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NPB Commissioner Ryozo Kato visited the team today.

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The Giants received 1200kg of rice from JA Akita and 880 serviings of udon noodles from Sato Yosuke Shoten today.

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Masumi Hoshino faced Daisuke Fujimura and Taishi Ota during batting practice today and allowed five could-be hits on fifty-one pitches (mostly fastballs away).  Tatsunori Hara is hoping Hoshino can become an effective option out of the bullpen.

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Takayuki Takaguchi worked out with the Ichi-gun players on Saturday and took fielding practice at both short and second.  He also showed some power during batting practice.

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Takayuki Terauchi participated in the morning walk at Ni-gun today.  Terauchi felt some pain while throwing the ball during fielding practice on Friday but appears to be ok.

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Yuya Kubo (right hip) told reporters this morning that he was able to do some long distance throwing at a max distance of about 100 meters (although without much power since his range of motion is still limited).

On Saturday, Hara told reporters that he was still hopeful Kubo would be ready by opening day and that he still had the lead for the closer role.  When asked about Scott Mathieson, he said, "If I talk about Mathieson too much it might make Kubo worry/rush."

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Hisayoshi Chono has been teaching John Bowker some Japanese.

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Asuka Kuramochi (AKB48) visited the Giants on Friday for an article she is writing for the Shukan AKB48 Group Newspaper.

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The Giants started practice indoors today for the second time in as many days.  While the wind died down a bit since yesterday, the weather was still cold.

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Miyazaki Prefectural Governor Shunji Kono and Miyazaki mayor Tadashi Tojiki visited spring camp today and presented the team with Miyazaki beef, Miyazaki chicken, Miyazaki Hamayu pork, hyuganatsus (citrus fruit), kumquats, and strawberries.  Tatsunori Hara in turn gave the governor and mayor autographed uniforms.

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Hara told reporters today that he planned to select his opening day starter sometime in March.  He also said that there would probably be three candidates.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni left practices early today because he was not feeling well.  He was examined at a hospital and tests for the influenza virus came back negative.  His status for tomorrow's practices are currently up in the air.

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Daisuke Fujimura stayed back after general workouts today for extra fielding practice.

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Max winds in Miyazaki on Thursday reached 19.6m/s at around 10am.  All workouts, other than fielding practices, took place indoors.

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Pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi spoke to Scott Mathieson about possible balk problems when he pitched out of the stretch during his bullpen session on Thursday.

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Shuichi Murata will attempt to be more selective at the plate after his old college manager, Hiroshi Suzuki, suggested that if he walked more, he could bat .300 and hit 30 homers.

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Evening swing practices began on Thursday.  There were plans to hold the session outdoors but the bad weather moved things indoors.

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Adidas adipure training shoes will be making an appearance at Giants' spring camp.

=== UPDATE 2/4 @ 1:36am

The Giants invited the Miyazaki Police Department's Organized Crime Division to provide Ichi-gun players and coaches with a lecture on organized crimes today.

The Giants started their workouts indoors today because of strong wind and cold temperature.

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Shuichi Murata is going with the high sock look.

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Tatsunori Hara spent about five minutes giving Taishi Ota tips on hitting while watching Murata take BP on Wednesday (Hara was using Murata as a reference model).

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Shinnosuke Abe caught Ryosuke Miyaguni's bullpen session on Wednesday.

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Yakult Swallows

Head / pitching coach Daisuke Araki is thinking about three lefties (Masanori Ishikawa, Kyohei Muranaka, and Katsuki Akagawa) during their opening series against the Yomiuri Giants.

Yomiuri Giants

Toshiya Sugiuchi did not intend to throw 70 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday but apparently did because Tetsuya Utsumi threw 80 pitches.

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Shuichi Murata on his hitting: "First I focus on driving the ball the other way and once I get a hang of that, I turn to hitting the big ones. .. My style will be the same anywhere I go."

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Pitchers could have a chance to begin tossing BP as early as February 4.

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Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Ryosuke Miyaguni threw 54 pitches and struggled with his control.

Hiroshima Carp

Kenta Maeda twisted his left ankle during early training camp in Okinawa on January 27.  Even though the injury was not serious, Maeda kept his workouts light through to January 30 as a precaution.

Yokohama Bay Stars

Alex Ramirez took BP on the first day of spring camp, something he has not done over the last few years.

The Giants prayed for a successful season at a nearby shrine before practices this morning.

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Taishi Ota closed out his workouts with about 30 minutes of fielding practice in center.  Ota also hit one ball over the fence during BP.

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If there is time, Tatsunori Hara plans to put Shuichi Murata through one of his personal fielding drills during spring camp.

Murata spoke to reporters before practice today and said that he went to sleep at 11pm last night and got a night's sleep.

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Yoshinobu Takahashi told reporters on Tuesday that he was no longer sick.  Takashi missed two of the four days of early training camp due to a nose/throat cold.

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Takahiko Nomaguchi was named leader of the Ni-gun pitching staff during spring camp.

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Batting practice:

John Bowker hit two balls over the fence.

Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Tetsuya Utsumi threw 81 pitches.

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Toshiya Sugiuchi threw 70 pitches.

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1st round draft pick Ryuya Matsumoto threw 40 pitches to standing catcher.

Hanshin Tigers

Daiki Enokida (1st round) threw 66 pitches in the bullpen today with Kenji Jojima doing the catching.  It was the first time this spring the two were paired up together.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto took fielding practice outdoors (in left) yesterday for the first time this year.  Batting coach Atsushi Kataoka hit about 25 baseballs out to Kanemoto and a "cutoff man" was placed near the shortstop area so that Kanemoto could work on his throws (about 20-25 meters).  And during BP, he swung the bat 56 times.

The Tigers are hoping that Kanemoto will be able to play in a couple of their upcoming home exhibition games (4 games beginning on the 9th).

Yomiuri Giants

Ryosuke Miyaguni (2nd round) and Taichi Tanaka (3rd round) both re-joined the Ni-gun roster for practice today.  The two players left Ni-gun spring camp on 2/27 to return to their homes in order to attend their high school graduations.

Yakult Swallows

Shinya Miyamoto suffered a bruise on his right hand during Wednesday's exhibition game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  An examination of the hand did not reveal any problems with the bones.  He did not take BP during pre-game practice today and will not be traveling with the team to Fukuoka for 2 games against the Softbank Hawks at Yahoo Dome.

Softbank Hawks

Brian Falkenborg was supposed to pitch tonight, but didn't because he apparently wasn't ready.

Rakuten Eagles

Hisashi Iwakuma is scheduled to start an exhibition game against the Seibu Lions on the 5th.

This post will be updated with information as it becomes available so keep checking back if you have any interest in Yuki Saito, Tatsuya Oishi, and / or Hirokazu Sawamura.

===== 3/3 @ 8:40pm

Saito exchanged greetings with Yakult Swallows' pitching coach Daisuke Araki after pre-game practice today.  Like Saito, Araki is also a graduate of Waseda University.

===== 3/3 @ 1:59pm

Saito was originally scheduled to enter the game in the 6th last night, but ended up getting into the game in the 5th because Masao Kida had a problem with a fingernail (thumb).  And of the 24 pitches he threw, 7 were sliders.

Yoshio Itoi also made a nice leaping grab on a ball that was hit by the first batter Saito faced (Kazuhiro Hatakeyama).

Yesterday morning, Saito selected his intro song: Yuki 100% (勇気１００％, or Courage 100%).

Saito's next appearance will be in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants on the 6th.

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11 of the 27 pitches Oishi threw last night were off-speed pitches.  He told reporters after the game that he couldn't get into a good groove (seems he's been having a little trouble with his delivery lately) and that his pitches didn't have quite as much life on them.

Oishi's next outing will probably be in an Ikusei League game on the 8th against the Rakuten Eagles.  The Lions will also try to stretch him out a little longer than 2 innings.

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Of the 54 pitches Sawamura threw last night, he only missed the catcher's mark by a wide margin on 10 of them.  He threw nothing but fastballs during Hiroyuki Nakajima's first at bat (6 pitches, strikeout looking) in the first and didn't allow anyone to reach base (11 straight outs) until Nakajima hit a single off him during his second at bat in the 4th.

Sawamura will likely pitch again on the 8th against the Softbank Hawks.

Tatsuya Oishi (1st round) wants to use today's outing against the Yomiuri Giants to see just how effective his fastball can be against professional hitters.  Oishi will is scheduled to pitch 2 innings.

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Yusei Kikuchi threw 52 pitches in the bullpen yesterday.  He is expected to pitch one inning in relief immediately after Oishi.  Kikuchi told reporters that he was really excited to pitch against the team he used to buy a lot of memorabilia

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Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) is expected to throw about 70 pitches over 5 innings in his exhibition game start tonight.  He threw 41 pitches in the bullpen yesterday in preparation for the start today.

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The Giants will most likely have all their core players in the starting line-up today, including Hayato Sakamoto, Michihiro Ogasawara, Alex Ramirez, and Shinnosuke Abe.  And while they'll 22 position players on the roster during their two games at Tokyo Dome against the Seibu Lions, they will probably leave at least 4 of them when they hit the road.  The four that stay will be sent down to Ni-gun to play in games and to continue their training.

Today's practice game against Chuo University:

The game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Takahiro Tsuchiya gave Chuo University a 1-0 lead in the 4th with an RBI single to center.

Takahiro Ijuin hit a solo homer to tie the game at 1 in the 4th.

Chuo University made it 3-1 in the 6th by scoring two runs, including one on a solo homer Daisuke Iida off Shota Kimura.

Atsushi Fukumoto hit an RBI single to right in the 6th to make it 3-2.

Tomoya Inzen tied the game at 3 with a single to left in the 7th with runners on first and third and 2 out.

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Yoshiyuki Kamei is 3-for-24 through 9 spring games (intra-squad, exhibition, and other practice games).

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The new lights at Giants Stadium were turned on during batting practice today.

Pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi apparently advised Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) to stay away from eating meat (or really greasy meals) the night before he has a start.  Seems Kawaguchi offered the advice during Sawamura's 100-pitch bullpen session on the 26th -- halfway through the session, Sawamura started to slow down and Kawagauchi attributed it to the yakinuki the rookie ate the night before.

Suggested meals: pasta and fish; and saving the meat meals the day after starts.

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The Giants announced today that they brought Takatomi Sogawa on board as a dorm vice president.

Sogawa started his career with the Yomiuri Giants in 1999 and retired after he was released on 11/30/2007.  He spent the last few years coaching kids.