I just made it to Ishigaki to watch some Lotte spring camp. Right off the plane, drop off the bags at the hotel, go watch my team prepare for the 2010 season. The weather could be nicer, but right now I’m watching the pitchers work on defensive skills. Life is good.

I’ll be updating this post as the day goes on, hopefully with photos (if I can figure out how to do that from my phone!)

Apparently I brought the chilly wet weather with me. A fellow fan tells me it was 26 or 27 yesterday. Yahoo tenki says it’s 18 right now. Yahoo tenki lies, it can’t be more than 10 or 12, especially with the drizzle.

One strange (to me) thing is about 80% of the visitors are women. Maybe it’s not strange, but I didn’t expect it.

After my first part of this post I went to see the position players practicing run-downs and bunt coverage. I got my first up close look at new slugger Kim Tae-kyun: he’s absolutely massive up close, like Seibu’s Nakamura. Good thing he doesn’t have to run much at first.

Also got my first look at number 1 pick Ogino and new foreign imports Corey and Murphy. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to say hello to all of them this weekend.

2pm: More batting practice. Juan Muniz is belting line drives. I’ve yet to see a grounder from him. It’s a great time to chat with the players as they wander by. I’ve been hoping to say hello to Heiuchi but he’s zipped by several times without stopping. I did get a chance to say hello to recent signee Imaoka, he’s quite friendly.

No sign of Saburo, perhaps he’s still sitting out with his gimpy back?

Hope to see Kim take a few swings, but it seems to be getting colder, so maybe he’s being sensible and staying inside.