In full gear

Grand Central
The Central League pennant race, otherwise known as “Let’s gang up on the Yomiuri Giants,” starts Friday at 6 p.m. with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows getting the first shot in a game at Tokyo Dome.
The Swallows, who bounced back from a fifth-place finish in 2008 to reach the playoffs last year with a third-place run, brought in a few imports to help the pitching staff. Basically, though, it seems they’re counting on guys to repeat outstanding performances from last season.
The Giants, who have won three straight CL titles -- with the crowning jewel coming with a Japan Series run last year -- filled their small gaps in the offseason with the likes of Edgar Gonzalez at second base and outfielder Hisayoshi Chono.
The 25-year-old Chono garnered a look at the starting job in right, but reports later said he would be a "semi-regular," spelling the oft-injured Yoshinobu Takahashi.
“We’ve added Takahashi, Chono and Edgar to the guys we had last year,” said Giants manager Tatsunori Hara. “Our pitching staff is also younger. We go into Opening Day with a lot of expectations.”
Needless to say, the Giants want another Series title. But the needless comment of the day come from Yakult skipper Shigeru Takada, whose “We want to start out strong and build momentum.”
Yeah, who wants to start out by taking their lumps from game one?
Chunichi Hiromitsu Ochiai skipper had a distinctive take on the season, which starts at home at Nagoya Dome against the Hiroshima Carp.
“If possible, I’d like to win all 144 games,” said the often-impatient Ochiai, who has three rookies on the Opening Day roster.
“We had competition for the club and the pitchers and position players here are the ones who won. These are the best players right now.”
It will be the debut for rookie Hiroshima skipper Kenjiro Nomura.
Kenji Jojima will be making his first appearance for a Japanese team in five years when his Hanshin Tigers play host to the Yokohama BayStars at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Yokohama rookie manager Takao Obana makes his debut.
The Pacific League also returns after a three-day layoff, with the Nippon Ham at Chiba Lotte (Yagi vs. Naruse); and Orix at Fukuoka SoftBank (Kondo vs. Wada).

Gin-chan is gone
Bad news for Saitama Seibu Lions fans on Thursday -- the hard-working and diligent Ginjiro Sumitani will be out for the year after it was discovered he tore a ligament in his left knee.
The 22-year-old played in a career-best 112 games last season, mostly because No. 1 catcher Toru Hosokawa was sidelined for much of the season with his own injury issues.