everyone at Ichi-gun.

...Third base coach Atsuhiro Motonishi apparently kept waving Andy Phillips home even though he knew he'd be thrown out in the 4th inning because he wants players to constantly be thinking about scoring on a hit, regardless of where they might be on the base paths.  At the time, Phillips was on second and Norihiro Nakamura hit a liner to left.  By the time the outfielder got to the ball, Phillips still had not rounded third, and yet Motonishi kept waving him home.  Not surprisingly, Phillips was out at home plate.

=== 4:04pm JST

...Marty Brown is currently thinking of using Darrell Rasner somewhere between the 4-6 spots in the starting rotation.

...The Eagles hope Wataru Karashima ends up becoming a starter for them somewhere down the road.  For now, he may be pitching his way onto the opening day staff as a left-handed option out of the pen.

=== 10:26pm JST

...Darrell Rasner may have given himself a boost after tossing 4 shutout innings against the Chunichi Dragons on Thursday.  While Rasner did walk two batters, he did not give up any hits.

=== 4:09pm JST

...Takeshi Yamasaki will be appearing in one of those BOSS Rainbow Mountain Blend commercials with Tommy Lee Jones (is there anything he can't do?).  If you have never seen them, I think you can see the latest commercial at the official Rainbow Mountain Blend website.

The new commercial is set to begin running nationwide on 3/17.

...The infield shift Marty Brown used against the Hiroshima Carp on Wednesday: he replaced left fielder Akihisa Makida with Tatsuya Shiokawa and positioned him in between the second baseman and shortstop.  He pulled center fielder Ryo Hijirisawa over to left and right fielder Teppei in center.  All this for lefty-hitting Go Kida, a batter Brown thought wouldn't be able to pull Juan Morillo's fastball.  Especially if he spotted them on the outside corners.

The plan ended up backfiring as Morillo threw a fastball insde that Kida was able to pull into right.  With no one there, the ball rolled all the way to the wall and cleared the bases for a triple.

While that was bad, the Eagles were actually making something of a comeback in the bottom of the 9th (they had scored two runs and still had the bases loaded with only one out) when the game was called due to rain and completely wiped out the 9th inning.

For those wondering why the 9th inning was thrown out...  According to rule 4.11d, subsection 2, if a visiting team grabs the lead in the top of the inning and the game is called while the home team is still batting and has not had the opportunity to either tie the game or re-take the lead, the innings is thrown out.  The last full inning is where the game officially ends.

Kind of a weird rule.

...As long as there are no rain cancellations or injuries, Hisashi Iwakuma will be pitching on Saturdays and Masahiro Tanaka on Sundays (at least until about mid-May).  Pitching coach Yoshinori Sato told reporters that there are currently no reasons for the rotation to fall out of a 6-day rest pattern for the foreseeable future.

It's also possible that the team jumbles things up a bit if the rest of the rotation doesn't perform well.

...Marty Brown will likely turn to Juan Morillo, Kazuo Fukumori, and Tsuyoshi Kawagishi for the final three innings of any game the team has a lead in.  It doesn't seem like an order has been set though.

...Takeshi Yamasaki told reporters after Wednesday's game that he's at about 70% right now.