Tokyo Swallows 7

Yokohama BayStars  0

Streak: Won 2    Last 5: WWLWW

(Yokohama Stadium)

The last time the birds played the stars, they lost two on the trot. That ugly set of events transpired  April 10th, 11th, and 12th, and it was the first time this season that  any club dropped two in a row to the team from Yokohama. Hanshin has since repeated Tokyo’s performance at Yokohama Stadium, and the Swallows traveled a bit south of the Yamanote Line today hoping not to relive that embarrassment.

The Baystars are coming off a week in which they dropped four straight–overall they’ve lost five in a row following their glorious back-to-back wins over the Tigers. Also, they didn’t score more than three runs in any of those five games, and they were blanked in two of their last three games at Nagoya Dome.

In case you missed it, this week’s Snapshot has a complete summary of what’s been going on recently in the Central League.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tokyo	0	1	0	3	1	0	0	2	0	7	15	1
Yokohama	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
W: Ishikawa (2-3, 3.43 ERA) L: Yamamoto (1-3, 4.64 ERA)

Tokyo, on the other hand, are coming off of a week in which run production was less of a concern than it had been during the first weeks of April. The birds plated at least four runs in four of their last six games and are 10-3-1 since last meeting the Baystars.

Tokyo	Order	Yokohama
Tanaka (2B)	1	Ikki (RF)
Ueda (CF)	2	Morimoto (CF)
Milledge (LF)	3	Nakamura (3B)
Balentien (RF)	4	Ramirez (LF)
Kawabata (SS)	5	Yoshimura (1B)
Miyamoto (3B)	6	Watanabe (SS)
Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Yamazaki (2B)
Nakamura (C)	8	Tsuruoka (C)
Ishikawa (P)	9	Yamamoto (P)

Also in Tokyo’s favor was the fact that Yokohama finished the month of April with a team batting average of .192–worst in Japan by quite some margin.

On to the game report.

After Yamamoto pitched a perfect first, Balentien opened the scoring for Tokyo with a home run on a full count pitch that eventually landed in the bleachers in left. It was his seventh of the season.

1-0 Tokyo.

Kawabata hit a double down the line in right immediately after that, but nothing came of it when he was caught in a rundown between second and third on Miyamoto’s come-backer to the mound.

The Swallows threatened again in the top of the third thanks to Tanaka drawing a walk, getting bunted over to second, and advanced to third on Milledge’s grounder to short.

Balentien came out swinging and managed to drill the first pitch he saw right at Shiroishi in the third base coach’s box. It appeared to get him in the leg, but Shiroishi bounced back up. Balentien worked a walk after getting behind early 0-2.

With runners on the corners and two outs, Kawabata got tricked on an inside pitch and struck out swinging as he half hopped out of the way.

So the highlight of that inning was Shiroishi getting cracked in the leg.

In the top of the fouth, Miyamoto and Hatakeyama opened with back-to-back singles to left to make things interesting, but then Ogawa had another brain fart and asked Nakamura to bunt with the pitcher waiting in the on deck circle. To make matters worse, Nakamura’s bunt didn’t wander far enough from home plate, so Tsuruoka was able to pick it up and gun Miyamoto down at third.

Ishikawa was asked to bunt as well, and while he was successful at moving the runners over, a second red lamp was illuminated on the board.

After a 3-hit night, Miyamoto is just one hit shy of 2,000.

But everything turned out OK as Tanaka was there to save the day. He did well to protect the  plate and stay alive at 2-2, and he eventually pounced on a fastball, sending it over the head of former Swallow, Alex Ramirez, to clear the bases and leave Beavis standing safely on second.

3-0 Tokyo.

And just for good measure, Ueda followed with a stand-up triple for Tokyo’s fourth run.

4-0 Tokyo.

One more would have scored on Milledge’s hit to left center, but unfortunately he was robbed by Morimoto with a nice sliding catch the like’s of which once broke Hideki Matsui’s wrist back when he played for the Yankees.

The scoring resumed in the top of the fifth when Balentien blasted home run number eight into the very top of the bleachers in left center just a few feet shy of the picnic area at the top.

5-0 Tokyo.

And before the travelling Swallows fan could even pick up their plastic bangers after putting down their mini umbrellas, Miyamoto and Hatakeyama had once again strung together back-to-back hits which left runners on the corners for Nakamura. No more runs scored, but Miyamoto’s second hit of the game means that he’s only two away from induction into the Meikyukai.

The big question now becomes whether he’ll reach the milestone in Yokohama or when the team returns too Jingu this weekend.

There has been talk of keeping him out of the lineup if he looks likely to reach 2,000 hits away from Jingu. Normally I’m against putting individual accolades ahead of the everyday business of winning baseball games, but we’re currently dicking on Yokohama, so I’m willing to listen to other opinions today.

Kobayashi replaced Yamamoto on the mound for Yokohama in the sixth, and Tanaka quickly welcomed him to the game by slapping a single into left.

Nothing else of consequence happened during the inning, but the Swallows continue to look pretty confident at the plate.

The big question going forward is whether or not Ishikawa can keep the ball in the park. He nearly gave up a huge home run to Yoshimura earlier (drifted foul) on a ball left up in the zone.

But since I’m typing this as I watch the game, I must admit that Ishikawa made the bottom of the sixth look pretty easy. It only took six pitches.

Miyamoto was at the plate for his scheduled at-bat in the top of the seventh with Fujie now pitching for the Baystars. He once again grounded past the diving Watanabe at short (Nakamura’s defensive range is just slightly wider than the circumference of his generous gut), leaving him just one hit shy of 2,000 career hits.

This also marked his second three-hit game of the 2012 season.

Our Nakamura also singled, but with two outs on the board and Ishikawa at the plate, there wasn’t much else that we could ask for.

The first time that Yokohama got two runners on base was in the bottom of the seventh when Nakamura (Yokohama’s pudgy third baseman, not our fantastically talented catcher) singled for his second hit of the game, and then Ishikawa beaned Watanabe to put runners on first and second.

But Ishikawa worked his way out of trouble as he always does and joined his teammates on the bench having thrown 113 pitches through seven shutout innings.

Shinohara took the mound for Yokohama in the top of the eighth and gave up a one out single to Ueda, his second hit of the evening. Milledge flew out in foul territory over by the wall behind first base, but Balentien decided to leave a parting shot. 1-2 fastball, BANG. Round-tripper number three of the game for Coco.

7-0 Swallows.

Shinohara retaliated by pegging Kawabata in the ribs (he tried to hit him on the first pitch, but it wasn’t far enough inside). The second pitch got him. But that didn’t dampen the party for the contingent of Swallows fans in the left field stands.

Yamaguchi took the mound for the Baystars in the top of the ninth, and allowed Hatakeyama’s third hit of the game, a single to right.

Is it just me, or is Hatakeyama hitting almost exclusively to the opposite field so far this season? Two of his three hits tonight were to right field. Can someone check on that and get back to me?

Anyway, no runs scored in the top of the ninth, and Ishikawa again took the mound in the bottom of the ninth to try and go for a complete game shutout.

Moirioka and Noguchi came in as defensive replacements at third and first, respectively.

Unfortunately, Yokohama’s Nakamura was the first man up, and he smacked his second double of the game off the wall in right. Of Yokohama’s five hits tonight, Nakamura had three of them.

Two outs later, Watanabe drew a rare Ishikawa walk (ie. sorry for hitting you in your last at-bat), but it wasn’t enough as Yamazaki popped up harmlessly to Noguchi at first to end the game.

It was Ishikawa’s first complete game shutout since September 28th of 2010. That game also took place at Yokohama Stadium.

Pitching:
Ishikawa threw a gargantuan 145 pitches today while going the full nine innings in his strongest showing since opening day against Yomiuri.

He gave up five hits, struck out five, gave Watanabe two free trips to first (HBP and BB) while shutting out Yokohama. His record improved to 2-3 and his ERA dropped significantly from 4.45 to 3.43.

Hitting:
OK, Balentien was the obvious standout here, but there are several players worthy of praise here. After all, the birds banged out a season high 15 hits today.

Balentien – three home runs (7th, 8th, and 9th of the season), four RBI, one walk. Crazy.

Hatakeyama – three hits, four total bases.

Miyamoto – three hits, just one more until he makes it into the Meikyukai.

Tanaka – two hits from five plate appearances today, one walk, two RBI. Plus a nice catch in shallow right field early in the game.

Ueda – also 2-5 with a run-scoring triple.

Notes:

In 12 games at Yokohama Stadium last year, Balentien hit .372 (16-43 at the plate) with seven homers and 16 RBI. Judging by today’s game, it’s perhaps fair to think that last year’s numbers were not an anomaly.

Interestingly, as soon as the game was over, Balentien grabbed all of his gear in the dugout and hurried out of sight so as not to be called back onto the field to crowd Ishikawa’s hero interview. Respect.

If the next two games go ahead as planned, and Miyamoto starts both of them, he will likely reach 2,000 hits in Yokohama. Not that that’s a bad thing.

Yokohama is apparently on pace to lose 100 games this year.

Chunichi beat Hanshin 1-0 tonight, so the birds and blue dragons are still tied at the top, eight games above five hundred.

Tomorrow’s game, if it doesn’t get rained out, will feature Yokohama’s Brandon (0-3, 3.98 ERA) versus Tokyo’s Muranaka (3-0, 2.18 ERA).

Tokyo tied the season series with the Baystars 2-2 with tonight’s win. Game five of the series is tomorrow night in Yokohama, and if it doesn’t rain too hard then the game will start at 6 PM.

Hiroshima Carp  1

Tokyo Swallows  10

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: WWLLW

(Matsuyama)

The birds’ first game of the year against the fish was a home-away-from-home game in Matsuyama, a fortunate choice of location given the constant rain that cancelled every other game in the Kanto region.

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

Your Tokyo Swallows were relentless today. With Muranaka holding the Carp to just one hit through four innings, Tokyo plated six runs (four earned) at Hiroshima starter Bullington’s expense. It was nice to see Tokyo start to find their way a bit at the plate, too, if I do say so myself. Especially after not being able to score against the Baystars over the previous game and a half.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	8	3
Tokyo	1	1	1	3	3	1	0	0	X	10	12	0
W: Muranaka (1-0, 2.25 ERA) L: Bullington (1-2, 4.50 ERA)

In the bottom of the first inning, Milledge’s grounder forced Tanaka out at second for out number two, but he would soon team up with Hiroshima’s young third baseman, Dohbayashi, to help put the Swallows on the board. With Hatakeyama falling behind quickly at the plate, Milledge swiped second on a 0-2 fastball that missed wide. He took off on the next pitch as well which Hatakeyama grounded toward third. With Milledge already directly behind him as Dohbayashi moved in to execute an easy 5-3 third out, the youngster somehow let the ball squirt past him, and Milledge was quick to pick himself off the ground and sprint home.

1-0 Swallows.

Muranaka then got out of the second despite surrendering a walk and a single, and the Swallows added another run thanks to three

Coco feasts on a hanging slider.

straight two-out singles and a Tanaka walk with the bases juiced.

2-0 Swallows.

Muranaka retired the side in the top of  the third inning, and then the bats put another run on the board. Dohbayashi again chipped in with an error, this time on his throw to first, with Hatakeyama being the recipient of another free base. Hatake moved over on Kawabata’s fielder’s choice to second. And the big man was able to scurry over to third when Miyamoto hit another grounder to second. He came home on Balentien’s first-pitch rip to the base of the wall in right (RBI double).

3-0 Swallows.

Tokyo decided to start scoring in threes after that. Muranaka led off the bottom of the fourth with his second single of the game, and he moved over to second on Ueda’s surprise first pitch bunt which would have allowed him to reach first safely if he’d pushed it a bit further down the third base line. Tanaka’s single to center put runners on the corners.

Hat tip to Tanaka for his heads-up base-running on the next hit of the game. Milledge lofted the second pitch he saw (0-1 heater) off the top of the wall in left field. Muranaka tagged up on third, but Tanaka took off as soon as he saw the ball leave Milledge’s bat. Both runners scored, and Milledge ended up on second. He later scored on Kawabata’s bloop single to shallow center. And that was the end of Bullington’s evening.

6-0 Tokyo.

Hiroshima recorded a couple of one out singles in the top of the fifth, but it was just a minor delay before Tokyo started scoring more runs.

Balentien led off the Swallows’ fifth with a full count walk, and then motored hard to third when Nakamura punched a 2-2 fastball down the line into left. With runners on second and third, Muranaka grounded out to second, but then Ueda doubled against a drawn in outfield which allowed Balentien and Nakamura to score.

After Tanaka’s full count walk, Milledge hit a come-backer at the pitcher which looked like a double-play ball, but Soyogi wasn’t able to reel it in at second. As soon as the Ueda saw the ball hit the dirt, Ueda took off for home, and craftily slid around the catcher to help throw another three up on the scoreboard.

9-0 Tokyo.

Tokyo scored one final run in the sixth thanks to a Miyamoto single and a Nakamura sac fly to left. Miyamoto was able to take second on a wild pitch, and then advanced to third on a Balentien fly ball to right. Nakamura punted an inside fastball to the foot of the warning track, and Miyamoto was able to trot home safely.

10-0 Yogurt Penguins.

Muranaka did start to leave his pitches up a little bit after that, and he was perhaps lucky to get through the next two innings without surrendering more than the one earned run. Five of the eight hits that he allowed came in the seventh and eighth innings. The one run he gave up was in the seventh, and Hirai got mop-up duty in the ninth. But he did earn a well-deserved first win of the season, and his two hits were icing on the cake of a solid early-season performance.

10-1 Final.

There’s no doubt that Hiroshima’s defensive blunders helped Tokyo today–Tokyo scored following all three of them. But several birds deserve credit for their production at the plate as well.

Milledge's hustle in the field and on the basepaths is paying dividends.

Offense

Ueda, Tanaka, Nakamura, and Muranaka each recorded a pair of hits today. This is certainly a sigh of relief for the bench since we haven’t gotten much out of that part of the lineup thus far in the season.

Tanaka had a solid game at the plate and did wonder for his OBP in the process. In addition to his two singles, he drew three walks, the first of which forced in Tokyo’s run in the second. In other words, 2-2 at the plate in five appearances.

The only starter not to hit safely today was Hatakeyama. His line is now .200/.280/.267.

Pitching

Muranaka got the win tonight after eight innings of eight hit, one run baseball. He threw 116 pitches in his third start of the season and struck out five while walking two. His ERA of 2.25 is currently third best on the team (starting rotation) behind Tateyama (2.08) and Akagawa (2.19).

Hirai pitched the ninth and was solid aside for allowing a walk. His ERA through four appearances remains at 0.00.

Defense

We already know that Milledge has an arm in left, but Ueda also showed that he’s no downgrade from Aoki in that department. He would have thrown Hirose out at third on a fly to center if his throw had been closer to third in the top of the seventh.

Yamada showed good range on defense in the top of the ninth (defensive substitute for Kawabata). He moved well to his left to track down a grounder up the middle and added a backhand toss to Tanaka to seal the force out at second. Both he and Morioka (in for Miyamoto) finished the game with Hirai on the mound.

Tomorrow

With today’s win, the Swallows climbed into a three-way tie with Chunichi and Hiroshima for second place in the Central League. Hopefully it’s more of the same tomorrow for the Swallows in Matsuyama. The game starts at 2PM, and Akagawa will be taking the mound for Tokyo against Hiroshima’s Nomura.

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

Guiel has re-signed with Kansas City and is looking to become a coach in the Royals minor league system.

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. Tetsuto Yamada was three for four at the plate including a solo homer in the ninth. Milledge came up with Tokyo’s first RBI. Masubuchi started and didn’t allow any runs during his four innings of work.
• Tokyo’s farm team lost to Chiba’s farm team 1-4 on Friday February 24th. Fernandes started for Tokyo and gave up two runs over three innings of work.
• Tokyo beat Hanshin 3-2 in an exhibition game on Saturday February 25th. Roman pitched the third through sixth innings and gave up one earned run from five hits. He ended up getting the win thanks partly to leadoff hitter, Ueda’s, two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

And in former Tokyo Swallows

• As mentioned earlier, Aoki now has a tougher climb to an everyday starting position in Milwaukee’s outfield. In a hearing that we never should have known about, 2011 MVP Ryan Braun argued successfully that his urine sample was tainted by improper handling. We still need to wait roughly a month to hear what the arbitrator’s report has to say, but apparently Braun’s lawyers were able to demonstrate how the improper handling of Braun’s sample can scientifically lead to an elevated testosterone reading. In other words, it wasn’t a technicality. Read this article for a good summary of all that’s been written over the past several days. Anyway, Aoki’s unveiling at spring camp in Maryvale has been completely consumed by what is probably the biggest story of the MLB off-season.
• Aaron Guiel signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals. He’s technically a player, but the team is looking to try and phase him into their system as a coach.

Miyamoto won the vote for who Tsubamegun want to see playing third.

We posted a poll on the 25th asking you some general questions about the state of affairs with the team. Aoki’s gone, and there are some question marks hanging over the team as spring camp gets under way down in Urasoe, Okinawa.

We here at Tsubamegun tend to see these question marks as opportunities, and the majority of respondents to the poll seemed to agree with us. Not a single voter had the team finishing the 2012 season any lower than fourth place in the Central League.

There were 25 complete responses to the poll, and for your perusal we have laid out the numbers in an easily digestible format.

1. Do you approve of Tokyo’s decision to post Aoki at the end of 2011?

Response	Votes	%
Yes	15	60%
No	6	24%
Undecided	4	16%

2. Who do you want to get the most starts at third base for the Tokyo Swallows this season?

Response	Votes	%
Shinya Miyamoto	13	52%
Tetsuto Yamada	3	12%
Shingo Kawabata	3	12%
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	2	8%
Ryosuke Morioka	1	4%
Takahiro Araki	0	0%
Other	0	0%
Undecided	3	12%

3. Who do you want to get the most starts at center for the Tokyo Swallows this season?

Response	Votes	%
Tsuyoshi Ueda	14	56%
Yasushi Iihara	3	12%
Kazuki Fukuchi	1	4%
Yuichi Matsumoto	1	4%
Other	1	4%
Undecided	5	20%

4. With the players currently under contract, do you believe that Tokyo can make up for the loss of Aoki’s defense and his 2011 slash line of .292/.358/.360?

Response	Votes	%
Yes	9	36%
No	14	56%
Undecided	2	8%

5. Do you think that the front office made enough moves during the off-season to bolster the starting rotation and bullpen?

Response	Votes	%
Yes	7	28%
No	13	52%
Undecided	5	20%

6. What place to you think the Tokyo Swallows will finish the 2012 regular season in?

Response	Votes	%
Central League Champions	7	28%
2nd place	6	24%
3rd place	6	24%
4th place	6	24%
5th place	0	0%
6th place	0	0%

Interesting responses although not entirely unexpected. Even though it’s an exceedingly small sample size, feel free to offer your interpretations in the comments section below.

Ueda had another great year at ni-gun.

Before spending a good deal of time on the top team toward the end of the 2011 season, Tsuyoshi Ueda had himself a very strong season on the farm team. Number 50, who turned 23 in October and grew up in Okayama Prefecture, stole 55 bases this year to easily win the Eastern League crown.

He also hit .281/.373/.355 in 349 official at-bats while collecting 98 hits and 37 RBI.

In addition to winning the stolen bases crown, Tokyo’s utility outfielder was selected as one of the two best players in the minors this season. The award in question is the “Doryokushou” which can loosely be compared to a MVP award for players that weren’t good enough (or liked enough) to break into the top team for any extended period of time.

The other recipient of the Doryokushou was Hanshin’s RHP, Kai-wen Chen. Hanshin plays in the Western League in the minors.

For the record, Ueda was able to steal a few bases during his limited time playing on the top team. He only featured in 12 games, but he stole six bases and hit .267/.333/.300 in his 30 at-bats.

Ueda told reporters at the awards ceremony today in Tokyo that he worked hard on his lower body during the off-season and that made a big difference in terms of his explosiveness this season. Ueda figures to be a front-runner for the opening-day job in center if Aoki is posted successfully to MLB during the off-season.

For complete details on the farm team awards handed out today, check this post over at Yakyu Baka.

We need to officially change the name of this column, since it’s not Monday and I don’t want to be limited by the title. It’s something we’ll have to work on in the offseason. In the meantime, I’ll be giving you some news updates and roster analysis to mull over before the start of the Climax Series next Saturday.

Senryokugai Players: Earlier this month the Swallows announced that 8 players will be cut by the team at the end of the season. The players are LHP Masaru Sato, RHP Shun Takaichi, RHP Hiromitsu Takagi, RHP Masahiro Yoshikawa, LHP Naoya Okamoto, C Atsushi Kinugawa, INF Ryo Yoshimoto, and OF Toshihiro Nakao. Of the listed players, Kinugawa will be given a front office position with the team, and many of the other players were undecided as to what they wanted to do in the future. No major surprises here, and we wish all these players the best in their future endeavors.

Potential Roster Moves: The Swallows have been going crazy with roster moves since the last Monday Review, and we won’t be going over them all. Instead, we’ll be examining where certain players are now and how our post-season roster is shaping up. As of today the Swallows only have 23 players out of a possible 28 on their active roster. Any player removed from the active roster on or before the 19th would be eligible to return in time for Game 1 of the Climax series on the 29th. Among the players not on the active roster who may get recalled in the playoffs are Ishikawa, Kawabata, Whitesell, Kyuko, Barnette, Muranaka, Yoshinori, Shichijo, and Iihara. I’ll give a quick update on the status of each player.

• Ishikawa was removed from the active roster on the 19th, and he should be expected to return on the 29th. Many outlets are now reporting that Ishikawa will be the Swallows’ game 1 starter, and that he may throw in a Phoenix League (fall league) game as warm up. The chances of Ishikawa NOT getting recalled seems slim to none at this point.
• Kawabata was removed from active roster at the same time as Ishikawa. Apparently he had been feeling pain in his left wrist since a game against Hiroshima in September, and was taken off the active roster for that reason. The pains may have been what contributed to his 5-for-45 batting in October. He’s said he’ll be aiming to return in time for the CS, but the status of his health is concerning.
• Whitesell was taken off the roster with right flank pains on the 9th. But there have been no other reports as to his status since. Obviously having Whitesell’s bat on the bench would be a big help to a team struggling to get its offense going.
• Kyuko returned to the team on the 11th, but had a couple of rocky outings (2.1 IP, 5 ER, in 3 appearances) and was taken of the active roster on the 20th. No word as to whether Kyuko is injured and whether he can be expected back for the playoffs. Since Kyuko was taken off the active roster on the 20th, he would only be eligible to return for Game 2 of the first round.
• Barnette’s case is even more mysterious than Kyuko’s case. Barnette was recalled to the active roster at the same time as Kyuko but was taken off the roster 3 days later without ever getting into a game. Barnette has not pitched in a first team game since September 3, and hasn’t pitched in ni-gun games as far as I can see. No details have been released as to Barnette’s condition. Like Kyuko, we’d love to have a prime Barnette back for the playoffs, but it would be a concern if he takes the mound for the first time in the CS.
• Muranaka was taken off the active roster on the 15th after pitching ineffectively on the 14th. Muranaka is healthy as far as we know, so I’d expect him back on the roster for the playoffs.
• The current word on Yoshinori is that he could potentially return if the team makes it to the Nippon Series, but not any sooner.
• Shichijo was demoted from the team after a series of rough outings in late September, but would be available to the team unless he has a hidden injury. He was not on the initial Phoenix League roster so he may be rusty if he were to join the team.
• Finally Iihara would be available to the team if he is needed.

As you can see from the above list our team has been suffering through injury and our roster is somewhat in flux and other players have not been able to fill in the gap. As reported earlier by Chris, Keizo Kawashima will not be able available to the team as he underwent ligament surgery (possibly Tommy John surgery?) on his right elbow and will be out for a whole year.

Left Field: One of the first topics I ever handled on the Monday Review was our left field situation. At the time, the solution was putting Hatake in left, and that worked for a while. However, the big man’s defensive inability in left combined with some cooling off by Whitesell led to a re-opening of the hole in left. The team has tried Iihara, Ueda, and Fukuchi over the last month. While all of them are more than adequate replacements in left field they haven’t been able to make up for the offense lost by having Whitesell come off the bench. It seems the team has settled on Ueda for the stretch run.

Have we settled on a left fielder for the playoffs?

2011 Draft: The 2011 Draft will occur on the 27th. I will be posting a draft preview sometime next week. Let me know if there are any players you’d like me to cover.

Retirement Game: Our last game is on Tuesday, and as predicted in the last Monday Review, the final game will be a retirement game. Hirotoshi Ishii will be given an opportunity to pitch in one last pro game prior to his retirement. There were no comments in regards to Hamanaka and Guiel, but it seems those players will not be coming into the game.

I Want Love: As mentioned by Chris and Dave in their last podcast, I”m in need to love and feedback for this column. Let me know if you like this column and if there’s anything I can do to make it better.

The Swallows were facing Lions’ starter Hsu, and all the scoring in the first 5 innings came by way of the solo homer. Kataoka led off the top of the 1st with a solo shot for 1-0 Saitama before the red-hot Aikawa evened things up in the 2nd (no.3 for the year) for 1-1. And the scores remained tied until the 5th when firstbaseman Hirao joined in the party with a homer of his own to put Seibu ahead 2-1.

The wheels started to fall off for Ishikawa in the 6th, as he gave up a double followed by two singles which put the scores at 3-1. That was it for Masanori as he was replaced by Ryo Kawashima from the bullpen, with men on first and second and no outs on the board. He got Takayama to hit into a double play which left a runner on third, a runner who eventually made it home from a GG Sato single which made it 4-1 Saitama.

Tokyo pulled two back in the 7th, with an Aikawa walk, a Miyamoto single being followed up by a sac bunt from Fujimoto, which set the table for pinch hitter Ueda who hit a two-run double to make it 4-3.

Only a single and a Hosokawa homerun off Oshimoto in the 8th put the lead back at three as the Lions made it 6-3.

The Swallows stranded two in the 8th before a late rally in the 9th. A two-run homer from Aaron Guiel (no.15 for 2010) pulled them back into touching distance of the Lions, but they would come up just short as the game ended 6-5 Saitama Final.

Ishikawa took his first loss since May 4th (since when he’s had a ND, ND, Win) to put his record at 1-7/4.29.

So then, that long overdue series win will have to wait, but the way the Swallows fought right to the last this afternoon perhaps wouldn’t have happened last month. Things are certainly moving in the right direction, and given the kind of season that it’s been so far, that’s a very good thing.

They’ll be facing the Chiba Lotte Marines at Jingu for two games starting tomorrow afternoon.

May 1st, 2010

Yokohama BayStars 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LLLLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Bizarre game. Just plain weird.

This was one of those games where Takada made a whole bunch of stupid decisions but things kept working in the team’s favor and he ended up looking like he knew what he was doing.

1. Ueda 3B
2. Morioka 2B
3. Aoki CF
4. Guiel RF
5. Iihara LF
6. Takeuchi 1B
7. Fujimoto SS
8. Aikawa C
9. Nakazawa P

Wallowing in a five game losing streak, Takada made his first interesting move of the day by not starting Tanaka or Miyamoto. Maybe they needed the day off, but unless there was a health concern involved, it’s pretty hard to justify keeping Tanaka out of the lineup. He’s the second most productive and consistent bat on the team after Aoki, so he’s one of the last people that should be benched when the team is trying to climb out of a rut.

Anyway, the Stars went up by a run in the top of the first care of a Murata single that plated Ishikawa from second. 1-0 visitors.

But Ueda, Miyamoto’s replacement, vindicated Takada by slapping the first pitch he saw into right field. Morioka, Tanaka’s replacement, followed by faithfully and effectively Tak-bunting Ueda into scoring position.

The value of the bunt was then mostly negated when Aoki took a low pitch in the leg, and Guiel moved the runners over to second and third with a ground ball to first, and Iihara made Takada look good by doubling and bringing both runners home in the process. 2-1 Tokyo.

The silly moves continued in the bottom of the second with the birds still up by a run when Aikawa Tak-bunted Fujimoto over to second after the latter had drawn a walk. Some might argue that that’s not the wisest move considering that Nakazawa, our pitcher, was waiting in the on-deck circle.

But Takada was gifted yet another ‘get out of jail free’ card when Nakazawa, who is admittedly not too shabby swinging a club, controlled the strike zone beautifully and drew a walk. But no runs scored of course.

Tokyo added three runs in the third with a little help from the Yokohama defense. Aoki reached first on a fielding error by the pitcher, and both he and Takeuchi were sent home on Fujimoto’s double to the corner in right. Shiroishi (our illustrious third base coach) probably shouldn’t have sent Takeuchi home as the ball arrived at the plate well before Takeuchi did. In fact, Takeuchi was so surprised at how easily he was about to be thrown out that he stopped running halfway between third and home.

And then the catcher forgot to catch the ball. Takeuchi safe at home despite looking like a total ass for a second there. Fujimoto later scored on Aikawa’s double to left. 5-1 Tokyo.

One more Tak-bunt was employed in the fourth even though the team was up by four runs at that point. Ueda again led off with a single, and Morioka dutifully moved him over to second. Aoki followed that with a single before Iihara took yet another HBP to load the bases with two outs.

But then Takada did another silly thing. He replaced the red-hot Takeuchi with the decidedly yawn-worthy Kinugawa to deal with the lefty (Takamiya) on the mound. Perhaps Takeuchi was being punished for not charging hard for home in the last inning, but whatever the reason, Kinugawa flied out to right to strand all three runners.

There was a little bit of excitement in the bottom of the fifth when the birds again threatened to score. Yet another fielding error allowed Fujimoto to reach first, and he was allegedly thrown out at home when he tried to score on Aikawa’s double. Fujimoto disagreed with the call and bounced up off the ground to shove the ump. In the neck. Hard. He got tossed, Takada came out to do his stoic little angry grandpa deal, and Yokohama ultimately escaped from the inning without giving up any more runs.

Nakazawa gave up one more run in the top of the seventh, and D’Antona had his first hit in quite a while pinch-hitting for the pitcher with two outs in the bottom of that frame. 5-2 Tokyo.

And things got really interesting in the top of the ninth with Lim on the mound in his first save situation in what must have felt like months. He walked the first batter he faced before getting the first out on a pop fly to a hard-charging Guiel in right. He then beaned Ishikawa to bring up the always dangerous Uchikawa who had already hit a pair of doubles earlier in the game. He connected again, this time for a single, to load the bases with one out.

Lim got the second out when he struck Murata out swinging, but then Sledge won a very hard-fought duel by drawing a walk and bouncing in a run. 5-3 Tokyo.

And at that point Takada had Matsuoka (he’s been crap recently) start warming up in the bullpen. Great idea, coach.

Anyway, Lim eventually prevailed when he struck out Castillo to end the game and prevent about 100 severe heart attacks in the right field bleachers.

The win is the first for Tokyo since April 23rd (against the BayStars) when Nakazawa last pitched. Nakazawa (3-0, 1.61) gave up two earned runs off of nine hits while striking out three and walking none. Oshimoto (1-1, 0.79) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Lim (1.13) earned his sixth save of the year.

Aikawa stepped out of character on offense and had a 2-3 day with two doubles and a single RBI.

In the end, this wasn’t a pretty win, but we’ll take it.

Takada Count: 3

Random notes:

Nakazawa gave up five doubles in his seven innings on the mound.

There were nine doubles in this game–Tokyo had four.

Iihara leads the league in HBP with 7.

Nakazawa leads the team with three wins.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2010/05/01/5110-yokohama-home/feed/ 6 http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/08/27/tokyo-roster-update-82709/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tokyo-roster-update-82709 http://tokyoswallows.com/2009/08/27/tokyo-roster-update-82709/#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:18:55 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=4671 This post contains player movements from two separate days.

A couple of days ago, Shinya Miyamoto (no. 6), Tokyo’s veteran infielder, was brought back up to the first team after some rehabilitation of his left leg.

Miyamoto played an important role in Tuesday’s series-opening win against the Hiroshima Carp, and his return to the team is a key component of the team’s stability.

Making space on the top team was outfielder Tsuyoshi Ueda (no. 50) who was just added to the top team this past weekend.

Also reappearing on the top team was starting pitcher Ryo Kawashima (no. 17) who was sent down last month as a penalty for his enduring mediocrity.

The readjustment time on the farm team didn’t help very much–Ryo got destroyed in last night’s game. Come to think of it, his numbers on the farm team weren’t exactly indicative of success. In five appearances since his demotion on July 18th, he went 0-3 with a 4.09 ERA.

Departing for the minors was infielder Yusuke Kajimoto (no. 39) who went 1-6 in his six games with the top club.

Here’s what the first team roster looks like as of yesterday’s game:

Pitchers: Yoshinori, Lim, Tateyama, Ishikawa, Matsuoka, Yuuki, Ryo Kawashima, Kida, Matsui, Takagi, Lee, Igarashi, Oshimoto

Catchers: Aikawa, Yoneno, Kawamoto

Infielders: Keizo Kawashima, Miyamoto, Yoshimoto, Tanaka, Hatakeyama, Noguchi

Outfielders: Fukuchi, Guiel, Takeuchi, Iihara, Aoki, Shida