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Today was the end of the first block of spring camp for the Ni-gun Giants.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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Ichi-gun practices started indoors today because of the rain.

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Tetsuya Utsumi faced Kenji Yano and Daisuke Fujimura during batting practice today and allowed eight could-be hits on forty-eight pitches.

Shun Tono faced Shinnosuke Abe and Kazunari Sanematsu and allowed three could-be hits on forty-five pitches.

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Tomoya Inzen and Ryota Wada worked out with the Ichi-gun group today.

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Yuya Kubo could begin playing catch in the bullpen sometime during the second block of spring camp (begins February 9).

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Ryosuke Miyaguni could get to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 14.

====== UPDATE 2/8 @ 2:29am

There is a change Toshiya Sugiuchi will get to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 16.  Incidentally, he does not like tossing batting practice because he feels it does nothing for him to throw pitches batters can hit.

Today was the last day of training camp for the 2011 draft class.

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Takahiko Nomaguchi showed up for practice at Giants Stadium around 8am today.  His workouts included weights, running, and playing catch.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni threw 31 pitches (mostly fastballs) in the bullpen today.  This was his first bullpen session since he suffered a left ankle sprain earlier this month.

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Masako Ishikawa (Head of Nippon TV Gakuin) gave the 2011 draft class a lecture on how to handle the media (abdominal breathing instructions, interview tips).

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Yi-Hao Lin arrived in Japan today.  Lin returned to Taiwan in December last year and fulfilled his 12-day military requirement -- ordinarily, people are required to spend about a year and a half in the military but Lin received an exception after he made the national team.

The Giants are looking at Lin as one of their closer candidates.

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Shuichi Murata does not want to focus too much of his time on practicing because that could lead to injuries.  Instead, he plans to spending time communicating with other players.

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Shinnosuke Abe is thinking about holding mini-meetings where players can exchange ideas/suggestions/opinions during spring camp (especially with all the new faces joining the team).

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The Giants will be playing one night game, on July 25 vs Yokohama (at Tokyo Dome), that begins at 7pm this season.  With this one game, they plan to see how much interest people have in attending games after work.

Yoshinobu Takahashi worked out with Daisuke Nakai and Tomoya Inzen in Okinawa today.  Workouts included fielding practice, indoor BP, and strength training exercises.

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Yuya Kubo worked out at Giants Stadium today and played catch at a max distance of about 50 meters.  He later told reporters he had no problems throwing the ball and that he felt his rehab was going well.  Kubo is still hopeful that he will be ready by opening day.

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The Giants announced today that Shinnosuke Abe's wife gave birth to the couple's third child, a boy weighing 2,674 grams, on Wednesday.

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Toshiya Suguichi's two hobbies are playing golf and fishing.  He is hoping both will help him get to know his teammates better during spring camp.

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Kentaro Nishimura returned from his training in Arizona on Monday and started his workouts in Japan, at Giants Stadium, on Wednesday.  While in the US, Nishimura worked out six days a week and spent his days off sightseeing (he visited Sedona).

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Tatsunori Hara would like to see Taishi Ota (21) step up this season and possibly compete for the Rookie of the Year award (he is still eligible).  As of now, Hara is thinking about starting Ota in left, batting eighth on opening day (3/30 vs Yakult).

Today's workouts for the 2011 draft class included a 3,000 meter run.  Ikusei 6th round pick Takahiro Watanabe recorded the best time at 11 minutes and 52 seconds.

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Tatsunori Hara gave a lecture at Kokusai Budo University today.

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Toshiya Sugiuchi worked out in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima today.  Other players like Minoru Iwata (HAN) and Masahiko Morifuku (SOF) were also part of the group.  Workouts included running, playing catch, and weight training.

Sugiuchi has been focusing on strengthening his trunk muscles this winter.

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Yuya Kubo plans to spend some time getting to know the 2011 draft class a little more during spring camp.

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In an effort to help prevent hamstring injuries this season, Shinnosuke Abe has added jump ropes to his training program (part of his daily warm-up exercises).

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Hayato Sakamoto will be joining Team Abe in Guam on 1/14.

Shinnosuke Abe was selected as this year's Tokyo Dome MVP.  Over 63 games at the Dome, Abe batted .312 (58-for-186), hit 13 homers, and drove in 37 RBI.  Abe will receive a plaque and 3M yen.

The 2011 Tokyo Dome Special Rookie Award was give to 23-year-old Hirokazu Sawamura.  While Sawamura was only 5-6 at the Dome, he did post a 2.39 ERA / 1.05 WHIP over 94.1 innings of work.  Sawamura will get a plaque and 1M yen.

Tatsunori Hara told reporters today that he decided to make Michihiro Ogasawara temporary team captain while Shinnosuke Abe recovers from his right calf injury.

Tatsunori Hara told reporters after today's practice game against the Hanshin Tigers that things weren't looking good with Shinnosuke Abe's right calf.  Said Hara, "It is by no means, a minor injury.  If this were about being ready by opening day, I'd say that might be a little difficult."

When reporters asked if it might be a tear in the muscle, Hara avoided answering the question by saying that he thought the club would be making some sort of an announcement.

Abe did not attend practices today and instead rested at his home.

See also:

Yomiuri Giants: Shinnosuke Abe taken to hospital with calf injury

Shinnosuke Abe was taken to the hospital after he suffered an injury to his right calf while trying to go after a pop foul in the 4th with runners on first and second and 2 out.  Abe could not walk on his own and had to be piggybacked off the field.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/8 @ 11:51pm

Ryosuke Miyaguni (2nd round) tossed 50 pitches (all fastballs) in the bullpen today under the watchful eye of Hara.

Said Hara, "The heard from the coaches that there was a very interesting pitcher, with good potential.  And I thought if my presence my help motivate him even a little.  I feel we got a very nice pitcher in him.  He's a pitcher's pitcher.  He's a diamond in the rough.  I think it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he has the potential to play a big part in the Giants future."

Hara also spent some time signing autographs after practice today.

===== 2/8 @ 9:27pm

Hideki Asai will be getting a start during an intra-squad game on the 13.  Asai also made an appearance during BP today and faced Yoshiyuki Kamei and Rusty Ryal.

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Shinnosuke Abe took 102 swings during lunchtime BP today and hit 23 over the fence.

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Ryal also took lunchtime BP and hit 9 over the fence on 90 swings.

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Tatsunori Hara tossed 103 baseballs to Taishi Ota yesterday during soft-toss BP (about 13 minutes).

Ota is one of three candidates for the third base job.  The other two are Yoshiyuki Kamei and Rusty Ryal.

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Alex Ramirez doesn't care if Matt Murton also decides to use Tanoshingo's Love Chunyu skit.

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The media learned yesterday that Seth Greisinger, Dicky Gonzalez, Brian Bannister, Carlos Torres, Jonathan Albaladejo, and Adam Bright will likely be making appearances during an intra-squad game on the 17th.  Levi Romero, Chih-Lung Huang, and Yi-Hao Lin could also be making appearances.  All 9 players will be competing for three foreign player spots on the active roster.

The fourth foreign player spot will most likely go to Ryal.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/7 @ 12:33am

Tetsuya Yamaguchi made an appearance as a BP pitcher and tossed 48 pitches while giving up 10 could-be hits, including a home run to Sakamoto.

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Daisuke Ochi also tossed BP today and gave up 8 could-be hits to Ryota Wakiya and Tetsuya Matsumoto.

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Yuya Kubo tossed 51 BP pitches today and gave up 13 could-be hits.

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Matsumoto faced Ochi and Kubo today during BP and worked on reading the strike zone.

===== 2/6 @ 9:44pm

Two Giants were injured today:

During fielding practice today (specifically, while working on bunt plays), Hisayoshi Chono took a throw from Jumpei Ono off his face.  Chono was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a bruise on his left face.  The Giants expect him to be ok for practice tomorrow.

Yoshiyuki Kamei ran into Ken Kato while practicing rundowns and suffered a minor cervical spine sprain.  Kamei did not go to the hospital and instead returned to the team hotel for rest.  He is listed as day-to-day.

Both Chono and Kamei were scheduled to take BP against Sawamura today.

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Tatsunori Hara apparently had to order Rusty Ryal to return to the team hotel today.

Said Hara, "Ryal left early today. ... He's the type that wants to go through the entire training.  And so for the first time, I had to order him.  I told him he could leave after BP.  But then he said he wanted to do some running afterward.  So then I told him he to leave after he finished running.  He's the type that wants to do it all, so I had to order him!"

BTW: just in case this wasn't obvious, Hara was happy about Ryal's attitude.

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Sawamura made an appearance as a BP pitcher and tossed 55 pitches (including his slider and curve) against Hayato Sakamoto and Taishi Ota.  He also managed to break two of Sakamoto's bats using his fastbal.

===== 2/6 @ 1:17pm

The Giants received a number of items from Miyazaki prefecture and Miyazaki city today, including 20kg of ripe kumquat, 20kg of citrus tamurana, 10 boxes of strawberries, 100 broiled eels.  The Giants in turn donated 3M yen to in support of relief efforts for bird flu and the volcano.

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In addition to Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round), Tetsuya Utsumi and Shun Tono could also pitch in an intra-squad game on the 15th.

Utsumi and Tono both made appearances as BP pitchers yesterday -- Utsumi threw 53 pitches and gave up 6 could-be hits; Tono tossed 60 pitches and surrendered 2 could-be hits.

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Shinnosuke Abe caught 185 pitches thrown by 5 pitchers yesterday -- Dicky Gonzalez, Jonathan Albaladejo, Daisuke Ochi, Masumi Hoshino, and Jumpei Ono.  This in addition to all his other workouts, like taking grounders before entering the bullpen and taking BP immediately after.

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Adam Bright threw 43 pitches as a BP pitcher yesterday and gave up 2 could-be hits (including one that went over the fence).  Bright is drawing comparisons to former Hanshin Tiger Jeff Williams.

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Brian Bannister and Carlos Torres were amongst the foreign players that took part in a 30-minute English conversation course the Giants held yesterday.  57 people attended the session.