July 27th, 2012
Tokyo Swallows 9 
Chunichi Dragons 2
Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LLDLW
(Nagoya Dome)
After last night’s little league action in Tokyo, the Birds traveled south to battle (the ugliest looking excuse of a mascot this writer has seen) Dragons.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| Chunichi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Roman (5-7) L: Kawakami (1-1) | ||||||||||||
Tonight it was the Birds turn to smack around the 2nd place Kansai paperboys after the Swallows were slapped around by the mighty golden red fish of Hiroshima the night before. Roman pitched extremely well and went the distance. Boo and Coco were knocking the cover off the ball while the whole team contributed to the win.
Tokyo | Chunichi |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milledge LF | 1 | Oshima CF |
| 2 | Miwa 3B | 2 | Nomoto RF |
| 3 | Kawabata SS | 3 | Wada LF |
| 4 | Hatakeyama 1B | 4 | Morino 3B |
| 5 | Balentien RF | 5 | Ibata SS |
| 6 | Tanaka 2B | 6 | Tanishige C |
| 7 | Fukuichi CF | 7 | Yamasaki 1B |
| 8 | Aikawa C | 8 | Donoue 2B |
| 9 | Roman P | 9 | Kawakami P |
The Birds wasted no time in getting on the board. In the top of the first, after a Milledge strikeout, Miwa smacked a double to center. Two batters later he was knocked in when Boo hit another double, this one being hit to left. 1 – 0 Tokyo
Coco added to his lead leading HR total (now 26) when he smacked the second pitch he saw into the Nagoya Dome bleachers. 3 – 0 Tokyo
GONE! #26 on the year.
Tanaka would also get on base but Kawakami finally finished wetting himself and got Fukuichi to ground out to second to end the inning.
In the home half of the first, the Dragons would get one back. After getting the first two batters out, Roman gave up a hit to Wada. Wada would come around to score when Morino hit his first double of the game. 3 – 1 Tokyo
After a 2nd inning lullaby, the Birds wreaked havoc once again on Kawakami in the third. Miwa once again reached base. He would steal second before moving over to third when Boo hit a liner off of Kawakami’s glove. Boo was also safe at first on the play. Coco would continue to make Kawakami look like a child when he smacked a double down the third base line. This easily scored Miwa and put runners on 2nd and 3rd. 4 – 1 Tokyo
To add insult to his dismay, Kawakami felt he needed to plunk Tanaka, which he did to load the bases. Moron. Fukuichi was up next. I am not quite sure but I do believe Mr Fukuichi was holding up his middle-finger in Kawakami’s direction as he calmly smacked the second pitch he saw out of the infield, scoring Boo from 3rd. 5 – 1 Tokyo
Kawabata joined the RBI party when he hit a ball back up the middle, scoring Coco from third. 6 – 1 Tokyo
Unfortunately on that play, Ibata got to the ball and force out Fukuichi at 2nd for the second out of the inning. Roman would strike out to end the inning.
The Birds would score another run in the 5th. Coco would lead off the inning with his second double of the game. Tanaka would walk but be forced out when Fukuichi grounded out to Asakura. Kawabata then knocked in his second RBI of the game when he hit a sac fly to right. 7 – 1 Tokyo
Roman would be the third out of the inning.
In the bottom of the 5th, after a Oshima single to center, Roman quickly got two outs when he started a 1-4-3 double play. After almost sawing off Wada’s nose with a wake-up pitch, Roman walked Wada. This came back to haunt Roman as Wada would score on Morino’s second double of the game. 7 – 2 Tokyo
That would be the end of the Dragon offense for this evening. However, the Birds were not quite done. In the very next inning, Milledge would lead-off the inning with a single to right. He was bunted over to 2nd by Miwa. Kawabata would be the second out of the inning when flew out to center. All of that didn’t matter as the grizzly Boo belted a 2-run HR into the first few rows of the left-center bleachers. 9 – 2 Tokyo Final
I think I can. I think I can. Yes. I remember how to hit the ball! WOOOOO-HOOOO!
Notes
- Boo and Coco are good (AGAIN!!)!
- Coco could have been nominated as player of the game. His line was rather impressive:
3-5; 2 2B’s and a HR with 3 RBI’s and 3 runs scored - Roman’s line: 9 innings, 8 hits, 3 strikeouts, 125 pitches, 2 earned runs to earn player of the game honors
Thank you. Thank you very much!
- Kawakami’s line: 4 innings, 7 hits, 87 pitches, 6 earned runs and in need of some new underwear
- 28205 folks were watching these two foes go at it
- Tomorrows hurlers look to be Iwata (4-2) for the Dragons and Akagawa (5-5) for the Swallows
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