Ogawa's advisers.

Here’s something for you to read while finding an alternate use for your bat.

Swallow of the Week

Week 7

Possibly due to how late I got the last snapshot up on the site, not too many people had a chance to vote. Only 14 folks submitted a vote, so I’m not even going to bother to create a table for it. Instead, you’ll just have to trust me that Shinya Miyamoto won the vote. Miyamoto, who didn’t receive a SOW nomination the week that he joined the almighty Meikyukai, won the weekly vote by garnering 64% (9 votes) of those cast.

So congratulations to you, Mr. Miyamoto. And again, many kudos to you for your steady play over the years which has earned you membership in the Meikyukai!

Week 8

Last week was the shortest we’ve seen so far this year. Interleague started, and the birds hosted two shortened series at Jingu Stadium. The first, on Wednesday and Thursday, was against 2011 Japan Series champs, Fukuoka. Saturday and Sunday’s games were against the Orix Buffaloes, the only team in the Pacific League that doesn’t have a regional name fronting its moniker.

After a raucous start, the week turned out to be inordinately forgettable.

Here are the game reports in case you missed them:

May 16th vs Fukuoka (14-3 W)
May 17th vs Fukuoka (1-9 L)
May 19th vs Orix (3-6 L)
May 20th vs Orix (1-4 L)

Ugh.

But despite the 1-3 record for the week, there were still some standout performances for you to consider.

Ryouji Aikawa (C) – Aikawa made it back into the lineup on a full-time basis last week, and he was absolutely magic at the plate. 7-13 with four RBI and two walks for a .538/.600/.615 line from four games. With Nakamura as a backup, you’ve gotta like how things have worked out for Tokyo at the number two position.

Lastings Milledge (LF-CF) – Milledge was 5-18 at the plate with two home runs last week. He chipped in with 5 RBI and a walk during a week when the Swallows scored nearly three times as many runs in the first game as they did in the following three games combined. Milledge also saw some more time in center field this week as the Swallows continue to struggle to find an everyday replacement for Norichika Aoki. He continues to be an intense and intimidating presence on defense, and his slash line at the plate last week looked thusly: .278/.316/.611.

Orlando Roman (P) – Roman had a hell of a start on the 19th and very nearly won the game. He threw 110 pitches through eight full innings of work and allowed only four hits and one earned run. He also struck out four while only walking one. Oh, and he was also 2-3 at the plate with an RBI. Arguably his best start as a Tokyo Swallow.

Cast your vote below!

Roster Updates

On the 18th, pitchers Hirai and Abe were dropped to the farm team, and they were replaced by relievers Onodera and Yamamoto the following day. You knew that Onodera was going to find his way up to the top team sooner or later given his rock solid performance on the farm since the start of the season.

On the 21st, Araki (IF) and outfielders Yuhei and Hiyane were also dropped leaving three available spots on the top team roster. Those three spots were filled on the 22nd by starting pitcher Shichijo, middle infielder Yamada, and timeless outfielder Yuichi.

Here’s what the 28 man roster looked like before the game against Chiba scheduled for Tuesday:

Pitcher
Ishikawa, Yamamoto, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Kyuko, Onodera, Barnette, Shichijo, Hidaka, Akagawa, Roman, Oshimoto

Catcher
Aikawa, Nakamura, Fukukawa

Infielders
Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Yamada, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka

Outfielders
Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuichi, Milledge

From the Farm

The mini-birds have continued their suckiness from last week. In the four games that they actually played (two rain outs), the Swallows lost three and drew one.

But much like the dark cloud that is the top team at the moment, the farm team has a silver lining hemmed up inside it. And its surname is Sato.

Unfortunately, or perhaps comically, its given name is not Yoshinori. It just so happens to be the chosen one’s kid brother, Takanori, who is still on an ikusei contract. He started all four games in the outfield and was 8-17 at the plate with three RBI and 11 total bases.

Otherwise, there’s not a whole lot of interest going on at the minor league level for the Swallows. Lim continues to look very mediocre, and nobody else is truly begging for a call-up at the plate.

So the spark the club needs is hopefully already included in the top team. Somewhere.

During happier times.

Around the Central League

The Giants are kicking ass. They are allowing only one or two runs per game. They haven’t lost since Golden Week. That is all you need to know. Anyone who needs a “Giant Hater” t-shirt, please comment below. I’ll put an order in for a new batch.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday’s game got rained out, and we already got trounced last night in Chiba, but there are five games in a row coming up that we will hopefully win one or two of.

Tuesday’s rain game will be replayed tonight in Chiba, and then the Swallows play two games in Saitama (6PM on Friday and 2PM on Saturday). On Sunday and Monday, the birds host consecutive 6PM games against the Tohoku Eagles at Jingu.

See you there.

The team still boasts a positive run differential, but we’re now only three games above .500 with a fourth-best team ERA of 2.69.

Former Swallows

Aoki has been getting more frequent starts in Milwaukee, and he’s not been disappointing at the plate or on defense. In fact, here’s a video to show you that he’s doing us proud:

That’s it for today. Please excuse me while I prepare for a very important anniversary.

Drink up.

Laying an egg.

Key Points:

• How correct were our predictions from TS Podcast number seven?
• What grade would you give Tokyo’s performance thus far?
• General baseball-related stupidity
• Hand transplants

Enjoy!

Oh, and please let us know what you think about how the birds have done so far. What’s your grade?

Things didn't go well last week, so here's a picture of the farm team lineup.

Sorry for the delay, Swallowers. It’s my fault. There are no excuses here at Tsubamegun.

Something for you to read while planning a trip to New Orleans.

Swallows of the Week

Week 6

This one was never really going to be much of a contest, what with the wicked week that Coco put up and all. But 31 voters thought long and hard and chose the most worthy from the following four players:

Wladimir Balentien (RF)
Masanori Ishikawa (P)
Orlando Roman (P)
Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B)

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	25	81
Hiroyasu Tanaka	4	13
Orlando Roman	2	6
Masanori Ishikawa	0	0

Congratulations, Coco, the first Tokyo player to ever earn SOW honors twice in the same season! You definitely earned it. I must say that you surprised the piss out of us several times during week six, and we love you for it.

Now just sit back and let them walk you for a couple of weeks.

Week 7

Like the week before, the Swallows played five games during week six. However, things didn’t work out quite as well for your Tokyo Swallows.

The first three games were all over the midlands map in and around Nagoya as the birds took on the Dragons in a three-game set. Tokyo wasn’t able to win a game until the series finally arrived back at Nagoya Dome. Game three  saw the birds exorcise some of the their demons by winning a game against the Dragons in Nagoya, but they still lost the series 1-2.

Then it was off to the miserably wet and cold embrace of the enduring Akita Prefecture winter for a two-game series against the “visiting” Gomiuri Giants.

Tokyo played to an annoying 1-1 draw in the first game before losing the second game 5-1.

Game reports:

May 8th at Chunichi 0-1 L
May 9th  at Chunichi 3-8 L
May 10th at Chunichi 3-1 W
May 12th vs Yomiuri 1-1 D
May 13th vs Yomiuri 1-5 L

But despite Tokyo’s 1-3-1 record, there were still some individual bright spots.

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – The only pitcher to record a win, Akagawa pitched seven innings at Nagoya Dome on Thursday and threw 98 pitches while issuing only a single walk. He scattered six hits while striking out three and allowing one earned run in the sixth inning.

Shinya Miyamoto (3B) – A week after joining the Meikyukai, Shinya had his nose to the grindstone last week. Despite not starting on Wednesday, he was 6-14 at the plate in four games at third base.

Ryosuke Morioka (SS) – Given some playing time following Kawabata’s injury, Morioka started four games last week and was 3-14 at the plate with a double and two RBI.

You know what to do:

Roster Updates

As reported here in the last update, Takeuchi (IF) was removed from the top team on May 6th. It turns out that he has a right wrist injury that he needs to rehab.

On the seventh, Koki Watanabe (P) was also dropped to the farm after his four hit, three run performance on Sunday at Jingu.

On the eighth, Kentaro Kyuko (P) and Takahiro Araki (IF) were promoted from the topfarm team.

On the tenth, Kyohei Muranaka (P) and Shingo Kawabata (SS) were demoted. Kawabata is injured, and Muranaka is struggling.

On the 12th, both Aikawa (C) and Yuhei (OF) were brought back up to the top squad. Aikawa is coming off of a toe injury, and Yuhei has rejoined the struggle to find a viable and durable option in center field.

On the 15th, it was announced that Hitoshi Yamamoto (P) will have TJ surgery on his throwing arm (right) and is out for the rest of the season. Yamamoto made 12 appearances and pitched 55 innings for the Swallows last season. He finished the year with a 4.25 ERA.

That left the following 28 players on the top team roster:

Pitchers
Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai, Kyuko

Catchers
Aikawa, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka, Araki

Outfielders
Hiyane, Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge

Tateyama was the CL pitching MVP for March-April, 2012.

League Honors

In case you haven’t heard, Shohei Tateyama (P) and Wladimir Balentien (P) were March-April monthly MVPs for the Central League, and it’s the first time since 1997 that Tokyo has had a player win the pitcher and position player categories in the same month!

Sponsored by Nihon Seimei, it was the second time that both players had won the award.

Tateyama last won monthly MVP honors in August of 2010. This time around, he was 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA through 34 innings of work.

Balentien won May honors last year, and he finished the first month-and-a-bit of 2012 with a .308 average and 16 RBI on 24-78 hitting.

The last Tokyo duo to bring home top Central League honors in the same month were batterymates Atsuya Furuta (C) and Kazuhisa Ishii (P) in September 12 years ago.

Nice work, gents! Now if we could just hold on to first place.

From the Farm

The mini birds had an even worse week despite spending the whole time at home. Tokyo started the week off by dropping and drawing a game versus the visiting mini Giants before seeing game three get rained out up in Toda.

They then dropped three straight afternoon games to the mini Chiba Marines.

There’s not a whole lot to report that will excite anyone that is a regular in these parts. Onodera (P) continues to be effective, and Tetsuto Yamada (IF) is hitting well in the leadoff position. Other than that, Yoshinori’s little brother is the the next most exciting thing going on down there. And no, Yoshinori hasn’t made an appearance recently. Think they’ll eventually think about taking his face off of all the walls in Gaienmae soon?

The Week Ahead

It’s interleague time, folks! Tokyo hosts Fukuoka on Wednesday and Thursday after an extra day off, and then Orix comes to town for a weekend series at Jingu. All games start at 6PM. This is the time of year, of course, when we finally have a reason to root for Pacific League teams. May they beat everyone but us. Badly.

Tokyo's lone winning pitcher from last week.

OK, that’s it for this week. Please excuse me while I find some inspiration to do what’s right.

Yomiuri Giants  1

Tokyo Swallows 1

Streak: 1 tie  Last 5: LLLWD

(Akita Komachi Stadium)

Tonight saw Tokyo’s two teams travel North to Akita for the first of a two-game set. This would be the last weekend either team faced a Central League opponent for over a month as inter-league play commences this week. As such, the Birds wanted to continue on the winning track and keep up with the Dragons in the win column.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	1
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	7	0

Tonight, in the great wet North, the Birds drew with their Tokyo rival. Roman kept the over-priced bats in check for 6 innings, while Utsumi did the same for 5 innings.

	Swallows		Giants
1	Tanaka (2B)	1	Chono (CF)
2	Morioka (SS)	2	Fujimura (2B)
3	Milledge (CF)	3	Sakamoto (SS)
4	Balentien (RF)	4	Murata (3B)
5	Iihara (LF)	5	Abe (C)
6	Miyamoto (3B)	6	Takahashi (RF)
7	Hatakeyama (1B)	7	Bowker (1B)
8	Nakamura (C)	8	Inzen (LF)
9	Roman (P)	9	Utsumi (P)

Tonight started off slow for both sides. Giants made a little noise in the 1st and 3rd inning but could not get a runner past second base. The Birds could only muster one runner through the first three innings and a “I’m scared to pitch to him” unintentional intentional walk of Balentien in the 4th inning.

We jump to the bottom of the 6th inning. Roman started things off with a hit to right field. Tanaka followed his lead by hitting another single to right. The sac bunt responsibilities then fell to Morioka. Morioka, running with a piano on his back, was able to advance the runners to 2nd and 3rd. After that, Milledge hit an infield single to third. Now, with the bases loaded, Coco stepped to the plate. He obviously had aspirations of clearing the bases because he did nothing but swing for the fences. He went down on three pitches for the second out of the inning. Iihara ended the threat with a soft liner to Sakamoto.

In the top of the 7th Chono hit a liner over the outstretched glove of Milledge in center. He stopped at 2nd base for an easy stand-up double. He was promptly bunted over to third by Fujimura. This brought a meeting of the minds at the mound as Sakamoto was  up to bat. The sleazy bastard decided to bunt down the first base line. This easily scored Chono from third and “the tool at short” (Sakamoto) was thrown out by Roman at 1st. Roman then walked Murata on four pitches and his evening was over. Hidaka came in and induced Abe to fly-out to the warning track in left and end the inning. 0 – 1 Giants

"the tool at short" knocks in the lone Giant run.

After the Swallows fans put their umbrellas to use during the 7th inning stretch, the Birds looked to answer right back. Miyamoto started things off with a sharp single to left. Hatekayama grounded to “the tool at short” but the best the Giants could do was force out Miyamoto at 2nd. The hard hitting Nakamura was up next and promptly hit a sharp liner past “the tool at short”. With runners on 1st and 2nd and only one out, the pitcher was due up. Ogawa decided to bring in Aikawa to hit. He fouled out to Bowker near first base. This meant the top of the order was up. Tanaka strolled to the plate and was looking for the hero prize. After a few cuts and a few more waggles, Tanaka watched Utsumi throw two balls in the dirt while working the count full. After fouling off a pitch, Tanaka then walked to load the bases. This time Morioka couldn’t bunt. Instead, he swung away and nearly took Utsumi’s head off with a liner up the middle. This scored Noguchi (running for “Boo”) from third to tie the game. Everyone was safe and the bases were still loaded for Milledge. After nearly clearing the bases with a liner down the first base line that was ruled foul, Milledge grounded to Murata who quickly stepped on third for the force out. 1 -1

Kyuko was on the mound for the 8th. He got the first two batters out and was replaced by Oshimoto. Oshimoto made quick work of Kajimae to end the inning.

The Birds went down in order in the bottom half of the 8th.

Oshimoto came out for the ninth inning and struck out Kamei and Chono. He ended the inning by getting Fujimura to fly out to center.

The Giants brought in Mathieson to pitch the bottom of the ninth. All he did was strike out the side.

And that meant it was time for extra inning baseball. However, the rain was kicking about again and this made for a wet finish.

“the tool at short” was the first batter that Barnette had to deal with. Unfortunately, ”the tool at short” won out and hit a single to left. Up next was the cleanup hitter, Murata. As he is on such a great streak at the moment, Hara decided to have Murata bunt over ”the tool at short”. However, Murata was unable to do that simple task and ended up striking out. One out. Next up was the  catcher, Abe. At this point, he was 3 for 4 on the night. He would reach base again on a very questionable ball four. This called for a meeting of the minds at the mound. After confirming dinner plans, the players returned to their respective positions. As the rain picked up, the waste of a uniform Takahashi eked his way to the batters box. After questioning the conditions and visibility, Takahashi flew out to left. Two down and one to go. After getting a new resin bag, Barnette struck out Bowker for the final out of the inning. And because they performed so well tonight, Bowker slammed his bat and helmet to the ground. After getting that out of his system, he calmly picked them up and went back to the dugout.

Yamaguchi was the new pitcher for the Giants in the bottom of the 10th.

Tanaka reached base when ”the tool at short” couldn’t handle the grounder. Miwa then replaced Tanaka at first. Up came Morioka. Guess what he tried to do? That’s right folks. He TRIED to bunt but only succeeded at striking out. Up walked Milledge. After the second strike from Yamaguchi, Miwa stole second. Lastings eventually grounded out to “the tool at short” for the second out. As the clock struck 9:30, up walked Coco. That meant we were looking at the final batter(s). After a long at bat, Coco eventually walked. This put runners at 1st and 3rd and two out. This brought the end to Yamaguchi’s evening and the Giants played musical chairs in the outfield. Nishimura was the new pitcher for the Giants. His opponent for the evening was Fukuichi, who was batting in place of Iihara. Fukuichi didn’t put up much of a fight as he grounded out to second to end the game.

1 – 1 Final

Random thoughts (Notes):

• I hate listening to the dumba** announcers on the Fuji network. I thought they were suppose to be the Swallows broadcasters and thus somewhat knowledgeable?
• After tonight’s tie, the Birds are a half game behind the nagging Nagoya Dragons.
• Hara still looks stupid, even though he attempts to look smart(er) by putting on glasses.
  

  The intelligent looking Hara.

• Coco is awesome but he needs to be smarter at the plate.
• Sakamoto or Utsumi: Who is a bigger tool? If you can’t tell, my vote is for Sakamoto.
• Remember, tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!!
• And the pitching duel for Mother’s Day will be Tateyama for the Birds and Sawamura for the Giants. Should be a good one. Let’s hope the weather stays dry.

Miyamoto’s Meikyukai Induction

Miyamoto became the 40th batter to reach the 2,000 hit milestone with a single in his first at-bat against Hiroshima starter, Yuya Fukui on Friday. The game was immediately halted as Miyamoto’s teammates came onto the field to congratulate him.

The team has decided to designate May 30th Miyamoto Milestone Memorial Day when Hokkaido will be in town for a two-game series (May 30th and 31st). Former Tokyo Swallow and teammate, Atsunori Inaba, who became the 39th hitter to enter the Meikyukai just a short while ago, will be playing for the Fighters in that game, and it is likely that Inaba will also be honored by the team in some way.

For more information, including stats and lots of trivial information, check these two posts (here and here) on Yakyu Baka.

In case you missed it, here’s a video replay:

Many congrats to Miyamoto and his family from everyone at Tsubamegun!

Swallows of the Week

Week 5

The Tsubamegun community voted on the outstanding performances by the following five players: Wladimir Balentien (RF), Tony Barnette (P), Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B), Lastings Milledge (LF), and Shohei Tateyama (P). There were 35 official votes this week, and here’s how the numbers added up:

Player	Votes	%
Lastings Milledge	20	57
Wladimir Balentien	6	17
Tony Barnette	5	14
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	2	6
Shohei Tateyama	2	6

Congratulations, Thrilledge! The man has been an impact player at the plate, and he has shown hustle and determination both on the field and the basepaths. All the best to Milledge from the Tsubamegun community as he continues to transition to the pitching and style of play here in Japan.

Week 6

The Swallows played five games last week which completed a eight-games-in-nine-days marathon against Central League competition. The first two were in Yokohama, and after romping in the first game thanks to Balentien’s three bombs, the offense was quieted in game two due to some decent pitching from the home team.

The second series was at home against the Hiroshima Carp. The first two games were both monumental and enjoyable to watch for Tokyo fans as Miyamoto eclipsed the 2,000 hit mark on Friday, and the team churned out an impressive performance both on offense and defense to clinch the series. Yesterday’s game, however, was a bit of a mess thanks mostly to the fact that Tokyo wasn’t able to get anyone on base for most of the game.

Coco made this pose many times this week. They must've thought it was hailing in the left field stands.

May 1st at Yokohama 7-0 W
May 2nd cancelled (rain)
May 3rd at Yokohama 1-3 L
May 4th vs Hiroshima 8-4 W
May 5th vs Hiroshima 4-1 W
May 6th vs Hiroshima 0-6 L

Several players put up impressive numbers last week, and here are the names for you to choose from:

Wladimir Balentien (RF) had a crazy week 6 at the plate. He was 8-17 with six homers, four walks, eight RBI, and 27 total bases. Here’s his slash line for the week: .471/.571/1.588.

Masanori Ishikawa (P) recorded his first complete game shutout in a couple of seasons at Yokohama on Tuesday. He threw 145 pitches through nine innings of work and gave up five hits, one walk, and one beanball while striking out five on his way to helping his team secure a 7-0 victory.

Orlando Roman (P) had his longest outing of the year on Saturday when he subdued a very aggressive Carp team with only 95 pitches through eight innings of work. He gave up only five hits, three walks, and one earned run while striking out three. The Swallows went on to win that contest 4-1.

Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B) was solid both at the plate and on defense. He was one of only two players to hit safely in all five games last week and was 7-21 at the plate. He mixed in a couple of doubles, two walks, and four RBI to help reward Hatakeyama and Nakamura for their solid offense in the bottom third of the lineup. Slash line: .333/.391/.429.

Tick the box next to the player you think most deserves SOW honors for week 6.

Roster Updates

On Wednesday May 2nd, Genki Nitta (C) and Yuhei (OF) were demoted, and on Thursday veterans Atsushi Fujimoto (IF) and Kazuki Fukuchi (OF) were brought up. Fujimoto had his first hit of the season that same day. Fukuchi had his first hit on Friday and recorded his first sac fly of the season on Saturday.

Ueda (CF) was dropped to the farm on Saturday after banging up his right shoulder on a herculean effort to prevent a home run in Friday’s game. He was 1-2 at the plate with a double before being removed from the game. Hopefully his rehab stint doesn’t take too long.

Rookie Hiyane (OF) was brought back up on the same day to serve as cover/competition for Kazuki Fukuchi in center field.

Takeuchi was dropped to the farm on Sunday for reasons that were not immediately clear. Hopefully it’s nothing more than an attempt to keep him fresh by seeing live pitching on a regular basis on the farm.

That leaves 27 players on the top team roster as of this morning:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Fujimoto, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka

Outfielders
Hiyane, Fukuchi, Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge

From the Farm

Tokyo’s minor league team dropped two of their three games against Tohoku up in Sendai. Depressingly, they lost both of the first two games in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 10th inning. But there were definitely some bright spots tucked in there.

The Swallows won the third game thanks largely to a fourth inning, two out grand slam care of Yuichi which put a previously tied ballgame at 6-2 in Tokyo’s favor. The team eventually won the game 6-4 with rookie Hugo Kanabushi getting the ‘W’ thanks to his six innings of  eight hit, three run baseball.

Chikara Onodera continues to pitch effectively from the bullpen. He made two appearances last week and kept the opposition off the board. In 15 appearances so far (farm team high), he’s pitched 15.1 innings and has an ERA of 0.59.

Kyuko has also seen his workload increase, which is another great sign for the team as he was a phenomenal left-handed option out of the pen last year. He made two appearances last week and didn’t allow any runs.

Recently demoted center fielder, Yuhei, started all three games last weekend and was 5-15 at the plate.

Kawamoto (C) appears to be back in action and both caught and DH’d last weekend. Nitta did the same and appears to be having a bit more success at the plate so far.

Tokyo’s little birds will play six home games up in Toda starting tomorrow. The first three are against the little Giants, and the second set is against the little Marines. All six games are scheduled to start at 1PM.

Around the Central League

Tokyo finished the week with three wins and two losses which leaves them in sole possession of first place in the Central League with an overall record of 18-10-2. After splitting a rain-shortened series with Yokohama, the birds returned to Jingu and took 2-3 from the visiting Hiroshima Carp. They enjoy a mere half-game lead over second place Chunichi.

Chunichi finished the week with two wins, two losses, and two ties. Those two losses came over the weekend when they were visiting Yokohama who are now in possession of a semi-healthy Tsutsugoh at third base. The boy has been hitting the ball hard, and if memory serves, he’s eligible for ROY voting this season. The Chunichi Dragons finished the week in second place, half a game behind the Tokyo Swallows.

Staff ace, Kazuki Yoshimi, was taken off the active roster due to a gammy hammy on May 2nd. That’s good news for the Swallows because it means that they won’t have to face him next week when they travel to play Chunichi.

Hanshin finished the week with one win, four losses, and one draw. In fact, they finished the Golden Week nine-game stretch with a league worst 1-6-2 record. They only scored five runs in their six games last week, and they were shut out three times. They’re still in third place though, 4.5 games behind Tokyo and just a half game ahead of the surging Yomiuri Giants.

The scoreless draw against Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome on April 30th was the first time in 69 years (link in Japanese) that such a result has happened between those two clubs.

Looking for some depth at catcher due to injuries to Johjima and Fujii, Hanshin traded pitcher Ryuji Wakatake to Hokkaido for backup catcher, Kenta Imanari. 24-year-old Imanari appeared in 22 games for the Fighters last year and hit .115 with three hits.

Yomiuri finished the week with four wins and two losses. They took 2-3 from the visiting Hiroshima Carp at Tokyo Dome and then did the same against Hanshin when they played there this past weekend. Yomiuri finished the GW stretch with a Japan-best .750 winning percentage which is terrible news for those who value what is just and right in the world. Yomiuri still has a losing record, but they’re just a half game behind the faltering Hanshin Tigers.

Yomiuri is apparently going to be welcoming 33-year-old Edgar Gonzalez back into the fold. You may recall that Gonzalez played for the Giants back in 2010. He had 327 plate appearances in 100 games for Yomiuri that year, hitting .263/.342/.457 with 76 hits (12 HR) and 44 RBI. Last year he hit .315/.378/.457 with 159 hits (30 2B, 14 HR) and 82 RBI in 137 games for AAA Fresno (San Francisco Giants).

Hiroshima finished the week with two wins and four losses. They dropped all three of their GW series, and critically four of their six games with the first place Tokyo Swallows. They are now in fifth place in the Central League, one game behind Yomiuri and just two games ahead of the improving Yokohama Baystars.

Yokohama finished the week with three wins, one loss, and one draw. The biggest thrill for them was undoubtedly winning their weekend series against the defending Central League champs, Chunichi. They outscored the Dragons 19-6 in those three games, and it should be fun to see if they can keep this momentum going into the Interleague block of the season which begins on the 16th. Yokohama are still in last place, but they’re finally showing some signs of life. If Yoshimura, Ramirez, Nakamura, and Tsutsugoh all get on track at the same time, then they should be able to produce quite a few runs.

Yokohama apparently has some kind of ticketing scheme worked out whereby fans can get a refund if they were unhappy with the game that they watched. According to reports, there have been some long lines at the ticket windows following several of the games.

The Week Ahead

Tokyo has a slightly abbreviated schedule this week, the last before Interleague games begin on May 16 with a two game home series against 2011 Japan Series Champs, Fukuoka.

This week also features quite a bit of running around for the team. The first series is against the Dragons May 8th-10th, and even though it’s an ‘away’ series for the birds, only one of those games will be played at Nagoya Dome. Game 1 is in Toyohashi, game 2 is to be played in Gifu, and the final game will see the teams play a game in the cavernous dome that Chunichi calls home.

Friday the 11th is a travel day as the birds head north to Akita for a two-game “home” series against Yomiuri.

Games on the 8th-10th and 12th start at 6PM. The game on the 13th is scheduled to begin at 3PM. Check the calendar at the bottom of this site’s homepage if you need more detail.

Former Swallows

Seth Greisinger continues to be unhittable for the Chiba Marines. He leads the Pacific League in ERA (0.31), winning percentage (perfect), opposing team’s batting average (.165), and K/9 (8.59).

Norichika Aoki only has 34 at-bats in the 22 games that he’s appeared in (usually as a pinch hitter), and his slash line is currently: .235/.316/.353. It will be fun to see what he can do if/when he gets to start regularly for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Alex Ramirez continues to struggle at the plate in his new home of Yokohama (.198/.217/.284). He finally hit his first homer of the season on Friday when Chunichi came to town.

Standing ovation for Tokyo's legendary third baseman.

Alright, that’s all for this week. Please excuse me because I have fallen woefully behind on my meat consumption.

Drink up.

Website Updates

Apologies for the delay, but we finally set up a game schedule up on the front page. We didn’t have one on there last season due to space limitations, but we think that you’ll find this year’s solution to be a workable one. Scroll down to the bottom of the front page for a look at Tokyo’s upcoming schedule as well as the Central and Pacific League Standings. Oh, and there’s a list of the community selections for Swallows of the Week down on the right.

Swallows of the Week

Week 4

Last week you chose your favorite from among five outstanding performers: Katsuki Akagawa (P), Wladimir Balentien (RF), Tony Barnette (P), Shingo Kawabata (SS), and Orlando Roman (P).

28 people cast their vote this time around, and here’s what you decided:

Player	Votes	%
Wladimir Balentien	13	46
Tony Barnette	7	25
Shingo Kawabata	5	18
Katsuki Akagawa	2	7
Orlando Roman	1	4

Nicely done, Mr. Balentien! Coco was a force in week five as well, so it should be interesting to see if he can be the first player to ring it up twice here in the voting. At any rate, we’re enthused that he’s helping the team so much. Love, love, love! his improved control of the strike zone and hustle in the field. Long may it last!

Week 5

Tokyo played six games in the fifth week of the 2012 season. Three of those were played in the rain at Jingu, and the other three were day games at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima.

Tokyo outscored Chunichi 9-4 in the three game series that they hosted last week, and including the rough day against Hiroshima’s young Nomura on Sunday the birds outpaced the Carp 13-8.

Game reports:

April 24th vs Chunichi (Home) 4-1 W
April 25th vs Chunichi (Home) 1-1 D
April 26th vs Chunichi (Home) 4-2 W
April 28th vs Hiroshima (Away) 6-4 W
April 29th vs Hiroshima (Away) 0-3 L
April 30th vs Hiroshima (Away) 7-1 W

And here are the top-performing birds from week 5:

Wladimir Balentien (RF) comes fresh off of his first ever SOW win with another solid performance in week 5. He hit .304 last week (7-23 at the plate) with three walks and seven RBI. He hit another two home runs in week 5, including that three-run dinger that helped the team steal game one of its just-finished series against Hiroshima.

Tony Barnette (P) notched three saves last week and appeared in the first four games of the week. That was good enough for the most innings pitched of any reliever. Over four innings of work, Tony struck out two while allowing three hits and no walks. He has yet to surrender a run this season (0.00 ERA).

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (1B) had a bit of a breakout week while continuing to toil in the 7-hole. He was 8-22 at the plate (.364 average) with a double and a triple (gasp!) this week. He also drove in five runs and added two walks. Give the man some more pudding.

Lastings Milledge (LF) was awesome this week. He hit .391 and was a team-leading 9-23 at the plate with three doubles, a game-changing home run, three RBI, and three walks. And I daresay that his aggressiveness in left field is having a ripple effect in right. Oh, and he’s a sure bet to get waved home. I lost count, but Lastings slid home safely several times this week.

Shohei Tateyama (P) is at the end of this list due solely to alphabetical concerns. Tokyo’s true ace won two games this week, and that’s no mean feat. 13 innings pitched, 10 hits, 5 K, 5 BB, and just two earned runs–not too shabby. He co-shares the league lead in wins (3) and winning percentage (perfect!).

Let us know what you think! And as always, please vote only once.

Roster Updates

Rookie Hiyane (CF) was dropped to the farm on the 23rd due to some general greenness at the plate and in the field, and a complete inability to use his speed to swipe second base.

Utility infielder, Noguchi, was promoted on the 24th and featured as a pinch runner and defensive replacement at third last week.

Second year shortstop, Tetsuto Yamada, was dropped on the 27th in order to get some actual playing time, and speedster Miwa (INF) was promoted a day later to provide another pinch-running option.

The active roster, as of game time on the 30th, looked like this:

Pitchers
Muranaka, Ishikawa, Masubuchi, Tateyama, Barnette, Hidaka, Akagawa, Watanabe, Roman, Abe, Oshimoto, Hirai

Catchers
Nitta, Fukukawa, Nakamura

Infielders
Kawabata, Miyamoto, Tanaka, Takeuchi, Hatakeyama, Noguchi, Miwa, Morioka

Outfielders
Balentien, Iihara, Yuhei, Milledge, Ueda

From the Farm

The team announced that an Eastern League game was scheduled for May 17th at Toda against Saitama. You can check the farm team’s full schedule here (link in Japanese).

Tokyo’s game against Rakuten on the 27th was rained out, but the little birds won three of the four games that they played last week (results for Monday’s game against Saitama were not available when this article was published).

Lim pitched in a few games last week and earned a couple of saves but also got shelled in his outing yesterday against Saitama. If the bullpen holds together over the next few days, that could mean that Roman gets at least one more start on the top team.

Onodera continues to look pretty sharp, and it looks like Kyuko is getting a little bit of work in. I didn’t see Yoshinori’s name anywhere though.

Around the Central

Tokyo finished the week with 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. They took two of three from Chunichi in the rain at Jingu (one tie game), and two of three from the Carp in Hiroshima. They’re tied with Chunichi for first place in the Central League.

Chunichi finished the week 3-2-1. They lost two of three to Tokyo (one tie), and then swept Yokohama at Nagoya Dome. They’re tied at the top with your Tokyo Swallows.

Hanshin finished the week 2-3-1. They took two of three from Hiroshima at Koshien Stadium, and then lost two and drew one against Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome. Tossers. Hanshin are 2.5 games behind the first place tie of Tokyo and Chunichi.

Hiroshima finished the week 2-4. They lost two of three against the Tigers in Hanshin territory, and then they dropped another two at home to the Tokyo Swallows. They remain 2 games behind the third place Tigers and 4.5 behind Tokyo and Chunichi in first.

Yomiuri finished the week 3-0-1. They won one game against Yokohama in Kagoshima (the other game got rained out), and then won two and drew one at home against the Hanshin Tigers. Yomiuri are one game behind Hiroshima in fifth place.

Yokohama finished the week 0-4. They didn’t win a game this week against either the Yomiuri Giants or the Chunichi Dragons. Sixth place and three games behind the Giants.

The Week Ahead

Tokyo are headed straight to Yokohama for a three game series against the last-placed Baystars. The games on Tuesday and Wednesday both start at 6pm, but the game on Thursday starts at 2pm. Ishikawa will start for the birds on Tuesday.

Don’t be too surprised if the outfield bleacher seats are all reserved (ie. more expensive than normal) as Yokohama has a history of gouging during Golden Week.

Also, the weather looks kind of iffy, so plan accordingly. If the game gets rained out, and you’ve got extra time on your hands in the Kannai/Bashamichi area, stop by the Baird Bashamichi Taproom for a couple of brews and some BBQ ribs.

The final third of Tokyo’s current nine-game marathon will be played at the lovely Jingu Stadium Friday to Sunday. Friday’s game starts at 3pm, but the two weekend games are scheduled for 6pm starts. If the weather’s nice, those games could see some pretty healthy attendance, so arrive early if you’re part of a decent-sized group (four or more) or are picky about where you sit.

Former Swallows

Alex Ramirez (Tokyo player from 2001-07) didn’t start against the Dragons on Saturday or Sunday. The manager is apparently worried about his conditioning and wants him to get his legs back in shape. Ramirez did start yesterday, however, and was 0-3. He’s currently hitting .215/.227/.262.

Atsunori Inaba (Tokyo player from 1995-2004) joined the Meikyukai on Saturday after recording his 2,000th hit in a game against Tohoku in Sendai. Check this post for some excellent factoids related to Inaba’s feat.

Alright, please excuse me while I tune in to the derby.

Drink up!

To go along with our game reports, I did a little fishing around on YouTube and found some news clips that may or may not be up there much longer. Rather than go back and embed these videos in the game reports themselves, here’s a post with the video with all of the video in the same place.

4/20/12: Tokyo 2-1 Yomiuri (click link to read game report)

4/21/12: Tokyo 2-0 Yomiuri

4/22/12: Tokyo 3-2 Yomiuri

Tokyo now has a 5-1 record against Yomiuri this season.

Hopefully the birds can pull off something similar against the visiting Chunichi Dragons starting tomorrow evening at 6PM. Tateyama will take the mound for the Swallows while Yamai will be pitching for Chunichi.

Swallows of the Week

Week 3

Last week’s vote saw the strong performances by Hiroyasu Tanaka (2B), Lastings Milledge (LF), Katsuki Akagawa (P), and Kyohei Muranaka (P).

28 people cast their vote this week, and here’s what they decided:

Player	Votes	%
Hiroyasu Tanaka	19	68
Lastings Milledge	6	21
Katsuki Akagawa	2	7
Kyohei Muranaka	1	4

Congratulations to Beavis, a very well-liked player in these parts. We’re excited to see him having a chance to swing the bat more often this season (now that he’s not on perpetual bunt duty), and we hope to see him lead a threatening top of the order for Tokyo.

Week 4

HR number four (2nd this weekend).

Tokyo played six games this week: one in Kobe, two at Koshien, and a three-game home stand at Jingu against Yomiuri.

The birds were outscored 6-10 in their series against Hanshin, but played decent baseball throughout most of those games. They then returned home for the Tokyo derby and took the series against Yomiuri.

In case you missed them, here are game reports:

April 17th vs Hanshin (Away)
April 18th vs Hanshin (Away)
April 19th vs Hanshin (Away)
April 20th vs Yomiuri (Home)
April 21st vs Yomiuri (Home)
April 22nd vs Yomiuri (Home)

Overall, the birds won four and lost two last week.

And here are the contestants for your week 4 vote:

Katsuki Akagawa (P) – The 21-year-old lefty pitched Tokyo’s first complete game shutout of 2012. In fact, it was the first time that any starter went the full nine, period. In the process, he faced 32 batters and threw 127 pitches (5 H, 6 K, 1 BB). He’s now 2-1 after four starts and leads all Swallows starters with a 0.95 ERA and .210 opposing team batting average.

Wladimir Balentien (P) – Suddenly more focused both in the field and on the basepaths, Coco got on base in all six games last week. He had six hits (two homers), three RBI, and two walks last week. When the Swallows returned to defend Tokyo against the Giants, he was switched up to cleanup in place of the ineffective Hatakeyama, and that’s when both home runs appeared.

Tony Barnette (P) – The week 2 Swallow of the Week was back at it again in week 4. He took the mound in the ninth three times last week, each time to protect a one-run lead. He allowed just one runner last week and converted all three save opportunities. His three strikeout performance on Friday was a clear indication of how well he’s throwing at the moment. His ERA remains at zero, and he has a NPB career-high seven saves which is good enough for second for second in the Central League. He was also ready to go Saturday night when Akagawa was attempting to get through the ninth on his own.

Shingo Kawabata (SS) – Tokyo’s shortstop continues to display some of the gap power that he displayed last season which was highlighted by his bases clearing triple on Saturday. Like Balentien, he had six hits and three RBI last week while mixing in a pair of walks as well. His defense at short was also solid, and he has teamed nicely with Tanaka in turning a number of clutch double plays. He currently leads the team in hits (20) and has done a good job of protecting the cleanup hitter.

Orlando Roman (P) – With a five-man rotation, someone has to pitch twice in the same week. Although the team had been able to avoid doubling any of its starters up earlier in the month, Roman became the workhorse of the week. He pitched six full innings on Tuesday and 5.1 on Sunday. During those eleven and one-third innings he allowed nine hits (two homers) and four earned runs. He worked hard in the rain on Sunday and was awarded with his first NPB win.

OK, Tsubamegun, cast your vote. Click the button for your Swallow of the Week. Please vote only once.

Roster Updates

There were no major roster updates announced by the team last week.

From the Farm

It sounds like Yoshinori’s rehab had another setback and he may not be ready to rejoin the top team until Golden Week or later. Instead, there are rumblings that Shichijo may get promoted to relieve some pressure on the starting rotation. (HT Yakyu Baka)

As for minor league performances, it seems like outfielder Jun Matsui is playing alright. He has appeared in 22 games so far and has a slash line of .345/.371/.452 with a team-leading 29 hits.

None of Tokyo’s minor league starters are exactly tearing it up at the moment, but Chikara Onodera seems to be posting serviceable numbers. Through 12 innings of middle relief, he’s posted a 0.75 ERA.

Tanaka has been clutch protecting the middle of the infield.

Around the Central

Chunichi finished the week with five wins and one loss. They took two of three from Yomiuri at Nagoya Dome and then swept Hiroshima at Mazda Stadium to make it five wins in a row. Chunichi is still in first place.

Yomiuri finished the week 1-5. Sugiuchi helped earn a series-opening win on Tuesday in Nagoya, but the Giants haven’t won since. They wrapped up their week by being swept by the Tokyo Swallows at Jingu. They remain in last place in the CL, half a game behind Yokohama.

Hanshin finished the week 3-3. They took two of three from Tokyo on their home soil but then only won a single game in Yokohama this past weekend. They remain in third place, half a game behind the second place Tokyo Swallows.

Hiroshima finished the week 3-3. With all six games played at home, they swept the Baystars to start the week and then dropped three in a row to the visiting Dragons. They are fourth in the Central, 1.5 games behind third place Hanshin.

Yokohama finished the week 2-4. After getting swept by Hiroshima away, they returned home and took two games from the visiting Tigers. They’re doing just enough to stay out of sixth place at the moment.

The Week Ahead

The birds will host current CL front-runners, Chunichi, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. All games are scheduled for a 6PM start. Both teams swept their most recent opponents and hope to take advantage of that momentum during the upcoming matchup.

Tokyo has Friday off and will travel to Hiroshima for a three-game set with a 1:30PM first pitch scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Former Swallows

Norichika Aoki finally got his first major league start and collected his first home run in the process, an inside-the-park round tripper.

He batted second and finished the game 2-4 with six total bases (HR, 2B), two runs scored, and one RBI.

Seth Greisinger has been pitching well for the Chiba Marines. He’s 2-0 through two starts and 15 innings of work. He’s averaging a strikeout per inning, and he has yet to give up an earned run.

Former Tokyo third baseman, Akinori Iwamura, played in his first minor league game on Saturday. It was his first day back in competitive action after hurting his right hamstring more than a month ago.

That’s it for this week’s snapshot. Please excuse me while I start peeling.

Drink up!

Yomiuri Giants  2

Tokyo Swallows 3

Streak: Won 3  Last 5: WLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeep!

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yomiuri	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0
Tokyo	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	8	1
W: Roman (1-3, 3.57 ERA) L: Fukuda (0-2, 1.35) S: Barnette (1-0, 7 S, 0.00)

Roman finally got his first NPB ‘W’ in his fourth start of the year and second this week.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	Takahashi (RF)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Fujimura (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Sakamoto (SS)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Abe (C)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Chono (CF)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Murata (3B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Bowker (LF)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Ishii (1B)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Miyaguni (P)	9	Roman (P)

Despite the rain, this was another enjoyable game to watch for the Swallows fans in attendance. The published figure for tickets sold is 13,986, but there probably weren’t more than eight or nine thousand in the stands. It never rained hard, but the drizzle was pretty much constant. It made for a cakey mound towards the end of the game.

Roman looked good early on. He got through the first three innings on only 36 pitches and one hit.

And he got some run support in the bottom of the second. Balentien cranked an 0-1 slider into the seats in left-center to put the birds ahead.

Roman got just enough run support today.ahead.

1-0 Swallows

Kawabata followed with a single to center, and Miyamoto added a walk, just his second of the season.

Hatakeyama then grounded out to third, but fortunately both runners moved over in the process.

Nakamura then chipped in with a sac fly to right that was just deep enough to let Kawabata slide in safely ahead of the tag.

2-0 Tokyo

Roman was able to establish his heater the first time through the Yomiuri lineup, and then he started to mix in more sliders the second time through. He ran into a little bit of a rough spot in the form of a Sakamoto-Abe one-two punch in the top of the fourth though. Sakamoto doubled with one out to help make Yomiuri look threatening for the first time since the first inning on Friday. And Abe got the better part of Roman’s 1-0 pitch for a homer that just barely skirted the fence in right.

Tokyo 2-2 Yomiuri

But the Swallows regrouped and put some offense together soon after. After stranding three runners in the fourth, Tokyo put it’s starter back in the lead in the fifth. Tanaka led things off with a grounder up the middle, and he moved over to second on Ueda’s Tak-bunt. Milledge then ripped a 1-1 cutter off the base of the fence in left to score Tanaka easily from second. Milledge was in safely for a stand-up double.

3-2 Tokyo

Yomiuri looked like they might answer in the top of the sixth. A leadoff walk and then a Nakamura throwing error on a bunt meant that Yomiuri had runners on second and third with no outs. Roman recorded his final out of the game on a fly ball to center, and then he was told to walk Abe which loaded the bases.

And that was the end of Roman’s night. Masubuchi took the mound in his stead.

Masubuchi fell behind against Chono, but he then got him to swing and miss at three consecutive sinkers near the outside corner of the plate. Two outs.

Tanaka then brought the Tokyo faithful to their feet when he robbed Murata of an RBI or two when he launched himself in the air and snared a rocket that was headed towards Ueda’s neck of the woods. Crisis averted.

Milledge's reply? "I love you, Coco."

That was Tanaka’s second inning-ending, he-saved-our-asses play of this series.

Tokyo put a couple of runners on in the seventh, but that was it as far as offense was concerned.

More importantly, after Masubuchi’s two outs in the sixth, Tokyo’s trio of Hidaka, Oshimoto, and Barnette were perfect through the final three frames.

Barnette buttoned things up in the ninth for his seventh save of the year and third this week.

Pitching:

Roman’s final line was 5.1 IP, 65 NP, 3 H (1 HR), 1 K, 2 BB, 2 R (both earned). He’s now 1-3 with a 3.57 ERA.

Masubuchi, Hidaka, and Oshimoto all earned holds for their combined 2.2 innings of perfect baseball. Masubuchi was able to lower his ERA to 4.32 today.

Barnette faced three batters and threw 14 pitches today. He worked his heater, cutter, and sinker to good effect against the middle of Yomiuri’s lineup and was able to induce three harmless pop-ups for his third save this week.

Offense:

Only Ueda had a multi-hit game today, but Tanaka, Kawabata, and Miyamoto also reach base twice. Milledge and Nakamura deserve praise for coming through with runners in scoring position.

Tokyo has tomorrow off before hosting the first-place Chunichi Dragons Tuesday-Thursday. Tuesday’s games starts at 6PM. See you there.

Notes:

The Tokyo 3-2 Yomiuri scoreline condemned the Giants to their fifth consecutive defeat.

Tokyo are still in second place, one game behind the Chunichi Dragons. After Hanshin’s pummeling of Yokohama this afternoon, the top three in the Central League remained the same.

Tokyo’s record is now 11-7-1.

Today’s game was over in just two hours and 31 minutes. I was home well before 10 PM which is rare.

All four of Tokyo’s top team imported players had a significant impact on today’s game. Balentien was responsible for Tokyo’s first run thanks to his fourth homer of the season. Milledge scored the game-winner with his RBI double. Roman got the win after 5.1 innings in nasty conditions, and Barnette sealed the deal in the ninth. Can’t remember the last time anything similar happened.

Balentien relinquished the lead league in average and OBP, but he’s now tied with Chunichi’s Hirata and Hanshin’s Brazell for the lead in homers (4).

Nakamura now leads the league in sac flies (2).

Miyamoto needs just nine more hits to join the Meikyukai.

Roman and Milledge both were awarded for today’s performances with their first NPB hero interviews.

Balentien made sure to keep things light by shoving a towel-full of shaving cream into Milledge’s face during the interview. To his credit, Milledge laughed it off and was very appreciative of his teammates and positive about the team’s chances when he was finally able to see and talk again.

Milledge had five hits and two RBI this week--his second was a game-winner.

Yomiuri Giants 0

Tokyo Swallows 2

Streak: Won 2  Last 5: LWLWW

(Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Swallows	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	2	4	0
W: Akagawa (2-1) L: Sawamura (1-3)

The struggling Giants retooled their lineup, but were no match for a hot Akagawa. A fairly simple and clean win for the Swallows tonight.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	Takahashi (1B)	1	Tanaka (2B)
2	Terauchi (2B)	2	Ueda (CF)
3	Sakamoto (SS)	3	Milledge (LF)
4	Abe (C)	4	Balentien (RF)
5	Chono (CF)	5	Kawabata (SS)
6	Murata (3B)	6	Miyamoto (3B)
7	Bowker (LF)	7	Hatakeyama (1B)
8	Kajimae (RF)	8	Nakamura (C)
9	Sawamura (P)	9	Akagawa (P)

Akagawa started the game off with 2 strikeouts before allowing a single to Sakamoto. Sakamoto was the only Giant that managed to do anything offensively, going 4-for-4 for the night. But Akagawa managed to keep the rest of the Giants in check all night.

Sawamura, on the other hand, started his night by walking Tanaka on 5 pitches. Ueda bunted Tanaka to second, and Sakamoto got Milledge to fly out to center on just 2 pitches. Balentien managed to draw a walk from Sawamura, and Kawabata made him pay by lacing a liner into the right field gap for a bases clearing triple. 2-0 Swallows

The rest of the night was a pitchers duel between Akagawa and Sawamura in which neither offense really threatened. Akagawa’s night was characterized by lots of grounders, with 13 of his 27 outs coming from grounders. Of those 13 grounders, 8 of them were fielded by Tanaka at second. Akagawa got 6 strikeouts from Giants batters and only allowed 1 walk. He never allowed more than 1 runner to get on in an inning and only allowed 1 extra base hit (a double to Sakamoto in the ninth).

Outside of the first, Sawamura was also largely in control, as he never allowed more than 1 runner to get on in an inning and didn’t give up any more extra-base hits. He also struck out 6 batters, and only allowed 1 more walk after the first. Sawamura was pulled after 7 innings and 89 pitches for a pinch hitter, and Nishimura finished the game for the Giants with a perfect eighth.

Akagawa’s first career complete game shutout was accomplished with 127 pitches, and the youngster improved his record to 2-1, while lowering his ERA to 0.95.

The duel lasted a brisk 2 and a half hours and was witnessed by 25,405 souls. The Swallows will look to get the sweep with Roman on the mound while the Giants will counter with the Miyaguni.

Akagawa pitched a gem tonight.