Miyamoto’s Meikyukai Induction

Miyamoto became the 40th batter to reach the 2,000 hit milestone with a single in his first at-bat against Hiroshima starter, Yuya Fukui on Friday. The game was immediately halted as Miyamoto’s teammates came onto the field to congratulate him.

The team has decided to designate May 30th Miyamoto Milestone Memorial Day when Hokkaido will be in town for a two-game series (May 30th and 31st). Former Tokyo Swallow and teammate, Atsunori Inaba, who became the 39th hitter to enter the Meikyukai just a short while ago, will be playing for the Fighters in that game, and it is likely that Inaba will also be honored by the team in some way.

For more information, including stats and lots of trivial information, check these two posts (here and here) on Yakyu Baka.

In case you missed it, here’s a video replay:

Many congrats to Miyamoto and his family from everyone at Tsubamegun!

Swallows of the Week

Week 5

The Tsubamegun community voted on the outstanding performances by the following five players: Wladimir Balentien (RF), Tony Barnette (P), Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B), Lastings Milledge (LF), and Shohei Tateyama (P). There were 35 official votes this week, and here’s how the numbers added up:

Player	Votes	%
Lastings Milledge	20	57
Wladimir Balentien	6	17
Tony Barnette	5	14
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	2	6
Shohei Tateyama	2	6

Congratulations, Thrilledge! The man has been an impact player at the plate, and he has shown hustle and determination both on the field and the basepaths. All the best to Milledge from the Tsubamegun community as he continues to transition to the pitching and style of play here in Japan.

Week 6

The Swallows played five games last week which completed a eight-games-in-nine-days marathon against Central League competition. The first two were in Yokohama, and after romping in the first game thanks to Balentien’s three bombs, the offense was quieted in game two due to some decent pitching from the home team.

The second series was at home against the Hiroshima Carp. The first two games were both monumental and enjoyable to watch for Tokyo fans as Miyamoto eclipsed the 2,000 hit mark on Friday, and the team churned out an impressive performance both on offense and defense to clinch the series. Yesterday’s game, however, was a bit of a mess thanks mostly to the fact that Tokyo wasn’t able to get anyone on base for most of the game.

Coco made this pose many times this week. They must've thought it was hailing in the left field stands.

May 1st at Yokohama 7-0 W
May 2nd cancelled (rain)
May 3rd at Yokohama 1-3 L
May 4th vs Hiroshima 8-4 W
May 5th vs Hiroshima 4-1 W
May 6th vs Hiroshima 0-6 L

Several players put up impressive numbers last week, and here are the names for you to choose from:

Wladimir Balentien (RF) had a crazy week 6 at the plate. He was 8-17 with six homers, four walks, eight RBI, and 27 total bases. Here’s his slash line for the week: .471/.571/1.588.

Masanori Ishikawa (P) recorded his first complete game shutout in a couple of seasons at Yokohama on Tuesday. He threw 145 pitches through nine innings of work and gave up five hits, one walk, and one beanball while striking out five on his way to helping his team secure a 7-0 victory.

Orlando Roman (P) had his longest outing of the year on Saturday when he subdued a very aggressive Carp team with only 95 pitches through eight innings of work. He gave up only five hits, three walks, and one earned run while striking out three. The Swallows went on to win that contest 4-1.

Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B) was solid both at the plate and on defense. He was one of only two players to hit safely in all five games last week and was 7-21 at the plate. He mixed in a couple of doubles, two walks, and four RBI to help reward Hatakeyama and Nakamura for their solid offense in the bottom third of the lineup. Slash line: .333/.391/.429.

Tick the box next to the player you think most deserves SOW honors for week 6.

Roster Updates

On Wednesday May 2nd, Genki Nitta (C) and Yuhei (OF) were demoted, and on Thursday veterans Atsushi Fujimoto (IF) and Kazuki Fukuchi (OF) were brought up. Fujimoto had his first hit of the season that same day. Fukuchi had his first hit on Friday and recorded his first sac fly of the season on Saturday.

Ueda (CF) was dropped to the farm on Saturday after banging up his right shoulder on a herculean effort to prevent a home run in Friday’s game. He was 1-2 at the plate with a double before being removed from the game. Hopefully his rehab stint doesn’t take too long.

Rookie Hiyane (OF) was brought back up on the same day to serve as cover/competition for Kazuki Fukuchi in center field.

Takeuchi was dropped to the farm on Sunday for reasons that were not immediately clear. Hopefully it’s nothing more than an attempt to keep him fresh by seeing live pitching on a regular basis on the farm.

That leaves 27 players on the top team roster as of this morning:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka

Outfielders
Hiyane, Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge

From the Farm

Tokyo’s minor league team dropped two of their three games against Tohoku up in Sendai. Depressingly, they lost both of the first two games in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 10th inning. But there were definitely some bright spots tucked in there.

The Swallows won the third game thanks largely to a fourth inning, two out grand slam care of Yuichi which put a previously tied ballgame at 6-2 in Tokyo’s favor. The team eventually won the game 6-4 with rookie Hugo Kanabushi getting the ‘W’ thanks to his six innings of  eight hit, three run baseball.

Chikara Onodera continues to pitch effectively from the bullpen. He made two appearances last week and kept the opposition off the board. In 15 appearances so far (farm team high), he’s pitched 15.1 innings and has an ERA of 0.59.

Kyuko has also seen his workload increase, which is another great sign for the team as he was a phenomenal left-handed option out of the pen last year. He made two appearances last week and didn’t allow any runs.

Recently demoted center fielder, Yuhei, started all three games last weekend and was 5-15 at the plate.

Kawamoto (C) appears to be back in action and both caught and DH’d last weekend. Nitta did the same and appears to be having a bit more success at the plate so far.

Tokyo’s little birds will play six home games up in Toda starting tomorrow. The first three are against the little Giants, and the second set is against the little Marines. All six games are scheduled to start at 1PM.

Around the Central League

Tokyo finished the week with three wins and two losses which leaves them in sole possession of first place in the Central League with an overall record of 18-10-2. After splitting a rain-shortened series with Yokohama, the birds returned to Jingu and took 2-3 from the visiting Hiroshima Carp. They enjoy a mere half-game lead over second place Chunichi.

Chunichi finished the week with two wins, two losses, and two ties. Those two losses came over the weekend when they were visiting Yokohama who are now in possession of a semi-healthy Tsutsugoh at third base. The boy has been hitting the ball hard, and if memory serves, he’s eligible for ROY voting this season. The Chunichi Dragons finished the week in second place, half a game behind the Tokyo Swallows.

Staff ace, Kazuki Yoshimi, was taken off the active roster due to a gammy hammy on May 2nd. That’s good news for the Swallows because it means that they won’t have to face him next week when they travel to play Chunichi.

Hanshin finished the week with one win, four losses, and one draw. In fact, they finished the Golden Week nine-game stretch with a league worst 1-6-2 record. They only scored five runs in their six games last week, and they were shut out three times. They’re still in third place though, 4.5 games behind Tokyo and just a half game ahead of the surging Yomiuri Giants.

The scoreless draw against Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome on April 30th was the first time in 69 years (link in Japanese) that such a result has happened between those two clubs.

Looking for some depth at catcher due to injuries to Johjima and Fujii, Hanshin traded pitcher Ryuji Wakatake to Hokkaido for backup catcher, Kenta Imanari. 24-year-old Imanari appeared in 22 games for the Fighters last year and hit .115 with three hits.

Yomiuri finished the week with four wins and two losses. They took 2-3 from the visiting Hiroshima Carp at Tokyo Dome and then did the same against Hanshin when they played there this past weekend. Yomiuri finished the GW stretch with a Japan-best .750 winning percentage which is terrible news for those who value what is just and right in the world. Yomiuri still has a losing record, but they’re just a half game behind the faltering Hanshin Tigers.

Yomiuri is apparently going to be welcoming 33-year-old Edgar Gonzalez back into the fold. You may recall that Gonzalez played for the Giants back in 2010. He had 327 plate appearances in 100 games for Yomiuri that year, hitting .263/.342/.457 with 76 hits (12 HR) and 44 RBI. Last year he hit .315/.378/.457 with 159 hits (30 2B, 14 HR) and 82 RBI in 137 games for AAA Fresno (San Francisco Giants).

Hiroshima finished the week with two wins and four losses. They dropped all three of their GW series, and critically four of their six games with the first place Tokyo Swallows. They are now in fifth place in the Central League, one game behind Yomiuri and just two games ahead of the improving Yokohama Baystars.

Yokohama finished the week with three wins, one loss, and one draw. The biggest thrill for them was undoubtedly winning their weekend series against the defending Central League champs, Chunichi. They outscored the Dragons 19-6 in those three games, and it should be fun to see if they can keep this momentum going into the Interleague block of the season which begins on the 16th. Yokohama are still in last place, but they’re finally showing some signs of life. If Yoshimura, Ramirez, Nakamura, and Tsutsugoh all get on track at the same time, then they should be able to produce quite a few runs.

Yokohama apparently has some kind of ticketing scheme worked out whereby fans can get a refund if they were unhappy with the game that they watched. According to reports, there have been some long lines at the ticket windows following several of the games.

The Week Ahead

Tokyo has a slightly abbreviated schedule this week, the last before Interleague games begin on May 16 with a two game home series against 2011 Japan Series Champs, Fukuoka.

This week also features quite a bit of running around for the team. The first series is against the Dragons May 8th-10th, and even though it’s an ‘away’ series for the birds, only one of those games will be played at Nagoya Dome. Game 1 is in Toyohashi, game 2 is to be played in Gifu, and the final game will see the teams play a game in the cavernous dome that Chunichi calls home.

Friday the 11th is a travel day as the birds head north to Akita for a two-game “home” series against Yomiuri.

Games on the 8th-10th and 12th start at 6PM. The game on the 13th is scheduled to begin at 3PM. Check the calendar at the bottom of this site’s homepage if you need more detail.

Former Swallows

Seth Greisinger continues to be unhittable for the Chiba Marines. He leads the Pacific League in ERA (0.31), winning percentage (perfect), opposing team’s batting average (.165), and K/9 (8.59).

Norichika Aoki only has 34 at-bats in the 22 games that he’s appeared in (usually as a pinch hitter), and his slash line is currently: .235/.316/.353. It will be fun to see what he can do if/when he gets to start regularly for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Alex Ramirez continues to struggle at the plate in his new home of Yokohama (.198/.217/.284). He finally hit his first homer of the season on Friday when Chunichi came to town.

Standing ovation for Tokyo's legendary third baseman.

Alright, that’s all for this week. Please excuse me because I have fallen woefully behind on my meat consumption.

Drink up.

Spirits are high in Tokyo as the birds recently swept the Yomiuri Giants and took two games from the Chunichi Dragons (one tie).

But the past six games have all been played at Jingu Stadium, and two-thirds of the next nine games will be played away from home.

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Saturday April 28th (1:30 PM start) vs Hiroshima (Away)
Sunday April 29th (1:30 PM) vs Hiroshima (Away)
Monday April 30th (1:30 PM) vs Hiroshima (Away)

Tuesday May 1st (6 PM) vs Yokohama (Away)
Wednesday May 2nd (6 PM) vs Yokohama (Away)
Thursday May 3rd (2 PM) vs Yokohama (Away)

Friday May 4th (3 PM) vs Hiroshima (Home)
Saturday May 5th (6 PM) vs Hiroshima (Home)
Sunday May 6th (6 PM) vs Hiroshima (Home)

So while you’re planning your schedule around those nine games, make sure to answer the 10 questions in the most recent Tsubamegun Community Opinion Poll. Please vote only once.

Nakamura has some nerves to steady, and some big shoes to fill, but he's doing well so far.

Something for you to read while fielding offers for a more appropriate gig.

Swallows of the Week

Week 2

Ishikawa was the week one MVP, but he tanked after that. Hopefully the same fate does not await the winner of the week two polling.

31 people voted this time around, and they had five choices:

Shingo Kawabata (SS)
Orlando Roman (P)
Wladimir Balentien (RF)
Tony Barnette (P)
Takehiko Oshimoto (P)

And here’s how the community voted:

Players	Votes	%
Tony Barnette	18	58
Wladimir Balentien	8	26
Shingo Kawabata	2	6.5
Takehiko Oshimoto	2	6.5
Orlando Roman	1	3

Congratulations to Mr. Barnette! Hopefully the Tokyo bats continue to churn out enough runs that his services won’t be necessary more than a few times a week. It sure would be nice to have him with us for the pennant race this time around.

I must say that I actually didn’t expect a closer to win the community voting on this one so early in the season. I didn’t expect it, but I like it. Any time a closer wins the voting, it means that the team is winning, and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t appreciate that.

Week 3

Tokyo played five games this past week, three at Jingu and two in Matsuyama. In case you missed them, here are the game reports:

April 10th vs Yokohama (Home)
April 11th vs Yokohama (Home)
April 12th vs Yokohama (Home)
April 14th vs Hiroshima (“Home”)
April 15th vs Hiroshima (“Home”)

The series against Yokohama started OK, but was pretty dreary for the last two games. Please don’t tell me that we’re going to revert to our old ways against Yokohama. Remember how they always used to piss on our collective pillow, at least through the 2010 season, even though they generally didn’t know how to play baseball? Ugh. Hopefully 2011 wasn’t an anomally.

Saturday’s game versus Hiroshima was an enjoyable one to watch for Tokyo fans. Sunday’s was a good one, too, although not nearly as easy on the heart.

And here’s the compiled data for the top five performers from week 3:

Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B) – Beavis scored two hero interviews this week, one on Tuesday and another yesterday evening (shared with Akagawa). His game winning hit against Yokohama and decisive RBI single against Hiroshima on Sunday were just two of his team-high six hits last week. He was 6-17 at the plate with three RBI and three walks.

Lastings Milledge (LF) – Despite spending another week in the batter’s box against pitchers he’d never seen before, Milledge was one of Tokyo’s biggest contributors this week. His quick feet and arm in left kept opposing base runners honest while he also presented himself as a constant nuisance when it was his turn to to start targeting extra bases. In addition to his heads-up base-running, Milledge was 5-19 at the plate. Two doubles and a home run helped lead to three RBI this week, and he added a walk just for good measure. Oh, and get this–he’s actually been seen running hard to first base even on routine grounders. Weird.

Kyohei Muranaka (P) – Tokyo’s socially-awkward southpaw from Kanagawa Prefecture earned his first win of the year with a very solid eight-inning performance on Saturday against Hiroshima. He threw 116 pitches and allowed just one run off of eight hits and two walks. He also struck out five while lowering his ERA to 2.25. He leads the team in winning percentage (100%), innings pitched (20), hits allowed (18), HBP (2), and strikeouts (13).

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – Like Muranaka above, Akagawa earned his first win of the year this past weekend. He threw 105 pitches in seven innings of very solid work. He didn’t strike anyone out, but he kept his pitches down and allowed just four hits (all singles), three walks, and one beaned batter. He’s now 1-1 with an impressive 1.40 ERA through three starts and 19.1 innings.

So let’s hear it, Tsubamegun. Who was your MVP? Cast your vote below. Please vote only once.

This poll is closed. To see who won the voting, please check next week’s Snapshot.

Roster Updates

With Aikawa and Kawamoto both out with injuries, we’re down to our 3rd, 4th, and 5th string catchers now. Hopefully Nakamura shows us that he’s up for the challenge. He’s been playing pretty well so far.

Here’s what the roster looks like as of game time on Sunday April 15th:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Nitta, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Takeuchi, Yamada, Hatakeyama, Morioka

Outfielders
Hiyane, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Ueda, Milledge

(28 players total)

From the Farm

Yoshinori got some work in during an exhibition game on Friday (4/13) against Fuji Heavy Industries. Final line: 8 IP, 8 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 3 R (all earned). Fernandez gave up one unearned run in the ninth to allow Fuji Heavy Industries to come back and tie the game for a 4-4 final score. (The team’s official Japanese write-up is here.)

Saturday’s game against the Futures was rained out.

The Week Ahead

Beavis isn't hitting the cover off the ball, but he's been pretty clutch recently.

Tokyo will next head to Koshien Stadium to take on the Hanshin Tigers for the second time this year. All three of the games start at 6PM from Tuesday – Thursday, and it seems likely that the pitching matchups will look a little something like this:

Tuesday
Messenger 1-0, 5.40 ERA (Hanshin) vs Tateyama 0-0, 2.08 ERA (Tokyo)

Wednesday
Kubo 1-0, 1.17 (Hanshin) vs Ishikawa 1-2, 5.19 (Tokyo)

Thursday
Ando 1-0, 0.69 (Hanshin) vs Roman 0-2, 3.97 (Tokyo)

Hanshin currently lead the season series 1 W, 0 L, 1 T against Tokyo.

And then Tokyo play host to crosstown rivals, Yomiuri, next weekend. Again, all three games start at 6PM, but I’m going to hold off on making predictions about starters at this point since things can so easily change in these parts.

Tokyo currently lead the season series 2-1 against Yomiuiri.

Around the Central League

Chunichi has opted to send slugger Tony Blanco down to the farm for some extra practice since he’s striking out a bit too much these days. Victor Diaz was sent down with him.

In other Chunichi news, starter Kenshin Kawakami is still out of action after tweaking his back on a high bouncer back to the mound  early in his April 7th start against Tokyo.

Elsewhere, NPB umpires have expressed concerns about showing replays of close calls on the big screens at various stadia. (Read: they are worried about their horrid decisions being advertised to the entire audience.)

First placed Hanshin finished the week with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. They will play host to Tokyo in a three-game series starting on Tuesday. They were 2-0-1 against Hiroshima early in the week, but then dropped both weekend games against Chunichi. Their record of 7-4-3 puts them half a game clear of Chunichi and Tokyo in second place.

Tied with Tokyo for second place in the Central, Chunichi followed two losses to the Swallows at Nagoya Dome the weekend prior (Saturday’s game report; Sunday’s game report) with a tie and two losses away to Yomiuri, and an opening game loss at Koshien on Friday. However, they prevailed over the weekend by outscoring the Tigers 10-4. Their record of 7-5-2 is good enough for a tie with Tokyo for second place in the Central.

Hiroshima slid into sole possession of fourth place in the Central League after dropping both of its “away” games to the Swallows. They were outscored 11-1 in the two weekend games (Saturday and Sunday), and this followed two losses and a draw against Hanshin on Hiroshima’s home soil. The Carp are now 6-6-2 so far this season.

Yomiuri is starting to show some life, but they’re not nearly as good as they likely will be this summer. They lost to Yokohama in walk-off style yesterday afternoon, but that was the only real blemish during a week that the team posted a 3-1-1 record. Their 5-8-1 record leaves them a game and a game and a half behind fourth place Hiroshima, and half of a game ahead of last place Yokohama.

Yokohama had its best week of the season by taking two of three from the Swallows and one of two from the Giants. At 4-8-1, and once again gurgling in the CL cellar, Yokohama’s start hasn’t yet met many people’s expectations, but nobody’s particularly surprised by that nugget of reality either.

Former Swallows

It seems that catchers in the Pacific League squat a bit closer to home plate than we’re used to here in the Central. Former Tokyo first baseman, Josh Whitesell, took out a catcher with his backswing on both Thursday and Friday evenings. Call it whatever you want, a slump or unfair treatment of a foreign player, but Josh was removed from the active roster following Friday’s game.

Norichika Aoki has only seven at-bats so far this season, but he’s not embarrassing himself. He’s currently hitting .429/.556/.429 and is generally one of the first bats off the bench plus a pretty consistent late game replacement on defense. Here’s video of Aoki’s first big league hit.

Alright, that’s all for this edition of the snapshot. Please excuse me while I cut off a media outlet or two.

Drink up!

Rookie Hiyane is helping to keep things interesting in the team's quest to reconfigure the outfield.

• Tsubamegun got one hell of a shout out from fellow Japanese baseball watcher, NPB Tracker. Thanks, Patrick!
• Tokyo batting coach, Takao Ise, has been selected as one of the six coaches representing the nation as part of this year’s Samurai Japan team. One coach was selected from each of the top three teams in the Central and Pacific Leagues with Fukuoka’ Koji Akiyama taking on the role as manager. Masanori Ishikawa is the only Tokyo player on the team.
• Yoshinori, despite not being able to last an entire season (last season it was a shoulder injury), continues to be pushed hard in spring training. According to Nikkan Sports, he threw 66 pitches during batting practice. This was, of course, after he had already thrown a slightly larger number during his bullpen session. So, what do you think? 15 appearances this season? 16?
• 24-year-old rookie outfielder, Wataru Hiyane, has managed to swipe more bases than games he’s played in so far (six bags in five games).
• Tokyo has practice games in Okinawa against Hanshin on Friday and Tohoku on Saturday. Both games start at 1PM.

Former Tokyo Players

• Norichika Aoki is now taking part in his first pro spring training wearing something other than a Tokyo uniform. He will be competing against Carlos Gomez, Corey Hart, Nyjer Morgan, and possibly Logan Schafer for time in the outfield. Oh, and 2011 National League MVP, Ryan Braun, once he gets done with his suspension for a banned substance. For shits and giggles, check out this video that Nyjer Morgan starred in.
• Ryota Igarashi is hoping to earn a place on Pittsburgh’s roster. To his credit, he’s taking part in spring camp without the help of an interpreter because he says that he wants to communicate directly with his coaches and teammates.
• Former Tokyo Swallow and major leaguer, Akinori Iwamura, who now plays for Tohoku, shaved 10 kilograms from his overweight ass during the off-season. He was apparently using the “okazairu” diet which involves eating a salad before dinner. You might recall that he has been asked  repeatedly to get himself into better shape.

Who do you want to get the bulk of the starts at third this year?

**The poll is now closed. Click here to see the results of the vote.

Here’s a poll to keep your mind off of what you should actually be doing at work.

You will be asked for your opinions on topics such as who should get the most starts at third, and whether or not the front office was right in accepting the posting amount for Norichika Aoki.

This poll will remain open until 5PM (EST) Wednesday February 1st (that’s 7AM on Thursday February 2nd here in Japan). We’ll post the results of the poll shortly thereafter.

Please vote only once.

Poll closed.

Milwaukee's newest prospect and ROY candidate, Norichika Aoki.

let’s first take a moment to check in with the rest of the team.

• At least two Tokyo players have already contracted the flu. Awesome. I’m a bit confused because this is normally what happens to the team in September and October. Are we planning to do this twice in 2012? For the record, however, I have no objection to moving this nonsense to the front-end of the season. Guys, stop sharing cutlery! And wash your hands.
• Ogawa recently told the media friends that 2011 Central League home run champ Wladimir Balentien could start the year on the farm team thanks to how nonexistent he was following the All-Star break last season. We here at Tsubamegun have no problem with that although we’d like to politely remind him that Balentien was far more effective in the playoffs than Hatakeyama and Miyamoto.
• Sorry, can’t resist. While he’s not a Tokyo player anymore, we still love him. Aoki was all over the place with relief upon returning to the motherland. And the Milwaukee folks are well aware of the fact that they’ve landed Aoki’s services at bargain-basement prices.

As you might have guessed, articles covering the postseason were some of the most popular on the site.

Hello 2012, and Happy New Year to everyone out there in Tsubamegun land!

We’d like to welcome you to the new year, and a spring training camp in Okinawa that’s only a month away, by looking back briefly on the most popular posts of last season.

They’re listed here according to page views, and it’s an amusing view into what interested the record number of readers that accessed this site last year.

5. Tokyo vs Yomiuri Game 3 – Climax Series 1st Stage

This was Kozo’s personalized version of the emotional ups and downs of that historic game between the birds and their much better funded crosstown rivals.

4. Tokyo vs Chunichi Game 5 – Climax Series 2nd Stage

Garrett wrote the season-ending game report after the team’s loss to eventual Japan Series Runner-up, Chunichi. The comments at the end of this post were very much appreciated by all of us here at the site.

3. Online Yakyu Writer Insights: 2011 Tokyo Swallows

For this article, I interviewed Yakyu Baka’s Gen Sueyoshi, NPB Tracker’s Patrick Newman, and Jason Coskrey from the Japan Times to see what they thought about Tokyo’s chances in 2011. It’s interesting to re-read this article nearly a year later and see how things actually panned out. I, for one, was completely off on Aoki having a career-best year. Seems the new baseball was the monkey wrench on that one.

2. 2011 Japan Series – Chunichi vs Fukuoka

This is the youngest of the entrants on this short list of popular posts, but it makes sense that it made the cut because it’s essentially seven game reports wrapped into one. Game seven, in which I included play-by-play coverage of how the Hawks finally defeated the Dragons, helped attract a lot of real-time attention to that post.

1. Wishful Thinking (2011 version)

Ah, yes. The annual ritual of putting our foolish hopes and dreams in writing. It’s almost like a belated Christmas Wish List. I swung and missed on most of mine last year. How did you end up doing?

Thanks to everyone who visited Tsubamegun last season! Keep watching this space for an upcoming Wishful Thinking post that we’ll appreciate your feedback on. 

Enjoy the rest of the New Year’s holiday!

Baseball-wise, the quake has affected a number of things. Firstly the need to save energy has lead to the introduction of a few rules to limit game times. Games will still end in a tie if the teams are tied after 12 innings, but now games will not go into further extra innings after three and a half hours. The clock will begin to tick from the first pitch, not the scheduled start time, and will not be stopped for delays such as rain, wind, fog and other troubles. In the event that a game is ended early because of a blackout the game will be called.

The quake has pushed the schedule back a few weeks and the damage has necessitated the following changes to the schedule. For the month of April teams playing in areas of lower power (basically Eastern Honshu) will be playing day games in order to avoid using power-sucking lights. The NPB executive committee has said that the schedule will proceed as normal and allow teams in the affected areas to play night game in May. It is quite possible, however, that the schedule will be changed once the government announces its energy savings plans for the summer months, when peak energy usage increases 50% from current usage. Games that were cancelled due to the quake have been rescheduled to October, therefore the start of the Climax Series will be pushed accordingly to the end of October. The Nippon Series is expected to be played around November 12.

There are still a lot of unknowns surrounding how baseball will proceed this year, but hopefully it will allow people to forget about their troubles, if only for a short while, and that games will be able to be used as a vehicle for further charity and awareness activities for those in need. We here at Tsubamegun intend to keep on plugging along and bring you the best Swallows coverage starting with our season opener against the Giants later on tonight.

What are your “wishful thinking” points for this year?

While that admittedly means we are still minuscule potatoes, it also means traffic is growing at a nice clip.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, thanks even more to those of you who have offered us words of encouragement, and thanks most of all to those of you who have commented here and linked to us and helped us get a little community started here.  We hope you’ll continue to find the Tsubamegun an interesting place to hang around.

As always, we’re very interested in hearing any and all readers’ thoughts on the site, especially criticisms and suggestions on what we can do better.  (We don’t mind praise, either, though.)  Feel free to comment here and let us know what you think, even if you don’t have much to say about the Swallows at the moment.  (We know how you feel – sometimes there just are no words.)