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!

This week we’ll deviate a little from our usual formula. This week we’ll only focus on just two main topics. First, we will unpack all the roster moves that went down this week and discuss their implications. The second half will look past this week’s games and give you a summery of the games that lie ahead for the Swallows in the home stretch. These topics still roughly follow the ‘Week That Was’ and ‘Quo Vadimus’ themes, so we’ll keep those headings. So, without further ado let’s get on with our analysis.

The Week That Was

Roster Moves: Last week’s roster moves began with the recall of injured speedster Kazuki Fukuchi and young catcher Yuhei Nakamura. Yasushi Iihara was sent down to make room on the roster. The recall of Nakamura was interesting as it meant that the Swallows were carrying 3 catchers on the roster. The move seemed to be designed to give veteran catcher Aikawa some rest for the home stretch, as Kawamoto was given 3 starts at catcher this week. Kawamoto started 2 games in the sweltering Jingu and played significant innings in the game he did start. The return of Fukuchi was seen as a plus as when healthy, he’s a great defensive reliever and a pinch running threat. Unfortunately it seems that he may not have returned in 100% condition as he was removed from the roster earlier today.

The next move that occurred last week was the recall of Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi in favor of Chikara Onodera on Thursday. The removal of Onodera was not a difficult but there was some speculation that Masubuchi would be returning as a reliever given that Katsuki Akagawa started Thursday’s game. Those speculations were quickly shot out of the water with the surprise announcement that Shohei Tateyama would be removed from the active roster due to finger discomfort on his throwing hand. The source of the discomfort has not been revealed in the media, and the timetable for Tateyama’s return is unknown. Young Tetsuya Yamamoto was called up for the first time in Tateyama’s place, and he pitched effectively in relief on Saturday.

The final major move last week was the recall of Aaron Guiel and Yuichi, for Whitesell and Miyade. While this move comes as bit of a surprise, it’s not inconsistent with the Swallows recent moves to rest ineffective guys (see: Aikawa) and take a quick look at everyone. While we love Guiel here at Tsubamegun we expect his stay with the top team to be short unless he can perform big right away. Guiel has only appeared in 15 ni-gun games this season, most recently on August 12, and has been doing most of his work in workouts and in the batting cage. Yuichi in his stint in ni-gun has put up good numbers and has the potential to keep Miyade off the top team as a right handed bat off the bench.

For those counting potential return dates, the earliest that Lim can return to the active roster is August 23rd, Tateyama on the 30th, and Whitesell on the 31st.

Alright, let's look at a funny picture before we move on!!!

Quo Vadimus

The Swallows have played one game under two-thirds of their schedule, and now have 49 games left in their season. Instead of just looking at this week’s games, this week’s Quo Vadimus will look at our game counts against each of our Central League rivals and look at how we’ve done against the so far. We’ll look at our competition in a particular order. (We’ll let you guess the reasoning behind the order.)

Giants: The Swallows have already played out most of their string against the Giants, having played 20 games to the tune of a 10-6-4 record. Even with 4 games remaining the Swallows have already guaranteed their first non-losing season against the Giants in 11 years. The remaining 4 games will be split between a 3 game Jingu series to kick off September and a single rain make up date at the Tokyo Dome on September 20. The Swallows have been undefeated against the Giants at Jingu this season, going 2-0-2. Even if we include the Swallows’ home away from home games against the Giants, the Swallows are still undefeated at home with a 7-0-2 record. These numbers no doubt underscore the importance of getting homefield advantage by finishing ahead of the Giants.

Tigers: The Swallows still have half their games against the Tigers left on their schedule. In the first 12 games the Tigers have throughly spanked the Swallows to the tune of 3-9. The remaining 12 games will be split between 6 Jingu games and 6 away games (3 at Koshien and 3 at Kyocera Dome). The Swallows have fared marginally better at home getting 2 of their 3 wins in home games. Needless to say, the Swallows’ performance can greatly influence the outcome of the CL race and will be a good barometer of our playoff readiness. We need to show we can take the Tigers as we were not able to convincingly win against them when they were struggling early in the season.

Dragons: The Swallows have 11 games remaining against the team from Nagoya, and after this week’s Jingu series the last 8 games of this matchup will be played in the Nagoya Dome. The Swallows have a stellar 8-2-2 record against the Dragons so far, but save for their 1-1-1 visit to Nagoya earlier this month, most of that record comes at home. The schedule will see the Swallows play two 4 game series in the Nagoya Dome including the regular season ending series. Hopefully the Birds will have made the final series irrelevant, and being able to continue to beat up on the Dragons will help us do that.

Carp: The Carp have played us very competitively this year with the two teams tallying a 6-6-2 record so far. The 10 remaining games will be split up between 7 games at Jingu and a 3 game series at Mazda Stadium. The 7 Jingu game will be split between two 3 game series, and 1 random game on September 21. The Carp and the Tigers are the only teams against which the Swallows do not have a winning record. Incidentally, that fact extends into our home record as the Swallows have gone 1-3-1 in home games (1-2 at Jingu) against the Carp.  Interestingly, the Swallows have gone 3-0-1 in games started by last year’s Sawamura Award winner, Kenta Maeda. The Carp have played everyone quite tough this year, but should still be beatable. If we want to show we’re a cut above the CL muddle, taking easy games off the Carp will be key.

BayStars: Even with all the shake up in the CL this year, the Yokohama BayStars remain everyone’s punching bag being the only team to sport a losing record against each team. That being said, the BayStars have been surprisingly competitive against the Giants (5-7), Dragons (8-9), and Tigers (6-8-2), while being blasted by the Carp (3-11) and the Swallows (2-9-3). With the BayStars 11.5 games behind FIFTH place in the CL, it’s time for Swallows’ fans to become secondary BayStars fans and cheer for them to play spoiler against the rest of the CL. The Swallows themselves still have 9 games left between the BayStars, split between 3 Jingu games and 6 Yokohama games.

Those counting above will note a 22/27 split between home and road games the rest of the way. Even as the Swallows struggle no one team has really stepped up. As long as the other teams continue to beat each other up the Swallows will make the playoff playing middling baseball, but unless the Swallows pick up their game they may not last long in the playoffs.

Hanshin Tigers 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 3      Last 5:  WLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

The birds rode a complete game shutout by starter Tateyama to their third win in a row and reclaimed third place in the Central League in the process.

Tokyo’s starting nine:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kajimoto (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Yuichi (1B)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Tateyama (P)

The story of this game was Tateyama. He allowed no more than a single runner in any given inning, and he threw 121 pitches on his way to claiming his 16th win of the season. He scattered five hits and beaned one while walking none and striking out five. His ERA dropped slightly to 3.39, and he effectively kept the team’s chances of reaching the post-season alive.

The Swallows opened the scoring in the third when Miyamoto (one out double) scored from second on an Arai throwing error to first (Aoki made it all the way to third on the play). Aoki then got thrown out trying to sneak home on a Guiel fielder’s choice to first, but Guiel motored around to score on Yuichi’s two out double to right. Unfortunately, like Aoki, Yuichi was a little too aggressive on that play and he was thrown out easily trying to stretch his double into a triple. Either way, the birds found themselves up 2-0.

Two more runs scored in the sixth when Aoki’s no out single to left was followed by a two out Kawamoto home run (his third) in the same direction. 4-0 Tokyo.

The Swallows scored one more run in the seventh when Miyamoto’s one out grounder to short plated Fukuchi from third. 5-0 Tokyo.

And that was it. Tateyama pitched a very good game, and the patchwork lineup came through with some decent hits at the right times.

Lim was warming up for a while before the start of the ninth inning, but his services were never needed as Tateyama made rather quick work of the final frame.

Observations:

• The birds can seal their Climax Series birth with a win tomorrow night over the Tigers. If they don’t win that game, then they will need to win both of their remaining games (Sunday vs Chunichi; Monday vs Yomiuri).
• Fukuchi gets behind in the count like it’s his job.
• Kajimoto looks like he’s going to fall over every time he has to track down a high pop fly behind first base. He had two chances today: Guiel called him off the ball the first time, and he did indeed fall over the second time.
• Now that Takada has indicated that he will be returning next season even if the Swallows don’t make it to the playoffs, I guess there’s nothing left for us to do but reinvest ourselves emotionally in these final three games.
• Kawamoto’s jack in the sixth was pretty sweet, but I still miss Aikawa.
• Hanshin starter, Ando, got the hook after only four innings and 77 pitches. Ando did give up two unearned runs, but his successors, Kubo and Kanemura, gave up three earned runs in only three innings.
• Tokyo outhit Hanshin 8-5.
• Tokyo lead the season series versus Hanshin 14-9.
• Tokyo have a slim half-game advantage over Hanshin.
• Onizaki looks to be the real deal (both with the bat and the glove). Keizo Kawashima must be having a rough time getting to sleep right now.
• Hanshin starter Ando has faced the Swallows three times since the 28th of September. He lost two of those contests and got a no decision in the other.

Yokohama BayStars 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 2   Last 5: LWLWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Aaron Guiel. Aaron Guiel. Aaron Guiel!!

Tokyo’s Lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kajimoto (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Yuichi (1B)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Yuki (P)

The Bay Stars compiled seven hits in the first three innings (resulting in three runs) to quickly chase Yuki from the game. Saeki came through with the rbi’s in both occasions as the visitors went up 3-0.

Yokohama starter, Fujie (6.51), actually had a no-hitter through four complete innings as things started to look a little bit bleak for the birds.

The Swallows, in desperate need of another win, finally started to get to Fujie in the fifth. After watching reliever, Hashimoto (1.35), throw two perfect innings, Yuichi and Kawamoto got things rolling with back-to-back singles. Onizaki’s “tak” bunt ended up getting Yuichi thrown out at third, so with one out there were still runners left on first and second.

Hatakeyama came in to pinch hit for Hashimoto, and he came through with  another single that loaded the bases for Fukuchi.

Last season Fukuchi hit .400 in bases loaded situations (15 chances), and he came up big again tonight with a double to the wall in right-center. Both Kawamoto and Onizaki scored to put the birds back in the game. 3-2 Yokohama.

Kajimoto and Miyamoto grounded out to strand the runners on second and third, but the momentum had swung back in Tokyo’s direction. In the sixth, Guiel (25th of the year) hit a one out solo home run to right to tie the game up at 3-3.

Meanwhile, Oshimoto (2.71) quietly worked a scoreless sixth and seventh innings for the Swallows, and Igarashi (3.19) got through the eighth on only five pitches. The three consecutive grounders to second were comical in that Hashimoto had induced the same result in the fourth.

Guiel would end up giving Igarashi the win (he’s now 3-2 with three saves) when he homered to right (his 26th) with Aoki on first (single) to give the birds the lead after eight innings. 5-3 Swallows.

Lim (2.11) was somewhat unlucky to give up a run while trying to get the save in the ninth, but such has been his luck as of late. Murata’s sliced blooper behind first base land just barely fair and the power-hitter was able to motor to second easily as the ball spun foul. Saeki then moved him over to third on a grounder to second, and he scored on a fielder’s choice at short. 5-4 Swallows.

Ishikawa finally struck out to end the game and keep Tokyo within a half of a game of the third place Hanshin Tigers. The save was Lim’s 27th of the year.

Observations:

• The birds now have two monumentally large games against the Tigers tomorrow and Friday.
• They are the last two games of the season for the Tigers and both of them are at Jingu. Hanshin can secure the third playoff spot by winning both of them.
• The birds have four more games left to play. In addition to the two games coming up versus Hanshin, they have games at Jingu versus Chunichi on Sunday and Yomiuri on Monday.
• The Tokyo Swallows must win three of their last four games in order to advance to the playoffs. If the birds take both of the Hanshin games, then they can lose the two games versus Yomiuri and Chunichi and still advance. If they split the mini-series with Hanshin, then they will need to win both of their remaining games.
• Considering that all four of those games are against the top three teams in the league, it would appear that the odds are definitely against them. The one thing that Tokyo has in its favor is home field advantage.
• With a typhoon threatening, team officials made the bold decision to go ahead with the game. It turned out to be the right decision as nothing more than a light drizzle harassed the few on-lookers.
• The official attendance at the game tonight is 7,408. That is a straight-up lie (unless they counted everyone within one kilometer of the stadium in that tally).
• Guiel hit his 25th and 26th home runs in this game. He was the difference. His three rbi’s earned him “hero” honors at the end.
• Yuichi also had a multi-hit game (2-4, two singles).
• The Swallows won their final seven games against the Bay Stars to finish the season at 11-13 against their stubborn neighbors from the south.

Yokohama BayStars 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Won 5  Last 5: WWWWW

The Tokyo Swallows maintained their slim half-game lead over the Hanshin Tigers with another complete game victory by the team’s starter, Masanori Ishikawa.

The Tigers absolutely embarrassed Chunichi’s Yamamoto on their way to winning that series two to one.

The Swallows, believe it or not, swept Yokohama. If anyone’s counting, that’s the first time they’ve swept a team since they took the Buffs, Marines, and Lions in three consecutive two-game series from June 13-21.

The last time they swept a Central League opponent, coincidentally, was back on May 15-17 when the Swallows put in three solid games versus the Hanshin Tigers.

The series starting tomorrow should be quite an interesting one.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Yuichi (1B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (3B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Onizaki (SS)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Ishikawa (P)

After a very hairy start to this game, Ishikawa settled down and ended up throwing a gem.

The first inning saw three hits that resulted in a Yokohama run. It wasn’t pretty. Ishikawa was quickly down 1-0. He was, perhaps, lucky not to be in a larger hole than that.

But he buckled down, and he started to get quick outs. Ishikawa didn’t give up another run after the first inning.

The first Tokyo run occurred in the third. Miura was very effective through the first two innings, and things quickly headed in the other direction when he gave up an Ishikawa single to center with one out. Fukuchi followed with a single of his own, and with two outs, Yuichi brought Ishikawa home with a single to right. All tied at 1-1.

The rest of the scoring took place in the sixth inning. Yuichi again reached first base, but this time it was care of an error (which was a damn hard ball to come up with, by the way). Next man up, Aoki, took a Miura delivery high and long to the bleachers in right. 3-1 Tokyo.

And that’s basically how it ended.With Lim warming up in the bullpen, Takada made the wise decision to let Ishikawa try and finish what he started. With his pitch count up in the 120′s, Ishikawa allowed two base runners, but he eventually got Takeyama to fly out to first to end the game.

And that was the fourth complete game victory in the last five contests for the hapless forgotten team from Tokyo. And that, my friends, is why they’re winning.

Ishikawa won his 11th game of the season, and he threw 133 official pitches in this contest. The seven hits translated into only that one run in the first inning. He struck out five while walking one. His ERA improved to 3.66.

Observations:

• The Swallows were outhit 7-4 in this game.
• Only Aoki and Guiel reached base twice today. Aoki came through with the game-winning homer in the sixth (his 14th), and Guiel drew a pair of walks.
• Ishikawa had three great at-bats. He singled in his first plate appearance, and he really made Miura work for the next two outs. Ishikawa worked the count full by fouling off several pitches in his second at-bat, and he nearly hit safely in his third time up.

A monumentally large series versus the Hanshin Tigers begins tomorrow at Jingu Stadium. Get there early if you’re planning to attend. The game starts at 6 PM. The Swallows will attempt to extend their five game winning streak against a team that can actually hit. If the starting pitching continues to hold up, then they should be in with a very good shot.

On the farm this season, Yuichi has hit .333 in 17 games with three home runs and 15 rbi’s. The left-handed batter went straight into last night’s lineup for game one of Tokyo’s home stand against Chunichi.

Making room on the first team for Yuuichi was starting pitcher, Kyouhei Muranaka, who was actually just called up on Thursday. That makes it two days in a row that a pitcher was brought up to start a game and then sent back down to the farm within 24 hours.

Muranaka’s stats are currently 0-4 with an 8.25 ERA.

The 28-man top team roster is currently comprised of the following players:

Pitchers: Yoshinori, Lim, Tateyama, Ishikawa, Yuuki, Kida, Matsui, Takagi, Lee, Igarashi, Oshimoto

Catchers: Aikawa, Yoneno, Kawamoto

Infielders: Kawashima, Miyamoto, Yoshimoto, Tanaka, Hatakeyama, Noguchi

Outfielders: Fukuchi, Guiel, Takeuchi, Iihara, Aoki, Shida, Yuichi

Tokyo Yakult Swallows  3 

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters  1

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: LWWLW

(Away Game: Sapporo Dome)

Swallows veteran shortstop Shinya Miyamoto got his 1500th career hit and starter Kyouhei Muranaka got his first win since May 9th as Yakult downed Nippon Ham in Sapporo.

Muranaka pitched a shutout seven innings with 9 strikeouts giving up 4 hits in a return to the kind of form he showed earlier this year.   Fighters starter Glynn never looked convincing giving up 10 hits in his 6 innings of work.

Miyamoto brought home ex-Fighter Keizo Kawashima from third to take the lead in the 3rd inning, with Kawashima just beating the ex-Swallow Miki’s  throw to homeplate to score the go-ahead run.

Yakult would stretch their lead in the 5th. Miyamoto got his second hit of the night, and 1500th career hit to open up the inning.  He was then brought home from first by a double over the centre fielder’s head by Aoki to make it 2-0.   Aoki would then be brought home two batters later with a double from Yuichi.  3-0 Yakult.

Muranaka was relieved by another ex-Fighter Oshimoto who pitched a scoreless 8th.   Closer Lim then took the mound in the 9th and struck out both Inaba and Sledge before giving up a solo homer to pinch-hitter Oda, followed by a hit from Miki before the game was wrapped up with Fukuchi making a good catch in deep left field foul territory off Kudoh to secure the win for Yakult and Muranaka, along with Lim’s 16th save.

The Swallows next game is Wednesday in Nagano for a “home” game against the Softbank Hawks, followed by a long overdue return to Jingu on Thursday evening.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1   

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 2

Streak: Lost 1

(Away Game: Sapporo Dome)

A bases loaded passed ball in the 10th inning won a tight game for the fighters at Sapporo Dome on Saturday night.

Yakult starter Ryo Kawashima looked more like his old self going 6 innings of one run pitching off 4 hits for a no-decision.  Fighters starter Brian Sweeny was a little bit better on the night giving up the same amout of runs off one less hit in his 8 innings.

The Swallows took a lead in the 6th inning when Yuichi brought home Miyamoto for 1-0 Yakult.  The Fighters drew level in the 7th with an RBI from Yakult old-boy Atsunori Inaba.

And at 1-1 the game stayed until the bottom of the 10th inning Yakult closer Lim took the mound.  What followed were 3 hits, then a strike out, followed by a force out at home plate and finally the passed ball that was enough to win it for the Sapporo team in a nail-biting finish.

Lim’s loss was his third of the season.  The teams will return Sunday evening for their final match up of the 2008 Inter-League games.