An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Happy White Day. Tokyo Swallows The inimitable Gen Sueyoshi has published his additions/subtractions post for the 2012 Tokyo Swallows. On a scale of -10 to +10, how do you feel the team compares to its 2011 rendition? Chang-yong Lim may start the 2012 regular season on the farm team due to soreness in his throwing [...]
The IBAF decided yesterday that the World Baseball Classic (WBC), which was won by the Japanese national team both times it was held, will be the organization’s main event. The third WBC tournament is scheduled for early 2013, and the Japanese Players Association has yet to sign off on whether or not it will agree [...]
The 2009 WBC final will be between Japan and Korea after Japan rolled over a lackluster USA team in the second semi-final at Dodger Stadium. A five run 4th inning did the bulk of the damage for the Japanese, damage from which the USA never recovered despite a late attempt at a comeback. Daisuke Matsuzaka [...]
A day after being brushed aside so easily by Korea, Japan had to pick themselves up to face the Cubans for the second time in four days. This time however, there were no second chances, the loser would be heading home. Japan rode to victory three days earlier on the back of six innings of five hit [...]
This one did not start well for Yu Darvish and team Japan. Darvish threw far more balls than strikes in the first inning of this game. His first three pitches were balls above the strike zone, and his first two pitches to Korea’s second, third and fourth batters were outside the zone. Behind in the [...]
Well what a difference a day makes. Korea, wounded by their trouncing at the hands of Japan on Saturday evening, took out their frustrations on China on Sunday. They eliminated the Chinese from the competition with a 14-0 demolition, called after 7 due to the mercy rule. The Koreans were aided by some appalling fielding [...]
Well, where do I start? Let’s start with the afternoon game, which saw China shock Taipei 4-1 to send Terry Collins’ Chinese team through to Sunday’s game to face the loser of the big one, Japan vs Korea. Taipei were never really in the game and have looked listless during their two outings, scoring just [...]
March 5th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 2 Streak: Won 1 Last 4: WWLW (Sapporo Dome) Three Tokyo players had two-hit games, and the pitching staff only gave up a pair of runs in Tokyo’s second half of a two-day stay up in Hokkaido. Impressively, more than 10,000 people turned out for the [...]
