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The team had the day off today

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Four members of the 2011 draft class, including 2nd round draft pick Ryohei Kiya, 3rd round draft pick Wataru Hiyane and 4th round draft pick Yuya Ota, went sightseeing today.

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A number of players, including Yoshinori Sato, Kyohei Muranaka, Kazuhiro Hatakeyama, Shinichi Takeuchi, Yasushi Iihara, Yuhei, Tsuyoshi Ueda, and Tetsuto Yamada worked out at the indoor training facilities at Urasoe Stadium today.

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Yoshinori is hoping to toss a bullpen session some time during the second block of spring camp (begins tomorrow).

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If the Swallows can win a championship this year, the city of Urasoe might be willing to change their stadium name to Urasoe Yakult Stadium.  They could also throw the team a parade.

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Ryo Hidaka was told by pitching coach Daisuke Araki to prepare himself as a starter since it is always easier going from starter to reliever.

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Team owner Tsuyoshi Kinugasa wants his players to drink three Yakults a day to help ward off the flu.

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Today was the end of the first block of spring camp for the Swallows. The team has the day off tomorrow.

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The Swallows were presented with local products, like five kilograms of Agu pork, five kilograms of shrimp, Orion beer, and Blue Seal Ice Cream, from the Naha City before the start of practice today.

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3rd round draft pick Wataru Hiyane stayed back after general practice for extra fielding practice with OF/base-running coach Tetsuya Iida today.

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Masayoshi Miwa stayed back for extra fielding practice on Thursday.

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Lastings Milledge's nickname will apparently be SPAM, as in the canned precooked meat product.

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Catchers Ryoji Aikawa, Yuhei Nakamura, Genki Nitta, and Yuki Mizuno worked on their throws to second during situational fielding practice on Thursday.

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Kyohei Muranaka, Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi, Yoshinori Sato, and Katsuki Akagawa made the following two wagers: the player with the fewest numbers of victories at the end of the season will have to sell Yakult products in the Jingu area after the 2012 season; and if the four pitchers do not win at least 40 games, they will have to show up at fan appreciation day dressed up in AKB48 uniforms.

Junji Ogawa, the coaching staff, and the players attended a welcoming ceremony at the Urasoe City Offices before practices this morning.  About 200 fans showed up for the event.

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Yoshinori Sato cut his left pinky toe before arriving in Okinawa.  The cut led to an infection that caused foot swelling and a fever.  Because of this, Yoshinori worked out separately from the rest of the group today -- his workouts including playing catch and some light running.

"It is not serious.  We will see how he is does today and tomorrow before deciding what to do next," said chief trainer Kobayashi.

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Ryoji Aikawa is the first official team captain since Shinya Miyamoto in 2008.

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Kenichi Matsuoka was named captain of the pitching staff on Tuesday.

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Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Shohei Tateyama threw 102 pitches (including change-ups) to a squatting catcher at about 40%.

6th round draft pick Masato Furuno and Ikusei 2nd round draft pick Hugo Kanabushi tossed bullpen sessions today.

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Kyohei Muranaka plans to use nanoblocks during spring camp as a way to strengthen his fingers and improve his focus/concentration.

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Hiroyasu Tanaka returned from his training session in Los Angeles on Saturday.  Tanaka worked on strengthening his trunk muscles and managed to drop his fat content from 15% to 12%.  He also bumped into Norichika Aoki while in the US.

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A number of players, including Ryoji Aikawa and Shinichi Takeuchi, worked out at Jingu Gaien today.  Both players returned from training in Saipan on Saturday.

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Yoshinori Sato tossed three bullpen sessions during his workouts in Saipan (he returned yesterday).  During one of them, he threw a total 45 pitches.  He also will not be participating in the charity game on March 10.

Ryoji Aikawa returned to Japan from his training in Saipan on Saturday.

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The Swallows told reporters that Yoshinori Sato is being considered to play in the charity game against the CPBL on March 10.  However, the team is concerned about his health (he struggled with right shoulder pains last year) and put the offer on hold.

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The money the team received for posting for Norichika Aoki will be used to help pay for the renovations at Toda Stadium.

"We have not made any decisions yet, but we are in the process of fixing the Ni-gun facilities and we would like to name something after him," said team president Tsuyoshi Kinugasa.

According to Sponichi, the posting money could be used to help pay for fixing the seating area behind home plate.

Ryoji Aikawa took off for Saipan out of Narita Airport today.  Other players like Yoshinori Sato, Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi, Masato Nakazawa, and Hitoshi Yamamoto left with him.

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Tsubakuro will begin Tsubasanpo this year with a visit to Musashi Kokubunji Park on 1/21.

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1st round draft pick Ryuhei Kawakami moved into the player dorm about two hours and 50 minutes later than scheduled on Monday and in regular street clothes (players usually move in either wearing their school uniforms or suits).  He told reporters he ate too much during the holidays and gained about a kilogram.

Junji Ogawa told reporters on Monday that he wasn't sure if Yoshinori Sato was going to be able to return to the active roster in time for the entire postseason and was planning on moving forward under the assumption that he wasn't.

Yoshinori was taken off the active roster on 9/9 with tightness in his right shoulder.  The team didn't think it was a major problem at first and expected him to return promptly.  But Yoshinori had to a cut a bullpen session short due to pain in his right shoulder in mid-September and was immediately shut down.  He just recently started playing catch again earlier this month and considering his age, the team probably won't push him too hard.

Yoshinori is currently rehabbing with the hopes of being ready to pitch if the team makes it to the Nippon Series.

Yoshinori Sato was taken off the active roster today because of right shoulder tightness.  It seems Yoshinori started feeling the tightness in his shoulder following his last start on the 3rd.

Yoshinori Sato left after pitching just 4 innings in tonight's game against the Orix Buffaloes with tightness in his left flank.  A club rep told reporters that Yoshinori was taken out of the game as a precaution and was being monitored while getting the area iced.  Yoshinori is expected to get the area checked out at a hospital tomorrow (6/10).

UPDATE 6/10 @ 7:50pm

Yoshinori was taken off the active roster today.  Yoshinori was also checked out at a hospital today and diagnosed with minor case of inflammation in his left flank.  The club doesn't know how long he'll be out, but they don't expect him to miss too much time.

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)