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Ken Kadokura had his tryout with the team today.  Sanspo is reporting that he failed his tryout.

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Yuki Saito faced Kenshi Sugiya and Masayoshi Kato during batting practice today and allowed five could-be hits on thirty-four pitches (all fastballs).  7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima caught the session.

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Atsushi Ugumori started working out again today after missing time with the flu.

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A group of umpires joined the Fighters for practices on Tuesday.  Hideki Kuriyama spent some time going over balk rules with the umpires.

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The last time a Nippon Ham Fighter manager was ejected from a game: Masataka Nashida in August 2009.

Today's intra-squad game was pushed back to Wednesday due to poor weather and field conditions.

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The Fighters received 300 kilograms of rice, 100 kilograms of potatoes and onions, and 300 liters of milk from the Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives in Hokkaido.

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Hideki Kuriyama wants to make sure he backs his players this season and figures that could lead to about five ejections.

"The worst is when you see players with little experience looking frustrated and the people in the dugout ignoring it," said Kuriyama.

He is also thinking about giving out manager awards to players that do particularly well during practice games.

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Yuki Saito did not throw in the bullpen today (a first for him during this spring camp).  His workouts included running (like six 300 meter dashes) and weights.  Saito was also scheduled to toss batting practice today, but the session was canceled pushed to Wednesday because of the rain.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima was scheduled to play in today's rained out intra-squad game.  He will still get a chance to play in tomorrow's rescheduled game.

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Eiichi Koyano worked out for about two hours on his day off on Monday.

====== UPDATE 2/8 @ 2:27am

Kuriyama told reporters on Monday that he is interested in Hideki Matsui (not only as a player, but also for his experience) and has already asked the team to look into him.

The team had the day off on Monday.

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5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi and 7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima checked out some dolphins on their day off on Monday.

Oshima is expected to be called up to Ichi-gun on Tuesday in order to play in an intra-squad game.

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Sho Nakata worked on his hitting for about forty-five minutes on his day off on Monday.

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Hideki Kuriyama spent about ten minutes throwing into a net during his day-off on Monday.  Kuriyama is not scheduled to toss batting practice but wants to be ready in case something happens.

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Kuriyama is looking for Kensuke Tanaka to step up and help lead the team this season.  He also wants Tanaka to feel free to speak his mind as if they were on the same level.

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According to Sanspo, the 128 pitches Yuki Saito threw during his bullpen session on Sunday is the most he has ever thrown in one sitting since turning pro (spring camp and regular season games).  He also threw ninety-seven fastballs, nineteen sliders, eight change-ups, and four cutters.

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Eiichi Koyano dropped twelve kilograms during the off-season.  He lost a couple more kilograms because of the flu and currently weighs eighty kilograms.  Since his ideal weight is eighty-three kilograms, Koyano will now work on adding three kilograms back to his frame before the start of the season.

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The Fighters announced on Monday that they will give Ken Kadokura a tryout on February 8.

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

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The Fighters held a youth baseball clinic after practices today.  Eleven players coached 228 kids from fifteen different teams.

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Keisuke Tanaka was seen using a slightly larger glove during fielding practice today.

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Eiichi Koyano rejoined the team for general practices today (returning from the flu).

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Yuki Saito originally planned to toss about fifty pitches during his bullpen session today.  After general practices, he did about fifteen minutes of running along the coast.

Saito is currently scheduled to toss batting practice on February 7.

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Pitching coach Masato Yoshii was not thrilled at how many pitches Kazuhito Tadano threw and how he went forty minutes over the limit on Saturday.

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The Fighters announced today that Atsushi Ugumori was diagnosed with influenza B today.

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The Fighters held a fan gathering in Nago, Okinawa after practices today (7pm).  All Ichi-gun players were present.  1,000 fans attended the event.

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There is still a chance Hirotoshi Masui becomes a starter this year, but for the time being he will likely be used out of the bullpen.

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Kenshi Sugiya turned twenty-one today.

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Yuki Saito played catch with pitching coach Masato Ishii in the bullpen.  Ishii stood out in front of home plate and Saito threw the ball twenty-four times.  Saito is scheduled to toss a bullpen session tomorrow.

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Eiichi Koyano started working out indoors today after being sidelined with the flu.  His workouts included running and soft-toss BP.  Koyano is expected to rejoin the rest of the players for practices on Sunday.

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Sho Nakata shaved his hair down using his own clippers on Thursday night.

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Takuya Nakashima participated in early morning fielding practice today.  Nakashima has now attended all three early morning fielding sessions since the first day of spring camp.  He also stayed back for extra workouts after general practices on the first two days of spring camp.

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Player/coach Satoshi Nakajima worked with 7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima on his catching skills today.

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There was a chance Hirotoshi Masui was going to break the starting rotation this year, but he was informed by Hideki Kuriyama today that he will be pitching out of the bullpen.

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For the second straight day, Hideki Kuriyama met with fans after practices and answered five of their questions.

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Yuki Saito is currently scheduled to start a practice game against Hiroshima on February 11 and a practice game against Yokohama on February 16.

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Eiichi Koyano's fever has gone down.  That means he might be able to return to practices as early as February 5.

=== UPDATE 2/4 @ 1:34am

Yuki Saito will likely toss two innings during his practice game start against Hiroshima on February 11.

Hideki Kuriyama was presented with a number of local products today, like Agu pork, Orion beer, sanpin tea.

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Yuji Iiyama, Makoto Kaneko, and Takuya Nakashima took extra fielding practice (about an hour) after general practices today.

Afterward, Iiyama spent some time taking soft toss BP.

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Kuriyama's comments on Yuki Saito from Wednesday: "I want to know how many pitches pitchers can throw during regulation games.  Please ask pitching coach [Masato] Yoshii for comments [on Saito's bullpen session today].  I do not really feel like praising him."

When reporters followed up and asked what he thought about Saito tossing a session on the first day of camp, he replied, "That is a no brainer.  There are expectations and he needs to do what he can to live up to them.  I expect a lot from him.  If he did not [toss a session today] I would have thought, goodbye."

FWIW: Saito has apparently made some changes to his mechanics, one of which is where he places his glove hand while throwing the ball.  Seems he was able to command the ball better when he raised the hand up further up near his chest/neck than near his belly button.

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Beginning at 8:50am this morning, Sho Nakata took about an hour of extra fielding practice at first base.  INF coach Hajime Miki worked with Nakata.

Nakata also started using purple-colored equipment (training bat, batting gloves, sweat band, and training shoes) this spring and told reporters on Wednesday he decided to take on the color from Ryuichi Watanabe (senryokugai after last season).

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima will have a chance to play in an intra-squad game on either February 7 or 9.

Oshima caught Ken Miyamoto's bullpen session on Wednesday.  Of the 62 pitches Miyamoto threw, Oshima had trouble catching five.  He also had a chance to work on calling pitching and was told that it was difficult seeing his fingers.

Oshima ran into some difficulties executing plays as a catcher during infield drills today.

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Additional Updates (2/3 @ 1:02am)

Pitching coach Masato Yoshii told reporters on Wednesday that starters should be able to start at least twenty-five games and go at least seven innings a start.

About 200 fans (down from 1,100 last year) greeted the players that arrived at Naha Airport on Tuesday.

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Hideki Kuriyama emerged from the team hotel at around 8:40am and walked to the stadium.

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Kuriyama will respect past performances but plans to throw away any preconceived notions when determining which players win starting jobs.

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Kuriyama had an 800 gram bag of salt and sprinkled about half of it around the various training locations on Tuesday (ward off evil spirits).

"Doing something like may not do anything but I just want to make sure the Gods know.  I do not mind getting hurt, so long as the players do not.  That is what I asked for," said Kuriyama.

Kuriyama also prepared close to 300 doage (tossing someone up into the air during victory celebrations) silhouette t-shirts for the players, coaches, and team personnel.

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Sho Nakata hit the gym after Tuesday's general team meeting and spent about 40 minutes working out.

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Batting practice:

Wednesday

7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima took 71 swings and hit one over the fence.

Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Yuki Saito threw 31 pitches (fastballs) to a squatting catcher.  Kuriyama and team owner Hiroji Okoso observed the session.

The Fighters held a staff meeting at Kamagaya on Thursday to discuss schedules for spring camp.

They also announced that their team slogan for 2012 will be "9+," or "Nine Plus."

• Nine = ninth year since becoming Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, nine post-season appearances
• Plus = the extra work the players need to do, the fans, local companies, team sponsors

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Yuki Saito worked out at Kamagaya on Wednesday and told reporters that the time he learned a lot during his training sessions with Masahiro Yamamoto (CHU) this winter.  He also said that his shoulder was currently at about 90% and would be at 100% by the start of spring camp.

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Kensuke Tanaka will be the team captain this season.

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5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi tossed about 50 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday.  This was his second bullpen session where he had the catcher squat.

3rd round draft pick Shingo Ishikawa suffered a left hamstring injury on Tuesday.

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The Fighters announced that they will be opening an official team store called On-Deck at Sapporo Station (South Exit) on February 10.

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Sanspo also posted the following interview with Yuki Saito from Wednesday:

How did you spend your off-season?

I went home to Ota, Gunma, practiced in Tottori, went to my university and high school.  Things like that.

Is your training going well?

It is just as [Hideki] Kuriyama said, the off-season is really important.  I think I did pretty well, considering it is my first official off-season [since turning pro].

What are you goals for 2012?

Same as last year, make the opening day roster.  To build up a strong body.  Numbers?  As long as I can improve on what I did last year.

You tossed a bullpen session today.

I have been throwing all along.  And I will continue to throw and run.

How is your shoulder feeling?

Good.  I think it has improved.  I can feel it while playing catch.

What are your plans for spring camp?

I want to [start] spring camp at 100%.  I would also like to toss a bullpen session [on the first day].

Do you feel confident about getting an opening day start?

Not really.  That is not something that comes out now.  [It is something that will come around] during spring camp.

Sponichi is reporting that Masahiro Tanaka (RAK) may get to start the NPB charity exhibition game against the CPBL on March 10 and go at least three innings.  A separate Sponichi article mentions that Yuki Saito and Sho Nakata will also most likely make the roster.

The NPB will finalize the roster during an executive committee meeting on 1/24 and officially announce the rosters on 1/26.