Tokyo Swallows

The inimitable Gen Sueyoshi has published his additions/subtractions post for the 2012 Tokyo Swallows. On a scale of -10 to +10, how do you feel the team compares to its 2011 rendition?

Chang-yong Lim may start the 2012 regular season on the farm team due to soreness in his throwing arm. Does that mean that Balentien’s roster spot  is safe for now? And more importantly, who’s going to close?

Yoshinori has been taking it easy since taking a ball off the leg during an exhibition game against Hiroshima on the 11th. It’s a “contusion” at this point, and there’s no definite word on how long he’ll be sidelined. Provided it’s not a serious injury, the silver lining is that he’s already thrown more than enough during spring training and could probably benefit from a bit of a breather. In case anyone cares, Tokyo won that game 5-4.

Quick hypothetical: would you be in favor of Hideki Matsui in a Tokyo Swallows uniform? He is still without an employer.

How about Kozo Ota in a Tokyo Swallows uniform?

Here’s Johnny Knoxville in one.

Despite having scads of practice games scrapped due to rain and poor field conditions, the Tokyo Swallows currently have the second best pre-season record (3-1-2; .750 winning %). Not that it means anything.

Elsewhere in NPB

Gen also reported that the Japanese National Baseball Team is in search of a new manager. I hereby recommend David Watkins for the post. All in favor?

While the six injured pitchers may set off the loudest alarm for some readers, our visibly diminishing corps of backstops is probably a bigger concern at this point.

Tokyo is now down to three at the top team level. Kawamoto, Yoneno, and Fukukawa are all on the mend, and that leaves us with Aikawa, the young and capable Nakamura, and Kinugawa. If the team loses one more, a distinct possibility given Aikawa’s history and the fact that Nakamura lightly sprained his ankle stealing second in Monday’s LG Twins game, then we could be in big trouble.

The team, for its part, has decided that the best course of action is to exorcise the farm team dormitory up in Toda.

Things are dire enough that D’Antona has offered to catch if necessary (he made 31 appearances as a catcher in the minors). Hopefully that doesn’t happen. At any rate, what are the chances that the team stocks catching gear big enough to fit him?

In slightly less nerve-wracking news, it looks like competition is heating up for jobs as a starting pitcher.

According to Sanspo, Takada is looking to field a six-man rotation. The first four pitchers have already been decided: Ishikawa, Tateyama, Muranaka, and Yoshinori. Guys in the mix for the final two slots include Lee, Barnette, Nakazawa, and Kawashima.

Of course, it should be observed that Tateyama has stated publicly that he is not 100% sure that he’ll be ready in time to make his first scheduled start at the beginning of the regular season. So there could be three slots available at this point.

Hopefully someone else will throw their hat into the ring to keep things interesting.

So, who else out there is a little bit nervous about the way things have been going thus far?

Saitama Seibu Lions 7

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Streak: Won 3       Last 5: LDWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Jamie D’Antona made a very powerful argument for why he deserves the cleanup slot in the batting order today. His first two at-bats of the game resulted in home runs, the first to right and the second to left.

By the end of the third inning, D’Antona had all four of the team’s rbi’s.

He also ripped one past the shortstop in his third at-bat to start the game three-for-three. He struck out in his fourth at bat in the seventh to finish the game 3-4.

Yoshinori started this one for Tokyo and was hittable yet fine early on, but he got destroyed in the sixth inning, which was his last of the game.

The highlight for Yoshinori was definitely the third inning when he fanned all three batters he faced. But the sixth was not very pretty as he supplemented three walks with three hits including G. G. Satou’s  two-run dinger and an rbi single. The Lions scored three runs in that  inning.

Takai came in to pitch the seventh for Tokyo, and he basically repeated what Yoshinori did in the sixth. He got all three outs by way of the magic ‘K’, but the other six guys were able to reach base. He walked two guys and allowed four consecutive hits including Okawari-kun’s (Nakamura) three-run bomb to center field. Saitama scored another three runs in that inning.

And by this time they had gone from down 1-4 at the end of the fifth to up 7-5 at the end of the seventh.

Barrett pitched a scoreless eighth, and in the bottom of that inning, the offense came alive again. The Swallows scored three runs off of five hits and retook the lead: 8-7.

Along with D’Antona, Guiel reached base three times by way of a single, a walk and another beaning, and Kajimoto went 3-3 while tallying an rbi with his triple in the eigth. Meanwhile, Fukuchi, K. Kawashima, and Morioka all reached base twice.

Also, Takeuchi had two rbi’s in this game.

In total the Swallows had 16 hits on the afternoon.

Oshimoto earned the save by retiring all three guys that he faced (the first two were by strikeout). Barrett picked up the win in relief.

The Swallows are home again tomorrow afternoon.

Game starts at 1 pm.

Saitama Seibu Lions 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9

Streak: Won 2       Last 5: WLDWW

(Jingu Stadium)

The birds got the offense going early in one of the day’s four forgotten games (if you want to know what everyone in Japan was actually paying attention to, please scroll down to the next game report).

Tokyo teed off on former starter Kazuhisa Ishii who was a bit rusty today. Ishii threw 100 pitches in five innings of work, gave up seven earned (and one unearned) runs, allowed 11 hits, struct out five, walked one and plunked Guiel.

Earning the win this afternoon was Ishikawa who pitched five innings of six hit, one run ball. He also had one K, one walk, and matched Ishii’s beanball tally for the afternoon.

Yamamoto pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings while Igarashi and Matsuoka took care of the eighth and ninth, respectively. No runs scored after Takada went to the bullpen.

Of note in this contest was the fact that D’Antona made an appearance. He DH’d and went two for four with a single to left and a double to right. Also with multi-hit games were Keizo Kawashima and Iihara.

Miyamoto was perfect on the day going 3-3 and notching three rbi’s.

Takeuchi had a solo home run in the sixth.

Miyade hit a fly ball to right in all three of his plate appearances. Poor guy.

Guiel and Fukuchi also reached base two times each.

Tokyo and Saitama square off again tomorrow afternoon at Jingu. First pitch is at 1pm.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7

Yomiuri Giants 6

Streak: Won 1     Last 5: LWLDW

(Gifu)

Tokyo nearly let this one get away.

Masao Kida started this one for the Swallows (yes, you read that correctly) and he made it through five innings on only 48 pitches. He gave up only one hit and had one K against one walk. The orange guys were grounding out all over the place. Lots  of fly balls as well. Very solid pitching from Kida.

Barrett came in for inning number six and was also effective. He struck out the first two batters he faced, allowed a hit to center field, and then  ended the inning with a pop fly to short.

Oshimoto pitched the seventh and was able to sit down again after only eight pitches. No runners reached base.

Now by this time the score was already 7-0. The birds scored one run in each of the first three innings and then erupted for four in the top of the fifth.

But that was about it on offense for Tokyo. The Swallows managed nine hits in the first five frames, but only had Iihara’s ninth inning single to show for the final four. Fukuchi, Guiel and Tanaka all reached base twice while Iihara and Yuuichi got on base three times each. Fukukawa tallied three rbi’s, if you can believe that!

Yomiuri, when compared to Tokyo, had a mirror-opposite afternoon. They only managed two hits through the first seven innings, but then strung together five runs off of five hits in the eighth, and another one in the bottom of the ninth. Takai and Hashimoto were tagged with five runs and one run, respectively, and that gave Hagiwara a chance for a save.

Hagiwara retired all three batters he faced for the “S”, and Kida got the “W”.

Nishimura took the loss for Yomiuri.

Tokyo has five home games in a row starting tomorrow. They play the Lions at Jingu stadium tomorrow. The first pitched is scheduled for 1 PM.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2

Streak: Tied 1     Last 5: LLWLD

(Onomichi)

Ryo Kawashima started and pitched five innings of seven hit, two run baseball. Other vitals include four K’s against one walk plus one wild pitch.

Tokyo’s relievers were rock solid this afternoon. Igarashi and Hashimoto were perfect in the sixth and seventh, respectively, and Hagiwara retired all six batters he saw in the eighth and ninth innings.

Unfortunately, Hiroshima’s pitchers had a good game as well. The Swallows weren’t able to earn a single walk in this game. Carp ace, Colby Lewis, was perfect through his four innings of work, and he struck out seven of the 12 batters he faced. Yikes! Tokyo got all four of its hits after Lewis left the game at the end of the fourth, and scored both of its runs in the top of the seventh.

Takeuchi was the only Tokyo player credited with an rbi when he brought Morioka (formerly of the Chunichi Dragons), who had reached base on a single, around to score on a triple to left field. Takeuchi later scored on an error by Hiroshima’s first baseman.

Tokyo’s next pre-season game is on Tuesday when it heads off into the boonies to play Yomiuri.

On Wednesday Tokyo starts a long home stand with games at Jingu stadium through Sunday. All games are at one o’clock (weather permitting).

Tickets are a thousand yen each unless you opt to join the fan club (5,000 yen for general membership) in which case one (pre-season) ticket per game is free for the cardholder.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows  5 

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters  2

Streak: Won 1   Last 4: WWLW

(Sapporo Dome)

Three Tokyo players had two-hit games, and the pitching staff only gave up a pair of runs in Tokyo’s second half of a two-day stay up in Hokkaido. Impressively, more than 10,000 people turned out for the game despite being aired in direct competition with team Japan’s opening game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Tokyo put the first run of the evening on the board on a solo home run by Keizo Kawashima in the third inning. Hokkaido left fielder, Sledge, drove in Hokkaido’s first run of the evening in the bottom of that inning to tie it up off of Tokyo starter, Yoshinori. Tokyo’s young fireballer pitched four innings and had five strikeouts against four walks.

Tokyo added another run in the fourth to go up 2-1, and Sledge had his second rbi, and the team’s final run, in the fifth. Satou, the eventual game-winner, was tagged with that run.

Tokyo took control of the game in the top of the sixth with a four hit, three run effort. Yuuichi started things off with a single to center and was followed by rbi singles care of Noguchi and Tanaka, plus a ground out to third by Fukukawa that resulted in a run crossing the plate.

No more runs scored after that. Kawashima, Miyamoto and Tanaka had two-hit each, and Hashimoto, Yamamoto and Matsuoka combined for four innings of scoreless relief. Matsuoka pitched the final two frames and picked up a save in the process.

Tokyo has tomorrow off which is good because we’re going to be at the Big Egg watching a WBC game between Taiwan and South Korea.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows  4 

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters  5

Streak: Lost 1   Last 3: WWL

(Sapporo Dome)

The highlight of this game, from our perspective anyway, was Ishikawa. He started, threw only 41 pitches and retired all 12 batters he faced. Guiel provided the only offense of the game to that point with a solo home run in the top of the fourth. Tokyo went up 2-0 when

Miyamoto scored on a Noguchi triple.

Ishikawa was replaced by Yoshikawa at the beginning of the 5th, and things got ugly very quickly. Yoshikawa gave up three successive hits to start the inning, the third of which was a blast into the bleachers in left. Tokyo 2-3 Hokkaido.

Maruyama pitched the sixth for Tokyo and didn’t allow anyone to score in his second appearance of the pre-season. However, the home team added another run in the bottom of the seventh off of Tokyo’s Oshimoto which put them up by two runs.

Tokyo tied it up in the top of the 9th with a nice little two-out rally which was partly courtesy of an error by Hokkaido’s pitcher. With two men on, Yuuichi doubled to right which scored both Hatakeyama and Tanaka.

But with Takai on the mound for his first appearance of the year, it wasn’t meant to be. With two men on and two outs, Hokkaido’s center/left fielder, Morimoto, came through with a game winning double after killing rallies with weak hits in both the 5th and 7th innings.

Final score: Tokyo 4 – 5 Hokkaido

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/03/04/3409-hokkaido-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/03/01/3109-yokohama-home-away-from-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3109-yokohama-home-away-from-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/03/01/3109-yokohama-home-away-from-home/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:43:58 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoyakultswallows.wordpress.com/?p=1847 March 1st, 2009

Yokohama BayStars 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WW
(Urasoe)

Tokyo won this game on a walk-off single to left care of infield utility man Yoshiyuki Noguchi (IF). Tokyo had gone into the top of the 9th nursing a one run advantage when Yokohama’s leftfielder, Onishi, homered to left off of new Tokyo southpaw, Ricky Barrett. Despite giving up the game-tying run, Barrett was credited with the win when Noguchi brought Iihara home on a game-winning single in the bottom of that inning.

Another Tokyo newcomer started the game. Hye-cheon Lee, formerly of the Doosan Bears, pitched three innings, and then he was followed by Ryo Kawashima who did the same. Tokyo’s third pitcher for the day was veteran Masao Kida who pitched two innings in middle relief.

Noguchi was definitely the highlight of the offense today. He went three for three with a triple, double and that game-winning single mentioned earlier. Kazuki Fukuchi and Yasuchi Iihara came through with two hits each.

In addition to Noguchi, Aaron Guiel (OF), Yuuichi Matsumoto (DH) and Kouhei Kawamoto (C) each had an rbi.

The Yokohama offense only had four hits, but they got a little help from a pair of Tokyo errors to help keep them in the game. Hitoshi Fujie took the loss for Yokohama.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6

Chunichi Dragons 3

Streak: Won 1 Last 5: W
(Chatan)

The NPB pre-season games kicked off today, and not a moment too soon for many of us! Tokyo’s first game of the pre-season schedule, which stretches until March 29th, was against the Chunichi Dragons.

As is often the case in pre-season games, a lot of players made an appearance today. With the bat, Aaron Guiel, Yasushi Iihara and Ryuji Miyade had multi-hit games. Iihara and Miyade both had three hits each while notching one and two rbi’s, respectively (Miyade had rbi singles in both the 2nd and 6th innings). Both Tsuyoshi Ueda and Yuuichi Matsumoto hit home runs.

On the mound, Shouhei Tateyama started and was credited with the win on two innings of work.

He was followed by Shun Takaichi who pitched four innings (three strikeouts). Chunichi scored one run in the sixth, but Takaichi was not tagged with that run.

Chang-yong Lim came on for the first two outs of the seventh, and Takashi Maruyama was brought on for the last out of that frame.

Takehiko Oshimoto gave up a two run homer during his 17-pitch eighth inning.

Kenichi Matsuoka pitched, and closed out, the ninth without allowing any more runs to score. He was credited with a save.

Bright spots for Chunichi included Fujii who had three singles and played all three positions in the outfield. Also, Nishikawa had a pinch hit two-run homer off of Oshimoto in the eighth. Chunichi starter, Kawai, gave up one run in five innings of work while taking the loss.

Tokyo’s next pre-season game is tomorrow versus Yokohama down on one of this archipelago’s warmer islands.