An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Pitcher Ricky Barrett (no. 18), the Swallows’ first year lefty who pitched in the Minnesota Twins organization, reportedly left for the United States today. The 28-year-old has been having trouble with his throwing-arm elbow, and he apparently has decided to get it looked at by a doctor back home.
Pitcher Hiromitsu Takagi (no.58) and infielder Ryo Yoshimoto (no. 40) have been called up to the first team to replace Ricky Barrett (P) and Shinya Miyamoto (IF). Takagi is a right-handed pitcher in his fourth year with the birds, and this is his first call-up of the season. In 17 appearances with the farm team [...]
Pitchers Kousuke Matsui and Ricky Barrett were brought up from the farm team yesterday, and both of them made appearances after our starter, Kyouhei Muranaka, threw what amounted to batting practice for the first two innings of the game. Right-handed pitcher Kousuke Matsui (no. 44) turns 31 this month and is in his fourth year [...]
August 14th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 12 Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: LWLLL (Nagoya Dome) The listless Swallows ventured to Nagoya, still reeling from last night’s whupping by the Yokohama BayStars. And to add one more item to the list of things that are not working in Tokyo’s favor, Chunichi has [...]
With the season now entering it’s second half, let’s have a look at how the Tokyo starting rotation is shaping up for the playoff push.
April 15th, 2009 Yomiuri Giants 6 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: WLWLL (Jingu Stadium) Tokyo left a bunch of guys on base tonight and weren’t able to apply pressure in the later innings of the game. So the inaugural edition of the annual Tokyo derby, unlike last year, ended up being [...]
