An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Tokyo’s Japanese-language website reported that catcher Ryouhei Kawamoto had successful surgery to repair ligament damage in his right ankle on the 17th of this month. It is projected that he will require up to two months to heal completely. Rookie pitcher, Kentaro Kyuko, also had surgery recently. On Monday November 21st, Kyuko had surgery on [...]
November 6th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 2 Series: Chunichi 4-2 Tokyo (Nagoya Dome) Well, it falls to yours truly to pen the last game report of the season. While I’d rather not be doing so just yet, of course, I must also say I’m not crushed by the outcome. Tokyo made it closer [...]
November 3nd, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 3 Chunichi Dragons 1 Series: Chunichi 2-1 Tokyo (Nagoya Dome) With the team already down 2-0 in the series, it goes without saying that tonight’s game was a must win for the Swallows. Amidst much speculation, the Swallows started Ishikawa on 3 days rest against the Dragons’ Chen. But that [...]
October 29th, 2011 Yomiuri Giants 2 Tokyo Swallows 3 Series: Swallows Lead 1-0 (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Tokyo came from behind to down their beloved neighbours off the back of a Tateyama-Muranaka starter’s relay and, thank the lord of your choice, some timely hitting. In a packed and buzzing Jingu it was Tateyama, not Ishikawa as [...]
With only one game left to go in the regular season, hosts David Watkins and Christopher Pellegrini look ahead to the first stage of the playoffs which will be played at Jingu next weekend. After talking briefly about why the Swallows finished second in the Central League, David and Christopher move on to probable pitching [...]
The Tokyo Swallows put out a two sentence blurb (Japanese text) on their website today stating that Keizo Kawashima will not be on the bench for the playoffs as he had reconstructive surgery on his right elbow yesterday. Keizo had surgery at a hospital in Gunma Prefecture, and the team predicts that it will take about [...]
October 18th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 4 Hanshin Tigers 0 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LLLWW (Koshien) After huffing and puffing for a while, the CL’s most boring team finally clinched their second straight pennant in Yokohama with…..a 3-3 tie. How apt. For a while Tokyo’s championship hopes looked like they may live to see [...]
October 11th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 3 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: WLWLL (Nagoya Dome) Tokyo’s CL title hopes moved yet further into the distance as they fell to Chunichi once more in Nagoya. Tonight’s win means that the Dragons have now moved 2.5 games ahead of the Swallows and become the first [...]
October 5th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 0 Hanshin Tigers 3 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LLWLL (Kyocera Dome) Tanaka didn’t bat second, for a third straight game, which flagrantly violates the closest thing Tokyo has to set dogma: Tanaka bats second, behind Aoki. Should Aoki reach first and there be no outs, Tanaka will sac [...]
September 29th, 2011 Hanshin Tigers 4 Tokyo Swallows 7 Streak: Won 4 Last 5: LWWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Not quite as exciting as the MLB American League wildcard race, but the last few days at Jingu have been mightily enjoyable. Just like the two nights before, the Swallows came from behind to comfortably beat the [...]
