Life has been extremely busy for me, but not so busy that I can’t take in the occasional game at Koshien Stadium. This was, in fact, my first one since a disappointing 0-1 loss to the Hiroshima Carp back on April 10. When the starter was announced yesterday as Aaron Wilkerson I was stoked. When…
The Battle of the Cats always seems to be a good series, and I do not think I have yet seen one that was a sweep for either team. This one was no exception, as the Tigers started out slowly against an unknown (but effective) young pitcher. They turned the series around in a hurry,…
OK, there was so much more to the series than just keeping young phenom Roki Sasaki out of the win column. The ace did, after all, shut out our team for six innings. The good news is that he “only” struck out 7 and we did get guys into scoring position against him. Also, Aaron…
No one said playing the 1st place team in the Pacific League, the Rakuten Eagles, would be easy. But with them entering this series on a 2-9 stretch, it should not have been this hard to put runs on the board. Yes, they have great starting pitching and their bullpen is pretty good. However, our…
The first half of the week featured one of the most memorable performances of the season, on any team. Junya Nishi did not throw a perfect game like Roki Sasaki did last month, and he did not hit multiple home runs, but he did pitch his first-ever complete game and also went yard as the…
It has been quite the rough go of things this season. Perhaps the truest telling of the state the team was in came during their series in Yokohama in April, in which they got swept. We NEVER get swept by the Baystars on the road. Their ballpark is our place to party, to hit like…
After winning six straight, including a sweep at Tokyo Dome against the Giants, it looked as though the Tigers were turning the corner on their season. Alas, as tends to be the case, the series after facing the Giants was a stinker. Golden Week was anything but golden as kids at Koshien were treated to…
Quick: when was the last time the Hanshin Tigers took all three games in a series against the Giants at Tokyo Dome? The answer, apparently, pre-dates H-TEN by a year. It was 2013! Junya Nishi showed us why he was worth being chosen in the first round of the 2019 draft, going 7 strong innings….
Here is a list of guys who contributed to the team’s HUGE win today, and where they came from: Aaron Wilkerson (5 IP 2 R, Milwaukee Brewers) / Yuta Watanabe (1 IP 0 R, W, SoftBank Hawks) / Ren Kajiya (1 IP 0 R, SoftBank Hawks) / Yoshio Itoi (2-4, 2 RBI, Orix Buffaloes) /…
No matter that the Tigers defeated Giants’ ace Tommy Smugano last time around… he’s still not one to be taken lightly. When he helped us load the bases in the top of the second with no outs, I thought we could get him good again. But… we scored none. Our leadoff hitter in the third,…