An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
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 [...]
October 6th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 1 Hanshin Tigers 7 Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: LWLLL (Kyocera Dome) Let’s not beat around the bush the Swallows lost, and the Dragons won their fifth straight game tonight. Which meant that the Swallows have relinquished their CL lead for the first time since May 30th, the last [...]
September 30th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 0 Yokohama BayStars 5 Streak: L1 Last 5: WWWWL (Yokohama Stadium) Swallows finish up the month of September 17-7-1 (with one rain out). This included the mind-blowing 12-1 start to the month. In tonight’s game, we saw Masubuchi on the hill for the Birds, while Miura was the ‘Stars hurler. As [...]
September 24th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Chunichi Dragons 3 Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: TLLLL (Nagoya Dome) Another day, another heart-breakingly close loss to the Dragons in Nagoya. The Swallows got their points early as Kawabata managed a two out single off Soto, which Hatake followed with his 21st home run of the season. [...]
September 18th, 2011 Yokohama BayStars 4 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWWTL (Jingu Stadium) A ninth-inning rally wasn’t quite enough to stop the outhit Swallows from losing for the first time since September 4th and closing their longest unbeaten streak in over a year. Masubuchi started off fairly well. Three strike-outs [...]
September 11th, 2011 Hanshin Tigers 2 Tokyo Swallows 4 Streak: Won 6 Last 5: WWWWW (Jingu) The Birds continue their success, as the Tigers continue to make costly errors. In the finale of this three game set, both teams were chomping at the bit to get a victory. Both starting pitchers came out looking to [...]
September 6th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWWLW (Yokohama Stadium) If Tokyo have any pretensions of taking the Central League title this year, then they need to win a majority of their six games with Yokohama in September. And tonight they made a pretty good start on the road [...]
August 31st, 2011 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 10 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 5 Last 5: LLLLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Things go from bad to worse as Tokyo see their lead shrink to a paltry 1.5 games after a game about which the less said the better. Us: Aoki (CF) Tanaka (2B) [...]
Welcome to the Monday Review, in which we’ll look back at the week that was and look ahead to the week that will be. We hope a recurring weekly review column will help readers identify some trends that can’t be covered in a single game report. We’re still trying to work out the format, so [...]
August 21st, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 3 Yomiuri Giants 1 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: DWLLW (Tokyo Dome) Masubuchi was one out shy of pitching a complete game, and the lackluster Swallows were finally able to win a game at the stain dome. It’s anyone’s guess what got into Masubuchi. Perhaps he was threatened with demotion or [...]
