And even though I had no numbers to back up my suspicions, I couldn’t help but notice that Aoki wasn’t getting on base as often as he did in April.

After some simple addition and division, I discovered that my intuitions were correct–Aoki did very little at the plate during the month of May.

Exhibit A: Aoki’s batting average after the game April 30th against Yokohama was .351, but after today’s loss to the Orix Buffaloes, it’s down to .297.

Tokyo’s center fielder had 79 official at-bats in May and managed only 17 hits for a one month batting average of .215, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Add in his nine walks (one intentional) and the two times he was hit by a pitch (28 times on base in 90 plate appearances), and an OBP of only .311 is revealed.

And Aoki didn’t impress in the power department either. His 14 singles, two doubles, and one home run (solo) give him a .278 slugging percentage. Ouch.

So while the Tokyo Swallows continue to loudly discuss plans to bring in another non-Japanese bat, the numbers just provided show that even the team’s best hitter had an off month. An OBP of .311 is pedestrian for most players and absolutely horrible by Aoki’s standards.

Aoki's May numbers were reminiscent of the beginning of last season.

If the first third of the lineup isn’t getting on base very often (and Fukuchi definitely deserves some criticism here as well), then there’s probably a fair chance that D’Antona and Guiel won’t be seeing many good pitches to swing at–especially when you look at the fact that the post-cleanup threesome of Miyamoto, Fujimoto and Aikawa didn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers this past month either.

In the end, the whole team stunk it up at the plate in May. The funk from the locker room (for which Takada was partly to blame) followed the players onto the field, and nearly everyone was affected by it.

Now that the management has changed, hopefully the guys can start fresh and get up into 4th place by the end of July.

That, of course, will be greatly aided by more complete and consistent contributions from all of the hitters in the lineup.

The team’s solid play at the end of 2009 was a refreshing bookend to a season that saw a strong first half (14 games above .500 at one point) followed by a very deep canyon during the summer.

Throughout the season, a few players were able to soldier on rather consistently and help give the birds a shot at the playoffs. In fact, three players were so good at performing their roles that they ended up at the very top of the league.

Most wins:

Shohei Tateyama (no. 25) with 16 wins (an honor he shares with Chunichi’s Yoshimi). 2009 was the first year that he led the league in wins. Tateyama threw 188 1/3 innings for the birds which was good enough for fourth in the Central behind Yoshimi (189 1/3), Yokohama’s Miura (195 1/3), and Tokyo’s Ishikawa (198 1/3). He also tied Yoshimi for the league lead with three games in which he didn’t concede a walk. Tateyama tied for ninth in the league with 126 strikeouts (Hiroshima’s Lewis took the honors with 186 K’s). He finished out the year with a 16-6 record, and a 3.39 ERA. Look for the Tokyo ace to be on the mound tonight versus the Chunichi Dragons in game one of the first round of the Climax Series.

Most steals:

Kazuki Fukuchi (no. 3) with 42 steals. This is the second year in a row that Fukuchi has come out on top in the criminality department. Like his victory in 2008, Fukuchi swiped 42 bags. This year, however, it took him 137 games to do so as opposed to 131 last year–possibly due to a drop in production at the plate (.366 OBP in 2008; .310 in 2009). Hopefully Fukuchi can get on base a little more often in the playoffs and give the opposition catchers some headaches.

On Base Percentage (OBP):

Norichika Aoki (no. 23) led the league with a .400 OBP this season. This is absolutely phenomenal when you think about the start of the season when he could only get to first care of walks or beanballs. He didn’t really start hitting until July! Aoki carried the team during the final two months of the season, and they wouldn’t have made it to the playoffs without him. His ability to get on base naturally led to him ending up at the top of the runs scored standings. Along with Yomiuri’s Sakamoto and Chunichi’s Blanco, Aoki crossed home plate 87 times this season. He also notched 66 rbi’s this season while improving at hitting with runners in scoring position (.277 BA in 2008; .307 in 2009). Accordingly, don’t be too surprised if you see him batting fourth this evening. In 16 games at cleanup this season, Aoki hit .429 and amassed 12 rbi’s (3 home runs). He is, without a doubt, the most dangerous bat in the Tokyo lineup. If Aoki hits well at Nagoya Dome, the team should have a good chance of making it to Yomiuri Land next week.

The Tokyo Swallows are now 7.5 games behind the first place Giants.

A lot of things aren’t clicking at the moment: the starting pitching has had several glitches; the 24-7 small-ball strategy hasn’t been generating many runs; the relievers are beginning to show some signs of overuse; and Takada has returned to last year’s habit of meddling with the lineup when the game is close.

But rather than focus on all those problems, let’s take a moment to look at how the starting lineup has been performing offensively so far during the second half.

The starting lineup (excluding the pitcher) has generally looked something like this over the past 12 games:

1. Aoki
2. Tanaka
3. Fukuchi
4. D’Antona
5. Guiel
6. Miyamoto
7. Aikawa
8. Kawashima

Aoki has actually been moved back to third in the order recently, and he has split time at left and center (switching back and forth with Fukuchi). Otherwise, everyone else listed here has pretty much stayed in their normal spot both on the field and in the batting order.

With the exception of Miyamoto (due to injury), everyone has started in at least 10 of the 12 games played so far (the numbers discussed here only reflect at-bats from games that the players started). It’s pretty safe to say that these are the regular guys for Tokyo.

Lighting it up

D’Antona is leading the way on offense without a doubt. He’s had 18 hits, including two home runs, and tallied nine rbi’s since the break. He’s also added three walks to help him boast a .383 batting average (avg.) and .420 on base percentage (OBP).

Kawashima has had a nice run of late. He’s hitting .333/.378 while driving in five runs, drawing three walks, and collecting 14 hits (including one homer).

Aoki is also playing well right now. He’s had three rbi’s and six walks to complement his 15 hits (one home run). His .319 avg. and .396 OBP have been very helpful.

Productive

Guiel hasn’t been hitting the ball very often (only six hits), but he’s been getting on base. He has been beaned three times and walked five to help his OBP stay at .333. He’s also driven in six runs off of his six hits (one homer), so he’s obviously getting things done when guys are on base bespite his 12-game .176 avg.

Tanaka is way better than his numbers indicate, but he spends a disproportionate amount of time bunting and losing chances to collect hits compared to the other guys on the team (Tanaka leads the league with 31 sac bunts thus far). He had 10 hits and drove in four runs while compiling a .263 avg. His OBP is .333 thanks to the four walks that he drew. He is by far the most under-utilized bat in the order.

Miyamoto has been a steady contributor, as always, to the Tokyo offense. He’s had 10 hits (one home run), one walk, and three rbi’s. He’s also sporting .294/.314 vitals. Congratulations go out to the Miyamoto household as they celebrated the birth of their fourth child, a baby girl, on the eighth of this month!

Yikes!

Aikawa has been having a rough time at the plate. He’s had 10 hits, but at the same time he’s only drawn a single walk. His numbers, .200/.220, show that he might benefit from some more patience at the plate (ie. try to draw more walks).

Fukuchi has done almost nothing at the plate over the last 12 games. To illustrate: in the third game last week versus Yokohama, he struck out four times! He has reached base only eight times, seven hits and one plunking, and recorded only two rbi’s despite Kawashima, Aoki, and Tanaka’s rather decent OBP’s. Fukuchi has gone 0-12 in his last three starts and that is part of the reason why he has a .163 avg. and a .182 OBP.

Conclusion

So there you have it. A couple of guys are slumping at the moment, but the team as a whole isn’t in terribly bad shape. The weak links, Fukuchi and Aikawa, will hopefully pick it up a bit (especially Aikawa since the team doesn’t have a viable replacement), and the rest of the team will keep the team competitive so long as they generate a few extra runs and make sure that Takada stays in his seat.

The big worry is that Fukuchi has been hitting like a pitcher, and that’s basically why he lost his spot in the starting lineup during the first and third games versus Yomiuri.

However, if Fukuchi’s plate appearances have been so unproductive, then why was Tanaka continually asked to bunt? Why waste an out when Fukuchi’s OBP is sub-.200? This is perhaps more evidence that Takada neither cares for nor understands sabremetrics.

Moreso than in years past, we can be reasonably confident that the pitching coach will sort out some of the complications with the rotation and bullpen and help protect leads. This should take some of the pressure off of the offense and allow them to play the way that they did during the beginning of the season.

Meet infielder Kazuhiro Hatakeyama. The 26-year-old from Iwate prefecture is currently in his 8th season with the club, and through his first seven seasons he only managed 59 appearances for the top team. His career average at the beginning of this season was an even .200.

It seems as though all those years of patience may have finally paid off for the multi-talented Hatakeyama. He has played both of the corners to help make up for the disappearance of Adam Riggs and the inconsistency of Keizou Kawashima (who, to be fair, was an excellent snag from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters).

But his greatest asset to the team is undoubtedly his patience at the plate. The guy knows how to get on base. He just reached the 35 game mark in terms of appearances, but he has already managed to get himself into second place on the team in terms of doubles and walks. Furthermore, he has 56 total bases which is good enough for sixth on the team, he’s tied for fifth in total hits and rbi’s, and his chest-puffing numbers stand at .348 (batting average), .434 (on-base percentage), and .514 (slugging). Those numbers aren’t bad (especially the second and third ones!).

His glove still needs a little extra practice, and we’re looking forward to the day when he is able to decrease the number of times that he strikes out, but if he keeps his spot in the lineup, then it should be interesting to see how he ends up at the conclusion of the season.