An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
June 10th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6 Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 4 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LWLWW (Sapporo Dome) They finally did it. For the first time since Tokyo beat the Yokohama Baystars on the 2nd and 3rd of April, the Swallows have won back to back games and thus won a series. That’s all [...]
June 7th, 2010 Chiba Lotte Marines 14 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: LWLWL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) For six innings it looked as though Tokyo’s two month wait for a series win/two game winning streak would soon be coming to an end. That was before the Marines put up an astounding [...]
June 1st, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LDWLW (Yahoo Dome) With the dismal and eventful month of May finally behind them, the Tokyo Swallows headed south to Fukuoka for a run-in with the Pacific League’s wins (8) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.84) leader, Sugiuchi. [...]
Monthly Roundup is a new series in which I hope to look back on a month of Swallows baseball and make various observations and comments. How We Got There: The Swallows came into the month of May on a 5 game losing streak, with an overall record of 11-17-1. Things weren’t looking good, but we [...]
May 22nd, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Chiba Lotte Marines 20 Streak: Lost 8 Last 5: LLLLL (Chiba Marine Stadium) Lord give me strength. Where do I start with this one. Tanaka (2B) Miyamoto (3B) Aoki (CF) D’Antona (DH) Ihara (LF) Guiel (RF) Yoshimoto (1B) Aikawa (C) Fujimoto (SS) Losing pitcher: Nakazawa, 3-3/3.11. 2 [...]
May 15th, 2010 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0 Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: LWLLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) The offensive impotence continues. Starting lineup: 1. Tanaka 2B 2. Miyamoto SS 3. Aoki CF 4. D’Antona 1B 5. Guiel RF 6. Iihara LF 7. Yoshimoto 3B 8. Aikawa C 9. Nakazawa P Yoshimoto, [...]
May 8th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0 Chunichi Dragons 1 Streak: Lost 6 Last 5: LLLLL (Nagoya Dome) You have to feel sorry for Masato Nakazawa. With zero run support, he threw 8 and 2/3 innings of one hit baseball, only to see Kazuhiro Wada hit a sayonara solo homer deep to centre to [...]
May 1st, 2010 Yokohama BayStars 3 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LLLLW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Bizarre game. Just plain weird. This was one of those games where Takada made a whole bunch of stupid decisions but things kept working in the team’s favor and he ended up looking like he [...]
April 23rd, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Yokohama BayStars 0 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLDLW (Yokohama Stadium) Rookie Masato Nakazawa pitched a complete game shutout of the BayStars in only his third pro start as Tokyo got back to winning ways in a rainy Yokohama. The 25 year old went the distance on [...]
April 6th, 2010 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 3 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LWWLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Ugh. This game sucked. Fukuchi LF Tanaka 2B Aoki CF D’Antona 1B Guiel RF Miyamoto 3B Fujimoto SS Kawamoto C Nakazawa P This evening marked the first of a three game series against the [...]
