Yomiuri Giants 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WLWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

The Giants and Swallows duked it out in a longest-assed low scoring affair. The 2 teams combined for 20 hits, 8 walks, and 1 dead ball, but managed to only score a combined 5 runs in 9 innings. In total, the game amounted to 4 hours and 11 minutes of heartache for Swallows fans.

Our Starting 9:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Hatakeyama LF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Iihara RF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Onizaki SS
9. Muranaka P

Muranaka was coming off 2 straight losses, and didn’t look good to start the game. He began the game by giving up a walk to Sakamoto, who was promptly bunted over to second by Yano. Another walk, to Ogasawara, put men on first and second with 1 out for Alex Ramirez. After falling behind Ramirez 2-0, Muranaka gave up a single to left allowing Sakamoto to score. Muranaka managed to settle down and got both Abe and Tani t strikeout swinging to end the inning. 1-0 Giants

In the bottom of the inning, Aoki got 1 hit closer to 200 hits for the season as he singled to center. Unfortunately, Tanaka wasn’t able to put a proper bunt down and Aoki was thrown out at second. Hatakeyama followed with a single to put men on first and second with only 1 out. A Whitesell strikeout and a Iihara groundout to first put an end to the inning. This would not be the last time the Swallows managed to get multiple men on base, but failed to cash them in.

In the bottom of the next inning the Swallows looked to be poised to at least tie the game when Aikawa and Miyamoto began the inning with back-to-back singles to put men on the corners. Unfortunately, Onizaki grounded out sharply to first and Aikawa got caught in a run down as he took a big jump from third.

The third inning was the only inning in which both teams managed to go down in order. Muranaka allowed 2 one-out hits in the fourth, but managed to erase his mistake with another pair of strikeouts. In the bottom of the inning Whitesell lead off the inning by grounding out to second. But apparently he hurt a muscle around his left elbow while checking his swing, and he was replaced by D’Antona in the next inning.

The Giants struck again in the fifth. Sakamoto started the inning off with a single. It looked like Muranaka would be let off the hook when he got Yano to ground out second. Unfortunately (I seem to be using this word a lot), Tanaka fumbled the potential double play ball and allowed Yano to get on base. Muranaka managed to get 2 outs by getting Ogasawara to pop out to second, and Ramirez to fly out to deep right. Sakamoto advanced to third on the Ramirez fly out. It looked like Muranaka escaped the inning when he got Abe to swing through a 1-2 pitch low. Unfortunately (there’s that word again!), the pitch in the dirt got away from Aikawa and Sakamoto was able to score from third. Muranaka would load the bases with a walk to Tani, but managed to escape the inning without further damage. 2-0 Giants

In the bottom of the fifth, Aoki managed to collect another hit, with two outs, but the Swallows weren’t able to get him home. The top of the sixth was relatively uneventful for Muranaka as he managed to get 3 outs fairly easily, with only a walk to Sakamoto ruining what could have been a perfect inning. But having thrown 123 pitches in 6 innings, Muranaka was pulled after the inning. Muranaka pitched 6 full innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned), 5 hits, and 4 walks, while collecting 9 strikeouts.

The Swallows finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. After Hatakeyama flew out to center for the first out, D’Antona hit a towering shot to the left-center field wall for a double. Iihara followed up with a single to center field, which the fielder misplayed allowing Iihara to get on second. While the crowd was cursing Shiroishi for not sending D’Antona home, Aikawa hit one back up the middle allowing both men to score. Aikawa advanced to second on the throw home, giving the Birds a chance to take the lead with only 1 out. Miyamoto grounded out to short, but allowed Aikawa to advance to third. Takeuchi, batting in place of Onizaki, was intentionally walked to put men on the corners for Kawabata. Kawabata made solid contact on the first pitch he saw, but unfortunately his liner went straight into the pitchers glove for out number 3. 2-2 All

With Muranaka out of the game, the Swallows handed the ball to Lee in the seventh inning. While he managed to get Ogasawara to fly out on 1 pitch, 2 pitches later, he gave up a home run to Ramirez. Ramirez’s shot to straight away center, killed whatever momentum the Swallows had built up in the previous inning. Lee got the next two batters out, but the damage was already done. 3-2 Giants

The Swallows had a chance to tie it up in the bottom of the inning, when the Swallows got back-to-back 1 out singles by Tanaka and Hatakeyama. But while Tanaka was able to advance to third on a fly out by D’Antona, Iihara wasn’t able to get him any further.

The Swallows got their last chance in the bottom of the eighth. Aikawa lead off the inning with a single, his third of the night. Miyamoto dutifully bunted him over to second. Yuichi, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, struck out swinging for the second out. Kawabata managed to draw a walk to put men on first and second for Aoki. Instead of giving Aoki a chance to collect his 200th hit of the season and be a hero, the Giants plunked him instead. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, all  Tanaka was able to do was ground out weakly to short to end the inning.

Kroon managed to get Fukuchi, D’Antona, and Iihara to go down without much trouble to end the game in only the third perfect half-inning of the game.

The Swallows play their next game at home against the Chunichi Dragons tomorrow evening.

Notes

• The loss guaranteed the Swallows a losing record against their cross-town rivals, with one more game to go.
• The Swallows’ loss to the Giants, combined with the Tigers’ win against Hiroshima dropped the Birds’ elimination numbers for each team down by 2. The Swallows’ elimination number against the Giants now stands at 2, while their number against the Tigers now stands at 3.
• Lee took the loss for the Swallows, his first of the year.
• The Swallows managed only 2 runs on 12 hits, 2 walks, and 1 dead ball.
• Masubuchi and Oshimoto also pitched for the Swallows.
• Aoki’s 2-for-4 night with a HBP was his 65th multi-hit game for the season, breaking the Central League record he set for multi-hit games in a season in 2006. The NPB record was set by Ichiro when he had 69 multi-hit games in 1994.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7

Hanshin Tigers 4

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: LDWLW

(Koshien Stadium)

Tokyo grabbed a much needed win at Koshien this evening–coming back from an early two run deficit to sneak one away from the now second place Tigers.

Lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Hatakeyama LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Kawabata SS
9. Ishikawa P

Ishikawa had his customary rough early innings and gave up two runs in the process. Arai plugged his first RBI of the evening in the first, and Murton came through with an RBI single in the second. 2-0 Hanshin.

Tokyo scraped one run back in the top of the third on the back of an Iihara solo shot (number 15 on the year) to center with two outs. 2-1 Hanshin.

And after a middle three innings that saw the birds ground into two double plays, the visiting team from Tokyo poured it on, and pulled away, in the final third of the game.

In the seventh, Hatakeyama led things off with his 12th home run of the season. 2-2.

Aikawa then kept things going with a double off of a 3-1 Fukuhara fastball. He was followed by Miyamoto who popped an early-count slider into right to put men on the corners for youngster, Kawabata.

Don’t ask me how, but the kid still has a batting average above .320, and he came through in this instance by scooping a Kubota (in for Fukuhara) forkball out of the dirt and depositing it in left field to score Aikawa from third and put the birds ahead. 3-2 Tokyo.

Ishikawa attempted a sac bunt but Miyamoto ended up getting thrown out at third for the first out with men on first and second.

Aoki loaded the bases on a full count walk which made it possible for Kawabata to score on Tanaka’s grounder to short. Kawabata made it home uncontested while Tanaka was out at first. 4-2 Tokyo.

Iihara grounded out to short to end the inning, but the birds were on top to stay.

And the momentum continued in the eighth. Whitesell led off with an infield fly-out, but Hatakeyama poked a changeup into right field to help create a headache for Hanshin’s pitcher, Watanabe.

With Fukuchi pinch running for Hatakeyama, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he’d be taking off for second, but Watanabe attacked the strike zone while Fukuchi lingered on first. Aikawa ended up taking things into his own hands by bouncing an 0-2 changeup into right to put runners on first and second.

And then Watanabe came through was a very nicely timed wild pitch to move the runners over to second and third.

Which was all the generosity Miyamoto needed as his double to center plated both Fukuchi and Aikawa. 6-2 Tokyo.

Hanshin got one back in the bottom of that inning, but Tokyo added another in the ninth on a Takeuchi pinch hit single. 7-3.

Lim pitched the ninth and gave up a home run to start things off, but he ended up sealing the deal in a non-save situation to help preserve the win at 7-4 Final.

Ishikawa earned his 11th win of the season on six and two-thirds innings of work. He gave up two runs, both earned, off of six hits and two walks. His ERA moved slightly to 3.78 while his record improved to 11-8.

Oshimoto (3.35 ERA), Lee (10.80) and Matsuoka (2.54) were the other Tokyo pitchers to spend time on the mound. Matsuoka allowed the run in the bottom of the eighth, Oshimoto and Lee did not allow a run to cross home plate.

There were several impressive bats in the lineup this evening. Iihara, Hatakeyama and Aikawa had three hits each. Iihara and Hatakeyama both added a walk for good measure. Miyamoto also deserves praise for his 2-3 night and two RBIs.

Game two of this series is tomorrow afternoon at 2PM.

**With Yomiuri’s extra-innings walkoff win against Hiroshima this evening, Tokyo is STILL 4.5 games behind third place.

Random thoughts:

• Chunichi has 15 games left on its regular season schedule. Tokyo has 21. In other words, anything is possible.
• Iihara’s 15 longballs easily best his previous career best of nine in 2008.
• Hatakeyama also had nine in 2008. His 2010 tally of 12, likewise, is a career best.
• Ishikawa should get four, or possibly even five, more starts during Tokyo’s final 21 games. It should be interesting to see if he can beat his career best of 13 wins notched last year. It would be a remarkable feat, indeed, considering the way he started the 2010 campaign.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Yokohama BayStars 9

Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LWDWL

(Yokohama)

Doh!

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Hatakeyama LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Kawabata SS
9. Tateyama P

This game fell apart in the sixth.

With the score tied 1-1, Yokohama led the inning off with three straight outfield singles. One run scored in the process, and a subsequent double play kept Tokyo in it. But with two outs, things got quickly out of hand. RBI single, single, HBP, RBI single, BB, GRAND SLAM! 9-1 Yokohama.

The birds plated three runs in the top of the seventh off of five runs, but that’s as far as they got. 9-4 Final.

The grand slam wasn’t surrendered by Tateyama. It was actually given up by Matsui who was covering the final third of the sixth inning.

Tateyama (8-6; 3.74 ERA) finished the game with the loss on eight hits and seven earned runs. He notched five Ks against a single HBP. Matsui (4.63), Lee (18.00) and Hashimoto (4.30) all made relief appearances.

On offense, Aoki went 3-5 with a trio of singles. Tanaka and Aikawa had two singles each while Hatakeyama deserves credit for smacking his 11th homer of the season.

Game three of this series is tomorrow night at 5PM at Yokohama Stadium.

Random notes:

The birds outhit Yokohama 13 to nine.

Outside of that fateful sixth inning, the BayStars managed only two hits.

Every Tokyo starter (except for Tateyama) recorded at least one hit.

HUGE opportunity wasted since Yomiuri also lost tonite. Double doh!

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/09/04/9410-yokohama-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/09/01/9110-yomiuri-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=9110-yomiuri-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/09/01/9110-yomiuri-away/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:32:09 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=7857 September 1st, 2010

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Yomiuri Giants 3

Streak: Drew 1   Last 5: WLLWD

(Tomiyama)

After finishing out a very respectable August with an 18-8 record, by far the best W-L tally in the Central League, the birds began September with a draw.

Lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Hatakeyama LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Kawabata SS
9. Ishikawa P

Ishikawa gave up three hits and one run in the first to make things interesting. 1-0 Yomiuri.

He allowed just one more runner in the three following innings, but Yomiuri got to him again in the fifth when another three hits resulted in two runs.

This was just after Tokyo had tied things up in the fourth care of a Whitesell single and an Aikawa RBI double to left. 3-1 Yomiuri.

But the Swallows slowly clawed their way back into the game. A one out Hatakeyama double in the sixth was followed by a two out Miyamoto double to cut the deficit to one. 3-2 Yomiuri.

It was then Miyamoto’s bat that tied the game for good in the eighth when his single past Sakamoto at short scored Fukuchi who was pinch-running for Hatakeyama. 3-3 Final.

The birds were far more dangerous than Yomiuri from the 9th through the 12th inning–six baserunners to the Giants’ one–but no more runs were scored.

Ishikawa put in six innings of eight hit, three run baseball. His ERA blipped slightly to 3.83 while his record held fast at 10-8.

Ogawa used a total of six relievers in this game–two of them faced only one batter each. Oshimoto (3.38 ERA) pitched the seventh, and Watanabe (3.86) threw a grand total of two pitches in his effort to get rid of Ogasawara. He was successful (fly ball to right) and was awarded with a seat on the bench.

Matsuoka (2.51) finished out the eighth and also pitched a scoreless ninth. Lim (1.43) then entered the game in the 10th and pitched not one but two perfect innings.

Lee (24.00), making his first appearance in eons, was then called into a high pressure situation with the draw on the line and responded by striking out the two batters he faced.

Not wanting to allow Lee to ruin a good thing, Ogawa opted to sit him down in favor of Matsui (3.91) to face pinch hitter, Tani, with two outs on the board. The move proved effective as Matsui struck out Yomiuri’s last man to safeguard the draw.

Offensively, both Aikawa and Miyamoto had 3-6 evenings at the plate. Aoki also chipped in with a pair of hits and a walk.

The birds now have the day off before heading to Yokohama tomorrow to begin a three-game series against the worst team in NPB.

Random thoughts:

Tanaka is second in the league with 36 Tak-bunts. Number 36 came in the first inning and was unsuccessful in eventuating a run for Tokyo. Number 37 nearly came in the ninth as he wasted the majority of his at-bat in a bunting stance before eventually grounding out to second (however, he was able to move the runner over).

Tanaka’s real Tak-bunt stance and his fake Tak-bunt stance (ie. he’s actually planning to swing) look nothing alike. The infielders didn’t move in at all on the fake version.

The second best August record in the Central went to Chunichi (14-12).

The Swallows are now five games behind third place Chunichi.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/09/01/9110-yomiuri-away/feed/ 9 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/02/6210-softbank-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=6210-softbank-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/06/02/6210-softbank-away/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:38:35 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=6570

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10

Yomiuri Giants 5

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LW

(Tokyo Dome)

Tokyo’s bats finally exploded into life and Yoshinori pitched a gem as the Swallows ran out easy winners in the home of their beloved neighbours. Yoshinori pitched 8 superb innings, tossing a career high 135 pitches, and giving up just 1 run off 5 hits with 5 Ks thrown in for good measure. And boy did he get the run support he needed, and then some. D’Antona was the undoubted star of the show with the bat, as he went 3 for 4 with 2 homeruns and 5 RBIs. But it wasn’t just him, as the formidable 3 to 5 cleanup unit of Aoki, D’Antona and Guiel went a combined 9 for 13, bringing home all but one of the Swallows runs. The Swallows racked up 15 hits in total.

Tokyo lined up with just one change from the night before, with ex-Tiger Fujimoto making his debut at short, replacing the rookie Araki:

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

The Swallows did get a little help from an old friend in Giants starter Dicky Gonzalez. He had a game to forget, giving up 7 runs off 10 hits in his 6 innings of work as he more closely resembled the pitcher he was for a lot of his spell with the Swallows, as opposed to the all-star he seemed to become after joining the Giants last year. And long may this kind of form continue.

Tokyo took the lead in the top of the 1st, a Fukuchi lead off single and inevitable steal being later followed up by a D’Antona single to right, just out of the reach of the diving Takahashi at first. 1-0 Tokyo.

The lead was almost doubled in the 2nd, as Fujimoto got on thanks to the merest of contact between ball and leg, and was then moved along to second by a groundout. Up stepped Fukuchi who singled to left, but Fujimoto was waved home by the ever competent new third base coach Shiroishi. The throw home from Ramirez arrived at the plate at almost the same time as the diving Fujimoto, and the newcomer’s hand appeared to beat the tag of catcher Abe’s glove by the smallest of margins, but this being played where it was meant it was called in the favour of the home team and the lead remained at one.

But the Giants wouldn’t be so lucky in the 3rd. Tanaka and Aoki hit back-to-back singles to set the table for D’Antona, and he clubbed one just over the fence in left and it was 4-0 Tokyo.

Yoshinori found himself in his first pinch of the night in the bottom of the inning, as a walk and a single left him with men on the corners with two outs, but Ogasawara could only ground out to second and the threat was neutered.

The lead got bigger in the 6th. Miyamoto doubled off the wall in right before Fujimoto earned a walk to put men on first and second. Aikawa then flew out to shallow foul territory in left and Yoshinori struck out trying to bunt and there were two outs on the board. Fukuchi was then the recipient of the 3rd dead ball of the evening and the bases were loaded for Tanaka. The second baseman hit a grounder to third, but Ogasawara made a poor call in trying to get the out at second, Miyamoto was home and all the runners were safe, 5-0. Next up was Aoki who singled to right, bringing home two more runs, but Takaka was thrown out at third, ending the inning with the score at 7-0 Tokyo.

Ogasawara hit a solo shot to right in the bottom of the 6th to make it 7-1, but the seven run lead was restored in the 7th as Jamie hit his second homer of the game to just right of the scoreboard in centre and it was 8-1.

The final Tokyo runs came in the 8th against Yomiuri reliever Kaneto. Aoki knocked his third single of the evening to lead off and then Takeuchi (in for D’Antona) flew out to centre for out number one. Up stepped Guiel, and he saw the first pitch fly just over his head, to which he took exception and started walking angrily toward the mound. The benches cleared but the situation was calmed before anything of interest could transpire. Guiel then exacted revenge, by hitting one deep to dead centre that appeared to just about clear the fence and bounce back into play. The ball was fielded by the Giants and Guiel came to a halt at second. The umps then took advantage of the video replay option, and after a good five minutes of deliberation they waved Aaron home and it was 10-1 Tokyo.

And that was pretty much that. A portion of shine was taken off the win as Hye-Cheon Lee gave up 4 runs off 4 hits in the 9th, but Oshimoto came in to get the final out and Tokyo had themselves a moral boosting victory in their usual kryptonite-palace. 10-5 Tokyo Final.

The two teams meet again tomorrow afternoon for the rubber game of the series, with Muranaka due to take the mound for Tokyo.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/03/27/32710-yomiuri-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/03/06/spring-training-news-battery-injuries-galore/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spring-training-news-battery-injuries-galore http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/03/06/spring-training-news-battery-injuries-galore/#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:41:34 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=5709 Semi-official injury count for the month of February at the Tokyo Swallows spring camp: 11 players missed all or part of at least one day of practice. In detail, that works out to six pitchers, four catchers, and one infielder. Go, go Swallows!

While the six injured pitchers may set off the loudest alarm for some readers, our visibly diminishing corps of backstops is probably a bigger concern at this point.

Tokyo is now down to three at the top team level. Kawamoto, Yoneno, and Fukukawa are all on the mend, and that leaves us with Aikawa, the young and capable Nakamura, and Kinugawa. If the team loses one more, a distinct possibility given Aikawa’s history and the fact that Nakamura lightly sprained his ankle stealing second in Monday’s LG Twins game, then we could be in big trouble.

The team, for its part, has decided that the best course of action is to exorcise the farm team dormitory up in Toda.

Things are dire enough that D’Antona has offered to catch if necessary (he made 31 appearances as a catcher in the minors). Hopefully that doesn’t happen. At any rate, what are the chances that the team stocks catching gear big enough to fit him?

In slightly less nerve-wracking news, it looks like competition is heating up for jobs as a starting pitcher.

According to Sanspo, Takada is looking to field a six-man rotation. The first four pitchers have already been decided: Ishikawa, Tateyama, Muranaka, and Yoshinori. Guys in the mix for the final two slots include Lee, Barnette, Nakazawa, and Kawashima.

Of course, it should be observed that Tateyama has stated publicly that he is not 100% sure that he’ll be ready in time to make his first scheduled start at the beginning of the regular season. So there could be three slots available at this point.

Hopefully someone else will throw their hat into the ring to keep things interesting.

So, who else out there is a little bit nervous about the way things have been going thus far?

Tokyo Swallows 2

Chunichi Dragons 3

Series: Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo

(Nagoya Dome)

The Dragons leveled the series with a come-from-behind win and made sure that both team’s season will survive at least one more day.

Onizaki's bobble led to Chunichi's first run.

Tokyo”s lineup:

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

Chunichi’s lineup:

1. Ibata (SS)
2. Araki (2B)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Blanco (1B)
5. Wada (LF)
6. Inoue (RF)
7. Fujii (CF)
8. Tanishige (C )
9. Yoshimi (P)

1^st inning:

Miyamoto’s infield single was the only joy for the Swallows as it was preceded by a Fukuchi fly ball to left, a Tanaka grounder to the mound, and followed by an Aoki grounder to second.

Ibata took the first pitch of  his at-bat for a strike right down the middle, and he sliced the next Tateyama offering down the line in right for a stand-up double.

Araki then flashed the bunt and took a called first strike before totally botching his at-bat with a fouled-off bunt attempt. He later struck out checking his swing on a slider that was about a bat-length off the outside of the plate.

Morino came to the plate with Ibata still on second and one out. He ended up working a four-pitch walk as Tateyama tried, and failed, to flirt with several edges of the strike zone.

With two on and one out, Blanco came to the plate for his first battle versus Tateyama. He proceeded to slap a grounder that had double-play written all over it to Onizaki at short, but the youngster bobbled the hell out of the toss to Tanaka at second (Tanaka got nailed by the runner in the process). All runners safe. Bases loaded. One out.

Wada’s turn. Tateyama burned him on the first two pitches, but he eventually bounced one to short that didn’t get relayed in time to turn the double play. Ibata scored on the play. 1-0 Chunichi.

Inoue (yeah, the old one), who was starting for some weird reason, grounded out to short for the third out. Ochiai loses two points of respect for that personnel decision.

2^nd inning:

D’Antona grounded out to start the Swallows’ second, and Guiel struck out swinging at a high fastball.

Onizaki began his redemption campaign (after that incredibly costly error in the bottom of the first) by singling with two outs.

And then we saw a little pop from our second-string catcher. With Onizaki on first, Kawamoto punted a Yoshimi mistake pitch over the wall in left-center. 2-1 Tokyo.

Fujii started things off for Chunichi in the bottom of the second. He flied out to left.

Tanishige, while normally a sure-fire out, got in on the crappy-catcher-hitting-home-runs action and drove the game-tying run over the wall in left. 2-2.

Yoshimi struck out as expected for the second out, and Ibata grounded out to short to end the festivities.

3^rd inning:

Fukuchi started things off in the third with a grounder to short. But Tanaka reached on an infield

Tanishige stepped out of character and did something productive at the plate.

single that was very similar to the one that Miyamoto hit in the first. The head-first slide, however, was completely unnecessary.

But it all got erased when Miyamoto’s grounder up the middle was stopped by Ibata and he did a bit of tap-dancing on his way to an 6-3 double-play.

Grrr.

Tateyama retired the side in the bottom of that inning.

4^th inning:

Aoki grounded out to start the fourth, but D’Antona came through with a single to right to put a runner on first for Guiel.

And the senior non-Japanese on the team (Yuichi no longer counts) was incredibly patient in drawing a walk.

But it was all undone when Onizaki took a swipe at the first pitch and grounded into another double-play. Two runners stranded.

Double Grrr.

Wada started off the Chunichi fourth with a double off the wall in left-center. He got pushed over to third on Fujii’s hopper up the first base line that the drawn-in D’Antona couldn’t quite get his glove on (error).

With runners on first and third and one out, Tanishige got done a little bit by the umpire to put the count at 2-2 (lots of suspect calls behind the plate for both sides in this game), and he ended up striking out swinging at a low slider.

Yoshimi did his job by striking out to send his team into the field for the start of the fifth.

5^th inning:

The Swallows sat down in order as the 2-2 scoreline survived yet another half-inning.

Ibata led off the Chunichi fifth with an infield single to short. And Araki started flashing the bunt again.  This time he was successful, and Ibata found himself on second with one out.

Morino put up a very good fight at the plate during his at-bat, but he eventually flied out to shallow left for out number two.

Blanco went down on three straight sliders, all of them low and the last one outside to end the threat from the Dragons.

I’m a big fan of Ochiai’s tendency to bunt in this series.

6^th inning:

Tanaka was the first man up for the birds in the sixth. He quickly got behind in the count, but he came through with a liner up the middle that put the go-ahead runner on first.

Miyamoto then started flashing the bunt as Takada (following Ochiai’s lead?) finally had a chance to get in on the act. The bunt was successful, and Tanaka was safe at second with one out.

Aoki grounded out and Tanaka was able to make it to third on the play. Two outs, man on third.

But D’Antona grounded out to third to leave Tanaka at third.

The Dragons went down in order.

7^th inning:

Guiel led off with a hard, hard, hard, single down the line in right. It was so hard, in fact, that he had no chance at second due to how quickly it bounced off the wall and bounced straight into Inoue’s glove.

Onizaki bunted him over to second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Too bad the last third of the lineup was due up. Things got bleaker when Kawamoto shattered his bat and popped up to Morino at third.

Tateyama grounded out to the pitcher give Chunichi another shot on offense.

"I don't understand. The bunt always worked so well when I was in high school..."

Note for Takada: we’ve covered this before, but don’t count on the bottom third of your lineup to hit with runners in scoring position (unless you’ve once again relegated Tanaka to the seventh or eighth slot for no apparent reason). In other words, stop telling people to bunt unless the batter in question happens to be the pitcher!

Tanishige sliced a full count pitch into shallow center to put another go-ahead runner on base. Yoshimi bunted him over for the first out.

Ibata grounded out for the second out, but Tanishige moved over to third in the process.

Araki came to the plate with two outs and the winning run on third. The first pitch was a ball outside. The second was a meatball that he easily slapped into center field for Chunichi’s third run. 3-2 Dragons.

And that was the end of Tateyama’s night.

Enter Hye-cheon Lee.

Araki stole second to put another runner in scoring position with Morino at the plate for the Dragons (terrible throw by Kawamoto; good recovery by Onizaki).

But Morino eventually struck out swinging to temporarily shut things down.

And Doala, for the second night in a row, landed his off-kilter handspring. Even Tsubakuro was impressed.

8^th inning:

Fukuchi continued his run of futile impatience at the plate and lined out to third on the first pitch for out number one.

Tanaka worked the count full with one out and nobody on, but he eventually grounded out to third.

Miyamoto also continued his over-agressive ways when he chased the first pitch, a high fastball, but got nowhere near it. He was patient enough to get it back to 2-2, and then he drilled one down the line at Morino, but it appeared that the third baseman disillusionedly perceived himself to be in foul territory and was alarmed when he discovered that he needed to send the ball in the direction of first base. His throw ended up being off the map, and he earned himself an error in the process.

So it was Aoki’s turn with two outs and a man on first. The first three pitches were balls, and Aoki may have made a mistake in swinging at the next pitch as it was high and ended up in the pitcher’s glove for the third out.

The Chunichi eighth began with the hitless Blanco at the plate and Oshimoto on the mound.

Blanco grounded out to Tanaka for out number one.

Wada, for his part, swiped at one of Oshimoto’s pitches a bit late, but he still managed to slice it into right-center for a single.

Hirata stepped into the batter’s box for Chunichi with one out and a man on first. On what appeared to be a hit-and-run, Hirata popped up to right for out number two.

Up came the annoyingly effective Fujii.

Oshimoto missed with his first pitch for ball one. But Fujii popped up harmlessly on the second pitch to bring an end to the inning.

9^th inning:

Do or die for the birds…

Asao took the mound for the Dragons to face the tail end of Tokyo’s cleanup contingent (and specifically the right-handed D’Antona).

D’Antona came out swinging and got a bit ahead of the first pitch he was offered. Number two was a low ball, and the third pitch sailed wide for a 1-2 count (one strike; two balls). The next pitch was a forkball in the dirt, and Jamie chased it to put the count at 2-2, but he held off on the next pitch to work the count full. The next pitch, however, was a high forkball that D’Antona wasn’t able to put any lumber on. One out.

And that’s when Iwase showed up. Seems that Ochiai likes the lefty-lefty matchup as much as Takada does. Amazingly, Takada didn’t sub Guiel out like he’s done all season.

The first pitch was low and outside for ball one. Pitch number two was a bit high and inside to put Guiel in the driver’s seat. He fouled off the third pitch before taking ball three. The next pitch was outside and Guiel fouled it off. The next pitch was a ball and the tying run reached first base. It was Guiel’s second walk of the game. Bless him.

Fludge (Hatakeyama) then materialized at the plate in Onizaki’s place. Still not sure why. His patience paid off at first as he worked a 1-2 count, but then he fouled off an outside pitch to level things up again. He ended his at-bat, and the game, by grounding into a 4-6-3 double-play.

Dragons 3-2 Swallows final.

Tateyama lasted 6 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs (two earned) off of six hits. He also gave up one walk while striking out six. He threw 106 pitches while taking the loss.

Tanaka was the only Tokyo player to notch a multi-hit game. Kawamoto was responsible for both of Tokyo’s runs.

Miyamoto, D’Antona, Guiel, and Onizaki also had hits.

Observations:

• The two teams tied with seven hits each.
• The birds hit into three double plays.
• Ibata was annoyingly good on defense in this game.
• Wada had two more hits in this game and is now hitting .571 for the series.
• Tony Blanco hits grounders like it’s his job. For the record, Tony, you’re doing your job very well!
• Fukuchi still doesn’t have a hit.
• If I ever own the Swallows, I will fine players for swinging at the first pitch in more than one at bat per game.
• Impatience at the plate, in my view, is posing a bit of a problem at this point. The birds have displayed a disheartening propensity for putting the first pitch in play, and it’s almost invariably a grounder to short or second. Unfortunately, veterans such as Fukuchi and Miyamoto are as guilty of this as anybody else in the lineup (if not moreso).
• Big kudos to Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel for repeated quality at-bats.
• Ochiai’s a doofus for starting Inoue.

The decisive game three is tomorrow night at 6 PM. This one will also be played at Nagoya Dome.

Hanshin Tigers 8

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1     Last 5:  WWWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

Well, no blisters were involved, but that still sucked.

Tokyo’s lineup:

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

Even though the Swallows won yesterday’s game, a lot of bad things transpired during that game. Miyamoto got hurt. Aikawa got hurt. I spilled a beer on my leg…twice.

And somewhere along the way, someone decided that the six game winning streak could survive another Yoshinori start.

I must admit that I, too, was foolish enough to think that Takada would completely skip Yoshinori’s turn in the rotation. It seemed like that might be the case for a few days, but…

The 19-year-old was back on the mound for today’s excruciatingly important game two versus the Tigers. And he lasted exactly four innings (94 pitches!).

Lots of walks. That’s how to describe this start. And lots of free runs. I mean, that’s what happens when the pitcher has two fielding errors.

In the first, for example, a lead-off single by Hirano was followed by a one out walk for Toritani and that set the table for a two out Arai rbi double. 1-0 Hanshin after one.

In response, the Swallows stranded two runners in both the first and second frames.

In the top of the third, Hanshin added another run when Toritani’s one out walk was followed by the first Kanemoto double of the evening. 2-0 cats.

But the birds leveled things in the bottom of that inning when a Fukuchi HBP was followed by a solid Aoki homer to right (his 15th). 2-2.

But Hanshin came right back with four more runs in the fourth with a little help from some more shoddy Yoshinori fielding (error). Back-to-back walks (Hirano and Sekimoto) were followed by back-to-back doubles (Toritani and Kanemoto) to make the score 6-2 and put an end to Yoshinori’s evening.

The Swallows tallied three more hits, and drew three more walks after that, but it wasn’t enough to score any more runs. The Tigers, meanwhile, earned another run in the seventh care of an Arai solo homer (off of Oshimoto, 2.79 ERA), and one in the ninth thanks to a crap, three-hit inning at the expense of Lee (3.34).

Final score: 8-2 Tigers.

Observations:

• Matsui (3.52) pitched hectic, but ultimately scoreless, fifth and sixth innings.
• Yoshinori (3.47), who earned his tenth loss of the season (against five wins), gave up six runs but only two of them were earned. All of the misdeeds were his own in this contest. If Takada chooses to start him again it will (hopefully) be because the third playoff spot has already been decided.
• Hashimoto (1.93) retired all three batters he faced in the eighth.
• Despite being one of the two heroes of last night’s game, Yuichi struck out three times and proved that it is, just maybe, a little wishful to have him batting third. He did, however, have one hit tonight. That said, how he warrants a start over Iihara is beyond me.
• Aoki’s 1-4 night put his average at .295. More importantly, he now leads the league with a .391 OBP.
• Guiel went two for three (two singles) and added a walk as well.
• Kawamoto also reached base three times by singling and walking twice.
• Mayumi used both Atchison and Fujikawa with a sizable lead. He and Takada are clearly related.
• The Swallows were outhit 12-6. Yoshinori’s five walks, one wild pitch, and two fielding errors were not at all helpful.
• The Swallows’ winning streak was unceremoniously halted at six.

Game three of this series is tomorrow night at Jingu. First pitch is scheduled for 6 PM. If the Swallows win, they regain their 1.5 game lead. If the Tigers win, then they will take control of third place in the Central League by a margin of half of a game.

See you there.

Hanshin Tigers 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7

Streak: Won 6    Last 5:  WWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo starter, Takagi, had another solid outing as Tokyo won a very important contest versus the Hanshin Tigers.

Takagi wasn’t able to clock another complete game for the birds, but he did make it through some tough moments and gave up only one run off of five hits. Despite the three walks and one HBP he issued, which were very effective at keeping things interesting, he did ultimately have a very solid start.

Tokyo’s lineup:

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

The Tigers stranded at least one runner in each of the first four innings. The most disappointing inning was the fourth when Takagi was able to find his way out of a one out, bases loaded jam.

For their part, the birds were busy stranding runners left, right, and center as well. The most annoying situation was a one out, bases loaded bonanza that kicked off when Takagi singled with an out on the board. Fukuchi’s hard grounder toward second was ruled an error, and Tanaka eked out an infield single to give Miyamoto a fair shot at a post-game hero interview.

Miymoto, however, grounded into a double play and injured his hand on an unnecessary head-first slide into first base. Miyamoto was replaced in the lineup by Hatakeyama, and the inning was over for the Swallows.

The scoring in this very tight game finally got underway in the bottom of the sixth. Fukuchi grounded out to second, but Tanaka reached on a HBP. Hatakeyama then popped up to right for out number two, and Aoki then singled to left. With two outs, Yuichi came through with a huge double to center that cleared the drawn-in Hirano’s head. Both Tanaka and Aoki scored to make it 2-0 Tokyo.

Two walks later, the first intentional (Guiel) and the second probably not (Onizaki), and the Swallows were looking at another bases loaded opportunity. But fortunately for the Tigers, Aikawa was at the plate. Aikawa ended the threat with a sliced liner right at the second baseman.

The Tigers got one back in the top of the seventh after Yano’s tricky fly ball at the wall in right was not reeled in by Guiel (the people sitting near me said he should have caught it, but it wasn’t counted as an error. I was just impressed that he was able to get to the right place so quickly). Yano made it to third on the play, and he was brought home on Hiyama’s dribbler into right for the Tigers’ first and only run. Mayumi’s second sac bunt (he called for on in the top of the first as well) perhaps hastened the end of this inning as Takagi was able to get Sekimoto to fly out to center, and then Lee (3.18) came in to induce a ground ball to short from Toritani. 2-1 Swallows.

The bottom of the seventh is where the game really changed. Noguchi, pinch-hitting in place of Lee, struck out. Then Fukuchi drew a walk and stole second about three or four pitches later (Hanshin actually guessed correctly and Yano called for a pitch-0ut, but Fukuchi was easily safe).

And then on the very next pitch, Fukuchi stole third as well.

Tanaka, who had a front row row seat for all of the base-swiping, then drew a walk of his own to put runners on the corners with one out. And that would be it for Hanshin’s first reliever of the evening. Atchison then came in to deal with the mess, and he promptly gave up a single to Yoshimoto to bring Fukuchi home from third. 3-1 Swallows.

Next man up, Aoki, had to contend with a little bit of Atchison inside pitching sprinkled with a little bit of Atchison verbal condescension, but ultimately he poked a single into left that would score two and send Atchison to the showers without recording a single out. 5-1 giddy birds.

D’Antona, pinch-hitting for Yuichi, ended up drawing another walk, and so that meant that two runners were on base for Onizaki’s next at-bat. After Guiel’s pop fly to center (which moved the runners over to second and third), Onizaki hit a two out single to center that cleared the bases. He was eventually thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double, but the damage had already been done. 7-1 Tokyo.

Igarashi (2.61) was already all warmed up, so he was brought in to pitch the eighth anyway. He retired all three batters he faced on a total pitch count of 14.

The Swallows got two more runners on base in the eighth, but stranded both of them.

And luckily, even though he was fully warmed up, somebody finally thought better of using Lim, and instead Oshimoto (2.68) was brought in to pitch the ninth.

And that was it. The Swallows extended their lead to 1.5 games over Hanshin in fourth, and two more critical games follow (weather pending).