An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
October 14th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 0 Series: Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo (Nagoya Dome) Six innings of shutout pitching by Tateyama, another Balentien longball, plus two innings of perfect relief from Tony led to a crucial victory in a win-or-go-home game down in Nagoya. And with the two teams combining for a total of [...]
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 [...]
I’ve noticed it before, but lord it’s out of control right now. Reporters, announcers, newscaster, whatever you want to call them, are dropping like flies. For whatever reason they’re marrying baseball players. Here’s a list of recent developments: January – Anri Mitsube (NHK newscaster) and Kan Otake (Hiroshima); Saho Narushima (freelance reporter) and Kenta Maeda (Hiroshima) [...]
On this day in 1980, Masanori Ishikawa was born in Akita Prefecture. He joined the Tokyo Swallows at the end of 2001 when he was selected in the first round by the Japan Series champion Tokyo Swallows. There was no delay in his introduction to top team baseball, and he quickly found himself a weekly [...]
We’ll do another ‘Opening Day Lineup’ post soon, especially now that Aoki has officially flown the coop, but let’s first take a moment to check in with the rest of the team. At least two Tokyo players have already contracted the flu. Awesome. I’m a bit confused because this is normally what happens to the [...]
The Milwaukee Brewers announced that the team signed Norichika Aoki, Tokyo’s star 30-year-old outfielder, to a multi-year deal. Congratulations to both Aoki and the Brewer community! We here at Tsubamegun hope that it truly is a match made in Milwaukee heaven. Details are sketchy at this point, but it seems like the two sides were [...]
Chunichi Dragons 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 [...]
As announced yesterday, we have a new friend. Orlando Roman has signed a deal to pitch for the Swallows during the 2012 season. ¡Bienvenido a Tokio, Señor Román! Call me crazy, but looking over his numbers from the past several years, it seems like there’s a bit of a climate-linked variable in terms of how [...]
It’s official. The rumors that we reported earlier this month were the real deal. The Swallows now have a little extra competition brewing in the starting rotation. Meet Orlando Roman. The 33-year-old RHP has significant minor league experience in North America with the New York Mets, Baltimore, and Toronto. He has also spent time in Mexico [...]
Happy Coming-of-Age Day to all of the 20-year-olds out there who are celebrating today. Be sure to post a photo of yourself in the comments all decked out in your old-enough-to-vote garb. And don’t drink too much tonight. This website has been very preoccupied with Norichika Aoki news as of late, and Lastings Milledge has [...]
