Yokohama BayStars 13

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: LLWLL

(Jingu Stadium)

Wow. That was embarrassing.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Aikawa (C)
8. Kawashima (SS)
9. Takaichi (P)

A lot of things went wrong tonight. The first bad decision was made by whoever thought that Takaichi was ready to start a game on the first team. He wasn’t exactly effective when he was up on the first team earlier this year, hence his three month visit to the farm team for “readjustment”, and in 12 appearances in the minors his ERA is over four and a half. By my calculations, that works out to somewhere between a 6-7.00 ERA in the pros.

And to make room for him, Nakao was dropped. The poor kid was called up so that he could get precisely two at-bats in two very critical late-game situations, which it’s probably safe to say he wasn’t prepared for, and then sees his shot go up in smoke after only a week on the top team. Today’s game would have been the perfect opportunity for him to get some game time in. In short, what was the point of bringing him up to begin with?

Another thing that hurt was the fact that D’Antona’s injury is serious enough that he has been dropped as well (which essentially means that he’s on the DL). Could this mean that Barrett will get another shot at the top team?

Anyways, let me briefly describe the damage visited on us by the hot-hitting BayStars.

I think it’s easiest to sum up if we look at the pitchers that made appearances today:

Inning(s) – Pitcher – (ERA) – earned runs

1.1                Takaichi (9.64) 4
1.2 – 5          Hagiwara (4.71) 3
6                   Lee (4.13) 3
7                   Oshimoto (3.00)
8 – 9             Kamada (5.14) 3

[Note: 1.1 equals 1 and 1/3 innings]

There. I think that pretty well sums it up.

The BayStars pounded out 21 hits and looked like a club with a lot of depth today. Even guys with sub-.200 averages were hitting home runs (i.e. Yamazaki and his three run dinger in the ninth), and Yokohama’s starter, Miura, had himself a nice little RBI single in the second.

The Tokyo bats, on the other hand, were kept very, very quiet by Miura despite the two fielding errors committed by Yokohama.

In fact, the only time Tokyo was able to score in this contest was on plays connected to fielding errors. It was pretty weak all around.

Kawashima had a great day at the plate, going 3-4, and Aoki also contributed a pair of singles, but no other starter was able to get a clean hit off of Miura.

All in all, Tokyo was absolutely destroyed by the BayStars, and they lost yet another series against the sixth-place team.

Takada continues to treat these games as though they’re “friendlies” or something and he loves to try out players whom he has recently promoted. The major problem here, of course, is that we have not been able to beat the BayStars this season, so it doesn’t really matter what place in the standings they occupy. Wouldn’t it have been better to bring Takaichi in as a middle reliever after Muranaka started throwing meatballs?

The Swallows better figure something out quickly because they are now off to Nagoya to take on the in-form Dragons this weekend.

The way Tokyo is playing right now, this could definitely be ugly.

Yokohama BayStars 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: LLLWL

(Jingu Stadium)

Much like last week’s series, the birds opened this one with a win last night. Would they be able to make it two in a row?

Just to make things interesting, Ichiba was in for his second start since reappearing in the first team clubhouse last week.

The lineup featured the usual suspects. Aoki seems to be back in center field for good while also staying in the number three spot quite regularly.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Aikawa (C)
8. Kawashima (SS)
9. Ichiba (P)

Ichiba started well, actually, and he got through the first three innings without giving up a hit (although he walked two.)

The only thing of consequence to occur early on was D’Antona getting injured. He left the game after lunging to reach a throw to first and appeared to pull a muscle in his leg. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.

The Baystars finally got to Ichiba in the fourth care of some good base-running and hitting. 2-0 Yokohama.

Kawashima came up with an RBI groundout in the fifth to get the score to 2-1, but the BayStars added another run in the top of the sixth when Ishikawa notched his second rbi of the evening. 3-1 BayStars. Hagiwara got the earned run on that one.

The birds pulled level in the seventh when Guiel’s leadoff single was followed by a Miyamoto home run (his fifth of the season.) 3-3.

The rally was cut short after Aikawa drew a walk (which only happens once in a very long while these days), and Kawashima bunted to move him over. As we’ve seen a lot lately, no runs scored after that.

Both teams got out of jail free a couple of time between the eighth and the 11th, but no more runs scored. Many, many more pitchers came to the mound for both teams.

Here’s who pitched for the Swallows:

Inning(s) – Pitcher – (ERA) – earned runs

1-5           Ichiba (7.01) 2
6               Hagiwara (4.41) 1
7               Lee (3.13)
8               Igarashi (2.70)
9               Lim (0.40)
10            Matsuoka (2.86)
11             Oshimoto (3.09)
12             Kamada (1.80) 1

Kamada, fresh off of his call-up to the first team yesterday, had the pleasure of facing Uchikawa in that fateful 12th. With two outs, Uchikawa launched one over the wall in left to put the BayStars up 4-3.

And unlike yesterday, the birds weren’t able to make a comeback. With one out and first and second occupied by Tanaka and Fukuchi, Aoki wasn’t able to replicate last night’s heroics and hit into a game-ending double play.

Tokyo’s offensive player of the game was definitely Miyamoto who went 3-5 with two RBIs and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

Tanaka, Aoki, Noguchi, and Guiel had two hits each as well.

But Tokyo hit into three double plays tonight, and that never helps. All three of them were inning-enders for the birds, so that definitely hurt.

Kamada took the loss in his first appearance back on the first team.

Game three of this series is tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

See you tomorrow night for Muranaka’s (?) next attempt to stay in a game longer than five innings.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Yokohama BayStars 4

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: WLWLL

(Hiratsuka Stadium)

Today was another Muranaka start (with Yoneno behind the plate). It seems like we use the Baystars series as a chance to give people game time.

And to Muranaka’s (6.20) credit, he only gave up one run in his five innings of work today. It took him 109 pitches to get through five innings, but it wasn’t all bad. In fact, if you saw the jam he worked himself into in the fourth–bases loaded and no outs–you’d be just as pleasantly surprised as I am that he only gave up the one run (sacrifice foul ball to left).

Muranaka was actually pitching no-hitter up until the fourth. Notice that I didn’t say “perfect” in the preceding sentence. He walked two in the first and one in the second but got out of both innings unscathed.

The fourth inning was when Ishikawa’s deep fly ball to the corner in left brought Murata home from third. 1-0 Yokohama.

The Swallows would pull even in the sixth after the smoke from the fireworks finally cleared out a little bit (maybe shoot those things off from a little farther away next year…?). An on-fire Aoki led off with a triple for his third hit of the game (cf. yesterday’s game), and then a Tanaka sac fly to right brought him home to tie things up at 1-1.

One of the highlights of the game was watching Yokohama starter, Glynn, get all riled up about a couple of pitches that were not called correctly from his vantage point. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a pitcher swear at a home plate umpire like that (not in the guy’s face, but using lots of colorful language from the mound). Back home he might have gotten himself tossed, and it took two mound visits by the infielders (the second chaperoned by the pitching coach) to calm him down. He made it out of the inning, but he definitely was a bit beside himself there for a while. D’Antona (who I think actually stole second during the tail end of the hissy fit–or maybe it was a balk?) and Guiel did pretty good Tokyoite impressions and pretended not to notice.

Glynn was all smiles though when Oshimoto’s (1-3, 3.00) first pitch, a colossal meatball mistake, went nowhere near where Yoneno wanted it but right exactly where Murata likes it. 2-1 Yokohama.

Oshimoto earned himself the loss on that pitch.

Then Matsuoka (2.98) came in to make his 37th appearance of the season. His 37th appearance already! How tired is that guy?! Two runs later the Swallows were down 4-1.

The eighth inning was interesting. After Katoh walked the first two guys he faced, putting Aoki and Tanaka on base, he finally got an out when he struck out Fukuchi (four K’s in a single game. Yikes!). At which point the alarmingly intense Kizuka from two nights ago was brought on to pitch. He was gone after only three pitches because D’Antona hit him for an rbi single. 4-2 Baystars.

On comes Kudoh in a wheelchair. He gets Guiel to ground out, but Tanaka scores to make it 4-3.

Off comes Kudoh. And I actually think that he was almost as surprised as I was. The man is normally so good at hiding his confusion/befudlement…

Sanada comes on to face Miyamoto and gets him to ground out to first to end the inning. Four pitchers, two earned runs, still ahead by a run. That inning took forever.

Lee (3.48) pitched a scoreless eighth before Yamaguchi came in to finish things up for Yokohama. He got the save by retiring all three hitters he faced, two of them by strikeout.

So the Swallows lost another series to the Baystars. We seem to be treating these games like exhibition contests. Only the Baystars players seem to really be into it.

Aoki went 3-3 with a walk and D’Antona had a 3-4 night while adding an rbi. He swings at a lot of outside sliders that are about four inches too far away for him to reach, but I’m beginning to think that he does that on purpose so that the pitcher throws more of them.

Quick observation: the umpire in tonights game kept allowing himself to be obstructed by the position of the catcher. For example, if the catcher shifted outside at the last second, the umpire would often find himself pushed in right behind the batters elbow. I don’t think the catchers in tonights games were experienced enough to utilize that to their advantage like Furuta would have back in his day, but there were several pitches when I thought that the umpire’s view of the pitch was almost as bad as mine.

Glynn (5.31) had one of his better outings of the season, despite the crankiness, to pick up his third win against ten losses. He recorded eight strikeouts while walking none. The one earned run was the only thing that hurt his stats as he gave up seven hits in seven innings.

Yokohama BayStars 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: LWWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

The day after Tokyo had won 4-2 against Yokohama for only their second victory of the year against the CL’s 6th placed team, the BayStars turned the tables for their seventh win of 2009 against the 2nd placed Swallows.

Yoshinori started for Yakult coming off two quality starts against the Giants and the Tigers, and he did well enough tonight but just didn’t get the run support he needed. Yoshinori pitched seven innings of three-run baseball, giving up eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks. He was tagged with the loss to put his record at 5 and 5 with an ERA of 5.61. Today’s lineup saw Miyamoto and Aikawa return after being given a night off yesterday.

Yokohama starter Mastny held the Swallows to just one run over his five innings, but he really should have been punished more as Tokyo wasted a couple of big chances.

The BayStars took the lead in the 3rd, Uchikawa with the timely single to bring home Fujita for 1-0 Yokohama.

Yakult then wasted a chance to get back in it in the 4th. Singles from Tanaka and Fukuchi put men on first and second. D’Antona then struck out for out number one before Guiel was plunked to load the bases. Unfortunately Miyamoto struck out and then Aikawa could only hit a flyball to centre and the inning was over.

The BayStars then punished that wastefulness in the top of the 5th. One-out singles from Fujita and Uchikawa were followed up by a timely Murata single to make it 2-0 and put men on the corners. Johnson hit a grounder to second but the Swallows couldn’t quite turn the double play and another run was in to put the score at 3-0 Yokohama.

Consectutive two-out singles from Aoki, Tanaka and Fukuchi made it 3-1 in the bottom of the 5th. D’Antona then flew out with men on the corners to end the inning as another chance went begging.

And that would be pretty much that aside from two solo-homers. Lee Hye-Cheon (3.21) gave up the first in the 8th to Johnson and it was 4-1 before D’Antona hit his 14th longball of the year to make it 4-2 in the bottom of the same inning.

Oshimoto (3.29) worked a hitless top of the 9th and then Yokohama closer Yamaguchi took the mound. Yamaguchi gave up a leadoff walk to Miyamoto in the bottom of the 9th but he got the job done, 4-2 Yokohama.

The game was a close one with Yokohama edging the hit-count 10 to 9. They’d take their chances, and Tokyo hadn’t, simple as that really.

The two teams will return to Jingu tomorrow afternoon with Ishikawa due to take the mound looking to get his season back on track after a string of less than stellar starts.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Yokohama BayStars 9

Streak: Lost 3  Last 5: LWLLL

(Kofu)

This is becoming somewhat of a bad joke. Yakult twice held a lead, but both today’s starter and bullpen were found rather lacking as they let the BayStars get back in the game way too easily, to allow them their sixth victory in seven meetings this season.

This is simply not acceptable. The BayStars are a 22-44 team. They. Are. Shite.

Ryo Kawashima faced off against Les Walrond, and both starters pretty much stunk up the stadium as neither made it past the 3rd inning, meaning both teams had to go deep into their bullpens. And as it turned out, Yokohama’s relief fared a touch better than Tokyo’s.

Today’s lineup saw Fukuchi batting leadoff and playing leftfield, with second baseman Noguchi batting second in place of Tanaka.

Yokohama took the lead in the top of the 1st, a Fujita single was followed up by timely doubles from Uchikawa and Saeki to make it 2-0 Yokohama.

But the lead wouldn’t last long as Walrond’s frailties were exposed in the top of the 2nd. Solo homers from Guiel (his 12th of the year, a monster shot out of the stadium to right), and Aikawa (no.5 for the year) tied things up at 2-2.

Ryo couldn’t keep Tokyo level though, as he gave up the lead again in the bottom of the 2nd. He walked pitcher Walrond who was then brought home on a Fujita triple for 3-2 Yokohama.

The Swallows would come back and pull ahead in the top of the 3rd. Two no-out hits for Fukuchi and Noguchi were followed by a walk for Aoki to load the bases for D’Antona. The American then hit one through the gap to left to make it 4-3 Tokyo and put runners on the corners for Guiel. He hit a liner to first that Saeki turned into an unassisted double play, before Miyamoto fouled out to first to strand the final runner at third.

But again Ryo was found wanting in the bottom of the inning, as he gave up the tying run after a dead ball and two singles to make it 4-4, before being replaced by Hagiwara (3.316) who got the final out of the inning. Ryo gave up four runs off seven hits in his 2 and 2/3 innings as he never had command of his control. His ERA is now at 3.927.

After a scoreless 5th, Tokyo took the lead for the second time in the top of the 6th. A single for Fukuchi, a walk for Aoki, a double steal and a D’Antona sacfly put the birds ahead 5-4 but that would be the last run they would score.

In the bottom of the 5th Lee Hye-Cheon (3.375) replaced Hagiwara after he had given up a lead-off double to Murata. Saeki then hit to put men on second and third with no outs. But Lee dug in and got two groundouts and a flyout to get out of the inning with the lead intact. If only the relief that followed could have been as gutsy.

Masao Kida then gave up two runs in the 6th via a dead ball and Fujita homer, and one in the 7th via a Saeki solo shot and the BayStars had themselves a 7-4 Yokohama lead.

Oshimoto (3.329) then gave up two more off four hits in the 8th and it was 9-5 Yokohama.

The BayStars used a total of eight pitchers themselves, but the last six of them gave up no runs and just two hits between them as they shackled the Swallows bats through the second half of the game. 9-5 Yokohama Final.

Kida took the loss, his fourth of the year as his ERA rose to 5.635.

The Tokyo bullpen with a lead in the last third of a game is almost unbeatable. The Matsuoka=>Igarashi=>Lim trio is as good as it gets in the NPB. This season, in games in which all three of them were involved Tokyo have a 15 and 0 record. In games in which two of them featured, the team are 10 and 1. Impressive stuff indeed.

Unfortunately, our bullpen in other situations, i.e. today’s, leaves a fair bit to be desired. The way we’ve been playing this season has meant we haven’t seen the “bad” side of the bullpen all that often, but today it was there for all to see.

Aoki was 0 for 2 with three walks.

Tokyo now get a day off before heading to Koshien on Friday for the first of three games with the Tigers. After these two scrappy performances (I’m being kind there) against the BayStars, they need to improve drastically and win the series against the struggling Tigers to get things back on track. Somehow, knowing the Swallows as I do, I feel it won’t be that easy at Koshien despite the Tigers struggles. The “Swallows of 2009 so far” will bounce back in good style, as they have done after every wobble this season. The Swallows of old however are liable to get swept and allow Hanshin to get some valuable wins and confidence back at their expense. So this upcoming series will be a benchmark on just how good this year’s team really is.

The series has got to be better than today and yesterday’s games, though. Has to be. They are seven hours of my life I will never get back.