Shunsuke Watanabe left tonight's game against Rakuten after taking a batted ball of his right leg in the 5th inning.  He was evaluated at a hospital in Chiba and diagnosed with a bruise.  The Chiba Lotte Marines will likely remove Watanabe from the active roster in order to give him time to recover.

Source: Sponichi 4/20/2013

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Brad Eldred was replaced by a pinch-runner in today's game against Yomiuri when he took an HBP off his right hand during his at bat in the 4th.  He was taken to a hospital in Hiroshima and diagnosed with a fracture in his right fifth metacarpal (pinky).  There is currently no timetable for his return.

Source: Sponichi 4/20/2013

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Ni-gun camp had the day off today.

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Naoya Masuda is hoping to throw off-speed pitches during his next bullpen session.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/18/2013

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The Marines ended general workouts today by having players (catchers, infielders, and outfielders) throw the ball around the infield.

Source: Sponichi 2/18/2013

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Shunsuke Watanabe will be a tourist ambassador for his home town Tochigi City in Tochigi prefecture.

Source: Sponichi 2/18/2013

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Tsutomu Ito, Yoshihisa Naruse, Tadahito Iguchi, Toshiaki Imae, and Ikuhiro Kiyota visited a child care facility in Ishigaki, Okinawa today.

Source: Daily Sports 2/7/2013

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Shunsuke Watanabe has been working on different kinds of change-ups since 2004, but it was not until last November that he came up with a grip he felt comfortable with.

Of the 157 pitches Watanabe threw in the bullpen on Wednesday, about fifty were the change.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/7/2013, Sponichi 2/27/2013

The Marines had the day off today.

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Saburo and Masato Watanabe visited Ryukyu Shinju on their day off today and got a hands on demonstration on how cultured pearls are made.

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With support from Bunka Hoso, Shunsuke Watanabe has decided to sponsor Tasukeai Seats to all seventy home games this year.

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Today was the last day of the second block of spring camp.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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Saburo was excused from practices today after he was diagnosed with acute gastritis.

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1st round draft pick Takahiro Fujioka and 2nd round draft pick Yuhei Nakaushiro will both be starting an intra-squad game on February 11.  They are both expected to toss three innings.

Nikkan Sports reports that the Softbank Hawks are looking into potential free agents Kazuyuki Hoashi (currently with Seibu) and Shunsuke Watanabe (currently with Lotte) in case they can't sign retain either, or both, Toshiya Sugiuchi (domestic FA) and Tsuyoshi Wada (international FA).

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Yesterday's intra-squad game:

The reds beat the whites, 6-5.

Yuki Karakawa started for the reds and threw 2 shutout innings while giving up 1 hit.  Of the 30 pitches Karakawa threw, 4 where shutos (all were thrown in the second inning and the one hit he gave up was off a shuto as well).  It was the first time in about 9 months that Karakawa threw the shuto.

Tadahito Iguchi started at second and batted 3rd for the reds.  He went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

===== 2/18 @ 10:40pm

The Marines have intra-squad games scheduled on the 21st and 22nd.

===== 2/18 @ 8:29pm

Shunsuke Watanabe threw 66 pitches in the bullpen today.  Watanabe will probably get a chance to pitch during an intra-squad game some time during the next block of camp.

===== 2/18 @ 3:44pm

Yoshihisa Naruse threw 112 pitches in the bullpen today.  Naruse was originally planning to throw about 50-60 pitches but kept going because he wasn't satisfied with the session.

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The Marines have apparently narrowed down their list of potential compensation picks from the Hanshin Tigers to two pitchers (down from 2 pitches and 1 position player).  There's still a possibility the team could decide on money only compensation, but in either case, the team will try to come up with a final decision by sometime around the 22nd or 23rd.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Hayden Penn struggled with his control during his situational BP outing today and walked 3 of the 6 batters he faced.  For Penn it was his first situational BP outing this spring.

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Shunsuke Watanabe faced 7 batters during situational BP (where every batter started with a 1-1 count) today and gave up 1 hit and struck out 2.

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Makoto Imaoka returned to Ishigaki today.  Imaoka had returned to Tokyo because of back pains but returned to Ichi-gun camp today.  Imaoka did not work out with the main group today and instead worked out under a separate training menu.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/8 @ 11:13pm

Nikkan Sports reports that Omine threw 53 pitches during his bullpen session today and that he also had a video camera recording the entire session.

Said Omine, "I thought it might be nice to see how different my balance was during good pitches and bad pitches, that's why I recorded the session.  I do think I'm doing better than before."

===== 2/8 @ 6:37pm

Yuta Omine tossed 50 pitches in the bullpen today.  Omine later told reporters that his finger was fine (tightness in his right ring finger) and that it wasn't like he couldn't pitch at all to begin with.  He also added that he wanted to do more pitching during the third block of camp.

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Shunsuke Watanabe made an appearance during BP today and threw 92 pitches.  His goal for the outing was to focus on throwing to the inside corner against left-handed batters.  He later told reporters he had a hard time working toward his goal since he was pitching against his teammates.

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A little more on Yoshihisa Naruse's 234-pitch day yesterday:

During BP, he threw his first 25 pitches with the catcher standing.  Then, beginning with Tomoya Satozaki, he had the catcher sit for the next 83 pitches.  He then went to the bullpen to throw another 126.

He gave up 16 could-be hits during BP.

During BP, he threw sliders and curves.  When he went to the bullpen, he threw change-ups.

Said Naruse, "My goal for today was to throw once I got tired.  I was still throwing decent pitches towards the end.  Overall, it wasn't a bad day."

He actually wanted to stop at 222, but went over that without realizing.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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The Marines Ni-gun roster has the day off today.

===== 2/6 @ 1:48am

Five pitchers, including Kazunori Yamamoto and Kodai Matsumoto,  made appearances as BP pitchers today.

Matsumoto threw about 89 pitches and faced Naotaka Takehara, Hisao Heiuchi, Omatsu, and Kiyota.

===== 2/5 @ 11:33pm

Shunsuke Watanabe threw 122 pitches in the bullpen today (TV, neo Sports).

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Shoitsu Omatsu took 26 swings during BP today.  For his last 6 swings, Omatsu swung at full power and hit 4 over the fence.

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Ikuhiro Kiyota took 32 swings and collected 12 could-be hits during BP today -- he also worked on hitting the ball to he opposite field.

===== 2/5 @ 7:03pm

Yuta Omine felt tightness in his right ring finger and didn't do any throwing today.  Omine's scheduled appearance as a BP pitcher was also scratched today.

Said Omine, "I could probably throw if I wanted to, but I won't today.  I think I'll be ok tomorrow."