An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Read that headline carefully folks… That is MASAHIKO Tanaka of the Marines, not Masahiro Tanaka of the Eagles. The Swallows did not add a super ace to the roster, instead they acquired a third string catcher at the low low price of a third string catcher. Ryohei Kawamoto will be headed the other way to [...]
Here are a few things that you might not remember about the players currently on the Tokyo roster: In Fukuchi’s first year with the Swallows (2008), he hit .320/.366/.449. Keizo Kawashima stole 20 bags in his first year with the team (2008) while only getting caught once. However, in 2009 he stole eight but got [...]
Tokyo’s Japanese-language website reported that catcher Ryouhei Kawamoto had successful surgery to repair ligament damage in his right ankle on the 17th of this month. It is projected that he will require up to two months to heal completely. Rookie pitcher, Kentaro Kyuko, also had surgery recently. On Monday November 21st, Kyuko had surgery on [...]
April 29th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Hanshin Tigers 4 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWWWL (Koshien Stadium) Tokyo’s magnificent run of good form finally came to an end as they ran into a very effective starter in Kubo. This game saw some interesting switches within the lineup as Miyamoto and Aikawa both had [...]
July 8th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10 Hanshin Tigers 6 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLLLW (Koshien) With D’Antona on the farm team, and Guiel and Whitesell watching from the bench, the Tokyo Swallows looked to avoid a Koshien sweep at the hands of the Hanshin Tigers with Mikinori Katoh on the mound for the [...]
How We Got There The Swallows came into June fresh off the Takada firing, and were only 4 games into the Ogawa regime. The Birds were looking to build on the 1-2-1 record they had compiled under Ogawa, by exacting revenge on the Pacific League teams that had swept them in May. How We Did [...]
April 20th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Chunichi Dragons 3 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: LWLWL (Nagoya Dome) Tokyo continued their inability to string together more than one win as Chunichi edged a tight game in Nagoya, with a calamitous 5th inning screw up from Hiroyasu Tanaka ultimately proving the difference between the teams. Tonight’s lineup: Miwa [...]
April 3rd, 2010 Yokohama Baystars 12 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 13 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WWLWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) What a journey this game turned out to be. After a solid performance in his first start of the year at Tokyo Dome, Yoshinori proved to be infinitely hittable during this afternoon’s contest. Case in [...]
October 1st, 2008 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 3 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 13 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LLLWW (Jingu Stadium) Don’t call it a comeback. Another hiccup for Hiroshima at the hands of Tokyo as the Swallows put up another big mid-game inning and walked all over the visitors. Hiroshima scored first off of Tokyo starter, [...]
June 9th, 2008 Chiba Lotte Marines 5 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Streak: Lost 3 (Home game: Jingu Stadium) Chiba starter, Ono, got the win on only five innings of work and 68 pitches. Kamada took the loss, his second in 14 relief appearances, for the home team. Nishioka hit a leadoff home run in the [...]
