There normally wouldn't be many reasons to keep close tabs on a 35-57-1 team that's 22½ games out of first place.
Then again, most teams in that position don't have a pair of players as worthy of the spotlight as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows' duo of Wladimir Balentien and Yasuhiro "Ryan" Ogawa.
The Swallows are bringing up the rear in the Central League — and all of Japan for that matter — but Balentien and Ogawa could help keep the team in the headlines and on the back pages deep into a season that went sour almost from the outset after a rash of injuries.