Tokyo Yakult Swallows  

Chiba Lotte Marines 

Streak: Lost 3  Last 5: LWLLL

(QVC Marine Field)

This evening’s game fell victim to a day of rain, and will be rescheduled for Thursday 24th at 6:15pm.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/22/52212-chiba-away-game-cancelled/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/15/2012-interleague-preview-part-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2012-interleague-preview-part-1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/15/2012-interleague-preview-part-1/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 06:10:36 +0000 Kozo http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12629 It’s that time of year again! When Central League teams face off against their Pacific League counterparts. Things will get started for the Swallows on Wednesday evening at Jingu when they face off against the defending Nippon Series Champion Hawks. The Interleague format hasn’t changed over the last couple of years, and if anyone needs a refresher they can go check out our 2010 Interleague Preview which lays out the nitty gritty of the system. The only major change is that starting pitcher announcements will now be made for Interleague games. The only other difference I can see reading the old preview is how much stronger the Japanese yen has gotten in the last 2 years. (50 million yen now gets you around 626,000 USD.)

While the goal is always going to be finishing with a better record than the 11 other teams and winning Interleague, being the top Central League team would be a fine consolation if we can’t top the table. Since every game ahead of a Central League rival is a game that the other team will have to make up in the Central League. In a 6 team league these games can come in handy late in the season when teams will be hitting each other and making advances up the table can be harder.

Last year the Swallows finished 6th overall with a 10-12-2 record, which was 3 games behind the Dragons who finished fourth overall with a 14-10 record. The Hawks won Interleague outright with a 18-4-2 record.

For those of you, who like me, are so Swallows-centric and don’t follow the Pacific League here’s s short blurb about the teams the Swallows will face and players to watch. This preview will cover the first 3 teams the Swallows will face. I’ll cover the next 3 teams next week.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks: The defending champions have been chugging along despite losing key plays like Toshiya Sugiuchi, Tsuyoshi Wada, D.J. Houlten, and Munenori Kawasaki. Despite pre-season predictions of decline the Hawks are still in the thick of the PL race with a 19-17-2 record, which is good for 3rd in the league. The Hawks’ continued success is largely related to their ability to hit the ball. Former major leaguer Wily Mo Peña leads the PL with 8 homers, with a healthy .288/.345/.545 slash line. Nobuhiro Matsuda and Seiichi Uchikawa also bring quality hitting to the line up. In terms of pitching, the only big name left in the Haws’ rotation is Tadashi Settsu who is having a good season, with a 5-0 record with a 1.51 ERA in 7 starts. The last storyline worth tracking is Hiroki Kokubo gunning for 2000 career hits. With only 4 more hits left to reach the milestone, it’s possible that Kokubo will reach the milestone at Jingu.

Orix Buffaloes: The Buffaloes were the trendy pick to do well this season, but so far things have been pretty glum for the Buffaloes. The addition of Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee has been a plus, but injuries to key players like T-Okada and Chihiro Kaneko have kept the Buffaloes from fielding their optimal lineup. The result has been a fight for the PL cellar with the Seibu Lions (more on that next week). Things may be looking up for the Buffaloes as Kaneko has looked good in his 2 starts this season, and Okada has recently rejoined the team. 10 year vet and former Giant Hiroshi Kisanuki has gotten off to a fairly hot start for the Buffaloes with a 1.87 ERA over 6 starts, including 2 complete games. Last year’s PL Interleague MVP, Tomotaka Sakaguchi has been showing his age with a .225/.250/.252 slash.

Chiba Lotte Marines: The Marines have rebounded nicely from the 2011 PL cellar, and currently top the PL. The Marines’ resurgence can be attributed in part to a strong rotation bolstered by the addition of the glad-to-leave-the Giants Seth Greisinger and rookie phenom Takahiro Fujioka to the duo of Yoshihisa Naruse and Yuki Karakawa. While Fujioka has gotten most of the rookie attention, Naoki Masuda has also contributed big time in his first season stabilizing the Marine’s bullpen. Another glad-to-leave-the Giants is Saburo who leads the team in OBP. Tadahito Iguchi is also putting up his usual solid early season numbers (.304/.367/.448). But otherwise, the Marines lineup lacks pop, and is overshadowed by their pitching.

The Swallows go into Interleague on a somewhat down note having lost 3 of their last 3 games, and seeing even more of their starters (Kawabata and Muranaka) be sent down to the farm. However, the lax Interleague scheduling will allow the team to give their pitchers plenty of rest and will hopefully give some players the chance to come back.

Guiel has re-signed with Kansas City and is looking to become a coach in the Royals minor league system.

Tokyo Swallows

• Wladimir Balentien is having some right elbow issues and hasn’t been able to practice at 100%. It seems like Ogawa is starting to get a little impatient (link in Japanese). Balentien didn’t play in Tokyo’s pre-season game against Hanshin on Saturday.
• Tokyo beat Hokkaido 3-0 in a practice game on Thursday February 23rd. Tetsuto Yamada was three for four at the plate including a solo homer in the ninth. Milledge came up with Tokyo’s first RBI. Masubuchi started and didn’t allow any runs during his four innings of work.
• Tokyo’s farm team lost to Chiba’s farm team 1-4 on Friday February 24th. Fernandes started for Tokyo and gave up two runs over three innings of work.
• Tokyo beat Hanshin 3-2 in an exhibition game on Saturday February 25th. Roman pitched the third through sixth innings and gave up one earned run from five hits. He ended up getting the win thanks partly to leadoff hitter, Ueda’s, two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

And in former Tokyo Swallows

• As mentioned earlier, Aoki now has a tougher climb to an everyday starting position in Milwaukee’s outfield. In a hearing that we never should have known about, 2011 MVP Ryan Braun argued successfully that his urine sample was tainted by improper handling. We still need to wait roughly a month to hear what the arbitrator’s report has to say, but apparently Braun’s lawyers were able to demonstrate how the improper handling of Braun’s sample can scientifically lead to an elevated testosterone reading. In other words, it wasn’t a technicality. Read this article for a good summary of all that’s been written over the past several days. Anyway, Aoki’s unveiling at spring camp in Maryvale has been completely consumed by what is probably the biggest story of the MLB off-season.
• Aaron Guiel signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals. He’s technically a player, but the team is looking to try and phase him into their system as a coach.

Yokohama marks his third team in the Kanto region.

• Free agent LHP Wei-ying Chen signed with Baltimore. It’s a three-year deal that consequently puts a serious dent in Chunichi’s ability to keep opposing teams off the board. Cheers to that!

Yomiuri Giants

• Sounds like the Giants may be about to sign utility INF/OF John Bowker who was recently released by the Phillies.

Hanshin Tigers

• Closer Fujikawa got pretty riled up about the absolutely appalling state of uncleanliness that some of the new recruits left the Naruohama pitching area in.

Hiroshima Carp

• The Carp were hopeful about a Hiroki Kuroda return, but he said no. But they’re still planning to keep waiting. Little bit of Hachiko action going on there if I’m not mistaken.

Yokohama Baystars

• It seems like new Yokohama manager, Nakahata, is training as hard as anyone on the team.
• The team selected journeyman and former Tokyo Swallows pitcher, Shugo Fujii, as part of the compensation deal for losing INF Shuichi Murata through free agency to Yomiuri.

Around NPB

• Former Yomiuri starting pitcher (who played for the Swallows before that), Seth Greisinger, signed a one-year deal with the Chiba Marines.
• After a swing and miss with the Yankees, Nakajima re-signed with his old club, the Saitama (Seibu) Lions. It’s a one-year deal reportedly worth 280 million yen (US$3.6 million by today’s exchange rate).

Whitesell was unfortunately the odd-man-out in 2011.

Bio

Josh was born in Durham, North Carolina on April 14, 1982, and played high school baseball in Rialto, California.

He later played college ball for Loyola Marymount University and was a top level student-athlete throughout his time as an amateur baseball player.

His freshman year, 2001, ended on a sour and painful note when he tore the labrum in his left shoulder while diving back into first base on a pick-off attempt by the pitcher. That was effectively the end of his days as a pitcher, but fortunately Josh was a very successful hitter as well.

Indeed, his power at the plate would carry him into the pros.

After hitting .340/.471/.736 during his junior year of university, he was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the sixth round of the 2003 draft.

Professional Baseball

Whitesell made steady progress during his time in the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals minor league system, and he was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks before the beginning of the 2008 season. He would go on to be voted the Diamondbacks most valuable minor league player that year. He had a brief stint with the top club that season as well.

Whitesell played first base for the Arizona Diamondbacks for portions of the 2008 and 2009 seasons. His MLB slash-line over 115 at-bats was .200/.352/.313. Unfortunately, Whitesell was never given a consistent look at first base in the majors and largely ended up yoyoing back and forth between MLB and AAA. Many observers believe that he could easily have nailed down the everyday job at first base, especially against right hand pitching, if he had been given more than a couple of weeks at a time to settle in and get used to playing baseball at the top level.

Welcome to Japan!

Josh Whitesell was signed by the Tokyo Swallows just after the end of the miserable Takada era to compete with Jamie D’Antona for the starting job at first base. Despite Takada’s unceremonious resignation at the end of May, 2010, Whitesell was still signed away from the Washington Nationals’ AAA affiliate, Syracuse, to help provide some pop from the left side of the plate.

Whitesell hit the ground running and had an immediate impact despite having missed more than two full months of the season. He ended up playing in 68 games that year and batted .309 and had a .991 OPS with 15 home runs and 136 total bases. Interestingly, he hit better against lefties (.371) than righties (.286) in 2010 which was not entirely in line with his scouting report. In 2011, however, he hit just .205 against southpaws and .264 against righties.

Even though the surgery he had back in 2001 to repair his labrum was successful, it has left him favoring a sidearm throwing motion that is more comfortable for him and effectively prevents him from making a transition to the outfield. While quite unorthodox for a first baseman, his sidearm technique is highly accurate and he has shown good glove work in Japan.

Whitesell re-signed with the Swallows for the 2011 season but saw limited action at first thanks to a breakout year from Hatakeyama. He logged only 299 at-bats and hit .247/.345/.428 in 2011.

Josh was released by the Tokyo Swallows following the 2011 season, and he signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Pacific League before the end of the year.

Stats

MLB Stats

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	Avg.	OBP	Slg.
2008	ARI	7	7	1	2	0	0	1	1	1	2	.286	.444	.714
2009	ARI	46	108	7	21	7	0	1	14	24	29	.194	.346	.287
MLB Total		53	115	8	23	7	0	2	15	25	31	.200	.352	.313

NPB Stats

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	Avg.	OBP	Slg.
2010	TOK	68	230	44	71	16	2	15	53	32	71	.309	.399	.591
2011	TOK	112	299	29	74	18	0	12	33	40	108	.247	.345	.428
NPB Total		180	529	73	145	34	2	27	86	72	179	.274	.369	.499

We spent a day hanging with Mr. Valentine back during the 2008 season when Tokyo sucked royally and Chiba was much better than they were this past season. We had a great time while we were out there, and Bobby had us laughing our asses off for a good portion of the afternoon.

Here’s a quick quip from Kepner over at the NY Times on why this is going to be a memorable transition for Red Sox Nation.

Chiba Lotte Marines 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LWWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The Swallows took advantage of a shaky Watanabe in the rain to win their only Interleague series.

Can anybody stop this man?

Tateyama got the start today and looked comfortable throughout. Even when he let runners get on base he managed to calmly and confidently get out of the jams. On the flip side submariner Watanabe had trouble locating his pitches and frequently got behind Swallows’ batters.

Watanabe managed to escape a 2-out men on the corners situation in the first inning, but wasn’t so lucky in the second inning. The inning began with a Miyamoto single to right. After falling behind to Fujimoto 3-1, Watanabe managed to get a fielder’s choice grounder to second to get one out. But Aikawa lined the first pitch he saw into left field to put two men on with 1 out. Tateyama was called on to bunt but popped up weakly to the catcher for out number 2. Aoki came up and just watched Watanabe throw junk outside the zone, and got a walk in only 5 pitches. So with 2 out and the bases loaded, Tuesday’s hero Tanaka came to the plate. Hiroyasu did not disappoint the home faithful as he got solid contact and split the gap in left field to get himself a bases clearing double. 3-0 Swallows

Aoki performed a weird head-first barrel roll into home to score the third run.

Staked with a early lead, pitched comfortably even as he allowed back-to-back singles in the fourth. Even with multiple base runners it never felt like the game was getting away from him. The Swallows also squandered a few chances, but as the rain began to fall after the third inning, there was a feeling in the outfield stands to get to the fifth inning quickly to make the game official. That being said, the rain never stopped play and didn’t seem to play a big factor for either team.

The Swallows biggest test came in the ninth when Tateyama gave up back-to-back singles to Ishimine and Iguchi to start the ninth inning. Tatyama battled Omatsu for 5 pitches in which Omatsu fouled off 4 pitches, before he got Omatsu to strikeout swinging on pitch number 6. With 1 out and 2 on, and the rain falling harder, the Swallows decided to call on Lim to close out the win for Tateyama. Lim did his job wonderfully, getting Imae to pop out to the infield before striking out Fukuura to end the game.

Tateyama got his 6th win of the season for his 129 pitch outing in which he allowed no walks, 7 hits and got 7 strikeouts in 8 and 1/3 innings. Tateyama’s ERA fell to 1.26 for the season, which now leads the Central League. Lim earned his 14th save of the season which puts him in a tie for the CL lead with Yokohama’s Yamaguchi.

It wasn’t all good news for the Swallows, however, as Fukuchi dislocated his left shoulder attempting to steal second in the seventh inning. He was taken off the field in a stretcher, and it is not yet clear if he will miss any games.

Tateyama and Tanaka were the Heros

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 

Chiba Lotte Marines 2

Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WLLWW

(QVC Marine Field)

Looking to pull themselves out of the Interleague cellar, the Birds took the field in the Great Cylinder (a.k.a. QVC Marine Field). Can the return of Aikawa do the trick?

For Tokyo:

P Yamamoto
1. Aoki
2. Tanaka
3. Whitesell
4. Hatakeyama
5. Balentien
6. Miyade
7. Miyamoto
8. Aikawa
9. Morioka

For Chiba:

P Yoshimi
1. Okada
2. Ishimine
3. Iguchi
4. Fukuura
5. Satozaki
6. Kiyota
7. Ohmatsu
8. Imae
9. Takahama

At the start, it looked like it might be another one of those Yamamoto starts: Despite notching two Ks in the first, he gave up an RBI to Fukuura, making it 1-0 Chiba.

In the second, with two outs, he gave up a solo HR to Imae, then struck out Takahama to end the inning. 2-0 Chiba.

In the top of the third, though, the Swallows broke their recent spell and put together a rally: With one out, Aoki and Tanaka both singled, Whitesell struck out, then Hatakeyama rapped an RBI double, followed by a Balentien walk, which was followed by a Miyade ground out, but not before Tanaka scored, tying the game, 2-2.

No further scoring was done over the next three innings, although Hatakeyama doubled again while Whitesell and Balentien both K-ed and Yamamoto hit Kiyota with a high inside pitch. Yamamoto continued his strike out-walk trade-offs while Yoshimi showed not much more control. In the bottom of the sixth, Ohno got a K and a BB before being replaced by Kyuko, who got a K and a pop out, which would get him his second win.

The top of seventh, though, started off a bit like the lucky third: Morioka out, Aoki single, but this time Tanaka got out on a liner, then Whitesell redeemed himself with an RBI double to center that would wind up being the game-winner. Ueda was put in to run for him and reached third as Hatake reached first on an Iguchi error at second, but Balentien struck out to end the inning. 3-2 Tokyo.

Hashimoto took the mound in the seventh, giving up one hit and striking one out. Oshimoto gave up a hit and a walk with one K in the eighth and Lim did the same in the ninth to earn his eleventh save of the season.

Ito and Yabuta both got to toss a few balls for the Marines, too.  Kyuko got the win for facing two batters at the right time. Yoshimi took the loss.

The Swallows host the Fighters on Friday. We here at the Tsubamegun are lobbying for them to give the Hokkaidoans the stale cookies.

This was the first time since the four-game winning streak of May 13th through 17th that Tokyo has won back-to-back games. It felt longer.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Chiba Lotte Marines 1

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LWLLW

(QVC Marine Field)

After their inept drubbing at the hands of Seibu on Sunday, the Swallows headed back to the scene of their lowest ebb under the previous manager to try and get the wheels back on their Inter-League campaign.

Us:

Tateyama (P)

Hatake punishes Lotte in the 6th

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Whitesell (DH)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Morioka (SS)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Fukuchi (LF)

Them:

Ohtani (P)

1. Okada (CF)
2. Ishimine (LF)
3. Iguchi (2B)
4. Fukuura (1B)
5. Satozaki (C)
6. Kiyota (RF)
7. Omatsu (DH)
8. Imae (3B)
9. Takahama (SS)

Tateyama started for the birds but didn’t get off to the best of starts in the 1st. He gave up what would be his only walk of the game to the second man he faced, which he followed up by allowing a single for Iguchi. A sacfly was then all that was needed from Fukuura to bring home the go-ahead run from third to make it 1-0 Chiba.

After that both starters were firmly in control of the game, and it looked like it would be the same old story for the impotent Tokyo offence as they managed just two hits through the first five innings.

But it was in the top of the 6th when the Swallows would get the kind of break that has deserted them of late. With two outs and the prospect of putting up yet another zero on the board, Tanaka hit a routine grounder to short. Only Takahama completely fluffed the throw to first allowing Tanaka to make it safely to second. Whitesell then worked a walk to occupy first before Hatakeyama hit one to the wall in left, scoring the two Tokyo men to put the score at 2-1 Tokyo.

With Tateyama holding onto the slender lead through to the end of the 8th, the Swallows then added an insurance run in the top of the 9th. Facing Marines’ reliever Itoh, Balentien got his second hit of the evening, a double off the rightfield fence. After Miyamoto flew out for the second out of the inning, Morioka hit an infield single to put men on the corners. Aikawa, back from his time on the bench (thank f*ck), then blooped one up the middle to score the big man from third for 3-1 Tokyo.

Lim took the mound for only the third time this Inter-League campaign in the bottom of the 9th, and despite completely losing the strike zone for a while as he gave up back to back one-out walks, he recovered his poise to bring home the crucial win with a 3-1 Tokyo Final.

Tateyama took the win (8IP/4H/4K/1BB/1ER) to put his record at 4-1/1.58. Now if we could only find a way to clone him.

Lim notched his 10th save of the year and his ERA now sits at 1.17.

Tokyo outhit Chiba 6-4 with Balentien (.358) the only Swallows player to manage more than the one hit.

After Araki’s pretty lousy performance on Sunday at shortstop, Morioka made some pretty impressive plays in the field tonight, which combined with the hustle he showed for his 9th inning infield single, should hopefully mean he gets a run in the team in Kawabata’s absence.

So let us hope it’s onwards and upwards for Tokyo as they return to Homeshoppingchannelwindyuglyconcretebowlbythebay tomorrow evening for the last game of the series.