Now that preseason play has begun, you’re probably either spending your afternoons at Jingu or you’re wondering how the squad is shaping up. Newcomer Takahiro Araki, 23, has been the regular at short and looks pretty good in the field, although he seems to be swinging for the fences a bit much; Eulogio de la [...]
Former Swallows reliever Ryota Igarashi is in Port St. Lucie with the Mets, where he was interviewed for a piece about him in the New York Daily News yesterday.
Among the article’s gems:
During his 11-year career with the Yakult Swallows, Igarashi would wear a WWE-style mask and take on the persona of “Swallows Man.” A photo of him [...]
Robert Whiting wrote about the remarkable equalizing power of athletes such as Matsui, Ichiro, and Matsuzaka in the FCCJ.
A choice selection from the article:
Then there was also the fact that every year during spring training, Matsui took the Yankees-beat writers out to dinner, perhaps the only Yankee in the history of the franchise [...]
Well, the festive season is over and the 2010 baseball season can be spotted lurking on the horizon, just waiting to take over our lives again. Here’s a round up of what’s been going on in SwallowsLand so far this offseason that hasn’t been covered elsewhere on the site:
The Swallows made only their second ever free [...]
It was reported that Ryota Igarashi, long-time set-up and closer out of the Tokyo bullpen, will be spending the winter training in the United States as he works through the process of signing with a team there.
A couple of teams have apparently
Yomiuri 4
Hokkaido 3
Series: Hokkaido 0-1 Yomiuri
(Sapporo Dome)
The 2009 Japan Series kicked off tonight in Sapporo with the Pacific League Champions, Hokkaido, hosting their Central League counterparts, the Yomiuri Giants.
October 19th, 2009
Tokyo Swallows 4
Chunichi Dragons 7
Series: Chunichi 2-1 Tokyo
(Nagoya Dome)
Chunichi was definitely the better team today, but they should never forget that they had the flu and a little bit of Takada on their side. Either way, the season came to an end for the Swallows while the Dragons now inherit the unenviable task [...]
October 18th, 2009
Tokyo Swallows 2
Chunichi Dragons 3
Series: Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo
(Nagoya Dome)
The Dragons leveled the series with a come-from-behind win and made sure that both team’s season will survive at least one more day.
October 17th, 2009
Tokyo Swallows 3
Chunichi Dragons 2
Series: Chunichi 0-1 Tokyo
(Nagoya Dome)
Game one of the 2009 Central League Climax Series kicked off in Nagoya with Chen on the mound for the home team, and Ishikawa taking the reigns for the visiting Tokyo Swallows.
And Tokyo came up with the goods versus a very sharp Chen.
October 17th, 2009
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 1
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 4
Best of 3 Series: Fukoka 0 – 2 Tohoku
(Kleenex Stadium)
The Eagles rode a solid performance from starting pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka, to sweep the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and earn a trip to Hokkaido to face the Pacific League champions.
