Yomiuri Giants 5

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: LLLWL

(Jingu Stadium)

With it now nine games against the Giants without a win (8 losses, 1 tie) I really don’t know why I bother to write game reports for these encounters. I should just write the score, then a succinct “Yeah, you know how it went.” followed by the pitching lines.

Unfortunately, our repugnant neighbours also happen to be our kryptonite.

The lambs to the slaughter were as follows:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kajimoto (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Shida (RF)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Muranaka (P)

Muranaka started for the Swallows and gave up all of the Yomiuri runs. Two in the 2nd by way of a Odajima two run homer, and three in the 5th when Muranaka had one of his trademark meltdowns. He gave up a walk, two singles (a run scoring on the second), then three more walks, a run scoring on each of the last two with the bases loaded. Matsui came in to get the final out.

Muranaka finished his 4 and 2/3 innings having given up five runs off four hits, striking out two, walking four and hitting one. He took the loss as his record moved to 1-6/7.12.

Yomiuri starter Takahashi dominated in his eight innings, giving up just four hits and striking out seven. He had a wobble in the 5th, giving up singles to Shida and Onizaki before walking Hatakeyama (in for the pitcher) and then Fukuchi to walk home Tokyo’s only run. Charity indeed.

Other than that Tokyo’s chances were almost non-existent. D’Antona hit a two-out double in the 6th but Shida struck out to strand him there. That was about it.

Only D’Antona (1), Shida (1) and Onizaki (2) managed hits. Great.

Hanshin won rather easily against Chunichi this afternoon so Tokyo are now one game out of 3rd. Wonderful.

Yomiuri now lead the season series against the Swallows by 18-4. Fan-bloody-tastic.

Oh, and I believe Takada has announced that he’ll be coming back to manage next year……………..

F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck.

F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck.

F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck.

F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck.

F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck.

F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck.

The two teams meet for the final time in 2009 tomorrow.

Yokohama BayStars 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 4  Last 5: LWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

A crazy thing happened today. The Tokyo Swallows reclaimed third place in the Central League.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (SS)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Yoshimoto (3B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Muranaka (P)

First of all, I’d like to apologize for saying in an earlier post that Muranaka should be kept off the mound. He was absolutely wonderful for the better part of eight innings. In fact, he was perfect through four and two-thirds, and had a no hitter going through a full five. Muranaka incurred damage in only two innings, the sixth and the ninth. In every other inning, he was unhittable.

In the sixth inning, a leadoff single by Takeyama would end up costing him a run when Fujita tripled. But by that time, the birds had already posted two runs on the board.

The scoring started in the second inning when Aoki and Hatakeyama’s back-to-back singles with no outs set the table for Guiel who singled to center. Both Aoki and Hatakeyama scored on the play. 2-0 Tokyo.

Unfortunately, Takada killed the rally by having Yoshimoto ‘tak’ bunt. Guiel moved over to second, but that was where he stayed because the subsequent batters were Aikawa and the pitcher, Muranaka.

After Yokohama grabbed that one run back in the sixth, Tokyo posted two more in the seventh. Aikawa doubled to score Guiel from second with one out, and a two out error at shortstop later allowed another run to cross home plate to make it 4-1 birds.

Hatakeyama would then add Tokyo’s final run in the bottom of the eighth when he homered to left off of Yokohama reliever, Takamiya. 5-1 Tokyo.

And everything looked like a done deal after that, but Muranaka couldn’t seal the deal and gave up two quick runs when Kinjoh singled and then Uchikawa homered to left to make things interesting at 5-3 Swallows.

Takada hooked Muranaka at that point and brought Lim in to pitch instead. There were very mixed reactions to that decision from the folks in the stands, and Lim justified the pessimism by giving up a solo home run to Murata on his second pitch. 5-4 Tokyo.

By that point, news had already flashed on the board that Chunichi had come from behind to beat the Tigers in Nagoya, so people started packing up assuming the worst. But Lim held on. He got Saeki to strike out swinging, and Yoshimura grounded out to second to end the game.

That earned Lim his 26th save of the season (2.03 ERA), and Muranaka his first win (1-5, 6.81).

Aside from that final inning, Muranaka was the pitcher that we’ve all hoped he would be this year. I’d say that he definitely earned himself another start. He recorded nine strikeouts and gave up only one walk. Nice nice!

Observations:

• Miyamoto went 0-4 and struck out every time he stood in the batter’s box.
• Hatakeyama went 1-4 with a home run (his fourth of the year) and one rbi.
• Aoki and Guiel had two hits each.
• The birds are now in sole possession of third place in the Central. They’re half a game ahead of Hanshin and three games ahead of Hiroshima.

Game three of the series starts tomorrow evening at 6 PM at Jingu Stadium.

Muranaka, a fourth year lefty from Kanagawa, has been one of 2009′s bigger letdowns as far as the rotation is concerned. He resurfaces on the parent club after a solid performance (or two?) on the farm team (September 1st versus Chiba is the only evidence I can come up with). Before being called back up, his record was 0-4 with an ERA of 8.25.

Katoh, also a lefty from Kanagawa, received his first call-up of the year after starting the season on the farm team. In eight Eastern League games, he compiled a 2-2 record with a 4.89 ERA. Why those numbers merit a spot on the top team is definitely up for debate. He was most likely added to the roster simply because he throws with his left hand.

Making room on the top team roster were relievers Kenichi Matsuoka (5-4, 4.89) and Hidehiro Okamoto (0.00 ERA in one appearance).

Katoh was, however, sent back down the very next day (September 19th) after giving up five earned runs in 0/3′s of an inning in a game against Yomiuri (note: I can’t provide an ERA because he didn’t record even a single out). Also dropped to the farm team was Keizo Kawashima who is nursing a sore right elbow. Keizo has appeared in 118 games, racked up 12 homers (43 rbi’s), and is hitting a modest .255/.314/.379.

The two guys appearing on the top squad that day were pitcher Satoshi Nishizaki (no. 30) and infielder Yuji Onizaki (no. 46).

Third year righty, Nishizaki, has a 3.09 ERA in 19 Eastern League appearances for the farm team. He reportedly suffered from some pain in his right shoulder in mid-August, but he was in and out of rehab in no time (read: his shoulder probably still hurts) and will hopefully do some good for the team during Tokyo’s late season playoff push.

Onizaki (throws right, bats left), a second year player for the Swallows, has played in 101 farm team games and batted .241 with 37 rbi’s (3 homers). While those numbers don’t look particularly convincing, he had one hell of a game against Hiroshima yesterday afternoon.

Then, on the 20th, Yoshinori (no. 11) brought his tender right hand back up to the top team to help with starting rotation instability. He wasn’t very helpful. After his dismal start versus Yomiuri, Yoshinori’s record worsened to 5-9 while his ERA bloomed from 3.25 to 3.44.

Ousted was third year catcher Atsushi Kinugawa who had only two at-bats for the top club and is indeed surplus to the team’s needs at the moment.

So headed into the final (and unbelievably crucial!) leg of the season, here are the current spokes in the wheel:

Pitchers: Ishikawa, Lim, Yoshinori, Tateyama, Yuki, Matsui, Lee, Igarashi, Takagi, Yoshikawa, Oshimoto, Muranaka, Nishizaki

Catchers: Kawamoto, Aikawa

Infielders: Miyamoto, D’Antona, Tanaka, Yoshimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Morioka, Onizaki

Outfielders: Fukuchi, Guiel, Takeuchi, Iihara, Aoki

Yomiuri Giants 10

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LLWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

After two long overdue victories on the trot, normal service was resumed tonight as the team did what they nearly always do when facing their local neighbours, they yet again rolled over and became Yomiuri’s bitches.

Tonight saw Muranaka return to start for the first time since then end of August, where he was unceremoniously yanked by Takada after 1 and 2/3 innings of two run baseball against the Carp. Things didn’t look too promising for win number three of the Swallows’ recovery, what with him coming into the game with an 8.25 ERA and not a single win in his five previous starts this season.

And tonight he was, well, Muranaka-like. He started promisingly enough (which is un-Muranaka-like actually) with two perfect innings, but the Giants bats gradually got his number, creating and wasting chances to score in both the 3rd and 4th, and then putting up two runs in each of the 5th and 6th innings. Muranaka ended his six innings having given up four runs off eight hits, with four strikeouts and three walks. He would eventually be tagged with the loss to send his record to 0 and 5. His ERA actually dropped to 7.80 which shows that it was an above-par Muranaka performance after all.

Youngster Katoh made his first appearance of his second year as a pro in the 7th, but it was one to forget as he gave up five runs off five hits (including a three-run shot from pig-man Abe) without getting a single out. He was replaced by Matsui (4.77) who got out of the inning without another run scoring.

Yoshikawa (2.70) then pitched the 8th and 9th, giving up just one hit, a Kamei solo homer in the 9th.

Tokyo lined up like this:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Keizo (SS)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Miyamoto (3B)
6. Ihara (RF)
7. Tanaka (2B)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Muranaka (P)

After having woken up somewhat over the last two games, Tokyo’s bats faced Giants starter Utsumi, a pitcher who had shut them out over the distance earlier this month.

And they didn’t fare a whole lot better tonight as Utsumi gave up two runs off six hits in his seven innings of work. Tokyo’s only runs of the game came in the 7th, while down by nine runs at the time. Tanaka and Kawamoto hit consecutive two-out singles, and Hatakeyama (in for Matsui) hit a double to make it 9-2 Yomiuri.

Ochi (0 hits allowed) and Toyoda (1 hit) then worked scoreless 8th and 9th and it was 10-2 Final. Tokyo were outhit 14-7 in the game.

The season series between the two teams now stands at 15-4-1  in the Giants’ favour.

Tanaka (.269) was the only standout with the bat with two hits, with Aoki (.289), Fukuchi (.275), Kawamoto (.147), Hatakeyama (.243) and Muranaka (.125) with the others.

With Hanshin also losing tonight against Hiroshima, the Swallows remain 0.5 games out of 3rd.

The two teams return tomorrow evening for game two of the humiliation series.

On the farm this season, Yuichi has hit .333 in 17 games with three home runs and 15 rbi’s. The left-handed batter went straight into last night’s lineup for game one of Tokyo’s home stand against Chunichi.

Making room on the first team for Yuuichi was starting pitcher, Kyouhei Muranaka, who was actually just called up on Thursday. That makes it two days in a row that a pitcher was brought up to start a game and then sent back down to the farm within 24 hours.

Muranaka’s stats are currently 0-4 with an 8.25 ERA.

The 28-man top team roster is currently comprised of the following players:

Pitchers: Yoshinori, Lim, Tateyama, Ishikawa, Yuuki, Kida, Matsui, Takagi, Lee, Igarashi, Oshimoto

Catchers: Aikawa, Yoneno, Kawamoto

Infielders: Kawashima, Miyamoto, Yoshimoto, Tanaka, Hatakeyama, Noguchi

Outfielders: Fukuchi, Guiel, Takeuchi, Iihara, Aoki, Shida, Yuichi

He was utterly ineffective in his five starts prior to last night’s game. His record was 0-4 and he averaged nearly a run per inning as indicated by his 8.06 ERA.

Takada waited less than two innings to yank him last night, and his continued ineffectiveness, much like Ryo Kawashima’s, makes one wonder why he was called back up in the first place. He survived just one and two-thirds innings while giving up two runs off of four hits.

After being called up to start yesterday’s game, Ryo Kawashima (no. 17) was quickly sent packing in order to make room for Muranaka. Kawashima had a disastrous start last night against Hiroshima. He gave up nine earned runs in only four innings off of nine hits (including two round-trippers) and four walks.

Here’s what the roster looks like as of 6 pm yesterday evening:

Pitchers: Yoshinori, Lim, Tateyama, Ishikawa, Matsuoka, Yuuki, Muranaka, Kida, Matsui, Takagi, Lee, Igarashi, Oshimoto

Catchers: Aikawa, Yoneno, Kawamoto

Infielders: Kawashima, Miyamoto, Yoshimoto, Tanaka, Hatakeyama, Noguchi

Outfielders: Fukuchi, Guiel, Takeuchi, Iihara, Aoki, Shida

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 7

Streak: Lost 2     Last : LLWLL

(Mazda Stadium)

Oh dear. Things are not going well at the moment. At. all.

Just like the Carp did the night before, Tokyo found themselves with a 6-0 lead at the end of their 2nd inning of play. But unlike the prior game, the Carp didn’t just roll over like the Swallows had done, they got stuck in and turned the game around. With a little theatrical help from their manager to boot.

Tonight’s lineup for your Tokyo Yakult Swallows:

1. Keizo (SS)
2. Fukuchi (LF)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Ihara (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Tanaka (2B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Muranaka (P)

Muranaka started for Tokyo, coming into the game with a dismal 0-4/8.06 record in his 5 starts since returning to the rotation. And it looked as though he may get a real shot at winning his first game of the season, not to mention the Swallows first series win of the month as Tokyo took a big early lead.

In the 1st inning the Swallows faced Carp starter Saitoh, and a two out walk and error allowed two men on base before Ihara hit his 4th homer of the year, this one deep to centre and it was 3-0 Tokyo. Consecutive singles from Miyamoto, Tanaka and Aikawa then added another run and it was 4-0.

Muranaka gave up a walk and a single in the bottom of the 1st, but got out of the inning unscathed. Then in the top of the 2nd, Saitoh was replaced by Hasegawa but the change made little difference, with a Keizo single and an Aoki homer to right (no.12 for the season) extending the lead to 6-0 Tokyo.

The stage looked set for the ever-nervous looking Muranaka to build a bit of confidence for himself with a big lead to work with, but it wasn’t to be. A leadoff homer from Hirose made it 6-1 before two more hits yielded another run putting a man on second with two outs and the score now at 6-2. Now I can only assume that given Muranaka’s tendency for throwing batting practice for teams this season, he was on a very short leash tonight. Thus Takada had obviously seen enough and called for Kida from the bullpen (double switch with Takeuchi replacing Hatakeyama at first). Muranaka had worked 1 and 2/3 innings giving up two runs off four hits.

Now last night, having given up 6 runs in the first 2 innings, Ryo Kawashima was left in the game for another two innings (he ended up with 9 earned runs for his efforts). Surely Muranaka deserved a little more time tonight? For a pitcher low on confidence surely this was the ideal chance to give him a run-out with a lead to fall back on, even taking into account as bad as he’s been this year? Surely it wouldn’t have worked out any worse than what eventually transpired anyway? Maybe I should try sniffing glue and I may be able to better grasp the enigma that is Takada-logic.

Kida showed his manager’s genius by hitting the first man he faced with his first pitch, but he did get the final out with the lead intact at four.

Tokyo managed two hits off Hasegawa in the top of the 3rd but couldn’t bring anyone home to extend the lead. Kida  (5.72) then gave up two runs off four hits in the bottom of the inning and things were getting tighter at 6-4.

From then on four Hiroshima arms shut down the Tokyo bats, allowing just two more hits over the distance. So it was a case of if Tokyo’s weary bullpen could protect that two run lead, and for a while it looked like they might just manage it.

Oshimoto (2.68) pitched excellent scoreless 4th and 5th innings before Matsuoka came in for the 6th. He had a 1-2-3 inning before taking the mound in the 7th, when things started to go awry. Things started with Kurihara hitting a one out single. McClain was then chucked out of the game halfway though his at bat for questioning a called strike, his incensed reaction prompted manager Marty Brown to get himself chucked out of the game too, after which he took off his shoes and placed them behind home plate before placing his cap neatly on top to the bemusement of everyone in the stadium. But as an act of trying to gee up his team and the crowd it worked, 100%. As the homeplate umpire took to the mic to announce the dismissal of McClain and Brown he could barely be heard above the jeering crowd. And you just knew what was coming next……

After that drama a single and a wild pitch put the tying runs in scoring positions with just one out, Hirose then hit one to the leftfield wall for a double and it was 6-6. But they weren’t done yet. Kokubo singled and it was 7-6 Hiroshima, the shortstop advancing to second on the throw home. And it could have got even worse, with Shima singling to centre, but Aoki managed to throw Kokubo out at home for out number two. Matsuoka (3.10) was then replaced by Lee after giving up three runs off five hits and making 46 pitches. Lee (3.58) got the final out of the inning and also worked a scoreless 8th.

With Hiroshima’s ace set-up man Yokoyama and closer Nagakawa working the 8th and 9th innings respectively that was that, 7-6 Final.

Tokyo were outhit 15 to 10 as they blew the chance of a long overdue series win. Takada’s use of pitchers was once again questionable to say the least (turning to the bullpen after less than two innings with a four run lead, the overworked Matsuoka in his 46th appearance of the year working two innings and ultmately taking the loss) and for that I’m going to raise the Takada count:

TAKADA COUNT: 8

From here things look to go downhill even further as Tokyo entertain the Chunichi Dragons at Jingu from tomorrow. Can my soul take it I wonder? Well I’ll be there to find out!

In exchange, Kyouhei Muranaka has been sent down after several lackluster starts on the first team. In five starts, Muranaka was 0-4 with an 8.06 ERA.

The following are the 28 players currently listed on the first team roster (as of August 18th, 2009):

Pitchers: Yoshinori, Lim, Tateyama, Ishikawa, Matsuoka, Yuuki, Hagiwara, Matsui, Takagi, Ichiba, Lee, Igarashi, Oshimoto

Catchers: Aikawa, Yoneno, Kawamoto

Infielders: Kawashima, Kajimoto, Yoshimoto, Tanaka, Hatakeyama, Kawabata, Noguchi

Outfielders: Fukuchi, Guiel, Takeuchi, Iihara, Aoki

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Chunichi Dragons 12

Streak: Lost 3    Last 5: LWLLL

(Nagoya Dome)

The listless Swallows ventured to Nagoya, still reeling from last night’s whupping by the Yokohama BayStars. And to add one more item to the list of things that are not working in Tokyo’s favor, Chunichi has won seven of its last 10 games.

Oh, and Muranaka was pitching again.

Here’s a look at the Tokyo starting lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Aikawa (C)
8. Kawashima (SS)
9. Muranaka (P)

Nobody really had a stellar night at the plate with only Hatakeyama recording an RBI on a solo home run in the second inning. That home run, incidentally, would end up being the only time the Swallows scored in this game.

So this ended up being a very nasty repeat of last night’s game versus Yokohama. Only the first four guys in our batting order got a hit–none of our bottom-half guys ever reached base although Miyamoto and Aikawa were subbed out rather quickly in this game.

Things started very badly with Muranaka, and they never got better. Muranaka lasted a mere two innings during which time he threw 79 pitches. He walked four, gave up seven hits and allowed six earned runs while watching his record sink to 0-4 and his ERA balloon to 8.06.

So the big question now is whether Muranaka will get dropped, or if Takada will keep plugging away with him. I would personally like to see him regain some confidence while being used as a middle reliever, but Takada will probably just punish him by sending him down to the farm.

Here’s a look at the pitching that we were treated to yesterday:

Inning(s) – Pitcher – (ERA) – earned runs

1-2                Muranaka (8.06) 6
3-4                Matsui (4.50) 1
5-7                Barrett (7.15) 4
8                    Oshimoto (2.92)

So yeah, it wasn’t good. Morino had a particularly enjoyable day against our pitchers going 3-4 with four RBIs and a walk.

And, again, we’re not getting more than one guy on base at a time against good pitching these days.

The team has no direction at the moment. Our pitching rotation is suddenly in shambles (Tateyama and Ryo Kawashima are on the farm team right now), and that leaves us with a rotation like this:

1. Yoshinori
2. Ishikawa
3. Yuki
4. Ichiba
5. Muranaka

Yikes. That doesn’t inspire people. Yoshinori is improving, and Yuki has been trending upward as of late, too. Ishikawa can get you seven innings and will win with run support, but Ichiba and Muranaka (and anyone else that catches Takada’s eye) are a bit scary at this point.

Notice that Matsui and Barrett had just been called up from the farm team before this game. Matsui gave up a run with two outs in the third, but he settled down thereafter and retired the last four batters he faced.

Barrett, on the other hand, gave up at least one earned run in all three of the innings that he pitched. His pitch count, 80, gives you an idea of how many batters he faced during that time. He gave up seven hits, struck out two, and walked two.

The silver lining is that all these successive losses translate into rest time for Matsuoka, Igarashi, and Lim.

If and when the team gets back on track, and that’s looking like a very big ‘if’ at this point, our closing trio should be ready to handle the burden of protecting leads once again.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Yokohama BayStars 4

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: WLWLL

(Hiratsuka Stadium)

Today was another Muranaka start (with Yoneno behind the plate). It seems like we use the Baystars series as a chance to give people game time.

And to Muranaka’s (6.20) credit, he only gave up one run in his five innings of work today. It took him 109 pitches to get through five innings, but it wasn’t all bad. In fact, if you saw the jam he worked himself into in the fourth–bases loaded and no outs–you’d be just as pleasantly surprised as I am that he only gave up the one run (sacrifice foul ball to left).

Muranaka was actually pitching no-hitter up until the fourth. Notice that I didn’t say “perfect” in the preceding sentence. He walked two in the first and one in the second but got out of both innings unscathed.

The fourth inning was when Ishikawa’s deep fly ball to the corner in left brought Murata home from third. 1-0 Yokohama.

The Swallows would pull even in the sixth after the smoke from the fireworks finally cleared out a little bit (maybe shoot those things off from a little farther away next year…?). An on-fire Aoki led off with a triple for his third hit of the game (cf. yesterday’s game), and then a Tanaka sac fly to right brought him home to tie things up at 1-1.

One of the highlights of the game was watching Yokohama starter, Glynn, get all riled up about a couple of pitches that were not called correctly from his vantage point. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a pitcher swear at a home plate umpire like that (not in the guy’s face, but using lots of colorful language from the mound). Back home he might have gotten himself tossed, and it took two mound visits by the infielders (the second chaperoned by the pitching coach) to calm him down. He made it out of the inning, but he definitely was a bit beside himself there for a while. D’Antona (who I think actually stole second during the tail end of the hissy fit–or maybe it was a balk?) and Guiel did pretty good Tokyoite impressions and pretended not to notice.

Glynn was all smiles though when Oshimoto’s (1-3, 3.00) first pitch, a colossal meatball mistake, went nowhere near where Yoneno wanted it but right exactly where Murata likes it. 2-1 Yokohama.

Oshimoto earned himself the loss on that pitch.

Then Matsuoka (2.98) came in to make his 37th appearance of the season. His 37th appearance already! How tired is that guy?! Two runs later the Swallows were down 4-1.

The eighth inning was interesting. After Katoh walked the first two guys he faced, putting Aoki and Tanaka on base, he finally got an out when he struck out Fukuchi (four K’s in a single game. Yikes!). At which point the alarmingly intense Kizuka from two nights ago was brought on to pitch. He was gone after only three pitches because D’Antona hit him for an rbi single. 4-2 Baystars.

On comes Kudoh in a wheelchair. He gets Guiel to ground out, but Tanaka scores to make it 4-3.

Off comes Kudoh. And I actually think that he was almost as surprised as I was. The man is normally so good at hiding his confusion/befudlement…

Sanada comes on to face Miyamoto and gets him to ground out to first to end the inning. Four pitchers, two earned runs, still ahead by a run. That inning took forever.

Lee (3.48) pitched a scoreless eighth before Yamaguchi came in to finish things up for Yokohama. He got the save by retiring all three hitters he faced, two of them by strikeout.

So the Swallows lost another series to the Baystars. We seem to be treating these games like exhibition contests. Only the Baystars players seem to really be into it.

Aoki went 3-3 with a walk and D’Antona had a 3-4 night while adding an rbi. He swings at a lot of outside sliders that are about four inches too far away for him to reach, but I’m beginning to think that he does that on purpose so that the pitcher throws more of them.

Quick observation: the umpire in tonights game kept allowing himself to be obstructed by the position of the catcher. For example, if the catcher shifted outside at the last second, the umpire would often find himself pushed in right behind the batters elbow. I don’t think the catchers in tonights games were experienced enough to utilize that to their advantage like Furuta would have back in his day, but there were several pitches when I thought that the umpire’s view of the pitch was almost as bad as mine.

Glynn (5.31) had one of his better outings of the season, despite the crankiness, to pick up his third win against ten losses. He recorded eight strikeouts while walking none. The one earned run was the only thing that hurt his stats as he gave up seven hits in seven innings.