Hanshin Tigers fans all over the world are elated that at long last, the team has battled its way out of the hole that it dug for itself in the first 25 games of the season. Remember, once upon a time, this crew was 4-20-1 (.167) and was looking historically bad. All they’ve done since…
After a big series win against the Giants early in the week, the Tigers needed to come up big against the Dragons and their outstanding pitchers. Though scoring was at a premium, they did enough to take this series. It was one of those series that highlighted how outstanding our pitching staff is, with Koyo…
Yes, you read that headline correctly… only you can erase the question mark from the end. We’re simply in disbelief is all. As can be expected, these games were pitchers’ duels for the most part. The odd thing is that home runs helped dictate the final score in all three games, despite the dome being the least generous ballpark in Japan…
After two straight shutout losses in Fukuoka, it wasn’t hard to imagine this team having troubles scoring against the defending Sawamura Award (Yamamoto) and Rookie of the Year (Miyagi) winners over the weekend. However, they were up to the task, taking the opener comfortably while riding Yusuke Ohyama and his hot bat. They scrapped for…
Back in April when the Tigers were struggling worse than any team in NPB, my friend Steve said this series would be a battle between the two worst teams in NPB. He wasn’t wrong. In fact, I distinctly told him that by June 3, the Tigers would not be worse than the Fighters, at the…
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…
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…
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,…
After an extremely disappointing series in Yokohama, the team kept fighting and had a decent weekend against the defending (but injured) champs. The starters did an outstanding job and in the two games that the batters showed up, they put up ample runs. For some reason on Saturday, they were unable to cross home even…