Go! Go! Swallows!!
Yakult Swallows fans (Tokyo, Japan)
@NPBinENG @swallowspr @YourSwallows
Although less than a month of the season has elapsed, there is reason for hope in Tokyo as the usually losing Swallows are in first place!
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Posts tagged yakult swallows
Japanese baseball fans
Hiroshima Carp and Yakult Swallows fans ready for the game
Slyly, by the way, refers not to a player. Instead, Slyly is the Hiroshima Carp mascot. He looks a lot like the Phillie Phanatic, although he is a different color and has a wacky mullet/mohawk of yet another color. Slyly’s hair is not red and white like this guy’s.
Japanese baseball terminology
Wladimir Balentien of the Yakult Swallows (NPB 2013 home run record)
Figuring out kanji used for baseball in Japan is a fun challenge. If you have a basic understanding of kanji you can literally read what Balentien (バレンティン) did on this evening before coming to bat for the fourth time. (遊ゴ = fun go, 四球 = four balls, 死球 = death ball) So what do these things really mean? 遊 is the shortstop (the funnest position?). goro (ゴロ) is grounder so he grounded out to short his first time up. Four balls is easy enough. He walked in his second at bat. But “death ball”? What could that possibly mean? He was hit by the pitch in his most recent at bat.
Japanese fireworks
Fireworks at Jingu Stadium during Swallows game
A year ago today this happened.
明治神宮野球場
Photomerged series of photos from Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Yasuhiro Ogawa (小川 泰弘) wins 2013 Rookie of the Year Award in the Central League
Yasuhiro Ogawa (小川 泰弘)
This one is a little late in the news department, but a few weeks ago Yakult Swallows pitcher Yasuhiro Ogawa won the Rookie of the Year Award. He was fantastic the time I saw him pitch in Hiroshima.
Why is he throwing on the sidelines even though he is a starting pitcher you ask? In both Japan and Korea, starting pitchers throw when their team is at bat. Unlike MLB, in which pitchers are held to strict pitch counts (usually around 100 pitches), these starting pitchers in Japan and Korea frequently throw more than 200 pitches if you count their bullpen and foul territory pitches.