Tsubamegun wishes you a speedy recovery, Yuji.

2011 fifth round draft pick, Yuji Nakane, had surgery on his ACL (right knee) today. Recovery and rehab are expected to consume the entirety of the 2012 season.

The official announcement comes through the Tokyo Swallows Japanese-language website.

The Swallows were aware of Nakane’s knee issues when they selected him late in the draft but felt that his upside was worth the risk of time off.

The Swallows are confident that he would have gone earlier in the draft if not for his ACL injury. Kozo mentioned a history of injuries shadowing his potential in his draft recap at the end of last year. Oh, and he’s Yoshinori’s former teammate from high school.

Let’s hope that the Tohoku Fukushi University alum experiences a swift and complete recovery.

We need to officially change the name of this column, since it’s not Monday and I don’t want to be limited by the title. It’s something we’ll have to work on in the offseason. In the meantime, I’ll be giving you some news updates and roster analysis to mull over before the start of the Climax Series next Saturday.

Senryokugai Players: Earlier this month the Swallows announced that 8 players will be cut by the team at the end of the season. The players are LHP Masaru Sato, RHP Shun Takaichi, RHP Hiromitsu Takagi, RHP Masahiro Yoshikawa, LHP Naoya Okamoto, C Atsushi Kinugawa, INF Ryo Yoshimoto, and OF Toshihiro Nakao. Of the listed players, Kinugawa will be given a front office position with the team, and many of the other players were undecided as to what they wanted to do in the future. No major surprises here, and we wish all these players the best in their future endeavors.

Potential Roster Moves: The Swallows have been going crazy with roster moves since the last Monday Review, and we won’t be going over them all. Instead, we’ll be examining where certain players are now and how our post-season roster is shaping up. As of today the Swallows only have 23 players out of a possible 28 on their active roster. Any player removed from the active roster on or before the 19th would be eligible to return in time for Game 1 of the Climax series on the 29th. Among the players not on the active roster who may get recalled in the playoffs are Ishikawa, Kawabata, Whitesell, Kyuko, Barnette, Muranaka, Yoshinori, Shichijo, and Iihara. I’ll give a quick update on the status of each player.

• Ishikawa was removed from the active roster on the 19th, and he should be expected to return on the 29th. Many outlets are now reporting that Ishikawa will be the Swallows’ game 1 starter, and that he may throw in a Phoenix League (fall league) game as warm up. The chances of Ishikawa NOT getting recalled seems slim to none at this point.
• Kawabata was removed from active roster at the same time as Ishikawa. Apparently he had been feeling pain in his left wrist since a game against Hiroshima in September, and was taken off the active roster for that reason. The pains may have been what contributed to his 5-for-45 batting in October. He’s said he’ll be aiming to return in time for the CS, but the status of his health is concerning.
• Whitesell was taken off the roster with right flank pains on the 9th. But there have been no other reports as to his status since. Obviously having Whitesell’s bat on the bench would be a big help to a team struggling to get its offense going.
• Kyuko returned to the team on the 11th, but had a couple of rocky outings (2.1 IP, 5 ER, in 3 appearances) and was taken of the active roster on the 20th. No word as to whether Kyuko is injured and whether he can be expected back for the playoffs. Since Kyuko was taken off the active roster on the 20th, he would only be eligible to return for Game 2 of the first round.
• Barnette’s case is even more mysterious than Kyuko’s case. Barnette was recalled to the active roster at the same time as Kyuko but was taken off the roster 3 days later without ever getting into a game. Barnette has not pitched in a first team game since September 3, and hasn’t pitched in ni-gun games as far as I can see. No details have been released as to Barnette’s condition. Like Kyuko, we’d love to have a prime Barnette back for the playoffs, but it would be a concern if he takes the mound for the first time in the CS.
• Muranaka was taken off the active roster on the 15th after pitching ineffectively on the 14th. Muranaka is healthy as far as we know, so I’d expect him back on the roster for the playoffs.
• The current word on Yoshinori is that he could potentially return if the team makes it to the Nippon Series, but not any sooner.
• Shichijo was demoted from the team after a series of rough outings in late September, but would be available to the team unless he has a hidden injury. He was not on the initial Phoenix League roster so he may be rusty if he were to join the team.
• Finally Iihara would be available to the team if he is needed.

As you can see from the above list our team has been suffering through injury and our roster is somewhat in flux and other players have not been able to fill in the gap. As reported earlier by Chris, Keizo Kawashima will not be able available to the team as he underwent ligament surgery (possibly Tommy John surgery?) on his right elbow and will be out for a whole year.

Left Field: One of the first topics I ever handled on the Monday Review was our left field situation. At the time, the solution was putting Hatake in left, and that worked for a while. However, the big man’s defensive inability in left combined with some cooling off by Whitesell led to a re-opening of the hole in left. The team has tried Iihara, Ueda, and Fukuchi over the last month. While all of them are more than adequate replacements in left field they haven’t been able to make up for the offense lost by having Whitesell come off the bench. It seems the team has settled on Ueda for the stretch run.

Have we settled on a left fielder for the playoffs?

2011 Draft: The 2011 Draft will occur on the 27th. I will be posting a draft preview sometime next week. Let me know if there are any players you’d like me to cover.

Retirement Game: Our last game is on Tuesday, and as predicted in the last Monday Review, the final game will be a retirement game. Hirotoshi Ishii will be given an opportunity to pitch in one last pro game prior to his retirement. There were no comments in regards to Hamanaka and Guiel, but it seems those players will not be coming into the game.

I Want Love: As mentioned by Chris and Dave in their last podcast, I”m in need to love and feedback for this column. Let me know if you like this column and if there’s anything I can do to make it better.

After a couple of weeks of feeling like there wasn’t much to write about, we’re back with another Monday review! This week we’ll cover the major roster moves made this week, well as go over all the retirement announcements made recently, and we’ll also spend a lot of time going over the stretch run from multiple view points.

Looking Back

Roster Moves: Due to injury and ineffectiveness our roster has been in flux recently. Muranaka was taken off the active roster on September 28 citing tightness in his throwing shoulder after a string of ineffective starts. Shichijo took his place on the roster, but lost it a day later after an ineffective start against the Tigers. Meanwhile Ishikawa and Kyuko both reportedly had fevers. Kyuko was taken off the active roster with Shichijo to get some rest, while Ishikawa missed his scheduled start but remained on the active roster. LHP Okamoto was brought up with the Kyuko/Shichijo demotion, but lost his top team spot on the 2nd in a major roster shake up. Okamoto, Tetsuya Yamamoto, Takeuchi, and Miwa lost their spot on the active roster in favor of Hitoshi Yamamoto, Kato, Hashimoto, Fukuchi, and Yuichi. One day later, Keizo Kawashima was taken off the active roster. The Swallows’ active roster currently stands at 26 men, which means that 2 spots are open for a call up. Kyuko and Muranaka would be eligible to return this upcoming weekend. Yoshinori was rumored to be coming back during the Swallows’ 9 game stretch in September, but subsequent rumors have mentioned that he would not be able to return during the regular season. Tony Barnette was supposed to be shut down for 3 weeks at the beginning of September, so he may be coming back soon, but there is no news on Tony’s present condition.

While the moves on the offensive side are mostly cosmetic since our starting core has been fairly established, the moves on the pitching side point to a team in flux. We’re starting to run out of quality starters and we’ll have to hand the ball to a group of younger unproven relievers if the starters can’t go deep. The absence of Kyuko and Barnette also puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Matsuoka and Oshimoto late in the game in key situations. Our current rotation is Tateyama, Masubuchi, Akagawa, Hitoshi Yamamoto (?), and Ishikawa (assuming he returns tomorrow). Not quite the rotation that got us here.

Retirement News: We’ve already covered the retirement announcement of Aaron Guiel, but two more Swallows announced their intention to retire after the season. Hirotoshi Ishii and Osamu Hamanaka will be retiring after the season.

Hirotoshi Ishii

Hirotoshi Ishii is a life-long Swallow that was drafted in the 4th round of the 1995 draft. Starting in 1999, Ishii started getting regular playing time as a lefty arm out of the bullpen. He had a breakout season in 2002 in which he appeared in a league high 69 games, and posted a 1.51 ERA with a 0.84 WHIP, on his way to be named Most Valuable Reliever. Ishii and Ryota Igarashi made up the duo ‘Rocket Boys’ as the top lefty/righty pair out of the bullpen after the departure of Shingo Takatsu in 2004. Beyond his play with the Swallows, Ishii has played for Japan in the 2004 Olympics and the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Ishii had always expressed a strong desire to play in the Majors, but the team would not post him. The team initially promised to post him after the 2004 season, but reneged on the promise after the team changed managers in the off-season. The team finally promised to post Ishii after the 2006 season if he pitched one more full season. Unfortunately, Ishii injured his shoulder during that season and would not pitch at the top level again. Ishii has been rehabbing his shoulder ever since and has appeared in a handful of ni-gun games over the years. Ishii announced his decision to retire on the 29th and thanked the club for giving him the opportunity to try to return to baseball.

Osamu Hamanaka joined the Swallows prior to this season as a potential right handed bat off the bench. After a hot spring, Hamanaka was the team’s opening day stater in left field but lost the job to Hatakeyama after only 3 games. Hamanaka was drafted in 1996 by the Tigers and spent 11 years with the club before moving to the Orix Buffaloes in 2008. Since 2003, Hamanaka has been bothered by a right shoulder injury which has kept him out of the line up on and off for years. Hamanaka cited the injury and his inability to give it his all on the field as reasons for retiring after the season.

Quo Vadimus

The Schedule Up Ahead: The Swallows are about to start a stretch in which they will play 12 games in 12 days. Things will kick off at the Kyocera Dome tomorrow with a 3 game series against the Tigers, followed by a 3 game weekend series at Jingu. Then, the Swallows will travel to Nagoya for a critical 4 game series against the Dragons which may decide the pennant race. The marathon will cap off with a rain make up game against the Tigers at Jingu, followed by another make up game at Yokohama. After that insane stretch, the Swallows will get 2 days off before visiting Koshien for a game, and a game at Nagoya the next day. The Swallows will have 5 days rest before finally wrapping up their regular season with a home game at home.

Win Percentage Table: The final standing are calculated by winning percentage in which ties do not count, formula is W%=W/(144-T).. Therefore a team with 14 ties will have their winning percentage calculated out of 130 games, rather than 144 games.  Thus, with the season winding down, you can make a table of what the team’s win percentage will be depending on their record in the remaining games. Using the table you can see how you compare with other teams depending on their records. Thus we present the win percentage tables as of October 3rd for the top 4 teams in the Central League.

The first thing you may notice is that the Swallows have already guaranteed themselves a winning season. The table also illustrates the gulf that exists between the Swallows and the Tigers, meaning the Swallows’ place in the Climax series is quite safe. You can also use the table to figure out the minimum number of wins the team will need depending on how they do in a head to head. So if the Swallows take 4 out of 5 games from the Dragons, the Dragons would finish with a .5735 winning percentage if they win all their other games. Thus, the Swallows would need to go 5-5 in their other games to finish above the Dragons. Obviously, as games get played you can eliminate possible records and narrow the list of scenarios. If any teams tie the table will need to be reworked to lower the denominator.

Retirement Ceremony Scenarios: The team has traditionally used the last home game of the year to recall the retiring players to the top team to give them one last chance to play at Jingu and give the fans a chance to say goodbye. While imports have typically not received this kind of treatment, the team has hinted that they would try to work something out with Guiel in response to the outpouring of support by the fans. However, this year, depending on where we end up in the standings the team may not be able to afford removing an active player from the roster lest we lose their services for the beginning of the playoffs. Because players removed from the active roster cannot be re-added for 10 days, the team will have to know their playoff situation at least 10 days prior to their first Climax Series game (Oct. 29 for round 1, Nov. 2 for round 2).

Hoping for some more fun times!

Yomiuri Giants  7

Tokyo Swallows  10

Streak: Won 3  Last 5: LLWWW

(Jingu)

What do get when you mix together solid hitting, shoddy relief pitching, and a typhoon? Why, just another early September game at Jingu of course.

	Yomiuri		Tokyo
1	2B Fujimura	1	CF Aoki
2	1B Kemei	2	2B Tanaka
3	CF Chono	3	SS Kawabata
4	RF Takahashi	4	1B Hatakeyama
5	SS Sakamoto	5	RF Takeuchi
6	C Abe	6	3B Miyamoto
7	RF Ramirez	7	LF Iihara
8	3B Furuki	8	C Aikawa
9	P Tohno	9	P Yoshinori

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Yomiuri	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	1	7	16	0
Tokyo	0	1	4	1	0	0	2	2	X	10	13	0
W: Yoshinori (7-6) L: Tohno (6-9; 2 saves)

This game went on for ever and ever. The rain delay helped stretch things to four hours and three minutes. Well, that and the late-inning field day that Yomiuri had on our relievers.

But a win is still a win, and it was nice to see the team score with a bit more regularity.

Many of us in the stands were worried that Yoshinori would walk three or first guys in the first inning, as he seems so fond of doing, and that we’d be playing catch-up for the first few frames. But after allowing a single to the first batter he faced, Yoshinori buckled down and didn’t let another runner on base until the beginning of the fourth.

And get this–Yoshinori didn’t issue a single walk during his seven innings of work. Yes, you read that correctly.

Not only that, but Yoshinori was also able to make a difference at the plate.

In the bottom of the second, Tokyo started a two-out rally thanks to an Iihara walk and an Aikawa single to right.

Yoshinori then stepped up to the plate and hit a soft blooper over the infield’s head to score Iihara. 1-0 Tokyo.

The lead was supplemented mightily in the third inning thanks to a Tanaka walk and Kawabata’s second home run of the season. 3-0 Tokyo.

Yoshinori reacts after striking Chono out in the fifth.

Hatakeyama followed that with another walk, and then two outs later, Iihara and Aikawa drove in one run apiece care of a double to left and a single to center, respectively. 5-0 Tokyo.

But the home crowd’s elation was soon tempered when Aoki led off the fourth by getting beaned in the right hand by an inside pitch from Hoshino. He was immediately removed from the game, and Miwa took his place on first base.

But even Ogawa’s decision to have Tanaka Tak-bunt Miwa over to second with a five run cushion couldn’t keep the Swallows bats from continuing the momentum from earlier innings. Kawabata came through once again with a single to left that plated the fleet-footed Miwa from second. 6-0 Tokyo.

Good news: Aoki’s injury has been diagnosed as a contusion. Apparently there are no fractured bones in his hand.

Yoshinori finally lost his footing in the fifth when the Giants were able to cobble together two runs off of four base hits. 6-2 Tokyo.

But the Swallows got things going again in the bottom of the seventh. Hatakeyama led off with a very rare (for him) infield single, and then Takeuchi drew a walk. Miyamoto then sacrifice bunted the two runners over, and then, mysteriously, Yomiuri intentionally walked Iihara in order to get to Aikawa.

This was an interesting gamble on Hara’s (Yomiuri’s manager) part because Aikawa already had two hits in his first three plate appearances. It turned out to be a bad decision as Aikawa singled to center and both Hatakeyama and Takeuchi were able to trot home. 8-2 Good guys.

Then things started to get a little out of hand.

Barnette took the mound for the start of the eighth inning and promptly gave up a solo home run to Yomiuri’s first batter, Chono, on a 2-0 outside heater.

One out later, Tony gave up consecutive doubles to Sakamoto and Abe with another run scoring as a result. Barnette then got out number two by inducing Ramirez to fly out to second base, but he then conceded a fourth hit to Furuki which brought Abe around to score.

Matsuoka then took the mound and picked up right where Barnette had left off. He walked pinch-hitter, Tani, on five pitches, and then he allowed an RBI single to Ohmura for the fourth and final run of the inning (all charged to Barnette). Kyuko was finally called in to throw just one pitch and record the final out. 8-6 Tokyo.

But the birds showed some spine and put another couple of runs on the board in the bottom of that inning to dilute the potency of Yomiuri’s half of the inning. Hatakeyama hit an RBI single to the fence in left, and then Takeuchi hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot off of Takagi, to cap the Swallows scoring at 10 runs. 10-6 Tokyo.

Lim was then called in to take care of the non-save situation and showed that he has yet to regain his old form.

Tohno didn't even last three full innings.

He allowed three consecutive two-out hits (the third of which was an RBI double) to let Yomiuri claw one back in the top of the ninth, but luckily that was as far as the visitors could get. 10-7 Final.

So Yoshinori came away with the win after his very impressive performance on the mound even though the bullpen endured a bit of a crisis. He gave up two earned runs from eight hits and struck out seven. His pitch count reached 111, and his record now stands at 7-6 while his ERA moved slightly to 2.86.

The other very positive thing that we can take from this game is that the offense is capable of some good run production when a couple of players are in a groove.

On offense, Aikawa went 3-4 and amassed three RBIs. Kawabata also chipped in with three RBIs by going 2-4, and Takeuchi added another RBI in his own 2-4 night at the plate (plus one walk).

Iihara also deserves credit for drawing three walks (one intentional) and doubling in a run. Tonight’s game was a huge boost to his OBP.

Game three of this series is scheduled for tomorrow night at 6 PM.

Notes:

The only players in the starting lineup to not record a base hit were Aoki and Miyamoto.

This game was the first time this season that a non-Japanese player was not in the starting lineup.

The Swallows drew six walks and one HBP in this contest.

Tokyo Swallows 0

Hanshin Tigers 1

Streak: Lost 3    Last 5: WDLLL

(Koshien)

The Swallows lost their third in a row as they failed to figure out the in-form Randy Messenger.

Yoshinori was good, but Messenger was better

Tokyo:

Kawashima SS
Aoki CF
Guiel LF
Hatakeyama 1B
Balentien RF
Miyamoto 3B
Tanaka 2B
Kawamoto C
Yoshinori P

Hanshin:

Hirano 2B
Shibata CF
Toritani SS
Arai 3B
Murton RF
Kanemoto LF
Morita 1B
Fujii C
Messenger P

Yoshinori threw a pretty decent game this time and managed to avoid any major meltdowns like the one he suffered last week in the first inning against the Giants.

His ‘quality start’ consisted of a full seven frames pitched, one run off of six hits, and six strikeouts. However, as usual he also issued five walks and had two wild pitches to humanize his numbers a bit.

That one earned run came at the end of his start. In the bottom of the seventh, Yoshinori commenced proceedings with a strikeout of Morita. Then things started to wobble just a bit. Fujii singled, and then Hiyama (pinch-hitting for Messenger) followed in kind. Hirano then swatted the first pitch he was offered into left to score Fujii from second. 1-0 Final.

And that was it really. The Swallows only managed four hits in this entire game. Messenger was that good. He threw 118 pitches through seven innings, struck out 10, didn’t walk anyone, and kept Tokyo off the board. His record improved to 9-3 while Yoshinori’s sank back to .500 (6-6).

The Swallows are now a mere 3.5 games ahead of Chunichi, Yomiuri and Hanshin who are all tied for second place in the Central League.

The Swallows now have the day off before welcoming the fifth place Carp to town for a three game series from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

Notes:

Aoki was moved to second in the lineup as Ogawa searched to give number one a boost. He has failed to regain his timing at the plate, and his slow slide into mediocrity continues. Hopefully Takao Ise, one of the team’s batting coaches, has him on a diet of watching video of his own at-bats like he did with Balentien.

Guiel nearly maimed a few Hanshin supporters when his bat slipped out of his hands during his at-bat in the fourth. There’s a high screen protecting the seats behind the home team’s dugout, so the bat tumbled harmlessly into the dugout.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/08/28/82811-hanshin-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/08/20/82011-yomiuri-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=82011-yomiuri-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/08/20/82011-yomiuri-away/#comments Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:46:25 +0000 Christopher Pellegrini http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=10178 August 20th, 2011

Yomiuri Giants 7

Tokyo Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: WDWLL

(Tokyo Dome)

The lead at the top of the Central League shrank to five games after yesterday’s frustrating loss to the Giants.

Yoshinori looked determined to make the lead shrink a game further early on in this contest.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	5	1
Yomiuri	4	0	0	0	0	o	0	3	X	7	8	0
W: Tohno (5W, 8L, 2S; 3.22 ERA) L: Yoshinori (6W, 5L; 3.01 ERA)

	Tokyo		Yomiuri
1	Aoki CF	1	Sakamoto SS
2	Fukuchi RF	2	Fujimura 2B
3	Kawabata SS	3	Chono CF
4	Hatakeyama RF	4	Takahashi RF
5	Whitesell 1B	5	Ogasawara 1B
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Abe C
7	Tanaka 2B	7	Kamei LF
8	Aikawa C	8	Furuki 3B
9	Yoshinori P	9	Tohno P

Yoshinori was disaster personified in the first. He generally got ahead in the count and then lost the strike zone shortly thereafter. He found himself facing a full count no less than four times in that first frame, and nothing positive came of any of it. The first three times he faced a full count, he issued walks. Bases loaded, thanks to those three walks, and one out.

The fourth time he let the count get worked full in that inning, Ogasawara smacked a double off the wall that

Junji Ogawa (L) reacts to Yoshinori's magnificence.

scored two. 2-0 Gomiuri.

And then, thanks to Yoshinori leaving a fastball up in the zone, Abe added a double of his own to make it 4-0 Gomiuri.

Yoshinori added a fourth walk in that dark first inning as Aikawa made him pitch around Furuki in order to get to the pitcher, Tohno. The gambit paid off, and Yoshinori finally got out of the inning after throwing a laughable 41 pitches.

Yoshinori ended up making it through the next four innings without giving up any more hits, but he was forced to walk Furuki a second time when a runner reached second in the fifth care of Hatakeyama’s fielding error in left. That’s a total of six walks in five innings of work.

Yomiuri starter, Tohno, was a different story altogether. Despite struggling with his control at times, he had a no-hitter going through five and  two-thirds innings. Pinch-hittter, Morioka, finally broke up the no-hit bit with an infield single with two outs on the board.

Making his first ever top-team appearance in the bottom of the sixth innings was second-year RHP Tetsuya Yamamoto. And he was one of the only bright spots that Tokyo had during this game. He struck Sakamoto out looking, got Fujimura to fly out harmlessly to right, and then made Chono flail away at a whole bunch of pitches before grounding out to second.

Tokyo finally got a runner past first base on Kawabata’s double over Takahashi’s head in right. It was the third time that Kawabata made solid contact in this game. The only difference was that he didn’t hit the ball near center fielder, Chono, this time.

Hatakeyama’s high bouncer to second advanced Kawabata to third, and Whitesell’s two out rocket off the wall in center brought Kawabata home from third. Unfortunately, Whitesell was thrown out easily while trying to stretch his hit into a double, and that ended the inning. 4-1 Gomiuri.

Watanabe took the mound for the Swallows in the bottom of the 7th, and he sat the Giants down in order.

But Tanaka hit into another double play to keep the team from building on the momentum that was started in the seventh.

Watanabe wasn’t quite as sharp in the eighth as he let a pair of runners get on base with two outs. Matsuoka was brought in to face the pinch-hitting Ramirez, but he walked him rather quickly to load the bases. And that set the stage for Kenichi “Mr. Two-Run” Matsuoka (as he is known by some Swallows fans) to live up to his moniker.

He outdid himself, actually. Chono smacked the second pitch he saw, a high forkball, off the wall in center to score three and officially put the game out of reach. 7-1 Gomiuri.

As is so often the case, Tokyo showed a little life when their backs were against the wall in the top of the ninth. Takeuchi, pinch-hitting for Matsuoka, marched a slow grounder up the middle into shallows center. He was then moved over to second on Aoki’s single.

Fukuchi finally got on base when he hit an awkward grounder to short that forced Aoki out at second, but both Takeuchi and Fukuchi were safe at the corners. Fukuchi then stole second on the first pitch that Tohno threw to Kawabata.

Kawabata managed  to hit a sac fly to right, but Fukuchi got caught trying to sneak over to third. 7-2 Final.

Tokyo will attempt to salvage some pride tomorrow in game three of this series.

Notes:

Miyamoto has now hit into 10 double plays. However, that’s only good enough for second place on the team. First belongs to Balentien who has hit into 13 vibe-killers.

The Swallows now lead the Central League by a mere four games.

Tokyo Swallows 8

Hanshin Tigers 2

Streak: Won 1    Last 5:LWLLW

(Jingu)

After the last few dismal performance, the Swallows finally figure out the Tigers.

We pick up the action in the second inning. After two quick outs, Uemoto came up to bat for the bumblebees. He was waiting for his pitch and he got it on the the third try from Yoshinori. Uemoto smacked the 1-1 pitch into the left field bleachers giving the bumblebees supporters something to yell about. 1-0 Hanshin

Fuji ended the inning by grounding out to Tanaka.

Unfortunately for the bumblebees and their fans, their joy was short-lived. In the bottom of the second, all of the past few weeks frustration came out. Tokyo sent 12 men to the plate. That’s right 12 batters in one inning!

Here is how it went down. After a Whitesell strikeout, Miyamoto got an infield single. Balentien grounded out but Miyamoto moved to second. Aikawa knocks a double to score Miyamoto and tie the game. 1-1

Thinking things are over? Well the bumblebees did. However, things kept on rolling. Up next was the fearless pitcher, Yoshinori. What does this crazy man do? Bunts for a hit. Ha! He was standing on first talking smack to Brazell. The hefty ginger probably wanted to b##ch-slap him.

So now Tokyo has runners on the corners and the top of the order coming up. Aoki does an excellent job of working the count and eventually gets a walk. That means the bases are loaded for Mr. Tanaka. Fortunately for Swallows fans, he is given the green light and smashes a ball to center scoring Aikawa and Yoshinori. 3-1 Tokyo

Green light! I got the green light!

Kawabata followed that with another single and the bases are loaded for “Boo”. “Boo” gives the bumblebees more pain by hitting a single to right, scoring Aoki and Tanaka. 5-1 Tokyo

Finally, Mayumi had seen enough from Messenger. He brings in Kojima to face Whitesell. Kojima promptly proceeds to walk him. Like the last day of your vacation, this good time came to an end. Miyamoto flies out to center to end the inning.

Tokyo gets on the board again in the 4th inning when “Boo” hits a 2-run HR. 7-1 Tokyo

"And you will know I am the lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

Keeping things rolling, Tokyo scores their final run in the 5th inning. With the bases loaded after a few hits and an error by the hefty ginger, Aoki came to the dish. He hits a little blooper to right scoring Miyamoto.  8-1 Tokyo

Tanaka and Kawabata both flew out to end the inning.

The bumblebees would get one run back in the 8th. Toritani hit a double that scored Hirano from first.  8-2 Tokyo

That was the final. The Birds did pretty well against Messenger. They also played good defense and did not make too many mental mistakes tonight. Loyal followers are still wondering can the Birds do enough to win the pennant. Whitesell and “Coco” are still having some problems at the plate. But hopefully they can get a few knocks out there tomorrow and get back in the groove.

Yeah, you should try standing on your feet and not your head.

The rubber match is tomorrow night. It will be Iwata for Hanshin and Kawashima for Tokyo.

Scoring Summary

			YS	HT
	2nd	Uemoto solo shot	0	1
	2nd	Aikawa doubles, scores Miyamoto.	1	1
	2nd	Tanaka singles, Aikawa and Yoshinori score	3	1
	2nd	Hatakeyama singles, scores Aoki and Tanaka	5	1
	4th	Hatakeyama hits a 2-run HR	7	1
	5th	Aoki singles, Miyamoto scores	8	1
	8th	Toritani doubles, scores Hirano	8	2

Tokyo Swallows 1

Hanshin Tigers 6

Streak: Lost 3   Last 5: WDLLL

(Kyocera Dome)

Slight tweaks in the line-up fail to lead to more offense, which leads to an ugly loss, which puts Tokyo on a bona fide losing streak, with three straight losses for the first time since May 20th to 22nd.

Tokyo:

I hope you drink, young man.

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Kawabata (SS)
4. Hatakeyama (RF)
5. Whitesell (1B)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Iihara (RF)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yoshinori (P)

Hanshin:

1. Hirano (CF)
2. Uemoto (2B)
3. Toritani (SS)
4. Arai (3B)
5. Brazell (1B)
6. Kanemoto (LF)
7. Shibata (RF)
8. Fujii (C)
9. Messenger (P)

Yoshinori got things started for Hanshin by walking Uemoto, giving up an RBI double to Toritani, then a single to Arai, followed by an RBI single by Brazell. Early on, 2-0 Hanshin.

In the second, Yoshinori got an out again, then got back to the work of melting in the heat. Fujii walked, Messenger sac-bunted him to second, Hirano hit an RBI double, then Uemoto walked for the second time. 3-0 Hanshin.

In the third, Yoshinori changed things up by giving up a double to start things off. Then Brazell fouled one off to Miyamoto’s neighborhood for an out, which was thankfully followed by two more. A safe inning.

In the fourth, with one out, Messenger got a hit. Lucky for Tokyo, Hirano grounded into a double play.

Coming off his hit, Messenger finally saw his thus far perfect game broken up when he walked Hatakeyama. Of course, he followed this with a strike-out of Whitesell and two fly-outs.

In the fifth, Uemoto doubled to left, then was moved to third by Toritani, who grounded out. Arai then drove Uemoto in. 4-0 Hanshin.

On offense, or rather the time would offense would theoretically occur, Aikawa grounded out to first. (Why make the opposing infield move for the ball?) Then, although his bat had been no less valuable than his arm at that point, Yoshinori was pulled for the pinch-hitter Takeuchi. He got out, but his sempai Aoki was then walked – just the second Swallow to reach base. His other sempai Tanaka (all three are Waseda University alumni), a Tsubamegun favorite, followed that with an amazing achievement in this particular game: He got a hit.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Shunsuke (LF) entered the order for Hanshin and Akagawa took the mound for Tokyo and not only went 1-2-3, but notched a K! (Against Messenger.)

In the seventh, with two outs, Miyamoto showed why he’s the team’s leader and singled. he was replaced by the swifter Morioka, in the hope that a run or five could be manufactured, but it was not to be.

Bottom of the seventh: Uemoto singled and stole second and Arai was walked, but Akagawa got another K (against Toritani).

In the top of the eighth, Kawashima Keizo pinch hit for Akagawa and singled, but no one else got on.

Fernandez pitched the eighth. He walked Shunsuke, gave up a single to Fujii, then balked, putting both runners in scoring position. To make it extra exciting, he then walked Messenger to load the bases as the top of the order came up.

What could top two walks, a hit, and a balk? Pegging Hirano to give up a run. Uemoto continued his career night with an RBI sac-fly. 6-0 Hanshin.

Want a rally? Well, Kawabata singled, was moved to second when Hatake made contact, but got nabbed, and was driven in by a Morioka RBI single. 6-1 Hanshin, Final.

Yoshinori took the loss and, while he richly deserved, this really was a team effort – the suck reached a level that would make you think Takada was back. Thankfully, that’s not the case and the Birds are still in first.

Yomiuri Giants 2

Tokyo Swallows 2

Streak: Tied 1  Last 5: LWLWD

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

After gritty pitching win last night, the Swallows looked to take the series win against the Giants at Jingu.

	Swallows		Giants
1	CF Aoki	1	SS Sakamoto
2	SS K. Kawashima	2	3B Kamei
3	3B Kawabata	3	LF Ramirez
4	LF Hatakeyama	4	CF Chono
5	1B Whitesell	5	RF Y. Takahashi
6	2B Tanaka	6	C Abe
7	RF Balentien	7	1B Ogasawara
8	C Aikawa	8	2B Fujimura
9	P Yoshinori	9	P Tono

 With Miyamoto taking a rest day the Swallows start Keizo at short and move Kawabata to third. Furthermore, Tanaka is moved down the lineup to the sixth spot where Miyamoto batted last night.

Yoshinori’s comeback start did not start with a bang as he walked Sakamoto to start the game. After Kamei bunted Sakamoto to second, Yoshinori managed to induce a ground out from Ramirez to make it 2 out with a man on third. Unfortunately, Yoshinori couldn’t get his pitches under control and walked Chono and Takahashi back-to-back to load the bases. Yoshinori’s control issues finally came to a head as he pluncked Abe to force in the opening run of the game. 1-0 Giants Thankfully, Yoshinori was able to limit the damage to just that run as he got Ogasawara to fly out to left.

Things did not start smoothly for the young Yoshinori.

The Swallows came right back in the bottom of the inning. Keizo hit a one out single to center to get a man on board. While Kawabata could only manage a foul out, Hatakeyama was able to draw a walk to get 2 men on base with 2 out for Whitesell. Josh took the second pitch he saw and hit a towering shot towards left field. The ball narrowly missed clearing the fence, but it bounced off the wall for a double, scoring Keizo from second. 1-1 All

Yoshinori settled down after his first inning mis-adventures.

After the first inning both pitcher’s settled down somewhat, in that they allowed multiple runners on base a few times, but managed to hold the other team off the board. The Swallows finally got on the board again in the sixth. Balentien open the inning by getting on base thanks to a bad throw by Kamei. Aikawa singled to center to put men on the corners with no out. Yoshinori did his part by bunting Aikaws to second for the first out. With one out, the Giants decide to intentionally walk Aoki to load the bases. Keizo made the Giants pay by getting a fly ball deep enough into right center to score Balentien from third. 2-1 Swallows The sac fly ended Tono’s night, and Takagi came in to face Kawabata for the final out.

With one out and a man on first in the top of the seventh inning, the skies opened up and forced a 20 minute rain delay. After play resumed, Yoshinori managed to get Sakamoto to fly out for out number 2. Yoshinori, who had thrown 102 pitches at that point, was taken out in favor of Kyuko. Kyuko managed to get the last out to end the seventh.

The Swallows offense couldn’t extend the lead any further and Barnette kept the Giants off the board in the eighth, setting the table for Lim in the ninth. After getting a fly out from Ogasawara to open the inning, Lim gave up a walk to Fujimura. Fields followed with a broken bat blooper to put men on first and second with just 1 out. Lim reestablished control by striking out Sakamoto to get to within an out of the save. Unfortunately Lim was not able to close the door as he allowed a single to center to Tani. 2-2 All It was no consolation that Lim got Ramirez to end the inning soon after.

With the game already well past the 4 hour mark, the Swallows only had the bottom of the inning to get a win. Takeuchi got things going by getting a lead off single. Kawabata followed with a bunt over to second for the inning’s first out. Predictably, the Giants chose to intentionally walk Hatakeyama to face not Whitesell, who was removed earlier in the game for Miwa. Not-Whitesell turned out to be Yuichi, who came close to grounding into a double play, but some alert running by Hatakeyama allowed the runners to advance. With two outs and men on second and third it was up to Tanaka to win the game. Unfortunately Hiroyasu was not able to be a hero, as he grounded out to second to end the game.

A disappointing tie as the Swallows came within an out from getting the outright win. Tonight’s blown save was Lim’s second against the Giants this season. In 8 appearances against the Giants this season Lim has gotten a win, a hold, and 3 saves to go with his 2 blown saves. Tonight was also the third time in his last 5 appearances in which he has given up runs. Ogawa noted after the game that Lim has not quite been himself this year, but it doesn’t seem like the team is willing to make a move in the closer position.

The Swallows look to win the series tomorrow night at Jingu.

The Swallows had another good week by sweeping the Giants at Jingu and splitting a 2 game set at Akita against the Tigers. Even when not firing on all cylinders the teams has managed to find ways to win. The Tigers did, however, show a lot of good pitching against the Birds and it remains to see how the team would fare in a 3 game series.

The Week That Was

Good Teams Will Lose But… Baseball has always been a game of attrition and losses are inevitable. That be said, one of the major hallmarks of a good team is that they don’t lose consecutive games. Even when things aren’t going too smoothly, they play at .500 and don’t lose ground in the standings. To that end, the Swallows have not lost consecutive games since losing two games in a row against the Seibu Lions in Saitama on May 28-29. The team managed to go the entire month of June without losing consecutive games, although they did go on a 3 game winless streak in which they sandwiched a tie in between 2 losses in early June. While it hasn’t always been pretty and commanding, the team has managed to get wins and bounce back from losses.

Strikeout King: I’m sure many readers of our game reports have no doubt noticed the number of strikeouts Josh Whitesell has been accumulating. But due to some missed time earlier in the season, he had managed to avoid the title of Central League Strikeout King. But after striking out 3 times on Sunday, Josh has taken his rightful place at the top of the CL strikeout board with 62 in 195 plate appearances. In second is Termel Sledge of the BayStars with 61 even though he has 61 fewer plate appearances, and Takehiro Ishikawa also of the BayStars comes in a close third with 60 Ks in 97 fewer plate appearances. But we can poke fun at Josh a little because he’s still very productive at the plate with a .354 OBP (7th in the CL) and a .494 SLG% (3rd in the CL). Also, to be perfectly honest the true Central League Strikeout King would have to be Joel Guzman of the Chunichi Dragons who is fourth in the CL Ks race with 59 despite having 32 less plate appearances than Josh. For those calculating at home that’s one strikeout every 2.76 PAs! The man really does nothing more than strikeout as evidenced by his .209 OBP (not AVG) and .294 SLG%. So while we may complain about Whitesell’s strikeouts, just remember that it could be a lot worse.

RISP Weirdness: Last week we looked at how the heart of our order hadn’t been doing to much to knock runs in, at least that week. If you look at the batting averages of Balentien and Whitesell with runners in scoring position, you’d see that they are similarly very underwhelming at .200 (10/50) and .194 (9/47) respectively. But a closer look at their numbers with runners in scoring position shows these numbers are very deceiving. Obviously opposing pitchers aren’t willing to give these beefy power hitters anything to hit in a RISP situation. Especially Balentien, since the batters who hit behind Coco may be good hitters but won’t make pitchers look silly with the long bomb. So despite all this junk being thrown his way Balentien has managed to remain relatively patient and has drawn 17 walks with RISP to only 9 strikeouts. Thus, Balentien has an OBP of .391 with RISP. While not cashing in, certainly not hurting the team. Whitesell on the other hand, does seem to chase the junk, striking out 19 times and drawing just 7 walks for a OBP w/ RISP of .281.

What’s interesting is that high AVG w/ RISP guys like Miyamoto (.375), Aoki (.373), and Tanaka (.283) get most of their RBIs from those RISP at bats, 100% for Miyamoto and Aoki, and 96% for Tanaka. On the other hand, for Balentien and Whitesell only 38% and 55% of their RBIs come from at bats with runners in scoring position. Fairly obvious when you think about the anatomy of power hitters versus contact hitters, but interesting nonetheless.

A final random RISPy stat to throw your way. Whitesell actually bats best with a man on first, batting .448 (13/29), perhaps the hole left with the first baseman holding the runner is to Mr. Whitesell’s liking?

Whitesell got a key RBI with a man on 2nd on Thursday.

Injury Reports: Muranaka made another rehab start at Toda on Friday pitching 7 innings on 98 pitches, giving up 4 runs, all earned, on 4 hits including 2 homeruns, 2 walks, and getting 5 strikeouts. He is expected to be recalled and start Friday’s game against the Giants.

Yoshinori made his first rehab appearance at Toda in relief of Muranaka in Friday’s game. He pitched 2 shutout innings despite giving up 3 hits and a walk with no strikeouts. Game 3 of the All Star game, to be played in Sendai, is still Yoshinori’s target return date.

Finally, Keizo Kawashima (remember him?) is taking BP again. No word on when he may return, but according to his initial prognosis his return would be around late July.

Roster Move: After a horrible inning on Saturday in which he gave up a hit, 3 walks, and a hit batsman for good measure, Koki Watanabe was sent down to Toda on Sunday. In his place, the team called up lefty pitcher Masaru Sato, the reason why Yoshinori Sato goes by Yoshinori. Nothing to see here folks.

Quo Vadimus

Our Opponents: This week the Birds will face off against the second place Dragons for the first time since Central League action restarted. After the restart of Central League action the Dragons managed to lose series to the Carp and BayStars, but they  bounced back with series wins against the Giants, Tigers, and the BayStars. The Swallows will probably face Iwata, Nelson, and Yoshimi who all had pretty decent outings against the Tigers last week. Iwata and Yoshimi both pitched shutout ball but due to the lack of offensive support didn’t get a decision in their games.The games will be played at Jingu and the Swallows will look to extend their 5-1 record over the Dragons.

After the Dragons, the Swallows will take the subway to the Tokyo Dome to face the Giants for a 3 game series. After being swept by the Swallows, the Giants bounced back to sweep the Carp at the Dome last week. Based on last week’s pitchers the Swallows will face Tono, Sawamura, and Nishimura. However it seems that Hara will be giving Tono a shot at the closer role, and it’s not entirely clear who the Giants would start in his place. The Swallows may also get to see new acquisition Josh Fields in person.

The teams will finally head off to Yokohama and play arare Monday to Wednesday series in Yokohama against the BayStars to complete the 9 day 9 game series prior to the All Star break.

Our Rotation: With the announcement of Muranaka’s return, it looks like our rotation this week will go Shichijo, Tateyama, Ishikawa, Muranaka, Yamamoto, and Masubuchi.