An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
May 19th, 2012 Orix Buffaloes 6 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: DLWLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) After a busy week of two polar opposite games against the iPhone Hawks, Tokyo played host to the B’s. Tonight started out well for both starting pitchers, with Roman getting the edge over Kisanuki in the [...]
April 30th, 2012 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 [...]
April 24th, 2012 Chunichi Dragons 1 Tokyo Swallows 4 Streak: Won 4 Last 5: LWWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) 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. After Tateyama made light work of the first three [...]
April 22nd, 2012 Yomiuri Giants 2 Tokyo Swallows 3 Streak: Won 3 Last 5: WLWWW (Jingu Stadium) Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeep! Roman finally got his first NPB ‘W’ in his fourth start of the year and second this week. Despite the rain, this was another enjoyable game to watch for the Swallows fans in [...]
April 19th, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 3 Hanshin Tigers 4 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWLWL (Koshien Stadium) Ishikawa and the Swallows lose a back-and-forth affair at a windy Koshien. The Swallows struck first in this game in the second. After Kawabata walked to lead off the inning, Miyamoto got career hit number 1987 to put [...]
March 30th, 2012 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. Both teams came out with the same lineup as yesterday, with sophomore Sawamura pitching for the Giants and Muranaka starting [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Tokyo Swallows Wladimir Balentien is having some right elbow issues and hasn’t been able to practice at 100%. It seems like Ogawa is starting to get a little impatient (link in Japanese). Balentien didn’t play in Tokyo’s pre-season game against Hanshin on Saturday. Tokyo beat Hokkaido 3-0 in a practice game on Thursday February 23rd. [...]
November 2nd, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 2 Series: Chunichi 2-0 Tokyo (Nagoya Dome) So this is what it’s come down to. The Swallows are back in Nagoya Dome trying to make up for everything they lost there during the home stretch of the 2011 Central League pennant race. The last time that Tokyo [...]
