Tokyo Swallows 1

Saitama Seibu Lions 10

Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: DLWLL

(Seibu Dome)

Add pinches of shoddy fielding to a large helping of inept control on the mound, and the result is an absolute drubbing at the hands of the Lions out in Saitama.

Tokyo’s Lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Miyade LF
4. Hatakeyama 1B
5. Balentien RF
6. Guiel DH
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Araki SS
9. Fukukawa C

Saitama’s Lineup:

1. Kataoka 2B
2. Kuriyama CF
3. Nakajima SS
4. Nakamura 3B
5. Fernandez DH
6. Asomura 1B
7. Sakata LF
8. Ginjiro C
9. Akiyama RF

This game featured Masubuchi starting for the Swallows, and he didn’t last long. A couple of walks in the first resulted in a run for the home team, and he conceded another run in the second on a couple of doubles.

The misery continued in the third when he gave up consecutive singles to Kuriyama, Nakajima and Nakamura. Two more runs scored, and it was 4-0 Saitama.

Third year lefty, Katsuki Akagawa, took Masubuchi’s place in the fourth and gave up an unearned run (Araki throwing error) in a performance that didn’t inspire much confidence. 5-0 Saitama.

Masubuchi has a tough afternoon

Tokyo finally got on the board in the top of the fifth when Miyamoto, who had earlier advanced to second on a passed ball after reaching base on a single, was able to easily trot home thanks to Fukukawa’s first and only hit of the season found the gap between left and center. A stand-up double for Tokyo’s third-string catcher, and a 5-1 Saitama lead.

But Akagawa worked himself into an impressive jam in the bottom of that frame. Unable to locate his inside pitches, he walked Nakamura and then followed that with a single to Fernandez. He then misfired his throw to first on Asomura’s sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher, and that loaded the bases with no outs.

Veteran infielder, Hirao, made Akagawa pay with a single to center that scored two. And that was the end of Akagawa’s afternoon. He threw 38 pitches through one and 0/3 innings.

Hashimoto was brought on to clean up the mess, but he also gave up a pair of RBI hits, so the score after five was a very ugly 9-1 Saitama.

Saitama’s final run of the evening came off of their former teammate Chikara Onodera, Tokyo’s new reliever picked up in last week’s trade that sent infielder Onizaki to the Lions. It was his first appearance of the year, and it wasn’t particularly pretty.

He started off by walking Asomura and then gave up back-to-back singles that resulted in Asomura crossing home plate. 10-1 Final.

This was an absolutely embarrassing game to watch as bad play mixed with bad luck and resulted in the surrendering of nine earned runs. And Tokyo’s bats continue to slumber as the team was outhit 15-8.

Masubuchi took the loss and saw his ERA rise to 5.40 while his record worsened to 2-3 through seven starts.

The Swallows now have a Tuesday-Wednesday date with Chiba, the defending NPB champs.

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 10

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WWWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo’s longest winning streak of the season came to a screeching halt at the hands of the Hokkaido Fighters who refused to be swept. In fact, they were so adamant about not being swept that they used seven pitchers over nine innings to keep the home team guessing.

And it worked.

Tonite’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Guiel RF
4. D’Antona 1B
5. Iihara LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Yoshimoto 3B
8. Fujimoto SS
9. Tateyama P

Unlike Muranaka the night before, Tokyo starter Tateyama didn’t fare so well in the wet conditions. He gave up a run in three of the first four innings, two of them coming off of solo home runs. 3-0 Hokkaido.

But the end of his evening was hastened and exacted in the fifth when the Fighters plate five more runs off of four hits, an HBP and some other nonsense. 8-0 Visitors.

Here’s a summary of Tateyama’s evening: eight runs (all earned) off of 11 hits (three homers) with six K’s and a single beanball mixed in. His record now stands at 3-5 and his ERA ballooned violently to 4.01 after those five innings of pure trouble.

The birds were only able to collect one hit during the first five innings as Hokkaido used three different pitchers to keep everyone guessing.

The final four innings would see four different Hokkaido hurlers, and the Swallows had to settle for a Fujimoto solo homer in the seventh (his second of the year). 8-1 Hokkaido.

And their final run came in the ninth when Takeuchi scored care of a Fukukawa single.

But that wasn’t before Katoh came in and made a total hash of the top of that inning to allow the Fighters to score two more.

10-2 Final.

Oshimoto pitched a scoreless sixth to lower his ERA to 3.86, and De La Cruz made his first top team appearance of the season while pitching two innings of slightly nerve-wracking, yet ultimately scoreless, baseball to maintain a triple-bagel ERA.

D’Antona and Fukukawa, who got a couple of at-bats in place of Aikawa, were the only players to reach base twice for the Swallows. Both of D’Antona’s appearances on first were due to walks while Fukukawa went 1-1 with an RBI single and a walk.

The Swallows now have two days off before they resume regularly scheduled Central League programming with a three-game series in Hiroshima starting this Friday.

Random thoughts:

The birds were thoroughly controlled on offense. They managed only four hits and five walks.

The Fighters came up with 17 hits, 1 BB and 1 HBP.

The Swallows won the four-game interleague series versus the Fighters 3-1. It was their best result of their otherwise lackluster interleague campaign.

Tokyo finished the interleague portion of the season with a 9-14-1 record. That was good enough for 11th place. Last place went to Yokohama.

Tonite’s foes, the Hokkaido Fighters, finished the interleague schedule with the best team ERA–2.58–very impressive!

The Fighters finished sixth. Interestingly, the five teams that bested them during interleague play were all from the Pacific League.

Yomiuri had the best interleague record for the Central at 12-12.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/15/61510-hokkaido-home/feed/ 5 http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/03/17/31709-yomiuri-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=31709-yomiuri-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/03/17/31709-yomiuri-away/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:28:10 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoyakultswallows.wordpress.com/?p=2061 March 17th, 2009

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7

Yomiuri Giants 6

Streak: Won 1     Last 5: LWLDW

(Gifu)

Tokyo nearly let this one get away.

Masao Kida started this one for the Swallows (yes, you read that correctly) and he made it through five innings on only 48 pitches. He gave up only one hit and had one K against one walk. The orange guys were grounding out all over the place. Lots  of fly balls as well. Very solid pitching from Kida.

Barrett came in for inning number six and was also effective. He struck out the first two batters he faced, allowed a hit to center field, and then  ended the inning with a pop fly to short.

Oshimoto pitched the seventh and was able to sit down again after only eight pitches. No runners reached base.

Now by this time the score was already 7-0. The birds scored one run in each of the first three innings and then erupted for four in the top of the fifth.

But that was about it on offense for Tokyo. The Swallows managed nine hits in the first five frames, but only had Iihara’s ninth inning single to show for the final four. Fukuchi, Guiel and Tanaka all reached base twice while Iihara and Yuuichi got on base three times each. Fukukawa tallied three rbi’s, if you can believe that!

Yomiuri, when compared to Tokyo, had a mirror-opposite afternoon. They only managed two hits through the first seven innings, but then strung together five runs off of five hits in the eighth, and another one in the bottom of the ninth. Takai and Hashimoto were tagged with five runs and one run, respectively, and that gave Hagiwara a chance for a save.

Hagiwara retired all three batters he faced for the “S”, and Kida got the “W”.

Nishimura took the loss for Yomiuri.

Tokyo has five home games in a row starting tomorrow. They play the Lions at Jingu stadium tomorrow. The first pitched is scheduled for 1 PM.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows  5 

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters  2

Streak: Won 1   Last 4: WWLW

(Sapporo Dome)

Three Tokyo players had two-hit games, and the pitching staff only gave up a pair of runs in Tokyo’s second half of a two-day stay up in Hokkaido. Impressively, more than 10,000 people turned out for the game despite being aired in direct competition with team Japan’s opening game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Tokyo put the first run of the evening on the board on a solo home run by Keizo Kawashima in the third inning. Hokkaido left fielder, Sledge, drove in Hokkaido’s first run of the evening in the bottom of that inning to tie it up off of Tokyo starter, Yoshinori. Tokyo’s young fireballer pitched four innings and had five strikeouts against four walks.

Tokyo added another run in the fourth to go up 2-1, and Sledge had his second rbi, and the team’s final run, in the fifth. Satou, the eventual game-winner, was tagged with that run.

Tokyo took control of the game in the top of the sixth with a four hit, three run effort. Yuuichi started things off with a single to center and was followed by rbi singles care of Noguchi and Tanaka, plus a ground out to third by Fukukawa that resulted in a run crossing the plate.

No more runs scored after that. Kawashima, Miyamoto and Tanaka had two-hit each, and Hashimoto, Yamamoto and Matsuoka combined for four innings of scoreless relief. Matsuoka pitched the final two frames and picked up a save in the process.

Tokyo has tomorrow off which is good because we’re going to be at the Big Egg watching a WBC game between Taiwan and South Korea.

So first, lets take a look at the batting order which started against the Giants on opening day, Friday March 28th 2008:

1 Keizo Kawashima (3B)
2 Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B)
3 Norichika Aoki (CF)
4 Adam Riggs (1B)
5 Aaron Guiel (RF)
6 Shinya Miyamoto (SS)
7 Yasushi Ihara (LF)
8 Masakazu Fukukawa (C).

And next, the lineup from the recent game against the Giants on Saturday September 6th:

1 Kazuki Fukuchi (RF)
2 Shinya Miyamoto (3B)
3 Norichika Aoki (CF)
4 Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B)
5 Yasushi Ihara (LF)
6 Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B)
7 Keizo Kawashima (SS)
8 Masakazu Fukukawa (C)

So, quite a few changes both in terms of personnel and the batting order, so lets have a look at some of the key changes:

The Foreign factor (or indeed, the lack of it)

Yakult entered 2008 with an American and a Canadian expected to feature in the starting 9 night in night out: 1st baseman Adam Riggs in the no.4 slot followed by Canadian outfielder Aaron Guiel at no.5.

Adam Riggs

On paper, this looked fairly promising. Riggs joined the team in 2005 and had a slow start to his Tokyo career, but suddenly caught fire mid-way through his maiden season, and finished with a good enough record for the team to keep him around in 2006. The next season was his breakout year, in which he finished with a whopping 39 homers, 94 RBIs with an average just under .300. Injuries hampered him in 2007 as he managed just 37 games, but his average and production was well down on the previous year in the games he did contribute to.

After that year, it came as a surprise that the Swallows brought him back for 2008, but back he came. He played a part in 30 games early on in the season, but aside from a big homerun in the Tokyo Dome that helped Tokyo to a win, it was clear that he was simply no longer the player from two years ago, and the injuries had gradually taken their toll. His appearances became more fleeting until he was dropped to the farm team in early May, never to return. Adam was eventually placed on waivers and released by the team in July.

As for Guiel, the ex-Yankee joined Yakult in 2007 and had an indifferent first season, blasting 35 homers, but hitting for only a .245 average and a paltry .234 with runners in scoring position, hence his RBI total of 79 – very poor for a clean up guy.

So back he came in 2008, with the pressure on him more than ever with Alex Ramirez now at the Tokyo Dome. And initially at least, he seemed to respond to the challenge, making a hot start blasting 8 homers in the opening month, before slowing down and hitting just 2 more in May. Injuries then started to plague Aaron, limiting his playing time, and allowing others to stake their claim for a place in the starting lineup. And so now in September Guiel is limited to pinch hitting (not particularly effectively) from the bench, and now has a batting average of just .200 with 11 homers, 8 of which came in the opening month. Despite still being popular with a section of the regulars at Jingu, I don’t think Aaron will be back in a Swallows uniform in 2009.

The Outfield

Fukuchi

The outfield has seen quite a number of changes during the course of this year. The ever constant though, whenever available, has been Aoki in centrefield. I don’t think I need to mention much about Norichika, apart from the fact that the man’s class. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. Unfortunately the MLB scouts most likely also know it and thus how much longer he’ll remain a Swallow is in question (my bet would be until after another season or two). The man who now occupies the Guiel shaped gap in right is Fukuchi. He came the other way this year as a makeweight in the free-agency move of Kazuhisa Ishii to Seibu. He started the season being used as a pinch hitter/runner, and started to see more game time in May, but initially it seemed that lightning speed was his main attribute. But he soon started to prove his worth, and really came to the fore during Aoki’s absence during the Olympics. During this time he was moved to CF and was not only the anchor in the outfield, but also become a leader with the bat, as his average rose above .300 (and indeed further to around .330 at present). He also leads the league in stolen bases with 35 so far this year. In short, he’s the perfect leadoff man – good contact hitter with lighting speed on the base paths, added to his quality work with the glove. Seibu’s loss is our gain (erm, not that they care as they’ve lead the PL all year…).

Yasushi Ihara

The man currently occupying the leftfield position, the 25 year old Yasushi Ihara, hasn’t had it all his own way despite his appearance in the opening day lineup too. A promising young batter, who has an uncanny knack for getting key hits, the problem was where to put him in the field. He started in right but was soon tried as an option to plug the gap at third, but it soon became apparent that he was no third baseman, as anyone who witnessed his numerous fluffed throws to first would attest. But Yasushi was another guy who would benefit from Aoki’s absence as he saw continuous playing time in left, and this reaped rewards, as he and Fukuchi started to be two of the key guys with the bat. In fact I lost count of the amount of times I saw Ihara bring home Fukuchi to score. During the Olympics he was effectively used in the no.3 hole, but since the return of Miyamoto and Aoki to the lineup, is currently being used further down the order and is currently seeing time at no.5.

The infield

3rd base & Shortstop: Since Akinori Iwamura went off to have a (so far successful)

Shinya Miyamoto

MLB adventure, we have had a gaping whole at 3rd that we’ve never quite managed to fill. Allsorts of players have been tried there, from Ihara, to Miyade, Kawashima and the plucky but ultimately useless Shiroishi. But a permanent solution has never been found, until now, with a little help from the Beijing Olympics. In the months before the Olympics, Yakult, aware that they were about to lose their veteran shortstop Shinya Miyamoto for a month, looked at what

Wilson

they had tried before, realized that nothing had worked, and took action, bringing in Wilson Valdez from the Korean league as cover. In order to prepare Wilson, he was thrown straight into the lineup and Shinya was moved to third for the first time in his 12 year pro-career. Shinya left for the Olympics, but Wilson’s poor batting (possibly combined with arguments with management) lead to him being dropped to the farm. The man who now found himself with time at short was utility man Keizo Kawashima. Kawashima came to the Swallows from Nippon Ham this year as part of the trade that saw starter Shugo Fuji head north. He has seen time at third and in the outfield

Keizo

too this year. But when Miyamoto returned from Beijing, instead of reclaiming his position at short, he reoccupied third. In fact, with his speed and range at short decreasing now he’s reached 37, the Swallows probably thought the Olympics were a perfect opportunity to re-position him at third, filling a major gap, but still retaining his gold glove. Kawashima, always gives 100% and has done well so far at short and can hopefully can make the position his own at Tokyo, though he could do with improving his batting a little (he currently averages around .250).

One more thing on Miyamoto. You’ll notice that he, Yakult’s traditional no.2 hitter, started the year batting 6th. This was possibly due to the fact that at his age, and with his fading speed management felt it was time to use him further down the order, but after it was clear that 2008 was shaping up to be one of his best ever with the bat (he’s currently batting above .320) they reconsidered and restored him in his traditional slot.

1st base: With Riggs fading into oblivion, out of nowhere over the horizon and out of the sun came the savior, Kazuhiro Hatakeyama. Called up from the farm in April after seven seasons of obscurity with the

Hatakeyama

organisation, he started seeing time at first as it was clear Riggs was done, as well as time at third too. But it was during the interleague play in May that he really started to establish himself, managing to bring the stellar on base percentage and slugging percentage from the farm team with him. While he’s not your traditional no.4 hitter, in that he doesn’t hit much for power, Hatakeyama has established himself as the starting firstbaseman and cleanup man for the Swallows. He is truly one of the success stories of 2008.

Beavis

Hiroyasu Tanaka

2nd base: Hiroyasu Tanaka, or beavis as he is known by his teamates, has made this position his own. A beneficiary of seeing a lot of playing time during 2007′s disastrous last placed season, he returned in 2008 with confidence that only consistent playing time can generate. Dubbed “the diamond master” when he was introduced at games in 2007, he is an able fielder with the glove. In 2008, he has also become adept with the bat too, batting around .340 in the first months of the year. Hiroyasu cited Aoki as his role-model, and stated that he wanted to surpass, not merely equal, the achievements of his teammate. Well, it’s a bit early to be talking Aoki comparisons, and Tanaka’s average is now hovering at around .300, but he is certainly improving as a ballplayer, and will have a huge part to play in the future of the Swallows for years to come.

The Catcher Conundrum

Atsuya Furuta – Swallows legend & the best Japanese catcher of recent times. A genius behind the plate and a linchpin of the batting lineup. Those are big shoes to fill. And as things stand, they’re still far from being filled. Masakazu Fukukawa started the year behind home plate, and has seen the most time there this year. The 32 year old is decent enough behind the plate, but one thing lets him down – he can’t bat for shit. His average has been down below .200 for most of the year, pitch him anywhere except inside and he’s a goner. This gaping hole in the batting order that he provides led to manager Takada trying out a couple of other options. Such as the 26 year old Kawamoto, one for the future for sure but still a little soon for the starting position. And the 27 year old Kinugawa, an acquisition from the industrial leagues, who looks the best with the bat of the three, but is currently back down on the farm team. Of these it seems that Fukukawa is the chosen one for now at least, and he has shown signs of improvement with the bat of late, clubbing a fair few homers in recent games (now 7 on the year) and his average is now up to the giddy heights of just north of .200 (nosebleed!), but he really must continue to improve with the bat, and fast.

So, that’s the current state of play for the position players at Tokyo. And as the current lineup goes, I’d say it’s a pretty promising one.

The Alchemist (?)

pretty happy. Aoki, Miyamoto, Fukuchi, Tanaka, Ihara are all keepers, and Hatakeyama will be too if he can keep it up next year. Just a bit more power and that lineup would be a playoff contender for sure. So perhaps our scouts can find another Ramirez or Petagine rather than another another Betts or Billy Martin. But I don’t hold out much hope of that. Maybe work with what we’ve got, with someone like Hatakeyama working on his power hitting and we can solve the power riddle from within.

Whatever happens, I’d like to see much more stability in the lineup from (I presume) Takada in 2009. No more tinkering. It’s no coincidence that our recent solid form has come from playing a stable lineup night in night out. We’ve got the raw ingredients for a pennant push someday, but is Takada the right man to turn them into gold*? Only time will tell.

* The Tsubamegun Party Line is is: absolutely not, get rid of this halfwit as soon as possible. But we’ll keep (pitching coach) Araki thank you very much.

Yomiuri Giants 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: WWWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This one was a lot of fun to watch!

Yoshinori started. Yeah, we thought the same. But he really held his own while he was in. In fact, he pitched perfect baseball through four innings, and he gave up only one hit through the end of five (Takahashi solo home run; 3-1 Tokyo lead).

And he might have been left in an out or two too long, but he got through six with the score tied 3-3.

But then Fukukawa came through with a three-run tater that put the home side up 6-3.

And that was after he hit a two-run shot in the second!

Yoshinori, despite the three runs, pitched brilliantly. Six innings, 99 pitches, eight K’s, two walks, and only two hits. Definitely deserving of another start, which is very good because now there’s a serious competition going for the starter slots.

Kawashima, Tateyama, Ishikawa and Muranaka all have serious roots in the starting rotation. Masubuchi and Yoshinori have also shown that they can throw. Recently Douglass and Gonzalez have shown up to the party–late, but not unwelcome. This is very good! Eight decent pitchers vying for five spots.

Anyway, back to tonight’s game.

Fukukawa was the story of the evening on offense. Four plate appearances. Two walks (one intentional). Two-for-two. Two home runs. Five rbi’s. 1 stolen base. Not a whole lot more to say.

We even booed Yomiuri when they intentionally walked him after his first home run (to get to Yoshinori, of course), but it turned out to be one of the few intelligent coaching decisions that Hara has made in the last two seasons because he drilled another one to left in his third at-bat (but then again maybe he was just postponing the inevitable).

Yoshinori picked up his first big-league win and Tokyo kept within striking distance of third place in the central league.

Game three of the series is tomorrow night at 6:20 PM at Meiji Jingu Stadium.

Chunichi Dragons 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 5 Last 5:WWWWW
(Jingu Stadium)

Hats off to Sean Douglass who threw eight innings of impressive, rain-drenched baseball in his third start since joining the team! He fully deserved his first win of the season, giving up only one hit and one walk over 107 pitches. He struck out four.

While not bringing home six runs in the fifth inning for the first time in four games, the Tokyo offense provided another big cushion for its pitching staff by going up 5-0 by the end of the fifth frame.

Tokyo catcher, Fukukawa, had another big night at the plate going two for three with his fifth home run (solo) of the season, and he brought one more run around on a sac fly in the fifth.

Fukuchi (3-5, 1 RBI), Aoki (2-4, 1 RBI) and Iihara (2-3, 1 RBI) were also solid from the plate.

Things got a little tense in the top of the 9th when Tokyo reliever, Kida, gave up a pair of home runs (3 RBIs), and the game momentarily looked like a contest. But then Lim came into the game and got the last out for save number 30 on the season.

After completing the sweep versus Chunichi, Tokyo is just a half game behind the Dragons and that third playoff spot.

Tokyo hosts cross-town rivals, Yomiuri, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday at Jingu Stadium for a highly anticipated showdown. Both teams have found their stride of late, and it should be interesting to see if the Tokyo offense can keep clearing the bases as well as it has this past week.