4/20/11 – Chunichi (Home)

Miwa-winning-bunt

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. [...]

Online Yakyu Writer Insights: NPB Moving Forward?

Hoshino got Rakuten to open the purse strings.

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 [...]

10/8/09 — Hanshin (Home)

Heroes Tateyama and Kawamoto get punked by the penguin.

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.

9/30/09 — Hanshin (Home)

Three fielders, nobody calling for the ball.

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.

9/29/09 — Hanshin (Home)

Yoshinori is suddenly the worst starter on the first team.

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.

8/8/09 — Yomiuri (Away)

Yuuki gave up one run in six innings of work.

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.

8/2/09 — Chunichi (Home)

Yoshinori

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.

April NPB Status Reports at Trans-Pacific Radio

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 [...]

5/02/09 – Hiroshima (Away)

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 [...]

League Leaders — Hitting (as of 5/1/09)

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) [...]