One night, you have Yuki Nishi and the bullpen serving up walks (11), hitting batters (2) and giving up extra-base hits (9). The next night, you have his distant relative, Junya Nishi serving up walks (4), but nothing else. The 19-year-old threw five innings of no-hit ball, and the bullpen protected the no-hitter for another…
The scorecard below tells you almost all that you need to know. But what you do not fully see in this, is this: Yuki Nishi = 5 walks + 1 hit batter in 5 innings Taiki Ono = 4 walks + 1 wild pitch in 1 inning Koki Moriya = 1 hit batter in 2…
This game started really poorly for the Tigers bats, as they hit into double plays in the first two innings, but then they came to life after that for a couple of innings… and then went right back into hibernation. Good thing Raul Alcantara had four strong innings of his own (and two not-so-good ones),…
Despite seeing the Giants set up runners on the corners in multiple innings on this night, Masashi Itoh got himself out of many jams. However, he definitely did not have his best stuff. Luckily, super-rookie Teruaki Sato looked ready to carry his teammate, even the entire team, on his broad shoulders. His first two at-bats…
I’m pretty sure most Tigers fans were thinking the same thing as I was heading into this weekend series. Even in the worst-case scenario, we will return to Kansai in first place. Given the team’s recent history at Tokyo Dome, it is hard to blame fans for fearing the worst but hoping for the best….
Some games, the hitting just does not seem to be there. When the other team’s pitcher brings his A-game, fans just need to be patient and wait for the batters to do things later in the match. Takumi Akiyama kept the Dragons at bay, save for a long ball from their catcher, and Koji Chikamoto…
The first inning of this one was extremely promising. Yuki Nishi needed just nine pitches to mow down the Dragons’ first three batters, while Ogasawara spent more than that on Koji Chikamoto alone, who got a hit out of the battle. Jefry Marte pulled the same stunt, and the Tigers had an early lead. Unfortunately,…
This is the first book review I have ever written for a book that I did not originally have any intention of reading. In fact, I knew nothing of its existence until just a couple of days before it was sent my way by mail. Allow me to explain. A few months back, one of…
The Baystars were coming into this weekend having won three straight series against their opponents. When they took the first of this series, it looked as though they might make it four. But Masashi Itoh’s gem on Saturday evened things up, and then it would be up to Joe Gunkel to defend his undefeated record…
Masashi Itoh played high school baseball at Yokohama Stadium, so his first pro mound in the ballpark probably was not as intimidating as it would be for some freshmen. He was celebrating his 25th birthday as well, though he says he did not really think about that very much as he went about his business….