By the way, ANA, which has a working relationship with Qantas, blames that airline for a lot of the problems that the Marines players and staff endured. 

Fortunately, when coaches got to Geelong to take a look at the facilities there, things were in order. A few of the players, even though they were tired, decided to get in a workout there anyway. 

Bobby Valentine, on the other hand, just left Sunday for Australia. About 50 other passengers asked him for autographs and photographs before the flight boarded and he reportedly cheerfully accommodated them. 

The team's promotion department has come up with a novel frequent fan plan whereby fan club members earn points everytime they attend a game, which can then be cashed in later for a free ticket to a future contest. Details at the team's website. 

Nippon Ham The Fighters announced today the acquisition of pitcher Felix Diaz from the Chicago White Sox. The Dominican righthander will make about $400,000 in salary this season and wear number 66. He was a combined 16-10 the last two seasons at the Sox AAA affiliate in Charlotte and pitched in18 games at the big league level for them, going 2-5. 

Orix Manager Katsuhiro Nakamura lit into outfielder Karim Garcia today when the club couldn't get a definite response from the former Dodger and Yankee on whether he will be arriving in time for the beginning of spring training on Wednesday. Nakamura said that Garcia is hurting team chemistry and is just "digging his own grave. We don't need people who don't care about getting things done," Nakamura griped. 

Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki will play in an intrasquad game for the Buffaloes on February 11th, it was announced today. He will arrive in Miyakojima on the 10th and leave on the 13th. He has also expressed interest in talking with former Reds slugger George Foster, who will be a special instructor for the team during that time. 

Rakuten A lot was made in the Japanese press Sunday about lanky righthander Hisashi Iwakuma cutting his long hair and dropping the dyed brown chapatasu style that is in fashion these days in Japan. Manager Katusya Nomura has outlawed that as well as things like earrings. Iwakuma's wife Madoka bought her husband a copy of Nomura's Notebook, where he lays down a lot of his thoughts on how to be successful in pro baseball. 

But a columnist for Nikkan Sports wondered Sunday if Nomura can adjust to the current generation of players and the fact that the way that the league does business has changed significantly. Nomura is 70 years old. "Can Nomura revise his Nomura's Notebook?", Nozaki asked. We'll get a chance to see. 

Nomura, according to Sports Nippon, was told by the front office that there is no interest in obtaining reliever Shingo Takatsu, who will be attempting to win a job with Yakult this spring. There are three spots open on the Eagles roster, but they are planning to pick up only one more player. 

The Golden Eagles are looking for sponsors for their minor league squad, it was announced today. That squad is based in rural Yamagata Prefecture. 

Seibu Is Daisuke Matsuzaka asking for a personal catcher? Today, he designated rookie backstop Taiichi Yoshimi as his workout buddy. Yoshimi was recently drafted out of Sunward Boeki's industrial league program. 

Matsuzaka worked out today at his alma mater, Yokohama High School and told the press that he will be conscious of the WBC pitch counts. So in order to get through the middle innings at least, he will be looking to fool hitters into getting themselves out rather than blowing them away.  

Softbank Even though they are going to pay him a total of over $4 million plus incentives over the next two seasons, Manager Sadaharu Oh stated today that pitcher D.J. Carrasco won't be given special treatment and that he could very well begin the season in the minors if he has a less than optimal spring training. Oh believes that the Hawks are strong in the pitching department (though I think they have issues with their middle relief and closer spots) and don't believe that Carrasco is necessarily the centerpiece of their staff. Carrasco has arrived in Japan and will have his introductory press conference Monday. 

Good news for Oh came out today when it was learned that much sought after Kyoto Gakuen High School lefthanded hurler Kenji Otonari wants to sign with the Hawks for the November draft. Otonari has reportedly been clocked at 92mph and has extremely good control. Ten other teams are also said to be interested. 

Oh did an appearance on NHK's Sunday Sports and confirmed that Nobuhiko Matsunaka is his leading candidate for the cleanup role in Japan's WBC order.