An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
April 20th, 2011 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: 1. Aoki CF 2. Tanaka 2B 3. Takeuchi LF 4. Hatakeyama 1B 5. Aikawa C 6. [...]
Tokyo Swallows fans witnessed it all in 2010: the resumption of the 2009 slump which ended up consuming the first two months of 2010; a change in manager; the addition of a cleanup bat; veteran pitchers refinding their form; an authoritative return to winning; and a bit of flirtation with the third and final playoff spot. With any luck, 2011 [...]
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 [...]
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) [...]
