Guiel has re-signed with Kansas City and is looking to become a coach in the Royals minor league system.

Tokyo Swallows

• Wladimir Balentien is having some right elbow issues and hasn’t been able to practice at 100%. It seems like Ogawa is starting to get a little impatient (link in Japanese). Balentien didn’t play in Tokyo’s pre-season game against Hanshin on Saturday.
• Tokyo beat Hokkaido 3-0 in a practice game on Thursday February 23rd. Tetsuto Yamada was three for four at the plate including a solo homer in the ninth. Milledge came up with Tokyo’s first RBI. Masubuchi started and didn’t allow any runs during his four innings of work.
• Tokyo’s farm team lost to Chiba’s farm team 1-4 on Friday February 24th. Fernandes started for Tokyo and gave up two runs over three innings of work.
• Tokyo beat Hanshin 3-2 in an exhibition game on Saturday February 25th. Roman pitched the third through sixth innings and gave up one earned run from five hits. He ended up getting the win thanks partly to leadoff hitter, Ueda’s, two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

And in former Tokyo Swallows

• As mentioned earlier, Aoki now has a tougher climb to an everyday starting position in Milwaukee’s outfield. In a hearing that we never should have known about, 2011 MVP Ryan Braun argued successfully that his urine sample was tainted by improper handling. We still need to wait roughly a month to hear what the arbitrator’s report has to say, but apparently Braun’s lawyers were able to demonstrate how the improper handling of Braun’s sample can scientifically lead to an elevated testosterone reading. In other words, it wasn’t a technicality. Read this article for a good summary of all that’s been written over the past several days. Anyway, Aoki’s unveiling at spring camp in Maryvale has been completely consumed by what is probably the biggest story of the MLB off-season.
• Aaron Guiel signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals. He’s technically a player, but the team is looking to try and phase him into their system as a coach.

DeNA now owns the team, so maybe rosier times are on the horizon. One possible plus is the fact that Yokohama just snagged the rights to LHP Shugo Fujii. He’s a fourth or fifth starter on many rotations, but he could be a little bit better than that for Yokohama.

And, yes, he used to play for the Swallows. Remember shaggy? I used to love this guy because I occasionally bumped into him under the stadium on one of the five days of the week that he wasn’t starting. He loved the yaki-tori that they sold on the concourse under the bleachers in right, and he had no qualms with walking right up to the counter to grab some.

He played for the Swallows from 2000-07 before being traded to the Hokkaido Fighters. He spent two seasons there and then found himself traded to Yomiuri before the start of the 2010 season. One OK season and one crappy season later, he now finds himself in Yokohama.

At the age of 34, that’s three teams in the Kanto region for Fujii since his debut year in 2000.

That’s definitely a rare feat–three Kanto-based teams in a little over a decade. And this is where the trivia question comes into play.

How many players can you name that have played for at least two Kanto-based teams since 2000?

For the record, the teams that have been located in Kanto since (and including) the 2000 season are the Tokyo Swallows, Saitama Lions, Yokohama Baystars, Chiba Marines, Nippon Ham Fighters (they moved to Hokkaido after the 2003 season), and Yomiuri Giants.

Close but no cigar: Tokyo third base coach, Shiroishi, is quite close to being included in this group. He played for the then Tokyo Dome-bound Nippon Ham Fighters from 1995 until 1997. He then made the move across town to Jingu Stadium before the 1998 season and finally retired in 2009. But he doesn’t count. (And not just because he was a crappy baseball player.)

Trivia: Which players have played for at least two Kanto-based teams since the 2000 season? Post your ideas/answers in the comments section.

1. Rob Smaal, staff writer for the Asahi, recently wrote about the unlikely connection between former Swallows shortstop, Dave Hilton, and one of Japan’s best living authors, Haruki Murakami.

Apparently Murakami, a Swallows fan, was at Jingu on Opening Day of the 1978 season, and Hilton’s lead-off double turned out to be something like a magical stroke of inspiration for the now world-famous novelist.

Murakami recently wrote, “Something flew down from the sky at that instant, and whatever it was, I accepted it.”

Read the entire article here.

2. Neither surprising nor positive, the New York Mets have decided to let former Tokyo Swallow fireballer, Ryota Igarashi, look for work elsewhere. Due to a clause in Igarashi’s contract, that makes him a free agent after only two seasons in the bigs.

According to an article on MLB.com, Igarashi has signaled his intention to try and continue his playing career in North America, even if it means signing a minor league contract.

As was expected by those of us who watched Igarashi play for several years, he struggled with his command at the major league level and found himself getting dropped to triple-A on a regular basis.

Through two full seasons and 79 appearances (69 innings pitched), Igarashi compiled a 1.81 RIP, and an ERA of 5.74.

Read the entire MLB article here.

Hopefully if/when he plays in Japan again, he’ll give Tokyo first right of refusal on his services.

3. Media commentator Hideki Kuriyama, who played for the Swallows from 1985-89, is apparently a front-runner for the managerial job in Hokkaido that will be left open when Nashida steps down at the end of this season.

Nashida has had a very successful run in Hokkaido after he took over for Trey Hillman a few years ago, but he decided that he would not seek a contract extension after the 2011 season ends.

Kuriyama, 50, has no coaching or managing experience, so we’re not sure why Hokkaido would even consider throwing him into the top job. Expect him to be a media darling though, so maybe it’s more of a business decision than a baseball decision.

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 9

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: LLWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The Fighters are terrible house guests. They come into your house and beat all hell out of you. Be warned.

The Swallows:

Gold uniforms are classless enough to be a Hanshin thing.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Whitesell (1B)
4. Hatakeyama (LF)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Morioka (SS)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yoshinori (P)
. . . although one could be forgiven for thinking Tokyo declined to field a team today.

The Fighters:
1. Tanaka (2B)
2. Iiyama (SS)
3. Itoi (CF)
4. Nakata (LF)
5. Inaba (1B)
6. You (RF)
7. Imanami (3B)
8. Tsuruoka (C)
9. Keppel (P)

Yoshinori got things off to an exciting start by walking three in the first, but managed to record three outs, one of which was a K, without giving up a run. Fans of classic fiction might recognize this as “foreshadowing”, though.

In the second, the tender-handed kid managed a two-K 1-2-3 side. Suspense, I assure you. Keppel was not doing a whole lot better yet, getting out without being scored on just in the nick of time himself.

In the top of the third, though, Yoshinori faced the top of Hokkaido’s order and gave up a homer to start. That was followed by a strike-out, then another solo homer, to Itoi. A K is the best thing a pitcher can do and giving up a round-tripper the worst, but they are not equal and opposite.

Walking (small, ringed) dick Nakata (I can’t stand that cocky punk) singled next and was driven in by You.

It wasn’t done, though. Yoshinori walked Imanami and gave up another RBI to Tsuruoka before finally getting out of the inning against Keppel. Yes, the whole order took a turn on Sato-kun. (He doesn’t get to be called by just his first name yet, if you ask me. You have to make your name before you pick your name. Don’t get me wrong, though – he’s good. Mostly.)

4-0 Hokkaido.

Keppel continued to struggle, hitting Whitesell and walking the Curaçao Cyclone, but didn’t hit the bat with the ball much and was, thus, safe.

Let’s minimize the pain and skip ahead to the 7th. Not unlike the third, it began with Sato-kun giving up a solo homer; another to Itoi. He then hit Nakata high and inside. Fair enough. That jerk should be beaned in every AB. In BP, too. Murata took over the running duties and Inaba drive him in before Sato-chan was finally benched in favor of Hashimoto, who gave up three hits, including one to the pitcher, Keppel, and an RBI to Tanaka. 8-0 Hokkaido.

Luckily, our pitching has been lights out and our offense has been scoring like a Korean pop star at a conference of retired Japanese ladies. And the hot girl at the bar is going to approach you and want to talk about your manga collection, too.

Barnette came in in the eighth. (Welcome back, Tony. Our condolences. You get a pass for tonight.) 1K, 2H – one RBI. 9-0 Hokkaido.

Chikara Onodera finished the game for us. Two hits.

Yoshinori earned the loss. Keppel lucked into the win. The Birds seek revenge tomorrow night.

We get the point, though. Business and baseball mix. The PL is better in every respect but money and attention. It’s like hiking in Red Wings vs. Chanel heels.

Watanabe, die already. Watanabe’s Yomiuri successor, please understand that your former boss was the worst thing to happen to baseball in Japan ever and that the CL is inferior to a not particularly world-class PL because you guys actively block improvement.

Tomorrow and Sunday are day games, which is a good thing.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WWWWL

(Sapporo Dome)

Tonight’s match-up saw media-darling and Hokkaido ace Yu Darvish take on our boys from Tokyo. The Swallows put the relatively untested youngster Hitoshi Yamamoto, in his third start, up against him. Rangy Swallow-turned-Eagle-turned-Swallow Ryuji Miyade also started his first game as a returnee tonight, when he took the field in left.

It could have been worse, but there was very little oxygen for the Birds in Sapporo tonight.

Us:

Because this hippie earns his cash, we get no exciting photo.

Yamamoto (P)

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

Them:
Darvish (P)

1. Tanaka (2B)
2. Yoh (RF)
3. Itoi (CF)
4. Koyano (3B)
5. Inaba (DH)
6. Nakata (LF)
7. Hoffpauir (1B)
8. Ohno (C)
9. Kaneko (SS)

Poor Yamamoto lost his mojo early on, when, with one out in the bottom of the second, he gave up a deep double to Inaba on the first pitch of the at-bat, a hard RBI single up the middle to obnoxious punk Nakata on the second pitch of his at-bat, and denied the new guy Hoffpauir an AB by walking him on five pitches, before redeeming himself with two strike-outs against Ohno and Kaneko. 1-0 Hokkaido.

Yamamoto nearly brought Judgement Day three days ahead of schedule, when he loaded the bases with a hit (then an intervening groundout) and two walks before he was yanked in favor of Kyuko.

Tokyo didn’t even begin to organize a revenge plot until the top of the sixth, when a Whitesell double followed by a Hatakeyama single put men on the corners with only one out and the mighty Wladimir “Coco” Balentien at the bat.

Darvish served up a hot lunch down the middle, Coco went after it, and the inning ended with a GIDP. (Didn’t I once hear something about taking the first pitch?)

The sixth inning would not end without a run, though. Unfortunately it was for the Fighters. Kyuko proved no more effective than Yamamoto, notching his second K on his third batter (Inaba) before letting the next two on with a walk and a hit before he was replaced by Hashimoto.

Hashimoto got the second out on an Ohno fly ball that let both runners move into scoring position. He then gave up an RBI to Kaneko before getting the third out. One of those nights for the bullpen. 2-0 Hokkaido.

The seventh didn’t get any prettier for Hashimoto. An Onizaki fielding error, followed by a successful bunt, followed by a successful sac bunt saw him leave the game with two men in scoring position yet again. One of those nights for the bullpen.

Kato came in and promptly gave up a successful sac fly before finally getting the Birds out of the inning with a K. 3-0 Hokkaido, Final.

I’ll put you out of your misery now. Darvish went 1-2-3/1-2-3 in the seventh inning to make up for the aforementioned danger he’d allowed his team to get into all night in the sixth – the only danger they were in all night, after which he faced only six batters. Having thrown 127 pitches, he left the game to allow Hisashi Takeda to come in to strike out Whitesell one a full count, just barely escape a Hatakeyama homer, and throw one pitch to Balentien, who, of course, went after it to no avail.

Yamamoto took his second loss of the season, striking out five while walking three and giving up four hits and one run. His relief was no better, really.

Balentien has monster numbers, but he needs to watch Whitesell work a count, take notes, and stop getting sucked into first-pitches in the strike zone. The results are bad more often than not.

What’s there to say? Yu Darvish earns his money.

The Carp lost, too, so Tokyo is still three games up in first place. They go to Sendai after a day off to help Yoshinori to a dominant performance in his hometown, then come back to Jingu to host Fukuoka for a pair.

Don’t forget that you can keep up with individual player stats on our stats page.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 0

Streak: Won 4  Last 5: DWWWW

(Sapporo Dome)

Tonight’s opening games of the 2011 Inter-League campaign saw all of the Pacific League teams hosting their Central League counterparts. For the CL-topping Swallows, that meant a trip to Hokkaido to face off against the PL’s joint top placed team in the echoey confines of the Sapporo Dome.

To add spice to the already spicy occasion, the game was scheduled to see the two teams’ ace pitchers face each other, with Tateyama going head to head with Yu Darvish. But while Tateyama did take the mound for Tokyo, it was Masaru Takeda who started for the Fighters, with the pleasure of facing Darvish likely having to wait until tomorrow evening. Shame.

Us:

Tateyama (P)

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

Them:

M.Takeda (P)

1. Tanaka (2B)
2. Yoh (RF)
3. Itoi (CF)
4. Koyano (3B)
5. Inaba (DH)
6. Nakata (LF)
7. Hoffpauir (1B)
8. Ohno (C)
9. Kaneko (SS)

This man is rather good

Tateyama pitched a pretty standard Tateyama performance. That is to say he went deep into the game and didn’t allow the opposition a whole lot to play with as his control was largely impeccable, and when he did get in a pinch he kept his head as has become his trademark. In a word, masterful. But by now you know how much we here at Tsubamegun like ourselves a bit of Tateyama, so i’ll cut the plaudits there. Plus if you’re a regular reader I’m likely preaching to the choir anyway.

Tateyama sailed through the first four innings, giving up a hit in the 2nd and 4th, while Tokyo got a man on in each of those innings (twice each for Aoki and Balentien), but just couldn’t do anything with the runners.

And so to the 5th, where both teams seriously threatened for the first time. In the top of the inning Aoki worked a two out walk to occupy first. Tanaka then hit a grounder to short, but Kaneko’s throw to second was a little wayward, allowing Aoki to make it to third with Tanaka sitting at first. Whitesell then came within feet of making it 3-0 as he hit one just to the right of the rightfield foulpole, but he eventually stuck out on a slider in the dirt to end the inning.

In the bottom of the frame it would be Hokkaido’s turn to threaten. Swallows’ old-boy Inaba hit a freak shot which dribbled towards fist, evading both Tateyama and Tanaka’s attempts to field the ball to put a Fighters’ leadoff man on base for the first time in the evening. After a flyout from Kiyohara wannabe Sho Nakata put the first red light on the scoreboard, Hoffpauir then doubled to right with only the fact that Inaba is an old man preventing him from making it past third. It was time for Tateyama to buckle down and that he did, as he got Ohno to swing at three straight sliders outside for out number two. After that Kaneko flew out to centre and the first threat of the evening was snuffed out.

Tokyo would take the lead in the 6th. Hatakeyama doubled to lead off the inning, but with outs for Balantien and Miyamoto it looked like another runner would be stranded. But Aikawa had other ideas as he hit one to left, the ball landing just in front of Nakata allowing Hatakeyama to score for 1-0 Tokyo.

And the lead was doubled in the 7th. Aoki got on via a one-out single before Tanaka hit a grounder to short. Aoki was out at second but Tanaka beat the double play ball to first and the inning lived on. And how Hokkaido would live to regret not turning that double play, as Whitesell then clubbed one off the centrefield wall for a double allowing Tanaka (not being so old) to scarper home from first to make it 2-0 Tokyo.

Hokkaido mounted one more attempt at a run in the 8th as consecutive singles put two men on with no outs on the board. But Tateyama then got a huge break to help the Tokyo cause. Pinch hitter Murata was brought in for Yoh in order to lay down the sac bunt to move both runners into scoring positions. And lay down a bunt he did, right along the first base line. Only he ran into the ball, which was adjudged to have been in play and he was called out for interference. Ouch. After that a strikeout and a groundout got Tateyama out of the inning with his 0 intact.

All that was left was for Lim to take the mound in the 9th and he dispatched Inaba, Nakata and Hoffpauir in order to make it 2-0 Tokyo Final.

Tateyama took the win for his excellent 8IP/108P/6H/6K/1BB/1HBP/0ER performance and his record moves to 3-1/1.88.

Lim earned his 8th save of the year and his ERA now sits at 1.35.

Aoki was the standout with the bat, going 3 for 4 and his average is now a very healthy .369. Balentien (.391) managed two hits as did Aikawa (.225), who is showing some welcome signs that his slump with the bat is beginning to thaw.

Ihara, brought back into the team via the predicted DHing of Whitesell, went hitless in his four plate appearances and it now batting a blush-worthy .067. Come on Yasushi, you’re better than that! Show it.

Tokyo outhit Hokkaido 10-6.

The two teams will return tomorrow evening.

Job Done

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.

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 10

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WWWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

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

And it worked.

Tonite’s lineup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10-2 Final.

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

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

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

Random thoughts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/15/61510-hokkaido-home/feed/ 5 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/14/61410-hokkaido-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=61410-hokkaido-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/14/61410-hokkaido-home/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:36:34 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=7086 June 14th, 2010

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

When this game was originally scheduled to be played (May 23rd), Takada was still at the helm, the birds had just gotten whupped by Chiba 20-4, and the team was in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.

What a difference three weeks make.

Tonite’s lineup:

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

Tokyo got down and dirty real early in this one.

Aoki led off with a single before Tanaka Tak-bunted him over to second. Guiel then occupied the empty space at first by drawing a walk which set the table for D’Antona to hit one over the fence in right. It was his ninth homer of the season. 3-0 Tokyo.

Iihara chipped in with a walk of his own, the then Aikawa followed with the first of his four singles to put runners on first and second again. Miyamoto then came through with a single to left that plated Iihara. 4-0 Tokyo.

Too bad about that bunt because the second out of the inning didn’t even arrive until Muranaka, the ninth batter of the inning, struck out. Aoki then ended the inning by lining out to short.

Muranaka's Kroon impersonation. Very dramatic in the rain. Wrong hand though.

Ogawa wasted another out in the fourth with a Tanaka Tak-bunt after Aoki had reached base on a single. And yet again, D’Antona was there to make the decision look that much more foolish by crushing his second homer of the night over the fence in center. This two run shot was his tenth of the year and second of the game. 6-0 Tokyo.

Hokkaido finally got on the board in the top of the fifth with a little two out rally that made the score 6-1 Swallows.

But the birds answered back with another two runs in the bottom of that inning. Tokyo actually got a little help, in the form of an error, from former teammate Atsunori Inaba who was playing first base at the time. Aikawa and Miyamoto had come up with back-to-back singles just prior to the Inaba blunder, and Aikawa was able to score. 7-1 Tokyo.

Tokyo’s last run of the game came on Tanaka’s bases loaded groundout to third in which Miyamoto was able to sneak home. 8-1 Tokyo.

Things began to unravel quickly for Muranaka in the seventh. With the rain still falling, he allowed three hits, a walk, and two RBIs without recording an out, so Masubuchi had to come in to quiet things down a bit. Which he did in one, two, three fashion. 8-3 Final.

Matsuoka (1.04 ERA) and Oshimoto (4.01) pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, and Muranaka got the win. Muranaka (4-5; 3.56) threw 126 pitches and allowed three earned runs off of seven hits. He also notched five strikeouts and conceded two walks.

The clear standout on offense was Jamie D’Antona who went 2-5 and clubbed two round-trippers and amassed five RBIs. Aikawa also had an excellent game–he went 4-4 and scored once.

Miyamoto and Aoki both had two-hit games with the latter throwing in a walk for good measure.

The final game of this series, the only one in which the Swallows were able to take at lease three of the games, is scheduled for tomorrow night–weather permitting.

Random thoughts:

Tokyo is now riding a season high five-game winning streak.

Tanaka’s consecutive game batting streak came to an end at nine games. Of course, it’s probably fair to wonder what might have been if two of his at-bats hadn’t been wasted on Tak-bunts.

Muranaka leads the league with 9.48 K’s per nine innings.

Tokyo is now just 2.5 games behind the fourth place Hiroshima Carp.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/14/61410-hokkaido-home/feed/ 6 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/10/61010-hokkaido-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=61010-hokkaido-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/10/61010-hokkaido-away/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:17:29 +0000 David Watkins http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=6605