Things didn't go well last week, so here's a picture of the farm team lineup.

Sorry for the delay, Swallowers. It’s my fault. There are no excuses here at Tsubamegun.

Something for you to read while planning a trip to New Orleans.

Swallows of the Week

Week 6

This one was never really going to be much of a contest, what with the wicked week that Coco put up and all. But 31 voters thought long and hard and chose the most worthy from the following four players:

Wladimir Balentien (RF)
Masanori Ishikawa (P)
Orlando Roman (P)
Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B)

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	25	81
Hiroyasu Tanaka	4	13
Orlando Roman	2	6
Masanori Ishikawa	0	0

Congratulations, Coco, the first Tokyo player to ever earn SOW honors twice in the same season! You definitely earned it. I must say that you surprised the piss out of us several times during week six, and we love you for it.

Now just sit back and let them walk you for a couple of weeks.

Week 7

Like the week before, the Swallows played five games during week six. However, things didn’t work out quite as well for your Tokyo Swallows.

The first three games were all over the midlands map in and around Nagoya as the birds took on the Dragons in a three-game set. Tokyo wasn’t able to win a game until the series finally arrived back at Nagoya Dome. Game three  saw the birds exorcise some of the their demons by winning a game against the Dragons in Nagoya, but they still lost the series 1-2.

Then it was off to the miserably wet and cold embrace of the enduring Akita Prefecture winter for a two-game series against the “visiting” Gomiuri Giants.

Tokyo played to an annoying 1-1 draw in the first game before losing the second game 5-1.

Game reports:

May 8th at Chunichi 0-1 L
May 9th  at Chunichi 3-8 L
May 10th at Chunichi 3-1 W
May 12th vs Yomiuri 1-1 D
May 13th vs Yomiuri 1-5 L

But despite Tokyo’s 1-3-1 record, there were still some individual bright spots.

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – The only pitcher to record a win, Akagawa pitched seven innings at Nagoya Dome on Thursday and threw 98 pitches while issuing only a single walk. He scattered six hits while striking out three and allowing one earned run in the sixth inning.

Shinya Miyamoto (3B) – A week after joining the Meikyukai, Shinya had his nose to the grindstone last week. Despite not starting on Wednesday, he was 6-14 at the plate in four games at third base.

Ryosuke Morioka (SS) – Given some playing time following Kawabata’s injury, Morioka started four games last week and was 3-14 at the plate with a double and two RBI.

You know what to do:

Roster Updates

As reported here in the last update, Takeuchi (IF) was removed from the top team on May 6th. It turns out that he has a right wrist injury that he needs to rehab.

On the seventh, Koki Watanabe (P) was also dropped to the farm after his four hit, three run performance on Sunday at Jingu.

On the eighth, Kentaro Kyuko (P) and Takahiro Araki (IF) were promoted from the topfarm team.

On the tenth, Kyohei Muranaka (P) and Shingo Kawabata (SS) were demoted. Kawabata is injured, and Muranaka is struggling.

On the 12th, both Aikawa (C) and Yuhei (OF) were brought back up to the top squad. Aikawa is coming off of a toe injury, and Yuhei has rejoined the struggle to find a viable and durable option in center field.

On the 15th, it was announced that Hitoshi Yamamoto (P) will have TJ surgery on his throwing arm (right) and is out for the rest of the season. Yamamoto made 12 appearances and pitched 55 innings for the Swallows last season. He finished the year with a 4.25 ERA.

That left the following 28 players on the top team roster:

Pitchers
Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai, Kyuko

Catchers
Aikawa, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka, Araki

Outfielders
Hiyane, Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge

Tateyama was the CL pitching MVP for March-April, 2012.

League Honors

In case you haven’t heard, Shohei Tateyama (P) and Wladimir Balentien (P) were March-April monthly MVPs for the Central League, and it’s the first time since 1997 that Tokyo has had a player win the pitcher and position player categories in the same month!

Sponsored by Nihon Seimei, it was the second time that both players had won the award.

Tateyama last won monthly MVP honors in August of 2010. This time around, he was 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA through 34 innings of work.

Balentien won May honors last year, and he finished the first month-and-a-bit of 2012 with a .308 average and 16 RBI on 24-78 hitting.

The last Tokyo duo to bring home top Central League honors in the same month were batterymates Atsuya Furuta (C) and Kazuhisa Ishii (P) in September 12 years ago.

Nice work, gents! Now if we could just hold on to first place.

From the Farm

The mini birds had an even worse week despite spending the whole time at home. Tokyo started the week off by dropping and drawing a game versus the visiting mini Giants before seeing game three get rained out up in Toda.

They then dropped three straight afternoon games to the mini Chiba Marines.

There’s not a whole lot to report that will excite anyone that is a regular in these parts. Onodera (P) continues to be effective, and Tetsuto Yamada (IF) is hitting well in the leadoff position. Other than that, Yoshinori’s little brother is the the next most exciting thing going on down there. And no, Yoshinori hasn’t made an appearance recently. Think they’ll eventually think about taking his face off of all the walls in Gaienmae soon?

The Week Ahead

It’s interleague time, folks! Tokyo hosts Fukuoka on Wednesday and Thursday after an extra day off, and then Orix comes to town for a weekend series at Jingu. All games start at 6PM. This is the time of year, of course, when we finally have a reason to root for Pacific League teams. May they beat everyone but us. Badly.

Tokyo's lone winning pitcher from last week.

OK, that’s it for this week. Please excuse me while I find some inspiration to do what’s right.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 9

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WDLWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hawks	0	0	3	0	0	2	2	0	2	9	16	1
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	0
W: Otonari (4-2); L: Akagawa (3-2)

Payback’s a bitch! After last night’s unreal drubbing of the Hawks, the boys from Fukuoka reciprocated in game 2.

	Hawks		Swallows
1	Akashi (2B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Imamiya (SS)	2	Morioka (SS)
3	Uchikawa (CF)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Pena (LF)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Matsuda (3B)	5	Hatakeyama (1B)
6	Kokubo (1B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Tamura (RF)	7	Yuhei (CF)
8	Yamazaki (C)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Otonari (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

Nakamura gets the start in place of Aikawa tonight. I’m guessing that Nakamura will be Akagawa’s personal catcher to give the young backstop some regular starts.

As for the more salient details of the game, I’ll present them as quick bullet points to spare you all the pain.

• Top of the 3rd: Matsuda hits a 2 out 3 run homer off Akagawa. 3-0 Hawks
• Top of the 6th: Tamura hits a 1 out 2 run homer off Akagawa. 5-0 Hawks
• Top of the 7th: Pena hits a 2 out 2 run homer off Hirai. 7-0 Hawks
• Top of the 9th: Kidokoro hits an 1 out RBI single off Abe. 8-0 Hawks
• Top of the 9th: Yamazaki hits an 1 out RBI single off Abe. 9-0 Hawks
• Bottom of the 9th: Milledge hits a no out solo homer just right of the left field foul pole. 9-1 Hawks

Otonari was walking Swallows like crazy tonight, racking up 7 BBs in 6 innings of work. But unlike many pitchers that try to force strikes by throwing meatballs when they have trouble throwing strikes, it seemed as if Otonari would just give up on at bats where he fell behind and walk the batter to get to the next guy. Despite getting into jams in the first, second, and the fifth, Otonari still walked guys to load the bases and managed to get the out when he needed it most. The Swallows ultimately left a season-high 15 men on base.

Akagawa did not have the greatest night always falling behind in the count. Of the 27 batters Akagawa faced he only managed to throw a first pitch strike 10 times, and very rarely was he pitching ahead in the count. The bullpen wasn’t much better. Hirai, Kyuko, and Abe all allowed multiple baserunners, although Kyuko managed to keep them from scoring.

Let’s just call the last 2 games outliers, and not focus too much them. The Swallows have a day off tomorrow, before they play Orix (who dropped both their games against the Giants) for a 2 game set over the weekend.

Milledge pops out to the infield with the bases loaded in the second.

Tokyo Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLLLW

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	5	0
Dragons	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	9	0
W: Akagawa (3-1); L: Yudai (1-2); S: Barnette (12)

The Swallows’ bats finally come alive in the eighth to snap the team’s losing streak.

	Swallows		Dragons
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Oshima (CF)
2	Morioka (SS)	2	Araki (2B)
3	Milledge (LF)	3	Ibata (SS)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Wada (LF)
5	Iihara (CF)	5	Blanco (1B)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Fukuda (3B)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Hirata (RF)
8	Fukukawa (C)	8	Tanishige (C)
9	Akagawa (P)	9	Yudai (P)

The lineup got a bit of a tweak after Kawbata’s hip injury, and his subsequent removal from the active roster earlier today left a hole at short. Morioka took Kawabata’s place at short and batted second. With Morioka playing the speedy contact hitter role in the order, the Swallows chose to play Iihara at center to give themselves more punch. Finally, Fukukawa got a start as a reward for his home run in yesterday’s game, his first homer in 4 years.

All that lineup tweaking seemed fairly moot however, as the Dragons’ stater Yudai absolutely owned the Swallows through 7 innings. Yudai gave up just 1 single to the Swallows through 7 innings. Giving up no walks or errors, the lefty kept most of the Swallows’ balls in the infield to be easily fielded.

Akagawa was also pitched quite well but wasn’t quite as dominant. The young lefty kept the game scoreless until the sixth innings. After getting 2 outs Akagawa gave up an infield single to Oshima who quickly stole second and came home on an Araki single to left. 1-0 Dragons Despite being down only 1 run, there was a feeling that the Swallows were staring at their 4th straight loss.

Luckily the Swallows were finally able to get to Yudai in the eighth. Iihara started the inning my lining out to short for out number 1. Miyamoto got the rally by hitting a 3-2 pitch into right for a single. Hiyane took Miyamoto’s place in on the basepaths for Hatakeyama’s at bat. Yudai fell behind 1-0 to Hatake, Hiyane ran on the next pitch and the big man child smacked the ball deep into right for a double to men on second and third with 1 out. It was at this point the Dragons decided to end Yudai’s night and hand the ball to 2011 MVP, Asao. 2011 Asao might have been unhittable, but 2012 Asao has looked a bit more mortal. Asao started off by loading the bases with a 4 pitch walk to a pinch hitting Fujimoto to load the bases. Fukuchi came in to pinch hit for Akagawa, and watched Asao pitch his 5th straight ball before taking strike number 1 deep off the right field wall to score 2. 2-1 Swallows Tanaka couldn’t keep the rally going and gave up the second out of the inning with a liner to first. But the Swallows were able to get an insurance run when Morioka legged out a slow grounder to second for a infield single, letting Fujimoto score from third. 3-1 Swallows

Oshimoto pitched a 1 hit scoreless eighth, and Barnette pitched a 2 hit scoreless ninth to preserve the win. The win puts the Swallows a half game back of the Dragons for the CL lead.

Notes

• Akagawa got the win by pitching 7 innings on 98 pitches, allowing 1 ER, 6 H, and 1 BB.
• His Dragons’ counterpart, Yudai, got tagged with the loss for his 7.1 innings of 3 hit ball, with 2 ER to his name.
• The Swallows will have tomorrow off before playing a 2 game series against the Giants in Akita.
  

  Fukuchi hits a game flipping double.

Tokyo Swallows 6

 Hiroshima Carp 4

Streak: Won 2       Last 5: WWDWW

(Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima)

Tokyo traveled to Hiroshima yesterday for their first away series at Mazda Stadium. The two teams have played each other twice so far this season (played in Matsuyama) with Tokyo taking  both of those contests. Akagawa (2-1, 0.95 ERA) earned the win in the Sunday afternoon game of that short series, and he was back on the mound today to take on an injury-depleted Hiroshima.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	11	0
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	4	9	1
W: Hirai (1-0, 0.00 ERA) L: Mickolio (1-1, 3.48) S: Barnette (1-0, 10 S, 0.00)

Akagawa wasn’t exactly overpowering in that April 15th game against the Carp, but he was able to get through seven full innings without giving up a run (4 H, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 0 K). He was much sharper in his last start when he pitched a complete game shutout at home against the Giants on April 21st (5 H, 1 BB, 6 K).

	Hiroshima		Tokyo
1	Soyogi (SS)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Higashide (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Hirose (CF)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Stavinoha (LF)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Aizawa (RF)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Matsuyama (1B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Dohbayashi (3B)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Shirahama (C)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Fukui (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

All in all, the Swallows had to be liking their chances against the fourth-placed Carp.

It seemed clear from the start that birds were going to try to wear down Hiroshima’s starter, Fukui (1-1, 3.18 ERA), and get to the

Hatake's timing at the plate is improving.

bullpen as quickly as possible. If that was in fact what Tokyo was doing, then it was a very good idea. Like the Swallows, Hiroshima is scheduled to play nine games in as many days, and if Tokyo can force Hiroshima to use it’s bullpen early and often, that could mean good things for the birds when Hiroshima come to Jingu next weekend.

Tanaka and Ueda worked a pair of walks to start the game, and both Milledge and Balentien worked full counts as well. The latter coaxed Fukui into issuing his third walk of the inning, and the bases were loaded for Kawabata. Unfortunately, the Swallows were not able to take advantage of the situation, as Kawabata lined out to second and Ueda was doubled up.

But the good news was that Fukui threw 31 pitches that inning.

Akagawa, on the other hand, got through the first inning on only six pitches despite giving up a leadoff hit to Soyogi.

The birds finally got something from all of their patience in the top of the third. Milledge worked a full count walk with one out, and then Kawabata singled to left with two outs. Miyamoto then singled to center to bring Milledge home from second.

Hiroshima 0-1 Tokyo.

But Hatakeyama then chipped in with a bases-clearing triple (sixth of his career, believe it or not) to give Akagawa some breathing room.

3-0 Tokyo.

And to make matters worse for Hiroshima, second-year starter, Fukui, had already thrown 76 pitches by the end of that inning. Fukui had his most efficient inning in the fourth when he only expended 13 pitches on three batters.

First career win.

But Kokubo came in to pinch hit for him with two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth.

The Swallows loaded the bases on reliever, Kishimoto, but weren’t able to bring anyone home in the process.

Akagawa ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the sixth when his control started to suffer, and he either left pitches up or started throwing a lot of stuff down the middle.Hiroshima was able to string a walk and three back-to-back hits together to get themselves back in the game with a pair of runs.Hiroshima 2-3 Tokyo.

He was fortunately able to get the second out on a foul fly off to the side of third base, and then he was hooked in favor of Masubuchi to face Dohbayashi with runners on first and second.

Masubuchi eventually got the rookie to strike out swinging at an offspeed pitch to help Akagawa avoid getting tacked with any more runs.

Hikaka pitched a perfect seventh.

Oshimoto had a more eventful inning of work. He surrendered a leadoff single and a one out walk to put runners on first and second. With veteran Maeda pinch-hitting, Oshimoto watched the count get worked full before finally conceding his first earned run of the season on a soft single to right.

3-3.

Oshimoto out, Watanabe in.

Second pitch, Maru RBI single to center.

Game-winning home run.

4-3 Hiroshima.

Watanabe out, Hirai in. Hirai got the final two outs of the frame on only six pitches to help stop the bleeding.

Mickolio took the mound for the Carp in the top of the ninth with a one-run lead to protect. Tanaka led off with a grounder to right, and Ueda then bunted pinch-runner, Miwa, over to second. Milledge poked a single to center to put runners on the corners for Balentien.

Mickolio hung a slider right in the middle of Balentien’s wheelhouse, and the next time anyone touched it, it was a souvenir for a lucky fan in the left field bleachers.

6-4 Tokyo.

Barnette closed out the game on six pitches in the bottom of the inning.

Pitching:

Akagawa left the game with a one-run lead and didn’t figure into the final decision. It was almost like he suddenly got tired during the sixth. At any rate, here’s his line: 5.2 IP, 88 NP, 5 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1.32 ERA. His record remains at 2-1.

Oshimoto was tagged with both runs in the eighth. His ERA rose from 0.00 to 1.69.

Hirai got the win, the first of his career.

Barnette continues to lead the league in saves (10) and appearances (14).

Hitting:

Balentien was the hero of the game due to his game-winning homer, his league-leading sixth of the season. He was 2-4 with a walk and three RBI.

Hatakeyama also had a good game down at number seven in the lineup. He was 3-5 with two RBI.

Tanaka, Ueda, Milledge, and Miyamoto all got on base twice. Milledge also scored twice.

Notes:

Today was Hatakeyama’s first three-hit game of the season, and he very nearly had a fourth hit in the eighth. However, Soyogi made a nice leaping grab at short to rob Hatake of extra pudding.

Miyamoto’s RBI single today puts him at six hits away from the 2,000 hit milestone.

Former teammate, Atsunori Inaba, reached the Meikyukai 2,000 hit threshold this afternoon in a game against Tohoku.

Tokyo needed three pitchers to get through the eighth inning when Hiroshima temporarily took the lead. It was a bit of a departure from how solid the bullpen has been this month, but one could argue that Oshimoto was a little bit unlucky and pitched better than his line. Unfortunately, Tokyo used two more relievers than they might have liked to today. But luckily the team still won.

Mickolio was as hittable in the ninth as Akagawa was back in the sixth.

The birds now lead the season series against Hiroshima 3-0.

Chunichi also won today, so Tokyo’s lead at the top remains at one game.

The game tomorrow kicks off at 1:30 PM. Nomura (1-1, 1.00 ERA) will pitch for the Carp, and the Swallows will counter with Roman (1-3, 3.57 ERA).

Tokyo is undefeated in its last seven games (one tie).

Swallows of the Week

Week 3

Last week’s vote saw the strong performances by Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B), Lastings Milledge (LF), Katsuki Akagawa (P), and Kyohei Muranaka (P).

28 people cast their vote this week, and here’s what they decided:

Player	Votes	%
Hiroyasu Tanaka	19	68
Lastings Milledge	6	21
Katsuki Akagawa	2	7
Kyohei Muranaka	1	4

Congratulations to Beavis, a very well-liked player in these parts. We’re excited to see him having a chance to swing the bat more often this season (now that he’s not on perpetual bunt duty), and we hope to see him lead a threatening top of the order for Tokyo.

Week 4

HR number four (2nd this weekend).

Tokyo played six games this week: one in Kobe, two at Koshien, and a three-game home stand at Jingu against Yomiuri.

The birds were outscored 6-10 in their series against Hanshin, but played decent baseball throughout most of those games. They then returned home for the Tokyo derby and took the series against Yomiuri.

In case you missed them, here are game reports:

April 17th vs Hanshin (Away)
April 18th vs Hanshin (Away)
April 19th vs Hanshin (Away)
April 20th vs Yomiuri (Home)
April 21st vs Yomiuri (Home)
April 22nd vs Yomiuri (Home)

Overall, the birds won four and lost two last week.

And here are the contestants for your week 4 vote:

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – The 21-year-old lefty pitched Tokyo’s first complete game shutout of 2012. In fact, it was the first time that any starter went the full nine, period. In the process, he faced 32 batters and threw 127 pitches (5 H, 6 K, 1 BB). He’s now 2-1 after four starts and leads all Swallows starters with a 0.95 ERA and .210 opposing team batting average.

Wladimir Balentien (P) – Suddenly more focused both in the field and on the basepaths, Coco got on base in all six games last week. He had six hits (two homers), three RBI, and two walks last week. When the Swallows returned to defend Tokyo against the Giants, he was switched up to cleanup in place of the ineffective Hatakeyama, and that’s when both home runs appeared.

Tony Barnette (P) – The week 2 Swallow of the Week was back at it again in week 4. He took the mound in the ninth three times last week, each time to protect a one-run lead. He allowed just one runner last week and converted all three save opportunities. His three strikeout performance on Friday was a clear indication of how well he’s throwing at the moment. His ERA remains at zero, and he has a NPB career-high seven saves which is good enough for second for second in the Central League. He was also ready to go Saturday night when Akagawa was attempting to get through the ninth on his own.

Shingo Kawabata (SS) – Tokyo’s shortstop continues to display some of the gap power that he displayed last season which was highlighted by his bases clearing triple on Saturday. Like Balentien, he had six hits and three RBI last week while mixing in a pair of walks as well. His defense at short was also solid, and he has teamed nicely with Tanaka in turning a number of clutch double plays. He currently leads the team in hits (20) and has done a good job of protecting the cleanup hitter.

Orlando Roman (P) – With a five-man rotation, someone has to pitch twice in the same week. Although the team had been able to avoid doubling any of its starters up earlier in the month, Roman became the workhorse of the week. He pitched six full innings on Tuesday and 5.1 on Sunday. During those eleven and one-third innings he allowed nine hits (two homers) and four earned runs. He worked hard in the rain on Sunday and was awarded with his first NPB win.

OK, Tsubamegun, cast your vote. Click the button for your Swallow of the Week. Please vote only once.

Roster Updates

There were no major roster updates announced by the team last week.

From the Farm

It sounds like Yoshinori’s rehab had another setback and he may not be ready to rejoin the top team until Golden Week or later. Instead, there are rumblings that Shichijo may get promoted to relieve some pressure on the starting rotation. (HT Yakyu Baka)

As for minor league performances, it seems like outfielder Jun Matsui is playing alright. He has appeared in 22 games so far and has a slash line of .345/.371/.452 with a team-leading 29 hits.

None of Tokyo’s minor league starters are exactly tearing it up at the moment, but Chikara Onodera seems to be posting serviceable numbers. Through 12 innings of middle relief, he’s posted a 0.75 ERA.

Tanaka has been clutch protecting the middle of the infield.

Around the Central

Chunichi finished the week with five wins and one loss. They took two of three from Yomiuri at Nagoya Dome and then swept Hiroshima at Mazda Stadium to make it five wins in a row. Chunichi is still in first place.

Yomiuri finished the week 1-5. Sugiuchi helped earn a series-opening win on Tuesday in Nagoya, but the Giants haven’t won since. They wrapped up their week by being swept by the Tokyo Swallows at Jingu. They remain in last place in the CL, half a game behind Yokohama.

Hanshin finished the week 3-3. They took two of three from Tokyo on their home soil but then only won a single game in Yokohama this past weekend. They remain in third place, half a game behind the second place Tokyo Swallows.

Hiroshima finished the week 3-3. With all six games played at home, they swept the Baystars to start the week and then dropped three in a row to the visiting Dragons. They are fourth in the Central, 1.5 games behind third place Hanshin.

Yokohama finished the week 2-4. After getting swept by Hiroshima away, they returned home and took two games from the visiting Tigers. They’re doing just enough to stay out of sixth place at the moment.

The Week Ahead

The birds will host current CL front-runners, Chunichi, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. All games are scheduled for a 6PM start. Both teams swept their most recent opponents and hope to take advantage of that momentum during the upcoming matchup.

Tokyo has Friday off and will travel to Hiroshima for a three-game set with a 1:30PM first pitch scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Former Swallows

Norichika Aoki finally got his first major league start and collected his first home run in the process, an inside-the-park round tripper.

He batted second and finished the game 2-4 with six total bases (HR, 2B), two runs scored, and one RBI.

Seth Greisinger has been pitching well for the Chiba Marines. He’s 2-0 through two starts and 15 innings of work. He’s averaging a strikeout per inning, and he has yet to give up an earned run.

Former Tokyo third baseman, Akinori Iwamura, played in his first minor league game on Saturday. It was his first day back in competitive action after hurting his right hamstring more than a month ago.

That’s it for this week’s snapshot. Please excuse me while I start peeling.

Drink up!

Yomiuri Giants 0

Tokyo Swallows 2

Streak: Won 2  Last 5: LWLWW

(Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Swallows	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	2	4	0
W: Akagawa (2-1) L: Sawamura (1-3)

The struggling Giants retooled their lineup, but were no match for a hot Akagawa. A fairly simple and clean win for the Swallows tonight.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	Takahashi (1B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Terauchi (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Sakamoto (SS)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Abe (C)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Chono (CF)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Murata (3B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Bowker (LF)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Kajimae (RF)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Sawamura (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

Akagawa started the game off with 2 strikeouts before allowing a single to Sakamoto. Sakamoto was the only Giant that managed to do anything offensively, going 4-for-4 for the night. But Akagawa managed to keep the rest of the Giants in check all night.

Sawamura, on the other hand, started his night by walking Tanaka on 5 pitches. Ueda bunted Tanaka to second, and Sakamoto got Milledge to fly out to center on just 2 pitches. Balentien managed to draw a walk from Sawamura, and Kawabata made him pay by lacing a liner into the right field gap for a bases clearing triple. 2-0 Swallows

The rest of the night was a pitchers duel between Akagawa and Sawamura in which neither offense really threatened. Akagawa’s night was characterized by lots of grounders, with 13 of his 27 outs coming from grounders. Of those 13 grounders, 8 of them were fielded by Tanaka at second. Akagawa got 6 strikeouts from Giants batters and only allowed 1 walk. He never allowed more than 1 runner to get on in an inning and only allowed 1 extra base hit (a double to Sakamoto in the ninth).

Outside of the first, Sawamura was also largely in control, as he never allowed more than 1 runner to get on in an inning and didn’t give up any more extra-base hits. He also struck out 6 batters, and only allowed 1 more walk after the first. Sawamura was pulled after 7 innings and 89 pitches for a pinch hitter, and Nishimura finished the game for the Giants with a perfect eighth.

Akagawa’s first career complete game shutout was accomplished with 127 pitches, and the youngster improved his record to 2-1, while lowering his ERA to 0.95.

The duel lasted a brisk 2 and a half hours and was witnessed by 25,405 souls. The Swallows will look to get the sweep with Roman on the mound while the Giants will counter with the Miyaguni.

Akagawa pitched a gem tonight.

Nakamura has some nerves to steady, and some big shoes to fill, but he's doing well so far.

Something for you to read while fielding offers for a more appropriate gig.

Swallows of the Week

Week 2

Ishikawa was the week one MVP, but he tanked after that. Hopefully the same fate does not await the winner of the week two polling.

31 people voted this time around, and they had five choices:

Shingo Kawabata (SS)
Orlando Roman (P)
Wladimir Balentien (RF)
Tony Barnette (P)
Takehiko Oshimoto (P)

And here’s how the community voted:

Players	Votes	%
Tony Barnette	18	58
Wladimir Balentien	8	26
Shingo Kawabata	2	6.5
Takehiko Oshimoto	2	6.5
Orlando Roman	1	3

Congratulations to Mr. Barnette! Hopefully the Tokyo bats continue to churn out enough runs that his services won’t be necessary more than a few times a week. It sure would be nice to have him with us for the pennant race this time around.

I must say that I actually didn’t expect a closer to win the community voting on this one so early in the season. I didn’t expect it, but I like it. Any time a closer wins the voting, it means that the team is winning, and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t appreciate that.

Week 3

Tokyo played five games this past week, three at Jingu and two in Matsuyama. In case you missed them, here are the game reports:

April 10th vs Yokohama (Home)
April 11th vs Yokohama (Home)
April 12th vs Yokohama (Home)
April 14th vs Hiroshima (“Home”)
April 15th vs Hiroshima (“Home”)

The series against Yokohama started OK, but was pretty dreary for the last two games. Please don’t tell me that we’re going to revert to our old ways against Yokohama. Remember how they always used to piss on our collective pillow, at least through the 2010 season, even though they generally didn’t know how to play baseball? Ugh. Hopefully 2011 wasn’t an anomally.

Saturday’s game versus Hiroshima was an enjoyable one to watch for Tokyo fans. Sunday’s was a good one, too, although not nearly as easy on the heart.

And here’s the compiled data for the top five performers from week 3:

Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B) – Beavis scored two hero interviews this week, one on Tuesday and another yesterday evening (shared with Akagawa). His game winning hit against Yokohama and decisive RBI single against Hiroshima on Sunday were just two of his team-high six hits last week. He was 6-17 at the plate with three RBI and three walks.

Lastings Milledge (LF) – Despite spending another week in the batter’s box against pitchers he’d never seen before, Milledge was one of Tokyo’s biggest contributors this week. His quick feet and arm in left kept opposing base runners honest while he also presented himself as a constant nuisance when it was his turn to to start targeting extra bases. In addition to his heads-up base-running, Milledge was 5-19 at the plate. Two doubles and a home run helped lead to three RBI this week, and he added a walk just for good measure. Oh, and get this–he’s actually been seen running hard to first base even on routine grounders. Weird.

Kyohei Muranaka (P) – Tokyo’s socially-awkward southpaw from Kanagawa Prefecture earned his first win of the year with a very solid eight-inning performance on Saturday against Hiroshima. He threw 116 pitches and allowed just one run off of eight hits and two walks. He also struck out five while lowering his ERA to 2.25. He leads the team in winning percentage (100%), innings pitched (20), hits allowed (18), HBP (2), and strikeouts (13).

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – Like Muranaka above, Akagawa earned his first win of the year this past weekend. He threw 105 pitches in seven innings of very solid work. He didn’t strike anyone out, but he kept his pitches down and allowed just four hits (all singles), three walks, and one beaned batter. He’s now 1-1 with an impressive 1.40 ERA through three starts and 19.1 innings.

So let’s hear it, Tsubamegun. Who was your MVP? Cast your vote below. Please vote only once.

This poll is closed. To see who won the voting, please check next week’s Snapshot.

Roster Updates

With Aikawa and Kawamoto both out with injuries, we’re down to our 3rd, 4th, and 5th string catchers now. Hopefully Nakamura shows us that he’s up for the challenge. He’s been playing pretty well so far.

Here’s what the roster looks like as of game time on Sunday April 15th:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Nitta, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Takeuchi, Yamada, Hatakeyama, Morioka

Outfielders
Hiyane, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Ueda, Milledge

(28 players total)

From the Farm

Yoshinori got some work in during an exhibition game on Friday (4/13) against Fuji Heavy Industries. Final line: 8 IP, 8 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 3 R (all earned). Fernandez gave up one unearned run in the ninth to allow Fuji Heavy Industries to come back and tie the game for a 4-4 final score. (The team’s official Japanese write-up is here.)

Saturday’s game against the Futures was rained out.

The Week Ahead

Beavis isn't hitting the cover off the ball, but he's been pretty clutch recently.

Tokyo will next head to Koshien Stadium to take on the Hanshin Tigers for the second time this year. All three of the games start at 6PM from Tuesday – Thursday, and it seems likely that the pitching matchups will look a little something like this:

Tuesday
Messenger 1-0, 5.40 ERA (Hanshin) vs Tateyama 0-0, 2.08 ERA (Tokyo)

Wednesday
Kubo 1-0, 1.17 (Hanshin) vs Ishikawa 1-2, 5.19 (Tokyo)

Thursday
Ando 1-0, 0.69 (Hanshin) vs Roman 0-2, 3.97 (Tokyo)

Hanshin currently lead the season series 1 W, 0 L, 1 T against Tokyo.

And then Tokyo play host to crosstown rivals, Yomiuri, next weekend. Again, all three games start at 6PM, but I’m going to hold off on making predictions about starters at this point since things can so easily change in these parts.

Tokyo currently lead the season series 2-1 against Yomiuiri.

Around the Central League

Chunichi has opted to send slugger Tony Blanco down to the farm for some extra practice since he’s striking out a bit too much these days. Victor Diaz was sent down with him.

In other Chunichi news, starter Kenshin Kawakami is still out of action after tweaking his back on a high bouncer back to the mound  early in his April 7th start against Tokyo.

Elsewhere, NPB umpires have expressed concerns about showing replays of close calls on the big screens at various stadia. (Read: they are worried about their horrid decisions being advertised to the entire audience.)

First placed Hanshin finished the week with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. They will play host to Tokyo in a three-game series starting on Tuesday. They were 2-0-1 against Hiroshima early in the week, but then dropped both weekend games against Chunichi. Their record of 7-4-3 puts them half a game clear of Chunichi and Tokyo in second place.

Tied with Tokyo for second place in the Central, Chunichi followed two losses to the Swallows at Nagoya Dome the weekend prior (Saturday’s game report; Sunday’s game report) with a tie and two losses away to Yomiuri, and an opening game loss at Koshien on Friday. However, they prevailed over the weekend by outscoring the Tigers 10-4. Their record of 7-5-2 is good enough for a tie with Tokyo for second place in the Central.

Hiroshima slid into sole possession of fourth place in the Central League after dropping both of its “away” games to the Swallows. They were outscored 11-1 in the two weekend games (Saturday and Sunday), and this followed two losses and a draw against Hanshin on Hiroshima’s home soil. The Carp are now 6-6-2 so far this season.

Yomiuri is starting to show some life, but they’re not nearly as good as they likely will be this summer. They lost to Yokohama in walk-off style yesterday afternoon, but that was the only real blemish during a week that the team posted a 3-1-1 record. Their 5-8-1 record leaves them a game and a game and a half behind fourth place Hiroshima, and half of a game ahead of last place Yokohama.

Yokohama had its best week of the season by taking two of three from the Swallows and one of two from the Giants. At 4-8-1, and once again gurgling in the CL cellar, Yokohama’s start hasn’t yet met many people’s expectations, but nobody’s particularly surprised by that nugget of reality either.

Former Swallows

It seems that catchers in the Pacific League squat a bit closer to home plate than we’re used to here in the Central. Former Tokyo first baseman, Josh Whitesell, took out a catcher with his backswing on both Thursday and Friday evenings. Call it whatever you want, a slump or unfair treatment of a foreign player, but Josh was removed from the active roster following Friday’s game.

Norichika Aoki has only seven at-bats so far this season, but he’s not embarrassing himself. He’s currently hitting .429/.556/.429 and is generally one of the first bats off the bench plus a pretty consistent late game replacement on defense. Here’s video of Aoki’s first big league hit.

Alright, that’s all for this edition of the snapshot. Please excuse me while I cut off a media outlet or two.

Drink up!

Hiroshima Carp  0

Tokyo Swallows  1

Streak: Won 2       Last 5: WLLWW

(Matsuyama)

The Swallows go 2 for 2 in Matsuyama against Yoyo, I mean, Toyo Hiroshima Carp. After last nights outburst by the Swallows, the bats cooled off this fine Sunday afternoon. Still, thanks in large part to Tanaka, the Swallows did enough to win this one.

Our "heros" of the moment

Today’s “hero’s”, Tanaka and Akagawa, were the main story from today’s game. Besides some fine defensive plays, there was not much offense in todays game. As you can see from the boxscore below, both starting pitchers did very well. Thankfully, Tanaka was able to knock the ball around the park today.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Tokyo	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	4	1
W: Akagawa (1-1, 1.39 ERA) L: Nomura (1-1, 0.90 ERA) S: Barnette (4)

In what turned out to be a great pitching performance from both teams, a few lucky breaks went the Swallows way and Akagawa got the victory. However, the win was not an easy one.

Things did not start off well for Akagawa. He walked Soyogi to start the game. Then Higashide bunted Soyogi over to second. With Stavinoha up, Nakamura decided to take a pitch off and dropped the first pitch Akagawa threw to Stavinoha. This allowed Soyogi to move to third with ease. Both pitcher and catcher looked a little uneasy at this point. However, that was quickly taken care of when Akagawa collected the come-backer from Stavinoha, looked to third, and calmly threw to first for the force out. Kurihara flew out to left to end the early threat.

We pick up the action in the bottom of the third. After a fly-out by Balentien, Nakamura walked. After a few attempts, Akagawa finally bunted him over to second. With two outs, Ueda also walked. That brought Tanaka to the plate. The second pitch he saw was smacked down the right field line. Kurihara made a valiant attempt to jump for the liner but the best he could do was only slightly alter the path of the ball. This might have made the difference in the inning as Stavinoha got to the ball very quickly. However, the ball had lost its speed while Nakamura was gaining speed around third. He was easily safe at home, as were all the runners. Milledge would ground out to end the inning.

1-0 Tokyo

In what was a repeated occurrence in this game, Hiroshima would strand two runners in the top half of the fourth. They also had another threat stomped out on a 5-4-3 double play in the 6th.

The last serious threat from Hiroshima was in the 7th inning. Hirose lead off the inning with a single to center. Dohbayashi bunted him over to second. Shirahama walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd and only one out. Not facing enough of a challenge, Akagawa hit Kokubo to load the bases. Soyogi bailed out Akagawa by popping up the pitch and being called out on the infield fly rule. Higashide grounded out to Kawabata to end the inning.

Not much excitement came until the top of the ninth. With the Birds clinging to a 1-run lead, they turned to Barnette to secure the game. The inning opened up with a single by Dohbayashi. Kurihama bunted him over to second. Maeda came to bat and hit a grounder back up the middle. Kawabata was able to chase it down and throw him out in time. With Dohbayashi now only 90 feet away from tying the game, Barnette had to buckle down and get the last out of the inning and the game. In what I can only say as a great play (with a snarky smile on my face) by Barnette, the game ended like this:

Barnette leaped and caught the ball; drops the ball; picks it up and threw to first in time for the out; and fell over.

Game over!

Thank you all and see you soon!

Notes

• Three of the Swallows 4 hits came from Tanaka (Iihara getting the other)
• 16006 were in attendance to watch this 3 hour and 5 minute affair
• Miyamoto was unable to reach base; he is still 14 shy of the magic number
• Barnette picked up his 4th save of the season
• The Birds have a tough week ahead. They play three games on the road against Hanshin and face their Tokyo neighbors at Jingu Friday thru Sunday.
• With Hanshin sitting atop the table and Tokyo in a tie for second, this looks to be an important showdown for both teams.

Tokyo Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LDLWW

(Nagoya Dome)

Tokyo’s struggles at Nagoya Dome are long-documented on this site, so last night’s 2-1 win over the 2011 Central League Champs on their home turf was a wonderful sigh of relief.

But Tokyo’s birds gave you something else to be happy about this weekend.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	8	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	9	0
W: Barnette (1-0; 1S; 0.00 ERA) L: Iwase (0-1; 3S; 3.60 ERA)

And a little bit of a switcheroo was involved in the early part of the lineup.

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Hiyane CF	1	Araki 2B
2	Tanaka 2B	2	Oshima CF
3	Milledge LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Hatakeyama 1B	4	Yamasaki 1B
5	Kawabata SS	5	Wada LF
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Ibata SS
7	Balentien RF	7	Hirata RF
8	Aikawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Akagawa P	9	Yamamoto P

Tokyo recorded a hit off of Chunichi’s starter, mister geriatric Yamamoto, in three of the first five innings. But it wasn’t until the sixth, when they didn’t actually record an official hit, that they actually scored a run.

Hiyane, starting for Ueda, drew a walk to start things off, and then he stole second while Tanaka was at the plate posturing for a bunt. Tanaka finally sacrificed successfully on the third pitch which sent Hiyane over to third with one out.

Milledge then popped a first pitch sinker up into left field which was deep enough to allow Hiyane to score from third.

Chunichi 0-1 Tokyo.

Tokyo starter, Akagawa, allowed more than one runner on base for the first time in the seventh, but he induced two outfield flies to Yamasaki and Wada to end the threat and the inning.

And he was finally credited with a run in the eighth when the leadoff double that he allowed ended up crossing home plate on an Araki hit to left.

Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo.

Ugh.

But never fear, my friends, for Tokyo’s bench finally grew a set. After a disappointing ninth in which Tokyo stranded two runners, Takeuchi led off the tenth with a single to right against Chunichi’s closer, Iwase. Hiyane then followed with his second walk in his first

He keeps doing just enough to remain relevant...

pro start to initiate a serious case of swamp-ass in Mr. Iwase’s trousers. Tanaka then did his duty by executing his second sac bunt of the game (both with a runner on second).

Milledge took first after enjoying a four-pitch walk which juiced the bases and brought pinch-hitter, Iihara, to the plate. He lofted the first pitch in the zone (third pitch overall) into center which was enough to score Takeuchi from third for the go-ahead run.

Chunichi 1-2 Tokyo.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Kawabata came through with his third hit of the game in his fifth at-bat on an inside 0-1 fastball. Hiyane scored from third.

Chunichi 1-3 Tokyo.

And that’s how it ended. The bottom of the tenth was a bit hairy, especially after Hidaka went ahead and walked the only batter he faced. But Hirai got Donoue to ground out on three pitches to end the bases-loaded threat, and the game.

So Tokyo took the series 2-1 which, to be fair, is a huge victory for the team considering how they played at Nagoya Dome during the months of September-November of 2011.

And the Swallows are now the only team to have beaten the Dragons this season. And they’ve done it twice.

Next up is Yokohama who will be visiting Jingu Stadium from Tuesday-Thursday this week.  All games start at 6PM.

Notes:

• Barnette notched his first win of the season by pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
• Hirai got the save on just three pitches.
• Tanaka was the only other Tokyo Swallow (other than Kawabata) to have a multi-hit game. He was 2-3 with two sac bunts.
• Miyamoto went 0-5.
• Chunichi sucks.

Tokyo Swallows 2

Yomiuri Giants 4

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: WWL–

(Tokyo Dome)

After beating Utsumi and Sawamura on Friday and Saturday, Tokyo had the honor of witnessing the start to Toshiya Sugiuchi’s career in orange. Long may he struggle.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	9	1
Yomiuri	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	X	4	8	0
W: Sugiuchi (1-0) L: Akagawa (0-1) S: Nishimura (1)

And while it may not look like he did that poorly from the above boxscore, we can safely say that the first Giant to wear the number 18 since Kuwata didn’t do much to inspire the Yomiuri money kings.

	Tokyo		Yomiuri
1	Tanaka 2B	1	Sakamoto SS
2	Ueda CF	2	Bowker LF
3	Milledge RF	3	Chono CF
4	Hatakeyama 1B	4	Abe C
5	Kawabata SS	5	Murata 3B
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Takahashi RF
7	Balentien RF	7	Ogasawara 1B
8	Aikawa C	8	Terauchi 2B
9	Akagawa P	9	Sugiuchi P

Sugiuchi easily weathered an aggressive first three Tokyo batters who all came out swinging at the first pitch. If memory serves, he got out of the inning on six pitches, including one strikeout.

But Tokyo’s starter, Katsuki Akagawa, retired the side quickly as well, and out came Sugiuchi to face the middle of Tokyo’s lineup.

The visitors finally welcomed him to the Central League with a couple of hits and a sac fly in the second inning. Hatakeyama started things off with an off-balance swipe at a slider just below the floor of the zone which didn’t even test Chono in center. But with one out, Kawabata bumped a 1-2 fastball into left field. Miyamoto followed that up by punching a 1-1 fastball down the line in right for a stand-up double to put runners on second and third.

Coco then worked a come-from-behind eight-pitch walk to load the bases with one out and Aikawa representing Sugiuchi’s last obstacle  before a free out in the shape of our pitcher, Akagawa. But Aikawa came through with a sac fly to right on a low, full-count heater. Kawabata tagged up and took took off as soon as Takahashi reeled the ball in. His throw home completely skied the cutoff and wasn’t anywhere near the same zip code as home plate, so Kawabata slid home untouched.

I love it that the Giants are still waiting for Takahashi to finally develop into the second coming of Hideki Matsui. Just hold your breath a little bit longer, Gomiuri.

Tokyo 1-0 Yomiuri.

But the smile would be wiped from the penguin’s yogurt-eating grin shortly thereafter. Akagawa pitched around Abe to allow a first

This is how Yomiuri scored its first run.

runner with no outs in the bottom of the second. And after a Murata fly ball to center, Takahashi bundled a 1-1 slider into right that found its way through Balentien’s wickets on the second hop. That ended up being a single with an E9 tacked onto it–Abe to scored from first.

All tied at 1-1.

The only notable thing that happened over the next couple of innings was the fact that Miyamoto notched his second hit of the game which puts him at 1,881 career hits. Just 19 more until he reaches the Meikyukai minimum of 2,000. The man becomes more relevant with every year that he ages.

Except in the playoffs. Sorry, but it’s true.

Akagawa started using his sinker in the bottom of the fourth against Abe, but it didn’t work very well. Abe just waited for a fastball and deposited it in right. Murata also laid off the sinker and like Abe plugged a late-count heater into right field. Ogasawara then dropped another hit in Balentien’s territory to bring the go-ahead run around from second.

Yomiuri 2-1 Tokyo.

The only Tokyo bat to do something productive in the top of the fifth was Milledge who poked a slider into right field with two outs.

The Giants, unfortunately, got one more run out of Akagawa in the bottom of that inning. Akagawa started things off by beaning Bowker  (first pitch, two outs), and then gave up a walk to Chono to make things interesting. Abe then went after the first sinker he saw, and his single to right brought Bowker home from second.

Yomiuri 3-1 Tokyo.

Akagawa surrendered two earned runs from five hits through five innings of work.

In the top of the sixth, Miyamoto and Balentien reached base care of a HBP and a walk with one out, but then Balentien got doubled up at first after Aikawa lined out to Terauchi at second. Balentien was a little unlucky there, but it’s possible to argue that an infielder would have remained closer to first when that ball was hit–thus being able to scramble safely back to first. But whatever.

Tokyo was finally able to put another run on the board in the top of the seventh. Iihara started things off by smacking a very low changeup into left for a single. Tanaka followed with a single of his own that moved Iihara over to third and brought Ueda to the plate.

Ueda saw three consecutive fastballs and grounded the third one to short. Sakamoto opted to go for the double play, but Ueda beat the throw to first which meant that Iihara was able to score from third. The Swallows would eventually load the bases, but nothing came of it after Kawabata struck out swinging and Miyamoto grounded out to short.

And even though another run didn’t score as a result, it should be pointed out that newby, Lastings Milledge, had yet another full count at-bat that fortunately ended in his second walk of the game. In the first series of his NPB career, Milledge has been patient, protected the plate, and worked his way late into the count on a number of occasions. Encouraging.

Yomiuri 3-2 Tokyo.

But Yomiuri added a bit of cushion in the bottom of the eighth with Masubuchi on the mound. New Giant, Murata, started out by smacking a single up the middle, and then his pinch-running alter ego, Suzuki, easily stole second with Tokyo’s backup catcher, Kawamoto, behind the plate (rookie Hiyane had earlier taken Aikawa’s place on the basepaths in the top of the eighth).

Takahashi then struck out looking at three straight pitches, but the runners continued to dick on Kawamoto, and before long Suzuki had scored and pinch hitter, Kamei, had stolen second with two outs. Fortunately no more runs scored thanks to Tani striking out looking.

Yomiuri 4-2 Tokyo.

The Swallows went down in order in the top of the ninth with Nishimura making his first appearance for the orange people.

And although Tokyo lost this game, they were never really out of it. So they start this week’s home series versus the Hanshin Tigers knowing that they took two games off of very good starting pitching thanks to, in large part, some good hitting. It should be fun to watch and see what happens with Tokyo’s three starting outfielders over the next series or two.

Case in point: Milledge may be leading the team with five Ks, but he’s also in the lead with four free bases, and he showed off his speed by stealing second today. Lots of promise there.

Tokyo’s next series will take place at Jingu Stadium on April 3rd-5th (Tue-Thu). All games start at six. Hanshin is currently in third place with a 1-1-1 record.

Notes:

• Did Yomiuri’s catcher, Abe, put on weight? Or is the camera just adding 10 kilos?
• If you look closely at the Yomiuri ‘YG’ logo, are those testicles or teardrops rounding out all of the pointy bits?
• Which camera do you prefer: the one in left-center that gives you a vague idea of the strike zone, or the one from way up above and directly behind the pitcher that unfortunately shows you how crap the umpire is?
• Tanaka has five hits (one double, one HR) through his first three games. He’s now batting leadoff which was Aoki’s annual spot. Funny how effective one can be when one doesn’t have to bunt all the damn time. Sorry, Ueda. Apparently it’s your turn now.
• Ueda is pretty quick. He’s previously stated, on the record, that he’s not all that fast, but he beat out a double play and has two stolen bases already. No problems in center thus far either.
• Balentien was replaced in right on defense in the seventh after Iihara singled safely in the top of that inning.
• Akagawa took the loss today. Five innings, 77 pitches, five hits, two Ks, three walks, one HBP, three runs (two earned). 3.60 ERA.
• Hidaka and Matsuoka pitched a scoreless inning each while Masubuchi gave up one run in the eighth.
• All three outs recorded by Masubuchi were strikeouts.
• Sugiuchi wasn’t great, but he still got the win in his first Yomiuri appearance. He struck out three, walked six, and beaned one on his way to allowing two earned runs through six and one-third innings.
• There were allegedly 44,135 spectators at today’s game.
• Only Kawabata and Miyamoto had multi-hit games for the birds today.
• The Giants are in fifth place after their 1-2 start to the 2012 campaign.
• Tokyo outhit the Giants 9-8.

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