Tetsuya Utsumi made his third career opening day start and suffered his first career opening day loss.

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According to Sanspo and Sponichi, the Giants suffered their first ever opening day shutout loss.  Sponichi adds that it was also the first time they were limited to just two hits on opening day (the previous low was three hits); and the first time they were retired twenty-five consecutive times without a hit (the previous high was twenty-one outs before recording their first hit).

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The Giants announced on Friday that they will once again donate ten times the total number of fans that attend games at Tokyo Dome this season to relief efforts in northern Japan.  They drew 2,568,589 in attendance at sixty-three Tokyo Dome games last season and donated 25,685,890 yen.

Tetsuya Utsumi's start was rained out today.  He will pitch on Saturday.  Yuya Kubo is also slated to pitch on Saturday.

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Shuichi Murata told reporters today that he was looking forward to playing against his former team, the Yokohama Bay Stars, at Yokohama on Saturday, even though he might get booed.

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Tatsunori Hara is planning to replace full-team preparation meetings with individual player meetings -- since the CL will be going with starting pitcher announcements this year, prep meetings can be more focused.

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The Giants announced today that they set up an investigation committee to look into the document leak that led to six players being outed by Asahi Shimbun.

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Head coach Kaoru Okazaki told reporters on Thursday that the line-up the team used on Wednesday will most likely be the one they go with during the regular season (at least, a version based on it).

The line-up from Wednesday: Hayato Sakamoto (SS), John Bowker (LF), Hisayoshi Chono (CF), Murata (3B), Yoshinobu Takahashi (RF), Shinnosuke Abe (C), Michihiro Ogasawara (1B), Yoshitomo Tani (DH), Takayuki Terauchi (2B).

====== UPDATE 3/24 @ 12:28am

To clarify, the investigation committee was not necessarily set up to find out who was behind the document leak, but to review current policy on how the team handles documents with players and to ensure that private documents remain private moving forward.

The Giants held a pep rally at a hotel in Tokyo on Thursday.  About two hundred people attended.  And Tatsunori Hara announced that Tetsuya Utsumi will be the opening day starter.

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Hirokazu Sawamura's workouts at Giants Stadium on Thursday included running and long distance throwing (about 100 meters).

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Ryosuke Miyaguni worked out at Giants Stadium on Thursday.  He will likely pitch against the Oakland A's on March 25.

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Shuichi Murata and Shinnosuke Abe are still competing for the clean-up spot in the line-up.

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Shun Tono has not allowed a run in any of the four exhibition games he has pitched in (12 IP, 7 H, 5 BB, 10 SO).

D.J. Houlton was hit on the right hand by a come-backer to the mound in the 3rd inning of today's game against the Hiroshima Carp.  He was taken to the hospital for an examination and was diagnosed with a contusion on the back of his right hand.  There was no damage to the bones.

The injury does not appear to be serious but he will most likely skip his next outing.

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Scott Mathieson started a Kyoiku League game against the Rakuten Eagles today and did not allow a run or a hit over three innings of work.  He did walk two, hit one, and strikeout one.  His also topped out at 150km/h.

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The 2011 draft class greeted fans at the entrance gates at Tokyo Dome before today's game.

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The Giants announced today that AKB48 will sing the National Anthem on Opening Day.

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According to Sanspo, Tetsuya Utsumi will be the opening day starter; Toshiya Sugiuchi will start the second game of the season.

Nikkan Sports and Sponichi also point to Utsumi as the opening day starter, but make no mention of Sugiuchi as being the number two starter.

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Sugiuchi became the first Giants' pitcher to take the mound at Tokyo Dome while wearing the number eighteen since Masumi Kuwata on April 13, 2006.

The practice game against the Yakult Swallows was canceled today because of the rain.

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Pro wrestler Tiger Mask visited Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha today and met with Tatsunori Hara.

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Tetsuya Utsumi could start Thursday's game against the LG Twins.

Hirokazu Sawamura could start an exhibition game against Lotte on February 26.

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John Bowker is trying to improve his English by watching NHK News in Japanese.

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Through Tuesday, Shuichi Murata was 5-for-10 with one homer and five RBI over three games.

====== UPDATE 2/23 @ 1:27am

Hara, GM Atsushi Harasawa, and players visited Okinogu Shrine in Ono Yama Koen before Tuesday's practice game.  The team was originally planning to visit the shrine on Monday but their plans were derailed when they experienced delays with their flight.

The Giants had the day off today.

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Tetsuya Utsumi and GM Atsushi Harasawa visited the Okinawa Peace Memorial Museum today.

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A number players, including Kentaro Nishimura, Satoshi Fukuda, Hirokazu Sawamura, Scott Mathieson, Michihiro Ogasawara, Yoshiyuki Kamei, John Bowker, Kazunari Sanematsu, and Taishi Ota, spent their day off working out at Cellular Stadium Naha today.

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Tatsunori Hara worked directly with Ota on his hitting after his abysmal 0-for-3 performance on Sunday that included a strikeout and a GIDP.

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About 100 people with connections to Itoman High School showed their support for Ryosuke Miyaguni by attending Sunday's game against the Hanshin Tigers.  His parents and sister were also in the stands.

Miyaguni's next outing will come on either February 25 (vs DeNA) or February 26 (vs Lotte).

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Shuichi Murata stayed back after general workouts for extra fielding practice today -- he took his spot at third base while others took extra batting practice.

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The NPB held a lecture on doping at the Ni-gun player hotel before practices today.

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Norihito Kaneto and Hideki Sunaga worked out at Konohana Dome on Friday.  Their workouts included running and stretching.

Kaneto is expected to start Sunday's intra-squad game (three innings).  He also plans to test the curve he has been working on.

Sunaga has been working out at Ni-gun and was told by Yuya Kubo that he was opening up too quickly when pitching.

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Michihiro Ogasawara is expected to play in Sunday's intrad-squad game.  Yoshinobu Takahashi, Yoshinobu Tani, Shinnosuke Abe, and Murata will also most likely play in Sunday's game.

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Scott Mathieson told reporters on Friday that he might climb Mt. Fuji with his wife during the All-Star break.

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Former Rakuten Eagles' manager Katsuya Nomura is expected to visit spring camp on Sunday.

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The Ichi-gun Giants had the day off today.

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John Bowker and Scott Mathieson visited an eel restaurant on their day off today and ate eel for lunch.  They also had a chance to grab eels with their bare hands.

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Yuya Kubo will focus on his workouts/rehab and remain at Ni-gun spring camp for the rest of this month.

Kubo plans to toss one or two more bullpens during the current block, which ends on February 15.

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Tetsuya Utsumi wanted to throw 200 pitches during his bullpen session on Thursday but instead stopped at 161 pitches because he was feeling tired.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni is scheduled to pitch two innings during an intra-squad game on February 12.  He may also pitch an inning during an exhibition game against Hanshin on February 19.

Hirokazu Sawamura is scheduled to pitch in an intrad-squad game on February 14 and start an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers on February 19.

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Nikkan Sports figures the first four spots in the starting rotation will go to, in no particular order, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Utsumi, Sawamura, and D.J. Houlton.  The remaining two spots could go to Shun Tono, Dicky Gonzalez, or Miyaguni.

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The Yomiuri Giants announced today that they raised 8,947,208 yen through the online charity auction they held between December 11 and January 17.  The entire amount will be donated to relief efforts in northern Japan.

Top three uniforms:

• Autographed Tatsunori Hara uniform - 675,000 yen
• Autographed Yoshinobu Takahashi uniform - 648,000 yen
• Autographed Michihiro Ogasawara uniform - 543,000 yen

====== UPDATE 2/11 @ 2:07am

If Miyaguni does not pitch on February 12, he could pitch two innings during an intra-squad game on February 14.

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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.

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Today was the end of the first block of spring camp for the Ichi-gun Giants.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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The Giants attracted 18,000 fans on Saturday.

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Hirokazu Sawamura tossed batting practice today (only fastballs) and said his goal for the session was to throw at 50-60%.

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Shuichi Murata stayed back after general practices today and spent fifty minutes taking about 500 swings against a pitching machine.

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Yi-Hao Lin faced Yoshiyuki Kamei and Tetsuya Matsumoto during batting practice on Saturday and threw fifty-one pitches (all fastballs).  Kamei and Matsumoto combined to make solid contact just four times.

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Scott Mathieson is scheduled to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 16.