The country's most famous knuckleballer will be playing in Japan in 2012.

Chunichi Dragons

• Signed reliever Jorge Sosa to a one year deal. Sosa has a 4.72 ERA through 294 big league appearances.

Yomiuri Giants

• NPB Tracker thinks the Giants should be legitimate contenders this year.

Hanshin Tigers

• Kubo and Hirano finally re-signed. The team shaved 40 million yen off of Kubo’s salary and tacked 30 of it onto Hirano’s.
• According to NPB Tracker, Hanshin are a lot like Tokyo before the 2011 season–on the outside looking in.

Hiroshima Carp

• This write-up over at NPB Tracker says that the Carp will be fielding another strong starting rotation even though Kuroda opted to spend another season in MLB.

Yokohama Baystars

• Alex Ramirez came down with the flu last weekend despite the fact that he allegedly got a flu shot before leaving the US. Funny things, those flu shots.
• First year manager, Kiyoshi Nakahata, who has been out of action with the flu, returned to spring camp on Tuesday donning the requisite facial mask. He hammed it up pretty big-time for the reporters on hand, so he seems to be feeling pretty well now.
• Patrick Newman says that the team should be a lot more fun to watch this year even though they look destined for a bottom-half finish once again.
• The team reported that it planned to kick the tires on three prospective imports at some point during spring camp. Wes Bankston, Chris Nowak, and Oscar Salazar are the players hoping to be offered a contract.

Pacific League News

• Fukuoka (Softbank) may have found a way to ensure a few more wins by signing Brad Penny from MLB. Penny notched double-digit wins for the Detroit Tigers last season but was released at the end of the season after playing out a one year contract.

Elsewhere in Japanese Baseball

• Gen has a handy post detailing the various suspensions handed out by Japan’s student baseball administrative body. The infractions range from smoking to beating the piss out of younger players. One suspension was meted for purchasing a train ticket in an illegal manner. Huh?
• Female knuckleball phenom, Eri Yoshida (20), will be pitching in the Kansai Independent Baseball League once again as she signed a deal with the 2011 champion Hyogo Blue Sandars. You may remember that Yoshida started her pro career in the KIBL back in 2009 with the now inactive Kobe 9 Cruise. She then signed with the Chico Outlaws early in 2010. Here’s an article with a little more information on what Yoshida experienced during her two seasons of minor league baseball in the US.

Nakajima will be playing baseball in Saitama again this season.

Chunichi Dragons

• Mr. Takagi, the Dragons’ energetic and cuddly new manager, wants fans to touch his butt if they win the Central League Pennant in 2012.

Yomiuri Giants

• In preparation for the upcoming season, Utsumi and several of his teammates went shopping in Guam.
• According to this report compiled by Yakyu Baka, Yomiuri will likely lose a player to Yokohama as compensation for picking up free agent third baseman Murata.
• And Yomiuri will likely have to pay 80% of Sugiuchi’s salary to Fukuoka since the 2011 Japan Series Champion isn’t interested in any of the players on Yomiuri’s unprotected list. Why all this compensation idiocy is a part of free agent signings is beyond me.

Hanshin Tigers

• As always, there is tons of news coming out of Osaka about every inane aspect of every inane player’s inane daily routines. Nothing worth relaying to you though.

Hiroshima Carp

• Reporter Saho Naruhashi (26) made ace pitcher Kenta Maeda (23) an honest man. Their ‘paper marriage’ apparently took place on New Year’s Day. Rumors of the impending marriage surfaced in October last year.

Yokohama Baystars

• The ‘Stars signed 33-year-old RHP Giancarlo Alvarado.  Often referred to by his nickname, Gio, he had a 3.46 ERA and 11-15 record over two seasons with Hiroshima.

Around NPB

• Free agent Munenori Kawasaki (30), formerly Fukuoka’s shortstop, has reportedly signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners.
• Free agent RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (30), formerly of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, signed a one-year deal with the Mariners as well. Suck on that, Oakland.
• Hiroyuki Nakajima wasn’t so lucky though. The New York Yankees won negotiating rights with Saitama’s prized shortstop through the posting system, but this one was doomed from the start. And it also sounds like the Yankees might have been trying to lock him in long-term for cheap. Will Aoki’s quest to play in MLB follow a similar path and see him back in Tokyo for another year?

As you might have guessed, articles covering the postseason were some of the most popular on the site.

Hello 2012, and Happy New Year to everyone out there in Tsubamegun land!

We’d like to welcome you to the new year, and a spring training camp in Okinawa that’s only a month away, by looking back briefly on the most popular posts of last season.

They’re listed here according to page views, and it’s an amusing view into what interested the record number of readers that accessed this site last year.

5. Tokyo vs Yomiuri Game 3 – Climax Series 1st Stage

This was Kozo’s personalized version of the emotional ups and downs of that historic game between the birds and their much better funded crosstown rivals.

4. Tokyo vs Chunichi Game 5 – Climax Series 2nd Stage

Garrett wrote the season-ending game report after the team’s loss to eventual Japan Series Runner-up, Chunichi. The comments at the end of this post were very much appreciated by all of us here at the site.

3. Online Yakyu Writer Insights: 2011 Tokyo Swallows

For this article, I interviewed Yakyu Baka’s Gen Sueyoshi, NPB Tracker’s Patrick Newman, and Jason Coskrey from the Japan Times to see what they thought about Tokyo’s chances in 2011. It’s interesting to re-read this article nearly a year later and see how things actually panned out. I, for one, was completely off on Aoki having a career-best year. Seems the new baseball was the monkey wrench on that one.

2. 2011 Japan Series – Chunichi vs Fukuoka

This is the youngest of the entrants on this short list of popular posts, but it makes sense that it made the cut because it’s essentially seven game reports wrapped into one. Game seven, in which I included play-by-play coverage of how the Hawks finally defeated the Dragons, helped attract a lot of real-time attention to that post.

1. Wishful Thinking (2011 version)

Ah, yes. The annual ritual of putting our foolish hopes and dreams in writing. It’s almost like a belated Christmas Wish List. I swung and missed on most of mine last year. How did you end up doing?

Thanks to everyone who visited Tsubamegun last season! Keep watching this space for an upcoming Wishful Thinking post that we’ll appreciate your feedback on. 

Enjoy the rest of the New Year’s holiday!

It’s been a while since our last audio edition, but David and Christopher sat down again on a Sunday afternoon to make fun of each other a little bit and talk about everything that has happened since the Central League playoffs kicked off at Meiji Jingu Stadium at the end of October.

After a brief recap of the playoffs and Japan Series, David and Christopher run through some of the off-season player moves and what might be in store for 2012.

They hit on Norichika Aoki’s upcoming move to Milwaukee, Yomiuri’s free-spending consumption of the best free agent’s from both leagues, and soap that smells like bacon.

Happy holidays to everyone out there who keep checking and listening in. All the best to you and yours!

Fukuoka win the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

The following are the results of the 2011 Japan Series. Pacific League champion, Fukuoka, host Central League pennant winner, Chunichi, for the first two games of a best-of-seven series. Games three through five are to be played at Nagoya Dome, and the final two games, if necessary, will be played once again at Yahoo Dome.

This is a rematch of the 1999 Japan Series, back when the Hawks were known as Fukuoka Daiei. Back then, current Fukuoka manager, Akiyama, was the team’s captain, Johjima was behind the plate, and current Tohoku manager, Hoshino, was at the helm for Chunichi. Hoshino’s opposite number in the Fukuoka dugout was none other than the venerable Sadaharu Oh.

Fukuoka won the championship that year.

Game 1 
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 12, 2011 at 1PM

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	4	1
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
W: Asao L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi - Chen Fukuoka - Wada				HR: Wada (Chunichi) solo in 7th off Wada. Koike (Chunichi) solo in 10th off Mahara.

	Chunichi		Softbank
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa DH
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo 1B
6	Tanishige C	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Koike LF	8	Fukuda LF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Chen P		Wada P

Chunichi lead series 1-0.

Game 2
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 13, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	7	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	0
W: Hirai L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi -Yoshimi Fukuoka - Sugiuchi

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo DH
6	Koike LF	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Fukuda 1B
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yoshimi P		Sugiuchi P

Chunichi lead series 2-0.

Game 3
Nagoya Dome
Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 6:00 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	4	12	1
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	4	1
W: Settsu L: Nelson S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Settsu Chunichi - Nelson				HR: Tamura (Fukuoka) 2-run off Nelson in 4th Hosokawa (Fukuoka) solo off Suzuki in 8th

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Tanishige C
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata RF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Ohshima CF
9	Settsu P	9	Nelson P

Chunichi lead series 2-1.

Game 4
Nagoya Dome
Wednesday November 16, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
W: Houlton L: Kawai S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Houlton Chunichi - Kawai

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Nomoto RF
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Houlton P	9	Kawai P

Series tied 2-2.

Game 5
Nagoya Dome
Thursday  November 17th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	5	10	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
W: Yamada L: Chen			Starters: Fukuoka - Yamada Chunichi - Chen

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Tamura RF	6	Koike RF
7	Hasegawa CF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Yamada P	9	Chen P

Fukuoka leads series 3-2.

Game 6
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 19th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
W: Yoshimi L: Wada S: Asao			Starters: Chunichi - Yoshimi Fukuoka - Wada

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Yoshimi P		Wada P

Series tied 3-3.

Game 7
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 20th, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Fukuoka	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	X	3	8	0
W: Sugiuchi L: Yamai S: Settsu			Starters: Chunichi - Yamai (RHP) Fukuoka - Sugiuchi (LHP)

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yamai P		Sugiuchi P

	Play-by-Play	Score (CD-FH)
Chunichi 1st	Sugiuchi pitching. 1. Araki ground out (GO) to 3rd. 1 out. 2. Ibata K's looking. 2 outs. 3. Morino GO to pitcher.	0-0
Fukuoka 1st	Yamai pitching. 1. Kawasaki GO to second (1-1 count). 1 out. 2. Honda single to center (1-0 fastball). 3. Uchikawa up with Honda taking a big lead. Honda caught trying to steal second (he was safe, actually). Uchikawa K's looking.	0-0
Chunichi 2nd	4. Blanco sticks around with a full count for a few pitches. Sugiuchi flipping back and forth between heaters and sliders. Blanco watches ball four. 5. Wada, responsible for both of Chunichi's runs last night, pops a 2-2 fastball up to 2nd. 1 out. 6. Hirata up with man on 1st. K's swinging at 2-2 changeup. 2 outs. 7. Fujii up. 1-0 fly out (FO) to center.	0-0
Fukuoka 2nd	4. Kokubo GO to 1st. 1 out. 5. Matsunaka GO to short. 2 outs. Yamai looks sharp. Sharper than Sugiuchi at this point. 6. Matsuda K's looking on the third pitch of his at-bat.	0-0
Chunichi 3rd	8. Tanishige, hitless so far in postseason play, comes to the plate against Sugiuchi. K's swinging at the third pitch he sees. 9. Ohshima 1-2 infield fly to short. 2 outs. Sugiuchi's control looking better now. 1. Araki foul fly near 1st base.	0-0
Fukuoka 3rd	7. Tamura lucky bloop hit over Blanco's head. Araki chases it down. 8. Hasegawa rips a double to center that Ohshima should have caught. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. 9. Yamazaki quickly gets the count to 3-0. Draws a four pitch walk with the help of a couple squeeze bunt feints. Bases juiced. Yamai yanked. Kobayashi takes the mound. 1. Kawasaki up. Bases loaded. No outs. Full count. Kawasaki draws a walk! Tamura scores from 3rd. 2. Honda 1-2 foul fly to the catcher. 1 out. Kobayashi yanked. Nelson in to pitch. 3. Uchikawa almost has his head taken off by an errant 1-2 pitch. 2-2 pitch is weakly popped up to right. Hasegawa holds at 3rd. 2 outs. 4. Pops the first pitch he sees up to center.	0-1
Chunichi 4th	2. Ibata easy GO to short. 1 out. 3. Morino K's swinging. 2 outs. 4. Blanco grounds first pitch to left for Chunichi's first hit. 5. Wada FO to right.	0-1
Fukuoka 4th	Nelson, Chunichi's third pitcher, is still on the mound. 5. Matsunaka fouls what would've been an extra-base hit off the wall in right. He then draws a walk. 6. Matsuda successfully sac bunts Matsunaka over to second. 1 out. 7. Tamura 2-2 pitch FO to center. Matsunaka stays on 2nd. 8. Nelson intentionally walks Hasegawa. 2 outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 9. Yamazaki up. Quickly behind 0-2. 2-2 pitch sliced to shallow right. Matsunaka just gets past the tag. If the throw had been on line, then he would've been out. 1. Kawasaki, with runners on corners and 2 outs, lines out to left.	0-2
Chunichi 5th	Sugiuchi pitching. 6. Hirata full count. Infield single to pitcher. 7. Fujii watches as Hirata gets his signs mixed up and is thrown out in a rundown between 1st and 2nd. 1 out. Full count. GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 8. Tanishige K's with a feeble swing.	0-2
Fukuoka 5th	Nelson still pitching. 2. Honda K's on 3 pitches. 3. Uchikawa GO to pitcher. 2 outs. 4. Kokubo swings a golf club and misses again. K.	0-2
Chunichi 6th	Sugiuchi's 6th inning. 9. Ohshima K's swinging at a slider. 1 out. That was Sugiuchi's 6th K tonite. 1. Araki FO on 2-2 pitch to left. 2 outs. 2. Ibata, picking his eternal wedgie the whole time, comes to the plate. 2-2 broken bat GO to 3rd.	0-2
Fukuoka 6th	Nelson's 4th inning. 5. Matsunaka K's looking. The ump is calling a very wide zone tonite. TBS keeps showing us replays of the pitches with the camera directly behind the pitcher. Wow. 6. Matsuda infield single to short. Beats the throw after a fantastic grab by Araki. 7. Tamura, batting .360 so far in this series, is 1-2 tonite. Matsuda steals 2nd safely on 1st pitch. Tamura accidentally moves the runner over on a check-swing tap to 1st. 2 outs. 8. Hasegawa up with runner on 3rd. 0-1 pitch FO to 3rd.	0-2
Chunichi 7th	Sugiuchi pitching. 3. Morino 1st pitch hard grounder back to the pitcher. 1 out. 4. Blanco guessing wrong on sliders, but bounces one past the second baseman for his second base hit of the night. 2nd baseman should've had it, but it was to his backhand side. 5. Wada K's swinging. 2 outs. 6. Hirata watches the count go to 3-0, swings way too early at a third consecutive changeup, then draws a fourth ball. Runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. 7. Fujii watching Sugiuchi continue his onslaught of changeups. Fujii falls behind 0-2, then pulls back to 2-2. K's on yet another changeup.	0-2
Fukuoka 7th	Asao on the mound. How many innings is he going to pitch? 9. Cabrera (PH for Yamazaki) K's swinging at three straight pitches. Asao owned him there. Embarrassing. 1. Kawasaki draws a nine pitch walk. 2. Honda 'safety' bunt attempt is met with a good fielding play by Asao. 2 outs. Kawasaki safe on 2nd. 3. Uchikawa single scores Kawasaki from 2nd. Uchikawa reaches 2nd on the play. 4. Kokubo GO to 3rd.	0-3
Chunichi 8th	Falkenborg pitching. 8. Tanishige, still without a hit in 42 post-season at-bats, K's swinging yet again. 9. Nomoto (PH for Ohshima) K's swinging on 3 pitches. 2 outs. 1. Araki K's swinging as well. Dominating performance by Falkenborg. Chunichi in all sorts of trouble.	0-3
Fukuoka 8th	Iwase takes Asao's place ono the mound for Chunichi. 5. Matsunaka works the count full. K's swinging at a high slider. 6. Matsuda GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 7. Tamura bounces a single up the middle into center field. 8. Hasegawa manages to lift the 2-2 pitch over Araki's head for a single. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 2 outs. 9. Hosokawa fouls off the first two pitches he sees. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh pitches as well. He finally K's looking at the 8th offering from Iwase. Last three outs for Chunichi.	0-3
Chunichi 9th	Falkenborg takes the mound again. 2. Ibata, 2 for 24 so far in this series, falls behind quickly 0-2. But then Ibata does the improbable and lines the ball of Falkenborg's throwing arm (elbow?). He reaches 1st safely, and Falkenborg, in obvious pain, is out of the game. Ibata on 1st. No outs. Morifuku takes the mound. He looks a little nervous. 3. Morino falls behind 0-2. GO to short, but Morino beats the DP throw. 1 out. 4. Blanco FO to right. 2 outs. Fukuoka switching pitcher to Settsu to try and get the final out. 5. Wada takes a strike down the middle. Strike two on the outside corner of the plate. But then Wada works a full count. However, Wada went down swinging at a fastball down the middle.	0-3
Fukuoka 9th	Let the celebrations begin!	0-3 FINAL

Fukuoka wins the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

Central League

2nd place Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs 1st place Chunichi Dragons

All games will be played at Nagoya Dome, home of the Chunichi Dragons.

*As 2011 Central League champions, Chunichi enters the best of seven series with a one game advantage. In other words, just pretend that the Dragons and Swallows already played the first game and that the Dragons won. Yes, we agree that it’s stupid.

Pacific League

3rd place Saitama Seibu Lions vs 1st place Fukuoka Softbank Hawks

All games will be played at Yahoo Dome, home of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

*As 2011 Pacific League champions, Fukuoka enters this best of seven series with a one game advantage. In other words, just pretend that the Hawks and Lions already played the first game and that the Hawks won. Therefore, they already lead the series 1-0.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 1

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: WLDLW

(Yahoo Dome)

The birds looked to be in trouble when Tokyo starter, Tateyama, was ejected in the fourth inning after beaning Fukuoka’s third baseman in the head. But Tokyo’s bullpen kept the Hawks offense in check long enough for the bottom half of the lineup to put some run-support together.

Tokyo:

Kyuko, Tokyo's fifth pick in the draft, leads the rookie class with three wins.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Miwa (2B)
3. Whitesell (DH)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Yuichi (LF)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Fujimoto (SS)
9. Aikawa (C)Tateyama (P)

Fukuoka:

1. Kawasaki (SS)
2. Honda (2B)
3. Uchikawa (RF)
4. Kokubo (DH)
5. Matsunaka (LF)
6. Matsuda (3B)
7. Fukuda (1B)
8. Hasegawa (CF)
9. Hosokawa (C)
   Settsu (P)

Tateyama’s afternoon was cut short after only 58 pitches. Matsuda, the recipient of the errant pitch stayed in the game but was fortunately not able to score as Matsuoka came in to get the final out and strand both runners. It was the second HBP of the game for Tateyama (5-1, 1.43 ERA) and the first ejection of his career.

Matsuoka (0-1, 4.91) stayed in to pitch the fifth and never allowed a base runner. Kyuko took the mound for the sixth and got out of the inning safely after walking the first batter he faced.

Kyuko (3-0, 3.38) ended up coming away with the win in relief as Tokyo was able to get some runners across home plate in the top of the seventh. After Yuichi’s groundout to second to start the inning, Miyamoto doubled to right to put a man in scoring position for only the second time all afternoon for the Swallows.

Third-string shortstop, Fujimoto, then came through with a triple to right which plated Miyamoto for the first run of the game.

And another runner (Noguchi pinch-running for Fujimoto) crossed home plate two pitches later on Aikawa’s sac fly to left. 2-0 Tokyo.

Oshimoto (0-1, 2.70) made an impressive showing with three strikeouts in the seventh, and Barnette (1-0, 1.69) notched two Ks of his own in a scoreless eighth.

In the top of the ninth, with one out, Yuichi singled to left which presented an opportunity for Fukuchi to come on as a pinch runner and swipe his league-leading 10th base of the season. He was successful on the 1-1 pitch with Miyamoto feigning a bunt, and he made it all the way home on the next pitch when Miyamoto doubled to left. 3-0 Tokyo.

Fukuoka got one run back in the ninth off of Lim (13 saves, 1.83) who was looking for his league-leading 13th save of the 2011 season. Matsunaka hit a full count fastball in the middle of the zone over the fence in right. But that was all that the hosts had to celebrate as two successive outfield flies buttoned things up for Tokyo. 3-1 Final.

On offense, Tokyo’s 7-8-9 batters did most of the heavy lifting. Both Miyamoto and Fujimoto had two hits apiece with the former hitting two doubles (1 RBI) and the latter hitting a single and an RBI triple. Aikawa also pitched in with a single and an RBI sac fly.

The loss for Fukuoka was only its second of the interleague schedule which ends next week.

Tokyo has two home games against Saitama on Tuesday and Wednesday (both games start at 6PM) before wrapping up its regularly scheduled interleague games on Saturday (2PM) and Sunday (1PM) against Chiba.

There is a rain-game day built into the schedule on Thursday the 16th if either of the Saitama games get extra soggy. At this point, there appears to be a slight chance of rain on Tuesday, but Wednesday looks pretty clear, so perhaps that rain-game day won’t be used.

If either of the Chiba games gets rained out, then they will be made up during the June 20-23 window that prefaces the return to regularly-scheduled Central League hostilities.

Notes:

Despite the loss, Fukuoka remain atop the interleague standings with a record of 16-2-2.

Tokyo currently sit sixth with a record of 8-10-2. The only Central League team with a better record is Chunichi who sit fourth at 12-8-0.

Tokyo are still in first in the Central League with a 1.5 game advantage over second place Chunichi.

Fukuchi’s 10 steals stand in stark contrast to his three hits this season.

The first five batters in Tokyo’s order, from Aoki to Balentien, managed only two hits in this game.

Tokyo outhit Fukuoka 9-5.

Since taking both games when Tokyo traveled to Saitama at the end of May, the Lions have faltered to a 3-6-1 over the last ten games. Hopefully Tokyo can get some revenge when Saitama comes to town this Tuesday and Wednesday.

High-fives all around Tokyo finally beats Fukuoka.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WWLDL

(Yahoo Dome)

Tokyo’s inability to take something from the better PL teams continued as they went down against the ridiculously hot Hawks in Fukuoka.

Us:

Ishikawa (P)

Cabrera rounds the bases in Ishikawa's nightmare 1st

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

Them:

Sugiuchi (P)

1. Kawasaki (SS)
2. Honda (2B)
3. Uchikawa (RF)
4. Kokubo (DH)
5. Cabrera (1B)
6. Ortiz (LF)
7. Matsuda (3B)
8. Hasegawa (CF)
9. Yamazaki (C)

Facing another of the PL’s top-tier starters in Sugiuchi, this game was essentially done after the bottom of the 1st.

Ishikawa walked the first man he faced, Kawasaki, and he was bunted to second by Honda for out number one. Up stepped ex-Baystar Uchikawa who hit one up the middle to bring home the game’s first run and it was 1-0 Fukuoka. The scoring was not yet finished though, as after Ishikawa struck out Kokubo, man-mountain Cabrera made contact with an outside pitch and his power was such that it ended up over the rightfield wall to make it 3-0. Next man up Ortiz put an exclamation mark on the inning by blasting a solo shot to left to leave Ishikawa and Tokyo staring at at 4-0 Fukuoka scoreline.

After that rather inauspicious start, Ishikawa was magnificent, giving up just two more hits through his next six innings of work, making that 1st inning all the more galling. But unfortunately for Tokyo, Sugiuchi was equally magnificent, allowing just one more hit through his next six innings of work.

That hit was a Balentien solo homer to right that scored Tokyo’s only run of the game, and with Softbank’s bullpen shutting things down in the 8th and 9th innings that was all she wrote for a 4-1 Fukuoka Final.

Tokyo managed just two hits through the whole game, the other of which came in the 1st (Whitesell single).

Ishikawa took the loss after his 7IP/5H/6K/3BB/4ER performance and his record moves to 4-3/2.46.

In hopefully a sign of how things will be from now on, Masubuchi (5.36) reprised his relief role of last year to good effect as he pitched a hitless 8th inning.

The Swallows have managed just two runs in their three games against the Hawks this season, to Fukuoka’s thirteen.

Tokyo are still 1.5 games clear of Chunichi atop of the CL, 5 games above .500. Fukuoka are sitting atop of the PL, a massive 22 games above .500.

The two teams will meet again for (thankfully) the last time this year Sunday afternoon, with Tateyama the likely starter for the Swallows.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 0

Tokyo Swallows 0

Streak: Drew 1   Last 5: LLLLD

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Not a very enjoyable day at Jingu. This game was called after five innings of steady drizzling. The mound had just about turned to mud.

Fukuoka

With no run support, this one was a wash.

1. Kawasaki SS
2. Honda 2B
3. Uchikawa LF
4. Kokubo 1B
5. Tamura RF
6. Matsuda 3B
7. Hasegawa CF
8. Hosokawa C
9. Iwasaki P

Tokyo

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Hatakeyama 1B
4. Balentien RF
5. Guiel LF
6. Miyamoto 3B
7. Morioka SS
8. Aikawa C
9. Tateyama P

Tateyama threw a one-hitter through five and allowed only walk. He mixed in six strikeouts as well to keep Softbank off the board.

But Tokyo’s offense was again unable to get anything going.

Iwasaki was effective enough as he was able to get our right-handed batters to chase his low-and-away slider on several occasions. He gave the Swallows three walks and an HBP (Guiel picking up right where he left off), but the rest of Tokyo’s lineup was unable to make him pay.

Tokyo had the bases juiced in the third with two outs, but nothing came of it. In the fourth, again with two outs, it was runners on first and second, but no dice. And in the fifth there was only one out and Tanaka was standing on second, but both Hatakeyama and Balentien struck out waving at outside sliders to end the threat.

So it’s good that we didn’t drop another game, yes, but Tokyo really should have scored at least one run.

Tateyama’s ERA now rests at 1.66 after those five scoreless innings.

Tanaka was the only player to record multiple hits in this contest. He was also the only player from either team to reach base twice.

Tokyo’s next series is a short two-game affair at home against Orix on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Both games start at 6PM.

Notes:

Kawabata was diagnosed with a bruised thigh and will likely be unavailable for three weeks.

Tokyo has several other options at short. Araki, Morioka, Onizaki and Fujimoto are a few of the names that you’re likely to see in the next month or so. Unfortunately, they have not yet registered a hit between them (although, to be fair, Araki and Fujimoto have yet to register an at-bat this season).

Balentien is leading the league with a .352 batting average and mammoth .781 slugging. However, he’s hitting only .200 with runners in scoring position. Trying to do too much?

The only regular whose average is currently worse with runners on second and/or third is Whitesell (.154).

Tateyama takes a seat as the grounds crew was called in.

Takada resigned in May.

Tokyo Swallows fans witnessed it all in 2010: the resumption of the 2009 slump which ended up consuming the first two months of 2010; a change in manager; the addition of a cleanup bat; veteran pitchers refinding their form; an authoritative return to winning; and a bit of flirtation with the third and final playoff spot.

With any luck, 2011 will pick up right where 2010 left off. Minus all of the bunting, of course.

And while hopes may be high at Jingu, there will surely be a lot of optimism when several other teams start spring training in the not-too-distant future.

In an effort to survey current NPB trends and what changes may be afoot, Tsubamegun talked to some of the more well-known writers (English language) in the online yakyu community.

This is the first in a short series of articles featuring their thoughts and insights.

One thing that we asked everyone about was whether or not non-Japanese managers, who have fared very poorly in the league since Trey Hillman’s Fighters won the championship back in 2006, are finished in Japan for the foreseeable future.

Gen Sueyoshi, the one-man show at the irreplaceable Yakyu Baka, thinks that there won’t be any more work visa-toting managers in Japan any time soon.

“Some people think I’m over-reacting when I say this, and perhaps I am, but I tend to think that Marty Brown ruined things for non-Japanese managers.

“It also doesn’t help that the Chiba Lotte Marines won the Nippon Series the year after Bobby Valentine left.  And if Senichi Hoshino manages to do something similar with the Eagles…”

Ah, the Eagles.

Former Tokyo third baseman, Akinori Iwamura, decided to sign with them during the off-season after seeing

Hoshino got Rakuten to open the purse strings.

his MLB career get derailed by a knee injury. They should definitely be an improved unit considering the changes they’ve made over the past couple of months.

Marty Brown is out, and Hanshin-resurrecter, Senichi Hoshino, takes over a retooled offense (Kaz Matsui was also lured back to Japan from MLB).

Additionally, ace pitcher Iwakuma’s somewhat unexpected return to the starting rotation should keep naysayers at bay for the time being.

How nice would it be if the Yakult front office put a little extra coin into attracting top free agent talent like the Eagles and Fukuoka Softbank Hawks?

But before that happens, actually, it would be most prudent to develop the farm team in a way similar to what Yomiuri does. But alas, in the eyes of the parent company (Yakult) the minor league club doesn’t help market the yogurt/feminine beauty products manufacturer.

Idiots.

So how about a new owner for the Tokyo Swallows?

As stated repeatedly on this site, Tsubamegun is not at all opposed to the idea of the team being sold. We’d love to see a group of investors, a la John Henry’s NESV (Boston Red Sox; Liverpool Football Club), buy the team and show the rest of the league how to run a club as a profitable business in its own right.

Nevertheless, that won’t happen because non-Japanese are still banned from owning NPB teams, and even if they weren’t, NESV would quickly discover that doing business their way would involve the inevitable anchor of locking horns with the crusty owners of the Central League’s other five teams.

Where is this league headed?

Indeed, Patrick Newman, lead researcher and writer for NPB Tracker, says that NPB in general, and the Central League in particular, is in need of some fresh thinking.

“I’d really like to see a scrappy, competitive group come in and shake things up a bit,” Newman remarked.

Coincidentally perhaps, it seemed for a brief moment last month that the Swallows might be on the auctioneer’s block. But they weren’t.

Yakyu Baka’s Sueyoshi made the intriguing observation that the Swallows would ideally be purchased by an Internet or technology company of some sort. He pointed to the strength of the teams fronted by Rakuten and Softbank as a model for where NPB might find some fresh legs.

Fresh legs and a second wind are definitely what the league needs as it continues to lose the talent battle with MLB.

There are obviously so many things holding NPB back here. The league shoots itself in the foot, both of them really, at nearly every conceivable opportunity.

As mentioned earlier, player development is still a big concern. So is the way that the owners deal with the athletes and their neutered player’s union.

And these foundational issues, while integral to the righting of NPBs ship, are just the tip of the enormous yakyu dumb-berg.

Sueyoshi pointed to the non-Japanese active roster player quote as one of a litany of problems.

“The NPB could do with more foreign players, especially if good players continue to leave for the MLB.

“I know there are people that are against it because it might end up keeping Japanese players out of the line-up, but really I think it would lead to more competition and would improve the league in general.

“And a more competitive league could help keep current players more interested in staying in the NPB.  It could also lead to better performances on the international stage.”

Newman, for his part, urges increased use of the ikusei contracts to expand the pool of talent that teams have access to.

“Signing and developing amateur talent from other countries is another opportunity; Wei-Yin Chen is obviously the current big success story to look at.”

Indeed, these are concepts that many teams  find hard to grasp. The Tokyo Swallows are no exception.

I’m dreaming a little bit here, but it wouldn’t be a prohibitively expensive investment in a team’s long-term future to set up a second farm team, especially when considering the size and worth of the parent companies involved.

And I’d like to remind owners that their team’s farm club doesn’t necessarily have to be within a 30 minute

The tourist city of Nasu (Tochigi Prefecture) would likely foot part of the bill to bring a minor league baseball club to town.

drive of the top team’s stadium.

There’s nothing wrong with having an ikusei/rookie/second year player squad in a small city a couple of prefectures away. This country isn’t that big, and transportation here is second to none, so why can’t the Swallows place a second farm team in a small tourist city such as Nasu, Izu or Tsukuba?

But since the team’s farm system is mostly an afterthought, the birds seem content to rely on the luck of the annual amateur draft, a gambit that didn’t play out particularly well in 2010.

Further compounding Tokyo’s climb into the playoffs is the well-established fact that Yakult refuses to spend money on talent like Central League rivals Yomiuri, Hanshin and Chunichi routinely do.

In the next edition of this multi-part interview, Tsubamegun asks our yakyu journalism colleagues how well they think the Tokyo Swallows will do in 2011. Please check back here for part two in early January.

In the meantime, Tsubamegun would like to wish you and yours a very happy new year!

You can follow Sueyoshi and Newman on Twitter at @gwynar and @npbtracker, respectively.