Today (July 30) marks the eighth anniversary of the passing of Masayasu Okada, arguably the Swallows’ biggest fan. Okada was responsible for many of the cheering rituals that continue to be used to this day, including the use of umbrellas and the singing of Tokyo Ondo. Beyond an obituary written by Jim Allen and some [...]
Yomiuri is running away with the Central League yet again, and it looks like there is little respite in sight especially given the depth of the team’s roster and the parent company’s pockets. There’s little you can do to insert some kind of fairness or parity into the system, but Tsubamegun believes we can all [...]
How We Got There The Swallows came into June fresh off the Takada firing, and were only 4 games into the Ogawa regime. The Birds were looking to build on the 1-2-1 record they had compiled under Ogawa, by exacting revenge on the Pacific League teams that had swept them in May. How We Did [...]
Ever since the Swallows signed Josh Whitesell to a contract, I have been contemplating the various roster adjustments the Swallows could make in order to maximize the talent available to the team. With various news sources reporting that Whitesell will make his Swallows debut on the 25th against Hanshin, I’d like to share some of [...]
You may be asking yourself, who is this man managing the Swallows right now? A quick Google search of his name in English reveals nothing but articles on Takada’s stepping aside. A Japanese Google search doesn’t reveal too much more than rehashes of his Wikipedia entry, but for those of you who don’t read Japanese, [...]
After a bit of a false alarm this morning, Tokyo Swallows’ manager Shiegru Takada has finally stepped aside. The Mainichi is reporting that after tonight’s game against Tohoku, Takada announced to the press that he would be taking a leave of absence. Takada is quoted as saying that he wanted to take responsibility for the [...]
May 26th, 2010 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 3 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 9 Last 5: LLLLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) After last Saturday’s debacle at Chiba, Tokyo had to pick themselves up off the floor and try to soldier on, despite today’s devastating news that Takada hadn’t resigned after all (Takada Count: 9). [...]
May 22nd, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Chiba Lotte Marines 20 Streak: Lost 8 Last 5: LLLLL (Chiba Marine Stadium) Lord give me strength. Where do I start with this one. Tanaka (2B) Miyamoto (3B) Aoki (CF) D’Antona (DH) Ihara (LF) Guiel (RF) Yoshimoto (1B) Aikawa (C) Fujimoto (SS) Losing pitcher: Nakazawa, 3-3/3.11. 2 [...]
Tomorrow, weather permitting, the 6 Central League teams will play host to the 6 Pacific League teams, kicking off 5 weeks of Interleague play. This post will hopefully give you some information you will find useful.
Howdy Tsubamegun readers! My name is Kozo Ota, and I was recently asked to become a contributor to this fine site. I hope to contribute posts that provide further information about the team, and about Japanese baseball. But I thought my first post should be about myself to lay out my bona fides, and to tell my story about how I came to be a Swallows fan.
