Nippon Ham Fighters

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani will be making an appearance in the next issue of Abusan (serialized by Shogakukan's Big Comic Original).

Source: Sanspo 6/18/2013

Seibu Lions

Hisanobu Watanabe plans to use Chris Carter as either a DH or a bat off the bench.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/18/2013

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Hideto Asamura will most likely continue to bat fourth when regular league play resumes on the 21st.

Source: Sponichi 6/18/2013

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Cerberus Capital Management's Louis Forster reiterated at a press conference in Tokyo today that they will not submit a propsal to Seibu Holdings to sell off the Seibu Lions.

"As we have said many times before, no.  We will not propose [a sale].  It is regrettable that this has caused so much concern in the local community," said Forster.

Source: Daily Sports 6/18/2013

Softbank Hawks

Sadaharu Oh told reporters the other day that the organization had no plans to sign another foreign player during the current season.  Trades remain a possibility.

Source: Sponichi 6/18/2013

Rakuten Eagles

The Eagles may not give Masahiro Tanaka another start until June 25 (vs Seibu at Seibu Dome) because they may want to give him two starts during a nine-game stretch that begins on July 9.

Source: Sponichi 6/18/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

Daichi Suzuki will be appearing on team posters for July.  If he does well in July, the team might invite Olympic gold medalist Daichi Suzuki (Seoul, 100 meter backstroke) to toss out a ceremonial first pitch.  Suzuki was named after the gold medalist.

Source: Sanspo 6/18/2013

Nippon Ham Fighters

Yuki Saito faced two hitters and threw forty-nine pitches during live batting practice on Sunday.  He is currently scheduled to start a game against the Futures on the 22nd (one to two innings).

Source: Sports Hochi 6/17/2013

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Hideki Kuriyama recorded the 100th managerial victory of his career in his 203rd game on Sunday.  Previous Nippon Ham managers: Masataka Nashida (2008-2011) picked up win 100 in his 189th game (excludes Kintetsu victories) and Trey Hillman (2003-2007) notched his 100th victory in his 222nd game.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/17/2013

Softbank Hawks

Nobuhiro Matsuda extended his hitting streak to nineteen games on Sunday.  The franchise reocord of twenty-eight games was set by Tony Bernazard in 1988.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/17/2013

Rakuten Eagles

Over his career, Masahiro Tanaka is 50-17 at Kleenex Stadium and 34-18 everywhere else.  He has faced four former Koshien tournament winning pitchers seven times and is 6-0.  The four are: Kazuki Kondo, Kentaro Nishimura, Yuki Saito, and Shintaro Fujinami.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/17/2013

Tanaka also became the fifth pitcher since the start of the draft to record at least one shutout victory in seven consecutive seasons, beginning with his rookie year.  The other four: Keishi Suzuki (1966-1980), Tsuneo Horiuchi (1966-1978), Yutaka Enatsu (1967-1976), and Yu Darvish (2005-2011).

Source: Sponichi 6/17/2013

He recently changed his intro music to Momoiro Clover Z's DNA Rhapsody.

Source: Sanspo 6/17/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

Alpinist and environmental activist Ken Noguchi is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on the 23rd (vs Nippon Ham at QVC Marine).  He will also spend some time picking up garbage in the areas around the stadium after the game.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/17/2013

Orix Buffaloes

The Buffaloes are thinking about opening contract extension talks with Dae-Ho Lee during the season.  Lee is currently in the second year of a two-year deal and the front office does not want to risk losing one of their best hitters.

Source: Sanpso 6/17/2013

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Takashi Kamoshida picked up the first Ichi-gun victory of his career on Sunday in his twelfth year in the pros.  That tied Akira Matsumoto for second most number of years required to record a win.  Kiyotaka Nishi holds the NPB record at thirteen years.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/17/2013

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Kei Igawa had been fighting off a cold since May 21 and was under the weather for his last three Ichi-gun starts (1-1, 2.76 ERA).  He participated in workouts at Hotto Motto Kobe today and told reporters that he was finally feeling better.

Source: Daily Sports 6/17/2013

Nippon Ham Fighters

Hideki Kuriyama recorded the 100th managerial victory of his career today.  The win came in his 203rd game.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/16/2013

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Atsunori Inaba became the thirty-ninth player in NPB history to reach 1,000 runs scored on Saturday.  He also tied Shigeo Nagashima for seventh on the all-time doubles list with 418.

At forty years and ten months, Inaba is the oldest to reach the 1,000 runs scored milestone.

Source: Sanspo 6/16/2013

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1st round draft pick Shohei Otani took batting practice and tossed twenty-one pitches in the bullpen before today's game against Hiroshima.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/16/2013

Otani became the first rookie drafted out of high school to bat third in an Ichi-gun game (starting line-up, not late inning replacement) since Hideki Matsui in 1993 (CL) and Kazuhiro Kiyohara in 1986 (PL).  The last in franchise history was Isao Harimoto in 1959.

Matsui batted third in twenty-five games in 1993, Kiyohara in sixteen games, and Harimoto in three games.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/16/2013

Softbank Hawks

The Japan Life-Style Culture Association presented Nobuhiro Matsuda with their Best Proud Father Award in Professional Baseball (Pacific League) today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/16/2013

Rakuten Eagles

Masahiro Tanaka set a new franchise record by starting the season off with a nine-game winning streak.

Source: Daily Sports 6/16/2013

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Ken Ray tossed a bullpen session in front of the coaches during pre-game practices today.  The Eagles have not yet decided if they will use Ray as a starter or reliever.

Source: Daily Sports 6/15/2013, Sponichi 6/16/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

The Marines set a new franchise record on Saturday for longest game played at five hours and forty-four minutes.  The previous record was a five hour and forty-two minute game against Seibu at Seibu Dome on July 2, 2009.

Source: Sports Hochi 6/16/2013, Daily Sports 6/16/2013, Sponichi 6/16/2013

It was also the second longest game in Inter-league history, behind a five hour and fifty-three minute Yokohama-Nippon Ham game at Sapporo Dome on June 14, 2007 (includes an eleven minute interruption).

Source: Sponichi 6/16/2013

The Softbank Hawks announced today that they topped the one million mark in attendance in their thirty-second game of the season.  They are the first team in the Pacific League to reach the milestone this season.

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Attendance

Softbank Hawks

Kenji Otonari will undergo surgical treatment for the ossification of yellow ligament on the 21st (two sections in the ligaments near his spine).  He will require a ten-day hospital stay after the surgery and will most likely need four to five months for a full recovery.

A team trainer told reporters that he was informed Otonari might be able to start throwing again three months after the surgery.

Source: Sponichi 6/16/2013, Sports Hochi 6/16/2013

Rakuten Eagles

The media learned on Saturday that Yoshinao Kamata hurt his right elbow back in May.  According to reports, started feeling some discomfort in his right elbow a few days before he made a Ni-gun start against Seibu on May 21.  He was shut down after an examination revealed a possible stress fracture.  There was some concern since he suffered a similar injury in the same general area two years ago, but fortunately, there were no signs of inflammation during a follow-up examination on the 13th.  He started playing catch on the 14th.  Assuming no setbacks, he should be able to pitch in a game some time in July.

Source: Sports Hochi 6/16/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

Tomoya Satozaki (right shoulder) is scheduled to rejoin the Ichi-gun team for practices on the 19th.  Seth Greisinger (right upper arm) is slated to return to the Ichi-gun team on the 21st.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/16/2013

Yomiuri Giants vs Softbank Hawks @ YafuOku Dome - 13:00
Starters: Utsumi, Tetsuya (YOM) 4-3, 3.10 - Yamada, Hiroki (SOF) 3-2, 2.93

Attendance: 38561 | Time: 3h2m | Series tied, 2-2-0

(continue reading...)

Nippon Ham Fighters

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani's next start after the 18th (vs Hiroshima at Mazda Stadium) will most likely come on seven day of rest on the 26th against Softbank at Tokyo Dome.

Beginning in July, the rotation will include Masaru Takeda, Mitsuo Yoshikawa, Brian Wolfe, Hiroshi Kisanuki, Keisuke Tanimoto and a sixth, as of yet undecided, starter.  Candidates could include Masaru Nakamura and Bobby Keppel.

Source: Sponichi 6/15/2013

Softbank Hawks

Nobuhiko Matsunaka was apparently not happy that he was called on as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning against Yakult on Thursday because he was told, at least once, sometime before the 5th inning, that he would not be used in the game.

"I was told I would not play so I had to go in cold.  During my seventeen years as a professional player, I have made it a point to make sure I am properly prepared.  That was something I did not want to concede [at the time] and I reacted.  I was prepared the suffer the consequences. ... I am sorry for spoiling the moment," said Matsunaka.

He phoned Koji Akiyama on Thursday night to apologize and left a note to his teammates on a whiteboard after gathering his things at YafuOku Dome on Friday.  His demotion to Ni-gun will be for an indefinite amount of time.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/15/2013

Daily Sports adds that Matsunaka was actually preparing himself for a possible late-inning appearance early during the game, but stopped for one reason or another after the 5th.  The message he wrote on the whiteboard: "I am sorry for spoiling the Inter-league championship.  Please continue to do your best to win a league championship."

Source: Daily Sports 6/15/2013

Matsunaka also posted a brief apology on his blog.

Source: blog post

Yomiuri Giants vs Softbank Hawks @ YafuOku Dome - 18:00
Starters: Sugano, Tomoyuki (YOM) 6-2, 2.65 - Padilla, Vicente (SOF) 2-2, 3.64

Attendance: 38561 | Time: 2h33m | Softbank leads series, 2-1-0

(continue reading...)

Softbank Hawks

The Hawks won their fourth Inter-league championship on Thursday by clinching first place.  Koji Akiyama moved into sole possession of first for most Inter-league championships (2009, 2011, 2012).

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/14/2013

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka entered Thursday's game against Yakult as a pinch-hitter in the 8th and hit a single to center, but was not present at the post-game championship ceremony.  The team tried to get him to participate, but apparently unsatisfied with his playing time, he declined and left the stadium.  Akiyama was not happy about Matsunaka skipping the ceremony and decided to demote the veteran.

3rd round draft pick Tomoki Takata will likely be called up in Matsunaka's place.  He joined the Ichi-gun team for workouts at YafuOku Dome today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/14/2013, Nikkan Sports 6/14/2013, Nikkan Sports 6/14/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

Yuki Karakawa complained of an injury to his right middle finger nail after the 4th inning of today's game against Yokohama.  Despite the problem, he managed to pitch six full innings.

Source: Sports Hochi 6/14/2013

Orix Buffaloes

Today's Ni-gun game against Softbank:

Alessandro Maestri started the game and gave up one run on six hits over six innings of work.  He also topped out at 148km/h.  Source: Nikkan Sports 6/14/2013 ... Takahiro Okada started at first and batted fourth.  He went 1-for-3 with two walks.  Source: Nikkan Sports 6/14/2013

Kenji Otonari had his lower back examined at a Fukuoka hospital on Thursday and after discussing things with the Softbank Hawks, decided to opt for back surgery.  There is still no timetable for his return, but he will likely require about a year for a full recovery.

Otonari told reporters that the problem was not so much his lower back, but the loss of sensation in his legs.  He decided on the surgery after having his back examined at a number of hospitals.

While a diagnosis has not been revealed to the media yet, Otanari might be suffering from a pinched nerve due to a tight ligament near his lower back.  It could also be a case of ossification of the yellow ligament.

Source: Daily Sports 6/14/2013

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UPDATE 6/15 @ 8:46pm -

Otonari is scheduled to go under the knife on the 21st.  He will be hospitalized for ten days after the surgery.  It could take four to five months for a fully recovery. There is a good chance he will miss the rest of the season.

Source: Daily Sports 6/15/2013, Nikkan Sports 6/15/2013