Ogawa's advisers.

Here’s something for you to read while finding an alternate use for your bat.

Swallow of the Week

Week 7

Possibly due to how late I got the last snapshot up on the site, not too many people had a chance to vote. Only 14 folks submitted a vote, so I’m not even going to bother to create a table for it. Instead, you’ll just have to trust me that Shinya Miyamoto won the vote. Miyamoto, who didn’t receive a SOW nomination the week that he joined the almighty Meikyukai, won the weekly vote by garnering 64% (9 votes) of those cast.

So congratulations to you, Mr. Miyamoto. And again, many kudos to you for your steady play over the years which has earned you membership in the Meikyukai!

Week 8

Last week was the shortest we’ve seen so far this year. Interleague started, and the birds hosted two shortened series at Jingu Stadium. The first, on Wednesday and Thursday, was against 2011 Japan Series champs, Fukuoka. Saturday and Sunday’s games were against the Orix Buffaloes, the only team in the Pacific League that doesn’t have a regional name fronting its moniker.

After a raucous start, the week turned out to be inordinately forgettable.

Here are the game reports in case you missed them:

May 16th vs Fukuoka (14-3 W)
May 17th vs Fukuoka (1-9 L)
May 19th vs Orix (3-6 L)
May 20th vs Orix (1-4 L)

Ugh.

But despite the 1-3 record for the week, there were still some standout performances for you to consider.

Ryouji Aikawa (C) – Aikawa made it back into the lineup on a full-time basis last week, and he was absolutely magic at the plate. 7-13 with four RBI and two walks for a .538/.600/.615 line from four games. With Nakamura as a backup, you’ve gotta like how things have worked out for Tokyo at the number two position.

Lastings Milledge (LF-CF) – Milledge was 5-18 at the plate with two home runs last week. He chipped in with 5 RBI and a walk during a week when the Swallows scored nearly three times as many runs in the first game as they did in the following three games combined. Milledge also saw some more time in center field this week as the Swallows continue to struggle to find an everyday replacement for Norichika Aoki. He continues to be an intense and intimidating presence on defense, and his slash line at the plate last week looked thusly: .278/.316/.611.

Orlando Roman (P) – Roman had a hell of a start on the 19th and very nearly won the game. He threw 110 pitches through eight full innings of work and allowed only four hits and one earned run. He also struck out four while only walking one. Oh, and he was also 2-3 at the plate with an RBI. Arguably his best start as a Tokyo Swallow.

Cast your vote below!

Roster Updates

On the 18th, pitchers Hirai and Abe were dropped to the farm team, and they were replaced by relievers Onodera and Yamamoto the following day. You knew that Onodera was going to find his way up to the top team sooner or later given his rock solid performance on the farm since the start of the season.

On the 21st, Araki (IF) and outfielders Yuhei and Hiyane were also dropped leaving three available spots on the top team roster. Those three spots were filled on the 22nd by starting pitcher Shichijo, middle infielder Yamada, and timeless outfielder Yuichi.

Here’s what the 28 man roster looked like before the game against Chiba scheduled for Tuesday:

Pitcher
Ishikawa, Yamamoto, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Kyuko, Onodera, Barnette, Shichijo, Hidaka, Akagawa, Roman, Oshimoto

Catcher
Aikawa, Nakamura, Fukukawa

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

Outfielders
Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuichi, Milledge

From the Farm

The mini-birds have continued their suckiness from last week. In the four games that they actually played (two rain outs), the Swallows lost three and drew one.

But much like the dark cloud that is the top team at the moment, the farm team has a silver lining hemmed up inside it. And its surname is Sato.

Unfortunately, or perhaps comically, its given name is not Yoshinori. It just so happens to be the chosen one’s kid brother, Takanori, who is still on an ikusei contract. He started all four games in the outfield and was 8-17 at the plate with three RBI and 11 total bases.

Otherwise, there’s not a whole lot of interest going on at the minor league level for the Swallows. Lim continues to look very mediocre, and nobody else is truly begging for a call-up at the plate.

So the spark the club needs is hopefully already included in the top team. Somewhere.

During happier times.

Around the Central League

The Giants are kicking ass. They are allowing only one or two runs per game. They haven’t lost since Golden Week. That is all you need to know. Anyone who needs a “Giant Hater” t-shirt, please comment below. I’ll put an order in for a new batch.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday’s game got rained out, and we already got trounced last night in Chiba, but there are five games in a row coming up that we will hopefully win one or two of.

Tuesday’s rain game will be replayed tonight in Chiba, and then the Swallows play two games in Saitama (6PM on Friday and 2PM on Saturday). On Sunday and Monday, the birds host consecutive 6PM games against the Tohoku Eagles at Jingu.

See you there.

The team still boasts a positive run differential, but we’re now only three games above .500 with a fourth-best team ERA of 2.69.

Former Swallows

Aoki has been getting more frequent starts in Milwaukee, and he’s not been disappointing at the plate or on defense. In fact, here’s a video to show you that he’s doing us proud:

That’s it for today. Please excuse me while I prepare for a very important anniversary.

Drink up.

Orix Buffaloes 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 

Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LWLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The run production woes continue.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Orix	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	4	1
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: Hirano (3-1, 2.52 ERA) L: Tateyama (3-3, 2.36 ERA)

What do you need to know? After Wednesday’s blowout victory over 2011 Japan Series champion Fukuoka, the birds are a bit constipated run-wise.

Not fun.

Tokyo	Order	Orix
Fukuchi (LF)	1	Moriyama (CF)
Tanaka (2B)	2	Nonaka (LF)
Milledge (CF)	3	Ohbiki (SS)
Balentien (RF)	4	Lee (1B)
Hatakeyama (1B)	5	Gotoh (2B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Baldiris (3B)
Aikawa (C)	7	Kawabata (RF)
Morioka (SS)	8	Suzuki (C)
Tateyama (P)	9	Nishi (P)

Tokyo got off on the wrong foot in the top of the second when a 1-2 Tateyama offering (maybe a forkball?) headed straight down the middle and Baldiris clubbed it into the stands in left for the first run of the game.

Tanaka then led off with a single in the bottom of the fourth, and was pushed over to third thanks to two beanballs (Balentien and Miyamoto receiving). Aikawa came through with a clutch walk that forced Tanaka home, but Morioka was once again unable to do anything productive at the plate with the bases loaded.

1-1.

And that was basically

Tateyama was decent, but he got zero run support.

it on offense for the birds.

Orix scored again in the top of the fifth. It was only one run, but it was more than enough.

1-2 Orix.

Tokyo loaded the bases once again in the sixth, but Fujimoto took Morioka’s place as the goat this time.

Orix put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth with Oshimoto on the mound. A leadoff walk was followed by Lee’s second home run in as many games.

1-4 Final.

Pitching

Tateyama took the loss on seven innings (98 NP), three hits (1 HR), three strikeouts, one walk (2 HBP), and two runs allowed (both earned). His record is now 3-3 with a 2.36 ERA.

Hidaka pitched a scoreless eighth, but Oshimoto allowed two more runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach. Hidaka now sports a 0.60 ERA through 18 appearances, and Oshimoto is now up to 2.12 on the ERA meter in as many appearances.

Hitting

Hatakeyama and Aikawa had two-hit games. Other than that, there wasn’t anything to write home about. Balentien earns two hat tips for an HBP and BB.

Baldiris takes one for: a) being the first to follow two hit Tokyo batsmen, and b) hitting a homer in his first at-bat.

Notes

Tsubamegun, meet Offensive Slump. Offensive Slump, Tsubamegun.

Morioka, as great as he is both as a player and a teammate, is 0-3 in bases-loaded situations over the last two days.

Fujimoto pinch hit for Morioka on both Saturday and Sunday in important situations. We can only imagine what that is doing to Morioka’s head. Not good, no matter how you look at it.

Tokyo outhit Orix 6-4, but your birds weren’t able to hit when it mattered. Same story three games in a row.

Milledge was back in center field tonight. He had an easy night as only one of Orix’s four hits came near him.

How we lost this game is beyond me.

Now that Tanaka is no longer on bunt duty, the Tsubamegun faithful are strenuously looking forward to the days, weeks, and months when he’s a consistent threat at the plate (in addition to his thus far gold glove performance in the field).

Strenuously.

Your Tokyo Swallows will be in Chiba on Tuesday and Wednesday for a two-game set against the Pacific League’s leading team. Both games start at 6:15PM.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/20/52012-orix-home/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/18/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-17th-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-17th-2012 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/18/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-17th-2012/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 14:34:49 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12654

Things didn't go well last week, so here's a picture of the farm team lineup.

Sorry for the delay, Swallowers. It’s my fault. There are no excuses here at Tsubamegun.

Something for you to read while planning a trip to New Orleans.

Swallows of the Week

Week 6

This one was never really going to be much of a contest, what with the wicked week that Coco put up and all. But 31 voters thought long and hard and chose the most worthy from the following four players:

Wladimir Balentien (RF)
Masanori Ishikawa (P)
Orlando Roman (P)
Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B)

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	25	81
Hiroyasu Tanaka	4	13
Orlando Roman	2	6
Masanori Ishikawa	0	0

Congratulations, Coco, the first Tokyo player to ever earn SOW honors twice in the same season! You definitely earned it. I must say that you surprised the piss out of us several times during week six, and we love you for it.

Now just sit back and let them walk you for a couple of weeks.

Week 7

Like the week before, the Swallows played five games during week six. However, things didn’t work out quite as well for your Tokyo Swallows.

The first three games were all over the midlands map in and around Nagoya as the birds took on the Dragons in a three-game set. Tokyo wasn’t able to win a game until the series finally arrived back at Nagoya Dome. Game three  saw the birds exorcise some of the their demons by winning a game against the Dragons in Nagoya, but they still lost the series 1-2.

Then it was off to the miserably wet and cold embrace of the enduring Akita Prefecture winter for a two-game series against the “visiting” Gomiuri Giants.

Tokyo played to an annoying 1-1 draw in the first game before losing the second game 5-1.

Game reports:

May 8th at Chunichi 0-1 L
May 9th  at Chunichi 3-8 L
May 10th at Chunichi 3-1 W
May 12th vs Yomiuri 1-1 D
May 13th vs Yomiuri 1-5 L

But despite Tokyo’s 1-3-1 record, there were still some individual bright spots.

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – The only pitcher to record a win, Akagawa pitched seven innings at Nagoya Dome on Thursday and threw 98 pitches while issuing only a single walk. He scattered six hits while striking out three and allowing one earned run in the sixth inning.

Shinya Miyamoto (3B) – A week after joining the Meikyukai, Shinya had his nose to the grindstone last week. Despite not starting on Wednesday, he was 6-14 at the plate in four games at third base.

Ryosuke Morioka (SS) – Given some playing time following Kawabata’s injury, Morioka started four games last week and was 3-14 at the plate with a double and two RBI.

You know what to do:

Roster Updates

As reported here in the last update, Takeuchi (IF) was removed from the top team on May 6th. It turns out that he has a right wrist injury that he needs to rehab.

On the seventh, Koki Watanabe (P) was also dropped to the farm after his four hit, three run performance on Sunday at Jingu.

On the eighth, Kentaro Kyuko (P) and Takahiro Araki (IF) were promoted from the topfarm team.

On the tenth, Kyohei Muranaka (P) and Shingo Kawabata (SS) were demoted. Kawabata is injured, and Muranaka is struggling.

On the 12th, both Aikawa (C) and Yuhei (OF) were brought back up to the top squad. Aikawa is coming off of a toe injury, and Yuhei has rejoined the struggle to find a viable and durable option in center field.

On the 15th, it was announced that Hitoshi Yamamoto (P) will have TJ surgery on his throwing arm (right) and is out for the rest of the season. Yamamoto made 12 appearances and pitched 55 innings for the Swallows last season. He finished the year with a 4.25 ERA.

That left the following 28 players on the top team roster:

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

Catchers
Aikawa, Fukukawa, Nakamura

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

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

Tateyama was the CL pitching MVP for March-April, 2012.

League Honors

In case you haven’t heard, Shohei Tateyama (P) and Wladimir Balentien (P) were March-April monthly MVPs for the Central League, and it’s the first time since 1997 that Tokyo has had a player win the pitcher and position player categories in the same month!

Sponsored by Nihon Seimei, it was the second time that both players had won the award.

Tateyama last won monthly MVP honors in August of 2010. This time around, he was 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA through 34 innings of work.

Balentien won May honors last year, and he finished the first month-and-a-bit of 2012 with a .308 average and 16 RBI on 24-78 hitting.

The last Tokyo duo to bring home top Central League honors in the same month were batterymates Atsuya Furuta (C) and Kazuhisa Ishii (P) in September 12 years ago.

Nice work, gents! Now if we could just hold on to first place.

From the Farm

The mini birds had an even worse week despite spending the whole time at home. Tokyo started the week off by dropping and drawing a game versus the visiting mini Giants before seeing game three get rained out up in Toda.

They then dropped three straight afternoon games to the mini Chiba Marines.

There’s not a whole lot to report that will excite anyone that is a regular in these parts. Onodera (P) continues to be effective, and Tetsuto Yamada (IF) is hitting well in the leadoff position. Other than that, Yoshinori’s little brother is the the next most exciting thing going on down there. And no, Yoshinori hasn’t made an appearance recently. Think they’ll eventually think about taking his face off of all the walls in Gaienmae soon?

The Week Ahead

It’s interleague time, folks! Tokyo hosts Fukuoka on Wednesday and Thursday after an extra day off, and then Orix comes to town for a weekend series at Jingu. All games start at 6PM. This is the time of year, of course, when we finally have a reason to root for Pacific League teams. May they beat everyone but us. Badly.

Tokyo's lone winning pitcher from last week.

OK, that’s it for this week. Please excuse me while I find some inspiration to do what’s right.

Yomiuri Giants  1

Tokyo Swallows 1

Streak: 1 tie  Last 5: LLLWD

(Akita Komachi Stadium)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 – 1 Final

Random thoughts (Notes):

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

  The intelligent looking Hara.

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

Tokyo Swallows 0

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: LWWLL

(Toyohashi Stadium)

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

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

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

Yamai proved too much for Tokyo to handle

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes:

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

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

MVP!!

And another!!

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/08/5812-chunichi-away/feed/ 4 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/07/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-7th-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-7th-2012 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/07/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-7th-2012/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 05:44:01 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12514 Hello, all you Swallowers! Here’s something to read while claiming your shark repellent spray refund.

Miyamoto’s Meikyukai Induction

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

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

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

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

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

Swallows of the Week

Week 5

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

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

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

Week 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roster Updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

Catchers
Fukukawa, Nakamura

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

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

From the Farm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Around the Central League

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Week Ahead

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

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

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

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

Former Swallows

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

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

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

Standing ovation for Tokyo's legendary third baseman.

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

Drink up.

Hiroshima Carp  6

Tokyo Swallows  0

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: WLWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3-0 Hiroshima.

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

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

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

Enjoy your time in Toda, Mr. Watanabe.

6-0 Final.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/06/5612-hiroshima-home/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/01/5112-yokohama-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5112-yokohama-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/01/5112-yokohama-away/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 10:37:41 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12494 May 1st, 2012

Tokyo Swallows 7

Yokohama BayStars  0

Streak: Won 2    Last 5: WWLWW

(Yokohama Stadium)

The last time the birds played the stars, they lost two on the trot. That ugly set of events transpired  April 10th, 11th, and 12th, and it was the first time this season that  any club dropped two in a row to the team from Yokohama. Hanshin has since repeated Tokyo’s performance at Yokohama Stadium, and the Swallows traveled a bit south of the Yamanote Line today hoping not to relive that embarrassment.

The Baystars are coming off a week in which they dropped four straight–overall they’ve lost five in a row following their glorious back-to-back wins over the Tigers. Also, they didn’t score more than three runs in any of those five games, and they were blanked in two of their last three games at Nagoya Dome.

In case you missed it, this week’s Snapshot has a complete summary of what’s been going on recently in the Central League.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	1	0	3	1	0	0	2	0	7	15	1
Yokohama	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
W: Ishikawa (2-3, 3.43 ERA) L: Yamamoto (1-3, 4.64 ERA)

Tokyo, on the other hand, are coming off of a week in which run production was less of a concern than it had been during the first weeks of April. The birds plated at least four runs in four of their last six games and are 10-3-1 since last meeting the Baystars.

Tokyo	Order	Yokohama
Tanaka (2B)	1	Ikki (RF)
Ueda (CF)	2	Morimoto (CF)
Milledge (LF)	3	Nakamura (3B)
Balentien (RF)	4	Ramirez (LF)
Kawabata (SS)	5	Yoshimura (1B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Watanabe (SS)
Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Yamazaki (2B)
Nakamura (C)	8	Tsuruoka (C)
Ishikawa (P)	9	Yamamoto (P)

Also in Tokyo’s favor was the fact that Yokohama finished the month of April with a team batting average of .192–worst in Japan by quite some margin.

On to the game report.

After Yamamoto pitched a perfect first, Balentien opened the scoring for Tokyo with a home run on a full count pitch that eventually landed in the bleachers in left. It was his seventh of the season.

1-0 Tokyo.

Kawabata hit a double down the line in right immediately after that, but nothing came of it when he was caught in a rundown between second and third on Miyamoto’s come-backer to the mound.

The Swallows threatened again in the top of the third thanks to Tanaka drawing a walk, getting bunted over to second, and advanced to third on Milledge’s grounder to short.

Balentien came out swinging and managed to drill the first pitch he saw right at Shiroishi in the third base coach’s box. It appeared to get him in the leg, but Shiroishi bounced back up. Balentien worked a walk after getting behind early 0-2.

With runners on the corners and two outs, Kawabata got tricked on an inside pitch and struck out swinging as he half hopped out of the way.

So the highlight of that inning was Shiroishi getting cracked in the leg.

In the top of the fouth, Miyamoto and Hatakeyama opened with back-to-back singles to left to make things interesting, but then Ogawa had another brain fart and asked Nakamura to bunt with the pitcher waiting in the on deck circle. To make matters worse, Nakamura’s bunt didn’t wander far enough from home plate, so Tsuruoka was able to pick it up and gun Miyamoto down at third.

Ishikawa was asked to bunt as well, and while he was successful at moving the runners over, a second red lamp was illuminated on the board.

After a 3-hit night, Miyamoto is just one hit shy of 2,000.

But everything turned out OK as Tanaka was there to save the day. He did well to protect the  plate and stay alive at 2-2, and he eventually pounced on a fastball, sending it over the head of former Swallow, Alex Ramirez, to clear the bases and leave Beavis standing safely on second.

3-0 Tokyo.

And just for good measure, Ueda followed with a stand-up triple for Tokyo’s fourth run.

4-0 Tokyo.

One more would have scored on Milledge’s hit to left center, but unfortunately he was robbed by Morimoto with a nice sliding catch the like’s of which once broke Hideki Matsui’s wrist back when he played for the Yankees.

The scoring resumed in the top of the fifth when Balentien blasted home run number eight into the very top of the bleachers in left center just a few feet shy of the picnic area at the top.

5-0 Tokyo.

And before the travelling Swallows fan could even pick up their plastic bangers after putting down their mini umbrellas, Miyamoto and Hatakeyama had once again strung together back-to-back hits which left runners on the corners for Nakamura. No more runs scored, but Miyamoto’s second hit of the game means that he’s only two away from induction into the Meikyukai.

The big question now becomes whether he’ll reach the milestone in Yokohama or when the team returns too Jingu this weekend.

There has been talk of keeping him out of the lineup if he looks likely to reach 2,000 hits away from Jingu. Normally I’m against putting individual accolades ahead of the everyday business of winning baseball games, but we’re currently dicking on Yokohama, so I’m willing to listen to other opinions today.

Kobayashi replaced Yamamoto on the mound for Yokohama in the sixth, and Tanaka quickly welcomed him to the game by slapping a single into left.

Nothing else of consequence happened during the inning, but the Swallows continue to look pretty confident at the plate.

The big question going forward is whether or not Ishikawa can keep the ball in the park. He nearly gave up a huge home run to Yoshimura earlier (drifted foul) on a ball left up in the zone.

But since I’m typing this as I watch the game, I must admit that Ishikawa made the bottom of the sixth look pretty easy. It only took six pitches.

Miyamoto was at the plate for his scheduled at-bat in the top of the seventh with Fujie now pitching for the Baystars. He once again grounded past the diving Watanabe at short (Nakamura’s defensive range is just slightly wider than the circumference of his generous gut), leaving him just one hit shy of 2,000 career hits.

This also marked his second three-hit game of the 2012 season.

Our Nakamura also singled, but with two outs on the board and Ishikawa at the plate, there wasn’t much else that we could ask for.

The first time that Yokohama got two runners on base was in the bottom of the seventh when Nakamura (Yokohama’s pudgy third baseman, not our fantastically talented catcher) singled for his second hit of the game, and then Ishikawa beaned Watanabe to put runners on first and second.

But Ishikawa worked his way out of trouble as he always does and joined his teammates on the bench having thrown 113 pitches through seven shutout innings.

Shinohara took the mound for Yokohama in the top of the eighth and gave up a one out single to Ueda, his second hit of the evening. Milledge flew out in foul territory over by the wall behind first base, but Balentien decided to leave a parting shot. 1-2 fastball, BANG. Round-tripper number three of the game for Coco.

7-0 Swallows.

Shinohara retaliated by pegging Kawabata in the ribs (he tried to hit him on the first pitch, but it wasn’t far enough inside). The second pitch got him. But that didn’t dampen the party for the contingent of Swallows fans in the left field stands.

Yamaguchi took the mound for the Baystars in the top of the ninth, and allowed Hatakeyama’s third hit of the game, a single to right.

Is it just me, or is Hatakeyama hitting almost exclusively to the opposite field so far this season? Two of his three hits tonight were to right field. Can someone check on that and get back to me?

Anyway, no runs scored in the top of the ninth, and Ishikawa again took the mound in the bottom of the ninth to try and go for a complete game shutout.

Moirioka and Noguchi came in as defensive replacements at third and first, respectively.

Unfortunately, Yokohama’s Nakamura was the first man up, and he smacked his second double of the game off the wall in right. Of Yokohama’s five hits tonight, Nakamura had three of them.

Two outs later, Watanabe drew a rare Ishikawa walk (ie. sorry for hitting you in your last at-bat), but it wasn’t enough as Yamazaki popped up harmlessly to Noguchi at first to end the game.

It was Ishikawa’s first complete game shutout since September 28th of 2010. That game also took place at Yokohama Stadium.

Pitching:
Ishikawa threw a gargantuan 145 pitches today while going the full nine innings in his strongest showing since opening day against Yomiuri.

He gave up five hits, struck out five, gave Watanabe two free trips to first (HBP and BB) while shutting out Yokohama. His record improved to 2-3 and his ERA dropped significantly from 4.45 to 3.43.

Hitting:
OK, Balentien was the obvious standout here, but there are several players worthy of praise here. After all, the birds banged out a season high 15 hits today.

Balentien – three home runs (7th, 8th, and 9th of the season), four RBI, one walk. Crazy.

Hatakeyama – three hits, four total bases.

Miyamoto – three hits, just one more until he makes it into the Meikyukai.

Tanaka – two hits from five plate appearances today, one walk, two RBI. Plus a nice catch in shallow right field early in the game.

Ueda – also 2-5 with a run-scoring triple.

Notes:

In 12 games at Yokohama Stadium last year, Balentien hit .372 (16-43 at the plate) with seven homers and 16 RBI. Judging by today’s game, it’s perhaps fair to think that last year’s numbers were not an anomaly.

Interestingly, as soon as the game was over, Balentien grabbed all of his gear in the dugout and hurried out of sight so as not to be called back onto the field to crowd Ishikawa’s hero interview. Respect.

If the next two games go ahead as planned, and Miyamoto starts both of them, he will likely reach 2,000 hits in Yokohama. Not that that’s a bad thing.

Yokohama is apparently on pace to lose 100 games this year.

Chunichi beat Hanshin 1-0 tonight, so the birds and blue dragons are still tied at the top, eight games above five hundred.

Tomorrow’s game, if it doesn’t get rained out, will feature Yokohama’s Brandon (0-3, 3.98 ERA) versus Tokyo’s Muranaka (3-0, 2.18 ERA).

Tokyo tied the season series with the Baystars 2-2 with tonight’s win. Game five of the series is tomorrow night in Yokohama, and if it doesn’t rain too hard then the game will start at 6 PM.

Website Updates

Apologies for the delay, but we finally set up a game schedule up on the front page. We didn’t have one on there last season due to space limitations, but we think that you’ll find this year’s solution to be a workable one. Scroll down to the bottom of the front page for a look at Tokyo’s upcoming schedule as well as the Central and Pacific League Standings. Oh, and there’s a list of the community selections for Swallows of the Week down on the right.

Swallows of the Week

Week 4

Last week you chose your favorite from among five outstanding performers: Katsuki Akagawa (P), Wladimir Balentien (RF), Tony Barnette (P), Shingo Kawabata (SS), and Orlando Roman (P).

28 people cast their vote this time around, and here’s what you decided:

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	13	46
Tony Barnette	7	25
Shingo Kawabata	5	18
Katsuki Akagawa	2	7
Orlando Roman	1	4

Nicely done, Mr. Balentien! Coco was a force in week five as well, so it should be interesting to see if he can be the first player to ring it up twice here in the voting. At any rate, we’re enthused that he’s helping the team so much. Love, love, love! his improved control of the strike zone and hustle in the field. Long may it last!

Week 5

Tokyo played six games in the fifth week of the 2012 season. Three of those were played in the rain at Jingu, and the other three were day games at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima.

Tokyo outscored Chunichi 9-4 in the three game series that they hosted last week, and including the rough day against Hiroshima’s young Nomura on Sunday the birds outpaced the Carp 13-8.

Game reports:

April 24th vs Chunichi (Home) 4-1 W
April 25th vs Chunichi (Home) 1-1 D
April 26th vs Chunichi (Home) 4-2 W
April 28th vs Hiroshima (Away) 6-4 W
April 29th vs Hiroshima (Away) 0-3 L
April 30th vs Hiroshima (Away) 7-1 W

And here are the top-performing birds from week 5:

Wladimir Balentien (RF) comes fresh off of his first ever SOW win with another solid performance in week 5. He hit .304 last week (7-23 at the plate) with three walks and seven RBI. He hit another two home runs in week 5, including that three-run dinger that helped the team steal game one of its just-finished series against Hiroshima.

Tony Barnette (P) notched three saves last week and appeared in the first four games of the week. That was good enough for the most innings pitched of any reliever. Over four innings of work, Tony struck out two while allowing three hits and no walks. He has yet to surrender a run this season (0.00 ERA).

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B) had a bit of a breakout week while continuing to toil in the 7-hole. He was 8-22 at the plate (.364 average) with a double and a triple (gasp!) this week. He also drove in five runs and added two walks. Give the man some more pudding.

Lastings Milledge (LF) was awesome this week. He hit .391 and was a team-leading 9-23 at the plate with three doubles, a game-changing home run, three RBI, and three walks. And I daresay that his aggressiveness in left field is having a ripple effect in right. Oh, and he’s a sure bet to get waved home. I lost count, but Lastings slid home safely several times this week.

Shohei Tateyama (P) is at the end of this list due solely to alphabetical concerns. Tokyo’s true ace won two games this week, and that’s no mean feat. 13 innings pitched, 10 hits, 5 K, 5 BB, and just two earned runs–not too shabby. He co-shares the league lead in wins (3) and winning percentage (perfect!).

Let us know what you think! And as always, please vote only once.

Roster Updates

Rookie Hiyane (CF) was dropped to the farm on the 23rd due to some general greenness at the plate and in the field, and a complete inability to use his speed to swipe second base.

Utility infielder, Noguchi, was promoted on the 24th and featured as a pinch runner and defensive replacement at third last week.

Second year shortstop, Tetsuto Yamada, was dropped on the 27th in order to get some actual playing time, and speedster Miwa (INF) was promoted a day later to provide another pinch-running option.

The active roster, as of game time on the 30th, looked like this:

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

Catchers
Nitta, Fukukawa, Nakamura

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

Outfielders
Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge, Ueda

From the Farm

The team announced that an Eastern League game was scheduled for May 17th at Toda against Saitama. You can check the farm team’s full schedule here (link in Japanese).

Tokyo’s game against Rakuten on the 27th was rained out, but the little birds won three of the four games that they played last week (results for Monday’s game against Saitama were not available when this article was published).

Lim pitched in a few games last week and earned a couple of saves but also got shelled in his outing yesterday against Saitama. If the bullpen holds together over the next few days, that could mean that Roman gets at least one more start on the top team.

Onodera continues to look pretty sharp, and it looks like Kyuko is getting a little bit of work in. I didn’t see Yoshinori’s name anywhere though.

Around the Central

Tokyo finished the week with 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. They took two of three from Chunichi in the rain at Jingu (one tie game), and two of three from the Carp in Hiroshima. They’re tied with Chunichi for first place in the Central League.

Chunichi finished the week 3-2-1. They lost two of three to Tokyo (one tie), and then swept Yokohama at Nagoya Dome. They’re tied at the top with your Tokyo Swallows.

Hanshin finished the week 2-3-1. They took two of three from Hiroshima at Koshien Stadium, and then lost two and drew one against Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome. Tossers. Hanshin are 2.5 games behind the first place tie of Tokyo and Chunichi.

Hiroshima finished the week 2-4. They lost two of three against the Tigers in Hanshin territory, and then they dropped another two at home to the Tokyo Swallows. They remain 2 games behind the third place Tigers and 4.5 behind Tokyo and Chunichi in first.

Yomiuri finished the week 3-0-1. They won one game against Yokohama in Kagoshima (the other game got rained out), and then won two and drew one at home against the Hanshin Tigers. Yomiuri are one game behind Hiroshima in fifth place.

Yokohama finished the week 0-4. They didn’t win a game this week against either the Yomiuri Giants or the Chunichi Dragons. Sixth place and three games behind the Giants.

The Week Ahead

Tokyo are headed straight to Yokohama for a three game series against the last-placed Baystars. The games on Tuesday and Wednesday both start at 6pm, but the game on Thursday starts at 2pm. Ishikawa will start for the birds on Tuesday.

Don’t be too surprised if the outfield bleacher seats are all reserved (ie. more expensive than normal) as Yokohama has a history of gouging during Golden Week.

Also, the weather looks kind of iffy, so plan accordingly. If the game gets rained out, and you’ve got extra time on your hands in the Kannai/Bashamichi area, stop by the Baird Bashamichi Taproom for a couple of brews and some BBQ ribs.

The final third of Tokyo’s current nine-game marathon will be played at the lovely Jingu Stadium Friday to Sunday. Friday’s game starts at 3pm, but the two weekend games are scheduled for 6pm starts. If the weather’s nice, those games could see some pretty healthy attendance, so arrive early if you’re part of a decent-sized group (four or more) or are picky about where you sit.

Former Swallows

Alex Ramirez (Tokyo player from 2001-07) didn’t start against the Dragons on Saturday or Sunday. The manager is apparently worried about his conditioning and wants him to get his legs back in shape. Ramirez did start yesterday, however, and was 0-3. He’s currently hitting .215/.227/.262.

Atsunori Inaba (Tokyo player from 1995-2004) joined the Meikyukai on Saturday after recording his 2,000th hit in a game against Tohoku in Sendai. Check this post for some excellent factoids related to Inaba’s feat.

Alright, please excuse me while I tune in to the derby.

Drink up!

Tokyo Swallows 7

 Hiroshima Carp 1

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: DWWLW

(Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima)

Yesterday Tokyo ran headlong into a masterful performance by early rookie-of-the-year candidate, Yusuke Nomura. The 22-year-old drafted out of Meiji University threw his slider wherever he wanted and induced 14 groundouts from the 25 batters he faced (1 H, 4 K, 2 BB).

And today looked like it might be another long day for the Tokyo bats as Hiroshima’s ace, Kenta Maeda, brought his own lethal slider with him as he took the mound on a rainy afternoon at Mazda Stadium.

Maeda (3-1, 0.97 ERA) had won his last three decisions and hadn’t given up more than one since his opening day start at Nagoya Dome back in March. Yikes.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	1	3	3	0	0	7	10	1
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	0
W: Tateyama (3-0, 1.85 ERA) L: Maeda (3-2, 1.67 ERA)

Tokyo’s ace, Shohei Tateyama (2-0, 2.00 ERA) started for the Swallows and hoped to win his third consecutive start.

Yuhei was called upon to roam center field in place of Ueda who was perhaps being dealt some thinking time on the bench after his rather inexplicable error in center field yesterday.

	Tokyo		Hiroshima
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Soyogi (SS)
2	Yuhei (CF)	2	Higashide (2B)
3	Milledge (LF)	3	Hirose (RF)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Stavinoha (LF)
5	Kawabata (SS)	5	Maru (CF)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Iwamoto (1B)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Dohbayashi (3B)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Shirahama (C)
9	Tateyama (P)	9	Maeda (P)

You may recall that Maeda no-hit the Baystars back on April 6th. Well, he painted both sides of the plate with his slider early on and had a no-hitter going against us through four this afternoon.

His opposite number, Tateyama, didn’t get through the innings with quite as much ease as Maeda, he faced a bases-loaded jam in the second but got Maeda to strike out swinging to preserve the scoreless tie.

Tateyama pitched a solid seven innings and finally got some real run support.

Kawabata was the first Tokyo bat to finally get to Maeda in the fifth. It kind of makes sense that it was Kawabata since he hit .636 against Maeda last season. He grounded a 2-2 changeup just to the right of second base that the sprawling Higashide did very well to get to but was in no position to throw Kawabata out at first. Miyamoto quickly popped up to second for the first out, but then Hatakeyama sliced an outside slider into right field which allowed Kawabata to reach third standing up.

With runners on the corners, Nakamura very nearly surprised everyone with a safety squeeze bunt that drifted wide of the first base line. But three sliders later, he was able to bloop a single just behind first base that scored the crucial first run.

1-0 Tokyo.

Maybe watching all of those sliders yesterday when Nomura was pitching was good practice for the birds because they came right back at Maeda in the sixth. Yuhei grounded out for the second time in as many at-bats, but then Milledge worked a full count and ended up poking an outside slider into the corner in left for a stand-up double.

Balentien got ahead in the count during his ensuing at-bat and was able to wait for the fastball that he knew would be coming. He drove it to center field and Milledge was able to motor home from second.

2-0 Tokyo.

Balentien was able to hustle to second as Milledge was busy beating the throw home, and that brought Kawabata to the plate again with just one out on the board. Shingo drew a five pitch walk, and then Miyamoto juiced the bases with a single to center.

That brought Hatakeyama to the plate. Tokyo’s pudding-filled first baseman protected the outside of the plate marvelously in a nine pitch encounter that was 2-2 after four pitches but never budged after that. After that fourth pitch, Hatake fouled off four consecutive pitches and had Maeda scratching his head. The man who inspired the shape of the Tsubakuro costume came through on the ninth pitch with another hit to right which scored both Balentien and Kawabata.

4-0 Tokyo.

And that was it for Maeda. He was replaced by Nakamura in the seventh, but that did nothing to stop the bleeding. Tanaka and Ueda (batting for Yuhei) both grounded out to start things off, but Milledge reignited things with a single to left, and Balentien followed with a five pitch walk.

Kawabata punched a 1-1 fastball into left which was enough for a double and a plus-one on the board for the good guys as Milledge was once again able to score from second.

Just four hits to go.

5-0 Tokyo.

With Balentien on third and Kawabata on second, Miyamoto drove a 1-0 fastball into right which cleared the bases and allowed him to reach second safely.

7-0 Tokyo.

And that was it for the offensive onslaught from the Tokyo Swallows. But it was more than enough, and more than expected.

Tateyama surrendered a consolation run in the bottom of the seventh when Dohbayashi’s double was followed by a one out Matsuyama single.

7-1 Final.

Pitching:

Tateyama got the win, his third of the season, on seven innings and 106 pitches of work. He gave up six hits, struck out four, walked three, and gave up one earned run. His ERA is now 1.85.

Masubuchi pitched a perfect eighth, and his ERA is now down to 3.00.

Hidaka worked the ninth for the birds and had a minor fielding hiccup, but didn’t allow a runner past first. His ERA is still 0.00 through 11 appearances.

Hitting:

Milledge, Kawabata, Miyamoto, and Hatakeyama all had multi-hit games. Kawabata and Hatakeyama earn extra praise for reaching base a third time thanks to drawing a walk each.

Notes:

Maeda hadn’t given up a run since the seventh inning of his start against Hanshin on April 12th. The four earned runs he gave up today were the most he’s allowed so far this season.

Maeda was perhaps a bit unlucky to give up that first run as nobody was hitting him hard. If Nakamura’s hit had sailed six inches to the right it would have been foul.

Tateyama is tied with Tokyo’s Muranaka for the Central League lead in wins (3) and perfect winning percentage. He’s also currently tied for the team lead in innings pitched (34 with Akagawa), and leads outright in both strikeouts (23) and K/9 (6.09).

Tokyo won the series 2-1 and are now 4-1 against the Carp so far this season.

With Chunichi’s win against Yokohama this afternoon, the birds are still tied for first place with a 15-8-2 record.

Tokyo are now off to Yokohama for a three-game set