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.

Kawakami back with the Dragons this year

Chunichi Dragons

• Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances.
• It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively.
• Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this season. He has experience playing all over the field, so he should give the Dragons several options in terms of where they can put him.
• The team lured the team’s former starter, Kenshin Kawakami, back from MLB. The last time he played in a Dragons uniform was the 2008 season when he recorded a 9-5 record and a 2.30 ERA. He moved to the Atlanta Braves as a free agent after that. Kawakami pitched well in 2009, but is now regarded as a bust in MLB. He spent most of last season at AA and ended the season with an ERA well above eight. Six million dollars for a crappy year at double A? Yikes.

Yomiuri Giants

• First year players Scott Mathieson (P) and John Bowker (OF) were unveiled to the media on Friday.

Hanshin Tigers

• Much like Tokyo, Hanshin has yet to figure out who will be manning center field this season. A number of names have been floated, including Ryo Asai, Shunsuke, Wei-Chu Lin and rookie Hayata Ito.
• Matt Murton’s wife has still not given birth to the couple’s third child, so there’s a very good chance that he will miss the beginning of spring camp.
• It looks like pitcher Yasutomo Kubo will re-sign with the team some time this week, but infielder Keiichi Hirano is still holding out.

Hiroshima Carp

• Brand new Carp pitcher, Cam Mickolio, and right-handed bat, Nick Stavinoha, were formally introduced to the media on Friday.

Yokohama Baystars

• The new Baystar uniforms are apparently due to be unveiled this weekend. Alex Ramirez may be one of the guys modeling the new kit.

Pacific League Notes

• Kiko Arai, daughter of Orix Buffaloes farm team manager, Hiromasa Arai, is highly attractive. Exhibit A, she was recently crowned Miss Japan.
• Hokkaido received the posting bid money (more than US$50 million for Yu Darvish) from the Rangers. Unfortunately for Hokkaido, however, investors are still guaranteeing the relative strength of the yen over the dollar and euro, so the amount received was basically the equivalent of a couple thousand dollars at today’s exchange rate.

Let's get this deal done already.

• The talk of Araki and Ibata switching back to their original positions, 2nd and short, respectively, continues. Not that anyone cares.
• Victor Diaz might be on the team’s radar. Diaz played in Korea in 2009.

Yomiuri Giants

• Hayato Sakamoto, Yomiuri’s prized homegrown shortstop, has been reaping the benefits of Shinya Miyamoto’s guidance this month. Hey, aren’t those trade secrets? You little git, give us those notes!

Hanshin Tigers

• New Hanshin manager, Yutaka Wada, has given in to Takuya Asao lust and is now babbling about having Fujikawa pitch the 7th inning. If…IF!… he has another top notch closer on hand. Which he doesn’t. And by the way, Mr. Wada, Fujikawa will continue to blow it in the playoffs no matter when you plug him into the game. Sorry.

Hiroshima Carp

• Hiroki Kuroda signed with the Yankees (one-year US$11 million deal). No word yet on whether or not Hiroshima plans to keep waiting.

Yokohama Baystars

• GM Shigeru Takada has injected some young blood into his wing of the building by hiring former Bobby Valentine (Chiba era) front office brain, Shun Kakazu. The 30-year-old has some MLB experience under his belt in the form of serving as San Francisco’s point man on talent in Japan. He has no pro playing experience, however, which makes him rare in front office operations as Patrick Newman pointed out.

Around the Pacific League

• The big news on Yu Darvish will be arriving with in the next few days. The deadline for an agreement is 5PM EST on the 18th (7AM Japan Standard Time on Thursday the 19th). That’s precisely 24 hours after the deadline for a decision on the Norichika Aoki situation.

Yokohama marks his third team in the Kanto region.

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

Yomiuri Giants

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

Hanshin Tigers

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

Hiroshima Carp

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

Yokohama Baystars

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

Around NPB

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

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?

Think Hanshin would give us a half-decent pitcher for Iihara?

Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s another stab at a news roundup for our beloved Central League.

Chunichi Dragons

• Under new management, the Dragons seem to be taking the whole ‘fan experience’ thing very seriously. Both the manager and the head of the team’s player group, starter Kazuki Yoshimi, have a bunch of ideas that range from more face time between the players and fans to cheaper tickets at Nagoya Dome. I would suggest making draft beer cheaper and playing a style of baseball that doesn’t put people to sleep, but hey.
• Despite making it all the way to the Japan Series yet again, the Dragons lost money on the year. Second season in a row, apparently. Not that it’s that big of a deal though. The parent company, Chunichi, can just write it off as an advertising expense.

Yomiuri Giants

• There will not be a special veterans group at spring training this year, according to the team’s manager, Tatsunori Hara. Players such as Abe, Takahashi, Ramirez and Tani were granted special privileges during spring training last year and everyone except for Tani missed time with an injury in 2011.

Hanshin Tigers

• Sounds like the Tigers are on the prowl for a right-handed bat. Any chance we can offload Yasushi Iihara for a number four or five starting pitcher?
• Left out of Hanshin’s plans for 2012, former ikusei infielder, Marco Vechionacci wouldn’t mind another shot at playing in Japan.

Hiroshima Carp

• There’s a new cafe or something going in at the stadium, but other than that not a whole lot is going on down there.

Yokohama Baystars

• The closer’s role has yet to be decided according to Nakahata. Shun Yamaguchi has been getting better and better over the past three years, but in announcing that the ninth inning is still up for grabs it seems like Nakahata doesn’t want him to relax too much.
• The team has been salivating over the sliver-thin possibility that Hideki Matsui could return to Japan. This is, of course, despite the fact that Matsui himself has stated publicly that he has no desire to play in Japan at this time. However, if he does play in Japan again one day, it would be absolutely hilarious if he decided against playing for the Giants.

A lot has happened since the end of the season a little over a month ago.

Happy holidays everyone! Hope that everyone out there has had a chance to spend some time with loved ones.

This is the first of what will likely be an on-again, off-again column detailing what’s going on with Tokyo’s competition in the Central League.

Chunichi Dragons

• Morimichi Takagi took over as Chunichi’s new coach following the team’s defeat in the Japan Series last month. Apparently he wants everyone to refer to him by his first name as part of his kinder, gentler, more lovable Dragons approach to running the team.
• RHP Maximo Nelson re-signed with the club for one year (roughly 80 million yen).
• After four seasons of mostly second string service, Masaaki Koike (31) declared free agency and rejoined his former team, Yokohama.
• Signed free agent Takeshi Yamasaki (43) to a one year deal reportedly worth 30 million yen. 2012 will be Yamasaki’s 26th season of professional baseball in Japan.
• Reliever Takuya Asao re-signed with the team for 260 million yen. He was the first ever league MVP who hadn’t started a single game.
• RHP Wei-Ying Chen is now a free agent and is looking for an opportunity to play in the majors.
• First baseman re-signed for 130 million yen.
• Starting pitcher Enyelbert Soto re-signed for approximately 39 million yen.

Yomiuri Giants

• The team saw it’s season ended by crosstown rival, Tokyo!
• Former Yomiuri General Manager, Hidetoshi Kiyotake, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Yomiuri Giants, Yomiuri Newpaper Holdings, and Yomiuri’s chairman and chief asshole, Tsuneo Watanabe. This came after Kiyotake was sued by the team and the newspaper about 10 days earlier.
• Free agent Alex Ramirez decided to leave the team in search of a better long-term playing time situation. He eventually signed with Yokohama.
• Tatsunori Hara re-signed as the team’s manager. It was a two-year deal.
• Backup catcher, Kazunari Tsuruoka, declared free agency.
• Saburo Omura also declared free agency and returned to his former team, Chiba. Only two players before him left the Giants after only one year.
• Signed RHP Scott Mathieson to a one-year deal worth a reported one million dollars.
• Signed free agent infielder Shuichi Murata from Yokohama. The two-year deal was worth around 500 million yen.
• Lured starting pitcher D.J. Houlton away from Fukuoka Softbank with a two-year 375 million yen deal.
• Re-signed pitchers Romero and Gonzalez.
• Hired former NPB player, Fernando Seguignol, as the team’s scout in North America.
• Signed free agent starter Toshiya Sugiuchi away from Fukuoka Softbank.

Hanshin Tigers

• Akinobu Mayumi stepped aside as manager of the club.
• Yutaka Wada signed a contract at the beginning of December to manage the Tigers for the next three seasons.
• Decided to keep Robert Zarate on an ikusei contract for next season.
• Re-signed overpriced infielder Takahiro Arai for three years at around 250 million yen per year.
• Closer Fujikawa decided not to exercise his right to domestic free agency and opted for a one-year deal. He apparently wants to play in the majors after next season.
• Shortstop Toritani also decided to stay with the team and is looking forward to earning his international free agency next season. He has not ruled out a move to the majors in 2013.
• Starter Randy Messenger re-signed with the team. It was a one-year deal worth roughly 1.5 million dollars. The team apparently has a club option for 2013.
• Re-signed Matt Murton to a one-year deal worth around three million dollars. It was reported that the contract includes a club option for a second year.
• Brazell is owed two million dollars for next season, the last year of his two-year contract.
• Secured Jason Standridge’s services for another year and it will cost the team 1.5 million dollars.
• Traded 27 year-old pitcher Keiji Uezono to Tohoku for 28 year-old pitcher Shingo Matsuzaki.
• The team is requiring Brazell to check in with regular training updates. He showed up at spring training this year nearly 30 pounds overweight, so they decided to tighten the screws on him during the off-season this time around.
• Mizuno will be designing Hanshin’s new uniforms, and it was reported that they will be shown to the public in late January.

Hiroshima Carp

• Back in November, both Kenta Kurihara and Jun Hirose decided not to declare free agency.
• Kurihara signed a one-year deal for 160 million yen that is ass-heavy with production-related incentives. He can reportedly earn a 400 million yen bonus if he drives in at least 110 runs. He signed a one-year deal because he’s interested in earning his international free agency option. There is a chance that he’ll test the MLB waters after the 2012 season.
• Hirose signed a three-year deal worth 60 million yen a year.
• The Carp signed OF Nick Stavinoha (29 years old) to a one-year deal. He has spent his entire pro career in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
• They also signed RHP Kam Mickolio who had been released by the Diamondbacks following the 2011 season. He signed a one-year deal.
• Ikusei pitcher, Wilfreiser Guerrero, was released.
• Pitchers Giancarlo Alvarada and Mike Schultz were released.
• Announced that veteran Takuro Ishii will be a player/coach next season.
• Starting pitcher Bryan Bullington re-signed with the team for 133.75 million yen. It’s a one-year deal.
• Closer Dennis Sarfate also signed a one-year contract worth 90 million yen.
• Infielder Brian Barden re-signed for 65 million yen.
• The Carp are REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hoping that Hiroki Kuroda will come back from MLB and pitch for them next season.

Yokohama BayStars

• The Yokohama Bay Stars were purchased by DeNA and named former Tokyo manager, Takada, as their GM.
• Manager Takao Obana was sent packing.
• The team flirted with 500 year-old pitcher, Kimiyasu Kudo, for a while and actually offered him a job as a player-manager. But then Takada was given the GM job and put the kibosh on the whole thing.
• Kiyoshi Nakahata was announced as the club’s first manager under the DeNA banner. He signed a two-year deal.
• Signed outfielder, and former Tokyo Swallow, Alex Ramirez who just finished up his fourth year as a Yomiuri Giant. It’s a two-year deal worth at least 350 million yen per year.
• Lost third baseman, Shuichi Murata, to the Yomiuri Giants.
• Brent Leach was released.
• Pitcher Clayton Hamilton was retained despite his 7.18 ERA over 36.1 innings for the top team.
• Pitcher Brandon Mann also had his contract renewed.
• Yokohama shipped 27 year-old catcher, Shingo Takeyama, to Saitama in exchange for infielder Taketoshi Goto (31).
• Yokohama posted workhorse reliever Hiroki Sanada, but he wasn’t bid on by anyone in MLB (because he isn’t really that good).
• Brett Harper was also let go despite putting up OK numbers in 2011.
• Big-hitting Termel Sledge was released.
• The new Baystars logo looks horrible. The worst part is that ‘DeNA’ is written in a bigger font than ‘Yokohama’. UPDATE: These newer ones are a little better.
• Yomiuri free agent, Kazunari Tsuruoka, re-signed with his former team, the Yokohama BayStars. He signed a two-year deal worth a total of 90 million yen.
• Signed Chunichi free agent and former BayStar, Masaaki Koike, to a two-year contract worth 40 million yen per year.
• The team is planning on debuting new uniforms next season.

Hiroshima Carp  1

Tokyo Swallows  2

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: LWWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This game very nearly sucked. But in the end, it turned out to be a very satisfactory way to end the regular season.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2x	2	3	0
W: Oshimoto (3-2 1S) L: Maeda (10-12)

The unimportance of this contest was lost on very few people in the stadium with a large portion of the Swallows fans on hand showing up purely because Hirotoshi Ishii was slated to pitch a bit in the final top team appearance of his injury-abbreviated career.

	Hiroshima		Tokyo
1	Higashide 2B	1	Aoki CF
2	Akamatsu CF	2	Ueda LF
3	Maru RF	3	Tanaka 2B
4	Kurihara 1B	4	Hatakeyama 1B
5	Matsuyama LF	5	Miyamoto 3B
6	Barden 3B	6	Balentien RF
7	Kokubo SS	7	Morioka SS
8	Kura C	8	Kawamoto C
9	Maeda P	9	Akagawa P

The only person for whom the game seemed to matter was Hiroshima’s starter, Kenta Maeda. He needed a few more Ks and maybe an inning or two to secure first place in both pitching categories for the 2011 season.

Ishii threw three strikes in his last pro appearance.

And he got ‘em both. Maeda went nearly the full nine and struck out four in a dominating pitching performance that nearly ended his season on a very high note.

Nearly.

Maeda carried a no-hitter through eight and one-third innings before finally running into trouble. He walked three in the process, but Tokyo’s bats never put up much of a fight. And why should they? This game felt very much like a fine-tuning exercise before the playoffs start on Saturday.

The pitching changes were fast and furious on the Tokyo side. Akagawa (6-3; 2.03 ERA) started and pitched two scoreless innings before Tateyama (11-5; 2.04) came in to throw a three up, three down, 12-pitch third. Lim (4-2 32S; 2.17) and Matsuoka (2-2; 2.86) pitched a runnerless inning each before Barnette (1-1 2S; 2.68) made his first appearance in what seemed like a year and a half and surrendered the only run of the game up to that point. 1-0 Hiroshima.

But the Tokyo bats weren’t getting anything done to keep Maeda honest. However, that didn’t really matter to most of the crowd as main course was about to be served. Ishii made his way to the mound to start the top of the seventh. His opponent, Matsumoto, swung politely at three straight pitches to give Ishii the send-off he deserved.

The teary-eyed Ishii was then replaced by Masubuchi (7-11; 4.22) who figures to be coming out of the ‘pen during the first stage of the playoffs. Masubuchi gave up the obligatory walk to repay Hiroshima for their sportsmanship, and then he worked through the next five batters without allowing any other runners to reach base.

I like Masubuchi coming out of the ‘pen. And you should, too.

Oshimoto (3-2 1S; 3.28) pitched the top of the ninth, and he eventually retired the side despite nearly giving up a home run to Matsuyama.

And Oshimoto would eventually get the win as the Swallows finally got to Maeda with one out in the bottom of the ninth. After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Whitesell was caught looking at a called 3-2 strike. But then Tokyo’s horde of second and third string players came through to disrupt Maeda’s no-hitter and give the substantial home crowd something other than Ishii to cheer about.

Fujimoto (read this to find out why he was promoted) broke up the no-hit bid with a double down the line in left, and then Ueda outran a slow hopper to short to put runners on the corners with one out.

Ueda safely stole second during Tanaka’s at-bat, and then the latter worked a walk to juice the bases with Maeda still on the mound. There was action in the bullpen, but Nomura never made a move.

Hatakeyama then grounded stoftly to second, and he was somehow able to beat the throw at first to avoid the

Hirotoshi's three children greeted him after the game. Instant heart-melter.

double play while Fujimoto scored from third on the fielder’s choice. All tied at one.

With runners on the corners and Fukuchi pinch-hitting for Noguchi (who was covering third for Miyamoto), Fukuchi swatted a low 2-1 changeup into left to score the winning run and surprise the hell out of everyone in the stadium. 2-1 Tokyo walk-off win.

Oshimoto got the win for his scoreless ninth inning, and Ishii gave a post-game speech that drew tears from several in attendance (not me).

The Tokyo Swallows now have a few final days to prepare for their upcoming home series against the Yomiuri Giants who will venture to Jingu from Suidobashi this Saturday for game one of the first stage of the Central League Climax Series. The game starts at 6:30PM. See you there.

Notes:

For the record, tonight was Ishii’s first top team appearance since 2006. His best year, for those that like to reminisce, was 2005 when he amassed 37 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 61 appearances.

Balentien came up with a very nice sliding catch in the top of the third to keep things in check for Tateyama. It was arguably one of his finer defensive plays of the year in right field.

Hiroshima fans are awesome. They stayed for Ishii’s retirement speech and many of them were still in the left field stands when he finished his tour around the field to thank the fans. After that, they shouted across to us (in unison) wishing us luck in the Climax Series. Very classy folks.

Balentien finished the season with a batting average of .228 which meant that Kozo won the bet and Mac had to buy him a beer after the seventh inning.

Balentien finished the 2011 campaign top of the Central in home runs (31), slugging (.469), and strikeouts (131). He also finished fourth in RBI (76).

Aoki finished first in games (144), at-bats (583), and runs scored (73).

Tanaka took first in Tak-bunts (62).

Hatakeyama led the league in walks (78).

The Tokyo Swallows finished the 144 game season 2.5 games behind Chunichi and one game ahead of the third place Yomiuri Giants.

The Swallows scored more runs than any other team in the Central (484), but were second worst in runs allowed (504).

Nice way to end the regular season.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/25/102511-hiroshima-home/feed/ 8 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/09/10911-hiroshima-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10911-hiroshima-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/09/10911-hiroshima-home/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 14:07:19 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=10936 October 9th, 2011

Hiroshima Carp  3

Tokyo Swallows  4

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: LLWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Hiroshima	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	0
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	1x	4	8	0
W: Lim (4-2 31S) L: Imamura (3-8 1S)

Ueda turned out to be the left fielder du jour, and the Swallows showed some fight in wresting the series from Hiroshima.

	Hiroshima		Tokyo
1	Akamatsu CF	1	Aoki CF
2	Kimura SS	2	Ueda LF
3	Barden 3B	3	Kawabata SS
4	Kurihara 1B	4	Hatakeyama 1B
5	Matsuyama LF	5	Balentien RF
6	Hirose RF	6	Miyamoto 3B
7	Matsumoto 2B	7	Tanaka 2B
8	Kura C	8	Aikawa C
9	Bullington P	9	Yamamoto P

Yamamoto (1-6) was on the bump for Tokyo, and he didn’t last long. After beaning three guys and walking as many, he was asked to sit and think in the dugout for the remaining six and one-third innings.

For his trouble, he was tagged with three earned runs. However, he lucked out in the end as his teammates saved him from adding to his loss column.

Down 0-3 after three innings, the birds didn’t start to show some fight until the fifth inning when they finally got to Hiroshima’s starter, Bullington. Miyamoto and Tanaka led off with singles before Aikawa was asked to bunt them over. The nine-fingered man couldn’t figure out how to lay down a sacrifice in fair territory, so he resorted to the more modern solution which for him is hitting a single to left.

With the bases loaded, pinch-hitter Yuichi grounded out to second which pushed a run home in the process, and Aoki did the same with his grounder to short. 3-2 Hiroshima.

 The offense then quieted down for two innings as Bullington retired the Swallows batters in order in both the sixth and seventh.

But Hiroshima reliever, Kishimoto, was welcomed to the game by pinch-hitter, Fukuchi, with a triple to center to set the stage for a tie ballgame going into the ninth. It was only the latter’s third extra-base hit of 2011, and his first triple, and Aoki was happy to step into the batter’s box with a chance at a second RBI on the day.

After Kishimoto’s two pitches, it was Takahiro Aoki’s turn to pitch. Perhaps Hiroshima didn’t have anyone else to turn to in that situation, but Tokyo’s Aoki was 5-12 against Hiroshima’s Aoki going into that at-bat, so it might not have been the best choice for a matchup on the Hiroshima manager’s part. At any rate, Tokyo’s Aoki delivered with a single to center. He’s now 6-13 with a .462 batting average against Hiroshima’s Aoki. Tied at 3.

Even with no outs, that was the end of the scoring in the 9th partly due to an Ueda Tak-bunt to move Aoki over to second. The most interesting part of the inning after that was when Hiroshima walked Hatakeyama with two outs in order to pitch to Balentien. Both were hitless in their previous three at-bats, and with Imamura coming in to face Tokyo’s right fielder, Balentien struck out to end the inning.

Tokyo’s relievers did a good job of keeping Hiroshima at bay after Yamamoto was sent to the showers. Matsui (3-0, 3.81 ERA) finished Yamamoto’s third inning and pitched two more while only allowing one hit and issuing one walk.

Matsuoka (2-2, 2.70) took care of the sixth and seventh innings without allowing a base runner. He mixed in three strikeouts during his 26-pitch effort.

And Oshimoto (2-2, 3.22) allowed a lead-off single, but Hiroshima’s third Tak-bunt of the game helped lessen the sting and he got out of the inning with a grounder and a strikeout.

Chang-yong Lim took the mound with the score tied in the top of the ninth, and he retired the side in quick fashion care of a strikeout and two easy pop-ups to Kawabata at short.

Imamura remained on the mound for the Carp after striking Balentien out to end the Tokyo threat in the bottom of the eighth. Morioka grounded out to second to start things off, but then Tanaka came through with his second hit of the game to kindle some hope for the home fans. He deserves extra credit for prevailing after a 10-pitch encounter with Imamura in which Tanaka fouled off four pitches to keep himself in the contest.

Aikawa then doused the hopes a bit with a Tak-bunt that moved Tanaka to second and put a second out on the board. At three hours and 12 minutes, it looked certain that the game would go to the 10th inning.

But then Nomura drew his outfielders in to an almost comical defensive depth to try and prevent Tanaka from scoring. Maybe they forgot that Fukuchi had tripled in his previous at bat and is capable of hitting to the warning track, regardless of what his batting average says about him.

Well, he came through once again. Again hitting from the left side of the plate, he declined to swing at a first pitch strike and then pulled the next pitch past the outfielder in right. Tanaka scored from second to win the game and win the series two games to one. 4-3 Final.

Lim (4-2 31S, 2.19 ERA) got the win for his scoreless ninth, and Fukuchi was the hero of the game after playing a large part in Tokyo’s tying and go-ahead runs.

The Swallows head to Nagoya tomorrow morning to take on Chunichi in a four game series that has the potential to determine who wins the Central League Pennant. For discussion on the gut-wrenching importance of this series, check out yesterday’s podcast.

The Swallows will play their second to last home game at Jingu on Friday the 14th against the Hanshin Tigers. Tokyo’s final home game, and their last game of the regular season, is scheduled for the 25th when Hiroshima come back to town.

Notes:

Whitesell was removed from the active roster after complaining of pain in his right side. It sounds like he may have pulled something in the game on the eighth.

The Swallows outhit the Carp eight to five.

After getting nine runners on base in the first three innings, Hiroshima only managed three more through the final six.

Aoki is now in sole possession of second place in the Central League with a .360 batting average with runners in scoring position. Yomiuri’s shortstop, Sakamoto, is in first.

Ueda did well at the plate going 1-2 with a double and a walk. He started in left and moved over to right when Lim took Balentien’s spot in the lineup for the ninth.

Prior to his appearance in tonight’s game, Ueda has been having a decent season on the farm team. Through 349 official at-bats, he’s hitting .281/.373/.355 with 98 hits, 55 stolen bases and 37 RBIs. He’s also mixed in 47 walks, seven HBP, and 55 Ks. In other words, he sounds a little like a 23-year-old Fukuchi.

Miyamoto went 1-1 in his first game back after being held out of a few games due to pneumonia. He also got on base a second time thanks to a HBP. Morioka took his place on first as a pinch-runner after his single in the fifth. It was also Morioka who replaced him at third base.

Tanaka was the only Tokyo player besides Fukuchi to record more than one hit. He also added a walk.

Tokyo’s 3-4-5 hitters, Kawabata, Hatakeyama and Balentien, went a combined 0-11 at the plate.

In addition to leading the league in homers (30) and slugging percentage (.478), Balentien is top in strikeouts (124) as well.

Hatakeyama leads the league in walks (74) and pudding consumed per inning (2.2 cups).

Tokyo are still a half game behind the Chunichi Dragons in the fight for the right to host the second stage of the Climax Series at home. Tokyo has nine games remaining on its regular season schedule. Chunichi has 10. Tokyo will face Chunichi in five of those contests.

Yes, this could go down to the wire, folks.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/09/10911-hiroshima-home/feed/ 6 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/08/10811-hiroshima-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10811-hiroshima-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/08/10811-hiroshima-home/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:58:32 +0000 David Watkins http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=10812 October 8th, 2011

Hiroshima Carp  7

Tokyo Swallows  4

Streak: Lost 1       Last 5: LLLWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Hiroshima	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	2	7	10	1
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	4	6	0
W: Aoki (2-4/3.40) L: Matsuoka (2-2/2.79) S: Imamura (1S/4.75)

On a night which saw Chunichi shut down and beaten by Yomiuri, a win for Tokyo would have sent them back to the top of the CL. But a battling come-from-behind performance was undone by another dose of misfiring bullpen.

	Us		Them
1	CF Aoki	1	2B Higashide
2	2B Tanaka	2	CF Akamatsu
3	SS Kawabata	3	3B Barden
4	1B Hatakeyama	4	1B Kurihara
5	LF Yuichi	5	RF Hirose
6	RF Balentien	6	LF Matsuyama
7	3B Morioka	7	C Shirahama
8	C Aikawa	8	SS Kimura
9	P Muranaka	9	Ohtake

Muranaka started for the Swallows but wouldn’t last four innings as he let the team in the midst of an eight game losing streak fashion an early lead.

In the 1st a two-out walk for Barden and a Kurihara home run made it 2-0 Hiroshima. And in the 4th, three hits combined with a walk put the Carp 3-0 ahead. Matsui came in in relief of Muranaka and got the final out of the inning.

After Ohtake held the ice-cold Tokyo bats to a solitary hit over the first three frames, Tokyo got on the board in the bottom of the 4th, as two hits and a Hatakeyama groundout to first was good enough for a 3-1 scoreline.

And the Swallows tied things up in the 6th. A solo homer from Aoki (no.4 for the year) made it 3-2 before Tanaka got on base via an infield hit. After Hatake drew a walk one out later, and Yuichi flew out for out number two, Balentien hit a broken bat bloop single to centre to put things level at 3-3.

Matsuoka lets things slip in the 8th

But all that hard work was undone in the 8th. With Matsuoka on the mound, a single for Kurihara and a two run shot to right for Matsuyama put the Carp back ahead at 5-3.

The Swallows did have a bit of fight left in them yet though, however their efforts were undermined by some hair-brained management in the bottom of the inning.

Tanaka was plunked to lead off the inning before Kawabata walked to put two Tokyo men on. Up stepped no.4 batter Hatakeyama, the CL’s current no.2 harvester of RBIs, and he was instructed to……..sacrifice bunt. Now if it was Miyamoto or someone of that ilk up next I could possibly understand that move. But it was the utterly ineffectual Yuichi up next (a man who should never have been in the starting lineup to start with, injury crisis or not), and he grounded out to second, Tanaka scored from third to make it 5-4. But that would be as close as they would get, with Balentien striking out to end the inning.

And so to the top of the 9th, and Hidaka put two outs on the board before giving up a single and a walk. On came Ichiba to take Hidaka’s place, and the pitcher, who hasn’t been seen much at all since his move from Rakuten in 2009 for good reason, gave up back-to-back run scoring singles to put the Carp out of reach for a 7-4 Hiroshima Final.

And that was that. Positives: at least Chunichi lost so their lead remains at 0.5 games. However, this Chunichi team is not losing a hell of a lot these days, and thus the Swallows capitulation, again late in a game, cannot be seen as anything other than an opportunity wasted.

The two teams will return for the final game of the series tomorrow evening, before Tokyo travel to Nagoya for the do-or-die four game series with Chunichi from Monday.

The Swallows' fans turned out in force, but ultimately, all that cheering would be in vain