Both Fukuchi and Guiel are quoted in the piece. The main themes are: a) we surprise everyone by making the playoffs last year, b) we need to step it up this year, and c) we have a lot of capable young players on the team.

Here’s a little tidbit from the article:

“I think a lot of these younger players, when they get into the dome, they get a little overwhelmed,” Guiel said. “The aura of the Giants, the atmosphere of the Tokyo Dome, there’s a lot of pressure there.”

Read the article in its entirety here.

High five for Coskrey for bothering to cover the birds at all.

Tokyo Swallows 4

Chunichi Dragons 7

Series: Chunichi 2-1 Tokyo

(Nagoya Dome)

Chunichi was definitely the better team today, but they should never forget that they had the flu and a little bit of Takada on their side. Either way, the season came to an end for the Swallows while the Dragons now inherit the unenviable task of overcoming a one game disadvantage in a best-of-seven series at Tokyo Dome versus Yomiuri.

Recognize these guys (other than Yoneno and Yoshinori)? This is what the flu can do to your roster.

That and Nakata pitched pretty damned well.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (SS)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Hatakeyama (3B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yoshinori (P)

Chunichi’s lineup:

1. Ibata (SS)
2. Araki (2B)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Blanco (1B)
5. Wada (LF)
6. Nomoto (RF)
7. Fujii (CF)
8. Tanishige (C)
9. Nakata (P)

1st inning:

Tokyo got off to a decent start despite the odds. Miyamoto’s two out double was followed by an Aoki double to put the birds ahead 1-0.

Chunichi put two runners on against Tokyo’s third-choice-starter, Yoshinori, in the bottom of the first. However, Wada grounded out to Tanaka to end the threat.

2nd inning:

Tokyo sat down in order, but Chunichi were able to work consecutive one out walks (Fujii and

Aoki plated Miyamoto in the first inning.

3^rd inning:

Yoshinori started off with a karaburi (swinging) strikeout, and Aoki grounded out to first.

With two outs, Tanaka grounded out to third to bring the Dragons to the plate.

Araki batted first for Dragons.

After finally working a full count, Araki sliced one past the pitcher into center field. Excellent at-bat to be fair.

Morino followed with a pop fly to center, and Araki was caught stealing during Blanco’s second at-bat of the game. Blanco singled to right after the runner was removed, and Wada came to the plate with two outs and a runner on first.

Wada, as he’s done several times in this short series, came through with a big hit. An opposite field home run put the home team ahead 2-1.

Nomoto continued the two out rally with a single through the gap between third and short. And Araki (Tokyo’s pitching coach) finally came out of the dugout to have a chat with his young, control-challenged starter.

Fujii then punched a double down the left field line that put Nomoto on third.

Yoshinori intentionally walked Tanishige to get to the pitcher, Nakata.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Nakata struck out swinging.

4^th inning:

Miyamoto got behind in the count really quickly while flashing the bunt twice and eventually grounded out for the first out of the inning.

Aoki also went down  2-0 in a hurry (no feigned bunts involved), and ended up grounding out to short.

D’Antona for his part, did very well to lay off the outside sliders late in the at-bat and drew a two out walk.

Guiel struck out on a forkball to strand D’Antona on first.

Ibata was the first hitter for Chunichi and he struck out looking at a pitch on the outside of the plate. Araki struck swinging, and for a moment it looked as though Yoshinori had relocated the strike zone. Morino singled and represented a brief hiccup in Yoshinori’s inning as next man up, Blanco, struck out swinging at a healthy diet of outside sliders.

5^th inning:

Hatakeyama led off with a single to right, and Aikawa immediately started flashing the bunt. The bunt was successful, and Yoshinori was pulled in favor of Yuichi (doesn’t exactly inspire sentiments of hope, does it?).

Yuichi looked at a first strike, and then wasn’t able to pull the trigger on a second called strike. Yuichi swiped needlessly at the next pitch, a forkball in the dirt to illuminate a second red lamp on the board.

Fukuchi started his at-bat by swinging at, and missing, the first pitch. He held off on the second Nakata offering which was a fair bit wide, and he got burned pretty badly trying to catch up with the third pitch. To his credit, however, Fukuchi displayed a bit of patience and worked the count full. And he reached first on a walk.

With men on first and second, and two outs, Tanaka came to the plate. The first pitch was a ball, and Nakata missed wide with the next pitch as well. A called first strike and a foul ball later, the count was 2-2. Tanaka eventually came through with a single to right, but third base coach, Dobashi, decided to send Hatakeyama home and the big man was thrown out to end the inning.

The bottom of this inning started very, very badly. With Matsui on the mound for the birds, Wada and Nomoto led off with back-to-back singles.

Hatakeyama left to ponder what might have been (if he hadn't been waved home).

One of the scarier guys in the Chunichi lineup then came to the plate. Fujii has been hitting doubles like a madman in this series, and a double at this particular juncture of the game would be curtains for the Swallows’ chances.

Fujii worked the count full, but he fouled the 2-3 pitch off in an area that Hatakeyama could get to for the first out. Tanishige’s turn.

Tanishige singled into right field to score Wada from third, and that’s when things got slightly out of control. 3-1 Chunichi.

The hook came way too late. Matsui was left in long enough to record only one out but gave up four hits and three runs in the process. Oops.

Yoshikawa inherited a man on second with one out and quickly got behind 1-3. Ibata eventually drew a walk to put Chunichi’s seventh potential run on first base. But Araki and Morino succumbed to a pitcher they haven’t seen a whole lot in the last couple of years, and both runners were stranded.

6^th inning:

Miyamoto led things off for the Swallows who were now down by four runs. He took the first three pitches for balls before Chunichi’s first reliever, Kawahara, threw two called strikes. Miyamoto ended up grounding out to second for the first out.

Aoki tried a safety bunt on the first pitch, but it went foul for strike one. After all was said and done, Aoki drew a walk.

D’Antona grounded out but moved Aoki over in the process.

Guiel struck out swining to send the Swallows into the field.

Blanco singled to start things off for Chunichi. Wada then lucked out and his lunging rip at Yoshikaw’s outside pitch ended up in left field. Yoshikawa was, however, able to get Nomoto, Fujii, and Tanishige out to end the threat.

7th inning:

Hatakeyama, Aikawa, and Onizaki went down in order to make things even more desperate for the visitors while Inoue’s leadoff double was wasted by Ibata’s sacrifice bunt and the two quick outs that followed.

8th inning:

Fukuchi finally got his first hit of the series to start things off in the eighth. This one was an infield single to short. Tanaka followed with his second hit of the evening, a single to right. Miyamoto grounded out to first for the first out, but Aoki came through with his second rbi of the game on a single to right which plated Fukuchi. 5-2 Chunichi.

And Tanaka scored on D’Antona’s single to right to make it 5-3 Dragons.

Guiel drew a one out walk, but then Takada got creative and put Shida in the game to bat for Oshimoto.

Bad idea.

Double play.

Great.

Chunichi eighth:

Blanco drew a lead-off walk with Igarashi now on the mound, and he scored on Hirata’s one out triple. 6-3 Dragons.

Hirata quickly crossed home plate on Fujii’s second double of the game. 7-3 blue koala bears.

That was the end of the scoring for the home team though as Tanishige and Hidenori weren’t able to get anything else done (not like it mattered).

9th inning:

After Aikawa and Onizaki provided the first two outs of the inning, Fukuchi, Tanaka, and Miyamoto came up with back-to-back-to-back singles. Fukuchi scored on Tanaka’s single to make it 7-4.

And with two outs Aoki came to the plate. He represented the tying run, but Iwase was on the mound at this point, and the man that carried the team during the final third of the season (and through the playoffs) went down swinging to end the game.

7-4 Final.

Observations:

• The birds were lucky to keep the difference as small as it was. Yoshinori had only one short stretch where he could put the ball where Aikawa was calling for it (the fourth inning–Yoshinori’s last).
• Yoshinori lasted four innings and gave up two earned runs off of seven hits. He struck out five and (typically) walked four.
• Yoshinori burned through 96 pitches in his four innings of work.
• Matsui was terrible in relief, and he was left in the game a wee bit too long.
• Yoshikawa was shaky but didn’t allow any runs to score in 1 1/3 innings.
• Oshimoto was fine.
• Tanaka batted .462 in this series. And he is injured.
• The front half of Tokyo’s lineup had at least two hits each in this game. Fukuchi had two singles (finally!) while Miyamoto and Aoki had a single and a double each (Aoki also added a walk). Tanaka had three singles.
• D’Antona and Hatakeyama also had one hit each.
• The birds were outhit 16-11.
• Ochiai used five relievers to get through the last four innings.
• His starter, Nakata, pitched a good game.
• Dobashi (the third base coach) is an idiot for waving Fludge home on Tanaka’s hit in the fifth. What makes you think a guy of that size can outrun a throw from shallow right when he started his run from second base? Dobashi hasn’t made a bad call like that since the first half of the season…

And so that’s it for the Swallows’ season. They put up a good fight, but there was ultimately nothing they could do without a solid starter on the mound and half of the battery decimated by the flu.

Fukuchi and Hatakeyama weren’t very good at the plate in this series (they didn’t get a hit until today), but several other guys stepped up (I’m actually very surprised that Takada favorite, Yoshimoto, didn’t get a start in this series given Hatakeyama’s ‘Fludge’-like tendencies).

Tanaka, Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel, on the other hand, put in several quality at-bats, and the first three in that short list batted .300 or better in this series. Guiel added several walks which was basically a continuation of his season-long ability to get on base.

I’ll withhold adding to the ‘Takada Count’ again as I don’t know how well the players on the bench were feeling. Given the circumstances, the birds put up a decent fight in this series, but a lot more will be required next season to give ourselves another shot at going to the Japan Series.

Tokyo Swallows 2

Chunichi Dragons 3

Series: Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo

(Nagoya Dome)

The Dragons leveled the series with a come-from-behind win and made sure that both team’s season will survive at least one more day.

Onizaki's bobble led to Chunichi's first run.

Tokyo”s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Onizaki (SS
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Tateyama (P)

Chunichi’s lineup:

1. Ibata (SS)
2. Araki (2B)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Blanco (1B)
5. Wada (LF)
6. Inoue (RF)
7. Fujii (CF)
8. Tanishige (C )
9. Yoshimi (P)

1^st inning:

Miyamoto’s infield single was the only joy for the Swallows as it was preceded by a Fukuchi fly ball to left, a Tanaka grounder to the mound, and followed by an Aoki grounder to second.

Ibata took the first pitch of  his at-bat for a strike right down the middle, and he sliced the next Tateyama offering down the line in right for a stand-up double.

Araki then flashed the bunt and took a called first strike before totally botching his at-bat with a fouled-off bunt attempt. He later struck out checking his swing on a slider that was about a bat-length off the outside of the plate.

Morino came to the plate with Ibata still on second and one out. He ended up working a four-pitch walk as Tateyama tried, and failed, to flirt with several edges of the strike zone.

With two on and one out, Blanco came to the plate for his first battle versus Tateyama. He proceeded to slap a grounder that had double-play written all over it to Onizaki at short, but the youngster bobbled the hell out of the toss to Tanaka at second (Tanaka got nailed by the runner in the process). All runners safe. Bases loaded. One out.

Wada’s turn. Tateyama burned him on the first two pitches, but he eventually bounced one to short that didn’t get relayed in time to turn the double play. Ibata scored on the play. 1-0 Chunichi.

Inoue (yeah, the old one), who was starting for some weird reason, grounded out to short for the third out. Ochiai loses two points of respect for that personnel decision.

2^nd inning:

D’Antona grounded out to start the Swallows’ second, and Guiel struck out swinging at a high fastball.

Onizaki began his redemption campaign (after that incredibly costly error in the bottom of the first) by singling with two outs.

And then we saw a little pop from our second-string catcher. With Onizaki on first, Kawamoto punted a Yoshimi mistake pitch over the wall in left-center. 2-1 Tokyo.

Fujii started things off for Chunichi in the bottom of the second. He flied out to left.

Tanishige, while normally a sure-fire out, got in on the crappy-catcher-hitting-home-runs action and drove the game-tying run over the wall in left. 2-2.

Yoshimi struck out as expected for the second out, and Ibata grounded out to short to end the festivities.

3^rd inning:

Fukuchi started things off in the third with a grounder to short. But Tanaka reached on an infield

Tanishige stepped out of character and did something productive at the plate.

single that was very similar to the one that Miyamoto hit in the first. The head-first slide, however, was completely unnecessary.

But it all got erased when Miyamoto’s grounder up the middle was stopped by Ibata and he did a bit of tap-dancing on his way to an 6-3 double-play.

Grrr.

Tateyama retired the side in the bottom of that inning.

4^th inning:

Aoki grounded out to start the fourth, but D’Antona came through with a single to right to put a runner on first for Guiel.

And the senior non-Japanese on the team (Yuichi no longer counts) was incredibly patient in drawing a walk.

But it was all undone when Onizaki took a swipe at the first pitch and grounded into another double-play. Two runners stranded.

Double Grrr.

Wada started off the Chunichi fourth with a double off the wall in left-center. He got pushed over to third on Fujii’s hopper up the first base line that the drawn-in D’Antona couldn’t quite get his glove on (error).

With runners on first and third and one out, Tanishige got done a little bit by the umpire to put the count at 2-2 (lots of suspect calls behind the plate for both sides in this game), and he ended up striking out swinging at a low slider.

Yoshimi did his job by striking out to send his team into the field for the start of the fifth.

5^th inning:

The Swallows sat down in order as the 2-2 scoreline survived yet another half-inning.

Ibata led off the Chunichi fifth with an infield single to short. And Araki started flashing the bunt again.  This time he was successful, and Ibata found himself on second with one out.

Morino put up a very good fight at the plate during his at-bat, but he eventually flied out to shallow left for out number two.

Blanco went down on three straight sliders, all of them low and the last one outside to end the threat from the Dragons.

I’m a big fan of Ochiai’s tendency to bunt in this series.

6^th inning:

Tanaka was the first man up for the birds in the sixth. He quickly got behind in the count, but he came through with a liner up the middle that put the go-ahead runner on first.

Miyamoto then started flashing the bunt as Takada (following Ochiai’s lead?) finally had a chance to get in on the act. The bunt was successful, and Tanaka was safe at second with one out.

Aoki grounded out and Tanaka was able to make it to third on the play. Two outs, man on third.

But D’Antona grounded out to third to leave Tanaka at third.

The Dragons went down in order.

7^th inning:

Guiel led off with a hard, hard, hard, single down the line in right. It was so hard, in fact, that he had no chance at second due to how quickly it bounced off the wall and bounced straight into Inoue’s glove.

Onizaki bunted him over to second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Too bad the last third of the lineup was due up. Things got bleaker when Kawamoto shattered his bat and popped up to Morino at third.

Tateyama grounded out to the pitcher give Chunichi another shot on offense.

"I don't understand. The bunt always worked so well when I was in high school..."

Note for Takada: we’ve covered this before, but don’t count on the bottom third of your lineup to hit with runners in scoring position (unless you’ve once again relegated Tanaka to the seventh or eighth slot for no apparent reason). In other words, stop telling people to bunt unless the batter in question happens to be the pitcher!

Tanishige sliced a full count pitch into shallow center to put another go-ahead runner on base. Yoshimi bunted him over for the first out.

Ibata grounded out for the second out, but Tanishige moved over to third in the process.

Araki came to the plate with two outs and the winning run on third. The first pitch was a ball outside. The second was a meatball that he easily slapped into center field for Chunichi’s third run. 3-2 Dragons.

And that was the end of Tateyama’s night.

Enter Hye-cheon Lee.

Araki stole second to put another runner in scoring position with Morino at the plate for the Dragons (terrible throw by Kawamoto; good recovery by Onizaki).

But Morino eventually struck out swinging to temporarily shut things down.

And Doala, for the second night in a row, landed his off-kilter handspring. Even Tsubakuro was impressed.

8^th inning:

Fukuchi continued his run of futile impatience at the plate and lined out to third on the first pitch for out number one.

Tanaka worked the count full with one out and nobody on, but he eventually grounded out to third.

Miyamoto also continued his over-agressive ways when he chased the first pitch, a high fastball, but got nowhere near it. He was patient enough to get it back to 2-2, and then he drilled one down the line at Morino, but it appeared that the third baseman disillusionedly perceived himself to be in foul territory and was alarmed when he discovered that he needed to send the ball in the direction of first base. His throw ended up being off the map, and he earned himself an error in the process.

So it was Aoki’s turn with two outs and a man on first. The first three pitches were balls, and Aoki may have made a mistake in swinging at the next pitch as it was high and ended up in the pitcher’s glove for the third out.

The Chunichi eighth began with the hitless Blanco at the plate and Oshimoto on the mound.

Blanco grounded out to Tanaka for out number one.

Wada, for his part, swiped at one of Oshimoto’s pitches a bit late, but he still managed to slice it into right-center for a single.

Hirata stepped into the batter’s box for Chunichi with one out and a man on first. On what appeared to be a hit-and-run, Hirata popped up to right for out number two.

Up came the annoyingly effective Fujii.

Oshimoto missed with his first pitch for ball one. But Fujii popped up harmlessly on the second pitch to bring an end to the inning.

9^th inning:

Do or die for the birds…

Asao took the mound for the Dragons to face the tail end of Tokyo’s cleanup contingent (and specifically the right-handed D’Antona).

D’Antona came out swinging and got a bit ahead of the first pitch he was offered. Number two was a low ball, and the third pitch sailed wide for a 1-2 count (one strike; two balls). The next pitch was a forkball in the dirt, and Jamie chased it to put the count at 2-2, but he held off on the next pitch to work the count full. The next pitch, however, was a high forkball that D’Antona wasn’t able to put any lumber on. One out.

And that’s when Iwase showed up. Seems that Ochiai likes the lefty-lefty matchup as much as Takada does. Amazingly, Takada didn’t sub Guiel out like he’s done all season.

The first pitch was low and outside for ball one. Pitch number two was a bit high and inside to put Guiel in the driver’s seat. He fouled off the third pitch before taking ball three. The next pitch was outside and Guiel fouled it off. The next pitch was a ball and the tying run reached first base. It was Guiel’s second walk of the game. Bless him.

Fludge (Hatakeyama) then materialized at the plate in Onizaki’s place. Still not sure why. His patience paid off at first as he worked a 1-2 count, but then he fouled off an outside pitch to level things up again. He ended his at-bat, and the game, by grounding into a 4-6-3 double-play.

Dragons 3-2 Swallows final.

Tateyama lasted 6 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs (two earned) off of six hits. He also gave up one walk while striking out six. He threw 106 pitches while taking the loss.

Tanaka was the only Tokyo player to notch a multi-hit game. Kawamoto was responsible for both of Tokyo’s runs.

Miyamoto, D’Antona, Guiel, and Onizaki also had hits.

Observations:

• The two teams tied with seven hits each.
• The birds hit into three double plays.
• Ibata was annoyingly good on defense in this game.
• Wada had two more hits in this game and is now hitting .571 for the series.
• Tony Blanco hits grounders like it’s his job. For the record, Tony, you’re doing your job very well!
• Fukuchi still doesn’t have a hit.
• If I ever own the Swallows, I will fine players for swinging at the first pitch in more than one at bat per game.
• Impatience at the plate, in my view, is posing a bit of a problem at this point. The birds have displayed a disheartening propensity for putting the first pitch in play, and it’s almost invariably a grounder to short or second. Unfortunately, veterans such as Fukuchi and Miyamoto are as guilty of this as anybody else in the lineup (if not moreso).
• Big kudos to Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel for repeated quality at-bats.
• Ochiai’s a doofus for starting Inoue.

The decisive game three is tomorrow night at 6 PM. This one will also be played at Nagoya Dome.

Tokyo Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 2

Series: Chunichi 0-1 Tokyo

(Nagoya Dome)

Game one of the 2009 Central League Climax Series kicked off in Nagoya with Chen on the mound for the home team, and Ishikawa taking the reigns for the visiting Tokyo Swallows.

And Tokyo came up with the goods versus a very sharp Chen.

The Swallows won the crucial first game to put some serious pressure on Chunichi’s game two starter and extend Tokyo’s winning streak to seven games.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (SS)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Hatakeyama (3B)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Ishikawa (P)

In a bit of a surprise, Ishikawa took the mound for the birds today.

Chunichi’s lineup:

1. Ibata (SS)
2. Araki (2B)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Blanco (1B)
5. Wada (LF)
6. Tanishige (C)
7. Fujii (RF)
8. Hidenori (CF)
9. Chen (P)

First inning:

Fukuchi took a rip at the first pitch hesaw and grounded out weakly to short for out number one.

Tanaka also went after the first pitch he saw and fouled it off. Second pitch as well. Struck out swinging on the third pitch (outside).

Miyamoto similarly went after the first pitch he saw and fouled it off. Same for the second pitch. Third pitch ended up being a broken bat grounder to short. Chen was out of the inning on seven pitches (all strikes).

The Swallows came out swinging! They took a cut at all seven of the pitches they were offered in the first inning. That strategy didn’t work as they found themselves in the field on defense in a serious hurry. Chen didn’t look the least bit perturbed by the aggressiveness.

Luckily, the Dragons also went down in order as Ishikawa induced a series of grounders, two of which he fielded himself.

Second inning:

Aoki started off a little bit more patiently than the three guys before him. He waited until the second pitch to swing, but the result was still a grounder to third.

D’Antona, starting in his third game in a row, also started off swinging. He fouled off the first pitch before letting the next pitch sail wide for ball one. He checked his swing on the third pitch, but that one apparently scraped the outside of the zone. He held off on the next pitch as well, this one high, before Chen allowed the count to fill up with a pitch in the dirt. After fouling off the first full count pitch, D’Antona drew a walk to put the game’s first runner on base. A great seven-pitch at bat from D’Antona.

Guiel came to the plate with one out and also took the first pitch for ball one. The second offering was a sick slider that  dropped more than it tailed, and the third pitch was outside for ball two. The next pitch saw Guiel hit into a 6-3 double play to send the flock into the field.

Blanco started things off for Chunichi by bouncing one hard off the carpet for an infield single to short. D’Antona did a good job to keep a glove on it as the throw from Miyamoto must have rubbed off of his bandaged thumb on its way to first.

Wada helped us out by hitting a changeup into a 6-4-3 double play to put two outs on the board with Tanishige at the plate.

Tanishige struck out to end the inning.

Third inning:

Fludge (Hatakeyama) led off the third with a fouled off first pitch, and then Chen got him to look at a called second strike in the northwestern part of the zone. He sat down after flying out to Fujii in right for the first out.

Kawamoto looked at the first pitch for ball one before fouling off the second pitch. He wasn’t able to keep up with the third pitch, and after that he fouled off a soft curve while defending the plate. Ball two skidded past him in the dirt before Chen struck him out looking with a sharp inside fastball for the second out.

Ishikawa finished up the inning by politely striking out. To be fair to Ishikawa, however, he had one of the most productive at bats that the Swallows lineup had put together up to that point (second only to D’Antona’s). He was able to work six pitches off of Chunichi’s ace, Chen.

But that did little to change the fact that Chen had a healthy no-hitter going through three innings.

Fujii led off the Dragons’ third with a double off the foot of the wall in right. Hidenori bunted him over to third (stupid feet-first  slide into first, by the way; excellent diving play by Tanaka which made Hidenori look even dumber), and then Hatakeyama threw Fujii out at home trying to score on a grounder by Chen. Nice block by Kawamoto.

With Chen on first care of the aforementioned fielder’s choice, Ibata came to the plate with two outs. Ishikawa threw him four straight balls to put runners on first and second.

Araki also looked at a ball on the first pitch, but he grounded out to third on the next pitch with Hatakeyama throwing to second to get the force. Inning over.

Fourth inning:

Chen took the mound again in the fourth having  thrown only 35 pitches up to that point.

Fukuchi started this at bat much differently from his first. He looked at two straight called strikes before he had to foul of a pitch in order to stay alive. A pitch in the dirt finally saw Fukuchi draw one  in his favor, and that was followed by another low pitch to put the count at 2-2. Fukuchi eventually struck out swinging on another nasty Chen slider for out number one.

Tanaka also approached his second at-bat more patiently, but Chen threw another first pitch strike anyway. Tanaka eventually worked the count full, but  he grounded the next pitch at Morino for the second out.

Lots of ground balls in this game.

Miyamoto again came out swinging and fouled off the first pitch he saw. He got further behind in the count when he fouled off the second pitch as well. Chen kept attacking and Miyamoto was forced to foul off a third pitch. He finally got a ball on the fourth offering. The fifth pitch ended up in Araki’s glove on a soft liner that made it as far as the the circle at the back of the infield.

Ishikawa was also on 35 pitches through three. He didn’t look as dangerous as Chen, but he was definitely getting the job done.

First man up, Morino, watched a called first strike to start things off in the bottom of the fourth. After a couple of balls, the 1-2 pitch was a changeup that Morino swung about an hour too early on. At 2-2, Morino fouled off the next three pitches before finally flying out to left for the first out.

Blanco was responsible for the second out on another spiked grounder, this time to third.

With two outs, and after grounding into a double play in his first at-bat, Wada finally got through and lined the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center. 1-0 Dragons.

Tanishige ended the inning by flying out to right.

Fifth inning:

Chen continued to look very good again at the start of the fifth. He got two quick strikes before throwing two junk pitches in the dirt to level the count against Aoki. Tokyo’s cleanup hitter then fouled off the next three pitches to keep the count at 2-2. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Aoki finally broke up Chen’s no-hitter by poking one between Morino and Ibata to put a runner on first for D’Antona.

D’Antona fouled off the first pitch before taking a high pitch for 1-1. The next pitch landed just barely foul in right to give Chen a slight advantage at 2-1 (please remember that the count is reversed in Japan—a full count is 2-3 over here). The next pitch, inside, earned Chen another strikeout.

Guiel fouled off the first pitch, and the 1-1 pitch was a while in coming as Chen started worrying about Aoki over on first. Eventually Guiel fouled that one off as well for 2-1. The next pitch was a fastball on the outside of the plate that Guiel looked at (and disagreed with the resulting call). Two outs.

It was then up to Fludge to get something done with Aoki still standing on first, but he could only strike out swinging against the rock-solid Chen.

But at least Aoki broke up his no-hit bid.

Fujii was the first at the plate for the Dragons after doubling in his first at-bat. And he jumped on another Ishikawa meatball for his second double of the game, this time to left.

Ochiai again had Hidenori bunt him over to third. But Chen quickly grounded out to first for out number two.

However, Ibata came through with a two out line drive to right that scored Fujii. 2-0 Dragons.

Araki finally gave us out number three by grounding out to Hatakeyama who again tested D’Antona with a terrible throw to first.

Sixth inning:

Kawamoto started things off for the Swallows in the sixth. He quickly found himself down 2-0 in the count, and two pitches later he struck out swinging.

That was, incidentally, the fourth strikeout in a row for Chen.

Ishikawa grounded out to the pitcher for the second out, and Fukuchi quickly flied out to right for out number three.

In the Dragons’ sixth, Ishikawa worked both sides of the zone before Morino finally drove a changeup into center to put a man on first with Tony Blanco at the plate. Blanco grounded out to short, but he was able to beat the double-play throw to first.

Wada, fresh off his homer in his last at-bat, saw three straight balls before he swung at, and fouled off, the fourth pitch. He took a full rip at the next pitch as well, and another foul ball meant that the count was suddenly full. Wada punched the next pitch into center on a hit and run, and Blanco was able to reach third to put runners on the corners with one out. Ishikawa’s pitch count was at 73 at this point.

But luckily we had Tanishige at the plate again. The 1-0 pitch (high and outside) looked a bit like Kawamoto was expecting some trickery that never materialized. The trickery came on the 1-1 pitch when Ochiai tried a squeeze that Tanishige fouled off. The veteran eventually struck out looking on a pitch right down the middle.

Fujii then came up for the two on with two outs situation. After two straight doubles, Ishikawa made sure not to put anything near the strike zone until the third pitch of the at-bat when Fujii looked at a fastball right down the middle. He lined the next pitch right at Tanaka for out number three and two stranded runners.

Seventh inning:

Tanaka was the first batter for the Swallows in the fateful (for Chen) seventh. He lined the second pitch he saw down the line in right to put the first Tokyo runner on second.

Miyamoto again took a swipe at the first pitch he saw and fouled it off about two meters shy of fair territory on the green in right. He would end up grounding out and moving Tanaka over to third in the process. I don’t know what was going on with Blanco over at first on that play because he seemed to think that the inning was over or something. Tanaka very nearly thought about trying for home on the big man’s mental lapse.

Aoki then came to the plate with one out and Tanaka on third.

On Chen’s 2-1 pitch, Aoki came through with another single to left that scored Tanaka from third. 2-1 Chunichi.

And then with Aoki on first, first baseman, Jamie D’Antona came to the plate. All you need to know is that D’Antona absolutely destroyed one into the stands in left-center to make it 3-2 Tokyo.

And that’s when Chen looked like he might cry. Tears or not, I still love the way he bounces his head off his right bicep before each pitch.

Chen then gave up a single to Guiel to put another runner within his periphery.

Fludge, having flied and struck out in his first two plate appearances, flied out to left this time for the second out.

Kawamoto then came to the  plate having struck out his first two times at the plate, and Chen quickly got out in front of him 2-1. But Kawamoto eventually worked the count full, and he found himself on first when Chen surrendered his first walk of the game.

Takada decided to put Noguchi in to hit for Ishikawa with two outs and runners on first and second. Noguchi flied out to second to end the Swallows’ inning.

After pitching six excellent innings, Chen saw his outing become fully forgettable in the seventh.

3-2 Swallows after the top of the seventh.

Oshimoto took the mound to face the Dragons in the bottom of the seventh.

Hidenori grounded out to short before Nomoto came in to pinch hit for Chen.

After several foul balls, Nomoto worked the count full but grounded out to D’Antona on the next pitch.

With two outs, it was Ibata’s turn again. And after Ibata did well to work the count full, Oshimoto struck him out looking with a hard, low fastball that he wasn’t able to swing at.

Eighth inning:

Fukuchi again grounded out when facing Chunichi’s first reliever, Asao.

Tanaka then entered the batter’s box for the Swallows. After scoring the last time he came to the plate (double), the fresh-off-an-injury second baseman kept the prepubescent Asao honest for a while before fanning on a high fastball for out number two.

Miyamoto again put the first pitch in play for another ground out.

And as expected, Igarashi took the mound for the bottom of the eighth.

Chunichi eighth: Araki led off for the home team. Araki had grounded out in all three of his plate appearances up to this part, but he saw four quick balls from Igarashi to put the tying run on first.

Morino (1-3 up to that point) then watched Igarashi throw yet another ball. Igarashi finally threw a strike on his sixth pitch of the inning. After getting Morino to foul off the third pitch, Igarashi then started to worry about Araki (number two in the league in steals this season behind Fukuchi) over on first. It was all for naught though. Even though the 2-1 pitch was advantageous for Kawamoto, his throw to second was wide right and Araki had his first steal of the playoffs.

But Morino grounded one hard at the mound that Igarashi did very well to catch. Araki had to stay put, and Igarashi threw comfortably to first to record the first out.

And then came Blanco. The first pitch was a forkball that never touched the dirt but somehow never endangered the underbelly of the strike zone. The second pitch was also low for 0-2. But Blanco managed to ground out again for the second out, and Araki was still on second.

Wada then came up with two outs. Two for three with a home run and single to center, Wada represented a significant threat to Tokyo’s lead. And Igarashi pitched to him like he knew it. The first two pitches were nowhere near the strike zone. Pitch number three was also conservative, about eight inches off the outside edge of the plate. With Tanishige on deck, there was little point in pitching to Wada, so ball four was swift in its efficacy.

Runners on first and second with two outs.

In comes Lim to finish up the inning.

Tanishige was very helpful in that he swung accidentally at the first pitch (a bit inside), and then he flailed away helplessly at Lim’s second offering. But after a bit of patience and a few foul balls, Tanishige was able to work the count to 2-2. Tanishige finally lost the  battle on a high fastball that he couldn’t keep up with. Runners stranded at first and second.

Tanishige makes me happy.

Ninth inning:

Takahahsi (3.08 ERA in 49 appearances during the regular season) took the mound for the Dragons in the top of the ninth.

Aoki (2-3 thus far) was the first bird at the plate for Tokyo. He took the first pitch for a ball before an identical pitch ended up a called first strike. Takahashi followed with two balls to make it 1-3. Aoki’s slap hit to left on the next pitch was easily caught by the drawn-in Wada.

D’Antona, fresh off of that huge home run in his last at-bat, came back up to bat with one out and nobody on. He pulled Takahashi’s 2-1 pitch big time for a bit of a home run fake, and he took another nice cut at the 2-2 pitch (foul). Looking more confident and dangerous by the moment, he held off on the next pitch to work the count full. After fouling off three straight pitches, he struck out swinging a bit early on what I believe was a slider.

Guiel grounded out to second to end the Swallows’ inning.

Chunichi’s ninth: Yuichi came in on defense for D’Antona at first and Yoshimoto took over for Fludge at third.

Fujii was Chunichi’s first batter in the bottom of the ninth, and he quickly found his way to first care of a check swing that Miyamoto wasn’t able to get to first base in time.

Hidenori again bunted to put the tying run on second.

With one out, the soon to retire Tatsunami came in to hit for the pitcher, Takahashi. But all he could do was fly out to shallow left.

And then Ibata came to the plate with two outs and a man on second. Chunichi’s best all-around hitter grounded out to second to end the game and give Lim a well-deserved save.

Final: Tokyo 3-2 Chunichi.

Observations:

• D’Antona had several good at-bats. He looks very confident at the plate, and he hit that ball so hard that Chen might never recover. He was the hero of the game (I still don’t understand why an opposing team’s player is allowed to be the hero, but whatever), and he gave a very detailed hero’s interview that was both confident and respectful at the same time. If you’ve read what we’ve written about the guy recently on this site, then a couple of his comments might have taken on extra meaning.
• Takada did briefly mention the potency of Tokyo’s cleanup (Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel), but he was not specifically asked what he thought of D’Antona’s home run during his post-game interview.
• Lim looked good. Igarashi not so much, but he still basically got the job done after his rather rough start.
• D’Antona didn’t allow the penguin to put his helmet on him during the post-game interview.
• Come-from-behind wins are  hot.
• Tokyo had only five hits and four of them came in the seventh when Chen started leaving his pitches up in the zone.
• Four of Tokyo’s five hits came from the bats that the coaches have little control over (Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel).
• Ishikawa threw 81 pitches and gave up two runs off of seven hits. He struck out two and walked one.

Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 1

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 4

Best of 3 Series: Fukoka 0 – 2 Tohoku

(Kleenex Stadium)

The Eagles rode a solid performance from starting pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka, to sweep the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and earn a trip to Hokkaido to face the Pacific League champions.

Tanaka gave up one unearned run off of seven hits while going the distance on 123 pitches. He also mixed in nine strikeouts and didn’t allow a single walk.

The lone Fukuoka run came in the when an Ortiz error at third allowed Honda to score. Honda, Kokubo, and Hasegawa accounted for six of the team’s seven hits (two hits each).

But the Tohoku bats again got the job done. For the second time in as many games, veteran DH Yamasaki belted one over the wall in left. Tonight, however, there happened to be two runners on base at the time, and that would end up being the difference in the game. Fukuoka’s starter, Houlton, was credited with all four of Tohoku’s runs and got the hook after the fifth inning.

The Tohoku Rakuten now have a couple of days off before they take on the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in the league championship series. Hokkaido, even without the services of Darvish, should prove to be a significantly more potent adversary than the Hawks were.

The team’s solid play at the end of 2009 was a refreshing bookend to a season that saw a strong first half (14 games above .500 at one point) followed by a very deep canyon during the summer.

Throughout the season, a few players were able to soldier on rather consistently and help give the birds a shot at the playoffs. In fact, three players were so good at performing their roles that they ended up at the very top of the league.

Most wins:

Shohei Tateyama (no. 25) with 16 wins (an honor he shares with Chunichi’s Yoshimi). 2009 was the first year that he led the league in wins. Tateyama threw 188 1/3 innings for the birds which was good enough for fourth in the Central behind Yoshimi (189 1/3), Yokohama’s Miura (195 1/3), and Tokyo’s Ishikawa (198 1/3). He also tied Yoshimi for the league lead with three games in which he didn’t concede a walk. Tateyama tied for ninth in the league with 126 strikeouts (Hiroshima’s Lewis took the honors with 186 K’s). He finished out the year with a 16-6 record, and a 3.39 ERA. Look for the Tokyo ace to be on the mound tonight versus the Chunichi Dragons in game one of the first round of the Climax Series.

Most steals:

Kazuki Fukuchi (no. 3) with 42 steals. This is the second year in a row that Fukuchi has come out on top in the criminality department. Like his victory in 2008, Fukuchi swiped 42 bags. This year, however, it took him 137 games to do so as opposed to 131 last year–possibly due to a drop in production at the plate (.366 OBP in 2008; .310 in 2009). Hopefully Fukuchi can get on base a little more often in the playoffs and give the opposition catchers some headaches.

On Base Percentage (OBP):

Norichika Aoki (no. 23) led the league with a .400 OBP this season. This is absolutely phenomenal when you think about the start of the season when he could only get to first care of walks or beanballs. He didn’t really start hitting until July! Aoki carried the team during the final two months of the season, and they wouldn’t have made it to the playoffs without him. His ability to get on base naturally led to him ending up at the top of the runs scored standings. Along with Yomiuri’s Sakamoto and Chunichi’s Blanco, Aoki crossed home plate 87 times this season. He also notched 66 rbi’s this season while improving at hitting with runners in scoring position (.277 BA in 2008; .307 in 2009). Accordingly, don’t be too surprised if you see him batting fourth this evening. In 16 games at cleanup this season, Aoki hit .429 and amassed 12 rbi’s (3 home runs). He is, without a doubt, the most dangerous bat in the Tokyo lineup. If Aoki hits well at Nagoya Dome, the team should have a good chance of making it to Yomiuri Land next week.

Yomiuri Giants 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 6   Last 5: WWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

The Swallows closed out their regular season with a come from behind win against the Giants, ending their terrible run of losses against Yomuri. Not that this game meant too much really.

Tokyo was as thus:

1. Noguchi (LF)
2. Shida (CF)
3. Hatakeyama (3B)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Kawamoto (C)
7. Yoshimoto (2B)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Yoshinori (P)

Again Takada chose to rest most of his regulars for this meaningless game, with Guiel and D’Antona the notable exceptions.

The game itself was a relatively low key affair. Tokyo took the lead off Giants starter Utsumi in the bottom of the 1st, D’Antona bringing home Shida on a groundout for 1-0 Tokyo.

The game was tied in the 2nd courtesy of a piggy-boy Abe homer run for 1-1.

Yomiuri then took the lead in the 3rd. Three straight singles loaded the bases for Ogasawara, and he hit a grounder to first, with D’Antona fluffing the throw to the covering Yoshinori, which allowed two runs to score and it was 3-1 Yomiuri.

Tokyo made it 3-2 in the 4th via Guiel’s 27th homer of the year.

And in the 8th the Swallows came back to take the decisive lead. A one-out Shiroishi (in for his last game before retirement) double was followed by a walk for D’Antona. After Yuichi flew out for out number two, pinch hitter Kinugawa sinled to bring home one run before Yoshimoto doubled to bring home two and it was 5-3 Tokyo.

And that was about that.

Yoshinori finished with a no-decision to show for his 6 inning, 5 hit, 3 run (2 earned), 7 K and 2 BB performance as his 2009 record ended up at 5-10/3.50.

Hanada, who was also retiring, pitched for one out in the 7th, and got a groundout. It was only his third appearance of the year.

Takagi took the win for his 1 and 2/3 innings of work after Hanada, and his record finishes at 4-0/1.64. He was one of the few bright spots in the latter half of the year and should have a role to play if we make it past Nagoya and to the Climax Second Stage.

Lee worked a hitless 9th with his record finishing at 1-1/3.65 in his 43 appearances this year.

The loss meant that the Giants failed to register 90 wins (which would have been for the first time in over 40 years if they had managed to win tonight), plus Ustumi failed to win his 10th game of the year, which stopped his streak of years with 10 or more wins at three.

The season series ended at 18-5-1 in the Giants’ favour.

After the game, Takada gave a speech. I booed, people told me to be quiet (f*ck them). People cheered Takada, I booed again (f*ck them).

Shiroishi and Hanada had their retirement ceremonies. Nothing too special there and unlike last year (with the likes of Manaka retiring) there were few tears shed.

So Tokyo end up with a 71-72-1/.497 record. They finished 10 games behind the 2nd placed Dragons and 22 behind the Giants. However, they finished 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers which means they’ll be going to Nagoya for a best of three game series against Chunichi starting next Saturday.

Chunichi Dragons 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 5    Last 5: WWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

With the Swallows clinching 3rd and a Climax Series place on Friday, this preview matchup between the two teams that will be contesting the first round of the post-season was meant to be a nice quiet game, with both teams having little to play for.

It turned out to be quite the opposite.

Tokyo looked like this:

1. Fukuchi (RF)
2. Noguchi (LF)
3. Hatakeyama (3B)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Shida (CF)
6. Kawamoto (C)
7. Yoshimoto (2B)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Yamamoto (P)

As you can see, Tokyo sat a lot of regulars for this game, but the interesting addition was that of D’Antona. The American has been benched by Takada during the last week, with rumours abound that Takada is looking to get rid at the end of the year. This game then, was a perfect chance for him to show our wonderful manager what he had been missing this last week.

Starting on the mound was 20 year old 2nd year pro Hitoshi Yamamoto, making his first appearance of the year and his maiden career start.

Chunichi on the other hand, fielded a pretty strong team with most of the big names present on the field at first pitch.

Tokyo faced off against Chunichi starter Chen. Both pitchers dominated proceeding early on, with each team managing a solitary hit through the first three innings, with the  Chunichi starter striking out seven. But he was replaced by Yoshimi in the 4th, with the Chunichi ace needing one more win to break a two-way tie in the CL for most wins (with both him and Tokyo’s own Tateyama sitting on 16). He gave up a couple of hits in the 4th but didn’t let a man past second.

In the 6th, Chunichi took the lead. Inbata hit a leadoff double and was brought home one out later by a Morino single for 1-0 Chunichi. Another of the Dragons league leaders, Tony Blanco, then hit his CL leading 39th homer to left and it was 3-0. Yoshimi was in line for that 17th win.

Tokyo struck back in the bottom of the same inning.  Back to back singles for Shida and Kawamoto were followed by a Morioka (in for Yoshimoto) bunt for the first out with the runners now at second and third. Onizaki hit a liner to left, which was fumbled by the sliding Wada and a run was home for 3-1. Unfortunately, poor base running by Kawamoto meant that he was picked off faffing around between second and third and the possible 2nd run was back on the bench.

And so to the (rather unnecessarily) controversial 7th inning, with Yamai taking the mound in relief of Yoshimi.  A Fukuchi single, a Noguchi walk and a Hatakeyama sacfly to right made it 3-2 with one out on the board. Next up was D’Antona, who had struck out in his previous three trips to the plate. He had looked a touch lacking in confidence to that point, with his treatment by the manager seemingly getting to him somewhat. But was soon back to what he can do so well, hitting with guys on base, as he absolutely clubbed one to left. His shot had a fair bit of spin on it as it curved to the left as it left the field, practically scraping the paint of the left foul-pole’s righthand side. 4-3 Tokyo.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Chunichi fans in the leftfield stands started to gesture and shout that it was in fact a foul ball, with leftfielder Wada getting in on the act. Cue Dragons manager Ochiai taking to the field to protest, followed by his coach Mori. After a good five or so minutes of arguing Ochiai signalled for his team to leave the field, Mori got all angry at the umps and the Chunichi bench cleared. After another ten minutes Ochiai was thrown out of the game and he made his was way out of the stadium. TV replays clearly showed that the ball was fair, and this year umpires have access to replays (though to be fair, the angle from the left, which was Ochiai’s viewpoint, did looked unclear, but from the right it was clearly fair). Ochiai’s behaviour, while (I guess) primarily to defend Yoshimi’s shot at a title was a touch irresponsible, and I hope once he sees the replay he issues some kind of apology for wasting 15 minutes of everyone’s time. His utter conviction also had the effect of convincing the Chunichi fans that they had a case, and they started to throw things on the field which further delayed events.

But the decision stood, and D’Antona had himself his 21st homer of the year. Boy would that have been cruel on him if it had been scratched from the record.

Matsuoka (4.72)  and Oshimoto (2.67) pitched out the game, with Chunichi veteran and “Mr.Dragons” Tatsunami making his final career appearance with a flyout to end things at 4-3 Tokyo Final.

Matsuoka took the win, while Yamamoto finished his five innings having given up three runs off five hits, with three Ks and two BBs.

D’Antona was the game’s hero, and though he was booed by the rather ignorant Dragons fans during his interview, it was good to see him back up there. Hopefully he will figure more in the CS than he has during this last week.

The season series between the teams ended up at 13-11 in the Swallows’ favour.

Tokyo’s final game of the year is tomorrow against the Giants, with the Swallows looking to end the season with their sixth straight win (though as it’s against the Giants I wouldn’t hold your breath…).

For quite some time we’ve suspected personal issues/sheer idiocy have been getting in the way of team selection, particularly in the case of Aaron Guiel (whom Takada has a habit of continually benching against lefties) and also infielder Hiroyasu Tanaka who has been treated pretty badly at times during this season.

In fact let’s have a look at the justification for the last invocation of the Takada Count (from the October 2nd loss to the Carp):

TAKADA COUNT: 14. For continual unnecessary tinkering and abuse of the kind of players that really don’t deserve it. This is for the continual Guiel benching and treating Tanaka (one of the brightest younger players on this team may I add) like your personal bitch throughout a lot of this season. Even if Tanaka was injured, this one stands for repeated misdemeanours and due to the fact that it’s late in the season and I’m pretty much sick to the back teeth of your perpetual cluelessness not to mention your soulless overly blinky expression while watching your team eff up yet again. GET THE F*CK OUT OF MY BALLCLUB!! NOW!

But of course, up until this point it was simply our speculation, along with rumours amongst the Jingu faithful, that Takada let personal issues cloud his judgement. But the events of this week have got us thinking that there may be some truth to it.

A few nights back, a few of us decided to go out for dinner at a central Tokyo eatery and lo and behold, who should we see sitting across the room but a certain Jamie D’Antona, Tokyo’s power-hitting first baseman.

Now unlike some of the fans we know at Jingu, we’re no stalkers, so we didn’t really want to disturb Jamie while he was out enjoying a nice relaxing meal with some friends. But we did manage to grab a few words with him on our way out.

Is D'Antona being treated fairly?

Jamie was in good spirits, and we asked him if he was still suffering from his leg injury that had kept him out for a large chunk of August and he said he had been in fine shape for the last month or so. He was also looking forward to seeing more playing time and was hopeful of Tokyo reaching the Climax Series.

That was about all, and we then left him to get back to his evening sans a bunch of gawping Tokyo fans.

But the few words we had with him got us thinking. The official story is that Jamie has been struggling with a niggling injury that has been keeping him from starting more games, but according to the man himself, he’s fighting fit. What gives?

Since returning from his injury at then end of August, he’s started in 14 games in September, featuring as a pinch-hitter in 6 games and not featuring at all in 6 games. The continual benching of him by Takada in the latter half of September must have been due  to injury, right?

Now remember, this is the player that:

• Won the monthly MVP award for July, and a guy that played a large part in Tokyo’s excellent first half of the season. It could be argued that the sharp decline in the Swallows’ fortunes and form started with D’Antona’s injury.
• Is still hitting .279 for the year (the 3rd best average among Yakult’s top team regulars).
• Still leads the team in RBIs with 80.
• Has the highest average on the team with runners in scoring position at .338.
• Has a slugging percentage of .484, second only to Aaron Guiel on the team. His home run total of 20 is also second only to the Canadian outfielder.

Surely this is the kind of guy you would want on your team, especially given the horrific slide the Swallows were in during that month. So if he wasn’t struggling with an injury (as was reported) then there must have been some other reason for his sporadic appearances for the top team.

But it gets worse in October. After starting the first three games of the month against the Carp, Tigers and Giants he has not started a game since. He was used as a 9th inning pinch-hitter in the 10/6 game against Yokohama, didn’t feature in the 10/7 game against the same opposition, was a late inning pinch-hitter again for the 10/8 against the Tigers before not featuring at all in the decisive game against Hanshin on 10/9.

A few observations:

• Jamie’s October fall out of favour coincides with Takada’s announcement that he was returning to the Swallows’ managerial seat in 2010. After the announcement was made after the loss to Yomiuri on the 4th of October, Jamie hasn’t featured at all. A sign that Takada doesn’t fancy him and won’t be bringing him back next year as he’s now concentrating on the players he wants playing for him in 2010?
• Bear in mind the absolutely terrible injury problems faced by the team during the final stretch of this season. In the infield alone, Aikawa, Tanaka, Keizo Kawashima and Miyamoto were all suffering from injury. We also thought Jamie was amongst them, leading to inexperienced/backup players such as Kajimoto, Noguchi and Hatakeyama being inserted into the starting lineup for some hugely important games. At first base alone, we’ve seen Hatakeyama and Noguchi feature in the field during this last week, all of them inferior first basemen, both with the bat and the glove, to D’Antona. Fine if he was injured, but he wasn’t. It would appear that Jamie’s exclusion is personal.
• As I mentioned earlier, he did not feature at all in the decisive game against the Tigers. Only Hanshin’s starter that day was the lefty Iwata, against which D’Antona has gone 3 for 5 against this season. Now, the starting lineup for that game included the likes of Hatakayama and Noguchi, both of whom went hitless in the game. Why on earth leave a healthy player on the bench for such a key game who has such a good record against the opposition’s starter, unless it’s personal?

Now with the Climax Series against the supremely strong Chunichi Dragons a week away, surely we want our strongest available lineup on the field to stand any chance of winning. And that strongest lineup includes D’Antona, but if the manager is benching a player for personal reasons to the detriment of the team, it just confirms what we’ve always thought: this is a man who should be no where near the managerial seat of a professional baseball team.

So to Jamie (though I doubt he’s much of a Tsubamegun reader…), we hope you see more playing time this year as boy could we do with the help against the Dragons. We hope you earn yourself a new contract and will be back with the team next year as (to the eyes of this writer at least) you deserve it.

If not, then we wish you all the best in the future, wherever it may be. In an ideal world we’d like to see you back and Takada out in 2010. But the Swallows have never been the smartest of organisations (that’s putting it mildly), with a history of undervaluing their foreign talent.

And to Takada: F*uck off. Please. We don’t want you anymore. Climax Series or not, you’re still, and will always be, a chump.

Hanshin Tigers 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Won 4      Last 5:  LWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Whisper it, we are A-Class. No f*uck that. Shout it from the rooftops, WE ARE A-CLASS!!

In the biggest game the Swallows have faced in years, they did what was necessary and beat the Hanshin Tigers to secure 3rd place in the CL and the Climax Series place that goes with it. Savour it. We will be travelling to Nagoya to face the Dragons a week tomorrow.

Bring. It. On.

In front of over 30,000 fans in a packed to the rafters Jingu, a stadium in which the Swallows fans at least equalled, if not exceeded in numbers those of Hanshin (not been able  to say that for quite a few years), Tokyo lined up as thus:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Noguchi (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Ishikawa (P)

Takada just had to get his oar in tonight, messing with the lineup that had proved so effective for the last few games, replacing Kajimoto with Noguchi and Yuichi with FataHatakeyama. At least he didn’t replace Guiel which we feared he might as the lineup was being announced, though he did move him from the no.5 to the no.6 slot..

And so to the game. The two team aces, Shohei Tateyama and Masanori Ishikawa were being entrusted with taking the Swallows to the CS at the expense of the Tigers, and after the former pitched a superb complete-game shutout the night before, all eyes were on Ishikawa to see if he could bring it home for Yakult.

Tokyo faced off against Tigers starter Iwata, and got off on the right foot in the bottom of the 1st.

Fukuchi led off with a single before being bunted along to second by Noguchi for the first out of the inning. Miyamoto then hit and infield single to put men on first and second before Aoki came to the plate. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance into scoring positions, as Aoki dug in at the plate. After quite a battle, he hit the ninth pitch he saw through the gap between second and third and a run scored for 1-0 Tokyo with runners now at the corners with one out.

Next man up Hatakeyama blew the chance to extend the lead as he hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the top of the 2nd, two singles and an intentional walk for the Tigers’ no.8 hitter Kanoh loaded the bases for Iwata, but despite the pitcher making decent contact with the ball, it was taken by Onizaki who threw to second to make the final out of the inning and the runners were stranded.

In the bottom of the inning,  a Guiel leadoff double wasn’t capitalised on, as he ended up being stranded at third.

The Swallows eventually extended their lead in the 6th, with walks for Aoki and Guiel putting men on first and second with two outs. The unlikely hero of the night before, Kawamoto, poked one up the middle and it was 2-0. Onizaki was then given a free pass to first to load the bases before Ishikawa grounded out to end the inning.

Tokyo then gifted Hanshin the opportunity to get back in the game in the top of the 7th. Sakurai led off the inning with a single before Kanoh hit a grounder to short that had double play written all over it. Onizaki however let the ball past him and the Tigers had runners on the corners with no outs. After pitcher Iwata had twice tried and failed to bring runners home earlier in the game, Takahashi came in to pinch-hit. He hit a liner to center and the lead was halved as it was 2-1 as Tigers runners occupied first and second. A Hirano groundout and a Sekimoto flyout then put two outs on the board.

Toritani hit a fierce grounder to second which was stopped by the diving Morioka (in for Hatakeyama and occupying second, with Noguchi moving to first) but he couldn’t field the ball and the bases were loaded for the rather long in the tooth Kanemoto. He hit a fly ball to behind the plate which was taken by Kawamoto and more runners were stranded.

In the 8th Atchison took the mound for Hanshin, for his (quite ridiculously) 75th outing of the year.  Fukuchi reached second after a walk and trademark steal,  before making third on a Noguchi bunt. Miyamoto hit a single to right and things were a little more comfy at 3-1 Tokyo.

In the bottom of the inning, an Arai double and a Brazell groundout put a runner on third with one out. Takada then called closer Lim to the mound, after which no other reliever left the bullpen to warm up. It was clear that Lim was given the task of bringing home the win for Tokyo. A strikeout and flyout got Lim two of the five outs he needed in order to accomplish his brief and the 8th was done.

In the 9th Lim walked pinch-hitter Katsuragi to start the inning, but a Hirano ground out, a Hiyama strikout put the Swallows just one out away from their goal. Toritani obliged with a flyout to centre and it was mission accomplished, 3-1 Tokyo Final.

Ishikawa took the win after his 7 and 1/3 innings of five-hit one-run baseball, with two Ks and two BBs. He, as we suspected he would, came up with the goods when required to put his record at 13-7/3.54.

Lim earned his 28th save of the year with his ERA now down to 2.05.

Tokyo were outhit 8-6, the Swallows’ hits coming from Fukuchi (.271), Aoki (.303), Guiel (.266) and Kawamoto (.180), all with a hit apiece, and the quite simply superhuman Miyamoto (.294) with two hits.

A few thoughts:

• Miyamoto is the MF man. Playing an enormous role down the stretch and all with a fractured thumb on his throwing hand. He is without doubt the current holder of the Mr.Swallows title. Shinya, you have my everlasting respect.
• Jingu was as busy as I’ve seen it since the Furuta retirement game. Great atmosphere, but huge lines for toilets and concessions showed that Jingu is more comfortable with it’s more regular 15,000 or so inhabitants.
• Where did all those extra Swallows fans come from? The same fans that chanted Takada’s name at the end of the game. I shouted that we didn’t need him next year, and called them all idiots for cheering him. Party pooper? No. Just not a fuktard.
• Never seen the team so hyped for as long as I can remember. Outs were accompanied by punching of the air and a real sense of fight by the Tokyo players and staff alike. Love it. Can we have that passion every game next year please?
• Aoki looked absolutely elated at the end of the game. Finally he gets a reward for his stellar seasons during what has been a barren spell for the Swallows.

The season series ended at 15-9 in the Swallows’ favour. The only teams Tokyo have a losing record against are the first-placed Orange Fuktards and the last-placed Baystars. Go figure.

This is Tokyo’s first A-Class finish since 2006, when they also finished 3rd. This is the first time in five years that the Tigers have finished in their more historically accurate B-Class position.

So, on to the Climax series which starts in Nagoya against the Chunchi Dragons next Saturday.

Between now and then is a game against the Dragons on Sunday before the final home game of the year (unless we make the Nippon Series) Monday against Yomiuri. Both now have little meaning as the Swallows are now 1.5 games clear of 4th and 11.5 behind 2nd. We’re all waiting for the real stuff to start next week.

Can’t wait.