Tokyo Swallows 0

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: WLDLL

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Chunichi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	5	0
W: Yoshimi (2-0) L: Roman (0-1) S: Iwase (3)

	Swallows		Dragons
1	2B Tanaka	1	2B Araki
2	CF Ueda	2	CF Oshima
3	LF Milledge	3	3B Morino
4	1B Hatakeyama	4	1B Yamasaki
5	SS Kawabata	5	LF Wada
6	3B Miyamoto	6	SS Ibata
7	RF Balentien	7	RF Hirata
8	C Aikawa	8	C Tanishige
9	P Roman	9	P Yoshimi

Tonight was the regular season debut for Roman. After a tough opening inning, he settled down and pitched six strong innings.

The Swallows opened the game by going down in order. In the home half of the first, the Dragons got a run early. The inning started off with Araki reaching base on a single to right. He was bunted over to second by Oshima. Roman walked Morino to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Former Rakuten big man, Yamasaki was up next. He flew out to left for the second out. Although he was a bit jittery to start the game, Roman looked to be settling down. He was one out away from getting out of the early jam. The next batter, Wada, would be a tough out.  They were battling and with the count 2-2, Wada got the upper hand. He hit a liner to left that scored Araki from second. 1-0 Chunichi.

Ibata would end the inning by lining out to 1st.

The next few innings were a good time to eat some food for the patrons in attendance because not much happened until the bottom of the 7th. Roman gave up two hits to start the inning. Tanishige bunted them over to 2nd and 3rd. That also meant the end of the evening for Roman. Hidaka replaced him on the mound. He promptly walked the batter, Fujii to load the bases. Hidaka’s job done, he was replaced by Oshimoto.

Side note. I can volunteer my services to come into any game and throw 4 balls for the unintentional intentional walk for any team. Please contact me at i_will_walk_all_batters@gmail.com

Sorry, back to the game.

Araki was the first man to face Oshimoto. He flew out to Ueda in center. Thinking that young Ueda did not have much of an arm, Ibata tried to tag-up and score from third base. MISTAKE!!! Inning ending double-play reads on the score sheet “8-2″. It was a great throw by Ueda and and a great tag by “El Capitan”, Aikawa.

The Birds would make some noise in the top half of the 8th but were eventually shut down by Asao. Iwase closed out the game for his 3rd save of the season. 1-0 Chunichi, FINAL.

Unfortunately, the Swallows bats did not make it to Nagoya in time for the game. As such, the Birds were unable to really do any damage against Yoshimi and the rest of the Dragons staff. Which meant that the Swallows were shut out for the first time this season.

But, tomorrow is a new day. My sources have confirmed that there has been a recent delivery of baseball equipment to the Swallows locker room at Nagoya Dome and that their bats were included in that delivery.

Let’s hope we see more pain and suffering like this:

Notes

Yomiuri Giants 1

Tokyo Swallows  3

Series: Swallows Win 2-1

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Yomiuri	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	2
Tokyo	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	X	3	7	0
W: Akagawa (1-0) L: Gonzalez (0-1) S: Muranaka (1)

Based on the comments received in yesterday’s game report, you don’t need to read this report to find out that the Swallows won game 3 of their series against the hated Giants. The raw details of what happened and the sequence of events that lead to the victory are available elsewhere. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to offer a game report with my own personal insights watching as a fan from the right field stands of Jingu…

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	SS Sakamoto	1	CF Aoki
2	2B Terauchi	2	2B Tanaka
3	CF Chono	3	LF Whitesell
4	C Abe	4	1B Hatakeyama
5	LF Ramirez	5	3B Miyamoto
6	1B Ogasawara	6	RF Balentien
7	RF Tani	7	SS Morioka
8	3B Furuki	8	C Aikawa
9	P Gonzalez	9	P Akagawa

No matter how well I had tried to mentally justify our position prior to the game, I did not come into tonight’s game cofortable with the idea that we could win. Call it pessimism or realism, I did go to the game tonight mentally preparing for the possibility that our season would end. The negatives (injuries, lack of offense throughout the series, losing momentum after game 2, starting a young pitcher in a pressure game, etc.) had piled higher in my mind than the positives (Akagawa has been effective, Dicky Gonzalez is not the second coming, we’ve come back from a lot of bad positions all year, etc.)

The Monday night crowd was less than that of the 2 weekend games, with an announced attendance of 31,687. But with clear skies and the moon in the sky I knew it would be a beautiful night for baseball even if the crowd was a touch smaller. Akagawa allayed my fears that he would buckle under the pressure with consecutive 1-2-3 innings culminating with strikeouts to start the game. On offense, our inability to score runs right away let the doubt monster creep into my head, but the fact that we managed to get the first hit of the game in the first (Whitesell infield single no less) helped keep the paranoia from taking over.

Doubt began to manifest again when the Giants got their first hit from Furuki with 1 out in the top of the third. The Giants gave us a free out by bunting Furuki over to second, and Akagawa got Sakamoto to ground out to third for the final out. When Aikawa started the bottom of the inning with a solo homerun down the left field line, and drew first blood for the Swallows for the first time in the series, I started to believe that we could win. 1-0 Swallows

That belief would get tested in subsequent innings, as Akagawa allowed consecutive 2 out walks (on 8 pitches no less) in the fourth, consecutive 1 out hits to put on the corners (to the pitcher no less) in the fifth, and a lead off single to start the sixth. But each time, Akagawa regrouped and managed to get the Giants to end the inning without any damage. While Akagawa continued to put up zeros on the top of the scoreboard, the Swallows were unfortunately doing the same thing.

When Akagawa’s night came to an end with 2 outs and a man on second in the seventh, another thought of uncertainty crossed my mind as Oshimoto made his way to the mound. Would we see the reliable Oshimoto or the tired and overworked Oshimoto? These toxic thoughts weren’t able to take root as Oshimoto struck out Sakamoto on just 4 pitches to end the threat.

Things got wild in the bottom of the inning. Miyamoto got on base via a 1 out infield single, but it looked like Balentien had ended the inning with a double play when he grounded out to short. Fortunately, Terauchi wasn’t able to turn the play as his throw missed first base by a mile. Balentien, who had ran hard to try to beat the throw, was half way into right field before he turned to take second base. Ueda came in to run for Balentien, and Morioka came up to bat. Morioka fell behind 0-2, but managed to lace a liner into left field while Ueda was running on contact. Ueda ran towards home and dove in head first, narrowly avoiding the tag, to score the insurance run. 2-0 Swallows

Muranaka came into the game and shut down Giants in the eighth on just 7 pitches. While it seemed like the Swallows were getting closer to closing out the series, there was palpable nervousness in the air as the lead was still relatively small. The Swallows offense gave us a chance to forget about failure as a wild series of events further extended our lead. Aoki started things off with a 1 out double down the left field line that most of us in right assumed was a foul ball. Hiroyasu followed with a hard hit to second that Terauchi let get past him for an error. Aoki turned the corner and headed to home but his barrel roll of a slide into home apparently did not avoid Abe’s tag. (It was too far for us to really determine.) Hiroyasu advanced to second on the throw, and Fukuchi was up with 2 outs. Before any thoughts of changing of momentum could take root, Fukuchi took the first pitch he saw and hit it into right. This time the runner was able to score from second without problem. 3-0 Swallows

So it was up to Muranaka to close out the game and prevent us all from having an aneurism. Things started off nicely with a 3 pitch strikeout of Ramirez. At this point I was huddled shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Tsubamegun friends. Unfortunately Ogasawara had to add some drama to the proceedings with a solo shot to right field. 3-1 Swallows But unlike Saturday, Muranaka would stay in the game even as Tateyama could be seen warming up in the pen. Despite the home run, the Swallows crowd did not lose any energy. Muranaka battled Tani and got a ground out to third to make it 1 out from the win. The Giants sent Yoshinobu Takahashi to the plate and he got ahead 2-1. Then we channeled nervous energy to start a Muranaka chant that was quickly picked up by our section and then propagated by the ouendan. The sight of half the stadium chanting for Muranaka and drowning out the Giants cheers was moving and can’t be adequately described in words. Muranaka responded by getting a foul ball, and a massive wiff from Takahashi to end the game and the series.

The next few moments were a flurry of high fives and hugs. I’ll be honest, I cried a little. Not as much as Ishii’s retirement, but the feeling of unity with my friends and thousands of strangers tugged at my heart strings. While the Swallows will move onto Nagoya, I will have to remain in Tokyo. Regardless of what happens at Nagoya, those games won’t be able to beat the emotion I felt in the packed crowd tonight. I hope to see the Swallows bring the action back to Jingu for the Japan Series. Even if they can’t bring it back, I will always have tonight’s game to remember… I feel lucky to have been able to share this moment with many great people of various backgrounds, and I thank the Swallows and this site for that opportunity.

Post Game Celebrations. It wasn't the prettiest win, but a memorable night because of it. (Photo taken by Chris Pellegrini)

Hiroshima Carp 0

Tokyo Swallows  1

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: WLLLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

After reluctantly relinquishing their lead in the CL standings, the Swallows return home to squeak out a win.

Yeah, that was more like it.

In tonight’s game, I was interested in seeing how Akagawa would do after his no decision against Yokohama last weekend. Surprise, surprise. He came out and got his 6th win. There was not much action on the bases for either team tonight, as they combined for 5 hits.

After quite a few 1-2-3 innings for both sides and a couple of double-plays, the Birds finally did enough to scrape out a win in the seventh. After a lead-off walk by Boo, Whitesell hit into a fielders choice and was replaced on the bases by Tanaka. With one out, Balentein grounded out to third. Tanaka moved to second on the play. That was followed by another walk, this time to Morioka. Aikawa was next up at the dish. He delivered in the clutch, unlike a few Yankees the previous night!

Guess what, I don't just catch the ball. I can smack the s@#t out of it too!!

He hit a nice “timely hit” to left to score the speedy Tanaka. 1 – 0 Tokyo

When I get on base, all I do is score. Yeah, baby!!

Akagawa ended the inning with a ground out  to second.

As Garrett’s favorite role model Porky Pig would say, “bibiba.. That’s all folks!”

The game would end two innings later after a throwing error by Morioka (playing in place of the pneumonia-strickened Morimoto), sent Akagawa to the bench 2 outs away from a complete game. Lim came in to finish the ninth inning and the game. However, there is never a dull moment with Lim. Inheriting a runner on second, Lim induced a ground out before walking Kurihara to put runners on the corners. A pass ball would allow Kurihara to move to second. Lim, one of the few people in Japan who can sweat more than this writer, wiped away the sweat from his brow one more time. He buckled down and threw one more fastball to get Matsuyama to fly out to end the game. Phew!!

Notes

• Akagawa is now 6 – 1
• The Dragons drew with the Rabbits of the Tokyo Dome to stay atop the table.
• Tomorrow will see the Carp battle the Birds again. Potential starters will be Ootake for Toyo and Hirai for Yakult.
• 16576 witnessed this pitching gem.

MLB Note:

• Although, I am not a fan of the Detroit Tigers, I look forward to seeing this happen to the Yankees every year:

Another rip-off performance by A-fraud.

What does $200 million get us? Nothing but overplayed players with over-priced tattoos. The Yankees lose! THAAAAAAAAA Yankees loooooooosssssseeee!

Tokyo Swallows 3

Hanshin Tigers 9

Streak: Lost 1     Last 5: WLLWL

(Kyocera Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	1
Hanshin	0	2	0	3	3	1	0	0	X	9	14	0
W: Nishimura (1-0/2.18) L: Ishikawa (9-8/2.72)

Tokyo’s season-defining twelve game stretch got off to the worst possible start as their ailing pitching staff were knocked about by Hanshin to the tune of fourteen hits and nine runs. Meanwhile in Nagoya, an almost inevitable Chunichi come from behind win against Hiroshima reduced the Tokyo lead to a solitary game.

	Us		Them
1	CF Aoki	1	CF Hirano
2	LF Fukuchi	2	2B Yamato
3	SS Kawabata	3	SS Toritani
4	1B Hatakeyama	4	3B Arai
5	RF Balentien	5	1B Brazell
6	3B Miyamoto	6	RF Murton
7	2B Tanaka	7	LF Kanemoto
8	C Aikawa	8	C Fujii
9	P Ishikawa	9	P Akiyama

After a spell out with pneumonia (yes, you read that right. The same illness is also responsible for Kyuko’s current, and possibly season ending, absence) Ishikawa started and looked laboured from the off, but he got through the 1st inning unscathed after a lead-off single from Hirano, stranding the runner at third.

And he found himself with a lead in the top of the 2nd against Hanshin starter Akiyama. Two singles from Balentien and Miyamoto got the inning off to a promising start, and the inevitable Tanaka sac bunt moved them both into scoring positions. Aikawa then hit deep enough to right for a run scoring sacfly, 1-0 Tokyo. After Ishikawa worked himself a walk, Aoki could only ground out to short stranding the two men on the corners.

But the lead wouldn’t last. In the bottom of the inning, two one-out singles for Murton and Kanemoto put two men on. Fujii then quite uncharacteristically came up with a timely hit (the beginning of what would prove a fruitful night for the sub-par catcher), through the infield to right, scoring a run to make it 1-1. Balentien then fluffed his pickup of the ball, allowing Kanemoto to make it to third on the error. An error which would prove costly, as Kanemoto would score on the subsequent groundout to Ishikawa, as the Swallows failed to turn the 1-4-3 double play, 2-1 Hanshin.

The Swallows showed they had a bit of life left in them though, as a Kawabata walk, a Hatakeyama single and a Balentien sacfly made it 2-2 in the 3rd.

After Ishikawa registered his first 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 3rd, the game was effectively over as a contest after the 4th. A Brazell solo homer led off the inning for 3-2 Hanshin, before two hits put men on the corners with one out. Ogawa had seen enough of Ishikawa as he summoned the bullpen into action. And in all you need to know about the current state of said bullpen, Hashimoto, a farm team arm at best, took his place on the mound tasked with trying to get out of the jam. Cue a walk, a single, a sacfly and a 5-2 scoreline.

Hashimoto (4.40) was gone, with Katoh appearing in his place. And he managed to get Toritani to ground out to first to escape the inning.

Two walks and two hits in the 5th made it 7-2, with Katoh (9.00) then making way for Matsui who gave up another hit to make it 8-2 before getting out of the inning.

And Hanshin’s final run came in the 6th off Matsui (4.39), as a walk, a single and a run-scoring double play from Brazell brought up a 9-2 scoreline.

The only positive of the night was forgotten man Ichiba (5.40) working hitless 7th and 8th innings.

Tokyo’s bats were held to just two hits from the 4th to the 8th innings by the Hanshin bullpen (Akiyama only lasted 2.1 innings), and they added a consolation run in the 9th off reliever Kobayashi, as a walk for Morioka (in for Miyamoto), a single for Nakamura (in for Aikawa) and a RBI hit for Yuichi (in for the pitcher) made it 9-3 Hanshin Final.

Ishikawa took the loss for his brief 3.1IP/7H/2K/0BB/5R/4ER shift.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow evening. Things are not looking good, at least to these eyes. At all.

Tokyo Swallows 4

Yokohama BayStars 3

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: WWLLW

(Yokohama Stadium)

After watching its young pitchers get knocked about the park for the past two days, Tokyo looked to salvage a bit of pride against the recently very feisty BayStars.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	4	12	1
Yokohama	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	10	0
W: Hidaka (2-0) L: Takasaki (5-14) S: Lim (30)

	Tokyo		Yokohama
1	Aoki CF	1	Shimozono LF
2	Fukuchi LF	2	Watanabe SS
3	Kawabata SS	3	Tsutsugoh 1B
4	Hatakeyama 1B	4	Murata 3B
5	Balentien RF	5	Naito RF
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Matsumoto CF
7	Tanaka 2B	7	Fujita 2B
8	Aikawa C	8	Hosoyamada C
9	Yamamoto P	9	Takasaki P

Tokyo opened the scoring on a solo Hatakeyama effort into the very top of the bleachers in left in the top of the fourth. His 23rd homer of the year made it 1-0 Tokyo.

But Yokohama answered in the bottom of the inning in the form of a Murata bomb into the visitor’s section. 1-1.

Straight pudding.

Then it was Tokyo’s turn. Aikawa’s second single in as many at-bats was followed by a Yamamoto sac bunt and an Aoki RBI double to put the Swallows back in front. 2-1 Tokyo.

But the home side replied once again. Watanabe’s two out infield single was later rewarded with an Aikawa throwing error when Watanabe was in the process of swiping second. Tsutsugoh then lofted one high off the wall in left for a double and the satisfaction of again leveling the score. 2-2.

Tokyo up again in the top of the sixth. After two outs from Hatakeyama and Balentien, Miyamoto, Tanaka and Aikawa showered left field with a double, a single and another double to plate two more runs and put the Swallows back in the lead. 4-2 Tokyo.

Yokohama didn’t answer for a while, but things got hairy in the bottom of the ninth with Lim on the mound trying to protecting the two run lead. After getting the first out on a pop fly to short, pinch-hitter, Aranami, fouled off most of what he saw and finally poked a grounder through the gap between short and third.

That was promptly followed by a soft Ide grounder to short that was a little too slow to be picked up and turned into an out. Shimozono then hit a fielder’s choice to short that very nearly became a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, but the throw to first didn’t make it in time, and the result was runners on the corners with two outs. Very unlucky for Lim, and bad news for Tokyo.

Watanabe then came to the plate representing the winning run. The 3-1 pitch is when he finally came through for the home team with a tricky one-hopper to Kawabata’s left. He got a glove on it, but couldn’t keep it in front of him, and Aranami scored from third. 3-2 Tokyo.

Runners on first and second, and Tsutsugoh at the plate. Tsutsugoh, who had already doubled twice off the wall in left, took a heavy swipe at the first high fastball he saw, and he  swung again at the next heater which was low and away. Both were fouled off behind him to temporarily put Lim in the driver’s seat.

But it wasn’t until Tsutsugoh had worked the count to 2-2 that Lim finally got a batter to swing at something in the dirt. This time it was a forkball, and the win was preserved. 3-2 Final.

Yamamoto (1-6; 3.96 ERA) didn’t figure in the final scoreline after throwing 90 pitches through four and two-thirds innings. He gave up two earned runs off of five hits and mixed in two strikeouts, four walks and a single wild pitch.

Instead, Hidaka got the win for his third of an inning and six pitches of work. It was his second win of the season, and his ERA budged slightly to 7.04.

Oshimoto (2.83 ERA) just barely held things together in the sixth before pitching a much more confident seventh, and Matsuoka (2.56) came through with a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.

Lim recorded his 30th save of the 2011 season, and the one earned run pushed his ERA up to 2.25 through 59 appearances.

Tanaka, who was batting seventh for the first time in a long time, was selected as the hero of the game for his three hits and one RBI (the go-ahead run in the sixth). Aikawa had a similar day at the plate going 3-4 with an RBI of his own. Aoki and Kawabata also had multi-hit games with the former adding an RBI in the top of the fifth.

Tokyo have the day off tomorrow and will take on the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien from Tuesday to Thursday. They’ll be back at Jingu on Friday through Sunday for a three game series against the fifth place Hiroshima Carp.

Notes:

Thankfully the Swallows didn’t face pitching of the caliber that they saw on Friday. Yokohama’s Miura was his old self during that game. In this afternoon’s game, however, Tokyo faced friendlier pitching and outhit Yokohama 12-10.

Hatakeyama leads the league in RBIs (82) and walks (69).

Lim has reached the 30 save mark for the third time since joining Tokyo for the 2008 season.

Tanaka can be a good hitter when he doesn't have to bunt all the time.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/02/10211-yokohama-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/09/19/91911-yokohama-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=91911-yokohama-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/09/19/91911-yokohama-home/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:12:55 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=10621 September 19th, 2011

Yokohama BayStars 1

Tokyo Swallows 3

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: WWTLW

(Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo are the first team in the Central League to 60 wins.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
YB	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	10	1
TS	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	7	1
W: Akagawa (4-1) L: Fukuyama (0-1) S: Lim (27)

	Yokohama		Tokyo
1	Watanabe (2B)	1	Aoki (CF)
2	Aranami (CF)	2	Tanaka (2B)
3	Ishikawa (SS)	3	Kawabata (SS)
4	Murata (3B)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Tsutsugo (1B)	5	Takeuchi (LF)
6	Shimozono (LF)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Yoshimura (RF)	7	Balentien (RF)
8	Kurobane (SC)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Kuniyoshi (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

After a bit of a wobble last night, the birds looked to take advantage of Yokohama’s 6′ 5″ (195 cm) second year right-hander, Kuniyoshi, who has yet to claim his first NPB win.

Yokohama struck first. In the second inning, Murata singled off of Tokyo starter, Akagawa, to get things started. Yokohama’s third baseman then showed some impressive wheels as he scored on Tsutsugo’s double into the gap in left-center. 1-0 Yokohama.

Despite getting two runners on base in both the first and second innings, Tokyo wasn’t able to capitalize. But Aoki drew the game level in the bottom of the third when he clubbed an elevated heater high off the foul pole in right. 1-1.

It was Aoki’s third homer of the year and his second hard hit to right field of the game.

Akagawa was perfect in the third and fourth, but he caused some concern in the fifth and sixth innings. After recording the first two outs in the sixth, he gave up a double and then walked the next two batters to juice the bases. He finally got out of the inning when Nakamura (the guy who used to play for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, LA Dodgers, Orix Buffaloes, Chunichi Dragons and Tohoku Eagles) grounded out (6-4).

But Tokyo’s resilient starter would end up getting the win with a little help from Yokohama and it’s oversized-59-50-wearing baby-faced rookie reliever, Fukuyama. Hatakeyama led off with a single to center and was then bunted over to second by Takeuchi. Miyamoto managed to get Hatakeyama over to third with a tricky 4-3 groundout which brought Balentien to the plate.

At one point during the at-bat, Fukuyama leaned forward to read the catcher’s sign, stood up slightly, then went back to his forward learning position. His body language and facial expression made it seem like he had missed something. Fortunately for the Swallows, the umpire decided that Fukuyama had stopped and then restarted his pitching motion without properly disengaging his foot from the pitching rubber which constitutes a balk. So Hatakeyama was awarded a base. 2-1 Tokyo.

Yokohama threatened to score in the top of the seventh with Oshimoto on the mound for Tokyo. Watanabe’s leadoff single to left would have been a double if Hatakeyama had been in the area, but Takeuchi fielded, pivoted and threw the ball so quickly that the fleet-footed Watanabe was nailed sliding head-first into second base. Oshimoto allowed two more base-runners after that, but the inning ended with Tsutsugo’s grounder to third.

Tsutsugo. That’s a fun name to say.

Aikawa added an insurance run in the seventh when he hit his first homer of the season into the reserved seats in left. 3-1 Final.

With a broken thumb, no less!

After Matsuoka threw a perfect eighth to defend the two-run lead (three batters, nine pitches), Lim came on to try and secure his 27th save of the season. He looked very sharp through the first two batters but then lost the ceiling on his control and started leaving a lot of pitches up. An Aranami triple later (the outfield was drawn in a bit too far) and Lim was facing the tying run in the form of Ishikawa who had struck out three times against Arakawa but singled against Oshimoto.

Lim hit his spots spots only three times during that at-bat, but it was all that he needed as Ishikawa went down looking and the Swallows celebrated their 13th win of September.

Tokyo will travel a few stations down the Chuo Sobu train line for tomorrow night’s game against Yomiuri. It is their last regular season game against their rivals in 2011.

Weather-permitting, the Swallows will be back at Jingu again on Wednesday for a game against Hiroshima.

Notes:

• The Tokyo Swallows have amassed 13 wins against two losses and one tie during the month of September.
• Akagawa and Aoki took the podium for the post-game hero’s interview.
• Akagawa, despite his occasional control issues, has been a very nice surprise for the Swallows during the second half of this season. He is now 4-1 with a 1.96 ERA.
• Aoki leads the team with a .331 batting average this month. Kawabata had been leading the team in September up until this game. He’s now in second behind Aoki after a one-for-four evening at the plate.
• Aoki had to climb the fence in right to retrieve one of his signature red towels that he had attempted to throw into the crowd after the game. The towel unraveled mid-flight and got lodged in the netting above the blue padded wall. Tokyo’s center-fielder avoided a freak injury with a clean dismount despite Tsubakuro’s best attempts to get in the way.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Yokohama BayStars 0

Streak: Won 2  Last 5: WWLWW

(Yokohama Stadium)

If there’s one thing that’s been backwards over the past few years, it has been the difficulty Tokyo has had with Japan’s most-unfortunately nicknamed, and most unfortunate, club, the BayStars. Thankfully, that has changed.

Akagawa notched his second win with a 97-pitch, 4-hit, 6-strike out, no-walk seven innings – his best showing of late.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
TS	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	4	7	1
YB	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1

	Tokyo		Yokohama
1	Aoki (CF)	1	Shimozono (RF)
2	Tanaka (2B)	2	Ishikawa (SS)
3	Kawabata (SS)	3	Sledge (LF)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Murata (3B)
5	Takeuchi (LF)	5	Nakamura (1B)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Kinjoh (CF)
7	Balentien (RF)	7	Watanabe (2B)
8	Aikawa (C)	8	Kurobane (C)
9	Akagawa (P)	9	Kuniyoshi (P)

For 69, and the lead.

The game started well. Aoki was walked and, as always, Tanaka bunted, but what’s this? He reached base. No waste. Instead, surprise and joy. (Anytime Tanaka, who can hit, follows an Aoki success by not intentionally getting out, it’s a cause for celebration.)

Tanaka having missed the opportunity to give away an out, Kawabata did so and moved both runners into scoring position. Hatakeyama followed this with a hard grounder into center field for a single and two RBIs, which brought him to 69 for the season so far: best in the CL. 2-0 Tokyo.

Over the next four innings, Akagawa pitched well, Kuniyoshi not quite as well, and there were no real offensive stand-outs.

In the sixth, Hatake walked. Takeuchi sac-bunted him to second. Miyamoto popped out to right. Balentien walked. Aikawa then hit a line drive to right, bringing Hatake home, but not Balentien, who got nabbed. 3-0 Tokyo.

In the eighth, after Miyamoto popped out, Balentien singled, Aikawa pulled off a successful hit-and-run, and Iihara hit an RBI sac-fly. Aoki then popped out on the first pitch he faced. Even away, some in the Tokyo side are not about to give him any love when he does well, much less when he does that kind of junk. 4-0 Tokyo, Final.

Matsuoka pitched the eighth, giving up two hits and notching one K. Lim closed with a flawless 18-pitch 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up the win.

Same again tomorrow.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp  3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows  2

Streak: Lost 4      Last 5: DLLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Erm, can’t we just end the regular season right now? Please? Because the way things are going, it seems highly likely that the Swallows will no longer be in possession of first place come this time next week.

Us:

The key moment

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Kawabata (SS)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Takeuchi (LF)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Ishikawa (P)

Ishikawa allowed a man to reach second in the 1st, and men on the corners in the 3rd, but managed to escape both times unscathed. Tokyo marooned two men of their own in the 2nd before taking the lead against Hiroshima starter Bullington in the 4th.

Two two-out singles for Tanaka and Kawabata put men on the corners for Hatakeyama. And the big man hit a chopper to right that escaped the infield to score Tanaka from third for 1-0 Tokyo. Balentien then struck out to end the inning.

But that lead only lasted until the top of the 5th, as a Kurihara solo homer, a walk for Maru and a timely Barden double made it 2-1 Hiroshima.

The Swallows tied things up in the bottom of that frame though, with Aikawa bringing home Miyamoto from third with a single to left, after Shinya had reached third via a double and wild pitch, 2-2.

So then, cue the wasted chances: In the 5th, a one-out double from Kawabata was in vain as both Hatakeyama and Balentien struck out. In the 6th, back to back one-out singles from Miyamoto and Aikawa put two men on, and an Ishikawa sacbunt put them both in scoring position. Only for a clearly despondent Aoki, who is in the biggest crisis of form of his career to date, to ground out to the pitcher to strand the runners with the scores still tied at two.

After that it was time for the respective bullpens to take over. Imamura locked things down for the Carp with a hitless 7th and 8th innings, the 7th via the three straight strikeouts of Tanaka/Kawabata/Hatakeyama.

Barnette (1.83) relieved Ishikawa (7IP/6H/5K/3BB/2ER)  in the 8th, and despite a walk and a single putting men on the corners, he dug deep to get out of the inning without giving up the lead.

Kyuko (1.84) pitched a hitless 9th and we were into extras with Lim taking the mound.

After a flyout for Takuro Ishii and a strikeout for Akamatsu, things seemed to be heading in the right direction. But Kurihara then hit to the wall in left for a double. He was replaced by pinch-runner Nakahigashi. At this point the rain started to come down pretty hard at Jingu, and with Maru at the plate, a wild pitch from Lim escaped through Aikawa to the back stop. Then there was the sickening realisation that Nakahigashi had turned the corner and was heading home. Aikawa made the throw to Lim at home base, but being a pitcher, blocking the plate wasn’t an option so he applied the tag to the now foot first sliding runner. But the home plate ump called him safe, 3-2 Hiroshima.

Ogawa and several other Swallows raced to protest the call, and while it looked incorrect at first glance with the naked eye, replays showed the sliding feet of Nakahigashi did make it home before the tag was applied. Lim looked distraught as the rain continued to pour. He proceeded to walk Maru but managed to strike out Maeda to end the inning.

And so to the bottom of the 10th, with the rain continuing for Carp closer Sarfate. A hit for Hatake and a walk for Takeuchi put two men on with two outs for Miyamoto. He put up quite remarkable display of fight, battling Sarfate for 12 pitches, before grounding out to third to end the game. 3-2 Hiroshima Final.

Ishikawa’s no-decision kept his record at 8-6/2.40, while Lim took the loss, his first of the year as his ERA rose to 2.42.

Tokyo outhit their opposition 12-9, with three hits for Kawabata (.276), and two for Hatakeyama (.273), Miyamoto (.286) and Aikawa (.238). Aikawa’s two hits were all the more impressive given he is playing with a fractured right thumb.

This week we’ll deviate a little from our usual formula. This week we’ll only focus on just two main topics. First, we will unpack all the roster moves that went down this week and discuss their implications. The second half will look past this week’s games and give you a summery of the games that lie ahead for the Swallows in the home stretch. These topics still roughly follow the ‘Week That Was’ and ‘Quo Vadimus’ themes, so we’ll keep those headings. So, without further ado let’s get on with our analysis.

The Week That Was

Roster Moves: Last week’s roster moves began with the recall of injured speedster Kazuki Fukuchi and young catcher Yuhei Nakamura. Yasushi Iihara was sent down to make room on the roster. The recall of Nakamura was interesting as it meant that the Swallows were carrying 3 catchers on the roster. The move seemed to be designed to give veteran catcher Aikawa some rest for the home stretch, as Kawamoto was given 3 starts at catcher this week. Kawamoto started 2 games in the sweltering Jingu and played significant innings in the game he did start. The return of Fukuchi was seen as a plus as when healthy, he’s a great defensive reliever and a pinch running threat. Unfortunately it seems that he may not have returned in 100% condition as he was removed from the roster earlier today.

The next move that occurred last week was the recall of Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi in favor of Chikara Onodera on Thursday. The removal of Onodera was not a difficult but there was some speculation that Masubuchi would be returning as a reliever given that Katsuki Akagawa started Thursday’s game. Those speculations were quickly shot out of the water with the surprise announcement that Shohei Tateyama would be removed from the active roster due to finger discomfort on his throwing hand. The source of the discomfort has not been revealed in the media, and the timetable for Tateyama’s return is unknown. Young Tetsuya Yamamoto was called up for the first time in Tateyama’s place, and he pitched effectively in relief on Saturday.

The final major move last week was the recall of Aaron Guiel and Yuichi, for Whitesell and Miyade. While this move comes as bit of a surprise, it’s not inconsistent with the Swallows recent moves to rest ineffective guys (see: Aikawa) and take a quick look at everyone. While we love Guiel here at Tsubamegun we expect his stay with the top team to be short unless he can perform big right away. Guiel has only appeared in 15 ni-gun games this season, most recently on August 12, and has been doing most of his work in workouts and in the batting cage. Yuichi in his stint in ni-gun has put up good numbers and has the potential to keep Miyade off the top team as a right handed bat off the bench.

For those counting potential return dates, the earliest that Lim can return to the active roster is August 23rd, Tateyama on the 30th, and Whitesell on the 31st.

Alright, let's look at a funny picture before we move on!!!

Quo Vadimus

The Swallows have played one game under two-thirds of their schedule, and now have 49 games left in their season. Instead of just looking at this week’s games, this week’s Quo Vadimus will look at our game counts against each of our Central League rivals and look at how we’ve done against the so far. We’ll look at our competition in a particular order. (We’ll let you guess the reasoning behind the order.)

Giants: The Swallows have already played out most of their string against the Giants, having played 20 games to the tune of a 10-6-4 record. Even with 4 games remaining the Swallows have already guaranteed their first non-losing season against the Giants in 11 years. The remaining 4 games will be split between a 3 game Jingu series to kick off September and a single rain make up date at the Tokyo Dome on September 20. The Swallows have been undefeated against the Giants at Jingu this season, going 2-0-2. Even if we include the Swallows’ home away from home games against the Giants, the Swallows are still undefeated at home with a 7-0-2 record. These numbers no doubt underscore the importance of getting homefield advantage by finishing ahead of the Giants.

Tigers: The Swallows still have half their games against the Tigers left on their schedule. In the first 12 games the Tigers have throughly spanked the Swallows to the tune of 3-9. The remaining 12 games will be split between 6 Jingu games and 6 away games (3 at Koshien and 3 at Kyocera Dome). The Swallows have fared marginally better at home getting 2 of their 3 wins in home games. Needless to say, the Swallows’ performance can greatly influence the outcome of the CL race and will be a good barometer of our playoff readiness. We need to show we can take the Tigers as we were not able to convincingly win against them when they were struggling early in the season.

Dragons: The Swallows have 11 games remaining against the team from Nagoya, and after this week’s Jingu series the last 8 games of this matchup will be played in the Nagoya Dome. The Swallows have a stellar 8-2-2 record against the Dragons so far, but save for their 1-1-1 visit to Nagoya earlier this month, most of that record comes at home. The schedule will see the Swallows play two 4 game series in the Nagoya Dome including the regular season ending series. Hopefully the Birds will have made the final series irrelevant, and being able to continue to beat up on the Dragons will help us do that.

Carp: The Carp have played us very competitively this year with the two teams tallying a 6-6-2 record so far. The 10 remaining games will be split up between 7 games at Jingu and a 3 game series at Mazda Stadium. The 7 Jingu game will be split between two 3 game series, and 1 random game on September 21. The Carp and the Tigers are the only teams against which the Swallows do not have a winning record. Incidentally, that fact extends into our home record as the Swallows have gone 1-3-1 in home games (1-2 at Jingu) against the Carp.  Interestingly, the Swallows have gone 3-0-1 in games started by last year’s Sawamura Award winner, Kenta Maeda. The Carp have played everyone quite tough this year, but should still be beatable. If we want to show we’re a cut above the CL muddle, taking easy games off the Carp will be key.

BayStars: Even with all the shake up in the CL this year, the Yokohama BayStars remain everyone’s punching bag being the only team to sport a losing record against each team. That being said, the BayStars have been surprisingly competitive against the Giants (5-7), Dragons (8-9), and Tigers (6-8-2), while being blasted by the Carp (3-11) and the Swallows (2-9-3). With the BayStars 11.5 games behind FIFTH place in the CL, it’s time for Swallows’ fans to become secondary BayStars fans and cheer for them to play spoiler against the rest of the CL. The Swallows themselves still have 9 games left between the BayStars, split between 3 Jingu games and 6 Yokohama games.

Those counting above will note a 22/27 split between home and road games the rest of the way. Even as the Swallows struggle no one team has really stepped up. As long as the other teams continue to beat each other up the Swallows will make the playoff playing middling baseball, but unless the Swallows pick up their game they may not last long in the playoffs.

Chunichi Dragons 5

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6

Streak: Won 3 Last 5: WLWWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

A sayonara RBI by Ryoji Aikawa in the tenth inning earned Tokyo their second straight victory over second-place Chunichi, putting the Swallows six games ahead atop the Central League.

Us:

36-22-7, .621, 6 games ahead

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Whitesell (1B)
4. Hatakeyama (LF)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Kawabata (SS)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Tateyama (P)

Them:

1. Oshima (CF)
2. T.Iwasaki (SS)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Wada (LF)
5. Hirata (RF)
6. Koike (1B)
7. Araki (2B)
8. Oyama (C)
9. Yoshimi (P)

Tateyama got off to a painful start, when his fielding error allowed Iwasaki to reach first, then his slider down the middle allowed Morino to crank a two-run homer to center. 2-0 Chunichi.

The Swallows soon rallied with a Tanaka single being followed by a Whitesell RBI double, making it 2-1 Chunichi.

In the second, the Dragons added another run when, with Yoshimi on second and Oshima on first, Iwasaki hit an RBI single to right. 3-1 Chunichi.

Things stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth, when Whitesell was walked on five pitches. Hatakeyama looked set to do the same when Yoshimi served him up a fastball down the middle, which he knocked into the Chunichi faithful for a two-run round-tripper.

After a Balentien ground-out (Don’t swing at the first pitch!), Miyamoto singled, Kawabata doubled, then Aikawa bounced one to short. Luckily, Iwasaki flubbed it, allowing Miyamoto and Kawabata to score. Tateyama got Aikawa to second, but an Aoki pop up ended the inning. 5-3 Tokyo.

Kyuko came in in the seventh and got short shrift. A Kawabata error allowed Iwasaki to reach first, then Morino singled. At that point, Kyuko got the hook and Matsuoka came in for the last two-thirds of the inning.

In the eighth, Whitesell sat down, Hatakeyama moved to first, and Miwa took the field in left. Barnette pitched. Then Lim came in to close.

Alas, it was not Chang-yong Lim, the ever-reliable closer on the mound, but Bizarro Lim, who started the inning by giving up a single to Iwasaki on the first pitch of the inning. That was followed by a Morino homer on an 0-2 count. Luckily, Lim then managed to get the next three batters to pop out, but this did mean the game was suddenly dramatic again. 5-5.

In the bottom of the ninth, Fujimoto and Aoki struck out, then Tanaka popped out. Extra innings.

Oshimoto pitched the tenth and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs.

Asao, who had pitched the ninth, stayed on the mound for Chunichi. After striking out Miwa, he walked Hatakeyama, for whom Noguchi came in to run. Balentien then made up for his first-pitch mistake, by using Asao as a pitching machine, going through ten pitches before doubling to left. Miyamoto then grounded out.

Iwase was then brought in to get the last out and stretch the game to eleven innings. Instead, he walked Miyade, who was pinch-hitting for Kawabata, and gave up the winning RBI to Aikawa. 6-5 Tokyo.

Oshimoto (1-1-1, 2.86) took the win, Asao the loss.

The Swallows gave up 14 hits and committed two errors. The Dragons gave up 11 hits and committed one error.

Tomorrow night, Tokyo looks to complete the sweep.