The Swallows had a 4 day break after the end of Interleague before they played the BayStars in a 3 game series to open the second third of the season. Many of the trends we saw in Interleague continued as the Swallows went 2-1 against the lowly BayStars. This week’s review will be shorter than usual because we just don’t have a lot to go on.

The Week That Was

Where Art Thou Balentien? Coco Balentien has been noticeably absent over the last little stretch. Balentien’s average finally fell below .300 this week. That being said, there are signs that indicate that he’ll be able to turn things around. Firstly, Balentien is still walking. In the last 6 games, Balentien has drawn 7 walks, including a 3 walk game on Saturday. At the same time, he’s avoided striking out, whiffing only 3 times in that span.

Injury Updates: Whitesell twisted his left ankle and sprained it fielding a bunt on Saturday’s game. He was held out of Sunday’s game, but he hasn’t been taken off the active roster (at least not yet), and he was on the bench for the game, indicating that the team is expecting a relatively short recovery time. We hope to see Josh back in the lineup soon. In happier news, Kawabata made his return to the starting lineup on Friday. Kawabata has not gotten his first hit since his return, but he wasn’t showing any ill effects of the injury on the field.

Kawabata made his return this week, Balentien's bat is still missing.

Random Playing Time: While we sometimes say that players that have been removed from the 28-man active roster as being sent down to ni-gun, it is actually possible for active roster players to play in ni-gun games without being removed from the active roster. With the 4 game break this week, first team players Kosuke Matsui, Koki Watanabe, Fukukawa, Miwa, Miyade, Noguchi, and Yuichi all made appearances in ni-gun games played between Tuesday and Thursday.

Roster Moves: After making his first team debut last week, outfield Jun Matsui was quickly sent back down to ni-gun on Tuesday. Prior to Friday’s game, Kawabata and rookie pitcher Yuki Shichijo were added to the active roster. The team is currently only carrying 27 players out of a possible 28 on the active roster. We expect the a pitcher to be called up to fill that spot sooner rather than later.

All Star Update: The last set of vote tallies prior to the official release of the results on Thursday were made public on Friday. Yoshinori, Hatakeyama, Aoki, and Balentien hold a comfortable number of votes and seem poised to make the All Star roster via the fan vote. Tateyama, Lim, Miyamoto, and possibly Aikawa may make the roster through the player vote or manager’s discretion.

Quo Vadimus

Our Opponents: This week the Swallows will play a full 6 game slate with 3 game series against the Giants and the Carp. The Birds will play their first 2 games against the Giants in Koriyama, Fukushima before playing the last game at the Tokyo Dome. After the Giants, the team will travel to Hiroshima for a more traditional 3 game set. The Giants are coming off a 1-2 set against the Tigers, while the Carp won their last series 2-1 against the Dragons. The probable starters for the Giants are hard to predict, but we’ll probably avoid Utsumi and Sawamura, and see Greisinger in one of the games. For the Carp, it seems likely that we’ll see Bullington,  Maeda, and Kishimoto. However, as the Carp will only play 2 games prior to the Swallows they may adjust their rotation accordingly.

Our Rotation: The biggest question Swallows followers have this week, is who will be starting in the Giants series. It seems Shichijo has been penciled in to start the first game, but who will start the next 2 games remains a mystery. If the team intends to go with a 6 man roster they’ll need to get 2 pitchers to fill out the rotation of Tateyama, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, and Shichijo, at least until Muranaka and Yoshinori make their returns. Hitoshi Yamamoto is a likely candidate to start on Wednesday, as he last pitched 6 effective innings on last Wednesday at Toda. Muranaka started and pitched 2 perfect innings in that game getting 3 strikeouts. But it seems likely that the keep will Muranaka in Toda for at least one more week. Another candidate to start is the newly signed Fernandes, although he hasn’t pitched in a game since pitching 7 strong innings (1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K) on the 16th. A reliever relay seems unlikely as the team won’t have a rest day after Thursday’s game, but it may be possible depending on how the first games go.

The Swallows finished off their Interleague adventure by splitting series with the Lions and Marines. The Swallows ended the Interleague with a 10-12-2 record, good enough for a sixth place finish. They were 3 games back of the top CL team, the Chunichi Dragons, who finished in 4th with a 14-10 record. Hopefully the Swallows will be able to regain their form against more familiar CL teams once the season restarts this Friday.

The Week That Was

A Totally Random Observation: I don’t want to try to parrot Dave’s great recap about Tuesday’s great comeback against Seibu. It was truly a magical and thrilling to watch the game at Jingu, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t toot my horn a little. Last week I noted that the Swallows were undefeated this season in Interleague games in which they score at least 3 runs. So when Balentien pounded a homerun to left field to make it 5-3 Seibu, I sarcastically noted that we were going to win. Little did I realize that it would actually come true. That totally random held through the rest of Interleague and the Swallows went 9-0 in games in which they managed to score at least 3 runs. However, another way to put that observation is that the Swallows failed to score at least 3 runs in 15 Interleague games.

The Story of the Run Differential: Run differential is seen as a very basic look at a team’s overall strength as a team. Going into Interleague the Swallows had a +17 run differential through 25 games (102 runs scored – 85 runs allowed). In 24 games of Inerleague the Swallows recorded a -33 differential (57 RS- 90 RA). For comparison, the Hawks, the Interleague winners, came away with a +71. The Dragons finished with a +11, and the Giants, who finished a half game behind the Swallows, had a -2. If these kinds of performances continue against the Central League teams we’ll quickly be saying goodbye to our status as league leaders. As injuries begin to pile up (see more below) it’s not a gimme that we can start back where we left off against CL teams.

Tateyama the Ace: Tateyama was on fire throughout the Interleague, giving up only 2 earned runs in 6 games started. The Swallows went 5-0-1 in games started by Tateyama. In other words, tateyama played a hand in half of our Interleague wins this year. Tateyama pitched 41.0 innings, recorded an ERA of 0.44, a WHIP of 0.73, and 26 Ks. By the numbers, Tateyama was probably the second best pitcher during the Interleague, behind Yu Darvish who had an absolutely sick Interleague.

A Not So Good Interleague Leader: Josh Whitesell lead the Interleague with 31 strikeouts, 4 Ks ahead of Seibu’s Nakamura despite getting 21 fewer plate appearances. For the season, Whitesell is striking out once every 3.0 plate appearances.

Injury Update: Both Kawabata and Muranaka have not been heard from since their injuries. Looking back on the initial injury reports they were expect back around this time. A check of Kawabata’s blog shows that he only started taking fielding practice last week. As for Muranaka, according to media reports he has pitched in the bullpen and is expected to make some Toda appearances this month before rejoining the team. Ogawa mentioned to the press this week that he expects to get Kawabata, Muranaka, and Yoshinori, back in time for the start of a 9 game stretch that starts on July 12. No clue as to when Fukuchi is expected to return.

Fukuchi Hurt

All Star Vote Update: According to the latest numbers released earlier today all the Swallows mentioned last week have solidified their positions except Hatakeyama, who trails Ogasawara by a scant 346 votes at first base. Ogasawara is currently hitting under .200 and has no business starting, let alone playing, in the All Star game this year. Hatakeyama may be losing votes to voters who are trying to vote him in as an outfielder, but either way losing to Ogasawara would be unacceptable.

Roster Moves: Young outfielder Jun Matsui made his first team debut prior to Tuesday’s game. Yamagishi was sent down after Tuesday’s game and was replaced on the roster by Kosuke Matsui. Hitoshi Yamamoto was removed from the roster after his ineffective start on Wednesday. Fukuchi was also removed from the active roster after dislocating his left shoulder in Saturday’s game. Yamamoto and Fukuchi have not been replaced, don’t expect any moves until Friday before the Yokohama game. The biggest roster move this week was the addition of ikusei pitcher Rafael Fernandes to the 70-man roster. We speculated on this move a few weeks ago, and with Fernandes pitching reasonably well at Toda, expect him to get some time with the big team some time soon.

Fernandes signed his first Standard Player Contract.

Quo Vadimus

Our Opponents: The Central League schedule will restart with a 3 game set against Yokohama at Jingu. With 4 days off, it’s not entirely clear how the BayStars will readjust their rotation. Although seeing Takasaki and rookie Suda, seems like a strong possibility. Yokohama was in their usual low form throughout the Interleague, so how our offense does against Yokohama will be a good barometer as to whether our offensive woes are part of a bigger problem.

Potential Rotation: With the beginning of CL play it is expected that the Swallows will go to a 6 man rotation. However, with only Tateyama and Ishikawa as established starters, and Yoshinori and Muranaka a few weeks away, it’ll be interesting to see who gets the call to start. The long anticipated debut of rookie Shichijo will probably happen during the Yokohama, as he has been pitching on Saturdays at Toda. Also, expect Yamamoto to be recalled at the earliest opportunity just as he was recalled fairly soon after his previous bad outing with the first team. Other Toda starters that have put up decent numbers recently are Mikinori Kato and Rafael Fernandes. Nakazawa and Masubuchi may also make their way into the rotation as well.

This week the Monday Review comes to you on Tuesday since there was a game on Monday. Last week saw the Swallows kick off their Interleague schedule against the Fighters, Eagles, and the Hawks. A quarter of the way through the Interleague schedule, things have not looked good. After starting off strong with a 2-0 win against the Fighters behind the strong pitching of Tateyama, the Swallows lost the next 4 before tying the Hawks at home in a rained shortened game last night. The team still holds a tenuous lead over the Central League, but how we play this week will determine whether we’ll still be there next time this column gets posted.

The Week That Was

Offensive Ineptitude: Over six games last week, the Swallows scored a grand total of 6 runs. The team has batted .204 over the last 6 games with 0 HRs. The team has not scored more than 1 run in any inning during the Interleague. Part of that can be attributed to hitting top flight pitchers like Masaru Takeda, Yu Darvish, and Masahiko Tanaka, but the team does need to figure out how to hit pitchers like Takahiro Shiomi, Tadashi Settsu, and Sho Iwasaki if they want to be at all successful. Here’s a look at the offensive stats of our key starters during this stretch.

I think the numbers speak for themselves, not pretty. Hiroyasu was probably the most consistent batter of the bunch but with no one hitting at the right time he was only able to come around to score twice. Josh was the only hitter with multiple extra-base hits, but he also racked up strikeouts including a golden sombrero against Rakuten’s Tanaka. Also notice the freaky similarity of Hatakeyama and Balentien’s numbers.

The Other Side of the Coin: Our pitching has been good and has kept the team within striking distance in every game except in the 9-1 shellacking by the Hawks. Tateyama (0 ER over 2 games), Ishikawa (2 ER), Yoshinori (2ER, CG) , and even Yamamoto (1 ER in 4.1 IP) kept the opposition off the board. As a team, the Swallows have allowed 17 runs in 6 games. If we take out the 9 run melt down by Masubuchi and Kato, we’ve been a couple of hits away from a win in every game. The strong outings by Tateyama, Ishikawa, and Yoshinori limited the exposure of our thin bullpen. Mikinori Kato was the only relief pitcher to make multiple outings this week.

Record-Pace Bunting: As you can see in the offensive table above Hiroyasu Tanaka got 4 sacrifice bunts this week. That puts him at 23 sac bunts in 31 games this year which puts him on pace to shatter Miyamoto’s NPB record of 67, set in 2001. At this rate, Tanaka will have 107 sac bunts by the end of the season.

Roster Moves: I think I’ll make this a regular feature since a lot of the team’s roster moves go unnoticed. Joining the first team this week are Miyade, Akagawa, Hitoshi Yamamoto, Morioka, Ueda, Guiel, and Araki. Nakamura, Barnette (bereavement leave), Nakazawa, Kawabata (injury), Iihara, and Onizaki were taken off the active roster this week. Also, as reported earlier today the team acquired veteran right-handed reliever Chikara Onodera from the Saitama Seibu Lions, for fourth year infielder Onizaki. No word on whether  Onodera will actually join the active roster, or who would be sent down if he were to join.

With Kawabata out with injury and Onizaki no longer with the team, the starting shortstop position will be fought between Morioka and Araki. The two have been starting infielders in our minor league team, with Morioka starting at third and Araki at second. Morioka was leading the Eastern League with a .327 batting average in 32 games. While Araki was leading the Eastern league with a .449 slugging percentage in 38 games. Morioka is a lefty, while Araki is a righty so we’ll see if Ogawa decides to platoon them for a while. Ueda was leading the Eastern League with 20 steals when he was called up.

Araki and Morioka will battle it out for the shortstop position.

Guiel’s call up comes in the wake of Barnette’s return to the States freeing up an import slot on the active roster. Barnette is eligible to return to the active roster as early as the 26th, but no timetable has been set for his return. I assume either Guiel or Whitesell will be sent down upon Barnette’s return.

The removal of Nakamura from the active roster means that the Swallows are only carrying 2 catchers at the moment. So don’t expect Kawamoto to be making pinch hit appearances too early in the game. I wonder who could play emergency catcher in both were to go down. I seem to remember reading  Jamie D’Antona volunteering for the job when he was on the team.

Fernandes Promotion? Finally, Brazilian ikusei pitcher Rafael Fernandes was rumored to be in consideration for a regular contract earlier this week. Some reports had said the team would make their decision based on his performance on the 21st. In that game against the Carp’s farm team Fernandes only pitched 1.0 innings facing 6 batters, 4 in the first and 2 in the second. He gave up a hit, a walk, and a dead ball, but no runs. It’s not entirely clear if he left due to injury or just because he gave up consecutive runners to start the second inning. Fernandes is a graduate of Hakuoh University (the same university as Iihara BTW) and would not be subject to import restrictions should he ever make the first team.

Quo Vadimus

Our Opponents: This week we’ll face the Orix Buffaloes at home and then hop on the train to face the Saitama Seibu Lions at the Seibu Dome. Both teams have gone 4-2 through the first 6 games of interleague play. Neither team has had a particularly hot season so far. The Buffaloes sit in the bottom of the Pacific League standings and are last in the league in both team batting average (.215) and team ERA (3.62). That being said, they do have the second lowest Interleague team ERA (1.98). The only truly notable player right now is former major league utility man So Taguchi, who just made his 2011 debut just prior to the Interleague and is hitting a solid .385 in his first 9 games. Other names to remember are Sakaguchi and T-Okada. If we can’t beat the Buffaloes, we’re gonna have problems.

Seibu on the other hand have not quite been the same after flaming out of the Pacific League Climax Series last year. They still have all the pieces to be good, but they haven’t quite gotten it together yet. The Swallows will probably face the solid duo of Kishi and Hoashi. Kishi will only be making his 3rd start after he sat out the first month with an injury. All Star shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima is having a bit of an off year but he’s still plenty dangerous. Last week the Lions did not worry me too much, but this week I’m not sure if we can take them.

The day will start at 9:00 when the Jingu field will be opened for fans. You’ll have a chance to walk on the field and also sign up for 2011 Fan Club membership. For those of you looking for Swwallows swag, the team will have various items for sale, including Swallows fukubukuros. More booths will open up at 10:00, mostly for sponsors shilling their wares. 10:00 will also be the start of the Tokyo Mascot Collection event, in which Tsubakuro will be joined by 15 other mascots that represent everything from Tokyo Tower to Hino Cable television.

The players will join the festivities at 11:00 with a short opening address. After that, players will man various booths, and you’ll also have the opportunity to play catch with select players. Keiichi Matsuoka and Kyohei Muranaka’s family business, will also have booths selling their wares. The field will be cleared off at 12:30 in preparation for the main event which will begin at 13:00.

The Main event will be a show on the field that will most likely feature some field day activities like tug-of-war and some cross-dressing karaoke. For Americans from the South, imagine high school football pep rallies with professional ball players. The actual details of the events are sketchy, but should be a good time for all ages. For reference witness Genki Nitta, Rafael Fernandes, and Koji Tsukamoto glaming it up at last year’s Fan Appreciation Day.

The events will end at 15:00 giving you plenty of time to celebrate Labour Day. The event will continue under light rain conditions, but will be canceled under heavy rain. The determination of whether to cancel the event will be made around 7:00 tomorrow morning. Check the Swallows website, or our Twitter feed for any news on the events’ cancellation. If you plan to walk on the field do not go wearing high heels, and if you plan on playing some catch bring a glove.

Tokyo 1st-round pick, lefty Katsuki Akagawa.

The amateur draft took place last night, but the media only picked up the fact that Yomiuri landed a big-hitting kid by the name of Taishi Ota out of Tokaidai Sagami High School as their first pick.

Anyway, while it may come as a surprise to the media that 11 other teams were present at the event, we here at tsubamegun would like to take this opportunity to let you know who Tokyo came away with.

1st pick:

Tokyo opted for a left-handed high school pitcher by the name of Katsuki Akagawa. The 184cm tall 18 year-old has a fastball in the 140′s.

2nd pick:

Ryousuke Yagi, another left-handed pitcher fresh out of high school, was Tokyo’s second pick. He apparently has a decent fastball-slider combo.

3rd pick:

Tokyo used its third pick of the draft to select Ryuuhei Nakamura. Nakamura is a right-handed catcher with a decent arm. Like the two guys picked before him, he is 18 years old.

4th pick:

Ryou Hidaka was the third (and final) 18 year-old, left-handed pitcher that Tokyo selected last night. He is said to have good balance with a fastball that can reach the 140′s.

5th pick:

Tokyo crowded the bullpen just a little more by picking its second catcher of the night. Genki Nitta (yes, you read his first name correctly) is the only guy out of the five that is old enough to drink (in Japan). For the record, he turned 26 in August. Nitta went to Chuo University and then spent time with Panasonic in the Industrial League. Hopefully he’ll be able to kick one of our many useless catchers back down to the farm team by the end of March 2009.

Ikusei (?? – supplementary) Draft

1st pick:

Rafael Miranda Fernandes (22 years old) is a right-handed pitcher with a fastball that is in the high 140′s.

2nd pick:

Kouji Tsukamoto (26 years old) is a right-handed submarine style pitcher.

And there you have it! I can tell you right now that Garrett will not be impressed with these picks. He’s been predicting that this would happen since last season when they decided to combine the two drafts–18 year-olds being picked over everyone else.

Young pitchers tend to get snagged early on; with pitching being so vital to a team’s success, many teams (on both sides of the Pacific) are willing to take their chances on relatively unproven (read: high school) arms.

However, it seems that Takada is trying desperately to find a left-handed version of Yuu Darvish. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why he chose to waste use his first four picks on high school players.

A few teams, namely Yokohama, Hanshin, Hokkaido and Chiba, were smart enough to use their first three picks to claim negotiating rights with university/corporate players.

Which, of course, is not to say that there aren’t at least a few fantastic players at the high school level right now. It would just be nice if people would learn from their own (and other’s) mistakes every once in a while.

Well, for a good rundown of all 12 team’s picks in English, check Deanna’s blog.