Orix Buffaloes 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 

Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LWLLL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The run production woes continue.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Orix	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	4	1
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: Hirano (3-1, 2.52 ERA) L: Tateyama (3-3, 2.36 ERA)

What do you need to know? After Wednesday’s blowout victory over 2011 Japan Series champion Fukuoka, the birds are a bit constipated run-wise.

Not fun.

Tokyo	Order	Orix
Fukuchi (LF)	1	Moriyama (CF)
Tanaka (2B)	2	Nonaka (LF)
Milledge (CF)	3	Ohbiki (SS)
Balentien (RF)	4	Lee (1B)
Hatakeyama (1B)	5	Gotoh (2B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Baldiris (3B)
Aikawa (C)	7	Kawabata (RF)
Morioka (SS)	8	Suzuki (C)
Tateyama (P)	9	Nishi (P)

Tokyo got off on the wrong foot in the top of the second when a 1-2 Tateyama offering (maybe a forkball?) headed straight down the middle and Baldiris clubbed it into the stands in left for the first run of the game.

Tanaka then led off with a single in the bottom of the fourth, and was pushed over to third thanks to two beanballs (Balentien and Miyamoto receiving). Aikawa came through with a clutch walk that forced Tanaka home, but Morioka was once again unable to do anything productive at the plate with the bases loaded.

1-1.

And that was basically

Tateyama was decent, but he got zero run support.

it on offense for the birds.

Orix scored again in the top of the fifth. It was only one run, but it was more than enough.

1-2 Orix.

Tokyo loaded the bases once again in the sixth, but Fujimoto took Morioka’s place as the goat this time.

Orix put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth with Oshimoto on the mound. A leadoff walk was followed by Lee’s second home run in as many games.

1-4 Final.

Pitching

Tateyama took the loss on seven innings (98 NP), three hits (1 HR), three strikeouts, one walk (2 HBP), and two runs allowed (both earned). His record is now 3-3 with a 2.36 ERA.

Hidaka pitched a scoreless eighth, but Oshimoto allowed two more runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach. Hidaka now sports a 0.60 ERA through 18 appearances, and Oshimoto is now up to 2.12 on the ERA meter in as many appearances.

Hitting

Hatakeyama and Aikawa had two-hit games. Other than that, there wasn’t anything to write home about. Balentien earns two hat tips for an HBP and BB.

Baldiris takes one for: a) being the first to follow two hit Tokyo batsmen, and b) hitting a homer in his first at-bat.

Notes

Tsubamegun, meet Offensive Slump. Offensive Slump, Tsubamegun.

Morioka, as great as he is both as a player and a teammate, is 0-3 in bases-loaded situations over the last two days.

Fujimoto pinch hit for Morioka on both Saturday and Sunday in important situations. We can only imagine what that is doing to Morioka’s head. Not good, no matter how you look at it.

Tokyo outhit Orix 6-4, but your birds weren’t able to hit when it mattered. Same story three games in a row.

Milledge was back in center field tonight. He had an easy night as only one of Orix’s four hits came near him.

How we lost this game is beyond me.

Now that Tanaka is no longer on bunt duty, the Tsubamegun faithful are strenuously looking forward to the days, weeks, and months when he’s a consistent threat at the plate (in addition to his thus far gold glove performance in the field).

Strenuously.

Your Tokyo Swallows will be in Chiba on Tuesday and Wednesday for a two-game set against the Pacific League’s leading team. Both games start at 6:15PM.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/20/52012-orix-home/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/18/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-17th-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-17th-2012 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/18/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-17th-2012/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 14:34:49 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12654

Things didn't go well last week, so here's a picture of the farm team lineup.

Sorry for the delay, Swallowers. It’s my fault. There are no excuses here at Tsubamegun.

Something for you to read while planning a trip to New Orleans.

Swallows of the Week

Week 6

This one was never really going to be much of a contest, what with the wicked week that Coco put up and all. But 31 voters thought long and hard and chose the most worthy from the following four players:

Wladimir Balentien (RF)
Masanori Ishikawa (P)
Orlando Roman (P)
Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B)

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	25	81
Hiroyasu Tanaka	4	13
Orlando Roman	2	6
Masanori Ishikawa	0	0

Congratulations, Coco, the first Tokyo player to ever earn SOW honors twice in the same season! You definitely earned it. I must say that you surprised the piss out of us several times during week six, and we love you for it.

Now just sit back and let them walk you for a couple of weeks.

Week 7

Like the week before, the Swallows played five games during week six. However, things didn’t work out quite as well for your Tokyo Swallows.

The first three games were all over the midlands map in and around Nagoya as the birds took on the Dragons in a three-game set. Tokyo wasn’t able to win a game until the series finally arrived back at Nagoya Dome. Game three  saw the birds exorcise some of the their demons by winning a game against the Dragons in Nagoya, but they still lost the series 1-2.

Then it was off to the miserably wet and cold embrace of the enduring Akita Prefecture winter for a two-game series against the “visiting” Gomiuri Giants.

Tokyo played to an annoying 1-1 draw in the first game before losing the second game 5-1.

Game reports:

May 8th at Chunichi 0-1 L
May 9th  at Chunichi 3-8 L
May 10th at Chunichi 3-1 W
May 12th vs Yomiuri 1-1 D
May 13th vs Yomiuri 1-5 L

But despite Tokyo’s 1-3-1 record, there were still some individual bright spots.

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – The only pitcher to record a win, Akagawa pitched seven innings at Nagoya Dome on Thursday and threw 98 pitches while issuing only a single walk. He scattered six hits while striking out three and allowing one earned run in the sixth inning.

Shinya Miyamoto (3B) – A week after joining the Meikyukai, Shinya had his nose to the grindstone last week. Despite not starting on Wednesday, he was 6-14 at the plate in four games at third base.

Ryosuke Morioka (SS) – Given some playing time following Kawabata’s injury, Morioka started four games last week and was 3-14 at the plate with a double and two RBI.

You know what to do:

Roster Updates

As reported here in the last update, Takeuchi (IF) was removed from the top team on May 6th. It turns out that he has a right wrist injury that he needs to rehab.

On the seventh, Koki Watanabe (P) was also dropped to the farm after his four hit, three run performance on Sunday at Jingu.

On the eighth, Kentaro Kyuko (P) and Takahiro Araki (IF) were promoted from the topfarm team.

On the tenth, Kyohei Muranaka (P) and Shingo Kawabata (SS) were demoted. Kawabata is injured, and Muranaka is struggling.

On the 12th, both Aikawa (C) and Yuhei (OF) were brought back up to the top squad. Aikawa is coming off of a toe injury, and Yuhei has rejoined the struggle to find a viable and durable option in center field.

On the 15th, it was announced that Hitoshi Yamamoto (P) will have TJ surgery on his throwing arm (right) and is out for the rest of the season. Yamamoto made 12 appearances and pitched 55 innings for the Swallows last season. He finished the year with a 4.25 ERA.

That left the following 28 players on the top team roster:

Pitchers
Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai, Kyuko

Catchers
Aikawa, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka, Araki

Outfielders
Hiyane, Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge

Tateyama was the CL pitching MVP for March-April, 2012.

League Honors

In case you haven’t heard, Shohei Tateyama (P) and Wladimir Balentien (P) were March-April monthly MVPs for the Central League, and it’s the first time since 1997 that Tokyo has had a player win the pitcher and position player categories in the same month!

Sponsored by Nihon Seimei, it was the second time that both players had won the award.

Tateyama last won monthly MVP honors in August of 2010. This time around, he was 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA through 34 innings of work.

Balentien won May honors last year, and he finished the first month-and-a-bit of 2012 with a .308 average and 16 RBI on 24-78 hitting.

The last Tokyo duo to bring home top Central League honors in the same month were batterymates Atsuya Furuta (C) and Kazuhisa Ishii (P) in September 12 years ago.

Nice work, gents! Now if we could just hold on to first place.

From the Farm

The mini birds had an even worse week despite spending the whole time at home. Tokyo started the week off by dropping and drawing a game versus the visiting mini Giants before seeing game three get rained out up in Toda.

They then dropped three straight afternoon games to the mini Chiba Marines.

There’s not a whole lot to report that will excite anyone that is a regular in these parts. Onodera (P) continues to be effective, and Tetsuto Yamada (IF) is hitting well in the leadoff position. Other than that, Yoshinori’s little brother is the the next most exciting thing going on down there. And no, Yoshinori hasn’t made an appearance recently. Think they’ll eventually think about taking his face off of all the walls in Gaienmae soon?

The Week Ahead

It’s interleague time, folks! Tokyo hosts Fukuoka on Wednesday and Thursday after an extra day off, and then Orix comes to town for a weekend series at Jingu. All games start at 6PM. This is the time of year, of course, when we finally have a reason to root for Pacific League teams. May they beat everyone but us. Badly.

Tokyo's lone winning pitcher from last week.

OK, that’s it for this week. Please excuse me while I find some inspiration to do what’s right.

Hiroshima Carp  6

Tokyo Swallows  0

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: WLWWL

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This is the same pitching duel that we saw early last week in the rain in Hiroshima, Tokyo’s Shohei Tateyama taking on Hiroshima’s Kenta Maeda.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	3	6	14	1
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
W: Maeda (4-2, 1.44 ERA) L: Tateyama (3-1, 2.29 ERA)

It was Maeda’s first game of 2012 pitching at Jingu Stadium, and if his bad luck from 2011 had continued at Jingu, then that would’ve been good news for the Swallows. In his two starts last season, he pitched a total of 14.2 innings and lost both decisions while surrendering five earned runs. 2010 was the opposite for Maeda as he earned two wins from his two starts in the stadium that Tsubakuro built, giving up just one earned run over 17 exceptional innings.

One week ago, however, the birds wore him down and made him swallow an uncharacteristic four earned runs through just six innings of work. Before today’s game, Tateyama was 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA, and Maeda was 3-2 with a 1.67 ERA.

But with just a half-game lead on Chunichi in the standings, the Swallows would need to sustain and build on the momentum and positive energy that they’ve created so far.

That didn’t happen because, as one might expect, this game basically came down to pitching.

Tokyo	Order	Hiroshima
Tanaka (2B)	1	Kimura (SS)
Fukuchi (CF)	2	Higashide (2B)
Milledge (LF)	3	Maru (CF)
Balentien (RF)	4	Stavinoha (LF)
Kawabata (SS)	5	Matsuyama (1B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Amaya (RF)
Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Dohbayashi (3B)
Nakamura (C)	8	Kura (C)
Tateyama (P)	9	Maeda (P)

To summarize the proceedings, Hiroshima’s pitching was excellent. Tokyo’s? Not so much.

In other words, Tokyo got to see the 2010 version of Kenta Maeda.

Tateyama had a wobbly day on the mound and allowed droves of base-runners throughout the evening. He allowed three base runners in the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, and was perhaps fortunate to only give up three earned runs.

Hiroshima’s starter, Maeda, got things started in the fifth inning with a single, and then a sac bunt and a double later, and the Carp had opened the scoring for the first time in this series at Jingu.

Tateyama was hooked after he allowed a double to Maeda which scored two.

The sixth was when the real damage was done though. Amaya singled and then Dohbayashi walked to start things off. Out number one came thanks to a sac bunt which moved the two runners over and brought Maeda to the plate again. He ended up smacking a 2-2 forkball down the left field line for a double which cleared the bases and put the game even further out of reach.

3-0 Hiroshima.

And that’s when Tateyama finally got the hook. Hidaka came in and took care of the next five batters without incident.

Unfortunately, Maeda was just as effective on the mound as he was at the plate. He scattered just three hits through seven innings of work while mixing in seven strikeouts, a walk, and a beanball. The only time that the Swallows threatened to score was in the seventh when they loaded the bases with two outs, but pinch-hitter, Fujimoto, grounded out to short to end Tokyo’s best chance.

Down by three, the Swallows inserted Koki Watanabe for his third appearance of the year in the ninth (Abe pitched a perfect eighth). And it was one  to forget as he saw a total of eight batters and gave up four hits (one homer), a walk, a wild pitch, and three earned runs on his way to helping Hiroshima double its lead.

Enjoy your time in Toda, Mr. Watanabe.

6-0 Final.

Pitching:
Tateyama took the loss for the good guys. He pitched 5.1 innings (96 NP), and gave up ten hits and three earned runs. He also issued three walks, struck out three, and beaned one batter. His record is now 3-1, and his ERA jumped to 2.29 through six starts this season.

Hidaka (13 appearances) and Abe (four appearances) are still sporting perfect ERAs.

Thrilledge gunned Matsuyama down at home plate in the fourth to preserve the 0-0 tie.

Hitting:
Just three hits. Nobody was able to get anything going against Maeda today.

Notes:
15,885 tickets were allegedly sold to this game. It was a major departure from the crowds of the two previous days.  It rained quite a bit during the afternoon, but the skies were crystal clear once the game started.

Miyamoto reached the 2,000 hit milestone on Friday, but he 0-8 (one walk) since that historic moment.

The Swallows are still in first place because the Dragons lost to Yokohama once again.

The Swallows are on the road for the rest of this week. They will bounce around to a few different stadiums while playing the Dragons, and then they host an abbreviated series in Akita against Yomiuri on Saturday and Sunday.

The next Swallows home games will be on May 16th (Wed) and 17th (Thurs) when the Fukuoka Hawks are in town to help kick off the five week interleague schedule.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/06/5612-hiroshima-home/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/01/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-1st-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-1st-2012 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/01/tokyo-swallows-snapshot-may-1st-2012/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:32:25 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12481 Something to read while looking for inspiration.

Website Updates

Apologies for the delay, but we finally set up a game schedule up on the front page. We didn’t have one on there last season due to space limitations, but we think that you’ll find this year’s solution to be a workable one. Scroll down to the bottom of the front page for a look at Tokyo’s upcoming schedule as well as the Central and Pacific League Standings. Oh, and there’s a list of the community selections for Swallows of the Week down on the right.

Swallows of the Week

Week 4

Last week you chose your favorite from among five outstanding performers: Katsuki Akagawa (P), Wladimir Balentien (RF), Tony Barnette (P), Shingo Kawabata (SS), and Orlando Roman (P).

28 people cast their vote this time around, and here’s what you decided:

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	13	46
Tony Barnette	7	25
Shingo Kawabata	5	18
Katsuki Akagawa	2	7
Orlando Roman	1	4

Nicely done, Mr. Balentien! Coco was a force in week five as well, so it should be interesting to see if he can be the first player to ring it up twice here in the voting. At any rate, we’re enthused that he’s helping the team so much. Love, love, love! his improved control of the strike zone and hustle in the field. Long may it last!

Week 5

Tokyo played six games in the fifth week of the 2012 season. Three of those were played in the rain at Jingu, and the other three were day games at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima.

Tokyo outscored Chunichi 9-4 in the three game series that they hosted last week, and including the rough day against Hiroshima’s young Nomura on Sunday the birds outpaced the Carp 13-8.

Game reports:

April 24th vs Chunichi (Home) 4-1 W
April 25th vs Chunichi (Home) 1-1 D
April 26th vs Chunichi (Home) 4-2 W
April 28th vs Hiroshima (Away) 6-4 W
April 29th vs Hiroshima (Away) 0-3 L
April 30th vs Hiroshima (Away) 7-1 W

And here are the top-performing birds from week 5:

Wladimir Balentien (RF) comes fresh off of his first ever SOW win with another solid performance in week 5. He hit .304 last week (7-23 at the plate) with three walks and seven RBI. He hit another two home runs in week 5, including that three-run dinger that helped the team steal game one of its just-finished series against Hiroshima.

Tony Barnette (P) notched three saves last week and appeared in the first four games of the week. That was good enough for the most innings pitched of any reliever. Over four innings of work, Tony struck out two while allowing three hits and no walks. He has yet to surrender a run this season (0.00 ERA).

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B) had a bit of a breakout week while continuing to toil in the 7-hole. He was 8-22 at the plate (.364 average) with a double and a triple (gasp!) this week. He also drove in five runs and added two walks. Give the man some more pudding.

Lastings Milledge (LF) was awesome this week. He hit .391 and was a team-leading 9-23 at the plate with three doubles, a game-changing home run, three RBI, and three walks. And I daresay that his aggressiveness in left field is having a ripple effect in right. Oh, and he’s a sure bet to get waved home. I lost count, but Lastings slid home safely several times this week.

Shohei Tateyama (P) is at the end of this list due solely to alphabetical concerns. Tokyo’s true ace won two games this week, and that’s no mean feat. 13 innings pitched, 10 hits, 5 K, 5 BB, and just two earned runs–not too shabby. He co-shares the league lead in wins (3) and winning percentage (perfect!).

Let us know what you think! And as always, please vote only once.

Roster Updates

Rookie Hiyane (CF) was dropped to the farm on the 23rd due to some general greenness at the plate and in the field, and a complete inability to use his speed to swipe second base.

Utility infielder, Noguchi, was promoted on the 24th and featured as a pinch runner and defensive replacement at third last week.

Second year shortstop, Tetsuto Yamada, was dropped on the 27th in order to get some actual playing time, and speedster Miwa (INF) was promoted a day later to provide another pinch-running option.

The active roster, as of game time on the 30th, looked like this:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Nitta, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Takeuchi, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka

Outfielders
Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge, Ueda

From the Farm

The team announced that an Eastern League game was scheduled for May 17th at Toda against Saitama. You can check the farm team’s full schedule here (link in Japanese).

Tokyo’s game against Rakuten on the 27th was rained out, but the little birds won three of the four games that they played last week (results for Monday’s game against Saitama were not available when this article was published).

Lim pitched in a few games last week and earned a couple of saves but also got shelled in his outing yesterday against Saitama. If the bullpen holds together over the next few days, that could mean that Roman gets at least one more start on the top team.

Onodera continues to look pretty sharp, and it looks like Kyuko is getting a little bit of work in. I didn’t see Yoshinori’s name anywhere though.

Around the Central

Tokyo finished the week with 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. They took two of three from Chunichi in the rain at Jingu (one tie game), and two of three from the Carp in Hiroshima. They’re tied with Chunichi for first place in the Central League.

Chunichi finished the week 3-2-1. They lost two of three to Tokyo (one tie), and then swept Yokohama at Nagoya Dome. They’re tied at the top with your Tokyo Swallows.

Hanshin finished the week 2-3-1. They took two of three from Hiroshima at Koshien Stadium, and then lost two and drew one against Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome. Tossers. Hanshin are 2.5 games behind the first place tie of Tokyo and Chunichi.

Hiroshima finished the week 2-4. They lost two of three against the Tigers in Hanshin territory, and then they dropped another two at home to the Tokyo Swallows. They remain 2 games behind the third place Tigers and 4.5 behind Tokyo and Chunichi in first.

Yomiuri finished the week 3-0-1. They won one game against Yokohama in Kagoshima (the other game got rained out), and then won two and drew one at home against the Hanshin Tigers. Yomiuri are one game behind Hiroshima in fifth place.

Yokohama finished the week 0-4. They didn’t win a game this week against either the Yomiuri Giants or the Chunichi Dragons. Sixth place and three games behind the Giants.

The Week Ahead

Tokyo are headed straight to Yokohama for a three game series against the last-placed Baystars. The games on Tuesday and Wednesday both start at 6pm, but the game on Thursday starts at 2pm. Ishikawa will start for the birds on Tuesday.

Don’t be too surprised if the outfield bleacher seats are all reserved (ie. more expensive than normal) as Yokohama has a history of gouging during Golden Week.

Also, the weather looks kind of iffy, so plan accordingly. If the game gets rained out, and you’ve got extra time on your hands in the Kannai/Bashamichi area, stop by the Baird Bashamichi Taproom for a couple of brews and some BBQ ribs.

The final third of Tokyo’s current nine-game marathon will be played at the lovely Jingu Stadium Friday to Sunday. Friday’s game starts at 3pm, but the two weekend games are scheduled for 6pm starts. If the weather’s nice, those games could see some pretty healthy attendance, so arrive early if you’re part of a decent-sized group (four or more) or are picky about where you sit.

Former Swallows

Alex Ramirez (Tokyo player from 2001-07) didn’t start against the Dragons on Saturday or Sunday. The manager is apparently worried about his conditioning and wants him to get his legs back in shape. Ramirez did start yesterday, however, and was 0-3. He’s currently hitting .215/.227/.262.

Atsunori Inaba (Tokyo player from 1995-2004) joined the Meikyukai on Saturday after recording his 2,000th hit in a game against Tohoku in Sendai. Check this post for some excellent factoids related to Inaba’s feat.

Alright, please excuse me while I tune in to the derby.

Drink up!

Tokyo Swallows 7

 Hiroshima Carp 1

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: DWWLW

(Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima)

Yesterday Tokyo ran headlong into a masterful performance by early rookie-of-the-year candidate, Yusuke Nomura. The 22-year-old drafted out of Meiji University threw his slider wherever he wanted and induced 14 groundouts from the 25 batters he faced (1 H, 4 K, 2 BB).

And today looked like it might be another long day for the Tokyo bats as Hiroshima’s ace, Kenta Maeda, brought his own lethal slider with him as he took the mound on a rainy afternoon at Mazda Stadium.

Maeda (3-1, 0.97 ERA) had won his last three decisions and hadn’t given up more than one since his opening day start at Nagoya Dome back in March. Yikes.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	1	3	3	0	0	7	10	1
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	0
W: Tateyama (3-0, 1.85 ERA) L: Maeda (3-2, 1.67 ERA)

Tokyo’s ace, Shohei Tateyama (2-0, 2.00 ERA) started for the Swallows and hoped to win his third consecutive start.

Yuhei was called upon to roam center field in place of Ueda who was perhaps being dealt some thinking time on the bench after his rather inexplicable error in center field yesterday.

	Tokyo		Hiroshima
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Soyogi (SS)
2	Yuhei (CF)	2	Higashide (2B)
3	Milledge (LF)	3	Hirose (RF)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Stavinoha (LF)
5	Kawabata (SS)	5	Maru (CF)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Iwamoto (1B)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Dohbayashi (3B)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Shirahama (C)
9	Tateyama (P)	9	Maeda (P)

You may recall that Maeda no-hit the Baystars back on April 6th. Well, he painted both sides of the plate with his slider early on and had a no-hitter going against us through four this afternoon.

His opposite number, Tateyama, didn’t get through the innings with quite as much ease as Maeda, he faced a bases-loaded jam in the second but got Maeda to strike out swinging to preserve the scoreless tie.

Tateyama pitched a solid seven innings and finally got some real run support.

Kawabata was the first Tokyo bat to finally get to Maeda in the fifth. It kind of makes sense that it was Kawabata since he hit .636 against Maeda last season. He grounded a 2-2 changeup just to the right of second base that the sprawling Higashide did very well to get to but was in no position to throw Kawabata out at first. Miyamoto quickly popped up to second for the first out, but then Hatakeyama sliced an outside slider into right field which allowed Kawabata to reach third standing up.

With runners on the corners, Nakamura very nearly surprised everyone with a safety squeeze bunt that drifted wide of the first base line. But three sliders later, he was able to bloop a single just behind first base that scored the crucial first run.

1-0 Tokyo.

Maybe watching all of those sliders yesterday when Nomura was pitching was good practice for the birds because they came right back at Maeda in the sixth. Yuhei grounded out for the second time in as many at-bats, but then Milledge worked a full count and ended up poking an outside slider into the corner in left for a stand-up double.

Balentien got ahead in the count during his ensuing at-bat and was able to wait for the fastball that he knew would be coming. He drove it to center field and Milledge was able to motor home from second.

2-0 Tokyo.

Balentien was able to hustle to second as Milledge was busy beating the throw home, and that brought Kawabata to the plate again with just one out on the board. Shingo drew a five pitch walk, and then Miyamoto juiced the bases with a single to center.

That brought Hatakeyama to the plate. Tokyo’s pudding-filled first baseman protected the outside of the plate marvelously in a nine pitch encounter that was 2-2 after four pitches but never budged after that. After that fourth pitch, Hatake fouled off four consecutive pitches and had Maeda scratching his head. The man who inspired the shape of the Tsubakuro costume came through on the ninth pitch with another hit to right which scored both Balentien and Kawabata.

4-0 Tokyo.

And that was it for Maeda. He was replaced by Nakamura in the seventh, but that did nothing to stop the bleeding. Tanaka and Ueda (batting for Yuhei) both grounded out to start things off, but Milledge reignited things with a single to left, and Balentien followed with a five pitch walk.

Kawabata punched a 1-1 fastball into left which was enough for a double and a plus-one on the board for the good guys as Milledge was once again able to score from second.

Just four hits to go.

5-0 Tokyo.

With Balentien on third and Kawabata on second, Miyamoto drove a 1-0 fastball into right which cleared the bases and allowed him to reach second safely.

7-0 Tokyo.

And that was it for the offensive onslaught from the Tokyo Swallows. But it was more than enough, and more than expected.

Tateyama surrendered a consolation run in the bottom of the seventh when Dohbayashi’s double was followed by a one out Matsuyama single.

7-1 Final.

Pitching:

Tateyama got the win, his third of the season, on seven innings and 106 pitches of work. He gave up six hits, struck out four, walked three, and gave up one earned run. His ERA is now 1.85.

Masubuchi pitched a perfect eighth, and his ERA is now down to 3.00.

Hidaka worked the ninth for the birds and had a minor fielding hiccup, but didn’t allow a runner past first. His ERA is still 0.00 through 11 appearances.

Hitting:

Milledge, Kawabata, Miyamoto, and Hatakeyama all had multi-hit games. Kawabata and Hatakeyama earn extra praise for reaching base a third time thanks to drawing a walk each.

Notes:

Maeda hadn’t given up a run since the seventh inning of his start against Hanshin on April 12th. The four earned runs he gave up today were the most he’s allowed so far this season.

Maeda was perhaps a bit unlucky to give up that first run as nobody was hitting him hard. If Nakamura’s hit had sailed six inches to the right it would have been foul.

Tateyama is tied with Tokyo’s Muranaka for the Central League lead in wins (3) and perfect winning percentage. He’s also currently tied for the team lead in innings pitched (34 with Akagawa), and leads outright in both strikeouts (23) and K/9 (6.09).

Tokyo won the series 2-1 and are now 4-1 against the Carp so far this season.

With Chunichi’s win against Yokohama this afternoon, the birds are still tied for first place with a 15-8-2 record.

Tokyo are now off to Yokohama for a three-game set

Chunichi Dragons 1

Tokyo Swallows 4

Streak: Won 4  Last 5: LWWWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	1
Tokyo	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	X	4	7	0
W: Tateyama (2-0, 2.00ERA) L: Yamai (0-3, 3.18) S: Barnette (1-0, 8S, 0.00)

After the confidence boosting and oh so pleasurable home sweep this last weekend against Yomiuri, Tokyo kept the momentum rolling with a relatively straightforward victory against the reigning CL chuamps.

	Chunichi		Tokyo
1	Oshima (CF)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Araki (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Morino (3B)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Yamasaki (1B)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Wada (LF)	5	Miyamoto (3B)
6	Ibata (SS)	6	Morioka (SS)
7	Hirata (RF)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Tanishige (C)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Yamai (P)	9	Tateyama (P)

After Tateyama made light work of the first three batters of the evening, Tokyo’s bats got things up and running against the distinctly average Yamai who was on the mound for the Dragons.

Back-to-back singles for Tanaka and Ueda put men on first and second for Milledge, with a wild pitch during Lastings’ at-bat allowing both runners to reach scoring positions. That wild pitch turned out to be oh so fortunate as it meant just the one out instead of the two, as Milledge hit a ground-out to short which scored Tanaka for 1-0 Tokyo, with Ueda now at third. Balentien hit a shallow fly for out number two before Miyamoto came to the plate. He hit a grounder to first, but the 63 year old veteran Yamasaki couldn’t come up with it as Miyamoto reached first on the error, and Ueda made it home for 2-0 Tokyo.

Morioka, in tonight’s line-up to give Kawabata a rest (he has some lower back issues I believe) hit a dribbler up the middle that somehow evaded the Chunichi middle infield and Tokyo had men on the corners to threaten once more, but Hatake flew out to to right to end the inning with the lead at two.

But that lead would be halved in the top of the 2nd, as it became apparent that Tateyama is still not 100% early in this new season. Two singles and a two-out run scoring wild pitch got Chunichi back in the game at 2-1.

And the game would be see the last of it’s scoring in the bottom of the 3rd, as a Milledge double to the fence in right, and a Balentien homer over the same fence made it a much more comfortable 4-1 Tokyo. It was Balentien’s CL-leading 5th dinger of the year.

Tateyama would battle his way to the end of the 6th without allowing any further runs, aided by some very solid defence behind him, and so it was on to the bullpen. Masubuchi was up first in the 7th, followed by Oshimoto in the 8th, both allowing a solitary hit apiece which meant it was Tony-time come the top of the 9th. And as is becoming customary, he made light work of it, sitting down the 71 year old Yamasaki, 53 year old Wada and the positively spritely 42 year old Ibata in order to wrap things up nice and dandily for a 4-1 Tokyo Final.

Notes

• A “not at his best” Tateyama was still good enough to earn his second straight win after his 6I / 102P / 4H / 1K / 2BB / 1ER evening.
• The bullpen duo of Oshimoto and Barnette are still yet to give up an earned run this year, while Masabuchi’s ERA now sits at 3.86.
• Miyamoto went 1 for 3 (plus a dead ball for good measure), the hit coming via a 5th inning single, which means he is now just the 8 hits away from tears all round.
• After the two-run 3rd, Tokyo got a hit in each of the 4th and 5th innings before being shut down by the Dragons’ bullpen over the final three.
• Hatakeyama was the only non-pitching member of the starting line-up without a hit for the evening. He’s now batting .174.
• 12941 folks were at a soggy Jingu to witness the Swallows’ extend their streak to four, and end Chunichi’s at five.
• In tonight’s only other game in the CL, Hanshin lost at Koshien in a pitcher’s duel which saw Maeda’s Carp come out on top against Messenger to the tune of 1-0. This means Tokyo and Chunichi are now tied for first place with Hanshin 1.5 games behind in third.
• Tomorrow’s game will see Ishikawa start for the birds with the mythical creatures countering with Nakata. Thursday’s starter for Tokyo will likely be Muranaka.

Hanshin Tigers 5 

Tokyo Swallows 5 

Streak: Tied 1   Last 5: WWLD-

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hanshin	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	5	12	0
Tokyo	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	7	0

	Hanshin		Tokyo
1	Hirano (2B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Shibata (CF)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Toritani (SS)	3	Milledge (RF)
4	Arai (3B)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Brazell (1B)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Murton (RF)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Kanemoto (LF)	7	Balentien (RF)
8	Fujii (C)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Messenger (P)	9	Tateyama (P)

Some ties you’re happy to get, some are a letdown; the box score lets you know which one the Birds’ delayed home opener was.

Shinya Miyamoto, the koshu of Jingu.

Tateyama took the mound for Tokyo and got off to a pleasing start: three batters, one strike out, and a mere nine pitches. The offense quickly added to the fun when Ueda was walked, moved to third by a Milledge single, then brought in by a Hatakeyama grounder. 1-0 Tokyo.

Improving on his hot first inning, Tateyama notched another K, throwing only seven pitches to the next three batters in Hanshin’s order.

Miyamoto, then pounded hit number seven into left, putting him only eighteen away from the Meikyukai’s 2000 benchmark with 140 games to go. Unfortunately, this was followed by Balentien grounding into a double play (and giving up not evenhalfway down the basepath, which won’t win him any new fans out in the bleachers) and Aikawa grounding out.

Tateyama then gave up a hit to Fujii, but made up for it by striking out the bunt-attempting Messenger, then Hirano.

The Swallows’ bats then gave their hard-working moundsman some serious support. Tateyama walked, Tanaka singled, then Ueda popped out after briefly sparking your narrator’s overly sensitive consternation trigger by setting up to bunt. Milledge then struck out before Messenger started to come apart, walking Hatake to load the bases, then Kawabata to add another run to the home team’s column.

Miyamoto then sent hit number eight into right field for an RBI before Balentien drove in two more, making hoi polloi like him again. 5-0 Tokyo. 

Another ground out and another K for Tateyama, then Arai drilled a hole in the board just behind the center field fence. 5-1 Tokyo.

To no one’s surprise, Hanshin yanked Messenger and put Tsuru on the mound in the bottom of the fourth and he did his job well: 2 Ks against three batters.

Tokyo’s ace then started to show some wear: Murton, Fujii, and Hirano all hit, adding one more run to the visitors’ side: 5-2 Tokyo.

Watanabe then needed only eleven pitches to retire the home side 1-2-3. Oshimoto took the mound for Tokyo and had 1K vs. 1H.

In the sixth, Kawabata hit safely, but three of his teammates couldn’t get Watanabe’s stuff to leave the infield.

It may be this guy’s bad memory or failing eyesight, but Matsuoka looks a bit chubbier this year. He certainly threw chubbier: a lucky K when Kanemoto swung at a bouncing pitch, which, in fairness, might have counted as a strike back when Kanemoto was a rookie and the oldest of the Tsubamegun‘s authors were just beginning to shave. Matsuoka then beaned Fujii, walked Sekimoto, who was attempting the hit and run, and loaded the bases with a single to Hirano.

While fielding the ball and making a not-quite-handsome throw from right, Balentien appeared to injure either his wrist or his pride. Either way, he was yanked in favor of Iihara.

Not Matsuoka’s day. Would Masubuchi save the day?

Yes! (You didn’t expect that, did you?) Pop out, then a K to stave off disaster.

In the bottom of the 7th, Tanaka showed again what we here have long said: having him continually bunt Aoki over to second was a stupid decision; the man can hit. Sadly, no one else did.

Masubuchi then uncorked the swearing of a crowd already looking to go home, some of whom did after he gave up a single to Arai and a centerfield homer to Brazell, then single to Murton and Kanemoto.

Kanemoto took his Zimmer frame off the field to be replaced by the fleeter-footed Yamato, as Masubuchi was replaced by Hidaka.

After Hidaka got the first out of the inning, Shunsuke managed to bunt Murton in for another run.

You know what, Shunsuke? You’re only allowed to go by one name after you’re famous, you cocky little snot.

Hidaka’s strike out of Hirano finally ended things. 5-5.

The Swallows tried to manufacture a run against Enokida, putting Hiyane on the basepath after Hatake walked. Miyamoto also walked (Is this guy getting hotter in his 40s?), but Ks of Takeuchi of Aikawa ended the inning.

Barnette came in to close. He gave up a hit to Asai, got Toritani to ground out, then struck Arai in an epic ten-pitch battle. It took him five pitches to sit Brazell down and give the Birds a chance to slap Fujikawa around for the win.

Didn’t happen.

Ishikawa faces Ando as the Swallows host the grubs from Hyogo again tomorrow night.

• Today’s home opener versus the Hanshin Tigers was obliterated by very unfriendly weather, so the clocks of the Tokyo faithful have been reset to 6PM Wednesday evening. We’ll see you there.
• Miyamoto took a pitch in the upper calf (just below the back of the knee) during Sunday’s game, and he’s apparently still feeling some discomfort. Ogawa was thinking about giving him the day off today, but the weather ended up rendering that decision unnecessary. If he feels alright tomorrow, then Miyamoto will likely start at third.
• Hatakeyama took a batted ball in the eye today. Wonderful. He’s talking like he’s OK, but his doctor says he has a broken eye socket. Stay tuned for additional updates on his condition. In the meantime, someone please tell Takeuchi to put his game face on.
• Orlando Roman was scheduled to start today’s game against Hanshin. His start will be skipped, and the Swallows will instead send Tateyama to the mound tomorrow.

Around the Central League

• Chunichi vs Yokohama got stormed out as well.
• In the absence of another Central League game to watch, I tuned in to the Hiroshima-Yomiuri contest. I must admit that it was quite enjoyable. Hiroshima’s starter, Kan Ohtake, and his amazing infield defense kept the Yomiuri bats at bay, and Houlton pitched well but wasn’t able to get through the sixth inning (his curve looks alright though). Sarfate looked just as nasty as ever in the ninth, and the Yomiuri were humbled by an 0-4 scoreline.

Around the Pacific League

• Saitama-Chiba got rained out due to all the holes under the cover at Seibu Dome. Excuse me for asking, but what’s the point of putting a dome on your stadium if it can’t keep out nasty weather? Meatheads.
• Fukuoka got shut out up in Tohoku, 0-4. This was a low-hitting affair all around, but Fernandez did hit his first homer of his second stint with the Eagles.
• Orix outhit Hokkaido at Sapporo Dome. In fact, three players recorded three hits each in helping the Buffaloes outlast the Fighters, 5-4.

Blondes have more fun.

Swallows Present

• As mentioned in our most recent podcast, Balentien could start the year on the top team. Because he’s starting to show some life at the plate, mixed with Roman’s continued stability on the mound, and abetted by Lim’s tender throwing arm, Tokyo’s well-paid closer could start the year on the farm instead. Yet more evidence that a change in hairstyle works wonders for one’s career.
• Although we can’t be entirely sure that his hands are completely banned from meddling in team affairs, the guy who gave us his pal Takada as a manager for 2+ painful seasons, Tadashi Suzuki, has finally stepped down from his post as team advisor.
• Shingo Kawabata (wrist injury), whose rehab has not gone as smoothly as everyone had hoped, rejoined the first team today.
• The Tokyo Swallows, in cahoots with Yomiuri and Yokohama, have announced a stamp collection scheme (rubber, not postal) through which fans can attend games at all three stadiums and earn prizes such as a big button. I find this to be hilarious because it’s evidence of how far Yomiuri has fallen. Can anyone else think of another time when the Giants worked together with their CL enemies to put more bums in seats? Neither can I.
• To go along with rehabbing his throwing hand (off-season surgery to correct a “blood-flow problem”, Shohei Tateyama’s left leg (ankle?) disagreed with an injection he received last week. This is not the first time that this has happened to a Tokyo player in recent memory. Who is administering these injections, Tsubakurou?
• Masubuchi could start 2012 in the bullpen thanks to the potential starting depth that the team has at this point. This is good news for those of us that remember his breakout season in 2010 when he was first moved to the pen (2.69 ERA over 60.1 innings). With Barnette, Kyuko, Oshimoto, Matsuoka, and Masubuchi all waiting in the wings, there’s a little less pressure on Tokyo’s starters.

Swallows Past

• After a bit of a slump recently, brand new Brewer, Norichika Aoki, found some life against brand new Ranger, Yu Darvish. Disciples of Uecker feels that he needs to do a lot more of what he did during his 3-3 outing against the Rangers (video here) if he hopes to stay relevant and possibly graduate from being a backup player this year.
• Alex Ramirez, Yokohama’s prized acquisition from Yomiuri through free agency, has a leg injury that will probably keep him on the sidelines for the next couple of weeks.

Wannabe Swallows

• While nobody was looking, I wrote some poop about Watanabe and his Yomiuri Giants over at Tokyo Weekender. There’s a Cartman reference in there.

2012 Season

The season kicks off in exactly one week! The Tokyo Swallows will be travelling across town to Tokyo Dome for a 6PM date with the new-look Softbank Giants.

There will be sporadic updates during the opening series on our Twitter account. If you haven’t already, follow us now.

You can also find us on Facebook. Like us here.

Milledge has been making the most of his plate appearances this pre-season.

Team News

• No idea whether this is for real or not, but Ogawa has said that he likes having Yuhei around because he can be used in the outfield or as a pitcher (LHP). Yuhei was a top pitching prospect that never panned out for the Swallows. He started working on converting to the outfield after the 2009 season.
• Tokyo lost 1-3 to the KIA Tigers of the KBO on February 27th. Both Tateyama and Yoshinori pitched well and were able to throw strikes. Yamada came up with the team’s lone RBI in the ninth.
• The farm team beat their counterparts from Fukuoka 1-0 on February 28th. Yuichi, playing first and batting cleanup, recorded the game’s sole RBI on a double in the bottom of the fourth.
• Tokyo played to a 4-4 draw against Hokkaido on March 3rd. Masubuchi started and pitched five innings while surrendering four earned runs. Not that it matters since it was just a pre-season game. On offense, Milledge (2-3, 1 run) and Hatakeyama (3-4, 1 run, 1 RBI) seem to be seeing the ball well. Balentien did not make the trip up north for this game.
• And they played to another draw, 3-3 this time, against Hokkaido on the following day. Yamada was 2-5 at the plate and Milledge had another 2-3 day as the starting DH. He tied the game in the top of the fourth with a solo shot to right off of Hokkaido reliever, Hisashi Takeda.
• It sounds like Kyuko’s rehab is going pretty well, and he may be able to make it back to the top team roster by the beginning of the regular season. Like Tateyama, he had surgery on his hand at the end of 2011 to deal with some blood-flow problems.
• However, Kawabata’s rehab is not moving along quite as quickly, and there is a strong likelihood that he won’t be ready to play by the beginning of the season.

Former Swallows News

• We reported earlier that Norichika Aoki‘s (Milwaukee Brewers) playing time took a serious hit when Ryan Braun avoided a 50 game suspension. However, starting right fielder Corey Hart just had arthroscopic surgery on his knee after an MRI showed a meniscus tear in his knee. He’ll miss the rest of spring training and might not be in the dugout when the season gets under way.
• Ryota Igarashi (Pittsburgh Pirates) retired the side when he pitched the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 3rd.