Tokyo Yakult Swallows  

Chiba Lotte Marines 

Streak: Lost 3  Last 5: LWLLL

(QVC Marine Field)

This evening’s game fell victim to a day of rain, and will be rescheduled for Thursday 24th at 6:15pm.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/22/52212-chiba-away-game-cancelled/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/12/51212-yomuiri-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=51212-yomuiri-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/05/12/51212-yomuiri-home/#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 13:04:40 +0000 Scott http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12613 May 12, 2012

Yomiuri Giants  1

Tokyo Swallows 1

Streak: 1 tie  Last 5: LLLWD

(Akita Komachi Stadium)

Tonight saw Tokyo’s two teams travel North to Akita for the first of a two-game set. This would be the last weekend either team faced a Central League opponent for over a month as inter-league play commences this week. As such, the Birds wanted to continue on the winning track and keep up with the Dragons in the win column.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	1
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	7	0

Tonight, in the great wet North, the Birds drew with their Tokyo rival. Roman kept the over-priced bats in check for 6 innings, while Utsumi did the same for 5 innings.

	Swallows		Giants
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Chono (CF)
2	Morioka (SS)	2	Fujimura (2B)
3	Milledge (CF)	3	Sakamoto (SS)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Murata (3B)
5	Iihara (LF)	5	Abe (C)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Takahashi (RF)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Bowker (1B)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Inzen (LF)
9	Roman (P)	9	Utsumi (P)

Tonight started off slow for both sides. Giants made a little noise in the 1st and 3rd inning but could not get a runner past second base. The Birds could only muster one runner through the first three innings and a “I’m scared to pitch to him” unintentional intentional walk of Balentien in the 4th inning.

We jump to the bottom of the 6th inning. Roman started things off with a hit to right field. Tanaka followed his lead by hitting another single to right. The sac bunt responsibilities then fell to Morioka. Morioka, running with a piano on his back, was able to advance the runners to 2nd and 3rd. After that, Milledge hit an infield single to third. Now, with the bases loaded, Coco stepped to the plate. He obviously had aspirations of clearing the bases because he did nothing but swing for the fences. He went down on three pitches for the second out of the inning. Iihara ended the threat with a soft liner to Sakamoto.

In the top of the 7th Chono hit a liner over the outstretched glove of Milledge in center. He stopped at 2nd base for an easy stand-up double. He was promptly bunted over to third by Fujimura. This brought a meeting of the minds at the mound as Sakamoto was  up to bat. The sleazy bastard decided to bunt down the first base line. This easily scored Chono from third and “the tool at short” (Sakamoto) was thrown out by Roman at 1st. Roman then walked Murata on four pitches and his evening was over. Hidaka came in and induced Abe to fly-out to the warning track in left and end the inning. 0 – 1 Giants

"the tool at short" knocks in the lone Giant run.

After the Swallows fans put their umbrellas to use during the 7th inning stretch, the Birds looked to answer right back. Miyamoto started things off with a sharp single to left. Hatekayama grounded to “the tool at short” but the best the Giants could do was force out Miyamoto at 2nd. The hard hitting Nakamura was up next and promptly hit a sharp liner past “the tool at short”. With runners on 1st and 2nd and only one out, the pitcher was due up. Ogawa decided to bring in Aikawa to hit. He fouled out to Bowker near first base. This meant the top of the order was up. Tanaka strolled to the plate and was looking for the hero prize. After a few cuts and a few more waggles, Tanaka watched Utsumi throw two balls in the dirt while working the count full. After fouling off a pitch, Tanaka then walked to load the bases. This time Morioka couldn’t bunt. Instead, he swung away and nearly took Utsumi’s head off with a liner up the middle. This scored Noguchi (running for “Boo”) from third to tie the game. Everyone was safe and the bases were still loaded for Milledge. After nearly clearing the bases with a liner down the first base line that was ruled foul, Milledge grounded to Murata who quickly stepped on third for the force out. 1 -1

Kyuko was on the mound for the 8th. He got the first two batters out and was replaced by Oshimoto. Oshimoto made quick work of Kajimae to end the inning.

The Birds went down in order in the bottom half of the 8th.

Oshimoto came out for the ninth inning and struck out Kamei and Chono. He ended the inning by getting Fujimura to fly out to center.

The Giants brought in Mathieson to pitch the bottom of the ninth. All he did was strike out the side.

And that meant it was time for extra inning baseball. However, the rain was kicking about again and this made for a wet finish.

“the tool at short” was the first batter that Barnette had to deal with. Unfortunately, ”the tool at short” won out and hit a single to left. Up next was the cleanup hitter, Murata. As he is on such a great streak at the moment, Hara decided to have Murata bunt over ”the tool at short”. However, Murata was unable to do that simple task and ended up striking out. One out. Next up was the  catcher, Abe. At this point, he was 3 for 4 on the night. He would reach base again on a very questionable ball four. This called for a meeting of the minds at the mound. After confirming dinner plans, the players returned to their respective positions. As the rain picked up, the waste of a uniform Takahashi eked his way to the batters box. After questioning the conditions and visibility, Takahashi flew out to left. Two down and one to go. After getting a new resin bag, Barnette struck out Bowker for the final out of the inning. And because they performed so well tonight, Bowker slammed his bat and helmet to the ground. After getting that out of his system, he calmly picked them up and went back to the dugout.

Yamaguchi was the new pitcher for the Giants in the bottom of the 10th.

Tanaka reached base when ”the tool at short” couldn’t handle the grounder. Miwa then replaced Tanaka at first. Up came Morioka. Guess what he tried to do? That’s right folks. He TRIED to bunt but only succeeded at striking out. Up walked Milledge. After the second strike from Yamaguchi, Miwa stole second. Lastings eventually grounded out to “the tool at short” for the second out. As the clock struck 9:30, up walked Coco. That meant we were looking at the final batter(s). After a long at bat, Coco eventually walked. This put runners at 1st and 3rd and two out. This brought the end to Yamaguchi’s evening and the Giants played musical chairs in the outfield. Nishimura was the new pitcher for the Giants. His opponent for the evening was Fukuichi, who was batting in place of Iihara. Fukuichi didn’t put up much of a fight as he grounded out to second to end the game.

1 – 1 Final

Random thoughts (Notes):

• I hate listening to the dumba** announcers on the Fuji network. I thought they were suppose to be the Swallows broadcasters and thus somewhat knowledgeable?
• After tonight’s tie, the Birds are a half game behind the nagging Nagoya Dragons.
• Hara still looks stupid, even though he attempts to look smart(er) by putting on glasses.
  

  The intelligent looking Hara.

• Coco is awesome but he needs to be smarter at the plate.
• Sakamoto or Utsumi: Who is a bigger tool? If you can’t tell, my vote is for Sakamoto.
• Remember, tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!!
• And the pitching duel for Mother’s Day will be Tateyama for the Birds and Sawamura for the Giants. Should be a good one. Let’s hope the weather stays dry.

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/2012/04/24/042412-chunichi-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=042412-chunichi-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2012/04/24/042412-chunichi-home/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:05:47 +0000 David Watkins http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=12388 April 24th, 2012

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.

Tokyo Swallows  0

Hanshin Tigers  4

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: LLWWL

(Hotto Motto Field Kobe)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
Hanshin	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	X	4	8	0
W: Messenger (2-0/2.84) L: Roman (0-3/3.64)

After two good wins against the Carp this last weekend, Tokyo returned to the kind of baseball that saw them lose last week’s series against the Baystars. The impotent bat kind.

	Tokyo		Hanshin
1	Ueda (CF)	1	Hirano (2B)
2	Tanaka (2B)	2	Shibata (CF)
3	Milledge (RF)	3	Toritani (SS)
4	Hatakeyama (1B)	4	Arai (3B)
5	Kawabata (SS)	5	Brazell (1B)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Murton (RF)
7	Balentien (RF)	7	Kanemoto (LF)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Komiyama (C)
9	Roman (P)	9	Messenger (P)

In fairness to those faltering Swallows bats, Hanshin starter Messenger pitched a blinder, throwing a 100 pitch complete game shutout, allowing just the 4 hits while striking out 9.

In contrast, Tokyo starter Roman wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t that great either, allowing 2 runs off 6 hits over his 6 innings of work, issuing 3 walks with just the 1 K. He tended to get behind early in counts as he struggled to find the zone, but he did well to keep the score down considering. Apparently this was the first time in his career he has started a game on just four days rest, and his next start will possibly be on the same rest too.

It should surprise no one that Hanshin took the lead in the 4th off the bat of a certain Craig Brazell. After Arai had led off the inning with a single to left, Brazell slashed at a pitch over the outside of the plate, not making the best of contacts, but given his strength, that contact was enough to sneak the ball over the fence in left (and just out of the reach of a fence jumping Milledge) for 2-0 Hanshin. It was his fourth homer in just the three games against the Swallows this year.

This is becoming far too much of a familiar sight

The remaining two Tigers runs came in the 7th, with Hidaka on the mound in relief for the Swallows. Hirano got his third hit of the evening to get the inning going, before Shibata bunted him along for out number one. Toritani walked to put two men on, and then Arai hit a weak grounder to second. The problem with that was that Tanaka couldn’t come up with the ball, eventually spilling it, which meant an “E” being displayed on the scoreboard and, more importantly, Hanshin had the bases loaded with just the one red light lit.

It was Brazell up to the plate next, and to his credit Hidaka struck him out swinging for out number two. And so it was down to the ginger JESUS CHRIST IS MY KING of the Hanshin foreign contingent to deliver, and WITH THE POWER OF THE SWEET LORD TO MAKE HIM WHOLE he snuck one up the middle WHAT A JOY TO LIVE FOR HIM to bring home two runs. Arai was ran down between second and third to end the inning with the score at 4-0 Hanshin.

Tokyo’s only threats of the evening came in the 2nd: Kawabata with a  one-out double (he would be stranded there), and in the 8th: singles for Balentien and the pinch-hitting Yuhei put two on with one out for Ihara, who hit one back to Messenger for a 1-4-3 inning ending double play.

4-0 Hanshin Final.

Notes

• The Tigers took just over two and a half hours to halt their losing streak at two while stopping a Swallows win streak of the same length. They also lead the season series 2-0 with the 1 tie.
• Aside from Hiroyasu’s in the 7th, the other Tokyo error was charged to Hatakeyama in the 1st, as he failed to come up with Roman’s pick-off throw to first, allowing Hirano to reach second.
• Balentien was responsible for half of Tokyo’s hits as he went 2 for 2 with a walk. His line now reads .333/.480/.513, the first of those numbers being a team high, and the last two CL highs.
• Former Hanshin man Abe pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 8th.
• If you remove Saturday’s rather freakish 10-1 win over Hiroshima from the equation, Tokyo have mustered just the 1 run in their last 31 innings of baseball.
• The two teams will head to Koshien for tomorrow’s game, with Tateyama due on the mound for the Swallows against the Tigers’ Kubo.

Hiroshima Carp  0

Tokyo Swallows  1

Streak: Won 2       Last 5: WLLWW

(Matsuyama)

The Swallows go 2 for 2 in Matsuyama against Yoyo, I mean, Toyo Hiroshima Carp. After last nights outburst by the Swallows, the bats cooled off this fine Sunday afternoon. Still, thanks in large part to Tanaka, the Swallows did enough to win this one.

Our "heros" of the moment

Today’s “hero’s”, Tanaka and Akagawa, were the main story from today’s game. Besides some fine defensive plays, there was not much offense in todays game. As you can see from the boxscore below, both starting pitchers did very well. Thankfully, Tanaka was able to knock the ball around the park today.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Tokyo	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	4	1
W: Akagawa (1-1, 1.39 ERA) L: Nomura (1-1, 0.90 ERA) S: Barnette (4)

In what turned out to be a great pitching performance from both teams, a few lucky breaks went the Swallows way and Akagawa got the victory. However, the win was not an easy one.

Things did not start off well for Akagawa. He walked Soyogi to start the game. Then Higashide bunted Soyogi over to second. With Stavinoha up, Nakamura decided to take a pitch off and dropped the first pitch Akagawa threw to Stavinoha. This allowed Soyogi to move to third with ease. Both pitcher and catcher looked a little uneasy at this point. However, that was quickly taken care of when Akagawa collected the come-backer from Stavinoha, looked to third, and calmly threw to first for the force out. Kurihara flew out to left to end the early threat.

We pick up the action in the bottom of the third. After a fly-out by Balentien, Nakamura walked. After a few attempts, Akagawa finally bunted him over to second. With two outs, Ueda also walked. That brought Tanaka to the plate. The second pitch he saw was smacked down the right field line. Kurihara made a valiant attempt to jump for the liner but the best he could do was only slightly alter the path of the ball. This might have made the difference in the inning as Stavinoha got to the ball very quickly. However, the ball had lost its speed while Nakamura was gaining speed around third. He was easily safe at home, as were all the runners. Milledge would ground out to end the inning.

1-0 Tokyo

In what was a repeated occurrence in this game, Hiroshima would strand two runners in the top half of the fourth. They also had another threat stomped out on a 5-4-3 double play in the 6th.

The last serious threat from Hiroshima was in the 7th inning. Hirose lead off the inning with a single to center. Dohbayashi bunted him over to second. Shirahama walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd and only one out. Not facing enough of a challenge, Akagawa hit Kokubo to load the bases. Soyogi bailed out Akagawa by popping up the pitch and being called out on the infield fly rule. Higashide grounded out to Kawabata to end the inning.

Not much excitement came until the top of the ninth. With the Birds clinging to a 1-run lead, they turned to Barnette to secure the game. The inning opened up with a single by Dohbayashi. Kurihama bunted him over to second. Maeda came to bat and hit a grounder back up the middle. Kawabata was able to chase it down and throw him out in time. With Dohbayashi now only 90 feet away from tying the game, Barnette had to buckle down and get the last out of the inning and the game. In what I can only say as a great play (with a snarky smile on my face) by Barnette, the game ended like this:

Barnette leaped and caught the ball; drops the ball; picks it up and threw to first in time for the out; and fell over.

Game over!

Thank you all and see you soon!

Notes

• Three of the Swallows 4 hits came from Tanaka (Iihara getting the other)
• 16006 were in attendance to watch this 3 hour and 5 minute affair
• Miyamoto was unable to reach base; he is still 14 shy of the magic number
• Barnette picked up his 4th save of the season
• The Birds have a tough week ahead. They play three games on the road against Hanshin and face their Tokyo neighbors at Jingu Friday thru Sunday.
• With Hanshin sitting atop the table and Tokyo in a tie for second, this looks to be an important showdown for both teams.

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.

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 0

Chunichi Dragons 1

Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: WLDLL

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Chunichi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	5	0
W: Yoshimi (2-0) L: Roman (0-1) S: Iwase (3)

	Swallows		Dragons
1	2B Tanaka	1	2B Araki
2	CF Ueda	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 Roman	9	P Yoshimi

Tonight was the regular season debut for Roman. After a tough opening inning, he settled down and pitched six strong innings.

The Swallows opened the game by going down in order. In the home half of the first, the Dragons got a run early. The inning started off with Araki reaching base on a single to right. He was bunted over to second by Oshima. Roman walked Morino to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Former Rakuten big man, Yamasaki was up next. He flew out to left for the second out. Although he was a bit jittery to start the game, Roman looked to be settling down. He was one out away from getting out of the early jam. The next batter, Wada, would be a tough out.  They were battling and with the count 2-2, Wada got the upper hand. He hit a liner to left that scored Araki from second. 1-0 Chunichi.

Ibata would end the inning by lining out to 1st.

The next few innings were a good time to eat some food for the patrons in attendance because not much happened until the bottom of the 7th. Roman gave up two hits to start the inning. Tanishige bunted them over to 2nd and 3rd. That also meant the end of the evening for Roman. Hidaka replaced him on the mound. He promptly walked the batter, Fujii to load the bases. Hidaka’s job done, he was replaced by Oshimoto.

Side note. I can volunteer my services to come into any game and throw 4 balls for the unintentional intentional walk for any team. Please contact me at i_will_walk_all_batters@gmail.com

Sorry, back to the game.

Araki was the first man to face Oshimoto. He flew out to Ueda in center. Thinking that young Ueda did not have much of an arm, Ibata tried to tag-up and score from third base. MISTAKE!!! Inning ending double-play reads on the score sheet “8-2″. It was a great throw by Ueda and and a great tag by “El Capitan”, Aikawa.

The Birds would make some noise in the top half of the 8th but were eventually shut down by Asao. Iwase closed out the game for his 3rd save of the season. 1-0 Chunichi, FINAL.

Unfortunately, the Swallows bats did not make it to Nagoya in time for the game. As such, the Birds were unable to really do any damage against Yoshimi and the rest of the Dragons staff. Which meant that the Swallows were shut out for the first time this season.

But, tomorrow is a new day. My sources have confirmed that there has been a recent delivery of baseball equipment to the Swallows locker room at Nagoya Dome and that their bats were included in that delivery.

Let’s hope we see more pain and suffering like this:

Notes

Hanshin Tigers 5 

Tokyo Swallows 5 

Streak: Tied 1   Last 5: WWLD-

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hanshin	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	5	12	0
Tokyo	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	7	0

	Hanshin		Tokyo
1	Hirano (2B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Shibata (CF)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Toritani (SS)	3	Milledge (RF)
4	Arai (3B)	4	Hatakeyama (1B)
5	Brazell (1B)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Murton (RF)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Kanemoto (LF)	7	Balentien (RF)
8	Fujii (C)	8	Aikawa (C)
9	Messenger (P)	9	Tateyama (P)

Some ties you’re happy to get, some are a letdown; the box score lets you know which one the Birds’ delayed home opener was.

Shinya Miyamoto, the koshu of Jingu.

Tateyama took the mound for Tokyo and got off to a pleasing start: three batters, one strike out, and a mere nine pitches. The offense quickly added to the fun when Ueda was walked, moved to third by a Milledge single, then brought in by a Hatakeyama grounder. 1-0 Tokyo.

Improving on his hot first inning, Tateyama notched another K, throwing only seven pitches to the next three batters in Hanshin’s order.

Miyamoto, then pounded hit number seven into left, putting him only eighteen away from the Meikyukai’s 2000 benchmark with 140 games to go. Unfortunately, this was followed by Balentien grounding into a double play (and giving up not evenhalfway down the basepath, which won’t win him any new fans out in the bleachers) and Aikawa grounding out.

Tateyama then gave up a hit to Fujii, but made up for it by striking out the bunt-attempting Messenger, then Hirano.

The Swallows’ bats then gave their hard-working moundsman some serious support. Tateyama walked, Tanaka singled, then Ueda popped out after briefly sparking your narrator’s overly sensitive consternation trigger by setting up to bunt. Milledge then struck out before Messenger started to come apart, walking Hatake to load the bases, then Kawabata to add another run to the home team’s column.

Miyamoto then sent hit number eight into right field for an RBI before Balentien drove in two more, making hoi polloi like him again. 5-0 Tokyo. 

Another ground out and another K for Tateyama, then Arai drilled a hole in the board just behind the center field fence. 5-1 Tokyo.

To no one’s surprise, Hanshin yanked Messenger and put Tsuru on the mound in the bottom of the fourth and he did his job well: 2 Ks against three batters.

Tokyo’s ace then started to show some wear: Murton, Fujii, and Hirano all hit, adding one more run to the visitors’ side: 5-2 Tokyo.

Watanabe then needed only eleven pitches to retire the home side 1-2-3. Oshimoto took the mound for Tokyo and had 1K vs. 1H.

In the sixth, Kawabata hit safely, but three of his teammates couldn’t get Watanabe’s stuff to leave the infield.

It may be this guy’s bad memory or failing eyesight, but Matsuoka looks a bit chubbier this year. He certainly threw chubbier: a lucky K when Kanemoto swung at a bouncing pitch, which, in fairness, might have counted as a strike back when Kanemoto was a rookie and the oldest of the Tsubamegun‘s authors were just beginning to shave. Matsuoka then beaned Fujii, walked Sekimoto, who was attempting the hit and run, and loaded the bases with a single to Hirano.

While fielding the ball and making a not-quite-handsome throw from right, Balentien appeared to injure either his wrist or his pride. Either way, he was yanked in favor of Iihara.

Not Matsuoka’s day. Would Masubuchi save the day?

Yes! (You didn’t expect that, did you?) Pop out, then a K to stave off disaster.

In the bottom of the 7th, Tanaka showed again what we here have long said: having him continually bunt Aoki over to second was a stupid decision; the man can hit. Sadly, no one else did.

Masubuchi then uncorked the swearing of a crowd already looking to go home, some of whom did after he gave up a single to Arai and a centerfield homer to Brazell, then single to Murton and Kanemoto.

Kanemoto took his Zimmer frame off the field to be replaced by the fleeter-footed Yamato, as Masubuchi was replaced by Hidaka.

After Hidaka got the first out of the inning, Shunsuke managed to bunt Murton in for another run.

You know what, Shunsuke? You’re only allowed to go by one name after you’re famous, you cocky little snot.

Hidaka’s strike out of Hirano finally ended things. 5-5.

The Swallows tried to manufacture a run against Enokida, putting Hiyane on the basepath after Hatake walked. Miyamoto also walked (Is this guy getting hotter in his 40s?), but Ks of Takeuchi of Aikawa ended the inning.

Barnette came in to close. He gave up a hit to Asai, got Toritani to ground out, then struck Arai in an epic ten-pitch battle. It took him five pitches to sit Brazell down and give the Birds a chance to slap Fujikawa around for the win.

Didn’t happen.

Ishikawa faces Ando as the Swallows host the grubs from Hyogo again tomorrow night.