* The Japanese use the word クール (from the French cours = course / installment / season) to divide the spring training sessions into parts. But since クール is usually used to mean “cool” I have turned it into a cool headline. Are you クール with my decision? Happy Super Bowl Sunday, Hanshin Tigers fans! May…
Today, August 13, is Randy Messenger‘s 35th birthday. Happy birthday, big fella! We are so fortunate to have such a steady guy as the anchor of the pitching staff. Here’s a little run-down of Randy’s Hanshin accomplishments: Longest serving foreigner in club history (tied with Jeff Williams and Gene Bacque, but not for long!) Second…
For some reason, the Hanshin Tigers have played relatively well at Kyocera Dome Osaka in recent years. It is definitely not as electric an atmosphere as Koshien Stadium, but for this series, which coincided with the Japanese obon holiday season, the house was packed and home field advantage could be felt. Still, when facing a…
The weekend series against the Yakult Swallows left a bad taste in the mouths of Hanshin fans. But things were about to get a whole lot harder for the traveling Tigers. Having started the season even (4 wins 4 losses) against the Fish, an ugly, humiliating 9-game losing streak meant this series would probably be the hardest…
Three straight series wins and an exciting come-from-behind victory on Thursday gave Tigers fans plenty to talk about. But this team of mostly youngsters was still sitting 9 games under .500 and 4 games out of a playoff spot heading into this one. Could they take a chunk out of both of those numbers against…
Going on a good run at home against teams with similar records was one thing. Taking that act on the road and beating the higher-ranked teams would be another. Could Hanshin continue its mini-run in Yokohama to start its annual long road trip? Game 100 – Tuesday 8/2: The bats started out extremely silent against…
Nothing has gone the Tigers’ way since the start of interleague play. They sure aren’t helping themselves, either. Heading on the road against the top team in the Central League was not going to help things, either. Even with the “ace” opening the series and the true ace closing it. Game 91 – Friday 7/22:…
The first two-game winning streak in six weeks was a positive way to enter the all-star break, but could the team propel themselves to have a proper winning streak, though? The team’s best through 87 games was just three, achieved only once. The team would host the second place Giants to start the final portion…
It would be hard to blame Hanshin fans for taking the entire week off after last weekend’s drubbing at Koshien, during which the team scored just 3 runs (and just one run batted in) versus 24 against. But this matchup, unlike the last one, was against a comparable opponent. Formidable at the plate, mind you,…
Let us consider the case of two players on the Hanshin Tigers. Check the table below as you trek with me through some thoughts: GP AVG HR RBI PA AB R H 2B 3B Total Bases SB S SF BB HBP K SLG OBP Player A 59 .248 5 24 257 214 25 53 8…