Kawakami back with the Dragons this year

Chunichi Dragons

• Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances.
• It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively.
• Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this season. He has experience playing all over the field, so he should give the Dragons several options in terms of where they can put him.
• The team lured the team’s former starter, Kenshin Kawakami, back from MLB. The last time he played in a Dragons uniform was the 2008 season when he recorded a 9-5 record and a 2.30 ERA. He moved to the Atlanta Braves as a free agent after that. Kawakami pitched well in 2009, but is now regarded as a bust in MLB. He spent most of last season at AA and ended the season with an ERA well above eight. Six million dollars for a crappy year at double A? Yikes.

Yomiuri Giants

• First year players Scott Mathieson (P) and John Bowker (OF) were unveiled to the media on Friday.

Hanshin Tigers

• Much like Tokyo, Hanshin has yet to figure out who will be manning center field this season. A number of names have been floated, including Ryo Asai, Shunsuke, Wei-Chu Lin and rookie Hayata Ito.
• Matt Murton’s wife has still not given birth to the couple’s third child, so there’s a very good chance that he will miss the beginning of spring camp.
• It looks like pitcher Yasutomo Kubo will re-sign with the team some time this week, but infielder Keiichi Hirano is still holding out.

Hiroshima Carp

• Brand new Carp pitcher, Cam Mickolio, and right-handed bat, Nick Stavinoha, were formally introduced to the media on Friday.

Yokohama Baystars

• The new Baystar uniforms are apparently due to be unveiled this weekend. Alex Ramirez may be one of the guys modeling the new kit.

Pacific League Notes

• Kiko Arai, daughter of Orix Buffaloes farm team manager, Hiromasa Arai, is highly attractive. Exhibit A, she was recently crowned Miss Japan.
• Hokkaido received the posting bid money (more than US$50 million for Yu Darvish) from the Rangers. Unfortunately for Hokkaido, however, investors are still guaranteeing the relative strength of the yen over the dollar and euro, so the amount received was basically the equivalent of a couple thousand dollars at today’s exchange rate.

Fukuoka win the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

The following are the results of the 2011 Japan Series. Pacific League champion, Fukuoka, host Central League pennant winner, Chunichi, for the first two games of a best-of-seven series. Games three through five are to be played at Nagoya Dome, and the final two games, if necessary, will be played once again at Yahoo Dome.

This is a rematch of the 1999 Japan Series, back when the Hawks were known as Fukuoka Daiei. Back then, current Fukuoka manager, Akiyama, was the team’s captain, Johjima was behind the plate, and current Tohoku manager, Hoshino, was at the helm for Chunichi. Hoshino’s opposite number in the Fukuoka dugout was none other than the venerable Sadaharu Oh.

Fukuoka won the championship that year.

Game 1 
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 12, 2011 at 1PM

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	4	1
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
W: Asao L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi - Chen Fukuoka - Wada				HR: Wada (Chunichi) solo in 7th off Wada. Koike (Chunichi) solo in 10th off Mahara.

	Chunichi		Softbank
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa DH
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo 1B
6	Tanishige C	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Koike LF	8	Fukuda LF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Chen P		Wada P

Chunichi lead series 1-0.

Game 2
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 13, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	7	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	0
W: Hirai L: Mahara S: Iwase			Starters: Chunichi -Yoshimi Fukuoka - Sugiuchi

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Matsuda 3B
5	Wada DH	5	Kokubo DH
6	Koike LF	6	Hasegawa CF
7	Hirata RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Fukuda 1B
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yoshimi P		Sugiuchi P

Chunichi lead series 2-0.

Game 3
Nagoya Dome
Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 6:00 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	4	12	1
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	4	1
W: Settsu L: Nelson S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Settsu Chunichi - Nelson				HR: Tamura (Fukuoka) 2-run off Nelson in 4th Hosokawa (Fukuoka) solo off Suzuki in 8th

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Tanishige C
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata RF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Ohshima CF
9	Settsu P	9	Nelson P

Chunichi lead series 2-1.

Game 4
Nagoya Dome
Wednesday November 16, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
W: Houlton L: Kawai S: Falkenborg			Starters: Fukuoka - Houlton Chunichi - Kawai

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Hasegawa CF	6	Nomoto RF
7	Tamura RF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Houlton P	9	Kawai P

Series tied 2-2.

Game 5
Nagoya Dome
Thursday  November 17th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Fukuoka	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	5	10	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
W: Yamada L: Chen			Starters: Fukuoka - Yamada Chunichi - Chen

	Fukuoka		Chunichi
1	Kawasaki SS	1	Araki SS
2	Honda 2B	2	Ibata 2B
3	Uchikawa LF	3	Morino 3B
4	Kokubo 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Matsuda 3B	5	Wada LF
6	Tamura RF	6	Koike RF
7	Hasegawa CF	7	Hirata CF
8	Hosokawa C	8	Tanishige C
9	Yamada P	9	Chen P

Fukuoka leads series 3-2.

Game 6
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Saturday November 19th, 2011 at 6:15 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Fukuoka	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
W: Yoshimi L: Wada S: Asao			Starters: Chunichi - Yoshimi Fukuoka - Wada

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Hosokawa C
	Yoshimi P		Wada P

Series tied 3-3.

Game 7
Yahoo Dome (Fukuoka)
Sunday November 20th, 2011 at 6:30 PM

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Fukuoka	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	X	3	8	0
W: Sugiuchi L: Yamai S: Settsu			Starters: Chunichi - Yamai (RHP) Fukuoka - Sugiuchi (LHP)

	Chunichi		Fukuoka
1	Araki SS	1	Kawasaki SS
2	Ibata 2B	2	Honda 2B
3	Morino 3B	3	Uchikawa LF
4	Blanco 1B	4	Kokubo 1B
5	Wada DH	5	Matsunaka DH
6	Hirata LF	6	Matsuda 3B
7	Fujii RF	7	Tamura RF
8	Tanishige C	8	Hasegawa CF
9	Ohshima CF	9	Yamazaki C
	Yamai P		Sugiuchi P

	Play-by-Play	Score (CD-FH)
Chunichi 1st	Sugiuchi pitching. 1. Araki ground out (GO) to 3rd. 1 out. 2. Ibata K's looking. 2 outs. 3. Morino GO to pitcher.	0-0
Fukuoka 1st	Yamai pitching. 1. Kawasaki GO to second (1-1 count). 1 out. 2. Honda single to center (1-0 fastball). 3. Uchikawa up with Honda taking a big lead. Honda caught trying to steal second (he was safe, actually). Uchikawa K's looking.	0-0
Chunichi 2nd	4. Blanco sticks around with a full count for a few pitches. Sugiuchi flipping back and forth between heaters and sliders. Blanco watches ball four. 5. Wada, responsible for both of Chunichi's runs last night, pops a 2-2 fastball up to 2nd. 1 out. 6. Hirata up with man on 1st. K's swinging at 2-2 changeup. 2 outs. 7. Fujii up. 1-0 fly out (FO) to center.	0-0
Fukuoka 2nd	4. Kokubo GO to 1st. 1 out. 5. Matsunaka GO to short. 2 outs. Yamai looks sharp. Sharper than Sugiuchi at this point. 6. Matsuda K's looking on the third pitch of his at-bat.	0-0
Chunichi 3rd	8. Tanishige, hitless so far in postseason play, comes to the plate against Sugiuchi. K's swinging at the third pitch he sees. 9. Ohshima 1-2 infield fly to short. 2 outs. Sugiuchi's control looking better now. 1. Araki foul fly near 1st base.	0-0
Fukuoka 3rd	7. Tamura lucky bloop hit over Blanco's head. Araki chases it down. 8. Hasegawa rips a double to center that Ohshima should have caught. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. 9. Yamazaki quickly gets the count to 3-0. Draws a four pitch walk with the help of a couple squeeze bunt feints. Bases juiced. Yamai yanked. Kobayashi takes the mound. 1. Kawasaki up. Bases loaded. No outs. Full count. Kawasaki draws a walk! Tamura scores from 3rd. 2. Honda 1-2 foul fly to the catcher. 1 out. Kobayashi yanked. Nelson in to pitch. 3. Uchikawa almost has his head taken off by an errant 1-2 pitch. 2-2 pitch is weakly popped up to right. Hasegawa holds at 3rd. 2 outs. 4. Pops the first pitch he sees up to center.	0-1
Chunichi 4th	2. Ibata easy GO to short. 1 out. 3. Morino K's swinging. 2 outs. 4. Blanco grounds first pitch to left for Chunichi's first hit. 5. Wada FO to right.	0-1
Fukuoka 4th	Nelson, Chunichi's third pitcher, is still on the mound. 5. Matsunaka fouls what would've been an extra-base hit off the wall in right. He then draws a walk. 6. Matsuda successfully sac bunts Matsunaka over to second. 1 out. 7. Tamura 2-2 pitch FO to center. Matsunaka stays on 2nd. 8. Nelson intentionally walks Hasegawa. 2 outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 9. Yamazaki up. Quickly behind 0-2. 2-2 pitch sliced to shallow right. Matsunaka just gets past the tag. If the throw had been on line, then he would've been out. 1. Kawasaki, with runners on corners and 2 outs, lines out to left.	0-2
Chunichi 5th	Sugiuchi pitching. 6. Hirata full count. Infield single to pitcher. 7. Fujii watches as Hirata gets his signs mixed up and is thrown out in a rundown between 1st and 2nd. 1 out. Full count. GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 8. Tanishige K's with a feeble swing.	0-2
Fukuoka 5th	Nelson still pitching. 2. Honda K's on 3 pitches. 3. Uchikawa GO to pitcher. 2 outs. 4. Kokubo swings a golf club and misses again. K.	0-2
Chunichi 6th	Sugiuchi's 6th inning. 9. Ohshima K's swinging at a slider. 1 out. That was Sugiuchi's 6th K tonite. 1. Araki FO on 2-2 pitch to left. 2 outs. 2. Ibata, picking his eternal wedgie the whole time, comes to the plate. 2-2 broken bat GO to 3rd.	0-2
Fukuoka 6th	Nelson's 4th inning. 5. Matsunaka K's looking. The ump is calling a very wide zone tonite. TBS keeps showing us replays of the pitches with the camera directly behind the pitcher. Wow. 6. Matsuda infield single to short. Beats the throw after a fantastic grab by Araki. 7. Tamura, batting .360 so far in this series, is 1-2 tonite. Matsuda steals 2nd safely on 1st pitch. Tamura accidentally moves the runner over on a check-swing tap to 1st. 2 outs. 8. Hasegawa up with runner on 3rd. 0-1 pitch FO to 3rd.	0-2
Chunichi 7th	Sugiuchi pitching. 3. Morino 1st pitch hard grounder back to the pitcher. 1 out. 4. Blanco guessing wrong on sliders, but bounces one past the second baseman for his second base hit of the night. 2nd baseman should've had it, but it was to his backhand side. 5. Wada K's swinging. 2 outs. 6. Hirata watches the count go to 3-0, swings way too early at a third consecutive changeup, then draws a fourth ball. Runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. 7. Fujii watching Sugiuchi continue his onslaught of changeups. Fujii falls behind 0-2, then pulls back to 2-2. K's on yet another changeup.	0-2
Fukuoka 7th	Asao on the mound. How many innings is he going to pitch? 9. Cabrera (PH for Yamazaki) K's swinging at three straight pitches. Asao owned him there. Embarrassing. 1. Kawasaki draws a nine pitch walk. 2. Honda 'safety' bunt attempt is met with a good fielding play by Asao. 2 outs. Kawasaki safe on 2nd. 3. Uchikawa single scores Kawasaki from 2nd. Uchikawa reaches 2nd on the play. 4. Kokubo GO to 3rd.	0-3
Chunichi 8th	Falkenborg pitching. 8. Tanishige, still without a hit in 42 post-season at-bats, K's swinging yet again. 9. Nomoto (PH for Ohshima) K's swinging on 3 pitches. 2 outs. 1. Araki K's swinging as well. Dominating performance by Falkenborg. Chunichi in all sorts of trouble.	0-3
Fukuoka 8th	Iwase takes Asao's place ono the mound for Chunichi. 5. Matsunaka works the count full. K's swinging at a high slider. 6. Matsuda GO to 3rd. 2 outs. 7. Tamura bounces a single up the middle into center field. 8. Hasegawa manages to lift the 2-2 pitch over Araki's head for a single. Runners on 1st and 2nd. 2 outs. 9. Hosokawa fouls off the first two pitches he sees. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh pitches as well. He finally K's looking at the 8th offering from Iwase. Last three outs for Chunichi.	0-3
Chunichi 9th	Falkenborg takes the mound again. 2. Ibata, 2 for 24 so far in this series, falls behind quickly 0-2. But then Ibata does the improbable and lines the ball of Falkenborg's throwing arm (elbow?). He reaches 1st safely, and Falkenborg, in obvious pain, is out of the game. Ibata on 1st. No outs. Morifuku takes the mound. He looks a little nervous. 3. Morino falls behind 0-2. GO to short, but Morino beats the DP throw. 1 out. 4. Blanco FO to right. 2 outs. Fukuoka switching pitcher to Settsu to try and get the final out. 5. Wada takes a strike down the middle. Strike two on the outside corner of the plate. But then Wada works a full count. However, Wada went down swinging at a fastball down the middle.	0-3
Fukuoka 9th	Let the celebrations begin!	0-3 FINAL

Fukuoka wins the 2011 Japan Series 4-3.

Pre-game. I feel the same as I did on Monday. Nervous and expectant. This walk up
Dragons Road isn’t helping.

Tonight our season will end or we will set up one of the most exciting
games in Swallows living memory tomorrow.

I’ve turned up to the stadium a lot earlier tonight. Fans steadily
streaming in. Some Jingu regulars and a few friends I have made over the
last five days coming to say hi. Not much chat. Too many nerves.

Pitchers just been announced. Big cheer for Tateyama but surprise from fans
around me that Yoshimi is pitching.

First three. The body is in the stadium. The mind is in a La La Land where we’ve already
won 20-0 and the Softbank have already conceded the Japan Series because it
is a long way to fly from Fukuoka to Tokyo to be humilitated by us… and
it’s only the bottom of the second…

My regular crowd are not here. Just me representing, so no one understands
my abuse of ‘Ero Oyaji Morino’ or ‘Hage Hage Hage Wadaaaaaa’.

After 5 days here I’m really getting very sick of the Chunichi chants. They
sound like a Walrus having a W@nk. If it is even possible I think they are
even more annoying than the Yomiurine.

Tats keeping it together here bottom of the second… and not responding to
my calls for a home run at the top of the third. Still, doing his primary
job at the bottom of the third.

Middle three. Top of the forth bazooka time. Tsubakuro shooting some T-shirts toward the
away fans. Third T-shirt goes high and drops straight into a fishing net
which has gone up high over the crowd held by a Chunichi fans wearing an
Ochiai shirt. Immediate boos from everyone around me.

Look at that blubber fly as Fatake manages to make it to first… but not
to second.

Half way through the game after 69 minutes. Tats still looking strong.

We managed to get a guy to third. Fukuchi not delivering.

Oh $hit

Last three? I don’t even know what to say. We’ve got six outs to score three runs. I
hope it happens. If it doesn’t, I think this will be the last thing I write
for this travelogue.

That’s all she wrote. What can be said? What’s done is done. Much love to all loyal Swallows
fans. Thanks to the Tsubamegun crew representing with their reports 24-7,
369 and their friendship. Big shout to MooreyTokyo – great to see you
today. Until next year… Power of Unity.

Tokyo Swallows 0

Chunichi Dragons 3

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: LWLWL

(Nagoya Dome)

This was the first game of that oh-so-critical four-game away series that we’ve been looking forward to since early last month.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
Chunichi	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	5	0
W: Yamai (3-2) L: Ishikawa (9-9) S: Asao (7-2 9S)

And as you can see, it didn’t start well. Chunichi was able to capitalize when they got runners on base, which didn’t happen often, and Tokyo simply wasn’t able to do the same.

	Tokyo		Chunichi
1	Aoki CF	1	Araki SS
2	Ueda LF	2	Ibata 2B
3	Kawabata SS	3	Morino 3B
4	Hatakeyama 1B	4	Blanco 1B
5	Balentien LF	5	Wada LF
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Tanishige C
7	Tanaka 2B	7	Hirata RF
8	Aikawa C	8	Ohshima CF
9	Ishikawa P	9	Yamai P

With Ishikawa on the mound looking for his 10th win of the season, he got into a little bit of trouble with two outs in the second. Tanishige hit a single to right, and then Hirata, who is only hitting .111 against Ishikawa this season, got his bat extended and popped one over the wall in center. 2-0 Chunichi.

Tokyo showed a little life in the top of the fourth with both Hatakeyama and Balentien getting two-out singles. This put runners  on the corners for Miyamoto, but he flew out to center to end the inning.

Ishikawa allowed a third run in the bottom of the fifth. After expending eight pitches to get two groundouts, Chunichi starter, Yamai, roped the second pitch he saw down the line into left field. That allowed him a stand-up double, and Araki moved him over to third with a single to center two pitches later. Ibata then doubled to score Yamai from third to add the game’s final run. 3-0 Final.

Tokyo again threatened in the top of the seventh as Miyamoto’s one-out infield single was followed by a Tanaka hit that put runners on first and second. Aikawa then succumbed to a heavy diet of forkballs, before Miyamoto was waved home on a grounder that reached Wada in shallow left field. The throw home was right on the money, and Miyamoto was out by a mile.

The Swallows also gave Asao a little bit of trouble in the top of the ninth, but the baby-faced phenom eventually prevailed giving Chunichi an extra-game advantage in the CL standings in the process.

Game two is tomorrow night at 6PM.

Notes:

Balentien showed good patience during his first two at-bats. He had a walk and a single to show for it.

Tokyo outhit Chunichi 9-5.

Hatakeyama and Miyamoto had two hits apiece.

Tokyo did not manage any extra-base hits in this game.

Of Chunichi’s five hits, three were for extra bases (HR, double, double).

This just about sums it up.

Tokyo Swallows 4

Yokohama BayStars 3

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: WWLLW

(Yokohama Stadium)

After watching its young pitchers get knocked about the park for the past two days, Tokyo looked to salvage a bit of pride against the recently very feisty BayStars.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	4	12	1
Yokohama	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	10	0
W: Hidaka (2-0) L: Takasaki (5-14) S: Lim (30)

	Tokyo		Yokohama
1	Aoki CF	1	Shimozono LF
2	Fukuchi LF	2	Watanabe SS
3	Kawabata SS	3	Tsutsugoh 1B
4	Hatakeyama 1B	4	Murata 3B
5	Balentien RF	5	Naito RF
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Matsumoto CF
7	Tanaka 2B	7	Fujita 2B
8	Aikawa C	8	Hosoyamada C
9	Yamamoto P	9	Takasaki P

Tokyo opened the scoring on a solo Hatakeyama effort into the very top of the bleachers in left in the top of the fourth. His 23rd homer of the year made it 1-0 Tokyo.

But Yokohama answered in the bottom of the inning in the form of a Murata bomb into the visitor’s section. 1-1.

Straight pudding.

Then it was Tokyo’s turn. Aikawa’s second single in as many at-bats was followed by a Yamamoto sac bunt and an Aoki RBI double to put the Swallows back in front. 2-1 Tokyo.

But the home side replied once again. Watanabe’s two out infield single was later rewarded with an Aikawa throwing error when Watanabe was in the process of swiping second. Tsutsugoh then lofted one high off the wall in left for a double and the satisfaction of again leveling the score. 2-2.

Tokyo up again in the top of the sixth. After two outs from Hatakeyama and Balentien, Miyamoto, Tanaka and Aikawa showered left field with a double, a single and another double to plate two more runs and put the Swallows back in the lead. 4-2 Tokyo.

Yokohama didn’t answer for a while, but things got hairy in the bottom of the ninth with Lim on the mound trying to protecting the two run lead. After getting the first out on a pop fly to short, pinch-hitter, Aranami, fouled off most of what he saw and finally poked a grounder through the gap between short and third.

That was promptly followed by a soft Ide grounder to short that was a little too slow to be picked up and turned into an out. Shimozono then hit a fielder’s choice to short that very nearly became a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, but the throw to first didn’t make it in time, and the result was runners on the corners with two outs. Very unlucky for Lim, and bad news for Tokyo.

Watanabe then came to the plate representing the winning run. The 3-1 pitch is when he finally came through for the home team with a tricky one-hopper to Kawabata’s left. He got a glove on it, but couldn’t keep it in front of him, and Aranami scored from third. 3-2 Tokyo.

Runners on first and second, and Tsutsugoh at the plate. Tsutsugoh, who had already doubled twice off the wall in left, took a heavy swipe at the first high fastball he saw, and he  swung again at the next heater which was low and away. Both were fouled off behind him to temporarily put Lim in the driver’s seat.

But it wasn’t until Tsutsugoh had worked the count to 2-2 that Lim finally got a batter to swing at something in the dirt. This time it was a forkball, and the win was preserved. 3-2 Final.

Yamamoto (1-6; 3.96 ERA) didn’t figure in the final scoreline after throwing 90 pitches through four and two-thirds innings. He gave up two earned runs off of five hits and mixed in two strikeouts, four walks and a single wild pitch.

Instead, Hidaka got the win for his third of an inning and six pitches of work. It was his second win of the season, and his ERA budged slightly to 7.04.

Oshimoto (2.83 ERA) just barely held things together in the sixth before pitching a much more confident seventh, and Matsuoka (2.56) came through with a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.

Lim recorded his 30th save of the 2011 season, and the one earned run pushed his ERA up to 2.25 through 59 appearances.

Tanaka, who was batting seventh for the first time in a long time, was selected as the hero of the game for his three hits and one RBI (the go-ahead run in the sixth). Aikawa had a similar day at the plate going 3-4 with an RBI of his own. Aoki and Kawabata also had multi-hit games with the former adding an RBI in the top of the fifth.

Tokyo have the day off tomorrow and will take on the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien from Tuesday to Thursday. They’ll be back at Jingu on Friday through Sunday for a three game series against the fifth place Hiroshima Carp.

Notes:

Thankfully the Swallows didn’t face pitching of the caliber that they saw on Friday. Yokohama’s Miura was his old self during that game. In this afternoon’s game, however, Tokyo faced friendlier pitching and outhit Yokohama 12-10.

Hatakeyama leads the league in RBIs (82) and walks (69).

Lim has reached the 30 save mark for the third time since joining Tokyo for the 2008 season.

Tanaka can be a good hitter when he doesn't have to bunt all the time.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/02/10211-yokohama-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/05/08/5811-hiroshima-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5811-hiroshima-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/05/08/5811-hiroshima-home/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 11:49:21 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=8902 May 8th, 2011

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Tied 1      Last 5: WWLLD

(Matsuyama Stadium)

Hiroshima

Maeda took a sharp grounder off the shin but was still annoyingly good afterwards.

1. Soyogi SS
2. Higashide 2B
3. Hirose RF
4. Tracey 3B
5. Kurihara 1B
6. Iwamoto LF
7. Maru CF
8. Ishihara C
9. Maeda P

Tokyo

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Whitesell 1B
4. Hatakeyama LF
5. Balentien RF
6. Miyamoto 3B
7. Aikawa C
8. Kawabata SS
9. Masubuchi P

Hiroshima got on the board first in this contest with the help of a well-placed Ishihara infield single that wreaked havoc on the right side of Tokyo’s defense. Ishihara was called safe at first, and that gave Iwamoto more than enough time to find his way home. 1-0 Hiroshima.

Masubuchi then had one of his wonderfully-times lapses where  he forgets how to throw strikes. Embarrassingly, Hiroshima’s pitcher was able to take advantage of this at the plate and work a full-count walk that loaded the bases with two outs.

Even more embarrassingly, Soyogi worked another full-count walk to bring home the second run of the evening. For the record, Masubuchi was nowhere near the strike zone on either of the 3-2 pitches just mentioned. 2-0 Hiroshima.

Hiroshima added another run in the top of the third. Back-to-back singles by Hirose and Tracey made things tight for Masubuchi before he recorded the first out which came a batter later when Kurihara flied out to left.

And Masubuchi got a cheap second out on  an infield fly that Miyamoto caught about three paces from home plate. But Maru came through with this second hit of the game, a single to right. That was enough to score Hirose from second. 3-0 Hiroshima.

Hiroshima fans  had a little bit of a scare when Kawabata lined a pitch off of Maeda’s right leg for a base hit. Maeda was in pain and left the field for a couple of minutes to get checked out. He eventually resumed his position on the mound, but it looked for a moment like he had lost a bit of stability from his push-off leg as he very nearly beaned Masubuchi in the head as the latter attempted to sac bunt Kawabata over to second.

The sacrifice  was successful, and Kawabata moved over to third on Aoki’s high bouncer back to the pitcher, but Tanaka struck out chasing junk in the dirt to eliminate the small Tokyo threat.

Masubuchi finally got a 1-2-3 inning recorded in the fourth. And he followed that up with a second one in the fifth.

And the team finally rewarded him with a run in the bottom of that inning. Kawabata led off with a single to right, and Masubuchi followed with another successful sac bunt. Aoki and the Swallows then got a bit lucky when his grounder to Soyogi was slightly mishandled. Hiroshima’s shortstop tried to flick the ball backhanded to third in order to get the lead runner, but he ended up hitting Kawabata in the back instead. Both runners were safe with one out.

Kawabata then scored on Tanaka’s slow grounder to short. Aoki was out at second, but Hiroshima was uncontested at first. Hatakeyama then wasted his at-bat to end the inning with runners on first and third. 3-1 Hiroshima.

Tokyo clawed another one back in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and Tanaka on first. With the so-called “Whitesell shift” in place, Josh was able to scoot an outside pitch into shallow left field which brought Tanaka all the way around from third.

And you should have seen the look on Whitesell’s face when he saw Tanaka cross home safely. The commentators misread it and said that he looked really happy. He was pleased to be sure, but he was basically laughing at how ridiculous it was that he got an RBI on that weak dribbler past third base. At any rate, Josh was taken out of the game in favor of a pinch runner (as is the routine now).

Pinch runner, Miwa, made it safely to third on Hatakeyama’s ensuing grounder to short that had Soyogi so turned around that Tokyo’s big guy was able to beat the throw to first.

And one pitch later, Miwa crossed home plate. Umetsu’s off-target slider teamed with the sand-like infield dirt in Matsuyama meant that Ishihara had no chance of blocking the pitch. Miwa was in the dugout seconds later having just scored the equalizer. 3-3.

But it got scary after that.

Kurihara drove Barnette’s first pitch of the eighth into the outfield to get things going in the wrong direction for the Swallows. Iwamoto followed that with a single of  his own to put runners on first and second. A meeting on the mound correctly predicted that Maru would bunt and that Miyamoto would be covering third rather than charging, but when Maru helped the birds with a bunt right at Barnette, Tony muffed the glove-to-throwing-hand transfer and all three runners were safe.

But then he made up for it. Visibly perturbed, Barnette started hitting his spots and got Ishihara to strike out swinging at a forkball. He starter throwing a bit harder as well. Pinch-hitter, Maeda, and Soyogi also struck out swinging.

It wasn’t how Barnette planned, but he got out of the inning unscathed. Absolutely amazing pitching under pressure.

After Tony’s 25 pitch effort in the eighth, Lim was called in to keep Hiroshima quiet during the ninth. It took 10 pitches, and two of the outs came via the almighty K.

But that was all she wrote as the Swallows weren’t able to bring anyone home in the ninth (Fukuchi got picked off trying to get back to second). And with the game stretching just beyond the three and a half hour mark, a new inning couldn’t be started.

The tie leaves the Swallows and Carp tied at the top of the Central League with identical 12-7-3 records.

Next up for the birds is a short away series against the Dragons on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Chunichi currently sits in fourth place, 3.5 games behind Tokyo and Hiroshima, and a half of a game behind the third-placed Yomiuri Giants.

Notes:

• Aoki, Whitesell, Miyamoto and Kawabata had two hits each. Whitesell got on base a third time care of a walk.
• Masubuchi (ERA 3.81 through four starts) gave up three earned runs from six hits. His biggest shortcoming this afternoon was the fact that he issued five walks (although the last one was basically an intentional walk). He through 111 pitches through 6 and 2/3′s innings. After a rocky second and third, he didn’t allow another hit.
• Hatakeyama and Balentien appear to have fallen back to earth a little bit. The big question remains whether or not they can remain patient at the plate. A combined one for seven today, there were times when the answer to that question was a firm ‘no.’
• They should show tape of Barnette’s performance to all of the youngsters in Tokyo’s bullpen. His back was against the wall, and he reacted in the way that we always hope pitchers will. Calmly yet aggressively. He showed some serious heart there and proved to be unhittable when the team truly needed it.

Umetsu allows the leveling run on a wild pitch.

Chunichi Dragons 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 2   Last 5: WLLWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

The weather didn’t cooperate, but another quality start by Ishikawa teamed with some timely hitting were enough to overcome a Chunichi team that looked ever so slightly sharper than they did the last time they visited Jingu.

Lineup:

His second hit of the season was a big one.

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Whitesell 1B
4. Hatakeyama LF
5. Balentien RF
6. Miyamoto 3B
7. Aikawa C
8. Kawabata SS
9. Ishikawa P

A win today would have been number 100 of Ishikawa’s NPB career, and the overbooked right field bleachers were vocally behind him the entire six innings of his tenure on the mound.

Chunichi actually scored first in this contest. In the top of the second inning, Ishikawa gave up back-to-back singles to Wada and Blanco before finally getting the first out via a Guzman pop fly to Tanaka at second. With runners on first and third, Nomoto hit a tricky grounder to second that Tanaka was able to get to, but the out at second was all that came of it, and Wada made it home safely. 1-0 Chunichi.

Never fear though, for Balentien is here. After Hatakeyama flied out to center, Wladimir came out swinging. On the defensive with a 1-2 count, Tokyo’s slugger feasted on a weak fastball that Chunichi’s starter, Yamauchi, left over the plate. Home run number nine for Balentien. Game tied at one.

Ishikawa got back into his normal rhythm of grounders and pop flies to make quick work of the third and fourth innings, and his teammates came through with some offense shortly thereafter.

Tanaka worked a six pitch walk to start the bottom of the fourth and then was able to make it to second when a pickoff attempt went awry at first. Hatakeyama then came through with a huge double to center that scored Tanaka from second. 2-1 Tokyo.

Hatakeyama keeps the big hits coming. RBI double.

Balentien wasted no time in compounding Yamauchi’s misery. The 25 year old Aichi native made the mistake of starting out with a weak fastball that was nearly identical to the one that Balentien had punished in his previous at bat. This time the ball didn’t leave the park, but none of Chunichi’s infielders actually saw it as it ripped past them into left field. Of his last seven hits, it was the first one that didn’t end up in the cheap seats. Think about that for a moment.

The best thing about that scorcher that Balentien hit to Wada in left was that it moved the rather pace-challenged Hatakeyama over to third with Miyamoto now standing in the batter’s box. One of the best things about Miyamoto, and to be fair Miyamoto has always given us a multitude of reasons to love him, is that he hits well with runners in scoring position. In fact, he currently leads the league with a .625 batting average. Yes, you read that correctly. Well, he hooked a low-and-away fastball to left that plated Hatakeyama. 3-1 Tokyo.

The celebrations didn’t last long, however. Nomoto clubbed the first pitch he saw in the top of the fifth over the fence in left. Two more runners would reach base that inning, but Ishikawa eventually got Morino to ground out to second (4-6) to end the inning and the threat. 3-2 Tokyo.

The Swallows threatened to score in the sixth, but Fukuchi (pinch-running for Whitesell who had walked) only made it as far as third before the inning ended. He did, however, manage to swipe his league-leading eighth base of the season. Quite impressive for a guy who still hasn’t recorded a single base hit.

Since he had thrown 99 pitches already and had a one run lead after six, Ogawa chose to go with Barnette in the seventh. Tony had made it through seven appearances without allowing a single run, so it was a logical choice.

However, Ishikawa’s 100th win quickly evaporated as Chunichi pinch-hitter, Donoue, cranked the first pitch he saw into the gap in right-center for a double. He then moved over to third on Araki’s grounder to short, and he scored on Ibata’s sac fly to right which Balentien did a good job of getting to. Tokyo 3-3 Chunichi.

One very interesting and welcome thing about the Swallows’ offense this season is that even when the team falls behind or temporarily loses its momentum, there’s still reason to hope that a rally can be put together to grab a run or two back. The birds haven’t yet shown the offense that the Chiba Marines are capable of, but there are currently very few consistent weaknesses in the batting order.

And sure enough, Aikawa started out the seventh by coaxing Chunichi’s senior middle reliever, Kawahara, into a five-pitch walk. That was followed by a Tak-bunt (read: sacrifice bunt) that actually turned into a run. Iihara, hitting for Barnette, gave Tony the win with a double that plated Aikawa from second. And Kawahara’s pain continued when Aoki bounced one up the middle five pitches later. Iihara beat the throw to the plate. 5-3 Final.

And the rains got heavier. More and more of the lights had to be turned on because the skies were so dark. Two innings later it was Lim on the mound protecting the two run lead. He struck out the first two batters he faced, Saeki and Araki, before inducing Ibata into a groundout to first under a veritable downpour.

Lim (1.13 ERA) earned his third save of the year while Barnette ended up getting the win instead of Ishikawa. Barnette’s ERA jumped to 1.00 due to the run that squeaked by, the first he’s allowed this season.

Matsuoka (2.00) earned a hold point for his inning of work. Ishikawa didn’t factor into the decision, so he’s still stuck at 99 career wins with a 2-1 record thus far in 2011. He gave up two earned runs off of seven hits with four K’s and two walks. The damage might have been worse had it not been for Aoki’s amazing diving catch to end the sixth with two runners hurtling towards home.

Chunichi got back at the Swallows for that big save in the seventh when Nomoto made an exceptional grab in center to rob Tanaka of an extra-base hit and an RBI.

Balentien had another big day going three for four with a home run. However, it was actually Iihara who was crowned the hero of the game because of his go-ahead, pinch-hit RBI double in the seventh, and I’m sure that Wladimir was happy to concede the spotlight on this rainy afternoon. He’s also probably tired of answering the same three questions over and over again.

Game two of the series is tomorrow afternoon with a first pitch scheduled for 2PM. The weather report looks considerably rosier than how it turned out today. If you’re planning to attend, don’t forget your suncreen, and show up early if you have more than two people in your party and wish to sit in the right field bleachers.

With the Swallows playing this well during Golden Week, there’s not a whole lot of extra space to go around.

Notes:

• It should be interesting to see how far Miyamoto and Hatakeyama’s output declines in May. Hopefully it won’t be much. They both have OBP’s above .400 at the moment, so we’ll keep an eye on those numbers, .412 and .452 respectively.
• Balentien leads the Central League in home runs (9), total bases (50), walks (13), and slugging (.877). For those of you who like OPS, Balentien’s is currently 1.349 through 57 official at-bats.
• The Swallows remain in sole possession of first place in the Central. They’re one game ahead of the Hiroshima Carp who beat Yokohama 3-2 at home this afternoon. Hanshin is currently three games behind Tokyo with an 8-8-1 record.

Oh-so-close to career win number 100.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6

Hanshin Tigers 2

Streak: Won 1  Last 5: WWLLW

(Koshien Stadium)

After an impressive unbeaten streak that lifted the team to the top of the Central League in April, the Swallows finished the month with a pair of losses at Koshien Stadium.

The birds took the field Sunday afternoon hoping to get back to winning ways and avoid a series sweep. Going into today’s game the Swallows were in a tie for first with Hiroshima at the top of the Central.

Lineup:

Miyamoto gives his new friend, Balentien, some lovin'.

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Whitesell 1B
4. Hatakeyama LF
5. Balentien RF
6. Miyamoto 3B
7. Aikawa C
8. Kawabata SS
9. Muranaka P

Things didn’t start particularly well for the Swallows. With one out and two on in the first, Hatakeyama ended things by grounding into a double play. That sucked.

Then Muranaka (4.90 ERA), Tokyo’s left-handed starter, had to leave the game after facing only three batters due to what appeared to be a tweaked back. Matsui inherited one runner with two outs when he took the mound, and he immediately gave up a two-run homer to Arai when he fired a fastball straight down the pipe. 2-0 Hanshin.

But in the top of the second, Balentien got things back on track with his seventh home run of the season. He showed some good patience in waiting for a full count pitch and got a fastball that he could work with. The next time anyone got their hands on the ball it was in the right field stands. 2-1 Hanshin.

Then with one out, Aikawa  and Kawabata hit singles up the middle to put men on first and second. Matsui tried to bunt them over, but the bounce sat nicely for Johjima who threw Aikawa out at third on a fielder’s choice. With runners still on first and second, Aoki came up with a single to center that plated Kawabata. All square at two runs apiece.

After two relatively quiet innings at the plate, Tokyo got things going again in the fifth and were able to piece together one more run.

With one out on the board (Tanaka 5-3), Whitesell  poked a single into center. Balentien then worked an excellent eight-pitch walk to create an opportunity for Miyamoto. Tokyo’s third baseman proceeded to bring Whitesell around from second on a 1-2 fastball down the middle. 3-2 Tokyo.

But the birds would suffer some more bad luck shortly thereafter. Matsui (1.93 ERA) was forced to leave the game after hurting his right leg. Kyuko (3.38) came in to a one out, man on first situation, and he quickly gave up a hit to Murton. He was eventually able to get the two outs that he needed on 11 pitches.

Nothing exciting happened on offense in the sixth other than Aoki putting together a nice  13-pitch at bat that culminated in a liner to Toritani at short.

But the seventh was a lot of fun to watch. Tanaka again led off with a groundout before Whitesell drew his second walk of the game. Fukuchi came in to pinch run. Hanshin’s manager, Mayumi, decided to go from Kojima (LHP) to Fukuhara (RHP) to face the Hatakeyama-Balentien-Miyamoto trio of righties. It didn’t work.

Fukuchi stole second on a 1-2 pitch that Johjima couldn’t cleanly pull out of his glove, and then Hatakeyama came through with a bounding drive that gave Fukuchi more than enough time to sprint home from second. 4-2 Tokyo.

The air really got let out of the Koshien crowd’s technicolored condom-balloons one pitch later.

With Hatakeyama on first, Johjima called for a fastball on the outside corner of the plate and Balentien pounced on it. The ball landed just to the left of the right field foul pole for his second round-tripper of the game and eighth of the season. 6-2 Tokyo.

The Swallows went down in order in the eighth and ninth, but Tokyo’s bullpen never allowed more than a single runner the rest of the way. After Kyuko finished the fifth, Oshimoto (3.00) pitched a pair of scoreless innings. Like Oshimoto in the sixth, Matsuoka (2.25) got out of the eighth care of an inning-ending GIDP.

Barnette came in to deal with the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth. With a four run lead, Tony was hoping to prolong the life of his bagel-shaped ERA. He got Arai and Brazell to fly out to Balentien in right before Kanemoto punched a double to left-center. But everything worked out well for the team in the end as Johjima could only fly out to the catcher.

Matsui earned the win for his three and two-thirds innings of work. It was his first win in about three years. He threw 61 pitches and gave up one earned run off of three hits. He had two strikeouts, a walk and a wild pitch in his third appearance this year.

Balentien, of course, was the hero of the game for Tokyo, and he echoed exactly what everyone’s thinking when he said that he just needs to remain patient at the plate and lay off pitches in the dirt so that he’ll continue to get good pitches to hit. Exactly what we want to hear!

Balentien went 2-3 with a walk to lead Tokyo’s attack at the plate while Whitesell also reached base three times (BB, single, BB). Tanaka and Hatakeyama chipped  in by reaching base twice.

With Hiroshima’s loss, the Swallows are back in sole possession of first place in the Central League with a record of 10-5-2.

The birds now return to Jingu for another daytime series versus the improved Chunichi Dragons. The first game of the series is scheduled for 2PM on Tuesday.

Balentien adds two more runs to Tokyo's lead.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Hanshin Tigers 4

Streak: Lost 1  Last 5: WWWWL

(Koshien Stadium)

Tokyo’s magnificent run of good form finally came to an end as they ran into a very effective starter in Kubo. This game saw some interesting switches within the lineup as Miyamoto and Aikawa both had the night off.

Lineup:

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Iihara LF
4. Hatakeyama 3B
5. Whitesell 1B
6. Balentien RF
7. Kawabata SS
8. Kawamoto C
9. Yamamoto P

Kubo pitched an amazing game. He was nearly perfect through the first six frames save for a minor blip in the form of a solo Kawamoto homer to left in the top of the third. It was his fourth hit of the season and first homer. 1-0 Tokyo.

But after Kawamoto’s blast, the Swallows managed only two more hits. The first was a Tanaka lead-off single in the seventh (quickly followed by another Iihara GIDP), and the second was a Whitesell double to start the eighth.

Hanshin chased Tokyo starter Yamamoto from the game before he could finish the fifth inning. It was his first loss of the season, and his record now stands at 1-1. He surrendered four earned runs off of five hits and helped the Hanshin cause by issuing three walks–two of which came in that fateful fifth inning. His ERA blossomed to 3.09.

Arai and Rin recorded two RBIs each to give Hanshin the game. 4-1 Final.

Kyuko (0.00), Oshimoto (3.86), Hashimoto (0.00) and Matsui (0.00) combined to finish the game without allowing any more runs to score.

Game two of this series is tomorrow night at 2PM.

Notes:

• Hatakeyama leads the lead in slugging (.854) and homers (6) [tied with Balentien and Yokohama's Sledge].
• Balentien leads the league in walks (10) and homers (6).
• Miyamoto leads the league in hits (21) and batting average (.412).
• With Whitesell in the lineup, things are starting to look formidable. I kind of like the idea of Whitesell and Balentien on either side of Aoki in the outfield with Hatakeyama at first. If Balentien can continue to be patient and lay off the forkballs, Josh gets back into the swing of things, and Hatakeyama doesn’t experience too serious of a slump, then the Swallows will be sporting a pretty serious lineup. Miyamoto and Kawabata have been doing an excellent job of forcing pitchers to throw to the middle part of the order, and Whitesell’s bat in the lineup means that the problem with the number three hitter all but disappears.

Chunichi Dragons 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Streak: Won 3   Last 5: LDWWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo pulled out its third win of the season in somewhat head-scratching fashion at home this afternoon.

Lineup:

Win number one. Will he beat last year's personal best of 12?

1. Aoki CF
2. Tanaka 2B
3. Takeuchi LF
4. Hatakeyama 1B
5. Aikawa C
6. Balentien RF
7. Miyamoto 3B
8. Kawabata SS
9. Yoshinori

Mostly a pitching game throughout, this one started with a whimper as Yoshinori issued walks to three consecutive batters with one out to give Blanco an opportunity to finally get his season started offensively (he finished today’s game with a .188 batting average). Fortunately, however, he slapped the 1-2 pitch straight to Tanaka which resulted in a 4-6-3 double play.

But Tokyo would go on to squander a few chances of its on when it was unable to create runs with two runners on base in the second, fifth and seventh innings. Chunichi starter, Yoshimi, pitched a very solid seven innings in his first appearance of the season.

Yoshinori managed to get things under control after that serious wobble in the first inning and ended up recording a complete game shutout. He was able to keep his pitches down and gave up only two more walks over the rest of the game. His strikeout tally only reached five this afternoon as he relied on his defense to back him up. It was the first time this season that Tokyo’s defense was not assessed with an error.

Yoshinori’s record now stands at 1-1, and his ERA at 1.20. He gave up only three hits today.

When the birds finally did score, they required a little assistance from the visiting Dragons and their reliever, Kawahara.  Back-to-back game hero, Hatakeyama, came up with his sole hit of the game by hitting a full count, low-and-away fastball into right field for a double. Fukuchi was of course brought in to pinch run for the somewhat pace-challenged first baseman.

Then Ochiai gambled by intentionally walking Aikawa in order to get to Balentien. Maybe he wanted to pile some psychological pressure on a guy that had already hit into an inning-ending double play earlier in the afternoon. Or maybe he wanted to force his less-experienced counterpart in the home dugout, Junji Ogawa, to try and ask Balentien to bunt as would be expected from most other players on the team in a similar situation.

Yoshinori gives Miwa some love for the bunt-enabled win.

Whatever the scheme was, it worked. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Ogawa chose to bunt.

But not with Balentien at the plate. He yanked hard-hitting righty in favor of Miwa in what was easily his biggest gamble of this very young season.

But the gamble paid off. Miwa bunted the first pitch, a high fastball, back at the pitcher who threw to an as-yet uncovered third base which allowed Fukuchi to scamper all the way home. 1-0 Final.

It’s not sexy, but we’ll take it. The win puts the birds at .500 for the first time this season and moves them into the middle of the central league table.

Miyamoto was the only Tokyo player that recorded a multi-hit game.

It was also the first time this season that the team won a series. Hopefully this is a sign of many more good things to come.

The final game of this series is tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 PM. The Swallows will likely start Tateyama while going for the sweep.