Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 9

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WDLWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hawks	0	0	3	0	0	2	2	0	2	5	16	1
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	0
W: Otonari (4-2); L: Akagawa (3-2)

Payback’s a bitch! After last night’s unreal drubbing of the Hawks, the boys from Fukuoka reciprocated in game 2.

	Hawks		Swallows
1	Akashi (2B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Imamiya (SS)	2	Morioka (SS)
3	Uchikawa (CF)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Pena (LF)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Matsuda (3B)	5	Hatakeyama (1B)
6	Kokubo (1B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Tamura (RF)	7	Yuhei (CF)
8	Yamazaki (C)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Otonari (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

Nakamura gets the start in place of Aikawa tonight. I’m guessing that Nakamura will be Akagawa’s personal catcher to give the young backstop some regular starts.

As for the more salient details of the game, I’ll present them as quick bullet points to spare you all the pain.

• Top of the 3rd: Matsuda hits a 2 out 3 run homer off Akagawa. 3-0 Hawks
• Top of the 6th: Tamura hits a 1 out 2 run homer off Akagawa. 5-0 Hawks
• Top of the 7th: Pena hits a 2 out 2 run homer off Hirai. 7-0 Hawks
• Top of the 9th: Kidokoro hits an 1 out RBI single off Abe. 8-0 Hawks
• Top of the 9th: Yamazaki hits an 1 out RBI single off Abe. 9-0 Hawks
• Bottom of the 9th: Milledge hits a no out solo homer just right of the left field foul pole. 9-1 Hawks

Otonari was walking Swallows like crazy tonight, racking up 7 BBs in 6 innings of work. But unlike many pitchers that try to force strikes by throwing meatballs when they have trouble throwing strikes, it seemed as if Otonari would just give up on at bats where he fell behind and walk the batter to get to the next guy. Despite getting into jams in the first, second, and the fifth, Otonari still walked guys to load the bases and managed to get the out when he needed it most. The Swallows ultimately left a season-high 15 men on base.

Akagawa did not have the greatest night always falling behind in the count. Of the 27 batters Akagawa faced he only managed to throw a first pitch strike 10 times, and very rarely was he pitching ahead in the count. The bullpen wasn’t much better. Hirai, Kyuko, and Abe all allowed multiple baserunners, although Kyuko managed to keep them from scoring.

Let’s just call the last 2 games outliers, and not focus too much them. The Swallows have a day off tomorrow, before they play Orix (who dropped both their games against the Giants) for a 2 game set over the weekend.

Milledge pops out to the infield with the bases loaded in the second.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 14

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LWDLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The Birds started off the 2012 Interleague campaign, when we get five more teams to support, by hosting the reigning Hawks.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Fukuoka	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	10	2
Tokyo	2	2	1	0	1	2	2	4	X	14	15	0
W: Ishikawa (3-4); L: Yamada (4-3)

One would have to go all the way back to 2008, and the dawn of the Tsubamegun site, to find a time when Tokyo even drew even with Fukuoka (2-2). Over the past three years, the Swallows have been bested by their more predatorial avian counterparts a combined 3-8-1. How did Fukuoka’s hemorrhage of talent in the off-season match up against a Tokyo squad looking stronger than it had in quite a while?

	Fukuoka		Tokyo
1	Akashi (2B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Imamiya (SS)	2	Morioka (SS)
3	Uchikawa (CF)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Pena (LF)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Matsuda (3B)	5	Hatakeyama (1B)
6	Kokubo (3B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Tamura (RF)	7	Yuhei (CF)
8	Yamazaki (C)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Yamada (P)	9	Ishikawa (P)

The scoring started early, with Akashi hitting the second pitch he saw and Imamiya sac-bunting him over to second on the first pitch he saw. After Uchikawa grounded out, Pena hit an RBI double and Matsuda followed that with an RBI pop out. 2-0 Fukuoka.

Tokyo struck back quickly, when Morioka drew a walk on five pitches and Milledge put the first pitch he saw, an outside slider, over the centerfield fence for a two-run round-tripper, his third of the season. 2-2.

The Swallows added to their lead in the second when Miyamoto walked, then got nabbed on his way to second after a Yuhei grounder back to the mound. Yuhei stole second and made it home on an Aikawa single. Ishikawa bunted Aikawa to second. Tanaka was then walked on four straight pitches, and Morioka drove Yuhei home. 4-2 Tokyo.

A bit more padding was added in the third. Balentien doubled, made it to third on a Hatakeyama ground-out, and scored on a Miyamoto single. 5-2 Tokyo.

An Uchikawa solo homer two outs into the top of the fifth narrowed the gap. 5-3 Tokyo.

But hits by Balentien, Miyamoto, and Yuhei in the bottom half of the inning set that right. 6-3 Tokyo.

Yoshikawa pitched the fourth and fifth for the visitors and was the most successful of their hurlers tonight.

Masubuchi took over for Ishikawa in the sixth and went 1-2-3 with a K. Kanazawa did the honors on the other side.

In the sixth, a Balentien walk, followed by a Hatake double added a run. After that, Miyamoto drove Hatake home for another one. 8-3 Tokyo.

Hidaka went 1-2-3 for the home team in the seventh. Hirai gave up one hit in he eighth. Abe finished the game 1-2-3. Nice pitching all around.

That was not the game, though. Oh no, young Tsubamegunin. The Birds tried to make up for years past tonight.

In the seventh, young Kayama took the mound for Fukuoka. He would throw 21 pitches to five batters, which takes about the same amount of time as it does to write his name in Japanese. In the course of that, he walked Tanaka with two outs, then gave up a hit to Morioka, Both runners advanced on a passed ball soon after.

Milledge hit one into center, driving in two runs, but getting nabbed on his way to second. 10-3 Tokyo.

Special offer, fans. You want more? You got it.

In the eighth, Kayama walked Balentien, who was replaced on the bases by Miwa (because the Swallows really needed a run – I won’t bitch about plays being decided sans regard for the game situation during a rout, though). Hatake was also walked. Miyamoto singled to right and was replaced by Araki. Bases loaded, no outs yet.

Imamiya fumbled a Yuhei grounder to make the Hawks’ night a little longer and allow Miwa to score, leaving the bases loaded. Aikawa singled, driving in two more runs and was replaced by Nakamura. Noguchi pinch hit and popped out, but moved Yuhei to third. Tanaka then hit a sac-fly to right for one more run and a score of 14-3 Tokyo, Final.

Akagawa (3-1, 2.00) takes on Otonari (3-2, 1.50) tomorrow evening.

While the goal is always going to be finishing with a better record than the 11 other teams and winning Interleague, being the top Central League team would be a fine consolation if we can’t top the table. Since every game ahead of a Central League rival is a game that the other team will have to make up in the Central League. In a 6 team league these games can come in handy late in the season when teams will be hitting each other and making advances up the table can be harder.

Last year the Swallows finished 6th overall with a 10-12-2 record, which was 3 games behind the Dragons who finished fourth overall with a 14-10 record. The Hawks won Interleague outright with a 18-4-2 record.

For those of you, who like me, are so Swallows-centric and don’t follow the Pacific League here’s s short blurb about the teams the Swallows will face and players to watch. This preview will cover the first 3 teams the Swallows will face. I’ll cover the next 3 teams next week.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks: The defending champions have been chugging along despite losing key plays like Toshiya Sugiuchi, Tsuyoshi Wada, D.J. Houlten, and Munenori Kawasaki. Despite pre-season predictions of decline the Hawks are still in the thick of the PL race with a 19-17-2 record, which is good for 3rd in the league. The Hawks’ continued success is largely related to their ability to hit the ball. Former major leaguer Wily Mo Peña leads the PL with 8 homers, with a healthy .288/.345/.545 slash line. Nobuhiro Matsuda and Seiichi Uchikawa also bring quality hitting to the line up. In terms of pitching, the only big name left in the Haws’ rotation is Tadashi Settsu who is having a good season, with a 5-0 record with a 1.51 ERA in 7 starts. The last storyline worth tracking is Hiroki Kokubo gunning for 2000 career hits. With only 4 more hits left to reach the milestone, it’s possible that Kokubo will reach the milestone at Jingu.

Orix Buffaloes: The Buffaloes were the trendy pick to do well this season, but so far things have been pretty glum for the Buffaloes. The addition of Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee has been a plus, but injuries to key players like T-Okada and Chihiro Kaneko have kept the Buffaloes from fielding their optimal lineup. The result has been a fight for the PL cellar with the Seibu Lions (more on that next week). Things may be looking up for the Buffaloes as Kaneko has looked good in his 2 starts this season, and Okada has recently rejoined the team. 10 year vet and former Giant Hiroshi Kisanuki has gotten off to a fairly hot start for the Buffaloes with a 1.87 ERA over 6 starts, including 2 complete games. Last year’s PL Interleague MVP, Tomotaka Sakaguchi has been showing his age with a .225/.250/.252 slash.

Chiba Lotte Marines: The Marines have rebounded nicely from the 2011 PL cellar, and currently top the PL. The Marines’ resurgence can be attributed in part to a strong rotation bolstered by the addition of the glad-to-leave-the Giants Seth Greisinger and rookie phenom Takahiro Fujioka to the duo of Yoshihisa Naruse and Yuki Karakawa. While Fujioka has gotten most of the rookie attention, Naoki Masuda has also contributed big time in his first season stabilizing the Marine’s bullpen. Another glad-to-leave-the Giants is Saburo who leads the team in OBP. Tadahito Iguchi is also putting up his usual solid early season numbers (.304/.367/.448). But otherwise, the Marines lineup lacks pop, and is overshadowed by their pitching.

The Swallows go into Interleague on a somewhat down note having lost 3 of their last 3 games, and seeing even more of their starters (Kawabata and Muranaka) be sent down to the farm. However, the lax Interleague scheduling will allow the team to give their pitchers plenty of rest and will hopefully give some players the chance to come back.

Yomiuri Giants  5

Tokyo Swallows 1

Streak: L1 Last 5: LLWDL

(Akita Komachi Stadium)

Sometimes you lose in spirit by tying and sometimes you just actually lose. This one was fairly close until the end, which adds excitement and agony.

The first spate of runs came in the second, when Murata and Abe hit, Tateyama walked Takahashi, then Tani and Bowker hit back-to-back RBIs before Tateyama got it together to manage three outs in a row. 2-0 Yomiuri.

The Swallows didn’t answer until the eighth, when Mathieson took over pitching duties for the Giants. Milledge doubled, Balentien singled and was replaced on the basepaths by Hiyane, bringing up Hatake with men on the corners. Hatake hit into a double play, but Milledge made it home. 2-1 Yomiuri.

In the top of the ninth, Hirai took the mound for Tokyo and promptly gave up a hit to Tani, who was replaced by Suzuki, whom Bowker then sac-bunted to second, and that was it for Hirai. Kyuko took over.

Kyuko continued the trend, giving up a hit to Kamei, then an RBI to Chono. Then things got ugly. Fujimura hit one back to the mound, at which point an Aikawa error left the Birds down one more run and facing runners on first and second.

Exeunt, Kyuko. Enter, Abe, off of whom Terauchi hit an RBI double. 5-1 Yomiuri, Final.

Tokyo now gets a merciful couple of days off, to return fresh and ready to thump SoftBank on Wednesday.

Yomiuri Giants  1

Tokyo Swallows 1

Streak: 1 tie  Last 5: LLLWD

(Akita Komachi Stadium)

Tonight saw Tokyo’s two teams travel North to Akita for the first of a two-game set. This would be the last weekend either team faced a Central League opponent for over a month as inter-league play commences this week. As such, the Birds wanted to continue on the winning track and keep up with the Dragons in the win column.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	1
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	7	0

Tonight, in the great wet North, the Birds drew with their Tokyo rival. Roman kept the over-priced bats in check for 6 innings, while Utsumi did the same for 5 innings.

	Swallows		Giants
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Chono (CF)
2	Morioka (SS)	2	Fujimura (2B)
3	Milledge (CF)	3	Sakamoto (SS)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Murata (3B)
5	Iihara (LF)	5	Abe (C)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Takahashi (RF)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Bowker (1B)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Inzen (LF)
9	Roman (P)	9	Utsumi (P)

Tonight started off slow for both sides. Giants made a little noise in the 1st and 3rd inning but could not get a runner past second base. The Birds could only muster one runner through the first three innings and a “I’m scared to pitch to him” unintentional intentional walk of Balentien in the 4th inning.

We jump to the bottom of the 6th inning. Roman started things off with a hit to right field. Tanaka followed his lead by hitting another single to right. The sac bunt responsibilities then fell to Morioka. Morioka, running with a piano on his back, was able to advance the runners to 2nd and 3rd. After that, Milledge hit an infield single to third. Now, with the bases loaded, Coco stepped to the plate. He obviously had aspirations of clearing the bases because he did nothing but swing for the fences. He went down on three pitches for the second out of the inning. Iihara ended the threat with a soft liner to Sakamoto.

In the top of the 7th Chono hit a liner over the outstretched glove of Milledge in center. He stopped at 2nd base for an easy stand-up double. He was promptly bunted over to third by Fujimura. This brought a meeting of the minds at the mound as Sakamoto was  up to bat. The sleazy bastard decided to bunt down the first base line. This easily scored Chono from third and “the tool at short” (Sakamoto) was thrown out by Roman at 1st. Roman then walked Murata on four pitches and his evening was over. Hidaka came in and induced Abe to fly-out to the warning track in left and end the inning. 0 – 1 Giants

"the tool at short" knocks in the lone Giant run.

After the Swallows fans put their umbrellas to use during the 7th inning stretch, the Birds looked to answer right back. Miyamoto started things off with a sharp single to left. Hatekayama grounded to “the tool at short” but the best the Giants could do was force out Miyamoto at 2nd. The hard hitting Nakamura was up next and promptly hit a sharp liner past “the tool at short”. With runners on 1st and 2nd and only one out, the pitcher was due up. Ogawa decided to bring in Aikawa to hit. He fouled out to Bowker near first base. This meant the top of the order was up. Tanaka strolled to the plate and was looking for the hero prize. After a few cuts and a few more waggles, Tanaka watched Utsumi throw two balls in the dirt while working the count full. After fouling off a pitch, Tanaka then walked to load the bases. This time Morioka couldn’t bunt. Instead, he swung away and nearly took Utsumi’s head off with a liner up the middle. This scored Noguchi (running for “Boo”) from third to tie the game. Everyone was safe and the bases were still loaded for Milledge. After nearly clearing the bases with a liner down the first base line that was ruled foul, Milledge grounded to Murata who quickly stepped on third for the force out. 1 -1

Kyuko was on the mound for the 8th. He got the first two batters out and was replaced by Oshimoto. Oshimoto made quick work of Kajimae to end the inning.

The Birds went down in order in the bottom half of the 8th.

Oshimoto came out for the ninth inning and struck out Kamei and Chono. He ended the inning by getting Fujimura to fly out to center.

The Giants brought in Mathieson to pitch the bottom of the ninth. All he did was strike out the side.

And that meant it was time for extra inning baseball. However, the rain was kicking about again and this made for a wet finish.

“the tool at short” was the first batter that Barnette had to deal with. Unfortunately, ”the tool at short” won out and hit a single to left. Up next was the cleanup hitter, Murata. As he is on such a great streak at the moment, Hara decided to have Murata bunt over ”the tool at short”. However, Murata was unable to do that simple task and ended up striking out. One out. Next up was the  catcher, Abe. At this point, he was 3 for 4 on the night. He would reach base again on a very questionable ball four. This called for a meeting of the minds at the mound. After confirming dinner plans, the players returned to their respective positions. As the rain picked up, the waste of a uniform Takahashi eked his way to the batters box. After questioning the conditions and visibility, Takahashi flew out to left. Two down and one to go. After getting a new resin bag, Barnette struck out Bowker for the final out of the inning. And because they performed so well tonight, Bowker slammed his bat and helmet to the ground. After getting that out of his system, he calmly picked them up and went back to the dugout.

Yamaguchi was the new pitcher for the Giants in the bottom of the 10th.

Tanaka reached base when ”the tool at short” couldn’t handle the grounder. Miwa then replaced Tanaka at first. Up came Morioka. Guess what he tried to do? That’s right folks. He TRIED to bunt but only succeeded at striking out. Up walked Milledge. After the second strike from Yamaguchi, Miwa stole second. Lastings eventually grounded out to “the tool at short” for the second out. As the clock struck 9:30, up walked Coco. That meant we were looking at the final batter(s). After a long at bat, Coco eventually walked. This put runners at 1st and 3rd and two out. This brought the end to Yamaguchi’s evening and the Giants played musical chairs in the outfield. Nishimura was the new pitcher for the Giants. His opponent for the evening was Fukuichi, who was batting in place of Iihara. Fukuichi didn’t put up much of a fight as he grounded out to second to end the game.

1 – 1 Final

Random thoughts (Notes):

• I hate listening to the dumba** announcers on the Fuji network. I thought they were suppose to be the Swallows broadcasters and thus somewhat knowledgeable?
• After tonight’s tie, the Birds are a half game behind the nagging Nagoya Dragons.
• Hara still looks stupid, even though he attempts to look smart(er) by putting on glasses.
  

  The intelligent looking Hara.

• Coco is awesome but he needs to be smarter at the plate.
• Sakamoto or Utsumi: Who is a bigger tool? If you can’t tell, my vote is for Sakamoto.
• Remember, tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!!
• And the pitching duel for Mother’s Day will be Tateyama for the Birds and Sawamura for the Giants. Should be a good one. Let’s hope the weather stays dry.

Tokyo Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLLLW

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	5	0
Dragons	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	9	0
W: Akagawa (3-1); L: Yudai (1-2); S: Barnette (12)

The Swallows’ bats finally come alive in the eighth to snap the team’s losing streak.

	Swallows		Dragons
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Oshima (CF)
2	Morioka (SS)	2	Araki (2B)
3	Milledge (LF)	3	Ibata (SS)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Wada (LF)
5	Iihara (CF)	5	Blanco (1B)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Fukuda (3B)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Hirata (RF)
8	Fukukawa (C)	8	Tanishige (C)
9	Akagawa (P)	9	Yudai (P)

The lineup got a bit of a tweak after Kawbata’s hip injury, and his subsequent removal from the active roster earlier today left a hole at short. Morioka took Kawabata’s place at short and batted second. With Morioka playing the speedy contact hitter role in the order, the Swallows chose to play Iihara at center to give themselves more punch. Finally, Fukukawa got a start as a reward for his home run in yesterday’s game, his first homer in 4 years.

All that lineup tweaking seemed fairly moot however, as the Dragons’ stater Yudai absolutely owned the Swallows through 7 innings. Yudai gave up just 1 single to the Swallows through 7 innings. Giving up no walks or errors, the lefty kept most of the Swallows’ balls in the infield to be easily fielded.

Akagawa was also pitched quite well but wasn’t quite as dominant. The young lefty kept the game scoreless until the sixth innings. After getting 2 outs Akagawa gave up an infield single to Oshima who quickly stole second and came home on an Araki single to left. 1-0 Dragons Despite being down only 1 run, there was a feeling that the Swallows were staring at their 4th straight loss.

Luckily the Swallows were finally able to get to Yudai in the eighth. Iihara started the inning my lining out to short for out number 1. Miyamoto got the rally by hitting a 3-2 pitch into right for a single. Hiyane took Miyamoto’s place in on the basepaths for Hatakeyama’s at bat. Yudai fell behind 1-0 to Hatake, Hiyane ran on the next pitch and the big man child smacked the ball deep into right for a double to men on second and third with 1 out. It was at this point the Dragons decided to end Yudai’s night and hand the ball to 2011 MVP, Asao. 2011 Asao might have been unhittable, but 2012 Asao has looked a bit more mortal. Asao started off by loading the bases with a 4 pitch walk to a pinch hitting Fujimoto to load the bases. Fukuchi came in to pinch hit for Akagawa, and watched Asao pitch his 5th straight ball before taking strike number 1 deep off the right field wall to score 2. 2-1 Swallows Tanaka couldn’t keep the rally going and gave up the second out of the inning with a liner to first. But the Swallows were able to get an insurance run when Morioka legged out a slow grounder to second for a infield single, letting Fujimoto score from third. 3-1 Swallows

Oshimoto pitched a 1 hit scoreless eighth, and Barnette pitched a 2 hit scoreless ninth to preserve the win. The win puts the Swallows a half game back of the Dragons for the CL lead.

Notes

• Akagawa got the win by pitching 7 innings on 98 pitches, allowing 1 ER, 6 H, and 1 BB.
• His Dragons’ counterpart, Yudai, got tagged with the loss for his 7.1 innings of 3 hit ball, with 2 ER to his name.
• The Swallows will have tomorrow off before playing a 2 game series against the Giants in Akita.
  

  Fukuchi hits a game flipping double.

Tokyo Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 8

Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: WWLLL

(Gifu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	7	0
Chunichi	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	1	X	8	17	0
W: Nakata (3-1); L: Muranaka (3-2)

Chunichi widened their lead over Tokyo in the standings with a convincing win. Not a fun game for the Swallows, to say the least.

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Oshima (CF)
2	Fukuchi (CF)	2	Araki (2B)
3	Milledge (LF)	3	Ibata (SS)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Wada (LF)
5	Kawabata (SS)	5	Blanco (1B)
6	Morioka (3B)	6	Fukuda (3B)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Hirata (RF)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Tanishige (C)
9	Muranaka (P)	9	Nakata (P)

Muranaka’s first three batters singled, sac-bunted, and singled again. After a weak Wada grounder moved the runners to scoring position, Muranaka fed Blanco two fastballs right down the middle, the second of which Blanco cranked into the stands. Muranaka followed that with a hit to Fukuda, a walk of Murata, and another hit to Tanishige, on which play, mercifully, Fukuda got caught for out three. 3-0 Chunichi.

In the top of the second, Kawabata was pulled in favor of Araki  just before his first at-bat. Despite a couple of hits, the Swallows failed to score any runs.

After pitching just about as god-awful a first inning as possible, Muranaka found his feet and struck out two in the second. He also gave up a double and let Oshima reach third, but managed to avoid disaster.

The Birds finally scored in the top of the third, when Fukuchi doubled to left and was driven in by a Balentien broken-bat single. 3-1 Chunichi.

Then the bottom of the third, and Muranaka’s trade to the Dragons was apparently complete but for the uniform. Wada, hit. Blanco, hit. Fukuda, ground out to put runners in scoring position. Hirata, walk to load the bases. Tanishige, two-RBI double. Then, finally, Nakata struck out in an act of huminatarian compassion for a fellow pitcher. 5-1 Chunichi.

In the bottom of the fourth, Muranaka finally sat down. Hirai took over and did only marginally better, giving up a two-run home run to Wada with Araki on base. 7-1 Chunichi.

Abe, Masubuchi, and Kyuko then each pitched an inning for Tokyo, giving up hits, but not runs. In the bottom of the eighth, though, the Swallows pushed their luck by leaving Kyuko on the mound and Blanco hit his second round-tripper of the night. 8-3 Chunichi, Final.

Wait. How did the Birds score?

In the top of the seventh, Hatakeyama started the inning with a single and was driven in by Masakazu Fukukawa, who hit a two-run homer for his first hit of the season (and raised his batting average from .000 to .500). At one point, it was 7-3 Chunichi.

Tokyo and Chunichi travel to Nagoya tomorrow, where the Swallows will try to avoid the sweep and close the standings gap.

Tokyo Swallows 0

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: LWWLL

(Toyohashi Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Chunichi	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: Yamai (1-3; 1.69 ERA) L: Ishikawa (2-4; 2.91) S: Asao (1S; 1.59)

Chunichi leapfrogged Tokyo back up to the top of the CL as they edged an ultra-tight affair in Aichi.

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Tanaka 2B	1	Oshima CF
2	Fukuchi CF	2	Araki 2B
3	Milledge LF	3	Ibata SS
4	Balentien RF	4	Wada LF
5	Kawabata SS	5	Blanco 1B
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Tanishige C
7	Hatakeyama 1B	7	Hirata RF
8	Nakamura C	8	N.Donoue 3B
9	Ishikawa P	9	Yamai P

Yamai proved too much for Tokyo to handle

Dragons’ starter Yamai was attempting his third start of the season against the Swallows, after racking up two losses and an ERA of 6.00 in his prior two efforts. Ishikawa faired much better in his only previous start against the Dragons this year, giving up just the one run over seven innings in what would end up as a tie.  In tonight’s game however one pitcher would maintain that prior form, while the other would not.

Yes it was Yamai, who I previously described as distinctly average (yeah, sorry about that) who would break the mould and pitch a gem, pitching eight shutout innings, giving up just the three hits while fanning seven (three of those seven being Balentien) with no walks. The Swallows bats could find no solution to his stuff, and only managing to get a man past first in the 8th, when Miyamoto, who had reached via his second single of the game, found himself at third with two outs on the board, only for the pinch-hitting Fujimoto to line-out to second.

After that the Swallows got another man to third in the 9th with Asao on the mound (Miwa, pinch-running for Tanaka who had led off the inning with a walk), but Balentien struck out swinging to end the game.

Ishikawa was okay, giving up just the one run (unearned) in his seven innings off six hits with two Ks and a walk. That solitary run came in the 3rd: Yamai doubled his annoyance factor by singling to left to start the inning before he was bunted to second by Oshima for out number one. An uber-rare Miyamoto error allowed Araki’s grounder to escape into the outfield to put men on the corners for Ibata. He hit a grounder to Miyamoto, who threw to home whereupon Nakamura easily ran down Yamai who was hopelessly stuck in no-man’s land between third and home (he is a pitcher after all) which left men on first and second with two outs for Wada. And the veteran outfielder hit a grounder that just evaded the dive of Kawabata and Araki was home from second to make it 1-0 Chunichi.

Things could have got much worse as Blanco drew a walk to load the bases for Tanishige, but Ishikawa struck him out to keep the deficit at one.

Chunichi only really threatened again with Oshimoto on the mound in relief of Ishikawa in the 8th. A flyout-walk-walk-strikeout-walk combo loaded the bases for Donoue, but after battling seven pitches, he flew out to left to prevent a trademark sweaty-cap meltdown from Oshimoto.

Notes:

• Milledge was ejected from the game in the 7th, after arguing a called third strike with the home plate umpire. He thought the pitch was high/outside, and communicated this matter to the ump, and Lastings appeared to be okay until he shouted something along the lines of, if my memory and lip-reading skills serve me well, “That’s a fucking joke”, as he headed back to the bench. And we all know that that any variant of fuck is the “magic word” in Japan that will see you ejected from the game regardless (as a non-Japanese), and so it proved to be as he was given his marching orders. Cue Lastings getting in the face of  the ump (see above) and getting in a few more choice “magic words” before Balentien pulled him back and sent him on his way back to the bench. Ogawa then argued Lastings’ case for a minute or so, to of course no avail.
• And before we get any of the “That’s Lastings finally showing his true colours” schtick, I remember being present to witness Aaron Guiel getting ejected in the exact same way at Koshien a few years back, so no biggie in showing a bit of passion for the cause, no matter how futile it may ultimately be. And lets also not forget this is Lastings first mis-step in what has been a pretty impeccable start to his Japanese career.
• It was around that inning that Yamai appeared to start smirking after every out, tripling his annoyance rating for the evening.
• Ishikawa was the only non-Meikyukai member to hit, with a one-out single in the 6th. He would be stranded at first.
• Chunichi are extremely annoying.
• Thankfully Morino (back trouble) and his inflatable face weren’t involved in this game which would have increased the Chunichi annoyance factor immeasurably.
• 10154 folks spent 2 hours 34 minutes watching the annoyance that is the Chunichi Dragons baseball team.
• The CD logo on the Dragon’s cap shouldn’t be red. I can only conclude that it was designed by a colour blind person.
• I’m struggling to find much else to write about this game.
• Can you tell?
• Oh, hold on……
• Tokyo still lead the season series against Chunichi 4-2 with 1 tie.
• The two teams will travel to Gifu for game two of this series, with Muranaka taking on Nakata on the mound.

Now to leave you with some positive news. Earlier today, it should surprise no one to learn that Coco Balentien was named the CL MVP for March/April, making it a Tokyo double, with Shohei Tateyama also taking the pitching honour. Congratulations gentlemen!

MVP!!

And another!!

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/08/5812-chunichi-away/feed/ 3 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/07/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-7th-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-7th-2012 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/07/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-7th-2012/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 05:44:01 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12514 Hello, all you Swallowers! Here’s something to read while claiming your shark repellent spray refund.

Miyamoto’s Meikyukai Induction

Miyamoto became the 40th batter to reach the 2,000 hit milestone with a single in his first at-bat against Hiroshima starter, Yuya Fukui on Friday. The game was immediately halted as Miyamoto’s teammates came onto the field to congratulate him.

The team has decided to designate May 30th Miyamoto Milestone Memorial Day when Hokkaido will be in town for a two-game series (May 30th and 31st). Former Tokyo Swallow and teammate, Atsunori Inaba, who became the 39th hitter to enter the Meikyukai just a short while ago, will be playing for the Fighters in that game, and it is likely that Inaba will also be honored by the team in some way.

For more information, including stats and lots of trivial information, check these two posts (here and here) on Yakyu Baka.

In case you missed it, here’s a video replay:

Many congrats to Miyamoto and his family from everyone at Tsubamegun!

Swallows of the Week

Week 5

The Tsubamegun community voted on the outstanding performances by the following five players: Wladimir Balentien (RF), Tony Barnette (P), Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B), Lastings Milledge (LF), and Shohei Tateyama (P). There were 35 official votes this week, and here’s how the numbers added up:

Player	Votes	%
Lastings Milledge	20	57
Wladimir Balentien	6	17
Tony Barnette	5	14
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	2	6
Shohei Tateyama	2	6

Congratulations, Thrilledge! The man has been an impact player at the plate, and he has shown hustle and determination both on the field and the basepaths. All the best to Milledge from the Tsubamegun community as he continues to transition to the pitching and style of play here in Japan.

Week 6

The Swallows played five games last week which completed a eight-games-in-nine-days marathon against Central League competition. The first two were in Yokohama, and after romping in the first game thanks to Balentien’s three bombs, the offense was quieted in game two due to some decent pitching from the home time.

The second series was at home against the Hiroshima Carp. The first two games were both monumental and enjoyable to watch for Tokyo fans as Miyamoto eclipsed the 2,000 hit mark on Friday, and the team churned out an impressive performance both on offense and defense to clinch the series. Yesterday’s game, however, was a bit of a mess thanks mostly to the fact that Tokyo wasn’t able to get anyone on base for most of the game.

Coco made this pose many times this week. They must've thought it was hailing in the left field stands.

May 1st at Yokohama 7-0 W
May 2nd cancelled (rain)
May 3rd at Yokohama 1-3 L
May 4th vs Hiroshima 8-4 W
May 5th vs Hiroshima 4-1 W
May 6th vs Hiroshima 0-6 L

Several players put up impressive numbers last week, and here are the names for you to choose from:

Wladimir Balentien (RF) had a crazy week 6 at the plate. He was 8-17 with six homers, four walks, eight RBI, and 27 total bases. Here’s his slash line for the week: .471/.571/1.588.

Masanori Ishikawa (P) recorded his first complete game shutout in a couple of seasons at Yokohama on Tuesday. He threw 145 pitches through nine innings of work and gave up five hits, one walk, and one beanball while striking out five on his way to helping his team secure a 7-0 victory.

Orlando Roman (P) had his longest outing of the year on Saturday when he subdued a very aggressive Carp team with only 95 pitches through eight innings of work. He gave up only five hits, three walks, and one earned run while striking out three. The Swallows went on to win that contest 4-1.

Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B) was solid both at the plate and on defense. He was one of only two players to hit safely in all five games last week and was 7-21 at the plate. He mixed in a couple of doubles, two walks, and four RBI to help reward Hatakeyama and Nakamura for their solid offense in the bottom third of the lineup. Slash line: .333/.391/.429.

Tick the box next to the player you think most deserves SOW honors for week 6.

Roster Updates

On Wednesday May 2nd, Genki Nitta (C) and Yuhei (OF) were demoted, and on Thursday veterans Atsushi Fujimoto (IF) and Kazuki Fukuchi (OF) were brought up. Fujimoto had his first hit of the season that same day. Fukuchi had his first hit on Friday and recorded his first sac fly of the season on Saturday.

Ueda (CF) was dropped to the farm on Saturday after banging up his right shoulder on a herculean effort to prevent a home run in Friday’s game. He was 1-2 at the plate with a double before being removed from the game. Hopefully his rehab stint doesn’t take too long.

Rookie Hiyane (OF) was brought back up on the same day to serve as cover/competition for Kazuki Fukuchi in center field.

Takeuchi was dropped to the farm on Sunday for reasons that were not immediately clear. Hopefully it’s nothing more than an attempt to keep him fresh by seeing live pitching on a regular basis on the farm.

That leaves 27 players on the top team roster as of this morning:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka

Outfielders
Hiyane, Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge

From the Farm

Tokyo’s minor league team dropped two of their three games against Tohoku up in Sendai. Depressingly, they lost both of the first two games in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 10th inning. But there were definitely some bright spots tucked in there.

The Swallows won the third game thanks largely to a fourth inning, two out grand slam care of Yuichi which put a previously tied ballgame at 6-2 in Tokyo’s favor. The team eventually won the game 6-4 with rookie Hugo Kanabushi getting the ‘W’ thanks to his six innings of  eight hit, three run baseball.

Chikara Onodera continues to pitch effectively from the bullpen. He made two appearances last week and kept the opposition off the board. In 15 appearances so far (farm team high), he’s pitched 15.1 innings and has an ERA of 0.59.

Kyuko has also seen his workload increase, which is another great sign for the team as he was a phenomenal left-handed option out of the pen last year. He made two appearances last week and didn’t allow any runs.

Recently demoted center fielder, Yuhei, started all three games last weekend and was 5-15 at the plate.

Kawamoto (C) appears to be back in action and both caught and DH’d last weekend. Nitta did the same and appears to be having a bit more success at the plate so far.

Tokyo’s little birds will play six home games up in Toda starting tomorrow. The first three are against the little Giants, and the second set is against the little Marines. All six games are scheduled to start at 1PM.

Around the Central League

Tokyo finished the week with three wins and two losses which leaves them in sole possession of first place in the Central League with an overall record of 18-10-2. After splitting a rain-shortened series with Yokohama, the birds returned to Jingu and took 2-3 from the visiting Hiroshima Carp. They enjoy a mere half-game lead over second place Chunichi.

Chunichi finished the week with two wins, two losses, and two ties. Those two losses came over the weekend when they were visiting Yokohama who are now in possession of a semi-healthy Tsutsugoh at third base. The boy has been hitting the ball hard, and if memory serves, he’s eligible for ROY voting this season. The Chunichi Dragons finished the week in second place, half a game behind the Tokyo Swallows.

Staff ace, Kazuki Yoshimi, was taken off the active roster due to a gammy hammy on May 2nd. That’s good news for the Swallows because it means that they won’t have to face him next week when they travel to play Chunichi.

Hanshin finished the week with one win, four losses, and one draw. In fact, they finished the Golden Week nine-game stretch with a league worst 1-6-2 record. They only scored five runs in their six games last week, and they were shut out three times. They’re still in third place though, 4.5 games behind Tokyo and just a half game ahead of the surging Yomiuri Giants.

The scoreless draw against Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome on April 30th was the first time in 69 years (link in Japanese) that such a result has happened between those two clubs.

Looking for some depth at catcher due to injuries to Johjima and Fujii, Hanshin traded pitcher Ryuji Wakatake to Hokkaido for backup catcher, Kenta Imanari. 24-year-old Imanari appeared in 22 games for the Fighters last year and hit .115 with three hits.

Yomiuri finished the week with four wins and two losses. They took 2-3 from the visiting Hiroshima Carp at Tokyo Dome and then did the same against Hanshin when they played there this past weekend. Yomiuri finished the GW stretch with a Japan-best .750 winning percentage which is terrible news for those who value what is just and right in the world. Yomiuri still has a losing record, but they’re just a half game behind the faltering Hanshin Tigers.

Yomiuri is apparently going to be welcoming 33-year-old Edgar Gonzalez back into the fold. You may recall that Gonzalez played for the Giants back in 2010. He had 327 plate appearances in 100 games for Yomiuri that year, hitting .263/.342/.457 with 76 hits (12 HR) and 44 RBI. Last year he hit .315/.378/.457 with 159 hits (30 2B, 14 HR) and 82 RBI in 137 games for AAA Fresno (San Francisco Giants).

Hiroshima finished the week with two wins and four losses. They dropped all three of their GW series, and critically four of their six games with the first place Tokyo Swallows. They are now in fifth place in the Central League, one game behind Yomiuri and just two games ahead of the improving Yokohama Baystars.

Yokohama finished the week with three wins, one loss, and one draw. The biggest thrill for them was undoubtedly winning their weekend series against the defending Central League champs, Chunichi. They outscored the Dragons 19-6 in those three games, and it should be fun to see if they can keep this momentum going into the Interleague block of the season which begins on the 16th. Yokohama are still in last place, but they’re finally showing some signs of life. If Yoshimura, Ramirez, Nakamura, and Tsutsugoh all get on track at the same time, then they should be able to produce quite a few runs.

Yokohama apparently has some kind of ticketing scheme worked out whereby fans can get a refund if they were unhappy with the game that they watched. According to reports, there have been some long lines at the ticket windows following several of the games.

The Week Ahead

Tokyo has a slightly abbreviated schedule this week, the last before Interleague games begin on May 16 with a two game home series against 2011 Japan Series Champs, Fukuoka.

This week also features quite a bit of running around for the team. The first series is against the Dragons May 8th-10th, and even though it’s an ‘away’ series for the birds, only one of those games will be played at Nagoya Dome. Game 1 is in Toyohashi, game 2 is to be played in Gifu, and the final game will see the teams play a game in the cavernous dome that Chunichi calls home.

Friday the 11th is a travel day as the birds head north to Akita for a two-game “home” series against Yomiuri.

Games on the 8th-10th and 12th start at 6PM. The game on the 13th is scheduled to begin at 3PM. Check the calendar at the bottom of this site’s homepage if you need more detail.

Former Swallows

Seth Greisinger continues to be unhittable for the Chiba Marines. He leads the Pacific League in ERA (0.31), winning percentage (perfect), opposing team’s batting average (.165), and K/9 (8.59).

Norichika Aoki only has 34 at-bats in the 22 games that he’s appeared in (usually as a pinch hitter), and his slash line is currently: .235/.316/.353. It will be fun to see what he can do if/when he gets to start regularly for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Alex Ramirez continues to struggle at the plate in his new home of Yokohama (.198/.217/.284). He finally hit his first homer of the season on Friday when Chunichi came to town.

Standing ovation for Tokyo's legendary third baseman.

Alright, that’s all for this week. Please excuse me because I have fallen woefully behind on my meat consumption.

Drink up.

Hiroshima Carp  6

Tokyo Swallows  0

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: WLWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This is the same pitching duel that we saw early last week in the rain in Hiroshima, Tokyo’s Shohei Tateyama taking on Hiroshima’s Kenta Maeda.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	3	6	14	1
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
W: Maeda (4-2, 1.44 ERA) L: Tateyama (3-1, 2.29 ERA)

It was Maeda’s first game of 2012 pitching at Jingu Stadium, and if his bad luck from 2011 had continued at Jingu, then that would’ve been good news for the Swallows. In his two starts last season, he pitched a total of 14.2 innings and lost both decisions while surrendering five earned runs. 2010 was the opposite for Maeda as he earned two wins from his two starts in the stadium that Tsubakuro built, giving up just one earned run over 17 exceptional innings.

One week ago, however, the birds wore him down and made him swallow an uncharacteristic four earned runs through just six innings of work. Before today’s game, Tateyama was 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA, and Maeda was 3-2 with a 1.67 ERA.

But with just a half-game lead on Chunichi in the standings, the Swallows would need to sustain and build on the momentum and positive energy that they’ve created so far.

That didn’t happen because, as one might expect, this game basically came down to pitching.

Tokyo	Order	Hiroshima
Tanaka (2B)	1	Kimura (SS)
Fukuchi (CF)	2	Higashide (2B)
Milledge (LF)	3	Maru (CF)
Balentien (RF)	4	Stavinoha (LF)
Kawabata (SS)	5	Matsuyama (1B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Amaya (RF)
Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Dohbayashi (3B)
Nakamura (C)	8	Kura (C)
Tateyama (P)	9	Maeda (P)

To summarize the proceedings, Hiroshima’s pitching was excellent. Tokyo’s? Not so much.

In other words, Tokyo got to see the 2010 version of Kenta Maeda.

Tateyama had a wobbly day on the mound and allowed droves of base-runners throughout the evening. He allowed three base runners in the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, and was perhaps fortunate to only give up three earned runs.

Hiroshima’s starter, Maeda, got things started in the fifth inning with a single, and then a sac bunt and a double later, and the Carp had opened the scoring for the first time in this series at Jingu.

Tateyama was hooked after he allowed a double to Maeda which scored two.

The sixth was when the real damage was done though. Amaya singled and then Dohbayashi walked to start things off. Out number one came thanks to a sac bunt which moved the two runners over and brought Maeda to the plate again. He ended up smacking a 2-2 forkball down the left field line for a double which cleared the bases and put the game even further out of reach.

3-0 Hiroshima.

And that’s when Tateyama finally got the hook. Hidaka came in and took care of the next five batters without incident.

Unfortunately, Maeda was just as effective on the mound as he was at the plate. He scattered just three hits through seven innings of work while mixing in seven strikeouts, a walk, and a beanball. The only time that the Swallows threatened to score was in the seventh when they loaded the bases with two outs, but pinch-hitter, Fujimoto, grounded out to short to end Tokyo’s best chance.

Down by three, the Swallows inserted Koki Watanabe for his third appearance of the year in the ninth (Abe pitched a perfect eighth). And it was one  to forget as he saw a total of eight batters and gave up four hits (one homer), a walk, a wild pitch, and three earned runs on his way to helping Hiroshima double its lead.

Enjoy your time in Toda, Mr. Watanabe.

6-0 Final.

Pitching:
Tateyama took the loss for the good guys. He pitched 5.1 innings (96 NP), and gave up ten hits and three earned runs. He also issued three walks, struck out three, and beaned one batter. His record is now 3-1, and his ERA jumped to 2.29 through six starts this season.

Hidaka (13 appearances) and Abe (four appearances) are still sporting perfect ERAs.

Thrilledge gunned Matsuyama down at home plate in the fourth to preserve the 0-0 tie.

Hitting:
Just three hits. Nobody was able to get anything going against Maeda today.

Notes:
15,885 tickets were allegedly sold to this game. It was a major departure from the crowds of the two previous days.  It rained quite a bit during the afternoon, but the skies were crystal clear once the game started.

Miyamoto reached the 2,000 hit milestone on Friday, but he 0-8 (one walk) since that historic moment.

The Swallows are still in first place because the Dragons lost to Yokohama once again.

The Swallows are on the road for the rest of this week. They will bounce around to a few different stadiums while playing the Dragons, and then they host an abbreviated series in Akita against Yomiuri on Saturday and Sunday.

The next Swallows home games will be on May 16th (Wed) and 17th (Thurs) when the Fukuoka Hawks are in town to help kick off the five week interleague schedule.

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