If you don’t remember April, it was not a good month – certainly not the first 20+ days. The team saw itself six games below .500 and potentially staying in or near the cellar for the balance of the year. But May has brought in a new era, literally, and with the onset of Reiwa,…
Let me see if I can wrap my head around yet another incredible night at the ballpark. But first, a bit of background on how I got tickets. Some of you might remember that back in December 2017, I was featured in Daily Sports Online (a big-time Kobe sports newspaper). The journalist who interviewed me…
I’m beside myself. The Tigers ended the Heisei Era with eight straight losses to the Giants (six this year, including shutouts in the last two). Heading into Tokyo Dome against a team that crushed the Swallows for 19 runs in a single game just last week? Not feeling this series, I thought to myself. And…
Sing it with me, everyone: “Unaru suingu, kiri saku a-chi, hoero Kosuke, shobu wo kimero.” Kosuke Fukudome‘s cheer song literally says this: A whopping swing, a homer cuts through the air. Roar, Kosuke! Win it for us! This is how it went down: The Tigers gave up the first run of the game in a…
Don’t let the angry Toraho Recap logo deceive you – the first month of the season got better as the weather heated up. It just couldn’t have started much worse than it did…
First of all, starter Minoru Iwata had to have been beside himself all night. The veteran pitcher has not received much run support in his starts over the years. Two or fewer runs per start has been the norm. That, combined with his struggles to get through five innings, had him winless in nearly two…
Twelve hours have passed since the home opener at Koshien ended, and I am still unable to process everything that went down. Check out a list of a few unbelievable plays/events from the game, plus video footage taken by yours truly from the 1B side at Koshien.
As already detailed in a prior article, the Hanshin Tigers bats have failed to impress this season. Their franchise-worst eighth straight game scoring three or fewer runs and getting nine or fewer hits was capped with a 10-3 drubbing on Saturday night in Hiroshima. Led by key free agent acquisition Yuki Nishi (RHP), the team…
The Tigers got mauled badly by the Giants at the start of the week, and the team was to head into Hiroshima to face the three-time defending champs. They never do well at Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium. But tonight was different. Ace comes up big, pinch hitter delivers winning homer.
A few years ago when I was teaching junior high school kids, I came to a certain realization: some kids’ writing is just ugly. Can’t make out their chicken scratches to save my life. “What’s THAT supposed to say, Shota?” “W.” “THAT’s a W???” Same could be said of last night’s 2019 season opener against…