Spring camp is officially under way!

• Spring camp started for the top team in Okinawa today. Here’s a list of the players that were invited. The Swallows’ Japanese website has a handy schedule that will give you a light peak into what’s ahead for the team.
• The top team camp has only four officially-scheduled days off, and camp concludes on February 28th.
• Aikawa was named just the third team captain since the turn of the century. Former star catcher and player-manager, Atsuya Furuta, and current third baseman, Shinya Miyamoto, were the two preceding captains.
• The farm team also started its spring training camp today. The team will practice in Tokyo until this Saturday. The fifth (Sunday) is a travel day, and camp resumes on Monday in Miyazaki Prefecture.
• Scroll down to the bottom of this article on the Tokyo Swallows’ Japanese site for some photos of the players and fans down in Okinawa. There are also a couple of photos of manager Ogawa and the team’s player rep, Takeuchi, at a shrine praying for a safe and productive spring camp and 2012 season.
• Here are a couple more photos featuring the manager and business-suited versions of Balentien and Barnette arriving at their spring training camp facility.

Former Tokyo player news:

• New Yokohama manager, Nakahata, had this to say about Alex Ramirez’s defense, “ラミレスは直線を走ったら速いんだよ。” (“Ramirez is quick when he’s running in a straight line.”)
• Josh Whitesell and Seth Greisinger were introduced to the media on Monday as two of the newest members of the Chiba Marines.

After a couple of weeks of feeling like there wasn’t much to write about, we’re back with another Monday review! This week we’ll cover the major roster moves made this week, well as go over all the retirement announcements made recently, and we’ll also spend a lot of time going over the stretch run from multiple view points.

Looking Back

Roster Moves: Due to injury and ineffectiveness our roster has been in flux recently. Muranaka was taken off the active roster on September 28 citing tightness in his throwing shoulder after a string of ineffective starts. Shichijo took his place on the roster, but lost it a day later after an ineffective start against the Tigers. Meanwhile Ishikawa and Kyuko both reportedly had fevers. Kyuko was taken off the active roster with Shichijo to get some rest, while Ishikawa missed his scheduled start but remained on the active roster. LHP Okamoto was brought up with the Kyuko/Shichijo demotion, but lost his top team spot on the 2nd in a major roster shake up. Okamoto, Tetsuya Yamamoto, Takeuchi, and Miwa lost their spot on the active roster in favor of Hitoshi Yamamoto, Kato, Hashimoto, Fukuchi, and Yuichi. One day later, Keizo Kawashima was taken off the active roster. The Swallows’ active roster currently stands at 26 men, which means that 2 spots are open for a call up. Kyuko and Muranaka would be eligible to return this upcoming weekend. Yoshinori was rumored to be coming back during the Swallows’ 9 game stretch in September, but subsequent rumors have mentioned that he would not be able to return during the regular season. Tony Barnette was supposed to be shut down for 3 weeks at the beginning of September, so he may be coming back soon, but there is no news on Tony’s present condition.

While the moves on the offensive side are mostly cosmetic since our starting core has been fairly established, the moves on the pitching side point to a team in flux. We’re starting to run out of quality starters and we’ll have to hand the ball to a group of younger unproven relievers if the starters can’t go deep. The absence of Kyuko and Barnette also puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Matsuoka and Oshimoto late in the game in key situations. Our current rotation is Tateyama, Masubuchi, Akagawa, Hitoshi Yamamoto (?), and Ishikawa (assuming he returns tomorrow). Not quite the rotation that got us here.

Retirement News: We’ve already covered the retirement announcement of Aaron Guiel, but two more Swallows announced their intention to retire after the season. Hirotoshi Ishii and Osamu Hamanaka will be retiring after the season.

Hirotoshi Ishii

Hirotoshi Ishii is a life-long Swallow that was drafted in the 4th round of the 1995 draft. Starting in 1999, Ishii started getting regular playing time as a lefty arm out of the bullpen. He had a breakout season in 2002 in which he appeared in a league high 69 games, and posted a 1.51 ERA with a 0.84 WHIP, on his way to be named Most Valuable Reliever. Ishii and Ryota Igarashi made up the duo ‘Rocket Boys’ as the top lefty/righty pair out of the bullpen after the departure of Shingo Takatsu in 2004. Beyond his play with the Swallows, Ishii has played for Japan in the 2004 Olympics and the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Ishii had always expressed a strong desire to play in the Majors, but the team would not post him. The team initially promised to post him after the 2004 season, but reneged on the promise after the team changed managers in the off-season. The team finally promised to post Ishii after the 2006 season if he pitched one more full season. Unfortunately, Ishii injured his shoulder during that season and would not pitch at the top level again. Ishii has been rehabbing his shoulder ever since and has appeared in a handful of ni-gun games over the years. Ishii announced his decision to retire on the 29th and thanked the club for giving him the opportunity to try to return to baseball.

Osamu Hamanaka joined the Swallows prior to this season as a potential right handed bat off the bench. After a hot spring, Hamanaka was the team’s opening day stater in left field but lost the job to Hatakeyama after only 3 games. Hamanaka was drafted in 1996 by the Tigers and spent 11 years with the club before moving to the Orix Buffaloes in 2008. Since 2003, Hamanaka has been bothered by a right shoulder injury which has kept him out of the line up on and off for years. Hamanaka cited the injury and his inability to give it his all on the field as reasons for retiring after the season.

Quo Vadimus

The Schedule Up Ahead: The Swallows are about to start a stretch in which they will play 12 games in 12 days. Things will kick off at the Kyocera Dome tomorrow with a 3 game series against the Tigers, followed by a 3 game weekend series at Jingu. Then, the Swallows will travel to Nagoya for a critical 4 game series against the Dragons which may decide the pennant race. The marathon will cap off with a rain make up game against the Tigers at Jingu, followed by another make up game at Yokohama. After that insane stretch, the Swallows will get 2 days off before visiting Koshien for a game, and a game at Nagoya the next day. The Swallows will have 5 days rest before finally wrapping up their regular season with a home game at home.

Win Percentage Table: The final standing are calculated by winning percentage in which ties do not count, formula is W%=W/(144-T).. Therefore a team with 14 ties will have their winning percentage calculated out of 130 games, rather than 144 games.  Thus, with the season winding down, you can make a table of what the team’s win percentage will be depending on their record in the remaining games. Using the table you can see how you compare with other teams depending on their records. Thus we present the win percentage tables as of October 3rd for the top 4 teams in the Central League.

The first thing you may notice is that the Swallows have already guaranteed themselves a winning season. The table also illustrates the gulf that exists between the Swallows and the Tigers, meaning the Swallows’ place in the Climax series is quite safe. You can also use the table to figure out the minimum number of wins the team will need depending on how they do in a head to head. So if the Swallows take 4 out of 5 games from the Dragons, the Dragons would finish with a .5735 winning percentage if they win all their other games. Thus, the Swallows would need to go 5-5 in their other games to finish above the Dragons. Obviously, as games get played you can eliminate possible records and narrow the list of scenarios. If any teams tie the table will need to be reworked to lower the denominator.

Retirement Ceremony Scenarios: The team has traditionally used the last home game of the year to recall the retiring players to the top team to give them one last chance to play at Jingu and give the fans a chance to say goodbye. While imports have typically not received this kind of treatment, the team has hinted that they would try to work something out with Guiel in response to the outpouring of support by the fans. However, this year, depending on where we end up in the standings the team may not be able to afford removing an active player from the roster lest we lose their services for the beginning of the playoffs. Because players removed from the active roster cannot be re-added for 10 days, the team will have to know their playoff situation at least 10 days prior to their first Climax Series game (Oct. 29 for round 1, Nov. 2 for round 2).

Hoping for some more fun times!

Yomiuri Giants  4

Tokyo Swallows  1

Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: LWWWL

(Jingu)

Ishikawa got roughed up, and the birds only managed five hits. Not a whole lot else needs to be said.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	2B Fujimura	1	CF Aoki
2	RF Tani	2	2B Tanaka
3	CF Chono	3	SS Kawabata
4	LF Ramirez	4	1B Hatakeyama
5	SS Sakamoto	5	RF Takeuchi
6	C Abe	6	3B Miyamoto
7	1B S. Takahashi	7	LF Iihara
8	3B Terauchi	8	C Aikawa
9	P Nishimura	9	P Ishikawa

Ishikawa was actually perfect through three. In the meantime, Takeuchi single-handedly put the birds out in front in the second with a solo shot to right. It was his second home run of the season, not to mention the same in as many days, and the home side looked confident as their cross-town rivals had trouble on defense early in this contest. 1-0 Tokyo.

But it wasn’t all good. It rarely is. Ramirez drove in a single run in the top of the fourth to level the score. One all.

And he helped fuel a Yomiuri outburst in the seventh that hastened the end of Ishikawa’s evening on the

Balentien pays respect where it's due.

mound.

That inning saw Yomiuri hit back-to-back round-trippers (Ramirez 2-run; Sakamoto solo) to the tune of three runs. 4-1 Final.

After those three hits in the second, Tokyo managed only a solitary hit in the fifth and sixth innings.

The clear standout was Takeuchi who added a triple in the sixth inning to the homer he had hit in the second.

Ishikawa took the loss and his record now stands at 8-7 with a 2.49 ERA. He struck out five and gave up four runs (three earned) off of seven hits.

Aikawa was the only other Tokyo player to collect more than one hit.

The Swallows head to Yokohama on Tuesday for a three-game set versus the BayStars.

Notes:

Naoya Okamoto made his first appearance of the season for the Swallows. He took the mound in the top of the ninth with the Giants trying to add to a three-run advantage. He retired all three batters he faced (one K).

We haven’t spoken to him personally, so there’s no way to know what’s going on, but Aikawa made two very suspect throws to second on attempted (and successful) steals. Maybe it’s the broken thumb?

Arashi is dumb.

Yomiuri Giants  7

Tokyo Swallows  10

Streak: Won 3  Last 5: LLWWW

(Jingu)

What do get when you mix together solid hitting, shoddy relief pitching, and a typhoon? Why, just another early September game at Jingu of course.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	2B Fujimura	1	CF Aoki
2	1B Kemei	2	2B Tanaka
3	CF Chono	3	SS Kawabata
4	RF Takahashi	4	1B Hatakeyama
5	SS Sakamoto	5	RF Takeuchi
6	C Abe	6	3B Miyamoto
7	RF Ramirez	7	LF Iihara
8	3B Furuki	8	C Aikawa
9	P Tohno	9	P Yoshinori

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Yomiuri	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	1	7	16	0
Tokyo	0	1	4	1	0	0	2	2	X	10	13	0
W: Yoshinori (7-6) L: Tohno (6-9; 2 saves)

This game went on for ever and ever. The rain delay helped stretch things to four hours and three minutes. Well, that and the late-inning field day that Yomiuri had on our relievers.

But a win is still a win, and it was nice to see the team score with a bit more regularity.

Many of us in the stands were worried that Yoshinori would walk three or first guys in the first inning, as he seems so fond of doing, and that we’d be playing catch-up for the first few frames. But after allowing a single to the first batter he faced, Yoshinori buckled down and didn’t let another runner on base until the beginning of the fourth.

And get this–Yoshinori didn’t issue a single walk during his seven innings of work. Yes, you read that correctly.

Not only that, but Yoshinori was also able to make a difference at the plate.

In the bottom of the second, Tokyo started a two-out rally thanks to an Iihara walk and an Aikawa single to right.

Yoshinori then stepped up to the plate and hit a soft blooper over the infield’s head to score Iihara. 1-0 Tokyo.

The lead was supplemented mightily in the third inning thanks to a Tanaka walk and Kawabata’s second home run of the season. 3-0 Tokyo.

Yoshinori reacts after striking Chono out in the fifth.

Hatakeyama followed that with another walk, and then two outs later, Iihara and Aikawa drove in one run apiece care of a double to left and a single to center, respectively. 5-0 Tokyo.

But the home crowd’s elation was soon tempered when Aoki led off the fourth by getting beaned in the right hand by an inside pitch from Hoshino. He was immediately removed from the game, and Miwa took his place on first base.

But even Ogawa’s decision to have Tanaka Tak-bunt Miwa over to second with a five run cushion couldn’t keep the Swallows bats from continuing the momentum from earlier innings. Kawabata came through once again with a single to left that plated the fleet-footed Miwa from second. 6-0 Tokyo.

Good news: Aoki’s injury has been diagnosed as a contusion. Apparently there are no fractured bones in his hand.

Yoshinori finally lost his footing in the fifth when the Giants were able to cobble together two runs off of four base hits. 6-2 Tokyo.

But the Swallows got things going again in the bottom of the seventh. Hatakeyama led off with a very rare (for him) infield single, and then Takeuchi drew a walk. Miyamoto then sacrifice bunted the two runners over, and then, mysteriously, Yomiuri intentionally walked Iihara in order to get to Aikawa.

This was an interesting gamble on Hara’s (Yomiuri’s manager) part because Aikawa already had two hits in his first three plate appearances. It turned out to be a bad decision as Aikawa singled to center and both Hatakeyama and Takeuchi were able to trot home. 8-2 Good guys.

Then things started to get a little out of hand.

Barnette took the mound for the start of the eighth inning and promptly gave up a solo home run to Yomiuri’s first batter, Chono, on a 2-0 outside heater.

One out later, Tony gave up consecutive doubles to Sakamoto and Abe with another run scoring as a result. Barnette then got out number two by inducing Ramirez to fly out to second base, but he then conceded a fourth hit to Furuki which brought Abe around to score.

Matsuoka then took the mound and picked up right where Barnette had left off. He walked pinch-hitter, Tani, on five pitches, and then he allowed an RBI single to Ohmura for the fourth and final run of the inning (all charged to Barnette). Kyuko was finally called in to throw just one pitch and record the final out. 8-6 Tokyo.

But the birds showed some spine and put another couple of runs on the board in the bottom of that inning to dilute the potency of Yomiuri’s half of the inning. Hatakeyama hit an RBI single to the fence in left, and then Takeuchi hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot off of Takagi, to cap the Swallows scoring at 10 runs. 10-6 Tokyo.

Lim was then called in to take care of the non-save situation and showed that he has yet to regain his old form.

Tohno didn't even last three full innings.

He allowed three consecutive two-out hits (the third of which was an RBI double) to let Yomiuri claw one back in the top of the ninth, but luckily that was as far as the visitors could get. 10-7 Final.

So Yoshinori came away with the win after his very impressive performance on the mound even though the bullpen endured a bit of a crisis. He gave up two earned runs from eight hits and struck out seven. His pitch count reached 111, and his record now stands at 7-6 while his ERA moved slightly to 2.86.

The other very positive thing that we can take from this game is that the offense is capable of some good run production when a couple of players are in a groove.

On offense, Aikawa went 3-4 and amassed three RBIs. Kawabata also chipped in with three RBIs by going 2-4, and Takeuchi added another RBI in his own 2-4 night at the plate (plus one walk).

Iihara also deserves credit for drawing three walks (one intentional) and doubling in a run. Tonight’s game was a huge boost to his OBP.

Game three of this series is scheduled for tomorrow night at 6 PM.

Notes:

The only players in the starting lineup to not record a base hit were Aoki and Miyamoto.

This game was the first time this season that a non-Japanese player was not in the starting lineup.

The Swallows drew six walks and one HBP in this contest.

Tokyo Swallows 6

Hiroshima Carp 1

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: LLLLW

(Mazda Stadium)

Finally, the Swallows manage to snap their longest losing streak of the season. I’d almost forgotten the word, but Mr. Watkins assures me this is what the English call a “win”.

"Crack!" Or maybe it was more like, "Click!" Or "Thwok!"

Neither side pitched a particularly impressive game, with both teams giving up ten hits. In a change of luck, though, Tokyo was able to bring its guys home.

The first scoring was in the top of the third, when the Birds started at the top of the order. With one out, Tanaka singled to left, but didn’t have to wait on first for long. Maeda’s first pitch to Whitesell was a curve served up right over the plate. Whitesell sent it back to the kitchen, which deep in the right field bleachers. (Incidentally, that’s also where the awful metaphors are made.)

Hatake followed that with another base hit, but Balentien GIDP. Oh well. 2-0 Tokyo.

In the top of the fourth, Miyamoto (which is Kansai-ben for “the friggin’ man”) led off with a triple deep into center. The current shortstop, young Kawabata, followed that up with an RBI single to right. 3-0 Tokyo.

Later on, in the top of the eighth, Umetsu took the mound for the Carp and promptly walked Balentien, who was replaced with the fleet-footed Miwa. Kawabata played the hero again with a high-bounder at Higashide, which gave Swifty time to score. 4-0 Tokyo.

Barnette pitched the eighth for the Swallows and started off by plunking the pinch-hitting Matsumoto up high, but made up for it by getting Higashide to ground into a double play.

It wasn’t over yet, though. Three straight hits by Kimura, Hirose, and Kurihara brought in a run for Hiroshima and earned Barnette an early end to the evening. Kyuko then gave up a single to Maru, loading the bases and getting yanked himself. This brought Matsuoka to the mound to face pinch-hitting Carp legend Tomonori Maeda, who hit a soft grounder back to the pitcher to end the inning. 4-1 Tokyo.

In the ninth, Carp reliever Aoki gave up a hit to Tokyo’s Aoki and sat down, bringing in Kishimoto. Tanaka sac-bunted, Iihara struck out, and Hatakeyama walked, bringing up Takeuchi, who swatted a two-RBI triple. Lim then gave up one hit while safely closing out the game. 6-1 Tokyo, Final.

Shichijo takes the win, improving to 4-0 (2.59). Maeda dropped to 6-8.

One more of these puppies tomorrow night.

After going 1-3-1 in the first week, the Swallows rebounded nicely in week #2 going 5-0-1 against the Chunichi Dragons and the Hiroshima Carp. But just as it was important not to panic after week 1, it’s important not to get excited after week 2. The Birds still have 133 games to play and many things can still happen. As reference, the Swallows started 7-5 last year, and 6-5 the year before that, and we all know how those seasons ended up. If you look back through our season archives (2008, 2009, 2010), you’ll see that we are quite streaky so it’s best we reserve judgement until we get further along in the season. That being said there’s a lot to be happy about this week.

Left field and the 3 Spot: Since the beginning of the season the Swallows have, at various times, started Hamanaka (3 starts), Iihara (2), Takeuchi (3), Fukuchi (2), and Yuichi (1) in left field and batted them in the 3 spot. In limited at bats, no player has shown much of anything. All are batting below .200 (Fukuchi and Iihara are still without hits), and have OBPs below .250. Iihara, who by the end of last season was a regular outfielder, was sent down to ni-gun prior to Masubuchi’s first start, and it’s not clear what the team intends to do with him. Without any further information on Iihara’s condition it would seem like he would be the best candidate to start, as he has the greatest upside and is probably the second best fielder in the group after Fukuchi. Another option possibly worth exploring is starting either Hatakeyama or Whitesell in left. (More on that below.)

First base: Ever since Whitesell was held out of a game for right shoulder pains, Hatakeyama has started at first base and has been hitting very well. Some sources have attributed Hatakeyama’s success to the increased number of day games. Whatever the reason, Hatakeyama has certainly earned his playing time for now. However, it’s a shame to see Whitesell languish on the bench. Despite not hitting terribly well in his limited starts to begin the season, Whitesell is probably still perceived to be one of our scarier hitters, as evidenced by his 5 walks drawn (2 intentional) in just 17 plate appearances. He sports a BA/OBP/SLG line of .167/.412/.417 and has only seen 1 pinch hit appearance (Apr 19 vs. Chunichi) since being held out of the Yokohama game on the 17th. While Whitesells numbers did go down in September of last year, perhaps a sign that opposing scouts have a read on him, he certainly strikes more fear into opposing pitchers than the batters listed in the previous section. While Whitesell does not have any outfield starts, he did play a bit of left field in ni-gun prior to joining the first team last year. More likely, if we were to try to start both, Hatakeyama would play left as he did quite a bit last August. The big manchild leaves a lot to be desired defensively but the offensive returns may be interesting.

Aoki the robber? Prior to the start of the season there was talk of Aoki being given the green light, and that we would see more steals from our leadoff hitter this year. So far that hasn’t been true, through 11 games Aoki has recorded only 1 steal. Tanaka remains Aoki’s preferred method of reaching second as Hiroyasu leads the league with 9 sacrifices. On the other hand, Fukuchi is working hard to regain the stolen base crown, as he leads the league with 6 steals.

Beware Pitcher Abuse: Last week was a great week for Swallows starters, except for Takaichi. The other side of these performances is the high pitch counts that were used to accomplish them. Ishikawa (122), Yoshinori (123), Tateyama (123), and Yamamoto (110) all threw over 100 pitches last week. Masubuchi got into trouble after 87 pitches last Sunday, after he had thrown 123 pitches in his previous start. While I’m less worried about veterans like Ishikawa and Tateyama, overuse of young arms like Masubuchi, Yoshinori, and Yamamoto is a concern. On the reliever side, Matsuoka and Lim both made 4 appearances last week including 3 consecutive appearances in the Hiroshima series.

Quo Vadimus: This week the Swallows will face the Giants at “home” in Shizuoka and the Tigers at Koshien. The Giants will be coming off 4 days of rest, as they last played on the 21st against the Tigers. No idea how the extended off days will affect the Giants’ starters, but the Giants have gotten some pretty strong starts from guys like Utsumi, Kubo, and rookie southpaw phenom Sawamura. On the other hand, there seems to be some confusion in the Giants bullpen as their closer Yamaguchi has gone down with injury. The Giants’ bats seem to be on track as usual, but we’ll see how the off days have affected them. We’ll most likely be facing the team from across the way with the top of our rotation, Ishikawa, Yoshinori, and Tateyama. For those of us in Japan the first two games will be shown on Fuji TV, although if you understand Japanese I’d turn down the sound as the announcers will no doubt be plugging the “visitors.”

The Tigers also have had some strong pitching success early in the season, but have not gotten their bats on track quite yet as last year’s golden boy Matt Murton is hitting a paltry .224.  If the Tigers’ rotation holds true, expect to face Kubo, Messenger, and old man Shimoyanagi. We’ll probably counter with Yamamoto, a young call up, and Masubuchi. It’ll be the first time the Swallows meet the Tigers this year, and thanks to some quirks in the post-earthquake scheduling we won’t be seeing them again until July.

Tokyo Swallows 10

Yokohama BayStars 7

Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW

(Yokohama Stadium)

After last night’s drubbing handed out to the Baystars, tonight’s game was more of a tightly contested affair despite Tokyo outhitting the opposition 17-9. But in the end class told as the Swallows came out on top at the end of this rollercoaster of a game.

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

Facing rookie Yokohama starter Kaga, Tokyo took a 1st inning lead after a single from Tanaka and a Takeuchi double set the table for Whitesell. The American, who can seem to do no wrong since his arrival here, hit a double to right which brought home two runs for 2-0 Tokyo.

Swallows’ starter Nakazawa gave up seven runs in his previous start, also against the Baystars last Saturday. Today he would not fair much better but would get a lot more run support this time round. So it wasn’t the most auspicious of starts as he gave up three consecutive hits to begin the game, the last of those a three run homer to Harper which saw his lead dissapear before putting an out on the board as the score moved to 3-2 Yokohama.

But this post-Takada, post-allstar break Swallows team are a resilient bunch, and they proved it as they struck back in the top of the 2nd. Back to back singles for Miyamoto and Kawabata got the inning rolling before Nakazawa layed down a sacbunt to move the runners along. A pitch low and way inside hit Aoki (who was not best pleased to put it mildly) to load the bases for Tanaka. He could only strikeout tamely, but next man up Takeuchi got the job done with a two run single that put the birds back ahead at 4-3.

Another run followed in the 3rd. A single for Hatakeyama was followed by two outs, the upshot of which meant the chubby-one was now residing at second. Kawabata was then given the intentional pass to first which brought up pitcher Nakazawa. He, no doubt inspired by Tateyama’s heroics the night before, hit one over the head and out of the reach of  third baseman Murata which scored Hatake from second for 5-3.

An enormous homer to right  from Whitesell (no.8 for the year) followed in the 4th off reliever Fujie which made it 6-3 Tokyo. But just as things looked like they may be mirroring the night before, Yokohama fought back.

In the bottom of the 4th a solo shot from Castillio narrowed the score to 6-4, before two hits and a Murata three-run shot in the 5th put the Baystars ahead. 7-6 Yokohama.

Luckily for Nakazawa, the Tokyo resilience saved him as they got right back in the game in the 6th. A two-out Takeuchi single and walk for Whitesell put two on for Hatakeyama. And he did not fail to deliver as he doubled to the wall in left to score both men and put Tokyo back in front, 8-7 Tokyo.

Takagi (4.15) and Watanabe (6.75) combined to work a scoreless 6th before the familiar procession of Masubuchi (2.96) and Matsuoka (1.54) followed to work hitless 7th and 8th innings respectively (though Masubuchi did give up two walks).

Insurance runs followed in the 9th (Kawabata one-out single, Noguchi pinch-hit sacbunt, Aoki RBI double, Tanaka RBI single) to make it 10-7 which meant that it was Lim-time in the bottom of the 9th. He looked less than convincing as he gave up a two-out walk and a single to Harper. Up stepped slugger Murata with a chance to send this one into extra innings, but he hit a fly to right which was snagger on the run just before the wall by Ihara and this one was done, 10-7 Tokyo Final.

Nakazawa was the rather fortuitous recipient of the win after his 5 innings of 8 hit 7 run baseball, and his record now sits at 7-6/4.72. Lim earned his 23rd save of the season and his ERA is now at 1.53.

Everyone in the starting 1-8 spots had multi-hit evenings bar Aikawa who was hitless in his 5 plate appearances.

Tokyo have now edged ahead 8-7 in the season series against the CL’s worst, and they will go for the sweep tomorrow evening, still very much in the hunt for that final playoff berth.

Standings & Results – Player Stats

Chunichi Dragons 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 3   Last 5: LLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Well, the Tokyo Swallows swept the Chunichi Dragons at Jingu. With Yoshinori on the mound. How about that!

Tonite’s lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Fukuchi LF
3. Tanaka 2B
4. Whitesell 1B
5. Hatakeyama 3B
6. Takeuchi RF
7. Kawabata SS
8. Kawamoto C
9. Yoshinori P

Yoshinori pitched what was (very easily) arguably the best start of his career. 126 pitches brought him to the first complete game shutout of his career. And it wasn’t sloppy. Five scattered hits were clouded by eight Ks and a single walk. He benefited from four double plays, but he deserves credit for keeping his pitches down and changing speed effectively tonight.

The birds started off huge in the bottom of the first. Fukuchi and Tanaka started with one out singles before Whitesell came through with a foul ball to right (sorry, it was foul from where I was sitting…when you see the replay, please let me know if I’m wrong) that was called fair. After the five minutes that it took for Ochiai to realize that the call wasn’t going to be reversed, Whitesell’s double stood, and the birds got back to business. 1-0 Tokyo.

One out later, Takeuchi came through with his fifth home run of the season to put the birds in control. 4-0 Tokyo.

As Yoshinori continued to assemble his unexpected complete game shutout, our hitters drew a walk here and there but didn’t really become dangerous until the sixth when Aoki drove in Takeuchi with a single to right. 5-0 Tokyo.

And that was it. Yoshinori pitched out the game without any real hiccups.

He can now brag to his prepubescent friends about a winning record (7-6) and a reasonably respectable ERA (3.93). I don’t want to get my hopes up, but after two complete game wins in a row, maybe this is a sign of things to come…?

On offense, Tanaka, Whitesell and Takeuchi had two hits each. Takeuchi came through with the lion’s share of RBIs with his three run dinger, which reminds the faithful that he’s worth keeping around against right-handed pitching.

The birds now head to Yokohama to lose all of the momentum that they’ve just built against the far superior Chunichi Dragons.

Random thoughts:

With about 19 hours until they face the fearsome BayStars, the Tokyo Swallows are now 5.5 games behind the third place Chunichi Dragons. Enjoy it while it lasts. The BayStars have our number.

Mystically, Yoshinori now has the best winning percentage on the team at .538. Weird.

Thank fook Tanaka was moved out of the two hole so that he can swing away. Hopefully he proves us right by racking up base hits and walks while he’s not serving as Aoki’s chauffeur.

D’Antona didn’t make an appearance in this game.

Tokyo outhit Chunichi 9-5.

Yomiuri Giants 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LLWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo fell behind early but battled back to take a slender lead, with the bullpen putting in a lights-out shift to bring home the much needed victory.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Fukuchi (LF)
3. Tanaka (2B)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Takeuchi (RF)
6. Aikawa (C)
7. Miyamoto (3B)
8. Fujimoto (SS)
9. Tateyama (P)

With Tateyama on the mound, for the second night in a row the Swallows fell behind early from run scoring off a wild pitch, with Yomiuri adding another to take a 2-0 1st inning lead.

That lead was halved in the 2nd, as a Takeuchi solo homer (no.4 for the year) off fugly Giants starter Nishimura made it 2-1.

But the two run lead was restored in the top of the 4th as piggy-boy Abe hit a solo shot of his own which made it 3-1.

And it was in the bottom of the 4th that the tide would turn in Tokyo’s favour. A walk for D’Antona and a dead ball for Takeuchi, with the runners then advancing on a wild pitch that Abe couldn’t control, left men on second and third for Aikawa. He hit a chopper that bounced high over the infield to left, scoring D’Antona from third to make it 3-2. A single to right for Miyamoto tied things up at 3-3 before outs for Fujimoto, Tateyama and a HBP for Aoki loaded the bases with two outs for Fukuchi.

He hit a feeble grounder to short, but a combination of his lightning speed and first baseman Takahashi not coming up with the throw from Sakamoto meant that Tokyo had themselves the go ahead run for a score of 4-3 Tokyo.

Tateyama worked relatively trouble free 5th and 6th innings before Ogawa turned it over to the bullpen. And what a job they did.

Masubuchi (2.57) worked a perfect 7th off 12 pitches, Matsuoka (0.96) took just 9 for his perfect 8th, before Lim (0.86) sat down Ramirez, Abe and Tani in order off 13 pitches to secure the win and earn his 12th save of the year.

Tokyo could have scored more in the 7th and 8th as they put runners on base with no outs, however both times a Tak-bunt was called, both times (Takeuchi and Onizaki) they lead to the most advanced runner being thrown out and both times no a solitary soul made it home. Great.

Tateyama took the win after giving up the 3 runs off 6 hits (8 strikeouts, 1 walk) and his record is now at 4-5/4.05.

The Swallows outhit their beloved neighbours 10-6 with Tanaka (.309) and Aikawa (.302) both registering 2 hits for the evening.

The two teams meet again tomorrow evening with Tokyo looking to take a series against the evil ones for the first time since the season’s opening series.

Whitesell is being brought in to compete with Jamie D’Antona, and to a lesser extent Shinichi Takeuchi, for the starting first baseman’s job. Quickly skimming through Whitesell’s Wikipedia profile reveals some similarities between D’Antona and Whitesell. They are both tall, 28 year old first basemen that made their Major League debut in 2008 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 2009, D’Antona signed with the Swallows, while Whitesell bounced between AAA and the Major Leagues. Whitesell put up some impressive numbers in AAA, but failed to replicate those results in the Majors. After the 2009 season, Whitesell was not resigned by the Diamondbacks, and he signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals.

Whitesell is noted for his patience at the plate. In 53 games for the Syracuse Chiefs of the AAA International League this year, Whitesell lead his team in walks with 29, and he recorded an OBP of .401 . However, Whitesell also lead the team with 47 strikeouts. Whitesell slugged a respectable .443 for an OPS of .844. He has not spent any time in the Majors this year.

It seems we have gotten a left-handed version of D’Antona. We’ll have to see how Whitesell adapts to life in NPB and see how his minor league numbers translate on this side of the Pacific. Stay tuned to Tsubamegun for more coverage on the Whitesell signing!