Camp is over! The team packed up late this morning and are on their way back to mainland. Exhibition season up here starts on March 3 (in Fukuoka, where they’re selling “open seating” all-you-can-eat tickets for ¥2500) and runs through the 25th. Looking forward to see how the field and mound start to take shape!…
It’s another precious day off for our heroes on the diamond, so let’s look back on the last few days of spring training action! First, the “news”: Newly acquired relief pitcher Diego Moreno looked good pitching in the bullpen and in live batting practice. Some have called him a “skinny Mateo” – he uses the…
Before we get to the highlights (yes, there were a couple of games!), here are the latest bits of news: – Manager Tomoaki Kanemoto has declared that Yusuke Ohyama will get a chance at third, which means moving ironman Takashi Toritani over to second base. I guess Hiroki Uemoto is out of a job! –…
Though the year hardly ended on a positive note, it was still one filled with lots to get excited about. There were good times, and there were bad times. Here’s H-TEN’s look back at the season, with the ten biggest things that defined it. 10) Kakefu Sheds Uniform for the Last Time As you may…
In Game 1 of the first round of the 2014 Climax Series, Randy Messenger pitched six shutout innings and got support via a home run by Kosuke Fukudome in the sixth. In Game 1 of the 2017… (same as last sentence). You probably remember that 2014 is the last time these Tigers found themselves playing…
Though the Tigers’ place in the standings is already set, this next-to-last game was still important. 1) The team had not scored at Koshien in 29 innings heading into this series; 2) It was riding a 7-game winless streak at home; 3) This was a great chance to give the young guys more playing time….
This shouldn’t have been a “must win” series. By now, Hanshin should have locked up second place. Unfortunately, life as a Tigers fan is never that easy. Two straight shutout losses to these BayStars left the team up just 3.5 games with 7 to go. Fortunately, now with 4 games to go, the gap is…
Last season it took the Tigers until around this point to finally win a home game against their most bitter rivals. This season went a little better, but the team’s 3-6-2 home record against the Yomiuri Giants still left a bitter taste in the mouths of fans. Could this final game against the Evil Empire,…
Somehow in the past month, the Tigers have managed to take away the Hiroshima Carp‘s magic number. Twice. And in the month of August, they managed to cut an 11-game gap between the teams in half. And yet during that time, the team only went 2-3-1 in their head-to-head matches. This three-game set in Hiroshima…
The road trip of death has just one week left. So far it has been quite successful, but now is not the time to let up. Playing against the last-place Yakult Swallows, against whom the Tigers have had good success this year (who hasn’t, really?), it would be nice to win two or three. But…