Fukudome, though, did say that the kimchi that the Koreans brought with them from home was really good, better than the blander Japanese version of it. Which just goes to show that besides being a fine outfielder, Fukudome has good taste. 

Reliever Masato Kobayashi has altered hisa delivery, dropping down to the side, and he had a successful one inning stint, rendering LG scoreless on a hit in his one inning. 

Outfielder Atsushi Fujii did it again, belting a two run homer as part of a two hit day. 

Veteran outfielder Yoshinori Ueda, who was released by Nippon Ham last season and picked up after a tryout, blowed up one real good, sending it 430 feet completely out of the park to right on a hanging forkball.

Starter Kenichi Nakata, who looked like he wasn't warmed up enough in the first inning, was knocked around for three hits and two runs in the stanza, his fastball topping out at just 84mph and he wasn't obtaining his usual depth on his forkball. However, his velocity improved to 88mph in the second, when he fashioned a perfect inning. Catcher Oda blamed Nakata's outing on himself, saying that the movement on Nakata's pitches wasn't that bad, he just didn't call a good game for him. Nakata, though, just didn't think he did much right himself, so he blamed himself. 

Rookie infielder Ryota Arai had a bloop double and a single, making it seven hits for the three Korean games. 

Hanshin Manager Akinobu Okada said that both of the men contending for the starting rightfielder's job, Lin Wei-tzu and Osamu Hamanaka, have met his expectations. Lin has displayed a pretty live bat this spring and Hamanaka is beginning to come on after missing innumerable games with shoulder problems over the last three years. 

Kei Igawa's flirtations with various other pitches have been well chroncled here the last few days, so he decided to try another one, a sinker, during his 83 pitch outing Sunday. Like the others, though, he said that he is unlikely to try to use it in an actual game as things stand now. He will start an intrasquad game on the 22nd. 

Atsushi Nomi threw 73 pitches in the bullpen Sunday. Appearing to be over a groin problem he suffered a few days ago, he will now probably start an exhibition game on the 26th. 

Hirotaka Egusa will open on the hill on the 25th, when the exhibition schedule kicks off. 

Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi threw batting practice and sawed utilityman Taiichiro Kamisaka off. 

Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto hit seven balls out of the park in 40 swings during batting practice Sunday. 

Shinobu Fukuhara threw 61 pitches in batting practice Sunday, focusing on spotting the ball on the outside corner. 

Hiroshima Kan Otake went three shutout innings More importantly, after averaging 5.2 free passes per nine last season, he didn't walk anyone and showed a good curve ball while being clocked at 91mph. Even still, while manager Marty Brown expressed his feeling that Otake could become one of Japan's bets pitchers, Otake himself offered that his overall stuff could have been sharper. A Giants scout says that Otake looks like a new man. 

17th year veteran swingman Shinji Sasaoka threw 48 pitches in batting practices and looked good. 

Infielder Eishin Soyogi has played a lot of shortstop lately, but the rookie is now being worked out at second base to increase his versatility. Soyogi demonstrated the old baseball adage that as soon as you enter a game the baseball finds you, as in an industrial league match last year, he went out to play second for the first time ever with that team and ended up taking care of four of the six outs during his two innings at that post. 

Yakult Perhaps in an indication that catcher/manager Atsuya Furuta is going to permanently put his shinguards and chest protector away after the 2006 schedule ends, he apparently will be bringing in backup Tomohito Yoneno when the Swallows are ahead to lessen the accumulated wear and tear on himself. Of course, it also gives Yoneno, who is reportedly a very good defender, some much needed playing time before he takes over fulltime. Furuta had been complaining that all of his media relations obligations as manager have been interfering with his preparations as a player. When now hall of fame receiver Katsuya Nomura was a player-manager, he basically had a shadow manger in Don Blasingame running the show during games, calling hit and run plays, bunts, etc, which allowed Nomura to dedicate more of his energies to his responsibilities on the field. Furuta doesn't have that. He might have done well to follow Nomura's example. 

Yakult outfielder Shinichi Takeuchi was unhappy with his performance during a practice game Saturday with Hanshin, saying that he didn't use the whole field at the plate. He also praised Tigers closer Tomoyuki Kubota for his velocity and that his pitches were so heavy that even when he leaves it in the red zone, it is still difficult to hit it hard somewhere. 

Assistant pitching coach Toshihide Narimoto worked with Kenichi Matsuoka Sunday on his release point after Matsuoka got hammered in his last appearance. 

Yokohama Outfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo sprained his right ankle Sunday while trying to score on a wild pitch from lefty Yuji Yoshimi. Kinjo, not a big guy, collided with Yoshimi and that is what caused it. Kinjo says that he will be fine, that it is minor. WBC team manager Sadaharu Oh hopes so, because Kinjo is supposed to report to that squad Monday. 

Even more of a pain in the backside, though, is the fact that outfielder Hitoshi Tamura, also a WBC team member, still hasn't signed his 2006 deal. Tamura's agent will continue negotiations while Tamura works out with the Japanese contingent. 

Career minor league outfielder Mitsuru Tanaka, a speedster who has been called "Yokohama's Ichiro" because they have relatively similar batting styles and both wear number 51, will be called up to the big club for the next phase of the team's spring training schedule. He lined a double up the rightcenter gap during Sunday's intrasquad game. 

Yomiuri Righthander Koji Uehara  went two perfect innings while striking out four in an intrasquad game. Among those victims was first baseman Seung-yeop Lee, who whiffed  on a fourth pitch forkball. Lee remarked that "his forkball and clutter were trememdous and his fastball had good movement. He is the perfect pitcher." The Korean star then indicated that he would like to avoid facing Uehara again and that he believes that his country's WBC club should concentrate on disposing of Taiwan in order to qualify for the next round of the international tournament. Lee will report to the Korean squad Monday. Lee singled in his second at bat off of reliever Takashi Kamoshida. 

Jeremy Powell started for the other side in that game and permitted one hit in two innings. He pronounced himself satisfied, allowing that he was able to use most of his repetoire and had good movement on his two seam heater. 

Outfielder Takayuki Shimizu slugged a two run homer on a 2-1 slider off of Kazuaki Minami in the third to provide the big blow in the 3-1 final. For Shimizu, who sometimes tends to fly open early and get out on his front foot to boot, the important thing wasn't that the ball left the yard, but that he stayed back and hit it with some authority, an assertion that was also later noted by manager Tatsunori Hara.  

Rookie southpaw Tanaknobu Tsujiuchi was brought up for a short term exposure to the top team and threw 50 pitches in the bullpen. But afterward, Tsujiuchi said that his control was off. Manager Tatsunori Hara, though, said that the top draft pick was "getting better." 

Both outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi and shortstop Tomohiro Nioka took batting practice Sunday. Takahashi connected on only three homers during his 65 swing stint, but may have been overswinging. 

Miscellaneous Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima  underwent a special hitting session Sunday after feeling that he wasn't swinging well during batting practice. He was then given more instruction on using more of his lower body when he throws to second rather than putting such a large burden on his shoulder as he does right now. This seems to be more out of concern for Johjima's shoulder being able to stand up to the stress of the longer schedule than any indication that his arm or his ability to get 
rid of the ball isn't up to standard.By using his legs more, he can lessen the stress on the shoulder. 

Johjima teammate Ichiro Suzuki participated in a simulated game Sunday at an Orix indoor practice facility. 

Saturday, Mets righthander Yusaku Iriki  threw 40 pitches in the bullpen and took part in infield defensive drills, getting the chance to rub elbows with suprisingly borderline hall of famer to be Tom Glavine (I think he should be a first ballot guy and can't understand why there are so many people who want to keep him out). Sports Nippon had a quote from him that expanded on his remark the other day about the control manager Willie Randolph exerts on the team, calling it "like a prison." New York media, start your outrage. He also said that he wants to talk to Pedro Martinez about how to approach big league hitters.

Saw that the Reds released Josh Hancock for reporting 17 pounds overweight. Hancock was in 11 games last year with a 1.93 ERA, but also had injury issues. What apparently galled manager Jerry Narron, though, was the fact that Hancock had been put on a diet and weight training program during the offseason and didn't stick to it despite the fact that Hancock was working on his fourth ballclub and had a craptacular 2004 in Cincinnati. So the 6'3" righty only has himself to blame. In addition, fans are more and more incensed by what they see as a lack of gratitude for the priviliged postion that pro athletes are in. Hancock was obviously cavalier about the tenuous position he was in to begin with. So good on Narron, who is anything but a martinet, for making Hancock pay a price for his indolence.