Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons may have third base coach Ken Hirano swap jobs with first base coach Hiroyuki Watanabe after Hirano waved Yohei Oshima home from second on a single to center in Wednesday's nights game against Lotte.

Yakult Swallows

Ryoji Aikawa lost his mother to cancer on April 28.  She was fifty-eight.

Yomiuri Giants

MRI tests on Ryosuke Miyaguni's right shoulder came back negative for any structural damage.  The Giants still took Miyaguni off the active roster today to give him a chance to regroup.

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According to Sponichi, Yoshinobu Takahashi is using Venex's Recovery Wear.

Takahashi hit a grand slam on Wednesday.  It was the fourth grand slam to be hit on the very first day of Inter-league play.  The other three were hit by Luis Lopez in 2005, Norichika Aoki in 2006, and Masato Akamatsu in 2009.

Other notes on the grand slam: it was Takahashi's eighth career grand slam, which is good for a ninth place tie on the CL All-time list and a third place tie on the franchise All-time list (Sadaharu Oh with fifteen; Shinnosuke Abe with nine; and Tatsunori Hara with eight); the nine years in between grand slams (his previous grand slam came on September 28, 2002) is the second longest behind Masato Monzen (1938 and 1950), Tatsuhiko Kimata (1968 and 1980), and Takumi Ejima's (1970 and 1982) twelve years; Takahashi hit seven grand slams within the first five years of his career -- two in 1998, three in 1999, one in 2001, and one in 2002.

Hanshin Tigers

Jason Standridge's parents were in the stands on Wednesday night.  The Tigers may take Standridge off the active roster today since he is not scheduled to start another game for at least ten days.

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Former Hanshin pitching coach Yasuo Kubo's son, Kei Kubo, will be making his Japanese Tour debut at Totomi Hamamatsu Open 2012.

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Former Hanshin manager Kenjiro Matsuki Miwako "Peko" Hamada is the choreographer behind the Maru Mori Dance, the Gyu Gyu Gyu Dance, and the Yubikiri Dance.

Hiroshima Carp

Takaya Kawauchi's new contract will be worth an estimated 5M yen.

Yokohama Bay Stars

Sponichi is giving away tickets to the Daisuke Miura Seats at Yokohama Stadium to games on May 27 and 28 (vs Orix).  One set of three tickets per game is up for grabs.

Saitama Seibu Lions vs Yokohama Bay Stars @ Yokohama Stadium - 18:00
Announced Starters: Takayuki Kishi (SEI) 3-3, 2.13 - Shugo Fujii (YOK)

Attendance: 11685 | Seibu leads series, 2-0-0 | Time: 2:38

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Chunichi Dragons

According to Sports Hochi Osaka, the Dragons plan to use Takeshi Yamasaki as a DH and bat him seventh when playing in Pacific League stadiums during Inter-league play.  Ryosuke Hirata and Motonobu Tanishige will likely follow in the eighth and ninth slots.

Yakult Swallows

According to Sanspo, Masanori Ishikawa is 14-10 during Inter-league play and 2-4 against the Softbank Hawks.

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After a hot March/April, Wladimir Balentien has cooled a little...

March/April: 25 G, 24-for-78, 6 HR, 43 TB, 15 SO, 17 BB, .308/.427/.551
May: 10 G, 10-for-37, 6 HR, 29 TB, 11 SO, 6 BB, .270/.372/.784

More recently, he has just three hits and two walks in his last twenty-five trips to the plate (3-for-23).  He has also struck out ten times (eight swinging).

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Junji Ogawa met with Balentien and Lastings Milledge for about thirty minutes during workouts on Tuesday.

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Shinya Miyamoto will take part in a 2,000 Hit Parade in the Musashi Koyama Palm shopping district on May 19.

Yomiuri Giants

Dicky Gonzalez tossed a bullpen session at Giants Stadium today, his first since suffering a left oblique strain.

Said Gonzalez, "I was able to throw off the mound so that is another step I managed to clear.  I threw at about 90% today."

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Hayato Sakamoto and Shinji Kagawa (soccer) exchanged uniforms at an adidas event at Tokyo Dome today.

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Shuichi Murata has forty-four Inter-league homers, tops in Inter-league play history.

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Tatsunori Hara is hoping that Yoshihito Ishii can help the team with his knowledge of Pacific League pitchers (he was with Seibu between 2003 and 2011).  He will be used as either a left-handed bat off the bench or a DH.

Ishii will take Tomoya Inzen's spot on the active roster.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni threw about thirty pitches in the bullpen on Tuesday.

Hanshin Tigers

Craig Brazell took about twenty swings during soft-toss batting practice (he used a fungo bat).  He then spent around twenty minutes taking regular batting practice against a live arm before a second round of soft-toss (fungo bat again) that lasted twenty to thirty minutes.  Brazell even went into the stands to pick up all the balls he hit over the fence.

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Matt Murton spent about twenty minutes taking batting practice against batting practice pitchers on Tuesday -- ten minutes against a right-handed pitcher and ten minutes against a left-handed pitcher.  He also took two rounds of soft-toss (each round lasted about ten minutes each).

Inter-league 2011: 33-for-97, .340/.369/.485
Inter-league 2010: 34-for-105, .324/.366/.410

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Wei-Chu Lin took fielding practice at first base on Tuesday.

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Kenji Jojima was examined at a hospital in Osaka on Tuesday.

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Yuya Ando will likely start Thursday's game against Nippon Ham.

Hiroshima Carp

Tomonori Maeda could get a chance to DH during Inter-league play this year for the first time since June 1, 2010.

Yokohama Bay Stars

Alex Ramirez will most likely be used as a DH when the team plays at Pacific League stadiums.

Ramirez on being a DH: "I love the DH.  If I was playing in the Pacific League, I would never bring my glove with me."

Saitama Seibu Lions vs Yokohama Bay Stars @ Yokohama Stadium - 18:00
Announced Starters: Kazuhisa Makita (SEI) 2-3, 1.41 - Giancarlo Alvarado (YOK) 1-4, 3.21

Attendance: 14069 | Seibu leads series, 1-0-0 | Time: 3:29

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Chunichi Dragons

Takuya Asao will not travel with the Ni-gun team during their road trip that begins today.  He will instead stay back and workout at Nagoya Stadium.

Asao's workouts today included playing catch and fielding practice.  He also said to reporters, "I plan on making it back in ten days.  It is not my decision, but I want to return as soon as possible.  My goal has been to play out full seasons at Ichi-gun, so I feel disappointed by this.  But it also made no sense to drag this out any longer than necessary."

Asao also said fatigue was not an issue and that it was something everyone else was also dealing with.

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If Masahiro Yamamoto has another bad start, he could be dropped from the starting rotation.

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Takeshi Yamasaki on his role, after returning to the active roster, via Nikkan Sports: "[Tony] Blanco is doing well so I probably will not make the starting line-up any time soon.  But I want to show them that I can hit with runners on base, make them say, 'We can still use Takeshi.'  I want to try for four at bats on the road."

If Yamasaki hits a homer against the Rakuten Eagles, he will become the eighth player in NPB history to record homers against thirteen different teams (includes Kintetsu).

Yakult Swallows

The Swallows announced today that Hitoshi Yamamoto had TJ surgery on his right elbow on Monday.  He is expected to miss about year.

Yomiuri Giants

Tatsunori Hara told reporters that he is planning to call up Tetsuya Matsumoto.

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Hara checked out today's Ni-gun game against Lotte and was disappointed at Shun Tono's outing (three runs on five hits and two walks over three innings).  He told reporters he was hoping to find something positive in Tono's performance, but could not.

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The Giants do not plan on going with one set DH.

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The Giants will likely go with Tetsuya Utsumi, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Hirokazu Sawamura, and Ryosuke Miyaguni as their core starters during Inter-league play.

Hanshin Tigers

Matt Murton on Pacific League pitchers, via Sponichi: "Pacific Leage pitchers attack the strike zone.  I like facing those kinds of pitchers more."

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According to Sports Hochi Osaka, the Tigers are planning/hoping to start Tomoaki Kanemoto in left and bat him fourth in the line-up as much as possible during Inter-league play (including PL stadiums where DH rule is in effect).  Sanspo figures Kanemoto could see playing time as DH at PL stadiums.  Nikkan Sports throws in Craig Brazell's name as well.  ZakZak and Sponichi drop Shinjiro Hiyama's name as a possibility, although Sponichi feels he will be used primarily as a bat off the bench.

FWIW: Kanemoto has been the DH in twenty of the twenty-four Inter-league games he has played at Pacific League stadiums over the previous two seasons.

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Batting coach Atsushi Kataoka on where the DH will bat, via Nikkan Sports: "We could stick the DH at two or nine.  Not just three, four, or five.  Those are all possibilities based on the opponent."

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Masanori Fujihara (24) is planning to file marriage papers with a twenty-four-year-old woman at some point before the end of the month.

Hiroshima Carp

Nick Stavinoha on Inter-league play, via Sports Hochi Osaka: "There are not a lot of teams in Japan, so I look forward to playing against other teams.  It will give me a chance to study other pitchers. ... The DH is a unique position that can be difficult, but I will be more than happy to do it."

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According to Sports Hochi Osaka, the Carp will be making changes to the mound at Mazda Stadium after their pitchers complained of slipping during their last game on May 13 (they will be making it harder).  Construction will take place over a six day period beginning on April 21.

Team owner Hajima Matsuda on the new mound, via Daily Sports: "I have been worried [about the mound] from before.  I heard [we will use something] like clay [, similar to Tokyo Dome].  Some sort of a block will also be added inside."

Nikkan Sports notes that they will be using something called Arakidatsuchi (type of dirt).

Yokohama Bay Stars

The Bay Stars are 0-13-1 over their last fourteen games against the Orix Buffaloes (going back to 2008).

2011: 0-3-1, 2010: 0-4-0, 2009: 0-4-0, 2008: 0-2 after going 1-1 in their first two games.

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Infield reserved seat A and B tickets (adults and children) to Yokohama-Rakuten (June 10 and 11) will be sold at half price.

According to Daily Sports, the Yokohama Bay Stars are currently looking into former Rakuten Eagle Randy Ruiz (34).

The Bay Stars are in the market for a right-handed bat with pop.  They checked in on a number of players in the US and Ruiz reportedly ended up at the top of their list.

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NPB Stats

2012 Stats

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons starting rotation for the first four games of Inter-league play: Kenichi Nakata and Yudai Kawai will get starts against Lotte (May 16 and 17, respectively) and Soma Yamauchi and Masahiro Yamamoto could start games against the Seibu Lions (May 19 and 20, respectively).

Nelson Maximo could join the starting rotation sometime after that.

Daisuke Yamai and Shinji Iwata will likely be moved to the bullpen during Inter-league play.

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The Dragons will likely promote Nelson, Yuta Muto, and Masahiko Morino before the start of Inter-league play.

Yomiuri Giants

The Giants announced today that Shinji Kaagawa (soccer) will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on May 16 (vs Orix at Tokyo Dome).

Yokohama Bay Stars

Shugo Fujii will likely take Yuki Kuniyoshi's spot on the active roster.

Chunichi Dragons

Masahiko Morino may make it back to the active roster in time for Inter-league play (begins May 16).

Yomiuri Giants

Hayato Sakamoto successfully executed a sac bunt squeeze on Saturday, the first of his Ichi-gun career.

Hiroshima Carp

For some reason, Carp pitchers found it a little difficult to throw off the mound at Mazda Stadium during today's game against Hanshin.

"This is not about matching up against hitters.  I was afraid each time I threw a pitch.  I just did not want to slip so I could not step into my pitches properly. ... What does it mean when we are playing at home and the visiting team is having an easier time pitching," said Kenta Maeda.

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The Carp announced today that they signed Ikusei pitcher Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara to a seventy-man roster contract.  Kikuchihara will be added to the seventy-man roster on May 18 and will be assigned the number  thirty-six (from 136).

Kikuchihara ruptured his left Achilles last season and was released and then re-signed as an Ikusei player.

Yokohama Bay Stars

With today's loss against the Hanshin Tigers, the Bay Stars decided to send Yuki Kuniyoshi down to Ni-gun.

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Daisuke Miura was just three outs from tossing a no-hitter on Saturday.  Prior to that, he came as close as eight outs twice (via Sponichi): June 12, 2002 vs Hiroshima and August 14, 2011 vs Chunichi.

The victory also gave Miura forty-five wins against Hanshin, good for second, by active pitchers, behind Masahiro Yamamoto's forty-six.

DYK: Miura owns a race horse named Regent Blues.

Hanshin Tigers vs Yokohama Bay Stars @ Yokohama Stadium - 13:00
Announced Starters: Randy Messenger (HAN) 2-2, 1.54 - Yuki Kuniyoshi (YOK) 1-3, 3.58

Attendance: 21953 | Series tied, 4-4-1 | Time: 3:24

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Chunichi Dragons

Hirokazu Ibata was spiked (left ankle) by Nick Stavinoha in 4th inning of Friday night's game against the Hiroshima Carp and had to be assisted off the field for treatment.  He did remain in the game.

Ibata hurt the same ankle on May 9 and had to be removed from the game (vs Yakult).

Yakult Swallows

Ryoji Aikawa will likely be added to the active roster in time for tonight's game against the Yomiuri Giants.

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Shingo Kawabata was evaluated at a hospital on Friday.  Tests did not reveal any herniated disks and it seems Kawabata's back problems are not serious.  He may even be able to return to the active roster sooner than the Swallows originally thought.

Yomiru Giants

Toshiya Sugiuchi's next start will come on May 16 against the Orix Buffaloes (at Tokyo Dome).  The game marks the start of Inter-league play for the Giants.

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Dicky Gonzalez (left oblique strain) threw thirty pitches to a standing catcher today.  Said Gonzalez, "I still have not pitched off an incline, but I was able to throw with my cleats on and did not feel any discomfort.

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Hayato Sakamoto, Takayuki Terauchi, Daisuke Fujimura, and Daisuke Nakai spent about thirty minutes, after fielding practice on Friday, raking the infield dirt at Komachi Stadium.

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Ryosuke Miyaguni forgot to take his uniform to workouts on Friday and borrowed one from Hirokazu Sawamura.  Incidentally, Sawamura forgot his uniform back on April 24 and had to borrow one from Tetsuya Utsumi.

Yokohama Bay Stars

Kiyoshi Nakahata invited twenty-six youth baseball players from Minamisoma, Fukushima to today's game against Hanshin Tigers at Yokohama Stadium.  The players also had a chance to watch pre-game practices and take part in some drills on the field (radar run contest, fielding practice).