An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
June 10th, 2012 Saitama Seibu Lions 4 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WLWWL (Jingu Stadium) This game was crap. And soggy. The Swallows fielded a lineup that was very similar to the one they tried to put on the field for yesterday’s rained out game against the Chiba Marines. The rains [...]
May 31st, 2012 Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 5 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LLLLW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Alleluia!! Alleluia!! ALLLLEEEEELLLLLUUUUIIIIAAAAAA!!!! After one of the worst stretches of baseball that I witnessed in Japan, the Swallows bats came alive this fine evening. I suppose a special thanks goes out to Hokkaido’s [...]
Happy White Day. Tokyo Swallows The inimitable Gen Sueyoshi has published his additions/subtractions post for the 2012 Tokyo Swallows. On a scale of -10 to +10, how do you feel the team compares to its 2011 rendition? Chang-yong Lim may start the 2012 regular season on the farm team due to soreness in his throwing [...]
Here are a few things that you might not remember about the players currently on the Tokyo roster: In Fukuchi’s first year with the Swallows (2008), he hit .320/.366/.449. Keizo Kawashima stole 20 bags in his first year with the team (2008) while only getting caught once. However, in 2009 he stole eight but got [...]
There were rumblings back on December 27th in the Japanese press, just after the team went public with their successful acquisition of outfielder Lastings Milledge, that Tokyo was in the market for a starting pitcher import. Patrick Newman over at NPB Tracker, thanks in part to a helpful tweet, has once again tipped us off [...]
October 30th, 2011 Yomiuri Giants 6 Tokyo Swallows 2 Series: Tied 1-1 (Meiji Jingu Stadium) The Swallows were never really in control of this contest. That was evident throughout. Making it worse was the fact that the team never had a shot once we got deep into our bullpen. Uninspiring. Unhelpful. Unhappy. Unbe-Lim-able. Utsumi was [...]
October 13th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0 Chunichi Dragons 2 Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL (Nagoya Dome) It’s over folks. The Swallows lost 4 straight to the Dragons to fall 4.5 games behind the Dragons and saw the Dragons’ magic number shrink to 2. This game saw the Swallows’ send their only hot [...]
October 2nd, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 4 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWLLW (Yokohama Stadium) After watching its young pitchers get knocked about the park for the past two days, Tokyo looked to salvage a bit of pride against the recently very feisty BayStars. Tokyo opened the scoring on a solo Hatakeyama [...]
September 29th, 2011 Hanshin Tigers 4 Tokyo Swallows 7 Streak: Won 4 Last 5: LWWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Not quite as exciting as the MLB American League wildcard race, but the last few days at Jingu have been mightily enjoyable. Just like the two nights before, the Swallows came from behind to comfortably beat the [...]
September 28th, 2011 Hanshin Tigers 5 Tokyo Swallows 8 Streak: Won 3 Last 5: LLWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) The Swallows sent Shichijo to the mound after a 1 month stint in Toda, while the Tigers elected to send young Takumi Akiyama to the mound for his first start of the season. Akiyama had two strong [...]
