Yuki Saito became the first pitcher in the NPB to record his first career complete game victory during an opening day start since Chunichi Dragon Minoru Kakimoto did on April 7, 1962.  The last pitcher to do it in the Pacific League: Mainichi Orion Yoshimi Ebara on March 11, 1950.

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The Fighters offense banged out thirteen hits on Friday.  Sho Nakata was the only player in the starting line-up that did not have a hit.

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Hideki Kuriyama has the number three written on the inside on his cap, in homage to Shigeo Nagashima.  In fact, Kuriyama had Nagashima write the number on his cap.

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The Fighters had until today to sign 1st round draft pick Tomoyuki Sugano.  The organization announced today that they were unable to sign their top draft pick.

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The Fighters won their opening day game on Friday.  It was their first opening day victory since 2008.

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Sho Nakata's right knee appeared to be ok on Wednesday -- while he did not take part in general warm-ups, he did participate in situational fielding practice, infield drills, and batting practice.

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Masao Kida will begin the year at Ichi-gun as a reliever.  If he ends up playing in the opening day game, he will become the first 40+ year old pitcher in franchise history to do so.  The last 40+ year old player in franchise history to play on opening day: Hiromitsu Ochiai in 1998.

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1st round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi is the only member of the 2011 draft class that made the opening day roster.

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The Nippon Ham Fighters open the season with a three-game series against the Seibu Lions.  Hideki Kuriyama told reporters on Wednesday that he was going to keep his eye on Esteban German.

"This is about who we need to be careful of.  Seems [German] can run pretty well.  It can be a pain if a speedy runner gets on base," said Kuriyama.

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The new cheer-leading uniforms were unveiled to the press on Tuesday.

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The Fighters will go with Yuki Saito, Masaru Takeda, and Mitsuo Yoshikawa for their first three games of the season (Seibu Lions at Sapporo Dome).

The Fighters announced today that Micah Hoffpauir is scheduled to return to Japan on March 23 and rejoin the team for pre-game practice on March 24.

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Bobby Keppel's outing on Tuesday will likely be his last before the start of the regular season.

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Yuki Saito is scheduled to start Thursday's game against the Softbank Hawks (Sapporo Dome).

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The Fighters announced today that they will continue to donate money to Akaihane this season: 1,000 yen for every victory and 1,000 yen for every hit.

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Hideki Kuriyama told reporters today that Yuki Saito will be the opening day starter.

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The Fighters train began operations on the Toho Subway line in Sapporo today.  A ceremony to introduce the new train was held on Sunday.

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The Fighters held a general stockholder and board of directors meeting today and officially announced that, effective April 1, Hiroshi Kobayashi will take over as owner and current owner Hiroji Okoso will become acting owner.

The Fighters worked out indoors for about two hours due to the rain out.

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Masaru Takeda will pitch in Sunday's game against the Yakult Swallows since his start against the Chiba Lotte Marines was rained out today.

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Yuki Saito's next outing will likely be against the Softbank Hawks at Sapporo Dome on March 22.

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Hideki Kuriyama is not sure what to do about the opening day starter.  Current candidates include Saito, M. Takeda, and Bobby Keppel.

Saito: 2 G, 11 IP, 16 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 WP, 6 R, 5 ER, 4.09 ERA
M. Takeda: 3 G, 10 IP, 10 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 SO, 0 WP, 4 R, 4 ER, 3.60 ERA
Keppel: 2 G, 9 IP, 11 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 WP, 8 R, 6 ER, 6.00 ERA

Yuki Saito worked out at Kamagaya today with high socks.  He is scheduled to start Friday's game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.

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Tomohiro Nioka had a pinch-hit at bat during a Kyoiku League game on Tuesday and collected a single to left.  Assuming his right calf is ok, he could be called up to Ichi-gun as early as Friday.

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Tuesday's Kyoiku League game against Rakuten at Kamagaya: Atsunori Inaba started at first and batted third.  He went 0-for-1: HBP, fly out to right. [Sponichi]

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Shota Ono returned to the starting line-up during Wednesday's game against the Chunichi Dragons.  It was his first game since injuring his left knee during a close play at home plate in a game against the Yakult Swallows on March 3.

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Today's Kyoiku League game against Rakuten at Kamagaya: Brian Wolfe started the game and allowed one run (unearned) on two hits over five innings of work. [Nikkan Sports]

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4th round draft pick Kensuke Kondo could make it into the starting line-up at catcher for some exhibition games during the team's road trip to the Kanto region (beginning on March 16).

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Tomohiro Nioka could play in Friday's (March 16) exhibition game against the Yokohama Bay Stars depending on how things go over the next couple of days.  Nioka has been practicing at Kamagaya since March 8 and is working his way back from right calf problems.

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Toshimasa Konta is working his way back from right shoulder surgery in December.  He has already logged some playing time as a DH and took fielding practice for the first time on Sunday.

"Rehab is moving quicker than originally planned," said Konta. "All that is left is throwing.  It is ultimately up to the manager and coaches to decide on how they want to use me.  I will continue to do my best so that I am prepared to go whenever they need me."

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima took batting practice on Monday by standing over home plate against a pitching machine that throws curves -- swinging and missing means getting hit by the baseball.

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Sapporo's Toho subway line will be running a Fighters subway for three years, beginning March 19, 2012.

Yuki Saito is slated to pitch five innings in an exhibition game against the Chunichi Dragons on March 14.  He will also likely start an exhibition game against the Softbank Hawks on March 22.

Saito threw about sixty pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday (shortened distance).

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Atsunori Inaba was hit by a pitch on his left foot during an exhibition game against Lotte on Wednesday.  He was removed from the game and had the foot iced.  There are currently no plans to send him to the hospital and he is expected to be with team on their road trip to Kansai (which begins Friday).

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Kamagaya Fest 2012 is scheduled to take place on March 10.

According to Sanspo, Hideki Kuriyama has decided to go with Yuki Saito as his opening day pitcher.  His reason: "You can not give up the first run of the game. ... But, the way he got out of that jam [in the first inning] and only allowed a run, that is Yuki Saito.  That staying power is what Yuki is about. ... The quality of his pitches is getting better."

Nikkan Sports does not make it sound so cut and dry.  In fact, the quote they feature is not quite as rosy: "If I were to grade the start, I would give it a zero.  The quality of his pitches did not look bad.  I was kind of hoping for him to go out there and knock my socks off...  It just makes me worry."

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima schedule over the next few days: he returned to Tokyo today, will attend the rookie seminar on Monday, and then workout out Kamagaya on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kuriyama also hinted to reporters on Saturday that Oshima still had a chance to make the opening day roster depending on how he did at Ni-gun.