Fukuoka win the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

The following are the results of the 2011 Japan Series. Pacific League champion, Fukuoka, host Central League pennant winner, Chunichi, for the first two games of a best-of-seven series. Games three through five are to be played at Nagoya Dome, and the final two games, if necessary, will be played once again at Yahoo Dome.

This is a rematch of the 1999 Japan Series, back when the Hawks were known as Fukuoka Daiei. Back then, current Fukuoka manager, Akiyama, was the team’s captain, Johjima was behind the plate, and current Tohoku manager, Hoshino, was at the helm for Chunichi. Hoshino’s opposite number in the Fukuoka dugout was none other than the venerable Sadaharu Oh.

Fukuoka won the championship that year.

Game 1 
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 12, 2011 at 1PM

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	4	1
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
W: Asao L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi - Chen Fukuoka - Wada				HR: Wada (Chunichi) solo in 7th off Wada. Koike (Chunichi) solo in 10th off Mahara.

	Chunichi		Softbank
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa DH
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo 1B
6	Tanishige C	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Koike LF	8	Fukuda LF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Chen P		Wada P

Chunichi lead series 1-0.

Game 2
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 13, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	7	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	0
W: Hirai L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi -Yoshimi Fukuoka - Sugiuchi

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo DH
6	Koike LF	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Fukuda 1B
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yoshimi P		Sugiuchi P

Chunichi lead series 2-0.

Game 3
Nagoya Dome
Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 6:00 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	4	12	1
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	4	1
W: Settsu L: Nelson S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Settsu Chunichi - Nelson				HR: Tamura (Fukuoka) 2-run off Nelson in 4th Hosokawa (Fukuoka) solo off Suzuki in 8th

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Tanishige C
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata RF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Ohshima CF
9	Settsu P	9	Nelson P

Chunichi lead series 2-1.

Game 4
Nagoya Dome
Wednesday November 16, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
W: Houlton L: Kawai S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Houlton Chunichi - Kawai

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Nomoto RF
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Houlton P	9	Kawai P

Series tied 2-2.

Game 5
Nagoya Dome
Thursday  November 17th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	5	10	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
W: Yamada L: Chen			Starters: Fukuoka - Yamada Chunichi - Chen

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Tamura RF	6	Koike RF
7	Hasegawa CF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Yamada P	9	Chen P

Fukuoka leads series 3-2.

Game 6
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 19th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
W: Yoshimi L: Wada S: Asao			Starters: Chunichi - Yoshimi Fukuoka - Wada

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Yoshimi P		Wada P

Series tied 3-3.

Game 7
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 20th, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Fukuoka	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	X	3	8	0
W: Sugiuchi L: Yamai S: Settsu			Starters: Chunichi - Yamai (RHP) Fukuoka - Sugiuchi (LHP)

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yamai P		Sugiuchi P

	Play-by-Play	Score (CD-FH)
Chunichi 1st	Sugiuchi pitching. 1. Araki ground out (GO) to 3rd. 1 out. 2. Ibata K's looking. 2 outs. 3. Morino GO to pitcher.	0-0
Fukuoka 1st	Yamai pitching. 1. Kawasaki GO to second (1-1 count). 1 out. 2. Honda single to center (1-0 fastball). 3. Uchikawa up with Honda taking a big lead. Honda caught trying to steal second (he was safe, actually). Uchikawa K's looking.	0-0
Chunichi 2nd	4. Blanco sticks around with a full count for a few pitches. Sugiuchi flipping back and forth between heaters and sliders. Blanco watches ball four. 5. Wada, responsible for both of Chunichi's runs last night, pops a 2-2 fastball up to 2nd. 1 out. 6. Hirata up with man on 1st. K's swinging at 2-2 changeup. 2 outs. 7. Fujii up. 1-0 fly out (FO) to center.	0-0
Fukuoka 2nd	4. Kokubo GO to 1st. 1 out. 5. Matsunaka GO to short. 2 outs. Yamai looks sharp. Sharper than Sugiuchi at this point. 6. Matsuda K's looking on the third pitch of his at-bat.	0-0
Chunichi 3rd	8. Tanishige, hitless so far in postseason play, comes to the plate against Sugiuchi. K's swinging at the third pitch he sees. 9. Ohshima 1-2 infield fly to short. 2 outs. Sugiuchi's control looking better now. 1. Araki foul fly near 1st base.	0-0
Fukuoka 3rd	7. Tamura lucky bloop hit over Blanco's head. Araki chases it down. 8. Hasegawa rips a double to center that Ohshima should have caught. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. 9. Yamazaki quickly gets the count to 3-0. Draws a four pitch walk with the help of a couple squeeze bunt feints. Bases juiced. Yamai yanked. Kobayashi takes the mound. 1. Kawasaki up. Bases loaded. No outs. Full count. Kawasaki draws a walk! Tamura scores from 3rd. 2. Honda 1-2 foul fly to the catcher. 1 out. Kobayashi yanked. Nelson in to pitch. 3. Uchikawa almost has his head taken off by an errant 1-2 pitch. 2-2 pitch is weakly popped up to right. Hasegawa holds at 3rd. 2 outs. 4. Pops the first pitch he sees up to center.	0-1
Chunichi 4th	2. Ibata easy GO to short. 1 out. 3. Morino K's swinging. 2 outs. 4. Blanco grounds first pitch to left for Chunichi's first hit. 5. Wada FO to right.	0-1
Fukuoka 4th	Nelson, Chunichi's third pitcher, is still on the mound. 5. Matsunaka fouls what would've been an extra-base hit off the wall in right. He then draws a walk. 6. Matsuda successfully sac bunts Matsunaka over to second. 1 out. 7. Tamura 2-2 pitch FO to center. Matsunaka stays on 2nd. 8. Nelson intentionally walks Hasegawa. 2 outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 9. Yamazaki up. Quickly behind 0-2. 2-2 pitch sliced to shallow right. Matsunaka just gets past the tag. If the throw had been on line, then he would've been out. 1. Kawasaki, with runners on corners and 2 outs, lines out to left.	0-2
Chunichi 5th	Sugiuchi pitching. 6. Hirata full count. Infield single to pitcher. 7. Fujii watches as Hirata gets his signs mixed up and is thrown out in a rundown between 1st and 2nd. 1 out. Full count. GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 8. Tanishige K's with a feeble swing.	0-2
Fukuoka 5th	Nelson still pitching. 2. Honda K's on 3 pitches. 3. Uchikawa GO to pitcher. 2 outs. 4. Kokubo swings a golf club and misses again. K.	0-2
Chunichi 6th	Sugiuchi's 6th inning. 9. Ohshima K's swinging at a slider. 1 out. That was Sugiuchi's 6th K tonite. 1. Araki FO on 2-2 pitch to left. 2 outs. 2. Ibata, picking his eternal wedgie the whole time, comes to the plate. 2-2 broken bat GO to 3rd.	0-2
Fukuoka 6th	Nelson's 4th inning. 5. Matsunaka K's looking. The ump is calling a very wide zone tonite. TBS keeps showing us replays of the pitches with the camera directly behind the pitcher. Wow. 6. Matsuda infield single to short. Beats the throw after a fantastic grab by Araki. 7. Tamura, batting .360 so far in this series, is 1-2 tonite. Matsuda steals 2nd safely on 1st pitch. Tamura accidentally moves the runner over on a check-swing tap to 1st. 2 outs. 8. Hasegawa up with runner on 3rd. 0-1 pitch FO to 3rd.	0-2
Chunichi 7th	Sugiuchi pitching. 3. Morino 1st pitch hard grounder back to the pitcher. 1 out. 4. Blanco guessing wrong on sliders, but bounces one past the second baseman for his second base hit of the night. 2nd baseman should've had it, but it was to his backhand side. 5. Wada K's swinging. 2 outs. 6. Hirata watches the count go to 3-0, swings way too early at a third consecutive changeup, then draws a fourth ball. Runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. 7. Fujii watching Sugiuchi continue his onslaught of changeups. Fujii falls behind 0-2, then pulls back to 2-2. K's on yet another changeup.	0-2
Fukuoka 7th	Asao on the mound. How many innings is he going to pitch? 9. Cabrera (PH for Yamazaki) K's swinging at three straight pitches. Asao owned him there. Embarrassing. 1. Kawasaki draws a nine pitch walk. 2. Honda 'safety' bunt attempt is met with a good fielding play by Asao. 2 outs. Kawasaki safe on 2nd. 3. Uchikawa single scores Kawasaki from 2nd. Uchikawa reaches 2nd on the play. 4. Kokubo GO to 3rd.	0-3
Chunichi 8th	Falkenborg pitching. 8. Tanishige, still without a hit in 42 post-season at-bats, K's swinging yet again. 9. Nomoto (PH for Ohshima) K's swinging on 3 pitches. 2 outs. 1. Araki K's swinging as well. Dominating performance by Falkenborg. Chunichi in all sorts of trouble.	0-3
Fukuoka 8th	Iwase takes Asao's place ono the mound for Chunichi. 5. Matsunaka works the count full. K's swinging at a high slider. 6. Matsuda GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 7. Tamura bounces a single up the middle into center field. 8. Hasegawa manages to lift the 2-2 pitch over Araki's head for a single. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 2 outs. 9. Hosokawa fouls off the first two pitches he sees. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh pitches as well. He finally K's looking at the 8th offering from Iwase. Last three outs for Chunichi.	0-3
Chunichi 9th	Falkenborg takes the mound again. 2. Ibata, 2 for 24 so far in this series, falls behind quickly 0-2. But then Ibata does the improbable and lines the ball of Falkenborg's throwing arm (elbow?). He reaches 1st safely, and Falkenborg, in obvious pain, is out of the game. Ibata on 1st. No outs. Morifuku takes the mound. He looks a little nervous. 3. Morino falls behind 0-2. GO to short, but Morino beats the DP throw. 1 out. 4. Blanco FO to right. 2 outs. Fukuoka switching pitcher to Settsu to try and get the final out. 5. Wada takes a strike down the middle. Strike two on the outside corner of the plate. But then Wada works a full count. However, Wada went down swinging at a fastball down the middle.	0-3
Fukuoka 9th	Let the celebrations begin!	0-3 FINAL

Fukuoka wins the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

Pre-game. I feel the same as I did on Monday. Nervous and expectant. This walk up
Dragons Road isn’t helping.

Tonight our season will end or we will set up one of the most exciting
games in Swallows living memory tomorrow.

I’ve turned up to the stadium a lot earlier tonight. Fans steadily
streaming in. Some Jingu regulars and a few friends I have made over the
last five days coming to say hi. Not much chat. Too many nerves.

Pitchers just been announced. Big cheer for Tateyama but surprise from fans
around me that Yoshimi is pitching.

First three. The body is in the stadium. The mind is in a La La Land where we’ve already
won 20-0 and the Softbank have already conceded the Japan Series because it
is a long way to fly from Fukuoka to Tokyo to be humilitated by us… and
it’s only the bottom of the second…

My regular crowd are not here. Just me representing, so no one understands
my abuse of ‘Ero Oyaji Morino’ or ‘Hage Hage Hage Wadaaaaaa’.

After 5 days here I’m really getting very sick of the Chunichi chants. They
sound like a Walrus having a W@nk. If it is even possible I think they are
even more annoying than the Yomiurine.

Tats keeping it together here bottom of the second… and not responding to
my calls for a home run at the top of the third. Still, doing his primary
job at the bottom of the third.

Middle three. Top of the forth bazooka time. Tsubakuro shooting some T-shirts toward the
away fans. Third T-shirt goes high and drops straight into a fishing net
which has gone up high over the crowd held by a Chunichi fans wearing an
Ochiai shirt. Immediate boos from everyone around me.

Look at that blubber fly as Fatake manages to make it to first… but not
to second.

Half way through the game after 69 minutes. Tats still looking strong.

We managed to get a guy to third. Fukuchi not delivering.

Oh $hit

Last three? I don’t even know what to say. We’ve got six outs to score three runs. I
hope it happens. If it doesn’t, I think this will be the last thing I write
for this travelogue.

That’s all she wrote. What can be said? What’s done is done. Much love to all loyal Swallows
fans. Thanks to the Tsubamegun crew representing with their reports 24-7,
369 and their friendship. Big shout to MooreyTokyo – great to see you
today. Until next year… Power of Unity.

Here’s what he had to say:

Pre-game. Pre-game time was ‘killed’ with a visit to Inuyama. Highly recommended.
Nice castle, national treasure tea house and great monkey park. Now I’m on
my way to a different monkey park.

While watching a gorilla eat an apple I reflected on last night’s

A TS logo cap in Nagoya Dome.

encounter. Perhaps this is the perception filter through which I was
viewing the game but it seemed the Dragons had a ‘strut’
about them which we lacked. It’s a strut we had earlier this season. And,
as much as nothing we would please me more than their complete and utter
annihilation, it is a strut the Yomiurine have most of the time. The
confidence/arrogance and belief you can come back from behind however badly
earlier innings have gone. This is what I hope Ogawa is telling them
tonight – to channel the spirit that saw such great comebacks as the 10-10
against Yokohama, the 6-6 against the Yomiurine, the 2-1 Sayonara games
against the Yomiurine and Yokohama and, still the best in my mind the
brilliant comeback from 5-0 down against a Seibu side who had cleaned up in
the previous three interleague games to win 6-5.

At the recommendation of Tsubamegun pal and Japan Eats  ”Garrett” I went
for a pre-game stomach lining at Yamamoto-ya Honten. Exceptional. Sadly, in
order to enjoy this deliciacy I had to endure a constant looping of the
Dragons’ Lucky 7 song which is blasted throughout the basement area of
Nagoya station. I thought the reason we elected governments was to protect
free thinking people from this kind of aural abuse. Nauseating at the best
of times and more so with a belly of miso-nikomi-udon.

Thankfully no Dragons Train today. Let the games begin…

Early innings. How quick is this! Ishikawa dominating. Time for the run support. The fans
here praying for some beginners luck from Yamada (as I was typing this he’s
just gone 10 metres from being tonight’s hero).

More fight being shown tonight, thanks to Ishikawa’s pitching, and the fans
(more Swallows fans tonight) responding in kind.

One (more) thing I really hate about the away section of the Nagoya Dome is
how we are boxed in – the corridor is to the back and to the left, right
and in front we are surrounded by opposition fans. It’s not right.

Also not right – the beer staff for the away section is almost exclusively
male!

Mid-game. Not much to say about the middle of the game. So I won’t.

Massive amusement as Takahashi’s song is identical to Hatakeyama’s… I
take this to its logical conclusion and cheer for Hatake for the whole
inning.

Massive eighth. What an eighth innings! That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

It doesn’t happen often but I turned to my friends and assured them the
next ball would be a home run… and then BAM! Beautiful!

Finishing it off. How to sum up the end of the game? Confident of winning, I picked up my
umbrella with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, only to find that it was
completely destroyed – possibly due to being jumped on by me. Attempts to
fix it (some serious damage here!) have led to the umbrella being covered
in blood… another equipment retirement and a fitting tribute to the boys.
The ‘banging devices’ were destroyed after Lim’s suicide mission on
Saturday. Whatever happens it is time for a new set of gear next year!

Post-game victory waddle by our bird mascot.

This is exactly the fight I wrote about before the game.

This is real sport! This is not about songs of drawing an arch in the sky,
although that is also fun. This is about 60-year old women shouting
‘Kutabare Chunichi’ and initiating Tokyo Ondo chants on the way to the
station, or my Japanese friends putting a pair of Doala ears on a Pringles
can and then inviting me to drop kick it. The relief of the fans today is
very evident. ‘Subtle’ whistles on the subway between different groups of
fans of Swallows player and team songs – the kind of cheekiness that I
always like to see in this great country.

I’m proud of the team and I’m proud of the fans. Confidence suitably
boosted. Bring on tomorrow!

Japan rode to victory three days earlier on the back of six innings of five hit ball from starter Matsuzaka. After Darvish’s early troubles cost the Japanese dear on Tuesday, it was Iwakuma’s turn to step up to the mound with his nation’s status as WBC champs on the line.

And, what do you know, he was up to the task, matching Daisuke’s six inning and five hit shutout performance. Though Iwakuma’s performance wasn’t quite as sparkling as Matsuzaka’s, with two strikeouts (to Daisuke’s 8 ) and a solitary walk, it was exactly the performance Japan needed to get their WBC campaign back on track. Sugiuchi then came out of the bullpen to pitch three hitless innings and they had themselves a second consecutive shutout over the normally formidable Cubans.

Japan pulled in front in the top of the 4th off Cuban starter Maya. Aoki hit a one out single, followed by a double from Inaba to put men on second and third.  Murata then flew out to centre, but too shallow to score Aoki for the second out.  A huge slice of luck would then turn the game in their favour. Ogasawara came to the plate and hit a deep fly ball to centre.  Center fielder Cespedes, running back reached up with one hand to catch the ball but it bounced off his glove and rolled toward the outfield wall. Aoki and Inaba both scored on the error (both unearned) and Japan had themselves a 2-0 lead.

You could sense the atmosphere on the previously tense looking Japanese bench was revitalised from that point on.

And so it proved as they extended their lead in the next inning. Iwamura walked to open the 5th. Ichiro then popped up a bunt for the first out before Nakajima walked to put men on first and second. Aoki then singled through the middle allowing Iwamura home to put Japan 3-0 up.

Another run came in the 7th. Iwamura walked again before Ichiro singled to put men on first and third with no outs.  Nakajima then hit a sac-fly to left, Iwamura came home and it was 4-0 Japan.

And they wrapped up the scoring in the 9th, with Ichiro hitting a one out triple, Nakajima being hit by a pitch, and Aoki singling to bring home Ichiro for a 5-0 final.

So Japan managed 5 runs off 8 hits, 0 errors and 9 men left on base.

Cuba managed 0 runs off their 5 hits, 1 error and left 6 men on.

Other points of note:

Aoki is a god. The man was (aside from Iwakuma) easily the player of the game, batting 4 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a run. Unfortunately his continued excellence in the WBC means we’ll likely see him leave Tokyo quicker, so….shit what am I saying….!!? He had a mare.

Ichiro woke up with two hits, one of which was a trademark triple. When Ichiro hits, it seems to energise the team and Japan seems to win. Hopefully he’ll continue in the same vein from now on.

Iwamura also woke up, having a 2 for 2 night with two walks and two runs, while Jojima went hitless after his escapades of the previous day.

Murata had a hitless evening too after being moved from 4th to 5th in the lineup. Inaba was in the cleanup spot and had a 1 for 5 night with a run.

This was the first time since 1951 Cuba didn’t make the finals of one of the major international competitions. It seems of late, the Japanese have had the Cubans’ number, much like the Koreans seems to have theirs.

So it’s on to Japan vs Korea IV tomorrow. The loser will play Venezuela in the first semi-final at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, while the winner will face-off against the USA in the other semi on Sunday.

The Big Boys

Norichika Aoki – The main man around these here parts, Aoki was rewarded for another stellar season in 2008 with a ?40M  raise to ?260M. Which makes him the highest earner on the Tokyo books, and every yen of it is fully deserved.

Shinya Miyamoto – The veteran shortstop and Swallows “captain” saw his coffers swell to the tune of ?220M, up from 2008’s ?185M. This substantial raise probably came about due to: a) the man’s leader/veteran status on the team and, b) the fact that he had an excellent 2008. Many people, myself included, thought Shinya was on the decline but he proved us wrong, hitting above .300 for the third straight year last season. Though it has to be said his range at short is decreasing year by year, the 38 year old is still an important part of the team.

 Masanori Ishikawa – Ahh, little Masanori. 2008 was a big year for Yakult’s 29 year old Junior High School student look-alike. Staff ace Seth Greisinger had left for money and concubines  pastures new at the end of 2007, and that left Tokyo needing an ace around which to build their starting rotation under new pitching coach Araki. Well, who should step up to the plate to fill that void but Ishikawa, transforming himself from a dependable and reliable starter, to a CL ERA title winning (2.68 in 2008) staff ace. And he was duly rewarded for his toils with a whopping ?60M pay raise (the largest on the team) to take his earnings to ?155M. And again, fully deserved. Now lets keep up that good work in 2009 please wee man. 

Shohei Tateyama – Utility pitcher and sometime starter brought into the rotation part way through 2008 to plug the gap left by dabbler-in-drugs Daniel Rios. And when he arrived in the rotation boy did he perform. Firmly established himself as the no.2 starter at Yakult with a rock solid performance on the mound (12 wins, 3 losses, 2.99ERA), and alongside Ishikawa, became one of the two rocks around which an ever changing starting rotation orbited. Tateyama saw his salary skyrocket from ?62M in 2008, to ?100M in 2009. Big up to Shohei, and I’m sure he’ll further cement his reputation in 2009. 

Ryoji Aikawa – Yakult’s first ever free agent signing, I’ll repeat that, Yakult’s first ever free agent signing, Aikawa comes the short distance from Yokohama to Tokyo, after a failed attempt to go to the MLB (no-one was interested). And earning ?100M for the year, the catcher becomes the last of just five players to equal/top the ?100M barrier at the Swallows. Aikawa will look to establish himself in the Tokyo lineup, and give the birds stability behind the plate not seen since the tenure of Atsuya Furuta.  

The Movers and Shakers

Kenichi Matsuoka – One of the revelations of 2008, Matsuoka finally found his niche after three unremarkable years with the organization. Forming a formidable trio out of the bullpen with Oshimoto and Lim, Matsuoka was arguably the star man of that trio last year. 65 appearances, 71 1/3 innings, ERA 1.39. I need say no more. He was rewarded for last year’s excellence with a ?28M rise to ?44M this year. Look for that salary to skyrocket in 2010 if he puts in a repeat performance in 2009. 

Takehiko Oshimoto – After coming to Tokyo as part of a three man trade from Hokkaido at the end of 2007, Oshimoto really showed Nippon Ham what they were missing last year. Takehiko firmly established himself as the set up man for closer Lim, and despite getting wobblier as the season went on, finished with an ERA of 3.34 in his 67 appearences/72 2/3 innings of hard work. All that sweat (and boy does the man sweat) was worth it in the end as he saw his salary inflate to ?49M from the ?27M he earned in his first year with the Swallows. 

Chang-Yong Lim – For sake of completeness I’ll list him here, Lim saw his pay rise a modest amount from ?44.5 to ?55 for this year. That’s a raise of ?318,000 for each of his 33 saves in 2008. Again, as with Matsuoka, expect his salary to rise significantly higher if he has a similar 2009.

Ryota Igarashi – The perennially popular “rocket-boy” and Yakult’s former closer (37 saves in 2004),  Igarashi saw a return to form in 2008 after four years of a mixture of injury, lack of form/confidence and long spells on the farm team. Igarashi staked his claim to be the fourth rock-solid arm out of the bullpen, as he started to show the form that had made him so popular in the first place. 44 appearances, 43 2/3 innings with an excellent ERA of 2.47 saw his pay rise to ?84M, up from ?54M. Just as an indication of how much Igarashi’s star has fallen of late, he earned a whopping ?164M in 2005. 

Hiroyasu Tanaka – After his breakout year in 2007, Beavis had another solid year in 2008, establishing himself without any doubt as the starting second baseman at Jingu. Hiroyasu saw his purse for 2009 swell to ?75M from ?48M.

Yasushi Ihara – Another guy who came to the fore in 2007, speedster Ihara finally found a home out in leftfield last year (despite some disastrous attempts to play third) and, like Tanaka, hit just under the .300 mark in 2008. Ihara saw a ?25M raise to take him to ?50M for this year. 

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama – Came out of four years of obscurity in 2008 to help out the team when he was called upon, and became a fixture at first base (and sometimes third) for the birds. Rewarded accordingly with a?23M raise (from a paltry ?9M) to take him up to a respectable ?32M.

Keizo Kawashima – Came to Tokyo as part of the same trade that brought Oshimoto here, little Keizo was rewarded for a decent first year with the club with a salary of ?25M, up from ?9.6M.

Kazuki Fukuchi – Another 2008 new face, Fukuchi came to the Swallows as compensation make-weight in the free agent signing of pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii by the Seibu Lions. And boy how he proved himself to be more than a mere “make-weight” in 2008. Known for his speed, the outfielder promptly took the CL base stealing title with 42, but added more to his game too. Kazuki proved himself to be an excellent fielder and batter, hitting .321, with 155 hits, 61 RBIs and scoring 74 runs. But he’s now added to his pocket too, with a whopping ?49M raise to ?80M.

The Losers

Aaron Guiel – Many were surprised that Guiel was resigned by Tokyo after an abject 2008 that was blighted by injury. That is until they looked at how much they resigned him for. He earned ?120M in 2008. He’ll earn?44M in 2009.

Masao Kida – Veteran Kida looked like he was going to be shut out by new manager Takada in the first half of 2008, but he was used more and more as the season progressed, ending up with a 3.05 ERA to show for his 19 appearances. That scarcity of innings though meant Masao saw his purse fall ?12M to ?40M.

Hirotoshi Ishii – Longstanding Yakult servant and former ace closer (37 saves and 1.95ERA in 2005), a shoulder injury has threatened to destroy the man’s career. Hopefully he’ll see some service in 2009, but he’ll have to make do with a little less money, down ?26M to ?40M (he earned ?150M in 2006)

Noriyuki Shiroishi – Yakult’s very own “no speed, no power, no skill” triple-threat saw his stock fall ?7M to ?29M.

Ryuji Miyade – Lanky utility man, who has never quite filled his potential saw his salary fall ?10M to ?38M.

The New Boys

Ricky Barrett - ?46.5 M

Hye-cheon Lee - ?76M

Jamie D’Antonia - ?47.5M  

And last, and by all means least……..

David Watkins – From not nearly enough in 2008 to not nearly enough in 2009.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Chunichi Dragons 6

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 12

Streak: Won 3 Last 5:LLWWW
(Jingu Stadium)

Dicky Gonzalez got his first win of the season on seven innings of work, and for the second night in the row the Tokyo starter enjoyed some other-worldly run support from his teammates.

Chunichi managed to score the first run of the game with its second batter, second baseman Araki, but then Gonzalez buckled down and struck out the next three batters in order, and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Five Tokyo starters had multi-hit games. Most notable of the bunch was Iihara who went three-for-five with three rbi’s.

Even Gonzalez had a good night at the plate. He drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth in which Tokyo would go on to plate six runs. He then kept things rolling in his second at-bat of the inning with a two out single to right. From the mound he gave up two runs, both earned, off of eight hits. He struck out seven and walked one.

As for home runs, Hatakeyama hit his 9th of the season in the first, and Aoki hit his 13th in the bottom of the 8th. Two runs scored each time.

Fifth place Tokyo is now only 2.5 games behind third place Chunichi.

Game two is tomorrow night at 6:20pm (Jingu Stadium, Tokyo).

Norichika Aoki throws with his right hand but hits lefty.

A brief article on the Washington University in Saint Louis website discusses how left-handed pitchers and hitters have a distinct advantage in the game of baseball.

This is probably not surprising news to most readers of this site, but the math has been done, and despite roughly 90% of the adult population being right-handed, about 25% of professional baseball players are left-handed. Two and a half times the national average is no joke.

Statistics brought out in the article to support the thesis that baseball favors lefties include the fact that 59 of the 138 hitters enshrined at the baseball hall of fame are lefties. That’s nearly 43%.

When the eight switch-hitters are added to the tally, the percentage rises to 49.

The number of lefty pitchers in the hall of fame was 21% of the total, which isn’t nearly as impressive as the hitters, but still twice the left-handedness rate of the general population.

The reasons given for the disadvantages experienced by righties are many. From a right-handed hitter’s perspective, first of all, southpaw pitchers are few and far between, so the unfamiliarity of the pitching motion probably hurts the hitters in that situation. The advantage is probably greatest in little league and pre-university baseball.

That said, the southpaw’s advantage is assumed to dissipate at higher levels due to the fact that right-handed batters have more experience against them and are able to see the ball slightly better against a lefty because the batter is not required to turn his head so much to see the pitcher’s release.

Right-handed hitters, at the professional level at least, hit better against left-handed pitchers than against the more predominant right-handed pitchers. Left-handed batters, due to being able to pick up the ball more easily, have a relative advantage when facing right-handed pitchers. Because 75% of pitchers at the pro level are right-handed, left-handed batters have a natural match-up advantage most of the time.

Left-handed batters also have a roughly 5.5 foot advantage in terms of their proximity to first base. Additionally, a lefty’s swing-generated momentum will carry them towards first base while a righty’s will pull them towards third. This means that lefties reach first base about a sixth of a second faster than right-handed batters. In other words, it’s easier for them to beat the throw to first base.

All of the numbers crunched in this study were for MLB, but it’s easy to see how they can be validated by a casual look at the success stories here in NPB.

As of games played July 12th, 2008 in the Central League, five of the top ten batters (statistical rankings) are left-handed hitters. The same is true for the Pacific League standings (Chiba’s Nishioka is a switch-hitter).

Furthermore, when looking at the Japanese players that have gone on to play professional baseball in North America, big names like Ichiro (lefty), Hideki Matsui (lefty), Kaz Matsui (switch hitter), Akinori Iwamura (lefty) and Kousuke Fukudome (lefty) all come to mind.

This is, of course, not to say that right-handed pitchers and hitters can not also be outstanding baseball players. Yomiuri’s Alex Ramirez, Yokohama’s Seiichi Uchikawa, Seibu’s Hiroyuki Nakajima and Rakuten’s Rick Short are all righties.

As for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, several members of the first team that play regularly are left-handed hitters. Norichika Aoki, Aaron Guiel, Shinichi Takeuchi, Yuuichi and Kazuki Fukuchi (switch-hitter) all bat left-handed. Interestingly enough, they are also all outfielders.