Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 3

Streak: Won 1      Last 5: WWWDW

(Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium)

The Swallows made it out of Hiroshima without losing any of the fixtures in the series, taking their unbeaten streak to eight games, and are, for the moment, in first place.

(I wasn’t sure how to spell that.)

Boom! Fludge!

For Tokyo:

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Takeuchi (LF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Aikawa (C)
6. Balentien (RF)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Kawabata (SS)
9. Masubuchi (P)

For Our Foes from the Delta:

1. Soyogi (SS)
2. Higashide (2B)
3. Hirose (RF)
4. Tracy (3B)
5. Kurihara (1B)
6. Iwamoto (LF)
7. Amaya (CF)
8. Ishihara (C)
9. Fukui (P)

The first three innings were fairly balanced – they had two hits to our one – and Masubuchi, as is his wont, eased his way into the good stuff.

The top of fourth is when it got exciting. With two outs and a full count, Kazuhiro “Fludge” Hatakeyama. . . walked. We’ll take it, though. Aikawa followed this with a weak grounder that Soyogi flubbed, putting men on the corners and bringing up the Antillean Tempest, the Curaçao Cyclone, Wladimir Balentien, who. . . also walked.

Bases loaded, though for a Miyamoto double (he doesn’t need a nickname), which brought in two runs. 2-0 Tokyo.

The shine started to wear off of Masubuchi in the bottom of the sixth, when he started off by walking pinch-hitter Ishii, got Soyogi to pop up out, then gave up a single to Higashide, walked Hirose, then gave up and RBI single to Tracy before following that with a 2-RBI double to Kurihara and getting yanked in favor or 25-year-old rookie Kentaro Kyuko, who beaned the pinch-hitting Kokubo (in for Amaya) on his way to getting the two necessary outs. 3-2 Hiroshima.

Tokyo got right back on top, though, with Aoki singling, stealing second while Kawamoto (in for Takeuchi) struck out, then strolling home when Hatake, deciding it was about time he cemented his spot as a regular, belted his fifth home run of the season on the second pitch he faced from reliever Aoki. 4-3 Tokyo.

Kyuko got one out, gave up a double, then got another out, at which point he was yanked for Matsui, who promptly hit Hirose (third of the game, including the beaning Balentien took on the sixth), then was removed for Matsuoka, who got the third out.

Balentien started the 8th by getting walked again, making that fly to 7, BB, HBP, BB for him. Miyamoto hit a hard single, moving him to second. Matsuoka moved him to third. Aoki (who really is quite good, despite what his own fans might drunkenly shout), then pounded a hard single to center, driving in two runs. 6-3 Tokyo.

In the ninth, Hatake walked again and was replaced by Miwa. Aikawa pointlessly sac-bunted him to second. Miyamoto doubled Miwa in and was replaced by Onizaki, whom Kawabata drove in. Lim walked one on the way to a victory. 8-3 Tokyo.

Someone must have put butter in the chalk bag today, as 11 pitchers combined to hit three batters, walk ten, and give up 15 hits. The good news is, Tokyo’s five hurlers walked only three and hit two, giving up six hits.

Kyuko took the win for the Swallows in his first outing, Aoki the loss for the Carp.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 0

Streak: Won 5      Last 5: WWWWW

(Mazda Zoom Zooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom Stadium)

Whisper it. Things are going well. Very well indeed.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Yuichi (LF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Miyamato (3B)
7. Kawabata (SS)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Yamamoto (P)

Hopefully the first win of many for Yamamoto

Most of this one this game went much like the last one, quality pitching being backed up by a big home run to edge the Swallows ahead. But while the provider of the latter was expected,  with Hatakeyama blasting his fourth homer of the year (off Carp starter Imamura) in the 6th to make it 1-0 Tokyo, the man responsible for the former was not. Step forward 21 year old Hitoshi Yamamoto who pitched a mightily impressive seven innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five and walking two. All of which was more than good enough to notch his first career win against a Carp team previously unbeaten in their last seven games.

Throw him into the mix with Ishikawa, Tateyama, Yoshinori, Muranaka and Masabuchi and that is quite a collection of starters in Tokyo’s arsenal. Provided, of course, Yamamoto can reproduce tonight’s form on a regular basis, which is now all the more unlikely now I’ve sung his praises. Such is the power of the Tsubamegun curse.

And on the subject of stellar pitching, Tokyo’s arms have now been responsible for a remarkable 30 consecutive scoreless innings. Throw in Masabuchi’s performance from Sunday and 43 of their last 45 innings pitched have been of the scoreless variety.

Back to tonight then. After Matsuoka worked a four pitch hitless 8th (over anxious Carp bats = outfield flyouts galore), Tokyo made what had been a fairly comfortable game completely safe with reliever Shultz on the mound for Hiroshima in the 9th. Four runs followed off two hits, three walks and some suspect Carp fielding (RBIs for Hatake [1], Miyamoto [2] and Kawabata [1])  to make it 5-0 Tokyo. All that remained was for Lim to take to the mound to hammer the last three nails into the shutout-shaped coffin for a 5-0 Tokyo Final. The Swallows outhit the Carp 10-2.

So there you have it. Today was a good day. In fact this week has been a very good one indeed so far. Let’s hope the goodness continues tomorrow afternoon in game two of the series.

Yokohama BayStars 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 1    Last 5: LLLDW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Swallows win! Swallows win!

The Victors:

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Hamanaka (LF)
4. Hatakeyamal (1B)
5. Aikawa (C)
6. Balentien (RF)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Kawabata (SS)
9. Masubuchi (P)

The Vanquished:

1. Ishikawa (SS)
2. Watanabe (2B)
3. Sledge (LF)
4. Murata (3B)
5. Harper (1B)
6. Morimoto (CF)
7. Yoshimura (RF)
8. Takeyama (C)
9. Yamamoto (P)

E Aho Laula!

Dear Reader, this will be a little bit confusing, whether you’ve just joined us or have been with the team for a while, but it appears Tokyo has managed to score more runs than the opposing team, which, I’m told, is known as a “win”. I thought my Japanese was OK, at least for baseball terms, but I had to go to the dictionary there.

I exaggerate, of course, but that’s what I do. Nice to finally get one in the W column there, even if we are still in last.

Here’s how this historical even went down:

Masubuchi started his first game of the season so as to make you hate his fat ass. He faced five batters and walked three. Luckily, Ishikawa tried to run for it and got nabbed, getting Tatsuyoshi, who’s too old for this to be cute, out of the inning.

The Birds, always obliging, sat down as quickly as possible, making Yamamoto throw only 12 pitches.

Masubuchi realized he was starting a real game in the second inning (it’s been a while) and had a 1-2-3 inning, even notching a K against Takeyama on a checked swing.

Hatake started off the offensive inning for Tokyo in the second and made a meal of a low-ish forkball. Left bleachers. 1-0 Tokyo.

Masubuchi decided he wanted the Tsubamegun’s love and got himself two more strike-outs in another 1-2-3 side in the third, bringing  himself up to bat. He did what pitchers do, but Aoki, Tanaka, Hamanaka, and Hatakeyama all hit, the latter driving in a run. 2-0 Tokyo.

Then, Masubuchi got another K and another three quick outs.

We did the same for the BayStars in the bottom of the fourth.

1-2-3 again for Masubuchi. We began to consider offering him Kozo’s hand in matrimony. (He’s the youngest and cutest, besides, the rest of us are already taken.)

(We feel sorry for them, too.)

Tatsuyoshi led-off again in the fifth. Aoki hit again. No one else did, though.

Top of the sixth: Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi, one of my favorite pitchers (Did I mention that?), snags his fifth strike-out in his fifth straight perfect inning, which gives him six hitless innings.

Hatakeyama, combining with Masubuchi to prove that E Aho Laula, sent another low pitch, this one a cutter, to join its cousin. Aikawa and Balentien then hit safely, putting Aikawa on third with one out, to be driven in by Kawabata, who hit safely while Balentien got caught by the force at second. 4-0 Tokyo.

Masubuchi wound up giving up a hit, notching another K, and walking one more in the 7th, then walking one more in the 8th, giving him the one-hit shut-out win with five BBs on 119 pitches and six Ks. Lim closed with one K in a 1-2-3 side.

Yokohama BayStars 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 4  Last 5: LWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

A crazy thing happened today. The Tokyo Swallows reclaimed third place in the Central League.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (SS)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Yoshimoto (3B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Muranaka (P)

First of all, I’d like to apologize for saying in an earlier post that Muranaka should be kept off the mound. He was absolutely wonderful for the better part of eight innings. In fact, he was perfect through four and two-thirds, and had a no hitter going through a full five. Muranaka incurred damage in only two innings, the sixth and the ninth. In every other inning, he was unhittable.

In the sixth inning, a leadoff single by Takeyama would end up costing him a run when Fujita tripled. But by that time, the birds had already posted two runs on the board.

The scoring started in the second inning when Aoki and Hatakeyama’s back-to-back singles with no outs set the table for Guiel who singled to center. Both Aoki and Hatakeyama scored on the play. 2-0 Tokyo.

Unfortunately, Takada killed the rally by having Yoshimoto ‘tak’ bunt. Guiel moved over to second, but that was where he stayed because the subsequent batters were Aikawa and the pitcher, Muranaka.

After Yokohama grabbed that one run back in the sixth, Tokyo posted two more in the seventh. Aikawa doubled to score Guiel from second with one out, and a two out error at shortstop later allowed another run to cross home plate to make it 4-1 birds.

Hatakeyama would then add Tokyo’s final run in the bottom of the eighth when he homered to left off of Yokohama reliever, Takamiya. 5-1 Tokyo.

And everything looked like a done deal after that, but Muranaka couldn’t seal the deal and gave up two quick runs when Kinjoh singled and then Uchikawa homered to left to make things interesting at 5-3 Swallows.

Takada hooked Muranaka at that point and brought Lim in to pitch instead. There were very mixed reactions to that decision from the folks in the stands, and Lim justified the pessimism by giving up a solo home run to Murata on his second pitch. 5-4 Tokyo.

By that point, news had already flashed on the board that Chunichi had come from behind to beat the Tigers in Nagoya, so people started packing up assuming the worst. But Lim held on. He got Saeki to strike out swinging, and Yoshimura grounded out to second to end the game.

That earned Lim his 26th save of the season (2.03 ERA), and Muranaka his first win (1-5, 6.81).

Aside from that final inning, Muranaka was the pitcher that we’ve all hoped he would be this year. I’d say that he definitely earned himself another start. He recorded nine strikeouts and gave up only one walk. Nice nice!

Observations:

• Miyamoto went 0-4 and struck out every time he stood in the batter’s box.
• Hatakeyama went 1-4 with a home run (his fourth of the year) and one rbi.
• Aoki and Guiel had two hits each.
• The birds are now in sole possession of third place in the Central. They’re half a game ahead of Hanshin and three games ahead of Hiroshima.

Game three of the series starts tomorrow evening at 6 PM at Jingu Stadium.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 0

Streak: Won 1      Last : LLLLW

(Mazda Stadium)

After last night’s roadcrash-esque 9th inning failure, Tokyo eased to victory off the back of a superb complete game shutout performance from rotation newcomer Takagi.

The 26 year old earned his second career win as he went the distance on 115 pitches, giving up just 4 hits, striking out 5 and walking none. His record now stands at 2-0/1.10. Who’d have thought back in happier pre-allstar times that he would end up being the form/most reliable starter on the pitching staff come September?

Takada again tinkered with his lineup this afternoon:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (SS)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Ihara (RF)
6. Hatakeyama (3B)
7. Noguchi (1B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Takagi (P)

Tokyo faced Hiroshima starter Saitoh, and got a man to second in both the 2nd inning (Hatake double) and the 3rd (Aikawa double) but it wasn’t until the 4th that they managed the breakthrough.

Aoki drew a one out walk before Ihara launched one over the fence in leftfield and it was 2-0 Tokyo. It was Yasushi’s sixth homer of the year. Another Hatakeyama double was then followed up by the same from Noguchi and it was 3-0. After Aikawa flew out for out number two, they could have scored more as Takagi chipped in with a single of his own to put men on the corners with two outs, but Fukuchi could only ground out and the lead remained at three.

The teams manage one more hit each in the 5th and after that pitchers dominated as neither team managed another hit through the distance, 3-0 Tokyo Final.

A nice win and Takagi is certainly developing into quite a prospect for the future. But it’ll need another couple of weeks of continous victories like this from the team to make up for the dross served up these last six weeks.

The two teams meet again tomorrow at 13:30 with the season series now tied at eleven.

Yomiuri Giants 10

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LLWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

After two long overdue victories on the trot, normal service was resumed tonight as the team did what they nearly always do when facing their local neighbours, they yet again rolled over and became Yomiuri’s bitches.

Tonight saw Muranaka return to start for the first time since then end of August, where he was unceremoniously yanked by Takada after 1 and 2/3 innings of two run baseball against the Carp. Things didn’t look too promising for win number three of the Swallows’ recovery, what with him coming into the game with an 8.25 ERA and not a single win in his five previous starts this season.

And tonight he was, well, Muranaka-like. He started promisingly enough (which is un-Muranaka-like actually) with two perfect innings, but the Giants bats gradually got his number, creating and wasting chances to score in both the 3rd and 4th, and then putting up two runs in each of the 5th and 6th innings. Muranaka ended his six innings having given up four runs off eight hits, with four strikeouts and three walks. He would eventually be tagged with the loss to send his record to 0 and 5. His ERA actually dropped to 7.80 which shows that it was an above-par Muranaka performance after all.

Youngster Katoh made his first appearance of his second year as a pro in the 7th, but it was one to forget as he gave up five runs off five hits (including a three-run shot from pig-man Abe) without getting a single out. He was replaced by Matsui (4.77) who got out of the inning without another run scoring.

Yoshikawa (2.70) then pitched the 8th and 9th, giving up just one hit, a Kamei solo homer in the 9th.

Tokyo lined up like this:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Keizo (SS)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Miyamoto (3B)
6. Ihara (RF)
7. Tanaka (2B)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Muranaka (P)

After having woken up somewhat over the last two games, Tokyo’s bats faced Giants starter Utsumi, a pitcher who had shut them out over the distance earlier this month.

And they didn’t fare a whole lot better tonight as Utsumi gave up two runs off six hits in his seven innings of work. Tokyo’s only runs of the game came in the 7th, while down by nine runs at the time. Tanaka and Kawamoto hit consecutive two-out singles, and Hatakeyama (in for Matsui) hit a double to make it 9-2 Yomiuri.

Ochi (0 hits allowed) and Toyoda (1 hit) then worked scoreless 8th and 9th and it was 10-2 Final. Tokyo were outhit 14-7 in the game.

The season series between the two teams now stands at 15-4-1  in the Giants’ favour.

Tanaka (.269) was the only standout with the bat with two hits, with Aoki (.289), Fukuchi (.275), Kawamoto (.147), Hatakeyama (.243) and Muranaka (.125) with the others.

With Hanshin also losing tonight against Hiroshima, the Swallows remain 0.5 games out of 3rd.

The two teams return tomorrow evening for game two of the humiliation series.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7

Yokohama BayStars 3

Streak: Won 2  Last 5: LLLWW

(Yokohama Stadium)

The Swallows won two games in a row for the first time since July 31st and August 1st when the team was playing the Dragons at home. Coincidentally, that was also the last time that the birds won a three game series.

It’s tempting to get all giddy, but we here at Tsubamegun advise caution. The back-to-back wins came against the worst team in NPB.

Depressingly or refreshingly, I’m not sure which, this was the first time all season that we’ve won a series versus Yokohama.

Tonight’s starting lineup:

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

The main contrast with last night’s lineup is that Hatakeyama replaced Noguchi at first, and Guiel got dropped down the order to 6th from cleanup.

Tokyo got out of the blocks quickly in this game as well with three runs in the first. With a little help from Glynn, a Hatakeyama double, and a Miyamoto sac fly, the score was 3-0 birds.

Yuki started this one for Tokyo, and he had a solid outing. He lasted six innings and didn’t surrender any runs despite giving up nine hits. He also recorded five strikeouts and three walks, and his record and ERA improved to 4-5 and 3.42, respectively.

Tokyo scored another run in the fourth when Guiel, Tanaka, and Kawamoto drew back-to-back-to-back walks. The third one pushed Miyamoto, who had earlier singled, across home plate to make the score 4-0 Tokyo.

Unfortunately, three runners were stranded in that inning when Glynn retired the next three batters he faced.

Kawashima added a run in the top of the seventh with a one out home run to left (his 12th–triple the number he hit last season). 5-0 Tokyo.

The party was temporarily disrupted when Takada brought Matsuoka (4.89!) in to pitch the bottom of the eighth (cue Stone Temple Pilots: “I’m half the man I used to be…”). It took only eight pitches for the supremely tuckered-out reliever to give up three runs, and this is the first of three reasons why the Takada Count is being raised for this game. The other two reason will be explained later. 5-3 Swallows.

And all across Tsubamegun Nation, that oh-so familiar feeling started sloshing around in people’s gullets.

But the yogurt penguins showed a bit of character and put a couple of insurance runs up on the board in the top of the ninth. Takeuchi’s lead-off double set things in motion, and Fukuchi’s single put runners on the corners. Kawashima grounded out, but D’Antona’s pinch hit single to left scored two, and a sizable cushion was restored. 7-3 Tokyo.

Despite the four run lead, Lim was brought in to pitch for the second night in a row. He pitched with a four run lead last night as well, a situation where many managers (and armchair pundits like myself) would use Yoshikawa, Matsui, or both.This is reason number two for bumping the Takada Count up.

My third justification for raising the Takada Count is closely related to the second. Igarashi, who also recently came back from an injury, was used in last night’s game in front of Lim. I was very tempted to raise the count yesterday because of the four run cushion, but I sympathized with the ‘desperation quotient’. Using Lim in two non-save situations in a row is borderline criminal considering that the team has a very important home series against the Giants that starts tomorrow.

And to return to Matsuoka, I should have raised the Takada Count on Tuesday, but I was waiting to hear a little more support for such a move. I now realize that I was wrong to be so objective. A quick look at Matsuoka’s results over the past three weeks does not indicate a temporary slump–he has clearly lost all ability to command both his pitches and the strike zone. This is obviously related to fatigue, and he needs to be rested if he is to be of any use during the final two weeks of the season (which includes a significant number of key make-up games at Jingu which could make or break Takada’s career).

If Matsuoka is not dropped to the farm team tomorrow, then we will have further justification that Takada is playing favorites. Either way, the Takada Count grew today because we were given further evidence today that the manager does not learn from his mistakes.

TAKADA COUNT: 12

Anyway, I should mention the competence on display as well.

Lee (3.06) pitched a clean second, and Oshimoto (2.67) got three quick outs (like Matsuoka before him, he threw only eight pitches) after the three runs given up by number 21.

Lim’s ERA shrank to 1.56 after a perfect ninth.

On offense, both Kawashima and Aoki had multi-hit games. The number two and three hitters added a walk each as well, and Kawashima notched an rbi thanks to his home run.

The Swallows and the biggest momentum they’ve been able to muster in six weeks runs headlong into Yomiuri tomorrow night (6 pm start).

Chunichi Dragons 5

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Lost 4    Last 5: WLLLL

(Jingu Stadium)

Yoshinori lasted eight innings, and the game went an extra frame before it was decided, but in the end it was another game for the ‘Loss’ column.

Tokyo struck first blood on a Guiel solo home run in the second (his 21st of the year) to put the birds up 1-0.

But Guiel’s error in right helped fuel a Chunichi resurgence in the fourth that saw three runs go up on the board. Yoshinori conceded three walks and another three rbi singles in that inning and the result was a 3-1 scoreline in favor of the Dragons. All three of the runs were scored after Guiel’s error, so Yoshinori’s ERA remained untouched.

The birds got one back in the bottom of the fifth when Hatakeyama led things off with a solo shot to center field. 3-2 Dragons.

And with Iwase again on the mound for the Dragons, this time trying to protect a one run lead in the bottom of the night, the birds were able to claw one run out of him and snatch away his save chance. A Fukuchi triple was followed by an Aoki sac fly to center to tie it up at three all.

Also of note in the bottom of the ninth was that D’Antona made his first plate appearance, pinch hitting for Guiel, since his hamstring injury a little over two weeks ago. D’Antona struck out for out number two, but it’s good to have him back just the same. Anyway, it was on to extra innings after Miyamoto grounded out to short.

Unfortunately for the home team, Chunichi was also able to do some damage to their rival’s closer. With Lim on the mound in the top of the tenth, Blanco homered to left for the go-ahead run, and Lim ended up surrendering one more on a wild pitch for a final score of 5-3 Chunichi.

Yoshinori had the longest start of his career (eight innings, 119 pitches) and also contributed a career-worst six walks. His control was atrocious in the fourth inning, but he looked a lot sharper from the fifth inning on. His record remained at 5-7 while his ERA improved to a very respectable 3.27.

Igarashi (2.83) was brought in to record a single out in the ninth, and I believe that the appearance was the 500th of his career.

Oshimoto finished up the ninth and was able to keep anyone from scoring. His ERA has slowly become more stable in the mid-two region (2.63), and that is a definite plus going forward for Tokyo.

Lim took the loss in his 50th appearance of 2009. His record is now 5-3-25 with a 1.62 ERA.

On offense, nobody reached base more than once as Chunichi’s pitching staff limited the Tokyo bats to only seven hits.

Game three, weather permitting, is scheduled for 6 pm tomorrow night.

Yomiuri Giants 7

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LWLWL

(Jingu Stadium)

Yoshinori pitches against the Giants a lot, and this time they got ahold of him a little bit.

Tokyo’s starting lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kawashima (SS)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Guiel (RF)
5. Hatakeyama (3B)
6. Takeuchi (1B)
7. Tanaka (2B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yoshinori (P)

There was a very big crowd at this game, and I would estimate that the stadium was operating at more than 95% capacity.

Aoki hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first to put the home team ahead. It was his 11th of the year. 1-0 Tokyo.

But Yomiuri leveled it in the third when Greisinger, of all people, lifted an inside pitch up and over third base for an rbi single.

Did anyone else notice that Hatakeyama was standing in the way when Kawashima turned around to throw home on the play?

Yomiuri added two more in the fourth when Wakiya and Tsuruoka had back-to-back rbi singles. 3-1 orange people.

The fifth was even worse. After looking silly in his previous bat against Yoshinori, Sakamoto finally got ahold of one and sent it over the outfield wall in left. 4-1 Giants.

Then Matsumoto and Ogasawara had consecutive singles before Ramirez flew out to right. Kamei’s double to right scored one, and then Abe’s sac fly to center scored another. 6-1 Yomiuri.

And that was it for Yoshinori. All six runs were earned in this game. He allowed 11 hits, struck out five, walked one, and had a wild pitch just for good measure. The loss put his record at 5-7 and his ERA at 3.54.

Recently recalled right-hander, Masao Kida, pitched the sixth and seventh. He gave up a two out single in both innings, but no runs were allowed.

With Matsui on the mound for the birds in the eighth, Yomiuri scored its last run of the night. Matsui gave up three hits and a walk during that inning but salvaged a little pride by picking a runner off at first. 7-1 rich guys.

In the eighth, Aoki grabbed his second rbi of the night, and Tokyo its third hit of the inning, but that was all that they were able to do as Guiel grounded out to third. 7-2.

And the birds were able to get a little rally going in the ninth as well, but even with the bases loaded and one out they were only able to score one run. The red-hot Yoshimoto got credit for that rbi with a one out single to right. 7-3.

But that’s how it ended. Kawashima had a rather dull day at the plate and struck out to send everyone packing. Keizo somehow hit into two double plays as well, which is weird because I thought that was Aikawa’s job.

Aoki was the story of the night on offense. He went 4-4 with a home run and two rbi’s.

Fukuchi had another three hit game, and Hatakeyama and Yoshimoto contributed two hits each.

Game three of the series is tomorrow night at 6pm.

Will the birds be able to pull of the series win?

Yomiuri Giants 6

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9

Streak: Won 1    Last 5: WLWLW

(Jingu Stadium)

Can anyone remember the last time Tokyo won a three-game series? Neither can I.

The birds went into this game hoping to catch the visiting Giants napping as they desperately seek a win or two to get their season back on track.

Today’s game saw Tokyo’s Yuuki and Yomiuri’s Utsumi square off.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kawashima (SS)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Iihara (RF)
6. Tanaka (2B)
7. Yoshimoto (3B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yuuki (P)

Tokyo got off to a flying start when Fukuchi singled to start the game, and then Kawashima bunted to move him over. That was followed by an Aoki rbi single and a Hatakeyama single past Sakamoto at short. Iihara’s double-play ball, however, allowed Utsumi to escape without incurring any further damage. 1-0 Tokyo.

The bunt was used again in the second inning after Tanaka led off with a single, but nothing came of it because the two players following the sacrifice were the two weakest hitters in the lineup, Aikawa and Yuuki.

Kawashima came through with a one out single in the bottom of the third, and Aoki got beaned during his at-bat to put two men on with one out. Hatakeyama popped up to right for out number two, but Iihara came through with an rbi single to right that scored Kawashima. 2-0 birds.

And meanwhile, Yuuki quietly logged a perfect first three innings.

After Matsumoto singled to break up his fledgling no-hitter, Yuuki found an excuse to plunk Abe in retaliation for Aoki’s earlier beaning. Nice choice, Yuuki.

The Swallows should have scored in the fifth as well, but a very bad call at home plate meant that the inning was over prematurely. This inning also featured a sacrifice bunt.  It appears that Takada has reinstituted the bunt-whenever-possible strategy after about a week without it. Anyway, it was entertaining to see Fukuchi get in the ump’s (Tsuchiyama) face after that play at home. Tsuchiyama was pushed back about five paces before Fukuchi’s nose was removed from his forehead.

But Yuuki was on a very short leash tonight. He was yanked after only five and a third innings when things started to get a little weird. After getting leadoff hitter, Sakamoto, to pop up harmlessly to second, he gave up three consecutive hits that allowed Yomiuri to score it’s first run of the evening. He was then replaced by Lee (3.76) who threw four pitches and got Kamei to sit down, and then Lee was replaced by one of Takada’s favorites, Oshimoto (2.82), to try and get the third out.

Oshimoto did end up recording the third out, but not before Tani slapped an rbi single into right field to level the game at 2-2. Yuuki was charged with both runs.

Takada again had Yoshimoto bunt after Tanaka led off with a single in the sixth, and the value of the sacrifice was once again nullified when pinch-hitter, Shida, who had just been called up from the farm and was standing in the box for his first at-bat of the season, crushed an inside pitch over the wall in left. 4-2 Tokyo.

Tokyo added another four runs in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Hatakeyama doubled to left to get things going before Iihara reached base on an error at first, and Tanaka sent both of them home with a triple to center. Third baseman, Yoshimoto, then dumped a Toyoda offering just over the wall in right to score two and make it 8-2 Tokyo.

With Igarashi on the mound for the birds in the eighth, a Ramirez single was followed by a Kamei homer to make it 8-4.

But three consecutive two-out walks gave the birds back a run in the bottom of that inning to make it 9-4 home team. Iihara gets the rbi credit for drawing that third one with the bases loaded.

Despite the five run lead, Lim was brought in to handle the ninth, and the result was not pretty. He gave up four hits and two rbi’s before recording the second out of the inning. He eventually got Ramirez to ground out to short to end the game.

TAKADA COUNT: 6

If not for that error in the seventh that allowed Iihara to reach base with two outs (the play that eventually led to us scoring four runs), the Swallows probably would have lost this game. There were four sacrifice bunts in this game, and none of them were laid down by a pitcher. Furthermore, the value of the two that featured during innings in which the team scored runs was negated by subsequent rallies or home runs.

While the team did put the bat on the ball a lot more today, and there were glimpses of the team’s form from early July, this may very well have been another game that we were lucky to win.

Unfortunately, Takada’s revolving door policy with regard to promoting players to, and quickly dropping them from, the top team was validated by the fact that two of his recent additions, Shida and Yoshimoto, came up with clutch home runs.

That means that Takada will continue to bring guys up just for a late inning bunt and then send them back down within the same week (or series!).

Additionally, bringing Igarashi (2.85)  in to pitch with a six run lead is not OK. Apparently Takada disagrees, but I would argue that it doesn’t matter that Matsuoka (5-0, 2.74) had already pitched the sixth inning. Matsuoka, Igarashi, and Lim do not always have to pitch on the same day if the team builds a big lead somewhere along the way. Those four runs in the seventh meant that Igarashi and Lim (0.94) should have taken the night off. Instead they both ended up taking a beating.

Incidentally, Matsuoka ended up getting the win for his 11 pitches in the top of the seventh inning.

On offense, the Fukuchi again had a big night, going 3-5, and Tanaka matched him while adding an rbi.

Hatakeyama and Iihara both had two-hit evenings while Yoshimoto and Shida hit their first home runs of the year.

The Swallows will try to put together two wins in a row when hostilities resume tomorrow night at 6pm.