Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9

Chunichi Dragons 4

Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW

(Nagoya Dome)

The Swallows managed to put the finishing touches on their third five-game winning streak of the season (all of them in the post-Takada era) while taking full advantage of every opportunity given to them.

Tonight’s lineup:

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

With Yoshimi looking pretty solid on the mound for the Dragons, Aoki created a little bit of wiggle-room for the visitors in the third with an expertly-placed two-out double down the line in left. Tanaka then drew a walk to occupy the empty base. Iihara then came through with a clutch double high off the wall in right to score both Aoki and Tanaka. 2-0 Tokyo.

But Chunichi came right back in the bottom of that inning when Tanishige led off the inning by crushing a Nakazawa curveball. 2-1 Tokyo.

The Swallows scored again in the fourth. Aikawa’s one out single was his second hit of the game, and he was pushed to third on a very nice full-count poke by Miyamoto past the shortstop. Then, with runners on the corners, Fujimoto bounced the first pitch high enough into the air that Aikawa was able to scamper home. Fujimoto was out at first, but the two run lead was restored. 3-1 Tokyo.

Things nearly got very ugly in the bottom of that inning. Nakazawa walked the first batter and then a Tanaka fielding error on a potential double-play grounder left runners safe on first and second with no outs. Wada then fouled out to Whitesell for the first out. After the runners were able to advance when Aikawa forgot to catch the ball, Blanco walked as Nakazawa was advised to pitch around him. Bases loaded for Cesar. But he then popped up in foul territory, too, with Whitesell again on the receiving end for the second out.

And with Tanishige complaining about the ump’s strike zone (which ballooned wildly off the left side of the plate for most of the game), Aikawa was able to pick Morino off at second after he was a little slow getting back. Disaster averted.

Aoki led off the next inning with his second hit of the game, but Tanaka’s Tak-bunt was fielded nicely by the catcher and Aoki was out at second. Never feat, though, Iihara is here, and he came through with his second double in as many at-bats to put runners on second and third with one out.

The Swallows were able to score a run thanks to a wild pitch by Yoshimi with Whitesell at the plate. 4-1 Tokyo.

The birds couldn’t survive another defensive lapse as Fujimoto’s carelessness ended up costing the Swallows two runs. The runner mistakenly allowed on first and the runner that walked after that both scored on Oshima’s double off the wall in center. 4-3 Tokyo.

But the birds kept finding ways to score. In the sixth, Miyamoto and Fujimoto had back-to-back one-out singles to start things off. Ueda, pinch hitting for Nakazawa, then popped up softly to shallow left for out number two, but Aoki was able to bring Miyamoto home from third with a single between first and second. It was his third hit of the evening. 5-3 Swallows.

Oshimoto (2.91) pitched a scoreless bottom of the sixth, and Masubuchi (2.98) looked horrible but still held on in the bottom of the seventh. Matsuoka (1.66) took care of the eighth.

But the Swallows would put this one out of reach in the top of the ninth with Lim getting ready in the bullpen. Kawamoto drew a pinch-hit walk to lead things off. Aoki then thwacked his fourth hit of the game to put runners on first and second. Tanaka then Tak-bunted them over for the first out. Iihara then drew a walk to load the bases, and Takeuchi’s grounder to second was enough to score Kawamoto from third. Takeuchi was out at first, but the runners advanced. 6-3 Tokyo.

Fukuchi then brought both Aoki and Iihara home with a single to left. 8-3 Tokyo.

The fleet-footed Fukuchi was then able to score from first when Aikawa drilled one into the gap in left-center, and that was the end of Tokyo’s offensive attack for the evening. 9-3 Tokyo.

Chunichi got one run back in the ninth with Matsui (5.25) on the mound (fortunately Lim was told to take his spikes off once the birds started to run away with it in the ninth). 9-4 Final.

Nakazawa (3.78 ERA) got the win, his sixth of the year, and gave up only one earned run off of two hits. The one blemish on his evening was the five walks he issued–somewhat surprising given the size of the strike zone that the home plate umpire was going by.

Aoki was an impressive 4-5 at the plate with one RBI while Aikawa went 3-5 with an RBI. Both Miyamoto and Iihara had two hits on the evening while the latter also added a walk and an HBP.

The Swallows now return to Jingu for the start of a three game series against the second place Hanshin Tigers.

Random thoughts:

Today was Masubuchi’s 37th appearance of the season. I’d like to take this opportunity to kindly remind Mr. Ogawa that Masubuchi isn’t used to getting this much playing time, and that may help explain how terribly he looks on the mound. That’s nearly twice as many as he had in his first three seasons combined (19). Sure, he was a starter during those first three seasons, but through just shy of half a season, he’s already got his innings up to the second highest in his career. Please find a fourth middle reliever soon. Convert another potential starter if you have to. The poor guy is tired.

The Swallows outhit the Dragons 13-5 in this contest.

The birds were very effective at bringing runners home from third tonight. They always seemed to find a way. There was a very delicate mixture of clutch hitting and luck (wild pitch) working for the Swallows this evening.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2

Tokyo Swallows 5

Streak: Won 2   Last 5: LLLWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Ishikawa finally managed to get his third win of the season on a sun-drenched afternoon in downtown Tokyo. That ties him with Barnette for fifth on the team in terms of wins.

Today’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Hatakeyama 3B
6. Noguchi LF
7. Onizaki SS
8. Kawamoto C
9. Ishikawa P

Tokyo got on the board first this afternoon when Hatakeyama’s two out single scored Iihara from second. 1-0 Tokyo.

The Swallows’ second run came in the third when Whitesell’s two out single was followed by a Hatakeyama double and Noguchi walk. Whitesell crossed home plate on a wild pitch by Hiroshima’s starter, Shinoda. 2-0 Tokyo.

Hiroshima plated one in the top of the fourth, but Tokyo scored two more in the bottom of that inning. Onizaki singled to lead off, and then Ishikawa bunted him over to second. Aoki then clubbed one to left for his seventh homer of the season and a 4-1 Tokyo lead.

Hiroshima made things interesting in the seventh but only came away with one run to show for it after a double play temporarily disrupted the momentum. 4-2 Swallows.

But Hatakeyama capped another big day at the plate with his second homer in as many games–this one a solo shot to left–that gave our closer, Lim, a comfy three-run lead. 5-2 Final.

Lim (1.03 ERA) faced three batters and struck out two of them to record his 16th save of the season. Matsuoka (1.80) pitched a scoreless eighth while Ishikawa (4.05) was able to pitch seven full innings of eight hit, two run baseball.

Hatakeyama again gets the offensive player of the game honors thanks to his three-for-four day at the plate with two RBIs from separate at-bats.

Whitesell and Onizaki both get honorable mentions for collecting two hits each.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10

Hanshin Tigers 6

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: WLLLW

(Koshien)

With D’Antona on the farm team, and Guiel and Whitesell watching from the bench, the Tokyo Swallows looked to avoid a Koshien sweep at the hands of the Hanshin Tigers with Mikinori Katoh on the mound for the first start of the season.

Tonite’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Fukuchi LF
3. Tanaka 2B
4. Hatakeyama 1B
5. Iihara RF
6. Miyamoto 3B
7. Onizaki SS
8. Kawamoto C
9. Katoh P

Katoh’s first pitch of the game was a strike right down the middle, but then he followed that up with four straight pitches outside the zone. Hanshin ended up plating two runners in that inning, and it looked like the temporary new-look Swallows (Whitesell will be back in the lineup once the swelling in his knee has subsided) were in for a long night. 2-0 Hanshin.

But they tied things in the top of the next frame. Hanshin starter, Andoh, got two easy ground0uts, but Miyamoto and Onizaki singled to instill a modicum of hope. Kawamoto then bounced one off the fence to score two and tie the game. 2-2.

Both teams got a runner on base in the third, but nobody scored. The real fireworks came in the top of the fourth when the Swallows dressed Andoh in a very colorful clown suit.

Iihara started things off with a single, and Miyamoto drew a walk to put two on with no outs. Ogawa couldn’t resist the Tak-bunt, but Onizaki fouled out to Johjima for the first red lamp of the evening.

Kawamoto then loaded the bases with a bloop single to center (his second hit in as many at-bats), and Katoh came through with his first big-league hit, an infield single spiked firmly into the dirt about a foot in front of home plate, to bring home the go-ahead run. 3-2 Tokyo.

And with Katoh still grinning from ear to ear on first base, Aoki brought home two more runs with a double to left. 5-2 Tokyo.

Fukuchi then grounded out for the third time in as many at-bats which brought up Hatakeyama with two outs. Remarkably, he managed to park a 2-1 slider in the center field bleachers. Grand slam! 9-2 Swallows.

Hanshin got one back in the bottom of that inning, but Hatakeyama would strike again (RBI single; Fukuchi scored) in the eighth to restore the seven run lead. 10-3 Tokyo.

Toritani, however, brought around a couple more in the bottom of the eighth for 10-5.

And wouldn’t you know it, Lim was in to pitch the ninth with a five run cushion. Not my first choice, but this is the way things work from a (Tokyo) managerial point of view.

He was sharp up to a point, but he threw one too many fastballs to Brazell which resulted in his 29th homer of the season. Lim ended up escaping the inning with only the one run against him. 10-6 Final.

Katoh (1-0, 3.55 ERA) took the win, the first of his pro career, in his first start (and sixth appearance) of 2010. He threw 77 pitches through five innings while giving up three earned runs off of six hits. He issued two walks against one strikeout.

The offensive player of the game was obviously Hatakeyama who came through with his second homer of the year (grand slam) and five total RBIs.

Aoki, Tanaka, and Kawamoto also had two hits each. Aoki and Tanaka added a walk to reach base three times while Kawamoto did the same plus the addition of a painful HBP to the ribs for a fourth appearance on the basepaths.

The Swallows return to Jingu tomorrow for the start of a three-game series versus Hiroshima.

Random notes:

The trio of Oshimoto (34th appearance), Masubuchi (35) and Matsuoka (36) are being flagrantly overused. I’ve grown used to this over the past few years, but I’d just like to point out once again that it will soon come back to bite us in the collective ass. While I can sympathize with the desire to lock the game down, there are a few other guys in the bullpen that can get through an inning without giving up more than a single run. With a six run cushion, I’d say that it’s worth giving our habitual middle-relief choices the night off.

Lim didn’t need to be used either, but you probably already figured that.

Fukuchi grounded out four times. And he forced Aoki out at second twice.

If double-digit hits are what we can expect from an all-Japanese lineup, then…

Chunichi Dragons 2

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW

(Akita Komachi Stadium)

The Swallows looked to extend their winning streak to 5 games in game 1 of a home away from home series in Akita. Hometown boy Ishikawa (2-8) took the mound for the Birds, and the announced crowd of 17,318 were solidly behind the team. Everyone was also excited to see if Aoki would reach 1000 hits for his career. With only 2 hits to go anticipation was high whenever Norichika came up to bat.

Tonight’s lineup is the one we’ve all become familiar with:

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

Ishikawa was hot to start off the game, sending the Dragons’ batters down in order in the first two innings. The Swallows got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the 2nd inning. With one out, Aikawa and Miyamoto hit back-to-back singles putting men on first and second. A Fujimoto grounder advanced Aikawa to third, and brought up the hometown hero up to bat with 2 outs. Ishikawa managed to rise to the occasion and bounced a single over the pitcher’s head and into center field, bringing home a run. 1-0 Tokyo

Despite giving up a single to lead off the third, Ishikawa calmly got out of the inning and looked to be chugging along. The Dragons’ starter Yamai struggled with his control all game, and he managed to load the bases with 2 straight walks with 2 outs in the bottom of the 3rd. Unfortunately, Miyamoto wasn’t able to bring anyone home as his liner went straight into the shortstop’s glove. Ishikawa also let a man on in the forth, but managed to escape by inducing a double play.

The Swallows increased their lead in the bottom of the forth. Fujimoto lead off the inning with a single to left. Unfortunately he was tagged out when Ishikawa’s Tak-bunt attempt failed. Yamai sandwiched a Tanaka strikeout, between walks to Aoki and Iihara bringing Guiel up to bat. Guiel calmly took a bases-loaded walk from Yamai to increase the score. Tokyo 2-0 Whitesell wasn’t able to increase the score, as he grounded out to second.

The fifth inning featured another hit given up by Ishikawa being erased by a double play. The Swallows went three up, three down in the bottom of the inning. The Dragons started the sixth with an infield single by Donoue. However, unlike the previous inning the next batter didn’t ground into a double play. Instead, pintch-hitter Matsui singled to center. An Araki bunt advanced the runners to scoring position. Ishikawa managed to get Hidenori to ground to third and the Dragons had runners on second and third with two out. But just when Swallows fans were starting to feel confident, Ishikawa threw a wild pitch slightly wide of Aikawa and the Dragons got onto board. 2-1 Tokyo. With a man on second, Morino blooped a single into shallow center field. That hit brough in the runner, and tied the game 2-2.

The Swallows threatened to take back the lead in the bottom of the inning. Aoki got hit #999 of his career with 1 out, and Tanaka followed up with a successful hit and run. This put runners on the corners with 1 out. Iihara fouled out, but Guiel was able to induce a walk from the Dragons’ Shimizu. With 2 outs and the bases-loaded, Whitesell came up to bat again. Like the first time, Whitesell wasn’t able to increase the lead as he struck out swinging.

Ishikawa got pulled in the middle of the seventh after giving up two hits. Masubuchi cleaned up nicely, ending the inning with a strikeout. Both teams managed hits in the subsequent frames, but couldn’t manage to do anything with them.

With the score ted at 2, the Swallows started the bottom of the eighth with Aoki. Aoki could not manage to get career hit #1000, as he grounded out sharply to first. Tanaka and Iihara managed back-to-back singles which brought up Guiel to the plate. Aaron took the first pitch he saw and launched it into left field, but unfortunately the ball went right into the left fielder’s glove. So Whitesell came up to the plate with 2 outs and a man in scoring position for the third time of the night. This time, however, he smashed the first pitch into left center field for a stand up double, scoring Tanaka and Iihara. 4-2 Tokyo.

Lim efficiently worked the ninth, picking up 2 strikeouts and his 15th save of the year.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Josh Whitesell now has a 5 game hitting streak to start his NPB career, and was the game’s hero (3rd time in 5 games).
• Matsuoka, who worked the eighth, was given the win.
• Tanaka, Iihara, and Fujimoto had multi-hit games.
• The Swallows look to extend their wining streak to a season high 6 games tomorrow, in game 2 of their home away from home series against the Dragons in Akita.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Yokohama BayStars 2

Streak: Won 4   Last 5: LWWWW

(Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha)

It wasn’t a romp like last night, but the Tokyo Swallows still got the win and moved into fourth place in the Central League.

Tonite’s lineup:

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

Tokyo starter, rookie Nakazawa (3.86 ERA), got his fifth win of the season (against four losses) by pitching five and two-thirds innings of six hit, two run baseball. He had five Ks and didn’t allow any walks.

But he left the game after allowing a three run lead melt to just one in the sixth inning. He was relieved by Masubuchi who finished out that frame and the following one, and Matsuoka (1.45) and Lim (0.77) pitched a scoreless inning each. Lim notched his 14th save in the process.

Tokyo’s offense didn’t make a whole lot of noise until the fifth which ended up being the last for Yokohama starter, Kaga. Aikawa and Miyamoto led off with singles before Fujimoto bunted them over to second and third. Kaga then gave Tokyo a free one by whipping one past the catcher. Aikawa scored from third and Miyamoto advanced to the corner. 1-0 Tokyo.

Nakazawa then went down swinging for out number two, but Aoki brought Miyamoto home from third by clubbing a 1-0 fastball for a double to left. Tanaka then hit an 0-1 sinker to right for an RBI single. 3-0 Tokyo.

As mentioned earlier, Yokohama finally got to Nakazawa in the sixth. 3-2 Tokyo.

But that was basically the end of it as Tokyo’s relievers locked things down for the rest of the game.

Miyamoto was the only player to record two hits in this game, so he’s the default offensive player of the game. His bat has heated up a little as of late which is a very nice development.

Tokyo’s next game is on Saturday, the start of a two-game “home” series in Akita against the Chunichi Dragons.

Random notes:

The birds are a half game ahead of the fifth place Carp and seven games behind the third place Dragons.

Whitesell’s hitting streak was extended to four games thanks to his lead-off single in the second.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10

Yokohama BayStars 0

Streak: Won 3   Last 5: LLWWW

(Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha)

Because the Kanto region of Japan isn’t hot enough already, the neighboring cellar-dwellers headed south–way south–to kick off a two game series in balmy Naha.

And the birds walked all over the stars.

Tonite’s lineup:

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

The Tak-bunt to start off the first didn’t work, and the Swallows took the field after only four batters–which is to be expected when Miura is pitching against us. No bunts, but more of the same in the second, third, and first two outs of the fourth. But then something funny happened.

Guiel doubled and Whitesell homered (his second longball in his three starts with the top team). 2-0 Tokyo.

And that was the beginning of the end for Yokohama as Muranaka was halfway through what would turn out to be eight innings of shutout baseball.

The Swallows plated three more runs in both the fifth and the sixth. In the fifth, the fun once again began with two outs. Muranaka worked a walk, and Aoki made things interesting with a single. That was followed by a bases-clearing triple by Tokyo’s second baseman, Tanaka, who was himself sent home on an Iihara single. 5-0 Tokyo.

The birds got a little help in the sixth when Miyamoto induced an error at short (Ishikawa) which allowed both runners to stay on the basepaths (Aikawa singled beforehand) with no outs. Fujimoto loaded the bases for Muranaka, and the lanky pitcher brought Aikawa and Miyamoto home with a surprise single to right. Fujimoto scored one out later when Tanaka singled to right. 8-0 Tokyo.

Tokyo loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs, but they were unable to bring anyone home. However, they made up for it a little bit in the eighth when Tanaka’s leadoff single was cashed in by Iihara’s triple.

Trivia: When was the last time the Tokyo Swallows had two triples in a single game?

Whitesell then grabbed his third RBI of the game, a single to right, to end the scoring for the evening. 10-0 Tokyo.

Muranaka went eight innings and threw 112 pitches. His ERA dropped to 3.27 while his record improved to 5-6. He gave up seven hits and two walks while striking out five.

Matsui (5.00) pitched the ninth and allowed one hit but no runs scored.

Every starter except for Miyamoto and Fujimoto had at least one hit in this contest. In fact, Aoki, Tanaka and Aikawa recorded three each with Tanaka notching three RBIs in the process.

Iihara and Whitesell had two hits apiece.

Game two of this sweltering series in Naha starts tomorrow at the unusual hour of 7PM.

Random notes:

Matsui got out of the ninth on only three pitches. First pitch single to right, first pitch double play ball to Tanaka at second, and first pitch fly ball to center.

Whitesell has recorded at least one RBI in each of his three starts so far. The birds have won all three games with Whitesell in the starting lineup (two in left and one at first base).

Tokyo outhit Yokohama 15-8.

Aoki is now only three hits from a career tally of 1,000. It’s taken him 767 games to reach 997 which is pretty damned fast. Guess who the only player to reach 1,000 hits in Japan faster was? Yup, you got it. Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 1,000th base hit in his 757th game.

Hanshin Tigers 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Streak: Won 2   Last 5: WLLWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo won a series against a Central League team for the first time since the beginning of April (4/2-4/4 versus Yokohama).

Today’s lineup:

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

Yoshinori had one of his normal, crappy outings on the mound and did not deserve the win today. However, there may be a method to his recurring mediocrity–walking batters is definitely preferable to extra base hits.

But honestly, his inability to locate his pitches is infuriating. How many more seasons are we going to have to deal with this?

The Swallows started the scoring in the bottom of the second with Fossum on the mound for Hanshin. D’Antona fouled off five pitches before parking the 10th pitch of his at-bat, a 3-2 slider, in the reserved seats in left. 1-0 Tokyo.

It was D’Antona’s 11th home run of 2010. And D’Antona added another RBI in the third with a sac fly to right that brought home Aoki who had earlier reached base on a Toritani fielding error. 2-0 Tokyo.

For those keeping track, Tanaka was thankfully not able to properly lay down the Tak-bunt after Aoki reached base. The reason I say this is because he was soon hit in the foot by a pitch with two strikes against him.

But then came the inevitable rough inning for Yoshinori in the fifth. A walk, a botched pickoff attempt at second on a hit and run (Hirano struck out swinging), and another walk meant that it was runners on first and third with one out. Arai then brought home a run and Brazell did the same to level the score. 2-2.

The birds shrugged it off though and put three more runs on the board in the bottom of that inning. Tanaka and Iihara hit back-to-back one out singles before Whitesell cleared the bases with a hard-spinning blooper to shallow left that spun all the way back to the corner after Lin slipped on an invisible banana peel.

Whitesell had himself a stand-up two-RBI triple and his second spot on the hero’s podium in as many days.

Aikawa would later bring Whitesell home from third with a two out single to center. 5-2 Swallows.

In the sixth, Fukuchi had a pinch-hit double and scored on Aoki’s single off the wall in right. 6-2 Tokyo.

Kanemoto’s two run dinger in the eighth made things interesting with Matsuoka on the mound, but that was the end of the scoring for Hanshin. 6-4 Swallows.

Tokyo put two extra insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth. This cancelled out Lim’s chance of getting a save, but whatever. Aikawa led off with a well-hit home run to left, and Miyamoto recorded his third hit of the game to the exact same spot in shallow right to keep things going. Two outs later, Aoki and Tanaka recorded back-to-back singles, the latter resulting in an RBI and a final scoreline of 8-4 Tokyo.

Lim (0.81 ERA) faced four batters and got out of the ninth on 11 pitches.

Yoshinori was only tagged with one of the two runs that crossed home on his watch. He threw 115 pitches in only five innings of work while allowing five hits, striking out four and walking six. The win brought his record to 4-5 while his ERA now sits at 4.06.

Matsuoka struck out the first two batters he faced in the eighth, but then he got a little bit sloppy and left some pitches up. The biggest mistake was that high 2-2 fastball that resulted in a two-run homer. Matsuoka’s ERA jumped from 0.93 to 1.50 in his 32nd appearance of the year. Yes, he’s being used too much. And no, Ogawa will probably not stop using him.

Oshimoto (3.38) and Masubuchi (4.46) pitched one scoreless inning each in relief.

Four Tokyo starters had at least two hits.

D’Antona, Whitesell and Aikawa recorded two RBIs each.

Random notes:

Today was Miyamoto’s second three-hit game of the season.

Yoshinori got behind in the count (2-0) to six of the batters he faced. He threw first pitch balls to nearly half of the batters that came to the plate during his five innings of work.

The birds outhit the Tigers 13-9. It was the first time in quite a while that Hanshin wasn’t able to record double-digit hits.

D’Antona and Whitesell, former teammates in Arizona, shared the heroes podium after today’s game.

Whitesell was 1-1 with a triple and two walks.

Following Aikawa’s homer, Onizaki’s Tak-bunt in the eighth failed as Arai threw to second to force Miyamoto out. Miraculously, the birds were still able to score.

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.

June 13th, 2010

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 1

Streak: Won 4   Last 5: LWWWW

(Kleenex Stadium Miyagi)

Hats off to the birds for the current winning streak which ties their season-best of four games. And may I remind you that the last two wins came against Iwakuma and Tanaka, two of Japan’s best starters, while giving up a total of only two runs during their two-game stay in Sendai.

Other good news: Darvish pitched yesterday, so the Swallows won’t have to deal with him either tomorrow or Tuesday when the Fighters are in town for those two rescheduled games (both start at 6PM).

This afternoon’s lineup:

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

Yoshinori (2-5; 4.61 ERA) started this one for the Swallows–a bit of a homecoming for him as he grew up in Sendai.

And the kid had a good game. He lasted one out shy of eight innings while giving up only five hits and a single earned run off of 128 pitches. He struck out two and walked three and was actually perfect through the first three innings of the afternoon.

The Eagles finally got to Yoshinori in the fifth. Yamasaki scored the first run of the game on a solo shot to right with no outs. 1-0 Tohoku.

D'Antona's bases loaded sac fly leveled the game.

But that was all the run-scoring that the Eagles could muster despite getting two runners on base immediately after Yamasaki’s homer in the fifth, and in the sixth and eighth innings as well.

Tokyo did the bulk of it’s damage in the top of the eighth inning while trailing by a run. Fukuchi reached base on a single before Aoki put him on third with a double. Tanaka recorded the first out of the game on a grounder, but Guiel drew a walk to load the bases.

Next man up, D’Antona, hit a sac fly to left that scored Fukuchi to tie the game at 1-1.

With two outs, Iihara drew another walk to load the bases once again, and then Aikawa did the same to get Tanaka (Tohoku’s starter) to walk in the go-ahead run. 2-1 Tokyo.

Protecting a one run lead, Yoshinori was yanked, quite wisely, with two outs in the eighth after he gave up consecutive singles to Teppei and Nakamura. The look on Yoshinori’s face was a dead giveaway that he could feel the pressure mounting, and consequently his slider stopped breaking, so Matsuoka was brought in to deal with the battle-hardened Yamasaki. The veteran made Matsuoka work for the out by laying off the forkballs, but he was eventually caught napping on an inside heater to end the threat and the inning, and preserve Yoshinori’s bid for his second with of the season.

Tokyo added an insurance run in the ninth. Tohoku’s Katayama recorded the first two outs of the inning with

Tanaka doubles to bring Aoki home from first.

relative ease before having to deal with Aoki–who, I might add, is heating up after a rather forgettable month of May.

Aoki singled to bring up the only batter on the team who is currently hitting better than Aikawa, and that would be Tanaka. He’s 9-15 over the course of the current winning streak (not to mention his three walks and four RBIs), and he came through again today with a clutch double to left that scored Aoki from first. 3-1 Tokyo.

Lim came in to take care of the ninth on only eight pitches, and that was the end of things as the Swallows continue to put the pieces back together in the early stages of the post-Takada era. Today was Lim’s 10th save of the season.

Aoki and Tanaka had two hits each while Guiel also reached base twice care of a single and a walk. Iihara added two walks to his second inning single for a team-leading three times on first base.

Tokyo will attempt to keep the good times rolling when the Fighters come to town tomorrow.

Random notes:

The Swallows outhit the Eagles 9-5.

Yoshinori’s ERA improved from 5.14 to 4.61 after his effort this afternoon.

Tanaka extended his hitting streak to nine games. During that time he’s gone 14-30 (1 HR) with 11 RBIs and four walks. His nine game vitals: .467 batting average; .529 OBP; and .667 SLG.

Guiel hasn’t been hit by a pitch in over a week which must be some kind of record. Regardless, he leads the country with 14.

D’Antona no longer leads the league in strikeouts.