By now, you’ve probably noticed that I am not particularly fond of Hanshin manager Tomoaki Kanemoto. I liked him some in his first year, though he was really learning the job on the fly. In his second year, he started to come into his own, but he also started grating on my nerves, as heard in Episode…
See “original” Daily Sports article here / デイリースポーツの日本語版はこちら As a university lecturer, I hear a lot about my students’ lives outside of school. The most common thing my freshmen talk about is their part-time jobs. It makes sense – for most of them, this is their first time earning any sort of income, and it’s…
I hated Wadaball. So did most of you. And when his time at the helm ended in October 2015, and Tomoaki Kanemoto took over the reins, there was a lot of excitement in Tigerland. Things were going to be different, at last! Aniki’s team would be faster and (much) stronger than the yawn-inducing lineup Yutaka…
As always, I feel like I need to preface my criticisms with a clarification: I am not a baseball player, coach, manager, front office person. Never have been. Probably never will be. As such, my words do not hold a whole lot of weight. Let me also say that I was excited about Tomoaki Kanemoto‘s…
Japanese version written by me for Daily Sports can be seen here Have you ever been doing something a little shady, and said to yourself, “You know, you really shouldn’t be doing this.” Or, “Aren’t you worried what people are going to say when they find out you’ve been hanging out with him/her?” You’re human,…
Let me start by saying that was one of the worst games I have ever attended. At least ones in which the team I was cheering for won. Our starting pitcher worked PAINFULLY slowly. I mean, he put 10 guys on base in his six innings of work, and he always works extra slowly when…
The games over the weekend led to some furious fingers tapping away on my phone screen come Sunday night. If you know Hanshin fans, you know they take every single win and loss to heart, celebrating every victory and every loss as though it’s the World Series. So there I was, venting all sorts of…
Original Article (written by T-Ray) can be seen here 和訳はこちら Do you remember the day you gave your life over to this team? I distinctly remember my conversion experience*. June 18, 2014. Hanshin vs. Nippon Ham. My Koshien debut. My wife and I headed to the stadium that day all decked out in my buddy’s…
The Hanshin Tigers announced their top squad members today in preparation for the start of the 2018 season, which starts tomorrow against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome (March 30, 6:00 pm JST). Here is the list, as well as some comments from yours truly: Catchers #12 Seishiro Sakamoto: Of the three catchers, he’s got…
Most of us are aware of the fact that Takashi Toritani reached the 2000 career hit mark last September. He became just the second homegrown talent in club history (after Taira Fujita) to reach the mark while still a member of the club. Other guys have done it in a Tigers uniform, but they started their…