October 8th, 2009 Hanshin Tigers 0 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Streak: Won 3      Last 5:  WLWWW (Jingu Stadium) The birds rode a complete game shutout by starter Tateyama to their third win in a row and reclaimed third place in the Central League in the process.

September 30th, 2009 Hanshin Tigers 7 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Streak: Lost 2     Last 5:  WWWLL (Jingu Stadium) The birds outhit the Tigers 12-10 but still got annihilated. Yuki pitched six rather solid innings but got roughed up a little in the seventh. Takada factored a bit in this one as well.

September 29th, 2009 Hanshin Tigers 8 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 1     Last 5:  WWWWL (Jingu Stadium) Well, no blisters were involved, but that still sucked.

August 8th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Yomiuri Giants 2   Streak: Lost 4   Last 5: WLLLL (Tokyo Dome) After yesterday’s high-scoring affair, this game started out a bit more slowly.

August 2nd, 2009 Chunichi Dragons 6 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5 Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LLWWL (Jingu Stadium) A win was definitely within reach tonight, but a combination of too much bunting and a couple more unfortunate calls by the umpiring staff put the kaibosh on this extra-innings game.

We just put up two new status reports at Trans-Pacific Radio where we’ve published other podcasts related to professional baseball in Japan. The review of how things went in April in the Central League can be listened to here (the audio player is located near the bottom of the post. And you can click here [...]

May 2nd, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 9 Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LWWWL (Mazda Stadium) Tokyo’s first visit to the new Mazda “Zoom Zoom” Stadium was a losing one as they got a bit of a thumping at the hands of the Carp. Yakult’s starter was Ichiba, and thought he did [...]

Offensive league leaders after games played on May 1, 2009. Home Runs Central League Pacific League Player # Kanemoto (Hanshin) 8 Wada (Chunichi) 8 Ogasawara (Yomiuri) 6 D’Antona (Tokyo) 5 Guiel (Tokyo) 5 Morino (Chunichi) 5 Fujii (Chunichi) 4 Kawashima (Tokyo) 4 Arai (Hanshin) 4 Blanco (Chunichi) 4 Lee (Yomiuri) 4 Player # Rhodes (Orix) [...]

April 28th, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4 Chunichi Dragons 2 Streak: Won 1    Last 5: LLLLW (Toyohashi Municipal Stadium) An 8th inning D’Antona two-run home run was the difference between the teams as Tokyo edged past Chunichi to snap their losing streak at five. And thank fook for that. Ryo Kawashima started for Yakult and had [...]

April 22nd, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Yomiuri Giants 3 Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: WWWLL (Saga Prefectural Stadium) Tokyo got the lead early and fought hard to hold on to it, but ultimately failed as an 8th inning Giants rally handed Yakult their second straight loss. The starting matchup saw Tateyama face off [...]