Shingo Takatsu (1991-2003; 2006-07)

• 43-year-old Takatsu will become player-manager of the BC League’s Niigata Albirex Baseball Club. It is the first time that a player-manager has been named in BC League history.
• The one-time Japan saves leader (until Iwase eclipsed his mark earlier this year) will continue to pitch from the bullpen and mentioned that he may retire as a player following the 2012 season.

Aaron Guiel (2007-11)

• Guiel was interviewed on this radio show yesterday about what kind of a pitcher Yu Darvish is. Darvish has been the talk of Japan and North America today after Texas submitted a record-setting bid through the posting system just to earn the right to negotiate with Darvish’s agents, Arn Tellem and Don Nomura. Guiel’s perspective is valuable here because unlike most pundits out there, he’s actually had some at-bats against the 6’5″ RHP.
• There’s also this print interview with the Toronto Sun from yesterday. In both the interview above and this one here, it sounds like the Toronto Blue Jays like their chances of winning the bidding war. The Sun loses points for not clearly identifying Guiel as a lefty at the plate.

Episode three was recorded just a few hours prior to last night’s game against the Hiroshima Carp.

Dave and Christopher also talk about Tokyo’s beleaguered bullpen, answer some listener questions, and end the show by sharing their predictions about how things will turn out.

There’s no intro-outro music this time around as Dave decided to go in a new direction with the beginning of the show. Apologies for the temporary change, but Dave’s creativity is not to be dismissed.

If you’d like to subscribe to these podcasts, you can do so through iTunes by searching for “Tokyo Swallows Podcast”, and you will see our logo appear. Subscribing is free, and if you like what you hear, please write a (glowing) review. Alternatively, you can click here.

We’ll be putting out a fourth episode before the playoffs begin so as to summarize what happened in the pennant race and how the playoffs look to unfold.

Thanks for listening!

Previous episodes:

TS Podcast 01

TS Podcast 02

After a couple of weeks of feeling like there wasn’t much to write about, we’re back with another Monday review! This week we’ll cover the major roster moves made this week, well as go over all the retirement announcements made recently, and we’ll also spend a lot of time going over the stretch run from multiple view points.

Looking Back

Roster Moves: Due to injury and ineffectiveness our roster has been in flux recently. Muranaka was taken off the active roster on September 28 citing tightness in his throwing shoulder after a string of ineffective starts. Shichijo took his place on the roster, but lost it a day later after an ineffective start against the Tigers. Meanwhile Ishikawa and Kyuko both reportedly had fevers. Kyuko was taken off the active roster with Shichijo to get some rest, while Ishikawa missed his scheduled start but remained on the active roster. LHP Okamoto was brought up with the Kyuko/Shichijo demotion, but lost his top team spot on the 2nd in a major roster shake up. Okamoto, Tetsuya Yamamoto, Takeuchi, and Miwa lost their spot on the active roster in favor of Hitoshi Yamamoto, Kato, Hashimoto, Fukuchi, and Yuichi. One day later, Keizo Kawashima was taken off the active roster. The Swallows’ active roster currently stands at 26 men, which means that 2 spots are open for a call up. Kyuko and Muranaka would be eligible to return this upcoming weekend. Yoshinori was rumored to be coming back during the Swallows’ 9 game stretch in September, but subsequent rumors have mentioned that he would not be able to return during the regular season. Tony Barnette was supposed to be shut down for 3 weeks at the beginning of September, so he may be coming back soon, but there is no news on Tony’s present condition.

While the moves on the offensive side are mostly cosmetic since our starting core has been fairly established, the moves on the pitching side point to a team in flux. We’re starting to run out of quality starters and we’ll have to hand the ball to a group of younger unproven relievers if the starters can’t go deep. The absence of Kyuko and Barnette also puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Matsuoka and Oshimoto late in the game in key situations. Our current rotation is Tateyama, Masubuchi, Akagawa, Hitoshi Yamamoto (?), and Ishikawa (assuming he returns tomorrow). Not quite the rotation that got us here.

Retirement News: We’ve already covered the retirement announcement of Aaron Guiel, but two more Swallows announced their intention to retire after the season. Hirotoshi Ishii and Osamu Hamanaka will be retiring after the season.

Hirotoshi Ishii

Hirotoshi Ishii is a life-long Swallow that was drafted in the 4th round of the 1995 draft. Starting in 1999, Ishii started getting regular playing time as a lefty arm out of the bullpen. He had a breakout season in 2002 in which he appeared in a league high 69 games, and posted a 1.51 ERA with a 0.84 WHIP, on his way to be named Most Valuable Reliever. Ishii and Ryota Igarashi made up the duo ‘Rocket Boys’ as the top lefty/righty pair out of the bullpen after the departure of Shingo Takatsu in 2004. Beyond his play with the Swallows, Ishii has played for Japan in the 2004 Olympics and the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Ishii had always expressed a strong desire to play in the Majors, but the team would not post him. The team initially promised to post him after the 2004 season, but reneged on the promise after the team changed managers in the off-season. The team finally promised to post Ishii after the 2006 season if he pitched one more full season. Unfortunately, Ishii injured his shoulder during that season and would not pitch at the top level again. Ishii has been rehabbing his shoulder ever since and has appeared in a handful of ni-gun games over the years. Ishii announced his decision to retire on the 29th and thanked the club for giving him the opportunity to try to return to baseball.

Osamu Hamanaka joined the Swallows prior to this season as a potential right handed bat off the bench. After a hot spring, Hamanaka was the team’s opening day stater in left field but lost the job to Hatakeyama after only 3 games. Hamanaka was drafted in 1996 by the Tigers and spent 11 years with the club before moving to the Orix Buffaloes in 2008. Since 2003, Hamanaka has been bothered by a right shoulder injury which has kept him out of the line up on and off for years. Hamanaka cited the injury and his inability to give it his all on the field as reasons for retiring after the season.

Quo Vadimus

The Schedule Up Ahead: The Swallows are about to start a stretch in which they will play 12 games in 12 days. Things will kick off at the Kyocera Dome tomorrow with a 3 game series against the Tigers, followed by a 3 game weekend series at Jingu. Then, the Swallows will travel to Nagoya for a critical 4 game series against the Dragons which may decide the pennant race. The marathon will cap off with a rain make up game against the Tigers at Jingu, followed by another make up game at Yokohama. After that insane stretch, the Swallows will get 2 days off before visiting Koshien for a game, and a game at Nagoya the next day. The Swallows will have 5 days rest before finally wrapping up their regular season with a home game at home.

Win Percentage Table: The final standing are calculated by winning percentage in which ties do not count, formula is W%=W/(144-T).. Therefore a team with 14 ties will have their winning percentage calculated out of 130 games, rather than 144 games.  Thus, with the season winding down, you can make a table of what the team’s win percentage will be depending on their record in the remaining games. Using the table you can see how you compare with other teams depending on their records. Thus we present the win percentage tables as of October 3rd for the top 4 teams in the Central League.

The first thing you may notice is that the Swallows have already guaranteed themselves a winning season. The table also illustrates the gulf that exists between the Swallows and the Tigers, meaning the Swallows’ place in the Climax series is quite safe. You can also use the table to figure out the minimum number of wins the team will need depending on how they do in a head to head. So if the Swallows take 4 out of 5 games from the Dragons, the Dragons would finish with a .5735 winning percentage if they win all their other games. Thus, the Swallows would need to go 5-5 in their other games to finish above the Dragons. Obviously, as games get played you can eliminate possible records and narrow the list of scenarios. If any teams tie the table will need to be reworked to lower the denominator.

Retirement Ceremony Scenarios: The team has traditionally used the last home game of the year to recall the retiring players to the top team to give them one last chance to play at Jingu and give the fans a chance to say goodbye. While imports have typically not received this kind of treatment, the team has hinted that they would try to work something out with Guiel in response to the outpouring of support by the fans. However, this year, depending on where we end up in the standings the team may not be able to afford removing an active player from the roster lest we lose their services for the beginning of the playoffs. Because players removed from the active roster cannot be re-added for 10 days, the team will have to know their playoff situation at least 10 days prior to their first Climax Series game (Oct. 29 for round 1, Nov. 2 for round 2).

Hoping for some more fun times!

We love you, Colin!

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

Tokyo Swallows 4

Hanshin Tigers 9

Streak: Lost 2    Last 5: WWDLL

(Koshien)

As Tokyo drowns in torrential downpour, the Tigers return to Koshien and show their fans a good time at the expense of Tokyo.

"I just want to let you know, those high-schoolers pissed all over your bench. I hope it doesn't smell too bad" Mayumi was overheard saying before the game.

Things started off well for the Birds this evening. In the top of the second inning, Balentein slapped a single to left. Miyamoto followed him with a strikeout. Up next was Guiel. Back with the big team, Guiel is still getting back into the swing of things (pun intended). Tonight, however, he wasted no time in contributing to the team. On the first pitch he saw from Kubo, Guiel smashed the ball into the right-field bleachers.  2 – 0 Tokyo

Aikawa struck out and Muranaka grounded out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, things fell apart for the Swallows. Kubo reached first after he struck out but the pitch got away from Aikawa. (Mistake #1) Hirano tried to bunt but Aikawa made a great diving catch to get him out. Yamato was up next and hit a single to left. Toritani was up next. He went down swinging. Now with two outs, up walked Arai. As he is batting 4th, the bumblebee faithful were hoping for something out of their man. He delivered. He hit a soft liner to left but Guiel was playing him deep, so the ball dropped in front of Guiel and Kubo easily scored from second. Yamato made it to third as Guiel’s throw to third was off target.   (Mistake #2)  2 – 1 Tokyo

Murton was up next. He hit a single up the middle scoring Yamato. 2 – 2

Sekimoto was up next and walked on 5 pitches. With the bases loaded, Sekimoto was followed by Kano. He battled to a full count. On the 6th pitch he hit yet another single to the outfield. With two outs, everybody was moving with the pitch. This meant Arai and Murton easily scored. 4 – 2 Hanshin

Fuji eventually would end the inning with a fly-out to center.

The 4th inning was a bore.

Are you satisfied now? Because I can keep busting you up all night if you like.

In the bottom of the 5th, Hanshin continued to add to their lead. Toritani started off the inning with a single to left. Then Mistake #3 happened.  Kawabata fielded Arai’s grounder but threw it away and the ball slowly bounced to the wall. Toritani would score on the play and Arai ended up at third base. 5 – 2 Hanshin

Murton doubled to right-center and Arai would easily score from third. 6 – 2 Hanshin

Sekimoto flew out to Coco and Murton moved to third. One out. Kano grounded out to Miyamoto keeping Murton at third. Fuji walked to put runners at the corners and two outs. Kubo ended the inning with a ground out to second.

Hashimoto was on the mound for the bottom of the 7th. Murton welcomed him to the game with another hit to right. Sekimoto followed that with a single to left. Shibata was in as a pitch-hitter. Guess what he does? Another single to the outfield. That meant the bases are loaded and nobody out. Fuji would help out both sides by grounding into a double-play. Murton would score on the play and Sekimoto moved to third. 7 – 2 Hanshin

Morita joins in the hit party for the bumbleebees by hitting a double, scoring Sekimoto. 8 – 2 Hanshin

Hirano grounds out to Miyamoto to end the inning.

In the top of the 8th, the Birds manage to cut the deficit in half. After Tanaka lines out to first, Kawabata reaches on error by Arai. Boo follows him with a walk. Up strolled Coco. He hits a rope to center. Kawabata is able to score, while Boo gets to third and Coco slides into second for a double. 8 – 3 Hanshin

Miyamoto flies out to center but it is deep enough to score Boo. 8 – 4 Hanshin

Guiel flies out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eight, Yamato hits a blooper to right. With Toritani up, Yamato safely steals second. Toritani ends up striking out. He is followed by a ground out by Arai; Yamato advances to third on the play. With two out, Murton gets his fourth and final hit of the game, which also scores Yamato. 9 – 4 Hanshin (final)

"Four hits!! Seriously? What do I need to get noticed around here? Are you not entertained?

Sekimoto grounds out to short to end the inning.

Notes:

• 15 hits for the bumblebees to 6 for the Birds
• Murton was my player of the game
• Kubo and Kano were the official players of the game
• 46, 858 witnessed this
• With the Giants losing, Hanshin moves into second place in the CL, 4.5 games behind the Birds.

Scoring Summary

			YS	HT
	2nd	Guiel hits a 2-run HR, Balentein scores	2	0
	3rd	Arai singles to left, Kubo scores; Yamato to third	2	1
	3rd	Murton singled up the middle, Yamato scores, Arai to second	2	2
	3rd	Kano singles to left, Arai and Murton score; Sekimoto to third	2	4
	5th	Toritani scores on an error	2	5
	5th	Murton doubles, Arai scores	2	6
	7th	Murton scores, Sekimoto to third on a double-play	2	7
	7th	Morita doubles, Sekimoto scores	2	8
	8th	Balentein doubles, Kawabata scores	3	8
	8th	Miyamoto sac flies to center, Hatakeyama scores	4	8
	8th	Murton singles, Yamato scores	2	9

Chunichi Dragons 6

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6 

Streak:  Tied 1   Last 5:  LLWWD

(Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
CD	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	12	1
TS	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	10	0

Our guys like to keep ‘em close. Tonight was one to convert the infidels: Scoring right off the bat and a close game all the way to accompany the half-price beer. It’s also, as Tsubamegun regulars will know, another chance for your humble interlocutor to wonder what he makes of Shichijo, who was on a short leash again this evening.

	Chunichi		Tokyo
1	Araki (SS)	1	Aoki (CF)
2	Ohshima (CF)	2	Tanaka (2B)
3	Morino (3B)	3	Kawabata (SS)
4	Wada (LF)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Tanishige (C)	5	Balentien (RF)
6	Guzman (RF)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Nakata (1B)	7	Guiel (LF)
8	Donoue (2B)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Chen (P)	9	Shichijo (P)

As is becoming a pattern, Shichijo got an out, then gave up a big one: a triple to Ohshima, which was soon followed by a successful Morino sac-fly. He followed that by walking Wada and giving up a single to Tanishige before finally striking out Guzman to end the side. Thank the kami of Jingu that the Dragons did the same dumb thing we would’ve done and gave up an out. This looked like it could’ve gone worse. 1-0 Chunichi.

The Swallows struck back quickly, though. Aoki led off with a hit; Tanaka, of course, sac-bunted him over; then Kawabata hit a big RBI double, as he has been doing more and more lately. This was immediately followed by a Hatakeyama two-run homer. 3-1 Tokyo.

In the second, the runs were reversed. Shichijo got Nakata out, but then gave up a single, struck out Chen, and returned to the top of the order to give up three straight doubles that brought in three runs. 4-3 Chunichi.

Fan-favorite Aaron Colin Guiel, back in the line-up, knocked a double to start the side for the Birds. Aikawa grounded out, but moved Guiel to third, then Morioka came in to pinch hit for Shichijo. No big surprise there. He hit an RBI double. Aoki then reached first on an error before Tanaka hit a weak one bag to the mound. 4-4.

Oshimoto took the mound in the third and promptly gave up a home run to Tanishige. 5-4 Chunichi.

Hisamoto took over the pitching for Chunichi in the third and walked Kawabata and Hatake. Balentien singled, but Kawabata got nabbed. Never fear, though. Miyamoto singled to load the bases. Guiel then came through with another double – this one for two runs. Aikawa and Oshimoto struck out to end the inning. 6-5 Tokyo.

In the fifth, Suzuki took the mound for Chunichi.

Watanabe stepped in for Tokyo in the sixth, Matsuoka the seventh, and Barnette the eighth. That’s when the tying run came, on a Donoue solo home run. 6-6, Final.

Kyuko (2 batters) and Lim (1 batter) closed.

Yes, that’s 14 ties.

This week we’ll deviate a little from our usual formula. This week we’ll only focus on just two main topics. First, we will unpack all the roster moves that went down this week and discuss their implications. The second half will look past this week’s games and give you a summery of the games that lie ahead for the Swallows in the home stretch. These topics still roughly follow the ‘Week That Was’ and ‘Quo Vadimus’ themes, so we’ll keep those headings. So, without further ado let’s get on with our analysis.

The Week That Was

Roster Moves: Last week’s roster moves began with the recall of injured speedster Kazuki Fukuchi and young catcher Yuhei Nakamura. Yasushi Iihara was sent down to make room on the roster. The recall of Nakamura was interesting as it meant that the Swallows were carrying 3 catchers on the roster. The move seemed to be designed to give veteran catcher Aikawa some rest for the home stretch, as Kawamoto was given 3 starts at catcher this week. Kawamoto started 2 games in the sweltering Jingu and played significant innings in the game he did start. The return of Fukuchi was seen as a plus as when healthy, he’s a great defensive reliever and a pinch running threat. Unfortunately it seems that he may not have returned in 100% condition as he was removed from the roster earlier today.

The next move that occurred last week was the recall of Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi in favor of Chikara Onodera on Thursday. The removal of Onodera was not a difficult but there was some speculation that Masubuchi would be returning as a reliever given that Katsuki Akagawa started Thursday’s game. Those speculations were quickly shot out of the water with the surprise announcement that Shohei Tateyama would be removed from the active roster due to finger discomfort on his throwing hand. The source of the discomfort has not been revealed in the media, and the timetable for Tateyama’s return is unknown. Young Tetsuya Yamamoto was called up for the first time in Tateyama’s place, and he pitched effectively in relief on Saturday.

The final major move last week was the recall of Aaron Guiel and Yuichi, for Whitesell and Miyade. While this move comes as bit of a surprise, it’s not inconsistent with the Swallows recent moves to rest ineffective guys (see: Aikawa) and take a quick look at everyone. While we love Guiel here at Tsubamegun we expect his stay with the top team to be short unless he can perform big right away. Guiel has only appeared in 15 ni-gun games this season, most recently on August 12, and has been doing most of his work in workouts and in the batting cage. Yuichi in his stint in ni-gun has put up good numbers and has the potential to keep Miyade off the top team as a right handed bat off the bench.

For those counting potential return dates, the earliest that Lim can return to the active roster is August 23rd, Tateyama on the 30th, and Whitesell on the 31st.

Alright, let's look at a funny picture before we move on!!!

Quo Vadimus

The Swallows have played one game under two-thirds of their schedule, and now have 49 games left in their season. Instead of just looking at this week’s games, this week’s Quo Vadimus will look at our game counts against each of our Central League rivals and look at how we’ve done against the so far. We’ll look at our competition in a particular order. (We’ll let you guess the reasoning behind the order.)

Giants: The Swallows have already played out most of their string against the Giants, having played 20 games to the tune of a 10-6-4 record. Even with 4 games remaining the Swallows have already guaranteed their first non-losing season against the Giants in 11 years. The remaining 4 games will be split between a 3 game Jingu series to kick off September and a single rain make up date at the Tokyo Dome on September 20. The Swallows have been undefeated against the Giants at Jingu this season, going 2-0-2. Even if we include the Swallows’ home away from home games against the Giants, the Swallows are still undefeated at home with a 7-0-2 record. These numbers no doubt underscore the importance of getting homefield advantage by finishing ahead of the Giants.

Tigers: The Swallows still have half their games against the Tigers left on their schedule. In the first 12 games the Tigers have throughly spanked the Swallows to the tune of 3-9. The remaining 12 games will be split between 6 Jingu games and 6 away games (3 at Koshien and 3 at Kyocera Dome). The Swallows have fared marginally better at home getting 2 of their 3 wins in home games. Needless to say, the Swallows’ performance can greatly influence the outcome of the CL race and will be a good barometer of our playoff readiness. We need to show we can take the Tigers as we were not able to convincingly win against them when they were struggling early in the season.

Dragons: The Swallows have 11 games remaining against the team from Nagoya, and after this week’s Jingu series the last 8 games of this matchup will be played in the Nagoya Dome. The Swallows have a stellar 8-2-2 record against the Dragons so far, but save for their 1-1-1 visit to Nagoya earlier this month, most of that record comes at home. The schedule will see the Swallows play two 4 game series in the Nagoya Dome including the regular season ending series. Hopefully the Birds will have made the final series irrelevant, and being able to continue to beat up on the Dragons will help us do that.

Carp: The Carp have played us very competitively this year with the two teams tallying a 6-6-2 record so far. The 10 remaining games will be split up between 7 games at Jingu and a 3 game series at Mazda Stadium. The 7 Jingu game will be split between two 3 game series, and 1 random game on September 21. The Carp and the Tigers are the only teams against which the Swallows do not have a winning record. Incidentally, that fact extends into our home record as the Swallows have gone 1-3-1 in home games (1-2 at Jingu) against the Carp.  Interestingly, the Swallows have gone 3-0-1 in games started by last year’s Sawamura Award winner, Kenta Maeda. The Carp have played everyone quite tough this year, but should still be beatable. If we want to show we’re a cut above the CL muddle, taking easy games off the Carp will be key.

BayStars: Even with all the shake up in the CL this year, the Yokohama BayStars remain everyone’s punching bag being the only team to sport a losing record against each team. That being said, the BayStars have been surprisingly competitive against the Giants (5-7), Dragons (8-9), and Tigers (6-8-2), while being blasted by the Carp (3-11) and the Swallows (2-9-3). With the BayStars 11.5 games behind FIFTH place in the CL, it’s time for Swallows’ fans to become secondary BayStars fans and cheer for them to play spoiler against the rest of the CL. The Swallows themselves still have 9 games left between the BayStars, split between 3 Jingu games and 6 Yokohama games.

Those counting above will note a 22/27 split between home and road games the rest of the way. Even as the Swallows struggle no one team has really stepped up. As long as the other teams continue to beat each other up the Swallows will make the playoff playing middling baseball, but unless the Swallows pick up their game they may not last long in the playoffs.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Yomiuri Giants 14

Streak: Lost 3   Last 5: WWLLL

(Tokyo Dome)

The Swallows dropped another one, and suffered their second big inning in as many days, as cross-town rivals, Yomiuri, returned to winning ways after being beaten in dramatic fashion by Yokohama last night.

Tonight’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara LF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Guiel RF
6. Aikawa C
7. Hatakeyama 3B
8. Onizaki SS
9. Barnette P

The birds were actually up 7-3 after the end of the fourth. Yomiuri struck first with a three run Chono dinger in the second–quickly casting doubt on Barnette’s clean ride through the bottom of the opening inning.

But the birds came back with one hell of a two out rally in the top of the third. Whitesell homered to right, his third of the season, to make it 3-1. Guiel and Aikawa then singled. Hatakeyama brought them both around to score with a double to left. 3-3. The go-ahead run was provided by Onizaki with a double to center. 4-3 Tokyo.

Another two out rally lit up the visitor’s section in the following inning when Guiel’s two out homer to right scored three. 7-3 Tokyo.

But the next three innings would prove to be disastrous for Tokyo. Barnette, Watanabe and Hashimoto combined to give up 11 runs (all earned), and the Swallows found themselves down 14-8 Final.

That eighth run came care of another Whitesell solo homer in the seventh. That put his season tally at four.

The start of the sixth was rough for Tokyo’s starter–he gave up three consecutive hits before being yanked in favor of Watanabe. Barnette somehow escaped the loss despite giving up seven earned runs in five and 0/3′s innings of work. He threw 86 pitches and allowed six hits while striking out five and walking one. His record now stands at 3-5 and he has a 6.44 ERA.

Watanabe, who was pretty horrid yesterday, couldn’t record an out (HBP, BB) today, and ended up with the loss. He deserved it. His ERA climbed assertively to 8.31. Yes!

Oshimoto (two earned runs; 1/3 inning pitched; 3.57 ERA) and Takaichi (three earned runs; one and 2/3′s innings; 4.66) also helped add to the visiting team’s misery during that fateful trifecta of innings.

Not that orange baseball players are slouches at the plate this season, but still.

The only guy who didn’t give up a run was Hashimoto (one inning pitched; 4.97). Like Watanabe, he had arough outing last night, but he somehow managed to get through the top third of the Yomiuri lineup on only seven pitches.

Tokyo’s offensive player of the game was Whitesell who went 2-4 (two solo homers) and added a walk.

Game two of this series is tomorrow at Tokyo Dome. First pitch is at 6PM.

Random thoughts:

After 47 at-bats, Whitesell has 10 RBIs and boasts a 1.069 OPS.

Tokyo actually outhit Yomiuri in this contest 12-11.

Tokyo walked three Yomiuri batters and beaned one. All four of those runners later scored.

Yoshinori was sent down to the farm to make way for Barnette to start today’s game. No telling what the next move will be.

Yomiuri was wearing uniforms designed by a junior high school student in this game. I think the lightning bolts intimidated Tokyo’s pitchers.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/07/19/71910-yomiuri-away/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/07/18/71810-hanshin-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=71810-hanshin-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/07/18/71810-hanshin-home/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:57:48 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=7438 July 18th, 2010

Hanshin Tigers 11

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: WWWLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Yoshinori was his same annoyingly inconsistent self to start things off today. Randy Messenger, on the other hand, looked sharp for Hanshin. He needs to quit that chewing tobacco habit though.

Starting lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara LF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Guiel RF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Morioka SS
9. Yoshinori P

Amazingly, Yoshinori made it through the first three innings without giving up a run. The first inning was classic Yoshinori. He got the first two outs without too much trouble but then loaded the bases with a walk and a couple of beanballs.

He got out of the inning by fanning Kanemoto on a check swing.

He also benefited from double plays in the third and fourth innings which greatly helped his ability to keep his pitch count under control and get out of innings before things got ugly.

Even though Messenger was locating his pitches well, Iihara reached base on a one out infield single. Whitesell then brought him all the way home on a double down the rightfield line that Murton had a hard time tracking down. Whitesell ended up on second and he later scored when Aikawa poked one up the middle. 2-0 Tokyo.

Yoshinori calmed down quite a bit after those two double plays. He really found his groove in the sixth when he started throwing 157 kph heaters to Arai. When he’s on, he hits his spots and his slider has a decent amount of movement on it.

Unfortunately, that only happens for about four or five outs every time he starts.

A safety bunt by Aoki started  off the bottom of the sixth. Tanaka was ordered too Tak-bunt, but fortunately both times he made contact he fouled it off. He ended up poking one between first and second which put runners on the corners with no outs.

Sadly, Tokyo’s first base coach, Iida, found it necessary to lecture Tanaka on the finer points of bunting as he stood safely on first. It wouldn’t matter in the long run as Messenger got three quick outs after that.

A bit more comedy came in the top of the seventh when Yoshinori took to shaking off all of Aikawa’s pitch calls after Brazell had singled to start things off. His temporary bout of ballsiness resulted in a double that put runners on second and third with no outs and Johjima at the plate.

Lin then came through with a one out hit that thanks to a little bit of a fielding gamble by Aoki ended up a triple that tied the score. 2-2.

A soft Toritani grounder to second scored the third run, and and a Hirano slice along the line in left scored a fourth. 4-2 Hanshin.

And that was the end of Yoshinori’s night.

Masubuchi took the mound with two outs, an inherited runner on second, and Murton at the plate.

Murton put his stamp on the game with a homer to center that put the score at 6-2 Hanshin.

And that six run inning was basically the end of the game.

The birds scored a couple more off of an Aoki double, and Johjima tacked another one on for the visitors with a solo shot to left off of Oshimoto.

Watanabe pitched the top of the ninth for the birds—his seventh appearance of the season in a Swallows uniform. He was yanked after allowing two hits and recording only one out. Hashimoto took his place on the mound. With runners on first and third, Murton bounced one over Miyamoto’s head at third to score another run. 8-4 Hanshin.

Hashimoto then lost his ability to find the underbelly of the strike zone. He ended up putting three pitches in the dirt and Arai on first. Bases loaded for Brazell.

Yamato then cleared the bases with a triple over the drawn-in outfield. 11-4 Hanshin.

Yoshinori (5-6; 4.45 ERA) took the loss and gave up five earned runs off of seven hits. It was nice to see him make it to the seventh inning for a change, but he definitely didn’t reassure the coaching staff with his performance in that inning.

Masubuchi (3.16), Oshimoto (3.09), Watanabe (4.15) and Hashimoto (5.40) made relief appearances today. Every one of Tokyo’s four relievers gave up at least one earned run in this contest.

Aoki, Tanaka and Aikawa had two hits each in this game. Whitesell and Guiel had 1-4 evenings–each hit a stand-up double.

Random thoughts:

Watanabe’s ERA was 0.00 through his first six appearances of the season.

Hanshin scored all 11 of its runs during the final third of the game.

Fujikawa sat back down in the bullpen as soon as the save opportunity disappeared. What a novel idea.

Chunichi beat Hiroshima tonight, so the birds are now an extra game behind third place.

Fujimoto was sent down to the farm team immediately after yesterday’s game for being such a klutz on defense. Morioka, who started at short today, took his place on the active roster.

Pitchers Katoh and Matsui were sent down today while Hashimoto and Kawabata took their places. All three of the recently promoted players made appearances in today’s game. None of them did anything worth remembering.

Chunichi Dragons 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Won 4   Last 5: LWWWW

(Nagoya Dome)

A quality seven innings from Kyohei Muranaka laid the foundations for what initially looked like would be a straightforward win in Nagoya. Only an almighty wobble from closer Lim in the bottom of the 9th threatened to derail things, but Muranaka and Tokyo escaped with the win by the skin of their teeth.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Guiel (RF)
4. Whitesell (1B)
5. Ihara (LF)
6. Aikawa (C)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Fujimoto (SS)
9. Muranaka (P)

Tokyo took the lead in the 3rd against Chunichi starter Asakura, who looked out of sorts from the off this evening. A one-out walk for Aoki and a single up the middle from Tanaka put men on first and second. Guiel then flew out for out number two before Whitesell poked one to the left of the diving Blanco at first and Aoki made it home to put the score at 1-0 Tokyo.

One more run followed in the 4th, this time with a lot of help from the Chunichi pitching staff. Fujimoto came within inches of increasing the lead by himself as he hit a one-out shot off the wall in right for a double. After a groundout from Muranaka, three straight walks for Aoki, Tanaka and Guiel (the last of which came off reliever Mise, in for Asakura) brought Fujimoto home to make it 2-0. Whitesell then struck out to leave the lead at two.

Two hits for Chunichi in the bottom of the 4th put Muranaka in his only real pinch of the game, but Cesar flew out to right for the final out of the inning with men on the corners to snuff out the threat.

And so it seemed the Swallows were coasting to their 4th straight win, with Matsuoka (1.70) posting a 1,2,3 inning in the 8th in relief of Muranaka, setting the stage for Lim to work a straightforward 9th. After all, Lim had only given up a solitary hit to the Chunichi bats so far this season. Only it didn’t quite go according to plan.

Facing the meat of the Dragons order Lim continually struggled to find the strikezone, walking Morino, then allowing a bloop single to right for Wada before walking Blanco to load the bases with no outs. Pinch hitter Nomoto also worked a walk, which scored Morino for 2-1 with the bases still juiced and no outs to be seen on the board. Tanishige then struck out trying to reach a breaking ball out of the zone and Lim had himself his first lucky break for out number one. The next almighty dollop of good fortune came as next man up Donoue hit the ball straight back to Lim who threw back home to instigate the 1-2-3 double play that ended the game. 2-1 Tokyo Final.

Muranaka got his well deserved win (7 innings on 124 pitches, 6 hits, 9 Ks, 0BB, 1 HBP) to put his record at 6-7/3.01 for the year.

Lim earned his 18th save of the year for his 35 pitch 9th as his ERA rose to 1.27.

Every member of the staring lineup bar Ihara registered one hit each, with Tanaka (.306) managing two. Aoki’s single in the 6th (he went 1 for 2 with 3 walks) extended his hitting streak to 14 games and he’s now batting .333.

The two teams will return to Nagoya Dome tomorrow evening to the final game of the rain-shortened series.