An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Relief pitcher Masahiro Yoshikawa (no. 62) was called up to the first team prior to yesterday’s rained out game. Yoshikawa is a 31-year-old right-handed pitcher that was one of Tokyo’s main middle relievers back in 2005 when he had 61 appearances. His ERA that year was 3.72, and he pitched in another 43 games in [...]
August 30th, 2009 Chunichi Dragons X Tokyo Yakult Swallows X Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL (Jingu Stadium) Riding its most recent four game losing streak, the birds looked to salvage a little pride and win one game at home before starting a six game road trip on Tuesday. However, this game was called [...]
Infielder Jamie D’Antona (no. 4) was brought back up to the top team after two weeks of rehab on a pulled hamstring. D’Antona had just been named the July player of the month for the Central League when the leg injury occurred, and his run-production has been sorely missed during the two weeks without him. [...]
August 29th, 2009 Chunichi Dragons 5 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL (Jingu Stadium) Yoshinori lasted eight innings, and the game went an extra frame before it was decided, but in the end it was another game for the ‘Loss’ column.
Outfielder Yuichi Matsumoto (no. 31), the 29-year-old veteran who originally hails from Brazil, was recalled to the first team after being dropped a little over three weeks ago. Prior to being dropped he hit .233 in 33 appearances for the top club. On the farm this season, Yuichi has hit .333 in 17 games with [...]
August 28th, 2009 Chunichi Dragons 7 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: LWLLL (Jingu Stadium) I’m beginning to suspect that the team is losing on purpose in order to make Takada look bad in the (foolish) hope that he won’t be asked to stick around next season. And just to get [...]
Starting pitcher Kyouhei Muranaka (no. 15) rejoined the first team after a very brief stay (about 10 days) down on the farm. He was utterly ineffective in his five starts prior to last night’s game. His record was 0-4 and he averaged nearly a run per inning as indicated by his 8.06 ERA. Takada waited [...]
August 27th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 7 Streak: Lost 2 Last : LLWLL (Mazda Stadium) Oh dear. Things are not going well at the moment. At. all. Just like the Carp did the night before, Tokyo found themselves with a 6-0 lead at the end of their 2nd inning [...]
This post contains player movements from two separate days. A couple of days ago, Shinya Miyamoto (no. 6), Tokyo’s veteran infielder, was brought back up to the first team after some rehabilitation of his left leg. Miyamoto played an important role in Tuesday’s series-opening win against the Hiroshima Carp, and his return to the team [...]
August 26th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 11 Streak: Lost 1 Last : WLLWL (Mazda Stadium) After a brief respite yesterday with a solid Tateyama start and timely hitting earning a comfortable enough win for the Swallows, normal August service was resumed this evening as Tokyo stunk up Hiroshima’s shiny [...]
