Kazuhisa Makita and Fumiya Nishiguchi worked out at Seibu 2 Stadium on Monday.  Both are scheduled to pitch in Tuesday's Ni-gun game against the Yomiuri Giants.

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The Lions decided on Sunday to send 1st round draft pick Ken Togame and 2nd round draft pick Hirotaka Koishi to Ni-gun for more work.  Randy Williams will also begin the year at Ni-gun.

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Takayuki Kishi's first regular season start could come on April 1 against the Nippon Ham Fighters at Sapporo Dome.

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The Lions will host a special day for Kimiyasu Kudo on April 7.

Today's Ni-gun game against the Nippon Ham Fighters, at Seibu 2 Stadium: Takayuki Kishi started the game and allowed a run on two hits over an inning of work.  He threw a total twelve pitches. [Daily Sports]

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Takayuki Kishi started a Ni-gun game against the Nippon Ham Fighters today.  For Kishi (coming back from tightness in his back), it was his first outing since he pitched in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants on March 4.

Kishi's next outing will be against the Yakult Swallows on March 25 (Ichi-gun exhibition game).

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The Lions announced today that former manager Haruki Ihara will take part in a talk session before their game against the Orix Buffaloes at Omiya Stadium on April 14.

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The Lions decided to demote Yusei Kikuchi on Monday.  He is scheduled to start a Ni-gun game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on Wednesday.

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Nikkan Sports notes that the starting rotation, as it currently stands, will be made up for Hideaki Wakui, Fumiya Nishiguchi, Kazuhisa Makita, 1st round draft pick Ken Togame, Kazuhisa Ishii, and Kishi.  However, due to the schedule at the start of the season, the Lions will most likely start things off with a five-man rotation.

The Seibu Lions held a press conference for Shigenobu Shima at Seibu Dome today.  He was also assigned the number 42.

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Takeya Nakamura has been testing a few bats of different weights (between 920 grams and 940 grams) since spring camp.  He used a 930 gram bat on Tuesday.

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Yusei Kikuchi has been dropping his left elbow down and opening up too early.  And while he is getting getting extra looks at Ichi-gun because the team is concerned about Takayuki Kishi's right flank problems, there is no set timetable on when he will pitch at the Ichi-gun level again.

Takayuki Kishi took part in pre-game practices today (playing catch, running) and told reporters that the pain in his right flank was improving.  There is, however, no set date for his return -- the team does not want to rush him back.

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The Lions are planning to have Takashi Uchiyama (boxer) throw out the ceremonial first pitch before their home opener on April 3.

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The Lions announced the start of the Lions Child Foundation.

Takayuki Kishi felt some discomfort in his back today and will be scratched from his exhibition game start against the Yokohama Bay Stars at Yokohama on Sunday.

"[Kishi] injured his flank around this time last year and missed some time.  We will not push him until the discomfort goes away," said Hisanobu Watanabe.

The chief trainer told reporters that Kishi is feeling discomfort in a different area than last year and that he will likely be ok after skipping one start.

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Fumiya Nishiguchi (coming back from the flu) is scheduled to re-join the Ichi-gun roster on Monday.  After that, he could start a game as early as March 14 (vs Hiroshima at Seibu Dome).

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According to Sponichi, the Lions have three closer candidates: Enrique Gonzalez, Randy Williams, and Micheal Nakamura.  Gonzalez is thought to be the front-runner because he actually closed out games last year at winter ball while the other two did not (although they do have experience).

The Lions arrived in Kochi today from Miyazaki and held a two hour workout at Kochi Haruno Baseball Stadium.  The team will will remain in Kochi through to March 1.

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Takayuki Kishi is scheduled to start Saturday's game against the Orix Buffaloes.

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The Ni-gun Lions had the day off today.

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Today was the last day of the second block of spring camp for the Ichi-gun Lions.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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Potential candidates for the starting rotation: Hideaki Wakui, Takayuki Kishi, Fumiya Nishiguchi, Kazuhisa Ishii, Kazuhisa Makita, Yusei Kikuchi, Tatsuya Oishi, 1st round draft pick Ken Togame, and 2nd round draft pick Hirotaka Koishi.

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.

===== 2/6 @ 10:45pm

Tatsuya Oishi (1st round) threw 103 pitches in the bullpen today.  He also had Hisanobu Watanabe stand in the batter's box for his last 8 pitches.

===== 2/16 @ 2:40pm

Takayuki Kishi threw 70 pitches in the bullpen yesterday (sitting down; he also had the catcher move back about 2 meters at one point).  The Lions are hoping Kishi will be ready to toss an inning in relief at some point before the end of the month.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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

===== 2/5 @ 11:26pm

The Lions started using the new NPB baseball today during batting practice.  Takeya Nakamura told reporters that he didn't think the new baseball felt that much different than what was previously used.  Nakamura stayed back after general practice today to work on his hitting.

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Takayuki Kishi threw 52 pitches in the bullpen today (Kishi had the catcher stand about 5 meters further behind the plate than usual).  For Kishi, it was his first bullpen session during spring camp -- he's been taking it easy during spring camp due to the right shoulder problems he had last season.

===== 2/5 @ 6:51pm

Tatsuya Oishi (1st round) told reporters during his day off yesterday that he wanted to focus on solidifying his mechanics and working on his off-speed pitches.  He also didn't seem to be in a hurry to pitch in practice games, saying that he wanted to get a feel for his pitches (specifically his off-speed pitches) first.

Said Oishi, "I've only thrown the curve during games of catch.  My control over it isn't very good so I want to get a better feel for it in the bullpen, and then maybe face some live hitters during the middle of the third block."

Oishi threw 57 pitches in the bullpen today (squatting catcher), including 7 curves.

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Hiroyuki Nakajima moved a Power Plate into his hotel room yesterday.  Nakajima started using the Power Plate in March last year and found that it helped with his flexibility.  He apparently has one at home and one at his parent's home as well.