An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
June 19th, 2011 Chiba Lotte Marines 7 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWLWL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) In their quest to finish the damned interleague portion of the season with a .500 record, the Swallows scored first but got completely manhandled after that. Chiba: 1. Okada (CF) 2. Ishimine (RF) [...]
June 18th, 2011 Chiba Lotte Marines 0 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LWWLW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) The Swallows took advantage of a shaky Watanabe in the rain to win their only Interleague series. Tateyama got the start today and looked comfortable throughout. Even when he let runners get on [...]
June 15th, 2011 Saitama Seibu Lions 8 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: DLWWL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Yamamoto did his thing – nullifying Ks with RBIs and BBs, while the offense did a little reprise of their earlier Interleague performance by leaving their bats on the rack. Tokyo: 1. Aoki (CF) [...]
Welcome to the Monday Review, in which we’ll look back at the week that was and look ahead to the week that will be. We hope a recurring weekly review column will help readers identify some trends that can’t be covered in a single game report. We’re still trying to work out the format, so [...]
June 12th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 1 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLDLW (Yahoo Dome) The birds looked to be in trouble when Tokyo starter, Tateyama, was ejected in the fourth inning after beaning Fukuoka’s third baseman in the head. But Tokyo’s bullpen kept the Hawks offense in check [...]
June 11th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWLDL (Yahoo Dome) Tokyo’s inability to take something from the better PL teams continued as they went down against the ridiculously hot Hawks in Fukuoka. Us: Ishikawa (P) Aoki (CF) Tanaka (2B) Whitesell (DH) Hatakeyama [...]
June 8th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0 Orix Buffaloes 7 Streak: L1 Last 5: LWWWL (Kyocera Dome) What? We lost, OK? Want to keep reading, make us feel bad? Tokyo: 1. Aoki (CF) 2. Tanaka (2B) 3. Whitesell (DH) 4. Hatakeyama (1B) 5. Balentien (RF) 6. Yuichi (LF) 7. Miyamoto (3B) 8. Fujimoto (SS) 9. [...]
June 5th, 2011 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 5 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 13 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WWLWW (Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium) This was a wild game. Wild like one of those bird-like things in the Avatar movie except that the game today was real and nobody was wearing blue. Not even me. [...]
June 1st, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Chiba Lotte Marines 2 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WLLWW (QVC Marine Field) Looking to pull themselves out of the Interleague cellar, the Birds took the field in the Great Cylinder (a.k.a. QVC Marine Field). Can the return of Aikawa do the trick? For Tokyo: P Yamamoto 1. [...]
May 31st, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Chiba Lotte Marines 1 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LWLLW (QVC Marine Field) After their inept drubbing at the hands of Seibu on Sunday, the Swallows headed back to the scene of their lowest ebb under the previous manager to try and get the wheels back on [...]
