=== 11:35pm JST

...After visiting nearby Sayama Fudoji to pray for a successful victory on Friday, the Lions held a full-squad practice.  Takeya Nakamura is projected to be starting at third and batting clean-up.

Hisanori Watanabe told reporters that he initially doubted Nakamura's ability to come back so soon and added that he was a tough player to knock out.  Watanabe sounded confident he'll be fine on defense.

=== 4:00pm JST

...Talk about a gamer: seems like Takeya Nakamura could be in the starting lineup (at third batting cleanup) on opening day.  Nakamura worked out with the Ichi-gun team on Thursday and took some grounders without any difficulties.  It was less than 2 weeks ago that Nakamura fouled a pitch off his face and suffered a bone fracture in the right orbital floor.

...The Lions held a meeting after general practice on Thursday to go over their notes on Chiba Lotte Marine players.  Of particular interest to the Lions was how to handle newcomer Tae-Gyun Kim.  Seems like they may have turned to Kim's at bats against Yu Darvish on the 13th for some ideas.

...The Eastern League (Ni-gun) season begins on the 20th for the Lions.  Ichi-gun level pitchers Ming-Chieh Hsu, Fumiya Nishiguchi, and Kazuhisa Ishii will likely start the season opener against Yomiuri.  That means Yusei Kikuchi's first start official Ni-gun start of the year won't come at least until the 23rd.  Kikuchi also won't be traveling with the team for the season opener.  Said pitching coach Kazuyoshi Ono, "He needs to focus on his practice sessions.  All the attention will just be a distraction (if he goes)."

...Kazuhisa Ishii started an Ikusei League game against Yakult on Wednesday.  His final line: 5 IP, 93 NP, 7 H,  4 BB, 6 R.  Said Ishii, "The results don't matter.  [What does matter is] how the batters were reacting to the fork.  I think it's a pitch that I'll be able to use during the season."

Ishii's first regular season start could come against the Softbank Hawks at Seibu Dome on 3/31.

...Yusei Kikuchi worked with former Lions' manager Tatsuro Hirooka for about 30 minutes after his outing on the Wednesday.  It was also decided that Kikuchi will be a part of the Ni-gun starting rotation.

=== 9:39pm JST

...Takeya Nakamura played in an Ikusei League game on Wednesday and went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs, including a home run in his second at bat.  His other hit was a single to left with runners on first and third and one out.  Nakamura will be rejoining the Ichi-gun roster for general practice on Thursday.

=== 7:00pm JST

...It seems Ginjiro has decided not to have surgery on his left knee, despite the chance that surgery might have been his best option.

...The 6th pitcher in the rotation will be Ming-Chieh Hsu.  His first start during the regular season will likely be against the Nippon Ham Fighters on 4/4.

...Yusei Kikuchi is trying to get back to the way he pitched last season when he had a 0.68 ERA over 40 innings (5 games) as Hanamaki Higashi's ace.

...Former Seibu manager Osamu Higashio will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day (3/20 vs Chiba Lotte Marines).

...Yusei Kikuchi toss a semi-simulated game in the bullpen on Monday and threw 84 pitches.  For 40 of the pitches, pitching coach Kazuyoshi Ono stood in the batter's box and pretended to be 8 batters: 3 walks and 5 strike outs.  Kikuchi also threw 15 pitches from the set position.

...Takeya Nakamura took 73 swings during BP on Monday and hit 5 over the fence.  Nakamura appears to be pushing for some playing time during Wednesday's Ikusei Gam against the Yakult Swallows.

...Ginjiro is in the process of deciding whether to have surgery on his left knee on the 17th, or try to rehab it without any surgery.

... Takayuki Kishi's goal during Monday's game against the Orix Buffaloes was to work on throwing his change.  To that end, he ended up throwing 23 change-ups out of a total 100 pitches.

...Dee Brown collected three hits during Monday's practice game against the Orix Buffaloes.

=== 10:39pm JST

...Notes from Monday's practice game against the Orix Buffaloes:

Takayuki Kishi started the game and went 7 innings while giving up a run.  He tossed a no hitter through three; allowed the lead-off runners to reach in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings; and gave up an RBI double to Takahiro Okada in the 7th.

Dee Brown hit a solo home run in the second.

Masahiro Abe started at third and batted second.  He hit a home run in the 8th inning with a runner on second.

The Lions beat the Buffaloes, 7-2.

...Hisanobu Watanabe told reporters that he currently plans on having Takeya Nakamura on the opening day rosters.  Whether or not he plays, is another story.

...Bad news.  Ginjiro visited a Tokyo hospital for an MRI on Monday and was diagnosed with damage in his left meniscus (左内側半月板損傷).  According to the chief trainer, he's expected to miss a few months.

=== 4:49pm JST

...Hiroyuki Nakajima fouled a ball off his right foot during Sunday's game against the Chunichi Dragons.  As a precaution, the team held him out of Monday's practice game against the Orix Buffaloes.  Hisanobu Watanabe told reporters that Nakajima wanted to play and that there's really nothing to be worried about.

...Yusei Kikuchi threw 144 pitches in a bullpen session on Sunday.  And Takeya Nakamura stood in the batter's box for the final 20 pitches of the session.  Over the last four days, Kikuchi has been working on "resetting" his delivery to what he used back in high school.  He told reporters that things have been going well so far and that he's in the final stages of the reset.

It was confirmed during a staff meeting on Sunday that Kikuchi will begin the year at Ni-gun.  His next appearance could during an Ikusei League game on the 17th.

=== 9:40pm JST

...Kazuyuki Hoashi threw his new pitch, a pitch that moves like a shuto and drops, during his outing against the Chunichi Dragons on Sunday.  One of them was hit for a home run by Kazuhiro Wada.

=== 4:55pm JST

...Takeya Nakamura rejoined the Ichi-gun team on Saturday and took some soft toss BP.  Nakamura told reporters that while he isn't worried about his eyesight at this point, he is still concerned about his field of vision.  Still no word on whether he'll be ready for opening day, but Hisanori Watanabe did tell reporters that there was no reason for him to rush a return just for opening day.

...Prior to Sunday's game, G.G. Sato was 13-for-27 with 3 home runs.  On Sunday, G.G. Sato went 0-for-3 with a SF and a SO.

...Hideaki Wakui started 15 of 25 batters off with first pitch strikes during his start on Saturday.  Over the course of his three outings, 34 of 51 batters.

In other news, Wakui will be opening up his first official home page on the 16th.

...The Lions held a ceremony to introduce their newest members prior to Saturday's exhibition game against the Chunichi Dragons.  Yusei Kikuchi got a nice round of applause from the fans when his name was announced.

=== 10:01pm JST

...The Lions hit three home runs off the Chunichi Dragons on Saturday: 3-run homer by Hisashi Takayama in the 4th; 2-run homer by G.G. Sato in the 6th; and a solo homer by Tatsuyuki Uemoto in the 8th.

...G.G. Sato and Takumi Kuriyama have likely nailed down left and center, respectively.  That means right field is still open.

...A list of Hideaki Wakui's exhibition game outings:

3/13 vs Chunichi Dragons: 7 IP, 25 BF, 112 NP, 3 H, 7 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER

3/7 vs Hanshin Tigers: 4 IP, 14 BF, 65 NP, 1 H, 5 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, ER

2/28 vs Yomiuri Giants: 3 IP, 12 BF, 38 NP, 3 H, 4 SO, 1 BB, 3 R, 3 ER

...The Lions may have given up three hits to Tae-Gyun Kim during Friday's game against Chiba Lotte Marines, but no matter, since they were apparently testing him out.

=== 4:37pm JST

...Yusei Kikuchi threw 27 sliders during BP on Friday; none went for hits and he threw 7 for balls.

Hisanobu Watanabe told reporters that if Kikuchi does indeed pitch in an Ikusei League game on the 17th, he plans on going to watch.

...The triple play the Lions turned on Friday against the Chiba Lotte Marines was the first in nine years for exhibition play.

...The Lions announced on Friday that they will be selling four lunch boxes "produced by" Hiroyuki Nakajima, Takeya Nakamura, Yasuyuki Kataoka, and Takumi Kuriyama during their opening day game against the Chiba Lotte Marines on the 20th.  The four lunch boxes will come with a limited edition player card and the containers themselves will also be reusable.  Each box will sell for 1,500 yen.

=== 10:51pm JST

...A DVD chronicling Hiroyuki Nakajima's progress from childhood to the present day (Japanese title: 中島裕之　進化する若獅子　背番号３) will hit store shelves on 4/16.  He will become the first Seibu player to get his own DVD published.

...More on Yusei Kikuchi's BP session: of the 97 pitches he threw, 23 were balls; he threw 35 pitches from the set position; and he also held a bullpen session afterward and threw an addition 103 pitches.

And according to advice Kikuchi received from Kimiyasu Kudo, the best way to get your body to memorize something is to repeat the motion at least 3000 times.  To that end, Kikuchi threw 300 "shadow pitches" in his dorm room before going to bed the previous day -- he's hoping to hit 3000 in 10 days.

...The Lions turned a triple play in the 8th inning against the Chiba Lotte Marines on Friday.  With runners on first and second and no out, third baseman Hiroshi Hirao made a nice grab of a ball down the third base line that almost got through.  From there he stepped on third and then threw to second.  Takuya Hara kept the play going by throwing the ball over to first.

Hirao hit into a triple play last year on 4/23 against the Orix Buffaloes.

=== 5:06pm JST

...The Seibu Lions will be lifting their ban on jet balloons this season, beginning on the 13th during an exhibition game against the Chunichi Dragons at Seibu Dome.

...Kazuhisa Ishii told reporters after his outing on Thursday that he'd like to try and win as many games as Takayuki Kishi this season.

...Yusei Kikuchi apparently plans on reverting his pitching delivery back to what he used while in high school.  Kikuchi sat down with Ni-gun pitching coach Kazuyoshi Ono and watched footage of Kikuchi pitching last year in high school and Kikuchi pitching against the Yomiuri Giants on the 9th.  They're collective conclusion?  His high school form was better (specifically, how much he cocks his arm).

For some reason, I can't help but think that this could have easily been avoided, that is, the change-over to a new form to be begin with.

On Thursday, Kikuchi threw a 176 pitches in a bullpen session on Thursday, establishing a new pro career high.  He also met long-distance runner Naoko Takahashi (currently working as a sports reporters for TBS' The News), most likely for an interview.

On Friday, Kikuchi tossed 97 pitches to Ryo Sakata, Shogo Sato, and Masaru Misawa during BP and gave up 9 could-be hits.

Kikuchi's next outing will be against the Yakult Swallows in an Ikusei League game on the 17th.

=== 3/12/2010 1:30am JST

...It's obviously much too early to say anything definitive, but Takumi Kuriyama has done admirably since moving into the clean-up spot:

3/7: 2-for-3, RBI, SO

3/10: 3-for-5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, DP

3/11: 2-for-5, R, 2 SO

=== 7:18am JST

...Takeya Nakamura played some catch and also took some batting practice on Wednesday.  In all, he spent about 10 minutes practice swinging the bat and then lightly hitting some grounders.  He told reporters that he didn't feel any pain but wasn't sure if he'd be ready for the start of the season.  Based on how things are right now, Nakamura will likely begin soft-toss BP at some point in the  near future.

...Yusei Kikuchi was happy when he heard that Daisuke Matsuzaka wished he could teach Kikuchi how to pitch out of the set position.  And with that, Kikuchi has decided to go back to watching footage of Matsuzaka from his first two years to see if he can pick-up any hints on what to do.

Kikuchi actually studied footage from Matsuzaka's first two seasons when he first joined the club -- he asked the Lions to make DVDs containing the footage.

It seems Matsuzaka also sent Kikuchi a lengthy letter through the media.  Sponichi has a copy of it.

...Ginjiro apparently had an MRI on his left leg on Monday but the results came back inconclusive due to excessive swelling.  Moving forward, Ginjiro will likely work on his upper body as his lower body recovers.

...Takayuki Kishi threw 37 pitches in a bullpen session on Tuesday at the indoor training facilities at Nagoya Stadium.