Fall camp begins for Hawks (courtesy Yakyu Baka)

Probably still smarting from the Final Stage loss to the Chiba Lotte Marines in the PL Climax Series, the Hawks arrived in Miyazaki yesterday.

Camp began with the teams in two groups, the pitchers in particular. One group worked on lower body strengthening (a group that included Sugiuchi, Wada, and Mahara), and the other threw in the bullpen (Nagisa Arakaki, Ohtonari, Yasushi Kamiuchi).

Sadaharu Oh watched over practice and also gave a one-hour lecture to the players afterwards.

In related team news, Jose Ortiz is mulling the possibility of having surgery on his right knee, more specifically his right medial meniscus. He got hurt once again during the season, and his inability to produce power numbers hurt the team in the worst way down the stretch. The Hawks do have a contingency plan in place, just in case Ortiz's rehab doesn't go as planned.