An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Kozo Ota is a third-generation Swallows fan that grew up on Montreal Expos baseball. When he's not at Jingu, he works as a freelance translator/interpreter to make enough money to go to Jingu.
May 17th, 2012 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 9 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WDLWL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Payback’s a bitch! After last night’s unreal drubbing of the Hawks, the boys from Fukuoka reciprocated in game 2. Nakamura gets the start in place of Aikawa tonight. I’m guessing that Nakamura will be [...]
It’s that time of year again! When Central League teams face off against their Pacific League counterparts. Things will get started for the Swallows on Wednesday evening at Jingu when they face off against the defending Nippon Series Champion Hawks. The Interleague format hasn’t changed over the last couple of years, and if anyone needs [...]
May 10th, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 3 Chunichi Dragons 1 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLLLW (Nagoya Dome) The Swallows’ bats finally come alive in the eighth to snap the team’s losing streak. The lineup got a bit of a tweak after Kawbata’s hip injury, and his subsequent removal from the active roster earlier today left [...]
May 5th, 2012 Hiroshima Carp 1 Tokyo Swallows 4 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WWLWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) After struggling against the Carp’s rookie pitcher Nomura over 2 starts, the Swallows finally got to him and gave Roman the offensive support necessary to get the win. Fukuchi got the start at center, after Ueda’s collision [...]
May 3rd, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 1 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WLWWL (Yokohama Stadium) Muranaka made his second straight start in the rain, but unlike the last outing, the Swallows’ offense wasn’t able to bail him out. The Swallows went with their usual lineup, including Miyamoto in the 6 spot. The [...]
April 26th, 2012 Chunichi Dragons 2 Tokyo Swallows 4 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWWDW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) A little rain keeps Yoshimi from pitching at 100% and the Swallows manage enough pop and defense to cover for “sub-optimal” pitching by Muranaka. Things did not start well for Muranaka and the Swallows as the young [...]
April 21st, 2012 Yomiuri Giants 0 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LWLWW (Jingu Stadium) The struggling Giants retooled their lineup, but were no match for a hot Akagawa. A fairly simple and clean win for the Swallows tonight. Akagawa started the game off with 2 strikeouts before allowing a single to Sakamoto. [...]
April 19th, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 3 Hanshin Tigers 4 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWLWL (Koshien Stadium) Ishikawa and the Swallows lose a back-and-forth affair at a windy Koshien. The Swallows struck first in this game in the second. After Kawabata walked to lead off the inning, Miyamoto got career hit number 1987 to put [...]
April 12th, 2012 Yokohama BayStars 4 Tokyo Swallows 0 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: WWWLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) One day later, but the result was virtually the same, except no one could blame the weather tonight. The Swallows ended their 3 game set against the BayStars doing what no other team had managed to [...]
April 5th, 2012 Hanshin Tigers 3 Tokyo Swallows 1 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWLDL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Only 2 Tigers showed up with their A game tonight, unfortunately only 1 Swallow could say the same and the result was a frustrating 3-1 loss to the Tigers. Coming off the near no-hitter against the [...]
