It’s that time of year again. Spring camp has begun, and the players are all gearing up for another season of sweeping all before them (well, the Giants players are anyway.) The salary negotiations are done and our heroes in the Tokyo uniforms now know how much they will be earning to follow the instructions [...]

The current key series with the ever-lovable (cough) Hanshin Tigers is proving to be a costly one, even if Tokyo do manage to take tonight’s game to win the series.

September 25th, 2009

Yokohama BayStars 2

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 3  Last 5: LLWWW
(Jingu Stadium)
For the third time in as many games a Tokyo starter lasted all nine innings, and the birds were able to continue their mini-revival (third win in a row) versus the 6th-place BayStars.

September 23rd, 2009

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1
Streak: Won 2      Last : LLLWW
(Mazda Stadium)
The day after Takagi threw a complete game shutout, Yuki went the distance himself as Tokyo won only their second series in the last  month and a half. The same two pitchers were at the helm for the series [...]

September 6th, 2009

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2
Yomiuri Giants 4
Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: LWDLL
(Tokyo Dome)
Well if Friday was a travesty of justice, and yesterday a feeble blowout, then today was simple wastefulness. Tokyo outhit the Giants 8 to 6 and had a few good chances to score more runs but as has been their problem [...]

September 3rd, 2009

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4
Hanshin Tigers 2

Streak: Won 1    Last 5:  LLLLW
(Koshien)
Tokyo finally broke it’s losing streak on the back of a solid, complete-game 134-pitch performance by Ishikawa.

August 25th, 2009

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1

Streak: Won 1     Last : LWLLW
(Mazda Stadium)
What a shitty month it’s been for the Swallows, yet to win a series in August. Frigidly cold in the hottest of months, I’m glad I’ve been out of the country for most of it. One team they haven’t [...]

August 18th, 2009

Hanshin Tigers 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Streak: Lost 1     Last 5:  LLLWL
(Jingu Stadium)
Let it never be said that chances weren’t created in this game. Tokyo put plenty of runners on base, but they were phenomenally unsuccessful at getting them to cross home plate. Such is the overriding theme of this game [...]

Well, it’s been a rough start to the second half of the season, folks. The birds have only won four of their 12 games that they’ve played since the All-Star Break in late July.
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 [...]

August 4th, 2009

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Yokohama BayStars 4

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: LWWLW
(Yokohama Stadium)
After losing a close, extra-innings game against the Dragons on Sunday, the birds headed south a few miles to take on the cellar-dwelling Yokohama. The Swallows hoped to replicate last season’s second-half resurgence against the pesky Baystars, a team that Tokyo has [...]