Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2

Tokyo Swallows 12

Streak: Won 3   Last 5: LLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Extra base-hits were the order of the day as Tokyo banged out nine of them in their destruction of struggling Hiroshima.

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

The Swallows took a 1st inning lead off Carp starter Imae as a walked Aoki was later brought home by a Whitesell double for 1-0 Tokyo.

After that it was Ishikawa’s turn to struggle as he gave up a run in each of the 2nd and 3rd innings off 5 hits and the Carp had themselves a 2-1 lead.

But from then on it was all Tokyo as the Swallows put up 3 runs in each of the 4th, 5th and 6th frames to put this one out of sight.

In the 4th, a Whitesell walk and a Miyamoto single set the table for Kawabata, who smacked one off the top of the wall in left for a two-run triple and it was 3-2 Tokyo. The next run came from the most unlikely of sources as pitcher Ishikawa hit one to the wall in rightfield for a double which made it 4-2.

In the 5th, a leadoff walk for Tanaka and a double from Ihara put two men in scoring positions for Whitesell, who hit another double to make it 6-2. A Hatakeyama single (who was replaced by pinch-runner Fukuchi), and two outs left men on the corners for Kawabata, and he doubled to score another run for 7-2.

And so on to the 6th, where an Aoki single and a Tanaka walk put two men on for Whitesell to bring home two more home with his third double of the game (this one the luckiest of the three, a bloop fly that landed in the no-mans land between infield and out in left) and it was 9-2. Whitesell was later brought home by and Aikawa single to end the three innings of scoring festivities with the score at 10-2.

The final two runs followed in the 8th, with a Ihara double, a Fukuchi triple (11-2) and a run-scoring groundout from Aikawa making it 12-2.

On the pitching front, the bullpen got a much needed rest as Ishikawa overcame his early troubles to go 8 innings (12H/2K/1BB) which was good enough for his fourth win on the trot to put his record at 6-8/3.68. De La Cruz pitched a one-hit scoreless 9th in relief.

The Swallows racked up 15 hits in total (to the Carp’s 13), with every member of the starting lineup bar Tanaka managing a hit. The standout was Whitesell who went 3 for 4 with a walk with 5 RBIs to show for his toils. Whitesell is now batting .306 with a .434 OBP and a whopping .710 slugging percentage.

Not far behind him was Kawabata, who went 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs of his own and is now batting .333. Hopefully he can continue in this vein so we can see someone claim the shortstop position as their own. Someone has to step up soon, as it’s been quite some time since Miyamoto was switched to 3rd.

Tokyo will go for the sweep Thursday evening at Jingu.

Hanshin Tigers 11

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: WWWLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Yoshinori was his same annoyingly inconsistent self to start things off today. Randy Messenger, on the other hand, looked sharp for Hanshin. He needs to quit that chewing tobacco habit though.

Starting lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara LF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Guiel RF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Morioka SS
9. Yoshinori P

Amazingly, Yoshinori made it through the first three innings without giving up a run. The first inning was classic Yoshinori. He got the first two outs without too much trouble but then loaded the bases with a walk and a couple of beanballs.

He got out of the inning by fanning Kanemoto on a check swing.

He also benefited from double plays in the third and fourth innings which greatly helped his ability to keep his pitch count under control and get out of innings before things got ugly.

Even though Messenger was locating his pitches well, Iihara reached base on a one out infield single. Whitesell then brought him all the way home on a double down the rightfield line that Murton had a hard time tracking down. Whitesell ended up on second and he later scored when Aikawa poked one up the middle. 2-0 Tokyo.

Yoshinori calmed down quite a bit after those two double plays. He really found his groove in the sixth when he started throwing 157 kph heaters to Arai. When he’s on, he hits his spots and his slider has a decent amount of movement on it.

Unfortunately, that only happens for about four or five outs every time he starts.

A safety bunt by Aoki started  off the bottom of the sixth. Tanaka was ordered too Tak-bunt, but fortunately both times he made contact he fouled it off. He ended up poking one between first and second which put runners on the corners with no outs.

Sadly, Tokyo’s first base coach, Iida, found it necessary to lecture Tanaka on the finer points of bunting as he stood safely on first. It wouldn’t matter in the long run as Messenger got three quick outs after that.

A bit more comedy came in the top of the seventh when Yoshinori took to shaking off all of Aikawa’s pitch calls after Brazell had singled to start things off. His temporary bout of ballsiness resulted in a double that put runners on second and third with no outs and Johjima at the plate.

Lin then came through with a one out hit that thanks to a little bit of a fielding gamble by Aoki ended up a triple that tied the score. 2-2.

A soft Toritani grounder to second scored the third run, and and a Hirano slice along the line in left scored a fourth. 4-2 Hanshin.

And that was the end of Yoshinori’s night.

Masubuchi took the mound with two outs, an inherited runner on second, and Murton at the plate.

Murton put his stamp on the game with a homer to center that put the score at 6-2 Hanshin.

And that six run inning was basically the end of the game.

The birds scored a couple more off of an Aoki double, and Johjima tacked another one on for the visitors with a solo shot to left off of Oshimoto.

Watanabe pitched the top of the ninth for the birds—his seventh appearance of the season in a Swallows uniform. He was yanked after allowing two hits and recording only one out. Hashimoto took his place on the mound. With runners on first and third, Murton bounced one over Miyamoto’s head at third to score another run. 8-4 Hanshin.

Hashimoto then lost his ability to find the underbelly of the strike zone. He ended up putting three pitches in the dirt and Arai on first. Bases loaded for Brazell.

Yamato then cleared the bases with a triple over the drawn-in outfield. 11-4 Hanshin.

Yoshinori (5-6; 4.45 ERA) took the loss and gave up five earned runs off of seven hits. It was nice to see him make it to the seventh inning for a change, but he definitely didn’t reassure the coaching staff with his performance in that inning.

Masubuchi (3.16), Oshimoto (3.09), Watanabe (4.15) and Hashimoto (5.40) made relief appearances today. Every one of Tokyo’s four relievers gave up at least one earned run in this contest.

Aoki, Tanaka and Aikawa had two hits each in this game. Whitesell and Guiel had 1-4 evenings–each hit a stand-up double.

Random thoughts:

Watanabe’s ERA was 0.00 through his first six appearances of the season.

Hanshin scored all 11 of its runs during the final third of the game.

Fujikawa sat back down in the bullpen as soon as the save opportunity disappeared. What a novel idea.

Chunichi beat Hiroshima tonight, so the birds are now an extra game behind third place.

Fujimoto was sent down to the farm team immediately after yesterday’s game for being such a klutz on defense. Morioka, who started at short today, took his place on the active roster.

Pitchers Katoh and Matsui were sent down today while Hashimoto and Kawabata took their places. All three of the recently promoted players made appearances in today’s game. None of them did anything worth remembering.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9

Chunichi Dragons 4

Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW

(Nagoya Dome)

The Swallows managed to put the finishing touches on their third five-game winning streak of the season (all of them in the post-Takada era) while taking full advantage of every opportunity given to them.

Tonight’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Hatakeyama LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Fujimoto SS
9. Nakazawa P

With Yoshimi looking pretty solid on the mound for the Dragons, Aoki created a little bit of wiggle-room for the visitors in the third with an expertly-placed two-out double down the line in left. Tanaka then drew a walk to occupy the empty base. Iihara then came through with a clutch double high off the wall in right to score both Aoki and Tanaka. 2-0 Tokyo.

But Chunichi came right back in the bottom of that inning when Tanishige led off the inning by crushing a Nakazawa curveball. 2-1 Tokyo.

The Swallows scored again in the fourth. Aikawa’s one out single was his second hit of the game, and he was pushed to third on a very nice full-count poke by Miyamoto past the shortstop. Then, with runners on the corners, Fujimoto bounced the first pitch high enough into the air that Aikawa was able to scamper home. Fujimoto was out at first, but the two run lead was restored. 3-1 Tokyo.

Things nearly got very ugly in the bottom of that inning. Nakazawa walked the first batter and then a Tanaka fielding error on a potential double-play grounder left runners safe on first and second with no outs. Wada then fouled out to Whitesell for the first out. After the runners were able to advance when Aikawa forgot to catch the ball, Blanco walked as Nakazawa was advised to pitch around him. Bases loaded for Cesar. But he then popped up in foul territory, too, with Whitesell again on the receiving end for the second out.

And with Tanishige complaining about the ump’s strike zone (which ballooned wildly off the left side of the plate for most of the game), Aikawa was able to pick Morino off at second after he was a little slow getting back. Disaster averted.

Aoki led off the next inning with his second hit of the game, but Tanaka’s Tak-bunt was fielded nicely by the catcher and Aoki was out at second. Never feat, though, Iihara is here, and he came through with his second double in as many at-bats to put runners on second and third with one out.

The Swallows were able to score a run thanks to a wild pitch by Yoshimi with Whitesell at the plate. 4-1 Tokyo.

The birds couldn’t survive another defensive lapse as Fujimoto’s carelessness ended up costing the Swallows two runs. The runner mistakenly allowed on first and the runner that walked after that both scored on Oshima’s double off the wall in center. 4-3 Tokyo.

But the birds kept finding ways to score. In the sixth, Miyamoto and Fujimoto had back-to-back one-out singles to start things off. Ueda, pinch hitting for Nakazawa, then popped up softly to shallow left for out number two, but Aoki was able to bring Miyamoto home from third with a single between first and second. It was his third hit of the evening. 5-3 Swallows.

Oshimoto (2.91) pitched a scoreless bottom of the sixth, and Masubuchi (2.98) looked horrible but still held on in the bottom of the seventh. Matsuoka (1.66) took care of the eighth.

But the Swallows would put this one out of reach in the top of the ninth with Lim getting ready in the bullpen. Kawamoto drew a pinch-hit walk to lead things off. Aoki then thwacked his fourth hit of the game to put runners on first and second. Tanaka then Tak-bunted them over for the first out. Iihara then drew a walk to load the bases, and Takeuchi’s grounder to second was enough to score Kawamoto from third. Takeuchi was out at first, but the runners advanced. 6-3 Tokyo.

Fukuchi then brought both Aoki and Iihara home with a single to left. 8-3 Tokyo.

The fleet-footed Fukuchi was then able to score from first when Aikawa drilled one into the gap in left-center, and that was the end of Tokyo’s offensive attack for the evening. 9-3 Tokyo.

Chunichi got one run back in the ninth with Matsui (5.25) on the mound (fortunately Lim was told to take his spikes off once the birds started to run away with it in the ninth). 9-4 Final.

Nakazawa (3.78 ERA) got the win, his sixth of the year, and gave up only one earned run off of two hits. The one blemish on his evening was the five walks he issued–somewhat surprising given the size of the strike zone that the home plate umpire was going by.

Aoki was an impressive 4-5 at the plate with one RBI while Aikawa went 3-5 with an RBI. Both Miyamoto and Iihara had two hits on the evening while the latter also added a walk and an HBP.

The Swallows now return to Jingu for the start of a three game series against the second place Hanshin Tigers.

Random thoughts:

Today was Masubuchi’s 37th appearance of the season. I’d like to take this opportunity to kindly remind Mr. Ogawa that Masubuchi isn’t used to getting this much playing time, and that may help explain how terribly he looks on the mound. That’s nearly twice as many as he had in his first three seasons combined (19). Sure, he was a starter during those first three seasons, but through just shy of half a season, he’s already got his innings up to the second highest in his career. Please find a fourth middle reliever soon. Convert another potential starter if you have to. The poor guy is tired.

The Swallows outhit the Dragons 13-5 in this contest.

The birds were very effective at bringing runners home from third tonight. They always seemed to find a way. There was a very delicate mixture of clutch hitting and luck (wild pitch) working for the Swallows this evening.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2

Tokyo Swallows 3

Streak: Won 3   Last 5: LLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

The Swallows manage to protect a slim lead at Jingu this afternoon. Today’s lineup saw the return of both Aikawa and Miyamoto:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. Whitesell LF
5. Hatakeyama 1B
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Onizaki SS
9. Yoshinori P

The Carp open up the scoring in small ball fashion, with Akamatsu singling home Higashide, who had opened up the game with a single and had been bunted over to second by Soyogi. 1-0 Hiroshima.

The Swallows struck back immediately with back-to-back infield singles by Aoki and Tanaka, putting runners on first and third for Iihara. Iihara managed to put the ball in play, grounding into a double play, allowing Aoki to score from third. Tied 1-1.

Yoshinori pitched a pretty hairy second inning, in which he allowed 3 walks. But he managed to get out of the inning without adding to the scoreboard.

Aikawa, celebrating his 34th birthday today, came up to bat to start the second. Shortly after the cheering section finished singing him happy birthday, Aikawa deposited a ball deep into the left field stands. 2-1 Swallows. Miyamoto and Onizaki followed with consecutive singles, but Yoshinori struck out bunting and Aoki ended the threat with a double play.

Yoshinori settled down and got the Carp to fall down in order in both the third and forth innings. The Swallows managed to get men on base in their side of those innings, but couldn’t manage to stretch their lead.

The fifth inning started off well, as Yoshinori got Higashide to fly out and Soyogi to strikeout. Unfortunately, Akamatsu launched the second pitch he saw into the left field stands, tying the game 2-2.

The Swallows regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, in a somewhat bizarre sequence of events. Aoki started things off with a single to center. Tanaka’s bunt down the third base side forced the pitcher, Stultz to make a hurried throw to first pulling the first baseman off the base. With no outs and men on first and second, Iihara sacrifices the runners into scoring position bringing Whitesell to the plate. With the Hiroshima infield playing shallow to try to nail any runners at home, Whitesell hits a scorching grounder to the pitcher. The pitcher wasn’t able to handle the ball cleanly, and Whitesell was credited with an infield single which loaded the bases with 1 out. Hatakeyama, the home run hero from the last two games, came up to bat and hit a sacrifice fly to right. Brining home the go-ahead run, 3-2 Swallows. Not exactly how you’d draw it up in your mind, but a lead is a lead.

The two teams exchange walks and hits in the sixth, but the scoreboard remained unchanged. Yoshinori was pulled after the sixth and ended the day having allowed 4 hits, 4 walks, 1 hit batsman, and 2 earned runs in 6 innings of work to go along with 7 strikeouts. Masubuchi came into the game in the seventh and pitched a perfect inning.

Masubuchi made way for Matsuoka in the eighth. He gave the crowd some case for concern, giving up 2 singles despite having gotten ahead in the count both times. Matsuoka ended the inning by inducing a hard hit liner to center. As the rain started to fall harder, the Swallows mounted a threat of their own in the bottom of the inning, but were unable to stretch their lead.

The stage was set for Lim to close out this messy game. Things did not start off well, as Ishihara blooped a ball into center that should have been a single. Unfortunately, both Tanaka and Onizaki chased after the ball and no one was covering second after neither player was able to get the ball. Ishihara waltzed into second as Aoki had no one to throw the ball to. Ishihara advanced to third on a Maeda fly out to right. With only one out, a man on third, and the rain falling harder the Swallows’ crowd was getting audibly anxious. Thankfully Lim got Higashide to foul out to third, and Soyogi to ground out to second, to preserve the win.

The Swallows managed to collect 11 hits, 4 walks and 1 dead ball from the Carp, but managed only 3 runs. Beyond Aikawa’s birthday homer, the other two Swallows’ scores came on a double play grounder and a sac fly. Sometimes you just have to win ugly.

Miscellaneous Notes

• The Swallows grounded into 3 double plays today.
• Miyamoto managed to go 4-for-4 with all 4 hits being singles to center. The first 3 hits looked almost identical.
• Aoki was the only other Swallow to get multiple hits going 2-for-3 with a GIDP, walk, and 2 runs scored.
• Aikawa’s home run was the 8th of the season, which ties the season highs that he accomplished in 2004 and 2005.
• Every starter managed to get a hit, except Hatakeyama (who still got winning run across the plate) and Yoshinori.
• The Swallows have again taken sole possession of 4th place in the Central League standings. The Birds are off to face the 3rd place Chunichi Dragons in a 3 game series starting Tuesday. Game 1 will take place in Gifu.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Hanshin Tigers 3

Streak: Lost 3  Last 5: WWLLL

(Koshien)

Tokyo fell to their third straight loss as they again struggled to get their offence working against Hanshin at Koshien.

With Whitesell out of action after taking one on the knee the evening prior, it was a case of “as you were” with the lineup accommodating both Guiel and D’Antona in the 4 and 5 spots:

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Ihara (LF)
4. Guiel (RF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Aikawa (C)
7. Moyamoto (3B)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Nakazawa (P)

Nakazawa, making his first start against Hanshin, wasn’t at his best as he let a lot of men on base over the course of his 6 innings, and was rather fortunate to only give up the 3 runs he did.

He had himself an early lead though, as Aoki hit a solo homer (no.6 for the year and his 99th hit of the season) to centre to lead off the game off homeless Hanshin starter Shimoyanagi, 1-0 Tokyo.

After that, Nakazawa gave up a double in the 1st, another double and a walk in the 2nd before finally surrendering the lead in the 3rd. A walk for Hirano and a single for the impressive Murton put two men on before back to back singles for Brazell and Johjima brought home a run apiece to make things 2-1 Hanshin.

But the lead didn’t last long as another solo homer in the top of the 4th, this time from Aikawa (no.7 for the year), drew things level at 2-2.

Nakazawa again managed to escape further runs in the 4th despite giving up a two-out single and double, but it was in the 6th when his luck would finally run out. With one out on the board, Sekimoto came in to bat for Shimoyanagi and hit his own solo homer that just stayed fair in right to put the Tigers ahead 3-2.

But with a misfiring Watanabe taking the mound in relief in the 7th, Tokyo were presented with their best chance to get back into the game. A lead off walk for Aikawa was followed up by groundouts from Miyamoto and Onizaki which moved the runner to third. Ueda then pinch hit for Nakazawa and was plunked on the foot to put men on the corners for the in-form Aoki. Except he could only tamely ground out to second and the inning, and the chance, was over.

And with Kubota and Fujikawa shutting down things in the 8th and 9th that would end up being their final chance, 3-2 Hanshin Final.

Nakazawa took the loss for his 6 innings of 9 hit/3 run baseball (with 2 walks and 1 strikeout) and his record now sits at 5-5/3.91. Oshimoto (3.09) and Matsuoka (136) both worked scoreless innings in relief.

Tokyo were outhit 10-5 as they never managed more than a hit an inning. Guiel was 0 for 3 (all strikeouts) with a HBP and is now batting .196.

Aoki and Aikawa pretty much were Tokyo’s offence as they both managed two singles and two solo homers between them. Aoki’s single in the 3rd inning was his 100th hit of the season.

Tokyo return to the home of the great yellow unwashed tomorrow evening to try and avoid the sweep. Let’s hope they can manage it.

There was much cause for celebration in the month of June

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

Interleague Revenge Tour

After having been swept by SoftBank, Seibu, and Lotte in May, the new look Swallows looked to return the favor to start off June. While the Swallows managed to take the first game of each revenge series, they couldn’t close the deal, ending with 1-3 records againstthe latter three teams. But at this point the fact that the Birds were winning games and not losing two straight were big improvement. So after matching their May win total (3) in only 6 games, the Swallows faced the Darvish-less Nippon Ham Fighters for the first time. The Fighters did not put up too much of a fight and were swept by the Swallows. This series sweep represented the first back-to-back wins the Swallows had recorded in 2 over months. Not content to stop there, the Swallows proceeded to sweep Rakuten and take the first game of the rain-rescheduled games against Nippon Ham. That five game winning streak was the longest winning streak for the Birds this season, and helped the team achieve an overall record of 9-14-1 during Interleague play. A record that, despite a 10 game losing streak, was not too far off the “bad” scenario I laid out in our Interleague preview.

Back to Regularly Scheduled Programming

The Swallows re-started their Contral League schedule against Hiroshima in a rain-shortened two game series. Unfortunately the team ran into Kenta Maeda, the Central League’s hottest pitcher, and took a loss to re-open their Central League campaign. Things were not looking good in game 2 of the series, but the Swallows managed a late comeback to even the series. Unfortunately the dramatic win didn’t translate into momentum, as the team faced their cross town rivals at Jingu stadium and lost the opening game. The Swallows won the middle game, but couldn’t take the series, as they lost handily in Game 3. The lack of positive momentum carried into Game 1 of the team’s next series against Hanshin. After that loss, the Swallows debuted their new offensive weapon, Josh Whitesell. The new look Swallows came from behind to beat the Tigers in Game 2, and took the series with a 8-4 thrashing in Game 3. The Swallows took the show on the road with a two game series against the Yokohama BayStars in Okinawa. The people of Okinawa got to see the Swallows shutout the BayStars in Game 1, and a nail-biting win for the Birds in Game 2. Thus the Swallows ended June on a 4 game winning streak, and a 14-8 record for the month. The Swallows also managed to avoid losing to the same team twice in a row.

Trends

Offensive Resurgence

The first thing that pops out at you when you look at the Swallows’ June stats is the increased offensive production. Of the 7 players that made at least 68 plate appearances (the minimum needed for batting title considerations this month), 4 had an OPS of over .900. The four players were Aikawa (1.062!), Iihara (.978), Aoki (.930), and Tanaka (.910). All four players have pulled their season batting averages to above .300. Also making a big splash in limited plate appearances were Hatakeyama and Kawamoto, who combined for 10 hits and 1 walk in only 21 plate appearances. Josh Whitesell rounds out the players with eye-popping numbers with 5 hits (including 2 homes and a triple) and 3 walks in 15 plate appearances, more on him later.

Not on the Bandwagon:

The 3 players not to have a .900+ OPS despite 68+ plate appearances were Guiel (.680), D’Antona (.617) and Miyamoto (.612). Guiel and D’Antona had eerily similar stat lines for the month, with the big difference coming from Aaron’s 2 extra walks and 4 beanings. Miyamoto on the other hand, struggled for most of the month, but may be on the way out of his prolonged slump. 8 of Miyamoto’s 19 hits have come in the last 7 games.

I think it goes without saying that Guiel and D’Antona shared the team lead with their 18 strikeouts, Aikawa was a distant third with 11.

Coming Up Short

Also underwhelming was the shortstop platoon of Fujimoto and Onizaki. The two players got most of the starts at shortstop in June, but neither player made any lasting impact on the team. Fujimoto and Onizaki both earned sub-.250 OBPs (.232 and .115 respectively) and had pitiful slugging percentages (.275 and .231). The rookie Takahiro Araki was also given 3 starts at short, but managed only 2 strikeouts and 1 sac bunt in his 8 plate appearances. While I do not expect superstar numbers to come out of the shortstop position, I do hope someone gets into a groove and manages an OPS of above .600.

Aoki the Leadoff Man

Prior to this season, Aoki’s fight song had a line calling him a spray hitting leadoff man. But as he got moved to the three hole and was asked to use his spray hitting prowess to drive in runners, the lyrics were changed to call him a shining number 1 of the world. But Aoki struggled in the role of run producer in May, so he spent most of June in the leadoff spot once again. Using his skill of putting the bat to the ball, and his legs, Aoki managed to produce 39 hits in June. Thanks to the offensive resurgence behind him, Aoki managed to come around to score a team leading 16 times. While Aoki did not hit any homeruns, he still demonstrated drive by hitting a team leading 8 doubles. Aoki was also a perrfect 2-for-2 in his steal attempts in June. It would have been nice if Aoki threatened to steal more often rather than being Tak-bunted over to second by Tanaka, something that happened 7 times in the month. The hot-hitting Hiroyasu would probably have seen more fastballs to hit, and more importantly would not have wasted valuable outs. But all in all a successful June for Aoki!

Starter Inconsistency

June was a bumpy ride for most of the Swallows’ starting pitchers. Swallows’ starters pitched gems like Tateyama’s 8 inning 1 run performance against the Fighters, Muranaka’s 8 innings of shutout ball against the BayStars, and Barnette’s 1 run 6 K performance against the Lions. Unfortunately they also let games get away like Tateyama’s 8 runs given up in 5 inning against the Fighters, and Barnette’s 7 runs given up in 2 and 2/3 innings. Overall, the Swallows starting pitchers compiled a 11-8 record (every Swallows lost was tagged to the starters), with an ERA of 4.40, a RIP of 1.50, 6.63 Ks per 9 innings, and 3.14 BB per 9innings, all over 129 innings. Only 4 of the Swallows 22 starts managed to last 7 or more innings. While the numbers are not horrible, the ERA and RIP numbers are of some concern.

Good To Be Lucky?

The one pitcher in the starting rotation that had a stellar record in June was the young Yoshinori. Yoshinori only allowed 5 earned runs over his 4 starts to earn a 3-0 record for the month. However, Yoshinori also managed to walk 19 batters in his 25 and 2/3 innings of work. Yoshinori has single-handedly walked almost a third of the batters that the Swallows walked in June. I worry whether Yoshinori can continue to get away with giving so many batter a free pass to first.

Sweet Relief

With no starter being able to finish games, the bullpen was called into action quite often. Masubuchi (13 games), Matsuoka (12), Oshimoto (11), and Lim (10) all made over 10 appearances in June. Masubuchi was often the first one off the bench after a starter was pulled. He inherited a total of 12 runners in relief and allowed only 4 to score. Oshimoto was called into pitch late-middle innings like Masubuchi and did fine work, recording 10 strikeouts and no walks in 9 and 1/3 innings. Matsuoka played the role of ace setup man, and he had a 10 appearance shutout streak going prior to a Kanemoto 2-run homer in his 11th appearance. Despite the blip, Matsuoka still had 14 strikeouts with a 0.55 RIP and a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings of relief, and he picked up a win and a save. Finally, Lim was once again a dominating closer in June. He was 8-for-8 in save situations, giving up only 3 hits without surrendering a run or walk. He also picked up 13 strikeouts in 10 innings. This bullpen quartet combined for a 1.98 ERA, 0.73 RIP, 10.32 strikeouts per 9 innings, and 0.66 walks per 9 innings.

Major Events

The Whitesell Signing

On June 7, the Swallows announced the signing of Josh Whitesell. Whitesell made his Swallows debut on the 26th of the month, and made a splash by homering in his first game. The signing still leaves some question as to how the team plans to proceed with its foreign players.

Tateyama Injury

On June 23rd, the veteran Tateyama looked to be bouncing back his previous bad outing by holding the Giants to 3 runs and striking out a season high 8 batters. At the bottom of the 6th inning Tateyama came up to bat, and proceeded to hit a double. Unfortunately Tateyama was caught in a awkward situation trying to get back to base on a liner to second. Tateyama did not pitch the next inning, and it was announced that he had fractured his right toe and that he would be out 3-4 weeks. The loss of Tateyama leaves the starting rotation shorthanded, especially with the demotion of Tony Barnette.

Player of the Month

My Player of the Month

Hiroyasu Tanaka and Ryoji Aikawa are my two candidates for Player of the Month. Both players swung an incredibly hot bat in June. Tanaka played every inning of every game in June, lead the team with 18 RBIs, and was the only player on the team to have more walks than strikeouts. Aikawa lead the team with 5 homeruns, and had the highest slugging percentage (.620) and OPS (1.06) among qualifying batters on the team. You can compare their numbers in the table below.

As you can see both players has a great June, and one wonders what kind of damage Tanaka would have wreaked if he didn’t have to bunt those 7 times. In the end I give the nod to Aikawa for giving us another power threat in the lineup. But really it could’ve gone to either player. Honerable mentions go out to Aoki, Iihara, Matsuoka, and Lim.

Quo Vadimus

July will see the Swallows play every Central league team at least once. The cozy scheduling seen in June because Interleague play comes to an end, as the Swallows will play their first 17 games of the month in 19 days, before the All Star break will the team a break. With fewer rest days, establishing a winning rotation will be key. Unfortunately without Tateyama or Barnette, the team currently only has 4 established starters on the roster. Takaichi has been rumored as a possible starter, calling up Ryo Kawashima is another option. Another storyline to be watching for in July is how the Whitesell situation settles out. Whitesell has started strong, and hopefully he keeps it up, but one wonders what will happen if/when he slows down. Also, as the weather heats up even more and fatigue settles in, I worry about the state of our bullpen. I hope the team doesn’t overuse the relief quartet, and hopefully another player (newly acquired Kouki Watanabe perhaps?) will step up into a key role. If the team keep improving I think a 14-7 record is very possible.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10

Yokohama BayStars 0

Streak: Won 3   Last 5: LLWWW

(Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha)

Because the Kanto region of Japan isn’t hot enough already, the neighboring cellar-dwellers headed south–way south–to kick off a two game series in balmy Naha.

And the birds walked all over the stars.

Tonite’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara LF
4. Guiel RF
5. Whitesell 1B
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Fujimoto SS
9. Muranaka P

The Tak-bunt to start off the first didn’t work, and the Swallows took the field after only four batters–which is to be expected when Miura is pitching against us. No bunts, but more of the same in the second, third, and first two outs of the fourth. But then something funny happened.

Guiel doubled and Whitesell homered (his second longball in his three starts with the top team). 2-0 Tokyo.

And that was the beginning of the end for Yokohama as Muranaka was halfway through what would turn out to be eight innings of shutout baseball.

The Swallows plated three more runs in both the fifth and the sixth. In the fifth, the fun once again began with two outs. Muranaka worked a walk, and Aoki made things interesting with a single. That was followed by a bases-clearing triple by Tokyo’s second baseman, Tanaka, who was himself sent home on an Iihara single. 5-0 Tokyo.

The birds got a little help in the sixth when Miyamoto induced an error at short (Ishikawa) which allowed both runners to stay on the basepaths (Aikawa singled beforehand) with no outs. Fujimoto loaded the bases for Muranaka, and the lanky pitcher brought Aikawa and Miyamoto home with a surprise single to right. Fujimoto scored one out later when Tanaka singled to right. 8-0 Tokyo.

Tokyo loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs, but they were unable to bring anyone home. However, they made up for it a little bit in the eighth when Tanaka’s leadoff single was cashed in by Iihara’s triple.

Trivia: When was the last time the Tokyo Swallows had two triples in a single game?

Whitesell then grabbed his third RBI of the game, a single to right, to end the scoring for the evening. 10-0 Tokyo.

Muranaka went eight innings and threw 112 pitches. His ERA dropped to 3.27 while his record improved to 5-6. He gave up seven hits and two walks while striking out five.

Matsui (5.00) pitched the ninth and allowed one hit but no runs scored.

Every starter except for Miyamoto and Fujimoto had at least one hit in this contest. In fact, Aoki, Tanaka and Aikawa recorded three each with Tanaka notching three RBIs in the process.

Iihara and Whitesell had two hits apiece.

Game two of this sweltering series in Naha starts tomorrow at the unusual hour of 7PM.

Random notes:

Matsui got out of the ninth on only three pitches. First pitch single to right, first pitch double play ball to Tanaka at second, and first pitch fly ball to center.

Whitesell has recorded at least one RBI in each of his three starts so far. The birds have won all three games with Whitesell in the starting lineup (two in left and one at first base).

Tokyo outhit Yokohama 15-8.

Aoki is now only three hits from a career tally of 1,000. It’s taken him 767 games to reach 997 which is pretty damned fast. Guess who the only player to reach 1,000 hits in Japan faster was? Yup, you got it. Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 1,000th base hit in his 757th game.

Aoki was voted into the 2010 All Star game by the fans

The final results of the fan votes for the 2010 NPB All Start game were released today. Swallows players were not faring well when the first set of results were announced in early June. However, the Swallows’ resurgence has helped put a number of players in respectable positions in the fan vote. Aoki lead all position players with 403,156 votes to play in the outfield. Aoki’s vote total was second only to Hiroshima pitcher Kenta Maeda, who garnered 435,375. Aoki will be joined in the All Star game outfield by the Giants’ Tetsuya Matsumoto (if he returns from injury) and Alex Ramirez.

While Aoki was the only Swallows’ player today to punch his ticket to the All Star game, a few more Swallows will no doubt follow after the players’ votes are cast and manager’s selections are made. Among the Swallows’ that had a strong showing in the fan vote were Lim (2nd among closers), Aikawa (3rd among catchers), rookie Nakazawa (5th among starting pitchers), Oshimoto (3rd among middle relievers), and Miyamoto (3rd among thrid basemen).

Hanshin Tigers 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Streak: Won 2   Last 5: WLLWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo won a series against a Central League team for the first time since the beginning of April (4/2-4/4 versus Yokohama).

Today’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara RF
4. D’Antona 1B
5. Whitesell LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Onizaki SS
9. Yoshinori P

Yoshinori had one of his normal, crappy outings on the mound and did not deserve the win today. However, there may be a method to his recurring mediocrity–walking batters is definitely preferable to extra base hits.

But honestly, his inability to locate his pitches is infuriating. How many more seasons are we going to have to deal with this?

The Swallows started the scoring in the bottom of the second with Fossum on the mound for Hanshin. D’Antona fouled off five pitches before parking the 10th pitch of his at-bat, a 3-2 slider, in the reserved seats in left. 1-0 Tokyo.

It was D’Antona’s 11th home run of 2010. And D’Antona added another RBI in the third with a sac fly to right that brought home Aoki who had earlier reached base on a Toritani fielding error. 2-0 Tokyo.

For those keeping track, Tanaka was thankfully not able to properly lay down the Tak-bunt after Aoki reached base. The reason I say this is because he was soon hit in the foot by a pitch with two strikes against him.

But then came the inevitable rough inning for Yoshinori in the fifth. A walk, a botched pickoff attempt at second on a hit and run (Hirano struck out swinging), and another walk meant that it was runners on first and third with one out. Arai then brought home a run and Brazell did the same to level the score. 2-2.

The birds shrugged it off though and put three more runs on the board in the bottom of that inning. Tanaka and Iihara hit back-to-back one out singles before Whitesell cleared the bases with a hard-spinning blooper to shallow left that spun all the way back to the corner after Lin slipped on an invisible banana peel.

Whitesell had himself a stand-up two-RBI triple and his second spot on the hero’s podium in as many days.

Aikawa would later bring Whitesell home from third with a two out single to center. 5-2 Swallows.

In the sixth, Fukuchi had a pinch-hit double and scored on Aoki’s single off the wall in right. 6-2 Tokyo.

Kanemoto’s two run dinger in the eighth made things interesting with Matsuoka on the mound, but that was the end of the scoring for Hanshin. 6-4 Swallows.

Tokyo put two extra insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth. This cancelled out Lim’s chance of getting a save, but whatever. Aikawa led off with a well-hit home run to left, and Miyamoto recorded his third hit of the game to the exact same spot in shallow right to keep things going. Two outs later, Aoki and Tanaka recorded back-to-back singles, the latter resulting in an RBI and a final scoreline of 8-4 Tokyo.

Lim (0.81 ERA) faced four batters and got out of the ninth on 11 pitches.

Yoshinori was only tagged with one of the two runs that crossed home on his watch. He threw 115 pitches in only five innings of work while allowing five hits, striking out four and walking six. The win brought his record to 4-5 while his ERA now sits at 4.06.

Matsuoka struck out the first two batters he faced in the eighth, but then he got a little bit sloppy and left some pitches up. The biggest mistake was that high 2-2 fastball that resulted in a two-run homer. Matsuoka’s ERA jumped from 0.93 to 1.50 in his 32nd appearance of the year. Yes, he’s being used too much. And no, Ogawa will probably not stop using him.

Oshimoto (3.38) and Masubuchi (4.46) pitched one scoreless inning each in relief.

Four Tokyo starters had at least two hits.

D’Antona, Whitesell and Aikawa recorded two RBIs each.

Random notes:

Today was Miyamoto’s second three-hit game of the season.

Yoshinori got behind in the count (2-0) to six of the batters he faced. He threw first pitch balls to nearly half of the batters that came to the plate during his five innings of work.

The birds outhit the Tigers 13-9. It was the first time in quite a while that Hanshin wasn’t able to record double-digit hits.

D’Antona and Whitesell, former teammates in Arizona, shared the heroes podium after today’s game.

Whitesell was 1-1 with a triple and two walks.

Following Aikawa’s homer, Onizaki’s Tak-bunt in the eighth failed as Arai threw to second to force Miyamoto out. Miraculously, the birds were still able to score.

Hanshin Tigers 9

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: WLWLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The birds ran headlong into a hot-hitting Hanshin side in Barnette’s return to the top team after a short spell on the farm with gout.

Starting lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Takeuchi RF
4. D’Antona 1B
5. Iihara LF
6. Aikawa C
7. Hatakeyama 3B
8. Fujimoto SS
9. Barnette P

This one was over before it ever really got started. Barnette gave up four earned runs in the top of the first, one in the second, and two more in the third. 7-0 Hanshin.

The Swallows finally got on the board in the sixth when Fujimoto (HBP) and Kawamoto (double) were plated care of an Aoki double to right. 7-2 Hanshin.

But the visitors got two more of their own off of middle reliever Matsui to make it 9-2.

D’Antona, Iihara and Aikawa would team up for a couple of runs in the eighth, but that was the end of the scoring for the night. 9-4 Final.

Barnette gave up seven earned runs in two and two-thirds innings while taking his fifth loss of the season against three wins. He allowed eight hits and three walks while not striking out a single batter. His ERA climbed to 5.87.

Takaichi (0.00), Matsui (5.63), Watanabe (0.00), and Oshimoto (3.49) also made relief appearances.

On offense, both Aoki and Iihara had three hits while Aikawa reached base twice.

Game two of the series is tomorrow afternoon at Jingu (2PM start).