After going 5-0-1 the week before the Swallows go 4-2 last week with a sweep of the Giants at “home” in Shizuoka and a 1-2 series loss at Koshien against the Tigers. While many of us were disappointed to see our undefeated streak end with consecutive losses to the Tigers, but a 4-2 record for the week is nothing to get too disappointed about. The Swallows’ sit a top the Central League with a record of 10-5-2.

Not Forgotten: Prior to his start on Wednesday, Yoshinori learned that his high school battery mate, Izumi Saito was confirmed dead. Saito, who was one year Yoshinori’s senior at Sendai Ikuei High School, was missing since being washed away by tsunami on March 11. Saito caught Yoshinori during the 2006 Summer Koeshien tournament. While his start was cut short by a long rain delay, Yoshinori pitched 5 strong innings against the Giants and was awarded the win. Yoshinori dedicated the win to his friend and former teammate and a game ball was sent to the Saito family. A Yoshinori-signed baseball was placed in Saito’s coffin. With the season moving forward smoothly it may be easy to lose sight of the suffering and tragedy that is still ongoing in the Tohoku region.

Rotation Issues: Muranaka lasted just 14 pitches after returning from injury. Muranaka was taken off the active roster again with a right flank injury, and is now expected to be out for at least 4 weeks. The Swallows will be playing 5 game weeks through May and July, which means that the Swallows will probably go with a 5-man rotation. Ishikawa, Yoshinori, Tateyama, and Masubuchi are obviously going to keep their spots in the rotation. However with Hitoshi Yamamoto, who made a couple of starts this season, taken off the active roster on Saturday it is unclear who the Swallows will use as a fifth starter. Possible starters include Masato Nakazawa who was discussed as a rotation candidate during the off season, Swallows 2010 second round draft pick Shichijo, and Kosuke Matsui who relieved Muranaka on Sunday. Matsui’s also left Sunday’s game with an injury and the team has not commented on his status, but given that he remains on the roster his injury is probably not too serious. Tony Barnette is probably also on the table, but he has been playing a valuable role as a setup ace (basically Masubuchi’s role from last year) that I’d be hesitant to move him into the rotation.

Balen-time: Wladimir Balentien had a hell of a week this week going 5-for-16 with 6 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 1 sac fly. The amazing thing was that all 5 hits were home runs. The super surge in home runs vaulted Balentien to the top of the CL home run leader board with 8 homers. At the current pace, Balentien would hit 67 homeruns, which would obliterate the NPB single season home run record. The real test for Balentien will be if he can continue to be patient at the plate as pitchers  increasingly throw junk his way.

Quo Vadimus: This week the Swallows will face the Dragons in a 3 day game series at Jingu, before heading off to face the Carp in a 2 game series at Matsuyama. The Dragons were struggling when the Swallows swept them at Jingu 2 weeks ago. But the Dragons picked up their game last week, going 5-1 including taking 2 games from the surprisingly strong Carp. With their strong performance the Dragons have clawed back to a .500 record, and is third in the league. The Dragons sport the lowest team ERA (2.35), and lowest team batting average (.205) in the Central League. Data Stadium is projecting the return of Dragon’s lefty ace Wei-Yin Chen in Game 1. Appropriate, as Game 1 will be Pink Lady day at Jingu and the Swallows will be countering with their own lefty ace Ishikawa. Ishikawa will be playing for his 100th career NPB win. Yoshimi and Nakata are probable starters for the other two games.

The Carp have been one of the early surprises of the Central League this season being a close second in the league table behind the Swallows. Despite having a league low 6 home runs, the Carp have managed to score a league-high 73 runs. Combined with their slightly above average pitching, the Carp have ridden their unexpected offensive surge to their early success. The Swallows won 2 and tied 1 at Hiroshima earlier in the season. It is possible that the Birds will hit the Carp’s strongest starters in hot import Bryan Bullington (3 W 1.98 ERA) and last year’s Sawamura winner Kenta Maeda. Although so far this season Maeda hasn’t yet shown the dominant pitching he showed last year.

This week will also probably feature the oft discussed Whitesell/Hatakeyama starting lineup which debuted on Saturday against the Tigers. The lack of defensive range in the outfield may hurt low strikeout pitchers like Ishikawa, who rely on the defense to get outs. Expect a lot of mid to late game substitutions involving players like Iihara and Takeuchi to spell Hatakeyama and Whitesell.

Hanshin Tigers 17

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WLWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Oh dear. Let’s keep this short shall we? Okay, it’s a deal.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Fukuchi (LF)
3. Hatakeyama (3B)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Ihara (RF)
6. Tanaka (2B)
7. Morioka (SS)
8. Fukukawa (C)
9. Nakazawa (P)

With Hanshin still chasing 2nd place and homefield advantage in the (first round of the) playoffs, they were the only team in this “contest”.

Nakazawa started, and as has often been the case since since around June, he pretty much tossed batting practice for the opposition. The 2nd inning was when most of the damage was done, with a walk, a dead ball and six hits putting Hanshin up by 9. Amongst those hits was one of significance, as outfielder Matt Murton broke Ichiro’s single season hits record by racking up his 211th of the season. He would also hit number 212 and 213 later this game, aren’t we charitable. Congratulations to the man, who has been nothing short of a revelation for the Tigers this year, and seems to be a nice chap to boot. We’ll overlook his gingerness.

With the game all but lost, Nakazawa wouldn’t make it out of the inning as the bullpen was called into some extended action:

Hashimoto gave up two more in the 3rd, Masubuchi one in the 4th, De La Cruz two in the 8th before Watanabe capped it off with three in the 9th.

Tokyo’s consolation runs came in the 3rd (one run via an Aoki sac-fly), and the 5th (five hits yielding three runs).

It will not surprise you to learn that Nakazawa took the loss with his record now at 7-9/5.68.

Aoki, now firmly in the shadow of Murton’s achievement, got his only hit of the game, number 205, in the 5th.

The Carp are the next visitors to Jingu, as the two teams meet for the penultimate time this season tomorrow evening.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6

Yokohama BayStars 6

Streak: Tied 1    Last 5: WDWLD

(Yokohama)

The Swallows drew the BayStars to a 6-all tie in Yokohama. The game was pretty much one big personality test, you’d see the results completely differently depending on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist.

Tokyo’s lineup:

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

Unfortunately, as it seems to be the case these days, the shaky Nakazawa came out to pitch today. Nakazawa spotted the BayStars 4 runs, by giving up 2-run homers to Harper and Castillo, in the first inning. The rookie was so shaky, the Yokohama batters hit for the cycle against him in just 1 inning. Giving up 4 runs and 14 total bases on 5 hits doesn’t get you very far in this or any other league, and Nakazawa was pulled after only 1 inning of work. 4-0 BayStars

Things were not looking promising in the second innings, as Whitesell and Hatakeyama gave up the first 2 outs of the inning fairly quickly. But with 2 outs the Swallows managed 6 straight hits, including a double by Aoki, to score 5 runs to take back the lead just as quickly as they had given it up. 5-4 Swallows

With Nakazawa already off the mound, the Swallows had to rely on their relievers to hold the game in check. The first man up for the job was Hashimoto. Unfortunately, Hashimoto didn’t start off well, giving up back-to-back hits to the BayStars. A Tak-bunt and a deep fly ball by Harper later, the score was tied again. 5-5 All

The Swallows start the top of the third with back-to-back hits of their own, but can’t manage to bring them home. Hashimoto manages to start the bottom of the third with a bang, by inducing a swinging strikeout from Sledge. But a Castillo double, followed by a Shimozono single gives the BayStars the lead. 6-5 BayStars

For the next 5 full innings neither team scored. While both sides scattered hits throughout and had some chances, nothing came of them. Hashimoto was pulled after his 2 innings, the Swallows began a relay that saw Hye-cheon Lee, Oshimoto, and Matsuoka pitch 2 innings each.

Fukuchi slides home to tie the game 6-6

With the game down down to the ninth inning, the Swallows finally manage to make something happen on offense, albeit in a very ugly manner. Batting against the BayStars’ closer Yamaguchi, Iihara starts the inning off with a double. Unfortunately, a botched Tak-bunt attempt by Fukuchi gets Iihara nailed out at third. With one out and a man on first, Fukuchi steals second to make the situation respectable again. Hatakeyama singles to put men on the corners. Finally, Aikawa managed to get a ball deep enough into center to sacrifice Fukuchi home. 6-6 All

That score stood for the rest of the night and the game ended in a 6-6 tie after 12 full innings and 5 hours and 9 minutes of play. Lim continued the reliever relay by pitching the tenth and eleventh. Watanabe failed to get his man out to start the twelfth, so Matsui finished the inning. Both teams got chances in the eleventh and twelfth, but couldn’t finish.

The Swallows finish their 3 game series against the BayStars with a thoroughly unsatisfying 1-1-1 record. The team’s record stays at .500, and the team is 4.5 games behind the third place Giants. The Swallows begin a 3 game series at home against the Carp on Tuesday.

Chunichi Dragons 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: LWWWL

(Nagoya Dome)

With a .500 record on the line, Nakazawa and the Swallows aren’t able to take home the win in a tough luck loss to the Dragons.

The Swallows started their usual lineup of:

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

The Swallows got things going in the first inning with an Aoki single, Tanaka bunt, Iihara walk, and Whitesell single to load the bases with 1 out. Hatakeyama struck out looking, but Aikawa managed to get a hit to plate Aoki. Unfortunately any chance to widen the lead was dashed when Iihara got caught at the plate trying to score from second. 1-0 Swallows

Nakazawa, who had been briefly demoted for a string of bad starts, looked good in the first inning. He managed to get the Dragons to go down in order, including strikeouts by Araki and the seemingly always hot Wada.

The top of the second started off with 2 quick outs by Miyamoto and Kawabata. However, Nakazawa kept the inning alive by drawing a walk. Aoki followed with his second single of the night. Tanaka poked a single into right field to score Nakazawa. Like in the first inning, however, the Birds can’t keep the momentum going and the inning ends on an Iihara ground out. 2-0 Swallows

Nakazawa has a mini-melt down in the bottom of the second, costing the Swallows the lead and, as it turns out, the game. Nakazawa started off by surrendering a double to Morino. With one swing of the bat, Tony Blanco ties the game by sending a 1-1 offering from Nakazawa deep into the stands. Still with no outs, Fujii hits a double into left field. Nakazawa finally settles down and manages to get the next three batters. Unfortunately, the consecutive fly balls he got out of Donoue the younger and Oda, advance Fujii each time leading to another run. 3-2 Dragons

From this point, both pitching staffs go into lockdown mode. Nakazawa only allowed a run and a walk the rest of the way. Once he was relieved after 6 innings, both Matsui and Yamagishi pitched perfect innings of relief. The Dragons’ staff was slightly worse, scattering 3 hits and walk over the last 7 innings but the Swallows were unable to capitalize. No runner from either team got beyond first after the second inning. Good to see Nakazawa getting back on track, and seeing relievers like Matsui and Yamagishi some chances and succeeding. Tough loss…

The Swallows face the Dragons in the rubber match of the series in the Nagoya Dome tomorrow at 14:00.

Standings & Results – Player Stats

Tokyo Swallows 10

Yokohama BayStars 7

Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW

(Yokohama Stadium)

After last night’s drubbing handed out to the Baystars, tonight’s game was more of a tightly contested affair despite Tokyo outhitting the opposition 17-9. But in the end class told as the Swallows came out on top at the end of this rollercoaster of a game.

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

Facing rookie Yokohama starter Kaga, Tokyo took a 1st inning lead after a single from Tanaka and a Takeuchi double set the table for Whitesell. The American, who can seem to do no wrong since his arrival here, hit a double to right which brought home two runs for 2-0 Tokyo.

Swallows’ starter Nakazawa gave up seven runs in his previous start, also against the Baystars last Saturday. Today he would not fair much better but would get a lot more run support this time round. So it wasn’t the most auspicious of starts as he gave up three consecutive hits to begin the game, the last of those a three run homer to Harper which saw his lead dissapear before putting an out on the board as the score moved to 3-2 Yokohama.

But this post-Takada, post-allstar break Swallows team are a resilient bunch, and they proved it as they struck back in the top of the 2nd. Back to back singles for Miyamoto and Kawabata got the inning rolling before Nakazawa layed down a sacbunt to move the runners along. A pitch low and way inside hit Aoki (who was not best pleased to put it mildly) to load the bases for Tanaka. He could only strikeout tamely, but next man up Takeuchi got the job done with a two run single that put the birds back ahead at 4-3.

Another run followed in the 3rd. A single for Hatakeyama was followed by two outs, the upshot of which meant the chubby-one was now residing at second. Kawabata was then given the intentional pass to first which brought up pitcher Nakazawa. He, no doubt inspired by Tateyama’s heroics the night before, hit one over the head and out of the reach of  third baseman Murata which scored Hatake from second for 5-3.

An enormous homer to right  from Whitesell (no.8 for the year) followed in the 4th off reliever Fujie which made it 6-3 Tokyo. But just as things looked like they may be mirroring the night before, Yokohama fought back.

In the bottom of the 4th a solo shot from Castillio narrowed the score to 6-4, before two hits and a Murata three-run shot in the 5th put the Baystars ahead. 7-6 Yokohama.

Luckily for Nakazawa, the Tokyo resilience saved him as they got right back in the game in the 6th. A two-out Takeuchi single and walk for Whitesell put two on for Hatakeyama. And he did not fail to deliver as he doubled to the wall in left to score both men and put Tokyo back in front, 8-7 Tokyo.

Takagi (4.15) and Watanabe (6.75) combined to work a scoreless 6th before the familiar procession of Masubuchi (2.96) and Matsuoka (1.54) followed to work hitless 7th and 8th innings respectively (though Masubuchi did give up two walks).

Insurance runs followed in the 9th (Kawabata one-out single, Noguchi pinch-hit sacbunt, Aoki RBI double, Tanaka RBI single) to make it 10-7 which meant that it was Lim-time in the bottom of the 9th. He looked less than convincing as he gave up a two-out walk and a single to Harper. Up stepped slugger Murata with a chance to send this one into extra innings, but he hit a fly to right which was snagger on the run just before the wall by Ihara and this one was done, 10-7 Tokyo Final.

Nakazawa was the rather fortuitous recipient of the win after his 5 innings of 8 hit 7 run baseball, and his record now sits at 7-6/4.72. Lim earned his 23rd save of the season and his ERA is now at 1.53.

Everyone in the starting 1-8 spots had multi-hit evenings bar Aikawa who was hitless in his 5 plate appearances.

Tokyo have now edged ahead 8-7 in the season series against the CL’s worst, and they will go for the sweep tomorrow evening, still very much in the hunt for that final playoff berth.

Standings & Results – Player Stats

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.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/07/15/71510-chunichi-away/feed/ 4 http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/07/07/7710-hanshin-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=7710-hanshin-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/07/07/7710-hanshin-away/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:35:31 +0000 David Watkins http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=7324 July 7th, 2010

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Hanshin Tigers 3

Streak: Lost 3  Last 5: WWLLL

(Koshien)

Tokyo fell to their third straight loss as they again struggled to get their offence working against Hanshin at Koshien.

With Whitesell out of action after taking one on the knee the evening prior, it was a case of “as you were” with the lineup accommodating both Guiel and D’Antona in the 4 and 5 spots:

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Ihara (LF)
4. Guiel (RF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Aikawa (C)
7. Moyamoto (3B)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Nakazawa (P)

Nakazawa, making his first start against Hanshin, wasn’t at his best as he let a lot of men on base over the course of his 6 innings, and was rather fortunate to only give up the 3 runs he did.

He had himself an early lead though, as Aoki hit a solo homer (no.6 for the year and his 99th hit of the season) to centre to lead off the game off homeless Hanshin starter Shimoyanagi, 1-0 Tokyo.

After that, Nakazawa gave up a double in the 1st, another double and a walk in the 2nd before finally surrendering the lead in the 3rd. A walk for Hirano and a single for the impressive Murton put two men on before back to back singles for Brazell and Johjima brought home a run apiece to make things 2-1 Hanshin.

But the lead didn’t last long as another solo homer in the top of the 4th, this time from Aikawa (no.7 for the year), drew things level at 2-2.

Nakazawa again managed to escape further runs in the 4th despite giving up a two-out single and double, but it was in the 6th when his luck would finally run out. With one out on the board, Sekimoto came in to bat for Shimoyanagi and hit his own solo homer that just stayed fair in right to put the Tigers ahead 3-2.

But with a misfiring Watanabe taking the mound in relief in the 7th, Tokyo were presented with their best chance to get back into the game. A lead off walk for Aikawa was followed up by groundouts from Miyamoto and Onizaki which moved the runner to third. Ueda then pinch hit for Nakazawa and was plunked on the foot to put men on the corners for the in-form Aoki. Except he could only tamely ground out to second and the inning, and the chance, was over.

And with Kubota and Fujikawa shutting down things in the 8th and 9th that would end up being their final chance, 3-2 Hanshin Final.

Nakazawa took the loss for his 6 innings of 9 hit/3 run baseball (with 2 walks and 1 strikeout) and his record now sits at 5-5/3.91. Oshimoto (3.09) and Matsuoka (136) both worked scoreless innings in relief.

Tokyo were outhit 10-5 as they never managed more than a hit an inning. Guiel was 0 for 3 (all strikeouts) with a HBP and is now batting .196.

Aoki and Aikawa pretty much were Tokyo’s offence as they both managed two singles and two solo homers between them. Aoki’s single in the 3rd inning was his 100th hit of the season.

Tokyo return to the home of the great yellow unwashed tomorrow evening to try and avoid the sweep. Let’s hope they can manage it.

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.

Aoki was voted into the 2010 All Star game by the fans

The final results of the fan votes for the 2010 NPB All Start game were released today. Swallows players were not faring well when the first set of results were announced in early June. However, the Swallows’ resurgence has helped put a number of players in respectable positions in the fan vote. Aoki lead all position players with 403,156 votes to play in the outfield. Aoki’s vote total was second only to Hiroshima pitcher Kenta Maeda, who garnered 435,375. Aoki will be joined in the All Star game outfield by the Giants’ Tetsuya Matsumoto (if he returns from injury) and Alex Ramirez.

While Aoki was the only Swallows’ player today to punch his ticket to the All Star game, a few more Swallows will no doubt follow after the players’ votes are cast and manager’s selections are made. Among the Swallows’ that had a strong showing in the fan vote were Lim (2nd among closers), Aikawa (3rd among catchers), rookie Nakazawa (5th among starting pitchers), Oshimoto (3rd among middle relievers), and Miyamoto (3rd among thrid basemen).

Yomiuri Giants 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: LWLWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo couldn’t pull off the series win after starter Nakazawa fell victim to the long ball as the Swallows lost to their beloved neighbours.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Fukuchi (2B)
3. Tanaka (2B)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Ihara (RF)
6. Aikawa (C)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Fujimoto (SS)
9. Nakazawa (P)

Tokyo took an early lead off the ultimate Giants bitch-boy starter Utsumi in the top of the 1st, with a leadoff single for Aoki followed up by an RBI single from D’Antona two outs later for 1-0 Tokyo. Despite his struggles this year, Jamie still is the team RBI leader with 38.

Nakazawa kept the Giants bats in check fairly well early on, until the homers came. The first came in the 4th, via our old-friend turned wanker Ramirez which tied the scores up at 1-1. And he was at it again in the 6th to make it 2-1, before a single from Tani and another dinger from the thoroughly hateable Chono extended the lead to 4-1 Yomiuri.

Tokyo pulled back a run in the 7th with singles for Miyamoto and pinch-hitter Hatakeyama, a walk for pinch-hitting Guiel followed up by a run scoring groundout for Aoki for 4-2.

But outside of their two run scoring innings, the Swallows threatened very little with Utsumi and the Yomiuri bullpen keeping them at arm’s length. 4-2 Yomiuri Final.

Nakazawa took the loss for his 5 and 2/3 innings of 8 hit 4 run baseball and his record now sits at 4-4/3.92.

Next up at Jingu are the Hanshin Tigers who the Swallows host for three games from tomorrow.