燕軍 Tokyo Swallows» Takada Count

5/19/10 – Seibu (Away)

Christopher Pellegrini — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:44:20 +0000

May 19th, 2010

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Saitama Seibu Lions 3

Streak: Lost 6 Last 5: LLLLL

(Seibu Dome)

The Tokyo Swallows took their one-ring circus to Saitama for game two at Seibu Dome against the Lions. The first inning wasn’t particularly encouraging, from an offensive standpoint anyway, but things got mildly better after that.

But before we get carried away, let me just preface this business with a quick reminder that the Takada Count climbed a notch higher.

Takada Count: 7

Today’s starting lineup:

Tanaka 2B
Miyamoto SS
Aoki CF
D’Antona 1B
Iihara LF
Guiel RF
Kinugawa DH
Yoshimoto 3B
Aikawa C

Tanaka started his amazing evening (3-4, 1 run scored) with a double off of Saitama starter, Ishii. For whatever reason, and this is where the Takada Count moves northward, Miyamoto was asked to bunt. The Tak-bunt didn’t get the job done, however, as our trusty number six bounced his bunt close enough to home plate that Hosokawa was able to gun Tanaka down at third.

Fine start killed. Thank you, Mr. T.

But it wasn’t all bad, even if our beloved manager tried to keep it so. Miyamoto brought two runs around a bit later on a broken bat double down the line in left. 2-0 Tokyo.

Question: can you remember the last time Tokyo scored first in a regular season game? What a coincidence. Neither can we.

Saitama eventually got one back in the fourth when Nakajima hit a solo homer into the camera well in center. 2-1 penguins.

The inevitable equalizer came in the bottom of the seventh when Kataoka hit two identical looping liners, the first one foul, down the paint in left to score one and leave runners on second and third with two outs.

And then, with hell clearly on the horizon, Aoki saved the day with a phenomenal diving catch in the right-center gap to get the third out .

But the birds continued to put up very little fight at the plate against former Tokyo Swallows star, Kazuhisa Ishii. The Tokyo lineup, from three (Aoki) to eight (Yoshimoto), collected nary a single hit on the evening.

The heartbreaker came in the bottom of the ninth with Lim issuing a lead-off walk. Hosokawa kindly struck out (again), but then Kataoka came up with his second RBI double in as many at-bats to give Lim his first loss of the season and the birds their sixth loss in a row. 3-2 final.

Ishikawa didn’t figure in the decision yet again, and he will have to wait at least until next week to get his first win of 2010. He gave up two runs (both earned) off of five hits (one homer) in seven innings of work. His control wasn’t what it usually is (2 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP), and he relied on some amazing defense–you should have seen Iihara’s diving grab to end the eighth–in order to get out of a couple tough jams, but as he so often does, he got the outs when he needed them.

Random notes:

The effort on defense, I must say, is very nice to see. The guys are hustling, no doubt about that. It would just be nice if we stopped giving away free outs all the time with our incessant Tak-bunting.

Kinugawa batting DH?! You should have heard the indignation in the stands when that one was announced. I think we need a new hyphenated expression for this kind of lineup decision. How about “Tak-order”?

5/16/10 – Fukuoka (Home)

Christopher Pellegrini — Sun, 16 May 2010 13:38:33 +0000

May 16th, 2010

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 6

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This was never going to be easy. With Sugiuchi pitching for SoftBank, Tokyo was going to have to earn this one. But even though they lost again, the birds showed a little more fight than they have for a while, so I guess they deserve some credit for that.

Starting lineup:

1. Tanaka 2B
2. Miyamoto SS
3. Aoki CF
4. D’Antona 1B
5. Iihara LF
6. Guiel RF
7. Yoshimoto 3B
8. Aikawa C
9. Muranaka P

Kokubo’s first home run of the night quickly put Muranaka in hot water in the first inning. 2-0 SoftBank.

But then Tokyo did something that they haven’t done in quite a while–they came back.

The birds got one run in the fourth care of a couple of beanings (Aoki and Guiel) straddling a D’Antona double and culminating in a Yoshimoto sacrifice fly to center. 2-1 SoftBank.

Tokyo then managed to pull level in the sixth with the help of a bunch of bad fielding by the visiting team. All square at 2-2.

But then things got dire again in the eighth with Oshimoto on the mound for the birds. Honda singled and Ortiz drew a walk to start things off with no outs. Kokubo then came through with his second round-tripper of the night (number 10 this year) to put the Hawks back in control at 5-2.

But the Swallows fought back yet again in the bottom of that inning. D’Antona and Iihara got things going with back to back singles before Guiel leveled the game once again with a blast to right. 5-5.

Consequently, Guiel’s 12th home run of the season was the end of Sugiuchi’s night.

However, the tie would only endure for a couple more innings. After Lim pitched scoreless 9th and 10th innings, Masubuchi took the mound for the 11th. Things got bad in a real hurry as a leadoff double was followed by a sacrifice bunt.

With one out, and a man on third, Masubuchi got the second out when Kawasaki struck out chasing high heat. But Honda followed with a single that scored the go-ahead run, and it looked like Masubuchi might start crying there for a while. 6-5 SoftBank.

And that’s how the game would end as Falkenborg used his 98 MPH fastball to great effect.

Masubuchi (0-2, 1.23) took the loss for his one inning of work. Muranaka (3-4, 3.24) gave up two earned runs off of five hits in six innings.

On offense, Aoki, D’Antona and Guiel all had two-hit games.

Takada Count: 6

After staging a comeback with three huge runs in the eighth (Guiel homer), Fujimoto kept the momentum going with a single. However, it seems that Mr. Takada was tired of the momentum and decided to slow things down a bit by having Aikawa Tak-bunt Fujimoto over to second for the first out. Guess how many runs scored after that?

So let me get this straight–the birds string four hits together without a single out, and that kind of mojo should be followed by a bunt. Got it.

Random notes:

Aside from Honda’s blunders that allowed a run to score, the Hawks came up with several fine defensive plays including a couple of fine grabs in the outfield.

Tokyo has lost 10 of the 12 games that they’ve played in May.

Tokyo has three wins, one draw, and 17 losses since April 20th.

Matsuoka struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning.

Guiel now leads the league in HBP’s (8). Iihara is in second with seven.

5/15/10 – Fukuoka (Home)

Christopher Pellegrini — Sat, 15 May 2010 14:40:43 +0000

May 15th, 2010

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0

Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: LWLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The offensive impotence continues.

Starting lineup:

1. Tanaka 2B
2. Miyamoto SS
3. Aoki CF
4. D’Antona 1B
5. Guiel RF
6. Iihara LF
7. Yoshimoto 3B
8. Aikawa C
9. Nakazawa P

Yoshimoto, as you can see, got the start at third which pushed Miyamoto over to short for the first time this season. Yoshimoto (2-4) ended up being the only player in a white jersey to come up with a multi-hit game with a double in the second and a single in the fourth. Fujimoto was likely sitting this one out as penance for that dropped infield pop fly on Thursday.

But other than drawing a few walks, that’s about all that transpired at the plate for the birds. Miyamoto (0-3), Aoki (0-2, 2 BB), Guiel (0-3, 1 BB), and Aikawa (0-3) all went hitless.

Tokyo’s best chance came in the bottom of the first when Tanaka led off with a single and was Tak-bunted over to second for that all-important first out. Aoki then negated the value of the bunt by drawing a walk, and with two outs, Guiel loaded the bases by doing the same (Tanaka and Aoki had already shifted over on a double steal on D’Antona 3-2 strikeout pitch).

But with two outs on the board, and thus no chance for a sac fly, Iihara tried and failed to hit to the opposite field by grounding out to first to end the threat.

The final scoreline was put together in the second inning when Kawasaki drove in a pair of runs for the visitors to make it 2-0 SoftBank.

Although arguably not a Tak-bunt situation, Takada had Nakazawa bunt with one out and Yoshimoto on first in the fourth inning. This bunt also failed to lead to anything positive as Wada collected the ball quickly and fired to second to start a 1-6-3 double play.

The second inning notwithstanding, Nakazawa (3-2, 1.65) had a decent game. He threw 113 pitches over seven innings and the eight hits that he gave up only led to two runs being scored (both earned). He also mixed in two K’s, three walks, and a wild pitch.

Oshimoto (1-3, 1.80) and Matsuoka (0-1, 1.23) both pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Game two of this short interleague series will be played tomorrow starting at 6pm at Jingu.

Random notes:

Aside from Iihara’s single in the ninth, no Tokyo runners reached base during the final four innings of the game.

Tokyo was outhit 9-5 by the Hawks.

Nakazawa’s 1.65 ERA puts him at the top of the Central League.

The current three game losing streak was preceded by streaks of five and six games. Seven this time?

Takada Count: 5

5/13/10 – Orix (Home)

David Watkins — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:47:27 +0000

May 13th, 2010

Orix Buffaloes 9

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LLWLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Given the paucity of runs generated by the Swallows offence of late, the main way for the birds to stand a chance of winning games is for their pitching to be watertight. Tonight was not one of those nights.

Fukuchi (LF)
Tanaka (2B)
Aoki (CF)
D’Antona (1B)
Guiel (RF)
Miyamoto (3B)
Fujimoto (SS)
Aikawa (C)
Barnette (P)

Tony Barnette started and got behind early, giving up a run off two hits, with veteran slugger Alex Cabrera batting in the first of what would be 7 RBIs, 1-0 Orix.

Tokyo’s only runs of the game then followed in the 3rd off Buffaloes starter Komatsu. Aaron Guiel reached base due to a Cabrera error at first, and he showed good hustle to reach home via a Miyamoto double for 1-1. Fujimoto then brought home the second run for 2-1 Tokyo. And that was as good as it got.

Two runs off three hits followed in the top of the 3rd, the second of which coming off a bases loaded HBP for 3-2 Orix.

Takada had evidently seen enough of Barnette for the evening and called for Ryo Kawashima from the bullpen. Ryo worked scoreless 4th and 5th innings despite letting two men on each inning. Then it was time for two innings from Masubuchi, whose two walks and two allowed hits in the 6th allowed Orix to move ahead 5-2. Amazingly, those were Masubuchi’s first earned runs of 2010 (in his 13th appearance).

And the Buffalloes added the exclamation point to proceedings in the 8th as Yoshikawa took the mound. A Fujimoto dropped flyball error, two walks, a groundout (with the out made at home) set the table for Alex Cabrera, who hit a grandslam homer that snuck over the fence in right to make it 9-2 Orix. I’d like to detail the spirited Swallows late inning fightback that followed, but if you’re reading this site then you likely know how things go, 9-2 Orix Final.

Tony Barnette took the loss and his record now stands at 2-3/5.06.

TV coverage of tonight’s game showed several shots of fans leaving Jingu after Cabrera’s homer interspersed with shots of Takada’s blinking mug . I’ve never seen them focus on that before and it’s clear the pressure on Takada is mounting. Though after the front office recently expressed their faith in their man, I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for a change. One thing is clear though, and that’s that the team are in trouble and it’s difficult to see anything improving anytime soon. Chances are on the whole just not being created with any kind of regularity, and the pitching staff is just not so good that it can restrict the opposition to 2 or 3 runs every evening to keep Tokyo in games. Oh, and did I mention the manager is an imbecile?

TAKADA COUNT: 4. This cannot go on for much longer. Can it? Please tell me it can’t……..

The shambles will likely continue on Saturday as the Softbank Hawks visit Jingu for two games. They must be licking their lips.

5/1/10 – Yokohama (Home)

Christopher Pellegrini — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:28:02 +0000

May 1st, 2010

Yokohama BayStars 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LLLLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Bizarre game. Just plain weird.

This was one of those games where Takada made a whole bunch of stupid decisions but things kept working in the team’s favor and he ended up looking like he knew what he was doing.

1. Ueda 3B
2. Morioka 2B
3. Aoki CF
4. Guiel RF
5. Iihara LF
6. Takeuchi 1B
7. Fujimoto SS
8. Aikawa C
9. Nakazawa P

Wallowing in a five game losing streak, Takada made his first interesting move of the day by not starting Tanaka or Miyamoto. Maybe they needed the day off, but unless there was a health concern involved, it’s pretty hard to justify keeping Tanaka out of the lineup. He’s the second most productive and consistent bat on the team after Aoki, so he’s one of the last people that should be benched when the team is trying to climb out of a rut.

Anyway, the Stars went up by a run in the top of the first care of a Murata single that plated Ishikawa from second. 1-0 visitors.

But Ueda, Miyamoto’s replacement, vindicated Takada by slapping the first pitch he saw into right field. Morioka, Tanaka’s replacement, followed by faithfully and effectively Tak-bunting Ueda into scoring position.

The value of the bunt was then mostly negated when Aoki took a low pitch in the leg, and Guiel moved the runners over to second and third with a ground ball to first, and Iihara made Takada look good by doubling and bringing both runners home in the process. 2-1 Tokyo.

The silly moves continued in the bottom of the second with the birds still up by a run when Aikawa Tak-bunted Fujimoto over to second after the latter had drawn a walk. Some might argue that that’s not the wisest move considering that Nakazawa, our pitcher, was waiting in the on-deck circle.

But Takada was gifted yet another ‘get out of jail free’ card when Nakazawa, who is admittedly not too shabby swinging a club, controlled the strike zone beautifully and drew a walk. But no runs scored of course.

Tokyo added three runs in the third with a little help from the Yokohama defense. Aoki reached first on a fielding error by the pitcher, and both he and Takeuchi were sent home on Fujimoto’s double to the corner in right. Shiroishi (our illustrious third base coach) probably shouldn’t have sent Takeuchi home as the ball arrived at the plate well before Takeuchi did. In fact, Takeuchi was so surprised at how easily he was about to be thrown out that he stopped running halfway between third and home.

And then the catcher forgot to catch the ball. Takeuchi safe at home despite looking like a total ass for a second there. Fujimoto later scored on Aikawa’s double to left. 5-1 Tokyo.

One more Tak-bunt was employed in the fourth even though the team was up by four runs at that point. Ueda again led off with a single, and Morioka dutifully moved him over to second. Aoki followed that with a single before Iihara took yet another HBP to load the bases with two outs.

But then Takada did another silly thing. He replaced the red-hot Takeuchi with the decidedly yawn-worthy Kinugawa to deal with the lefty (Takamiya) on the mound. Perhaps Takeuchi was being punished for not charging hard for home in the last inning, but whatever the reason, Kinugawa flied out to right to strand all three runners.

There was a little bit of excitement in the bottom of the fifth when the birds again threatened to score. Yet another fielding error allowed Fujimoto to reach first, and he was allegedly thrown out at home when he tried to score on Aikawa’s double. Fujimoto disagreed with the call and bounced up off the ground to shove the ump. In the neck. Hard. He got tossed, Takada came out to do his stoic little angry grandpa deal, and Yokohama ultimately escaped from the inning without giving up any more runs.

Nakazawa gave up one more run in the top of the seventh, and D’Antona had his first hit in quite a while pinch-hitting for the pitcher with two outs in the bottom of that frame. 5-2 Tokyo.

And things got really interesting in the top of the ninth with Lim on the mound in his first save situation in what must have felt like months. He walked the first batter he faced before getting the first out on a pop fly to a hard-charging Guiel in right. He then beaned Ishikawa to bring up the always dangerous Uchikawa who had already hit a pair of doubles earlier in the game. He connected again, this time for a single, to load the bases with one out.

Lim got the second out when he struck Murata out swinging, but then Sledge won a very hard-fought duel by drawing a walk and bouncing in a run. 5-3 Tokyo.

And at that point Takada had Matsuoka (he’s been crap recently) start warming up in the bullpen. Great idea, coach.

Anyway, Lim eventually prevailed when he struck out Castillo to end the game and prevent about 100 severe heart attacks in the right field bleachers.

The win is the first for Tokyo since April 23rd (against the BayStars) when Nakazawa last pitched. Nakazawa (3-0, 1.61) gave up two earned runs off of nine hits while striking out three and walking none. Oshimoto (1-1, 0.79) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Lim (1.13) earned his sixth save of the year.

Aikawa stepped out of character on offense and had a 2-3 day with two doubles and a single RBI.

In the end, this wasn’t a pretty win, but we’ll take it.

Takada Count: 3

Random notes:

Nakazawa gave up five doubles in his seven innings on the mound.

There were nine doubles in this game–Tokyo had four.

Iihara leads the league in HBP with 7.

Nakazawa leads the team with three wins.

4/29/10 – Hanshin (Home)

David Watkins — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:00:39 +0000

April 29th, 2010

Hanshin Tigers 5

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo took an early 3 run lead but couldn’t hold on to it as Hanshin came from behind to win at Jingu. Tonight’s loss sends the Swallows down to 5th place in the CL for the first time this season and things don’t look like improving anytime soon, especially with Takada at the helm.

Tonight’s lineup again saw D’Antona benched, with Takeuchi donning the glove at first:

Tanaka (2B)
Miyamoto (3B)
Aoki (CF)
Guiel (RF)
Ihara (RF)
Takeuchi (1B)
Fujimoto (SS)
Aikawa (C)
Barnette (P)

Tonight saw Tony Barnette take the mound for Tokyo, as he looked to continue his excellent start to the year. And things looked good for him in the bottom of the 2nd, as the Swallows took the lead off Tigers starter Uezono.

With one out, a Fujimoto single and an Aikawa double followed up by a walk for Barnette loaded the bases for Tanaka. He grounded out to third, but Hanshin couldn’t turn the double play and it was 1-0 with men on the corners. Miyamoto then stepped up and hit one off the wall in right, clearing the bases with a triple and it was 3-0 Tokyo.

Hanshin pulled a run back in the 4th via and Johjima solo homer and it was 3-1. Two hits and a walk followed but Tony escaped the inning with the lead still at two.

The three run lead was restored in the 5th. Miyamoto hit one to left, but catcher turned outfielder Kano let the ball past him and Miymoto ended up at third thanks to the error. Aoki then brought him home with a sac fly and it was 4-1.

And so to the 6th, and things started to go very wrong for the Swallows. Three consecutive one-out singles made it 4-2 and Takada made the switch from the bullpen as Matsuoka took the mound. But the switch made little difference as two more singles scored two more runs (all charged to Barnette) to tie things up at 4-4.

Barnette finished his evening, not one of his best, having given up the 4 runs off 9 hits, with 4 strikeouts and 4 walks. His record remains at 2-1 with his ERA now at 2.59.

And Hanshin took the decisive lead in the 7th with Masubuchi on the mound. A single and an error from the pitcher (messing up a throw to second) with a walk loaded the bases with one out. The excellent Murton then hit a grounder to first, but he beat the double play ball to the bag and it was 5-4 Hanshin.

And then Tokyo, weighted down by the lead-weight that is Takada, had to try to chase the game. In the 7th, Ueda in for the pitcher singled to lead off the inning (his first pro-hit). But Takada called for the in-form Tanaka to tak-bunt and well, you know what followed (hint: the runner never made it home).

In the 9th facing ace closer Fujikawa, Fujimoto hit a triple (aided by a mess up from leftfielder Sakurai) to give the Swallows a chance to draw level. Takada then showed his genius man management by putting in Kawamoto in place of Aikawa (the same Aikawa who had doubled earlier in the game) who then promptly grounded out to short. One out, runner still on third. Next more genius from the manager by bringing in D’Antona to pinch hit, a man who is in the midst of a slump and possibly low on confidence, so let’s put him in for a make or break chance in the 9th against Japan’s premier closer. He struck out. Way to go Takada. Why not put him in from the start or earlier in the game to let him play his way back to form? Bringing him in for random (often high pressure) pinch hit appearances is not the way to use him, as proved during the tail end of last year when the same player was being mistreated/managed by the same boneheaded manager.

Tanaka then flew out and that was that. So then, two more things to mention about this game.

5-4 Hanshin Final.

TAKADA COUNT: 2. Because he’s a f******* useless c***. Other fans in the Jingu bleachers are starting to realise this. Hopefully the front office will wise up fast.

4/22/10 – Chunichi (Away)

David Watkins — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:48:22 +0000

April 22nd, 2010

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Chunichi Dragons 3

Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: LWLDL

(Nagoya Dome)

The right ingredients were mostly there: another good start from Tony Barnette and 8 hits for the Swallows to the Dragons 6. But the one thing missing was the one thing that has plagued Tokyo for the last few weeks – the inability to string hits together and develop the momentum to bring home runs. For all of these games in Nagoya this week, the starters have done their level best to give the team a chance to win, but at the moment things are just not working at the offensive end of the team.

Tonight’s lineup saw just one change from the re-jigged version from the night before, with Morioka coming in at short for Fujimoto:

Tanaka (2B)
Morioka (SS)
Miyamoto (3B)
Aoki (CF)
Guiel (RF)
Ihara (LF)
D’Antona (1B)
Aikawa (C)
Barnette (P)

After getting a hit off Chunichi starter Yoshimi in each of the first three innings and stranding a runner in scoring position each time, Ihara took matters into his own hands in the 4th, hitting a one-out solo homer to left (his first of the year) to make it 1-0 Tokyo.

Barnette gave up just one hit over his first three, but saw the lead slip straight out of his hands in the bottom of the 4th. Consecutive doubles from Morino and Blanco made it 1-1, and then two outs later, with Blanco now on third, an Aikawa passed ball needlessly allowed the go-ahead run home to make it 2-1 Chunichi.

Tokyo’s next chance to get back in the game came in the 6th. Finally the Swallows strung together some hits with singles from Aoki and Guiel put two on with no outs for Ihara. The same Ihara who hit a home run off Yoshimi early in the game, so give him the sign to swing away right? Wrong. Not with Takada in da house. No, he called for a sac/tak bunt to move the runners along, which Ihara just about pulled off for out number one. Momentum deflated. Next man up D’Antona, a man who, despite his home run last night, hasn’t been in the best of form of late, could only strike out for out number two. Aikawa then did the same an the inning was over with the runners stranded.

Another chance came and went in the top of the 8th. Ihara came to bat with two outs on the board, and hit one deep to the wall in left centre. Chunichi centre fielder Cesar got his glove to the ball while running back towards the wall, but he couldn’t come up with it before he ran into the wall and fell over, allowing Ihara to make it to third. It was rather harshly judged to be an error to Cesar. But it made no difference as D’Antona then struck out once more to leave Ihara at third.

And in the bottom of the 8th, Chunichi would make sure of their victory. With Takagi on the mound having also worked the 7th, Tony Blanco hit a solo homer to left to make it 3-1 Chunichi.

Iwase came in for his nightly shift in the 9th, but allowed a two-out single to Tanaka which brought up Hatakeyama (pinch hitting for Morioka). After laying off two balls, and watching another pitch for a strike, he clubbed one to right that left the field, only it was just to the right of the foul pole and the comeback wasn’t to be. He then grounded out on the next pitch and it was all over 3-1 Chunichi Final.

Barrnette took the loss, despite his decent 6 innings of 4 hit 2 run (1 earned) baseball. He struck out 4 and walked three, and his record now stands at 2-1/1.73.

Tanaka was again the only batter in any kind of form, going 3 for 5 with his average now at a very healthy .344.

Coming into today’s game the duo of Aaron Guiel and Jamie D’Antona were in the midst of quite a slump. Guiel was 2 for 34, and D’Antona 4 for 36, which is bad enough in itself. But factor in 15 Ks for Aaron and 18 for Jamie and you can see a big factor in Tokyo’s recent offensive impotence.

Both managed a hit each this evening though, however D’Antona’s usual knack for bringing home men was nowhere to be seen tonight with his two Ks with men in scoring positions. Guiel is currently batting .218 with D’Antona on .258. Hopefully they can both re-discover some of their early season form sharpish.

So two losses and a draw in Nagoya, not great. But there are reasons for optimism. All three of these games with this very decent Chunichi team were very close affairs, with not a great deal between the two teams. Plus the pitching, both starting and in relief is definitely doing it’s bit. Those bats just need some viagra. Oh shit, and there’s Takada at the helm which just brings the optimism needle back down again. Oh well.

From here, Tokyo head to Yokohama for three games starting tomorrow evening. Hopefully the curse of Yokohama has been firmly left in 2009.