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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.

Before tossing a bullpen session on Wednesday, Shohei Tateyama played catch with a baseball slightly heavier(~180 grams) than the NPB regulation ball (~145 grams).

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Orlando Roman selected 浪漫－ＲＯＭＡＮ－ for his intro music after a friend in Taiwan sent it to him.

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The Swallows announced additional details for their new pair seats on the first and third base side (Ponta Pair Seats).

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Additional Updates (2/3 @ 1:04am)

3rd round draft pick Wataru Hiyane only took four bats to spring camp.  In comparison, Shinya Miyamoto took ten to twelve bats and recalled taking 20 bats during his first year.  Hiyane was advised to order more bats since he might find it difficult to ask other players to borrow their bats.

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.

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%.

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.

Yakult Swallows

Yoshinori Sato threw 104 pitches last night, 29 of which hit 150km/h or faster on the radar gun.

Hiroshima Carp

Kenta Maeda struggled with his control in the first (he walked 3 batters in one inning for the first time since turning pro; he also needed 38 pitches to get out of the inning) but managed to settle down in the second (retired the side in order).  Seems part of the problem had to do with the new baseball -- he had a hard time getting used to the new baseballs each time they were swapped out (something you normally don't think about working on during bullpen sessions).

Maeda also threw 15 fork balls yesterday (out of a total 51).

Yokohama Bay Stars

Takao Obana would like to decide on his opening day starter about 10 days before the start of the regular season.   The possibilities include Naoyuki Shimizu, Tomokazu Oka, and Shogo Yamamoto.

The Yakult Swallows (all Ichi-gun and Ni-gun players and staff) visited Meiji Jingu today to pray for a successful season.  After the visit, the players returned to Jingu Stadium for full-squad practices.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Norichika Aoki plans to be aggressive on the base paths during exhibition games and won't be waiting for signs from the dugout.  Junji Ogawa is also on board with the idea.

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Yuki Shichijo (2nd round) told reporters yesterday that he was going to start throwing his slurve during today's exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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The Swallows closed out their spring camp in Urasoe, Okinawa today.

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Through 7 games, Wladimir Balentien is 4-for-17 (this includes the two homers he hit yesterday).