September 1st, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Yomiuri Giants 3 Streak: Drew 1   Last 5: WLLWD (Tomiyama) After finishing out a very respectable August with an 18-8 record, by far the best W-L tally in the Central League, the birds began September with a draw. Lineup: 1. Aoki CF 2. Tanaka 2B 3. Iihara [...]

August 10th, 2010 Yomiuri Giants 3 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Streak: Won 7   Last 5: WWWWW (Jingu Stadium) The birds put their six-game winning streak on the line against Yomiuri in the latest version of the Tokyo derby. And even though they did a few things wrong, they did just enough things right to [...]

July 19th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8 Yomiuri Giants 14 Streak: Lost 3   Last 5: WWLLL (Tokyo Dome) The Swallows dropped another one, and suffered their second big inning in as many days, as cross-town rivals, Yomiuri, returned to winning ways after being beaten in dramatic fashion by Yokohama last night. Tonight’s lineup: 1. [...]

July 18th, 2010 Hanshin Tigers 11 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: WWWLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Yoshinori was his same annoyingly inconsistent self to start things off today. Randy Messenger, on the other hand, looked sharp for Hanshin. He needs to quit that chewing tobacco habit though. Starting lineup: 1. Aoki [...]

July 15th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9 Chunichi Dragons 4 Streak: Won 5   Last 5: WWWWW (Nagoya Dome) The Swallows managed to put the finishing touches on their third five-game winning streak of the season (all of them in the post-Takada era) while taking full advantage of every opportunity given to them. Tonight’s lineup: [...]

July 8th, 2010 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 10 Hanshin Tigers 6 Streak: Won 1  Last 5: WLLLW (Koshien) With D’Antona on the farm team, and Guiel and Whitesell watching from the bench, the Tokyo Swallows looked to avoid a Koshien sweep at the hands of the Hanshin Tigers with Mikinori Katoh on the mound for the [...]

July 4th, 2010 Chunichi Dragons 8 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WWWWL (Akita Komachi Stadium) Don’t let the article image fool you! The Swallows fail to extend their winning streak in a very sloppy game against the Chunichi Dragons. Aoki did manage to collect career hit #1000, but aside from [...]

How We Got There The Swallows came into June fresh off the Takada firing, and were only 4 games into the Ogawa regime. The Birds were looking to build on the 1-2-1 record they had compiled under Ogawa, by exacting revenge on the Pacific League teams that had swept them in May. How We Did [...]

The final results of the fan votes for the 2010 NPB All Start game were released today. Swallows players were not faring well when the first set of results were announced in early June. However, the Swallows’ resurgence has helped put a number of players in respectable positions in the fan vote. Aoki lead all [...]

June 27th, 2010 Hanshin Tigers 4 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8 Streak: Won 2   Last 5: WLLWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Tokyo won a series against a Central League team for the first time since the beginning of April (4/2-4/4 versus Yokohama). Today’s lineup: 1. Aoki CF 2. Tanaka 2B 3. Iihara RF 4. D’Antona 1B [...]