Tokyo Swallows 1

Chunichi Dragons 2

Series: Chunichi 4-2 Tokyo

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	X	2	3	0

Well, it falls to yours truly to pen the last game report of the season. While I’d rather not be doing so just yet, of course, I must also say I’m not crushed by the outcome. Tokyo made it closer to the prize than they have since their Japan Series win in 2001 and, despite a late-season bobble, fluff, and slide, managed to hold on to the top spot for much of the season, giving us denizens of the Jingu bleachers the fun of being top-dog for a while – a rare treat.

After years of fretting over underachieving teams and boneheaded decisions, we got a chance to do a little less second-guessing and a little more crowing over a pack of untested whippersnappers, roughed-up vets, and prime rib not yet in the right metaphor that managed to eke out wins and ties while being outscored by their opponents and discounted by just about everyone but us and themselves.

I’d like to say that’s the sappiest thing you’ll ever see me write, but I’ll do battle with Kozo at the end of this post.

Ladies, gentlemen, and loyal members of the Tsubamegun-dan. . . the game:

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Ueda (LF)	1	Araki (SS)
2	Tanaka (2B)	2	Ibata (2B)
3	Aoki (CF)	3	Morino (3B)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Blanco (1B)
5	Balentien (RF)	5	Wada (LF)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Tanishige (C)
7	Aikawa (C)	7	Hirata (RF)
8	Morioka (SS)	8	Ohshima (CF)
9	Tateyama (P)	9	Yoshimi (P)

The game went fast at first. The home plate umpire was prepared to call anything that didn’t actually pass outside the righties’ batter’s box a strike, which created a pitcher’s duel, even though neither Tateyama nor Yoshimi looked as hot as they have on other days. Tateyama only gave up three hits; unfortunately, the third was an Ibata home run to far, shallow left following a walk, which made the score at the end of the sixth inning 2-0 Chunichi.

Tateyama looked dejected as he sat down and Oshimoto took over to get the remaining two outs of the sixth and go 1-2-3 in the seventh. Matsuoka did almost as well in the eigth, giving up a walk, but nothing more dangerous.

In the top of the ninth, Kawamoto doubled, Iihara watched a pitch roll right over the center of the plate to strike out, Tanaka also struck out, and Aoki played hero by driving in Kawamoto with a single. All Hatake had to do was hit, or show off some power. He swung hard. . .

Pop fly foul ball for out three and an end to the 2011 season. 2-1 Chunichi, Final.

We’ll have something to say on the Japan Series.

We’ll also get some end-of-season stuff up to round things out.

For now, I think I can speak for Christopher, David, Kozo, and Scott when I thank all of you who have read this far for sticking with us, commenting, commiserating, and, in this unusually successful year, celebrating with us. We were all ready to take in our first Series games in a decade, but it didn’t happen. This is a situation we know exactly how to handle, though: We’ll get ‘em next year.

The All-Star Team. (From left) Sugimoto, Pellegrini, Nakagawa

We thought this well-timed feature would interest the Tsubamegun. The Asahi Shimbun‘s Rob Smaal chatted with our own Christopher Pellegrini and snapped a photo of him with our dear friends, Messrs. Sugimoto and Nakagawa (without whom, we wouldn’t be on course to be buried in our regular seats).

Enjoy! See you at the game.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Chunichi Dragons 4

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: LLWWL

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5	0
Chunichi	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	X	4	6	3
W: Yoshimi (18-3) L: Akagawa (6-3)

“It’s over folks,” was how Kozo opened his post after Tokyo’s last loss to Chunichi, six days ago. He was very right. Let us hope that whatever kept the Swallows in the lead for so much of the season is being secretly stored up for the postseason.

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Aoki (CF)	1	Ohshima (CF)
2	Ueda (LF)	2	Iwasaki (SS)
3	Tanaka (2B)	3	Fukuda (3B)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Hirata (RF)
5	Balentien (RF)	5	Saeki (1B)
6	Morioka (SS)	6	Donoue N. (2B)
7	Noguchi (3B)	7	Donoue T. (LF)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Oyama (C)
9	Akagawa (P)	9	Kawai (P)

.293. Aoki's existential crisis is most other pros' dream.

The first two innings flew by like the stamina of our ailing club, then the scoring started in the third. I trust I needn’t point out which half of the third.

The first pitch went for a single to Donoue the Elder and was followed by an Oyama RBI triple. A bit later, an Ohshima ground out brought Oyama home, too. 2-0 Chunichi.

In the fourth, Aoki sat down, his batting average dropping below .300 at the end of a season for the first time in seven years; Ueda moved to center, Noguchi to left, and Araki came in to play third. Why not give the young guys a shot to play the field? Kyuko also took the mound in the fourth for Tokyo, but it didn’t help a whole lot. He started off by giving up a single to Fukuda, who was immediately (first pitch) brought in by a Hirata triple to the right field fence. Saeki then put the third pitch in almost exactly the same location into deep left for an RBI single. 4-0 Chunichi.

The Dragons continued to supremely suck in the field (seriously, go get drunk and do fungoes in your living room and you’ll be ready to take the field in Nagoya), but Tokyo didn’t even come close to capitalizing on any of the three errors.

Yamamoto pitched the fifth and sixth 1-2-3 for the Swallows, but was left hanging out like David’s dirty underwear on a rainy day. Hidaka traded a hit for a K in the seventh for no damage.

In the seventh, Suzuki took over for Chunichi. In the eighth, he gave up a single to the speedy Noguchi. Ohshima then avoided an E, but fumbled a Fukukawa hit to center, which moved Noguchi to third. Takeuchi was then in for Balentien and sac-flied Noguchi home. Araki GIDPed. 4-1 Chunichi, Final.

Fukuchi got an AB, and got out. Nothing could have counted anyway.

The Birds’ last game of the season will be at home against Hiroshima on the 25th. Here’s how it goes: Cheer for Ogawa, he’s still our man; cheer for the retiring players. Be nice to the Carp.

The Climax Series begins, at Jingu, on Saturday the 29th. Get your Giant-Hater T-shirt now and get to your ticket agent of choice to get your tickets ASAP.

Now take a deep breath and say it with me, Tokyo fans. F”#$%&’())(‘&%&’()=)(‘&%&’())(‘&%$#$%&’!

Tokyo Swallows 3

Yokohama BayStars 1

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: LLLLW

(Yokohama Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
TYS	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	11	0
YBS	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0

	Tokyo		Yokohama
1	Aoki (CF)	1	Shimozono (LF)
2	Ueda (LF)	2	Aranami (CF)
3	Tanaka (2B)	3	Tsutsugo (1B)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Murata (3B)
5	Miyamoto (3B)	5	Nakamura (2B)
6	Balentien (RF)	6	Watanabe (SS)
7	Morioka (SS)	7	Matsumoto (RF)
8	Aikawa (C)	8	Kurobane (C)
9	Ishikawa (P)	9	Kuniyoshi (P)

This one started out on a positive: Aoki, back at the top of the order, made Kuniyoshi serve up seven pitches all over the map before knocking one for a single. He then sat there until Hatakeyama doubled him over to third and scored when Miyamoto smacked a beautiful line-drive to right. Hatake got caught, though, and the inning ended. 1-0 Tokyo.

Ishikawa promptly reminded the Tsubamegun of how worn out the Swallows’ arms are, though, by giving up a walk and two hits to start, which tied the game. Luckily, Ishikawa then managed to strike Murata out. A diving catch in shallow right made that two outs, then another pop-out to end the inning. 1-1.

Ishikawa then settled in and gave up only two hits and one walk over the next six innings, leaving the game having thrown 107 pitches for four hits, six Ks, two walks, and one run.

In the top of the seventh, with two outs, Aoki doubled, Uedad walked, and Tanaka hit an RBI double. 2-1 Tokyo.

In the top of the eighth, Miyamoto led off with a double, moved to third on a Balentien pop-up to right, and scored on an Aikawa single to center, which brought up the pinch-hitting Iihara, who popped out. 3-1 Tokyo.

Kyuko took the mound in the bottom of the eighth and gave up a single to Shimozono to start, then another to Aranami, nabbing Shimozono on the play. He then ended an eight-pitch contest with Tsutsugo by plunking him, which brought in Lim to end the inning.

The ninth was exciting. After Aoki got out, Tokyo strung together two hits and a walk to load the bases with Miyamoto at the plate.

No luck.

No rally for the home team either, though. 3-1 Tokyo, Final.

A win, finally. Ishikawa (10-9) took the win.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 4

Streak: Lost 3   Last 5: LWLLL

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
TYS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	6	0
CD	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	X	4	6	1

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Fukuchi (LF)	1	Araki (SS)
2	Morioka (2B)	2	Ibata (2B)
3	Aoki (CF)	3	Morino (3B)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Blanco (1B)
5	Kawabata (SS)	5	Tanishige (C)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Wada (LF)
7	Balentien (RF)	7	Hirata (RF)
8	Aikawa (C)	8	Oshima (CF)
9	Masubuchi (P)	9	Nelson (P)

This was an uneventful, low-hitting game for five and a half innings. Masubuchi and Nelson were even pretty evenly matched in pitch count. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, starting at the top of the Chunichi order, Araki singled and made it to second on an Ibata ground-out, Morino walked, and Blanco hit an RBI double to the center-field fence to open up the scoring. Masubuchi must’ve been on a short leash, as he was immediately yanked for Oshimoto, who opened with a K against Tanishige, walked Wada to fill the bases, and, lukcily, got Hirata to pop out to end the inning. 1-0 Chunichi.

Tokyo made no reply and Matsui took the mound for the Birds in the seventh, notching a K in a 1-2-3 inning. The offense then came back up and sat right back down – Nelson was either getting better as the night went on, or the lanky Dominican righty has more endurance on the mound than the Swallows do in the batter’s box.

In the bottom of the eighth, Chunichi showed that they did, in fact, want to win the CL. Lim made an earlier appearance than he’s used to and got a quick out, followed by a seven-pitch out, then beaned Blanco and sat down. Matsuoka took over, looking for a chance to redeem himself, and walked Tanishige before giving up a three-run homer to left to the baldy from Gifu, Wada. The youngster Hidaka managed to secure the third out. 4-0 Chunichi.

Tokyo’s good for a little excitement, though, and the top of the ninth saw a rally.

Nelson walked Morioka and finally left the game, having given up three hits and no runs on 105 pitches in eight innings. Kobayashi took over for the Dragons and gave up a single to Aoki. Suzuki then took the mound to bean Hatake and fill the bases. (The youth Nakamura did the running.) The oft-dangerous Asao then took the mound, getting Kawabata out, but allowing Morioka to score. Miyamoto then drove in Aoki with a single (and was replaced on the basepaths by Noguchi). Balentien followed that by knocking in Nakamura with a line drive to left. Aikawa and Iihara then both struck out to end the rally and the game. 4-3 Chunichi, Final.

Nelson (10-14) took the win, Masubuchi (7-11) the loss.

The Swallows’ chances to retake the lead are growing fewer. Another chance to salvage a bit of pride against the Dragons come tomorrow night before the team comes back to Jingu for a one-off make-up with Hanshin that has become really important.

Tokyo Swallows 0

Hanshin Tigers 3

Streak: Lost 2    Last 5: LLWLL

(Kyocera Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Hanshin	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	x	3	10	0

Tanaka didn’t bat second, for a third straight game, which flagrantly violates the closest thing Tokyo has to set dogma: Tanaka bats second, behind Aoki. Should Aoki reach first and there be no outs, Tanaka will sac bunt. It’s the transubstantiation, the virgin birth, the Trinity of the Tsubamegun.

But we live in tumultuous times. “Batter my heart. . .”

	Tokyo		Hanshin
1	Aoki (CF)	1	Hirano (2B)
2	Noguchi (3B)	2	Shibata (CF)
3	Kawabata (SS)	3	Toritani (SS)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Arai (3B)
5	Balentien (RF)	5	Brazell (1B)
6	Tanaka (2B)	6	Murton (RF)
7	Iihara (LF)	7	Kanemoto (LF)
8	Aikawa (C)	8	Omiyama (C)
9	Tateyama (P)	9	Noumi (P)

Slow-mo lead blow

The game started out innocuously, with both pitchers giving up a hit here and there and Noguchi even pulling off the pointless sac-bunt behind an Aoki walk in the third (with an out, so it was actually far worse than pointless, it was intentionally losing), but the game remained scoreless for six-and-a-half innings.

The differences were slowly accruing, though, with Noumi walking a few more than Tateyama, but Hanshin notching more base hits.

In the bottom of the seventh, Brazell hit a fairly routine single and the Tigers set about manufacturing a run, first putting the speedier Yamato in to run, then moving him to third on a hit-and-run by Murton, which was followed by a successful Kanemoto hit-and-run for the RBI. 1-0 Hanshin.

Two outs into the top of the eighth, with Hatakeyama up and a man on, reliever Enokida was pulled in favor of the scary (and scarily ugly) Fujikawa, who did what he gets paid to do. In the bottom of the eighth, things got grimmer. After a Hirano pop-out, Shibata doubled and was driven in by a Toritani triple. That was followed by an Arai RBI single. 3-0 Hanshin, where it would remain.

Tateyama (10-4) pitched a complete game, but took the loss, of course.

Tokyo have managed to blow their hold on first place, which puts them in the position of desperately needing a win tomorrow and also needing a not-so-hot Hiroshima to beat a smoking Chunichi in Nagoya.

If you have a better idea than quoting John Donne, do let me know.

We love you, Colin!

Colin, you’re a champ. You’ll be missed. And we’ll organize a retirement party for you if you ask us.

Yokohama BayStars 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: WWWTL

(Jingu Stadium)

[table "88" not found /]

A ninth-inning rally wasn’t quite enough to stop the outhit Swallows from losing for the first time since September 4th and closing their longest unbeaten streak in over a year.

	Yokohama		Tokyo
1	Aranami (CF)	1	Aoki (CF)
2	Ishikawa (SS)	2	Tanaka (2B)
3	Shimozono (LF)	3	Kawabata (SS)
4	Murata (3B)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Tsutsugo (1B)	5	Takeuchi (LF)
6	Kinjoh (RF)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Fujita (2B)	7	Balentien (RF)
8	Honyamada (C)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Takasaki (P)	9	Masubuchi (P)

Lots of Ks, but lots of runs.

Masubuchi started off fairly well. Three strike-outs in the first inning, tempered by a triple. Things continued in that vein until the top of the fourth, when, with one out, he gave up a solo home run to Murata. He remained shaky, but no more runs scored. 1-0 Yokohama.

Things got worse in the fifth. Takasaki, the pitcher, hit a deep single to center, then got nabbed on the way to second, leaving Aranami on first to be moved over by an Ishikawa single. Shimozono was then walked to load the bases.

Would Masubuchi get out of it safely? Of course not. He beaned Murata to bring in a run and keep the bases loaded with one out. Tsutsugo then hit a successful sac fly for another run. Kinjoh followed that with an RBI single. 4-0 Yokohama.

Yamamoto took the mound for Tokyo in the sixth, Matsui then seventh and eighth, and Hidaka the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, a rally. Takasaki was still on the mound for Yokohama, having thrown eight shut-out innings with only two hits. Aikawa got things going with a line drive single. With two outs, Tanaka hit an RBI line drive single himself. Kawabata then walked and Hatake got lucky with a Fujita error and Tanaka made it home, leading to a 4-2 Yokohama, Final.

Revenge and dignity to be sought tomorrow against Yokohama, at Jingu.

Yokohama BayStars 2

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Tied 1  Last 5: WWWWT

(Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
YB	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	10	1
TS	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	8	0

Well, it had to end sometime. After nine wins, Tokyo’s winning streak ended at the hands of Yokohama, of course, in a game with a lot of thwarted offense.

	Yokohama		Tokyo
1	Watanabe (2B)	1	Aoki (CF)
2	Ishikawa (SS)	2	Tanaka (2B)
3	Shimozono (LF)	3	Kawabata (SS)
4	Murata (3B)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Tsutsugo (1B)	5	Takeuchi (LF)
6	Matsumoto (CF)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Kinjoh (RF)	7	Balentien (RF)
8	Kurobane (C)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Miura (P)	9	Ishikawa (P)

The scoring:
Kinjoh hit a solo home run in the top of the second. 1-0 Yokohama.

In the bottom of the third, with two outs and Aoki on second, Kawabata hit an RBI double. 1-1.

The BayStars immediately opened up a gap again. In the top of the fourth, with two outs, Kurobane hit a solo home run. 2-1 Yokohama.

In the bottom of the sixth, Tanaka led off with a single, which was followed by another Kawabata RBI double. 2-2, Final.

Ishikawa was pulled in the top of the seventh after giving one hit. Matsui took the mound, walked Murata to put runners on first and second, and was pulled in favor of Oshimoto. Oshimoto filled the bases with a walk and Matsumoto was brought in to get Harper to ground into a 6-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The bottom of the seventh was also exciting: Whitesell doubled, then reached third on a wild pitch to Aoki, who went on to walk, but no runs scored.

Matsuoka pitched the eighth; Kyuko pitched the first 2/3 of the ninth, but was pulled for Lim when he got into a bit of trouble.

More Yokohama action tomorrow.

Tokyo Swallows  7

Hiroshima Carp 6

Streak: Won 8  Last 5: WWWWW

(Mazda Zoom Zoom Zoom! Zoom zooomzoomzoomzoom Stadium Hiroshima)

[table "82" not found /]

	Tokyo		Hiroshima
1	Aoki (CF)	1	Higashide (2B)
2	Tanaka (2B)	2	Akamatsu (CF)
3	Kawabata (SS)	3	Barden (3B)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Kurihara (1B)
5	Iihara (LF)	5	Maru (LF)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Hirose (RF)
7	Balentien (RF)	7	Kura (C)
8	Aikawa (C)	8	Kimura (SS)
9	Muranaka (P)	9	Shinoda (P)

'Nuff said.

Aoki started this game with a strike out, but he at least drew seven pitches. Tanaka drew a walk and Kawabata got a hit, both to be commended. Hatakeyama popped out and, more pertinently, Iihara popped out to center on the first pitch. Iihara has been getting more playing time lately, but he and a few other Swallows need to internalize one basic sabermetric lesson: Don’t swing at the first pitch.

The Carp scored first when Muranaka got off to a bad start: walk, sac-bunt, walk, pop up moving a man to third, then the RBI single. 1-0 Hiroshima.

Never fear, though. In the top of the second, Miyamoto led off with a safe bunt, which was followed by a Balentien double. Aikawa then grounded out, but drove in the tying run. 1-1.

In the top of the third, Kawabata singled, then was brought home in grand fashion by a Hatake two-run homer. 3-1 Tokyo.

Alas, the Carp turned right around and did the same thing: Barden single followed by Kurihara two-run homer. 3-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, Muranaka faced the top of the delta’s order again, when, with one out, he melted down a bit, giving up three hits in a row to Akamatsu, Barden, and Kurihara to make the score 4-3 Hiroshima.

In the sixth, Yamamoto took the mound for Tokyo and, in the top of the seventh, .143-hitting back-up catcher Masakazu Fukukawa was, oddly, called in to pinch-hit and was, even more oddly, walked and replaced by Keizo Kawashima on the basepaths. That was the offensive highlight of the inning.

Takahiro Aoki took the mound for Hiroshima in the seventh. Ryo Hidaka, with all of 1 1/3 innings under his belt this season, did the same for the Birds and started off with a K. Then a hit on the first pitch, and a sac-bunt on the first pitch. Then he was yanked in favor of Matsui, who gave up an RBI to Barden. 5-3 Hiroshima.

Not so fast, though, once and future thugs.* Tokyo defeats inferior teams this year. It’s a novelty thing they’re trying out. Imamura on the mound for the Reds. Kawbata hits, then Hatake and Takeuchi (pinch-hitting for Iihara) pop out. After that, though, Miyamoto homers.

Balentien and Aikawa then walked and Imamura got yanked in favor of Toyoda, who gave up a base-loading hit to the pinch-hitting Whitesell, bringing up Aoki, who hit to right, made the third out, and drove two runs in in the process. 7-5 Tokyo.

Oshimoto took the mound in the eighth and gave up a hit to Maru to start. Then to Hirose, who apparently can hit them low and away, where Oshimoto kept throwing until he got drilled. Kura then sac-bunted the bases full and Kyuko took over for the Swallows and gave up an RBI to Yamamoto, who grounded out. 7-6 Tokyo.

In the ninth, Dennis Sarfate hurled for Hiroshima. He gave up a single to Tanaka, sac-bunt to Kawabata, walk to Hatake (replaced by Miwa on base), hit to Takeuchi, struck out Miyamoto, then faced Balentien with two outs and the base loaded.

He struck out on five pitches. M”#$%&’&%$%r!

A sexy-again Lim took the mound in the ninth. He did well. 7-6 Tokyo, Final. Eight straight wins.

This is the longest winning streak of the season so far. Last season, the Swallows won ten straight between August 3rd and 13th (when they swept Chunichi at home, Yokohama away, and Yomiuri at home, then won the first game of a 1-2 series at Hanshin). 2008 and ’09 are best left forgotten.

Matsui (2-0, 5.79) threw four pitches, gave up one hit, and was lucky enough to have pitched right before a four-run inning, thus taking the win. Imamura took the loss for Hiroshima with a similar amount of luck involved.

* Back in the 1950s, the early days of NPB, Carp fans used to routinely pelt visiting teams and fans, particularly the Giants, with rocks. In other words, they were Hanshin fans with the benefit of being in a far less settled time in a city going through the pangs of rebuilding.