Hanshin Tigers 2

Tokyo Swallows 4

Streak: Won 4  Last 5: LWWWW

(Jingu)

 The bumblebees forgot how to field a baseball properly, while Coco answers his critics.

Tonight was a strange game for both sides. Hanshin ended the game with four errors while the Birds’ coaches made a few questionable calls that should have cost them the game but didn’t.

On par with their poor starts to a game, the Birds were down after a half of an inning. After getting the first two batters out very quickly, Tateyama gave up a double to Toritani. Arai followed that with a deep drive to center that barely cleared the center field fence. 2 – 0 Hanshin.

Murton flew out to Balentien to end the inning.

As the Birds came to bat in their half of the first, the Swallows fans were extremely vocal. Maybe it was due to a few moronic Tiger fans sitting in the Swallows side of the stadium. Or maybe they were just hoping for a good start to a game. In any event, Aoki started the inning of with a double down the right field line which led to quite a few cheers coming from the right-field bleachers. In an unusual move (HA!), Tanaka bunted Aoki over to third. Kawabata, catching the Hanshin infielders sleeping, bunted down the first-base line. As Aoki raced home, Iwata was trying to get Aoki out at the plate. Fortunately for us, he committed the first error of the evening and Aoki easily scored. 2 – 1 Hanshin.

Hatakeyama followed that with a single, with Kawabata advancing to third on the play. As the boys and girls in blue were jumping and shouting, hoping to at least even the score, Iihara disappointed by grounding into a double play to end the threat.

Both teams bats were kept in check until the Birds half of the 4th. “Boo” started off the inning with a double to right center. In a move questioned by all supporters in blue, Iihara was ordered to sac bunt “Boo” to third. However, he bunted right to the pitcher, Iwata, who promptly threw Boo out at third. Iihara made it to first without a throw. Up next was Miyamoto. He hit a grounder back up the middle that was aptly handled by Toritani. Toritani was able to force Iihara out at second, but Hanshin couldn’t complete the double play and Miyamoto was safe at first. Up next was Balentien. After a second inning strike out, “Coco” was looking to make contact. And make contact he did, as he hit a shot into the bumblebee side of the stadium, the Swallows fans erupted. 3 – 2 Tokyo.

Murton made a lucky diving catch to get Aikawa out and bring an end to the 4th.

The Birds would tack on one more in the 8th on another error by the bumblebees. First, though, Kawabata reached on a single to right. He was replaced by Miwa. “Boo” was up next. After battling off a few pitches, he finally connected and hit a rope down the left field line. Lin made a good play as the ball carreened off the wall. He picked it up cleanly and threw the ball to the infield. This is where the comedy ensued. Sekimoto was the one taking the throw. As he caught the ball and  turned to throw home, he must of realized that Miwa was not racing home because he stopped his throw mid-motion but the ball didn’t. It slipped out of his grip and bounced toward the mound. Miwa, reacting like an electrocuted cat, pranced home. 4 – 2 Tokyo.

To rub it in, Boo moved all the way to third and was replaced by Kawashima. Whitesell came into pitch hit but was unable to do anything, striking out swinging. Miyamoto flew out to left but not deep enough to score Kawashima. Balentein was walked on 4 straight pitches; a blatant non-intential walk.  With runners on the corners, Aikawa waddled up to the dish. Unfortunately, he popped out to short to end the inning.

Lim would close out the ninth for his 23rd save of the year.

Notes:

• Balentien now has 27 homers.
• The home-plate umpire upset quite a few players on both sides of the diamond this evening. With Kanemoto the most vocal as he was called out in the top of the 8th. They were discussing the best dining places in Tokyo for over a minute, before Kanemoto finally conceded and went back to playing video games in the dugout.
• The bumblebees had 4 errors this evening, with 2 leading to runs scored.
• Tateyama is now 9 – 2

Well done, son. Well done.

The Swallows were part of that huge scrum looking to snap up Yusei Kikuchi, but they lost out (Seibu’s manager, Watanabe, chose the winning envelope) on the chance to negotiate with the high school phenom and were thus forced to make more conservative picks.

In the first round of the amateur draft, which now includes players from high school, college, and the industrial league, the Swallows selected Masato Nakazawa. Nakazawa is a 24-year-old left-handed pitcher from Toyota’s industrial league team that could be a contender for a starting rotation slot next season. He will be 25 when the 2010 campaign kicks off, and he’ll hopefully be flexing his fastball-slider combo on the first team. He apparently has a fastball that tops out in the mid 140′s.

Before signing with Toyota, Nakazawa played at Chuo University, and he is listed on the Yakult website as being 179 cm tall and 80 kg on the scales.

The Swallows used their second round draft pick to select another pitcher out of the industrial league, this time it was right-handed pitcher Tetsuya Yamamoto who plays for Mitsubishi Kobe. Tokyo is hoping that Yamamoto can get into the mix for a spot on the first team bullpen or maybe even some time on the starting rotation. Also 24 years old, Yamamoto is listed as being 179 cm tall and weighing 74 kg.

Tokyo was able to resist drafting a high school player for yet another round when they chose Takahiro Araki (IF) in the third. The 22-year-old right-handed player will be joining the team after he graduates from Kinki University in the spring, and many will be watching to see if he can join the platoon of infielders that are looking to allow Miyamoto to ease into his upcoming managerial career.

The fourth round was when Tokyo finally swooped for a high school pitcher. They chose Ryo Hirai (18 years old) out of Teikyo 5th High School. Hirai is a thin, six-feet-tall right-handed pitcher who can reach 145 kph with his fastball.

21-year-old outfielder, Jun Matsui, was invited to join the Swallows in the fifth round. He played baseball for Nihon University Junior College, and he apparently possesses both speed and power.

Tokyo also snared two players in the ikusei draft:

Maike Magario joins the team straight out of Aomori Yamada High School. The 18-year-old outflielder (R/R) spent his early years in Brazil (much like veteran Yuichi Matsumoto).

The Swallows’ final pick of the draft was Tomofumi Aso, an infielder from Nihon University Junior College (along with Matsui above). The 22-year-old hits and throws righty.