For quite some time we’ve suspected personal issues/sheer idiocy have been getting in the way of team selection, particularly in the case of Aaron Guiel (whom Takada has a habit of continually benching against lefties) and also infielder Hiroyasu Tanaka who has been treated pretty badly at times during this season.

In fact let’s have a look at the justification for the last invocation of the Takada Count (from the October 2nd loss to the Carp):

TAKADA COUNT: 14. For continual unnecessary tinkering and abuse of the kind of players that really don’t deserve it. This is for the continual Guiel benching and treating Tanaka (one of the brightest younger players on this team may I add) like your personal bitch throughout a lot of this season. Even if Tanaka was injured, this one stands for repeated misdemeanours and due to the fact that it’s late in the season and I’m pretty much sick to the back teeth of your perpetual cluelessness not to mention your soulless overly blinky expression while watching your team eff up yet again. GET THE F*CK OUT OF MY BALLCLUB!! NOW!

But of course, up until this point it was simply our speculation, along with rumours amongst the Jingu faithful, that Takada let personal issues cloud his judgement. But the events of this week have got us thinking that there may be some truth to it.

A few nights back, a few of us decided to go out for dinner at a central Tokyo eatery and lo and behold, who should we see sitting across the room but a certain Jamie D’Antona, Tokyo’s power-hitting first baseman.

Now unlike some of the fans we know at Jingu, we’re no stalkers, so we didn’t really want to disturb Jamie while he was out enjoying a nice relaxing meal with some friends. But we did manage to grab a few words with him on our way out.

Is D'Antona being treated fairly?

Jamie was in good spirits, and we asked him if he was still suffering from his leg injury that had kept him out for a large chunk of August and he said he had been in fine shape for the last month or so. He was also looking forward to seeing more playing time and was hopeful of Tokyo reaching the Climax Series.

That was about all, and we then left him to get back to his evening sans a bunch of gawping Tokyo fans.

But the few words we had with him got us thinking. The official story is that Jamie has been struggling with a niggling injury that has been keeping him from starting more games, but according to the man himself, he’s fighting fit. What gives?

Since returning from his injury at then end of August, he’s started in 14 games in September, featuring as a pinch-hitter in 6 games and not featuring at all in 6 games. The continual benching of him by Takada in the latter half of September must have been due  to injury, right?

Now remember, this is the player that:

• Won the monthly MVP award for July, and a guy that played a large part in Tokyo’s excellent first half of the season. It could be argued that the sharp decline in the Swallows’ fortunes and form started with D’Antona’s injury.
• Is still hitting .279 for the year (the 3rd best average among Yakult’s top team regulars).
• Still leads the team in RBIs with 80.
• Has the highest average on the team with runners in scoring position at .338.
• Has a slugging percentage of .484, second only to Aaron Guiel on the team. His home run total of 20 is also second only to the Canadian outfielder.

Surely this is the kind of guy you would want on your team, especially given the horrific slide the Swallows were in during that month. So if he wasn’t struggling with an injury (as was reported) then there must have been some other reason for his sporadic appearances for the top team.

But it gets worse in October. After starting the first three games of the month against the Carp, Tigers and Giants he has not started a game since. He was used as a 9th inning pinch-hitter in the 10/6 game against Yokohama, didn’t feature in the 10/7 game against the same opposition, was a late inning pinch-hitter again for the 10/8 against the Tigers before not featuring at all in the decisive game against Hanshin on 10/9.

A few observations:

• Jamie’s October fall out of favour coincides with Takada’s announcement that he was returning to the Swallows’ managerial seat in 2010. After the announcement was made after the loss to Yomiuri on the 4th of October, Jamie hasn’t featured at all. A sign that Takada doesn’t fancy him and won’t be bringing him back next year as he’s now concentrating on the players he wants playing for him in 2010?
• Bear in mind the absolutely terrible injury problems faced by the team during the final stretch of this season. In the infield alone, Aikawa, Tanaka, Keizo Kawashima and Miyamoto were all suffering from injury. We also thought Jamie was amongst them, leading to inexperienced/backup players such as Kajimoto, Noguchi and Hatakeyama being inserted into the starting lineup for some hugely important games. At first base alone, we’ve seen Hatakeyama and Noguchi feature in the field during this last week, all of them inferior first basemen, both with the bat and the glove, to D’Antona. Fine if he was injured, but he wasn’t. It would appear that Jamie’s exclusion is personal.
• As I mentioned earlier, he did not feature at all in the decisive game against the Tigers. Only Hanshin’s starter that day was the lefty Iwata, against which D’Antona has gone 3 for 5 against this season. Now, the starting lineup for that game included the likes of Hatakayama and Noguchi, both of whom went hitless in the game. Why on earth leave a healthy player on the bench for such a key game who has such a good record against the opposition’s starter, unless it’s personal?

Now with the Climax Series against the supremely strong Chunichi Dragons a week away, surely we want our strongest available lineup on the field to stand any chance of winning. And that strongest lineup includes D’Antona, but if the manager is benching a player for personal reasons to the detriment of the team, it just confirms what we’ve always thought: this is a man who should be no where near the managerial seat of a professional baseball team.

So to Jamie (though I doubt he’s much of a Tsubamegun reader…), we hope you see more playing time this year as boy could we do with the help against the Dragons. We hope you earn yourself a new contract and will be back with the team next year as (to the eyes of this writer at least) you deserve it.

If not, then we wish you all the best in the future, wherever it may be. In an ideal world we’d like to see you back and Takada out in 2010. But the Swallows have never been the smartest of organisations (that’s putting it mildly), with a history of undervaluing their foreign talent.

And to Takada: F*uck off. Please. We don’t want you anymore. Climax Series or not, you’re still, and will always be, a chump.

Hanshin Tigers 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Won 4      Last 5:  LWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Whisper it, we are A-Class. No f*uck that. Shout it from the rooftops, WE ARE A-CLASS!!

In the biggest game the Swallows have faced in years, they did what was necessary and beat the Hanshin Tigers to secure 3rd place in the CL and the Climax Series place that goes with it. Savour it. We will be travelling to Nagoya to face the Dragons a week tomorrow.

Bring. It. On.

In front of over 30,000 fans in a packed to the rafters Jingu, a stadium in which the Swallows fans at least equalled, if not exceeded in numbers those of Hanshin (not been able  to say that for quite a few years), Tokyo lined up as thus:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Noguchi (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Ishikawa (P)

Takada just had to get his oar in tonight, messing with the lineup that had proved so effective for the last few games, replacing Kajimoto with Noguchi and Yuichi with FataHatakeyama. At least he didn’t replace Guiel which we feared he might as the lineup was being announced, though he did move him from the no.5 to the no.6 slot..

And so to the game. The two team aces, Shohei Tateyama and Masanori Ishikawa were being entrusted with taking the Swallows to the CS at the expense of the Tigers, and after the former pitched a superb complete-game shutout the night before, all eyes were on Ishikawa to see if he could bring it home for Yakult.

Tokyo faced off against Tigers starter Iwata, and got off on the right foot in the bottom of the 1st.

Fukuchi led off with a single before being bunted along to second by Noguchi for the first out of the inning. Miyamoto then hit and infield single to put men on first and second before Aoki came to the plate. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance into scoring positions, as Aoki dug in at the plate. After quite a battle, he hit the ninth pitch he saw through the gap between second and third and a run scored for 1-0 Tokyo with runners now at the corners with one out.

Next man up Hatakeyama blew the chance to extend the lead as he hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the top of the 2nd, two singles and an intentional walk for the Tigers’ no.8 hitter Kanoh loaded the bases for Iwata, but despite the pitcher making decent contact with the ball, it was taken by Onizaki who threw to second to make the final out of the inning and the runners were stranded.

In the bottom of the inning,  a Guiel leadoff double wasn’t capitalised on, as he ended up being stranded at third.

The Swallows eventually extended their lead in the 6th, with walks for Aoki and Guiel putting men on first and second with two outs. The unlikely hero of the night before, Kawamoto, poked one up the middle and it was 2-0. Onizaki was then given a free pass to first to load the bases before Ishikawa grounded out to end the inning.

Tokyo then gifted Hanshin the opportunity to get back in the game in the top of the 7th. Sakurai led off the inning with a single before Kanoh hit a grounder to short that had double play written all over it. Onizaki however let the ball past him and the Tigers had runners on the corners with no outs. After pitcher Iwata had twice tried and failed to bring runners home earlier in the game, Takahashi came in to pinch-hit. He hit a liner to center and the lead was halved as it was 2-1 as Tigers runners occupied first and second. A Hirano groundout and a Sekimoto flyout then put two outs on the board.

Toritani hit a fierce grounder to second which was stopped by the diving Morioka (in for Hatakeyama and occupying second, with Noguchi moving to first) but he couldn’t field the ball and the bases were loaded for the rather long in the tooth Kanemoto. He hit a fly ball to behind the plate which was taken by Kawamoto and more runners were stranded.

In the 8th Atchison took the mound for Hanshin, for his (quite ridiculously) 75th outing of the year.  Fukuchi reached second after a walk and trademark steal,  before making third on a Noguchi bunt. Miyamoto hit a single to right and things were a little more comfy at 3-1 Tokyo.

In the bottom of the inning, an Arai double and a Brazell groundout put a runner on third with one out. Takada then called closer Lim to the mound, after which no other reliever left the bullpen to warm up. It was clear that Lim was given the task of bringing home the win for Tokyo. A strikeout and flyout got Lim two of the five outs he needed in order to accomplish his brief and the 8th was done.

In the 9th Lim walked pinch-hitter Katsuragi to start the inning, but a Hirano ground out, a Hiyama strikout put the Swallows just one out away from their goal. Toritani obliged with a flyout to centre and it was mission accomplished, 3-1 Tokyo Final.

Ishikawa took the win after his 7 and 1/3 innings of five-hit one-run baseball, with two Ks and two BBs. He, as we suspected he would, came up with the goods when required to put his record at 13-7/3.54.

Lim earned his 28th save of the year with his ERA now down to 2.05.

Tokyo were outhit 8-6, the Swallows’ hits coming from Fukuchi (.271), Aoki (.303), Guiel (.266) and Kawamoto (.180), all with a hit apiece, and the quite simply superhuman Miyamoto (.294) with two hits.

A few thoughts:

• Miyamoto is the MF man. Playing an enormous role down the stretch and all with a fractured thumb on his throwing hand. He is without doubt the current holder of the Mr.Swallows title. Shinya, you have my everlasting respect.
• Jingu was as busy as I’ve seen it since the Furuta retirement game. Great atmosphere, but huge lines for toilets and concessions showed that Jingu is more comfortable with it’s more regular 15,000 or so inhabitants.
• Where did all those extra Swallows fans come from? The same fans that chanted Takada’s name at the end of the game. I shouted that we didn’t need him next year, and called them all idiots for cheering him. Party pooper? No. Just not a fuktard.
• Never seen the team so hyped for as long as I can remember. Outs were accompanied by punching of the air and a real sense of fight by the Tokyo players and staff alike. Love it. Can we have that passion every game next year please?
• Aoki looked absolutely elated at the end of the game. Finally he gets a reward for his stellar seasons during what has been a barren spell for the Swallows.

The season series ended at 15-9 in the Swallows’ favour. The only teams Tokyo have a losing record against are the first-placed Orange Fuktards and the last-placed Baystars. Go figure.

This is Tokyo’s first A-Class finish since 2006, when they also finished 3rd. This is the first time in five years that the Tigers have finished in their more historically accurate B-Class position.

So, on to the Climax series which starts in Nagoya against the Chunchi Dragons next Saturday.

Between now and then is a game against the Dragons on Sunday before the final home game of the year (unless we make the Nippon Series) Monday against Yomiuri. Both now have little meaning as the Swallows are now 1.5 games clear of 4th and 11.5 behind 2nd. We’re all waiting for the real stuff to start next week.

Can’t wait.