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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.

The Giants held a press conference at their team offices to introduce Scott Mathieson and John Bowker today.  Both players arrived in Japan earlier in the day.

Tatsunori Hara was also at the press conference -- the last time he attended a press conference for a foreign player: 2006 when Seug-Yeop Lee joined the team.

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Shun Tono tossed a bullpen session (standing catcher) today, the first day of early training camp in Miyazaki.

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Tetsuya Utsumi tossed 35 pitches in the bullpen (standing catcher) today.

Utsumi organized a meal-time gathering at a Yakiniku restaurant for pitchers attending early training camp in Miyazaki on Thursday.  The outing lasted about three and a half hours and allowed players Toshiya Sugiuchi the chance to get to know other pitchers on the staff.

Sugiuchi also had a chance to introduce himself during a team meeting at the player hotel on Thursday.

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The Giants may give Taishi Ota a look in center during spring camp (they want to take more advantage of his speed and arm).

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Shuichi Murata apparently wants to sign about 1,000 autographs during spring camp.

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Seems the Yomiuri Giants are not the only ones high on Ryosuke Miyaguni: Hanshin Tiger Yasutomo Kubo told reporters on Thursday that he was impressed with the 19-year-old prospect.

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A weight room was added to the facilities at Sun Marine Stadium -- a training room on first base side near the indoor bullpens was converted and equipped with weight training equipment.  The Giants "donated" the weight room to Miyazaki by footing the bill (about 14M yen).

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Sugiuchi worked out in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima between January 4 and January 23.  He returned to Fukuoka after that and traveled to Miyazaki on Thursday by himself.

Toshiya Sugiuchi threw the ball about 70 times (mixed in with some off-speed pitches) during a game of catch on Tuesday.  He also plans to toss a bullpen session (standing catch) by 1/23.

Sugiuchi was also presented with a number of food gifts from Satsumasendai mayor Hideo Iwakiri, including 10kg of Kagoshima Kurogewagyu and 12kg of kumquats.

Nikkan Sports also notes that Sugiuchi has been fairly successful against the Hanshin Tigers: in 12 lifetime starts he is 5-1 with a 1.84 ERA.  He also went 2-0 against the Tigers the 2003 Nippon Series and won the Series MVP.

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Tatsunori Hara is apparently a little concerned with Shun Tono because his numbers were down last season despite the introduction of the new baseball and plans to keep a close eye on his workouts/performance this year.

I'll keep this updated throughout the day.  I'm hoping that all players and team personnel have been able to contact their families by now.

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Chunichi Dragons

Hiromitsu Ochiai is from Akita and told reporters that his parents were fine and that his family in Tokyo were fine as well.

Tony Blanco was about to take a shower after practice at Nagoya Stadium yesterday when the earthquake hit and rushed outside with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

Yomiuri Giants

Takanori Hoshi is from Miyagi and was able to contact his family.

Takahiro Suzuki is from Soma, Fukushima and learned from his younger brother that his family was safe.

A number of players, including Shun Tono and Shigeyuki Furuki were working out at Giants Stadium yesterday when the earthquake hit.  They all rushed out to the parking lot.  Cracks were found in a stairwell at the indoor facilities.

Yakult Swallows

Yoshinori Sato is from Sendai, Miyagi and used a phone in the press box yesterday because his mobile phone wouldn't dial out.  He was able to contact his family and was relieved to find them safe.

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama is from Hanamaki, Iwate and was able to contact his family.

Hiroshima Carp

Kenta Kurihara (from Tendo, Yamagata) and Tsubasa Aizawa (Ibaraki) were all able to confirm the safety of their families.

GM Kiyoaki Suzuki told reporters yesterday that there will still some players that haven't been able to contact their families.

Yokohama Bay Stars

Shinji Niinuma is from Ishinomaki, Miyagi and hasn't been able to get in touch with his family.  He told reporters he keeps getting busy signals and is really concerned because his family lives near the water.

A number of players, including Daisuke Miura, Takehiro Ishikawa, Hichori Morimoto, Tomokazu Oka, and Niinuma, spent the night at Yokohama Stadium due to traffic conditions.

Softbank Hawks

Toru Hosokawa is from Aomori and was able to contact his family.

Tadashi Settsu was worried about his father that works in Sendai.

Yuki Shimooki is from Iwate and was able to contact his family and friends.

Seibu Lions

Yusei Kikuchi is from Iwate and couldn't contact his family and friends yesterday and was able to get in touch with his family.

Takayuki Kishi is from Sendai and was able to contact his parents and sister, but only by e-mail.

Chiba Lotte Marines

Yasuhiko Yabuta, Bill Murphy, Hayden Penn, and an interpreter were on their way back to Tokyo from Akashi, but had to spent the night at Nagoya.

QVC Marine Field appears to be ok, but there seems to be some problems with liquefaction in the parking lots.  The stadium was also apparently closed off to the general public out of concern of land subsidence.

Nippon Ham Fighters

The entire team had the day off yesterday and was staying at a hotel in Gifu (most players were in rooms on or above the 20th or 25th floor (accounts differ based on reports) of a 43 story building.  Atsunori Inaba was soaking in the tub in a hotel room on the 27th floor when the earth quake struck and told reporters he thought he was going to die.

The Fighters were worried about Yuki Saito (1st round) because he didn't reply back to e-mail messages that were sent out by the club's PR department.  It wasn't until 5 hours later that his reply made it back to the Fighters (he probably didn't get the message right away).

The Ni-gun team that was in Yokosuka for a Kyoiku League game against Yokohama, had to spend the night in the Yokohama Stadium player locker rooms because of traffic.  The team left Bay Stars Stadium in Yokosuka at 3:00pm and hit severe traffic.  At around 7:30pm, the team decided to head to Yokohama Stadium out of concern for the players and didn't arrive until 11:40pm.

Orix Buffaloes

Takashi Kamoshida is from Ibaraki and was able to contact his parents -- seems they had to spend the night in their car because their house was a mess.

Fumihiro Suzuki is from Fukushima and his parent's home suffered damage from the quake.  Suzuki couldn't contact his family, but his sister was able to get through and told him that everyone was safe (his mother mother and grandmother were at home but his father was away on a business trip).

Rakuten Eagles

Players like Masahiro Tanaka, Hisashi Iwakuma, Satoshi Nagai, Darrell Rasner, Kenta Satake, Shinya Okamoto were on a Shinkansen heading to Tokyo from Akashi.  They all had to spend the night in Nagoya.

About 80 players, coaches, and staff were at Kleenex Stadium when the earthquake hit and they all gathered in the parking lot outside.  There were some people with a few cuts and bruises, but no major injuries.  By around 7:30pm, all players were able to confirm that their families were safe.  The club was not able to check on the stadium for structural damage yesterday.

About 30-40 people camped out in tents that were set up on the field at Kleenex Stadium.

The Eagles will be giving their player the next two days (12th and 13th) to check on their families.

Kleenex Stadium will be open to people looking to recharge their mobile phones until 9pm today.  The stadium will be open again tomorrow between 9am and 9pm.  Bathrooms on the second floor concourse have also bee opened up.

During yesterday's exhibition games:

At Yokohama Stadium: the game was stopped at 14:47 and called 16 minutes later.  Fans, players, staff...  The field was opened up to everyone at 15:22 for their safety.  3,756 fans were in attendance.  It wasn't until about an hour later that players were able to go to the locker rooms.  FWIW: this was also the day the new turf at the stadium was unveiled.

Sources:

由規、記者席から仙台の家族の無事確認 (Daily Sports)

佑ちゃん無事…発生から５時間後に確認 (Daily Sports)

稲葉、都内ホテルで「死ぬかと思った」 (Daily Sports)

マー君ＨＰで「無事」名古屋で降車 (Daily Sports)

恐怖…悲鳴…横浜球場「助けて～」 (Daily Sports)

揺れるハマスタ…ナインもファンも避難 (Nikkan Sports)

オリ・鴨志田沈痛…茨城の実家に被害 (Daily Sports)

オリックス鈴木捕手、福島の実家が半壊 (Daily Sports)

ソフトＢ移動に影響、メールで安否確認 (Nikkan Sports)

西武菊池、岩手実家と連絡つかず「心配」 (Nikkan Sports)

マリン液状化…ロッテ堀氏の引退試合中止 (Nikkan Sports)

楽天家族優先、安否確認でオープン戦中止 (Nikkan Sports)

オリックス広報の実家被害に (Nikkan Sports)

広島栗原山形の家族とつながらない (Nikkan Sports)

ハム中田地震に恐怖「死ぬかと思った」 (Nikkan Sports)

Ｋスタ宮城グラウンドにテント張り市民避難 (Sanspo)

試合中止の２日間の行動を選手に一任 (Sanspo)

日本ハム２軍帰れずハマスタロッカー１泊 (Sanspo)

Ｇ・東野ヒヤリ、室内練習場階段にヒビ (Sanspo)

広島・栗原、会沢家族の無事を確認 (Daily Sports)

【中日】秋田出身・落合監督も絶句 (Nikkan Sports)

【西武】仙台出身の岸「試合どころじゃ」 (Nikkan Sports)

西武・岸と雄星、実家の無事を確認 (Sanspo)

Ｋスタ宮城で携帯電話充電できます (Daily Sports)

中日ブランコ　シャワー中飛び出した (Nikkan Sports)

横浜・三浦帰宅できずハマスタで夜を明かす (Daily Sports)

巨人・鈴木、地元・福島の被害に言葉失う (Sanspo)

ロッテがＯＰ戦中止、球場周辺で液状化現象 (Sanspo)

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Yesterday's intra-squad game:

Kentaro Nishimura threw 2 shutout innings for the red team.

Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) threw a total 17 pitches during his 2 inning outing.

Tetsuya Utsumi pitched 2 shutout innings for the red team and gave up 2 hits.

===== 2/16 @ 10:41pm

Takahiko Nomaguchi threw 216 pitches in the bullpen today.  Pitching coach Masaki Saito also stood in the batter's box to check on Nomaguchi's off-speed pitches.

===== 2/16 @ 2:24pm

Shun Tono threw 300 pitches in the bullpen today.  This coming on the heals of tossing two inning during an intra-squad game outing yesterday.

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The Giants announced yesterday that Shigeo Nagashima's scheduled visit on the 18th was canceled because he had a cold.

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The Giants drew about 7,700 fans yesterday.

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Sanspo is carrying the following interview with Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round):

What are your thoughts after your first outing?

It kind of felt a little short, but a little long...  But I had fun throwing in front of all the fans.

Were you able to take anything away from the outing?

I was get ahead in the count and I was able to get strikes even when I fell behind 2-0.  I do need to work on continuing improving the high fastball.

You got a strike with a slider after falling behind 2-0 [to Shigeyuki Furuki]...

I threw two fastballs that ended up balls.  I wasn't feeling very balanced throwing the fastball and sometimes I like to turn to off-speed pitches to help me regain my balance.  I was also good that I was able to get a second strike with a fastball after that.

Did this help you with your confidence?

This was an intra-squad game.  I can't really say until I start pitching in exhibition games.  It would also be wrong of me to think of how great I am.  I need to stay ambitious as I continue to move forward.

Incidentally, Shinnosuke Abe told reporters the he and Sawamura got their signals crossed on the pitch that got Furuki to strikeout -- Abe called for a fastball, but Sawamura thought he was calling for a fork and threw that instead.

Sawamura's next outing could come on the 20th against the Rakuten Eagles.

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A plaque of Takuya Kimura was revealed during a ceremony at Miyazaki Minami High School yesterday.  Kimura's family was also present.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/10 @ 10:55pm

The veteran players (S group) joined the rest of the Ichi-gun players today.  They also took BP outdoors for the first time since the start of spring camp (excluding Shinnosuke Abe).  Yoshinobu Takahashi and Yoshitomo Tani both told reporters that they had a hard time hitting the ball during BP (timing issues).  Tani and Michihiro Ogasawara both faced Tetsuya Utsumi and Shun Tono.

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Utsumi threw 64 pitches during BP yesterday and gave up 5 could-be hits.  While he didn't throw his new fork, he did throw his fastball, slider, and change.

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Tono threw 62 pitches (all fastballs) during BP.

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Carlos Torres faced Hidetoshi Tsuburaya and Daijiro Tanaka during BP today (his 2nd BP outing) and threw 49 pitches while giving up 4 could-be hits.  Torres struggled with his control and threw 6 straight balls at one point.

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Itaru Hashimoto, Tomoya Inzen, and Daisuke Fujimura took part in Ichi-gun practice today.  During situational fielding, Hashimoto showed off his arm and inspired Tatsunori Hara to tell reporters that Hashimoto had the best arm in the Giants' system.

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Alex Ramirez visited Miyazaki Gakuen High School today and dropped in a on a number clubs (flower arrangement, Japanese calligraphy, koto music) for ideas on his HR dance.

===== 2/10 @ 4:57pm

Kentaro Nishimura told reporters today that the biggest thing he had to work on moving forward was his balance while throwing the ball.

Said Nishimura, "I really need to think about my balance.  I mess up my balance if I try to throw too hard, so I want to keep it at about 80%.  I want to be able to throw a fastball with some good spin on it."

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Taishi Ota worked out for about an hour on his day off yesterday.  The Giants will play three intra-squad games between 2/13 and 2/17.  Ota told reporters he'd wanted to hit at least one home run during those three games and that he also wanted to do well against Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) on the 15th so that he could get his name in the papers (Ota collected 3 could-be hits on 33 pitches the first time they faced each other during BP on 2/6).

Ota is competing against Rutsy Ryal and Yoshiyuki Kamei for the starting third base job.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/8 @ 12:36pm

Osamu Higashio's advice to Sawamura: hold on to the ball for as long as you can to mess with the batter's timing.

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Ramirez, Torres, and Albaladejo taught a course on Spanish conversation today.

===== 2/7 @ 10:59pm

Shun Tono threw 154 pitches in the bullpen (he also started throwing his fork and mixed in his curve and slider) today while Tetsuya Utsumi threw 134.

When Utsumi was told about the number of pitches Tono threw, Utsumi replied by saying that he would throw 200 tomorrow.

Both pitchers are competing for the opening day start.

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Tatsunori Hara worked with Taishi Ota on his hitting today.  Ota also faced Carlos Torres during BP.

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Torres faced Daijiro Tanaka and Ota during BP today and threw 43 pitches.  Torres was also hit by a comebacker to the mound (second pitch he threw Tanaka) but appeared to be fine.

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Hideki Sunaga threw 26 pitches in the bullpen today.  Sunaga struggled with his control (particularly with the fork) and got some tips from pitching coach Kawaguchi (his body was getting out in front).

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Jonathan Albaladejo held a 41-pitch bullpen session today.  It was Albaladejo's second bullpen session this spring.

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Both Yoshiyuki Kamei and Hisayoshi Chono were at practice today, despite suffering minor injuries yesterday*.  The Giants had another scare today with Shigeyuki Furuki when he ran into the pitcher.  It seems his injuries weren't major since he continued to take part in practice.

*The Giants originally thought about giving Chono the day off, but he wanted no part of that.  Said Chono, "I'm fine.  It was my fault for not being able to get out of the way."

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The veteran group (or the S Group, comprised of Michihiro Ogasawara, Alex Ramirez, Yoshinobu Takahashi, and Yoshitomo Tani) spent the first half of their day working out outdoors (base-running, fielding practice) and then went back indoors for BP.  It was the first time the veteran group practiced outside since the start of spring camp.

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Hara showed some interest in what Masahiro Tanaka (RAK) shouted yesterday during the Eagles' morning shout session on the beach.  Seems it reminded him of how Tanaka said he planned on winning the right to wear the number 18 for the next WBC.

===== 2/7 @ 4:15pm

Masumi Hoshino threw 134 pitches in the bullpen yesterday.  General pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi spent some time watching Hoshino, and even stood in the batter's box to get a closer look at his pitches.

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According to Sanspo, Daisuke Ochi threw 54 pitches during BP yesterday and gave up 9 could-be hits while Tetsuya Yamaguchi threw 48 pitches and also gave up 9 could-be hit.

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A number of advance scouts watched Hirokazu Sawamura toss BP yesterday.  Here are some of their comments (via Sanspo):

Chunichi -- "He does throw a hard fastball, but velocity means very little in this world.  He opens his body up while throwing the [curve], so it's very easy to see what's coming."

Yokohama -- "He throws fast, but he doesn't seem to be the strikeout type."

A little more on Sawamura's BP outing: he threw a total 55 pitches (at about 70%) and gave up 6 could-be hits.  He broke Hayato Sakamoto's bat on his 15th and 27th pitches.

Sakamoto's comment on the two fastballs that broke his bats: "They were fast.  Both pitches were inside.  I just couldn't get my body ready for it in time."

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The Giants drew about 15,500 fans yesterday.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/6 @ 1:43am

Shun Tono made an appearance as a BP pitcher today and faced Tetsuya Matsumoto, Takahiro Suzuki, and Toshimasa Konta.  Tono threw a total 60 pitches.

===== 2/5 @ 10:53pm

Sawamura threw 64 pitches in the bullpen today.  It was not only his third session during spring camp, but also the most he's thrown during spring camp.  A batter also stood in the batter's box partway through the session.

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Taishi Ota spent a lot of time on his hitting today.  After hitting a couple over the fence during BP, Ota swung the bat some more (about 100 times) during extra BP.  He also continued to work on his hitting after that in the indoor training facilities.

===== 2/5 @ 2:53pm

Ryosuke Miyaguni (2nd round) was seen wearing a surgical mask while taking an walk at 7am in the early morning.  He told reporters that his throat hurt and wondered if it was from the volcanic ash in the air.

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With Shinnosuke Abe heading to the veteran group (where players set their own training menus), head coach Kaoru Okazaki has named Ryota Wakiya the new leader.

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Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) could make his debut during an intra-squad game on 15th.  The Giants also announced yesterday that they will be selling two kinds of Sawamura t-shirts: a white t-shirt will be available between 2/4 and 2/7 at the Giants' online store; and a black t-shirt will go on sale beginning on 2/10 at the Giants' spring camp store.

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The Giants may end up moving their camp to Naha sooner than scheduled due to the volcanic activity.

Taishi Ota is tentatively scheduled to start the year at Ichi-gun spring camp.  He told reporters on Monday that his only goal was to wind the starting third base job and that he wanted to take at least 500 grounders at third base every day during spring camp (or more than 10,000 grounders over the course of spring camp).  During practice on Monday, Ota spent about two hours fielding grounder (first while on his feet and then some more while on his knees).  His main rival at third base will likely be Yoshiyuki Kamei.

Ota's practice today lasted about 3 hours and included running, fielding, and batting practice.

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Atsushi Yachida worked out for about 5 hours at Hitachiota, Ibaraki today.  In addition to working on his throws to second (from behind home plate), he also spent some time taking BP and working with weights.  During BP, he received from pointers from Tetsuya Matsumoto.

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Shun Tono has stumbled on two types of changes: both are a little fast, but one has sinker-like movement and the other has straight downward movement.  The grip also appears to be similar to a circle change.  Tono also told reporters that he wanted to throw a lot of changes during his bullpen sessions -- so instead of throwing fastballs 70% of the time as he usually does, he'll throw the change 70% of the time.

Tono also plans on asking Seth Greisinger for advice on how to improve and effectively use the two pitches during spring camp.

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The Yomiuri Giants new updated road uniforms went on sale today for 26,250 yen.  The road uniforms this year are a slightly lighter gray.

Shinnosuke Abe has his sights set on hitting 50 homers.  If he somehow manages to accomplish the feat, he'll become just the second catcher in NPB history since Katsuya Nomura hit 52 homers in 1963 and the first Yomiuri Giant since Hideki Matsui hit 50 in 2002.

Abe's training on Wednesday lasted about 5 hours and included running, BP, and fielding practice.

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Yoshinobu Takahashi doesn't mind where he's hitting in the line-up, so long as he has a starting job.  Takahashi has been pushing hard during his training so far and plans on taking BP every day until the 20th (except for one day off).  On Wednesday, he took about 40 swings of the bat.

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Shun Tono is playing catch using a softball.  He's hoping that will help him pick up the change quicker (to help strengthen the fingers).  Hisanori Takahashi and Toshiya Sugiuchi (SOF) are said to have used softballs to help them with their change-ups.

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Ni-gun manager Masahiro Kawai told reporters he planned to decrease the number of days off during Ni-gun spring camp.  Instead of the usual 4 - 5 days of practice for every 1 day off, Kawai is thinking of going 5-6 day of practice for every 1 day off.  A final decision will likely be made once the Ichi-gun schedule is set during an upcoming staff meeting on the 17th.