An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
May 3rd, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 1 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WLWWL (Yokohama Stadium) Muranaka made his second straight start in the rain, but unlike the last outing, the Swallows’ offense wasn’t able to bail him out. The Swallows went with their usual lineup, including Miyamoto in the 6 spot. The [...]
April 26th, 2012 Chunichi Dragons 2 Tokyo Swallows 4 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWWDW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) A little rain keeps Yoshimi from pitching at 100% and the Swallows manage enough pop and defense to cover for “sub-optimal” pitching by Muranaka. Things did not start well for Muranaka and the Swallows as the young [...]
April 20th, 2012 Yomiuri Giants 1 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLWLW (Jingu Stadium) Tokyo entered this series having just lost an away series at Koshien, and were looking to get things back on track against the very unbalanced fifth-placed Yomiuri Giants. This game didn’t start well at all for Muranaka and [...]
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 [...]
April 14th, 2012 Hiroshima Carp 1 Tokyo Swallows 10 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWLLW (Matsuyama) The birds’ first game of the year against the fish was a home-away-from-home game in Matsuyama, a fortunate choice of location given the constant rain that cancelled every other game in the Kanto region. Your Tokyo [...]
April 7th, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 2 Chunichi Dragons 1 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LLDLW (Nagoya Dome) If I was to assign a word to each of Tokyo’s opening six games of the 2012 season, I’d likely go with: excellence, spirited, wasteful, meltdown, hill-billy and deja-vu. And so for today’s game we’ll go with……GET IN!!! Oh, [...]
March 30th, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 6 Yomiuri Giants 3 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WW— (Tokyo Dome) After last night’s strong pitching win, the bats came alive to cover for one shaky inning by Muranaka. Both teams came out with the same lineup as yesterday, with sophomore Sawamura pitching for the Giants and Muranaka starting [...]
Although arguably not as noteworthy as the first installment in this series, 24-year-old LHP, Kyohei Muranaka, is high on our list of players we’d like to see do well in 2012. And he’s got a small personal milestone within his grasp that we’d be very happy to see him reach–500 career strikeouts. After an injury-shortened 2011, [...]
October 31th, 2011 Yomiuri Giants 1 Tokyo Swallows 3 Series: Swallows Win 2-1 (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Based on the comments received in yesterday’s game report, you don’t need to read this report to find out that the Swallows won game 3 of their series against the hated Giants. The raw details of what happened and [...]
October 29th, 2011 Yomiuri Giants 2 Tokyo Swallows 3 Series: Swallows Lead 1-0 (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Tokyo came from behind to down their beloved neighbours off the back of a Tateyama-Muranaka starter’s relay and, thank the lord of your choice, some timely hitting. In a packed and buzzing Jingu it was Tateyama, not Ishikawa as [...]
