Tokyo Swallows 0

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: LWWLL

(Toyohashi Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Chunichi	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: Yamai (1-3; 1.69 ERA) L: Ishikawa (2-4; 2.91) S: Asao (1S; 1.59)

Chunichi leapfrogged Tokyo back up to the top of the CL as they edged an ultra-tight affair in Aichi.

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Tanaka 2B	1	Oshima CF
2	Fukuchi CF	2	Araki 2B
3	Milledge LF	3	Ibata SS
4	Balentien RF	4	Wada LF
5	Kawabata SS	5	Blanco 1B
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Tanishige C
7	Hatakeyama 1B	7	Hirata RF
8	Nakamura C	8	N.Donoue 3B
9	Ishikawa P	9	Yamai P

Yamai proved too much for Tokyo to handle

Dragons’ starter Yamai was attempting his third start of the season against the Swallows, after racking up two losses and an ERA of 6.00 in his prior two efforts. Ishikawa faired much better in his only previous start against the Dragons this year, giving up just the one run over seven innings in what would end up as a tie.  In tonight’s game however one pitcher would maintain that prior form, while the other would not.

Yes it was Yamai, who I previously described as distinctly average (yeah, sorry about that) who would break the mould and pitch a gem, pitching eight shutout innings, giving up just the three hits while fanning seven (three of those seven being Balentien) with no walks. The Swallows bats could find no solution to his stuff, and only managing to get a man past first in the 8th, when Miyamoto, who had reached via his second single of the game, found himself at third with two outs on the board, only for the pinch-hitting Fujimoto to line-out to second.

After that the Swallows got another man to third in the 9th with Asao on the mound (Miwa, pinch-running for Tanaka who had led off the inning with a walk), but Balentien struck out swinging to end the game.

Ishikawa was okay, giving up just the one run (unearned) in his seven innings off six hits with two Ks and a walk. That solitary run came in the 3rd: Yamai doubled his annoyance factor by singling to left to start the inning before he was bunted to second by Oshima for out number one. An uber-rare Miyamoto error allowed Araki’s grounder to escape into the outfield to put men on the corners for Ibata. He hit a grounder to Miyamoto, who threw to home whereupon Nakamura easily ran down Yamai who was hopelessly stuck in no-man’s land between third and home (he is a pitcher after all) which left men on first and second with two outs for Wada. And the veteran outfielder hit a grounder that just evaded the dive of Kawabata and Araki was home from second to make it 1-0 Chunichi.

Things could have got much worse as Blanco drew a walk to load the bases for Tanishige, but Ishikawa struck him out to keep the deficit at one.

Chunichi only really threatened again with Oshimoto on the mound in relief of Ishikawa in the 8th. A flyout-walk-walk-strikeout-walk combo loaded the bases for Donoue, but after battling seven pitches, he flew out to left to prevent a trademark sweaty-cap meltdown from Oshimoto.

Notes:

• Milledge was ejected from the game in the 7th, after arguing a called third strike with the home plate umpire. He thought the pitch was high/outside, and communicated this matter to the ump, and Lastings appeared to be okay until he shouted something along the lines of, if my memory and lip-reading skills serve me well, “That’s a fucking joke”, as he headed back to the bench. And we all know that that any variant of fuck is the “magic word” in Japan that will see you ejected from the game regardless (as a non-Japanese), and so it proved to be as he was given his marching orders. Cue Lastings getting in the face of  the ump (see above) and getting in a few more choice “magic words” before Balentien pulled him back and sent him on his way back to the bench. Ogawa then argued Lastings’ case for a minute or so, to of course no avail.
• And before we get any of the “That’s Lastings finally showing his true colours” schtick, I remember being present to witness Aaron Guiel getting ejected in the exact same way at Koshien a few years back, so no biggie in showing a bit of passion for the cause, no matter how futile it may ultimately be. And lets also not forget this is Lastings first mis-step in what has been a pretty impeccable start to his Japanese career.
• It was around that inning that Yamai appeared to start smirking after every out, tripling his annoyance rating for the evening.
• Ishikawa was the only non-Meikyukai member to hit, with a one-out single in the 6th. He would be stranded at first.
• Chunichi are extremely annoying.
• Thankfully Morino (back trouble) and his inflatable face weren’t involved in this game which would have increased the Chunichi annoyance factor immeasurably.
• 10154 folks spent 2 hours 34 minutes watching the annoyance that is the Chunichi Dragons baseball team.
• The CD logo on the Dragon’s cap shouldn’t be red. I can only conclude that it was designed by a colour blind person.
• I’m struggling to find much else to write about this game.
• Can you tell?
• Oh, hold on……
• Tokyo still lead the season series against Chunichi 4-2 with 1 tie.
• The two teams will travel to Gifu for game two of this series, with Muranaka taking on Nakata on the mound.

Now to leave you with some positive news. Earlier today, it should surprise no one to learn that Coco Balentien was named the CL MVP for March/April, making it a Tokyo double, with Shohei Tateyama also taking the pitching honour. Congratulations gentlemen!

MVP!!

And another!!

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/08/5812-chunichi-away/feed/ 4 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/04/28/42812-hiroshima-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=42812-hiroshima-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/04/28/42812-hiroshima-away/#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:55:23 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12456 April 28th, 2012

Tokyo Swallows 6

 Hiroshima Carp 4

Streak: Won 2       Last 5: WWDWW

(Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima)

Tokyo traveled to Hiroshima yesterday for their first away series at Mazda Stadium. The two teams have played each other twice so far this season (played in Matsuyama) with Tokyo taking  both of those contests. Akagawa (2-1, 0.95 ERA) earned the win in the Sunday afternoon game of that short series, and he was back on the mound today to take on an injury-depleted Hiroshima.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	11	0
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	4	9	1
W: Hirai (1-0, 0.00 ERA) L: Mickolio (1-1, 3.48) S: Barnette (1-0, 10 S, 0.00)

Akagawa wasn’t exactly overpowering in that April 15th game against the Carp, but he was able to get through seven full innings without giving up a run (4 H, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 0 K). He was much sharper in his last start when he pitched a complete game shutout at home against the Giants on April 21st (5 H, 1 BB, 6 K).

	Hiroshima		Tokyo
1	Soyogi (SS)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Higashide (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Hirose (CF)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Stavinoha (LF)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Aizawa (RF)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Matsuyama (1B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Dohbayashi (3B)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Shirahama (C)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Fukui (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

All in all, the Swallows had to be liking their chances against the fourth-placed Carp.

It seemed clear from the start that birds were going to try to wear down Hiroshima’s starter, Fukui (1-1, 3.18 ERA), and get to the

Hatake's timing at the plate is improving.

bullpen as quickly as possible. If that was in fact what Tokyo was doing, then it was a very good idea. Like the Swallows, Hiroshima is scheduled to play nine games in as many days, and if Tokyo can force Hiroshima to use it’s bullpen early and often, that could mean good things for the birds when Hiroshima come to Jingu next weekend.

Tanaka and Ueda worked a pair of walks to start the game, and both Milledge and Balentien worked full counts as well. The latter coaxed Fukui into issuing his third walk of the inning, and the bases were loaded for Kawabata. Unfortunately, the Swallows were not able to take advantage of the situation, as Kawabata lined out to second and Ueda was doubled up.

But the good news was that Fukui threw 31 pitches that inning.

Akagawa, on the other hand, got through the first inning on only six pitches despite giving up a leadoff hit to Soyogi.

The birds finally got something from all of their patience in the top of the third. Milledge worked a full count walk with one out, and then Kawabata singled to left with two outs. Miyamoto then singled to center to bring Milledge home from second.

Hiroshima 0-1 Tokyo.

But Hatakeyama then chipped in with a bases-clearing triple (sixth of his career, believe it or not) to give Akagawa some breathing room.

3-0 Tokyo.

And to make matters worse for Hiroshima, second-year starter, Fukui, had already thrown 76 pitches by the end of that inning. Fukui had his most efficient inning in the fourth when he only expended 13 pitches on three batters.

First career win.

But Kokubo came in to pinch hit for him with two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth.

The Swallows loaded the bases on reliever, Kishimoto, but weren’t able to bring anyone home in the process.

Akagawa ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the sixth when his control started to suffer, and he either left pitches up or started throwing a lot of stuff down the middle.Hiroshima was able to string a walk and three back-to-back hits together to get themselves back in the game with a pair of runs.Hiroshima 2-3 Tokyo.

He was fortunately able to get the second out on a foul fly off to the side of third base, and then he was hooked in favor of Masubuchi to face Dohbayashi with runners on first and second.

Masubuchi eventually got the rookie to strike out swinging at an offspeed pitch to help Akagawa avoid getting tacked with any more runs.

Hikaka pitched a perfect seventh.

Oshimoto had a more eventful inning of work. He surrendered a leadoff single and a one out walk to put runners on first and second. With veteran Maeda pinch-hitting, Oshimoto watched the count get worked full before finally conceding his first earned run of the season on a soft single to right.

3-3.

Oshimoto out, Watanabe in.

Second pitch, Maru RBI single to center.

Game-winning home run.

4-3 Hiroshima.

Watanabe out, Hirai in. Hirai got the final two outs of the frame on only six pitches to help stop the bleeding.

Mickolio took the mound for the Carp in the top of the ninth with a one-run lead to protect. Tanaka led off with a grounder to right, and Ueda then bunted pinch-runner, Miwa, over to second. Milledge poked a single to center to put runners on the corners for Balentien.

Mickolio hung a slider right in the middle of Balentien’s wheelhouse, and the next time anyone touched it, it was a souvenir for a lucky fan in the left field bleachers.

6-4 Tokyo.

Barnette closed out the game on six pitches in the bottom of the inning.

Pitching:

Akagawa left the game with a one-run lead and didn’t figure into the final decision. It was almost like he suddenly got tired during the sixth. At any rate, here’s his line: 5.2 IP, 88 NP, 5 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1.32 ERA. His record remains at 2-1.

Oshimoto was tagged with both runs in the eighth. His ERA rose from 0.00 to 1.69.

Hirai got the win, the first of his career.

Barnette continues to lead the league in saves (10) and appearances (14).

Hitting:

Balentien was the hero of the game due to his game-winning homer, his league-leading sixth of the season. He was 2-4 with a walk and three RBI.

Hatakeyama also had a good game down at number seven in the lineup. He was 3-5 with two RBI.

Tanaka, Ueda, Milledge, and Miyamoto all got on base twice. Milledge also scored twice.

Notes:

Today was Hatakeyama’s first three-hit game of the season, and he very nearly had a fourth hit in the eighth. However, Soyogi made a nice leaping grab at short to rob Hatake of extra pudding.

Miyamoto’s RBI single today puts him at six hits away from the 2,000 hit milestone.

Former teammate, Atsunori Inaba, reached the Meikyukai 2,000 hit threshold this afternoon in a game against Tohoku.

Tokyo needed three pitchers to get through the eighth inning when Hiroshima temporarily took the lead. It was a bit of a departure from how solid the bullpen has been this month, but one could argue that Oshimoto was a little bit unlucky and pitched better than his line. Unfortunately, Tokyo used two more relievers than they might have liked to today. But luckily the team still won.

Mickolio was as hittable in the ninth as Akagawa was back in the sixth.

The birds now lead the season series against Hiroshima 3-0.

Chunichi also won today, so Tokyo’s lead at the top remains at one game.

The game tomorrow kicks off at 1:30 PM. Nomura (1-1, 1.00 ERA) will pitch for the Carp, and the Swallows will counter with Roman (1-3, 3.57 ERA).

Tokyo is undefeated in its last seven games (one tie).

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.

Yomiuri Giants  2

Tokyo Swallows 3

Streak: Won 3  Last 5: WLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeep!

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yomiuri	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0
Tokyo	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	8	1
W: Roman (1-3, 3.57 ERA) L: Fukuda (0-2, 1.35) S: Barnette (1-0, 7 S, 0.00)

Roman finally got his first NPB ‘W’ in his fourth start of the year and second this week.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	Takahashi (RF)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Fujimura (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Sakamoto (SS)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Abe (C)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Chono (CF)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Murata (3B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Bowker (LF)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Ishii (1B)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Miyaguni (P)	9	Roman (P)

Despite the rain, this was another enjoyable game to watch for the Swallows fans in attendance. The published figure for tickets sold is 13,986, but there probably weren’t more than eight or nine thousand in the stands. It never rained hard, but the drizzle was pretty much constant. It made for a cakey mound towards the end of the game.

Roman looked good early on. He got through the first three innings on only 36 pitches and one hit.

And he got some run support in the bottom of the second. Balentien cranked an 0-1 slider into the seats in left-center to put the birds ahead.

Roman got just enough run support today.ahead.

1-0 Swallows

Kawabata followed with a single to center, and Miyamoto added a walk, just his second of the season.

Hatakeyama then grounded out to third, but fortunately both runners moved over in the process.

Nakamura then chipped in with a sac fly to right that was just deep enough to let Kawabata slide in safely ahead of the tag.

2-0 Tokyo

Roman was able to establish his heater the first time through the Yomiuri lineup, and then he started to mix in more sliders the second time through. He ran into a little bit of a rough spot in the form of a Sakamoto-Abe one-two punch in the top of the fourth though. Sakamoto doubled with one out to help make Yomiuri look threatening for the first time since the first inning on Friday. And Abe got the better part of Roman’s 1-0 pitch for a homer that just barely skirted the fence in right.

Tokyo 2-2 Yomiuri

But the Swallows regrouped and put some offense together soon after. After stranding three runners in the fourth, Tokyo put it’s starter back in the lead in the fifth. Tanaka led things off with a grounder up the middle, and he moved over to second on Ueda’s Tak-bunt. Milledge then ripped a 1-1 cutter off the base of the fence in left to score Tanaka easily from second. Milledge was in safely for a stand-up double.

3-2 Tokyo

Yomiuri looked like they might answer in the top of the sixth. A leadoff walk and then a Nakamura throwing error on a bunt meant that Yomiuri had runners on second and third with no outs. Roman recorded his final out of the game on a fly ball to center, and then he was told to walk Abe which loaded the bases.

And that was the end of Roman’s night. Masubuchi took the mound in his stead.

Masubuchi fell behind against Chono, but he then got him to swing and miss at three consecutive sinkers near the outside corner of the plate. Two outs.

Tanaka then brought the Tokyo faithful to their feet when he robbed Murata of an RBI or two when he launched himself in the air and snared a rocket that was headed towards Ueda’s neck of the woods. Crisis averted.

Milledge's reply? "I love you, Coco."

That was Tanaka’s second inning-ending, he-saved-our-asses play of this series.

Tokyo put a couple of runners on in the seventh, but that was it as far as offense was concerned.

More importantly, after Masubuchi’s two outs in the sixth, Tokyo’s trio of Hidaka, Oshimoto, and Barnette were perfect through the final three frames.

Barnette buttoned things up in the ninth for his seventh save of the year and third this week.

Pitching:

Roman’s final line was 5.1 IP, 65 NP, 3 H (1 HR), 1 K, 2 BB, 2 R (both earned). He’s now 1-3 with a 3.57 ERA.

Masubuchi, Hidaka, and Oshimoto all earned holds for their combined 2.2 innings of perfect baseball. Masubuchi was able to lower his ERA to 4.32 today.

Barnette faced three batters and threw 14 pitches today. He worked his heater, cutter, and sinker to good effect against the middle of Yomiuri’s lineup and was able to induce three harmless pop-ups for his third save this week.

Offense:

Only Ueda had a multi-hit game today, but Tanaka, Kawabata, and Miyamoto also reach base twice. Milledge and Nakamura deserve praise for coming through with runners in scoring position.

Tokyo has tomorrow off before hosting the first-place Chunichi Dragons Tuesday-Thursday. Tuesday’s games starts at 6PM. See you there.

Notes:

The Tokyo 3-2 Yomiuri scoreline condemned the Giants to their fifth consecutive defeat.

Tokyo are still in second place, one game behind the Chunichi Dragons. After Hanshin’s pummeling of Yokohama this afternoon, the top three in the Central League remained the same.

Tokyo’s record is now 11-7-1.

Today’s game was over in just two hours and 31 minutes. I was home well before 10 PM which is rare.

All four of Tokyo’s top team imported players had a significant impact on today’s game. Balentien was responsible for Tokyo’s first run thanks to his fourth homer of the season. Milledge scored the game-winner with his RBI double. Roman got the win after 5.1 innings in nasty conditions, and Barnette sealed the deal in the ninth. Can’t remember the last time anything similar happened.

Balentien relinquished the lead league in average and OBP, but he’s now tied with Chunichi’s Hirata and Hanshin’s Brazell for the lead in homers (4).

Nakamura now leads the league in sac flies (2).

Miyamoto needs just nine more hits to join the Meikyukai.

Roman and Milledge both were awarded for today’s performances with their first NPB hero interviews.

Balentien made sure to keep things light by shoving a towel-full of shaving cream into Milledge’s face during the interview. To his credit, Milledge laughed it off and was very appreciative of his teammates and positive about the team’s chances when he was finally able to see and talk again.

Milledge had five hits and two RBI this week--his second was a game-winner.

Yokohama Baystars  1

Tokyo Swallows 2

Streak: Won 3    Last 5: LLWWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Yokohama	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	0
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1x	2	7	1
W: Oshimoto (3-0/0.00) L: Yamaguchi (0-1/13.50)

After leaving Nagoya with a magnificent hard-fought series win against the Dragons, the Swallows returned to Jingu to take on the perennially struggling Baystars. And while they huffed and puffed, they eventually blew the YOKOHAMA DeNA MOBAGE WHATEVERTHEFOOKTHEY’RECALLEDTHISYEAR BAYSTARS house down in ten innings.

	Yokohama		Tokyo
1	Morimoto (CF)	1	Hiyane (CF)
2	Ishikawa (2B)	2	Tanaka (2B)
3	Kinjo (RF)	3	Milledge (RF)
4	Ramirez (LF)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Koike (1B)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Fujita (3B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Kajitani (SS)	7	Balentien (RF)
8	Tsuruoka (C)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Kuniyoshi (P)	9	Tateyama (P)

Tateyama started for Tokyo, looking to register his first win of the new season. Alas he wasn’t at his sharpest as he struggled with his control at times, and he let at least one man on base in each of the eight innings he pitched.

Meanwhile, the Swallows struggled to get to grips with the Baystars’ starter Kuniyoshi. And it took them until the 4th inning to register a hit against the 20 year old, as Lastings Milledge got on base via a bloop infield single that took the Yokohama infield by surprise.

But from that point on they started to threaten a little more. In the 5th a single for Kawabata and a walk apiece for Balentien and Aikawa loaded the bases with one out on the board. Tateyama could only strike out swinging while Hiyane hit one back to the pitcher to strand all three men.

Home run no.2 for Lastings

And so to alleviate the strain on the struggling Tokyo bats, Milledge took matters into his own hands in the bottom of the 6th, as he smacked his second NPB home run in to the leftfield stands to make it 1-0 Tokyo.

But Tateyama couldn’t quite hold onto the lead, as he allowed a run off two hits in the top of the 7th (Morimoto with the RBI) to even-steven things back up at 1-1. And Shohei would work one more scoreless inning as he ended his evening’s work with the scores still tied. He wouldn’t feature in the final decision after his 8I/116P/7H/6K/5BB/1ER outing, and his quest for a win continues as his record remains at 0-0 with his ERA now at 2.08.

After Barnette worked a 1-2-3 top of the 9th to preserve both the tie and his 0.00 ERA, Tokyo finally looked like breaking that tie in the bottom of the 9th. With reliever Kikuchi on the mound, Hatakeyama got things rolling with a single to centre. He was replaced with the substantially more nimble feet of Ueda at first, and those feet were put to use as Kawabata bunted him to second for the first out of the inning. Miyamoto then continued to struggle at the plate he grounded out to third with Ueda remaining at second. Balentien got a free pass to first which brought up Aikawa, who was 1 for 2 with a walk to that point. He hit one up the middle, which was just about fielded by the diving second baystarsbaseman, who flipped the ball to second just in time to get the force-out of Balentien to end the inning and send the game into extra(s).

Oshimoto also maintained his goose-egg ERA in the top of the 10th before Tokyo had three outs to avoid the tie (due to the 3.5 hour rule). With Yokohama’s closer Yamaguchi on the mound, a pinch hitting Takeuchi made a good start toward that target with a grounder to first that neither infielders nor pitcher could come up with to get on board. He was replaced by Yamada at first and then up stepped Hiyane to try to lay down the sacbunt. And it looked bleak as he fouled off two bunt attempts, but he came good with try number three to move Yamada to second.

And so the stage was set for Tanaka, with the lively looking Milledge waiting on deck if needed. But he wasn’t, as Hiroyasu hit one deep to right, out of the reach of any Yokohama arms and Yamada was home to cue the on-field Sayonara celebrations. 2-1 Tokyo Final.

Notes

• 11576 souls were present to witness Tokyo extending their win streak to three.

• Though Tanaka took to the mic for the post-game hero interview, Lastings Milledge was the undoubted stand-out of the evening. Aside from his 2 for 4 night with the bat, he also showed another side to his game, namely his cannon of an arm. In the 5th inning, with one out on the board and Morimoto at first, Shimozono hit a shallow fly ball to left, which was taken on the run by Lastings, who then fired the ball back to first to pick off the scampering runner to end the inning. And in with two outs in the 10th, Aranami hit one up the foul line to left, which was fielded by Milledge in foul territory who again unleashed a pinpoint throw which threw out the runner at second, and effectively ended any chance of a Yokohama win.

• Tokyo’s quest to replace Aoki continues. With Hiyane given his second straight start in centre, he had a rather torrid night, going 0 for 3 with a walk, and with only that final 10th inning sac bunt saving the day for the chipmunk-faced rookie. He also was charged with an error in the field in the 3rd, as a fumble allowed Shimozono to stretch a single into two bases. He was also thrown out attempting to steal second in the 4th after getting on base via that walk. Possibly time to give Ueda another shot.

• Miyamoto was the only other member of the starting lineup to go hitless, aside from Tateyama of course. He still has 17 hit to go to reach the magical world of 2000.

• The two teams will return tomorrow for game two of the series. Rain is forecast for the afternoon and evening, so Ishikawa will likely take the mound in a damp Jingu for the Swallows, while Yokohama will counter with Yamamoto.

A couple of very small changes have occurred on the homepage of this fair website. We moved the Central League standings plugin to the footer area and added a Pacific League widget as well.

We also started a Swallows of the Week list down in the footer. The winner of week one voting was Masanori Ishikawa!

Swallows of the Week

Milledge hit his first NPB round-tripper this week, but it wasn't quite enough to get him on the weekly MVP ballot.

Week 1

There were 22 votes during the few days following the publication of the first Tokyo Swallows Snapshot, and voters were asked to select an MVP from a list of four strong week one contributors: Tony Barnette, Masanori Ishikawa, Shinya Miyamoto, and Hiroyasu Tanaka.

Here’s how many votes each player received:

Player	Votes	%
Masanori Ishikawa	11	50
Shinya Miyamoto	5	22
Hiroyasu Tanaka	3	14
Tony Barnette	3	14

Congratulations to Mr. Ishikawa! Your imaginary trophy is in the mail.

Week 2

Your Tokyo Swallows played five games last week, two against the visiting Hanshin Tigers (Tuesday’s game was erased by gale-force winds) and three at Nagoya Dome against 2011 CL champ, Chunichi.

The week didn’t start particularly well, but the ending was just what the doctor ordered for a fanbase that is still licking its wounds after being overtaken for the CL Pennant and later beaten in the second stage of the Climax Series by one of the most boring teams in all of professional baseball.

At any rate, the birds finished the week with two wins, two losses, and one tie. That’s good enough for fourth place in the very young 2012 Central League pennant race.

And here are week number two’s key contributors:

Shingo Kawabata
Tokyo’s shortstop has not endured the slow start that many of us envisioned given his injury issues and abbreviated top team stint during spring training. But he’s been solid both on defense and at the plate, and he looks to be every bit as good as he was last summer. He was 8-18 at the plate last week with two RBI and one walk. That’s a .444 batting average during week two, and his current slash line is .379/.419/.379.

Orlando Roman
In his first start for the Swallows, Roman easily exceeded expectations. He ended up being tagged with the loss, but he gave up only one run during his six and one-third innings of work while striking out six and walking two. He was very unfortunate to be facing Chunichi’s ace, Yoshimi, who limited the Tokyo offense to just three hits during his time in the game. A very promising start by anyone’s standards.

Wladimir Balentien
Indifferent fielding aside, Coco had a decent week at the plate. He went 7-17 with a solo home run against both Hanshin and Chunichi. He also had two RBI against Hanshin on Wednesday which gave him four for the week. His .412 batting average last week made him a very difficult out considering the fact that he was batting seventh. His current slash line is .320/.433/.560.

Tony Barnette
Three more appearances this week led to Tony tabulating his third save and first win of the 2012 season. He still sports a goose egg filled ERA, allowed just one hit, and sports a RIP of just 0.64. He’s currently tied for second in the league in appearances (5), tied for fourth in wins (1), and tied for first in saves (3).

Takehiko Oshimoto
With another four appearances under his belt, Oshimoto still boasts a 0.00 ERA. He allowed three walks and three hits last week, but he struck out three batters as well.

Spits or Swallows

I’m still unsure about this part of the column. I kind of like the idea of picking players that are on fire or sucking pretty hard, but I don’t like the limited scope of just one week’s worth of games. Maybe the column itself should be called “Spits or Swallows” since we tend to revel in both the positive and negative here at Tsubamegun?

Feedback on this point would be very much appreciated, even if it’s just to let us know who you think had a good/bad week.

Community Opinion Poll

You may or may not remember that back on March 29th we asked for your opinions on a variety of Tokyo-related areas. 18 of you took the time to fill out the eight-question survey, and here’s what we found:

With Lim on the farm team, who would you like to see pitching the ninth inning?
Tony Barnette 15 (83% of respondents)

In what place do you think Tokyo will finish the regular season?

• CL Champs – 6 votes (33% of respondents)
• 2nd place – 6 votes (33%)
• 3rd place – 3 votes (17%)
• 4th place – 3 votes (17%)
• 5th place – 0 votes (0%)
• 6th place – 0 votes (0%)

How many wins do you think the Swallows will finish the regular season with?

• 56-65 – 1 vote (6%)
• 66-75 – 5 votes (28%)
• 76-85 – 12 votes (67%)

Do you agree with the team’s decision to start Lim on the farm so that he has more time to make sure that his arm is ready for top team pitching?

• Yes – 13 votes (72%)
• No – 3 votes (17%)
• Undecided – 2 votes (11%)

Do you agree with the team’s decision to try and move Masubuchi back to the bullpen?

• Yes – 13 votes (72%)
• No – 3 votes (17%)
• Undecided – 2 votes (11%)

Do you agree with the team’s decision to start Yoshinori on the farm team so that he has more time to work on his control?

• Yes – 11 votes (61%)
• No – 5 votes (28%)
• Undecided – 2 votes (11 %)

Who should be the everyday starting shortstop?

• Shingo Kawabata – 14 votes (78%)
• Tetsuto Yamada – 4 votes (22%)

When will Shinya Miyamoto record his 2,000th career hit?

• Before May 1st – 7 votes (39%)
• On/After May 1st – 11 votes (61%)

The Week Ahead

Tokyo play host to Yokohama tomorrow through Thursday, and they will hopefully take at least two of three from the last-placed Baystars who have only managed to win one game so far this season.

Then after a travel day on Friday, the Swallows will take on Hiroshima in Matsuyama on Saturday and Sunday.

Tokyo was 15-5 (4 ties) against Yokohama last year, and 13-9 (2 ties) against Hiroshima.

Kamei took one right in the face.

Around the Central League

Yomiuri’s Kamei had his nose broken by a pitch during yesterday’s game against Hanshin. The nose-breaker was courtesy of Tatsuya Kojima (video here).

Yomiuri and Yokohama continued having a difficult time scoring runs this past week. Many franchise records were set or equaled by both teams for general ineptitude.

Hanshin starting pitcher, Jason Standridge, looked very sharp in his win over the Giants on Saturday.

Hiroshima currently lead the Central League with a 6-2-1 record.

Former Swallows

After striking out in his first MLB at-bat, Norichika Aoki recorded his first hit (pinch-hitter) during Milwaukee’s 3-9 loss to St. Louis.

Through seven games, Josh Whitesell has 27 at-bats and is hitting .259/.310/.296. He leads Chiba in strikeouts with 11.

Whitesell’s teammate, Seth Greisinger, was the starting pitcher on Wednesday versus Saitama and went seven innings while earning the win and striking out nine. He gave up four hits and no runs off of only 94 pitches in a very commanding performance.

Alex Ramirez is currently hitting .250/.286/.250 for Yokohama. He’s currently tied for the team lead in HBP (1).

***

OK, that’s it for this week. Please chime in with your thoughts and don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll. It is very obvious that the vast majority of the visitor’s here are refraining from participating in any way, shape, or form. I can totally sympathize with not wanting to comment, but refusing to take part in an anonymous poll?

Lame dot com.

Alright folks, keep on swallowing. Or drink up. Whichever you prefer.

Tokyo Swallows 2

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LLDLW

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	0
Chunichi	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	1
W: Oshimoto (2-0/0.00) L: Yamai (0-1/2.08) S: Barnette (3S/0.00)

If I was to assign a word to each of Tokyo’s opening six games of the 2012 season, I’d likely go with: excellence, spirited, wasteful, meltdown, hill-billy and deja-vu. And so for today’s game we’ll go with……GET IN!!! Oh, that’s two words. Never mind.

	Swallows		Dragons
1	CF Ueda	1	2B Araki
2	1B Tanaka	2	CF Oshima
3	LF Milledge	3	3B Morino
4	1B Hatakeyama	4	1B Yamasaki
5	SS Kawabata	5	LF Wada
6	3B Miyamoto	6	SS Ibata
7	RF Balentien	7	RF Hirata
8	C Aikawa	8	C Tanishige
9	P Muranaka	9	P Kawakami

Ogawa made one change from the lineup used thus far in the season, with the number one and two slots flipping, meaning Ueda was at lead off and Tanaka was back to his more traditional no.2 slot.

In the 1st, after those first two slots in the lineup had each worked a full count out of Chunichi starter Kawakami, to ultimately no avail, Milledge hit the second pitch he saw into the leftfield stands for his first NPB homer, 1-0 Tokyo.

Run number one

And after a comfortable 1-2-3 bottom of the inning for Muranaka, Tokyo were presented with a rare chance to put a  number larger than one up on the Nagoya Dome scoreboard in the 2nd.

Miyamoto led off the inning by hitting one back at Kawakami, the pitcher had to stretch up and to his right to snag the ball, and his throw lacked any kind of power, bouncing just in front of Yamasaki at first, meaning the veteran couldn’t come up with the ball and Miyamoto was safely aboard. It was called an E1, and the reason for the weak throw to first became clear as Kawakami had to leave the game with what appeared to be a tweaked back.

So with their starter out of the game Chunichi brought in rookie Tajima. Next man up Balentien snuck one up the middle to put two on, and then Aikawa layed down a sac bunt for out number one with the runners moving into scoring positions. Muranaka was next up, and he worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases. Up came the newly switched one and two batters, but they could only strikeout (Ueda) and flyout to right (Tanaka) and the lead remained at a vulnerable one run.

And vulnerable it proved as a lead-off double from Yamasaki in the bottom of the 2nd was followed up by another two bases from Wada, and we were back to 1-1. Muranaka later walked another man to put two men on, but he would eventually escape the inning with the scores still tied.

After a fairly comfortable 3rd and 4th innings for the rookie Tajima, the Dragons threatened again in the bottom of the 4th. Another Wada double and an Ibata sacbunt put a man on third with only one out on the board, but a strikeout and shallow flyout to third got Muranaka out of the inning unscathed.

Tajima was replaced by the pinch-hitting Tony Blanco in the 5th (he struck out for the record) and so it was another newcomer, Jorge Sosa making his NPB debut, who took the mound in the 6th. He would give up just a solitary hit in his two inning of work, before Muranaka found himself in another pickle come the bottom of the 7th.

A lead-off single for Ibata and a walk for Hirata was followed up by a Tanishige sacbunt to put two men in scoring positions with just the one out on the board. Again Muranaka would dig deep as he got the pinch-hitting Fuji to ground out to second (Ibata didn’t move from third) and then Araki flew out to centre to end the inning.

Muranaka put in a gutsy 7 innings of work

Yamai came on to pitch the top of the 8th, and he made quick work of Tanaka, Milledge and Hatakeyama as the Swallows again failed to mount any real threat of breaking the deadlock.

The sight of Oshimoto on the mound to start the bottom of the inning signified the end for Muranaka, who had put in a gutsy 7 innings of work (116P/5H/4K /3BB/1ER), but a lack of run support meant that his record would remain at 1-0 with his ERA shrinking to 3.00.

And so it was Oshimoto’s turn to dodge a bullet. Oshima grounded out for out number one before the inflatable-faced Morino got on with a hit to right. Yamasaki flew out to left for out number two. Wada then hit his second double of the game, this time to the corner in right, but the Chunichi third base coach held Morino at third. Luckily for Tokyo, as Balentien’s throw from right was not good, and Morino would have likely scored the go-ahead run if he’d have been given the green light. But he wasn’t. Thankfully.

Ibata was then pitched around to load the bases for Hirata. Oshimoto got himself in a three ball-no strike hole with three sliders that missed low and away. But three consecutive fast balls were good enough to strike out Hirata and strand the three Dragons.

And so to the top of the 9th with Yamai still on the mound. And the bespectacled pitcher would make easy work of Kawabata and Miyamoto to bring up Balentien. And Coco hit an absolute monster over the wall in left to make it 2-1 Tokyo!

Thus in the absence of Lim, it was down to Tony Barnette to again try to bring home a win for Tokyo, and he kept the nerve-jangling theme going by walking Yamasaki to get the inning off and running. He was then helped out by one of the Donoue brothers, who after fouling his first two bunt attempts, ended up hitting a grounder to first for a double play. Which was a blow the Dragons just couldn’t recover from, as Araki struck out to make it 2-1 Tokyo Final.

Run number two

Notes

• 25711 people were there to witness Chunichi’s first loss of the 2012 season.
• Balentien could be seen post-game in the dugout being told that he was due up for the hero interview. He looked less than keen and tried to suggest that Milledge should go up instead. When told that that wasn’t going to happen, he let out a resigned “Fuuuuck…..” before making his way back on the field. His initial comment about thanking god for the opportunity to take the plate in the 9th wasn’t translated at all. If I remember correctly, god ended up as manager and team. Which is probably quite apt.
• Tanaka (.233), Ueda (.154), Kawabata (.333) and Miyamoto (.364) all went hitless today. Ueda in particular seems to be struggling at the plate, though he continues to inspire confidence in the field.
• The two evenly matched teams will take the field again tomorrow afternoon for the rubber game of the series, with Akagawa due to take on Yamamoto on the mound. After that Tokyo get a home series against the struggling Baystars from Tuesday.

Tokyo Swallows 6

Yomiuri Giants 3

Streak: Won 2  Last 5: WW—

(Tokyo Dome)

After last night’s strong pitching win, the bats came alive to cover for one shaky inning by Muranaka.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	1	0	6	8	0
Giants	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	1
W: Oshimoto (1-0) L: Sawamura (0-1) S: Barnette (S 2)

Both teams came out with the same lineup as yesterday, with sophomore Sawamura pitching for the Giants and Muranaka starting for the Birds.

	Giants		Swallows
1	SS Sakamoto	1	2B Tanaka
2	LF Bowker	2	CF Ueda
3	CF Chono	3	LF Milledge
4	C Abe	4	1B Hatakeyama
5	3B Murata	5	SS Kawabata
6	RF Takahashi	6	3B Miyamoto
7	1B Ogasawara	7	RF Balentien
8	2B Terauchi	8	C Aikawa
9	P Sawamura	9	P Muranaka

The Giants opened up the scoring in the third inning. Muranaka allowed a walk to Terauchi to start the inning. Sawamura bunted Terauchi over for out number 1. Sakamoto doubled hard to center to score Terauchi and drew first blood. 1-0 Giants Muranaka got Bowker to strikeout swinging for out number 2, and it looked like Muranaka would get out of the inning with minimal damage. Unfortunately Muranaka’s control remained shaky and he allowed a double to Chono that scored Sakamoto. 2-0 Giants The control issues continued, as Muranaka hit Abe in the wrist. With men on first and second with 2 out, Muranaka gave up his third double of the inning to Murata which allowed another run to score. 3-0 Giants Muranaka plunked Takahashi for good measure before finally getting Ogasawara to pop out to end the inning.

Muranaka settled down after that, and went through 2 more innings without too much issue. Meanwhile Sawamura managed to keep things in check through 5 innings, but the Swallows faithful were hopeful that Sawamura had not overcome his inability to finish games. Thankfully that blind faith was rewarded, and the comeback began in the top of the sixth. Yuhei (“you may remember me from such stints as a first round lefty pitcher named Takai”) made his redebut with the top team as a pinch hitter for Muranaka to lead off the sixth. His decision to switch seemed like a good idea as he got a clean hit to center. Hiroyasu followed with a no-doubt-about-it homer to the Swallows fans in the left field stands to get the team to within a run. 3-2 Giants

See what he can do when he's not bunting?

Momentum was slowly swinging back in the Swallows favor, as Sawamura opened the seventh with a walk to Kawabata. Miyamoto laid down a perfect bunt (if there could be such a thing) to advance Kawabata. The Giants obviously wanted to have no part of Balentien’s potential power and pitched to him half-heartedly for an IBB in everything but name. That ended the night of Sawamura and the Giants dipped into their mediocre bullpen and sent Kubo to the mound. Kubo proceeded to walk Aikawa on 4 pitches to load the bases. Yuhei was back to the plate and battled Kubo through 9 pitches but succumb to a low fast ball for the second out of the inning. Kubo couldn’t close the deal as he walked Hiroyasu on 6 pitches and let Kawabata touch home plate. 3-3 All Both teams reached into their respective benches, and the Giants pulled out Yamaguchi while the Swallows pulled out Iihara. The Swallows won the battle of the benches when Iihara smoked Yamaguchi’s second pitch down the left field line for a double to score 2 runs. 5-2 Swallows Yamaguchi did manage to end the embarrassment with a Milledge strikeout, but the damage was done.

Hatake added insult to injury in the eighth with a just barely over the wall homer to left to lead off the inning. 6-3 Swallows Miyamoto also got 1 more hit closer to 2000 (21 more to go) in the same inning. The bullpen relay of Oshimoto, Matsuoka, Masubuchi, and Barnette  locked it down and kept the Giants from even imagining a comeback was possible.

The Swallows will play for the sweep tomorrow, sending Akagawa to face the Giants’ newly acquired man-toy Toshiya Sugiuchi.

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.

Hiroshima Carp  1

Tokyo Swallows  2

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: LWWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This game very nearly sucked. But in the end, it turned out to be a very satisfactory way to end the regular season.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2x	2	3	0
W: Oshimoto (3-2 1S) L: Maeda (10-12)

The unimportance of this contest was lost on very few people in the stadium with a large portion of the Swallows fans on hand showing up purely because Hirotoshi Ishii was slated to pitch a bit in the final top team appearance of his injury-abbreviated career.

	Hiroshima		Tokyo
1	Higashide 2B	1	Aoki CF
2	Akamatsu CF	2	Ueda LF
3	Maru RF	3	Tanaka 2B
4	Kurihara 1B	4	Hatakeyama 1B
5	Matsuyama LF	5	Miyamoto 3B
6	Barden 3B	6	Balentien RF
7	Kokubo SS	7	Morioka SS
8	Kura C	8	Kawamoto C
9	Maeda P	9	Akagawa P

The only person for whom the game seemed to matter was Hiroshima’s starter, Kenta Maeda. He needed a few more Ks and maybe an inning or two to secure first place in both pitching categories for the 2011 season.

Ishii threw three strikes in his last pro appearance.

And he got ‘em both. Maeda went nearly the full nine and struck out four in a dominating pitching performance that nearly ended his season on a very high note.

Nearly.

Maeda carried a no-hitter through eight and one-third innings before finally running into trouble. He walked three in the process, but Tokyo’s bats never put up much of a fight. And why should they? This game felt very much like a fine-tuning exercise before the playoffs start on Saturday.

The pitching changes were fast and furious on the Tokyo side. Akagawa (6-3; 2.03 ERA) started and pitched two scoreless innings before Tateyama (11-5; 2.04) came in to throw a three up, three down, 12-pitch third. Lim (4-2 32S; 2.17) and Matsuoka (2-2; 2.86) pitched a runnerless inning each before Barnette (1-1 2S; 2.68) made his first appearance in what seemed like a year and a half and surrendered the only run of the game up to that point. 1-0 Hiroshima.

But the Tokyo bats weren’t getting anything done to keep Maeda honest. However, that didn’t really matter to most of the crowd as main course was about to be served. Ishii made his way to the mound to start the top of the seventh. His opponent, Matsumoto, swung politely at three straight pitches to give Ishii the send-off he deserved.

The teary-eyed Ishii was then replaced by Masubuchi (7-11; 4.22) who figures to be coming out of the ‘pen during the first stage of the playoffs. Masubuchi gave up the obligatory walk to repay Hiroshima for their sportsmanship, and then he worked through the next five batters without allowing any other runners to reach base.

I like Masubuchi coming out of the ‘pen. And you should, too.

Oshimoto (3-2 1S; 3.28) pitched the top of the ninth, and he eventually retired the side despite nearly giving up a home run to Matsuyama.

And Oshimoto would eventually get the win as the Swallows finally got to Maeda with one out in the bottom of the ninth. After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Whitesell was caught looking at a called 3-2 strike. But then Tokyo’s horde of second and third string players came through to disrupt Maeda’s no-hitter and give the substantial home crowd something other than Ishii to cheer about.

Fujimoto (read this to find out why he was promoted) broke up the no-hit bid with a double down the line in left, and then Ueda outran a slow hopper to short to put runners on the corners with one out.

Ueda safely stole second during Tanaka’s at-bat, and then the latter worked a walk to juice the bases with Maeda still on the mound. There was action in the bullpen, but Nomura never made a move.

Hatakeyama then grounded stoftly to second, and he was somehow able to beat the throw at first to avoid the

Hirotoshi's three children greeted him after the game. Instant heart-melter.

double play while Fujimoto scored from third on the fielder’s choice. All tied at one.

With runners on the corners and Fukuchi pinch-hitting for Noguchi (who was covering third for Miyamoto), Fukuchi swatted a low 2-1 changeup into left to score the winning run and surprise the hell out of everyone in the stadium. 2-1 Tokyo walk-off win.

Oshimoto got the win for his scoreless ninth inning, and Ishii gave a post-game speech that drew tears from several in attendance (not me).

The Tokyo Swallows now have a few final days to prepare for their upcoming home series against the Yomiuri Giants who will venture to Jingu from Suidobashi this Saturday for game one of the first stage of the Central League Climax Series. The game starts at 6:30PM. See you there.

Notes:

For the record, tonight was Ishii’s first top team appearance since 2006. His best year, for those that like to reminisce, was 2005 when he amassed 37 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 61 appearances.

Balentien came up with a very nice sliding catch in the top of the third to keep things in check for Tateyama. It was arguably one of his finer defensive plays of the year in right field.

Hiroshima fans are awesome. They stayed for Ishii’s retirement speech and many of them were still in the left field stands when he finished his tour around the field to thank the fans. After that, they shouted across to us (in unison) wishing us luck in the Climax Series. Very classy folks.

Balentien finished the season with a batting average of .228 which meant that Kozo won the bet and Mac had to buy him a beer after the seventh inning.

Balentien finished the 2011 campaign top of the Central in home runs (31), slugging (.469), and strikeouts (131). He also finished fourth in RBI (76).

Aoki finished first in games (144), at-bats (583), and runs scored (73).

Tanaka took first in Tak-bunts (62).

Hatakeyama led the league in walks (78).

The Tokyo Swallows finished the 144 game season 2.5 games behind Chunichi and one game ahead of the third place Yomiuri Giants.

The Swallows scored more runs than any other team in the Central (484), but were second worst in runs allowed (504).

Nice way to end the regular season.

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